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The songs we featured during the recap: Cunning Min Woo by Daniel Ri, From Whale by Roh Young Shim.
How this is the pivotal episode where all major characters and relationships are revealed and transformed.
Woo Young Woo’s growing independence, her romantic awakening, and her evolution from a naive attorney to a confident professional.
The ethical and legal complexity of the Sodeok-dong case, especially around petitions, manipulation, and conflict of interest.
Kwon Min Woo’s underhanded tactics and increasing resentment, which now verge on outright sabotage.
Tae Su Mi’s job offer to Woo Young Woo — made without knowledge of their biological connection — and what it says about WYW’s abilities.
The emotional reveal that Tae Su Mi is Woo Young Woo’s mother, and Woo Young Woo’s confrontation with her.
Woo Gwang Ho’s heartbreaking backstory, his sacrifices, and what it means to be a loyal parent.
The philosophical question of whether protecting someone from disappointment is an act of love or a limitation of growth.
Whale facts! Including their intelligence, communication, and how warming oceans are impacting blue whale songs.
What we’re watching now: Good Boy, Heavenly Ever After, Beyond the Bar, Bon Appétit, KPop Demon Hunters, and Hometown Cha Cha Cha.
References
My favourite piece of clothing in this episode was actually the blue pyjama that WYW was wearing :)
ReplyDeleteThe whole morning scene was wholesome, but that little giggle was way too cute.
WYW meeting her Mom is the best scene in the entire series imo, and I dare to say, one of the best in any Kdrama I have seen. The acting by both actresses is superb. I wanted to stand up and clap. Jin Kyung hardly said anything in the entire exchange, but she communicated everything that need to be said through her facial expressions.
PEB playing a person who doesn’t show a lot of emotions in a highly emotional situation was also great, because you could see that she was on the verge of crying by looking at her eyes.
The camera work was also great, but subtle with that tilt when it was focusing on the mother.
And the whole thing was delivered in a calm way without shouting and screaming.
At this point of the series, the mother’s actions is one of the most debated topics of the series. I think she was in a tough spot when she was young. It is not easy to give up all that privilege and comfortable life for love, which almost certainly would have vanished in the face of hardship.
I think it is incomparably easier to be poor your entire life than being born rich and then becoming poor.
It is a wonder that her family even let her to carry out the pregnancy, but in Asian countries abortion is considerably less common for social and religious reasons.
So, I can understand her initial decision. But, it starts to be gray when she became older. Of course she still has a lot to lose. Her status, maybe her husband divorce her, and loss of political career. Also, the emotional weight. Finding out what happened to that child could lead to some serious emotional damage (no guarantee the she has turned up to be a brilliant lawyer). As you two pointed out, she just convinced herself that it didn’t happen.
On the other hand, that child deserves better. It is the parents responsibility to take care of it. Washing her hands out when she is in a such powerful position doesn’t sound right.
It is a topic to debate for hours and hours.
I am currently halfway through “Our Movie” starring Namkoong Min (Sunghee crush lol) and Jeon Yeobin (A Time Called You). I am really enjoying it a lot. I won’t say what is about because there is something happen at the end of E01 that I don’t want to ruin.
It is 12 episodes on Disney+.
Seven Seas, you nailed it with your analysis of the scene between Woo Young Woo and Tae Su Mi! And you noticed the Dutch angle! There are lots of them in this show! They add a subtle element of tension in these scenes. We talk about them in this coming week's episode.
DeleteI agree that we can spend hours debating Tae Su Mi's decisions.
I am not familiar with "Our Movie" but Sung Hee will be thrilled if she hasn't seen it yet!
Thank you Joanna.
DeleteI am not familiar with the Duch angle term and looking forward to hear about it.
I forget what show/episode Joanna discussed the Dutch Angle, but I am sure she will dust off her notes and discuss it again!
DeleteI agree the mother's choice to "abandon" WYW is a bit of a gray area. - I thought for sure you would call it a grey area Seven Seas ;-) At the very least her family could have provided so financial support for the child!
Finally, I love it when people post here about actors in new shows by referencing other shows they've been in to help place the name. But "starring Namkoong Min (Sunghee crush lol)" takes the cake! So funny!
Seven Seas, you bring up an interesting point for debate as to whether it was more difficult for Tae Su Mi to give up her life of privilege or for Woo Gwang Ho to give up his chance for success, having made it to Seoul National University law school. I can see how it might be a greater emotional hurdle for Tae Su Mi, though materially, I think it is unlikely her family would let her live a life of complete poverty. Also, I'm thinking realistically Woo Gwang Ho would have continued his trajectory to be an SNU trained attorney and would probably have achieved some measure of career success, even if not at the lofty heights of the Taesan law firm. So I would look at it as a greater emotional sacrifice for Tae Su Mi, but a greater material sacrifice for Woo Gwang Ho, which to his credit, he had no hesitation in making.
