Loved the recap. I've been checking your page obsessively for it.

Song Jung-ho can be the lead male in my drama anytime. He is such an amazing actor, and he practically owned this episode.

I think I fell in love with him in Golden Bride, where one of my favourite moments is when he meets his ex wife again, and it's obvious that he still carries a torch for her.

Thanks for the recaps JB! It satisfied my thirst for this series, since there was a lack of Go Soo last week. I'm still having problems with HYS's acting. I noticed that she seems better at acting out the "deer caught in the headlights" scenes, angry moments, and sometimes the sad scenes. In this eps., she acted poorly in the beginning when she was helping out the grandma w/laundry and I think the fault lies in HYS's voice and delivery. I know you can't blame her voice just like you can't blame Fran Drescher's grating voice...perhaps. Yet, the way HYS's delivers her lines during that scene seemed so artificially sweet. In return, it comes out insincere, as if she's aware of the cameras and the filming crew.

Sorry for the rant, but I really do think she's the weakest link in this drama. It's such a shame too b/c she's the main actress and it bruises the efforts of the other actors. I know people are getting sick and tired of reading comments similar to mine, but I can't help wondering how much better it would have been with an actress that has natural acting skills.

wow brb fangirling over your writing in the comments section

@Luna
She was annoying the hell out of me with her baby voice in that scene. Why does she act so cutesy? She is so self conscious. In some scenes she's just awful. Just imagine if the leading lady had been LDH or Kim Hyun Joo, GS's former leading ladies. I know it's no use complaining about it but I can't help it because the lead guys are both so great. And even the second leading lady is so charming.

Sometimes the show recalls What Happened in Bali, in how it cynically smears the notion of love against the garrish lipstick of class and social ambition. But it really comes through in Episode 9.

Han Ye Seul's performance is still fine IMO. Her smiley self-denial pivots a straightforward melodrama into something approaching satire. She's kinda like a modern Candide, and her "optimism" and "work ethic" are persistent displays of emotional stress collapsing the dissonance between love and ambition. That is played pretty well by Han Ye Seul. Ye Seul's not even appealing to the camera for a remnant of sympathy (like a Ha Ji Won would) or even a wink that she should know better (like Gong Hyo Jin.) She makes Ji Wan's po-faced "simplicity" uncomfortable for us to watch.

Just want to say thanks javabeans for doing your recaps! I live in New Zealand, so, my only access to k-dramas are through the internet. (I'm also not Korean, but am absolutely in love with the dramas) I have limited broadband, and so I can't watch every drama I want to. :) However, your recaps compensate for my lack of broadband :) Thanks!

Anyway... through what I've read (and half-ish seen) I still think that JW should still end up with KJ. TJ has only recently made a real effort to hold onto JW. However, KJ has been doing that, pretty much, ever since their teens. TJ also cheated on her! I know it's in the past, but it still matters.

I'm also very annoyed at JW. TJ treated her as a 'rebound girl' and cheated on her, yet she's still willing to take him back. KJ has always been there for her! The only thing (other than her brother's death - but that wasn't directly his fault) I remember him ever doing (that made her upset) was the kiss with WJ. However, that was for her own "good" and not for his selfish intentions (unlike TJ).

Thanks for the recap. I thought this episode was really good and I was glad for some movement forward. I still want to see Kang Jin and Ji Wan together. I want Jun Su and KJ's mom to reconcile stuff before he dies. I agree it would be great to see Tae Joon and KJ to join forces. I also agree that Ji Wan angered is a great insight into her character. However, she always seems to jump to the wrong conclusion about KJ even as children, from their first meeting.

This is one of my fave dramas to come along. Keep up the great summaries, we appreciate it.

---Linda

Song Jong-ho is doing a great job doing his role. great actor
and but i still love kang jin.

*-*

thanks for the recaps! and yeah, i'm not feeling Kang Jin's new hair either... last year's one was so much better!

Of all the melodramas I've watched (which number less than 5), this is the most subdued and most realistic, hence bearable.

