[SPOILER ALERT]

It’s becoming more and more immediate, this need to see a psychiatrist, in the same way that it’s immediate for Oh Soo to make Oh Young believe he loves her despite the con, and for the both of them to keep on living despite the clock ticking on their lives (her tumor, his creditors). Never has a drama made me doubt my values and wonder if I am warped myself. I’m talking about THAT WINTER THE WIND BLOWS, but what else?

At the heart of the “eekiness” is the “fauxcest”. It’s fake incest since Oh S0o is not Oh Young’s long-lost brother, he’s a conman pretending to be the dead brother who was his friend and she’s blind to see for herself, you see. And she believes that he is her brother and that’s where most of the uncomfortable scenes come from. Except… I don’t really have a problem with that because only Oh Young thinks that Oh Soo is her real brother. I know they’re not siblings so what’s wrong with it?

Here are some of the scenes that have been making people squirm and reaching for the phone to call their shrinks:

– The cotton candy scene that became a hit not only among the fans watching this series but also celebrities including Dara (2NE1) and BoA. Yes, cotton candy is the new sharing-a-drink or eating-spaghetti together.

 

 

–  Sleeping together, um, literally. Young is an insomniac, she has a hard time sleeping so when her brother returned home, she insisted that they sleep together because it makes her sleep more easily.

 

 

– The “flirting“, which is understandably from Soo’s side.

 

 

– The “you’re cute” PDA, like a boyfriend telling his girlfriend how adorable she is.

 

 

– The my-‘boyfriend’-is-awesome kiss, except that it’s an innocent kiss by Young for her brother after he told her that more than anything else, what he really wants to show to her is how beautiful she is (well, she’s Song Hye-kyo, Jo In-sung).

 

 

– The good night kiss during a misunderstanding that I was viewing as a lovers’ quarrel.  If there’s proof that I need to see a shrink, this has to be it.

Soo: “So this is what having a younger sister is like. If you’re my girl, I would have asked you already what’s the problem and scolded you. But since you’re not, that style won’t work.” (So he kisses her instead?)

 

 

– Another PDA kiss on the head. Dramas should take a page or two from WINTER WIND on doing skinship. Sometimes it does not have to be literal.

Soo: “You waited for me all night? I’m not used to anyone waiting for me. I should have called you to say I’d be late. I didn’t know you’d be waiting for me.

 

 

– The while-you’re-sleeping kiss.

 

 

Except that Young was not really sleeping and this started her “sexual awakening”, looking at oppa for the first time as a man and sending her feelings in a confused tizzy.

That scene in the car the morning after when she was trying to sort out her feelings exemplifies Writer Noh’s style. She does not let her characters throw it out there at once with confrontation scene one after another. She skins the layers one by one, and to some viewers used to dramatic highlights, this can be confounding.

Young: “By any chance, do you have a lover?”

Soo: “Why do you keep talking about girlfriends since this morning? I don’t have any. Just you.”

Young: “Really, you don’t have a girlfriend?”

Soo: “I did, but not now.”

Young: “Is she pretty?”

Soo: “What’s wrong with you? I told you I don’t have one.”

Young: “What about your ex? Was she pretty?”

Soo: “Hmm, yeah, she was all right.”

Young: “She was probably prettier than me?”

Soo: “Uh, uh, definitely!… Hey, are you mad?”

Young: “No.”

Soo: “You seem mad, no? Is it jealousy?”

Young: “Why would there be jealousy between siblings? You’re my brother, you’re not a man to me.”

Soo: “Right. Jealousy between brother and sister would be weird… But why are you meeting a community welfare student in Cheongdam-dong?”

Young: “We do that sometimes. Just that we haven’t been able to since you’ve been here.”

Soo: “Should I pick you up after I meet Dr Jo?”

Young: “Director Lee arranged to pick me up. We’ll go to the company together.”

Soo: “Ah, there can be jealousy between brother and sister… I suddenly feel crappy.”

