IM YourOnlyOne

Obviously she is not literally a baby boomer. :p

Yep! It's a strike. Bio mom will need to find a way to reconnect with Suji. She's too quick to judge Suji, and she kept on insisting that Suji's relationship with her ex-bf is not over yet. I mean, if the guy won't stop, that means their relationship is not totally done? And she has to consider the feelings of the other person? That's just so very wrong.

It seems she's thinking in the line of “divorce”. If her ex-bf won't stop, then to actually end it is to get a restraining order against the guy. Then she'll accept Suji's relationship with Uri. While logical, it's impractical, especially in her situation, the media will jump on her once they hear about it.

I explained it before, there's a weekly theme, and the target audience are those who are stay-at-home. It is _not_ a “problem”, it is the perfect _format_ for their target audience.

Their target audience here are not people who watch 6, 12, 16, 24-episode series.

You could even include people who loves to read novels as part of their target audience, because they have no issues with this format. They actually expect multiple seasons too, and a total of 100 to 300 episodes.

I'd say, just enjoy it. It just so happen you are not part of their target audience.

I, for one, have no issues with it. I can watch the episodes at work at my leisure, without it taking too much of my time and break. So, for someone like me who go to work, this format is very beneficial. It's harder to watch the 1-hour format.

Anyway, daily dramas always have a weekly theme. Think of it as 2.5 episodes per week.

^_^

Well, stealing someone's husband/father, and then lying about abandonment, are things no one should ever cross.

Worst, “I did it for you”.

So, yep, Nayoung is “disgusted”. Her bio mom used her to justify what the two things she did. Basically, her mom is not taking responsibility for any of it, and is passing it on to Nayoung.

Unfortunately, Nayoung is like her mother. Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, she still continually blame Suji. It looks like she now included her mom in that blaming game of hers, but only slightly, she still blames Suji. If her mother didn't do anything, Suji won't interfere with her life, that's still her mindset.

In many countries, there is a law prohibiting legal siblings to have any romantic and sexual relationship. Any person's opinion doesn't matter when it is codified as a law. The State will never honour such a relationship, and the State can go after them if they want to or someone or some group decides to.

In SoKor, they have family registries.

Suji's bio mom will definitely fight to return Suji under her own family registry.

IF Uri's family registry was transferred under bio mom's registry, then Uri and Suji cannot marry. The State simply won't allow it, and society will not look kindly to such a union. People will look down on bio mom and the entire clan for allowing such.

Again, laws. Many countries have such laws. Regardless if you are disconnected by a million branches of the human family tree, if the law says no, it means no. And society generally follows after the law (the karens will talk about them if they pursue it).

There only few ways to get around it:
1. In SoKor, one of them has to transfer to another family registry.
2. In other countries, nullify the adoption.
3. In SoKor, the real bio child remains with their adopted family registry.
4. In other countries, the real bio child remains adopted.
5. If in case their parents are going to get married, their respective children should marry first before their parents get married. (This is rare, but there were cases like this.)

^_^

> Seon Young's family registry. We have been told that Su Ji is not on it, but Woo Ri and Doo Ri are.

Yes. Suji's family registry was transferred by her bio father after they were led to believe that bio mom abandoned her.

> So was Su Ji still on the registry when Woo Ri and Doo Ri were added?

No. Uri and Duri came later, after bio mom recovered from her near-death accident.

> If not, why didn't she notice?

Didn't notice what?

> If she was still on it, when was she removed?

She was transferred after they were told a lie that she abandoned Suji. Her bio father more likely searched for her but no one can find her because she was in a near-death accident. If I remember correctly, she stayed at the hospital for a very long time. And the one who saved her eventually was Hyun Sung's father.

> And, why wasn't Seon Young informed of the change by the authorities?

Because no one can find her. She was in a near-death accident. She didn't have an ID. I think she also had an amnesia. And remained a Jane Doe for a very long time.

As far as the State is concerned, she's missing or dead, and there are no relatives to contact.

Nice save there. They decided to let Suji's mother discover the truth first so she'll have some time to rectify her harshness towards Suji; as well as, figure out how to solve Suji's resentment towards her “mother who abandoned her”.

