S01.E06: Meet Me in Daegu

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2020.09.20

Quote

In the throes of the Korean War, nursing student Ji-Ah crosses paths with a wounded Atticus, who has no recollection of their violent first encounter.

 

[peridot]

I was not expecting those things to come out of Ji-Ah.  They looked like spider legs, but I guess they were meant to be fox tails.  I was expecting for her mom to want her to bring a husband home, not food.  I had no idea speed-dating existed in the 40s.  I felt bad for her when the guy she clicked with decided to go with her friend, but it worked out perfectly for him!

The murder of those two innocent nurses was shocking.  I'm really surprised that Tic decided to date a nurse without any fear of repercussion.  It's terrible that his Korean-American friend was discriminated against on both sides.

I wonder if Ji-Ah will end up traveling to Chicago.

[Broderbits]

3 minutes ago, peridot said:

They looked like spider legs, but I guess they were meant to be fox tails.

I believe the Kumiho is a fox with 9 tails.

[Scarlett45]

Taking a minute to honor for another shot of Jonathan Major’s nude body. 
 

Moving on: Kumhio a “monster” that takes the form of a beautiful woman to right the wrongs done by men. I wonder did (Human)Ji-Ah‘s Mom know that her daughter would be “erased” and inhabited by the Kumhio until the 100 souls were taken? I understand wanting revenge because her husband raped her daughter, but was her daughter’s EXISTENCE and autonomy worth that?? If the 100 souls are captured does her daughter come back and the Kumhio disappear?? Go back to the realm it came from?

Atticus shot that nurse in cold blood- yes he absolutely has “red in his ledger”, which doesn’t surprise me given what he told Leti.  

[paigow]

Tic should have stayed in the Army and studied Dentistry under the GI Bill

[The Solution]

I shouldn't watch this when I'm stoned. I swear I've seen it before. Not the first time this has happened.

 

[DearEvette]

Man, Tic stays having problems with women.  With his fine ass!

But yeah that was brutal.  Also was that a Judy Garland voice over the last few minutes when Ji-Ah and her mother go and visit that wise-woman at the end?  It sounded like it was her, but maybe really late in her life.

While I did miss Leti, Ruby and the Chicago crew, I liked this detour to Korea.   And I thought it was a very interesting choice to have the entire first, what, 5 -10 mins in Korean with subtitles. It was interesting and pulls in another monster mythology with the Kumiho.  VERY freaky! I think I jumped when those 'fox tails' started slithering out of all her orifices.  And sat there with a 'gack' look on my face.  Didn't think anything would ick me out more than Ruby's body horror from last week.  But this did.  Also not gonna lie, that first guy she brought home was kinda cute as well.  Oh well. 

Also war is hell.  I also liked that the show is unflinching about what Tic did.  Some shows would have tried to make it noble or deflect some of it so he wouldn't seem so unfeeling.  But this left it on the table.  And even his justification of 'I was following orders' sounded lame.  And I think it was really meant to. In hindsight it kind of explains his reaction to Montrose' killing on Yahima, both his initial anger at it (taking out his own sense of guilt on Montrose) and his understanding of it as he tries to explain to Leti later.

I assumed Ji-Ah was dead (after the second epsiode) but now realizing she is alive, I am wondering (hoping) if she somehow plays a part when this all comes to a head.  I can only imagine this is all going to be pulled together somehow.

I have a feeling this episode might not be as popular for some, and yeah,  it doesn't come close to eps. 1 and 3 (both of which rate as my favorites so far) but I enjoyed it. 

 

 

[Scarlett45]

@DearEvette yes that was Judy Garland. 

[shoetingstar]

1 hour ago, peridot said:

I was not expecting those things to come out of Ji-Ah.  They looked like spider legs, but I guess they were meant to be fox tails.  I was expecting for her mom to want her to bring a husband home, not food.  I had no idea speed-dating existed in the 40s.  I felt bad for her when the guy she clicked with decided to go with her friend, but it worked out perfectly for him!

The murder of those two innocent nurses was shocking.  I'm really surprised that Tic decided to date a nurse without any fear of repercussion.  It's terrible that his Korean-American friend was discriminated against on both sides.

I wonder if Ji-Ah will end up traveling to Chicago.

Omg I knew something would happen because if the foreboding atmosphere but when the "tentacle" things pop out of her I wanted to throw up! I concluded she was a spider but the were a little too wiggly to satisfy that thought.

Also I originally thought she was daydreaming about being a more sultry women because she was so different with this man.

[Robert Lynch]

It is not prevalent just in Korean folklore, but also Japanese and Chinese mythology. By the way, the 9 tailed fox legend was a staple to both anime and video games for years. 

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by Robert Lynch

[sempervivum]

Did I miss some plot point here? There was no indication of their being near a battle scene, so why were injured soldiers being brought into the city to this hospital? I don't know a lot about the Korean War, but hey-I watched MASH, and it seemed the US had perfectly good medical field facilities that would have been able to set a broken bone or treat burns on site. And what kind of intel could a nurse get that would help the enemy to the extent that it would warrant shooting innocent people?

