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From Wikipedia: “Our Blues” is a 2022 South Korean television series starring Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Cha Seung-won, Lee Jung-eun, Uhm Jung-hwa, Han Ji-min, and Kim Woo-bin. The series revolves around the sweet and bitter life of people standing at the end, climax, or beginning of life, and depicts their stories in an omnibus format against the backdrop of Jeju Island. It is the eleventh highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history.
It premiered on tvN on April 9, 2022, and aired every Saturday and Sunday at 21:10 (KST) with 20 episodes. It is available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.
“Our Blues” was written by Noh Hee-kyung; her credits include “The Most Beautiful Goodbye in the World” (1996), which won the Grand Prize for TV (”Daesang”) and Best TV Drama at the 1997 Baeksang Arts Awards. It was directed by Kim Kyu-tae whose credits include “That Winter, the Wind Blows” (2013), “It’s Okay, That’s Love” (2014) and “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo” (2016).
“Our Blues” ranked first in its time slot all throughout its broadcast, with an average of 2.35 million viewers per episode. Its final episode drew 3.42 million viewers.
“Our Blues” uses the omnibus drama format, which isn’t commonly used in K-dramas; please read “Our Blues Writer Noh Hee-Kyung on Creating Omnibus Format K-Drama: Got Sick and Tired of Only Seeing Male, Female Leads.”
How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers
1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.
2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode or set of episodes without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.
3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 4, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.
4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 20 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.
Episodes 1-3: Han-su and Eun-hui
Jeju Island ...
Eun-hui is the owner of a thriving fish stall in the market. Assisting her is Jeong-jun, who’s the captain of a boat that serves a group of “haenyeo,” the female divers of Jeju Island.
Among the divers in Jeong-jun’s boat is Yeong-ok, who’s disliked by the older members of her group because she likes flirting with men; the group’s head is Hyeon Chun-hui. Jeong-jun asks his assistant if he should date Yeong-ok, but his assistant says that he should do so only for fun.
Han-su is a branch manager in SS Bank, who’s about to be transferred from Seoul to his hometown in Jeju. His wife and daughter have been in the USA for seven years for his daughter’s training and career in golf. He’s outwardly successful, but his relationship with his wife is on the rocks because of the heavy financial cost of his daughter’s training and career. His wife wants to return to Korea, but he refuses, promising to find the $15,000.00 needed to pay for his daughter’s monthly training with a new coach.
While cleaning up his new apartment in Jeju Island, Han-su sees a vehicular accident that involves Eun-hui and two of his former schoolmates (In-gwon and Ho-sik), who both work in the market.
At his new branch, Han-su finds out from his administrative assistant (a former classmate) that Eun-hui is one of the bank’s VVIPs, with 1.29 billion won in cash. At the market where his assistant introduces him to the bank’s clients, he learns that Eun-hui owns several stalls from which she earns 15 million won in rent monthly; she also owns the coffee shop building in front of his apartment. His assistant tells him that during their reunion that Friday, he should encourage her to invest some of her money in their bank’s investment products.
At his apartment unit that night, Han-su composes but erases a text message to his sister asking to borrow money for his daughter’s golf training. Later, he gets a text message from Eun-hui, asking him if he’ll attend their reunion and teasing him that she can’t wait to meet again her first love.
Flashback ... Dong-seok is one of Han-su and Eun-hui’s schoolmates. He goes with Seon-a at night to the beach where they have a lot of fun, but they argue on their way back to Seoul.
Present times ... Dong-seok is an itinerant vendor of miscellaneous items; through the ferry, he takes his mini-truck to the islands to sell his wares.
At the reunion, Han-su meets Eun-hui and their classmates. After their noisy but happy reunion, a fight breaks out in the parking lot.
After his wife and daughter say that they want to give up golf and return to Korea, Han-su becomes adamant that he will find the 200 million won [about $155,000] to allow them to stay in the USA for a year. Later, he invites Eun-hui to visit Mokpo alone with him. Eun-hui hesitates because he’s a married man; she asks him if he doesn’t think of her as a woman.
Episode 4: Yeong-ok and Jeong-jun
| Eps. 1-3 recap:
Han-su’s classmate and assistant at the bank finds out that he has deep problems with money and his wife. On the other hand, In-gwon finds out from Han-su’s sister that he has sold his house and has tried to borrow 200 million won from her. From Yeong-ok’s restaurant, In-gwon, Ho-sik, and the bank assistant call up Eun-hui; they also send her pictures of Han-su and his wife. Eun-hui confronts Han-su about why he lied to her about divorcing his wife; she says that if he thought of her as a friend, he should have borrowed outright the money from her. The next day, Eun-hui wires the 200 million won to Han-su’s account, but Han-su wires it back to her. After resigning from SS Bank, Han-su meets his family at the airport. |
Seon-a rises from her bed wearily as her husband prepares to go to work and their young son has to go to preschool.
After a night of dancing and drinking, Yeong-ok and a boat captain who has been hanging out in her restaurant argue about spending the night together. Jeong-jun arrives and tries to persuade the boat captain to leave.
On the way to work, Eun-hui sees on the bus stop Yeong-ju (daughter of Ho-sik) and Jung-hyeon (son of In-gwon). Being the number one in academics, Yeong-ju is the school president, while Jung-hyeon is the school vice-president. Later, while Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon are in a convenience store, their fathers arrive and, as usual, get into an argument and challenge each other.
While waiting at their pick-up spot, the divers gossip about Yeong-ok and how she has lied to them about her parents. One diver says that she has a husband and child in the mainland and wants her kicked out of their group.
