Nine: 9 Times Time Travels

Peace be upon you.

“For every action, there’s an equal or opposite reaction”- Newton’s Law of Motion

            What a long day. It really took up quite some time for me to write this entry. If you haven’t yet watched Nine: 9 Times Time Travels, this is not a good entry to rely upon. Whatever I mentioned here is just my overall thoughts about the drama. It’s being long time since I wrote the summary like this but Nine is just beyond awesome to put in words. The finale? Some say it’s a disappointment, but I beg to differ. Yeah, it’s the best finale I’ve ever seen so far. 

“I’m trying my best to muster up energy. But I still feel like crying multiple times a day.”-Park Seon-woo

What would you do if you have a time machine in your possession that could bring you back to 20 years ago?  Hurmm, would you risk your life for that? Amazingly, Park Seon-woo said yes for that. And the outcome of messing with time is terrible. I don’t know why I kept comparing Nine with Queen In-hyeon’s Man(QIHM)  but there’re few acceptable rationale in such;

1)Firstly, it was produced by the same production team ( same writer & director)

2) Secondly, it’s time travelling drama

           3) Therefore, without realizing it: they’re comparable

And well said, the phone booth and hand phone can’t be separated with this production. Just like the phone booth played important props in QIHM, the same goes to Nine. I read somewhere that Nine was written before QIHM. Therefore I’m glad knowing that Nine isn’t a product of QIHM. It’s unique on its own. 

 

“December 22, 2012. Second message. I still can't believe this fortune. I'm still afraid that it's a hallucination. But in front of death, everything is simple and crystal clear. Believe in the fantasies you want to believe. Love the girl you want to love.”-Park Seon-woo

The scene when Young-hoon listened to Seon-woo’s voice message giving me the same vibes when Kim Boong-do wrote his heartbreaking letter before burning the talisman. Huh, the pain…

“So I'm even thankful. For the people who have kept their roles in my life. For those who chose that fate. For being a true friend to me every time for every life. To you, I'm thankful.” - Seon-woo's messages to Young-hoon

Park Seon-woo making me realize there are a lot of things can be done just in 30 minutes. It reflects back on me to appreciate the time we have now. It is crystal clear that Seon-woo finally realize his role in the time-slip thingy. It bugs me at first when in episode 11 Seon-woo tells Young-hoon that he did not remember what 1992/93 Seon-woo thoughts back then. Then I realized that after watching the finale. It’s because past Seon-woo is the one who’s going to make the decision and decide. Huh? Confused? Never mind then.

            If QIHM stood up for its romance, Nine would get a standing ovation for emphasizing a lot more tighter time travelling romance and conflict. If in QIHM, only Hee-jin felt Kim Boong-do’s lost, we see many people actually cared for Park Seon-woo. In Nine, it’s not just the love between the leading man in leading lady, there are a lot more ships to ship for, yeah for example his friendship with Young-hoon and his brotherhood with Jung-woo hyeong giving depth to the story. Would it be weird if I say I’m Han-Park shipper? Hahah, nope don’t get me wrong...it’s not the funny thing that you might think of. I just adore their tight friendship. It’s amazing. To think about it again, romance isn’t main thing in Nine. But actually, I was waiting for more Han-Park scenes in the final episode but I guess the crying Young-hoon while listening to Seon-woo’s messages compensate for that. Hah! But look what we’ve got, a LOT of lovey-dovey moments of Min-young and Seon-woo. I was blushed, anyway. 

            Usually the word tumor itself becomes a tickling disastrous bomb in other kdrama to let people swayed in melancholy. But in Nine I think the tumor played important role as much as the incense stick does. Hah! Am I going nuts? Because of the tumor, Seon-woo tried to find his hyeong, propose Min-young as well as seeking for evidence to put Choi Jin-cheol to the right place. Don’t you think the tumor is actually the driven factor? ( Though I know the tumor isn't the main drive, even for the first timeline before anything change,yet.) And only then he found the incense stick, the game restarted for the better.

            I really loved this show and I’ll continue to love it. I put this drama as the same level ( or higher a bit) of that QIHM. Both shows are daebak. Hopefully, dramamakers will continue to produce great drama like this and challenge viewer’s expectation instead of spoonfed the audience with what we alrealy expected. At first I didn’t understand why this drama was so underrated as I following the soompi thread, there isn’t much discussion but as I scrolled down, a lot of people actually silently stalking the thread. Maybe they’re bracing themselves, keeping in the silence and wait until they came back to senses, they then explode! Hahah…what a joke!

            Because of Nine, Lee Jin-wook’s acting will be put up one step ahead and listed in my wanted list. Hah! His character was so naughty in I Need Romance 2 and somehow froze in Myung-wol the Spy. He’ll definitely be more recognized as he played Park Seon-woo. All I can say is that damn, this guy is really good in acting. Furthermore he’s damn hot. Well, later you don’t need flower boy as the main lead though Park Hyung-sik and Lee Yi-kyung in Nine are exceptional. They act well and good looking to. Haha!

            About the ending, I definitely love it. Here are my thoughts about the ending. What we see in 2012/2013 timeline are just possible outcomes whereby the 1992/1993 timeline is what really happened. That’s why the 2012/2013 kept changing accordingly.

 
 I think 2013 Seon-woo’s last message to Han conclude it all.