I also eye-rolled at the nurse speaking and reading English perfectly (although I admit I came in about 5 minutes late, so maybe it was established that she had some special background). And was her family supposed to be wealthy? That was one nice big house.

Any clue why the last scene looked like a Disney cartoon, with the cherry trees in bloom although snow was falling, the stuffed animal-looking fox, and the glamorous witch/shaman?

I actually did enjoy this episode; it was really engaging, and the actress playing Ji-Ah was wonderful.

 

[shoetingstar]

45 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

It is not prevalent just in Korean folklore, but also Japanese and Chinese mythology. By the way, the 9 tailed fox legend was a staple to both anime and video games for years. 

 

Naruto!!!

[Chicago Redshirt]

12 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

Did I miss some plot point here? There was no indication of their being near a battle scene, so why were injured soldiers being brought into the city to this hospital? I don't know a lot about the Korean War, but hey-I watched MASH, and it seemed the US had perfectly good medical field facilities that would have been able to set a broken bone or treat burns on site. And what kind of intel could a nurse get that would help the enemy to the extent that it would warrant shooting innocent people?

I also eye-rolled at the nurse speaking and reading English perfectly (although I admit I came in about 5 minutes late, so maybe it was established that she had some special background). And was her family supposed to be wealthy? That was one nice big house.

Any clue why the last scene looked like a Disney cartoon, with the cherry trees in bloom although snow was falling, the stuffed animal-looking fox, and the glamorous witch/shaman?

I actually did enjoy this episode; it was really engaging, and the actress playing Ji-Ah was wonderful.

 

I know not much about the Korean War (didn't even watch much of MASH), but apparently Daegu is a South Korean city that had guerrilla activity take place near it, according to Wikipedia. I'm presuming the base is nearby and so soldiers could either have been involved in fighting nearby or by improvised explosive devices in the city itself. It could be that the Korean nurses were staffing U.S. medical facilities early on, could be that the attack took place early on so that the U.S. had not upped its military (and medical) presence, could be that there had been enough wounded that they had to use South Korean facilities as overflow, could be that the South Korean facilities were closer than the ones on the army base and time was of the essence, or it could be that the South Korean facilities were better equipped to help with certain injuries.

A nurse would naturally have information about how many people were injured, who those people were, how severely they were injured and things along those lines. Such information would be useful to the Communists to figure out what strategies were working and what strategies needed to be adjusted. It's also probable that visitors might let slip other information not directly linked to the nurses' medical duties -- things like what the army had planned to do, is planning to do, etc. Google shows that some nurses during various wars were spies or were thought to be spies.

Considering that Ji-Ah is a magical creature in addition to having (presumably) gotten excellent schooling and also having a particular fixation for American movies, it doesn't strike me as odd that she has strong English skills. I don't think that the family was supposed to be particularly wealthy. Mom had an out-of-wedlock child and so presumably her prospects for marrying were slim. To believe Ji-Ah, her husband picked on her because he would be able to get away with his pedophilia. Husband's now dead and the conversation about possibly having to beg for food from the neighbors if the kimchi they're making is too spicy suggests they aren't well off. I didn't see the room as that large though, or that it had anything that suggested riches.

Fairly sure cherry trees in D.C. and elsewhere might still blossom against a backdrop of spring snow. The witch didn't seem glamorous to me.

[kay1864]

 Still confused as to why the Korean guy she took home crossed her off his card, after they had so much in common. 

 And geez, she and her Umma could take some cleanup lessons from Dexter!

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I have a feeling this episode might not be as popular for some, and yeah,  it doesn't come close to eps. 1 and 3 (both of which rate as my favorites so far) but I enjoyed it.

Maybe but I've found this show kind of messy.  I liked the first episode.  I didn't really like the next three.  I almost gave up but read enough about last week's episode to watch and I enjoyed that one. And given how self-contained this episode was (come to think of it, so was last week's in some ways), I think it might be my favorite episode.

I hate to say this because of how much I really like Jurnee but Leti and Tic doing stuff together, as a couple or not, just isn't holding my interest. But put them with others?  And they're more interesting.

16 minutes ago, kay1864 said:

 Still confused as to why the Korean guy she took home crossed her off his card, after they had so much in common.

I think it's because he already liked her friend.  Were they implying that Ji-Ah was attracted to her best friend? 

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

And I thought it was a very interesting choice to have the entire first, what, 5 -10 mins in Korean with subtitles.

I thought it was longer than that.  I was planning to watch while working on something else because I've been iffy about keeping up with this show and so I had to laugh that this episode was in Korean.

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, peridot said:

I had no idea speed-dating existed in the 40s.  I felt bad for her when the guy she clicked with decided to go with her friend, but it worked out perfectly for him!

