[Drama 2017] Because This Is My First Life 이번 생은 처음이라

[Dramanoona]

Overall, a really good episode!

Can't comment much (because I am at work ) but I totally loved it and fell more in love with the drama.

Again, there were numerous gif worthy scenes and wise comments from each character. E.g. the advice SH gave to WS. And you can feel WS's dilemma over the relationship between HR and himself.

 

We finally get to meet Jung Min and it looks like she was really hurt by whatever happened between her and SH. And the involvement of SH's dad. I am not ready to condemn her and be negative towards her just because SH was hurt. She was devastated too and we say things when we are devastated which we regret later. I would like to hear her side of the story. (For all we know, she could be married by now). I agree with @fastheart that JM may help SH heal. There was a reason for BN's existence so there is a reason for JM too.

 

The cliffhanger. My jaw dropped (but somehow I believe it's all chaste because SH will be aware that JH is inexperienced in these matters) I had to lol when JH said SH had opened the Pandora's Box (of sexual desire and frustration)

 

PS. $250 dollars for a bra. Wow. *random thought*

[kimnabong]

So I finally saw the subbed version and would just like to point out some of the things I like about this drama. It is still a running favorite for me.

Cafe Flashback
During the flashback, I was particularly struck when Kim Jeong Min forbid the use of the words "Uri" and such words and this hit me as a parallelism to when Ji Ho told SH not to use those words easily. It was deja vu in reverse. I suddenly wondered how much impact it must have hit Se Hee when Ji Ho told him this, especially since it reverberated pains from the past.

Finding Kim Jeong Min - The Play
I was very intrigued by the screenplay that HR and WS watched, entitled Finding Kim Jeong Min. I keep getting the feeling that the ex wrote it. Or if that's a wrong assumption, it feels like an allusion to that time in Se Hee's life when he too, no matter how much he loved Jeong Min, couldn't seem to find the right way towards her. This is a direct contrast to the ease of the path towards Ji Ho. He found JH easily---she was like the stray cat that dropped inevitably into his life. More than that, I feel like "Finding Kim Jeong Min" is also in reference to Jeong Min the ex herself needing to find herself, and perhaps having lost it in her path with Se Hee. No matter what happened in the past however, it is clear that it's just a memory at this point and that the here and now is fully Ji Ho's territory. There's a recognition, a hit we feel at the bottom of our hearts when we meet a great love lost again in the present, when we see them in the now, it's not them anymore. And we feel the certainty of having loved them but we know that's done in the past and inapplicable to the present.

Ji Ho and Se Hee, My normal but priceless couple
For Se Hee, I agree that the stopping the door from closing is a positive thing. For people who have truly loved and have been profusely hurt in a magnitude as that SH has experienced before, trying again will never be easy, hardly possible. So, ensuring that Ji Ho's door won't close on him is about as stupendous as when he ran up the hill to save her from Bok Nam. I initially thought that he was doing this because he didn't want to feel alone that night, but after having watched with subs, i realized that it was actually a leap of faith. It was laid with certainty. For thinking individuals like SH, doing that isn't a spur of the moment decision, it's a conscious want and need to continue pursuing JH. It's exactly like when he decidedly planned to plant a kiss. This isn't SH backing down, it's SH dropping all the baggage of the past to enter a new life with Ji Ho.
 

I understand how this seems difficult to grasp for us viewers because the magnitude and sincerity of his previous love is possibly as weighty as the one that he is now feeling with Ji Ho. We are so used to the great love trope in dramas that it's possibly hard for us to accept that we're actually rooting for the "replacement girl". But this is what this drama is telling us: that no matter how great some past loves have been, it cannot end our lives after the fall out. We may have emerged irreparably broken, just like Se Hee, but we can get up and try again. The decision to try again is ours. Love isn't just a feeling, it's a conscious choice. In fact, love that's a conscious choice is the type of love that's up for marriage. That One Great Love could well be a drama trope; a stuff for poets and fiction legends. Because "First Life" is a slice of life drama, I appreciate how coolly it shows that it's okay to love again; that it is possible and just because it's the second time, it isn't any less valuable. I also love how it challenges this dramatic notion of love as something complex, dramatic, and painful. What SH is experiencing with JH is the kind of love that's placid, calm, and stable. Just because it may seem too boring as a premise, it doesn't diminish the value or realness of love. Love, the quiet ones that regular people feel in a comfortable scenario is just as fulfilling and just as defining of our completeness. 

