The songs we feature during the recap: Here I Am Again by Baek Yerin and Let Us Go by Crush.
In the first half of the show, Se-ri is trying hard to adapt to North Korea. In this episode, Captain Ri and the ducklings are trying to get used to South Korea.
Cho Cheol Gang is now in South Korea and she’s clearly after Se-ri.
Se-ri can’t believe her eyes when she finds Captain Ri on the sidewalk. The hug they give each other makes it clear that they are home in each other’s arms. Now, Se-ri knows that Cho Cheol Gang is after her.
If Captain Ri has one talent, it’s his ability to find Se-ri. Knowing just her neighborhood, he found her in Seoul!
Although Se-ri lies to Captain Ri and tells him that everything is fine with her family, she has to eat her words when Yoon Se-Hyeong and his wife enter her apartment and threaten her if she tries to get in the way of him becoming Chairman.
Se-ri takes Captain Ri shopping for some amazing clothes and a hot haircut. He was so handsome before; now he’s downright debonair!
The reference to the Korean folk tale of Heungbu and Nolbu.
How the ducklings have been dropped into Seoul and they are exploring fried chicken and a South Korea spa.
With Cho Cheol Gang convicted, Mr. Cheon says he and Gu Seung Jun are in danger. Mr. Cheo gets taken by some men, leaving Gu Seung Jun alone and without a place to stay.
Gu Seung Jun gets a phone call from Seo Dan, whom he picks up and who offers him use of her apartment in the border village.
How both Captain Ri and Seo Dan’s mothers ultimately care about their children and want them to be with someone they actually love.
Yoon Se-Jun and his wife tell Se-ri’s mother that Se-ri was in North Korea. Even worse, Yoon Se-Hyeong knew about Se-ri and didn’t do anything about it!
The village ladies risk a lot to see a shaman, who tells the women that they are all in trouble because their husbands are in trouble.
Captain Ri’s battle with the thugs and his epic cat and mouse game with Cho Cheol Gang to save Se-ri.
In the epilogue, we realize that Se-ri and Seo Dan had also met while in Switzerland.
Our favorite K Drama elements, especially Captain Ri protecting Se-ri at personal cost to himself, the Subway product placement (finally!), and a new element: clamping a hand on someone’s mouth.
The actresses who play the village ladies; we love them!
References
Frequency of households ordering delivery food in South Korea in 2023
Report on North Korea from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
In New Orleans, there is a family-run group of restaurants. I think there are three siblings, and they each run certain restaurants. There are over 20 in New Orleans alone. I know there has been conflict among citizens over the years.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather worked for Popeyes when I was a kid, helping open new restaurants across the country.
There is a recipe for the Korean fried chicken in the Kdrama cookbook. I have only made the sauce though. I used to not be able to fry chicken to save my life.
The closest thing I've seen to one of those spas was a salt therapy place.
Goo Seung Jun would be great at evacuating for a hurricane. He was already packed!
Do people really fawn over good-looking people in public like that? It's especially funny in the school shows. Guys are followed around like celebrities.
Forgot to put my name.
DeleteThe Greek chorus theory is a good one. It's mentioned in Aristotle's Poetics, but I can't find my copy. Some references have mentioned the word homogenous, which would fit with North Korean ideals of conformity.
DeleteLaurel, thanks for your comments! I think that K Drama fans all over Asian fawn over the K Drama stars. My Instagram feed is full o adoring fans from the meet and greets in South Korean and Asia. As for fawning over regular but good-looking people, who knows? I went to an all girls school in Manila and we would definitely gawk over the good looking boys when they came to visit the campus or during parties! Crazy times! I sure hope Seo In Guk makes it to DC in September for his meet and greet!
DeleteHello friends, thanks for spending the morning with me as I listened to CLOY episode 11. I wanted to point out something that Captain Ri does that I noticed even the very first time I watched this show. As he’s in the parking structure and Seri is calling out to him that she’s OK and that he should run, the look on his face shows that he’s listening to the sound of her voice very intently. It’s the same look on his face he has in the opening of episode one at the DMZ with gunfire going on. He was able to hear and analyze where gunshots were coming from, how many there were, and maybe even what kind of weapons. I appreciate that the writers of the show gave us a callback to this amazing skill and employed it in the scene, allowing Captain Ri to locate Seri even in the dark in an echoey cement structure.
ReplyDeleteChristine, thank you for this amazing insight! You are so right. After I read your comment, I went back to the first episode and indeed, Captain Ri cocks his head and very carefully tries to pinpoint where the cries are coming from. Same thing in the parking garage! We'll have to mention this during our next recording. Thank you for commenting and listening!
DeleteWow. What an episode. I could barely get through it with all the swooning over Hyun Bin! Are you ladies OK? lol!
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes you might overanalyze how characters were able to do certain things - like getting into the South from the North. Sometimes, I think the obvious answer is because its a K Drama and they had to for the story!
For example, if Ser ri was actually discovered by the South Korean Army in the DMZ there is no way they would just let her go right back into regular life in South Korea. I'm sure she would be debriefed and questioned for weeks, if not months. Particularly if she had meet with a senior North Korean leader like Captain Ri's father.
Speaking of him, he is portrayed in the show as a somewhat gruff, but otherwise caring, father. In reality, if he were actually the Director of the General Political Bureau he would certainly be a very bad man! Per Wikipedia, The General Political Bureau (GPB) is a department of the Ministry of Defense, used by the leadership of the North Korean government to exert political control over the Korean People's Army (KPA). Which means Captain Ri's dad would be VERY close to Kim Jong Un.
The current head of the GPB is a guy named Jong Kyong-thaek. He has been sanctioned by the US and EU. Again, per Wikipedia: ""As Head of the Ministry of State Security, Jong Kyong-thaek is responsible for serious human rights violations in the DPRK, in particular torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, enforced disappearance of persons, and arbitrary arrests or detentions, as well as widespread forced labour and sexual violence against women."[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jong_Kyong-thaek
One thing that is probably pretty accurate is Captain Ri's father being worried of being attacked or losing his position. The former head of the GPB was reportedly removed from his position and punished for some unknown reason.
https://www.globalasia.org/v16no3/cover/the-changing-status-and-role-of-the-north-korean-military_gee-dong-lee
I think when you are that close to the top you are always walking on eggshells and looking over your shoulder because one wrong move could prove fatal.
Hi Malcolm, thanks for putting up with all our swooning! It's a cross you'll have to bear as long as Hyun Bin is around. Don't worry about us, though. We're keeping our smelling salts close at hand.
DeleteYou make a really good point about the real Director of the General Political Bureau being a malevolent figure. Certainly, anyone with that kind of power and position would be the one perpetuating and enforcing the insanity from the top. But, as you say, this is a Kdrama, so Captain Ri's father couldn't be a truly bad man.
Thanks for hanging in there with us as always!