Yohan Yukiya Seseㆍ사요한・謝雪矢

The ultimate question: Did they live happily ever after, as a couple? Or, did they live happily ever after, as friends?

Answer: it can go either way, 50-50.

Here's why.

As I mentioned in the previous weeks, this show is a story about love, relationships, break-ups, forgiveness, and moving on. This is not a fantasy romance where we would feel we are in heaven, and dream of Mr. Right and Ms. Perfect. No, none of that.

My first romantic relationship lasted for three (3) years. She was my first, and I was her first. We broke up, we talked, we closed things properly. But, guess what? We both failed to moved on.

In our case, she got married a few years later. It took us 11 more years to have a real closure. We failed to move on because we were not honest with ourselves, and we did not learn to forgive ourselves.

Before we can truly move on, we need to forgive the other party. But, we can not forgive other people if we do not forgive our own self first. To be able to forgive our own self, we need to face the reality and embrace it.

Yes, it is a process. It can take years, or it can take as short as a minute. It does not matter if you understand the process, there are people who can truly move on fast without being aware of the process.

Personally, I have proven that process to myself, when in late 2020, my 15-year relationship ended. When I learned to face reality, when I learned to embrace it. It was only then I was able to forgive myself.

It felt good. The heavy burden in my mind, and on my shoulders, were lifted. I was able to finally breathe. Then, I was able to forgive and thank her, even though I was only talking to the air.

It took me three (3) months, and I also had to put a deadline for myself. What do I mean? I told myself, “after this date, all is over, period”. After that date passed, I moved on. I started to smile.

Once we have truly moved on, that is only the time that healing begins. There is no healing if you can not smile. There is no healing if you can stomach hearing your ex's (or enemy's) name. You are not healing at all if you are still reacting emotionally when you see that other person's shadows, or hear them breath.

All these things are what “The Interest of Love” was telling us.

We all know that love and relationships are complicated, but do we truly understand it?

The 1FL was mostly pessimistic in the entire show. Rightly so, because there are people who are pessimistic. They do exist, and if you have not met at least one pessimistic person, you have not truly lived. The 1FL represents people who are pessimistic.

While the 1ML is a type of person who have a positive outlook in life, who was later crashed because of love. He was that type of person you have probably met once who never had time about love and relationships. But, when their heart was stolen by someone, they had no idea how to act and handle things.

Our pessimist 1FL eventually grew and started to have a positive outlook in life. All because of the 1ML.

At the same time, our 1ML, who had no idea about love and relationships, learned to listen and understand other people. All because of the 1FL.

Are you seeing how these two characters are helping each other grow? That is love and relationship. In episode 16, they even asked, “Were we really in love?” Because their relationship as two individuals was closer than they care to admit.

Let's take a detour.

There is also an important contrast between the 1ML and the 2ML. The 2ML acted badly when he heard the news that the 1FL slept with another man (note: there was no concrete proof if she did or not). The last word he told the 1FL was, “b**ch”.

However, what struck me was the 2ML also grew. Instead of sulking, or trying to find the 1FL and, maybe, force her back into a relationship after apologising, he decided to just call it.

Like what I mentioned earlier, the 2ML faced his reality and embraced it. He was not able to ask for forgiveness in person, but he knew he was forgiven because he learned to forgive himself.

He turned his bad experiences as a source of strength. He focused on his studies, and eventually achieved his dream to become a police officer.

Meanwhile, the 1ML was not giving up. He tried to find the 1FL, and he did, only to lose her again. And for the next four years, he tried to survive, hoping to see her one more time. (We are assuming he chose the branch himself.)

Another detour. The 2FL! Let's not forget her.

What type of character was she? She is that person who will do anything to get what they want. Not necessarily rich and wealthy people, mind you, there are ordinary people who get what they want just because. The 2FL represents those type of persons.

However, when it comes to love and relationships, it's either shallow or one-sided. First, she accepted the fact that the 1ML has eyes for the 1FL, but when he needed a shoulder to cry on, she freely offered herself. This is what we call “rebound relationship”.

For the 2FL, as long as she gets what she wanted, it is fine for her to be the rebound. The bad effect of this is that, the other person (the 1ML in this case) will never be fully into that relationship. They are either still thinking of the other person (the 1FL in this case), or they are only using the rebound relationship to heal (and once they healed, they will more likely leave).

The 1ML, who was growing because of the 1FL, realised this and broke up with her. Three years later, the 2FL returned to Korea, healed. In episode 16, she mentioned that she is fine talking about the 1ML because she (truly) moved on.

They even showed a scene how the 2FL saw the 1ML during the wedding, and it did not bother her. Was it because she found a new boyfriend? No, it wasn't about faithfulness and loyalty to her new boyfriend. In the first place, if she has not truly moved on, she would not be able to have a new boyfriend, that is not her character. Not to mention, she would not show up in the wedding knowing that they may cross paths.

