Beanie level: Errand boy

This was the hairstyle I wore to work today.






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The latest episodes of My Liberation Notes….

🙁

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Just two more episodes to go for All of Us are Dead, then I\’ll be able to check out the comments.

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Red Sleeve Cuff finale. Oh, so many thoughts! I had to write them down in the early morning. Hopefully, I didn\’t forget anything. Please see reply.

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    Wow! What an emotional ending. If, for any small moment, audiences thought there was a chance that history would be ignored and that we would get a somewhat happy ending, episode 16 and our long epilogue that was episode 17 surely would have disabused them of any such hopes. Episodes 16 and 17 were the equivalent of what happens after “happily ever after.”
    As for the novel, I haven’t it, so perhaps other Beanies could chime in at this point.
    I cried for Deok-im. I felt her longing for her what she had lost, including her relative freedom. In the end, whether or not through compulsion in the form of Yi-san’s ultimatum, she gave in and lived the life of a concubine. She chose a man who could never be her husband in the truest sense. A man who for the most part acted and spoke in the office of King: a king who could demand and not ask; a king who was not expected to utter such words as “Thank you,” or “I’m sorry;” a king who was father to not just his own children, but to the people of his kingdom. (Side note: this makes Yi-san’s words, “I am sorry,” after Deok-im’s death significant).
    Deok-im not telling Yi-san that she loved him:
    Perhaps this was the one thing she could have under her control. The one advantage she could have over Yi-san as King Jeongjo. I could understand her not wanting to show that she would give herself fully and completely to him. I do not know that she ever completely trusted him, and not necessarily through any fault of his own (and as written above, he had duties and could not devote himself exclusively to her). How could she know that once she admitted those feelings and he had all that he ever wanted from her that his own feelings would not diminish in time? Even when she does confirm her feelings for Yi-san on her death bed, she does not say “Yes, I love you.” It is more like: why do you think I chose this life in the first place? Why do you think I have stayed by your side through all this time?
    Yi-san:
    For all his power and for all the benefits of his office, the one thing he could not truly have was the conjugal bliss he desired with Deok-im. He could not be hers completely and he could not live as a true family man. His was a life of many responsibilities and many roles to fill. The difference between him and Deok-im was that he had so many things to fill up his days, to take up his time, and to consume his thoughts. She, on the other hand, could only spend each day waiting for him, hoping that he would come to see her. This part truly made me mourn for Deok-im’s lost life.
    Yi-san’s dream/afterlife:
    I wonder if, when we see Yi-san wake up from his nightmare earlier in the drama, he had actually dreamed the events of the future (i.e., what we end up seeing unfold). He seemed genuinely perturbed and he had been asleep for a long time (enough to dream such a long dream). In the end, however, he would have forgotten his dream and moved on with life, never imagining all that he would lose in th

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      Continued….

      the near future.
      So I liked that our drama went back to that dream in what we can assume is either an afterlife scene or a pre-death dream sequence. This time, however, Yi-san chooses to not leave Deok-im behind. He chooses to not walk out that door. Instead, he walks back to his beloved. He chooses the life he was not free to choose before as King. Deok-im tells him that is expected at court, but he takes her hand and they walk through their favorite garden (what a beautiful place; it is like their paradise, which is fitting for this sequence).
      I know that the focus was on the romance, but I also wish we could have been shown another afterlife/dream sequence in which Deok-im is reunited with her friends and even Court Lady Seo. Living near a book shop and continuing to transcribe works while being with your closest companions does not sound like a bad afterlife after all.
      Even though Deok-im could not live the same life with her fellow court maid friends, I am glad that they still were there for her in some capacity when she became a concubine. It would have been too much to bear without them.
      I felt for so many of our female characters in this drama. And what a shock that our quiet, sweet, Young-hee made that bold decision to experience a bit of passion and love, even at the expense of her own life.

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        I thought going back to the dream was very clever. I really liked the ending and how they tied it back to that time ok his life when she finally let herself be with him and they both were happy, if just for that fleeting moment.

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    @sicarius tagging you to all the red sleeve discussion as requested.

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Yesterday’s work hairstyle. Unfortunately, the hair pin was a little crooked.



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    It’s beautiful. ♥️

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    Wooooow! How long did it take?

