So, I’m watching My Perfect Stranger and it’s great so far! I’ve watched episode 10, but I want to go back to the absolute heart-wrencher that was episode 9, to try and figure out what happened in the original timeline (so without Hae Joon and Yoon Young’s intervention).
In the original timeline just like in this one, Hee Seob got captured instead of his brother and tortured. However, since in the original timeline Yoon Young wasn’t there to find Yoo Seob, we can assume that no one did. Hee Seob was probably kept in that room for several more hours, if not days. This is where it gets dark: I think he cracked in the end. I think he revealed his brother’s location. How else would the secret police have found him? In this scenario, Yoo Seob would have been tortured long enough that it made him lose his mind (in which case it is likely that he did also provide the secret police with the information they wanted), and Hee Seob would feel so guilty at having given his brother up that he would not have sought treatment for his leg, and devoted the rest of his life to caring for him as a way to atone.
As for Soon Ae, in the new timeline, she is stopped by Yoon Young from going to the police, but we see that her father was not far behind. Either her father caught her before she could reach the police, or while she was at the station. Regardless, I don’t think her testimony would have been taken into account considering that 1) Hee Seob was not being held as a suspect for the murder but as an accomplice to a protester, and 2) her father would have done anything to make sure the police ignored her testimony.
Since Hee Seob did not immediately seek treatment for his leg, I don’t know if he and Soon Ae would have had that sweet moment in the hospital, but regardless, something similar would have happened, maybe just in a different place or at a different time.
For how grim the new timeline in, if I’m correct about this, then the original one is reaching new depth of misery. From a storytelling perspective, however, it’s pretty great, because it 100% works in making us believe why Yoon Young’s parents got married, as well as why Hee Seob always chose his brother over his wife and kids: he did love them, but the guilt he felt towards Yoo Seob for revealing his location to the secret police was stronger than anything. It also makes sense that Soon Ae never divorced him and continued to care for him and worry about him instead: not only did she also feel guilty towards him for not reveal his alibi for that night, but she also could never forget how they comforted each other after both had gone through the biggest tragedies in their lives.
Which reminds me, before I conclude this: I don’t remember if it’s ever mentioned whether or not Yoon Young knew her grandmother in the present days, but if it was mentioned that she did, then you can ignore what I am going to say next. But in the original timeline, considering Hae Joon was not there to stop her from jumping, then we can assume that she ended up going through with the suicide. This means that in the original timeline, in the spam of a couple days, Soon Ae’s sister was brutally murdered and her mother committed suicide. That’ s dark. Anyway, I am loving this show so far, can’t wait to see what happens next!
