• W four worlds - Episode 13

  • Comments

    1
    Patrick
    Tuesday 27th December 2022 at 17:55

    I read this earlier today, and I’m rereading it now to check on some of the things I’ve noticed.

     

    Episode 13 Commentary

     

    #5.

     

    When I started reading this part where Kang Chul asked Yeonjoo to draw him, I had wondered if a doppelganger that looks like and thinks link Kang Chul would appear in Butterfly Girl.

     

    Later on, that wasn’t the case and made me think about the rules already established.

     

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    I double checked if Yeon Joo was able to draw Kang Chul as he requested. She was only able to draw some rough sketches, but this has enabled him to teleport to Butterfly Girl.

     

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    #13

     

    Kang Chul appearing to save the day is often called deux ex machina, a lazy device that means the writer has run out of ideas to salvage the writing. It’s not wrong within the context of W’s metafictional elements, but I feel sorry for the would be readers of Butterfly Girl.

     

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    #15

     

    Kang Chul mentioned that the act of being drawn in this manhwa dragged him in. This seems to be a new rule being introduced.

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    #21

     

    Soo-bong has discovered something new, that, using his stylus, he can directly draw objects.

     

    It takes some suspension of disbelief to take this in, but I really like this twist.

     

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    #22

     

    Kang Chul is essential saying that he was the main character for the time Ren-bo was unconscious.

     

    I think this is serviceable as far as the story goes, but it makes you wonder. YJ was basically throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping for it to stick when she randomly drew what she had hoped to be a good enough picture of KC.

     

    How did Butterfly Girl even consider him as a temporary main character? This is not even the part I consider confusing (and I’ll get to that a bit later), but the average reader often used to saying plothole this, plothole that might not want to overlook this. (Though I do!)

     

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    #26 onwards

     

    If the published version of Butterfly Girl would include these scenes, I would be even more sorry for the readers. They might feel being outraged at what’s going on or perhaps saying, ‘Daebak!’ at the author for making it so meta, not knowing that they were dealing with the manhwa becoming alive and not by the author’s design.

     

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    #33

     

    And despite the earlier deus ex machina of KC appearing, that did not prevent a bad end, at least in this episode. Now this is surprising because I’ve always assumed that once an author uses deus ex machina, a positive outcome is inevitable.

     

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    #35

     

    I’m not yet clear as to why blood appeared here. Soo-bong remains in the manhwa as far as I know, but an explanation will probably be provided in the next episode. This detail is included because it must be important.

     

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    #39

     

    The duo appears again and it allows us to have some needed break from all the events in the previous frames.

     

    Anyway, I’ve always complained that these clowns were so useless in many of the previous episodes, but in this episode, they were indeed useful. They were able to provide the role of third-party observers.

     

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    #41

     

    This is a reference to the same case of Oh Seong-moo’s losing face in the original drama. A lot of the comments were claiming plothole because Mr Oh was seen like blind when he was talking to Soo-bong when he was first shown faceless. Later on, he was seen drawing on the tablet, following the instructions of the killer.

     

    I largely consider this as symbolic. Losing his face means losing his identity, and possibly this might be somewhat of a Western interpretation. face = identity, something that makes you unique.

     

    But a few minutes ago, a thought came to mind that this might possibly even be related to how east Asians feel about ‘losing face’ or the respect and esteem of other people. I can’t pinpoint exactly how, but this is a working hypothesis.

     

    Anyway, back to Kang Chul. This must be a variation of what happened to Mr Oh.

     

    Earlier, I mentioned that he was transported to the manhwa. But to be more precise, a full bodied Kang Chul appeared there, but in the real world, a faceless and unconscious Kang Chul remained in the real world.

     

    I think the point of this frame is to shock us. But thinking about it, it leaves you open to people writing this off as plothole. They would go back to why in the first place, Mr Oh’s face disappeared, and they would have to reconcile that with why KC’s face disappeared here.

     

    One possible way to explain this is Yeon-joo was only able to draw Kang Chul’s face partially in the tablet, which is why his face was the only part that disappeared. But this flies in the face that a full-bodied KC appeared in the manhwa.

     

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    #44

     

    Again, YJ and KC are thinking about how Butterfly Girl’s chyron will change from ‘End’ to ‘To be continued.’

     

    It can be predicted that this will also happen but probably using a different mechanism or explanation than the one used in the original drama.

     

     

    #45

    C#3. FLASHBACK, Ep13 - Road in the forest (evening).

    “~But in "Butterfly Girl", the villain had accepted a satisfying ending.”

     

    A thought came to mind when I re-read these worlds. But first I’ll type the following, which is my reaction to my first reading.

     

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    #47 up until the end

     

    When I read these frames, I did not understand WTF is going on. I know it will be explained what these frames mean in the following episodes, but if these scenes have a run time of at least 5 minutes, it must be frustrating for the viewers who don’t have a clue on what’s going on.

     

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    Going back to #45, C#3

     

    This is an idea I came out just a few minutes ago. I am predicting that Kang Chul might be thinking of returning to Butterfly Girl as the villain, possibly replacing the main villain so he can satisfy the condition established in the original that ‘the villain must not accept the ending for the manhwa to continue.’

     

    If so, it is possible that we are being given a sneak peek that KC must be stealing the tablet from YJ so he can draw things himself, but YJ doesn’t agree to the point of shooting him.

     

    There’s some difficulty with this hypothesis, but I might be on to something. The solution Kang Chul is thinking must be so dangerous and risky. And what could be that object that KC wants to steal from YJ?

     

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    The nuclear explosion seems totally random! I don’t know what to make of it.