In E55 alone, those were 2 strikes. In total, that's 4 strikes in the E51-E55 week. I guess we can call it the “Strike Theme” week.

Now that she knows, we can expect her bio mom to start changing her attitude towards Suji without letting her know. Everyone will also notice it, but they more likely will think she's more accepting of Suji, not realizing she's suffering as a mother.

Give or take, 2 to 3 weeks for bio mom to find a way to rectify the situation, both in the present “strikes” and the past that got all mixed up. The truth that she did not abandon her needs to come out, that's her only chance to put a crack to Suji's solid resentment.

However, once the truth comes out about Na Young's mother's lies, Suji and her bio mom will hate her to hell.

This is going to be very interesting because once the truth about Uri's bio mom is revealed, it is going to be an intense emotional and mental battle for everyone involved.

Suji: will she still accept him knowing who his bio mom is?
Suji's mom: will she approve her daughter's relationship with the son of the mistress and kidnapper (that's what she is)?
Uri: can he accept the fact that he is the son of the very person that destroyed the family of Suji, stole her father, cause their divorce, and their divorce alimony, etc. etc.?

If these truths come out, Hyun Sung will also find another chance to try and get back Suji. However, I doubt Hyun Sung's mother will approve, considering she made a conclusion that her husband is committing adultery through “emotions” with Suji's bio mom.

Not only that, Hyun Sung will also discover who Na Young really is.

Which brings us back to Na Young and Uri's bio mom. She's the cause of all the problems everyone experienced.

She's a mistress.
She's an adulteress.
She stole someone's husband.
She stole her ex-friend's alimony.
She lied about Suji having been abandoned.
Na Young is an exact of her.
Na Young caused the downfall of Suji.
Na Young caused Suji to have a mental and emotional breakdown.
Na Young indirectly influenced Hyun Sung to make pathetic moves.

And of course, let's not even begin to discuss the family registry. Who's who in which registry.

If not for the poster, we wouldn't know Suji and Uri will end up together eventually. Because right now, it's a total mess.

That was why they focused on the flowers and the ice cream!!! I knew there was something odd about those scenes! What most assumed to be fillers, are actually not. A good writer will never create a scene that has nothing to do with anything.

The ML bringing back flowers and ice cream from the present to the past was a clue to what their first child's power is… the reverse of her father's. His power is to bring something from the past to the present.

It also completes the theme that the FL's past is the ML's future and the ML's future is the FL's past. Her past is what will save the ML's family and his life. And the ML's future is what will save the FL in the past.

That is their child.

Their union saved both the ML and the FL.

Their child represents the FL's past. That past is the fire, not her past when she was in high school, but her past when the ML disappeared. Meanwhile, their son also represents the ML's future. That future is the time jump. It was the only way for him to survive Ina's school fire.

At the same time, their child's power will not exist if the ML did not learn how to control and evolve his own power. And it was only possible because of the FL. Because of it, he passed down a “reverse” version of his power to their son.

What I love about this:

1. Chairwoman looking for his other grandson. Yet treats everyone as lowly people, including the grandson she's looking for. I can't wait for the privilege, self-righteous chairwoman fall down.

2. FL always siding with the Director, and not listening to others first. I can't wait for her to fall once she realises she made multiple major mistakes. Also at the time when she starts to fall for him. Hahaha. And he's staying away from her.

3. Following number 2, his mother disapproves of her.

4. Following number 2 and 1, she finds out they're brothers and heirs. How is she going to face herself in the mirror? And how is she going to handle the brothers fighting for her?

What I don't like:
1. Hyera. She's practically an extra right now. She's not affecting any plot at all. She's just a worm trying to make herself important but everyone knows she's a worm, and just keeping her because she's still useful. ROFLMAO.

2. Too centered on “privileged people” looking down on others. It's a 90s theme. Hehe. I hope the rest of the weekly themes will shift away from this.

LOL. Hyera is that type of person who delusions themselves and can't see they're being bitten by multiple snakes all over their body and face.

