linjitah

Thank you! Yeah, even if not everything comes true as I expect, it is always interesting to build theories before seeing it, so that the time to the next episode flies by faster haha~

I have a theory that the difference in how Seo-ri and Se-gye remember their past life is completely intentional, because the story separates two different kinds of memory: memory of the self, and memory of the heart.

Seo-ri regains her identity, her past, her history, almost like awakening into herself again. But she does not remember Se-gye. Meanwhile Se-gye does not consciously remember his previous life at all, yet he keeps seeing Seo-ri in dreams, reacting to her presence emotionally before understanding why. To me, this feels more like the story showing that intellectual memory and emotional memory survive differently after death.

The deepest bonds are remembered by the heart before the mind.

That is why Se-gye’s memories come through dreams first. Dreams in reincarnation stories often feel like emotions crossing the border between lives before conscious thought can catch up. His soul recognizes her before his mind does.

At the same time, I think there is a reason Seo-ri remembers everything except him specifically. In many East Asian tragic romances, the lover becomes the last memory to return because that memory is the most painful one. Sometimes the soul suppresses the deepest wound first.

And honestly, I keep thinking about her death scene. She dies while looking up at the sky, where the sun is, and Se-gye is literally her “sun” in symbolic terms. That makes me wonder if he was her final thought before death. If so, forgetting him in the next life almost feels less like absence and more like emotional self-protection.

I also think their different forms of memory may hint that both of them died suddenly or violently, but what matters is not only how they died physically, it is what filled their consciousness at the final moment.

If Seo-ri died carrying duty, guilt, revenge, responsibility, then those memories would persist the strongest. Her reincarnation preserves identity and purpose, but seals away intimacy.

If Se-gye died consumed by longing, grief, or love for her, then emotional traces would survive more strongly than factual memory. He forgets the world, but not the feeling of her voice, her presence, her existence.

Which makes their dynamic even more beautiful to me, because it creates that very classic East Asian tragic-romantic structure: one remembers the world - and he is literally Se-gye (세계), “world.” The other remembers the feeling - and she is Seo-ri (서리), the name sounds similar to 소리 - "voice", something fleeting and emotional, like frost or condensation that appears quietly and disappears just as softly.

Neither of them carries the complete past alone. Together they become the full memory of what they once were.

Spoiler warning for reincarnation/past life theories below.

Just some thoughts about Seo-ri and Se-gye’s memory dynamic, dreams, symbolism, and why I think the story separates emotional memory from conscious memory in such an interesting way.

Here goes another great episode! I haven’t been THIS obsessed with a drama in a long time. What a great script, amazing humor, and such a fantastic cast. It just keeps getting better with each episode and gives such a nostalgic feeling of classic dramas while still feeling fresh. I kept smiling and laughing through the whole episode!!

Of course talent and acting skills matter, but the industry never works on talent alone. A huge role is what company you are under, what kind of scripts and connections they can provide, how marketable you are to investors and advertisers, and how many viewers you can attract. Especially in commercial dramas, actors who already have strong public recognition, CF deals, fandoms, or trendy image often get prioritized. That’s just the reality of the industry almost everywhere, not only Korea.

But personally I also don’t think “having only main roles” automatically means someone has the better or more stable career trajectory. Sometimes supporting roles, especially distinctive, memorable ones that go viral, are actually more beneficial in the long run, especially early in a career. Actors who debut immediately as leads can get typecast very quickly or have one explosive breakout and then disappear because the industry loses interest (many such cases). Meanwhile actors who steadily build their filmography through versatile supporting and secondary roles often last much longer and get to play a wider range of characters.

And honestly, if we look beyond just MDL lead-role counts or frequency of appearances, Lee Jun-young already has a pretty decent trajectory to me. He had main roles alongside established actors relatively early, got cast in major Netflix projects, and even being part of When Life Gives You Tangerines is already a big deal exposure-wise. So I’m not really sure I agree that he “still hasn’t had a breakthrough script.” Maybe he hasn’t had that one massive global viral main role yet, but that’s different from being ignored or having a weak career path.