Most series that deal with real past times don't go for exact accuracy and play around as closely as possible with things that can be relevant among historic/pop-culture/cultural events/available props.
Timeline in the episodes :
In Ep 1-3 the calendars are set to March, in Ep 4 its April, Episode 6 it is June, Episode 7 on July.
Episode 1 (March)
- The national assembly elections being talked of since Ep 1-3 were held on 25 March 1992. The Presidential elections will be held on December 18th 1992.
- The posters for the election seen are for candidates from places of North Jeolla in the 1992 election
- A poster for Daejeon Expo 1993 is also seen
- North Jeolla is historically famous for it's Gochujang(chilli pepper paste)
- A regional Miss Gochujang beauty contest exists
- The toy whose eyes Jeong-suk sews is "Dooly the Little Dinosaur" (1983)
- The beginning of elementary school which would be in first week of March 1992
- The children entering should be 7/8 years
- Yong-bok's 3rd daughter is in class 2. Min-ho and Dong-u were standing in line for class 3
- Min-ho's hand-me-down backpack from his cousin has the titular character from "Magical Princess Minky Momo" (1980s) on it.
- Errata: the calendar in the butcher's shop has March as title but the dates are for February 1992, a leap year.
- later on in the scene detective Na barges in on Joo-ri changing too the calendar shows heading March but dates are for April '92
- From Han Jeong-suk's resume she is 31 (17/8/'61) and she graduated elementary/middle/high school in '74/'77/'80. Her rrn seems to have North Jeolla code place of birth.
- The date for the Fantasy Lingerie job information session is given as March 4th, 10a.m. in the newspaper advertisement
- Mrs Kim gives a general global history of sex toys
- 1880s: origin of vibrators- the pop story about Dr Joseph Granville and hysteria treatment
- 1960s: stores in US openly start selling sex toys
- 1977: first Good Vibrations store opens in San Fransisco
- According to Mrs Kim(Ra Mi-ran)'s story she'd have started her business in 1980s
- the US army garrison(Camp 'Hampiraus') she is shown in- it is shown as being located in Geumje on it's board
- the regional building they are using has a logo also seen later on house nameplates - Geumje Saemaeul Women's Association.
- Silence of the Lambs (Jun 1991)
Episode 2 (March)
- Joo-ri and Dong-u are watching fireworks for Daejeon Expo '93 celebration event on TV (one such notable event was held in 1991)
- The song Uhm Dae-geun sings is Shin Seung-hun's "Don't Make me Cry"
- Epilogue charts out personal details of majority of Geumje resident's(main and recurring characters) personal details on Do-hyeon's Evidence Wall
Episode 3 (March)
- When questioned about when the rice seller bought the spray paint the hardware store owners talk of Animal Quiz Show with Son Bom-soo at 7-8pm slot. Son Bom-soo actually started on the show from Apr 9, 1992 according to wikipedia and he became well known for it.
- The calendar in their shop has the heading March but the dates are actually for April 1992
- The action figure Min-ho receives is Kangnam Model's King Lion (GoLion/Voltron)
- Mi-hwa's birthday party where Jeong-suk ends up having to do sales
- Mi-hwa's birthdate as well as surname were written wrong on Do-hyeon's evidence wall(her surname was written same as her husband's Park, instead of her own- Seong)
- The movie Min-ho goes to watch is Young-Gu and Daeng-Chil 4 (1991)
- Jeong-suk had marked March 31 as payday on her calendar
- Jeong-suk's mother(born 1935) would have been 32(korean age?) around 1966 ('65-'67) which would be when the backstory is set
Episode 4 (April)
- The kids in the video rental store try to chose between Ureme 6 (1989) and Super Hong Kil-Dong 3 (1989). Both released on video in 1990 a month apart respectively
- The Lotte traffic light candy/negeoli candy has been discontinued and re-continued since1990s
- Shim Shin. Song Joo-ri hums is "You Are The Only One" (1991)
- Ep 4 ending- the famous Seo Taiji and the Boys TV broadcast was on April 11, 1992 and is thought to be their debut(which had actually occured earlier)
Episode 5 (April)
- The kids are playing Street Fighter II (1991) in the convenience store's arcade machines (Dhalsim vs Chun Li)
- Papers possibly related to Do-hyeon's orphanage and adoption are seen but the dates are covered. He might have been adopted in 1963.
