[Drama 2010] Bad Guy/Bad Boy 나쁜남자

[Guest snyder]

sorry to cut your post short so in the end Gun Wook did not know that Tae ra is not his father's daughter ? He still thought she's his half sister ?

i dont think he knows. i mean he also doesnt know the fact that mdm shin killed his parents and that president hong is also his father... well, i think he should've done more research before plotting his revenge, that way he could minimize the damage to himself... well, whats done is done. nothing i can do to change the ending or the way the story already goes....

[Guest snyder]

everybody upset wf d ending either. one things why there in no conversion btween GW_TR at all. when mrs shin told him that his real father was mr Hong both of them shocked! & at GW home he said nothing. there are so many thing they can share together about his childhood, misunderstanding & their feeling. i dont think GW knw that TR not related in blood wf him.he might thouhgt they were sibling. he cried bcoz he felt guilty, shame & could not believe someone he love was his sister (mybe who knows) at least a word -sorry- right? the most loser was tae-ra but still she doesn't keep any revenge upon him(GW)- OYS presented TR as an elegant, smart, consistent, protecter,  strict & as a lover she was understanding, passionate, pure, loyal , awesome & beauty   i wont comment the rest- overall so many questions UNSOLVED!

behind the scene An Opening Art Gallery (mrs shin)

                                                                                                         the latest  OYS Interview 2010.08.06 on SBS tv

hahaha, i have to agree with you. i wish he had said a word or two to tae ra in the last 2 eps. its frustrating to see how tae ra doesnt have much scenes with gun wook towards the ending since those two are my fav couple and the ONE and MAIN reason that keeps me watching the drama...

but yes, that gift to so dahm is not that bad, either. in a way or two, he kind of said that he's sorry for hurting her and that she's pretty. hahahah. i think he couldn't tell it to her directly since he thought sorry wouldnt be enough to justify the damage he'd done or whether he was tooo guilt-ridden and too shocked at his new revelation (him being the REAL taesung). but then again, i do wish the same thing with you..... more scenes, more dialogues with tae ra :wub: maybe more scenes and dialogues that show gun wook actually cares for her, even a tiny bit!! that'd be kind of relieving for me... and that once, his heart wavers coz of her... but yeah, that'd betray the whole romance storyline since he's intended for jae in, from the very beginning... ohhh, how i wish.....

one thing i regretted: i hoped they could have that dinner/lunch together in episode 11 (i think)... but her husband just has to show up and ruin the moment!!!!!

and they should've given us a scene where gun wook does something happily with tae ra, something that's not for revenge purposes. maybe a date at a park or something... a theme park would be nice for tae ra since she's a bit rigid and im sure madame shin didnt really take her to theme parks when she was little.... and so dahm could come too.... hahahahahahha

[Guest nokaki]

hahaha, i have to agree with you. i wish he had said a word or two to tae ra in the last 2 eps. its frustrating to see how tae ra doesnt have much scenes with gun wook towards the ending since those two are my fav couple and the ONE and MAIN reason that keeps me watching the drama...    

but yes, that gift to so dahm is not that bad, either. in a way or two, he kind of said that he's sorry for hurting her and that she's pretty. hahahah. i think he couldn't tell it to her directly since he thought sorry wouldnt be enough to justify the damage he'd done or whether he was tooo guilt-ridden and too shocked at his new revelation (him being the REAL taesung). but then again, i do wish the same thing with you..... more scenes, more dialogues with tae ra   :wub:  maybe more scenes and dialogues that show gun wook actually cares for her, even a tiny bit!! that'd be kind of relieving for me... and that once, his heart wavers coz of her... but yeah, that'd betray the whole romance storyline since he's intended for jae in, from the very beginning... ohhh, how i wish.....

one thing i regretted: i hoped they could have that dinner/lunch together in episode 11 (i think)... but her husband just has to show up and ruin the moment!!!!!  

and they should've given us a scene where gun wook does something happily with tae ra, something that's not for revenge purposes. maybe a date at a park or something... a theme park would be nice for tae ra since she's a bit rigid and im sure madame shin didnt really take her to theme parks when she was little.... and so dahm could come too.... hahahahahahha

more than 100% agree wf u. at least on behalf the gift & words for her too.about ep 11 i thought so hu hu. their scenes TR-GW were  full of desire, romantic, sweet & different which seldom in other Kdrama. perhaps ur pure imagination scenes upon them punch BG badly!

in memory  : behind the scenes KNG-OYS/GW-TR~ Naughty-Serious but Sweet

[baduy]

The true last words of this drama are spoken by Mme Shin to GW as she gets into the prison bus for her brief spell behind bars (BTW she's released for lack of conclusive evidence of the charge: conspiracy to murder. She was not on trial or sentenced for the murder of GW's parents: episode 4 made it very clear that that crime falls outside the statute of limitations) "I've won" she says contemptuously, and she has indeed, because what she's just revealed to GW completely undercuts everything he's been trying to do and why he's been trying to do it. It makes a mockery of his whole existence. Not everyone here seems to grasp that until this moment, GW hadn't suspected he was the true TS. The "father" stuff a little earlier with the President wasn't him claiming to be his true son, but him recalling what he had once taken, mistakenly as he thought, for paternal affection.

