[Drama 2018-2019] SKY Castle, SKY 캐슬

[cooleet]

I'm so glad that this thread is getting more mature viewers. It's been a long time since I've waited for a drama like this. I hope more people will watch it and learn the lessons that this drama is giving us. 

 

I'm scared of what can happen to these kids. This is just the surface and we don't know what really goes on underneath. Yehbin's story I think is the first one that they will tackle and I hope all the kids will have their own arcs.

[nrllee]

The figurine of a Mother cradling her child.  All 3 of the moms given the figurines love their children.  It's just how that love is expressed.  Love has a great many masks - Overt hugs and kisses, worry, nagging.  The only thing love never is - is indifference.  YeBin is the classic case of a child faced with an indifferent Mother.  Her shoplifting (and later on running away) was a cry for attention - it didn't matter if it was negative yelling or scolding, she just wanted SOME response.  She felt that love from SooIm - she cared enough to attempt to correct her (she could've turned away and minded her own business but she didn't).  Contrast this to her SeoJin's response.  Indifference, she covered it up, didn't even bother to raise it with YeBin, she didn't even seem to care that YeBin would get in trouble with the police...she even drove her to the station and egged her to follow up on her threat to turn herself in.  YeBin felt no love from her indifferent Mom.

 

The 4 moms span that spectrum of how they show love to their children.  From the very strict and regimented SeoJin to the loose Earth Mother SooIm (she gardens ) who loves WooJoo (who isn't even her own birth child) and opens her arms to embrace others like YeBin.  Then you have the one in between the 2 extremes No SeungHye who still lives within the social construct of the education system but still is overtly loving to her twin boys.  And finally the misfit Jin JinHee who waxes hot and cold and is trying her best to find that happy medium and is honest enough to admit to her Son that she's not sure she knows what that is as she cradles him in her arms.  It's a contentious topic.  Is there a right or wrong?  Or is the journey of self discovery more important than the end result?

 

As for Kay...I think he (?) is Coach Kim's Son.  To be confirmed of course.  Driven to insanity because there is no end to learning is there?  The constant quest to be at the top is an unattainable goal.  There will always be someone smarter than you are, if not now, then perhaps in the future...so you have to keep running on that treadmill of learning.  There is a fine line between genius and insanity.  I guess Kay ended up on the wrong side of the genius scale...locked up in his own asylum, never to be seen again (?).  I love how this drama confronts and throws questions at your face.  It doesn't give you straight glib answers.  You need to work that out for yourself.

 

 

 

[jongski]

This scene with my favorite Yeh Bin. Despite being strong and vocal also hurts inside.

 

 

The A-student who's keeping his loneliness inside. ( his biological mother spent 5 years in the hospital). If you've been watching this, you know LSI is not his real mother.

 

 

The fragile and vulnerable Joon twins. SJ the more fragile one. Endured the fathers psycho wrath. SJ and KJ who worried for their mother. They crept on the stare when their mother was left with the father.

 

 

 

 

 

[jongski]

HSJ.. she's doing everything  so as not to disgrace the JS family or be an outcast. The one person she's most afraid to disappoint, the mother in law. She  warned her already. YS needs to be the top and needs to be  accepted at SNU. She's being constantly pressured. She becomes a meek and obedient when she's with her in law. After 6 episodes, I do understand she want to maintain her status quo at present and  forget her life growing at the orphanage. Sh begged and cried the coach Kim. Will she pay the consequence of what's about to happen to YS?

 

 

[cooleet]

I guess it was Kay that Coach Kim was watching in the monitor when HSJ was begging her to take YS back at the end of episode 5. I think it was one when Kay was having a tantrum and she saw it in the video, she was perplexed but of course, HSJ didn't notice it for she was busy acting that time too.

 

I said acting because after Coach Kim agreed to take YS back, we can see how she wiped her tears at the hallway and had that smile. It was not a smile of relief because Coach Kim agreed to take YS back, but more like a smile that says, "I got you fooled." HSJ has been acting for the longest time in her life. Her life is all an act. She will beg if she has too, like how she did with her mother-in-law. Begging Coach Kim is nothing to her as long as she gets what she wants in the end. At the same time, I think she trusts YS and her ambition. In contrast to her relationship with YB, she really knows YS well. She knows that her daughter is just like her, very ambitious and would not be contented to be just the second best. That's why she was shocked when she heard from Coach Kim that YS likes WJ because it was out of character for YS. 

