Letter #76: See You in My 19th Life

Good morning, Erin.

…hm? Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I was too busy watching this old video of So-e performing “Popular” from the Broadway musical Wicked. For the 15th time. Like a totally normal person. 

[cough]

L-Let’s talk about See You in My 19th Life!

1. This show had a lot to live up to, given that you felt so strongly that I needed to start it right away that you left me a message on here to make sure I did. And, if I didn’t hint at this enough in my previous letters, it pretty much did. I really, really liked this series, and, at the end, I even watched it before starting the latest episode of Heart Signal 4. (Which you know is quite the compliment.) It didn’t make it into my Top Ten, but it’s probably swimming close to the Top Twenty. 

2. And we’re going to jump right into the list of folks I recognized:

• Luna from The Silent Sea/the daughter from Kill Boksoon as Ju-won (18th life)

• the little girl twin from The Good Bad Mother as little-girl Cho-won (the little sister)

• Cute Lawyer from Attorney Woo as Cho-won

• gossipy Chinese restaurant owner in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha as the restaurant-owning “niece”

• Ms. Choi from Hotel Del Luna as the evil not-step-mother who was running the hotel

• the young alcohol deliverer in Alchemy of Souls 2 as the part-timer/past-shaman

• the cop partner who I could not remember in My Name as Seo-ha

2A. Yes, I did let out an audible cheer when I saw Cute Lawyer was part of the main cast. 

2B. It took me until maybe Episode 11 to realize that Seo-ha was Princess My Name’s partner in My Name. Which is extra hilarious because, if you remember all the way back to that letter, I couldn’t remember he was her partner during the series because he got a haircut halfway through, which meant I thought he was a totally new character for a couple of episodes. 

3. Thanks to The Glory, I assumed the big issue Mr. Ha has with Seo-ha riding in the passenger’s seat is that he was afraid everyone would think they were secretly a gay couple. I don’t know that that’s what it was, but that’s the first thing I thought of. 

4. Nothing broke my heart more on this show than realizing that little-girl Ji-eum was not going to be in every episode. Because holy crap was that girl incredible. What an absolutely fantastic actress. Like, I was smitten from the first moment she was on screen, practically. She’s brilliant. I don’t think she quite beats out adult Ji-eum for best actor in the series, but she’s pretty close.

4A. And did you see the way her “niece” would absolutely light up every time she looked at her? I mean, she does it for her when she’s an adult, too, but it’s not the same. She’s acting with adult Ji-eum, but she’s enamored with the little girl. And who can blame her? 

4B. So, yeah, little-girl Ji-eum? #BestGirl. No question. 

4C. Also, the actress playing the “niece” does a great job, here, too. She doesn’t have to do a lot, I admit, but there’s an energy to her performance that isn’t easy to bring.

5. I literally wrote “HOW DARE YOU REJECT CHO-WON—SHE IS A SWEET ANGEL” every time Mr. Ha was deliberately cold to her. (Which, I mean, how could anyone reject Cute Lawyer for anything ever, right? Right!)

6. I totally knew the vaguely punk-y college girl would turn out to be Seo-ha’s reincarnated mother. Because I am the world’s greatest detective.

6A. I was worried that this reveal wasn’t really going to pay off—and it takes a while before it does. But, regardless of the timing, she wasn’t there just for the sake of it. 

6B. That said, the reunion of Ju-won and Seo-ha’s mother in their new lives was sweet enough that I’d have probably forgiven the show for being otherwise aimless with that reveal. 

7. I knew my initial impression of the show wasn’t going to go astray when we got an early-innings Subway sponsorship. 

8. They do a pretty consistent red/blue dichotomy with Ju-won and little-boy Seo-ha—literally, she’s almost always in a red outfit and he’s almost always in a blue outfit. 

8A. …and then, at the job interview Ji-eum finagles, she is in pink and he’s in a blue-ish gray—because neither of them is quite who they were back when they were together as kids. 

8B. They also use red and blue umbrellas (respectively) somewhere around Episode 6. Just to add another log to that fire. 

8C. (There’s also the scene where the bag-of-dicks recruiter jerkface goes to visit Cho-won at her plant…store…plantatorium…whatever—he goes to visit her at work, and they both eat a small bag of chips: him from a red bag, and her from a blue one. I don’t know that this counts much, except to say that they are certainly opposites, with him being a bag of dicks and her being a sweet angel.)

9. I was really upset that the show didn’t seem to care that—as sad as it was that Ju-won was killed in the car accident—the driver of the car also died. But then, about three minutes after I wrote down my angry note, the show was like, “Oh, also we’re sad the driver died. He was Mr. Ha’s dad. And this is an important story beat.” So…I was much less upset, after that. Good job, show!