@ Sonam
I am thinking of Lee da Hae and Kim Hyun Joo who paired up with GoSoo
in Green Rose and Marry a Millionaire respectively. I do love them and still
love untill now. They are great actresses in this period .But HYS is tollally different . I 've no mood with her acting , not pity her when she cries . because I feel like It 's not natural . Sorry I love Gosoo , this is the reason I still watch this drama.

Thank you JB for the recap! I really enjoy reading your following insightful comments on it. This helps me get to understand the story better as well as love the show more.

In regard of HYS's performance, I've totally felt for her since this ep. Her acting in ep 10 even made me tear up (it's been so long since a drama character could move me to tears but yesterday, JW did). I never wished or for a second thought of any other actress to replace her in this show, even though her beginning was a little weak compared with others. To me, HYS's JW is really special. Her JW makes me get very clear how KJ can feel so protective towards her, a vulnerable soul as a result of childhood trauma (unlike some other ridiculously weak lead girls who try to play innocent).

Some have mentioned that HYS's performance has improved these recent episodes......but sorry, I still feel she is obviously the weakest link here. I just can't feel her emotions. Even with Woo-jung, the actress was wonderful in scenes delivery which made her emotions powerful and believable. No to mention KJ and TJ, they're brilliant in delivering emotional scenes. With Ji-wan, it's hard for me to sympathize with her....something is just missing from HYS's acting. I haven't seen any of her previous works but in here, she is no match to the level of the other 3 leads--they're simply amazing.

Thanks JB for the recap. I decided to continue to watch this drama after reading your recap. The 1-year gap healed the wounds left behind from ep 8.

Song Jong Ho's performance is really great. But he is not as handsome as GS, so that's why everyone still loves GS.

Not sure if TG and WJ would reappear in the later episodes. But I hope that they can be together in the drama. If it is not because of Woo Jung's father, they should have been together for a long time.

Ep 9 is good and Ep 10 is even better. But it seems that the tone for ep11 will be a sad one. I will wait until reading JB's recap before deciding whether to continue to watch this drama.

JB's recap is the best!

I feel that the 1yr gap in this episode sort of acts like a bridge, connecting the first half of the storyline to the latter part. In the first part, we have the conflict represented by JY's death and its effects on everyone, as in JW running away from home, her parents waiting for her return and KJ finding out that his necklace led to JY's death. And in the latter part, I guess we'll see the climax of the story and the resolution, which I hope is a happy one. Yeah, this director-writer combo doesn't have a great track record (WHIB/A Love To Kill/MISA) but I really, really hope for a happy ending here.

No real signficant moment stood out in this episode except I liked the staircase scene at the police station betwen JW and KJ. Reminds me of their relationship when they first met, with JW yelling at KJ because his mother had cut down the banner and he didn't even defend himeself, just silently helped her up from her fall. Or later on, when she hounded him because she wanted him to like her and he just ignored her.

I must say I appreciate the fact that KJ's necklace is a watch. Didn't pick up on this at first, but now that we're halfway through the drama, I love the way Writer Lee uses time as the theme for WISFC - how time can bring pain, sometimes by pure coincidence (represented by JY's death while diving for KJ's necklace), how time stops for those who are grieving (JW carries KJ's broken watch with her for 8yrs.) and how time will eventually push us all to move on (JW returning the necklace back to KJ). So if I have to pick a theme for WISFC, I'd say time, which is symbolized by KJ's watch.

Even though SJH is not as handsome as GS but

yet SJH is still comparable to GS handsome look ,

and in terms of height GS is nowhere with SJH.

@ lidge_fan: OMG what you said about time. perfectly put. :)

Okay....it's all about opinions....and after watching episode 9 I have gone down the tubes in sheer disappointment! I was hanging on....but I'm gonna let go and move on.

I'm looking forward to Chuno....

Do keep up the good work, JB.....I keep reading your posts because you do a great job!

Hahaha, thanks for the hair-appreciation stills!
While I definitely prefer the previous hairstyles, his new do didn't really bother me much plus it looks as though it won't be re-appearing again, or at least it disappears in ep. 10!
Loved this episode and almost diieeed watching the closing scene in 10.
This drama is too painfully delicious!