     

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    2
    Enchanteur Enchanteur profile
    Tuesday 27th December 2022 at 21:06
    Enchanteur

    Hi, always a great pleasure to read one of your comments. There is a lot to think about. 

     

    In the episode, there is a balanced proportion of heroic feats. Kang Chul, Yeon-Joo and Soo-Bong each come up with a new idea to save the day. This is something I maintain throughout the story. I like it when each of the characters do something amazing at some point. Here we have:

    - Kang Chul finds a way to get into Butterfly Girl (it's not said in the story, but probably he must have thought of that possibility earlier).

    - Yeon-Joo finds a way to print a drawing although the manhwa doesn't let her. + she uses the eraser mode.

    - Soo-Bong uses a stylus directly instead of a tablet.

    There are only few episodes where we can see 3 characters doing something so amazing.

     

    Kang Chul's drawing. Scene #9. Everything is explained here. In the previous scenes, Yeon-Joo tries to draw on a blank image. But here, she uses an existing picture. She only has time for a rough drawing. But... back to episode 6, where she draws the ingot certificate. Where they mention that a drawing is inaccurate but transmutes into something accurate.

     

    Kang Chul, deus ex machina. Really? I have nothing against it, but here, my impression is that it rather follows my favorite principle: the rule of cool. Seeing Kang Chul shoot bullets in the head in Butterfly Girl was the coolest thing I could think of. Well, when I say think... It's more that the idea came to me one morning and I thought "Woooo!, I have to put this". Then I thought about it... Ok, but this is absurd. Much later, when other plotlines were square, I saw that there was a logical way to do this. And as is the magic of a cohesive story writing itself... it even became essential, in relation to the other twist, when Sang Deuk sees the "dummy" in the truck. I can't say more about it because of spoiler.

    In episode 3, Soo-bong refers to the fact that Kang Chul shot between the eyes in volume 28 of W. It was really accidental because normally, the character was not allowed to kill in W. But now that Kang Chul doesn't have that fate anymore and is in the real world, he could do it!!!

     

    #22. This time, the theoretical explanation is really fast. I kind of like it when I get it right away, during action. On the other hand, it's very short. And therefore unclear. Kang Chul never specified that it was because of Ren-Bo's will that such a trick could work. She doesn't know Kang Chul and besides... she is in a coma. :-D

     

    #26. Indeed, the manhwa could get totally crazy. Remember in W, though... It's pretty fuzzy on what gets published and what doesn't. I use that vagueness too. Primarily because it would become too cumbersome and time consuming to show exactly everything that was published in the manhwa. However, I left a safety net. Back to episode 5, they find out that the meeting between Soo-Bong and Mr. Ladybug was not reported in the manhwa because "out of context". So we guess that too extreme things will not be published because the manhwa preserves its natural context.

     

    #33. The scene I reworked the most, to make it heartbreaking. ;-)... Explanation already given. Here I had a lot of luck to follow a process of non-stop series of twists. Inspired unconsciously by series/dramas that I liked a lot in this respect. Empress Ki (kdrama), 24 (US series). In Empress Ki, the most stunning plot twist is the one that happens when after several solutions fail and the worst happens. The best plot twist is when... nothing comes to save the day in the end. :-)))

     

    #35. Back to episode 12. Soo-Bong hits the wall after getting injured in the shoulder. And Yeon-Joo sees the bloody marks.

     

    #39. I told you. These guys are good comic springs, but also have the advantage of providing the missing information repeatedly. They are very inspired by drama "Incarnation of money". Same kind of comedy.

     

    #41. I can't say anything (spoilers!!). But there is an explanation. :-) ... But if you've been observing: some explanations come very quickly (a few scenes later). Some come a little bit later (1 to 3 following episodes). And some others come a looooot later. At least there are explanations... (I'm not as ruthless as Song Jae-Jung about this).

     

    #44. Maybe. Maybe not. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

     

    #47. It can't take five minutes. It's shorter. The episode is 25 minutes long. According to the number of characters, number of words, compared to a western screenplay. Here 4384 words. By my estimation, it's even slightly shorter than 25 minutes.

     

    #45, C#3. Making theories? This will drive you crazy like those who tried for King Eternal Monarch, ahahaha. I can only say that there is a logic though. But I can't promise that it will be loved.

     

    The ending, making-of.

    It's inspired by another drama by Song Jae-Jung. Memories of the Alhambra. In episode 2, she puts a mind-blowing flashforward. Destabilizing, especially since the director does not indicate this with additional effects. It acts as a teaser. The actual scene doesn't happen until quite late in the drama. I don't remember when, something like episode 9 or 10.

    While I was making corrections, I saw that episode 13 was too short. Of course I didn't do anything because I don't like to force anything. Then one morning when I woke up, the idea came to me. Dare to put a flashforward, like the one of SJJ. At that time, only Yeon Joo had a voice-over. Not very fair. If I could put a voice-over of Kang Chul too, it would allow me to link the last line with the flashforward. And that's how it happened! For this, I had to take two situations of late episodes among many. But as most of them contained too much spoiler, I took the ones that was both: shocking and vague enough not to give too much information. So that it remains a mystery.

    The nuclear explosion... Here for the "wooo". And to think that it's going to be heavy, so that at some point, the story comes to such an extreme. 

     

    I've started the corrections for episode 14. I'm pretty sure you won't like the next two episodes much. Well, from what I assume, because I don't know you so well enough to say for sure. Still, I'm working to improve the episode. I can't make any structural changes or things that have an overall impact on the story. Just make better scenes. On occasion, tell me what your favorite dramas are. Do you have a profile on MyDramaList? Here is mine: https://mydramalist.com/profile/7647047

     

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