10. I was really upset that they were going to do a Ji-eum/Cho-won/Seo-ha love triangle, because I could not stomach the idea of having to root against our sweet angel for the story to work out. But then, half an episode later, the show was like, “Cho-won likes Mr. Ha, not Seo-ha.” So…I was much less upset after that. Good job, show!

11. I noted that Seo-ha, whether as a child or as an adult, was pretty much always wearing a swim shirt. And that adult Seo-ha’s shower scene wasn’t as, um, eye-catching as most others turn frequently are. 

11A. …and yet he had the absurd, overlong steamy scene with Princess My Name in My Name. Go figure. 

11B. Unless Princess My Name is why he didn’t have an issue with it. Which…would make sense.

11C. Yes, I saw Jungkook’s music video.

12. Good heavens—have I really gone this far without talking about (adult) Ji-eum in a substantive way? Because she was GREAT. Such a vibrant character, played with alluring aplomb. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone quite like her in any of these shows. 

13. When she’s with Seo-ha, Ji-eum is all bedroom eyes and flirty charm, so I don’t see how he—or anyone, honestly—stood a chance at resisting her.

14. Speaking of: I love how her flirtations with Seo-ha remain consistent from her time as Ju-won through to her time as Ji-eum. That is, Ju-won teases him like an adult would a child, and Ji-eum does much the same thing, always speaking to him with the air of knowing something he is too “inexperienced” to know. And he responds to Ji-eum’s advances because that’s what he loved about his noona. (And yes, subtitles, I know that’s what he was calling Ju-won the whole time. You can’t fool me with your substituting in of “Ju-won.”)

15. I don’t think the story needed this, and I am glad the story didn’t get into it…but I spent most of the show wondering how our protagonist handles the memories of having been both women and men. Because there are a lot of little details that I think it would be interesting to hammer out, in terms of that. Like, just from the romantic side of things, does liking men in one life and then women in the next feel weird? Or were her feelings sort of sequestered, with her new life being how/who she is, and the previous lives feeling entirely separate from how she is now (much like how we can think about our own past relationships that hold no current meaning to us)? Again, totally unnecessary to the story, but I was curious. 

16. It’s cute that the show thinks I wouldn’t immediately know the “key” to making him believe her was going to be the literal key to the gift she gave him on the day she (as Ju-won) died. 

17. That said, they totally fooled me with the scene where Ji-eum drops off Cho-won at her parents’ house, and the mom comes out and recognizes that Ji-eum is reincarnated Ju-won. And, yes, I absolutely cried when it turns out not to be real, and Ji-eum is just alone, hugging herself on the street. 

18. I’ve never claimed to have a particularly good eye for what would be considered a fashionable outfit or not (give me the classics, the evergreen looks!), and I’m not sure why sparkly tweed has become such a hot item…but, okay, sure, I can roll with it. Tweed jackets and huge, white, ruffle collars remind me of the outfits the girls used to wear back when I was a little kid, but whatever, styles go in and out. But…what the f*** was our sweet angel thinking with those mid-thigh white boots? I…just…no.

18A. Mid-thigh stockings? That’s a whole other ballgame. But boots? No. No no no.

19. I was glad to find out that the accident that killed Ju-won and Mr. Ha’s father was, in fact, a hit. Because I could not believe the truck that smashed into the car would just keep going, otherwise. I mean, the other option was that they just wanted the truck out of the shot for all their dramatic death scenes. Which I’m not as keen on.

20. Speaking of: do you know if the archer who shot Su (1st life) in the back and killed her was played by Ji-eum’s father? I thought that’d be a fun callback to how he ended up killing Ju-won. 

21. I don’t think any of us was surprised to find that part-timer/shaman guy turned out to be the one who killed 1st life sister, but I did not expect that he’d just be dropped from the story without any hint of personal resolution as soon as Ji-eum was done with him. I know there wasn’t a lot of time after she forgives him, but…he’s just gone. 

22. Similarly, I’m not sure how much I buy the recontextualization of Seo-ha’s father, once we find out that he was as much a victim of the car wreck as Seo-ha. (Well, figuratively, that it.)

23. And, going back to the part-timer/shaman…did he already remember his past lives, by that point, back when he killed 1st life sister? I know the show doesn’t care about this detail, but I thought it was worth wondering about. Like, was he just a total jerk, or did he already remember several lives, which could potentially A) cause him not to value lives the same way he might have otherwise, and/or B) make him that much more concerned with the shamanistic ritual because of its potential link to his ending his own cycle of remembrance. But no details on that. 