“April 24, 2013. Fifth message. I think I know why I can't go back. The incense stick was me. I said that the incense stick was mocking my fate. But it was I who was the incense stick. The moment I lit up the incense stick, I became the Fruit of Knowledge for others' lives. It was an opportunity and a curse at the same time. It could be a salvation or destruction. It was me. I used all the incense sticks. My role is over. I won't ever be able to go back. I finally realized that now. Knowing that, it's not even that depressing that I'm dying. I won't even feel guilty for playing God. It was never in my power but His. So I'm even thankful. For the people who have kept their roles in my life. For those who chose that fate. For being a true friend to me every time for every life. To you, I'm thankful. And...and Min-young.” –Park Seon-woo

            The insence stick is just a tool for him to fix everything back right to it’s original course.That’s why when he used up all the nine sticks, his role ( 2013 Seon-woo) is finally over. It’s just the most realistic way I can understand Nine.

“You want me to tell her to live half-life like me? My life has gotten harder by about 50 times because of the sticks. I don’t want this for her. I don’t want her to go through this.”-Park Seon-woo 

 How can a person live with 2 different alternate memories? It’s impossible and challenging the sanity. So the only way to make it acceptable…when 2013 Seon-woo died at 24/4/13,  all the 2013 timeline vanished since that timeline served the purpose for 2013 Seon-woo to fix things to its rightful course. It’s actually beyond his power. Then all the chaos 2013 Seon-woo cause to the universe was stopped and it all vanished. And when 1993 Seon-woo grow up, he doesn’t need the incense stick anymore. Happy then?
 
But wait, what about the ending…we see Seon-woo saves Jug-woo in the blizzard? 

What’s up ? I have 3 opinions regarding this, here we go:

            1 ) Jung-woo still want to fix the time when he accidentally kill his father, therefore he went to Himalaya to redeem the sticks. Seon-woo knows about it and follow him to Himalaya. He saves Jung-woo in the blizzard and says that it’s okay not to light up the incense stick. Everything’s gonna be okay. (But he went to Himalaya to see Min-young, right?)

            2) Somehow, Seon-woo stayed alive, live happily and at the age of 38+20 =58, somehow can travel back to the first 2012/13 timeline whereby he saved Jung-woo from the blizzard. Seon-woo looks quite old in that scene. Am I right? Furthermore, he said to Jung-woo, “It’s been long time, hyeong.”As if they hadn’t met for a very very long time. (Though I think this is the worst possible!)

            3 )It’s just the writer want to give us menboong( mental breakdown)  state. Perhaps the scene was put there just to visualize that Jung-woo isn’t die on snow, and Seon-woo came from the future( 20 years later) to save him. And that’s what really happens actually. 38 y/o Seon-woo really come from the future to save Jung-woo when Jung-woo was at his early 20s. 

            I think the 3^rd option is the option that I think the best conclusion that comes out from my mind providing that the Seon-woo who got stuck in 1993 really vanished after that. Hee…I don’t know. It’s just the most realistic thought that I could think of. 

            If QIHM is about loves that transcends time, Nine is about lesson when you tried to mess with time, but whatever it’s you can’t deny biggest power of His. It’s about life and appreciating the time that you have with you right now. It’s the drama when the leading man and leading lady is not the real focus but the outcomes ….It emphasized that the future (1993…2012/13…or far beyond that) is uncertain depending on what action has been done in 1992/93. This universe has its own law. The uncertainties are what keeping the life ahead and valued our time, now. That’s why grown-up Seon-woo decided to follow what his heart say, and do not worry about the future. Instead, live your life happily and let’s go along with that journey. 

 “December 4, 2012. My first message to myself. I don't know if it's fortunate or unfortunate that your will didn't work. Joo Min Young loved me regardless. I can no longer live without not caring about the future. Perhaps this is what happened. Because you left a strong impression to Min-young when she was young. She fell in love with me at the first sight. I could have become a reporter because of the connection you made for me in the past. If that's true, then I can save you. I can prevent Min-young from being unhappy because of me. But that's not true. What would you have done right now?I would keep it simple right now. I will just believe what I want to believe. And I will just love the girl that I love.” -Park Seon-woo

            When you throw a stone into the lake, it causes water to ripple, but you don’t know how far it’ll go as well as the amplitude of the wave. Ouch, I wished I had done well in physics to be able to understand this.  2012/13 Seon-woo can be able in the same continuum with his in 1992/93 at most only for 30 minutes. It’s the rule that he need to adhere to. But when everything falls to the right place, it just had to stop. I can accept the fact that 2012/12 died to give way to 1992/93 lead his life. Whatever it is, they’re a same person. Show, why you’re so good? 

Whatever it is, appreciate the time you has now. There’s no point looking at the past or worrying about future, regretted but do nothing to fix. The best time to fix it is now. Yeah, you might not know how much and how far the ripple would be, but bear in mind those good deeds will set you free. Throw away the guilt and accept the punishment, it will release the burden. Hurmm, ottoke?

“Believe in fantasy you want to believe. Love the girl you want to love.”

Perhaps this time, Yoon Shia is thinking about that Ajhussi huh? (well, without the teddy bear)

In conclusion, show, you’re just a drama. Being drawn in fantasy is somewhat really an awesome ride to think outside the box. I had to think critically to figure out, maybe we need a timeline chart or something, to understand it better. By the way it’s just a drama, and my massive random thoughts were scattered together in this lengthy entry. Others might have different opinions. What are Nine  to you? Do you like it? Nine, I will always love you.

To put everything in one entry about how much I love Nine is just impossible. Also with the fact that I couldn’t update this tiny blog as frequent as I used to since I’m officially in my final year now. I’m hoping hope to keep the strength to overcome the wax and wane, then learn more through this human journey. Till then, best wishes everyone. Take care and anyeong!