I wanted to start this post with an expletive, but it’s both an overreaction on my part and inappropriate since I am pretending to have semblance of professionalism in my writing. But hot dang diggity dog it, I have no words….. for the content of the written preview for episode 10 of Mary Stayed Out All Night (Marry Me, Mary!). Also, it’s been confirmed that the writer of M3 has changed to the writer for 18 v. 29 – the new writer’s work will start in episode 11. I have no comment that’s not going to involve screeching.
This sounds just like the same ole crap recycled over and over again, until even I must say “why can’t you be more creative?” But then again, it’s just a written preview, and what happens can be utterly mesmerizing and leave me happy again. I’ve seen a couple of translations of the preview by the Baidu folks (who are going batshit insane right now and slicing the writer to pieces – so my reaction is the tame one in comparison), and all are rather clunky, so my money is on KBS’s original being poorly written.
Written Preview for Episode 10:
Mae Ri sees Seo Jun kissing Mu Gyul, and is shocked and dismayed. She doesn’t express it, and together with Mu Gyul, act out the script for “how to deal with a painful experience.” Mae Ri and Mu Gyul create a new memory together.
The next day, Seo Jun’s family scandal continues, and now includes scandal concerning Mu Gyul. This causes JI Entertainment to face an investment crisis in the drama. Seo Jun wants to quit the drama production, but Jung In tells her to not run away from reality, and announce the truth to the world.
Jung In organizes a press conference for Seo Jun. At the press conference, when the reporters ask about Mu Gyul, Seo Jun replies that he is the man she loves.
When Mae Ri discovers how Seo Jun still feels about Mu Gyul, she can no longer remain calm. Mae Ri finds Seo Jun, and pleads with her. If Seo Jun still loves Mu Gyul, she should not continue to make it so difficult for him.
Jung In’s dad is not happy with both Jung In’s business and his progress with Mae Ri. He wants to rescind the investment immediately. Mae Ri thinks this is all because of her. She finally understands the terms of the marriage contract (i.e. Jung In’s side of the deal with his father). She goes to plead with Jung In’s dad, promising to fulfill the terms of the marriage contract, asking him to give Jung In one last chance….
My Thoughts:
WTF, drama writer! I think you’re trying to make me hate you. I love M3 so very very much, with a level of patience and a pretty limitless ability to accept its shortcomings fondly the way I would a wayward child I birthed. When even I, your biggest cheerleader, feel like you are stretching and wasting the amazing talents and chemistry of your leads, I have to lay into you.
Don’t get me wrong, imma in this to the very end, come hell or high water. But that upcoming plot makes NO SENSE. Why the hell does Seo Jun still like Mu Gyul, a guy she dated for one month over a year ago! She’s not that type of girl. At all. The forcing of Seo Jun to pine over Mu Gyul is like telling me Madonna still hasn’t gotten over Sean Penn. Not gonna buy it.
And what pisses me off more is what I suspect Mae Ri is going to do – get back into the marriage contract with Jung In, or worse yet pick the guy, for his business future as required by devil daddy’s terms. Whether for real or pretending for devil daddy’s sake.
Nononononono. I hate sacrificial heroines, ladies who temporarily have a brain freeze and think that they can solve the problem by acquiescing. Please don’t make my beloved Mae Ri become weepy and martyr herself. And let’s not even discuss the grumpy or mopey incarnation of Mu Gyul or Jung In, which is what I potentially glimpse through the horizon.
Okay, rant over. Perhaps the written preview doesn’t capture the nuance, and what happens in episode 10 has deeper reasons that make sense. I just hope the writer doesn’t jack our OTP and their lovely character and even lovelier interactions just to create unsustainable angst flimsier than a petal in the wind. Rumors abound at DC Gall that Jang Geun Seok was seen doing more scenes with Kim Hyo Jin recently, which makes me think Seo Jun really is going to come pushing herself back into Mu Gyul’s life. *muffles four-letter word that rhymes with muck*
[Credit: written preview from KBS, translated from Korean to Chinese by the Jang Geun Seok Baidu bar, translated into English by me]
A Koala's Playground 
Uh-oh… I like this drama. Not super like or what but because of the two leads’ effectiveness, I’m somehow pulled to follow the drama even though most people bash it. But now, after reading what’s gonna happen, I think I can’t defend you anymore. 😦
I’m not sure what’s on the writer’s mind but I’m really upset. 😦
I’m liking the sound of change in writer but i’m really not liking this preview. why is MaeRi begging the ex? I understand the JI’s dad issue because even if she doesn’t love JungIn she still cares about him . if dad takes away money JungIn’s drama won’t happen and she doesn’t want that to happen,after all the work he’s done.
I enjoy both Eluvettie and Kelly Clarkson. I enjoy both WikiLeaks and MSOAN 🙂
I’ll follow MSOAN till the end. MSOAN fighting !!!
Folks, this is merely a preview – many juicy and essential things are left out. I hope people will not just quickly jump to conclusions and calm down a little ^^;
We may only speculate at this point of time as to why Episode 10 sounds as bad as people make it out to be, but we won’t know for sure until the episode airs.
M3 from the start has always been that “standard” Kdrama in terms of cliches and plotline, so I personally am not surprised at all that we’ll be in for an angsty roller-coaster ride especially since the Maeri and Mugyul have already made their feelings known to each other. The conflict in the drama is based on the 1o0 days deal, so of course it will be utilized until the end – it will not serve a purpose otherwise.
