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My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10

Prepare yourselves because things get really dark this week. Despite setbacks, our time traveling duo continues their quest to solve the murders, learning more about themselves and their families than they’d expected. For our heroine, that means unearthing the brutal truth of her father’s past, which calls into question what she thought she knew about him.

 
EPISODES 9-10

While Yoon-young is ready to believe Hee-seob’s confession – it’s not like her opinion of him was high to begin with – Hae-joon isn’t so quick to accept it. And he’s right to be suspicious of the out-of-the-blue confession because it turns out Hee-seob didn’t even know he was effectively confessing to murder. (Maybe specify the exact crime you’re admitting to next time, kid.) Hee-seob is shocked to realize he’s being held on murder charges and denies killing anyone; he merely thought he was covering for his brother’s protest activities.

Lucky for Hee-seob, he’s got an alibi. He went to check on Soon-ae that night after Bum-ryong tried to attack her, and he ended up staying with her all night while she waited for Kyung-ae to come home. Kyung-ae told Soon-ae she was meeting with someone nice who saved her, so Yoon-young and Hae-joon assume she meant Yoo-seob.

Unluckily for Hee-seob, Soon-ae’s father orders her to keep quiet about being together that night and locks her in her room so no one will gossip about her the way they do Kyung-ae. Also not in Hee-seob’s favor is the fact that Yoo-seob has been unreachable for days. Then, the cops find a necklace Yoon-young recognizes as belonging to her uncle. Hee-seob, of course, insists it’s his (to his uncle Dong-shik’s dismay).

Jin Ki-joo and Seo Ji-hye in My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10 Jin Ki-joo and Seo Ji-hye in My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10

The neighborhood closes ranks, leaving very few on Hee-seob’s side. That doesn’t deter Soon-ae who is beside herself with worry. She begs Yoon-young to go with her to the police station to prove Hee-seob’s innocence, saying she’d promised Hee-seob not to abandon him. Yoon-young refuses and stops Soon-ae from going.

But Yoon-young and Hae-joon already have a two-part plan to get to the truth. Thanks to some good old police incompetence, the bloody garment was rendered useless in the original timeline after some truly impressive mishandling. To ensure a different outcome, Hae-joon gets a cop to put it in a sealed bag before sending it off for testing. Not only is Hee-seob’s blood not a match, but neither are the victims’.

Then, Hae-joon takes a trip to Seoul where Yoo-seob attends university (he’s in the same department as Joo-young) and learns that he’s well-known for his protest activities. He was even seen protesting the night of the murder and was badly injured.

This is when things take a very dark turn. Hee-seob, already beaten and mistreated by the local cops, is taken into custody by Seoul police who are looking for Yoo-seob. They have no compunction about torturing this high school kid to find his brother. It’s brutal. But loyal Hee-seob refuses to give up his brother, no matter how vicious the beating which includes breaking his leg and water torture.

Years ago, Hee-seob and Yoo-seob’s parents and older brother were killed by the military, leaving them to survive alone. (Korea was under military rule during this period.) This shared trauma explains their close bond and dependency on each other throughout their lives. Hee-seob wants to forget and move on, but Yoo-seob can’t and continues to fight the dictatorship.

Jin Ki-joo and Lee Won-jung in My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10 Jin Ki-joo and Lee Won-jung in My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10

Knowing now her father is innocent and in serious danger, Yoon-young is desperate. She recalls her uncle used to try to hide in the ceiling, and she rushes to Hee-seob’s room. Sure enough, an injured Yoo-seob is hiding in the attic. He begs her to take him to Hee-seob, so she and Hae-joon help him to the motel where Hee-seob is being tortured.

Hae-joon takes Yoo-seob inside, and shortly after, Hee-seob comes out. Yoon-young sees a bloody, broken Hee-seob walking with that familiar limp and finally sees in him the father she’s always known. It’s a heartbreaking sight as Yoon-young looks at her sobbing, tormented young father and finally understands. Then, for perhaps the first time, she reaches out her hand to him.

It’s not long before a gaggle of reporters arrive – Hae-joon called in reinforcements – forcing the police to leave. Since they’re able to take the brothers to the hospital, there aren’t any permanent injuries this time. Yoon-young finally relents and accepts her parents’ love, taking Soon-ae to the hospital to see Hee-seob. She never understood why her mother, who said she hated Hee-seob, wouldn’t leave him, but now she gets it. Together they weathered the darkest times in their lives.

