[Drama 2018-2019] Children of Nobody/Red Moon, Blue Sun, 붉은달 푸른해

[0timelost]

Sigh...work...don't have time to watch the finale until the weekend, so I am just dropping by to catch bits and bits of the news during my off time. Thank you, @kumakumo and @ellelyana88 for translating and recapping the episode. I can't wait to watch it even though I kind of know what happened. Show this good is as rare as finding a needle in a haystack. 

[joccu]

this was amazing  drama . one of the best  dramas that i hv watched in long  time. this was real.

Thank you to everyone. 

[bedifferent]

I just finished.  

 

Love the ending. Love the drama.  A meaningful story, a drama everyone who was involved in making should be proud.  The kind of project that actors/actresses always seek.  Wonderful job by writer, PD, cast and crew. 

 

Wanted to say more later but for now, it ends with big lessons for our characters  and us viewers. It’s so hard to put into words the beauty of this drama.

 

While we cannot forget or overlook the horror, we are not given the right to carry out the judgment based on our own moral axis.  For we are not without fault, for we must take time and take to heart the need to understand others circumstances and dilemmas, for we are often both victims and perpetrators at times.  For there are two sides to a coin and a story.

 

As Yoon Tae Joo puts, killing the perpetrators is the only solution to put the end to the abuse.  He believes in the beauty of the finality, of making the problems go away permanently. For people like Siwan’s dad, his end reflects how he shortened his own daughter’s.  I guess what he fears and hates are the endless possibility in life and people in general.  The possibility that the crimes and perpetrators are lost, muted, changed if they are given the chance to live.  He wants them to pay for the crimes in the only way he finds fair and just for the victims. Giving the perpetrators the chance to live means reparations, the opportunity to earn forgiveness.  It is something Woo Kyung believes in deep in her core yet one she struggles to hang onto. What kept her from being RC, her compassion, her empathy, her little angel GGD... they are not weaknesses or should be taken for granted.  Forgiveness and redemption have to be earned.  In CWK’s stepmom case, whether that will come is something she cannot say.  I am happy that she is able to see other possibilities besides anger and hate for what happened to her little sister.  The opportunity she gives to her stepmom to be a mother to her real daughter and a good grandmother to Eun So give comfort to the people Woo Kyung loves.  Maybe that is what matter.  Maybe that takes priority and value over revenge.  Love, compassion, empathy ... kept things in check and in perspective.  Woo Kyung chose the possibilities that life holds over the finality of death.  Thus why she cannot be RC prodigy.

 

Regarding Ji Hoon, I thought he has his own arc completed a little was well. We may not get to know his back story but what is important is that his fear of responsibility toward having a child has been replaced with a better understanding and welcoming of his role as an adult.  Yes, having a child is a conscious choice to embrace the joy and challenges that come with parenthood.  What he said rings true, a wake up call for the parents of the abused children.  We watch all the dark scenes between parents and children throughout the drama.  I wonder if they all have forgotten or knew about the joy that these children can deliver.

[Ahmad Kamil]

OST album has been released with 34 tracks. You can listen to its preview here.

 

 

[howling]

 

So the drama with which I've been distracting myself for the past couple months ended. It's sad but I'm glad it wasn't unnecessary stretched out for no reason. Thankfully, the final episode was not disappointing but as a loyal viewer from episode 1, I want to share things I liked and didn't like. 

So the final was ok but it also felt...anti-climatic. Probably because for me Eunho's episode was the most emotional one and left a lot deeper impression. Also, we've been speculating about WK and GDG's story for so long, in the end, it was like 'yeah so that what happened'. 

Another thing that felt confusing was SY's plot that was thrown there for the last couple of episodes as if creators were like 'we forgot she's one of the leads, but yeah she was/is being abused as well'. I think if they made her just an introverted person with RBF and without tragic past, it would've been better like not everyone who looks pitiful and can understand abused people's pain had a childhood trauma or at least explored her story earlier. 

On a personal level, I'm mad that stepmom was given a chance to live while Eunho wasn't . Not that I wanted her to die, but EH was such a broken and tortured soul I just wanted him to get a chance in life that was unfair to him from the beginning

But I'm glad they ended drama with WK and JH visiting the place where he died, showing that there are still people who cared about him, who will think of him from time to time. And JH constantly showing remorse and guilt for killing him, even if he knows he did what he had to, felt compelling. I remember he said murder is murder no matter who is killed, so it fits his personality and I think he also felt sympathy for EH knowing him personally and hearing his tragic story. They woud've been adorable hyung-donsaeng couple in another life. 

