I've been thinking and analyzing the show all on my own over the past few weeks and I wanted to share and discuss with people, because I found people on the internet who pointed out some of the same things I was thinking about. Grab a snack and here we go...
1. In episode 8, when Jae-eon took Na-bi to the art gallery, he said he saw a girl there, standing across from him at an exhibit and he fell in love in love with her at first sight, but Na-bi doesn't realize he is talking about her. If you go back to episode 1 on Netflix, just as Nabi is leaving the art gallery and we're on a wide shot (at 3:74 minutes and with 1:08:32 remaining on Netflix), you can see Jae-eon standing on the other side of the statue, dressed in a black turtle neck and grey coat.
2. This person on Twitter had excellent analysis of the meaning and significance of why Jae-eon called the exhibit from episode 1 boring; one can also relate this back to when, in episode 9, the professor said "Pieces that receive compliments and ones that attract attention are different", meaning, I don't think Jae-eon thought Na-bi's ex made good art, and hence, he called it boring. The piece was provocative and attracted attention from many, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he thought (and also in general) that is was good art, expressing emotion worthy of compliments.
https://twitter.com/thisjieuns/status/1424334237361217538 (scroll down to read both posts).
3. Since episode 8, I realized that the title for each week's episode is actually most likely from Jae-eon's POV and not Na-bi's based on the dialogue in that episode. One can argue, that it can also be used interchangeably between both of the main characters; however, I think the episode titles are from Jae-eon's POV. In episode 8, Jae-eon talks about how he doesn't believe in fate, but he was shocked to later run into the girl he fell in love with at the art gallery, and if only he believed in fate, he would have believed that it was it...the title for episode 1 was "There's No Such Thing as Fate, Nevertheless". Someone from the Reddit kdrama forum mentioned this today and reminded me of this.
4. There was a theory floating around that the butterflies are a representation of Jae-eon, and not Na-bi. It is said that Jae-eon flirts with many girls, but never dates/commits. Butterflies represent the pain and ugliness of happiness, as mentioned in the show, and it could be a representation of the pain and ugliness he feels based on how people gossip about him and treat him, without knowing all the actual facts (you have to remember a lot of what we see in only from Nabi's POV and you actually are never told what actually REALLY happened; we only go off the rumours that Na-bi hears about Jae-eon from others and Jae-eon himself said in episode 2 that people gossip about him), and then also due to his upbringing with his mom. More specifically, A. in episode 6, Jae-eon talks about how touching a butterfly's wings is not harmful, it can on cause some allergies and that butterflies are the ones who actually end up getting hurt (I thought this could be a metaphor for how people make assumptions about him and treat him), and B. up to this point, we suspect that he has a fear of getting hurt/abandoned based on his upbringing/mommy-issues/past experiences, so he floats from one person to the next, but then sudddenly things are different for him when he meets Na-bi, in that he actually wants to commit to her, but that in itself is causing a lot of pain and ugliness due to their horrible communication issues. And then, when we see in episode 8, when they both go to the art gallery, you notice that Na-bi and Jae-eon are standing in front of the painting in the same positions as the female and male shown in the painting (females on the left and males on the right); where the male figure in the painting is the one wearing wings. I thought that was interesting and could be another interesting metaphor, especially considering this theory.
5. The cinematography of this show continues to be exceptional and I'm loving every second of it. From how certain scenes are framed, to the differences in how certain scenes are filmed (eg. still camera versus a shaky camera (used to make the viewer feel the uneasiness/discomfort of a scene). A lot of the cinematography is so artistic and I'm loving it!
An example from the latest episode, as discussed on Twitter:
This, I thought was genius and so on point:
6. The OST continues to be exceptional!
I also enjoy that the fact that the song 'Love Me Like That' by Sam Kim seems to be a representation of Jae-eon's POV based on the lyrics:
'I'm fragile and fractured, that’s for sure'
'I burned myself down to the ground' - Episode 9 ????? or Jae-eon making small changes in his personality over the course of the show.
'You see the world in colours, I feel it black and white'
'Paint me a picture out of the lines that I live in all of the time'
'Keep my heart from building walls, So high you can’t get through'
'Sunshine left today, Got caught in the rain all alone, Can you come and pick me up from my blues? Or am I late to ask you? Love me soft and tender' - Episode 9 and 10???
7. I thought these comments on Reddit were very interesting and good perspectives, especially the last one (link D):
A. https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAM…sode_9/h983sqd/?context=3
(I remember watching this scene and wondering why they spent a few seconds focusing on this random guy. I brushed it off, but come to find out later on... :))
B. https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAM…sode_9/h98blw3/?context=3
C. https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAM…sode_9/h95ezfe/?context=3
D. https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAM…sode_9/h95zbbj/?context=3
8. The last thing I want to discuss is how I think it would be interesting to use Jae-eon's metal sculpture of the butterfly in the finale. I haven't seen anyone discuss this yet. I don't know if this will actually happen, but I thought of this while thinking about how the show could end, and I personally thought that it could be a clever thing to incorporate into the story.
We know Jaeo-eon's metal sculpture is a female with wings, meant to represent a butterfly, and we know that he gets a lot of inspiration from Nabi (e.g. the sun-catcher, the butterfly bracelet, how Nabi's second assistant told Nabi in episode 9 that Jae-eon is doing glass projects because of her piece). I think the sculpture literally is a representation of Na-bi in some form (possibly breaking away to happiness/freedom instead of sitting in the pain and ugliness of happiness that butterflies supposedly represent, as Jae-eon stated in Episode 6?... and also recall that Jae-eon was there in Episode 1 when he first saw Na-bi at the art exhibition and she was tearing up over what her ex did, so maybe that helped inspire the sculpture as well?). Nevertheless, let's assume she once again inspired him.
Here is the finale preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_6lSSGlGs
In the finale preview, we see/hear that Na-bi is finally coming to terms and accepting what she feels for Jae-eon and she is not running away from it. In the preview, we also see a quick, wide shot of Na-bi walking through an exhibition with Do-Hyeok (31 second mark in the preview). We also see that Jae-eon is there (34 second mark in the preview). So, here is what I came up with:
Wouldn't it be interesting, if at the exhibition, not only are Nabi's sculptures there, but so is Jae-eon's metal butterfly sculpture, and what if the description of the piece said something along the lines of "Nabi. I loved her from the moment I first saw her, but she was always drifting away from me, and I had to let her go and set her free." And what if Nabi sees this and finally realizes Jae-eon's feelings for her and what he has been trying to express to her over the second half of the show (recall that one of Jae-eon's love languages is definitely gift-giving as he showed via her birthday present, the sun-catcher, the butterfly bracelet, and that is why he was disappointed when Na-bi did not give him one)? Wouldn't that be a super interesting way to incorporate Jae-eon's sculpture into the story?! This idea could possibly work, since the preview also shows Nabi crying and Jae-eon talking to her at what seems to be the exhibit (34-35 second marks in the preview). Anyway, that was my random thought and idea.
9. I enjoyed all the details of this drama, and the show in general, how realistic it is, etc, and I am sad that it is ending. I hope that we get a season 2.
That is all. Thanks for reading this long post.