So now we’re right back to Mi-sook being the most likely suspect. She looks even more suspicious when the third victim (whose body was never found) is revealed: KIM HAE-KYUNG, the bully under Mi-sook’s thumb. The manuscript and reality once again line up in terms of major events, but motivations and details don’t line up so neatly.

According to the manuscript, Hae-kyung runs away from home because she’s in love with Mi-sook/the killer and wants them to go to Seoul together, threatening to out her as the killer if she doesn’t agree. In reality, while Hae-kyung does appear to have a crush on Mi-sook, she runs away because she feels unwanted by her mother who is dating her teacher. The secret Hae-kyung knows (as of now) is not that Mi-sook is the killer but that she intents to frame Min-soo for the murders.

For once, things are looking up for Hae-joon and Yoon-young. Not only did they save Hee-seob and Yoo-seob, ruling them out in the process, but they’re able to stop Hae-kyung from running away. Hae-joon catches her trying to leave home after she gets into a fight at school and is slapped by her teacher/stepfather hopeful. Hae-joon takes Hae-kyung for a day trip and talks some sense into her. She goes home that night and makes up with her mom (who clearly loves her), even giving her permission to keep seeing her teacher.

Amidst all the chaos and murder-solving, Yoon-young and Hae-joon continue growing closer. Yoon-young takes him out for a meal to thank him for saving her father and uncle (although she has to borrow his money to treat him, ha), but she promises to treat him to something better after they return to their time. When she gets drunk and falls asleep on him, Hae-joon betrays the feelings he’s kept hidden and strokes her hair, sighing that she’s as frustratingly clueless as ever.

Meanwhile, it’s Hae-joon’s turn for family time when his dad starts working on the car. Yeon-woo is so absorbed that he’s late to a movie date. Hae-joon recognizes the name of the film as the first movie his parents watched together, and he can’t help following to sneak a peek at the mom he’s never seen. From behind in the theater, he can only see that the woman is wearing a pink headband. He waits outside to catch a glimpse of her face. He stares in shock as two women exit the theater wearing the same pink headband: CHUNG-AH the owner of Bong Bong Teahouse and … Mi-sook.

Oooh, if Mi-sook is Hae-joon’s mom, that would be a twist! Hae-joon’s mom supposedly left town immediately after his birth, but that’s all Hae-joon knows about her, so she really could be anyone. Chung-ah would be the age-appropriate date, so I have a feeling it’ll be her. That said, Mi-sook really does seem to be involved at every turn. And there were a few other girls who were given that same headband, so if this how-I-met-your-mother mystery is anything like the murder mystery, we’ve got more suspects to clear before we get to the bottom of it.

As far as the murder mystery goes, they’re slowly… very slowly… but surely making progress. They’d better speed things up, though, if they want to catch the killer in 1987 because Hae-kyung is the final victim. If only everyone in this tiny town weren’t so shady and filled with secrets.

Seo Ji-hye in My Perfect Stranger: Episodes 9-10

 
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I'm glad I was right about the brothers being innocent (and elder bro being a student protester) but good lord that was a difficult watch. What's worse is that the brutality is true to life. Lee Won-jung did an excellent job throughout - you could really feel Hee-seob's helplessness and pain.

I was quite frustrated with Yoon-young preventing Soon-ae from testifying. She must have known what police interrogations were like in 1987 after all. Still I'm glad she and Hae-joon came through in the end and managed to change some key outcomes.

Not a fan of the new who's-the-mother guessing game but the writer has been doing a really good job keeping the story moving so I hope this will tie-in to the overall murder mystery as well.

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I agree with you. Yoon-young's actions are really annoying. Leave your anger aside, and help the poor guy get justice. Also, the uncle got me mad. Who on earth turns a minor in to those detective beasts before checking it thoroughly?

I doubt the mother is Mi-sook. It is probably Chung-ah but we have yet to do if she has something to do with Mi-sook.

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Seriously the uncle at least should have done something given he was literally in the station when his colleagues were beating his nephew 😠.

I think it's Chung-ah too but it'd be interesting to know why she left - if Grandpa's story is to be believed, which I doubt right now.