Maybe I always have a sanguine outlook, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this and the rest of the remaining episodes pan out. I hope I’m not alone in this ^^
I’m too scared to read.. ^^;
This reminds me of that scene in.. which ep was it.. ep 6? or was it 7? when Mae Ri gave a brief suggestion on how the story should turn out for the drama.. but only after the writer has gone through all sortsa crap from the other staff. Is this a case of life imitating art imitating life?
..hahaha.. i think so too,. well i believe some twist would not harm the story. I think they are doing it to arouse the interest of oldies. Based on my point of view, they should explore more, i just dont feel the intense of the story. They should not focused on dating (jung in and mary in market and geun geun dating), though it should be part of it but i think it should be just icing on the cake. Viewers need substance…. I am hoping for a good twist, I hope to see the real talent of jang geun suk and moon geun young.
..peace people..
So sad to hear that M3 seems to so be facing such instability – weird sounding Ep 10 preview and sudden change of writer.
Why would SJ publicly announce that MG is the man that she loves when she has already made up her mind to move on with that sickening kiss and garbage treatment of pick necklass? Can’t understand her hang up on MG when she has only dated him for less than a month and that was 1 year ago too. Furthermore, MG has already stated crystal clear both verbally and physically that he is not interested! Odd behaviour on SJ’s part indeed. Adding salt to injury, we are hearing rumours that there will be more screen time between MG and SJ? Isn’t Korea watching M3 because both of their favourite child stars grown-up JGS and MGY are starring? How will ratings be raised by correspondingly reducing our pet couple’s on screen time? Team at KBS is causing much frustration.
Mary not saying anything to MG about SJ’s kiss however is acceptable ONLY if as jellybeaniebaby says, they clarify it in the next ep and make up. Oh Yes, the making up scene would definately be cause for a lot of happy anticipation. Not too much skin though, for that would leave too little for the imaginations.
Anyway, when everything’s has been said and done let’s just have faith in our MG/MR duo and trust that they will deliver us a wonderful romance which they have been doing such an excellent job of so far.
why cant the heroin felt for the 2nd hero?? its kinda boring when at the end the heroin end up with hero… the ending was all the same.. i need something more different.. why cant mae ri married with jung in??? moo kyul can accomplish his dreams at the end.. hmm…kind of upsetting me
I remember reading somewhere that ep 10 and ep 11 will be scheduled to broadcast back to back on Monday? If it’s so, I suppose the written preview for ep 11 ought to be out soon as well? With the preview of ep 11, we can probably guess where this drama is heading towards … at this rate with preview of ep 10, the writer is probably a potential target of at least 10,000 fiery darts to her back
Please everyone, calm down and go back and read Joey‘s comments above.
Joey has injecting badly needed intelligent reflection, not to mention respect for the professionalism and skill of Krama makers, into this thread of comments. managing to derive plausible dramatic sense from a text which has led most other people, here and on other sites world-wide, to panic-striken calumny of the production team.
I personally tend not to bother reading preview texts on Korean station websites. Partly because they are sometimes so clumsily written that some bits of them make next to no sense as they stand (if anyone is looking for a horrendous example of how NOT to construct a Korean sentence, the last sentence of this preview in the original, which I have violently pummeled into three English ones, offers a splendid specimen) and partly because they are deliberately written to titillate and mislead, rather than inform. Sometimes they even turn out to be just plain wrong on the facts of the actual episode when it’s shown.
But they are even more problematic when presented in a version that has been re-translated into English from Chinese translations of the original Korean. Previews are, by their very nature, about tantalizing hints rather than plain communication. And it would be harder to think of three languages that go about hinting more differently than Korean, Chinese and English. The potential for “loss in translation” is enormous, and all too often that potential becomes unfortunately real.
I am sure that ockoala has faithfully translated the Chinese. But by then it was a bit too late. Alas, Chinese Kdrama enthusiasts often seriously under-estimate the vocabulary differences between Mandarin or Cantonese and Korean, compounding the intrinsic difficulties of translating between languages with such profoundly different grammars.
So I steeled myself to go to the KBS site and read the original Korean version, and I want to offer my translation direct from the Korean, because I think it underpins Joey’s interpretation, which might have been more apparent to other people too if the preview translation had been closer to the original. For those interested in why my version turns out differently, I have added a few notes, though there’s a lot more that could be said.
Mae Ri, seeing Mu Gyul and Seo Jun kissing , gets a huge shock, but she keeps her reaction under control, and she and Mu Gyul put the painful experience behind them [1] and are happily reconciled [2].
The following day, rumors concerning Seo Jun’s family continue to emerge, extending now to gossip [3] involving Mu Gyul and giving Jung In serious problems with finding investors for his drama “WL”.
Seo Jun says she intends to withdraw from appearing in “WL”, but Jung In says she should reveal the truth rather than hiding from reality, and suggests that she holds a press conference.
At the press conference, in response to questions about Mu Gyul, Seo Jun blurts out [4] that he is the man she loves.
Mae Ri, realizing how Seo Jun feels about Mu Gyul, can’t get over her shock. Eventually, she goes to see Seo Jun and tells her that if she truly loves Mu Gyul, she should please not make things any more difficult for him.