Nor did I! And yeah, agreed on the guy, too. I liked that she was connecting with him as she was, shame it didn't pan out for her. 

Quote

The murder of those two innocent nurses was shocking.

Yes, it was :/. And those poor women had to sit there and watch and listen to that. Good god. 

And Tic's "I was following orders" line, considering this episode was set in the time shortly following WW2, had me wincing. 

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

the actress playing Ji-Ah was wonderful.

I liked her, too :). I'd be cool with seeing her pop up again if possible. 

Sex is quite the dangerous, surreal thing on this show, isn't it? The stuff with the shoes in the last episode, people turning into strange creatures and shapeshifting and whatnot along the way....

Quite the ominous warning at the end, too. Eep. 

[Cheezwiz]

I was so grossed out by last week's episode that I wasn't sure I could continue.

Glad I watched, because I really enjoyed this episode, and was captivated by Ji-Ah's story, along with the incorporation of Korean mythology. It was also pretty gross, but didn't bother me as much as last week. Does ANYONE on this show get to have some fun non-lethal sex?

The home where they lived was beautiful, but good grief, 99 souls? how the hell did they manage to clean those elaborately carved shoji-type screens after each incident? I'm the furthest thing from being an OCD clean freak, but It was all I could focus on! On another total digression, I was coveting Ji-Ah's cute winter coat.

I wound up being quite engrossed & touched by Ji-Ah's and Tic's love story. I'm assuming that she's probably going to come looking for him at some point. I wonder if she will choose to bide her time and keep her supernatural abilities, or become human.

Loved the recording ofJudy Garland's voice at the end. For those who were wondering, Judy was dictating a lot into a tape recorder just prior to her death for an autobiography she hoped to write. Many of the recordings wound up being drunken rants. They were lost for many years and then re-surfaced, showing just how damaged she was at the end of her life. I can't explain why, but I really loved the tie in of her story to Ji-Ah & Tic's doomed romance. This and the haunted house episode have been my favourites so far.

 

[Annber03]

30 minutes ago, Cheezwiz said:

I can't explain why, but I really loved the tie in of her story to Ji-Ah & Tic's doomed romance. 

I liked the scene with them standing in front of the movie screen, with the film playing over them, and they were standing facing each other the way the characters in the movie were. That was a neat touch.

And I just love the idea of them sitting and watching old movies together in general, too :). They had a good chemistry. 

[DearEvette]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Maybe but I've found this show kind of messy.  I liked the first episode.  I didn't really like the next three.  I almost gave up but read enough about last week's episode to watch and I enjoyed that one. And given how self-contained this episode was (come to think of it, so was last week's in some ways), I think it might be my favorite episode.

I haven;t read the book but was curious enough about it to look it up on Wikipedia to get some background, and it appears the show is following the structure of the book.  It isn't one single narrative but a series of interconnected episodic stories.  So yeah I was wondering why each episode felt like its own self contained narrative amongst the larger story arc, even down to the genre of storytelling, and that seems to be the reason.

 

[paigow]

8 hours ago, kay1864 said:

  And geez, she and her Umma could take some cleanup lessons from Dexter!

Finding that much plastic wrap to cover the walls and the floor would be challenging...also a red flag for any dude that sees it. Guessing that the candles are scented to cover up any odours....Before the war started, did anybody notice that 95 dudes had mysteriously disappeared? 

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 hours ago, kay1864 said:

 Still confused as to why the Korean guy she took home crossed her off his card, after they had so much in common. 

 And geez, she and her Umma could take some cleanup lessons from Dexter!

My original take was that the guy who she had a lot in common might have been gay. Loving musicals and Judy Garland are stereotypically gay things for a guy and being a "friend of Dorothy" is/used to be code for being gay, and was because Judy Garland was a gay icon (although it seems it could be because of Dorothy Parker rather than Wizard of Oz Dorothy.)

In the context of the episode, it might be because the guy did in fact sense that something was off about Ji-Ah. My working theory is that despite her obvious physical beauty, Ji-Ah is attractive to and attracted by only people who have a little evil going on. As a spirit who seemingly exists to take revenge on men who have done women wrong, that makes sense.

And I know the reference to Dexter is a joke, but it seems to me that Ji-Ah was acting Dexter-like. If she just wanted to get 100 men, that would be easy, especially in times of war. But she wanted to prey on specifically evil  men like Dexter did.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Chicago Redshirt

[thuganomics85]

So, we finally dive into the story of the Mysterious Korean Woman!  She is Ji-Ah, a nurse with quite a complicated history with Atticus.  Oh, and she's a Kumiho: a tentacled fox demon, who goes after men who have wronged someone, by taking the form of a beautiful woman, having sex with them, and then using the tentacles to take their souls.  Yep, that's just a normal, everyday occurrence on Lovecraft Country! 