The 2FL grew and learned what it means to love and have a relationship. Not just a romantic relationship, but also a relationship with her father.

Which brings us back to the 1FL and her relationship with her father. Like the 2FL, the 1FL also have a strained relationship with her father, although different, they are both not close to them.

See the contrast and 'relationships'?

And now, we are in episode 16. We have gone full circle when the 1ML and the 1FL started to talk about their “what-ifs”. This is a different kind of “what-ifs”.

Usually, “what-ifs” are regrets. However, in the case of the 1ML and 1FL, it was an intellectual discourse. Would things between them have ended up differently… if…?

There were no regrets when they looked back at their memories. Why? How? Simple. They learned to face and embrace their reality, and have forgiven themselves, and each other.

They moved on from the pain they caused each other. And they used those experiences to grow for the next four years of their lives.

Thus, when they met again, they were simply two healed individuals reminiscing their time together.

Think of it this way, tabula rasa. Clean slate.

They can choose to become a couple. Or, they can decide to remain as “special” friends.

I personally know married couples who broke up and later met again 4+ years later. They rekindled their love and relationship.

I, myself, went through the latter. Remember the first relationship I shared earlier, which took 11 years before we finally were able to moved on? Whenever our paths cross, after the true closure, there are no more lingering emotions and feelings between us. We can talk about the past normally, as in, just the past.

Some would probably say, “well, she's married and have children”. Sure, that's valid. However, even if she is still single, that part of our lives is long gone. We have reached the point wherein we will never cross our unwritten and undiscussed boundaries. We are just nothing but “special” friends.

I can see it in her eyes, and I am sure she can see it in my eyes, too. The past is the past. It's over between us, permanently. There is nothing to rekindle. We can reminisce, but that's it, nothing to rekindle. Our love for each other changed to something akin to brother and sister.

This is why the ending of “The Interest of Love” was like that.

Here are two individuals, whose lives were entwined when they were younger and innocent. Four years later, having learned from their experiences, and have forgiven themselves in the process, their paths crossed again.

They are representing two types of “couples”.

The first is: those couples who rekindled their love and gotten married later.

The second is: those couples, like me and my first, who will never have a romantic relationship ever again, but remain good friends.

It is up to the audience to decide which path the 1ML and the 2FL will choose. They can remain as friends, having grown and learned from each other. Or, they can rekindle their love and see where it goes this time around.

After all, they did ask and realised, “were we in love then?”

These are what the 1ML, 1FL, 2FL, and the 2ML, all learned in their lives:
You are the sum of your experiences. Learn from it and become a better person. Never harbour hatred and bitterness, rather, listen and understand each other.

All of our relationships are important. Be it romantic, as friends, or with our families. In these personal relationships, let love encompassed it all.

The title “Reborn Rich” was not about Yoon Hyun Woo being re-born as Jin Do Joon. It was about Jin Do Joon being reborn as Yoon Hyun Woo and becoming rich!

1. Yoon Hyun Woo did not die, he was in a coma for 1 week. He can not be reborn at all.

2. When Jin Do Joon died in the 2nd car crash, Jin Do Joon was reborn as Yoon Hyun Woo. Who later became rich.

3. The “Timeline 2” did not exist. As Yoon Hyun Woo said so himself that it was not time travel, nor possession. It was a repentance for both Jin Do Joon and Yoon Hyun Woo.

Everything else happened, other than the small changes (he was just recalling a previous life he should not be able to recall at all, that's why there were small changes), exactly the way it did.

“Reborn Rich” also meant being a new person, rich with values.

“Reborn Rich” also meant being reborn as a new person after his brush with death, and coming out of the coma (was “reborn”).

Re: Repentance
1. As Yoon Hyun Woo, this is his repentance because he chose money over reporting the murder.

2. As Jin Do Joon, it is his repentance because he did do things he shouldn't, he actually became his grandfather in the end.

When Jin Do Joon was reborn as Yoon Hyun Woo, it was his chance to repent as Jin Do Joon (previous life) and as Yoon Hyun Woo (present life).

In the end, Yoon Hyun Woo became part of Miracle, the company he founded in his previous life as Jin Do Joon.

That was one heck of a story twist. Totally unexpected.

What I love the most with this series is the character are multidimensional. They are not your cookie-cutter template one-dimensional character that we see in many TV dramas.

While the Prime Minister and the Chairman/Father are the usual antagonist characters, evil and bad respectively, the rest are not.

For example, Doctor Moon. All he cared about was winning the competition. It was as if he doesn't care about the patients as long as he gets what he wants. Sounds selfish, right? It is. But deep down, Dr. Moon did what he did because he also had an experience he can not forget, at the same time, he has an ambition, and he truly cares about the patients.