At their dive spot, panic sets in when all the other divers return to the boat except for Yeong-ok.
Episode 5: Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon
| Ep. 4 recap:
Seon-a suffers from clinical depression. Yeong-ju tells Jung-hyeon that her period is overdue; at the convenience store, they try but fail to buy a home pregnancy test kit. Yeong-ok tries to apologize to Chun-hui, head of her divers’ group, but Chun-hui scolds her for lying to everyone about her parents and what her background is. Jeong-jun confesses his love for Yeong-ok, despite her warning that he will be hurt. |
While waiting for her doctor’s appointment, Dong-seok’s mother calls him up. But he curtly answers her question, telling her that she should just call her two other sons whom she adores.
Yeong-ju is sick and tired of her life in Jeju and dreams of going to Seoul once she reaches 20. At the market, while she’s buying some things from Dong-seok’s mother and Chun-hui, Eun-hui scolds her because of the way she’s dressed. As she’s leaving, Dong-seok arrives to talk to his mother about why she called.
Using the quick pregnancy test kits that Jung-hyeon gave her, Yeong-ju finds out that she’s pregnant. At school, Jung-hyeon gives her around 500,000 won and the gold ring from his mother so that she can get an abortion. While she goes to a pawnshop, Jung-hyeon buys abortion pills online.
Episode 6: Dong-seok and Seon-a 1
| Ep. 5 recap:
Dong-seok calls his mother "aunt," hating her for getting married to the father of the man he hates the most. The Ob-Gyn doctor tells Yeong-ju that she’s six weeks pregnant and that she needs parental consent for an abortion. Yeong-ju tells Eun-hui that she’s at the hospital because of her irregular periods; later on, Eun-hui tells Ho-sik that she saw Yeong-ju at the hospital. At another hospital, Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon hear the baby’s heartbeat during an ultrasound. Yeong-ju becomes hysterical. |
The bus that Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon are riding in has an accident along the highway. When the bus driver won’t stop the bus even as it gets filled up with smoke, Yeong-ju shouts out that she’s pregnant while Jung-hyeon shouts out that he’s the father. Later, as they’re standing on the road side under the rain, Eun-hui sees them.
The Child and Family investigator of the divorce court interviews Seon-a and her ex-husband before submitting her report to the court on who should have custody of their son. After the investigator says that she’ll inform her of the court hearing date, Seon-a decides to travel to Jeju.
On the ferry, Dong-seok sees Seon-a but ignores her; later on however, he grudgingly helps her after her car breaks down along the road. Afterwards, as he drives away in his truck, he remembers how he and Seon-a met in Seoul.
Episodes 7-8: In-gwon and Ho-sik
| Ep. 6 recap:
Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon decide to keep the baby. On the bus, one of Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon’s classmates hears the commotion about Yeong-ju being pregnant. Later on, that classmate confronts Yeong-ju in school about her pregnancy. Seon-a becomes depressed after the Child and Family investigator shows her the video of her son saying what he thinks of her and of his father. The investigator cautions her that what her son said will influence the judge’s decision. Flashback ... While working as a substitute driver in Seoul, Dong-seok met Seon-a; they first met as teenagers in Jeju. After they went to the beach on a whim, Seon-a rejected Dong-seok when he wanted them to be a couple. In the video, Seon-a’s son tells the investigator that his father is his friend, while his mother is sick and thus cannot play with him. Seon-a leaves Yeong-ok’s eatery when Dong-seok walks in. She walks towards the farthest end of the breakwater, hoping that Dong-seok would come after her. In the morning, as Yeong-ok’s group of divers are about to set off, they see Seon-a jump into the water. |
Dong-seok realizes that it’s Seon-a who jumped into the sea; he calls up 911 but startles the onlookers by blaring out the music from his truck and creating a fuss. After Seon-a is brought up by Yeong-ok and the other divers to their boat, an ambulance rushes her to the hospital.
Yeong-ju tells Jung-hyeon about her Plan A and Plan B in telling their parents about her pregnancy. With their schoolmates wondering about her and Eun-hui asking if she’s pregnant, she tells Jung-hyeon that they’ve got to hurry in telling their parents about the situation.
Just as Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon feared, Jung-hyeon’s father beats him up; Yeong-ju’s father, meanwhile, becomes distraught and insists on bringing her immediately to the hospital to confirm if she’s really pregnant.
At school, students express their support for Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon. But the school administrators want them to transfer to other schools. Yeong-ju pleads with the guidance counselor that she wants to remain in school after giving birth so that she can attend Seoul National University’s medical school; on the other hand, Jung-hyeon says that he’s immediately dropping out of school to find a part-time job.
Yeong-ju hangs up when her father calls her and insists on taking her to the hospital to have an abortion. Later, after In-gwon gives him money to pay for Yeong-ju’s abortion, Ho-sik becomes enraged and attacks In-gwon in front of the people in the market.
Because of the fight between In-gwon and Ho-sik, everyone in the market comes to know that Yeong-ju is pregnant and that Jung-hyeon is the baby’s father. Later on, when Ho-sik insists that she get an abortion, Yeong-ju packs up some of her things to leave the house. Ho-sik threatens to disown her.