- Seong Mi-hwa has a checkup that day and is given the news she is 6 weeks pregnant
- In-tae and Mi-hwa have been married for 8 years
- Cold case files related to the arson and kidnapping are seen with dates in 1962 and 1963.
- The song Dae-gun sings along to is Shim Shin's "You Are The Only One" which he has put on endless repeat
- The song in the background of Won-bong's fantasy dance is Shim Shin's "Greedy Person" (1991)
- Min-ho draws a family drawing from their time going to Lake Soyang(famous spot in Chuncheon)
Episode 6 (June-July)
- Jeong-suk and Seong-su finally get divorced on an unknown date in June
- Next day the gang heads to an overnight trip to 'Gyesim-do'
- Kim Wan-sun; Park Nam-jung
- Jeong-suk's mother says she lived in Geumje since around 35 years ago
- Kim Hye-soo's Thirsty Hippo commercials (1990)
- Sex fantasy scenarios parody - Titanic (1997; Feb 1998) and Basic Instinct (May 1992)
- After returning from the trip when Jeong-suk is thanking Do-hyeon for looking after Min-ho the calendar in the background is now July 1992
- Joo-ri told the older customer he resembles Chow Yun-fat and styled him for the iconic look with a matchstick in mouth(in A Better Tomorrow)
- Joo-ri can't recall who Dae-geun was supposed to resemble and at the prompting she exclaims Shin Soo-bong
- According to subtitles Yeong-bok asks for freedom pad (possibly Yuhan Kimberly's new freedom)
Episode 7 (July)
- Min-ho and are Dong-u playing the Diamond Game
- Lee Man-gi is a famous ex-ssireum wrestler
- Choushinsei Flashman is the first dubbed super sentai released in Korea (1989)
Episode 8 (July)
- The movie they go to watch is Madame Aema 6
- Geum-hui and Wong-bong's wedding anniversary is on July 10th
Other References
- Han Jeong-suk's name (한 정숙) is a wordplay to mean "virtuous/quiet/dignified, etc", the same as used in the title of this KDrama (정숙한 세일즈 jeongsukhan seiljeu)
- Geumje (금제) might have fictionalized its name from some towns like Gimje(and Oksan=Iksan) in the region it is set in but 금제 itself means "taboo"
- 금제 Geumje also means goldwork. In Ep. 1 Seong-su said Seung-tak's famly were the the town's head family and in ep 8 Yeong-bok's husband's friend talks of Seung-tak's family owning the gold shop he palns to rob.
- According to the official character introduction Choi Won-bong's character was supposed to appear outwardly as if he is similar to the patriarch of the famous drama What is Love?
- According to the official character introduction Park Jong-sun is described as "Byeon Kang-soe loves Madonna".
- In ep 2 he tells Yeong-bok that she is sexier than the singer Madonna.
- Byeon Kang-soe is a character from an explicit pansori "Garujigi Taryeong" who is a layabout notorious for his libido and parodied in various media. In one version Ong-nyeo(from north- now in present day N.Korea) and Kang-soe(banished from the Southermost regions) meet somewhere in the middle in Jeolla.
- The couple in the drama loosely resemble the couple Byeon Kang-soe and Ong Nyeo but with Jong-sun being overly devoted to Yeong-bok and good natured, with multiple children.
- The official character introduction for Seo Yeong-bok starts with the quote "덮어놓고 낳다보면 거지꼴을 못 면한다" which was the official Korean Family Planning slogan 1963 which roughly translated means 'If you keep having children, you will end up a beggar'
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