I can see this episode being somewhat polarizing due to the separate location and most of the cast not being here, but I thought it was really well-done, and succeeded with making me interested in Ji-Ah and even caring about her relationship with Tic.  Jamie Chung continues to easily be the most successful person to come out of The Real World.  I've always liked her, but this is probably her best performance yet, and will hopefully open up even more opportunities.

This episode was definitely the most sex/nudity heavy one so far.  Of course, Jonathan Majors already showed he had no issues with it, but I was a little surprise how much Jamie Chung was willing to show as well.  HBO brings out the wild side out of everyone!

I did get a little bit taken out of Ji-Ah's first on screen kill, because the actor playing the victim was totally the same guy that played Ando on Heroes!

The show continues to not lets its protagonists off easily, and showed that Tic truly did some awful things during his time at war, including straight up executing unarmed nurses.  War really does bring out the worst in humanity.

Great looking episode, which is no surprise, since Helen Shaver knows how to direct (she's helmed a lot of stuff, including Vikings, Orphan Black, and Westworld.)

I have to imagine they wouldn't spend this much time on Ji-Ah and have her stick around in Korea, so I'm curious to see if they are going to find some way to get her over to the States with everyone else.

[Scarlett45]

14 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

My original take was that the guy who she had a lot in common might have been gay. Loving musicals and Judy Garland are stereotypically gay things for a guy and being a "friend of Dorothy" is/used to be code for being gay, and was because Judy Garland was a gay icon (although it seems it could be because of Dorothy Parker rather than Wizard of Oz Dorothy.)

In the context of the episode, it might be because the guy did in fact sense that something was off about Ji-Ah. My working theory is that despite her obvious physical beauty, Ji-Ah is attractive to and attracted by only people who have a little evil going on. As a spirit who seemingly exists to take revenge on men who have done women wrong, that makes sense.

And I know the reference to Dexter is a joke, but it seems to me that Ji-Ah was acting Dexter-like. If she just wanted to get 100 men, that would be easy, especially in times of war. But she wanted to prey on specifically evil  men like Dexter did.

I agree with all of your post. I’m not sure the “Judy Garland” reference would’ve applied to a gay man in Korea though. 
 

However I do think that even though Ji-Ah was very beautiful, if you were a man with a “pure spirit” you wouldn’t be enamored with her. She was summoned to avenge the wrongs done by men- I’m sure a part of her “aura” attracts men who have committed moral wrongs. Human Ji-Ah (before she was possessed by the spirit) was just as beautiful but had a different “aura” I’m sure. 
 

Is Human Ji-Ah still in there? Is she “asleep”? Or is she gone forever?

[jmonique]

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I haven;t read the book but was curious enough about it to look it up on Wikipedia to get some background, and it appears the show is following the structure of the book.  It isn't one single narrative but a series of interconnected episodic stories.  So yeah I was wondering why each episode felt like its own self contained narrative amongst the larger story arc, even down to the genre of storytelling, and that seems to be the reason.

I feel like there would be less confusion among us viewers if the show had been called "Tales from Lovecraft Country." 

[meep.meep]

51 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

 

I did get a little bit taken out of Ji-Ah's first on screen kill, because the actor playing the victim was totally the same guy that played Ando on Heroes!

Thank you!  I knew him from somewhere but couldn't place it.

This is sure hitting the grossest parts of horror films!  Every last one.

[Tachi Rocinante]

Jamie Chung was very good in this episode, which surprised me a bit.  Her other roles have been rather wooden.

[Cheezwiz]

 

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Is Human Ji-Ah still in there? Is she “asleep”? Or is she gone forever?

Yes, she's still in there. If she sleeps with and consumes one more male, she will return to her human form with her own memories, rather than the memories of people she has consumed. Tic was supposed to be her next victim, but she realized that she was in love with him.

Not sure if she will search for another final victim, or if she will choose to retain her supernatural powers.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 minutes ago, Cheezwiz said:

 

Yes, she's still in there. If she sleeps with and consumes one more male, she will return to her human form with her own memories, rather than the memories of people she has consumed. Tic was supposed to be her next victim, but she realized that she was in love with him.

Not sure if she will search for another final victim, or if she will choose to retain her supernatural powers.

 

Well, that is what the witch told the mom. Whether or not it is completely true, true from a certain point of view, or  an outright lie remains to be seen.

My money is on outright lie and that if she ever consumes another soul, she would turn into the form of ultimate darkness or whatever the witch referred to.

[Scarlett45]

12 minutes ago, Cheezwiz said:

 

Yes, she's still in there. If she sleeps with and consumes one more male, she will return to her human form with her own memories, rather than the memories of people she has consumed. Tic was supposed to be her next victim, but she realized that she was in love with him.

Not sure if she will search for another final victim, or if she will choose to retain her supernatural powers.

 

Yes yes. Thank you! I was wondering if she NEVER consumes a 100th victim will Human Ji-Ah cease to exist? Where will the current Ji-Ah go? Given that she’s a sentient conscious being I could see her wanting to hold onto the life she’s living in “Human Ji-Ah’s” body. 

