[Drama 2015] Heard It Through the Grapevine 풍문으로 들었소

[baduy]

For those interested in the other long running drama in this thread, the one where no happy ending is yet in sight

Plumber arrived, scratched head, declared pressure relief valve broken beyond repair, made several phone calls then announced that there seemed to be no spares available, but he'd "see what he could do" and he'd "let us know".  Sometime. However, we now have no hot water supply at all for an indefinite period.  Oh for a friendly neighborhood jimjilbang! Fat chance of that, though.

Alright, back to the topic

In the scene coming around 10.00, after confirming that Min Ju Yeong has resigned and hearing her father explain that "Her way of thinking is all wrong", YJ asks not, as per the soompi.tv sub, "Wasn't that true even when she worked for you?" but, with a rather sharper barb, "So was that the case when you trusted her to look after me abroad?" [같이 보내줄 때는 그런 문제가 없었나?] YH takes her point, and attempts a feeble defense with "Do you think your father and I are infallible judges of character?" 엄마, 아빠라고 해서 다 사람 보는 눈이 완벽하겠어?, conceding that they didn't realize the Tutor Park was a snake in the grass either. The irony is, of course, that she thinks these are the only cases where their judgement about people's character has proved to be awful beyond words, unaware of their much more serious misdjugments about Bom, Bom's family and, above all, their own children. It's a pity that the soompi.tv sub looses the "judges of character" bit altogether, settling for the vaguer "Your parents can't always be perfect". I don't think even YH would think YJ needs to be told that.

When JH then says of both Tutor Park and Ju Yeong 다 한 패다, the sub "They are all the same. The same type" is accurate enough, but it doesn't convey yet another way in which the writer is making the characters speak more truth than they actually know. "Type" there translates 牌 which is basically a "signboard" or something that denotes one's handicraft or profession. In Korean, though it is still used with that meaning, and also for "mahjong piece" or "playing card" also as in modern Mandarin, some of its meanings have diverged from the original Chinese senses and it refers to a group of people bound together by any sort of common interest (not just a trade or profession) sometimes with the same pejorative overtones as English "gang". 우리 패 is one way of saying "our clique", and a "gang fight" is 패싸움. So as well as saying that the two are the same type of person, he's unwittingly being made to indicate that they are part of a group that's "ganging up" on him, reminding viewers that his own foolishness and arrogance have actually created the bonds that hold this "gang" together, giving rise to an ever-growing "opposition party" which might otherwise never have come together. In the same way that, as Ju Yeong observed, he has built himself a jail with his own hands. In the end, the only person who hasn't definitively joined that "gang" is Secy Yang. JH's classing them as 암적인 존재들 is somewhat stronger than the subbers' "bad apple", though that's the meaning high school Korean-English dictionaries give for that phrase. 암적 is a "malignant force" (존재 is merely "existence" used in Korean with the sense it has in German expressions like "eine zweifelhafte Existenz = a shady fellow" and here means not much more than "people"). So he's saying that such people are a "social cancer", to borrow the title of one English translation of José Rizal's novel Noli me tangere. There's another problem with "bad apple". It is most frequently used as a shorthand reference to "one bad apple doesn't spoil the barrel", i.e. as a claim that e.g. one bent cop doesn't mean the whole force is corrupt. But that's more or less the reverse of JH's view. Time and again he talks about "society" or "the whole country" being in peril through such unreliable "retainers" or his own insufficently deferential children. Far from not spoiling the barrel, "bad apples" in JH's embattled worldview risk rapidly spreading the rot to the whole batch, and it's that threat that he's invoking here. It's that implication that a little later causes YJ to explain to Bom that, though she's far from  believing every word her father says, what he said about Tutor Park has made her worried in case he really is a pernicious influence that Bom and In Sang ought to be wary of (we should remember that YJ knows Tutor Park much less well than either Bom or In Sang do, even though for a time she was ordered to sit in with them in the study room, maybe as a way of stopping her resorting to illicit comics reading again).

Watching the next sequence where JH recalls Ju Yeong's parting words of prophecy to him, a possible reason why the subbers had her saying that In Sang would "spread his wings" rather than "escape from [his father's] shadow" as on the soundtrack suddenly struck me. I think they may have heard the last two syllables in 벗어날 게 (= escaping from) as 날개, the word for "wing". If so, that would be a less spectacular version of a subbing slip I once spotted in Dandelion Family. There, one girl asks another whom she meets in a department store, according to the subtitle, "Did you come here with Oppa?" What's actually on the soundtrack at that point is "Did you come here to exchange a garment?"  For anyone who knows some Korean and is puzzled by how you can get from one to the other: reflect on what happens in spoken Korean when the last consonant of 옷 (garment) is followed by the first consonant of 바꾸다 (to (ex)change). Hey presto, a phantom 오빠 cometh forth to delight young ladies who use that word on every possible occasion, and on some -- as here -- totally impossible ones.

[hartofseeker]

@baduy Actually I don't think the Chinese equivalent for the Korean word "패" is "牌", but rather "派" meaning "faction/group"-- this word is currently still in use

Thank you so much for your insightful posts about HITTGV-- it's been a great joy reading them!! =D

Also, for those who complain of the writer about Teacher Park's scholarship... though this way of wrapping it up do seem a bit idealistic, it actually brings to mind a very interesting contrast: From the beginning, we can agree that Teacher Park operated as a (much better) father-figure/mentor to Bom and InSang: he's the one they confide to and seek advice from, and he supports them in their quest to resolve/live through their dilemmas in a moral/humanistic manner. In contrast, JH constantly berates the young couple for wanting to live that way, and the couple is intimidated and repulsed by him, their attitude towards him becomes increasingly withdrawn. 