24. And…how does he know how to close off someone’s memory of their past lives? 

25. Ji-eum chooses some of the worst ways of proving to her loved ones that she is a reincarnated Ju-won, and it drove me nuts every time. 

26. I was miffed at how convenient/contrived the whole “Ji-eum’s brother is in debt to the loan shark who helped orchestrate Ju-won’s death!” thing was…buuuuuuut the show kind of gets away with it because of this go-round being that perfect everyone-is-back-again repeat of her 1st life. Coincidences are sort of baked into that turn of events, I guess. I’m not thrilled, but it’s not as bad as it would be if I couldn’t even contrive an answer on my own for what this okay-ish. 

27. Um…y-yeah, I guess that counts as a proper kiss. 

27A. Is, uh, is it warm in here? No? Just me?

28. Credit where it’s due: after Mr. Ha punches Seo-ha for confronting him about hiding that his father was the driver who died in the car accident along with Ju-won, Seo-ha punches him back. This is the correct reaction. It looks dramatic on screen to self-martyr and just take the hits, but it solves the conflict a lot less quickly. 

29. I am not sure…but I think  the hallway outside Ji-eum’s loser brother’s apartment is the same as is outside Vincenzo’s apartment. 

29A. Similarly, I am not sure if the big, spiraling, glass stairwell that leads away from part-timer/shaman’s college office was used as a location for B**** x Rich, or if I’m just thinking about a scene from earlier in 19th Life. But I swear I’ve seen it before. 

30. I don’t know about anyone else, but I totally remembered that Ji-eum’s mom was having issues with the plants in her yard dying—which I’m kind of sure was the earliest nod that Ji-eum trying to reconnect with her past was causing things to be in peril. Very slick, if true.

31. I was genuinely moved by Seo-ha choosing to burn all the evidence about the car accident rather than let Ji-eum find out that her father was responsible for it. He loves her so much that he was willing to bury getting justice for Ju-won. That was HUGE. And I legit let out an involuntary “Oh!” and sat there, mouth agape, tears welling up in my eyes. That’s how much I felt that moment. 

32. “Oh no I spilled something on myself in the most unlikely way possible I guess we have no choice but to do a sponsored clothes shopping montage noooooooo!”

32A. “I know you’re rushing off to work, ‘uncle,’ but I just so happen to have this gift to give you why don’t you join me to talk about its stylishness and quality fabric?”

32B. “Ji-eum, will you date me? No, don’t say anything—just let me know by either accepting or rejecting this matching diamond jewel set sponsored by Swarovski!” 

33. I’m 90% sure that, at the end of the show, Seo-ha mirroring Ji-eum’s very forward means of pursuing him don’t come off quite in quite the same way as they did when she was doing it to him—and that the end result would be her whalloping him square in the face. Is this wildly sexist? Yup. But is it consistent with her character? Yup yup.

34. “Wow, I can’t believe you know a song from all the way back in 1995!” Ouch, show. Ouch. 

35. And I think we need to spend a minute appreciating (adult) Ji-eum’s performance in the scene where she’s regaining the bulk of her old memories (right before she chokes Seo-ha). It’s one thing to “pretend” a situation you are playing out is real enough to pull emotions out of you…but it’s something else to “pretend” that you’re going through something that you’re not even “pretending” is actually happening to you in that moment. It’s crazy how good she is in that scene. I mean, I think she’s more believably grief-stricken when she’s just sitting on her bed muttering to herself than when she’s actually wailing over the body of her dead sister. I have to think there’s some kind of nomination coming her way, this year. 

And, yeah, that’s the 19th Life letter. Thanks for joining me on this journey. We’ll be back next week with…oh, wait, that’s a secret. You’ll just have to keep checking, I guess.  

Anyway—what a good time! You were absolutely right to rush me the recommendation, and you can totally add this one to your list of home runs. And I hope this did well with everyone else, too. 

Less good: Mission: Impossible 7. Which was still very fun, but…oof, what a messy script. Needed another couple of drafts, in my opinion. My mom doesn’t think so, but she also doesn’t think I need to update her on everything that happens on Heart Signal 4 every week. So, y’know, we obviously can’t trust her opinions. 

And I hope you’ve gone back to watch The Uncanny Counter so you’re ready for the second season, which starts this weekend. Young-woo’s boss is going to be the villain. And he’s got long hair. And takes his shirt off. 

So.

—Daryl

P.S. - Any word on the Lizzy McAlpine cover album that I know you don’t know anything about because I knew you wouldn’t read the B**** x Rich letter?