It's those words of Mme Shin's and the truth behind them that actually kill GW, not Mo Nae's bullet. The recognition that he's been destroying his own family leaves him with no option but suicide. The gifts to TR, SD and JI were all prepared and packaged and dispatched in anticipation of him killing himself. They, along with the paper crane and the addition he's made to what he had already written on in on Jeju Island (he's now added "JI, WI, family") are his "suicide note" (And in Korean, "suicide note", "deathbed message" and "last will and testament" can all be covered by single concept meaning literally "final words")

It's the final, monstrously bitter, irony in this beautifully crafted plot that Mo Nae, in apparently murdering him to avenge everything he's done to her family and to punish him for turning her into someone capable of killing, (anyone who doesn't really understand the Korean as Mo Nae confronts GW at gunpoint should withhold their judgment of her character, and the significance of GW meeting his end at their hands until they do grasp what exactly she says to him) is actually merely pulling the trigger on the weapon he'd intended to turn upon himself.

I'm disappointed nobody has apparently given any thought to the significance of the glass mask. Go back to the Japan episode and consider what the artist said about why he made the original mask and what its significance was to him. Then ponder that GW has apparently managed to persuade the artist to craft another so he can leave it as his legacy to JI. Then reflect on the fact that the final voice over, starting as JI's then melding into GW's voice, is about seeing the world through that mask. Only then does the very complex emotional mix of the closing fully come together.

I think it's regrettable that a lot of the unfair and hasty judgements being passed on this drama's closing episodes are coming from people who don't understand Korean at all, or who do sort-of understand it but are relaying a very superficial and partial or otherwise inaccurate version of the dialogue.

But this isn't just a matter of language. It's also about culture and cultural bias. What a lot of the adverse judgements here come close to saying is that this drama was not Made in USA. Of course, Americans, so many of them locked in eternal adolescence, love stuff about healing through suffering, closure through insight and Justice being Seen To Be Done. Koreans, just as much shaped by their own very different personal and national history as Americans are, have a very different idea of how the world works and what can be expected of it, and it comes out time and again in plots that send Soompiers into a tizzy about "spoiled endings".

Of course, the endings of some Kdramas are indeed spoiled and/or rushed by any standards. But that doesn't often happen and it hasn't happened here. I urge everyone to wait until they have a full set of decent subs (viiki's are generally quite servicable, but they are rushed and low on subtlety: WITHS2's are mostly better, though they inevitably have their weaknesses too) then watch this entire drama through again with the degree of attention which the team who put so much effort and skill into it have a right to expect. I think you will find that then that the impression that things apparently went awry with ep 16 is merely a reflection of the fact that that's the point where it was no longer possible to see this drama as fulfilling predominantly American expectations of how such plots "ought" to turn out. But that isn't a sudden shift or lapse within the drama itself: it's just that it reaches a point where viewers who want to see one sort of outcome have to recognize that this drama isn't going to deliver it. But then, it was never intended to, so that's no grounds for surprise or indignation.

So please don't blame the writers, the director or the actors for not giving you what you wanted. They weren't trying to appeal to Western sensibilities or expectations in the first place, and there's no reason why they should do so. In fact, I'd say there's every reason why they shouldn't.

I for one love these dramas because I'm fascinated by the very different world-view they reveal (despite all the bolt-on internationalism of Korean cityscapes and consumer paradises). I don't necessarily always like, or approve of, the Korean take on the world; but the last thing I expect is for Korean artists to distort that view to make it look more acceptable to foreign eyes.

[Guest evilgary]

its so sad that his own younger sister killed him

this drama really ended pretty fast probably due to kim nam gil having to enlist into the army

[Guest safiyyah01]

so the end huh... the thing that gets me is the uncertainty that was left and the loose ends; they could be intentional or because there simply was not enough time to cover everything...

lets start off with gun woook, i know how he must of felt since found out from the witch mum from hell that suddenly it was his family he messed about but why did it make a huge huge huge difference since they were his family at one point too. ok i get that it was bad they are blood related and he did that but i do believe the sole person to blame was madam shin since the problems were all stemming from her.

as jae in said, the family did forgive him- president hong, tae sung and tae ra all forgave him and the father even wanted him back with them but unfortunately he died a dogs death.