Remember JH's conversation with Bom about his more-superb ability to provide for her child? (Quoted from @baduy awesome translation): 

SB: A few exceptionally fortunate kids have a well-financed upbringing, but other children don't have such luck. So they can be brought up better too, people like you who possess power should employ it to create a better system. That way kids who don't have a rich father could be raised in good conditions.

JH: That's utter delusion.
SB: Just doing things for individuals may make their lives easier, but it doesn't do anything to improve the system.

JH uses his wealth and power to insure his children has exceptional upbringing environment-- for the cause of maintaining his family/lineage's esteem and image as the elite. Therefore his children suffer from his overbearing expectations and crooked worldview about their position in comparison with the rest of society. Teacher Park is revealed at the end to be extremely wealthy as well, and he uses this to empower Bom and InSang-- young individuals who show much intellectual potential and proved their desire to use their gifts to fight for justice-- to fully develop into adults with the tools necessary to have a chance in this fight (if he didn't it's pretty clear that this would be near impossible for them). Of course, this is still only effecting individuals at this point and doesn't necessarily improve "the system", but his motives are clearly of a different quality compared to JH, if not the writer's intent to be in direct contrast with InSang's birth father. Basically, it's consistent with the general character development in Teacher Park to replace JH as Bom and InSang's father(-in-law). 

[mdj101]

DAY TWO POST - HITTG  FINALE

@baduy and Everyone,  

Sorry I did not have time to edit down that long list of items (under the SPOILER heading!  It was so late at night!  Once I began my list, I rambled along then found I was "brainstorming" every thing I still wanted to know.  And I'm usually up and back online to find out if I've Missed something here!   

I am now relying on Baduy, a fast reader (to scan and sort with lightening speed*, whittling down to the bare bones of the issues I expect he would be most likely to resolve for me.     ( Won't even try to "fix" that sentence!).    Choose only those things which appeal to you,please, @baduy.  I know you are busy!  and may already have done so  or will get "around to it"  (yet another of my "trite-isms"!).  

Am I basically asking for a "rewrite"  of  HITTG?   Sounds like it, even to me!  It's OK.  Director Ahn like the viewer to write it on their own.  (see SPOILER for my view on HJH)

 

 I'm already seeing various options the characters have.  But Poor Han Jung Ho!   Very hard to see him finding any  personal evolution that will be compatible with his rigid  mindset/being/soul. Hate to say it, but he may not be ABLE to LIVE  with the degree of "attitude adjustment"  the whole "revolution" requires of him.   As they postpone the interviews with the new staff and prepared to sit down and receive InSang and Bom, HJH said to Yeon Hee, "I know what ("they"   or "he") have to say". He looked so happy!  After Sec.Min assured him that  "INSANG WILL NEVER COME BACK TO YOU!".  I see THIS as the ultimate tragic outcome of Han Jung Ho's HUBRIS.   So, the old Greek playwrights  and their audiences would have expected this as the natural result of that character flaw.!       Wish I knew how to post illustrations of the classic "masks of COMEDY/TRAGEDY", but I don't.

 Thank you Writer Sung and Director Ahn for allowing me that much leeway in this Drama, even though I felt  you left me fewer "options"  with SLA's finale ---I'm overlooking that!

Thank you, @seungshinl, for sending me in search of the correct way to create SPOILERS.        I may never tire of being that "one trick pony" now.  Love using it, almost as much as I love using "LISTS" instead of writing intelligent lengthy prose, as @baduy and others here in the Forum do so well!    

 

 

*  Anybody remember EVELYN WOOD SPEED READING?      Seems to be available online still today!   Simply made me dizzy!

[baduy]

@baduy Actually I don't think the Chinese equivalent for the Korean word "패" is "牌", but rather "派" meaning "faction/group"-- this word is currently still in use

Thanks for drawing my attention to this. Although mdh101 may not thank you for tempting me away from this thread and into browsing my character dictionary collection, where I can wander for hours...

I agree that 派 in the "faction" sense would be a closer match to what JH is getting at than 牌. But the Korean reading of 派 is 파 whereas the word on the soundrack is 패 which my largest Hanja dictionary tells me is the Korean reading for 牌  - and no less than 29 other characters. (The difference betweeen ㅏ and ㅐ is what linguists who like to intimidate eavesdroppers call "phonologically significant"  -- meaning that that paticular distinction in sound generally marks a meaning distinction in Korean, unlike,say, the difference between voiced g and unvoiced k which is phonologically insignificant in Korean but phonologically significant in English and most Western languages.)  There may be some historical relationship beween the two words in Korean, but Korean still lacks anything remotely like Webster or the OED that can give scholarly and impartial historical evidence of continuity and change in meaning (as distinct from dogmatic and sometimes totally imaginary "historical" accounts which often set out to deliberately obfuscate any influence on Korean from other East Asian languages, especially from Japanese, as well as to gloss over disagreemenst among Korean scholars on such matters, disagreement or undcertainty among experts in a discipline being viewed by some conservative Korean scholars as evidence of incompetence rather than a sign of intellectual vitality...

​

[baduy]

This was meant to be the second part of my previous posting, but this confounded editor crashed on me as soon as I tried to add the next quote I wanted to respond to, so I had to make it a separate post....