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It tried but he's not in a good position. He needs his job, he has kids and clearly every policeman in this station is pretty happy to abuse his power.

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I might have missed some backstory about Hae-Joon's Mom, but could Chung-ah also be a victim of the murderer? The story that she disappeared is quite a bit like Hae-Kyungs, and partly because of the timing, partly because of the manuscript, the leads assumed she was murdered even though her body was never found.

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That's what I was thinking too. It's also possible the murderer forced her to abandon her child and leave town - so that's the outcome Hae-jun's family knew - and later killed her. That's why I hope the mother mystery isn't just filler but actually connected to the murder mystery 😅.

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I know, Yoon Young should be aware of police torture, but from the beginning she was blind with anger on her adult dad and refused to investigate the murder with a open mind. So, I do not think her actions were out of character, but now, this situation must have knocked sense into her.

The problem I find with both the leads is that they were biased and kept focusing only on the three known suspects. I do not understand why they never thought of an accomplaince or watched out for any other suspicious person.

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I don't think she really thought about police torture with water and leg broken. After all, he confessed and they knew he was released at the end.

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I totally agree. She was convinced in that moment that he was the murderer, and after all the reason she is in the past in the beginning (leave aside that the time machine is broken) is because she wants her mum to live a happy life, even it that means she will never be born.

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I think I'd have been more understanding of her actions if she'd simply decided not to intervene - more along the lines of "I won't lift a finger to help the man who made my future hell". But to actually stop Soon-ae from helping him seemed a step too far.

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Breaking News, Melonia Front Page Exclusive: The Queen watched past episode 6!

Footnote: ... she did not however, make it past episode 9.

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It might be slow but it is consistent. I hope you give it another shot.

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Yeah so. It's not that it's slow. Although it is also slow.

The joke here is that, this show and I were doomed from the beginning because I don't like time travel, pretty much ever, with very few exceptions, I am VERY allergic to it, and only started because I like both Kim Dong Wook and Jin Ki Joo, a lot, but didn't expect to get very far otherwise, and then, upon starting it, didn't really like it at all, also from the beginning, surprise surprise, and was hate watching particularly 8 and 9, and whilst honestly, look, I *do* have it in me to finish this show, like I know I could hate finish it, I just don't think that it's worth it. For anyone inolved. I don't really think YOU want me to do that (you don't, trust me, I'm not going to magically like this lmao), and I don't really want to do that (masochism or not, and despite having so little to watch right now that it's killing me not having any stimulation or anything to unwind to lol), and there's like just, so little in the show to keep going for otherwise... 9 was farther than I was aiming for in the first place, and I shouldn't have even watched 9.
The most that will happen is that I will skim the ending when it comes out to find out what happens and call it completed 🤣🤣🤣😅

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I agree with you. They are dragging their feet with the plot, probably to make room for all 16 episodes.
And even though I do like time-travelling shows there is no much time-travelling here, except in the first episode. They used it as a gimmick to let the characters get stuck in 1987 and that's about it.

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uhm yeah i mean if you're not enjoying the drama then just find another one? it's really okay. like, my perfect stranger is the only drama i am watching right now after dropping other recent dramas that i tried watching

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... ye-es? I know? That's why I dropped? lol?

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If only thw two brothers had a proper adult around, things wouldn't have turned this dire. Neither the uncle nor Soon-ae's father did anything right. And I really liked the scene where Hae-joon's grandpa scolded those beasts of officers and warned them not to repeat those barbaric actions. The best depiction of their actions.

Mi-sook holds the key to everything. Yet I don't want her to be Hae-joon's mother. That would be a catastrophe thrown at the poor guy.

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After Mi Sook's conversation with Hae Kyung, I am beginning to think Mi Sook knows the real cuplrit, but instead of revealing it to the cops she is using it to her advantage to get ride of her brother.

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Oof, the 1980/1987 police brutality and government repression were tough to watch. The way the motel beating visually recalled the real-life room where Park Jong-cheol was murdered made my skin crawl.