Meanwhile, Jung In’s father, disapproving both of the way Jun In does business and of the way things have developed with Mae Ri, says he is inclined to withddraw his investment. Thinking this has all come about through her fault, Mary suggests they should draw up another marriage contract, in good faith this time, offering Jung In one final chance…
NOTES
[1] I’ve no idea where the “act out the script for how to deal with” bit comes from. It’s not in the Korean. Who knows, maybe they do work through it through role-play or drama brainstorming of some kind, we’ll see next week, but the preview mentions no such thing.
[2] What *is* in the Korean, but banished from my translation, is the phrase about “making a new memory”. To explain why properly would take an essay in itself, but basically it comes down to the need to translate meanings between cultures, not words between languages. It so happens that, for other reasons, I’m currently noting the occurrence of this phrase in Korean popular cultural media, and I’ve rapidly built up a large collection. Oversimplying a whole lot, Koreans talk about “making [good/happy/beautiful] memories” where Westerners just talk about “having a good time.” There is a deep cultural divergence here which comes out in an earlier comment when someone talks about preferring US dramas where characters get the happy endings viewers feel they deserve. If the basic US cultural assumption is that things will work our fine unless something exceptional goes wrong, the corresponding Korean assumption is that things will turn out badly unless there’s an exceptional stroke of luck. As a result, when something good happens, Koreans immediately want to “make a memory” of it so they can fall back on it when the anticipated future disasters strike. However, this assumption has become so habitual that the phrase is used to mark any sort of enjoyable occasion, without the element of “making a memory” having anything like the significance it appears to have if we just transplant it into an English-language cultural context. Here, to say that the pair 새로운 추억을 만들어간다 means little more than they feel that all’s well that ends well.
[3] The Konglish 스캔들 occasionally does indeed mean the same as English “scandal”
but by no means as often as fansubbers make out, and here and in the drama itself it’s more like “gossip”.
[4] 얘기해버리고 with its connotations of letting something slip under the pressure of the moment, is very different from merely “replying” that something is the case, which sounds like something premeditated. The crucial thing here is that although the translation Joey was working from does indeed suggest that JI deliberately puts SJ up to revealing her feelings for MG and thus ignobly manipulating the “scandal” in his favor, the Korean original actually suggest the exact opposite, namely that SJ reveals her emotions on a sudden impulse, which JI could hardly have foreseen.
Thank you for the explanation, most illuminating.
I’ve panicked at plenty of previews before only to have them turn out different in the drama, so hopefully this is just another case of weird text preview, cool ep.
Of course, Joon’s blurting out, on impulse or deliberate, is still an idiotic idiotic thing to do, but where would we be without insane and evil secondary girls?
Thanks for sharing a Korean-speaker’s nuanced translation of the original written preview, Baduy. You highlighted the intrinsic deficiencies of reading translated text, and the inherent subjective interpretation of a word or phrase by the translator.
However, I think whether any translation of the written preview is 100% accurate in accounting for the Korean cultural definition of various phrases is a completely different issue with why certain M3-watchers are expressing displeasure with the overall tenor of where this drama is going. I can’t speak for everyone, but my gripe is thus.
I don’t like where this drama is headed, based on the previews. This is a general comment, and not based on whether one sentence in the preview illustrates a plot point I don’t like, and whether that sentence was accurately translated to capture the acutal plot to come. Reading your wonderful version of the preview does nothing to change my perception of the upcoming plot developments.
Episode 10 of M3 suggests a complete runaround in plot development, and jerking the rug out of character development for Mae Ri and Seo Jun. Not enough is said about Mu Gyul and Jung In, so I’ll assume both guys behave in accordance with their personality.
Seo Jun has no reason to blurt out Mu Gyul’s name as a man she “loves” (present tense). Pigs can fly before a writer can rationalize to me why and how come Seo Jun can still be in love with a ex-BF for this long. She’s a let-it-go type of woman (as evidenced by her cutting off her family to pursue her dreams). This continued Seo Jun can’t get over Mu Gyul plot point is irrational and leaves me seeing red. I’d rather Seo Jun be vindictive and angry that Mu Gyul could fall in love with Mae Ri, and not herself, and try to screw with them. But that doesn’t appear to be the route the writer is going down (as far as I can see).
Secondly – Mae Ri turning into the sacrificial heroine is also not in line with her character. Oh, she’s loving, caring, considerate and giving – but she’s also deathly principled and loyal. Creating another marriage contract, or resuming the existing one, with Jung In, undermines every principle I believe she has. She can do the marriage contract in the beginning because she didn’t love either guy, and it was for her own sake. Now that she is in love with Mu Gyul, it is improbable that she would get back into a marriage contract with Jung In, purely for Jung In’s sake.
I think my gripes are on the bigger picture scope, and the nuances in the written preview can’t explain away the general direction of the drama heading towards angstville premised on a shaky plot foundation.
Let me put it this way – when the drama viewer, such as me, you, or Joey, has to spend an inordinate amount of time rationalizing a drama development, or character decision, then something is wrong. A good script feels organic, makes sense, feels fluid. I’m not talking about the plot being realistic, since fantasy and sci-fi immediately fail that test. I’m talking about the general overarching plot making sense from point A to point B, within the context of the drama itself.
My entire analysis here is moot once I watch the episode and find that the motivation behind what all the characters are about to do in episode 10 is reasonable to me. But I find myself drawing very low expectations that that will be the case, and hoping against hope that I am so very wrong. This preview was the first M3 preview I actually couldn’t find a single thing I am looking forward to. I love angst, just not headdesking type of angst.