 

 Choose only those things which appeal to you,please, @baduy.  I know you are busy!  and may already have done so  or will get "around to it"  (yet another of my "trite-isms"!).  

My problem is that virtually every word in this writer's dialogues appeals to me in one way or another....

And as of today, the innocent expression "get around to it" fills me with dread. The reason being I remember the tired old joke about the boss who asks an employee about a task he charged him with some time ago and demands to know when he's "going to get around to it." "Sorry boss," the man replies, "but I've checked every store in town and they're all out of round tewitts."  For that guy, substitite my plumber and for "round tewitt" substitute "cold water feed pressure regulator valve type CRD 3956204" and it's no longer even lamely funny.

However, onward and onward....

At the offices of Hwanggeumal (황금알) Law (we aren't shown the notice on the door which explains where all the funding for the snowballing personnel tally comes from. It reads "Clients are respectfully requested not to feed the office goose, since its golden egg-laying abilities are dependent on a strict special diet"); and alright, I confess,  I made all that up) both attorneys have "something to say" to newcomer Park. Atty Yoo's request is rather more cautiously and politely phrased than the subs make out. More like "Do you think you could maybe dress just a little differently?" To Je Hun's broaching the salary question, Park replies "나 돈 좀 있는 거 아실 텐데."  I wouldn't myself use "rich" to translate that: I'd say "I expect you know I have a fair bit of money."  As I've already mentioned in an earlier posting, The phrase 돈 좀 있다 Park uses of himself here is exactly the one JH later uses to reveal his own knowledge of Parks finances, in contradiction to his wifes sarcastic question implying she sure Park can't be "rich", where she does indeed use the word for "rich" outright. Je Hun admits that it's no surprise to him. Not only was Park in the famed "supertutor" league, a group of people widely assumed in Korea to be fabulously wealthy as a result of the sky-high fees they can demand, but he also gives motivational lectures to high-flying law students, one of which Je Hun once attended, though not without complaining in the hearing of all present that the admission charge was way too high. Park reassures thim that he'll settle for the 최저임금, the statutory minimum wage only recently introduced in South Korea amid much opposition from employers large, medium and small, and on present showing very widely ignored.

Secy Yang is coming up with ideas as to how to sanitize the legitimate parts of the Hansong Trust before throwing the rest of it to the wolves along, as will soon become clear, with her brother. "Designate it as a Corporate Responsibility Program," she suggests. "Don't leave it associated with Hansong, expand it into a foundation". He ponders that suggestion with obvious approval, then asks her to send for Baek Dae Hyun. Up in the private club we see JH getting to work on selling the Once and Future PM that idea. He's obviously just suggested to Baek Dae Hyun that he should become head of the proposed Foundation into which the Trust is to be "expanded" once it's been de-Hansongified.

Baek seems initially less than eager, plainly smelling what is certainly not a mere mouse but a large and scary rat. JH assures him that this role would give Baek's reputation "a considerable boost", and cues one of the newly promoted former seventh floor attorneys to flesh that out in the sort of language Baek understands. "Until the end of the current year it's been allocated a budget of 200 billion Won. You will have total executive control over that expenditure. And of course you will be able determine the aims of the program." No sooner does he hear those words than Baek forgets his reservations and starts thinking of potential family passengers for this gravy train. His daughter-in-law, he remarks in a studiedly off-hand way, happens to have "specialized in this area" (presumably he means in the diversion of funds into private hands under the guise of "corporate responsibility"). "Would be be permissible for me to bring her in on this?" "What a wonderful idea!" exclaims JH, visibly thinking "Sure thing, you greedy old fool. Give me a hold over another member of your family, too, for when it suits me to dump you in it." "Create a post for her," he instructs the attorney. As they walk back to the office, the attorney admits to JH that he hadn't been expecting that move, and he isn't sure where or what sort of position should be created for Baek's DiL. "Directorial level," JH answers laconically.

 

[mdj101]

 

 

 Dear   @joonahlisaeverever 

How "ON TIME" were those pictures of the cast and crew, BTS, apparently immediately after Actor Yoo emerged from  filming the final scene of the drama and the viewers final look at Attorney Han Jung Ho.  Wonder what went through his mind? What a tremendous responsibilty?  And what a great relief?TO SKIP - - - I'm indulging my "feels" for the tragic fate of a central  character, Han Jung Ho.

OK TO SKIP:  Here is where I'm indulging my "FEELS"   over the tragic fate of a main character, Han Jung Ho.

 

The camera follows Han Jung Ho, accompanied by his new personal secretary. After the new  butler opens the front door and politely greets them,  he repositions their shoes, ready for whenever they leave.Jung Ho is home from the office. He walks slowly through the brightly lit empty foyer, lined with beautiful wood paneling, Striding quietly, he glances around, moving  toward the private family bedrooms and living  areas.

 I can admire the beauty of the  magnificently preserved, painstakingly relocated,"several centuries old Hanoks cobbled together into one", traditional Joseon Era  mansion he and his parents treasured and enjoyed.  While he stands gazing silently upward at the empty landing,  the uniformed household staff greet him with low, formal bows.   Those staff undoubtedly among  the "top 1% of the  finalists", the  hand-picked, meticulously identified few, culled from among the initial  throng of eager applicants for these few prized positions in an elite Korean  household,  carefully chosen  by Sec.Lee with Yeon Hee.  Judged firstly according to the highest professional level  standards for each position,  each one was  from the lists of finalists ranked according to their exceptional skills/abilities/reputations.