Appreciate the recap and the thoughtful, insightful commentary. The part about childhood love, it can also apply to grown-up love when it's cut off abruptly and kind of tragically, you can never really overcome that kind of love.

@ Sonam: (embraces Sonam w/tears of camaraderie) Bullseye! That's exactly how I feel and I have to nod in agreement with the others who have posted their not so positive reviews on HYS's acting.

I'm not expecting her to perform powerful, overwrought, and demanding scenes b/c that will be excessive and unnecessary with the other 3 main characters. It's just the simplistic scenes that irks me b/c she doesn't seem genuine. I have to admit that Ji-wan's character is hard to act out b/c she's the most complicated. Thus, HYS is not too shabby, but definitely not on the same level of acting like the other lead actors.

every week, I decide not to watch that drama cause I really don't like melodramas. they're really gloomy! however I want to see Go Soo and I can't get to watch it. I often like the bad characters who are really not. so I want to see Cha Kang Jin and Park Tae Joon to be together but I know it's impossible. also I didn't like Han Ye Seul's acting. gosh what to do?
what a dilemma for me! anyway :P

Okay this is a frigging long but it is snowing outside and having just viewed the pleasure that is episode 10, I am in a blue sort of mood while waiting for JB's recap for ep 10. So here goes the long rant.

Warning: not for the faint hearted. (I didn't realised how long it was until i read back.)

I’d thought I’d share my ABSOLUTE FINAL thoughts on JW’s character and HYS’s performance given it is still debated on the forum. Let me by start by stating that I have never been a fan of HYS, and therefore have very little expectations. If anything, I thought it was a travesty she had won an award of any sort for her part in Tazza (phoned in performance), just as much as some highly questionable awards for actresses this year, ie/ (Gu Hye-sun (Boys Before Flowers), Kim Tae-hee (IRIS) over Kim So-yeon (IRIS) for example, come on really!?

However the entire arch of her character development from the WISTC team has proven JW one of the more interesting multifaceted female characters in the last 12 month, it is worth a few more scribble affirming it. JW is someone with real problem that that she must overcome and become whole again (Milshil from Queen Saeu-Douk has been hotly tipped as a favourite female role, but I strongly disagree. It is all very OTT with operatic smirks and practiced eye brow movements! Her character was exactly the same in the end as it was in the beginning. There was literally no growth, and had she not been beautiful and wearing beautiful clothes, we’d hate her with glee). Thanks to the writer, HYS has been given a role of a life time and in my opinion she has delivered the goods for me at least for me really come to appreciate and understood JW.

Would other actress do a better job? Probably (my preferred choice would be Lee Na Young but that is probably type casting) but I just think it would be pointless to speculate and is probably more about view’s personal taste rather than what the actress have or can bring to the table. For once, it think it is refreshing to see someone exceeding my expectations and playing something totally unexpected, like watching Yoon Eun Hye in Coffee Prince for the first time, and Moon Geun Young as Shin Yoon Bok in Painter of the Wind.

Many people had major gripes with the adult JW during the early episodes as adult, attribute to her inadequacy as an actress where she acted in several parts ‘unnaturally’. Whether it was accident or not, I actually thought this ‘awkwardness and unnaturalness’ was perfectly suited at that period of the character’s life. If she doesn’t believe half of the things she says anyway, so how can it look natural?

After such major life changing tragedy, it is important to establish the adult JW a pale shadow of her previous self, her character must appear to be stagnant in the past (so much anger and unresolved frustration with herself whilst still mourning and remain remorseful). She need to appear awkward, lonely and pitiful but not weak or helpless, but some who’s clearly not who she was, despite continues to ‘fake’ that everything is fine, she is happy (not).

The challenge for the actress would to able to convey these character shortfalls to the audience, whilst appearing somewhat as a ‘bad’ white liar (she doesn’t mean what she says), but not so much so that that other characters in the story cannot be fooled. If one observe carefully, there were many subtleties and nuances in character start to display as the story continues, she had become much more relaxed at eased with herself post each big reveal, as well as getting her confidence bit by bit back to the point where she is finally able to confront all her past inner demons in episode 10. The scene where she have finally met her mother and hugged her like an adult to a child in role reversal was for me was the moment where the Adult JW has arrived, she has reached out and learnt to take control. I liked the dried tears approach meeting her dad for the first time in 9 years. She probably rehearsed this moment thousands of times in her head, when it becomes real, she no longer have any more tears, there’s so much sadness already. I was really moved to tears, more than I thought I would.