 

YS's character is the most transparent one among the kids. She's just an annoying self-centered, ambitious brat. Her mom made her like that. It's like HSJ is giving her everything that she didn't have before. HSJ molded her to be like that and that's the reason she can tolerate YS's unhealthy character. I think the writer will make YS's life more complicated now because she will finally realize that she can't have everything that she wants.

 

Can you guys see the similarities between the life of YS and HN? KJS first love is HN's mom. HSJ did something and was able to break up KJS and HN's mom. Now, YS is in love with WJ who is in love with HN. What are the odds of that happening? Let's see of YS will be as successful as HSJ from stealing the heart of the person she likes.

 

Sorry for the random ideas that popped in my head...

[Nanana85]

9 hours ago, cooleet said:

I guess it was Kay that Coach Kim was watching in the monitor when HSJ was begging her to take YS back at the end of episode 5. I think it was one when Kay was having a tantrum and she saw it in the video, she was perplexed but of course, HSJ didn't notice it for she was busy acting that time too.

Someone mention on twitter that Kay is a girl. So Kay is a boy or a girl?! She was wearing dress, but maybe Kay is a boy, is it mention in the korean dialogue that pointing he was a boy? Please give me some some facts.

 

And in the eps7 preview there are someone else, a guy who's see Seojin and asking some question about Coach Kim? Wuah, so much hidden secrets at HSJ's life, she must be very strong to through her very hard life..  aah i gave my sympathy to her. The moms characters are so layered, even when you think they're so manipulating, but you ended will gave some understanding because what they really want is the best for their children.

 

And i want to pointing the comedic part too. Woo family (neither husband nor wife) is the icebreaker from the tense plot. The hospital scene always hilarious with dr woo and the interns also, and the CEO doctor and his secretaries with all the sarcasm. And the Cha family banter,, mom took the sweet revenge to dad. NSH is a clever woman, wondering why she stays with the husband after his personality. But maybe because of status, and the kids, that makes her still gave a little love to CMH. 

 

[Nanana85]

Second making film clip from jtbc drama yt

 

Jtbc drama ig update. My fave household in frame! Yay.. 

The doctors unite. From jo jaeyun / dr woo ig update. 

 

SKY Castle already a buzzworthy drama but why this thread is still so quiet, please fellow experts soompier, come to this thread and give me some rich content, about the characterization, society critic relate this drama, books and scoring philosopy, hehee  

If I have some time, i will give some content from actors instagram's updates and also from twitter feed. 

[Nanana85]

The ost that i was waiting for. It always playing at the ending of each eps and always give me chills..

Ha Jin - We All Lie (SKY Castle OST part 4)

 

[icemaid]

 

The piano cover of Sky Castle OST ~ We All Lie. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jongski]

JTBC Sky Castle deserves all the good feedback and critical success. Good acting, good cast, good story,  veteran actors, younger actors.  Drama that doesn't rely solely on name recognition hallyu stars. 

 

The wives lord it over their husbands and then there's coach Kim. Everyone wants to get on her good side because of her success rate getting students admitted to SNU but she also has past. She was after all from "Fairfax, Virginia."

 

 

SH and YB  they're both 14 yrs the youngest of the Sky Castle children.They are caught in the elitism and conformity. YB my favorite.

 

[mimii89]

I decided to give this drama a watch because all of the good/positive buzz it got. And I'm really happy I watched it. It's worthy of all of the praise and positive feedbacks. It's riveting, engaging, and high-quality. It's well written, well acted, and compelling. Everyone is acing their part. I'm starting to grow very fond of Yoon Se-Ah. I really hope she divorces her egotastic husband and live with her sons.

 

And yasss for the OST, "We All Lie". It's finally out!!!!!!!!! I hope it's on Spotify soon. 

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

9 hours ago, Nanana85 said:

The ost that i was waiting for. It always playing at the ending of each eps and always give me chills..

Ha Jin - We All Lie (SKY Castle OST part 4)

 

Finally the OST everyone was waiting for.

 

[nrllee]

23 hours ago, Nanana85 said:

So Kay is a boy or a girl?! She was wearing dress, but maybe Kay is a boy, is it mention in the korean dialogue that pointing he was a boy? Please give me some some facts.

 

 

Yeah I am not sure about that.  The fact that he/she is wearing a wedding dress...but yes, dialogue seems to imply boy (but that's the subs...I can't understand Korean so I can't say for sure that Kay is a boy).  I feel like he is Coach Kim's progeny?  They lived in Fairfax Virginia (USA) before.