In fact, I think that strength of this drama lies precisely in that: that love blooms just as beautifully in the most common situations and it can be just as profound. This is why WS and HR's relationship is always at the other end of the fulcrum because theirs is something impassioned, something that started like most loves do and went through the typical trajectories of most relationships... and yet it's failing because relationships aren't supposed to be just about milestones, it's about becoming together and being one. Ji Ho and Se Hee got the sequencing mixed up but they're handling the becoming "one" part well enough. 

However, what I think really caused most of the reservations that we feel here is that we felt shortchanged---- while Ji Ho and Se Hee is going through the norms of dating like most other common couples do, we missed what makes them a strong couple: their ability to move in one direction and communicate with each other and think with each other in sync. In EP12, we are hearing SH's thoughts. What we really want to see is JH and SH talking to each other rather than analyzing each other. We miss this because we've seen how well they do it and so the whole just going on a date thing felt irrelevant compared to all the other times that they connected better. To us, moving forward for this couple is talking it out, which I hope, I'm sure we will see more of in the upcoming episodes. On the other hand, I do feel that the whole standard dating and the cliche gifts as also critical because these are baby steps towards the confirmation of their being a couple. It's their normalization process. SH's attempt to take her out to common dates is normative, an introduction to their status of being a couple not just on contract but according to what society regularly defines a couple. And by that I think SH wanted to make it clear, that by norms, by normal things that young people do, we are dating. We are in this relationship. So it's also a type of progress. In fact it's an important progress for their very unconventional beginning.

<3 Please bear with my kilometric post again Chinggus. Thank you!

[halojins]

Guys.. im confused.. JM gave the book at the restaurant right, so t must be on christmas eve and the front page says about 'to my everything blabla' but then the page at Visitor had the sticky note about not to love again, not to be happy again... it's quite weird that both messagss were on the same book given on the same day? Unless it was SH who wrote the sticky note as he rememebered what JM said to him on that day, but then again, the front page dedication wouldnt make sense. 

[kimnabong]

4 minutes ago, wateryroseapple said:

Guys.. im confused.. JM gave the book at the restaurant right, so t must be on christmas eve and the front page says about 'to my everything blabla' but then the page at Visitor had the sticky note about not to love again, not to be happy again... it's quite weird that both messagss were on the same book given on the same day? Unless it was SH who wrote the sticky note as he rememebered what JM said to him on that day, but then again, the front page dedication wouldnt make sense. 

I think they may have been living together in Jeong Min's apartment. It must have been her gift to Se Hee and now she's returning it to him. The poem must have a deeper significance to their relationship. 

[VanillaSalt]

omg the song used during the kiss in ep 11 was so good! I've been loving the OST songs and the background music, so I hope they eventually release it as a whole. Anyone know what song was used during the kiss? I don't think they've released it, right?

[naritul]

I think ex will not do something harmful to our OTP

we've learned from BN's incident and JH pretty cool when she found out about ex...

 

and i am sure that i will survive until next week (waiting this week episodes made me crazy hahahaha, last week preview really really torturing me)

 

I love how this drama is written, every lines and gestures are beautiful... i even fall in love with their voice over 

This is one of my top lists drama hehehe...

 

SH's hug was full of emotion and he finally showed us his true self , and i love their conversation before the kiss even more.... (I love how SH holds her hand, bwahahaha am i overreacting?)

 

"i have a fragile heart " so I cant wait that long because i am in love with them, hope monday will come faster..

 

SH is sweet and JH is cute, they complement each other  

 

I believe Soo Ji will start the bra company...  I like this couple SJ-SG....