Can't see she no one's on her side? Can't she see everyone knows what she's doing? LMAO. How can she get what she wants if she just keeps doing the same failed tactic as before? ROFLMAO.

1. Suji's mother not understanding that they broke up already and still blame Suji because she only thought of herself and not the other person.

Baby boomer attitude.

2. She has this attitude of judging people any way she wants, and confronts them about it. But when she's the one being put on the limelight, she's ready to defend herself by being angry and shouting.

Another baby boomer attitude. Principles apply to other people but not themselves.

If Suji said they broke up, they broke up. Was it not obvious that her ex-bf is a total douchebag? She blamed Suji instead of siding with her. LOLWTFBBQ.

She's digging her own grave for her own daughter to hate her forever. If I was Suji, that's Strike No. 2!

I was wrong! The theme of E51-E55 is not about Suji's recovery and comeback, it's about making Hyun Sung even more pathetic. ROFL.

I hope we won't see another of Hyun Sung's patheticness in next week's E56-E60 theme.

There are far too many apologists here.

I hope they're getting paid.

Oh! So, I guess that explains why certain celebrities received such treatment and most did not? Because of “strict rules”? The celebrities who were obviously discriminated upon did not follow European rules?

Since you know so much about European rules, can you perhaps point us to what rules they violated? It could be the answer to this drama. So, if you have any information, you definitely should share it, so everyone will be enlightened.

I think you did not read anything related to these recent incidents. ^_^ If you did, you would have been aware that the “security personnel” you are trying to defend only acted that way to certain celebrities, not to everyone.

If, as you claim, they are just “doing their jobs”, then the treatment would have been the same for everyone, and this issue wouldn't exist in the first place. The fact that it is a huge issue is itself proof that there was discrimination from that particular “security personnel” who is supposedly “just doing their job”.

It's similar to what is called Peter Principle.

In the Peter Principle, an employee who is doing well in their position is promoted, and then they did well again and was promoted again. Until they reached a point where they no longer excel because it is out of their field of expertise, and out of their know-how, skills, and talents.

In acting, while they are technically not promoted, they do get offers to get a bigger role. And the actor is of course tempted. Bigger role = higher talent fee. Higher talent fee = more promotions, tv commercials, modeling. And it also means “success” in the field. The higher your worth, the better.

However, actors are also affected by the Peter Principle. If they take on a project where it's out of their skillset, they'll be in trouble. It will spread in the industry, and the industry will whisper how Actor A lost their touch. When in reality, they did not, the last project(s) was/were simply not within their skillset.

It does not mean they are not talented. They are.

Think of it as a painter who excels in painting nature. Then one day, they painted an abstract, or some other subject they never excelled at. It will still sell, of course, because they made a name for themselves already. However, sooner or later, people will notice how it is subpar to their other works.

In novel/book writing, authors use different pennames whenever they try a new genre. There are many reasons for this, but it all comes down to not damaging their reputation as an author IF in case the new novel they wrote fails, after all, it's a new genre and they're testing the waters.

For actors, they can't do something like the painter, still sell their works because of their reputation. It is easier for their reputation to get damaged, while a painter, it takes time for people to notice the differences (and usually only those with a very keen eye on arts can detect it).

Similarly, actors can't do something like novel authors, where they can hide behind a new stage name, test the waters, and if it fails, they'll be safe.

This is one reason why there are actors who sticks to a certain role. Some as a support role. Even in actors with main/lead roles, they do stick to certain roles as well, like romance, comedic, damsel in distress. The difference is, it is easier for big name main/lead actors to try a new genre and role, than those who are still trying to make a name for themselves.

And others who already made a name for themselves in a support role, it's more stable to retain it than risk it. ^_^

Personal preference.

* Health
* Family
* Business (acting is not their primary focus; which is fair, once you no longer receive offers, you need to have a stable business or something else).
* They excel better as support than main/lead.
* They just love to be a support.

It's similar to regular work, there are people who prefer to be rank/file (lowest position) than to get promoted. They excel in that position than in a higher one.

> It’s perplexing that writers choose to explore such a topic.