Actually I plead innocent (though no offence taken, of course) to the charge of spending a lot of time rationalizing a plot development (I did spend maybe an inordinate time struggling to get rather more faithful, if somewhat less literal English out of the Korean, but then a translator’s task is never done, so it’s hard to specify a line where the time spent on it becomes arguably inordinate). And I don’t think that’s what Joey was doing either.
Joey seemed to me to be arguing that the sort of plot development, or rather deviation, that a lot of people were anticipating on the basis of this preview was not necessarily implied in that preview in the first place, so that apocalyptic despair was somewhat premature. And when, despite my normal habit of shunning all “official” previews, I went to look at the original Korean after reading Joey’s first comment, I felt that there were a couple of points where things that actually supported Joey’s approach hadn’t come across the diversion via Chinese, and one important place where the translation had imputed to JI (and indirectly to SJ) a streak of deliberate manipulative cynicism that the original Korean version didn’t support. If it hadn’t been for that I would have stayed silent and reserved judgement until all the episode had been aired and been digested.
But perhaps since I’ve broken silence I could add that, just as I don’t think the preview contains an allegation of manipulative behavior by JI or premeditated indiscretion by SJ, so too I would’t be inclined to agree that on this evidence alone we should fear the MR will be pushed into self-sacrifical mode.
I did toy with the idea of also annotating my phrase “in good faith this time” as applied to the renewed contract proposal, since it is a preposterously verbose attempt to get behind one short, but in this context highly translation-resistant, Korean word, 충실히. It’s an adverb derived from a key concept in this drama, 충실 which is the Korean reading of two distinct though histrocially related Sino-Korean words, 充實 and 忠實, where the meanings of both of them, fullness, completeness, richness – cognate with Mandarin chōngshí (simplified 充实) and loyalty, faithfulness – cognate with Mandarin zhōngshí (simplified 忠实) seem to be at work. I take that word in the preview to mean that MR proposes that unlike the first contract, which was based on deception and a deliberate will to renege on the agreement if it wasn’t to her liking, this is one where all the conditions and intentions will be open and above board, and both parties will do their honest best not only to stick to the conditions but to take the full consequences of whatever the outcome is. In other words, JI is to be given a real chance to win her over and persuade her to choose him instead of MG.
But in the light of how the characters of both MR and JI have been developed, I don’t think that need be at all self-sacrificial (though as with everything else in this discussion, we can’t know for sure yet). The other key concept of this drama, alongside loyalty, is trust. (It’s as though MR were adapting St Paul to say “And now abide Faith, Hope and Love, these three: but Loyalty should be on the list, too, and is actually the most important” [“Faith” and “Trust” are, crucially for the Biblical allusion that gets obscured in translation, the same word in Korean]. MR trusts herself and JI well enough to be confident that the outcome will not be one in which she marries JI for good and real. But an outcome where either JI did fail (despite fresh start on a level playing field with no cards up anyone’s sleeve, to mix metaphors like crazy) to win her over, or, more satisfyingly, saw that he in the end didn’t want to win her over because she didn’t belong with him, would, mean that MR had kept faith with everyone, above all the JI’s father whose whole life seems to have been dedicated, however misguidedly and high-handedly, to watching over the welfare of the daughter of the woman he loved and lost. Again, I wouldn’t have wanted to embark on that speculation if I hadn’t felt the need to point out that the unpalatable alternative speculation it counters can’t definitively be based on the preview text, especially not in the form in which I’ve tried to render it a bit more faithfully.
BTW, and on a completely different issue I still have the KBS preview page on my screen, and I just spotted that in the header graphic, to the right of the title we have the miaow-miaow kitty from the program title animation, but to the left we have a strawberry. Now of course strawberries figure massively in the Manwha. But are the anywhere in the drama so far? Did I miss something??
I don’t see where, either in the preview I translated, or in the preview you translated, that implied (to me at least) that Jung In was manipulating, or even setting Seo Jun up, to break up Mae Ri or Mu Gyul. Can you explain to me where “deliberate manipulative cynicism” that was implied of Jung In stems from? I’m really curious, because I totally never got that impression at all. Which is why my rant in the post totally skips over anything Jung In-related.
I’ve never seen Jung In as manipulative up to ep 9, and don’t see anything written in the preview to change my mind. In fact, his actions remain consistent, he wants to both encourage Seo Jun to face her naysayers and gossips, which has the added benefit of keeping her involved with the drama production. Both of which I applaud and approve of – he’s pragmatic and sensible.
It’s Seo Jun’s behavior that deviates from character norm. I worried for a nanosecond that Jung In might go bad but so far I don’t get that sense from the preview or from his behavior up until now. We are of the same accord – the previews do not indicate Jung In has any ulterior motives behind supporting Seo Jun.
Where I continue to deviate from you, regardless of whether the phrase “in good faith” is added to the description of Mae Ri asking to enter a new marriage contract with Jung In, is that is completely undermines her character and *does* make her a sacrificial heroine.
There is no such thing as “in good faith” now that she is love with Mu Gyul. Mae Ri kept saying in episode 9 that she doesn’t even want to pretend to continue the contract marriage just in front of Jung In’s dad, because her integrity cannot sustain that type of pretense. Not to mention its exhausting, and ultimately a meaningless endeavor.
For her to make the decision to dive back into the contract marriage, and make a good faith attempt to let Jung In win her, is preposterous, IMO. Seriously? She is in love with Mu Gyul – how the heck can she give Jung In a good faith chance to win her that wouldn’t be considering emotionally cheating in any book? I’m floored the writer wants to resurrect this turkey.
