Synopsis – Lisa Wu
Dong-man felt stunned and betrayed when he realizes that Coach Hwang has brought him to a fight where his old rival, Tak-soo, is competing. As he watches the fight, Dong-man noticed that the familiar movement Tak-soo used as the final strike to his opponent is a roundhouse kick, the very move that used to be Dong-man’s specialty.
The drama took us to the 2007, to the fight that ended Dong-man’s career. Before the match, a man named Coach Choi, who is Tak-soo’s coach, tries to convince Dong-man to throw the fight, so that Tak-soo’s father would donate a huge amount of money for Dong-man’s sister Dong-hee. Dong-man refused.
Coach Hwang gives Dong-man a pep talk on the way to the arena, reminding him that winning this fight means a trip to the Beijing Olympics. Dong-man’s father surprises him by showing up to watch before gruffly telling his son to win, or else.
Dong-man confidently faces Tak-soo in the fight, but with the voice calls out from the stands, he realized his younger sister Dong-hee even though very and in a wheelchair, still comes to cheer her big brother. The scene shakes Dong-man’s heart, he knows with Tak-soo’s money, Dong-hee can afford an expensive surgery that Dong-man’s father cannot provide. A moment later, he pretends he is defeated by Tak-soo, he cries when he lies on the ground, shaking with humiliation and agony.
But the referees conclude that the tiny kick Dong-man received couldn’t possibly have knocked him out of the fight. A press conference is held to announce the discovery that the fight was rigged, and Dong-man, Tak-soo, and their coaches all wait to face the reporters.
Angry that they got caught, Tak-soo tells Dong-man to go out there and take all the blame. Coach Hwang snaps at Tak-soo for being a spoiled brat who bought his way to where he is, and for ruining the chances of someone who actually has talent. Coach Choi explains that Tak-soo’s father has an election coming up and doesn’t want Tak-soo’s part in the rigging to be known. Tak-soo tells Dong-man that if he doesn’t shoulder the guilt alone, he’ll make him pay back the money his family has been paid.
Once alone, Dong-man finally apologizes to Coach Hwang and says he’ll go alone so that Coach Hwang doesn’t take any of the blame and risk his teaching future. Coach Hwang slaps Dong-man, grabs him by the wrist, and leads him out to face the reporters together.
Back in the present, Dong-man waits for Coach Hwang outside the arena. Tak-soo humiliates Dong-man and holds Dong-hee’s illness against him.
Dong-man snaps, he throws a side-kick into Tak-soo’s ribs, then executes a perfect roundhouse kick right into Tak-soo’s face. He screams, “If you’re going to imitate me, then do it correctly, you bastard!” He tells the whimpering Tak-soo that he will meet him in the martial art arena.
Coach Hwang’s dashboard camera of his car recorded everything, and it is sold to reporters by Coach Hwang who has no idea what had happened. The video soon sweep the Internet, everyone was watching besides Dong-man who quit his job in the crossroad when his manager again verbal abuses him on the phone. Coach Hwang drives back to his gym, where Dong-man races up to him, still high on adrenaline. He yells near-incoherently that he wants to do martial arts again, and after confirming that he isn’t drunk, Coach Hwang starts screaming right along with him.
Ae-ra also takes steps to pursue her dream and stops on her way home to have a photo taken so that she can apply for announcer jobs. She met Moo-bin on her way back. Moo-bin admits that he’s missed her and that he’s been waiting here for an hour, and he wants to send her home as a gentleman will do.
Though Ae-ra lets Moo-bin drive her home, she admits to herself that she doesn’t like this. He plucks at her sleeve when she starts to get out of the car, and Ae-ra asks if he’s expecting her to invite him in for ramyun (code for inviting someone in for sex). Even though Moo-bin is shy in a cute and hilarious way, Ae-ra cannot resist but think this is totally out of the way. Moo-bin stubbornly insists on staying until Ae-ra gets to her door safely, which is exactly what she doesn’t want. With perfect timing. Dong-man runs up calling Ae-ra’s name, and he’s so excited to tell her his news that he doesn’t notice her alarmed expression. He grabs her in a bear hug, spinning her around and telling her excitedly that he quit his job to go back to martial arts.Ae-ra is surprised by Dong-man and forgets all about Moo-bin. As Dong-man hugs her again, Moo-bin eventually decides to step in.