[Cheezwiz]

9 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Given that she’s a sentient conscious being I could see her wanting to hold onto the life she’s living in “Human Ji-Ah’s” body. 

Yes, exactly - if she returns to human form, human Ji-Ah may not have any memory of what is currently happening. She not love, or even recognize Tic. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Ditto comments upthread, was speed dating an actual thing in Korea back then? Was that a common cultural practice? For some reason I figured it was invented in the US in the 90s.

WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FCUK?!?! What was that thing?! Oy, this show is going to make me buy stock in a brain bleach company.

So the "cure" for her daughter being raped by her husband was for the thing inhabiting her daughter's body to have sex with and then kill 100 men. Ehhh, not getting that at all. Seems like both ways the daughter was getting abused sexually because it still wasn't her choice. But, as an adult she at least could understand what was happening.

What happens if a kumiho gets pregnant? Or can it even get pregnant?

I can't help but wonder if Jonathan Majors knew upfront this role would involve so much nudity on his part. Whether he did or not, bless him for being game. His body is perfection. 😙

And on a tangential note, my Korean car came with tires that are a brand called "Kumho." After seeing this episode, I'm feeling some type of way about them. 😉 (Yes, I know it's not the same word but it's too close for my stupid American comfort. 🙂)

 

[tennisgurl]

I was a bit unsure about this one going in, mostly because I was worried that I would spend most of the episode missing everyone back in Chicago or that it would hurt the momentum of the main story, but I ended up being quite fascinated by this episode, and I ended up being invested in Ji-Ah and in the romance between her and Tick. So not only did Tick have a thing going with a Korean nurse he met during the war, she ALSO happens to be a Kumiho, a Korean fox spirit that has to eat the souls of 100 people to become human, because thats just kind of how Ticks life is going these days. I always like Jamie Chung, and she carried this episode really well, and I am excited to see if she comes to the US and gets more involved in the story, as it looks like she will. I have been all about Tic/Leti so far, but Tic has a ton of chemistry with Ji-Ah as well. 

As much as Ji-Ah’s mother said that she is incapable of real love or feelings because she isn't a human, that is clearly not true. She can very much love, and have feelings of happiness, sadness, and remorse, so I was glad that both Ji Ah and her mother seemed to finally realize that. So the Ji-Ah that we met is the Kumiho who was summoned to kill the abusive step father of the "original" Ji-Ah, while the first Ji-Ah is basically laying dormant inside of her. So what happens if she does take that last soul, will the Kumiho take another form, or essentially stop existing, at least on this plane of existence, or lose all of her memories of her life? Its not fair that the original Ji-Ah is gone for now, but the Kumiho Ji-Ah deserves to live as well, its not her fault that she took this form and entered this body because of the deal Ji-Ah’s mom made, so what will happen? Really, there has to be an easier way to kill a person that doesn’t involve magic. I wonder if Ji-Ah will end up taking her last soul to save Tic, and will give up her existence to save him? 

Kumihos are a pretty well known creature from Korean mythology, and nine tail fox spirits in general are common across east Asia, with one of their most famous in the west being the Japanese Kitsune, who often pop up in video games and anime, and has also shown up in a number of western stories, although how much they have in common with the mythological creature is often all over the place. Interestingly, in most stories, the Kumiho is rather on the bloodthirsty and murderous side and enjoy eating human hearts, while the Kitsune is more likely to be more playful, intelligent and lovelorn, some are good and some are bad, and often end up marrying a human and settling down. They usually appear as young beautiful women, although not always, and almost all of the fox spirits have been known to possess women in folk tales, and seduce men, so there is a lot of the mythology in this, although I dont think I have heard many stories where their tails come out of all their orifices and they tear people apart and eat their souls. 

I felt sad for Ji-Ah when that guy she seemed to connect with wasn't interested in her, but it did turn out to be for the best for him at least. I echo the comments above, was speed dating a thing in 1940s Korea? 

We also get a look at Tic in the war, and its not pretty at all. War really can bring out the worst in people, with Tic involved in horrible things like executing innocent nurses and torturing Ji-Ah’s best friend, and that while he is terribly torn up about it, it still happened. It gives a lot of context to Tic now and his memories of the war, and maybe even how, while he was furious with his father for killing the scroll guardian, he could at least understand how a person can do such a terrible thing for what seemed like the right reasons at the time. Even as Tic gave Ji-Ah the old "I was just following orders" excuse, he seemed to know how lame it sounded, and that while, again, while he might have tried to justify it at the time, he already knows what he participated in was terrible. Possibly it’s one of the reasons why he and Ji-Ah seemed to connect so deeply, even if he was unaware of that connection, because she too did terrible things because she thought it was necessary or justified at the time for a greater goal, and now feels remorse for what she did. You could even say that she too was following orders, be it from a superior officer or from the mother she desperately wanted the love of, and that helped her to understand and forgive him for what he did. 