And for her to make this decision because she finds out that Jung In would lose his drama investment unless he wins her hand, then her motivation makes her the prototypical sacrificial heroine, doing something she does not want or like for the sake of someone else’s wellbeing.
If Mae Ri did something sacrificial for Mu Gyul, at least that is supported by her love for him. Doing it for Jung In is stretching the bounds of logic. I don’t disagree with your analysis of Mae Ri’s thought process, if said thought process was premised on Mae Ri not having any feelings for either guy and is open to letting Jung In win her over. If she reached that conclusion in the beginning of episode 5, for example.
At this stage, when she and Mu Gyul are genuinely falling for each other, this premise cannot hold true without undermining Mae Ri’s personality and behavior.
Eh, I love this drama so much it pains me when things loom in the horizon that I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around. And no, there isn’t a single strawberry in this dang drama. 😀 You are correct, we are sadly short of strawberry metaphors or actual strawberries falling from the sky.
Thanx for translation.agree that you must know their culture to give good translation.but I do agree with koala.its not the matter of translation but how they change the land their heading.its like dropping all the development in characters.JI for me are an neutral guy with bit emotion that start to fill in his heart for mary.that also make him little by little have backbones..see how he said to his dad that he can withdraw his investment but he will try to win mary,which happen before he knows MG&MR declare their love.it is SJ that have a problem.really confused with her lead.one time she act cool and then all dramatic.come one its one year ago,you broke up with him less then a month!its not like you are left on your weds!grow up girl.I had my hate for 2nd lead girl but its reasonable where lead guy and 2nd lead girl have mutual like at present time before both lead actor and actress fall in love so she had the reason to ruin them but SJ here,only moping over MG that’s not love her a bit but she forced it?gaah that doesn’t make sense at all!
all I hope that my fear is wrong when I see the episode but somehow I have low hope.
Hmmm…. ya think that maybe when the press is investigating MG that they will discover that he is JI’s half brother? LOL.. and fulfilling MR’s suggestion early on that he was the illegitimate son of a chaebol?
ahaha that’s funny but I don’t think that happen because JI’s father is a type that have one love, he probably married JI’s mother because he have too??so that wont make MG his other son…
omg. don’t know what to say… lets hope for the best
any way i still support our geun-geun couple, i love them too much to give them up, so m3 fighting!!!! i decide to have faith in you!!!
(with crossed fingers)
upside? we get three episodes next week (despite the fact that we may get angry after episode 10…) 🙂
I’m sorry I just had a brainfart..WTF is going on??..why?.why?.why?..I agree with you koala, even if they used all those cliche stuff, everything was just fine, cause it was cute and pure..it was almost the same as other dramas, but in a more refreshing way..but now, I don’t know what to expect..what’s going to happen with the writter being changed and all..I mean there are just a few episodes left..I’m getting really anxious..
On the other hand, I spent some days without internet access, so I didn’t get to see the latest chapters, but the funny thing is, I CAN watch them now..but here I’m reading your recaps, just for the fun of it, cause I really love them, and they get me all excited, so I visit your webpage like three times in a day, just to see if there is something new…=)
So I just wanted to say..You are great, thanks for your hard work..=D
OMG! I hate that kind of stuff. I´m watching M3 and loving it exactly because, even we see some cliches, it´s fun and has some kind of difference (and of course, because of character´s chemistry). If they make it again like always, the same “crap” that fits one drama but not all of them, I will be disapponted.
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Actually, I wanted to thread this on to ockoala’s last response that asked me where I saw a basis in the translation for wrongly imputing “deliberate manipulative cynicism” to JI, but because of a limitation in the way WordPress works I can’t, so I need to add this as a separate comment.
I was actually referring to one part of Joey’s interpretation (perfectly plausible in the light of the first translation, but less so on the basis of my version) that –
“The scandal works to JI’s “advantage”, he encourages her to make the scandal for real, and let her true feelings out in the open”
That was, I felt, based on a problematic stretch of the translation, namely:
“Seo Jun wants to quit the drama production, but Jung In tells her to not run away from reality, and announce the truth to the world. Jung In organizes a press conference for Seo Jun. At the press conference, when the reporters ask about Mu Gyul, Seo Jun replies that he is the man she loves.”
“Announce the truth to the world” has a sensational, “stagey” implication that the Korean word, which is close in meaning to a simple “make known”, doesn’t necessarily have. It need mean no more than that JI proposes that SJ should give a simple public account of the truth behind the Press speculation, even if it involves revealing things about her background (i.e. facts, not “true feelings”) she’d prefer to have kept hidden. Then, as I already indicated, by making it sound as though the admission about her feelings for MG was a straightforward “reply” to an easily anticipated question, rather than the spur of the moment impulse that the Korean wording suggests, the first translation opens the way for an interpretation that producing this “scandalous” revelation (rather than undercutting the scandal mongers by giving her story in her own words) was part of what JI had in mind when suggesting she hold a press conference (the implication of a set-up is further fostered by the translation saying that JI “arranges” the press conference. He doubtless does, but the Korean merely says that the suggests to her she should hold one.)
On the other question, I see that my phrase “in good faith” hasn’t hit the elusive target I was trying to get across as the sense of 충실히, which is what the Korean of the preview says this renewed contract will be in contrast to the old one.
