While I have no problem with Ah Jin’s downfall, I hope everyone who hurt Ah Jin will also receive their appropriate karma, especially Jun Seo’s mom
His mom was likely complicit in the murder of her mom, actually tried to sell her off for money, cheated on his dad, and tries to use her illegitimate son to get money from his grandfather. She’s just as bad as Ah Jin IMO
Hopefully when Jun Seo reveals everything to “save” her, he includes why she did what she did, so society can also reflect on its shortcomings as well (and everyone who harmed her gets equally exposed), or else it’ll read to me as more of a personal takedown for not returning his affections
It’s a lot to ask for a fictional kdrama, but the drama has just been that good so far hah
He’s definitely twisted now. I can never tell what he’s thinking either. He observes people in the same way…
“ He grew up watching and understanding life from her lens. He doesn’t find joy in things or actually find them funny because she doesn’t really either. Using guilt and naivety, she turned him into a sort of shadow of her when they were just kids” — this is a great point!
And yes haha, we just wanna be able to read him! I feel like he’s actually the most unpredictable / unreadable character in the show. Ah Jin’s motives are easy to read cuz she’s fueled by 100% rationality, I.e., near pure selfishness (except some weak spots for ML here and there)
i feel like Jun Seo has some psychopath tendencies on his own.. it's impossible to read how he truly feels / who he truly is
he seems pretty obedient around Ah Jin, but has a stone cold / expressionless face around others (him observing Ah Jin and Jae O laugh and catch up tgt in ep 5 was eerie). ep 6 portrayed him in a scary light when he was watching the movie clip of Ah Jin and Ingang, with him rolling his neck like a villain
him writing books capitalizing on her misery, making himself more famous. in ep 5, him taking the first step to see Ah Jin on set after Ah Jin broke things off in ep 4. him going to a xmas as SOMEONE ELSE'S date, knowing Ah Jin will be there
he also flew into blind rage 3x over Ah Jin (beating up her dad; hitting the officer in prison; punching the drunks), but he doesn't seem to hold any grudges with Re Na for treating Ah Jin like sht (maybe Ah Jin told him to flirt with Re Na on this one, idk)
i just don't understand him lol -- if someone does, please help explain his character (beyond just being a gaslit victim)
Yeah I mean more for the second leads / supporting roles. Harder to break out and get sponsorships if the reach isn’t as global. That’s just my two cents. I’m sure IU and BW will do just fine.
for those complaining that ep 5-6 is copying Squid Game: it's just 2 out of 12 episodes. also the concept behind Squid Game isn't original either -- there are other survival game genres like Battle Royale, etc. in fact, i think the author of Squid Game admitted he was influenced by works like those.
for those complaining it's a copy of Death Race... welp no comment cuz i haven't watched it and you could be right. hopefully it ended at ep 6 tho.
Just finished the first 4 episodes and each one was more mortifying than the last lol... but in a good way. Kim…
Yes!!! For some reason, the ML’s obsessive “help” (after she even tells him to stop getting involved) reads as his own way of trying to control her .. idk
Someone posted this on rednote and I really liked it + wanted to share it (rednote ID is 407860026):
Doubts about the anti-female desire narrative ending of the comic "Dear X" I watched the first four episodes of the new drama that came out today and loved it, so I immediately went to read the original manga.
The female lead's portrayal of an antisocial personality is a classic example. I could pretty much guess what the manga author was going to set up next.
I love the female lead's character and the intellectual battles. The endings for the other male characters are also tragic. I really enjoyed the plot in the first half and most of the second half, but the ending— It made me sneer. Oh, so it's not a story from the female lead's perspective after all. The title should be changed; the childhood friend, Yin Junxi, is the true protagonist of the entire drama.
After all, the author, in their own words, said, "The male lead, Yin Junxi, is the most complex character in the whole story." The female lead just has to be evil, evil, evil, to make readers sympathize with the other male characters and to provoke them to contemplate the condemnation of antisocial personality disorder.
Hmph, a classic narrative that demonizes female desire.
The so-called male lead, centered on the classic "redemptive love," keeps dragging his feet, hesitating. He helps the female lead do bad things while simultaneously feeling remorse and guilt in his heart. And what happens in the end? He exposes her at the peak of her career, with an attitude of, "It's all your fault for ruining me," and "You made me live like a monster, not a human being." He comforts himself by saying, "If I expose you, my sins will be lessened," and "Let's destroy each other." In the end, he becomes a writer, telling her story of evil and gains both fame and fortune.
How is this a female narrative? It's just another moralizing sermon disguised in sheep's clothing. The ending is as disgusting as: "She only lost her life and career, but he! He lost his love!!! How much he must have suffered! How great he must be!"
Ironic narratives are fine, but what I hate most is when an author deliberately creates a character to be satirical, gives her the most tragic experiences, and then condemns the evil, unacceptable measures she takes to escape her fate, slapping the "antisocial" label on her from beginning to end. Because she has this label, everything she does is inherently evil.
And then they create a god-like male character who watches her, helps her, and then destroys her. The world pities him, adores him, helps him, and helps him destroy her.
One's own perception of good and evil is just an excuse to deceive oneself into thinking they are pure and flawless. In Dazai Osamu's "No Longer Human," his friend tells him, "If you continue like this, the world won't forgive you." But what is this "world"? What is this "morality"?