A lot of really lovely camera work this week, like Tic and Ji-Ah at the little home made theater holding hands as the movie plays over them, and the old mountain sage moving the flowers through the air with the snow in the background. This show also manages to be number one when it comes to body horror, always upping the ante every week. The flesh falling off of people as they change shape not creepy enough? Enjoy giant tail tentacles coming out of a woman during sex from every orifice of her body (including her eyes!) and them tearing someone up by taking them through their own orifices. 

I wonder if the talk about how the film version of The Count of Monte Cristo had a different ending than the book is foreshadowing that this show will have a different ending than the book it was based on. From what I understand it has already changed a lot, so a change in ending wouldn't surprise me. 

Edited September 21, 2020 by tennisgurl

[luckyroll3]

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Taking a minute to honor for another shot of Jonathan Major’s nude body. 
 

People are always sleeping on the nerds. Don't they know that picking up all those books build lots of muscles!

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Moving on: Kumhio a “monster” that takes the form of a beautiful woman to right the wrongs done by men. I wonder did (Human)Ji-Ah‘s Mom know that her daughter would be “erased” and inhabited by the Kumhio until the 100 souls were taken? I understand wanting revenge because her husband raped her daughter, but was her daughter’s EXISTENCE and autonomy worth that?? If the 100 souls are captured does her daughter come back and the Kumhio disappear?? Go back to the realm it came from?

As I understood it, the mom didn't know the Kumhio would possess her daughter. She was told there was a steep price, and she accepted the deal without knowing what the price was because she was so desperate for the revenge. Probably also why she was pushing so hard for the 100 souls because she believed that would bring the daughter back ad would alleviate her guilt for sacrificing the daughter not once, but twice.

Edited September 21, 2020 by luckyroll3

[Scarlett45]

2 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

As I understood it, the mom didn't know the Kumhio would possess her daughter. She was told there was a steep price, and she accepted the deal without knowing what the price was because she was so desperate for the revenge. Probably also why she was pushing so hard for the 100 souls because she believed that would bring the daughter back ad would alleviate her guilt for sacrificing the daughter not once, but twice.

Yes I could see that. I don’t think the Mom pimped out her daughter for a husband. I think she was an unwed mother who few prospects and was prey for a pedophile/rapist-when she realized her daughter was being abused she wanted revenge. 

Of course the woman wants her daughter back! But now we have the issue that the Kumhio is a sentient feeling being who maybe likes a human life 😮. 

[Broderbits]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Ditto comments upthread, was speed dating an actual thing in Korea back then? Was that a common cultural practice? For some reason I figured it was invented in the US in the 90s.

Everything I could find says that it was invented in the late 90's by a Rabbi in Los Angeles. So.......willing suspension of disbelief.

[Sheenieb]

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Nor did I! And yeah, agreed on the guy, too. I liked that she was connecting with him as she was, shame it didn't pan out for her. 

Ha, but good for him! Sometimes, you have no idea what little actions can save your life.

I sure hope that Tic brings the same tenderness to Leti that he had with Ji-Ah. At least Ji-Ah got to be comfortable. Poor Leti's been banging Tic upright.

I like learning about the folklore of other cultures. Never heard of a kumiho until tonight. Of course, it fits in perfectly with this show.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Time to be immature!

Ji-Ah put the HO in kumiho!

She's got 99 souls, but Tic's ain't one!

[rollacoaster]

Soooooo...the tentacles are the 9 fox tails. The recap from Rolling Stone mentioned that said that tails emerged from every one of the Kumiho's orifices...I had to stop and think about that and count my own orifices. There are indeed 9. 

Man, the stuff this show has me thinking about, lol!

[Scarlett45]

19 minutes ago, rollacoaster said:

Soooooo...the tentacles are the 9 fox tails. The recap from Rolling Stone mentioned that said that tails emerged from every one of the Kumiho's orifices...I had to stop and think about that and count my own orifices. There are indeed 9. 

Man, the stuff this show has me thinking about, lol!

I count 10.

2 eyes

2 ears

2 nostrils 

1 mouth

1 urethra

1 vagina

1 anus. 

 

Does the urethra not count? No snarking on you just wondering since you got me thinking about it. 

[tennisgurl]

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

s I understood it, the mom didn't know the Kumhio would possess her daughter. She was told there was a steep price, and she accepted the deal without knowing what the price was because she was so desperate for the revenge.

See, this is why you always have to be super careful when it comes to making any kind of deal with a supernatural entity, there is always some kind of catch or ironic twist or some such thing, you gotta go over those magical contracts with a whole legal team before you sign a single thing, make sure you know exactly what your getting into before you've accidentally sold you first born or something. This is why I said no to that two for one deal on monkeys paws! 

[thuganomics85]

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I sure hope that Tic brings the same tenderness to Leti that he had with Ji-Ah. At least Ji-Ah got to be comfortable. Poor Leti's been banging Tic upright.