This was touching for me because many of us judge other people based on our first impressions of them. We only see the surface and fail to understand what's driving them to be that way. Why are some people we meet always making jokes or making fun of others? Could it be that deep inside, they are broken, and it is their way of hiding it? Or maybe, at home, they live in a broken family, and making jokes and making fun is their only outlet?

I am not saying we should tolerate these things if it crosses-the-line, just us how some actions of Dr. Moon should not be tolerated when he's out of line already. We tend to forget the person inside and only see the surface.

To put it another way, there are also people who always smile, are kind, and helpful. But we forget to ask how their life is. Are those acts only there as a mask? Some people would even take advantage of them, without realising that behind it is some painful and tragic experience.

As the idiom goes, “do not judge the book by its cover”.

It was not only Doctor Moon, but the two main characters. As was explained in episode 16, the second lead couple failed to look behind the surface of the two main characters. They had a very painful and tragic life. They judged them immediately without first trying to understand what's driving them and why they do what they do.

This is what struck me about this show. It was not just a romantic story. It was not just an ER/OR drama. It's about how people judge each other.

And then there was the “it's not money that I want, it's your sincere apology”. A very powerful message itself. Often times we think too much that we forget all it takes is a sincere apology, and when something reaches the court, more often than not it was because the grace period for apologies had passed.

If a person still pursues a legal action even after apologising, that's their call. Asking for forgiveness and the rule of law, are two different things. For example, in the show's context, a medical malpractice is a medical malpractice, especially when there are clear guidelines in the first place. The victims can forgive, because forgiveness is personal, it benefits both parties, releases the burden. But the law is the law.

This series portrayed how the doctors and the Chairman/Father misunderstood apologising/forgiveness and the law. They assumed that people will sue them for medical malpractice just because. Or the victims are only after monetary compensation. We think too much that we create our own demons, when something can be solved by a sincere apology.

I'm glad I watched this drama. It's touching and full of life lessons.

As of Season 2 Episode 6, these are my speculations:

Something happened which split the group into four:
1. Silas - has his own agenda (although, IIRC, he was protecting Gavin/Isaiah because he made a promise to his mother, so they're probably "aligned"?)
2. Aldrich - had her own agenda
3. Gavin's mother - to permanently shutdown 1988
4. James (father) - who doesn't care what happens to the past as long as the future is saved

I think when they learned they were causing the sinkholes, James changed his agenda. They will stay in 10,000 B.C. and restart the human history their way.

Also, Gavin's mother said that their own future (2076) changed after the sinkholes started showing up randomly in their history. This is probably what gave James the idea to keep the portal open, and maybe to stay in 10,000 B.C.

I'm also suspecting that James is using the portals as a weapon. When they opened a portal to 1988, it caused an earthquake, a sign of an impending sinkhole.

If that is correct, then wherever the portal is opened, a sinkhole will eventually show up too.

The portal from the Lazarus project is one way. The sinkhole is the loop back. That is why the sinkholes are showing up. The energy produced by the Lazarus portal needs a loopback. Since no one's controlling it on the other side, a loopback portal shows up randomly.

Now, why a sinkhole? It's not the sinkhole per se, it is the location of the original portal.

Over time, throughout history, the elevation of land only kept on going higher and higher. Back in 10,000 B.C. compared to the modern era (1980s onwards), a lot of layers were already added.

So, when the loopback happens, it returns to the same elevation, and it is underneath the layers of soil that accumulated over thousands of years. Which resulted into sinkholes.

Only problem, the location of the portal is random. The only possible fixed thing is its elevation, hence the loopback portal is always underneath.

--- Another possibility, James already knew everything beforehand. His wife, Silas, Aldrich, they were all kept in the dark as to his actual agenda.

I want to give this an 8 out of 10, but it was so hard to do, 7 is fitting.

The acting was forced to act as students. You can see they have a talent and skills in acting, but it failed to show because they have to act like “kids”, it isn't their forte. They did not have to overdo it. In some behind-the-scene clips, those were perfect. They just have to be their normal selves, for example, in the BTS in the last episode where they were preparing the proposal, it was just them playing. It was like being in their natural habitats. We are all like that. But whenever the camera starts to roll, they become so focused on acting like a “teenager” that it turned out bad.

The kung fu fight scenes and the training scenes, no comments there.

Production. Seems to be a low budget show? It could have been better if they have a higher budget.

However, in the last few episodes, the editing started to go down. There were also scenes not needed at all. It's a rule in creative writing, a scene that doesn't add anything to the story should be deleted. And some of those only distracted from the objective of the scene.

Last episode. It's a typical wrap-up episode.

