[Drama 2015] Heard It Through the Grapevine 풍문으로 들었소

[ck1Oz]

I think it's evem sadder the Korean viewers reflect some views that the rich must triumph. Or that it's wrong that children walk away. Why is it unrealistic the children make their own way in life? 

 

The person whl said the wrong person entered the house is scary. Did she/he think the Hans were right? 

[mdj101]

@hushhhhh:... Your comment (p.195) about Sec.Kim  turned on a "lightbulb" in my hed!  It was Sec.Yang alone that Kim feared, just as he said to her face. He knew what she could do to him once she knew his weak spot.    HJH and Sec.Kim had a talk in a very early episode in whichHJH asked him, "Your father thinks you work t Hansong as a lawyer, doesn't he? But I told you Secretary suited you best.".  Really scary when he said that to Yang. And HJH said to Yang, "he was my most foolish employee. Why do I feel like I miss him?" after Kim resigned.   Thanks for reminding me!

EDIT:... When Yang was offered that last chance to join the "good guy team" by Min and Lee, to be with them and not be alone anymore, and warned that she should trust HJH to keep his word, do you think she wished she could do this?  She thought she was taking a fruit basket on a visit to Tutor  & Sec. Lee, I think.  Never expected to be carted along to the party at the Seo's home.

EDIT #2:.... YeonHee asked HJH to move to the smaller Villa house and he refused.  So she packs a suitcase to "travel for a while".   "Will you come back?", HJH asked.    Hard to say, isn't it?

EDIT #3:... I have an idea.  HJH has no love for YeonHee that we have been able to detect over 30 episodes. But he is more adaptable than a chameleon!  Divorce will suit him perfectly.  Wife #2?  Young Ra, of course!      As soon as the hair transplants have healed... for their Honeymoon!   Yeon Hee will be just an unfortunate "speed-bump" on his road back to his true love, who TRULY will love him for his $$$$.

They'll be a happy couple ::... Young Ra and HJH's Millions.  SIGH !   

EDIT #4:.. @superkt. Great idea about the CSR being the "new" Han Trust, or did you mean HJH will really create a genuine foundation to help folks without a wealthy grandfather, as Bom told him.   ALSO, I now think that Tutor Park represents the beginnings of a scholarship system to aid students who can't afford the help with  subjects in school and with tuition and other expenses!

[shamrockmom]

That ending! *Face-palm*

First, the bad stuff--this is only a partial list: 

Ok, so if Tutor Park had all this money to begin with, why didn't he just pay his taxes rather than have Daddy Han "fix" the problem for him? That part of the ending felt so ridiculous and contrived....I can only guess the writer-nim did that because the episodes were cut, and the pressure was on to wrap it up.

And everybody pitches in to take care of JY, cooperatively living together as "the village" to raise a child? I'm not sold. Butler Park and his wife are starting a restaurant? Didn't the adviser tell Papa Seo that was a bad idea, because of the fail rate? 

How in the world did YJH and Attorney Yoo afford to hire Tutor Park, Secretary Kim, and Min Jae, even at a minimum wage? Where's that money, and the money they need themselves coming from?

BTW--why was Uncle in the last scene?  I thought he went out to MJY's place? (gosh they were cute together...sorry!) 

SB and IS fighting over who was gonna take the Bar exam. Manufactured angst. Seriously, after all that they both went through...They could have worked out a compromise. 

How is Mommy Han going to travel without a Secretary/Servant in tow? This woman can't even dress herself, or put her own shoes on. Plus she's scared of every little noise! My guess--she makes it to the end of the Joseon Mansion's driveway and turns around. No worries about Daddy Han being alone. 

And YJH--was he using NR to cover for his "lifestyle" or was that a red herring? (More apologies--they were cute together too!)

Better stuff: 

Apologies to Min Jae--I raked him over the coals on my blog recaps. Glad to see him get some redemption--I would never have guessed it. 

Loved the chandelier with one burnt out bulb in the last scene. I saw that as a "single finger salute" to TPTB for the episode cut! 