Episodes 9-10: Dong-seok and Seon-a
| Eps. 7-8 recap:
From the hospital, Dong-seok takes Seon-a to a motel which has bars on its windows so that she won’t be able to jump off if she feels suicidal again. When he asks why she came to this low point in her life, she tells him about her divorce and losing her son. Flashback ... Ho-sik remembers the times when he and In-gwon were close and helped each other during tough times. He also remembers his turning point when he loses again in gambling and his wife abandons him. He begs In-gwon for money to buy food for Yeong-ju, but after being insulted, he throws away the money that In-gwon gave him. In-gwon forcibly brings Yeong-ju out of the motel to take her to the hospital for an abortion, but Jung-hyeon intervenes and takes Yeong-ju with him. Ho-sik catches up with In-gwon and beats him up on the street. In their jail cell, In-gwon asks Ho-sik why he hates him so much. Ho-sik replies by quoting his words about him being a "dirt poor loser" when he borrowed money to buy food for little Yeong-ju. Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon seek refuge in the house of Dong-seok’s mother. Flashback ... In-gwon’s mother died in an accident because of him. Before abandoning him, his wife said that his mother hoped that he would not become an embarrassment to his son. After In-gwon falls down the stairs of the apartment, Ho-sik rushes him to the hospital. Waking up in the hospital, In-gwon finds out from Eun-hui and the doctor that he has acute diabetes. At the school, Ho-sik tells Yeong-ju that he will get a place for her and Jung-hyeon to live in. But he refuses to reconcile with her. Later on, he watches from afar as In-gwon and Jung-hyeon cry. |
Upon reaching his apartment unit, In-gwon sees Ho-sik waiting for him at the stairs. He tells Ho-sik to leave, but Ho-sik shoves him aside and enters his unit.
While at the laundromat, Dong-seok sees the Internet station where as an 18-year old high school student, he spent time with Seon-a, a middle school student. Later, after finding out that Seon-a hasn’t returned to the motel for the past two days, he goes looking for her. He finds her at the abandoned house where she and her father used to live in. But he drives away after getting angry over the memory of Seon-a betraying him during their teenaged years.
Jeong-jun agrees to take a trip to an island with Yeong-ok; later on, however, Chun-hui tells him that the divers are planning to kick Yeong-ok out of their group. As they pick up Dong-seok’s mother, Chun-hui notices that she has thrown up again. When Dong-seok’s mother tells her not to mind it, she says, “It will be all over soon.”
Several days before the custody hearing, Seon-a goes back to Seoul. Her ex-husband allows her to take their son out for his birthday but imposes an 8:30 PM deadline. When she brings their son back at nearly 11 PM, an argument breaks out between them.
Episode 11: Dong-seok and Seon-a, Yeong-ok and Jeong-jun
| Eps. 9-10 recap:
Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon return to their homes after Ho-sik and In-gwon set aside their differences. Seon-a clarifies to Dong-seok that she did not have sex with his best friend when they were teenagers. She also narrates how her depression began when her father committed suicide by driving his truck into the sea. Seon-a rents the house that she and her father used to live in and fixes it up, with Dong-seok’s help. She plans to live there with her son, but Dong-seok cautions her that she could lose the custody battle on court. The Seoul Family Court rules in favor of Seon-a’s ex-husband, and thus, she loses custody of her son. |
Dong-seok returns to Jeju as Seon-a decides to stay in Seoul to be near her son and to start a new job with an interior design company. A few days later, she spends some time in a restaurant with her son, but her ex-husband watches them from a distance.
At the market, Ho-sik and In-gwon argue about getting a place where Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon can live by themselves; In-gwon, however, says that he doesn’t have the money for it. As they’re arguing, Dong-seok arrives and proposes a solution for them. A little later, his mother and Chun-hui also arrive; Chun-hui asks him who the woman is for whom he’s refurbishing a house.
The divers decide to give Yeong-ok the silent treatment so that she will quit the group on her own; later, Yeong-ok’s friend warns that if she’s ever reckless again by greedily harvesting abalones, she will side with the other divers.
Episodes 12-13: Mi-ran and Eun-hui
| Ep. 11 recap:
Seon-a tells her ex-husband that she will file an appeal only when her son thinks that she has become a strong person or when he needs her and not the other way around. Her ex-husband says when that time comes, he will let her raise their son. When Dong-seok makes a scene at the market by berating his mother, Chun-hui blurts out that his mother is going to die soon. Later, she and Dong-seok’s mother lie and assure Eun-hui that there’s nothing wrong physically, except for being old. As they spend the night together on the island, Yeong-ok tells Jeong-jun that her parents were painters; she adds that when “Disaster” and she were born, her parents burned up all their paintings. Later on, as Yeong-ok is in the bathroom, Jeong-jun answers an incoming call on her cellphone. |
The divers rescue Yeong-ok when she gets caught in a submerged net. Afterwards, with the divers enraged that some of them could have died, Chun-hui orders Yeong-ok never to come back; she says, “What good are apologies if you’re dead?”
Mi-ran tells her clients, colleagues, and ex-husband that she’s selling off her massage clinic so that she can be with her daughter during her graduation in Europe and that she and her daughter will be going on vacation in Europe and the Americas for the next several months. Instead, she goes to Jeju.
Eun-hui picks Mi-ran up at the airport. Later, as In-gwon takes Mi-ran to the house of Dong-seok’s mother and Chun-hui, Eun-hui thinks that Mi-ran is so selfish for not attending her daughter’s graduation.
While repairing the roof of the house of Dong-seok’s mother and Chun-hui, In-gwon and Ho-sik argue about Mi-ran; Ho-sik cautions In-gwon not to get involved if he doesn’t know what Mi-ran did to Eun-hui.
After Mi-ran abruptly cancels their dinner plans, Eun-hui writes in her journal how everyone becomes happy when they meet Mi-ran; she wonders if she herself is happy to see her or if she really considers Mi-ran as her best friend. As she goes to pick up Mi-ran that night, she remembers how Mi-ran saved her during their high school days.