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      The braid itself looks more complicated than it actually is. The most difficult part was combing through the length (it’s currently at my tailbone) and tangles of my hair, and then trying to divide the hair as evenly as possible. I divided my hair into four sections. I then braided each section as I would a normal, three strand braid. After each section was braided and tied, I then braided the whole thing as I would a four strand braid (I used the simplest four-strand braid technique, as there are a couple of variations). In short, it looks like a complicated braid, but it’s a combination of essentially four three-strand braids. The following video was my inspiration, although she divided her hair into three sections and then braided each section as a normal three-strand braid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWr5dzRo7Y

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      As for time, I’m not sure. It did take a while, so I set aside enough time in the morning. This time around, my mom helped me with the two center braids.

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        So cool, but also a lot of effort!

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          Yeah, although not very difficult, it does take time. I only attempt these kinds of hairstyles when I know I’ll have enough time to tack them. The most frustrating part is detangling my hair. Whether long or short, my hair has always been tangle prone. And now, due to the weight of my hair, I also end up snapping my strands.

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    You can do a cameo in a Kdrama sageuk!

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      That would be lovely. But I would be so out of place, lol. Maybe just a shot from behind. And I would need a black wig. 😉

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    I really like it! Such beautiful hair!

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Not a hundred percent positive, but I believe I saw a wild cat a little while ago, possibly a bobcat. It looked at me for a bit, then fled. It wasn\’t very big.

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    I’m looking at videos to help me identify it. It did not look like any of the big domesticated cats near my house. It had a wild look.

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    And they are native to the county in which I live.

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    🐈

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Devil Judge…

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Has anyone seen this Vietnamese film? I watched it yesterday on Neflix.

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    My husband is watching it. Says no one ends up happy. 🥺

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      Yes, it is sad, but I like to imagine different possibilities when it comes to the ending. I think that the ending we are shown does not necessarily mean the end when it comes to the relationship between our two leads.

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Nice 🙂

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Watching both Bossam and Youth of May and wondering who will win the award for worst father of the year.

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    Which father are you referring to in Bossam?

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      Mostly the vice premier character. I’m a little more conflicted about Gwanghae. I know he is trying to go after his enemies, but it is terrible to use his daughter that way.

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        Tbh, I initially thought you meant the King.

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          He wasn’t initially on my mind when I wrote this post, but he does many questionable things.

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And another lovely song:

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    I love love love the traditional music mixed with the more modern ones.

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      The second part sounded kind of trotty, If I’m not mistaken. In this particular song, however, I must admit that I prefer the first part.

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Lovely song from Bossam: Steal the Fate

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To the Beanies who watched the Mouse finale: what do you think about that post-credits operation scene?

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    Good grief!!! Who was it? and what is episode 21 all about? It just keeps giving me heart attacks.

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      Episode 21 is the special which is the cast talking about the show but also has an alternate ending. Not sure if I want to see it or not as I was pretty satisfied with that ending.

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        Yeah, I might just skip to the alternate ending part.

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        @beffels Do you know where that final special episode will be available for viewing? I didn’t see anything on my usual drama site.

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          It’s in Viki in my region at least but I don’t know if it’s fully subbed yet. May also be on Viu – they’ve had all the other specials but have had slightly different names

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          21 and 22 are on Viki in my region. I’ve started to watch 21 and it’s the actors talking about their roles, but I’ve only just started it. I would like to know what that ending meant. It looked to me like the operations were still going on. Someone is toying with the part of the brain that deals with emotions. I wonder if the brain has a part that is characteristic of psychopathology? I thought it was about DNA. Also this world in which anyone carrying the gene has an abortion: I wonder if that makes a difference to society? The message I got from the drama was once the child was told that God had heard him, he could cry and he was therefore free to not be a monster. So for me that meant being a psychopath was as much about what people expected than anything else. Did anyone else get that message?

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            From what I gathered, some doctor was watching the video recording of Head Hunter’s brain surgery. Whether that doctor was performing the surgery on our unknown subject for good or bad intentions remains a mystery.

            The whole psychopathy question: what the politician behind Oz ignored is the fact that most so-called psychopaths’ are not serial killers/predators. Some might even do work–whether motivated by self interests or not–that might even benefit mankind.

            While Ba-reum was ultimately responsible for his actions, I do believe that those around him ultimately helped pave the way for the path he took. His mother’s fear towards her own child became a self-fulfilling prophecy. What might have happened if she had not abandoned him/if she had not already condemned him before he was even born? What might have happened had Oz not manipulated events from behind the scene?