 Once OK'd for hire,  premium salaries would be offered the staff promote their loyalty and  to ensure they provide  the Han family  "the very best professional level  service money can buy and suitable for a family  numbered among the highest class of today's Korean Society" ( whose single members are so "different from common people").   A temporary contract (no copies available at hiring point  for the staff, "So Sorry!",  per HJH  Human Resource policy, "customary practice, you know,  later!") covering a provisional  period of "trial employment"  would be offered,  following survival  of final background investigations more  than adequate for any government security position!  

@joonahlisa_89, THANK YOU. I really needed to see the entire cast and crew relieved, joyous, and celebrating the completion of a FINE PIECE OF WORK, A JOB WELL DONE BY ALL.                     

                    

[mdj101]

DAY TWO ---POST-HITTG  FINALE

Hi, Guys,

I just put up a "post" that I've been writing off and on since early this afternoon.   I did take a while trying to improve, to refine, and to SHORTEN IT.

Finally, I decided to hit "SUBMIT REPLY" and work on correcting it later via "EDIT".

Earlier today, I blamed myself and my PC.  Now I'm not so sure.  I had a heck of a time getting the screen to stay still long enough just to hit "submit reply".

So I wonder which is the  most UNSTABLE right now?    Soompi forum,  my PC, or ME?        I do believe discretion is the better part of valor.  So, I'm cutting out for a while to catch up with reading here in the forum.

Au Revoir!    

EDIT - EDIT - EDIT:

PS:....Dang it all!  Those faces!  They look so deliriously happy, don't they?  As I look at those pictures, I feel the same!   ...........It's OK, I'm Cool again! ...    

I'll bet that    TWO DAY/ ONE NIGHT   will be a BLAST for all who can attend! Wish the entire gang gets to enjoy it!    I'm recalling the concept @baduy explain was contained within that short 3 syllable Korean word.  We have enjoyed something similar here in the Forum.  I think I see it in their expressions, their body language, their spontaneous interactions in these pictures ---- and different from  the characters they created for us in HITTG.  Really GOOD actors!

The look on Actor Yoo's face as he came out of the studio (?) ---- SO HAPPY !

Loved the impromptu celebration set out on the fold-up table, too.  See they can finally all enjoy a nice cold "HITE" beer in addition to soft drinks, water, etc.

Love their VERY casual "dress code" off screen.  I got very accustomed to the beautiful clothes worn by "YH", "YR", etc. 

An experience that will create lasting bonds, I am sure.   

 

[mdj101]

@baduy:

Finally catching up with all comments here. I'm afraid to attempt to linger down in the REPLY box until either Soompi,  my PC, or I (mdj101),attain relative STABILITY once more!

About the "expanded Foundation",  Is it correct to think that Jung Ho can no longer access that money?  Hard for me to swallow/digest considering the sources (Yang to HJH).  

Which brings me to another question I now have.  Several things have made me consider a revision of my assessment of Secretary Yang.  (please forget my earlier fantasy about Yang's one-sided love for Jung Ho --- must have had a sugar overload or something ) After Sec.Kim bolted from Hansung  and quit within the hour of Sec.Yang learning of his "little white lie" to his dear old father from the countryside, I figured that I had seriously underestimated that woman. Her mask of kindness had already begun to slip and crack.  Sec.Kim confronted her very directly, however.   In my words, he told her, "I 've seen what you can do when you've "got something" on a person. I will leave before I live with that constant fear.  I'll tell my father the truth and he will understand." plus this, "please tell him good bye for me."

Sec.Yang seemed pleased as she told Sec,Min exactly how she "forced" the next sacrificial 1st interim PM candidate to admit all of his shady deals.  "I asked him to  "Tell me everything        "I followed CEO Han's technique," and Min just looked at her.  Clearly HJH has some sort of "god complex". When was he anointed as a Priest, anyway?  I believe Yang is ready to waterboard  any reluctant "fall guys" if HJH suggests or hints a it!  On her own, she pressured and made "disappear" the young man who was a threat to Noo Ri/Hans.  She suggest a whole bunch of devious tactics/business strategy to HJH. She learned well from him how to create her own wealth via devious money maneuvers.into a slush fund. 

What is the real nature of their relationship anyway?  Because she is a woman, he doesn't fully respect her as any sort of "equal partner" in crime, so to speak, but he expects to hear suggestions and solutions that he likes. Anyway, Sec.Yang looks very scary lately.  Gone is the constant smiling, demure frozen mask she wore.  Like Sec.Kim, I would not dare to cross her now.  Such strange look on her face when min, lee, and the others waited to hear her agree to loin there side.  "I'll take care of it."  What the heck did that mean?

And baduy, Under pressure from that darn leaking pressure regulator gizmo, you are writing funnier comments than usual. Does the drama completion bring  release from responsibility, as Actor Yoo seems to have felt?You DO have a way with word! and I am laughing out loud and chuckling a lot as I read your comments lately.

SIDE COMMENT:  ..Living cheek-to-jowl with large urban areas and fairly densely populated suburban communities, I have difficulty imagining where  and how one could be living without a slew of competing plumbing companies nearby that offer 24hour 7days/week service!  How do you get by?   I will spare you my imagined possible locations. All very beautiful, isolated, might get deliveries via small Piper Cub type airplane, once a month maybe?  Supplies dropped in by helicopter, by dogsled, mule train, camel caravan,small freighter boats (steam powered  like "The African Queen"), floated downstream on a large log raft, motor biked,  a commercial drone, etc. ..    . I SURRENDER!  

