Shin Dae Ryuk storyline [spoilers]

I'm am so amazed withy how poorly they concluded his story in episode 14 I have to write about it. It's honestly ridiculous. It's been ridiculous since the introduction of this episode and I knew they won't be able to handle it in a proper way, but I never expected this level of ignorance...

Honestly speaking, while Dae Ryuk story was interesting, complex and fascinating watch, the character's reactions to it were ignorant at best. How many times does he have to have a panic attack, break down or any other obviously serious reaction before Ma Eun figures out he is not just a moody, emo, edgy artist, but he has some serious psychological issues he needs help with? Apparently even him literally telling her he was chained by his mother like a dog at the house was not enough for her to figure it out. The fact they had to bring Lim Dong Hee back to tell Ma Eum "listen... I don't think it's just a writers block, I think it's a psychological problem" made my roll my eyes so much I saw my brain. 

And then they had the audacity to focus the plot on the mother's side of the plot? Telling her side is one thing, but making excuses for her? Trying to show her as the victim of the situation? Basically guilty tripping Dae Ryuk into forgiveness, borderline making him think he was the cause of all the issues and his own abuse? That was simply gross. 

The excuses were not even "good". How is her Alzheimer an excuse for her now being able to find his earlier? It's a progressive disorder. It's not a "white truck of doom" amnesia. She did not wake up one day not remembering him well... Before it got so bad, she had planty time to find him. Especially since it's not like he was hiding from her. 

And then the fire accident as an excuse to chain him? You know you can turn off gas right? Hide any source of fire like matches before you leave house? I did not pay that much attention to the house, but if the kitchen has door, chain the fucking door. No matter how I think about it, chaining him up makes no sense. literally zero. 

And honestly speaking, as much as I like Ma Eum in the previous episodes, she sucks big time in here. Even before she found out about the (shitty) excuses the mother had, even when she only knew Dae Ryuk side of the story (abuse), she still cared for the mother a lot? How does it make sense? Why was she so polite to her? And after the truth came out, it's still undeniable truth Dae Ryuk is the one that got affected by the past more, he is the one that struggles more. And yet Ma Eum ran after the mother after the meeting happened? Leaving Dae Ryuk, the guy who has massive panic attacks, social anxiety  etc. alone in a public place, after a triggering meeting with his mother who abused him? Make it make sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I honestly cannot believe episode 14 is real...

 Kayangan:

when they decide oh it's a great idea to make it a twist that oh actually she's a good mother, it was all just a misunderstanding

this just pissed me off so much. They literally made her the victim, while creating scenario where unintentionally Dae Ryu created his own trauma. It makes zero sense, but they are trying to convince us it does. I was no "amazed" by episode 14 and that resolution it took me good 3 hours for my brain to start working again after that trash of an episode... 

Episode 14 was so bad that I am compelled to drop my rating to a 6.5. The previous eps made me raise it to 8, but now I am mad. What does it take for one to realize Dae Ryuk is traumatized and possibly on the spectrum? There were so many ways to go about it. They could have made it seem that the one who tortured him was his step mum or some shit, that would have been more believable.

 pinksprings01:

Yeah, the writing for episode 14 made my rating for this drama go down a lot…three screenwriters and the best they could do was justify child abuse -_-

Same. It got pretty low by now. I was thinking of giving it like 7.5, but now it's down to 6.5...

 NotMuch:

Episode 14 was so bad that I am compelled to drop my rating to a 6.5. The previous eps made me raise it to 8, but now I am mad. What does it take for one to realize Dae Ryuk is traumatized and possibly on the spectrum? There were so many ways to go about it. They could have made it seem that the one who tortured him was his step mum or some shit, that would have been more believable.

It feels like 6.5 for me too. Also, from the start I kept thinking Dae Ryuk is not neurotypical. The trauma was obvious, which is even more surprising how blind to it Ma Eum was. 

 TimiZero:

I guess they reap what they sow because they decided to represent Dae Ryuk as someone with severe mental condition (which is not in original), but at the end they were trapped with how they should close the story. 

I did not expect from them to go a good job with it, BUT they managed to give us probably one of the worst scenarios hahaha Ma Eum turning therapist would actually be better than the mom redemption. With Ma Eum "healing" him it would be a dumb Disney happy magic. With mom it'd actually gross, because they literally invalidated his trauma saying it was just a misunderstanding lol 

I’m so glad to see other people are also upset by how poorly this storyline was concluded (if one can call it that). It felt as though his trauma (which was real) was totally and completely invalidated because… he “misunderstood everything.” It’s hard to even type that out. Badly done, Drama. And to add insult to injury, the actor who plays Dae Ryuk is doing phenomenal— but it now feels like his entire storyline was simply to give a side character angst just because. 

Also, am I correct in remembering that the Japanese drama did not have this type of conclusion for its Dae Ryuk equivalent? 

Ah, okay. Thanks for responding!