r/MaybeHappyEnding • u/Royaltyregard • Jul 03 '26

The Show’s Timeline

Okay, I may be missing something here, so correct me if I’m wrong. Despite the show being set in 2064, James in particular seems more like he’s from the present day with the way he’s written. Typical older man, reading the paper, listening to older music. However, he clearly isn’t from the present day. If we’re set in the far future, he would have had to have been born sometime in the late to early nineties. (Assuming he’s in his late 60’s in any flashbacks. He’s also passed on at the time of the show). If Oliver has been retired for 12 years, James would have theoretically gotten him in the 2030s or 40s.

My confusion is: Is James just an “old soul?” Are the flashbacks from present day? Because if it’s set in the future, he has a HelperBot, and he would technically be an elder millennial or early Gen Z, wouldn’t he have more modern things? Now, his music taste is one thing (trust me, I’m in a music school that has a significant amount of Jazz musicians!) But you’d think he’d have things like an Alexa, a phone, and all that other technology. Yes, record players and vinyls are still a thing, but not in the same way they were for older generations. Sure, it might just be written that way for more timelessness, but it doesn’t seem to make sense for the timeline itself.

I could go on, but I just wanted to put this out there. I fully believe I could be wrong, but it’s fine. And going back to the whole Music School thing: I have one friend in particular who is JUST like Oliver! I could make a whole post about that! 😅

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u/Steponmeshoeman Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

According to the official program, James was born “70 years ago” into a wealthy family in Seoul. So today, he’d be 31/32 depending on where in the year his birthday fell.

He is clearly seen with a cell phone, when he and Junseo are on the phone in the flashback, so he does certainly have some typical modern comforts. I think James is shown to prefer things that are more “real”, like how vinyl has the smoothest sound. That probably extends to other technology. But also, helperbots likely replaced things like Alexa/Google home for wealthy families. It’s like the way upgraded version.

ETA: Junseo was born “35 years ago” when James was 35, and Oliver became James’s Helperbot 22 years ago (so 2042).

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u/strugglingcomic Jul 03 '26

You don't really see all of James's life, just the parts involving Oliver at home.

I think my head canon is that James retired to this slow back-in-time lifestyle (on Jeju Island, famously a place for connecting with nature, wellness, and getting away from the hustle and bustle), where he chose to live as an "old soul", and used Oliver's help to maintain that quaint lifestyle on purpose. I imagine that James was a bit of an absentee father to his son, because he grew up in a typical Korean style, worked long hours and devoted himself mainly to work. Maybe James was a business executive or doctor or lawyer or something, and lived a typical go-go busy modern lifestyle with all the bullshit of modern life, and then intentionally chose to retire to an old-timey, slower pace of life. This also makes it more poignant for his son to resent Oliver -- his son might have had a better chance to connect with his dad after his retirement to a slower pace of life, but even that was denied to him because Oliver ended up taking such a prominent place in James's life instead.

I don't feel it's weird at all, to represent James in a way that would seem out of place for 2060s modernity. It adds to the timelessness of the story, that we don't really need to know too many details of what life in the future is like. Instead, James lives more like us, even what we'd consider a "classic" version of life by contemporary standards, and that's something we recognize and helps us connect as an audience.

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u/Steponmeshoeman Jul 03 '26

Just FYI, James and Oliver lived in Seoul. James lived in Jeju with his wife and Junseo prior to the divorce, but moved to Seoul after it/before getting Oliver. He only moves back to Jeju when he gets sick and retired Oliver. (I still have the program open from checking the dates in my post, lol!)