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The songs featured during the recap: Theme of Gwan-sik, Looking Back, It Was a Paradise, and It Was Just Sometimes Winter, Sometimes Spring, all by the incredible Park Seong Il.
The devastating yet beautiful farewell between Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, as they reflect on their extraordinary life together.
How Ae-sun’s poem, To the Heart That Leaves Me Behind, encapsulates her enduring love and strength, and how poetry weaves through the show as a symbol of love, regret, and hope.
The emotional family moments, including Geum-myeong and Eun-myeong’s tearful goodbyes to their father, filled with regret, gratitude, and newfound understanding.
How Ae-sun and Gwan-sik finally share their grief over their son Dong-myeong’s death, a sorrow that divided them for decades.
The heartbreaking yet realistic depiction of aging, illness, and how families rally around each other during difficult times.
The surprising reveal that Gwan-sik saved all of Geum-myeong’s money, telling us that he cherished the gift of the money, more than the money itself.
Geum-myeong’s business venture, Ever Study, inspired by her mother’s unrealized dreams, and how it speaks to Korea’s competitive education system and rural limitations.
The beautiful connections that suggest Gwang-rye was reincarnated as Chloe Lee, the editor who publishes Ae-sun’s book of poetry, tying together fate and family legacy.
How Ae-sun, even after losing Gwan-sik, finds new meaning in life as a teacher at the senior center and as a published poet.
Reflections on aging, with Ae-sun’s profound observation that you feel the same inside but see an older person in the mirror.
Bu Sang-gil’s late-in-life flirtations with Yeong-ran and the notion that it’s never too late for first love.
Our announcement of the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 12 of K Drama Chat.
References
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I'm only 20mins into this week's episode, but had to pause to jump on here to give Joanna a big virtual hug before I can keep listening. I teared up hearing Ernie's painful memory of losing her dad, and could feel the pain in Joanna's voice when she shared about her mom. Sending Joanna my deepest sympathies & I am so sorry that she is going through this incredibly challenging time. <3
ReplyDeleteI found myself crying while driving that I had to stop the podcast.
ReplyDeleteI'm so so sorry Joanna. As someone who lost her dad last Nov, I also had a hard time with this episode. Virtual hugs to you.
I'll continue commenting after I finish the episode.
Joanna, soon after we found out that my wonderful mom would be gone soon, she hugged me tight and told me that she would always be with me. That was years ago, and she has kept her promise. A few months after she died, I went on a cruise. I suddenly felt guilty, not having thought about her for hours. Then her soft voice spoke to me like a bird on my shoulder. She said,”Are you kiddng? We’re having a wonderful time!”
ReplyDeleteAnd Sung-Hee, my grandfather, Brick Sullivan, was in the movie “ Singin’ In The Rain” the only actor besides Gene Kelly in the famous title scene! At the very end of the scene, when Kelly is splashing around, jumping on and off the sidewalk, a tall policeman with his arms crossed looks sternly down at him. That was my Grandpa! His name was Brick because of his red hair, and he had small roles in many classic movies, including “It’s A Wonderful Life”, “From Here To Eternity”, and many more; you can look him up on IMDB. He and Kelly were good friends, and very proud of that scene and what it meant. The joy of life and love, even on the rainiest of days.
I truly enjoyed blubbering along with all three of you during this podcast. And Joanna, it sounds like you were lucky, like, to have a wonderful mom. God Bless your family.
Joanna and Sung Hee, Season 11 was a masterpiece! As always, you did an amazing job analyzing When Life Gives You Tangerines, truly one of the best K Dramas! I binged it early on, but having listened to your podcast as you watched, I feel a re-watch is imminent. I’m watching Miss Granny this weekend to prepare for your review. (Past Lives is fantastic, looking forward to your review of that as well.) If you ever need a show that could be covered in 1-2 episodes, have you considered What Comes After Love? It’s six episodes, on Viki, and a beautiful OST. I think you’d find a lot to discuss. 🙂 (On a personal note, Joanna, did you make it to the Stray Kids show in DC?? Memorable in more ways than one. #Stay#Survived)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sunghee and Joanna (and Ernie!), for a wonderful season of thoughtful conversation around what’s easily my top K-drama of the year (so far).