At their high school reunion, one of Eun-hui and Mi-ran’s classmates becomes jealous and warns Mi-ran not to flirt with her husband; she also picks a fight with Eun-hui, saying that Mi-ran has always been the princess and Eun-hui has always been the maid.
Episodes 14-15: Yeong-ok, Jeong-jun, and Yeong-hui
| Eps. 12-13 recap:
Yeong-ok confesses to Chun-hui about what her life is really about; later on, Hye-ja (the ornery diver) changes her attitude towards Yeong-ok. Mi-ran goes to Jeju when her daughter decides to go on the Europe vacation only with her father, stepmother, and boyfriend. In high school, Ho-sil witnessed how Mi-ran humiliated Eun-hui during one lunchtime break. Later, after her third divorce, Mi-ran humiliated Eun-hui before her friends in Seoul, telling them that Eun-hui was at her beck and call because she was a doormat. While cleaning up the house, Miran finds Eun-hui’s secret journals and finds out about Eun-hui’s resentments against her. During a break in their high school reunion, Myeong-bo (the SS Bank Jeju branch officer) reveals to Mi-ran that he has endured physical abuse from his wife, who suffers from "delusional jealousy." When the wife sees Mi-ran comforting Myeong-bo, she attacks her. Eun-hui sees them fighting and tries to stop them, but Mi-ran slaps her. Ho-sik tells Mi-ran about that incident in high school when she humiliated Eun-hui over sausages. At home, Mi-ran and Eun-hui argue when Eun-hui refuses to believe that Myeong-bo is being physically abused by his wife. When Mi-ran reveals that she has read her journal and the hurtful things, Eun-hui refuses to say why she has resented her all these years. After telling Eun-hui that they should abandon their long, meaningless friendship, Mi-ran leaves for Seoul. |
Bothered by Mi-ran’s accusation that she is disloyal, Eun-hui goes to Seoul to confront her.
The person who has been calling Yeong-ok is her twin sister, Yeong-hui, who is sickly and has Down Syndrome; she works odd jobs under supervision by an institutional caretaker. Because of the scheduled renovation of the institution’s facility, the caretaker tells Yeong-ok that Yeong-hui will be coming to Jeju and stay with her for a week. She also assures Yeong-ok that her sister is no longer schizophrenic and can take the subway by herself.
While trying to contact her sister to dissuade her from coming to Jeju, Yeong-ok gets a video message from Jeong-jun; he plans to buy a two-bedroom apartment for them and wants her to meet his parents. The next day, she sends him a text message saying that she’s not planning to get married and wants things to return between them as boat captain and diver.
When Jeong-jun becomes adamant that they should talk things over, Yeong-ok tells him to follow her to the airport. On the way, she remembers how her parents and she herself have been burdened with taking care of Yeong-hui.
At the airport parking lot, Jeong-jun becomes shocked when he meets Yeong-hui.
Episodes 16-17: Chun-hui and Eun-gi
| Eps. 14-15 recap:
Despite Yeong-ok’s warning, Jeong-jun tries to befriend Yeong-hui. He, Eun-hui, and Dal-i find out how difficult dealing with Yeong-hui can be when she drinks several bottles of beer and becomes ornery, suddenly remembering how Yeong-ok abandoned her in the subway when they were children. At a restaurant, Yeong-hui becomes irritated with a young boy who keeps staring at her and making faces at her; meanwhile, Yeong-ok gets into argument with the boy’s mother who kept referring to Yeong-hui as “disabled.” The night before Yeong-hui is set to return to Seoul, Jeong-jun finds out that, despite not having any kind of training, she has great talent in drawing. After taking her to the airport, he brings Yeong-ok to his bus; there, Yeong-ok breaks down in tears as she sees all the drawings that Yeong-hui did of her throughout the years. |
At an open field, Eun-hui sees Dong-seok’s mother. Ok-dong, burning the clothes and pictures of her children. When she tries to stop her, she sees some blood on her mouth.
Chun-hui’s son, Man-su, falls into a coma because of a vehicular accident. To take care of him, his wife decides to resign from her regular job in Mokpo Mart and take only part-time jobs. She also takes their daughter Eun-gi to Jeju, but she tells Eun-gi not to tell her grandmother about what happened to her father so that she wouldn’t be shocked by what happened.
Eun-gi becomes a handful for Chun-hui to take care of. At the market, Chun-hui also gets into a quarrel with another vendor who says that mothers today don’t have any qualms about abandoning their children because of their extramarital affairs. After Dong-seok’s mother raises her voice and orders her to leave to avoid escalating the quarrel, Chun-hui gets out of the market and asks Dong-seok to take care of Eun-gi.
After Eun-gi fights with another young girl on the beach, Dong-seok’s mother urges Chun-hui to call up her daughter-in-law. Chun-hui uses her phone and Eun-gi’s phone to call up her daughter-in-law but fails to contact her. Meanwhile, in Mokpo, doctors rush to try and revive Man-su.
Episodes 18-19: Ok-dong and Dong-seok
| Eps. 16-17 recap:
Dong-seok explodes in anger when his mother, Ok-dong, asks him to take her to Mokpo for her 2nd husband’s death anniversary. Dong-seok’s mother overhears Eun-gi’s conversation with the girl she fought with about her father being in the hospital. Finding out about it, Chun-hui goes to to Mokpo to see her son Man-su in the hospital. Before going back to Jeju, she tells her daughter-in-law to let Man-su die peacefully instead of letting him go on hooked to a ventilator. Eun-hui and Jung-hyeon gather all the boats and captains that they can muster so that Eun-gi can see from the highland the “100 moons” that her father said will grant her wishes and prayers. |
In Seoul, Dong-seok buys some wares for his truck; he also wants to surprise Seon-a. But after he has prepared his clothes and is about to go to sleep, Eun-hui calls him up to ask him to take his mother to Mokpo; she reveals that his mother is terminally ill with cancer. He replies coldly that he’ll just deal with any regret after his mother dies. Later, his mood is further soured when he sees Seon-a happily meeting her son and her ex-husband.
