Beanie level: Errand boy

Camellia ep 18 — comment below with spoilers

3
5

    I thought it said a lot about this drama that the triumph of catching Joker was cut short with a change of scene to DB bringing Pil-gu home. Yay, we caught Joker, but that’s not the focus of this story. The highlight is DB, her family, and her community — taking broken lives and making them whole. That’s why I’m hopeful that next week Pil-gu and Deok-soon will find a way, together, to bring DB and YS together again. The Camellia hasn’t bloomed yet.

    3
    1

      I don’t even want them together. Pil gu has shown time and time again that he wants his mother for himself and that is not going to change. Yong sik is way to good for both of them and his mother is right, he can do better and with less baggage. This would not be a problem for me is DB had the right balance of a relationship with Pil gu, but she does not and she should pay the price for it. Yong sik should not.

      3
      2

        I agree with you that this drama approaches DB’s relationship with Pil-gu too simplistically. Pil-gu wants his mother for himself, but he’s also shown that he can be self-sacrificing. DB wants to be with YS, but she also is trying to be self-sacrificing. YS wants to be with DB, but he can’t argue with her emotional logic as a mom. Yes, DB should have found a way to balance the men in her life. I suppose it’s a bow to her childhood for her to put her own child first. But it’s also a reason for two more episodes, and a chance for her mom and his mom to do something to redeem themselves. Even if DS is right, she has no business interfering in her son’s life at his age, or coming between Pil-gu and his mother by shooting off her mouth about burdens. You may wish YS had a more deserving girlfriend, but you can’t promise him that he’ll find one in the future. Meanwhile, his heart is breaking. So yes, I want to see an ending where YS and DB are married, Pil-gu realizes that he can have his mom and share her too, and DS welcomes DB into the family. My other secret hope is that Ja-young will take KT back again.

        4
        1

        That’s how boys do with their moms. As a mom I would choose my kid over a love interest as well, it’s very complicated but that’s it. Pil Gu needs some situation there that he would understand that there is space for another guy to love his mum unconditionally. He is still in protective and possessive mode. That’s how life works.

        2
        0

Camellia ep 16 – So sad for Hyang-mi, who wanted to turn her life around and pay everyone back. So excited about preview for next week. Go, neighborhood team!

7
2

    Someone said at the beginning of this drama that it was a show about a neighborhood as much as it was about the leads or the murder mystery. It seems like the writer is going to pull that thread to the forefront now, and I will be really glad to see how DB went from being an outcast to being accepted to being protected by her neighborhood people.

    5
    0

    Also, I keep coming back to the idea that Joker is DB’s father. That could explain why he’s obsessed with her and the people she cares about. Which would make this, in part, a story contrasting bio family with found family.

    2
    0

EY ep. 11 — It wasn’t hard to guess that Nam Ju’s mother would have been the evil queen in the sageuk comic, but I never would have guessed who Dried Squid Fairy turned out to be in that story.

6
0

Way back in the first few eps. I remember speculating that YS’s father may have been one of Joker’s first victims. After this week’s eps, I’m wondering about that again. A really hot fire…. Hmm…

3
0

Who said EY ep. 9 was fluff? That soliloquy of Dried Squid Fairy in the library was pretty revealing. I wonder how many same-stories they’ve lived through? This has to be at least the third.

6
1

    Is it like Groundhog Day? They have to keep reliving it until they do it a certain way? Different era, different costumes, same story, again and again? Or can they escape?

    I felt like there was something Harry Potterish about the prop shop….

    1
    0

First few minutes of EY — YES!! It was a cut from a sword! (Jumping up and down with excitement!) That’s what I thought from the first time we saw his scar.

7
0

A few thoughts on today’s ep of When the Camellia Blooms below:

0
4

    1. We’ve gone from a romance/neighborhood/slice-of-life story bookended by murder mystery scenes, to sprinkled with murder mystery scenes, to knowing who will die, to having a countdown clock. Yikes, I’m a little afraid what the first scenes next week will be.

    2. Hyang-mi ended up dying for DB, because Joker expected DB to make the delivery and called back when she didn’t. I’m pretty sure Hyang-mi recognized him, because I am more sure than ever that it’s Heung-shik’s mysterious father, the other person who was in the apartment.

    3. Hyang-mi’s backstory was really sad. All this time I thought she was being blackmailed, and it was just her privileged scumbag of a brother sucking money from her, while she had nowhere to live and was committing crimes to support him in comparative luxury.