Overall the drama was great, and I will definitely be recommending it to people. Don't know if it's going to affect people but I wish my mom saw it when I was little...

I liked that the plot, tone and theme was consistent from get-go, it was a pleasure to watch the actors, everyone including child actors did a great job. I discovered Yi-kyung and Hak-yeon and will definetly keep an eye on their upcoming works. 

It was a risky choice to explore child abuse, especially being Asian myself, I know how in lots of cases here, it's treated lightly, just as strict parenting so I'm very happy they went with this theme and ended without making RC a total unjustifiable psycho but also not making him some sort of vigilante god either.

 

[cyan5tarlight]

Whew, finally finished the last episode. I started it before going to work, then had to leave for work 20 mins before the end, so I basically spent my entire day in abject agony, lol. X'D

 

 

I have to say, though there are still things I wish Mrs. Writer-Nim would have expounded upon (we'll get to those in a minute), I do personally think that this final episode ended remarkably well, considering all the ways it could have failed spectacularly. As others have mentioned, while it doesn't end completely on a downer note, it's a very somber ending. I do think, however, the tone of the ending matches the tone of the rest of the series was going for, even if I was personally hoping for a slightly brighter ending myself. The killer is caught, but everyone still has to live with their guilt and their trauma and the knowledge of what happened, just as we ourselves do in the real world. There's no Instant-Fix button, no way to immediately recover from trauma and forget it ever happened. The scars will always be there, even if we eventually recover. And especially in TV-Land, where it seems everything can be fixed and forgotten in the span of a time-skip and a few quick cuts, I think it's helpful to occasionally remind ourselves that sometimes, healing takes time. And for some people, healing never comes, because their lives were cut short too soon for them to find it.

 

 

I am very happy with how Wookyung's storyline panned out, even though it was bittersweet at best. She found closure, and she took the high road and didn't succumb to her rage and need for vengeance. Near the end, when she told Red Cry she wanted revenge on her stepmother, my blood ran cold, and I honestly thought for a few moments that she would actually go through with it and this was how the show would end, so as you can imagine, I breathed an immense sigh of relief when the lights switched on and revealed Red Cry for who he really was. I'm glad, also, that she took the time to pay her respects to Eunho, even leaving him flowers. I think she realized that their stories were very much a "there but for the grace of God go I" situation, and the only reason she was able to pull herself out of that hell that her memories plunged her into was because she had a  support network of a couple very good and supportive people (and a certain little guardian angel brain ghost), while Eunho didn't truly have anyone.

 

 

Speaking of Eunho.

 

15 hours ago, thistle said:

The part I quoted is one thing that bothers me:  a person cannot be forced to do something against their nature by the use of hypnosis.  LEH was not a killer at heart.  I will never believe that he was.  And the fact that he essentially did "suicide by cop" seems proof that he was punishing himself at the end so that he didn't have to live with being a killer.  If YTJ convinced LEH to do something that was against his nature, then LEH would have found it hard to continue living.  

  

Now I say "convinced" because I do Not believe that hypnosis did it; I think he may have wanted to please his brother or to impress him so that his brother would love him.  That can be the worst hot button issue for an abused child:  believing that they cannot be loved.  No one ever loved LEH, and he still tried to show kindness to those around him, even to his abusers; that takes real courage.   But the world can be unjust:  until he died, LEH was nothing but a tool for others to use--and his brother was the worst user of all. 

 

9 hours ago, tas82 said:

AH man EH got screwed to the end so heartbreaking his story. His bro fed his rage instead of helping him properly deal with it. Used to the end, the poor soul. He dies but mum gets a chance of redemption. Grrr... but alas such in life.... 

 

You guys hit the nail right on the head, I think. I place the lion's share of the blame for the path Eunho went down and his eventual fate squarely on his shoulders. He was a psychiatrist, for crying out loud! If anyone was equipped to help Eunho heal from his trauma, it was him, and yet he turned his brother into an attack dog instead, a tool for him to use to exact vengeance on those he deemed deserved it, while YTJ stayed up in his safe little ivory tower and never had to get his hands dirty until said attack dog went and got himself killed trying to protect his sorry @$$. No wonder Eunho was so miserable that he eventually decided to take his own life. Even if he believed that he was doing the right thing, even if he believed that this was the way to finally get someone to love him, the existence he led must have worn away at his gentle soul until he simply couldn't take it anymore.