In Yeong-ok’s bar, Eun-hui, In-gwon, and Ho-sik try to either convince or force Dong-seok to reconcile with his mother before she dies. But Dong-seok says that they can never understand how hurt he was when his mother remarried barely a month after his father died. He also says that he has never gotten married because he’s afraid that the woman he marries will turn out to be just like his mother.
Dong-seok tells Seon-a why he started calling his mother “aunt” after she remarried. He also tells her that he couldn’t understand how his mother refused to do anything even while his stepbrothers were beating him up. Seon-a recalls how she regrets not having been able to confront her father about why he took his own life in her presence; she urges Dong-seok to confront his mother about all his hurts and his questions before it’s too late.
Jung-hyeon, In-gwon, and Ho-sik rush to the hospital after learning that Yeong-ju has been taken there in an emergency.
Jeong-jun finally convinces Yeong-ok to meet his parents, but Yeong-ok says that she’ll just give his parents “three strikes” before she gives up and leaves.
Episode 20, Finale (with spoilers)
| Eps. 18-19 recap:
Dong-seok tells Seon-a that his mother ordered him to call her “aunt” after she remarried and that she slapped him repeatedly. Taking Seon-a’s advice, Dong-seok shocks everyone in In-gwon’s eatery by offering to accompany his mother to Mokpo. Dong-seok and his mother drop off Chun-hui at the Mokpo hospital facility to visit Man-su, Eun-gi, and her daughter-in-law. Before leaving, Dong-seok’s mother gives Chun-hui some money for Man-su’s hospital expenses. After the memorial service, Dong-seok jeers at his stepbrother for losing all of his father’s wealth (boats and land) in a failed business. When his stepbrother accuses him of causing his stepfather’s death by stealing jewelry from him, his mother explodes in anger, screaming that he didn’t deserve all the beating that he got. At the lodging inn, when Dong-seok asks his mother why she hasn’t apologized for keeping silent when he was being beaten up by his stepbrothers, she replies, “Why should I apologize to you?” Dong-seok’s mother wants to visit her hometown in Mokpo, but it already had been turned into a reservoir. |
Dong-seok learns about how difficult his mother’s early life was and how ashamed she was about not being able to protect him from his stepbrothers. Later, despite the doctor’s orders, they take the ferry back to Jeju; along the way, he shows her a picture of Yeong-ju and
Jung-hyeon’s baby and teaches her how to write the names of family members, Jeju, and the sea.
Dong-seok brings his mother up to Mount Halla. As they arrive halfway up the mountain, Dong-seok agrees to take his mother to the lake, which is four hours away. But with his mother’s condition, he decides to go to the lake alone and take a video for her. Later, he brings her to the house that he’s been renovating; they find Seon-a and her son there.
The next day, Dong-seok’s mother dies.
One month later ... Han-su and Mi-ran return to Jeju for the Athletic Meet; also attending the meet are Yeong-hui and Eun-gi. When Seon-a arrives, Chun-hui, Eun-hui, Yeong-ok, and the others tease Dong-seok about her; they also give her a uniform and ask her to join them in the games.
Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information
1. “Our Blues” uses the omnibus drama format, which isn’t commonly used in K-dramas.
From “Our Blues Writer Noh Hee-Kyung on Creating Omnibus Format K-Drama: Got Sick and Tired of Only Seeing Male, Female Leads” (News18):
“An Omnibus style is something that I wanted to try on in a drama series for over 10 years. I kind of got sick and tired of just seeing a male lead and a female lead. We are all lead characters in each of our lives but why is it that everything just revolves around two people in a drama. and those questions have led me to choose an omnibus style.“
2. “Our Blues” is set in Jeju Island, South Korea’s largest island, covering an area of 707.8 sq miles, which is 1.83 percent of the total area of the country. It is also the most populous island in South Korea. It is located 82.8 km (51.4 mi) off the nearest point on the peninsula. Jeju is the only self-governing province in South Korea, meaning that the province is run by local inhabitants instead of politicians from the mainland. (Wikipedia)
3. During the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties, Jeju Island was a place of exile.
From “Jeju’s Remarkable History“ (Visit Jeju):
Since the Goryeo Dynasty, Jeju was used as an island to send exiles. The Yuan Dynasty, which subjugated Goryeo, exiled not only thieves and criminals but also members of royalty, administrators, and monks to Jeju Island after the conquest of the Sambyeolcho by using Jeju as their directly controlled site.
From “Jeju’s other culture: Exile“ (Jeju Weekly):
In “The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty” there are around 5,860 references to exile culture. 40 places of exile are mentioned in the Annals and the top five are all islands. Of these, Jeju Island ranks first.
There are pragmatic reasons for this: Jeju is farthest from the mainland and around 200 exiles were banished here, ranging from the literati to martial warriors to petty criminals. The culture which arose, influenced by both Jeju Islanders and the exiled, can be called Jeju’s exile culture.
4. Two of the drama’s main characters (Chun-hui and Yeong-ok) are depicted as “haenyeo” or Jeju’s traditional female divers.