it is kind of striking that nobody really looked for him and assumed on him being somewhere and being ok. i know he left a note to jae in but nobody else knew that and plus we were not told how long he had been gone or how much time had passed before madam shin was out of prison which bring me on to another point- how she was welcomed back by her family and company and how strangely the overbearing evidence was suddenly not enough. obviously her riches must have got her out of prison but why was she forgiven by everybody when the crimes she committed against everybody were unforgiveable and not to forget her terrifying mental state. i hope she drove herself mad but i doubt it as for people like them life carries on and all is brushed under the carpet.

i really wish we were told how much time had passed for these events taking place at the end. why did it take so long to find his body and why oh why in this day and age was the body unidentified; seriously, couldn't they do tests on the body to see who he was or something..it does not make sense...

on to monet...hmmm i think she did not want to kill him but she did want to and succeeded in hurting him, she did not take another shot to kill despite her threats to and she walked off..however i am curious whether she knew what her family did to gun wook as she was saying why did you do it etc..i get she was hurt but i dont understand all the -you made me like this malarky- he hardly messed with her, it was her childish infatuation and i do not understand how that made her rage turn into enough to shoot him. maybe it was impulse...but when they show her later, nothing has changed and if anything she is her mums clone in her distorted perceptions of life and her selfish actions. strange how she grew up hey.. and her supposed love got her nowhere, i mean she didnt bother wondering whether he lived or died and im sure she found out the full story later yet she showed no remorse or regret and went on her way with lavish indulgies..

i do also wonder about the shooting.. okay she did not directly kill him, she wounded him but he could have gone to the hospital and been saved easily...did he want to die or did he faint when he went to destroy the gun..maybe he wanted to die because if he wasnt going to die the gun wouldnt be a problem as there would have been no investigation against his will...his death was most likely his choice.. and omg all the people on the street saw him dying and injured yet left him urmmmmm where do these kinds of people exist...his death in the end was in vain as nobody changed- they all found out the truth and i guess tae ra and hong tae sung changed but president hong although he forgave him he also forgave madam shin and that is uncomprehendible- murderer wife? happy families with her? i dont think so...

i think the powerufl meaning behind the drama was shim gun wooks story and how against some people you cant win and you end up dirtying yourself.. their situation didnt change no matter what happened they lived their glass life of lies and deceit and dirty actions all hidden away. its a real shame that this is the reality of the world and yes it is hard-hitting.

i am also curious about the packages.. i know that he lied about america to prevent the family knowing he died because i somehow think monet would have ended up confessing or something- the last thing he did was defend and protect a family that did not deserve it and in a way it invented new lies and deceit..

i got that he had to die from the beginning but i wish there was attention to detail..the gaps make in incomplete and i keep pondering on it all.. lol i watched it for 17 hours so i think we all deserved a bit more insight into a sudden ending.. the unanswered questions are bugging and i know we all have differences in our opinions and takes on it but we can all admit the ending was good and moving and the point was made but not totally.. lol i could go on forever but i think il stop.whoaaaa didnt mean to go on this long lol .... x

[Guest safiyyah01]

hmmm btw i also thought that after jae in spoke to gun wook about his family forgiving him in time etc, he had given up on suicide i think he wanted her to live by his side and help him....

and then it changed maybe when mo nae challenged him again and brought up what he had done and how he was 'nothing'- he might have thought she knew he was her brother but i dont think she did...

in the end the decision to die was his own so it was kind of suicide since the note to jae in meant he was not returning and his own final peace was by him refusing (medical) help and destroying the gun and himself because he probably felt tired and beyond repair this time round in the games end... but ironically, mo nae became the huge catalyst of his death cuz i do believe if it wasnt for her he wouldve been on the road to repair out of despair somehow especially as he was about to be taken back by the family...sad sad sad sad sad.. he was tortured his whole life and in the end had to die like that.. so very heartbreaking

[Guest katherinekang]

I finished episode 17 with a heavy heart. In spite of all the readers and their comments, I felt Shim Gun Wook wants to die. It was a very sad ending. I had died......too.

[Guest andrea_dark]

I made a Bad Guy mv. Hope you like it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zjKJyA5uLI

I am so sad about BG ending...

[Guest infifinity]

uhhhhh wow I thought this drama was good up until ep 15!! Starting from the car accident, nothing made sense anymore. I'm sooo disappointed with the ending, why did they have to ruin it that way?????? I got really confused from ep 16 onwards. So in the mental hospital, Gun Wook was juz pretending to be crazy or was he really crazy and recovered? It also didn't make sense how Monet didn't know he's the real Tae Sung, her half brother and shot him!!!!! Did she even know that her mom was in jail because of the horrible thing she did? If she knew, she wouldn't have blamed it all on him. And if she didnt know, how did that make sense????? she's part of the family and no one told her about how Tae Sung was not her real brother and how her mom was in jail for attempting to kill Gun Wook???????

[cutimap]

I agree that the end was such a sad ending, not the end that we want to see. But, when I think of it, it was not a very bad ending after all.