 

Interesting that to get to Sky Castle, you have to ascend a hill.  And when Coach Kim drives out to see Kay, her car starts off in daylight and when she arrives, it's night time.  And the car descends into the secluded house.  It is externally also luxurious with all the trimmings.  But as  Teacher Jo  ascends the stairs into Kay's room (the quest for knowledge), you see the aftermath.  No words are necessary - in fact, words/dialogue would minimize the impact.  Books strewn on the floor, sticky notes on the walls - all pictures alluding to the pursuit of knowledge.  And then you see Kay in a dress scribbling formulae on the glass panes.  Thing is though, there is no end to knowledge.  When is enough, enough?  It is a chasing after the wind.  The relentless pursuit of the unattainable, the ascent where you can never quite reach the summit results in a paradoxical descent into insanity.

 

I have been thinking about what it is that seems to ground some of the kids and allow them to 'survive' the perverse regimented educational system set up in Sky Castle.  After all, not everyone can afford to buck the entrenched system prevalent in society.  The Cha family stays entrenched in the system, modifying some of the parameters (study room) but they don't totally buck the system, they still try to get tutors and the standards stay put.  The twins (one better than the other, it always seems like the younger sibling fares better than the oldest) seem to cope okay?  I think it comes back to the figurine of the mother/child.  So long as a child has that bedrock of love to fall back on, they understand that they don't need to 'earn' your love through achievements.  That despite the nagging, the pushing, they KNOW that you are doing it in love and they strive doing what they can because they feel secure in that love.  Same with the Woo household, JinHee assures her son that she loves him and knows it's hard and that she's working it out herself what's right and what's not...and he strives to keep up because he knows that.  That's why her son deals with the pressure and seems more well adjusted than YeBin who is playing out and her actions are attention seeking - she doesn't 'know' her mother's love (she only sees the love showered on YeSuh and feels resentful).  The Hwang household I feel will start to show cracks.  It's been too perfect from the start.  WooJoo is already out of the top 20.  The fact that he is not SooIm's biological child will play some part I feel in the later episodes.  SooIm's been very laid back till now.  I wonder if it's also in part because she feels like she's not his 'real mom' so she doesn't have the right to push him too hard?  I feel like there's an unspoken tension there that plays like an undercurrent that could potentially bubble up in the future.

 

And yes the parallels between the WooJoo/YeSuh/HaeNa love triangle will come back to haunt   the Kang household as history repeats itself and reopens wounds buried deep in the past.

[cooleet]

On 12/12/2018 at 6:41 AM, Nanana85 said:

Someone mention on twitter that Kay is a girl. So Kay is a boy or a girl?! She was wearing dress, but maybe Kay is a boy, is it mention in the korean dialogue that pointing he was a boy? Please give me some some facts.

 

I honestly don't really know if Kay is a boy or girl. I just said "he" coz it's what I saw in the subs. I don't speak Korean so I'm also not sure... hehehehe... Sorry about that...

 

One more night and Sky Castle will air again. I really look forward to this drama's next episode. I know more revelations will come tomorrow night.

 

My favorite scenes in Episode 6 are the noodles. Hehehehe... Maybe I'm mean but I'm always happy when Prof. Cha is unhappy... hahahahaha....

[icemaid]

 

More cup noodles for you, Prof Cha! 

 

 

 

 

[icemaid]

 

We all lie.

tell you the truth 

sometimes we laugh and easily lie.

Alright. it’s a.. it’s faker

Shout it out.

What you want for the world

Money, Honor, Beauty Everything you want

Play with a mask to hide the truth

People cheat each other. right?

Is this really true? Is this really true?

Is this really true? Is this really true?

Is this really true? Is this really true?

 

We all lie.

tell you the truth 

sometimes we laugh and easily lie.

Alright. it’s a.. it’s faker

Shout it out.

What you want for the world

Money, Honor, Beauty Everything you want

Play with a mask to hide the truth

People cheat each other. right?

Run away with me It’ll be the way you want it.

Is this really true? Is this really true?

Run away with me It’ll be the way you want it

Is this really true? Is this really true?

 

We all lie.

tell you the truths

Shout it out.

What you want for the world

Money, Honor, Beauty Everything you want

Play with a mask to hide the truth

People cheat each other. right?

People cheat each other. right?

 

Lyrics cr : 배춧잎

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nrllee]

8 hours ago, cooleet said:

favorite scenes in Episode 6 are the noodles. Hehehehe... Maybe I'm mean but I'm always happy when Prof. Cha is unhappy... hahahahaha....

