Episode 7 Commentary

Now, from #2 to #8, the duo are getting extensive minutes. These clowns will probably do something to move the plot.

________

C#4. RECALL, "W" - Penthouse (morning).

Even if brief, this satisfies the wishes of many for Soo-bong to finally see Soo-hee in the flesh.

_______

C#7. RECALL, "W" - Han River, Running track (morning).

“Look at Kang Chul, the author had made him inexperienced with women.”

Haha, now even Do-yoon is self-aware. I don’t remember him this way in the original drama.

_____

#11. Avenue, In Yeon-Joo's car (morning).

The scene with Seonsaingnim is hilarious!

Though it’s not marked as an imaginary scene.

______

#12. "Butterfly Girl" - Han River Park (day).

“Fairy Spark, at first surprised, becomes dismayed. FLUFF! The fairy disappears into a brief cloud of light.”

At this point, I’m afraid that Fairy Spark is gone for good. I recall that once a character’s role is fulfilled, he or she will vanish for good. Before meeting Soo-bong, she mentored Ren-bo and it would be a shame if we won’t hear from her again.

_________________

Afterwards, we are treated to a series of flashbacks on several periods of Ren-bo’s life. Earlier, I was searching for the backstory on how Sin-moo fell in love with Ren-bo. In an earlier episode, Yeon-joo merely repeated the synopsis, but we here we are treated to a scene of his confession.

Before these flashbacks were shown, a chrysalis was shown in the background, perhaps as a symbolism of her feeling trapped in her earlier years.

But an idea came to mind and French readers might be familiar with ‘involuntary memory.’

I was debating if Ren-bo was merely sad because Fairy Spark disappeared, then begins actively recalling her painful memories.

But another interpretation might be that as she was feeling perplexed, she saw the chrysalis, and this triggered a series of flashbacks. I can imagine that these successive flashbacks were so intense to Ren-bo that she began to cry so hard.

C#16. RECALL - Park, Pond Bank (day).

juxtaposition of Sin-moo and Soo-bong. The former reinforced her sense of limitation; the latter believed in her potential.

Also, the visual metaphor of the butterfly breaking free is touching. I like it when dramas include such visuals, not merely as actors spout lines from the screenplay.

___________

#15. Comic Studio Editions, Meeting room (morning).

This is akin to a short Platonic dialogue that touches on the issue of authorship, intellectual property, whether or not to let the audience drive the direction of a work to the point that it deviates on the author’s original vision.

______________

#19. Road, In Sin-Moo's car (day) + MONTAGE.

“By regular pulsations, pink slicks born at the root of Ren-Bo's wings. They spread out and run aground on the edge of her wings, like waves.”

Now it becomes clearer that her emotions have some sort of effect on her wings.

_____

#23. Road, Exterior view (day).

Soo-bong got sucked back in to the manhwa world. Now, I have to ask, ‘What is needed to happen for Soo-bong to get sucked back in Butterfly Girl?’ Is it Ren-bo thinking of him intensely?

This reasoning, I know, is similar to early hypothesis on how Yeon-joo got sucked to W until further rules got established that seemed to supersede this.

• • Enchanteur

    Thursday 22nd December 2022 at 06:21
    

    #7. Do-Yoon knows the real story of W now. Indeed, he doesn't know anything in season 1. It's an ellipse here. Just quick scenes like this one prove it. But it would have been too long to show the whole story. Certainly, Kang Chul revealed it to him at greater length after the end of W. By the way, Yoon-Joo's mother also knows about it now (episode 3) and she even met Do-Yoon at least once when Kang Chul brought him to the real world during one of his trips. Of course, I can't tell all of this, it would take too long. And as you have already rightly observed, many moments are (I think) a bit too long. And that's just by focusing on the essential of what will be most important in the story.

     

    #11. There's a line from Soo-Bong that confirms the way he sees things (already seen in episode 6): since he lived in W for 3 months, he's no longer aware that for the other people around, it was just yesterday. Not only that, but his stay there, the practice of sports and his friendship with Do-Yoon have made him very optimistic, even a little inconsistent. 

     

    #12. Fairy Spark is dismayed because Ren-Bo takes her advice literally. I don't know if the expression is correct in English, but "taking height" means "stepping back in the way of thinking and seeing the whole picture". Only Ren-Bo misunderstands and decides to REALLY go high, on a branch.

    She is not sad that Fairy Spark disappears, because the fairy always does that, appearing only for a few moments.

    Ren-Bo doesn't see the chrysalis. Otherwise, I would have pointed it out. It is a visual element only for the audience.

    In one of the subscenes: the school official says that she has spread her wings in the toilet. Ren-Bo replies that someone had hung something on her back. In episode 4, there was a manhwa excerpt with this situation.

     

    #19. Yes, indeed. We see it regularly, her wings change colors, depending on her emotions. Always the same colors. Red for anger, blue for fear, etc.

    Ren-Bo is a play on words with Rainbow in English. The symbolism of the rainbow: a beautiful, pure and ephemeral event in the sky that makes us dream when we see it and feel a set of emotions. The color palette of human emotions that can change quickly. A weather phenomenon that combines both sun and rain. Joy and sadness. Like Ren-Bo able to switch from one to the other very quickly.

    In episode 4, a key line: "Ren-Bo's wings are directly connected to her heart".

    Colors are different frequencies of light, photons. According to the laws of physics, when natural light of different colors mix, it produces white, a white light. Which is here the symbol of peace of mind for Ren-Bo. On the other hand, when we mix the colors from a tube of paint, it makes brown, because it is not natural light, only the light reflected on the pigments. 

    The sky is also impacted by Ren-Bo's state of mind, even if it is more rare than with her wings. Here heavy black clouds.

     

    #23. This is relative to the explanation given in season 1, but of course it will be explained later in season 2. Definitely, people who saw season 1 need this kind of additional understanding, because the drama was complex and not explained enough.

     

    Overall: I was doubtful about one thing. I felt like the story was too explicit and everything was spoon-fed. But thanks to your feedback, I realize that it's not that simple and that my impression is again too subjective. I thought there was redundancy, instead of season 1 where one thing is said only once. And yet, this redundancy seems to have no effect, or is not visible, as it is hidden in other events. I don't know if there is such a negative aspect to it. On the other hand, I see a positive aspect: it means that it is rich enough to be revisited, like season 1. Despite the fact that it is a writing, where it is easier to find the key elements.