 

But even though no one ever truly loved him,  as @thistle said, Eunho never stopped trying to show kindness to others; he never stopped trying to get children to smile, never stopped wanting their best with his whole, entire heart. His is the most tragic story in the entire drama, I think. Yes, what happened to the other kids was awful, but at least the living ones have better lives now and the chance to recover, whereas the ones who died at least no longer had to suffer. Eunho had to live like he did for an entire quarter of a century, abandoned, used, and/or abused by everyone who should have had his best interests at heart. I just wish, more than anything else, that he would have been given that same opportunity, to live and heal and find people who loved him, too. He didn't deserve the end he was given. But I suppose that was kind of the point, wasn't it.

 

Also, oh my GOD, that scene in the interrogation room where YTJ made Jiheon cry and tried to subtly hypnotize him made my blood boil. And right after I was listening to his measured responses to all the questions about how him not revealing how Eunho was his brother because people would jump to conclusions just like the police were doing and internally going "well, the man has a point, I have to admit," too. B| TBH, I don't feel much sympathy for YTJ as a character at all. While being abandoned by his mom was indeed awful and tragic, he at least had a good and loving adoptive home in the US, a quality education, many friends, a respected profession, everything he needed to turn out to be an upstanding member of society. And yet what does he do upon being reunited with his traumatized younger brother and discovering the horrors visited upon him? Not get him therapy, maybe plan to tank the Center (because ain't nothing wrong with Eunho's original plan to bankrupt the Head Director, tbh, I supported him fully in that endeavor) and expose the Songs for the monsters they are, maybe even offer options to abused wives and children that DON'T involve murder, no, no. Let's dive headfirst into the murder and use said traumatized little brother as the loaded gun, why not. Seriously, screw YTJ.

 

 

I do wish they would have explained Jiheon's deal with his ex, and why he chooses to sleep in the bathtub constantly, but maybe they wanted to leave that up to the viewer's imagination. I will say that I do think Sooyoung's character was kind of... underutilized, though. :/ For being a main lead, she seemed more like a sidekick for most of the show, and simply served as a sounding board for Jiheon instead of feeling like her own independent character. I really wish she'd had more scenes to herself, and more time spent developing her backstory (even though I'm happy it seems like she's finally getting some help from her team). The show probably could have benefited from one more hour just to give more time to everything and not have the ending feel quite so rushed, even though the pacing was still pretty decent.

 

 

17 hours ago, kumakumo said:

Especially now that I've seen the finale, I think this point is exactly why I still have my doubts. I re-watched Eunho's confession scene the other day and I think you're right that there are just too many full face shots and whatnot for the flashbacks to be false. The problem is I think the flashbacks actually really aren't fully reliable all the time. For instance, in the final episode they show one flashback about how Eunho and Tae Joo reunited and then discredit it later on with a completely different flashback. I think the flashbacks were also intentionally misleading/ambiguous at times too, such as when we were led to believe Eunho killed Hana's mother because the person was wearing the "good person" mask and Eunho walked out of the room holding it, but then they showed a flashback of Tae Joo taking off the mask right after implying that Eunho was the one being chased the night Jiheon got beat up. They tried to give the impression it was as an exception, but they never bothered to explain what exactly happened. I guess we're to assume either Eunho somehow managed to call his brother who was at a party nearby and they did a complete switcheroo while Jiheon was chasing him, or the guy who picked up the envelope was actually Tae Joo in the first place despite what the flashback implied. 

 

When you combine the questionable reliability of the flashbacks with the fact that most of our cast is known for lying it becomes very hard to know when you're supposed to take something at face value and when you're supposed to suspect it of being a red herring. This is why I really wanted there to be some kind of hard evidence involved in this mystery. Instead everything was solved with confessions from unreliable characters. When you add the multiple plot-holes/unfinished plot-threads to that it ends up undermining the "Aha!' moments you're supposed to get from the mystery and leaves you feeling like things don't add up. I guess the writer tried to bite off more than she could chew with this work and relied a little too hard on red herring twists for suspense. 