 

Ditto.  Payback for cutting up her credit cards and docking her allowance.  I like the Cha household the best.  Not Prof Cha but the boys and their Mom.  I love how they stayed on the stairs to watch in case dad took his anger out on her physically... So much more manly than their Father ever will be. 

[vereina17]

have been a silent lurker since I like to observe other's people comments, feedback especially point of view and lessons that can be generated from the drama.

 

The others have been so meticulously penned about every detail of the characters and I really applaud the time and attention the other soompiers give to this drama. I thought that I would be end up alone watch this and this thread would be a graveyard-like place and people just prove me wrong   nothing more can compels me other than seeing bunch of familiar faces of my favorite ahjussis and ahjummas. I also like the fact that each families have their own dynamics and backstories and there's a LOT more than meet the eye. My only concern is screen time of every families. Let's just hope they will be provided with adequate amount of screen time until the last episode and not oddly disappear. 

 

The other thing that I like to point out, that the ambition of HSJ and Prof. Cha, the drive that they have been nurtured, is understandable (at least for me). They came from nothing and had to crawl their way up to the top; they haven't even shown us what any other (might be more nefarious) things that HSJ did in the past and in the future, in order to be acknowledged and accepted. These two had lesser status than their spouses and that's what trigger their inferiority complex which turned into bigger ambition. They weaponize their respective offsprings into people they weren't in the past. That's why it's more like old wound and (kind of) pained me since they have to struggle so much to be acknowledged and even have to sacrifice these poor children. If only they know the reason why their appa and umma did the thing they do :'( Heck even their marriages reflect the tense condition; separate beds, shouting match, everyday feels like battlefield. I can't even foresee the happy ending for HSJ, the mistakes and the sins she have been committed will bite her back in the future. The twins with their mom may have a chance despite this bleak situation and I still optimistic that Prof. Cha is still plausible for forgiveness, if he shows 'improvement' of his character.

 

Another character that intrigues me the most is Coach Kim. She knows how play her card and has the parents wrapped around her fingers. I believe Kay is her son (?). Lol that's what happened when you too immersed when you are studying, that you become unstoppable. 

Edited December 13, 2018 by vereina17

[angelbeast90]

In Korean they never refer with personal pronouns coz it's not polite I found out through Immortal Songs.( I simply don't know much extensively about this though) Also what if Coach Kim's progeny is gender non-conformist. Of what I saw of him/her it looked like the growth has been stunted and all the intellectual side has grown exponentially to the genius/madness level.

 

I also feel like WooJoo is going to go through a catharsis because of a crisis arising from the two girls fighting for him somehow this feels unavoidable.

 

Also I wanted to point out that Professor Cha's scene background music, when he found out the study room has been brought down, was Bolero By Maurice Ravel.

 

PS: about personal pronouns if you are interested http://morninglands.com/grammar-note-korean-pronouns/

 

 

 

[nrllee]

2 hours ago, vereina17 said:

The other thing that I like to point out, that the ambition of HSJ and Prof. Cha, the drive that they have been nurtured, is understandable (at least for me). They came from nothing and had to crawl their way up to the top; they haven't even shown us what any other (might be more nefarious) things that HSJ did in the past and in the future, in order to be acknowledged and accepted. These two had lesser status than their spouses and that's what trigger their inferiority complex which turned into bigger ambition. They weaponize their respective offsprings into people they weren't in the past. That's why it's more like old wound and (kind of) pained me since they have to struggle so much to be acknowledged and even have to sacrifice these poor children

 

Vicarious living through one's children is commonplace.  Especially in Asian families where the offspring are not 'individuals' but an extension of the bigger self - the family unit.  In a shame culture, the offspring's success/failure reflects on the parents.  So you are right when you say that both have projected their inadequacies and sense of self worth onto their offspring, getting them to achieve the dream that they themselves wanted before but just never quite got there.  YeSuh actually is just as driven (if not more) than her Mother.  Her problem is that she has turned into an insufferable know-it-all with none of the social graces required to navigate 'normal' adult working life and her doting Mother HSJ does her no favours by pandering to her every whim.  She reminds me of Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

 

Yes I find Coach Kim intriguing too.  Her prim and starched take no prisoners exterior is a mask hiding something more sinister.  Perhaps she too is like Prof Cha and HSJ.  Her failure in getting Kay to achieve that which she desired for her/him could now be projected onto every one of her 'pupils'...she can live vicariously through the many children she got to that coveted end point of the SNU Medical School, thereby proving to herself that her method was not erroneous, it was just the individual children that were the variables.  Like Kay or YoungJae (who actually got there, the Mother who took her own life was collateral damage - the system worked, the people were the variables).