JW’s character is a rarity in KDrama, she is not a princess, a damsel in distress, a pauper, the prettiest, the ugly duckling that becomes a swan, or any particular archetype really. Everything that is interesting about her is internal, and her actions doesn’t always reflect how she really feels or meant.
If she is a relatable type, I would suggest she is probably the type of support characters that generally get overlooked in real life.

To those who are familiar with the Chinese saying, she is the type of girl who is ‘missing a nerve somewhere’, ie/ not all that ‘there’ but endearingly so. In school, you will probably find them sitting in the corner somewhere day dreaming, talking to themselves, a bit quirky, a bit kooky who want to shout from the roof tops about raising money for amnesty international, be a good Samaritan or join the green party. They are the ones that when you both ran and fell into each other at the school play ground, they would show more concern to ensure you are okay first rather than worrying about their bleeding knee.

They are idealistic, therefore don’t appear to be brightest (but are brighter than they think), and seems to only seeing things on the surface (based on the limited knowledge they have read and understood), as a result, they tends to jump to wrong conclusions and certainly not afraid to tell you exactly what they think. Ie/ The know it all when they know nothing. (loved the cute moment at the end of ep 10 when JW misread the situation feeling injustice that KJ got cheated at cards, when KJ probably wanted to let his mum win for example)

If anything, they can appear a little pathetic and a nuisance because they want to justify themselves all the time, in everything they do, while still wanting to please you while doing so, so much so, that they often ends up doing things midway while wondering they are doing it in the first place. It is usually not what they really wanted (too easily corrigible) but what they ‘think’ you’d wanted. They also tends to remain unnaturally upbeat and enthusiastic of wanting you to join their cause etc. When you dig a little deeper, one can’t help but feeling they are probably deprived of some sort of attention love and care, and are desperately still trying to find a place where they mattered in this world.

JW’s kindness and sweetness rests in her enormous capacity to love and also a void to fill, for someone who’s so compassionate about others, when she hurt others, she hurt herself more. As such, I really love this type of character being played out in full in WISTC, human fallibility and inadequacies in all which makes it a refreshing change in a a sea full of Kang Hae-na’s (My fair lady) and Geum Jan-di (Boys before flowers).

This is classic drama about strength and the fragility of love and life, with plots and the characters traits that are generally implied rather than overtly stated. The timeless quality with finely layered performances make it easily rewatchable on a cold winter’s day cuddled up with your love ones (assume it ends in a positive note… big pls). Big thanks to the the writer and the director to treat the audience with respect and intelligence.

RandomTouristX - who are you? Woever you are, I love you! Your comment above struck a very raw nerve.

Buuut, will spare people here the mundane and unnecessary personal deets...

Watching episode 10, I completely agree with all you've said. A lot of people are getting agitated with HYS' acting, but understanding her actual character the acting isn't bad at all.
Bold and overpowering screen presence kind of acting aka. Woo Jung and Jan-di and Yoo Rin (My Girl) would never have worked in this kind of fragile role. They work well for roles where their character story is much less complex, their 'charisma' makes up for it, see.

This quiet, subdued and straightup awkward acting is what was needed for Ji Won's actual character.

But like someone close to me once said: ''y'know once you have been in love, these cheesy love songs, all those sappy movies you once barfed at... they actually begin to make sense...''

Not saying Ji Won is a cheesy love song or anything, but her kind of character is probably best understood by those who can empathise after having had experienced something closer to it, those who understand the delicate imbalance of love between two individuals, both fragile and chaotic.

IMHO. :)

I love this paragraph. Thank you!