            I didn’t like that part about aborting children with the psychopath gene. The public was high on emotions and were allowed to vote on something so controversial and problematic (think about how the excuse of doing the greater good could be used to justify further losses of freedom, personal choice, etc.). This is opening a Pandora’s box.

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          @beffels I guess I won’t be able to see it for now. If you watch it, would you might sharing the alternate ending with me?

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            *would you mind*

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            Evil OZ lady talks to the new President (in prison). She blackmails him that his granddaughter has the psycho gene and he destroyed the test results – she asks for a pardon in return for not disclosing this.

            Later, the president is at home and an underling comes in and tells him it’s been done. His wife overhears and later asks tearfully if he pardoned her because he couldn’t do it (presumably have her killed) in prison.
            The granddaughter is shown cutely playing with soft toys, but behind the furniture a toy has had its head ripped off and stuffing everywhere.

            Then there’s a scene of Bong Yi chatting to the kid detective (who is recovering well) and the girl she saved before a big happy family lunch with Hong Joo and her family, and Dong Koo and his family. Moo Chi arrives to drop off Jae Hee (is that her name? the sister who didn’t die in the fire) and sees Yo Han’s son, who asks if he was his dad’s friend. Moo Chi says no, he’s someone who owes his dad a lot.

            While Moo Chi drives his egg truck around his police buddies call him and try to lure him back to the force but he says he’s not going back, he’s found his calling and starts advertising the eggs over the loud hailer.

            Then the scene of old and young Ba Reum in the church, Moo Chi putting in the wooden grave marker as he asks did the Almighty grant him emotions to punish him or save him? Moo Chi drives away, fade to black.

            Then I think would be the post credits scene – Daniel Lee in dark asks himself, did Han Seo Joon not know he had failed and that he saved his son knowing he’d die shortly after the transplant?

            Then a mouse cage with dead mouse in is thrown outside in rain; fade to black. Then as fade back to light and now the cage is open and empty.

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            @peridot I think they went with the right ending.

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            @beffels

            Thanks for sharing the alternate ending.

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      The face looked like Yo-han’s, but that wouldn’t have made sense.

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      @jorobertson and @beffels

      I just found out that the patient in the post-credit scene was played by an idol named Kim Yo-han.

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Anyone watching the Mouse: Predator episodes, which are supposed to return to key events of the story from Ba-reum\’s perspective? I skipped a lot of the first special, but something was revealed regarding Yo-han\’s late friend, Joon-sung. If the production team needs more time, I wonder how they managed to fit those extra scenes for the special episodes into their schedule. Maybe they didn\’t take that much time to film? Were they filmed in advance? I did wonder at one point if Lee Seung-gi already knew about his character\’s true nature before the twist was revealed. I hope that was the case, because it would be nice if that knowledge informed his earlier performances. That way, we could go back and see things in a different light after that revelation.

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    I haven’t watched yet but when they showed the reveal scenes in the last episode, it seemed like they might have been filmed back when they filmed the original episodes given LSG’s hair. Maybe the extra scenes didn’t make the cut or were going to be aired in another episode but were instead saved for the special?

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      Good point about the hair. That means that these scenes were filmed in advance. That foresight makes me appreciate the show more. I am always interested in knowing how much is planned in advance when it comes to any show or story. There have been many shows (and I’m not speaking solely about k-dramas), however, where the writers just seemed to write as they went. And plots were changed at the last minute.

      Going with the belief that these scenes were truly filmed in advance, I also think that they were intended to be aired during later episodes. Maybe, it was decided that putting all these extra scenes towards the final stretch might clutter the later episodes with too much exposition. They probably took advantage of the extra time they needed for filming to air the two special episodes with those scenes. There are certain reveals–such as the death of Yo-han’s friend–that I do wish they would explain. I don’t know if I should spoil anything for you by mentioning it.

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    I haven’t seen the specials yet, but I think he took the role because of the nature of the character so he would’ve known.

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@missh and @alasecond

The first is a pic from episode eleven of the boy who bandages Jae-hoon’s hand. @missh is correct. He is the same classmate who stares at Jae-hoon in episode one after the rabbit incident. The second pic is a snip from episode one. The third picture is of the younger stepbrother.









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    oh.. cool.. so now we have a classmate 🙂 .. is it chi kook? ..

    with 4 episodes, they better not be introducing new characters..

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    i hope they won’t pull schizophrenia though 🙂 ala a beautiful mind

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