From “Culture of Jeju Haenyeo (women divers)“: In Jeju Island, a community of women, some aged in their 80s, goes diving to gather shellfish for a living. The Jeju haenyeo (female divers) harvest up to seven hours a day, 90 days of the year holding their breath for every 10m dive. Beforehand, prayers are said for safety and an abundant catch. Transmission occurs in families, fishery cooperatives and The Haenyeo School. The traditional practice advances women’s status in the community, represents the island’s identity and promotes sustainability.
5. In Ep. 20, Dong-seok and his mother went up to Mount Halla; because of his mother’s frail condition, Dong-seok went by himself to Baengnokdam Lake.
6. In Eps. 1-3, the crisis revolves on Han-su’s struggle to support financially his wife and daughter, who are living in the USA to pursue his daughter’s training and career in golf.
From “Young Koreans storm the green“ (GlobalPost, May 2009):
Of the 143 players invited to attend the prestigious 2007 Rolex Tournament of Champions for under-18-year-old golfers, about 40 are Korean. Some were born in the States. Others moved as little children. After Se Ri Pak helped put Korea on the map by winning the 1998 United States Women’s Open, Korean women discovered a new path to success and an obsession became training daughters to become professional golfers.
“Golf sort of matches the Asian mindset,” with its emphasis on practice and repetition, insists David Leadbetter, the famed golf teacher who has traveled frequently to Asia and taught the Korean national team. “It requires not just pure physical exertion, but also a lot of mind control. It requires practice. Koreans train eight to 10 hours a day, with only one day off in two weeks. It is [a] game in which parents can get involved with, where parents must travel with kids. For the Asians, doctors, lawyers, pianist, dancer, you have to give it 110 percent from the word go.”
Lessons in photography from “Our Blues” with in-depth analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing
A. The distinguishing feature of this drama’s cinematography is its extensive use of rack focus or “focus pull.” I’ve said in my previous analyses that a K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesn’t have any rack focus shots. But “Our Blues” takes this up to an entirely new level; in each episode, whenever one character is in the foreground and another is in the background, there is usually a rack focus or focus pull.
A-1. Overview:
1. In a rack focus or focus pull, one element (for example, a character or an object) is in the background while another element is in the foreground. The background element is out of focus (blurred), and the foreground element is in focus. (Or vice-versa). Then, as the foreground element becomes out of focus, the background element becomes in focus. (Or vice-versa.)
2. Some examples of rack focus or “focus pull” in this drama:
Ep. 20: In this tender moment, Dong-seok holds his mother’s lifeless hand. The camera pedestals (moves parallel) up to show his mother out of focus in the background. As the camera then trucks (moves parallel) to the right, her face becomes in focus as her hand and Dong-seok’s hands become slightly out of focus.
Ep. 5: Yeong-ju’s classmate grabs her boobs and asks why they’re so big; Yeong-ju is in focus while her classmate (who’s a bit deeper in the background) is out of focus. The camera trucks (moves parallel) to the right as she strikes her classmate with a book; she becomes out of focus while her classmate becomes in focus. After her classmate teases her, the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the left; she becomes in focus again while her classmate becomes out of focus.
Ep. 5: Jung-hyeon picks up the golf ball that rolled away from Yeong-ju’s foot. As the camera pedestals (moves parallel) up, his hand and the golf ball are in focus while Yeong-ju is out of focus. Then his hand and the golf ball become out of focus as Yeong-ju becomes in focus.
Ep. 7 (triple rack focus): Inside the washer room, In-gwon confronts Ho-sik about what he plans to do with Yeong-ju’s pregnancy. Notice that it’s only Ho-sik’s reflection is in focus, with himself and In-gwon both out of focus. When he speaks about “bloodline,” he becomes iut of focus while In-gwon, walking towards him, becomes in focus. Then, he becomes in focus as In-gwon becomes out of focus. Then, (before In-gwon brings out a bundle of money to pay for Yeong-ju’s abortion), he becomes out of focus as In-gwon becomes in focus.
Ep. 18 (double rack focus): Dong-seok is confronted by Eun-hui, In-gwon, and Ho-sik about his refusal to accompany his mother to Mokpo. He’s in the foreground while Jeong-jun is in the background. He becomes in focus as Jeong-jun becomes out of focus. A few seconds later, as the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the right, he becomes out of focus as Jeong-jun becomes in focus again.
Ep. 12 (subtle rack focus): Mi-ran snuggles with Eun-hui as she and their friends have fun on the beach. On the other hand, Eun-hui thinks about how two-faced Mi-ran really is, describing her as a brat. Eun-hui (foreground) is out of focus while Mi-ran (background) is in focus. Then, Eun-hui becomes in focus while Mi-ran becomes out of focus.
A few seconds later, there’s a double rack focus. Eun-hui (foreground) becomes out of focus as Mi-ran (background) becomes in focus. About a second or two later, Eun-hui becomes in focus again as Mi-ran becomes out of focus again.
Ep. 13: Mi-ran tells Eun-hui that she’s abandoning their friendship and then walks out of the house to go the airport. Eun-hui holds back her tears as she takes a drink or two. The camera pans to the left as she stands up and proceeds to leave the house herself (presumably to go after Mi-ran). As she exits the frame, she becomes out of focus while the framed portrait of her and Mi-ran becomes in focus.
Ep. 6: Hye-ja warns Jeong-jun that Yeong-ok lies a lot and could possibly have a man on the mainland. She and Jeong-jun are in the foreground while Yeong-ok and Dal-i are in the background. As she leaves and Jeong-jun turns to look at Yeong-ok, he becomes out of focus while Yeong-ok becomes in focus.