"...With a childhood love that suffers a traumatic event and is abruptly cut off soon thereafter, those feelings get crystallized. Which isn’t to say that the person can’t grow up and turn into a normal, mature adult — clearly one can — but when those feelings are revisited, you see them in stunning clarity because time has preserved only the keenest memories of that person. With those moments drawn out in sharp relief, the memories of what was already pretty intense grow even more intense. So when you shatter that stasis and let the memories free, you get a tidal wave of an emotional mess. That’s why I find their love credible even though one could argue that their childhood basis isn’t strong enough for such a strong adult attachment..."

Thanks for the recaps, dramabeans!!! yesh i would have to agree that the story beginning to unfold better, interesting plots and background story that we have yet to know-like chun he and the doctor...so yea im anticipating that the next 6 episodes would be even better, hahah, though i dont really agree that the 1 year gap has any significance...but yea i can understand from your point of view...thanks dramabeans, looking forward to the next recap!

i wonder... when will the snow or the christmas come into play? :)

thanks for the recaps, JB. you're right, my excitement for this drama waned a bit with the one week time off. i had to watch past eps again to recall what happened. that's a momentum killer for folks who don't have the time or inclination to re-watch a drama.

All I want is somewhat a happy ending! Please don't off the main cast... live people, live!

Seriously if either of them die then I will NEVER watch a melodrama again! Why doesn't he just grab her and hold her tight and never let go??? Just say you love her!!!

great recap and your comments couldnt be written any better

hi drama beans,

i'ved been watching selected kdramas since 2007 but 2009 was the year i really got hooked up in watching krdamas and starting to explore and appreciate all kinds/genres of kdramas.

also, i'ved been reading your recaps not only for will it snow for christmas? but all of your kdrama recaps. i got to say you've got a fantastic way of recapping these dramas! i really like it when you describe every little things that matters to the certain episode or character. keep up the great work!

what i love about will it snow for christmas? (aside from goo soo!) are the characters and the acting of the actors (esp. goo soo!) are solid and even though the premise is simple and classic in the kdrama world, it still brings freshness that makes me stick around and wait for the story to unravels. hopefully they wont let us down!

can't wait for the next episode and recap!

@72 - RandomTouristX

beside JB's recap thank you very much, too.

I started watching KDramas 3 years ago and I think I have some kind of experience now, how KDramas are plotted.
I am not Korean, not American but with a kind of euro-orieantal background in a way. Due to this watching a lot of dramas of different countries. So every country has its own style of plotting dramas. I am a movie and reading freak, too, plus my self a hobby writer, novelist. Maybe for some not a qualified backgroung for judging actors and how they interprete their characters. But I think enough to judge nevertheless.

Regarding RandomTouristX's recap of HYS interpreting of JW character, I am 100% with her/him.

Maybe there would have been an other actress who could have played JW better.

But I think the same goes for GoSoo, too. An other good actor could have played, interpreted KJ in a other and maybe much better way.
Nevertheless, I like both actors interpretation very much and dont want to imagine any other instead of them for WISFC.

I myself, prefer writing romcoms. Writing funny and light characters is so much easier then about characters haunted by their pasts, carrying their burden like a shadow with them all their lives. It is so much difficultier to write those effects who make them how they are in a story. So I think "playing" such an character is much difficultier. In a novel you can describe the feelings but interpreting a screenplays character must be a hard job, as in scenario there are no commands given how and what the character has to feel.

Due to this, in my eyes JW character is really something different I watched in Kdramas. Maybe there is a drama I missed with such an interesting character, too. But for WISFC its more JW character, her pain and suffering, curiousity what will she do next that draws me to this drama, than the smexy KangJin. Of course he is an eyecatcher and his big bonus is, that he is also a really good actor. With WISFC he has got me as a new fan of him.

Like RandomTouristX wrote, HYS interpreting of JW is maybe not overwhelming but in my eyes she playes the introverted, haunted by guilt girl very well. I cant imagine a punky, energetic and overmimic acting for JW's part. This would have harmed also KJ, GoSoo's charisma in the drama. He is, has to be the strong one, her guilty guardian angel. He, who has caused her all the pain has to be the one who has bring back her to life from her pathetic life again. This is the simple but effective plot as far I can see it. I dont know how this drama will end, what the screenwriter is intending as there are so many possibilities how it can be ending (Its up to the writers mood, view of life). Coming back to JW. She in a way was stuck in her lonely life in Seoul. Maybe biological grown but mentaly stuck in her childhoods pain, still paralyzed from it. So how should she been acted by HYS in a other way.

