[Drama 2018] My Mister, 나의 아저씨 - Best Drama at 2019 (55th) BaekSang Arts Awards

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

On 12/17/2021 at 10:15 AM, Pixaiated said:

No way to tell if it's a coincidence, but I would guess that it's not, since these sounds can and will be cut if necessary. The ep5 one is actually really interesting - it's a fairly long period of no dialogue / silence, with just the siren playing in the background. Would assume that the sound could have been removed if the director felt that it didn't match the scene (it kinda doesn't right? it's a loud, piercing sound in what should be a silent moment).

 

On 12/17/2021 at 3:20 PM, the_sweetroad said:

VERY interesting about the sirens.

 

When I watched some of the bilibili videos it was interesting how loud some of the ambient noises were, and how calmly and quietly LSK and IU would have to recite their lines in order to act naturally. Especially in the bilibili video of the last handshake scene, there is so much noise happening around them as it's a busy street. So I think you're right, that they would have controlled the scenes to either include or not include things like sirens.

 

Reviewing the siren scene in ep 5, I think it certainly was put there intentionally. It started just as the scene focused on JA’s face for the first time as she stepped out, and the last note stopped just right before DH started to say “You are nice.” It would be too much of a coincidence if the siren was there by accident yet was synchronized perfectly with the movements and the dialogue. I also believe the siren in all 3 scenes mentioned is all or nothing – if it was intentional in one, then it must be intentional in all. Though the one in ep 12 is really too faint that I’m sure most would have missed it. Too faint that perhaps even the musical editor didn’t notice it and overlaid music onto that scene!

 

What could it symbolize then? One common factor in all 3 scenes is that something is stirring inside Ji An emotionally due to the events that unfolded then. So it must somehow relate to the internal turmoil JA was going through, processing the kindness she has just witnessed and perhaps has never experienced before – someone helping her halmeoni for her, a gang of friends walking her home.. Even the hug refusal she understood, that It was DH refusing to take advantage of her.

 

On 12/17/2021 at 9:41 PM, YukawaCattle said:

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Hmmm...

So Stephan thought DH's crying is because of JA's leave?

I thought is because of divorce.

Or maybe it is both.

But I think maybe Stephan is right.

Maybe DH won't care about divorce with YH or not anymore.

 

Stephan's discussion let me want to share some ideas about the analysis of the ending.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The first  key to let us know whether DH decide to divorce I think is here:

 

 

DH: I know the most pitiful kid in the world, but she says I’m the most pitiful person ever. I lived the wrong life. I lost. 

SW: You can start winning now.

 

 

From this dialogue, we know DH has already decided something.

If we could explained this clearly, then divorce ending will be more persuasive.

 

The second key is the explain of YH's Beer: article.

 

The third key is from Signal.

Director KWS use photo to represent main actor's emotion:

 

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I think this definitely the key because there are lots of  similar elements between Signal and My Mister:

 

1. Use telecommunications equipment to push the main story.
MM: wiretap(cell phone)
Signal: walkie-talkie

 

2. The telecommunications both connect “Park" and “Lee”.
MM: Park Dong-hoon and Lee Ji-an 
Signal: Park Hae-young and Lee Jae-han

 

3. Both main characters(Ahjussi) are not good at expressing their emotions but warm.

 

4. Both main characters(Ahjussi) go to the theater when something sad happens.

 

5. Both main actresses are capable.

6. Both main actresses are faithful to their Ahjussi.

7. Both main characters(Ahjussi) are pursued by the main actress.

8. Open ending

9. One supporting actor will have a dialogue to complain about his prostate problem.

10. Exists the main boss in the whole story and he will lose in the end.

MM: Do Joon-young
Signal: Kim Bum-joo

 

11. Funeral scene.

12. People communicate on the rooftop scene.

 

13. Main characters fighting in a parking lot scene.

14. Dark in the beginning, bright in the end.

15. Use demarcation to construct the scene:

 

 

16. Old song OST.

 

So I think it is persuasive to say that the photo in EP16 is showing DH doesn’t have any relation with YH.
According to these similarities, they 100% divorce in the end.
Because these similarities are just the habit of director KWS.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

BTW, I think YH goes to the US is because DH and YH don't want to let JS know about their divorce.

If they divorce and do not live together anymore in Korea, JS will know it.

(He will go home in some vacation)

So YH goes to the US.

 

YH goes to the US have some benefits for her: company with JS, her sister is there, keep away from Hoo-Gye-dong, gain a degree, and don't let JS know about their divorce. 