Not at all. ^_^

A 2023 daily drama (or was it weekend?) also explored the same topic. It is actually a common trope in Asian dramas, be it Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Chinese, Taiwanese. The sole reason is that, writers want to engage the audience and to talk about it. One best way to do that is to incorporate a clash of social, legal, and biological/scientific issues such as, but is not limited to, marriage.

In Korea, like in most other Asian countries, any persons who are legally siblings cannot marry regardless if they have no relation by blood. Supposedly, it originated from social issues wherein everyone in the neighbourhood knew them as siblings but had no idea they are not related by blood; so they think they committed an unforgivable sin. To avoid such issues, which usually affects the entire family, laws were later passed to stop it.

Basically, it was just to conform to social norms and demands, not necessarily based on science or anything factual. There are a lot of laws like that, and sometimes are silently repealed once things died that for that issue, unfortunately, for this topic, it's always an issue. ^_~

Now, in other countries and societies that are more “modern” or “liberated” or “progressive” (whichever term you prefer), they either abolished such laws, never had such laws, or people ignore such laws because they knew it is obsolete.

The writer is probably trying to engage the Korean people (first and foremost) to re-think the validity of their own laws about such situations, in the eyes of a 21st century person. And more likely this is why this was not the first time this topic showed up in Korean TV.

People today are more open and progressive. They understand that as long as there are no biological relations between two people, it is fine to marry each other. This is why there are people who make it a point to emphasized that A is adopted, thus, A and B are not related blood and can be together romantically. Under this microscope and logic, it is clear that the laws against such situation is obsolete no matter how and where we look at it.

> Moreover, the tendency for KDrama writers to craft stories like this is troubling. It seems to reflect a societal reluctance to fully accept adopted children as permanent members of their adoptive families.

Not at all.

In Asian cultures, again, be it Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Viet, Thai, Indo, Malaysian, an adopted child is a full member of the family unit, regardless if they were legally adopted or not.

Yes, there are families where an adopted child is treated less, but it is not the norm in Asian cultures. We Asians are family-oriented, we do not push away children once they turn legal age. We do not throw our parents and grandparents to some hospice or home-for-the-aged. You'll often see Asian families as “extended”, or living in compounds (each with their own home units, but to the outside world, they only have one address).

However, people draw a line when it comes to romantic relationships. We are not blind to the fact that an adopted child can have a romantic relationship with their adopted sibling, if ever that happens. While discouraged generally because of social pressure and laws that will prevent them from getting married (and potentially sued by the State), it is neither common or uncommon.

It's so hard to explain if you are not an Asian who was born and grew up in at least one Asian culture. There is no be-all-end-all “where do we draw the line”, you'll just know.

Lastly, in Korean culture, they have what a system called “family register”. To be truly considered married, one of the spouse has to transfer their family register to their spouse's clan, effectively ending their social and legal relation with their blood family.

The same in adoption. To be truly adopted, that person's family register must be transferred under the clan of the new family. Until that happens, they are not legally adopted, and there won't be legal issues about their marriage.

However, in Suji's and Uri's situation, Suji's family registration was legally transferred to her father's. When her father and mother divorced, Suji was registered under her mother's clan.

As for Uri, the show implied that they let people live in their home for an indefinite period of time, and the “family” is only symbolical, not legal. Which points to the possibility that Uri's family register is still floating.

Even if Uri's family registry was updated, Uri and Suji can still marry for as long as Suji's family register remains with her father. And secondly, there is no blood-relation issue either.

What if Suji later returns her family register to her biological mother?

Then, we are going to have a legal problem. Legally, people who were registered as son/daughter of… are siblings and cannot marry, as is the case in other Asian countries. Uri will more likely transfer his family register just so they won't encounter legal issues.

Once they marry, then Uri can transfer his family registry back, however, instead of an ”adopted son”, he will be the son-in-law.

In the end, there is no issue.

^_^

There are different ways to do it.

Traditional:
1. The directors tell them.
2. Scenes are actually longer before it's “cut”. If there's nothing else to do during the scene, actors naturally freeze waiting to hear “CUT!”

Modern:
3. Editing. They just freeze the scene, add some effects that they're still moving. Voila!