BEST SUGGESTION:.... What took me so long, when I love and live on Youtube?   SEEK ADVICE ON HOLY YOUTUBE.    ANSWERS TO ALL OF MAN"S PROBLEMS  ___ BETTER THAN CONSULTING  A SHAMAN  ala Yeon Hee

REPAIRING  HOT WATER HEATER  TPR VALVE (see under Spoiler)

Youtube: How to DIY/EASY video tutoring

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[baduy]

I think there are probably just two more scenes where a little more commentary / explication might be useful

At around 46:00 in the last scene in the Investment Club lounge, which I'd say the soompi.tv subs make pretty hard to follow, we hear Jae Won indignantly asking Je Hun "How dare you incite even young children to get involved like this?" "No incitement was needed," Je Hun replies calmly. "That's hard to believe [more literally: isn't that strange?]" says HS's mother snidely. "My daughter never showed any interest in such matters before this." "The same goes for Min Jae, too," his mother adds. (And so we learn that for the rhetorical purposes of self-interested righteous indignation, these newly-fledged adults count as "young children").

After JH has asked why they're all looking at her, and denied that the blame lies at In Sang's door, Je Hun hands a tablet computer to Jae Won, who takes a look at what's on the display before passing it over to Young Ra' mother, who finally hands it to Min Jae's mother. YH noticeably is missed out, but the way she shows no curiousity about the matter suggests what Je Hun is showing her "friends"  is no news to her.

As Je Hun explains, what they are seeing, presumably on an Internet site, is an "alphabetical list of signatories". The technical term is actually "petitioners", i.e those who have added their names to a petition, but in English they are usually referred to as "signatories [to a petition]". "Plaintiffs" is way off target in this context. We guess that this is one of the things that JH meant when he explained to Secy Yang (in an earlier scene which I'm coming back to in a moment) that "things were going wrong" as they had anticipated they might do, meaning she had to disappear and her brother had to take the rap. The revelations have led to widespread public outcry, expresssed here in a petition to the government to take urgent action. The intial lines of the dialogue show that HS and Min Jae's mothers were already aware that their children had signed such a petition, so Je Hun is showing them the full list of signatories, not so they can find their children's names there, but so that they can see that their signatures are part of a much wider surge of opinion. This shows the mothers that what their offspring have been "incited" into joining is part of a mass movement, hence their simultaneous frantic telephoning of reproaches.

At around 37:00 JH was asking Secy Yang, not, as per the soompi.tv subs,  "How is the new secretary training coming?" but "Is the training of the new secretaries progressing smoothly?" [새 비서들 훈련 잘 돼 갑니까?]  The plural marker there on "secretary" is crucial to understanding what his scene is about. It's not just Secretary Kim who needs to be replaced, but Secretary Yang herself. Arranging that, then leaving herself, is her last service to Hansong and JH. That's why JH then goes on, with, for once, obviously genuine and uncalculating emotion, "I know I shouldn't be telling you to quit and go away [그만두면], but... I detest having to say this, but ... things have finally gone wrong, as we always anticipated they might. A number of criminal offenses have come to light, and the Han Trust is implicated in all of them. I need your brother to take the blame for them. Numerous breaches of fiduciary duty, misappropriation, embezzlement."  

The "go away" part is what Je Hun alludes to when he later says JH would like to send Secy Yang into outer space, and what Secy Lee, making her last plea to her to "join our side", means when she says that if Secy Yang leaves now she "may never be able to come back, meaning back to Korea. She faces solitary exile for life, though no doubt JH will make sure she lacks nothing in material comforts. That makes her fate a kind of distorting-mirror image of what awaits the employer whose interests she served, along with her own, for so long. He too is left with all his material comforts, including a new housekeeper who goes all the way with her 45 degree bows without any sign of her frilly lace cap falling off, but in a deserted  house which is indeed, unlike Secy Yang's probable future domicile, still in Korea, but the signs are that it is slowly  losing any claim to embody the quintessence of Korea, and turning instead into a dimly lit museum piece while life outside its walls slowly but ineluctably changes into a different kind of society where power lies in other, more numerous, hands.

Plumbing supplement follows (meant to be spoilered, but if I try that the editor deletes it instead... Except that now it's suddenly spoilered itself again...)

For those who have kindly offered advice on the plumbing issue, I'd better explain that the problem is not getting a replacement pressure reduction valve as such, but getting one that can be fitted to our present installation without having to alter a lot of the existing pipework.

There are four pipes connecting to the valve (the fourth, leading to an emergency drain, is hidden behind the blue-topped fallback relief valve to the right). On any replacement, all four pipe connections need to be in exactly the same location and have the same diameter fittings, otherwise a lot of re-plumbing will be needed.

However, I may consider patenting my drip-collection kit, which has the added advantage that once the leak is stopped, you are left with a FREE lasagne dish and non-stick baking tray.

 

[hushhh]

 

1) Which brings me to another question I now have.  Several things have made me consider a revision of my assessment of Secretary Yang.  (please forget my earlier fantasy about Yang's one-sided love for Jung Ho --- must have had a sugar overload or something ) After Sec.Kim bolted from Hansung  and quit within the hour of Sec.Yang learning of his "little white lie" to his dear old father from the countryside, I figured that I had seriously underestimated that woman. Her mask of kindness had already begun to slip and crack.  Sec.Kim confronted her very directly, however.   In my words, he told her, "I 've seen what you can do when you've "got something" on a person. I will leave before I live with that constant fear.  I'll tell my father the truth and he will understand." plus this, "please tell him good bye for me."