The Sad and Depressing stuff:

Mommy Han throwing IS's arms off of her when he tried to hug her. That was hard to watch.

 

[hushhh]

As I read the ending, admittedly through translation, Hansong and Han have lost big time.

1-Han has lost his heir.  [Which to Han is almost as tragic as losing his hair.] Why build and empire if there is no one to leave it to.  An heir who continues your traditions validates your life choices. An heir who chooses another path repudiates your live choices. That repudiation ends your legacy

Side note: it seems all the wealthy parents have lost their children, or the right to control their children's lifechoices. HS and YJ have run away from home and parents in a time honored Korean tradition by going to study abroad. (And for the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY HISTORY OF WATCHING K-DRAMA, the student who goes go study abroad seems to have researched and planned months in advance.  YJ may actually return home conversant in ??? the language of the land she is studying in) The poorest rich-woman's son, who function as a character in the drama I have not been able to decipher is making and acting on decisions on his own.

2- Hansong's corruption is in the process of being exposed. It seems our intrepid justice warriors have gotten a class action suit going--this was the main thing that Han did not want to happen.  He was willing to allow individuals small wins, but a class action suit that sets precedence would ruin his clients and by extension Hansong.

3. He lost all his "retainers/vassals" faithful and otherwise. Han expressed his sense of loss at Sec'y Kim's departure, but the loss of Yang must hurt like the loss of an arm. She has been with him since be began. I suggested that Yang would either be thrown under the bus or fall on her sword earlier.  I think, as best I understand it, what happened is a combination of the two.

4. His wife is questioning his choices and strategy.  Hence Yeon Hee showing up at daycare [seriously rocking that white dress and shades. The actress looked amazing]. Her statement I am being cold, why isn't working. The loss of InSang has/will lead to her evaluating Han's effectiveness and his worldview.  Han has lost his sense of omnipotence at home and at work.

5. Han is left in his living nightmare.  He's alone in a huge house.

Contrast that with the next generation and we clearly see the future the writer wishes for Korea.

 

 

[Guest Lyn_]

Wow, I felt that that the ending scene with HJH so powerful and sad at the same time.

That being sad, I would like some more chapters to wrap it up because when everybody started to quit, for the very first time HJH saw he was very much not in control of everything and that he actually misses those people he took for granted. THAT ladies and gent is motherfucking CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Also, it seems likely to assume In Sang and Bom will do great at the bar exam and law school. Also very probable that the new firm that has everyone who quit working against HJH prosper and be their firm alongside the others. I'd like to see at least a fast forward on that.

But what I really wanted to see are the repercussions of those illegal acts and how YH and HJH deal with it, how they will come together as a family again. It does not seem to me that they are bad people. Just very, very delusional about what is right and wrong, people in general. This seems like the perfect wake up call. Finally someone is stepping up to them and saying "Hey! You've got it all wrong, what you are doing is wrong and you will end up alone like this. The world changed!". 

So, is this really the end? A couple sites said it was 30 chapters long, some said 32. Anyone knows for sure?

[lauren2b2]

the  drama  ended  but  i  wasn't  fully  satisfied.  i  am  glad  that  insang went  out  on his  own  and  made a  living  for  his family.  but  in accepting  the  scholarship  of teacher  kim,  he  made  some  tradeoffs  which  was   like  what  his  father  did  to  him.  why  not a  scholarship  with  no strings  attached. i  know  in  government  given  scholarships  you  are  required  to  work  with  the gov't  for  a  certain  period  of  time. a fter  that  you  seek b etter paying  salaries.you'll  never  now  what  happens  in  the  future,  who knows  you'll  really  be  good  in corporate  law not  labor laws?  also  i  think  it  would  be  in  their  best  interest  to  consider  it as a  loan to  be  paid  back  when  they  are  earning  that  way  you  wouldn't  be  indebted  to  anybody.  and  why  burn  bridges  with  your  family,  they a re  still  your  family,  they  gave you life  and  insang  wouldn't  be  insang  without  them.   keep  your  distance  for  the  time  being,  but  eventually  have  a  relationship  with  them  on even  terms. eventually  they'll  come  around,  when  you're  older  and both parties more forgiving,  things  will change.  the  drama  seem  to  be  telling  us  that  friends  and  non  relatives  are definitely  better  than  your  own  family.  in  the  case  of  his parents,  they  maybe  old  fashioned,  closed  minded  but  they  were  interested  in their  children.  they w ere not profligate,   they  did not  really  have  a  decadent  lifestyle.  of  course,  in  the  end  atty  han  was  left  alone living  in his  own world.

