Why We're All Pretending We Don't Know Who Ki-ho Is In 'Castaway Diva'

Theories and spoilers about who the male lead of Castaway Diva is.

Spoilers below up to episode 4. 👇

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There was a brief period between Mok-ha's rescue and Woo-hak's declaration to his exasperated brother that he was Jung Ki-ho when the audience was left in suspense about who adult Ki-ho could be.

But as soon as Woo-hak adamantly said, "it must be me," while clear consternation showed on Bo-geol's face, the suspense broke. We knew this man is not the one.

Woo-hak is also extremely different from the reserved, somewhat heartless Ki-ho who could be brutally honest and hurtful because he didn't have the luxury to care about feelings.

His situation was dire and he was balancing stakes that other children his age barely understood. Even Mok-ha who lived with a father who was just as abusive as Ki-ho's didn't seem to grasp just how precarious their situation was until Ki-ho spoke it out loud. They could die if they stayed.

That boy, who was prepared to run at any time, day or night, who was secretive and cunning because that is what survival demanded, that boy didn't grow up to be Woo-hak - a complete teddy bear!

Woo-hak is an extremely interesting character to me. He'll likely stay my favourite from this show. He has a deeply curious and warm nature. Just as his brother says, he's definitely the pushover of the two.

We see this in action when he hides Mok-ha in the rooftop room and helps her in every way he can. You can see that it's not just because he really believes that he is Ki-ho.

Woo-hak's clinginess towards his brother is also entirely out of character for Ki-ho. Now, in real life such a change may be possible after a traumatic event that erases someone's memory, but not in dramaland.

In dramas, a person's core tenets remain the same, with or without their memories.

And by every rule of K-drama storytelling, Castaway Diva has already told us that Woo-hak is not Ki-ho.

By episode 4, the drama has also begun to strongly hint that we may have been focusing on the wrong brother entirely.

There are many ways in which they are telling us that Bo-geol is the one Mok-ha is looking for. When we look back to the scenes after the rescue, we can now spot the misdirects.

The audience focuses on what the camera focuses on. We never saw Bo-geol react emotionally to finding Mok-ha, so initially we assumed that he didn't have any such reaction.

But from the significance of Bo-geol being the one to buy her new shoes to replace the ones Ki-ho gave her 15 years ago, to his meaningful expression every time his brother insisted he's Ki-ho, to being the one silently watching her sing to the stars, to his gruff way of helping her find her footing as a manager, the clues began to pile up fast.

Even so, the breadcrumbs were sparse until the end of episode 4 when Bo-geol realises the danger Mok-ha is in the moment he hears about an imposter Ki-ho asking her to meet him.

Now, it's possible that Bo-geol remembers Ki-ho's father bursting into their house looking for his son, and realises that Mok-ha could be in danger from the man. If Woo-hak is Ki-ho, his actions would still make sense.

What makes less sense is his family trying to keep the story of his abusive father a secret from the real Ki-ho. This is a man who's a constant danger to the boy. Not knowing he was out there looking for Ki-ho would put him in far more danger, especially if it's Woo-hak, who is often on camera.

No, the most likely story is one where Bo-geol is Ki-ho and Woo-hak received his head trauma because of Ki-ho's dad. I have an additional theory that their mother is really Ki-ho's biological mom, and Woo-hak is actually her younger son.

Basically, my theory is that even though the show keeps telling us that Woo-hak loves imitating Bo-geol, it's Bo-geol who's living with Woo-hak's identity. This may have been the only way to save Ki-ho that their parents could think of.

I also think Woo-hak's clinginess is actually protectiveness towards Bo-geol. He may not remember why, but he feels a strong drive to protect his sibling.

Alright, so the audience more or less knows who Ki-ho is, even if they don't have elaborate theories like I do.

So, why are we pretending we don't know? Why is the show pretending that the audience doesn't know?

We see in the previews of episode 5, that Bo-geol will have a plausible explanation for why he turned up to rescue Mok-ha from Ki-ho's dad, so we clearly intend on keeping up this charade for a while.

And the reason for this is the discovery narrative.

Just as the camera wasn't focusing on Bo-geol in the initial episodes, neither was Mok-ha. In the first few days of her adjusting to her life back on the mainland, her friend and support has been Woo-hak, and he's the one she's begun to get to know.

He feels familiar to her, his care reminds her of Ki-ho, because that is who Ki-ho was to Mok-ha. A young man who sacrificed his own hopes for escape to help her get away.

Bo-geol exists in the periphery for her. He only really comes into focus when he turns up to save her from Ki-ho's dad.

This is the point from when Mok-ha will start to see Bo-geol and get to know him, and this is the point from where our strong hunch will begin to be confirmed by the drama.

The story wants Mok-ha and us to discover the truth together.

The only problem is that K-drama romances never fare well when they build up the second lead too much too early in the show. And Woo-hak is a strong contender for our heart. So, even though Castaway Diva wants us to stay in suspense a bit longer, they have to let us peek behind the curtain a bit early.

We need to know who Ki-ho is before Mok-ha so we have time to root for them.

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