After Dong-man discovered why Moo-bin and Ae-ra are together, he is very upset and expresses hostility toward Moo-bin. On the other hand, Moo-bin also alerts to Dong-man and Ae-ra’s more-than-friend relationship. He possessively takes Ae-ra’s wrist and warns Dong-man to stay away from Ae-ra, since he is dating her. The atmosphere between these two men is very intense. Eventually, all three of them went to ramyun restaurant because Moo-bin is hungry, and Dong-man doesn’t want Ae-ra being alone with Moo-bin. After they eat, Ae-ra asks Moo-bin to please leave now, while Dong-man shoots him some dirty look. Again he refuses to go until he sees her inside, so she and Dong-man start up the stairs together. Dong-man notices her discomfort, so he takes her by the hand and keeps going past their doors, saying that he doesn’t want Moo-bin to know where she lives. Secretly pleased, Ae-ra agrees, but she stops every few steps to see if Moo-bin has left yet (he hasn’t), and Dong-man is highly amused. Finally, he leads her all the way up to their rooftop bar.
When Ae-ra and Dong-man are finally alone, Ae-ra orders Dong-man to stay away from martial art and to stop acting naive and immature because he will get hurt not matter win or lose. Dong-man discovers that this is not a threat but a concern. When Ae-ra is trying to leave, Dong-man suddenly grabs her wrist and pulls her into his arms. With this awkward situation, they seem notice something between them starts changing. But when Ae-ra demand answers from Dong-man about the reason he made all these confusing moves, he backs down. Ae-ra grabs his cheek and pulls his face very close, making it crystal-clear that the way he’s behaving is unacceptable. She tells him not to touch her, not to confuse her unless he has a death wish. Both of them are restless that night, uncertain what exactly is happening.
On the other hand, the home shopping network goes out for a company dinner, and Seol-hee ends up sitting next to Ye-jin, feeling frumpy next to Ye-jin in her cute clothes and manicured nails. From across the table, Joo-man carefully stills his expression as his boss insults Seol-hee, then he pours Ye-jin a drink to keep the mildly lecherous boss from doing it. Joo-man runs into his boss in the restroom, who asks if Joo-man plans to get married. He suggests the beautiful Ye-jin as a candidate since she also happens to be the chaebol daughter of a large food manufacturer. They head back to the dining room, where the boss jokes that Seol-hee looks like black-and-white TV next to Ye-jin’s technicolor. Joo-man doesn’t respond, but he does throw one of his boss’s shoes out of the restaurant when he’s not looking.
After the dinner, Ye-jin invites Joo-man to share her car, Joo-man refused politely because he is going to go back home with Seol-hee secretly. Meanwhile, Seol-hee admires a beautiful dress in a shop window as she waits for Joo-man.
Joo-man noticed her interest, so Joo-man offers to buy that lovely outfit for her. Seol-hee objects to spending his money claims all those excuses about how this dress not fit her, but the high price tag is the actual reason why she hesitates. Joo-man buys her the dress anyway, ignoring Seol-hee’s continuous objections. While they argue over a dress, Joo-man suddenly blows up, yelling at her to be pretty, to act girly, and to stop letting others walk all over her. Seol-hee yells back that the dress isn’t even her style, and Joo-man groans that her style is “cheap.” Frustrated, he says that he knows she’s cheap because she’s spent six years supporting him, and that he’s grateful — but now, it feels suffocating. When Seol-hee’s face crumples, he sighs and apologizes.
Without a word, Seol-hee tosses the bag with the dress away, hails a taxi, and leaves in tears. Feeling like a jerk, Joo-man retrieves the dress and tries to get another taxi, but it’s Ye-jin (her car being driven by a designated driver) who pulls up to offer him a ride.
In the car, Ye-jin notices the dress and makes a point to say that pink is her favorite color as she shows Joo-man her pink, bejeweled nails. Ye-jin keeps inviting Joo-man to have a dinner with her, he refused politely as usual. It’s clearly Joo-man has no clue about Ye-jin’s love interest towards him, and even wonders why she acts this way. As Joo-man walks home after getting out from Ye-jin’s car, he buys a ddukbokki and wins a pink stuffed dog from a claw machine for Seol-hee.