We tend to think in Western terms of “in good faith” as involving being true to oneself (and maybe one Significant Other). But as with other key ethical notions, the Korean understanding of 충실 entails loyalty to a web of interconnected persons with the self partly constituted by, rather than standing over against, that mesh of interconnected loyalties and obligations. (This also makes the notion and practice of “self-sacrifice” in Korean culture significantly different, too, because the boundaries of the self that is or isn’t sacrificed are differently drawn in the Korean scheme of things, but that’s too complex a strand to pursue here, even though it lies behind a lot of dissatisfaction that common types of Kdrama and Kmove plots evoke in Western audiences.)
The 충실 MR sets such store by (remembering that it entails “completeness” as well as “loyalty”) remains imperfect if it’s achieved at the cost of avoidable suffering to others. There’s no indication, in the preview or in MR’s character as so far portrayed, that she believes for one moment that JI will win her over. Nor does the preview suggest that she holds out any hope to him or his father that he will. The reference is not to false hope but to a “last chance”. There would be no pretense on her side in such an arrangement: just ill-founded confidence on JI’s side, which had done nothing to inspire, or maybe merely a wish on JI’s part to demonstrate to his father that he really had done his utmost to meet his father’s hopes, hopes which MR, very much her mother’s daughter, plainly empathizes with, though she can’t, and shouldn’t accept them.
Admittedly, that doesn’t sound dramatically promising to me if its really the essence of what’s in store. But it also doesn’t sound like an abandonment of character development either, since it shows MR pushing her concept of loyalty above all things (including, explicitly let’s not forget, above love) to an extent that is both specially her own and very markedly Korean in its group-centeredness. (Nor do I see any character discontinuity in SJ dropping her bombshell. The very first thing we were told about her was that she was “unstable”. She may well stay that way.)
As for MR making the renewed contract decision “because she finds out that Jung In would lose his drama investment unless he wins her hand”, neither the original preview nor either translations say that. The claim is that MR “thinks” (or better maybe, “it seems to her that”) “this whole situation” (i.e. not so much the threatened withdrawal of finance, but the whole crisis of the father-son relationship of which that threat is just a symptom) has come about because of how she has handled things so far, and she feels the need to try to put that right. Not by letting JI win her over at the cost of her integrity, but by allowing him to demonstrate to his father that his final failure to win her, even under the “fair play” conditions of a new contract, is not a character failing on his part, but simply the consequence of people honestly following their own hearts (which is also how he lost MR’s mother, a loss this second late life trauma might help him finally understand and accept).
Anyway (more than) enough from me. I only jumped in because I felt that a slightly misleading translation of a poorly-written original text was leading into somewhat ill-founded speculation that distracted from this drama’s real qualities. My conscience as a linguist now duly satisfied, I will leave everyone to carry enjoying the show (or deciding instead to hate it and its production team, if that’s what floats their boat).
WTH? is pretty much all i can say..
I mean come on drama writers, are you really trying to make us fans hate you?
I don’t understand pretty much anything that is happening in the next ep..
Why did SJ all of a sudden change her mind and decided to become the evil ex girlfriend we all come to hate? i really didn’t have any problem with her till now..I mean she hasn’t even dated him in a year! Sorry SJ but you’re throwing yourself a pity party and im not joining..
MR i love you to death! but why the sudden change to help JI out? you’ve always known how evil his father was so why the change? i don’t want to see you live in a crappy relationship and be all sad when you can be with MG and be loved and happy all the time….is it really that hard of a decision? Come on MR get ur mind straightened out!
Last but not least the the writer…All i can say is..really? Are you seriously gonna ruin everything us fellow fans love seeing? you’re single handedly trying to ruin the awesome chemistry that is MG and MR….And for that i must lose hope in you. Im sorry but thats the way it must be.
Let’s all hope the next writer will keep it together and not make it so confusing, and hopefully keep the chemistry of our beloved geun-geun happy and in love.
Good morning all 🙂
First up, I sincerely apologise if my analysis of the written preview would have caused any confusion to whereever the drama is heading. I will also like to clarify that the analysis that I’ve made out are pure inference on my part, and I may be proven wrong once ep 10 comes about.