GW – understandably why he wanted to commit suicide. After all his efforts to revenge Hong family only to find out that he had done evil things to his own family. That was a big blow. His entire life target (up till then) was squeezing his brain and energy to get Hong family down, now it turned out this target was whole meaningless. How could he face his family members now? No, he couldn’t. The father now became handicapped, the younger innocent sister now became ruthless like her mother, the older sister who he tricked with love, the oldest brother (whatever his name was) who died. All were done by him. He must have felt too ashamed to see them. That feeling counter-attacked him and momentary, he couldn’t get over it, that’s why he wanted to run out of it by paying by his own life. The love from JI could save him for a short while, but that love was not strong enough to keep him alive in long run. When MN shot, his guilty feeling came back and he dropped off everything. Of course he could have saved himself from that shot, but the most important thing was he didn’t want to live anymore, and the last thing he could do to his family was to save MN from trouble.

(This reminded me again of La Dolce Vita, the love in that drama was hundred times stronger than GW-JI love, but that couldn’t help the male lead from taking his own life, because his self-conscience was too strong and he couldn’t overcome his guilty feeling, it haunted him. GW was the same).

GW determined and had prepared for his disappearance. Sending presents to his loved ones (JI/TR+So Dam), he wanted to give them hope. As long as they didn’t know about his death, they would still be happy to hope that he’s also well, he’s somewhere in this world, to hope that someday he would re-appear in front of them, when all the wounds were healed, and they could live happily together. Although it’s a false hope, perhaps he believed that would be less devastated to those people than the real truth about his death?

TS – well-developed character and very well-played. In the end, he walked alone on the winding road, i.e. now he became a lonely person (without family) and had to face the difficult world ahead, but I believe he had grown up a lot, through all happened to him, and people around him. He is very cute, but my mind is full of GW so there’s no more empty slot for TS, sorry TS . Funnily enough, whenever I hear the ost by Jung Yeop, I only think of TS instead of GW. The song sounds to me nice, eagerness, a bit sweet – like TS, not strong, rough and rage like the main & sub theme which remind me of GW.

JI – as many of you mentioned, she’s a realistic character. From initially a totally-materialistic girl she had changed to be more emotional thanked to GW’s love. But when she understood it, it was already too late. Isn’t it also real life? Life is not fair, when you start to treasure things, that thing either went fast or disappeared too fast for you to enjoy it, and then you long for it. When JI realized that GW was everything to her life, he vanished and as she thought he only “left”, she would wait and think of him more than ever. To me, JI was a quite well-developed character also.

However (this made everything changed), HGI “killed” this character. From the interview before the drama started, HGI mentioned “I will try to make audience like this character”, it meant JI was not a nice person but HGI would try to make JI nice and likeable. Also, when I read the synopsis, I imagined and longing for very interesting encounters between GW – JI and exciting incidents they spent together, which would make their relationship fascinating and remarkable. But in my view, HGI had failed. It seems that the more I expected, the more disappointed I was. HGI made JI a plain and indifferent image; no wonder audience (including myself) changed their focus to GW-TR. Her expressions were extremely awkward, from a should-be interesting role, JI had become a blank character.

In a way, I like this ending to JI. Next time when she found a new gold-mine, GW was still be somewhere in her mind to prevent her (at least for a moment) from becoming a gold-digger !

@Baduy: I agree with you about the meaning of the glass mask, and the effectiveness of the last scene when JI’s voice gradually dissolve into GW’s voice. But JI (or should I say HGI who played badly JI role) would never be that deep to realize and understand the beauty & the meaning of the mask. JI all along was always such a superficial girl, she didn’t (and perhaps never) understand GW deeply. Maybe that’s why there’s no scene which she put his glass mask on her face – in order to see things through his eyes?

TR – this ending was the best for this character. TR devoted all her love, her life, she threw away her own family for the love with GW. If he’s just an outsider, when she knew that he took advantages of her, it would destroy her life (but I don’t think her character would ever become ruthless like MN). GW turned out to be her younger “brother” was much better; because to forgive and sympathy with GW-TS now- were much easier. GW had gone, but TR had become herself, lived the life she wanted, not the life others wanted her to live. All thanked to her love to GW. I think she would miss him a lot, but she understood why he went away, and not knowing about his death would give her that comfort thinking, and who knows – also a longing for his return?

We all know that there would be no such a real GW-TR relationship (although I wish to see it). But I like the last present he gave her. The movie “Dirty dancing” – the movie she told him once when they were locked inside the theater, the movie she saw when she was a teenager which rooted in her about a real love and he still remembered what she said. Sweet!

MN – from an innocent girl, she had developed into a young Mde Shin. With such a spoiled brat character, MN could not swallow the way GW treated her – first GW messed up with her sister, then with JI. So she did it –destroy the “thing” which she believed belonged to her, rather than let it go to others’ hands.