Eventually, Joo-man talks things out with Seol-hee, although it is clear that he still has no idea what he did wrong, he keeps apologizing to Seol-hee. When they leave their apartment for work, they find Hye-ran stands at Dong-man’s front door, Seol-hee immediately blocks Hye-ran’s attempt to push the doorbell and yells Ae-ra’s name. Ae-ra confronts Hye-ran in the outside, with Seol-hee and Joo-man act as her supporters, they both threat each other by using harsh words.
Later, Dong-man comes outside and finds himself face-to-face with Hye-ran, who immediately becomes all sweetness and light, cooing softly “Oppa”. Flashbacks come again, all those past years that whenever Hye-ran needed Dong-man, she would show up again and again, interrupts Dong-man’s life and seduce him by calling him “Oppa.” This time, Dong-man manages to hold onto his stern expression when Hye-ran says that she’ll call him later. Ae-ra stops her from leaving, threatening her once again. With a smirk, Hye-ran wishes her a hearty “Fighting!” before leaving.
Fight for My Way Week 3 Discussion – Nicole Chan
Offering your seat to others – a blessing or a curse in South Korea?
In EP 3, Ae-ra successfully finishes her one-day position as the anchor of her mall. She gets on a bus for home and meets Dong-man, who is pretending to be asleep as he does not want to offer the seat to Ae-ra. Eventually he is forced by Ae-ra to offer his seat to her. We know in the reality that people seldom force others to offer their seats. However, in fact, offering seats to someone in need is a social norm to show your respect in South Korea.
Being strongly affected by Confucianism, the culture of South Korea places great emphasis on respecting the elderly. This also is reflected when Koreans must absolutely obey their seniors in family, school and workplace. The Korean put high value of the hierarchy system. There is a common Korean saying, “Offering your seat to the elderly or someone in need is a part of life, regardless of it is a tram, a train or a bus”.
In recent years, the Seoul Metro has set up priority seating for the elderly, and seat for pregnant women starting from last year. Even when the train is extra full in peak hours and everyone gets exhausted from a day of work, people still avoid taking those seats. One reason is because they want to make sure that people who are in need (but cannot be seen) can sit down easily. Another reason, is that they are possibly afraid of “Korean stank eye”.
However, such culture is said to be changing gradually. As mentioned in class by Dr. Saeji, the aging problem in South Korea is serious nowadays. Sometimes the amount of priority seats cannot satisfy the demand from the elderly. As a result, they have to go for regular seats, which are occupied by people who look down at their smartphones. They do not seem to be aware of their surroundings and realize the need to offer their seats. This implies a gradual change in social culture, and the apathy of the newer generation in South Korea.
Episode 4 – Discussion, Yoo Jung Kim
In episode four, I was very happy that Ko Dong-Man finally decided to quit his job and continue the sport. Ko Dong-Man was angry when he saw Kim Tak-Soo’s success as an RFC player using his Taekwondo move. After the game, Ko Dong-Man receives a call from a senior co-worker. As usual, the senior screamed at Ko Dong-Man and began to blame. In this scene I really liked the way the director filmed. Ko Dong-Man stops in the middle of a crosswalk where everything else moves so fast. And Ko Dong-Man thinks of what Choi Ae-Ra and Coach said. “I guess people really need to do what they love”, and “Are you happy now”.
I felt this scene was trying to show viewers that Ko Dong-Man and his dreams were stopped in the past and that everyone else are moving well.
And then, Ko Dong-Man turned around and walked in the other way and answers the phone, saying, “I am going to quit. I quit” and hangs up the phone and yells “I don’t care now. I’ll just go for it”. Ko Dong-Man turns around and walks in a different direction than where he was walking. I think this scene wants to show the change of Ko Dong-Man’s heart. He decides not to continue walking. It indicates that Ko Dong-Man has decided not to continue to work at the current job anymore. Then Ko Dong-Man turns around in different directions. It showed that Ko Dong-Man chose another path for his future. I was really impressed with this scene because everything was perfect. Technique of how this scene was performed on viewers, background music and Ko Dong-Man’s acting skills. Everything tied up really well in this scene. Although it was a drama, this scene made me truly support Ko Dong-Man.
Ko Dong-Man and Choi Ae-Ra return home, and the next morning, they find out that Park Hye-Ran has moved to the same apartment. Choi Ae-Ra feels frustrated when she sees Park Hye-Ran. And Ko Dong-Man feels little bit surprised but he tells Park Hye-Ran that he is dating Choi Ae-Ra now.