 

I haven’t watched Signal but I’m amazed with so many parallel elements between the two shows! It’s surprising to see how much movie-makers recycle many of their ideas through different shows. I believe Signal shared the same director with My Mister but not the writer? So it seemed to show how much a movie director had so much influence in the entire story and not just in the execution of the script.

 

Yes I think clues about the potential divorce were littered all throughout the show – DH’s discussion with the bar owner, YH’s confrontation with JY in ep 12, the desk photos, the beer and many others. That dialogue with the monk friend for me would relate more to DH’s overall struggles on living a life sentence of earnestness, and included in that is his initial contemplation of possibly enduring though a failed marriage.

 

On Ji Seok knowing about the divorce, yes usually couples would have to plan on how to break the news to their kids at the proper time. But I think JS is not new to the idea of couples separating. In omma’s birthday dinner when they had a video call with JS, JS even encouraged his uncle Sang Hoon to start seeing a new girl, not aware that his wife is there present. It’s the show subtly hinting that perhaps JS would someday be open to the idea of having a step mom.  

Edited December 20, 2021 by Emily Bett
Please don’t quote GIFs, thanks!

[Pixaiated]

50 minutes ago, actionscript said:

I haven’t watched Signal but I’m amazed with so many parallel elements between the two shows! It’s surprising to see how much movie-makers recycle many of their ideas through different shows. I believe Signal shared the same director with My Mister but not the writer? So it seemed to show how much a movie director had so much influence in the entire story and not just in the execution of the script.

 

Yup it's a different writer. Yeah, this show was blessed with a really good director. A lot of the small details that we are discussing here throughout this thread is likely attributed to him.

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[sweetroad]

 

9 hours ago, actionscript said:

What could it symbolize then? One common factor in all 3 scenes is that something is stirring inside Ji An emotionally due to the events that unfolded then. So it must somehow relate to the internal turmoil JA was going through, processing the kindness she has just witnessed and perhaps has never experienced before – someone helping her halmeoni for her, a gang of friends walking her home.. Even the hug refusal she understood, that It was DH refusing to take advantage of her.

 

Will need to look for this on my next re-watch for sure. Love all these new ideas!

 

On 12/17/2021 at 2:22 PM, YukawaCattle said:

Like this,

 

How are you making these GIFs? I would like to learn Our Netflix doesn't allow screen captures, and when I try a screen recording of Viki, the video is black (even though I can take a normal screen capture of Viki, thankfully). 

 

19 hours ago, YukawaCattle said:

The third key is from Signal.

 

Thanks for all of these insights from Signal. I only got through 2 episodes before I had to stop as it was too intense for me. But I enjoy seeing all the parallels with MM from your posts.

 

9 hours ago, actionscript said:

On Ji Seok knowing about the divorce, yes usually couples would have to plan on how to break the news to their kids at the proper time. But I think JS is not new to the idea of couples separating. In omma’s birthday dinner when they had a video call with JS, JS even encouraged his uncle Sang Hoon to start seeing a new girl, not aware that his wife is there present. It’s the show subtly hinting that perhaps JS would someday be open to the idea of having a step mom.

 

I feel similarly, in that I don't think Yoon Hee and Dong Hoon would hide a divorce from Ji Seok. Ji Seok lives in America after all where divorce is much more rampant and he probably has classmates who come from broken homes. And yeah, PDnim putting in the dialogue of Ji Seok telling Sang Hoon that it's OK reflects an openness there. (With the disclaimer that usually I'm not a fan of divorce!)

 

--

 

@actionscript brought these videos to my attention. It's members of the MM cast sitting down with PDnim to watch clips from the show. Even though I don't understand Korean, it was fun to see their reactions to certain scenes. (Who speaks Korean and wants to translate some of the jokes and commentary PDnim and the cast made? That would be so great! )

 

The first set is the cast who play characters from Hugye: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1WJ411B7vf/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.0

 

 

 

The second set of videos is with cast members who play characters from Saman: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1GJ411z7gu/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.1

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

22 hours ago, YukawaCattle said:

This makes me curious about whether JS will fall in love with JA.
We all know the proverb "like father, like son..." 

 

Well, JS having grown up in the US, I’m thinking he’ll go after someone that looks like Taylor Swift and not someone like IU. He probably has Shake It Off and Love Story in his Spotify playlist instead of Palette and Blueming. So I won’t worry about that happening. 

 

22 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

The first set is the cast who play characters from Hugye: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1WJ411B7vf/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.0

 

First thing I’ve noticed in the Hugye series is that everyone was having Starbucks coffee except for IU. Not sure if her being a Maxim’s coffee endorser at that time got something to do with it.