. . .

2) What is the real nature of their relationship anyway?  Because she is a woman, he doesn't fully respect her as any sort of "equal partner" in crime, so to speak, but he expects to hear suggestions and solutions that he likes. Anyway, Sec.Yang looks very scary lately.  Gone is the constant smiling, demure frozen mask she wore.  Like Sec.Kim, I would not dare to cross her now.  Such strange look on her face when min, lee, and the others waited to hear her agree to loin there side.  "I'll take care of it."  What the heck did that mean?

1) I will say that I found the outcome of this interaction really curious because I am unable to fully decipher how the equation has change from what it had been before.  A few episode ago Sec'y Yang clearly threatened  Sec'y Kim with the fact that she KNEW that he had mischaracterized his employment to his father.  So with Kim's father coming to Seoul and confirming the lie Kim had told him what new knowledge has been added? What new threat? Kim was just as vulnerable as he had been before.  The only possibility is that now his father was somehow also vulnerable.  But if that is so, how?

2) Attn'y Han is guilty of several bias and prejudices and is classist and sexist, but even so I think that Sec'y Yang has long moved beyond the 'woman' designation.  She may not have been his social equal, but as a worker/employee she was not a lesser because she was a woman.  I don't think Han would have trusted or expected more competency from a man.  In some ways I think he also had a similar respect for MinJoo as an worthy opponent.  Yet, strangely, I suspect were MinJoo a man, he would not have kept her as close in the organization. There is something gendered about the way in which Han (and the writer) dealt with MinJoo as an opponent--but I cannot quite identify it.

 In some ways Yang, as she served Han, was not gendered at all.  She plays the same role/provides the same service as several male secretaries does for their Chaebol  in K-dramas, i.e. Secret Garden, Secret Love, Secret Fill in the Blank.  Additionally since HITTGV is a faux historical change of dynasty war-craft drama she plays the loyal general, personal retainer, poisoner-in-chief whose loyalty to the warped/corrupt ruler in unwavering. Therefore that she would have to fall on her sword and/or be exiled was pre-ordained. 

Yet I do think Yang being a woman was an important aspect of the role as it allowed her to infiltrate the below stairs group.  I think were Yang cast as male the dynamics of her interactions with the household staff would be very different.  Of course this is just an idea and there is now way to prove the alternative.

[KwonSangSeung]

Episode 30 reviewcap/opinion, it was hard saying goodbye to HITTG.

Episode 30 Review: Heard It Through the Grapevine ~ END

Had i said i am at loss for words would be an immense lie since inside this article can be found a few thousands of words. Truth be told, at this very moment i am in denial, i can’t believe Heard It Through the Grapevine reached the end and i never thought the closing curtain would have such an impact on me. Even though i was preparing myself to bid farewell this drama smoothly, after i re-watched and screen-capped the last episode i felt overwhelmed by bittersweet waves. Before moving to the main part of this review/recap/opinion, i would like to thank the whole cast, the writer, the director and everyone who worked hard so that us, the audience, would partake in this beautiful journey with a wide variety of emotions and see it to the very end and in the first place of the Monday-Tuesday ratings ride for the last time (11.7%). 감사합니다!

Read more here: https://dramajjang.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/episode-30-review-heard-it-through-the-grapevine-end/

[mdj101]

DAY THREE --- POST-HITTG  FINALE

@hushhh:... Thank you for a great insight into Sec.Yang's "job description", as comparisons to a variety of roles critical to any main character's continued existence as a "ruler of everything" in historical dramas I dearly love. Easier to understand why she/they rarely try to replace the "king-fella". I have , thanks to @baduy's clarifications r/t Sec.Yang's impending departure (which explains a WHOLE LOT now!)  a possible reason for the  dismal expression the unusually speechless Yang,s face when Sec.Kim told her he was quitting, and why he was leaving.  Yang could not reveal to him that his worries were groundless, and that SHE would be permanently gone both from Hansung and from Korea in a short time!  Did she care that Kim's departure would leave "him" alone, bereft of a 17 year companionship, which "he" would miss so much? "He" would be then completely alone at Hansung and in the magnificent Han family blended mansion/estate/"blended Hanok".

@baduy:... Without your kindness in sharing information like the full meaning of the Director Song to the Lounge Ladies (see @baduy above, p.198), the frantic phone calls to their children, and the extent and the impact of the huge public out cry over the crimes and "irregularities" being publicized and legally pursued in the class action lawsuit against the Han Trust,  The "fallout" must be far reaching and cuts deeply into HJH's  wealth, reputation, undercuts his effectiveness and desirability as CEO of Hansung  (will he step down for "the good of the Firm"?

OK TO SKIP --I rant about the value/quality of subs for Eng.-speaking-only/mostly viewers!      <--picture of me! not speaking  "kdrama" .

 

NOTE:..Speaking only for myself,  I found  HITTG  enjoyable even as subbed for English speakers by the generous volunteers at sites where I usually access these dramas/films.  What choice do I have?  Do I have time to become fluent enough in Korean to even approach their level of understanding what the actors actually SAY?   NO. NOT A CHANCE. Never in the lifetime remaining to me would I come close to knowing the language/culture/society as well as @baduy, @seungshinlee, @hushh, and the many others here in the Forum who kindly share that knowledge with people in situations similar to mine.  Without their help, I would be limited to art house films with good subtitles  

             Some drama writers create clever dialogue, rich in word plays, double meanings, references to history and current events, even names may suggest funny /admirable  images.  I will know I am missing it all, because Reviewers TELL me I'm not "in on the witty, sophisticated, fast-paced  conversations", reminding me of some classic B&W films of early half of the 20th Century USA & British media).