Okay maybe an other actress would have played it better. But I dont care.
For me HYS is JW and she is GoSoo's/ KJ's girl.
Besides their characters, for me they also suit visually very much to each other.

Maybe a lot of readers will not agree with me, but please allow me to say that I dont agree, too with their critics of HYS so said bad acting. It makes me sad and harms my joy of watching this drama. I mean what will it change. Do you think the producers will change the actress - like she will have a bad accident and after having an esthetic surgery she will come back with a new face aka replaced by your favorite actress ?

Suppose not! There are a few episodes left. Let us enjoy it and hope for a happy-ending for our sweet couple KJ+JW. Thats my main and only concern for WISFC.

Wish you all a nice and relaxing weekend :)

PS: JB, I am hopefully waiting for your recap of EP.10 :)

@ Madita , I am totally in your side, HYS acting made me cry in episode 10.

wow! very insightful comments at the end. what line of work r u in? the way u dissect every1 characters, motivations, emotions - i would think u r a shrink

Thanks to JB for the amazing thoughtful rendition of these episodes, it is always a pleasure to revisit the eps and read your insights as well as the fans of the show. Like many who have already expressed here, your last paragraph perfectly resonate with me and encapsulate why the main premise of the couple works despite the 9 years apart.

While it is a trend in Korean drama to be obsessing about first love, WISTC through circumstances and plot actually works. They each have wounds which only the other would understood and be healed by. That love is a double edged sword, it potency to bring pleasure and pain, to cause scaring and bring healing is well explored in this little gem. I'd like to further to thank you by providing a forum for people like myself to venting out and show our appreciation and frustration to great dramas.

(This post should be in your screen cap 10, but forgive me if i have to preempt your recap by expressing how much i enjoyed this weeks eps )

---------------

Thoughts on Ep10

Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I felt sucker punched and rather spoilt after this week's eps. I can’t think how they are going to top up the emotional peak at the end of ep10, except maybe mini KJ and mini JW running around in the final. Gosh absolutely no idea!!! And this is great and so refreshing.

Big kudos to the WISTC team. For once I think everything was balanced in equal measures, writing, direction, pacing, and all the actors were at the top of their game. They work so well as an ensemble cast, from the quiet, simmering, powerful moments, to being generous to their costars having their turn while playing off them. Ie/ None of the big scene stealing, emotional chewing some of the bigger stars in other drama are known for.

I am also delighted that so many pitfalls that had been hinted in the previews had been avoided with such skill and finesse. Major plot devices and hindrances had been tied up so nicely, when they could have easily stretches up to 3-4 episodes.

Some highlight for me includes:

The first few words KJ spoke to JW after 1 year apart was ‘Have you eaten?’ .
KJ probably asked himself this very same question countless times during the 12 months they have apart conscious of JW’s eating disorders. I love the tender knowing smile and care he shown her at that moment despite everything. It might as well be the secret utterance of ‘I love you, are you ok?’. JW’s reaction was rather cute too, where she did a double take amidst her blah blah injustice rant. Personally I think she just want an excuse to confront KJ, indirectly referring (payback) to how much she herself has gotten hurt by him in the past.

-----------------

TJ’s confession to JW in the café.

The scene was executed perfectly in its simplicity and refinement. It really was a case of less is more. There was none of the OTT hysterics, no blame, anger, clinched fists on the table, no empty words of comforts. JW simply walks off, heartbroken and cried. TJ’s look of guilt and remorse is enough, his eyes speaks so much.