Just 1 big thing I myself cannot swallow: MN could have not known GW as her brother when she shot him, but after that she should have known that fact, and she couldn’t just pretend nothing happened – a family feeling is always different to a love feeling. Hmmm, this I don’t understand!

Mde Shin – I think she got out of jail partly thanked to her handicap (whether it’s real handicapped or not), or a pretend mental illness. These riches have thousand ways of doing these evil things. This made me angry. But did the writer want to imply from this: it’s so unfair in this world?

Wow, that’s a lot I wrote. Usually I wait for a drama finished to watch the whole series. This is the first time I watch a K-drama on the spot, I longed for the next eps, read all your interesting comments, spoilers, I looked for director/movie team interviews. It’s really exciting! The movie was too excited that it attracted and swept me away with it!

Thanks all you guys that delivered me so many nice photos, clips, spoilers, thoughts, etc.

I think I wouldn’t mind to watch this again. Dropping all illogical tiny details, I would like to see KNG – KJW – OSY again in this drama. And to enjoy the wonderful OST.

[blueseeker]

Wow, this finale made my heart bleed more than any other. Just whyyyyy? Army or no army, they didn't have to end it this way! No justice, no hope, even not the truth - for MN and JI anyway. They could've just stopped with GW and JI being happy together, there was enough pain anyway. And why leave JI waiting and him dead with no-one aware? Even a suicide would have been better. I get that they went for the poetic tragedy but this just doesn't feel right at all.

I'm especially sad because this was practically my favourite drama, I was totally loving it for 15 episodes! Then ep.16 stopped making sense and 17 blew it. 16 started failing to fit with the overall tone and execution of the rest of the drama - too-slow pace, GW's random craziness, overdramatic mrs.Shin thunder moment, repetition etc. Sloppy writing also irked me - like TS being otherwise pretty indifferent/unsurprised, but all angry at GW when mrs.Shin was taken in for his attempted murder, or mr.Kim saying he didn't commit the crime in court (and the other man, too, just saying that Madam only wanted him to take care of it after she found out GW wasn't dead) when, you know, SOMEONE made GW crash!

Sure, the final episodes can't erase my love for the previous episodes, but it just kind of rips the good feeling from it. Oh, k-dramas and your notoriously unsatisfying endings. Why Bad Guy? :'(

Anyway, I'm not in the same boat with everyone who critizises HGI. I actually liked her acting and didn't think the character was useless.. JI was kind of the catalyst and supporter for the two Tae-sungs, someone in the sidelines who was also considered lowly by the Hongs, who had to struggle. I like that she's a realistic woman with her own flaws and ambitions (and that her character showed growth), so I don't think she deserves this miserable end, having been rocked from all the crap happened and hopelessly in love with someone who doesn't even exist anymore.

Tae-sung was also left miserable, with even more scars and a pointless life, left to his own devices with basically no-one to turn to. At least he has a new beginning and some closure for lifetime issues.

Mo-nae should have found out the truth and evolved some, but she's still the bratty rich girl and now she's got blood on her hands, as well...sigh.

Madam Shin getting out of jail and returning home!? You've got to be kidding me. This takes the point away from everything! What good is Tae-ra being the head of the company now, the servants coming out with their secrets when they're all going to be under her influence again? Even mr.Hong seemed to have forgiven her. It should have been her staying locked up and the family slowly healing and starting over with GW..that would've been poetic, too. Him returning to those he wanted to revenge on and having a new life. Worst of all is that he wasn't even a bad guy, he was always this kind, vulnerable soul who stayed a victim til the end.

OK, rant over - I got to vent most of it out, lol. Am also ready for my next drama to have less heartache and angst!

I agree with you 100%! Why?!

[Guest shyangz]

bad guy is one of the best dramas i have watched to date...

random thoughts:

- the way gw died anon... but just as how he manipulated the lives of those around him, isn't it in a way ironic that he died the way he wanted? i'm glad he didn't have a typical k-drama 'die-in-the-arms-of-somebody-sobbing' death or worse, some 2 or 3 years later miracle and maybe throw in amnesia...

- monae killing geonwook. i feel sad for monae, about how her life is going to become after she shot him, knowing him as her brother or not. (the manicure and yoga ad placement scenes may be what it appears to be, but who knows, monae will be hallucinating like mum for years to come...) for all those feeling that monae is childish, bratty etc for killing gw, step into her shoes and see if you can forgive geonwook at that point of time. she didn't want to kill him, but at the tip of her rage she saw a gun. the part about monae killing made me think of this strange connection between her sanity and her mum's sanity. if monae can actually continue living after all these madness she has experienced, then who knows what kind of madness mrs shin endured while growing up... ? compared to taera, monae is more innocent 'cos of her youth, but like taera, she knows she has to protect her family members, she was willing to protect taera (by bringing her overseas and not telling her brother-in-law) even after knowing that taera has fallen hopelessly in love with her own first love.. i admit that when monae was holding the gun, and geonwook was begging her not to shoot, that i really hated monae for appearing at that point after how jaein managed to pacify geonwook's suicidal tendencies... but to see geonwook immediately clean the gun free of fingerprints and how he struggles to die in the manner least able to (further) hurt his family, it just seems like everything has come full circle -- geonwook has destroyed, and saved, his family.