            Just with the comments today r/t Sec.Yang, I understand much more about the dynamics in the last two episodes. Thank you all for contributing to my enjoyment of this drama and to a better appreciation of the full story created by the Writer, Director, actors, and the whole darn HITTG Group!

 

       SPOILER ___ My final comments on @baduy's  Plumbing Problem   

 

Get ready, here comes another "trite-ism".  "A picture is, indeed, worth a thousand words."  Hoping that does not suggest  a "fee range" to your plumber, whose skill level I must have failed to appreciate (judging by the picture of that deceptively simple  4-way pipe set-up.  Forget about my DIY suggestion!

MY First Reaction:....  Hmmm.       Aaah.... Yes.   I understand!        

 

 

 

 

 

[mdj101]

DAY THREE -- POST-HITTG  FINALE

Regarding the way Director Ahn and Writer Jung plan meticulously before the filming of their dramas, after SLA (Secret Love Affair) was over the director talked in great detail in a filmed interview about the way he pre-plans every possible detail before filming begins.  The writer generously published the script online for anyone who was interested in reading the  specific instructions to the actors, as added to the script by the writer & director, clarifying how the some special things they wanted conveyed in some scenes. These "instructions often revealed a character's "inner life"  in a scene.

The interview with Director Ahn was translated in full by @seungshinlee, who has commented here in our forum. Those translations were published in full in two places available online.  (see under  Spoiler for a link)  Writer Jung's scripts, with annotations, were translated and published in only one of those sites (see under Spoiler).

Director Ahn's interview is of interest because it shows how his approach to filming any drama.  Writer Jung's script for SLA is instructive in the same general way. 

There is always a chance that the Director will be interviewed by the same people ( "reporting team: maxpress at maxmovie.com") about  "an Award Winning" drama such as HITTG. And the Writer might decide to put her copy of the script online.  But since both were done in Korean, it is extremely unlikely that I will ever see them.

 

Sorry about that light printing!  Forgot to change up!

(1)      Director Ahn's interview available at two sites (Translator: @seungshinlee) .

           (a)   https://pianoconversations.wordpress.com/   Look under "Category",  for the Title :  "Director's Cut: Ahn Pan Seok Speaks on SLA -Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3." 

           (b)   https://yooahinsikseekland.wordpress.com/   Look under "Category" for  "Drama",  then look for  "Secret Love Affair",  then  look for the Title:  "PD Ahn Pan Seok Speaks on SLA and YAI ".  

            NOTE:;;;Go to very BOTTOM of the page, and click on ( <---older posts) three times.

(2)      Writer Jung's copy of the script  (Entire 16 episodes) with her annotations  translated by @seungshinlee can be found  in the same link as above  (1, a)  Piano Conversations link.

I have no idea how to find the original place where she posted the entire script online. If you are interested, I am sure she made it very easy to find.  Remember, it is in Korean.

 

Sorry for the very light print, but I forgot to switch back to dark ink.

 

 

[Camillajames]

I'm so sad it's over  this was the only drama I looked forward to watching every week bc of the excellent acting, writing, and directing! After watching countless dramas, I have learned to appreciate a quality drama vs writers trying to turn a profit at the expense of creativity. 

[baduy]

@mdj101 said

I have no idea how to find the original place where she posted the entire script online. If you are interested, I

am sure she made it very easy to find.  Remember, it is in Korean.

 

I got my copy of the original SLA script from  http://cfile219.uf.daum.net/attach/2374C23F53795B981F29BA  some while back, and that url still seems to be valid.

HOWEVER, this is frog-in-a-well land Korea.  So getting that zip file is only the start of your fun.

First you have to cope with the fact that Koreans still don't see why they should use Unicode (answer: because the rest of the world does, but that doesn't matter to well--bottom dwellers).

Second Koreans still think that the default document format (hwp) used by their  Windows-only "National Word Processor" is all anyone needs, although that format can't be reliably read by any other word processor (despite claims by some to the contrary), so the files as they stand are useless to most people outside Korea. You can get a convertor but it's buggy and Windows only (though with extreme geekiness you can get it to work on Linux.) Mac users -- forget it.  All that's needed to make documents prepared in that word processor readable  by the rest of the world is to "Save As" some other format (including MS Word, PDF, RTF etc etc, ) instead of the default hwp, which can be done with a single click. But nobody in Korea ever bothers to do that.

Next, although the name of the file you'll download,  밀회_대본.zip is in Unicode, all the contents use Korean Windows encoding, and hence the list of files (one for each episode script) looks like gibberish unless you happen to have Korean as your default locale. You may also find that the native zip opener on your machine declares that the zip is "corrupt" because it doesn't know what to make of Korean encoding. But the zip isn't corrupt. WinZip or 7zip will open it (again both those are Windows only,)

If anyone would like to read the SLA script in the original, but can't jump through those hoops, I'd be willing to transcode it into Unicode and rtf format, which all varieties of PC can read, and make it available. Maybe someone has done that already, and can provide a link? Otherwise send me a PM if you'd like me to do it.