well,  the  drama  really  placed  the  rich a nd  the  privileged  in  bad  light as contrasted  with  the  poor.  but  why  romanticize  poverty?poverty  is  not  beautiful.  as  if  having  parents  who cannot  provide  are  better  than  having  parents  who  can  well  provide. 

[seungshin]

I think it's evem sadder the Korean viewers reflect some views that the rich must triumph. Or that it's wrong that children walk away. Why is it unrealistic the children make their own way in life? 

​Totally unrealistic in the real world of South Korea to think that a couple with young child from a poor family could do nothing but study for the years it would take to pass the bar exam.  A total pure fantasy.  This is possible in North America where I live and I have done that myself but not South Korea where I was born and lived until I was 14.  Not difficult, it's impossible.  So what IS and SB are doing in HITTG to me is a total fiction.

Which is the reason why the writer-nim had to create another fiction of the Tutor financing the whole thing.  With three conditions that is basically the writer-nim's last stand (for the drama) against the corrupt society in the drama.  This creates a problem of IS and SB totally relying on the whole village with the Tutor as its head.  If anyone can find me a young couple with a child being supported to school by a whole village in Korea I would like to meet them.  And they expect nothing in return?  Fat chance.  That's not how the human beings work.  So here IS and SB rejects his father and replaced him with a whole village to help him.  I don't call that an independence or going on your own.  

Is it wrong?  Perhaps not and I didn't think so at first but now I think it's wrong.  A total cop out by IS and SB (aka as the writer-nim).  IS can't jump outside of his own shadow.  Has anyone try to jump out of his/her shadow when walking in the dark with a long shadow on them from the lamp post.  You can't separate yourself from the shadow.  The shadow is attached to you.  IS should have stayed in the family and fixed the corruption problem of his father and his grandfather.  He owes it to himself and his child.  To clear the Han name.  Reveal what he knows of the Han Trust.  Reveal he knows of his corruption.  And clean it up.  Not just let the father go on in his corrupt ways and just walk away as though he doesn't belong to that name or that family or that name.  You cannot just say one day you are not a Han or you don't come from that family.  That's what I feel.  What IS did is totally pure fantasy in the imagination of this idealist writer-nim.

[mdj101]

@shamrockmom:... Papa Seo was going to purchase a franchise (like McDonalds, or a chicken store, etc..  But the Butler's wife has professional cooking skills, and her food is well-liked.

Edit:...@hushhhhh:... Thanks for reminding of the "pillow talk" after the daycare visit  fiasco. When HJH complained of those "birdbrains", Yeon Hee asked him what about HIS OWN brain. He was out-foxed by Bom. His clever plan did not work. Worse yet, In Sang was just like HJH with his "foolishness" (i.e..,  both are "fools for love" , meaning Young Ra and Bom), 

[seungshin]

That ending! *Face-palm*

First, the bad stuff--this is only a partial list: 

Ok, so if Tutor Park had all this money to begin with, why didn't he just pay his taxes rather than have Daddy Han "fix" the problem for him? That part of the ending felt so ridiculous and contrived....I can only guess the writer-nim did that because the episodes were cut, and the pressure was on to wrap it up.

And everybody pitches in to take care of JY, cooperatively living together as "the village" to raise a child? I'm not sold. Butler Park and his wife are starting a restaurant? Didn't the adviser tell Papa Seo that was a bad idea, because of the fail rate? 