I’m not thrilled by the incipient romance. Neither party has any reason to be interested in the other and it feels abrupt and inorganic - and a bit creepy, since they've been acting like the uncle and niece they're pretending to be. It doesn’t help that Jin Ki-joo is really not showing any acting skills here; she almost always has the same immobile, slightly stunned expression no matter what’s happening to or around her. It’s especially striking in the scene where Soon-ae is weeping and clinging to her, begging to go to the police station after Hee-seop’s arrest, and she’s just standing there blank-faced. On the flip side, I was newly impressed with Lee Won-jung as 1987 Hee-seop. He’d been a bit clownish and green in earlier episodes, but he brought some serious pathos to the torture and brother-interaction scenes.

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So it wasn't just me who noticed that lack of flexibility in Jin Ki-joo's acting here. It is not stiff but her body language and facial expression hardly change, it is almost the same in every scene, of course, except when they are running.

And talking about running, Jin Ki-joo and Kim Dong-wook will have burnt calories while this drama was shot. I don't think they need any exercise prior or after shooting each day.

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Tbh I kind of felt that way with her in From Now On, Showtime as well. It never felt as though she liked the ML that much.

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As far as running, as a parent of competitive runners, I have to fight the urge to yell at Jin Ji-koo in those scenes: "stop twisting your upper body so much when you run! With the amount of mileage you are putting in on this show you'll give yourself lumbar stress fractures!

Seriously (not really) you can tell which kdrama actors are athletes by viewing their running scenes, especially women actors, since they don't usually show them working out, unless they are action heroines.

For men they sometimes show the male fighter-hero doing one or two pullups, to highlight the back muscles, and to indicate fitness. But I think running is a much better indicator, unless they actually show them doing 15-20 pullups. But I think I would probably be the only one who would think that scene would be interesting!

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(Confession (everything else I don't like about the show ASIDE): I expected a romance between the leads from before this started, but upon starting, whatever way it would head truly aside, I felt very little chemistry between the them, even has Time Travelling Companions, friends, confidants or otherwise, let alone future lovers.
Which has been really weird, because this is not what I expected from this pair up, that I was looking forward to, well... liking.
It lead me to ponder what exactly is Chemistry and when is chemistry natural, and when is it a subset skill of acting, and how come some actors, their other skills aside, have chemistry with even the wall, or multiple walls (I have a list of those actors too), but otherwise good or decent actors don't even have chemistry between themselves and other good or decent actors, and when and if chemistry is effected by a script and a show itself... etc, etc.
Because a lot of this here to me feels like the show, and the writing, (which is why I also don't *quite* agree re. JKJ, I get you, but she's pretty different to everything else I've seen her in, and it feels like a character thing, not a her thing...) but I also CAN'T TELL sometimes. Because it's not just a NOW that they're heading THAT way thing. Yeah. RIP.)

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True! I also don’t feel they have any chemistry. To me they look like what they are playing - teacher and student, uncle and niece.

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I think chemistry and acting is subjective because I am enjoying their budding romance, especially the scene where Yoon Young was playing in the water and Hae Joon was watching her. They were so cute.

I also did not find fault with her acting because she was in a dilemma of saving a person she disliked or be resolute in her beliefs of separating her parents.

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Yeah, I like that it's just grown naturally over the course of spending time and working towards a common goal together. Feels more realistic than some of the depictions of romance we see in kdramas.

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I liked that scene, too, but I have to wonder -- are they not concerned about small-town gossip that the "uncle" and his "niece" are spending a little too much time together?

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Oh don't get me wrong, I want to ship them. (I'll probably even go skim JUST their cute scenes lol.) It's just been a weird time.

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I think both leads are doing a good job and I like how the drama is developing their relationship a lot. I wouldn't mind if the show decided to let them as friends, but I also dont think a romance is forced.

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I partly think it is the fault of the styling team for dressing Kim Dong Wook as an adult and dressing Jin Ki Joo as a school goer. Yes, it fits with their fake uncle-neice story, but in certain scenes it makes Dong Wook look aged and Ki Joo young.

However, I do not mind the blooming romance because during their dinner date when Yoon Young wanted to treat Hae Joon they almost looked flirty with their teasings.

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I'm going to wait and see on how the romance develops before I make a judgement. Until the last episode, there were only minor hints, and if Jin Ji-Koo is somewhat immobile in this one, so is Kim Dong-wook. I realize he's supposed to be playing a repressed, some rigid character, but when his character hinted at his affection to a drunken Yoon-young, it did kind of come out of nowhere.