    4. I hope DB recognized that hoarse cough. Why didn’t she call YS?

    5. I actually liked the way Gyu-tae told off Hyang-mi and pointed out the differences between her and DB. She was so much like an unloved stray dog.

    6. I also liked the way Hyang-mi told off Jessica. They were really so much alike, but with different outcomes.

    7. Was the whole point of YS’s mom’s rant a plot tool to separate them, so DB would be alone tonight?

    8. I was laughing so hard I was pounding the table when Mom grabbed Jessica’s mother and dragged her out of the bar, then excused herself, “I have dementia.” Ha, ha, ha!!! It’s good that the writer can make us laugh about something in the middle of a murder countdown.

    5
    0

    Two people were at the scene of the last murder. One set off the sprinklers. What if HS is a firebug? Hence the lighters and the sprinkler, the fire in the Little League office. The other is Joker. He has a hoarse voice. He stood in the doorway of Camellia muttering at the end of a recent episode, and DB greeted him. Isn’t it very strange that HS would lock his father in the store and say it’s better that way? And that HM would hear another person at his spooky house? Either his father is Joker, or the father is alive only in HS’s mind and has something to do with him being Joker.

    1
    0

    Oh, yes, she was. Because she went home with the guy who’s feeding/poisoning the cats, and the guy who’s feeding/poisoning the cats is HS. HS who has lighter burns on his furniture, who burned the underside of the table at Camellia while YS was painting the wall.

    0
    0

    So where do you think the clues lead? Or do you really think the writer is just tossing lots of red herrings, and will pull a giant surprise at the end?

    0
    0

For a little comic relief:
10
0

Funny how Haru became a flat character as soon as he forgot Dan-oh. Haru as Kyung\’s sidekick might as well be a faceless extra. Meanwhile Kyung started to be much more interesting. I love the way he used the shadow scenes to rebel against his father’s schemes.

14
0

Observation re Camellia — I always skip the intro, but today I rewound past the 1st scene and watched a bit. This intro is light and romantic, not likely to introduce a drama where FL gets murdered

0
2

    Yea. But somebody died. Not that light, imho. 🙁

    0
    1

      Somebody did die, and now we know who. Somebody did show up with the cat food, too, but is he Joker (as many suspect) or a red herring? I still wonder about his mysterious father.

      1
      0

Watched the first ep of Catch the Ghost instead of Nokdu tonight. I really wanted to like it for Kim Sun-ho, but I found the mishmash of comedy and crime thriller just too dissonant. On the one hand, we have a couple of high tech kidnapper/rapists, and on the other hand the incredible slo-mo flight of our reluctant rulebound hero on a Barbie-pink moped. On the one hand, a missing sister and a mysterious yet prankish serial killer, and on the other hand our spunky heroine investigating in a way that’s more likely to make her the next victim. I really wanted to like it. I really did. But it just felt SOOOO awkward.

2
4

    I’m giving it 4 episodes to decide.

    2
    1

      I decided to hang in there with you, and tonight was quite a bit better. But the scenes I liked best were between KJS and his mother. Those were just lovely.

      1
      1

        I hope they give Jung Yoo-jin something better to do than wander around with a flashlight and look thoughtful.

        1
        0

    I feel like it’s trying too hard at the comedy. And also another dumb police show. Sigh.. I’ll probably stick around though because I don’t have other shows to watch on Mon-Tue.

    1
    0

What if Dan-oh has to die in Secret to get back to her rightful place in Flower? What if that\’s exactly what happened to Haru?

3
1

    Did anyone read The Magician’s Nephew? What if the black hole can take you to a place like the wood between the worlds? And you can fall into different manwha worlds?

    3
    0

What if Joker left DB alone all those years because she was miserable, and now he\’s angry that she\’s asserting herself and finding happiness?

0
1

    What we know about Joker so far:
    1. He’s killed seemingly random people.
    2. He lives in the neighborhood.
    3. He’s a regular at Camellia.
    4. He used to wear black sneakers.
    5. His murders are connected with fires.
    6. Someone knows about him and set off the sprinklers last time.
    7. He’s connected with a lighter and paint thinner.
    8. He has access to that abandoned building.
    9. He apparently is poisoning the neighborhood cats. If he’s the poisoner then HM was sitting with him in the alley. She could give him away to YS.

    HS is so obviously a candidate that I’m still leaning toward his mysterious father.

    0
    0

Did you notice how everyone was using Joker\’s line today? It felt like the writer was messing with us.

