Finally, we get to the final episode. I don’t know if it will have a satisfactory conclusion or a cliffhanger. After all, this is only a side project.

But let’s find out if LS will choose someone from her harem or if she’ll still be able to run her book store. We still have to find out what’s the deal with the ancient book at the end of Episode 2, which was not touched at all in Episode 3.

Episode 4 – Commentary

Frame no 2:

GY did not hurt LS, but still, why is GY furious about books?

As Secretary Do hands LS the check, it still begs the question on why the place is so valuable.

Frame no 4: 

Secretary Do’s avatar is really creepy, not to mention that I’ve mostly seen him in baddy roles.

He is not the ultimate villain as I had feared, but he’s a very formidable enemy.

Frame no 6:

A mysterious woman is negotiating with Manager Hwang. She has dirt on GY.

This may be the flaw of the drama, or not depending on your perspective. One moment, I get the sense that GY and Secretary Do are the villains. Then later, it’s Manager Hwang and the mysterious woman.

Some dramas have this structure that the protagonists will be mostly dealing with antagonist A but an antagonist B will suddenly displace antagonist A near the end.

For me it’s okay on a longer series, but I think it’s not optimal in a short series. When I was reading Episode 3 and he was doing all that shenanigans, I thought he was just a shady character but not the villain. I was eagerly waiting for his scenes to end because I did not think that he was that important. But if he turns out to be the arch villain, all the boring Episode 3 would, in retrospect, be significant.

Okay, we get a Kim So-yeon character. I haven’t watched ‘Penthouse’ but I saw her acting chops as villain in All About Eve.

Frame no 7:

Mental flashes

While LS being comforted by the three guys are nice, this might be key.

The image of a woman warning her of her impending death should send chills. Is there a way to prevent this?

Frame no 8 immediately answers my question. Not a chance! From a fun drama, this will end in a tragedy. ☹ 

The next frames are basically her fainting and guys taking care of him. If you didn’t know that she’d dying, these would be seen as romantic gestures. Alas! They don’t even know that her days are numbered. Sad.

It’s also in these frames where we are explicitly informed that they have fallen in love with her. And halfway in the episode, I don’t know how they would feel once they know LS is dying.

Frame no 18: 

And we’re near the end, and yet we’re introduced to a new character, who might be Chrysanthemum’s boss.

Frame no 20:

YR begs to work for JH. From JH’s pov, she’s just a nuisance. But from the previous episode, she experienced some shit.

Frame no 22:

Class of taste between YR and JH in the book club. An interesting dynamic

Frame no 24:

It’s a little mystery who sent the letter, but it looks like GY…plus we see him assaulting LS, the effect of his accident earlier.

Frame no 25:

Ugh oh, GY joined her book club. It’s as if he found a loop hole so he can be near to LS. I wonder at this point if, as I had first anticipated, that he’ll join her harem. Just in case this happens, he’s the greater tsundere than JH.

Anyway, after I wrote that line above, I then read that LS kissed GY to throw him off. There’s no romance between them at this point, but this could be a start.

Anyway, it ends with the harem seeing them kissing. At this point, GY suddenly becomes part of the harem. He has the greatest chance to LS if things go well.

Conclusion

I believe this series has potential. It didn’t wrap up, so just in case you decide to continue this drama, it deserves as many episodes as possible.

Since this requires more episodes, unfortunately, we never get to know the villains, Chrysanthemum and her boss.

I enjoyed this episode.

Some remarks to your reply on Episode 3 

I think I know why I didn’t enjoy episode 3 as much as you did. You enjoy makjang far more than I do. In fact, I don’t.

Here’s why.

Many Filipino daytime soap operas are makjang on steroids. There’s no logic. The scenes were meant as catharsis. The acting is over-the-top and unrealistic.

(Filipinos are emotional but nonconfrontational in real life. The characters in soap operas are the means by which your Filipino ajuhma can vicariously shit on other people and be hysterical.

In the late 90s, years before Chinese and Korean dramas ruled our airwaves, Latin-American dramas were ubiquitous. Most of our soap operas are patterned after Latin-American soap operas.)

Even though I dislike makjang, at least Korean-made makjang has some semblance of logic. In some cases such as Temptation of Wife, there’s some good subtle acting that I appreciate. Case in point would be where the lead discovered that her man is cheating. The acting in the original kdrama was subtle but the Philippine remake was over-the-top. The actress was screaming at the top of her lungs.

I prefer more subtle acting. This is why I love ‘Uncontrollably Fond’ in contrast with the dramas in my country even though it flopped in Korea and even you dropped it. It’s the kind of drama I prefer rather than pure makjang.

I also love “Marrying my daughter twice” aka My Son-in-law’s woman. It has the right amount of drama (perhaps it’s makjang lite, I dunno). It has some makjang elements in that the villains are insufferable or often the protagonists are dumb. It has some nice dialogues though filled with emotional moments. It’s also a bonus that I like the acting of the bitch grandmother.