 

And then my imagination ran wild.. What if perhaps the reason they couldn’t show IU’s face inside that coffee shop was due to the same reason? (Recall that the show itself had Maxims PPL in like at least 4-5 scenes?) And that prompted the PDnim to just have the entire time-skip sequence of JA shot from the back? The moment she saw DH can already be considered as not inside the confines of the coffee shop so that’s the first time they show her face?

 

I myself don’t think so but anyways, it just crossed my mind after seeing that Hugye reaction video. 

[sweetroad]

4 hours ago, YukawaCattle said:

If the cross is a symbol of JA, then maybe the moon is a symbol of halmuhni.

 

-

(1) In EP5, DH sits on the long bench and watches the night sky.
Then a red cross and the moon show up simultaneously in that scene.
Then JA and halmuhni show up.

 

I think in IU's own words the moon represents Dong Hoon: https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/dear-moon-performed-by-iu-ius-inspiration-fan-thoughts/#more-1309

 

But I see that halmeoni is in many of the moon shots in the show, and she loves seeing it.

 

You might be on to something with the tree symbol! Will have to look for that next time.

 

4 hours ago, actionscript said:

And then my imagination ran wild.. What if perhaps the reason they couldn’t show IU’s face inside that coffee shop was due to the same reason? (Recall that the show itself had Maxims PPL in like at least 4-5 scenes?) And that prompted the PDnim to just have the entire time-skip sequence of JA shot from the back? The moment she saw DH can already be considered as not inside the confines of the coffee shop so that’s the first time they show her face?

 

You are getting very meta, chingu!! Hahaha. Like you, I don't think so either; I think PDnim wanted us to see Ji An's face from Dong Hoon's point of view after the time skip. Otherwise they would've shown her face in the prior scenes in her new office, with her new friends, and in the sign language class. I just love the moment we first see her, though - her eyes as she looks at Dong Hoon!

 

Can we talk about the coffee for a moment? In the office when she's having coffee, do you guys think she wasn't able to afford lunch so she has to drink it in the office for her meal? I know that when she's in her little apartment, having coffee means she's barely eating anything. But I was curious about the office scene (particularly in Ep 11) when she's making it and Dong Hoon is staring at her. Do we think she went all day at the office every day without eating anything?

 

(And hello D.C. if you're reading this! We'd love to have you join us! Would love to hear your thoughts on the show since you've watched the show many times as well.)

 

 

[Pixaiated]

3 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

 

I think in IU's own words the moon represents Dong Hoon: https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/dear-moon-performed-by-iu-ius-inspiration-fan-thoughts/#more-1309

 

 

There's an interpretation that Dear Moon is JA's love song to DH which I really liked - https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/dear-moon-ji-ans-love-song-to-dong-hoon/

 

The lyrics of the song are beautiful when you consider that - IU did a great job with the lyrics here.

 

3 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

Can we talk about the coffee for a moment? In the office when she's having coffee, do you guys think she wasn't able to afford lunch so she has to drink it in the office for her meal? I know that when she's in her little apartment, having coffee means she's barely eating anything. But I was curious about the office scene (particularly in Ep 11) when she's making it and Dong Hoon is staring at her. Do we think she went all day at the office every day without eating anything?

 

If this is specifically in ep11, I would guess that she's eating better at this point since there's much less financial strain (debts paid off, grandma safe), so probably not.

[sweetroad]

14 minutes ago, Pixaiated said:

If this is specifically in ep11, I would guess that she's eating better at this point since there's much less financial strain (debts paid off, grandma safe), so probably not.

 

Good point. You're right - by this point she would have more usable income.

 

14 minutes ago, Pixaiated said:

There's an interpretation that Dear Moon is JA's love song to DH which I really liked - https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/dear-moon-ji-ans-love-song-to-dong-hoon/

 

I really like these two parts:

 

From @chickfactor: "Second part, she is saying that the moon (DH) seems too bright because she is such a dark night. At first, I think she was very down on herself and didn’t feel worthy to have real relationships with people, so she probably felt like she was too “dark,” and that he seems too “bright” in comparison.

 

So I agree, that does seem like she is talking to DH – that he seemed too big and bright for her to have. So she tried to turn away from him, and he was always there."

 

This is so insightful, that Ji An probably didn't feel she deserved to receive kindness and friendship from Dong Hoon. He had a family, a good job, and friends; why would he pay her any attention? Yet he did. Beautiful imagery.

 

 

And from @sadiesmith: "3. Grandma finally gets to see her moon in the sky, but do you think she is actually thinking about the moon?  No, she is thinking of the person she just met, the one who would later become grand daughter’s “light” and salvation, Ji An’s own moon.  So in the end, grandma does get to see the moon alright, but from that point on it’s the other moon she sees that would hold a special place in her heart."