Young: “Right? I’m not the weird one, right?”

Soo: “So you were jealous earlier!”

Young: “What do you mean jealous, we’re siblings.”

Soo: “After you meet Lee Myung-ho, go home right away. If you’re late, you’d be in big trouble, okay?”

Well, Young, count me in as the weird one for watching this scene as if watching two people in the courtship stage. She’s probing him on his past, he’s trying to deduce if she has feelings for him. Building up the sexual tension without spelling it out. Take note, drama scripwriters.

– Holding hands.

 

 

Never has mere holding hands been so fraught with emotions. He can’t stop himself from manifesting his feelings for her through actions, she can’t stop feeling uncomfortable about it because she is starting to see him, not as her oppa, but as a man.

– The forced kiss.

 

 

This was the cliffhanger in episode 13 that has people debating whether it was wrong or not.

Here’s the context: Everyone around them already know who Soo really is. Except Young that is and she has a hard time dealing with the betrayal because he is the first one she has given her trust to only to realize that she’s been had. She asks him to travel together to a chalet where she has memories with “their” parents and all throughout, she tests his memory. He is no longer pretending to be who he’s not but he goes along anyway because he promised to stay with her until she gets her surgery.

So all throughout the series of scenes at the chalet, both of them pretend to not know who he really is until it comes to the big reveal, which is not really a big reveal anymore. Young, we’ve known this since episode 1. And I feel sorry for her because aside from the feeling of betrayal, she’s also dealing with her growing attraction for this man who does not deserve her. On the other hand, he’s agonized because while he set out to con her, he fell in love with her along the way (otherwise, there won’t be any drama) and for a long time now, he has abandoned the con as a way to pay his debts and it has all been about her, saving Young so that she will live, nevermind if he does not live to receive her love.

So how does one make up for that and say sorry? He owns up to the con saying he knows he was hurting her. And that simple admission only hurt her more because she was hoping that he’d explain his motivations more to her, like how he was abandoned like trash when he was a baby; perhaps if he did that, she would have understood. But he did not and that’s what upsets her especially since he knows that she was starting to love him more than a brother. He lets her talk and express her heartache until she starts to walk away from him and he grabs her. She shakes him off, he grabs her again and she slaps him. But he does not give up and instead, gripped her in a rough hug not letting her go. And this is when he forced-kiss her. Twice. Until the next episode. Only three more episodes to go!

 

 

It’s very interesting to read the audience’s reaction to the cliffhanger in dramabeans’ recap of the episode. Both sides have their points. It was wrong for Soo to force himself on her. No means NO. Young was still dealing with her emotions and he should have let her; kissing her was not the answer nor the right thing to do in the situation especially since he’s wronged her big time. But on the other hand, Soo is a conman; he grew up on the streets and not raised as a gentleman. Granted since meeting Young, he found a reason to change his ways and live decently, he is still that boy who was abandoned under a tree and felt the world was harsh and unfair. You don’t expect him to be gallant in a situation like this when he’s already lost the money (he doesn’t care about that anymore, by the way) and is about to lose the woman he loves. It was his desperate way of holding on to her and making her listen. She’s blind, she can’t see the pain and the agony coursing through his face. He has to show her by action.

This is not saying the kiss was right. Under the circumstances, it’s what he had to do although it still does not make it all right. But I understand the motivation of the character and is looking forward to find out what will happen next.

If for anything, it’s not every day you have a drama where people debate right and wrong. Most of the time, it’s just flailing over how good-looking the leads are (raises hand, for this drama too, by the way) or how trashy the plot is. WINTER WIND may be makjang to begin with but the characters have people talking and dissecting them. And for one thing, that’s good because we get something out of the drama, and not only momentary entertainment. It reminds us of our values and in this case, or in my case, the lack of it… because going back to the fauxcest, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Soo and Young forever!

Anyone knows a shrink? And some GREEN tea, please.

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