How in the world did YJH and Attorney Yoo afford to hire Tutor Park, Secretary Kim, and Min Jae, even at a minimum wage? Where's that money, and the money they need themselves coming from?

BTW--why was Uncle in the last scene?  I thought he went out to MJY's place? (gosh they were cute together...sorry!) 

SB and IS fighting over who was gonna take the Bar exam. Manufactured angst. Seriously, after all that they both went through...They could have worked out a compromise. 

How is Mommy Han going to travel without a Secretary/Servant in tow? This woman can't even dress herself, or put her own shoes on. Plus she's scared of every little noise! My guess--she makes it to the end of the Joseon Mansion's driveway and turns around. No worries about Daddy Han being alone. 

And YJH--was he using NR to cover for his "lifestyle" or was that a red herring? (More apologies--they were cute together too!)

Better stuff: 

Apologies to Min Jae--I raked him over the coals on my blog recaps. Glad to see him get some redemption--I would never have guessed it. 

Loved the chandelier with one burnt out bulb in the last scene. I saw that as a "single finger salute" to TPTB for the episode cut! 

[Gosh, never noticed that, how so very dualnon-esq of you.  Good on Shamrockmom

The Sad and Depressing stuff:

Mommy Han throwing IS's arms off of her when he tried to hug her. That was hard to watch.

[agree with you here, but are we to take comfort she at least cried, therefore there is a possibility for change of heart?  IS and IJ seem to suggest that mom might be able to change in their airport conversation]

 

​

[hushhh]

Wow, I felt that that the ending scene with HJH so powerful and sad at the same time.

That being sad, I would like some more chapters to wrap it up because when everybody started to quit, for the very first time HJH saw he was very much not in control of everything and that he actually misses those people he took for granted. THAT ladies and gent is motherfucking CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Also, it seems likely to assume In Sang and Bom will do great at the bar exam and law school. Also very probable that the new firm that has everyone who quit working against HJH prosper and be their firm alongside the others. I'd like to see at least a fast forward on that.

But what I really wanted to see are the repercussions of those illegal acts and how YH and HJH deal with it, how they will come together as a family again. It does not seem to me that they are bad people. Just very, very delusional about what is right and wrong, people in general. This seems like the perfect wake up call. Finally someone is stepping up to them and saying "Hey! You've got it all wrong, what you are doing is wrong and you will end up alone like this. The world changed!". 

So, is this really the end? A couple sites said it was 30 chapters long, some said 32. Anyone knows for sure?

​Interesting points

but I'm really curious how you missed being "Richard Simmonsed"

[hushhh]

MOD EDIT: Please don't quote images!  --MY Bad. Did not know this

 

1) Face of defeat--Attny Han

2) Faces of regret (I'm not sorry what I did, but I'm sorry it had to be this way) --InSang and Bom on couch

3) Face of loss and despair --Yeon Hee crying

4) Faces of community in sync with eachother and pulling for eachother. Life is about community. [Pains me to type that--I'm  an introvert who lives more in my head than in community]  - the village celebrating.

 

Words without context/ might not make sense.

[seungshin]

The most hideous human miseries in world history were caused by people who thought and acted on the notion communal supportive living were better than the pursuit of individual goals.  The latter has its problems yes but the solution is definitely not the former.  

PS:  I do admire the writer-nim for her skills at writing dialogues that are intelligent, thought provoking and sensical.  I do disagree with all of her beliefs as it turns out.  I am proud though that I can still appreciate her extraordinary fictional writing skills.

[mdj101]

@hushhhhh:...

I was curious , too.. That really was character development, just at the rate of molasses in January.  Maybe it  was a remnant of original ideas for a 50 episode drama , as was mentioned elsewhere.  Could explain a few threads of apparently unfinished business.

 But maybe all part of an "art imitating life" model, since we rarely see life's little dramas finished off neatly as we might like.