2
0

Omo! I had a sudden flash of light about who Joker could be!!! Someone we know about but haven\’t met!

0
1

Peeked at the raw of Extraordinary You. Excited to find out more about Haru. Love the way he\’s not shaken by typhoon Kyung. Can\’t wait to find out why Fairy is seething and what he said to Haru.

6
1

    that it is haru’s role to stop dan oh
    so he needs to stop dan oh else his scar will only hurt worse

    0
    0

I really did go back and rewatch all four eps of Extraordinary You for clues. Observations:

Dried Squid Fairy is mostly smug. He only dropped his smug attitude three times. First, when he saw Haru from the window. Second, when Dan Oh named Haru. Third, when he found Haru’s drawings in the library.

Haru was Dan Oh’s protector from early in the story, but it seemed like he was moving in a dream until he read the writing on Dan Oh’s rock. Was he trapped inside his nameless character? After that scene, he seemed to come to life. He found the pool in the woods, then he found Dan Oh and brought her there. (So he knew the storyboard ahead of time, too, because he knew where she would be.) He seemed to have a reason to think she would remember that place. The next day, he seemed startled when she said the palace was familiar and she must have been a princess in a past life. Then he knew the path to the house where no one else went. And the flower pendant burned his hand. Somehow he’s connecting the flower keychain with the flower pendant, even though the flower is different. It seems like Dan Oh is teaching Haru, but Haru actually knows much more than Dan-Oh. He knows how this manwha works, but he also knows about their shared past and how they are connected before they got to this manwha. Whatever the name of that red flower is, I bet that was the name of the manwha they came from before they arrived in this one.

The fact that Dan-Oh’s actions could make her past with her mother change and cause the flower garden to disappear suggests to me that it was all scripted, not real. That was not her real life. If she dies in this manwha, I think Haru may take her through the black hole to another manwha world. I think they came that way, and they can move on that way. He won’t be missed in this world, and she won’t either once her character dies.

Kyung is not aware yet, but I think he is confused and upset by the role he has to play and the words he has to say vs. his real feelings for Dan Oh, which came out a little the morning after the night trek.

Secret, the title – there are so many secrets. Dried Squid Fairy is keeping secrets. Haru knows secrets. Nam Ju told Ju Da what he wished for was a secret. I think the real secret is that their romance and their manwha is actually the backdrop, not the main event.

So much to think about after only four eps. I can’t wait to see what will happen this week.

19
4

    I’m totally forgetting the part with Dan Oh’s rock. What was written on it? How did he see it?

    1
    1

      It said “I want to live”.
      That was her wish.
      He saw it cos she was trying to make a rock tower but it kept falling down, and she said it’s useless to try when he came up to her.
      Then she left in tears, and as she did, he picked up the rock, we saw what it said, and then successfully balanced it.

      4
      1

    Interestingly, the Manhwa cover of Secret is like those book-binded books you usually see in historical dramas/saeguks… I don’t know if it is of any significance but it is interesting

    2
    0

I just had this thought about Dan-o and Haru: his scar looks like it could have been from a sword, and if she really was a princess in another life, and he saved her from danger…

13
5

    Comment was deleted

    0
    0

    …he could have taken her through one of those black holes to this manwha, where she could hide out as a minor character and he would be more or less invisible. Maybe Dried Squid Fairy is upset because if they start to upset the plot of this manwha, not only will this manwha world be turned upside down, but they could attract the attention of the bad guys from their previous world, who could also use the black hole to find them.

    5
    0

    Ack! Reading all these theories are so much fun. Hope we get a really good plot twist. Waiting for Wednesday feels incredibly long.

    I would have to go back and check the wall of Dan Oh’s portraits and see if there’s anything there to hint that they may be connected in the past? Or maybe they are just portraits of her in Secret?

    4
    1

    Historical version of Secret manhwa with Dan Oh and Haru as leads and a love triangle with Dried Squid Fairy?

    1
    0

Way to go, Haru!!! I hope that well-timed punch will take the story in a different direction. Will Kyung remember? Will he wake up, too?

8
2

    looks like characters dissapear like mom died if they irritate writer too much or stop playing their role/worth to main plot

    0
    0

    I screamed when Kyung said “Where was I?” 😱😱😱😱😱😱

    0
    0

Note to self:

Joker cannot be … (SPOILERS)

1
1

    Mr. No, because he was sitting in bed getting a text from HM when Joker was sitting at a table at Camellia waiting to burn the writing off the wall.

    1
    0