Ep. 16 (subtle rack focus): Man-su, his wife Hae-seon, and Eun-gi spend some time bonding as they stare at the moon. Notice that at the start, Hae-seon is in focus while Man-su and Eun-gi are both out of focus. Then, Man-su becomes in focus with both Hae-seon and Eun-gi out of focus. Finally, with both Hae-seon and Man-su out of focus, Eun-gi becomes in focus.
Ep. 6: Seon-a stands perilously close to the end of the breakwater. As the camera trucks (moves paralell) to the left, the waves become out of focus while her right foot becomes slightly in focus. (I think the director decided to have her foot be slightly out of focus to depict or reinforce her fragile state of mind.)
Ep. 6: At the edge of the breakwater, Seon-a remembers what her son said to the Child and Family investigator. As she turns to look back, she’s in focus while her background is out of focus. The next shot is a flashback of her at night looking behind her; as she becomes out of focus, the background becomes in focus. In the next shot, we come back to the present, with a wide shot of Seon-a still looking behind her.
Ep. 5: Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon fight about what to do about her pregnancy. Yeong-ju (foreground) is in focus while Jung-hyeon (background) is out of focus. As she turns around, she becomes out of focus while Jung-hyeon becomes in focus.
Ep. 5: Yeong-ok and Jeong-jun are inside his bus. Yeong-ok (foreground) is in focus while Jeong-jun (background) is out of focus. Then, Yeong-ok becomes out of focus while Jeong-jun becomes in focus.
Ep. 7 (subtle rack focus): On a flashback, Ho-sik comes home to find out that his wife has abandoned him because of his addiction to gambling. The young Yeong-ju (foreground) is in focus with Ho-sik (background) is out of focus. The camera pans right and tilts upwards to show Ho-sik, who’s now in focus.
Ep. 6 (triple rack focus): Dong-seok sees Seon-a on the ferry to Jeju. He’s out of focus (frame right, foreground) while Seon-a is in focus (frame left, background). As he walks forward and around to the stairs, he becomes in focus while Seon-a becomes out of focus. As he walks down the stairs and disappears from the frame, Seon-a becomes in focus again.
Ep. 9: At the breakwater, Dong-seok (foreground, in focus) walks off as Seon-a (background, out of focus) screams out all her anger and frustrations. As Dong-seok walks out of the frame, he becomes out of focus while Seon-a becomes in focus.
Ep. 5 (Jung-hyeon buys some abortion pills online while Yeong-ju sells the gold ring in a pawshop): Jung-hyeon and the woman who delivered the abortion pills are both in focus. As the woman walks away, she becomes out of focus; in the background, Yeong-ju is also out of focus. When Yeong-ju is a few steps away from Jung-hyeon, she becomes in focus, and the camera moves back to track her. As she walks towards the bench, Jung-hyeon now becomes out of focus; the camera also moves to the right so that she becomes frame left while he becomes frame right. When he approaches Yeong-ju as she’s about to sit down, he becomes in focus.
(I couldn’t find the BTS video of this scene, and so I don’t know if the cinematographer and focus puller were riding a cart or something, or if there were rails involved. Another possible way this shot was carried out could have been through the use of a Steadicam, in which case there would be no rack focus or focus pull; the camera lens would be set at the biggest aperture possible for a shallow depth of field and pre-focused for a certain distance; the actors and the Steadicam operator would have had to practice their movements and take care to hit their marks.)
3. The person responsible for focusing the camera lens’s focusing ring during rack focus or focus pull shots is not the cinematographer but the “focus puller” aka “1st assistant camera.”
From “Three Must-Have Skills for Pulling Focus and How You Can Improve Them”:
“Pulling focus is hard. Really hard. It’s certainly no walk in the park. In fact, it’s one of the most stressful, pressure-filled, ridiculously tough tasks that you can shoulder on a set and the consequences are as simple as they are brutal: miss the focus, ruin the take.”
4. Example of a rack focus from Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 horror movie “The Host” starring Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona, and Go Ah-sung. It won several awards including Best Film at the Asian Film Awards and at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
“A great example of racking focus to focal points in the foreground, middle, and background. Rack focus is used to highlight where the director wants the audience to look at.”
A-2. Definitions, discussions, relevant resources on rack focus aka focus pull
(1) “The Different Types of Focus in Films and Videos” (Artist Blog)
(2) From “The Rack Focus: Creative Examples of Camera Movements & Angles” (Studio Binder)
What is rack focus?
A rack focus is the filmmaking technique of changing the focus of the lens during a continuous shot. When a shot “racks,” it moves the focal plane from one object in the frame to another. Also known as a "focus pull" or "pulling focus," the technique can include small or large changes of focus. The more shallow the depth of the field, the more noticeable the transition between focal planes.
Reasons to rack focus:
- To transition between scenes
- To add dramatic flourish to a shot
- To draw the eye to a specific detail
- To connect elements or characters
- To combine multiple shots into one
- To follow a character’s train of thought
- To reveal something hidden in the frame
From “What is a Focus Puller — Job Description and Duties Explained” (Studio Binder):
What is a focus puller?
A focus puller is responsible for maintaining the focus of a shot in progress. This can entail keeping a subject in focus for a shot’s duration or racking focus mid-shot. They are part of the camera team and also share the responsibilities of organizing, loading, and unloading gear. Their primary role though is assisting the camera operator and DP when necessary. The focus puller is also commonly called the 1st assistant camera or 1st AC for short.
What does a focus puller do?