  

By the way, I hope this doesn't all come across as me trying to prove you wrong!  I feel like I keep directing all these long argumentative essays at you, but quoting you is just the easiest way for me to segue into my own ramblings... I had all this stuff pent up I wanted to say and ended up word vomitting it all on you lol

 

They didn't show a completely different flashback, though? They simply showed Eunho and YTJ meeting for the first time, them being horribly awkward around each other (for understandable reasons), and then Eunho coming in to ask if his brother could do something about his sleep aversion. I don't think any of that contradicted each other in any way. I also didn't feel like the flashbacks with the mask contradicted themselves. It showed Eunho on the dog butcher's farm, while YTJ said that Eunho carried out the plans YTJ came up with, and then cut to YTJ wearing the mask and beating the crap out of Jiheon, while the voiceover said something about plans not always going the way you think they do. (Or some such, I don't recall the exact words.) So I never had an issue with the way the flashbacks were shot, personally. They were always pretty clear to me. Maybe they were sometimes shot in ways that were meant to be deliberately ambiguous, especially before the reveal, but I never had trouble following them. I suppose, though, if one entered with the suspicion that the show was going to be actively trying to lie to the audience the entire way through, one would be wayyyy more unlikely to trust anything on screen, so I can see where you're coming from with that.

 

No worries! I find this kind of stuff fun as long as both parties are civil and respectful of each other's viewpoints. ^^ And word vomits are awesome, bring on the walls of text. XD It's really interesting when people have a lot to say on a certain topic because they're passionate about it.

 

 

This will be a show that sticks with me for a very long time, I think. While it wasn't perfect, very few things in life are, and it handled its subject matter with a delicacy and nuance that few other shows could have pulled off. It wanted to make its audience think, and it succeeded admirably on that front. The OST was all around fantastic, even if I'm fonder of some ending songs than others, and It's been a very long time since I've seen an ensemble cast this all-around talented, including all the child actors. I'm very glad I watched it, and very grateful to the writer, director, cast, and crew for all the hard work they put in to bring the story to us. Thanks to everyone on these forums for their thoughts and observations, as well! You guys really made me feel welcome here, and I've immensely enjoyed speculating and theorizing along with all of you.

 

 

I'll be sorry to say goodbye to this story and these characters (even if my heart and nerves have taken a beating over the last month), but I don't think I'm ready to do so quite yet. I have some ideas in mind for a few alternate/missing scenes that came to me while waiting for future episodes, and I want to write them out at some point. Watch this space.

 

[bedifferent]

I just wanted to add a little about Dr Yoon.  I think what he said, this little phrase, was quite powerful.  Also indicative of his mindset as RC.  Woo Kyung also felt the same  as a child when  SK was being beaten.

 

I’m just glad it’s not me.

 

In the face of abuse, their first thought was not the concern toward their siblings but their own welfare.  Thank god, I don’t have to deal with it.  This self preservation is instinctive but carries significant bystander guilt later on.  It takes courage to recognize the need to speak up or intervene for others in the moment when it happened.  In hindsight, Woo Kyung felt guilty and regretted  not helping SK.  For Dr Yoon, he felt guilty for not being there to help Eunho and identified with both Siwan/Woo Kyung’s bystander guilt.  He took Siwan/Woo Kyung’s case to help them regain control and power against their abusers.  To help them become involved and do something this time around for the victims whom they failed to intervene for in the past.

 

 

[Ahmad Kamil]

Youtube Playlist of OST album.

 

 

[ktcjdrama]

I've been thinking about if LEH didn't die, would he really have the chance to heal? Given that he has committed those murders, he would have had to serve time. While he is on trial and serving his sentence, would he become better or become worse in prison? Knowing the gentle spirit he has, what kind of life in prison would he have... We have to admit other prisoners might not be kind to him and he might have to deal with the same trauma again while being held there... 

[Ellander88]

If I am to address one thing that I am dissatisfied with the ending is that WK's ex-husband never apologize to her properly.

He used the death of their unborn child as his defense for being steer away from WK. 

But we all knew that his infidelity started long before that. 

It was just a cowardice excuse.. to switch the blame, to play victim, to justify his affair. 

I just want him to at least admit to WK that he is the jerk all along with all those petty excuses.. and apologize sincerely.

 

Did he ever say a word of apology in earlier episodes? Did I missed that?

He never did, right? All I ever remember was him being defensive and threw excuses. 

Jerk. 

 

 

 

 

[mrsj3n]

@ellelyana88 

Nope. He didn't!!

He just blame it on CWK.

Even when CWK was smashing his car windows.. tat idiot protected that mistress! 

Now you understand my rage?

 

There's a lot more to be explored to be honest.

Regarding JH, SY.... 