In terms of their relationship, personally am not bothered by the pretense of them being uncle and niece, or by the fact he's a teacher and she's a "student," but you would think the town would begin to gossip. Also, I looked up the age of Jin Ki-joo when she said she would pass for a high school student. As I suspected, she's 34. If I was Hae-jun, I would have said to her high school plan, "woman, you're young and beautiful, but don't be delusional!"

However, since no one at the high school has seemed to notice the 16 year age gap (perhaps because the actors are all 23-25 in real life anyway) I guess that's one of the time-travel conceits we must accept, that kdrama actors can pass for a high school students until they are in their 40s.

Speaking of the town's reaction to the supposed uncle niece relationship, wouldn't the town start to gossip if a teacher got on a bus and spent the day with a student as happened with Hae-Kyung? I realize this is the innocent 1980s, but since I was teaching high school in these years, I can tell you that would definitely have aroused some deep suspicions!

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It's the first time I'm watching Jin Ki-Joo. I mean i've only seen her in Scarlet Heart but she has only a minor role there and I haven't finished that drama. I am also really not into the romance with her and the main actor. I actually have shipped her with his dad (younger self) and even the mom (younger self) in the first few episodes and yeah I know it's weird but I am saying that I don't see any chemistry between her and the main actor. As for her acting. Yeah I feel like there is really something missing whenever she has a scene especially that one with his dad (younger) on episode 9 when he went out after being beaten up. I was crying but if she acted "better?" I would have cried more. I am not saying she is bad. It's just something is missing and I needed more from her acting. I still haven't watched episode 10 btw

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I already said this on my fanwall. This week, My Perfect Stranger took me on the journey of forgiveness, hearing the other side of the story, redeeming a character I had said I would not feel sorry for. My dislike Hee-seob and by extension Yu-sub didn't stem from the fact that they found themselves in the 1987 story as suspects, it was actually how miserable they made the life of Soon-ae in the future that had me disliking them. Time and time again, Hee-seob consistently kept on choosing his brother even though he knew it was causing a rift and great pain to his own made family. "I didn't show up at the hospital during your mom's stay because I knew you would be there", that statement sent me fuming in rage cause it is a bit selfish and very inconsiderate of the person you call your wife. Not even 5 minutes, he couldn't spare 5 minutes.
And then, MPS took me on a journey to hear their own side of the story and it was so sad, heart wrenching, and very emotional. I now perfectly understand why Hee-seob acted the way he did in the future and why he was so tight lipped in 1987 to he point of his own detriment. Actually I commend him highly for protecting Yu-sub in the way he did. But I can't completely forgive his actions in the future. Why did he have to put Soon-ae in that unhappy life if she really was the ultimate love of his life? I get his act of sacrifice, and following the last words their parents gave them(another short backstory that kinda broke me). But it's not an excuse to treat his family the way he did. I know that with what happened in ep 9&10, the future is going to change and I pray it puts Hee-seob and Soon-ae in good places, and Yu-sub isn't dependent on them. Still, I hope they get to ask for forgiveness from Soon-ae and Yoon-young for the consequences of their actions in the original timeline. Or at least, Yoon-young gets the apology here in 1987. I know Yoon-young is on the way to loving her father and forgiving him as she now understands what prompted his unlikable behavior, I just want a proper closure that's all.

Hae-joon's mom has to be Chung-a. She's the only age appropriate person to qualify as Hae-joon's mom.

Seoul police who...have no compunction about torturing this high school kid to find his brother. It’s brutal.
Exactly. It was very uncomfortable to watch. He's only in high school and not even in college yet but they remorselessly battered him up like that.

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I disagree with the need for Hee Seob asking forgiveness from his daughter and his wife because the whole situation was a result of not communicating within the family.

Hee Seob has PTSD and does not want to discuss about Yu Seob to anyone. Also, it is clear that his adult version has not spoken about his family or his brother to adult Soon Ae. If he couldn't open up to his beloved wife in all those years of married life, he surely would not have been able to disclose it to a teen Yoon Young who always kept shouting or yelling at him/his brother.

Unless the drama shows that Soon Ae and Yoon Young tried to coax Hee Seob into talking about his care for his brother, I will not think he needs to apologise for his actions.