ReplyDeleteJoanna, sending you a big virtual hug. You were so brave to walk through the final episode—especially given how closely it mirrors your own story. I hope the discussion helped you out, sometimes we just need to talk about it.
WLGYT is truly a masterpiece. For me, it’s Ae-sun’s story more than anything else—even more than her love story with Gwan-sik.
Looking forward to Season 12! I’ll be rewatching Extraordinary Attorney Woo so I can follow along and join the conversation.
*I am so sorry to hear about your Mom Joanna. That was an emotional podcast indeed. Like others, sending more virtual hugs.
ReplyDelete*The last episode of this show gave me headache, because I was pretty much crying the whole time.
In conclusion, this was a really good series. Objectively one of the best. I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to almost everyone.
However, I can’t say it will be on my all times favourite list. It just didn’t have that extra “something” for me.
*Needless to say I am very happy with your choice for S12. It is going to be a new experience to discuss very wide and unrelated topics in one series.
Wow. What a finale! Both the show and the podcast.
ReplyDeleteThis podcast was obviously emotional for all three of you, and especially Joanna. I am so glad you were all willing to share your personal stories because I think they really illustrated why this show had such an emotional impact on viewers. Joanna, my heart goes out to you. Thank you for this final episode.
Just a few final thoughts on this episode:
• I agree with Irma that this show was essentially Ae-sun’s story. But it was also a story about strong women, especially mothers. And to a lesser extent the men who support (or is often the case don’t) support women. Ultimately, I think this show had a strong feminist message by showing the strength of Ae-sun, her mom, the henyeos, and even Young Ran. I don’t have any specific insight into why IU picked this project, but I imagine the story of these strong women had something to do with it.
• Love when Ernie is on the pod with yet another voice in the mix. But if I were Joanna and Sung-hee I would have kicked her right of once she said she binged the episodes! LOL! I don’t know how you two had the self-control.
• I know I praised the hair and makeup team last week, but I got to say even they couldn’t make IU look 50! Although, check back in 20 years, maybe that’s what she will look like. Also, I asked if you could “spot” the difference between Ae-sun and Geu-myeong when IU was playing both and you never discussed it. Ae-sun has IU’s distinctive mole (even when played by the older Moon-so-ri) and Geu-myeong did not. I thought that was a nice little extra detail.
• I can only somewhat relate to your discussion about feeling like a younger person in an older person’s body. I think I have like a reverse body dysmorphia where I still think I am in my 30s when I’m actually in my 50s! But you guys should not worry because you are Asian so you will look like you are 40 (or younger) even when you are 60. When I am 60 I will probably look 90!
• I was glad they did not give Bu Sang-Gil a full redemptive arc. It is one of my least favorite things in K Dramas or dramas in general. The fact that he softened just a bit in his old age was fine.
• You might be right that all dogs go to heaven, but I’m not sure all cats go to heaven – and I’m a cat guy!
• The full body checkup seems to be a K Drama (or maybe a Korean) thing. I feel like I seen more than a few K Dramas where the children force the parents to get the deluxe full checkup.
As for WMW:
Our Unwritten Seoul is over. The ending was decent and I enjoyed this show a lot. Definitely a top 10 for 2025.
Based on Seven Seas recommendation I watched Oh My Ghost, which also stars Park Bo-young essentially playing two characters and I love it. Normally I don’t care for shows with ghosts or spirts or the supernatural, but this one was really well written. Thanks for the recommendation Seven Seas!
OK, I’m off to write my K Drama (P Drama?) about Ernie’s father reincarnating into her daughter!
Malcolm, I will start Our Unwritten Soul based on your recommendation. And I’ve heard good things about it.
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