But I dunno if I don’t actually hate makjang in the general sense. I looked at this thread: Makjang 101: Taking Things To The Extreme : r/KDRAMA (reddit.com)

I haven’t look at the latest makjang so I’m not sure if I actually dislike them as much as I say I do.

One Turkish drama I like can be considered as makjang in some scenes, as the villains are larger than life and can trigger from the viewer all sorts of emotions. The main villain does all sorts of shit like kidnapping, illegal activities, and he has control of the justice system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn-jhUGe9zY 

• • Enchanteur

    Thursday 4th January at 20:03
    

    Ah, no conclusion, but a cliffhanger, yes. That old red book... hey hey hey, you're impatient and always want the revelations before their time!

     

    #4. Secretary Do. Trusted man, chauffeur, bodyguard. Trope!

     

    #6. In "The Penthouse", there are practically only antagonists. Well, bastards!! ^^

    I think it's still quiet here, there are still plenty of nice people. This drama is not a short series. It's the beginning of a long series. And organized as such.

    All About Eve (2000). If I want to watch it, it's going to be hard to find! But I'm always willing to watch old dramas. I don't care if the cinematography is retro.

     

    #8. It's when you realize a lot of the characters have a pretty guessable past. Ye-Ri, single mother, unable to hold down a good job because she's incompetent. But mystery, who was the father of her child? Esom, established as a tattoo artist, but why did he tattoo himself? Kyu-Hyung, has had a store for a long time and may know the secret of the bookstore. Ji-Hoon, no mystery, opens a restaurant with his family, etc.

    But Lee Seol??? Since episode 1, she's been the classic likeable, funny heroine, making us not wonder too much... but we don't know anything about her!!!! And little by little, this is coming to the surface.

     

    #18. Yes, but... The end of the second hour of an 8 to 16 hour drama. ^^

     

    #22. The last line does it all: "This club has no future. I can't think of anything worse". Now that you know the end of the episode, it makes sense as a gag.

     

    #25. Yes, Ji-Hoon is a jerk, he even looks like a great jerk. But he's just a tiny jerk compared to the insufferable, obnoxious Gong Yu!!!! Ahhhhhh... It's so good to be in a kdrama!!!

    Gong Yu has zero chance with Lee Seol, but in the logic of a kdrama... effectively, he's in pole position. ahahahah.

    I often read in the comments of people who watch dramas: they hate things that I often find amusing. For example, they hate forced kissing. BIM!!! Two forced kisses at the end of the episode!!! AHAHAH!!! Out of gallantry, I put the heroine's first.

    When the other three book club members arrive, it's exactly like any scene where the second lead spies something unpleasant about the one he covets. Except here, there are three of them!!!!

     

    Conclusion.

    Makjang and logic. Anyway, I'm sickly bound to logic. So, over-the-top scenes must also have logic for them to happen.

    Potential of this drama: I wasn't sure, but upon reflection, there's potential. What does it take? A concept and a universe. The basic pitch was a bookstore, a bookclub and anonymous letters. But that wasn't enough. I mixed that with rental properties (hence the title), and introduced mysteries. I feel this drama has its own unique universe now. It feels like home.

    There are a lot of logical links, maybe because you didn't find them, or because you don't remember a scene. I'll give you an example: Episode 1, Gong-Yu is nailing boards to the bookstore, but there's also a flashback of a young woman holding a red book. Lee Seol finds an ancient red book in the cellar, nothing written on the back. Lee Kang reads "The Art of War", an ancient red book with nothing written on the back. 

    Other links in the episodes. Esom with a tragic past that led him to take vows of chastity. Specializes in Flower Tea. His whole body tattooed with flowers. Paintings of flowers in his store, and listed first... chrysanthemums!!!

    I could go on and on, perhaps I will, but not today.

    I have the answer to several of the drama's mysteries. For others, I've just established a logical link. And finally, a few things I don't know anything about. I've just given the illusion that I know (and that was one of my goals). If I were to write a sequel, I'd probably have to change a few scenes to fit in with the continuation.

     

    CONTINUE.

    No, not this drama. Writing "Bookstore where you rent my heart" helped me in so many ways.

    - Relaxing and writing what came spontaneously. Re-writing W2 was becoming burdensome.

    - To write a drama with less overall structure, with fewer puzzles. 

    - Without insurmountable difficulties due to XXX episodes and plot-lines in progress, and a huge mess made of previous drafts, files of new ideas, and ideas carried over to future episodes.

    - Making progress on various points, in particular: lightening numerous brackets, and giving more room to mood lines, or emotion-enhancing infilmable lines.

    This has rekindled my motivation for W2, which is becoming increasingly difficult to rewrite for a number of reasons I've just outlined.

    But now I'm back at it again:

    - I've been making micro-corrections to older episodes.

    - I'm completing the editing of episode 37 (a punch in the jaw).

    - I continue rewriting episode 39.

    - I look for some images. Although I can't use as many images as I used to, a few images go a long way towards characterizing an episode.

    - And above all, I'm really enjoying the rewrite of a drama that's ultra-structured from start to finish, which provides everything that a spontaneous project like "BWYRMH" cannot.