- the cops. besides being affected by han gain's acting, i was affected by the way the cops are used as .. er... convenient plot movers in the drama, especially whenever the young cop presents the obviously wrong conclusion or asks a silly question so that the old cop can add in gut feels, experienced guesses, more pondering glances... taesung was much faster in japan, immediately asking if geonwook wanted to kill him; the housekeeper in one knowing glance at geonwook eating sweets thought about young taesung; mrs shin could link sign language at the gallery with geonwook's sign language... maybe i'm thinking too much into this, but maybe the writers are trying to tell us that living in a household like the hongs make you much more sensitive to .. uh.. bad guys than ordinary people out there..?

- taera's 'perfect' world and demeanor was broken apart by geonwook, but think about how her life has already been broken apart when she was brought up to sacrifice herself totally for everybody around her except herself. i like how the writers spent time writing all the tender moments between her and geonwook and emphasizing her internal struggles, how she needs geonwook to allow her to rebel, because she couldn't do it herself, and how she eventually could. in a way, geonwook saved her, another family member, too. heck, geonwook probably also helped her husband get out of a loveless marriage.

- wonin. i'm glad wonin is not victimised in this drama. she became geonwook's true little sister, where geonwook even gave her some unheeded advice regarding her high school crush lol (guess jaein's too busy to know that she has one haha) even taesung managed to have some light-hearted moments with wonin, i'm glad wonin appeared in the last episode, though another irony of how she innocently pranced about geonwook's house which used to be so full of sad flashbacks and planned revenge.

- sometimes i wonder about similarities between kim tak gu and taesung, both on the wed-thur timeslots, where leading men are sons of unknown parentage, dads who are in the wrong but portrayed forgivingly, jealous mums portrayed as unreasonable and materialistic etc... someone posted earlier about how koreans have different ways of looking at a drama compared to foreigners (sorry i can't remember the exact words), but i guess korean audiences also prefer simpler and more heroic plotlines like kim tak gu, who's ratings are over 40% compared to bad guy's single digit ratings...

- i was a little disappointed by the way taesung's character was 'resolved', maybe it could have been more elaborate if the drama ended with 20 episodes. after all the reckless anger and repressed sorrow in the earlier episodes become understanding and gratitude so soon, so easily? to be very optimistic about this character development, maybe taesung #2's new start in life can be interpreted as taesung #1's biggest contribution to the saddest hong family member of them all. but i'm not very convinced about how it has been done.

- mrs shin. the first time i watched kim hye ok as the cruelly elegant mother in law was in 'the golden age of daughter in laws'. i think her acting went up a notch here with her hyperventilating horror episodes towards the end of the series. didn't really like the shrieking much though, that seemed a bit over the top. i expected her to survive till the end of the drama, and was a little surprised when she had her screaming moments not in private but in the courtroom. that seemed to spell the end of her perfect glass mask persona in public, but later with her release, it seemed that everything can get back into her control again.. in a way this mirrors real life, the way hyundai motor's president had an 'executive suite' prison so that he can still run the company while waiting to be prosecuted for his corruption charges... it sounds like a joke but this really happened a few years ago, embarrassingly real and sounds worse than a drama plot... there was a scene where mrs shin was bawling over taegyun's death, saying that the nation was mourning for the loss of her son, that was really pathetic, but it seemed believable to me, that people of that level in society actually think like that.

- the scene of jaein finding geonwook in the hospital, being glad that he was alive, and telling him to have a good rest... as kim namgil gives us many cute moments before his impending death. i guess i'm wierd, but this is my favorite jaein-geonwook scene in the entire drama. i totally could understand jaein telling him to rest... in his newfound world of insanity... happy yet heartbroken. later when the revenge-laden geonwook was back, with the original hairstyle, i felt a little confused that he acted mad even in front of jaein?? that was a little unsettling, though i admit i was too happy seeing geonwook back in action at that point i didn't care.

kim namgil... awaiting more dramas from u...

[Guest nokaki]

I agree that the end was such a sad ending, not the end that we want to see. But, when I think of it, it was not a very bad ending after all.