Maybe I would like to also explain that I’ve made my analysis and inference on what may happen in the subsequent episodes from what I’ve seen developed in the past 9 episodes of MSOAN, in terms of what has been conversed, and from what I see in the character traits of the various individuals in the drama. Unfortunately, I am a total noob in the Korean language, and the episodes I watched so far are assisted by subs, and while I’m truly grateful for the subs to help me, I aknowledge that some of the meanings of the words could be lost in the translation
JI – Unfortunately, as ockoala had pointed out, his character was sorely underdeveloped. For like maybe at least 4-5 episodes, all I saw was someone who lived under a cold, unloved and strict upbringing and in turn becomes an indifferent and cold rich guy. Only in subsequent episodes do we get a glimpse that there maybe something in him that we can empathize with and understand what made him the way he had. However, what I see from ep 9, the darker side of him seem to have the potential to emerge. This is what I infer from his conversation with his dad about his determination to win over and marry MR, and his conversation with MG, which I strongly believe was his way of unnerving MG to crack in the relationship, which why based on the previews of ep 10, I came up with the possibility of him using the scandal to his advantage, especially with the knowledge that SJ has not gotten over MG yet. With that kind of upbringing he has gone through, I will not be one bit surprised that he may have inherited the character trait of being as ruthless/merciless as his dad has been
SJ – Her character development has probably the most question marks raised from me. I can’t fathom how can someone who displayed such coolness in the first few episodes could suddenly spiral to the cliche pathetic and bitchy 2nd lead female who resorts to sneak attacks to achieve her goal in love. While I can totally understand that she never got over MG, I would have thought it would have been more in line with her coolness to lay her cards on the table with MR and declare an open competition
MR – One of her mantras she abide and live by is loyalty. While it had been the proven strength of her relationship with MG (on top of the love for one another), it has also the potential to as a crutch when it comes to making decisions that can be really painful (ie the heroine making seemingly unnecessary self-sacrifices at the expense of her true happiness). Case in point, she had the opportunity to declare the marriage contract null and void since it was signed without her presence, but her loyalty to her dad prevents her from doing so. In ep 9, JI has also called on her to display her loyalty in keeping to the 100-day contract until after the drama production is over, which is why I choose to believe if she agrees to “fulfill” her contract terms, it would be more due to loyalty and responsibility rather than any other reasons. Even if it’s not JI’s company at stake here, I would think the fulfilling of the contract terms will come to head again when JI’s dad threatens MR’s dad to repay the money that was loaned to him as part of the marriage contract and her loyalty to her dad will force her to make the ultimate painful decision anyway
MG – I would say among the 4 lead characters, his character development is probably the strongest, most believable and consistent. Not that MR’s character isn’t consistent and believable, but unlike MG, her character has lesser room and need for development. MG has had so far grown from someone who fears committment and responsibility (due to his largely neglected childhood) to someone who is willing to first baby step in making a stand for someone he truly loves and cares for. One common trait between him and MR is their belief in loyalty. Main difference is while loyalty is MR’s mantra in life, MG is clear about with whom his loyalty stands, in this instance, MR, his mom and his band mates. I believe he’ll stand by MR in whatever decision she makes, albeit having to pained by them, which is why I see potential on how their relationship can still progress despite the seemingly crappy landmines laid out in the written preview of ep 10
In any instance, I’m really glad to be able to part of this community who are passionate followers of this show, I really enjoy reading all your comments and appreciate all the sharing from you all 🙂
that make sense but I do hope that JI/evil dad/loser dad/SJ take advantage of MR’s stands for loyalty and MG not backing up when he have to deal with more trouble, the main problem is not on MR but on MG himself, he must take over the control not make MR do all the hard work for them…but MG so far has over come his fear in commitment little by little…you can’t espect someone that in his whole life never want to be commit to someone and carefree turn to be reliable and willing to have full fight over the girl he love and willing to be married soon with her in one blink of eye…process makes their love stronger, don’t you think?
yeah I do think so, glad found this blog, so much love for our lovely MSOAN.
I love love love this show, but i am starting to hate how the plot of it is going out of wack o.o sigh”
If I care about plots.. I want the drama to tackle the character in such a way that by the end of the story, the viewers feel everyone has worked hard to overcome their flaws regardless of what the outcome will be…
– Jung In who goes through life doing everything his father wants him to. Everything is bottled up with this guy. I can’t even imagine him shout at a wall when he’s angry. Throwing him into a brawl with Mu Gyul certainly made me see him as a human being, so he needs to be put in situations where he has to blow up once in awhile (preferably at his dad, but the old man is terminally ill so I doubt that will happen). I think, rather than MR, it’s with MG that he gets to be more himself and not a puppet controlled by his dad.
– Mae Ri who seems to think that she’s carrying the world’s problems on her tiny shoulders. She’s always going everywhere trying to fix things and she has no idea that the more she helps, the more the people she helps are bound to her. It’s precisely because she’s so understanding, always have the right things to say, will try to be beside them when they’re in trouble.. that all the guys are fighting over her now. And I think it’s sick that JI’s dad wants to keep her tied to his home just coz she looks a lot like her mom.. the woman he loved but couldn’t marry.
– Seo Jun who just goes with the flow.. most probably because she’s always got whatever she’s wanted since she was young.. that the only rebellion she displayed against her family is working as an actress. I doubt she’s doing it becoz she loves the profession or else why is it that she doesn’t care when she’s labeled as a difficult artist? Why does she have such a nonchalant attitude towards her craft? If you’ve left your family becoz they don’t approve of the choices you’ve made.. shouldn’t you work harder to show them that you have chosen well? She’s so hollow. Maybe that’s what attracts her to Mu Gyul in the first place… his passion in music that completely overshadows all other concerns in his life. She thinks it’s love though.
– Mu Gyul whose music is his food, his air, his salvation. I think he would have ended up on the wrong side of society without his love for his music. Encounters with all the women in his life (except for his mom and relatives, of course) were made possible only through his music. Even Mae Ri was not spared the crush when she saw him perform for the first time. I doubt his lifestyle that comes with his music will change, but he does need to separate between the women worthy to be let into his life and those who should just stay on its fringe. I don’t want his character to change much.. I love his free spirit, that he can sleep on thea street when he’s too sleepy or drunk just coz he feels like it. I love that he doesn’t use the GPS because he doesn’t like it when someone tells him what to do. I love that he used bricks as bookends and that he has a swing right smack in the middle of his apartment. I love his over-the-top accessories and his shredded pants and his coats with their thick furry collars. I love his obsession with his hair. I love a lot of things about Mu Gyul that whenever the others push him with marriage talks, the thought that all the things I love about Mu Gyul may disappear as he tries to be more responsible about his relationship with Mae Ri is not making me happy one bit. I hope he can change and yet stay the same. Is that possible, scriptwriters? I really hope it is.