Planning to re-watch this final episode on a site with better  video quality on Wednesday. Seems I was missing chunks of subtitles and the picture flow was choppy. 

To all the Night Owls I see still writing......Good Night, All.         Loved the drama and all in the Forum.

EDIT:  Posted around 2:00 AM EDT. (i.e., makes it as "late on Finale night----same as early on first day post-HITTG"

[hushhh]

Which is the reason why the writer-nim had to create another fiction of the Tutor financing the whole thing.  With three conditions that is basically the writer-nim's last stand (for the drama) against the corrupt society in the drama.  This creates a problem of IS and SB totally relying on the whole village with the Tutor as its head.

 

I agree with you that the ending is not REAListic, but instead it is rather utopian and I can only surmise represents the writer's worldview. 

I don't think anyone in the (real) world is truly independent of all other human beings.  Even when you drive alone in your car you are dependent on the human being who designed and build the contraption.

The writer have characters state that the state should provide help for people not blessed with ridiculously wealthy grandparents.   Also, in the translation is correct the writer prefers a system being in place instead of family or random individual's whimsical benevolence. The writer seems to be a proponent of state social support for the poor and working class.  That was an integral part of the story as soon as we first met a pregnant Bom she was requesting state support.  The moment she left the Han's she was back at state agencies requesting support.    So I view outcome of Tutor/now Attorney/Office manager Park stepping up in the absence of the agencies providing help as a stopgap.  But an unreliable stopgap that is not available to the majority of the population of people in need.

Under most circumstances I would consider conditions attached to the scholarships to be onerous.  I don't in this particular case.  These are the choices that InSang and Bom WANT to make.  My having those stipulations from TAOM Park have given them protection from Attn'y Han pressuring them to join his cabal of evillaw down the line.  So if anything, the conditions read almost as if they were written by Bom (and InSang).

So for me the difference between accepting Han's largess and the TAOM Park's largess is that one requires them to go against their spirit and the other is in support of what their spirit wants them to do.

[Camillajames]

The best drama I've ever seen. It's been awhile since ive seen characters with so many layers. The ending felt a bit rushed with all the lose ends but was still a good ending. I hope to see more of Lee Joon and Go ah Sung in the near future.

[maddymappo]

I am going to miss this drama greatly. I know as some have pointed out, it was super idealist drivel, but I liked it.  And, it was to make a good point, about how living off of the fruits of corruption is a bad thing and addictive, not easy to walk away. We are all entwined and sewn together with threads of good and evil. Yet we can't allow ourselves to  become so entrenched in hopeless cynicism that we can no longer distinguish right from wrong .    But in this drama they all get to walk away and live a fresh clean existence, that somehow still has good food and drink and shelter. The noble proletariat.  I picture that time Oprah Winfrey stood in front of her audience during a car give away contest, and telling the audience "You've got a car, and you've got a car and you've got a car".....and everyone in the audience opens their envelopes and they are shrieking with delight because everyone won a car.  (Of course later on they find out they have to pay the gift tax on the price of the car).

. The great and strange mystery miracle, is the deus ex machina all saving grace of Tutor Park's wealth and benevolence. But, didn't he make at least part of his fortune tutoring wealthy kids and being paid with corrupt money? And now he is telling his disciples not to work for big money?  No way we can really extricate ourselves and live the good life in this world. But we do need to try and I suppose that is what the author is saying.  

How did Min Joo get hurt?

At the end when Secy Lee pleads with Secy Yang to stay, Secy Yang says "Don't worry, I'll take care of it";  I wonder what she will do. She does take care of everything.

I imagined in my mind that CYH would walk out in the end, but thought she would follow YJ.  No love lost between this couple. I am picturing her strolling through Rome. Lonely one minute, afraid the next, being startled by a handsome Roman coming on to her. Thinking of where to go next and what to do. Perhaps getting ripped off by a con artist, now that she doesn't have her loyal secy by her side guiding and protecting her. How will she sleep without acupressure?   Maybe her shaman will tell her what countries she will have good fortune visiting.