Hence the hashtag by Kim Sun Ah..

#season2

 

And who knows.. my dream of a fling between CWK and JH might come true too.. 

[bebebisous33]

Great ending, although I wouldn't mind a season 2.

 

As for the stepmother, she only escaped from jail due to South Korea legislation. In France and Germany for murder there is no status of limitation. 

CWK is not forgiving her stepmother right now, I think, she should never forgive her, especially as long as the stepmother never admits her wrongdoing. In all her lies, there was something in common: SK was responsible (she didn't want to take the bath, she was noisy, she was unlucky, aso). The stepmother never acknowledged the fact that she abused a child. Yes, ES likes her grandmother but in CWK's place, I would try to reconnect with the aunt she met. This is her real family... and I would try to replace the stepmother by the aunt. I mean, her ex-husband replaced her with a new wife. ES accepted it, why not do the same with the grandmother? Sure, cutting ties completely is not really possible but I would try to bring a certain distance, never let ES alone with the stepmother in order to show that she can be considered as dangerous.    

[howling]

If there will be season 2 I want EH to become JH’s ghostly presence 

[larus]

Red Moon, Blue Sun: Episodes 29-30

by odilettante

Even though we now know the identity of the little girl in the green dress, the more important question to ask is why the little girl in the green dress is so important. In order to find those answers, Woo-kyung must go deep into her memories — and in doing so, she begins to discover the disturbing truth about her childhood.

http://www.dramabeans.com/2019/01/red-moon-blue-sun-episodes-29-30/

 

[larus]

Wrap Up party at a restaurant in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the evening of 17th.

 

 

Lee Yi Kyung

 

 

Cha Hak-yeon (N)

 

Spoiler

 

Joo Suk-tae, a friendly hand greeting

 

 

Spoiler

Actors Kim Young-jae and Park Soo-young

 

https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1VE2N3F2UL

 

Kim Yeo Jin,   a classy figure

 

 

Ha Eun su

 

Oh Hye Won

 

Na Young-hee

 

Child actors

 

 

Mun yewon

 

 

[ktcjdrama]

Ha! This is the first time I've seen such a rowdy crowd at wrap-up party...  

They were having a blast! What a contrast with the tone of the drama! And I'm glad for them... but where is NGR?

[liddi]

Love the footage from the wrap party, once again highlighting the fact that there is so much warmth and camaraderie among the cast and crew despite such a dark, heartbreaking premise. Missing them desperately.

 

Real life is calling with a vengeance... so will be a little late to put down my thoughts. Anyway, some more from the wrap party from our little girl in the green dress... 

 

 

[mushforbrains]

Think the ending may have felt anticlimactic because the pacing was broken by SY’s backstory....feel a bit sorry as she was perhaps forgotten initially and they tried to give her more time...but found myself fast forwarding in those bits ...as it broke the flow of the main story...

she was a good enigmatic persona and perhaps her story should have come up soon after she beat up the clubgoer and the felon....because we got really focused on finding out about the Gdg towards the end...

and yes JH’s back story got forgotten to some extent but I Guess there was enough mention of it with Hana as his salvation....

I like that JH looked out for Cwk towards the end and allowed her to make a choice...knowing that she was in contact and being “groomed” by red cry...

i felt the scenes between the stepmom and cwk were powerful and could feel the anger and frustration at her not being able to mete out some form of justice and that cwk was struggling with forgiveness...

does korea really have a statute of limitations for murder?

i really love KSA ...she was really good in those scenes, the struggle,the rage...and that little girl playing sekyung.....heartbreaking....

for my shipper heart...think they stopped too many ambiguous scenes between my couple so it wouldn’t distract from the story....and got me back in focus...on the story...lol...

think lyk and chy really shine in this genre....I hope they get more roles in the future....that last shot of Lyk at the pier....woohoo...

[ktcjdrama]

37 minutes ago, mushforbrains said:

 

does korea really have a statute of limitations for murder?

 

Yes. If I remember correctly, it's 15 years. Don't trust me though, this is based from watching other crime dramas  

[liddi]

@mushforbrains @ktcjdrama Korea's 25-year statute of limitations for 1st degree murder was removed in 2015. However, this does not apply to 2nd degree murder, manslaughter and death from accidents. More here.

 

Since little CSK was killed 30 years ago, this exceeds the 25-year statute of limitations that is still in place for manslaughter and accidents. Hence the stepmother cannot be prosecuted for her death.