 

[hushhh]

Providing the original script and the writer and director's later instructions [the prompt book] is such an act of generosity from the creative team and a treasure trove of information for those studying the discipline.

Thanks for sharing the information.

monolingual here, so can't really partake. 

[mdj101]

DAY FOUR ---  POST - HITTG  FINALE

@hushhh :... Whenever will I learn NOT to assume     stuff/anything!   When I do learn that lesson,then I might not make  an "richard simmons-u-me"   English language  "joke" of my writing self!    I should have made it CLEAR to the forum members, BUT DIDN"T,  BIG "OOOPS"!       The best thing about the the interview with PD Ahn and the script (with annotations) posted online by Writer Jung is that @seungshinlee has translated them , and here is the part where I "assumed" incorrectly that every one could read my mind !, ...

......@seungshinlee       translated  them  into  ENGLISH !        The only language  that "monolinguist", but "lover of all things   r/t   words, languages, and communications",  ME, can speak/read/understand!    And that is why I wanted to give those links to all our forum members who enjoyed the work of this Writer-Director duo.  A fantastic "look" into the way they think about any drama they will created.

PS:... I'm only planning to keep track of the POST-HITTG days on the top of my COMMENTS for a week to 10 days or so, to keep myself oriented during the "Post - Drama" discussion/thoughts period, OK?

                                                      *****************************************

SPOILER - information for anyone who is interested in reading  SLA (Secret Love Affair)  drama  scripts in Korean and some as translated into English (not all were completely translated.

 

 COMMENT:....  @baduy, great information about  getting to the scripts, in Korean language (for dramas of interest). I 'm sure you know I can only be envious of those who have the language skills to read those script!  I've just had an INSPIRATION.   ( Now, imagine an emoticon/picture of a light bulb, switching on/off, OK?)    I could use script pages in hundreds of ways as decorations/wall-art, etc. ! Best I could come up with, So Sad!  

PS:... On the "Piano Conversations" site, not every one of the 16 episodes have been translated into English.  What a labor of love it was for @seungshinlee (& any others who helped her).

 The Blog site will appreciate help from any interested volunteers who are interested in doing any further translating of Episodes or parts of episodes still unfinished.  "If I recall correctly" , and I think I have, somewhere on the Blog site there is an "open invitation" to translate things into English if you so desire and are capable and interesting in doing so.  

The Blog was begun by SLA FORUM MEMBERS  ( much of the effort by the very few good writers/computer savvy people who created it and fueled the Blog  initially. We owed them so much.  The Blog itself remains and is open for enjoyment of SLA in particular, and is still open for comments, etc., I believe. 

I have always described the Blog, Piano Conversations, as a tremendous online "Sourcebook" for any future college level course related to the study of Film, Drama, Directing, Writing, etc,  all the aspects of a Program of Film/Drama/Theater in a serious setting.  And it is a Goldmine, a Treasure Trove of details and background stories that add to a person's pleasure while viewing the drama, Secret Love Affair.  

 

 

[honeywell]

I miss this couple.  The show wasn't perfect but Lee Joon and Go Ah Sung had perfect chemistry.  I hope they win lots of awards this year and even the couple award during the SBS awards.  So in the final episode, are IS and Bom living with Teacher Park and Sec. Lee?  How about their jobs?  Why is IS still going to school anyways if he's studying for the bar exam?  Is that college? I was always confused by that.

 

[hushhh]

I miss this couple.  The show wasn't perfect but Lee Joon and Go Ah Sung had perfect chemistry.   

No need to miss them.  They are there for you on SoompiTv whenever you feel like stopping by.

I'm sure they'll welcome your visit.

(they won't grow or change much so if you can deal with that, it'll be fine)

​

[SennaR]

2) Attn'y Han is guilty of several bias and prejudices and is classist and sexist, but even so I think that Sec'y Yang has long moved beyond the 'woman' designation.  She may not have been his social equal, but as a worker/employee she was not a lesser because she was a woman.  I don't think Han would have trusted or expected more competency from a man.  In some ways I think he also had a similar respect for MinJoo as an worthy opponent.  Yet, strangely, I suspect were MinJoo a man, he would not have kept her as close in the organization. There is something gendered about the way in which Han (and the writer) dealt with MinJoo as an opponent--but I cannot quite identify it.

 In some ways Yang, as she served Han, was not gendered at all.  She plays the same role/provides the same service as several male secretaries does for their Chaebol  in K-dramas, i.e. Secret Garden, Secret Love, Secret Fill in the Blank.  Additionally since HITTGV is a faux historical change of dynasty war-craft drama she plays the loyal general, personal retainer, poisoner-in-chief whose loyalty to the warped/corrupt ruler in unwavering. Therefore that she would have to fall on her sword and/or be exiled was pre-ordained. 

Yet I do think Yang being a woman was an important aspect of the role as it allowed her to infiltrate the below stairs group.  I think were Yang cast as male the dynamics of her interactions with the household staff would be very different.  Of course this is just an idea and there is now way to prove the alternative.

​Loved your post on impact of secretary Yang's gender. Jung Ho's interaction with his employees, especially if they pose a threat to his carefully crafted world of aristocracy and its variance with gender can indeed be delved into deeper. 
Would love to read more about this. 

@baduy 
How lost we all would be without you. Thank you for your translations and interpretations. 



Didn't Jung Ho once refer to Art of War by Sun Tzu ? I recently bought this book.

Also I found an online copy of The Prince. http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Nicolo_Machiavelli/The_Prince/