Those demands Secy Park made, could always be broken. There is nothing to stop IS from inheriting the money if his father leaves it to him, there is nothing to stop Bom and IS from working for a law firm that represents the ultra rich and corporate interests.  But I think they will keep their promises. 

HJH has inherited the wind.

Thanks to everyone on this thread. It has been a pleasure and an education reading the comments and insights.  This is a complicated story that I could not always figure out on my own and it was wonderful having a place to go where all the information and ideas were pooling together.  (imagine the little bowing emoticon).

 

[miss-guided]

I feel bad for saying that about Secretary Yang.  Sometimes, I'm too focused on the sin that I forget that the sinner is still human.  She's kinda like Bom though.  She thought she was a tiger but she was only riding the tiger's back (or something like that, right?).  And now, the tiger's decided he's hungry and she's the only meat left.

[SennaR]

Do Bom and IS have to pay the scholarship that Teacher Park is giving them?

 

Interesting in one of the conversations between Lawyer Jae Hoon and someone (can't remember whom), a question was asked about the illegality, or unethical-ness of 'private tutoring' (this is a controversial issue in Korea because of the high cost and therefore the advantageous to the rich).  Jae Hoon says 'it's illegal if you get caught but not if you don't.  That's quite a statement since we are to believe the 'pure' to be the 'purist' in this drama.   Tutor Park's money used for IS and SB comes from ill-gotten if not altogether illegal money making scheme after all.  Don't ask me why the writer threw this wrench into the final episode.  It is one more thing the smart people on this thread can chew on

​I was under the impression that it was illegal only if you were in university or studying or something like that.

EDIT #3:... I have an idea.  HJH has no love for YeonHee that we have been able to detect over 30 episodes. But he is more adaptable than a chameleon!  Divorce will suit him perfectly.  Wife #2?  Young Ra, of course!      As soon as the hair transplants have healed... for their Honeymoon!   Yeon Hee will be just an unfortunate "speed-bump" on his road back to his true love, who TRULY will love him for his $$$$.

 

They'll be a happy couple ::... Young Ra and HJH's Millions.  SIGH !   

​Hmm I think Young Ra only wants to get back at him because he couldn't marry him them. I doubt she likes him.
 

[SennaR]

That scene when Secretary Yang gets in the car and the look on her face when she sees Min Joo.
It was so freakin funny... I almost died laughing 

 

I do feel the whole everyone almost living close to each other and the helping everyone out is a bit unrealistic. 
And how the Je Hoon's and the female lawyer's firm can hire so many people.

But I liked it all the same. 

Lol I'm imagining Yeon Hee being propositioned by men in Rome and laughing my head off.....

Also, I really liked the Noo Ri and Je Hoon couple. I love the honesty between them and yeah...... I like them a lot 

 

And now I'm going to watch Secret Love Affair again because other serials just won't be as enjoyable as this for at least some time.

[baduy]

 

  We do see the big guy being punished once in a while in real life (the KAL VP lady was sentenced to jail for re-routing a plane because she was angry at being served nuts in a bag instead of on a plate though she was given a suspended sentence in the end). 

​

Alas, even that wasn't exactly triumph of transparent justice. The prosecutor chose to head up the indictment with a charge that couldn't be sustained (because it was meant to apply to something quite different and more serious than what the defendant had done). But then the judge in the district court, possibly determined to thwart the prosecutor's attempt to cause the case to be dismissed on the grounds that the charge was inappropriate, found the defendant guilty on that charge nonetheless and handed down an (unsuspended) jail sentence. But given the mismatch between the charge and the actual offense, it was inevitable that that verdict was going to be appealed, as it duly was, with the conviction being overturned in favor of a conviction for a lesser offense and the substitution of a shorter, and suspended, jail sentence. Very fishy. More detail in my post http://forums.soompi.com/en/?app=core&module=system&controller=content&do=find&content_class=forums_Topic&content_id=345033&content_commentid=18955470.