Overall, the series was like a school project. In the last episode, they even added an explanation of what happened to the gang. Was this not 100% fiction? Then that explanation is not needed at all, it is a given, they went to prison, end-of-story for them, we don't care about them. Unless this series was based on a true story? Because that's the only reason why that explanation was needed.

OST. Awesome!

Last but not the least, the story. That I love. The story's great. The plot, sub-plots, the different message the writer wants to send across.

Theory

I think Ben's target is the Bar from S05E22: Mirror Image of the original Quantum Leap project.

In the series finale episode, Al left him at the Bar to figure out what's happening and why the Bar was weird… as per Sam's explanation to him. After that, they never met again.

So, officially, Sam's was marked as 'lost in time' and 'never went home'. But Ben and Al's daughter probably have a theory where to start their search, and that is the Bar, the last known location Al saw Sam.

The only question is, was not that why the Quantum Leap project was restarted? To find and rescue Sam? If so, don't they have a record of Sam's last known location?

It is starting to appear, as of Episode 3, that Al hid the information about the Bar from the records, and years later his daughter figured it out and she convinced Ben to do it her way -- reach the Bar and start their search from there.

This is an interesting twist. Why? If Quantum Leap 2.0, or at least Ben, learns that they can leap whenever and wherever the Leaper wants, it can open up a whole new different plot for this sequel. Instead of it being 'random', they can start adding stories about a real attempt to change the past … and Ben will struggle between following the orders of the Pentagon or fighting back.

It will also open an opportunity to explore what the "Mirror Image" series finale episode hinted at, there are other Leapers.

With that knowledge about Leapers actually controlling their leaps, would it not be amiss if the Pentagon doesn't make use of the opportunity [to start a Temporal (Cold) War]?

Then we have Ben, and his team, trying to correct or stop them?

Theory

I think Ben's target is the Bar from S05E22: Mirror Image of the original Quantum Leap project.

In the series finale episode, Al left him at the Bar to figure out what's happening and why the Bar was weird… as per Sam's explanation to him. After that, they never met again.

So, officially, Sam's was marked as 'lost in time' and 'never went home'. But Ben and Al's daughter probably have a theory where to start their search, and that is the Bar, the last known location Al saw Sam.

The only question is, was not that why the Quantum Leap project was restarted? To find and rescue Sam? If so, don't they have a record of Sam's last known location?

It is starting to appear, as of Episode 3, that Al hid the information about the Bar from the records, and years later his daughter figured it out and she convinced Ben to do it her way -- reach the Bar and start their search from there.

This is an interesting twist. Why? If Quantum Leap 2.0, or at least Ben, learns that they can leap whenever and wherever the Leaper wants, it can open up a whole new different plot for this sequel. Instead of it being 'random', they can start adding stories about a real attempt to change the past … and Ben will struggle between following the orders of the Pentagon or fighting back.

It will also open an opportunity to explore what the "Mirror Image" series finale episode hinted at, there are other Leapers.

With that knowledge about Leapers actually controlling their leaps, would it not be amiss if the Pentagon doesn't make use of the opportunity [to start a Temporal (Cold) War]?

Then we have Ben, and his team, trying to correct or stop them?

MORAL OF THE STORY: Do NOT enter a location when you see people wearing PPEs. (If you are a nurse, you should know this already.)

I applaud the screenwriter for not shying away from killing a major character. There are very few screenwriters who are brave enough to do it, often screenwriters choose the "they happily lived ever after" route.

However, as the intro to this post hinted, I do not approve the sudden stupidity of a major character just to get that character terminally ill. Go Mi Ho was a nurse. She is intelligent and full of wisdom. Where did her intelligence AND WISDOM go in the cave sinkhole episode? Then after that episode, Mi Ho became intelligent and full of wisdom again.

In that one episode, she suddenly acted a hero when it was never part of her character, and after that episode, she never acted a hero either. She is intelligent AND WISE. She took calculated risks. She was no hero, before or after. But in that one episode, she acted a dumb hero which led to her getting exposed to deadly radiation.

Sure. There are people who would have done the same as she did but that is a rare thing most especially when the people escaping a disaster are wearing PPEs, and you happen to know as well as corrupt and evil the operator of that cave. All for what? For that character she saved to only die WITHOUT contributing anything to the plot after he was saved.

That episode. Go Mi Ho suddenly throwing her intelligence and wisdom out the window was only meant to get her terminally ill. No more, no less. It was very weak. They could've have used a contaminated bottled water or fish planted by Choi Do Ha, or some other method other than letting her do something out of her character.

People rarely do something like what she did unless they have a very, very, very strong conviction which Go Mi Ho did not possess. She took calculated risks for her husband, that was the entire driving force behind her. Her saving people begins and ends with her working as a nurse, outside of it she didn't do anything.

Again, good job on not being afraid of killing a major character. But very bad job on how to get that character terminally ill.

From 10 stars, it's down to 8 stars.