I am bored with HR-WS relationship... Why can't he marry her after 7 years relationship? that's cruel! dan HR always complicate things, they are poor yet she wants a party? glad they broke up...

 

1 hour ago, camichi said:

 

PS: I don’t know if it’s ok or not but these two should be real…sorry

 

 

I agree with you hihihihihi

 

Add :

Ex presence is very important to reveal his past...  I am okay with a lil bit of jealousy

Edited November 15, 2017 by naritul

[chubbyzmae]

anybody know the tittle of background song when JH and SH in cafe? I think i heard that song in Reply 1988. But i don't know the tittle. 

[Ayame]

1 hour ago, VanillaSalt said:

omg the song used during the kiss in ep 11 was so good! I've been loving the OST songs and the background music, so I hope they eventually release it as a whole. Anyone know what song was used during the kiss? I don't think they've released it, right?

Yeah, it hasn't been released yet. Hopefully next week. If you've listened to OST songs from other dramas in the past, you can tell it's sung by Ben. She always has the best OST songs.

[enigmatic_zephy]

1 hour ago, kimnabong said:

So I finally saw the subbed version and would just like to point out some of the things I like about this drama. It is still a running favorite for me.

Cafe Flashback
During the flashback, I was particularly struck when Kim Jeong Min forbid the use of the words "Uri" and such words and this hit me as a parallelism to when Ji Ho told SH not to use those words easily. It was deja vu in reverse. I suddenly wondered how much impact it must have hit Se Hee when Ji Ho told him this, especially since it reverberated pains from the past.

Finding Kim Jeong Min - The Play
I was very intrigued by the screenplay that HR and WS watched, entitled Finding Kim Jeong Min. I keep getting the feeling that the ex wrote it. Or if that's a wrong assumption, it feels like an allusion to that time in Se Hee's life when he too, no matter how much he loved Jeong Min, couldn't seem to find the right way towards her. This is a direct contrast to the ease of the path towards Ji Ho. He found JH easily---she was like the stray cat that dropped inevitably into his life. More than that, I feel like "Finding Kim Jeong Min" is also in reference to Jeong Min the ex herself needing to find herself, and perhaps having lost it in her path with Se Hee. No matter what happened in the past however, it is clear that it's just a memory at this point and that the here and now is fully Ji Ho's territory. There's a recognition, a hit we feel at the bottom of our hearts when we meet a great love lost again in the present, when we see them in the now, it's not them anymore. And we feel the certainty of having loved them but we know that's done in the past and inapplicable to the present.

Ji Ho and Se Hee, My normal but priceless couple
For Se Hee, I agree that the stopping the door from closing is a positive thing. For people who have truly loved and have been profusely hurt in a magnitude as that SH has experienced before, trying again will never be easy, hardly possible. So, ensuring that Ji Ho's door won't close on him is about as stupendous as when he ran up the hill to save her from Bok Nam. I initially thought that he was doing this because he didn't want to feel alone that night, but after having watched with subs, i realized that it was actually a leap of faith. It was laid with certainty. For thinking individuals like SH, doing that isn't a spur of the moment decision, it's a conscious want and need to continue pursuing JH. It's exactly like when he decidedly planned to plant a kiss. This isn't SH backing down, it's SH dropping all the baggage of the past to enter a new life with Ji Ho.
 

I understand how this seems difficult to grasp for us viewers because the magnitude and sincerity of his previous love is possibly as weighty as the one that he is now feeling with Ji Ho. We are so used to the great love trope in dramas that it's possibly hard for us to accept that we're actually rooting for the "replacement girl". But this is what this drama is telling us: that no matter how great some past loves have been, it cannot end our lives after the fall out. We may have emerged irreparably broken, just like Se Hee, but we can get up and try again. The decision to try again is ours. Love isn't just a feeling, it's a conscious choice. In fact, love that's a conscious choice is the type of love that's up for marriage. That One Great Love could well be a drama trope; a stuff for poets and fiction legends. Because "First Life" is a slice of life drama, I appreciate how coolly it shows that it's okay to love again; that it is possible and just because it's the second time, it isn't any less valuable. I also love how it challenges this dramatic notion of love as something complex, dramatic, and painful. What SH is experiencing with JH is the kind of love that's placid, calm, and stable. Just because it may seem too boring as a premise, it doesn't diminish the value or realness of love. Love, the quiet ones that regular people feel in a comfortable scenario is just as fulfilling and just as defining of our completeness. 