To be fair, maybe Tic is just still a little wary after his time with Ji-Ah, and just needs to realize that not all sexual encounters lead to tentacles shooting out of a woman's orifices.  Hopefully he'll be more passionate and tender with Leti, once he realize that he doesn't have to worry about her turning out to be a fox spirit that's trying to steal his soul!  I imagine every sexual encounter involves him secretly planning an escape route and preparing for a fight to the death, thanks to his past experience!

[rollacoaster]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

I count 10.

2 eyes

2 ears

2 nostrils 

1 mouth

1 urethra

1 vagina

1 anus. 

 

Does the urethra not count? No snarking on you just wondering since you got me thinking about it. 

Aw, damn. I totally left out the urethra, lol! 

I tossed the question to my daughter, and she immediately came up with 10, like you did. 

Guess Sis had one orifice left over. And back to Sesame Street to brush up on my counting skills. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

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To be fair, maybe Tic is just still a little wary after his time with Ji-Ah, and just needs to realize that not all sexual encounters lead to tentacles shooting out of a woman's orifices. 

Wait, what? Has Tic only been with two women, and Leti was the second one? Well that explains a lot, if so. (But that body though. He should've literally been fighting the women off. 😻)

[Broderbits]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

See, this is why you always have to be super careful when it comes to making any kind of deal with a supernatural entity, there is always some kind of catch or ironic twist or some such thing, you gotta go over those magical contracts with a whole legal team before you sign a single thing

I refer any "Angel" fans to the firm of Wolfram & Hart, for all your diabolical legal needs.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Wait, what? Has Tic only been with two women, and Leti was the second one? Well that explains a lot, if so. (But that body though. He should've literally been fighting the women off. 😻)

I suppose it is possible that Tic was sleeping around like a man-whore while in Florida (or wherever else he has been in the five years between Korea and heading back to Chicago. 

There are a lot of unbelievable, mindblowing things in the show - shoggoths, resurrections and shapeshifting. But the thing that breaks the suspension of disbelief wide open is that Tic would have been a virgin before Ji-Ah. 🙂

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

To be fair, maybe Tic is just still a little wary after his time with Ji-Ah, and just needs to realize that not all sexual encounters lead to tentacles shooting out of a woman's orifices.  Hopefully he'll be more passionate and tender with Leti, once he realize that he doesn't have to worry about her turning out to be a fox spirit that's trying to steal his soul!  I imagine every sexual encounter involves him secretly planning an escape route and preparing for a fight to the death, thanks to his past experience!

Maybe the reason why he has no stamina is because he has to be ready to sprint out of the door! 🙂

He's already begun to be more passionate and tender towards Leti, but I wonder if he even knows how he feels deep down.

I have to think that if the show goes on long enough (and anyone know if it has been officially renewed yet or not?) there will be an inevitable love triangle. Normally, I don't really like them, but I think that Leti's badassery will meet its match with Ji-An's otherworldliness.

4 hours ago, Broderbits said:

Everything I could find says that it was invented in the late 90's by a Rabbi in Los Angeles. So.......willing suspension of disbelief.

I'm guessing that the term "speed dating" might be relatively recent but the actual practice is probably older. 

Incidentally, this site I came accross included some of the terms used in the episode, I believe. Whether that's poetic license/revisionist history, no clue.

https://koreancultureblog.com/2015/04/30/korean-dating-culture-how-to-find-your-mr-or-miss-right-in-south-korea/#:~:text=Korean culture has a strong,matchmakers appointed by the parents.

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

As much as Ji-Ah’s mother said that she is incapable of real love or feelings because she isn't a human, that is clearly not true. She can very much love, and have feelings of happiness, sadness, and remorse, so I was glad that both Ji Ah and her mother seemed to finally realize that. So the Ji-Ah that we met is the Kumiho who was summoned to kill the abusive step father of the "original" Ji-Ah, while the first Ji-Ah is basically laying dormant inside of her. So what happens if she does take that last soul, will the Kumiho take another form, or essentially stop existing, at least on this plane of existence, or lose all of her memories of her life? Its not fair that the original Ji-Ah is gone for now, but the Kumiho Ji-Ah deserves to live as well, its not her fault that she took this form and entered this body because of the deal Ji-Ah’s mom made, so what will happen? Really, there has to be an easier way to kill a person that doesn’t involve magic. I wonder if Ji-Ah will end up taking her last soul to save Tic, and will give up her existence to save him? 

....

We also get a look at Tic in the war, and its not pretty at all. War really can bring out the worst in people, with Tic involved in horrible things like executing innocent nurses and torturing Ji-Ah’s best friend, and that while he is terribly torn up about it, it still happened. It gives a lot of context to Tic now and his memories of the war, and maybe even how, while he was furious with his father for killing the scroll guardian, he could at least understand how a person can do such a terrible thing for what seemed like the right reasons at the time. Even as Tic gave Ji-Ah the old "I was just following orders" excuse, he seemed to know how lame it sounded, and that while, again, while he might have tried to justify it at the time, he already knows what he participated in was terrible. Possibly it’s one of the reasons why he and Ji-Ah seemed to connect so deeply, even if he was unaware of that connection, because she too did terrible things because she thought it was necessary or justified at the time for a greater goal, and now feels remorse for what she did. You could even say that she too was following orders, be it from a superior officer or from the mother she desperately wanted the love of, and that helped her to understand and forgive him for what he did. 