JW who wept like a child, someone who has always had such low self esteem having to deal with serious abandonment issues (her mum, her brother killed by her, her fiancé left her at the alter, abandoned by KJ after one date etc.) discovering actually she is overwhelmingly loved and treasured by someone she held so dear. Besieged with devastating tidal waves of emotions of sadness, guilt, regret, and perhaps relief the big secret is out despite her effort wanting to hide it forever. Probably angry at herself causing pain and suffering to those she loves, yet so terribly touched by KJ’s thoughtfulness, selflessness. She might have even began to the realize that she did not love in vain, yet cursing how fate and life is playing one cruel joke on both of them one after another, and so much time wasted etc.

-----------------

WJ and TJ’s frank conversation in the bar and seeing KJ off at the police station.

TJ has finally comes in terms with his relation with both women and himself. He looks much more calmer, relaxed and at peace with himself and none of that resent we saw in earlier episodes. WJ who always had a strong sense of entitlement, a master of her universe has finally come to the realization that actually she is just a supporting character in this EPIC love triangle. And seemed to have learnt a valuable lesson from the trials and tribulation of JW and KJ, in particularly about selflessness and compassion for others.

-----------------

WJ vs JW

WJ had several shining episodes, from her interrogatory frantic queen bee exchange to bargain and verbally kick JW of KJ’s life at the apartment and the police station. While she is acting like JW is inferior to her in every way and proceed to crush her like a bug, but the hints of jealous and fear in her eyes that continued her poke and prodding till her realization that it is quite hopeless and she just can’t win. Her impossible enemy? Pure love.
I simply loved her character’s parting words on the phone with KJ about believing love again with a big question mark and a contemplative but hopeful outlook, while being across from the street talking on the phone. I wonder if they will appear again in later episodes, otherwise it makes an excellent parting scene. It is just a street in between them after all, who will take the stride forward? It is the perfect motif.

(that aside… I thought it was loop hole that KJ is suppose to has no where to go in Seoul, I mean TJ could always work side by side with KJ on this massive project which he can’t possibly handle all by himself… oh well)

-----------------

Final scene.

It is just so full of warm and fuzzy feelings. Simply loved it.

I don’t think KJ knew that JW is in the knowing why KJ pushed her away before. It is significant therefore to note that instead of running away, he too is choosingto taken the next forward. He cupped JW’s lovely face and ‘sealed with a kiss’ and two literally. It was sooo sweet, and felt really natural. It snowed finally.
That aside, I am a bit annoyed by the editing of the voice over actually, finding it a bit intrusive. They should play the narration after the kiss with a freeze frame, so the words resonate with the audience a bit more. Overall, it had a magical fairy tale like quality to that final scene.

-----------------

Actually, one thing is not clear, did the parents (KJ’s mum, JW’s parents) know the reason the brother died was to retrieve KJ’s pendant? And that JW has been blaming herself all this time that was why she left home?

Overall big thumbs up, six still to go, pls don’t let us down with a bad ending that tends to handicap even the good Korean dramas.

@ 73 su-pa
@ 81 Madita

Thank you so much for your kind words to my post.

Medita, we are actually very similar i think, I too am based in Europe but I am Chinese. And um I am female (Thought that would be clear from amature psychoanalysis . If i had been a guy, i'd probably be a gay best friend.)

I orignally watched the show purely because of the writer and GoSoo but ended up finding JW's journey so very touching.

Su-pa, you last paragraph is an excellent insight to my interpretation or even character. LOL... Yes actually I have known 1 or 2 JW type at high school and only became friends with them just before graduation. Ironically one of my JW was going to be a 1st year med student but never made it, as she died so very young in a tragic car accident, and i suppose this is why aspects of JW's character traits has registered strongly with me.

And it might be possible, i ended up embellishing some character based on the fact i knew someone like her.

To think back, in the early years of high school, one might be tempted to only affiliate with the Queen Bee types (ref. Mean Girls the movie) like WuJung, who general sense of strong confidence, manipulation and entitlement while off putting is very attractive to freshman with little confidence or directions in life. However through time, eventually people do notices the JWs types in life, who's very sweetness, compassion for others and affinity to do good ended up register much longer.

yay thnks JB!
love this showwww
and OMG
u really made the whole concept of "childhood love" understandable
cuz i kept wondering how i wasnt getting the same effect! lol
now it all makes sense
and i love/appreciate this Great Love even more
yay