In fact, I think that strength of this drama lies precisely in that: that love blooms just as beautifully in the most common situations and it can be just as profound. This is why WS and HR's relationship is always at the other end of the fulcrum because theirs is something impassioned, something that started like most loves do and went through the typical trajectories of most relationships... and yet it's failing because relationships aren't supposed to be just about milestones, it's about becoming together and being one. Ji Ho and Se Hee got the sequencing mixed up but they're handling the becoming "one" part well enough. 

However, what I think really caused most of the reservations that we feel here is that we felt shortchanged---- while Ji Ho and Se Hee is going through the norms of dating like most other common couples do, we missed what makes them a strong couple: their ability to move in one direction and communicate with each other and think with each other in sync. In EP12, we are hearing SH's thoughts. What we really want to see is JH and SH talking to each other rather than analyzing each other. We miss this because we've seen how well they do it and so the whole just going on a date thing felt irrelevant compared to all the other times that they connected better. To us, moving forward for this couple is talking it out, which I hope, I'm sure we will see more of in the upcoming episodes. On the other hand, I do feel that the whole standard dating and the cliche gifts as also critical because these are baby steps towards the confirmation of their being a couple. It's their normalization process. SH's attempt to take her out to common dates is normative, an introduction to their status of being a couple not just on contract but according to what society regularly defines a couple. And by that I think SH wanted to make it clear, that by norms, by normal things that young people do, we are dating. We are in this relationship. So it's also a type of progress. In fact it's an important progress for their very unconventional beginning.

<3 Please bear with my kilometric post again Chinggus. Thank you!

You know lately with every little revelations, and i have been saying that...

I don't know if SH has a type... or SH actually sees his first love in JH..

 

the mannerisms, demeanour, likes dislikes probably made him observe JH more.. who knows maybe JM took the first initiative @ the first kiss with SH.. 

 

AND that's why... he just proposed marriage to JH.. Marriage clearly including house is a pain point..

 

 

 

AND this is bad.. i  get that sense from SH that at some level, all these feelings are induced by JH being very very very similar to JM...now this happens in real life too

But the problem is  if I were JH.. and would have come to realize of all these similarities and how every little retort of hers is strikingly similar to first love (thankfully she will never know all of this.. no one does..you cna talk about just so much).. i would hate it.. and doubt if its even me that SH fell in love with  in the first place.. or maybe not love but the reasons he started observing JH, affected by JH because every little thing resonates..

 

I as a viewer, just by looking at ep 12 preview @ end of ep 11.. could see striking similarities in JM and JH... and here writer is going out of the way to definetaly suggest that JH is similar to JM.. difference probably JM is not someone to let others trample her... so was better at her career.. unlike JH who had all her eggs in one basket and that basket was broken

 

 

[hushhh]

Episode 12

 

I just love the show.

 

I loved this episode.

 

From beginning to end.

 

Sang-Gu's inability to stop and stalkerish mode not the best.

 

Ho-Rang.  I felt the bruising of her "mother'sheart" in the episode.

I wish she had initiated the break-up.  

As much as Ho-Rang and Won-Seok might love each other their goals or timeline are not in sync.

Ho-Rang needs to find a husband who wants her to be the mother of his children.  

 

What to say about Ji-Ho and Se-Hee? 

From the opening shot to closing sequence, perfection.

I had a moment of unease fearing that Se-Hee's ego would be bruise because Ji-Ho out played him at darts, but I underestimated him.

I was also nervous that he might have objected to her borrowing his book, but . . . 