- Responsible for focus
- Part of the camera team
- Works directly under the cinematographer
(3) From Wikipedia:
“Pulling focus” refers to the act of changing the lens’s focus distance setting in correspondence to a moving subject’s physical distance from the focal plane, or the changing distance between a stationary object and a moving camera. For example, if an actor moves from 8 m to 3 m away from the focal plane within a shot, the focus puller will change the distance setting on the lens during the take in precise relation to the changing position of the actor. Additionally, the focus puller may shift focus from one subject to another within the frame, as dictated by the specific requirements of the shot. This process is called “rack focusing”.
A focus puller or first assistant camera (1st AC) is a member of a film crew’s camera department whose primary responsibility is to maintain the camera lens’s optical focus on whatever subject or action is being filmed.
(4) From “How Rack Focus Can Make Any Filmmaker a Better Storyteller”: Pulling focus without cutting can feel intimate or engaging, almost like you are personally revealing something to the viewer. And so it’s become a valuable tool that most of your favorite directors have used to good effect over the years.
The article cites three ways a rack focus shot can be used as illustrated in some Hollywood movies.
“Pulling focus to show off a set: Young Victoria”
“Focus pulling as a storytelling technique: Casino Royale”
“Rack focus for establishing relationships”
(5) From “The Art of the Focus Pull”: Moviegoers see focus racks all the time. They probably don’t even notice most of them. That’s the idea. If you’re not looking for them, they can be hard to spot. But some rack focusing is so well done, so artful and occasionally dazzling, that it deserves to be singled out. This video essay collects these fantastic focal feats and educates on how they are done.
(6) “1st AC - Focus Pulling Techniques”
(7) “Filmmaking 101: What is a 1ST AC?”
(8) How much does a focus puller earn in a year? Studio Binder says anywhere from $70,000 to $250,000.
(9) “The Complete Guide to Follow Focus Systems”
(10) “Best wireless follow focus units for filmmakers in 2022”
(11) “How Technology Will Kill the Focus Puller” (Premium Beat)
(12) “How to Rack Focus Your Camera Lens - 4 Methods Showing the Basics”
B. This drama’s cinematography barely uses Dutch angle shots or short sided shots.
In my reddit discussion of the cinematography of “Kingdom S2,” I said: “Zombies don’t really scare me; what scares me the most is the way recent Korean dramas have seemingly gone berserk with their use of Dutch angles and short siding.” Thus, in my other analyses (Hotel Del Luna, True Beauty, The Tale of Nokdu, Flower of Evil, SKY Castle, etc), I posted numerous examples of Dutch angle shots and short sided shots from these dramas. “Hotel Del Luna,” for example, uses a Dutch angle shot roughly every 6.7 minutes.
“Our Blues” bucks this trend in K-dramas by using very few Dutch angle shots (with most of them almost unnoticeable) and very few short sided shots (I counted only around a dozen).
B-1. Dutch angle shots
Ep. 3: On the corridor before returning to Eun-hui’s hotel room, Han-su gets a video call from his wife and daughter. He’s shot with an almost unnoticeable Dutch angle.
Ep. 7: The morning after Yeong-ok and Jung-hyeon confess her pregnancy to their fathers, Ho-sik and In-gwon meet on the road; they glare at each other. I don’t know if the road markings indicate that it’s a curved road, but if they do, the director staged this scene perfectly so as to create the illusion of a Dutch angle shot.
Ep. 18: Yeong-ok suddenly experiences labor pains and has to be brought from her school to the hospital. Riding in the dinky service vehicle, In-gwon, Ho-sik, and Jung-hyeon rush to the hospital.
Ep. 14: Jeong-jun and Yeong-ok spend the night together in a bed-and-board. Notice that the signage is shot with a Dutch angle.
B-2: Short siding
Ep. 18 (from lead room, nose room, or looking space to short siding): Eun-hui, In-gwon, and Ho-sik try to either persuade or pressure Dong-seok to set aside his differences with his mother and accompany her to Mokpo. But Dong-seok spews out that they can never understand the depths of his anger and sense of betrayal when his mother remarried. Notice that at first, he has lead room, nose room, or looking space, but the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the left such that he becomes short sided.
Ep. 4: Inside Jeong-jun’s bus, Yeong-ok warns him that he’ll get hurt if he enters into a relationship with him. In the 1st and 2nd shots, Jeong-jun and Yeong-ok both have lead room, nose room, or looking space. When Yeong-ok takes a sip from her bottle of juice, she becomes short sided. In the next shot, Jeong-jun is now also short sided. The next shot is a wide shot of Jeong-jun and Yeong-ok. The next shot is an OTS (over the shoulder shot) of Yeong-ok, who has lead room, nose room, or looking space. But she becomes short sided when she stands up and moves to kiss Jeong-jun.
Ep. 7: Yeong-ju and Jung-hyeon have confessed her pregnancy to their parents. Later on, Jung-hyeon assures Yeong-ju that things will calm down like the storm that’s threatening Jeju at that moment. He’s at first short sided, but the camera moves to give him lead room, nose room, or looking space.
Ep. 6: Yeong-ju decides not to continue with the abortion after hearing her baby’s heartbeat. Notice that she and her reflection are both short sided.
C. Miscellaneous observations (tracking shots)
Ep. 8: Ho-sik walks away from the school after meeting the guidance counselor about Yeong-ju staying in school despite her pregnancy.
Ep. 8: Ho-sik finds out that In-gwon has fallen from the stairs of their apartment complex.
Ep. 5: In-gwon confronts Yeong-ju at the convenience store; notice the breaking of the 180-degree rule at the latter part of the shot.
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