GW – understandably why he wanted to commit suicide. After all his efforts to revenge Hong family only to find out that he had done evil things to his own family. That was a big blow. His entire life target (up till then) was squeezing his brain and energy to get Hong family down, now it turned out this target was whole meaningless. How could he face his family members now? No, he couldn’t. The father now became handicapped, the younger innocent sister now became ruthless like her mother, the older sister who he tricked with love, the oldest brother (whatever his name was) who died. All were done by him. He must have felt too ashamed to see them. That feeling counter-attacked him and momentary, he couldn’t get over it, that’s why he wanted to run out of it by paying by his own life. The love from JI could save him for a short while, but that love was not strong enough to keep him alive in long run. When MN shot, his guilty feeling came back and he dropped off everything. Of course he could have saved himself from that shot, but the most important thing was he didn’t want to live anymore, and the last thing he could do to his family was to save MN from trouble.

(This reminded me again of La Dolce Vita, the love in that drama was hundred times stronger than GW-JI love, but that couldn’t help the male lead from taking his own life, because his self-conscience was too strong and he couldn’t overcome his guilty feeling, it haunted him. GW was the same).

GW determined and had prepared for his disappearance. Sending presents to his loved ones (JI/TR+So Dam), he wanted to give them hope. As long as they didn’t know about his death, they would still be happy to hope that he’s also well, he’s somewhere in this world, to hope that someday he would re-appear in front of them, when all the wounds were healed, and they could live happily together. Although it’s a false hope, perhaps he believed that would be less devastated to those people than the real truth about his death?

TS – well-developed character and very well-played. In the end, he walked alone on the winding road, i.e. now he became a lonely person (without family) and had to face the difficult world ahead, but I believe he had grown up a lot, through all happened to him, and people around him. He is very cute, but my mind is full of GW so there’s no more empty slot for TS, sorry TS   . Funnily enough, whenever I hear the ost by Jung Yeop, I only think of TS instead of GW. The song sounds to me nice, eagerness, a bit sweet – like TS, not strong, rough and rage like the main & sub theme which remind me of GW.

JI – as many of you mentioned, she’s a realistic character. From initially a totally-materialistic girl she had changed to be more emotional thanked to GW’s love. But when she understood it, it was already too late. Isn’t it also real life? Life is not fair, when you start to treasure things, that thing either went fast or disappeared too fast for you to enjoy it, and then you long for it. When JI realized that GW was everything to her life, he vanished and as she thought he only “left”, she would wait and think of him more than ever. To me, JI was a quite well-developed character also.

However (this made everything changed), HGI “killed” this character. From the interview before the drama started, HGI mentioned “I will try to make audience like this character”, it meant JI was not a nice person but HGI would try to make JI nice and likeable. Also, when I read the synopsis, I imagined and longing for very interesting encounters between GW – JI and exciting incidents they spent together, which would make their relationship fascinating and remarkable. But in my view, HGI had failed. It seems that the more I expected, the more disappointed I was. HGI made JI a plain and indifferent image; no wonder audience (including myself) changed their focus to GW-TR. Her expressions were extremely awkward, from a should-be interesting role, JI had become a blank character.

In a way, I like this ending to JI. Next time when she found a new gold-mine, GW was still be somewhere in her mind to prevent her (at least for a moment) from becoming a gold-digger   !

@Baduy: I agree with you about the meaning of the glass mask, and the effectiveness of the last scene when JI’s voice gradually dissolve into GW’s voice. But JI (or should I say HGI who played badly JI role) would never be that deep to realize and understand the beauty & the meaning of the mask. JI all along was always such a superficial girl, she didn’t (and perhaps never) understand GW deeply. Maybe that’s why there’s no scene which she put his glass mask on her face – in order to see things through his eyes?

TR – this ending was the best for this character. TR devoted all her love, her life, she threw away her own family for the love with GW. If he’s just an outsider, when she knew that he took advantages of her, it would destroy her life (but I don’t think her character would ever become ruthless like MN). GW turned out to be her younger “brother” was much better; because to forgive and sympathy with GW-TS now- were much easier. GW had gone, but TR had become herself, lived the life she wanted, not the life others wanted her to live. All thanked to her love to GW. I think she would miss him a lot, but she understood why he went away, and not knowing about his death would give her that comfort thinking, and who knows – also a longing for his return?

We all know that there would be no such a real GW-TR relationship (although I wish to see it). But I like the last present he gave her. The movie “Dirty dancing” – the movie she told him once when they were locked inside the theater, the movie she saw when she was a teenager which rooted in her about a real love and he still remembered what she said. Sweet!  

MN – from an innocent girl, she had developed into a young Mde Shin. With such a spoiled brat character, MN could not swallow the way GW treated her – first GW messed up with her sister, then with JI. So she did it –destroy the “thing” which she believed belonged to her, rather than let it go to others’ hands.

Just 1 big thing I myself cannot swallow: MN could have not known GW as her brother when she shot him, but after that she should have known that fact, and she couldn’t just pretend nothing happened – a family feeling is always different to a love feeling. Hmmm, this I don’t understand!

Mde Shin – I think she got out of jail partly thanked to her handicap (whether it’s real handicapped or not), or a pretend mental illness. These riches have thousand ways of doing these evil things. This made me angry. But did the writer want to imply from this: it’s so unfair in this world?