 

I wonder if Ji-Ah is actually capable of actual love, or if she is just doing a good imitation based on seeing lots of Hollywood movies on the subject/having the memories of 99 people crammed in her brain, some of which must have included something like love, if not actual love. I guess we will see. 

One of the things I wish was different about this episode was getting to see more of Tic and more on why he made the choices he did. I know we are told he joined the Army out of a desire to escape, but hearing more about why books were no longer enough would be good. Same with why he stayed with Ji-Ah after finding out that she had planned to murder him. I'm pretty sure if someone confessed to me that they'd been planning to kill me, I wouldn't need tails to come popping out of every orifice of hers to think maybe I should move on.

[paigow]

Rumpelstiltskin dropped a badass contract on Shrek...

Edited September 23, 2020 by paigow

[tennisgurl]

You gotta love a show that requires me to spell check the word orifice more than once. 

[shoetingstar]

I was hoping to see the Chicago folks and more of Ruby. However, I ended up not missing them somehow because of the great storytelling. and I found Jamie Chung to be captivating). I mentioned a Wizard of Oz reference from last week's eppy with Ruby's Red Slippers and walking in someone else's shoes. This is from the film, in the book they are Silver. This episode they went full-on Judy Judy Judy! I loved every minute as someone who's obsessed with Old Hollywood. 

I was tying to figure out just why Ji-ah was so entranced with Judy Garland in particular. There load so female actresses at that time she could have fell in love with, nothing against Judy who was truly special in almost every way. I was delighted with them choosing Summer Stock - this film was made when the industry was turning their back on Judy. Gene Kelly did the movie as a favor to her. And thus we got one of the most iconic sequences (that she crashed dieted to slim-down for): 

I think she was drawn to Judy's talent but also she represented the American Girl Next Door. That image came at a giant cost to her well-being and ultimately her life. Not sure of Ji-ah would be aware of this, but I'm sure the writers are: Judy did have a horrible relationship with her mother, or rather she had by most accounts a horrible mother. When her father died, she said that "now she was all alone" and she was right. Her mother saw her as a meal ticket. Everyone credited the studio for starting her addiction to pills but I recently read it was actually her mother who started her before her MGM contract. Judy was also born into her career, with no choice, performing as a child with her vaudeville family. At MGM Louis B. Mayer basically molested her, touching her breast when she was an early teen. He also call her, "my little HUNCHBACK." She was called fat and unattractive at the studio, in comparison to the tall, cool blond Lana Turner. Within all this, we have someone who felt ugly, and got the message loud and clear that her body was not her own (the studio made her get abortions because her being pregnant was not "approved" and the crash diets to look slimmer, etc.). There we have the Mother/Father/Father Figure issues, and the low-self worth in spite of the outward adornments. I'm like Ji-ah, in that I think she was pretty and more than anything one of the most talented stars to shine. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by shoetingstar

[Tachi Rocinante]

14 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

See, this is why you always have to be super careful when it comes to making any kind of deal with a supernatural entity, there is always some kind of catch or ironic twist or some such thing, you gotta go over those magical contracts with a whole legal team before you sign a single thing, make sure you know exactly what your getting into before you've accidentally sold you first born or something. 

The movie Bedazzled has a lot of fun with this premise.

[Joimiaroxeu]

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I suppose it is possible that Tic was sleeping around like a man-whore while in Florida (or wherever else he has been in the five years between Korea and heading back to Chicago.

If that were the case one would think his stroke game with Leti would've been better. He didn't even last 60 seconds the first time. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for her, she had no previous experience to compare it to and then feel disappointed.

Quote

There are a lot of unbelievable, mindblowing things in the show - shoggoths, resurrections and shapeshifting. But the thing that breaks the suspension of disbelief wide open is that Tic would have been a virgin before Ji-Ah.

I got no problem buying that he was virgin when he went to Korea. At that time a lot of young men who went off to war were basically blank slates, especially if they'd grown up in relatively insular environments like rural areas or deeply religious families. Plus, if they'd been drafted they could've been barely out of high school. What stretches credulity IMO is that Tic hadn't been with any women between Ji-Ah and Leti.

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I have to think that if the show goes on long enough (and anyone know if it has been officially renewed yet or not?) there will be an inevitable love triangle.

And there's one reason why I may not want to see a second season for this series. The LC producers, writers, and actors have set their own bar pretty high. I wouldn't want the show to turn into a basic sci-fi/horror soap opera because they couldn't sustain the quality level.