DeleteAlso, you are so right! Namkoong Min! (sigh!) I'm rushing to resubscribe to Disney/Hulu now!
Sung-Hee, I wasn't really trying to compare between them. I was just trying to imagine Tae Su Mi position.
DeleteIt is hard to guess what her family will do, but I agree most likely wouldn't let her live in total poverty.
However, if she had her eye on becoming future CEO, a small house and modest job is not going to cut it.
What is not realistic though is the father's reaction.
I mean, he could have transferred to another law school. He could have studied externally. He could have left Seoul and practiced law in another city.
Also, being academically gifted to get into SNU law school, he could have studied something else.
He had so many other options better than opening tiny restaurant.
Seven Seas, what a great analysis of the mother/daughter scene. You broke it down so eloquently. The only thing I’d add is that by the time this took place, WYW seemed to realize what a great dad she had, and probably concluded that she was better off without this woman who had impressive brains and style, but lacked character.
ReplyDeleteI’m halfway through Hometown Cha Cha Cha and loving it. Next up is Captivating The King on my friend Brian’s recommendation. Any opinions on that, anyone?
I’m also REALLY looking forward to “Can This Love Be Translated” coming soon on Netflix, starring the guy from Home Town Cha Cha Cha, and the girl from Hospital Playlist, Kim Seon-Ho and Go Yeon-Jung.
Ellen, I LOVE Hometown Cha Cha Cha! Like you, I'm looking forward to Can This Love Be Translated?
DeleteI am dying to know what you think of Captivating the King!
Thank you Ellen.
DeleteI have watched Hometown Cha Cha Cha back in 2021 and liked it a lot!
I am also looking forward to “Can This Love Be Translated”
Ellen, I really enjoyed Home Town Cha Cha Cha. The leads are both so charming - as is the grandmother! Pretty much the whole village. If you like that, you might enjoy Love Take Two on Viki. I liked Captivating the King, mostly because of the leads, especially Shin Se-kyung.
DeleteI totally agreed with CEO Joanna’s proposed handling of the anonymous message board incident. Can only hope that CEO Han did likewise off camera!
ReplyDeleteOtherwise IRL the tree is a Natural Monument apparently - https://deadline.com/2022/08/extraordinary-attorney-woo-tree-natural-monument-korea-netflix-1235099930/
Look forward to next week. I can finally learn why my mother used to look at us and say “ 눈 치 없 어”.
I just finished watching “Beyond the Bar” - some very different legal ethics compared to Attorney Woo!
SD-guy, thanks for your comments!
DeleteThe tree is a real natural monument! Wow! Thanks for that reference!
As for what your mother used to say to you - hilarious! Took me a second to read the hangeul. Awesome!
And what about the finale of Beyond the Bar?! I loved the series, but I did NOT love the last episode -- for so many reasons! Maybe we'll do single episode review of the entire series. We shall see.
Thanks for listening!
"눈치 없어" --such a Korean mom thing to say! Probably also shaking her head in resignation, I don't know about you, but I wonder if that also had to do with a culture clash between Korean parents and American kids. My mother often seemed exasperated at my lack of social graces in Korean situations, another "눈치 없어" example.
DeleteForgot to put my name on the comment! That was me!
DeleteWhat the holy hell! I am so late in posting about this episode.
ReplyDeleteAlso, congrats Sung-hee on being the last person to watch K Pop Deamon Hunters! 😉
I’ll keep it short since this is now “old news.” Lots of questionable legal conduct in this episode. The attorneys collecting signed petitions – on both sides. Court should have never considered it. Plus opposition to illegal development does not require a majority opinion – at least in the US.
But as usual, the character’s stories were far more compelling. That scene with WYW informing her Tae Su Mi that she was her mother was perfections.
And finally, I can’t believe I wasn’t on the episode where you talk about whales! LOL I have retained so much information about whales from when I was in elementary school. And I actually know quite a lot about whaling – my interests are both diverse and bizarre.
Did you know that Korea has an extremely long history of whaling? Apparently, there is evidence of hunting whales in Korea going back 8,000 years. Korea allowed commercial whaling until 1986 when the International Whaling Commission outlawed it. However, whale meat is still allowed to be sold if it captured “accidently” in commercial fishing nets. The whale meat is so valuable that catching whales is referred to as the “sea lottery!” Many people think that a lot of these catches are not accidental. And there are still whale meat restaurants in south eastern Korea. There was even talk of resuming whaling for “scientific” purposes like Japan does, but I think that never happened.
Here are a couple of interesting articles:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-19498874
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/south-korea-whaling-bycatch
No What’s Malcolm Watching this post but I will update everyone when I post on episode 9.
Yes, I finally did watch Kpop Demon Hunters, the last person on the planet apparently, and I did enjoy it very much.
DeleteThanks for the info about whales and whaling in Korea. You are truly a fount of knowledge. We will just have to have you on the podcast more regularly!