 

I wonder in bathroom caressing lady saw Ji-Ho and Se-Hee together?

Helping a stranger get her earring in is one thing, the lingering touch is another.

 

Well, [unless the person is a sociopath] I am usually supportive of those who choose happiness.

 

Go Se-Hee.

 

EDIT: Episode 11.

The way Se-Hee initiated the kiss was very satisfying and revealing to me as viewer.

[I'm always leery of men swooping in and kissing women without an explicit signal from women.  I loved that the gave Ji-Ho the option to stop or continue and she enthusiastically made the choice to continue.]

 

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but I'm stealing time from sleep and I didn't see it in the little back-reading I did.

 

Paraphrasing my subtitles, Se-Hee said, "There is something I've wanted to correct for sometime." And thus began his disheartening (to Ji-Ho) critique of the kiss.

 

"There is something I've wanted to correct for sometime." That implies that Se-Hee had been thinking of the kiss, perhaps since it happened, and has been wanting to help Ji-Ho make the kiss better.

 

Therefore, it isn't too far a stretch to imagine that as distracted as Ji-Ho has been by the better kiss, Se-Hee was also as distracted by the less adequate "peck"/"meeting of lips" and his desire to have an improved experience.

 

I really enjoy how direct and upfront Se-Hee is with Ji-Ho now that he has decided to go for his happiness.  

 

His only indirect action was taking her on the undeclared date.

[enigmatic_zephy]

2 hours ago, wateryroseapple said:

Guys.. im confused.. JM gave the book at the restaurant right, so t must be on christmas eve and the front page says about 'to my everything blabla' but then the page at Visitor had the sticky note about not to love again, not to be happy again... it's quite weird that both messagss were on the same book given on the same day? Unless it was SH who wrote the sticky note as he rememebered what JM said to him on that day, but then again, the front page dedication wouldnt make sense. 

They were living together..rental appt .. (hence his need for a new house and why he keeps saying all though the series that to live with ji ho he wanted  a socially accepted approach and hence not tenant-landlord but marriage) .. and we know that because she tells him she took her stuff out and he needs to take his out..

 

Now when she cleared the house, she must have taken the book she gave to SH as a gift in the past.. added a post it to it... and along with marriage certificate returned it to him

[enigmatic_zephy]

14 minutes ago, hushhh said:

 

 

What to say about Ji-Ho and Se-Hee? 

From the opening shot to closing sequence, perfection.

I had a moment of unease fearing that Se-Hee's ego would be bruise because Ji-Ho out played him at darts, but I underestimated him.

I was also nervous that he might have objected to her borrowing his book, but . . . 

 

I wonder in bathroom caressing lady saw Ji-Ho and Se-Hee together?

Helping a stranger get her earring in is one thing, the lingering touch is another.

 

Well, [unless the person is a sociopath] I am usually supportive of those who choose happiness.

 

Go Se-Hee.

Unlike others, that lingering touch.. i think is more of JH's issue..

 

remember pandora's box is open.. and she ain't a super confident girl either...

and here comes this woman.. so gorgeous.. who is helping put on those ear rings.. you are sexually frustrated..and very very sensitive.. back of an ear is a sensitive area just as neckline is...and then you can see how much in awe of that woman Jh already is... exactly as she appreciates SJ to an extent... and notice that isn't the case with Ho rang.. with Ho rang.. both are friends..absolute equal footing..

 

 

AND i am quite sure makgeolli at the beginning had an aphrodisiac..

that's why the man said, it wasn't meant for you :P.. and thsi whole episode is just 1 day.. so ya.. kiss and aphrodisiac worked together

[gladys57]

1 hour ago, chubbyzmae said:

anybody know the tittle of background song when JH and SH in cafe? I think i heard that song in Reply 1988. But i don't know the tittle. 

 

That song is "Etude of Memory" a classic and I wonder if it is a remake version by DBSK. I dont know the original singer. It's one of my favourite Korean songs.

It's very appropriately used indeed for that scene.