In this manga, it was clearly his own incompetence, cowardice, foolishness, and hesitation that caused his suffering. He couldn't let go, didn't even try to cut ties, and in the end, he blamed everything on the female lead. Her beauty and intelligence were all portrayed as tools of evil.
I’m sure there are better ways to save her than to make her public enemy #1 😡
His mom was likely complicit in the murder of her mom, actually tried to sell her off for money, cheated on his dad, and tries to use her illegitimate son to get money from his grandfather. She’s just as bad as Ah Jin IMO
Hopefully when Jun Seo reveals everything to “save” her, he includes why she did what she did, so society can also reflect on its shortcomings as well (and everyone who harmed her gets equally exposed), or else it’ll read to me as more of a personal takedown for not returning his affections
It’s a lot to ask for a fictional kdrama, but the drama has just been that good so far hah
I don’t think she wanted a round 2 of that, and I personally couldn’t come up with a solution that could put her dad away for life.
Maybe that’s why she wanted to be a law student in the first place, to figure out out to legally get rid of her dad.
1/ in high school, when the female bully was eavesdropping on Ah Jin and 2ML conversation
2/ in ep 5, where he eavesdrops on Le Na’s phone call with the reporting, with Lena looking at the cop
It feels, to me, like he enjoys having control over her
And yes haha, we just wanna be able to read him! I feel like he’s actually the most unpredictable / unreadable character in the show. Ah Jin’s motives are easy to read cuz she’s fueled by 100% rationality, I.e., near pure selfishness (except some weak spots for ML here and there)
he seems pretty obedient around Ah Jin, but has a stone cold / expressionless face around others (him observing Ah Jin and Jae O laugh and catch up tgt in ep 5 was eerie). ep 6 portrayed him in a scary light when he was watching the movie clip of Ah Jin and Ingang, with him rolling his neck like a villain
him writing books capitalizing on her misery, making himself more famous. in ep 5, him taking the first step to see Ah Jin on set after Ah Jin broke things off in ep 4. him going to a xmas as SOMEONE ELSE'S date, knowing Ah Jin will be there
he also flew into blind rage 3x over Ah Jin (beating up her dad; hitting the officer in prison; punching the drunks), but he doesn't seem to hold any grudges with Re Na for treating Ah Jin like sht (maybe Ah Jin told him to flirt with Re Na on this one, idk)
i just don't understand him lol -- if someone does, please help explain his character (beyond just being a gaslit victim)
for those complaining it's a copy of Death Race... welp no comment cuz i haven't watched it and you could be right. hopefully it ended at ep 6 tho.
The way they styled him is also really strange, he looks like an overgrown kid
(EXO fans pls don’t kill me)
Doubts about the anti-female desire narrative ending of the comic "Dear X"
I watched the first four episodes of the new drama that came out today and loved it, so I immediately went to read the original manga.
The female lead's portrayal of an antisocial personality is a classic example.
I could pretty much guess what the manga author was going to set up next.
I love the female lead's character and the intellectual battles. The endings for the other male characters are also tragic. I really enjoyed the plot in the first half and most of the second half, but the ending—
It made me sneer. Oh, so it's not a story from the female lead's perspective after all. The title should be changed; the childhood friend, Yin Junxi, is the true protagonist of the entire drama.
After all, the author, in their own words, said, "The male lead, Yin Junxi, is the most complex character in the whole story." The female lead just has to be evil, evil, evil, to make readers sympathize with the other male characters and to provoke them to contemplate the condemnation of antisocial personality disorder.
Hmph, a classic narrative that demonizes female desire.
The so-called male lead, centered on the classic "redemptive love," keeps dragging his feet, hesitating. He helps the female lead do bad things while simultaneously feeling remorse and guilt in his heart. And what happens in the end? He exposes her at the peak of her career, with an attitude of, "It's all your fault for ruining me," and "You made me live like a monster, not a human being." He comforts himself by saying, "If I expose you, my sins will be lessened," and "Let's destroy each other." In the end, he becomes a writer, telling her story of evil and gains both fame and fortune.
How is this a female narrative? It's just another moralizing sermon disguised in sheep's clothing. The ending is as disgusting as: "She only lost her life and career, but he! He lost his love!!! How much he must have suffered! How great he must be!"
Ironic narratives are fine, but what I hate most is when an author deliberately creates a character to be satirical, gives her the most tragic experiences, and then condemns the evil, unacceptable measures she takes to escape her fate, slapping the "antisocial" label on her from beginning to end. Because she has this label, everything she does is inherently evil.
And then they create a god-like male character who watches her, helps her, and then destroys her. The world pities him, adores him, helps him, and helps him destroy her.
One's own perception of good and evil is just an excuse to deceive oneself into thinking they are pure and flawless.
In Dazai Osamu's "No Longer Human," his friend tells him, "If you continue like this, the world won't forgive you." But what is this "world"? What is this "morality"?
In this manga, it was clearly his own incompetence, cowardice, foolishness, and hesitation that caused his suffering. He couldn't let go, didn't even try to cut ties, and in the end, he blamed everything on the female lead. Her beauty and intelligence were all portrayed as tools of evil.