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AABattery's avatar

Thank you again for such wonderful insight. When I think of Iksun, the Chinese phrase "同甘苦, 共患難" (For better or for worse) continues to surface in my mind. In a secure and mature relationship, both parties would know that they are better off together, whether celebrating sweet and happy moments, or shouldering challenges as a team. Believing that your partner loves you enough to want to be in the hardship with you vs. being left alone (or at least be informed so they could be given a choice) may seem to be a simple enough concept, but the contrary continues to be seen in many dramas, especially the Asian ones. And very often, these dramas sympathize with the side that lets the other side go to "protect" them, with dramatic reveals and emotional reunion / confessions, and those scenes don't usually sit well with me.

However, this is not to say that I do not "understand" (while I definitely do not agree with) why Iksun did what Iksun did, or that I do not feel for her (because I do, I cried with her - how can you not with such moving performance by KSY!); and I think Junwan has his share of responsibility to bear as well.

And I have hope that ShinLee will address what led to their current conundrum and help them grow from the experience, even if not together. I say this because I really appreciated what Sunwoo said to Bora in R1988 when he gave her the second condition for them to be back together, "I want to be the priority in your life, not the first person you give up when things get hard". I hope in the near future, Iksun and Junwan will get to have a similar open conversation as well.

Side note and back to the Chinese phrase I mentioned, there was a recent C drama where the FL said the following after realizing the noble idiocy done by the ML, "原來我在你的心裡不是那個可以一起共患難的人啊, 當你有困難的時候, 第一個放棄的就是我". ("So it turns out in your mind I am not a person that could bear difficulty with, since when you faced difficulties, the first thing you gave up is me / our relationship") As much as I rooted for that couple, I was so thrilled when she rebutted his "justification" that way, as it was the first time I saw a C drama clearly emphasizes the "idiocy" of the act!

And for WG, as much as I love their interaction, this could become their challenge as well since GU is so used to believe that she is all alone and needs to take on all the challenges by herself, so not that she would purposely kick JW to the side, but she will need some unlearning and mindset change to know that she is not alone anymore, and JW should be part of her considerations / support network going forward. But I also have faith they will get there. I really love how this couple's interaction and how they continue to impact each other!

So sorry for my long comment again; as always, your writing always provokes my thoughts :)!

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Roche's avatar

As always, I love, love your insights! You definitely put it better that it's more fight and flight rather than avoidance. Thank you for that insight!

Gyeo-ul's characterization has always been relatable to me. While she's innocent in a lot of ways, her determination is really admirable.

The snow crab party was a riot. Seok-Hyeong smacking Jeong-won was gold! It also parallels S1E1 when Jeong-Won was the first to say that Song-Hwa can sing (the employment contract signing scene) and here, it's also Jeong-Won who said she can sing (albeit with conditions).

I've already said too much about episode 5 so this will be short. Hahahaha! Once again, thank you!

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