Wow, that’s a lot I wrote. Usually I wait for a drama finished to watch the whole series. This is the first time I watch a K-drama on the spot, I longed for the next eps, read all your interesting comments, spoilers, I looked for director/movie team interviews. It’s really exciting! The movie was too excited that it attracted and swept me away with it!

Thanks all you guys that delivered me so many nice photos, clips, spoilers, thoughts, etc.

I think I wouldn’t mind to watch this again. Dropping all illogical tiny details, I would like to see KNG – KJW – OSY again in this drama. And to enjoy the wonderful OST.

wow what a conclusion! almost 100% i agree about ur view to each of d char. i wont deny at first i like to see JI/HGI char. then from ep 7 till the end TR or TR-GW scenes grip my focus a lot. since that TR char seems overwrite her role as 1st lead badly & at d same time HGI acting became weak & plain. i could not feel her sad/suffering even though she crying & her facial exp jz so so. hope she can improve her acting next time. very sorry to HGI/JI fan actually i jz to respond other comment. The one who stole my attention much was TR/OYs & she deserved bcoz of her super acting! miss GW-TR scenes

[Dudie]

I'm watching ep 14 now and ever since the beginning I was like they use the same house as Brilliant Legacy or does it just look like it?! I could take it anymore so when they showed the house from up front I went to check Brilliant Legacy and yep I was right..it's the same!! Very random but I allready liked the house in Brilliant Legacy somehow.

And ohh now I really can't stop watching while it's time to sleep.. Poor Shin Gun Wook

[Guest miszlinda]

i never watched a drama in my life and this was the first one i watched. this one made me go crazy and die all throughout the whole series. especially the end i was going crazy at how gun wook died and monet i just wanted to punch her lmao

[henya]

i hope to watch Oh Yeon Soo in another drama..becase of her portrayal as TAE-ra a lot of people recognized her acting and beauty...that's really nice!!! she maybe paired up again with another younger guy!!! like OH JI HO, LEE DONG WOOK, and KIM NAM GIL..too name a few..lucky girl!!!

[Guest belva]

I'm disappointed nobody has apparently given any thought to the significance of the glass mask. Go back to the Japan episode and consider what the artist said about why he made the original mask and what its significance was to him. Then ponder that GW has apparently managed to persuade the artist to craft another so he can leave it as his legacy to JI. Then reflect on the fact that the final voice over, starting as JI's then melding into GW's voice, is about seeing the world through that mask. Only then does the very complex emotional mix of the closing fully come together.

I think it's regrettable that a lot of the unfair and hasty judgements being passed on this drama's closing episodes are coming from people who don't understand Korean at all, or who do sort-of understand it but are relaying a very superficial and partial or otherwise inaccurate version of the dialogue.

But this isn't just a matter of language. It's also about culture and cultural bias. What a lot of the adverse judgements here come close to saying is that this drama was not Made in USA. Of course, Americans, so many of them locked in eternal adolescence, love stuff about healing through suffering, closure through insight and Justice being Seen To Be Done. Koreans, just as much shaped by their own very different personal and national history as Americans are, have a very different idea of how the world works and what can be expected of it, and it comes out time and again in plots that send Soompiers into a tizzy about "spoiled endings".

Sorry to cut your post short. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It really help shed some light to what we don't know about Korean culture and the drama itself especially on the glass mask. Gave me more reasons to appreciate this drama and I'm sure gonna re-watch it with WITHS2 subs.

Love reading all the other posts as well, didnt expect myself to enjoy reading so many walls of text

29s BTS of the Soju scene between GW & JI in episode 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H3bfxHQlNM

[fallentenshi]

such a sad drama. *sighs*

There was no justice for Madam Shin in da end.... she was happy and got back on her feet after how long? few months? And the whole family just forgives her? what a shocker!!

As for Monet, how can she not realise she shot him?? and then she goes on with her normal life with facial treatement etc. Crazy just like her mother.

I liked the last scene, where JI wonders where GW is... well he's right behind ya on that piece of paper. I felt sad at that point, because on that big board, there's just 1 piece of paper which nobody notice and it looks like the wind is going to blow it away and nobody will ever find out... that's just sad.

It's like we are all a needle in a haystack, nobody knows and nobody cares. And GW is back to square one. So after that circle, was it all worth it? *sighs*

[Guest R00se]

this drama from the start was amazing ...

but in the end ( 17 ep ) I think they just makes the events so quick !!

they should make it more than 17 episodes !!

I was disappointed in the end !!

I was sure that Kim Nam Gil will die in the end

but of course not that way

he can stay alive but they want him die ,, maybe because he do bad things to his family !!

The story was very tragic

I can't believed I was crying in 16-17 ep ..

so sad Gun Wook don't have a happiness from the beginning to the end

everything in the drama was amazing except the Final !!