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This lack of communication bred hate. His wife hated him but could not leave him because they weathered the worst storms together. He basically took advantage of the assurance that comes with family and neglected them even though he didn't mean to. His intentions do not matter at all. He hurt people.

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Yoon-Young's family never communicated and it's really the key now. Her parents never talked about their past and why her father's leg is like this. And as a child, she was too angry to ask.

It was really sad she let her father in Police without really thinking what it meant in this area. And Hee-Seob was such a good boy and enthusiastic, I hope he won't loose it.

I think they need to save the people by helping them to make the good choice and not to stop the murders.

The fact that the mother was still trying to find her daughter years after when she was already dead, I really hope this time he could save the victim.

I was not expecting a mother mystery in addition to the murders. I hope for him that Mi-sook is not his mother... The fact she's still a teenager made his father not really nice and has a penchant for violence and stealing work of others.

The main characters are really cute together. I like how they support each other.

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I like your theory about the key to stopping the murders -- that it's about healing relationships (with the help of insights from the future) instead of simply ensuring that a victim isn't present at the place and time of their death. I don't think we know for certain that Hae-kyung has been saved, though. If she still ends up getting murdered, however, at least her mom might be spared the decades-long agony of searching for her missing daughter and believing it's all her fault. So the aftermath and the impact on the lives left behind will be different. (Just as it's possible the two brothers' lives won't be as completely broken as they were before.)
If that does happen, it reminds me a little of "Hello Me," in that the FL's father still died, but her encounter with her past self left her better able to cope with his unavoidable death in a way that wouldn't blight her future.

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I want to believe that bcs the drama showed misook leaving the theatre in the episode preview and didn't show that the teahouse owner was also there with the hairband, it means that the latter is the real storyline for this plot.

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Episode 9 was really great. I don't cry easily when watching films and series, but here the dam was broken at some point. The killer could have murdered so many women in this episode and caused a bloodbath, I wouldn't have cared about the question of the killer at that moment, I was too captivated by the fate of Hee-seob and his brother.

I found the scene in the alley with the beaten-up Hee-seob particularly tragic and touching, because both Yoon-young and the audience know how much the events will shape the brothers' lives and change them for the worse, from which not only the two but their entire family will suffer.

I am a little worried by Hae-joon's optimistic statements that by changing the past with the following events, the future of Yoon-young's family will also be much better. I really hope that Yoon-young will not experience disappointment when she travels back to the present.

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I thought the sub-plot with Hae-kyung and her mother was also pretty touching. I liked the scene between Hae-jun and Hae-kyung at the tree when he's talking about how you don't realise how suddenly your parents have become old and lonely.

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I wanted to shake Yoon Young for not caring about her father being held up and tortured in prison. She knew he wasn’t the murderer so did she really hate him so much that she wanted an innocent man to suffer? What if what had happened he him that night was the catalyst to how he became what he became in future? That was unnecessary cruel and I hope her trajectory changes now regarding separating her parents.

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This show finally made me emotional in these two episodes. The guy acting as Hee Seob is fantastic with his skills.

With only 6 more episodes, I wonder what other twist the drama is going to throw at us because I did not expect the mom mystery along with a murder mystery.

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I found the Hee-seob/Yoon-young storyline in these episodes, both extremely touching, but also somewhat frustrating to watch. I'm always annoyed when we have a years - or decades - long misunderstanding that could have been resolved a long time ago if only people would communicate. Then I thought about how little I actually know of my own fathers's youth, and how much of what I do know was shared by my grandmother, or from seeing old photos.

I think when you're growing up you don't really see your parents as separate from you, or as individuals with a past that has nothing to do with you. This is what Yoon-young is getting to do, to see and understand her parents in a way she never would have otherwise, and getting to process through her childhood trauma and resentments. Hopefully this brings her peace when she returns to the future, no matter what that future looks like for her and her family.

I'm on the fence regarding the romance. I don't hate it, but I don't think the show needs it either.

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Seeing the reality of the brothers and their story was heartbreaking. The police brutality was hard to watch. The police were freaking awful, not just the ones who attacked Hee Seob. Hope the uncle does better by his nephew and the victims.