7 more episodes to go.. I promise I will enjoy every bit of it.
yeah I do agree on some part..I hope that they don’t change MG and MR’s character and wont be damn!happy if they make the sacrifice for unneccessary reason..I hope I can enjoy the rest of episodes of MSOAN
yup i completely agree with the part about wanting MG to stay the same but at the same time change to accomodate MR. would like to see how the drama tackles that! 😀
If they continue from ep9 it will be possible but knowing the preview I doubted that.lets just hope for the best.if NOT,I will loose my amusement watching the next episode.
I dislike these hints of another fake contract. I want JI’s dad to see how much he’s really hurting MR by forcing her into this and I don’t want him to take the easy way out and come to that conclusion on his cancerous sick bed.
He has to figure out that you can’t just randomly blackmail your son into marrying a stranger and they have to stand up to him to show him this, not go behind his back and then run away in the last episode.
I’m hoping the line “THIS IS WHY MY MOTHER DIDN’T PICK YOU” comes up.
And then we’d actually have a decent plot. He could disinherit JI who’d move in with MK and they’d write emo songs together until SJ comes to her senses and sees JI as the man MK could never be, uses her family’s money to fund the drama which makes a killing. They use that money as startup capital to build an empire and the dads would realize that love does really conquer all. Not Blackmail, Love.
Hoping for the best with all the changes being made with this show. I’m really loving this drama, and I can’t wait to see episode 10. Love the chemistry between MR & MG – it’s just rightly done and not cheesy at all. I agree with what everyone is saying here, please do not make this drama just like the overdone drama “cliched” plots.
I can not wait to see episodes 10 and 11 now. Omg, this show rocks so hard….(lol)
I just finished watching “What Planet are you from?” with my beautiful Kim Rae Won, talk about a roller coaster ride………that show had me crying every five seconds, and now it looks like M3 is going to be the same. New writer…new possibilities…not saying thats good or bad, just different. Looking forward to the rest of the episodes….keep us posted ockoala 🙂
Chillax! The more I read what everyone post the more I want the days to move forward til’ I can finally judged for myself the outcome of the story. Yes! truly the strawberry shower is missed in the story. But on the lighter side of it all, Mary is supposed to be torn between to lovers. Though he is committed on M-Gyul she is confused by affectionate Jung In…(that’s judging by the manhwa).
I don’t know but it seems to me (personal opinion only, no offense to any one) Jung In from the very beginning of this series, already invested his time and attention to Seo Jun, He handpicked her among other actresses, despite the latter’s bad reputation.
When she’s in trouble, he always went his way out to console her ( remember him following her to the pub) which leads to his discovery of Mu Gyul. He was supposed to accompany Mary to her mother’s grave and just because of Seo Jun, he’s incapacitated to do as he promised and this lead for the Geun2 to openly admit their feelings for each other. (Thanks to her!!) If not for a promise he made he wouldn’t be any nicer to Mary, he may just be plain robotic towards her. I think they are etching the story towards such development, and it is enjoyable to see Mu Gyul develops to his better self to fight for his cat, ehrm., Mary?
In spite of all this vague plot, i firmly believe the loyalty between the cat and the dog (mortal lovers in the planet of M3) will shine through and that’s worth waiting for and aching for. Writers don’t turn this into a heavy drama please!!! Those versatile actors and actresses are not meant to be ruined by ” let’s just finish the story,” they can deliver much much more.
Thanks ockoala for keeping us updated !!!
you are completely right ! why don’t you and ockoala just bind together as the writer for M3..it will make all of us happy and relief.. ^^
*Torn between two lovers is what I meant….lol a typo.
F F F F !!!!!!!!! F*CK ! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ! hate the plot ! for God sake,its going to be 7 episode last, i don’t care how the plot is going to be,just make sure the ending will be Mu Gyul – Mae Ri..or else i’ll kill the writer myself ! arghhhhhh! demmit! F*CK !
Boo. But anyway, that what makes the drama interesting, right?
I hope the story makes a twist and somehow Mae-ri realizes that Jung-In is actually sincere and later on both of them end up together…then I’d be happy. Sorry but the Moo-gyul-Mae-ri duo is not working for me.
Oh God!!!
I’m so disappointed for the change of writer!!! It is just a gamble now! I think the strength of this drama isn’t the plot at all, but the soft, dreamy, magical interactions between the protagonists. I also think that, in this sense, this drama is very refreshing and original… for example Mae ri is an adorable and determined heroine and also MG has a complicated personality and not framed!!! They have a beautiful psychological depth and I really really love them for this reason! I hope the new writer can take care of these adorable creatures not distorting their character. Maybe a lot of people don’t like this show because they like strong, realistic or twisted plot… but I really love M3 for his delicacy!Anyway, I’m really grateful for your recap Koala and also I would say that it’s really enjoyable to be here with all you guys and share our opinions… thank you so much and sorry for my bad English!
Doesn’t something similar happen in the Manhwa? So it seems they are kind of trying to stick to the original story line just a little, even if it is a crappy turn of events for one of my favorite heroine. All that matters is that she ends up with MR. Right ( Mu Gyul ) in the end.
Actually the drama gets boring. Up to 6 part I watched with a big enthusiasm but after my rating for it was getting lower and lower. Today when I found part 10 eng subbed I understood I don’t want to watch it at all. The drama follows the bitten trail and I guess I know for sure how it’s going to end. May be later when the drama is over I’ll watch the last episode and never come back to it anymore.