HOW THE WRITERS USE PARALLELS & FORESHADOWING *SPOILERS*

Although I currently believe Bo-goel is Ki-ho, I’m very much open minded about that possibility changing. With this in mind, I’ve notice a few parallels and foreshadowing that I wanted to share as I think it’s been cleverly used by the writers to set up both Woo-hak and Bo-goel as potential Ki-ho’s and also as a callback to past and future scenes.


Here goes:


PARALLELS


1. Young Ki-ho handing young Mok-ha a usb stick in episode one and Woo-hak presenting the older Mok-ha with a usb stick in episode 4.




Here the writers sets up the parallel between a young Ki-ho handing a young Mok-ha a usb stick which appears to be a symbol of Mok-ha’s link to Ran-joo and a supposed older Ki-ho in the form of Woo-hak, handing her a memory stick in the present. Both usb sticks and their link to Ran-joo appear to be the key to Mok-ha's dreams. Both in the past and present day. It’s important to note that in both circumstances, neither usb sticks manage to help her achieve her dreams as they both lead to that dream falling through. This hasn’t happened yet in the present but we can pretty much guess that the current plan Mok-ha has with Ran-joo will turn out badly. This is the foreshadowing. Another thing to keep in mind is that whether Bo-goel gave the usb stick to Woo-hak to hand to Mok-ha is being obscured. I wouldn’t put it past the writers to set up Easter eggs like this if they later reveal Bo-goel to be Ki-ho, as they can claim the parallels between Bo-goel and Mok-ha and Ki-ho and Mok-ha have been there all along.




2. It was gimbap that young Ki-ho gave young Mok-ha to eat while they were waiting for the ship to Seoul and we see older Mok-ha eating gimbap again on the boat after being rescued from the island.

The question here is, who packed the gimbap? Was it Bo-goel or Woo-hak? It could have been Bo-goel as he was the one who volunteered to clean islands or it could it have been Woo-hak who packed it as a snack. It could be a coincidence in both cases or you can see it as purposeful. For it to be purposeful, you have to assume that either Bo-goel or Woo-hak went to that island with a hope that they might find Mok-ha there. We learn from the opening scene of episode two that island cleaning is something that Bo-goel does and not necessarily something that Woo-hak does. If packing the gimbap was purposeful on Woo-hak‘s part then you have to ask yourself, why that island? How did he know that island would be the one? Of course, this possibility is possible but it takes a lot of things aligning for this to work in line with the narrative. Not to mention, his memory loss means that he’s not aware of Mok-ha or is even looking for her. It doesn’t really add up. We also see Woo-hak bringing Mok-ha gimbap again in episode four. This could be another hint from the writers or it could be something Woo-hak does because he notices Mok-ha likes them a lot. Therefore, is it more likely that Bo-goel who has been cleaning islands for years, has actually been searching for Mok-ha on these islands and has packed gimbap just in case he finds her on the island knowing she likes them? Or, could it all be a coincidence and the parallel is insignificant/unintentional? Could it just be a nod to Extraordinary Attorney Woo and how much the main character played by Park Eun Bin loved gimbap?

3. Woo-hak is almost an anagram of Mok-ha. It could be too on the nose and is serving as a red herring by the writers to make us believe Woo-hak is Ki-ho or it could be something that the writers can say was in our faces the entire time.




4. Young Ki-ho placing shoes on young Mok-ha’s feet and Bo-goel placing shoes on older Mok-ha’s feet.

Young Ki-ho promised a young Mok-ha that he would buy her a new pair of shoes once they reached ashore in episode one. 

Interestingly, this is the only parallel where the writers don't appear to be as ambiguous about which brother is doing what for Mok-ha. It may be an early sign of the writers hinting towards Ki-ho being Bo-goel unequivocally. In the first two examples above, we don't see who made the gimbap or handed it to Mok-ha and we don't see where Woo-hak got the usb stick from. We don't know if it was given to him by Bo-goel or if he made it himself. 

Sure, you could argue that Woo-hak instructed Bo-goel to buy the shoes for him, maybe because he was busy filming with the drone but why then did Bo-goel not hand Woo-hak the shoes after purchasing it as you do if you were running an errand for someone. On the other hand, others have theorised that Bo-goel could be doing this in Woo-hak’s stead because Woo-hak has lost his memory. Whatever the writers' intention behind this scene, I cannot help but feel that this scene is very significant both in the specificity of the two characters being depicted and the obvious parallel between the young Ki-ho and young Mok-ha‘s rain soaked feet and the emotional tie-in to the present day scene between Mok-ha and Bo-goel in the minds of the viewers.



FORESHADOWING 



1. Young Mok-ha’s school friend jokes about Mok-ha’s ship being capsized after young Ki-ho ends her once in a lifetime phone-in to Ran-joo. 

This is a foreshadowing to young Mok-ha; who just as her dreams were about to come true...

...as she was on the verge of being free and about to take off on a ship set for Seoul... 

 ...sees her future snatched away from her. She is castaway on an island after literally going overboard (capsized) following being chased by her father around the ship. 



2. Young Ki-ho telling a young Mok-ha that his mum told him that if you wish for something with all your heart, it will come true one way or another and  in the most unexpected way. 

This is more foreshadowing because young Mok-ha becomes free from her father but not in the way she expected. Also, we as viewers can make an educated guess that Mok-ha will achieve her dream of becoming a famous singer by the end of the series. We also know that her journey so far has been an unexpected one. She gets stranded on an island, only to survive and get discovered 15 years later and gets the chance to reunite with her idol and is now ghost singing for her. It's not the route she expected to take. Young Mok-ha though she would go to Soeul to meet Ran-joo, get signed to her label, be so famous that her father couldn't touch her and live happily away from her old life. What has ended up happening is unexpected to say the least.

3. Young Ki-ho tells young Mok-ha before he leaves her on the ship, to change her name and forget about her past life and everyone on the island, including him, so that her father can’t find her. 

This is foreshadowing what we suspect Ki-ho later does himself. It's why many viewers (including myself) speculate that Bo-goel is Ki-ho and has intentionally changed his name and buried his past as Ki-ho so his father can't find him. It seems he followed the same advice he gave to young Mok-ha.


Are there any other parallels or foreshadowing that you've seen in the series so far? 

You’ve made some really good points. I found a few more parallel scenes this episode that I’ll be adding to this discussion thread as soon as I get a chance. 

Gimbap … “Could it just be a nod to Extraordinary Attorney Woo and how much the main character played by Park Eun Bin loved gimbap?“

I thought the same thing. So glad someone else was thinking it too. I enjoyed reading all of your  parallel ideas.