The lake scene was pretty cute, but I'm not sold on the romance. I'm used to them looking and acting like uncle and niece. Yoon Young looks way younger than Hae Joon. Her hair in particular makes her look young. Her bangs, clips in her hair... I like when the guy falls first though and uses the "I have a problem" line about his feelings. They do have cute, teasing dialogue. Hope the romance builds gradually.

This week, I was getting impatient for more progress in their investigation. Shouldn't they keep track of Mi Sook? Tail her? But also leave room for other possible suspects? They saved the last victim, but shouldn't they be worried about a new victim? Of course, it's hard for them to figure out who. What are they planning to do....banking on their time traveling car. Go to the future, get some new clues, and come back?

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I'm really enjoying this show for the balance of the murder mystery and the emotional parent reconciliation. I actually liked that this last episode brought in the issue of Hae-joon's parents as well (although the mystery here is a contrived cliff hanger--the Mom is definitely Chung-ah). Still, since Hae-joon has been closed off throughout this whole show, perhaps this will be his emotional opening moment.

I actually also appreciate that this show brought in the government police repression of student protests that was a part of South Korea in the 1980s. I had said that choosing the 1980s for time travel was a solid nostalgia choice--far enough away to seem old-timey, close enough that most viewers would be familiar with someone who lived as a student or adult through that era, but clearly there was no nostalgia in that brutal beating! I like that in this show and in Good Bad Mother there's a certainly honesty about the repressiveness of the S. Korean regime in the 1980s and before.

The one thing that makes me wary is that there have been many shows that I liked up through episode 10, only to see them crumble in the last six episodes. I sure hope that in a few weeks I won't have to go back in time and try to revoke my enthusiasm for this one!

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this story has a lot of heart for me and I'm enjoying every minute.
these two eps were hard to watch bcs of the torture but I was surprised the drama went there, being as clear as they could with what was happening. its a terrible time for any country who went through similar tings, but we cant just pretend it never happened.

one good thing about this show I dont think I commented before is how well-cast the young/older characters were. teenager mom has the same calm smile as when she's older.

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If I thought the emotional punch of Yoon-young meeting young Soon-ae right after the death of her mother already hit me hard, it was nothing compared to this moment. When she finally saw her father as a complex human being in his darkest night, instead of the disappointing parental figure who was largely absent from her life. It was painful to witness her staring at that reality in the face, finally knowing the complicated history behind every aspect in her life that so far she could easily lump together into the "father is disappointing and I hate him" box. It's hurt the moment she realized that those simple "frames" she painstakingly built all her life to protect her heart didn't fit in anymore with these new knowledges that continued piling up.

These 2 eps are one the hardest k-drama eps to watch (it was comparable to the traumatic one-sided war scenes from sageuk Nokdu Flower). There's something unbelievably brutal and undemeaning in witnessing people who should be upholding justice instead committed torture towards unarmed civilians. The fact that neither Hee-seob nor Yoo-seob ever indicated anything about this past experience despite Yoon-young's hatred and Soon-ae's disappointment spoke a lot of the true horror this period represented for them.

I was glad though that Yoon-young got to witness that difficult moment of her father this time around. It's true that she couldn't prevent this bitter history from happening, just like she couldn't prevent his aunt's death. But this time, she gave his father an adult who believes in him and has his back during his darkest time in the form of Hae-joon. She was there, representing help and care that he couldn't get in the previous iteration. Maybe this time, he wouldn't need to completely change from the bright, lovable, and slightly clueless young man we've known so far. Maybe this time, he wouldn't be too mired in his "us (the brothers) against the world" mentality. Maybe this time, he wouldn't need to continually chose Yoo-seob over Soon-ae and Yoon-young. They could become a whole family instead, supporting and caring for each other through thick and thin. And hopefully this little change would be enough to give a happier future life for this family.

Also, no matter how cliche, I couldn't help liking a well told story about people who was so much more behind their seemingly stereotypical facade. Just like the little tidbit about Hae-kyung as a child from broken home, trying to find a way to fit in while she was angry at her mom and ultimately the whole world for judging them away so easily. It was the kind of story that has been told over and over again, yet it still rang true, and that made this subplot a win too for me.

As for the candidate for Hae-joon's absent mom, I'm going to reserve my judgment for now, given the drama's penchant for red herring. Mi-sook is clearly the worst possibility though, especially with all the suspicion that is now...

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