 

This reminds me of Ep 12, where Dong Hoon has just had his confrontation with Yoon Hee, and he sees Ji An on the sidewalk outside the van. He's thinking about Yoon Hee's words, but he can't help being drawn to JA. Halmeoni can't help but be drawn to Dong Hoon.

 

(Funny to quote a GMS blog post that's quoting posts from this thread. But I probably wouldn't be able to find the original posts in this thread.)

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

On 12/20/2021 at 2:28 AM, the_sweetroad said:

Good point. You're right - by this point she would have more usable income.

 

In ep 8 when JA went to confront Gwang Il to retrieve DH’s wallet, she gave us an indication of her income: 1.1M salary a month from Saman, then she pays 1.2M a month to Gwang Il. So I wonder how she covers for the 100k shortfall. She also washes dishes 2-3 hours a night to pay for rent. So after her debt is cleared, that’s a good amount that she now gets to keep herself.

 

So thanks to Joon Young, not only is he the “master of the ship,” it was his money that paid off all of JA’s debt. We shouldn’t really be hating him, no?

Imagine if not for his 10M advance to JA to date DH, DH might have paid it on JA’s behalf, though that would be in 1M monthly installment, the same terms she offered JA back in ep 3.

And should DH pay a portion of it, the more he would feel it inappropriate to pursue a relationship with JA..

Joon Young is in every sense indeed the “master of the ship!” Now the more I look at it, he’s slowly turning into a hero in my eyes. 

 

 

@YukawaCattleI like you signature. I think there are two versions of that teaser clip:

 

 

I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread that the first clip was the starting point of the story: JA is alone and not eating quite as well.

The second clip is the end game: JA is now part of the family, and dressed much better as well. Everyone seems a lot happier now, and the way DH is relaxing his elbow on JA’s seat, they seem to already be in a relationship. So did they just show us a glimpse of life post time skip through that teaser clip??

[sweetroad]

3 hours ago, actionscript said:

And should DH pay a portion of it, the more he would feel it inappropriate to pursue a relationship with JA..

 

Good point! I'm going to quote that in the analysis of DJY.  I never thought of that. The point you guys made earlier is important, that the show made sure JA never got a cent of DH's money. This would be an added reason.

 

3 hours ago, actionscript said:

The second clip is the end game:

 

I love this second clip. Every time it comes up on the Give Me Slippers site header I have to watch it for a while before moving on. So great that we can see it now all the time in your posts @YukawaCattle! Thank you!  

 

Park Ho San (the actor who plays Sang Hoon) looks slightly uncomfortable, though. I wonder if he still felt a bit like an outsider at this point because he came to the project late? Anyone know how many episodes they had filmed without him before he took over?

 

There are some great insights coming out of Man vs Drama's Episode 16- Part 3 video. I particularly like John Payne's comment about Ji An being Dong Hoon's mentor, and brian destijl's comment about one motif of the show being seeing people through other people's eyes. (posting the video link again here). Always something new to think about!

 

 

[Pixaiated]

1 hour ago, the_sweetroad said:

 

There are some great insights coming out of Man vs Drama's Episode 16- Part 3 video. I particularly like John Payne's comment about Ji An being Dong Hoon's mentor

 

 

Yeah, that one was a great comment, though ill say that it really goes both ways, in that they both take on the 'mentor' role in their relationship at different points / in different aspects. Their relationship always felt like a very equal one despite the age gap / employee-manager relationship.

 

Watching that video (great series btw) makes me think about the ending of the show again. It's something I felt a little disappointed in on the first view, giving a 'that's it?' vibe, but upon reflection / thinking about it a little more, it's a perfect fairy-tale ending that really keeps in with the subtle and understated tone of the show. Love it.

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜

[actionscript]

16 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

There are some great insights coming out of Man vs Drama's Episode 16- Part 3 video. I particularly like John Payne's comment about Ji An being Dong Hoon's mentor, and brian destijl's comment about one motif of the show being seeing people through other people's eyes. (posting the video link again here). Always something new to think about!

 

Thank you for reposting. There were so many new insights posted in the last 2-3 days that I’ve missed.

And I really had a good laugh seeing my name here being referenced in the comments there. 

But indeed, how could I, the nape expert, have missed the best nape scene?!?

So here it is:

 

 

Is it just me or is there a dash of sensuality in the way JA’s lips touched the edge of that coffee cup? It’s like she is aware DH is looking. 

[YukawaCattle]

銝祈剜