[xxPeepsxx]

Rather than trust SeHee not to be a noble idiot, I'm trusting in JiHo to stand her ground and find out why. Rather than trusting that JiHo won't misunderstand, I'm trusting in SeHee to clear the air whenever he realises she's got it wrong. I trust them both to read each others actions rather than rely only on words. And I trust them both to never truely lie (the occasional obvious passive-aggressiveness aside). I trust them both to protect their own hearts without purposely deeply hurting the other. I trust that they'll always bother to soothe whatever hurt they might have given each other without losing themselves.

 

Every couple's got their own language. Some like things loud. Some acknowledge quietly. Some talk it out all the time. Some reflect more. Some just get it. Some take more. Some accept less. Some take equally and give equally. The best couples are not those who demand equality all the time though, but those who accept that sometimes one partner's needs is a greater priority... but not all the time.

 

I trust these two to find their own language. That's it.

 

These three episodes, SeHee's been moving very fast. But I'd like to think that it's because he now feels more couragous as JiHo showed that she'll catch him if he falls emotionally. She showed him that he's stronger than he thought he could be and she won't die because of a bit of hurt. Do whatever he wants, because she's not gonna die, not gonna break apart just like that, no sirree!

 

It's not that he never had it in him. It's just that he had it under padlock and she's the key that unlocks it all out of him and the feels and desire are all bursting out now.

[darr]

The kiss was very good indeed but I don't like how he initiated it. I expected better.  At 26 yrs he is no longer a kid and for somebody who was in a relationship before, he is not naive. He absolutely knew what he was doing. At his age too even if he don't know anything he is supposed to show maturity  in character which he was doing very well before the kiss. JH don't know anything about men but she is very matured about what she desires as an adult. U don't taunt a girl with such. That makes JH to be on the receiving end. He is basically the same after the kiss. For a guy to initiate kiss that way ,he must have thought about it. What effect did it have on him. At least viewers should know and he can still maintain his aloof stand with JH for the sake of the drama. The way it was portrayed is bland to me. And this is supposed to be the climax of everything. Was seriously waiting for this moment. 

 

 

[chubbyzmae]

12 minutes ago, gladys57 said:

 

That song is "Etude of Memory" a classic and I wonder if it is a remake version by DBSK. I dont know the original singer. It's one of my favourite Korean songs.

It's very appropriately used indeed for that scene.

Thank you very much...

 

 

[xxPeepsxx]

1 hour ago, gladys57 said:

 

That song is "Etude of Memory" a classic and I wonder if it is a remake version by DBSK. I dont know the original singer. It's one of my favourite Korean songs.

It's very appropriately used indeed for that scene.

 

Etude of Memory - OST for the movie Architecture 101 that shot Suzy to blockbuster fame, sung by singer Kim DongRyul, produced by Shin HaeChul.

[tianaa]

i died at this scene

[chickfactor]

2 hours ago, chubbyzmae said:

anybody know the tittle of background song when JH and SH in cafe? I think i heard that song in Reply 1988. But i don't know the tittle. 

 

this is one of the songs:

 

 

 

they played 2 songs, both by the same singer

 

Edited to add: the other song is called "Etude of Memory" (thank you other posters)

Edited November 15, 2017 by chickfactor

[hushhh]

8 hours ago, camichi said:

Many of us have been wondering if SH loves her or not because he hasn’t given any signal (for me he has given many).

 

Even when Se-Hee's actions seemed cold, and hurt Ji-Ho, (not wanting her to visit his office, and make too much of their marriage in public) it turned out he was thinking of her care.  He is considerate. 

 

Even Se-Hee's conversation with  Won Seok was a sign of his consideration.  He did not really want to be disturbed, but he sensed that Won Seok and Se-Hee adjusted his plan to give Won Seok time.

 

That sense of consideration led him to the observation that even when Won Seok talked about his love for Ho-Rang, Won Seok puts himself first.  [It English it made sense I love HoRang. I can't live without HoRang but maybe Korean language construction allows natural way to express that without the "I" being as prominent.)