This review may contain spoilers
another great potential ruined by bad writing
Before I start, let me just say: a lot of the negative comments are just people complaining for no reason. You signed up for a story about a psycho who has no empathy for others and sees them as tools. You can't get mad when the psycho proceeds to do exactly that.
The Story
It started promisingly, dancing around a gray area. At first, sure, she's manipulative, but she only did evil things to the people who wronged her (mom, dad, high-school bully). But then she starts doing it to innocent people. Which is fine, as long as the show doesn't try to paint her as anything other than a psycho.
And that's where everything falls apart.
All the show had to do was to say, "HEY, PEOPLE, THIS IS HOW A PSYCHOPATH BEHAVES. THIS IS HOW A PSYCHOPATH TRIES TO JUSTIFY THEIR OWN ACTIONS."
But instead, they foolishly tried to create a sympathetic villain out of an evil, pragmatic extremist.
Sure, she went through a lot and deserves sympathy, but depending on the harm you cause, that sympathy eventually goes away. The show tried to consistently blur the line between good and bad and keep us in the gray area, but failed to see that there was no gray area left to dance around.
It turned completely black.
The Logic (or Lack Thereof)
For a character like the FL, you have to make her super smart and calculating for it to work. But instead, she just "gambled" multiple times and got lucky.
(Killing Dad / getting out of prison / a walking retcon saving her after the in-gang death.)
For example, a smart character would be extremely cautious about getting caught. Send the dad to prison for a few years, just like Jun-seo wanted. Then you have five years to pay someone to safely kill him in there.
Long story short, the logic wasn't logic-ing. Everything and everyone just fell into place through some magical power so the story could continue.
Jae O
I know you're gonna get mad at me for this, but he did it to himself.
Yeah, she was a psycho who tried to manipulate him, and he had a rough situation with his father and all, but, like, bro... she hugged him once and he was like:
"I ONLY EXIST FOR YOU. YOUR ENEMIES ARE MY ENEMIES. I WILL SERVE YOU, MY QUEEN, UNTIL THE END OF THE EARTH. USE ME AS YOU WILL." :|
He simped too close to the sun.
He was a simp and died like one. Pathetic.
The other guy at least scored some.
The Ending
Once they were in the car at the end, I could see four possible endings. It's impressive how the writers chose the absolute worst one.
1. She and Jun-seo go and live together quietly somewhere. (Second-best ending)
This ending is possible for two reasons.
First, they showed us signs of her being willing to stop (the grandma and marriage situation).
Second, there's what she said to Jun-seo: "I won't be sad if you get hurt, but I don't want to be the one who causes you harm." Something along those lines.
She obviously would remain a psycho in this scenario, but she would have no choice but to stop harming others because she would have to harm Jun-seo and get him out of the way first.
2. Jun-seo succeeds in killing them both. (Best ending in terms of storytelling, IMO)
But, of course, the guy can't do anything right.
3. She survives. (Third place)
Jun-seo's death makes her want to stop. She goes somewhere and lives quietly (not because she's forced to, but because she actually wants to).
4. She survives and everything was meaningless. (Worst ending)
This is the ending we got.
She hasn't changed a bit. She frees her hand from Jun-seo with resentment (twice). Not even a fraction of a change after everything that happened.
She goes somewhere and lives quietly (not because she wants to, but because she has to).
And she'll still cause harm to others if the situation presents itself.
The Story
It started promisingly, dancing around a gray area. At first, sure, she's manipulative, but she only did evil things to the people who wronged her (mom, dad, high-school bully). But then she starts doing it to innocent people. Which is fine, as long as the show doesn't try to paint her as anything other than a psycho.
And that's where everything falls apart.
All the show had to do was to say, "HEY, PEOPLE, THIS IS HOW A PSYCHOPATH BEHAVES. THIS IS HOW A PSYCHOPATH TRIES TO JUSTIFY THEIR OWN ACTIONS."
But instead, they foolishly tried to create a sympathetic villain out of an evil, pragmatic extremist.
Sure, she went through a lot and deserves sympathy, but depending on the harm you cause, that sympathy eventually goes away. The show tried to consistently blur the line between good and bad and keep us in the gray area, but failed to see that there was no gray area left to dance around.
It turned completely black.
The Logic (or Lack Thereof)
For a character like the FL, you have to make her super smart and calculating for it to work. But instead, she just "gambled" multiple times and got lucky.
(Killing Dad / getting out of prison / a walking retcon saving her after the in-gang death.)
For example, a smart character would be extremely cautious about getting caught. Send the dad to prison for a few years, just like Jun-seo wanted. Then you have five years to pay someone to safely kill him in there.
Long story short, the logic wasn't logic-ing. Everything and everyone just fell into place through some magical power so the story could continue.
Jae O
I know you're gonna get mad at me for this, but he did it to himself.
Yeah, she was a psycho who tried to manipulate him, and he had a rough situation with his father and all, but, like, bro... she hugged him once and he was like:
"I ONLY EXIST FOR YOU. YOUR ENEMIES ARE MY ENEMIES. I WILL SERVE YOU, MY QUEEN, UNTIL THE END OF THE EARTH. USE ME AS YOU WILL." :|
He simped too close to the sun.
He was a simp and died like one. Pathetic.
The other guy at least scored some.
The Ending
Once they were in the car at the end, I could see four possible endings. It's impressive how the writers chose the absolute worst one.
1. She and Jun-seo go and live together quietly somewhere. (Second-best ending)
This ending is possible for two reasons.
First, they showed us signs of her being willing to stop (the grandma and marriage situation).
Second, there's what she said to Jun-seo: "I won't be sad if you get hurt, but I don't want to be the one who causes you harm." Something along those lines.
She obviously would remain a psycho in this scenario, but she would have no choice but to stop harming others because she would have to harm Jun-seo and get him out of the way first.
2. Jun-seo succeeds in killing them both. (Best ending in terms of storytelling, IMO)
But, of course, the guy can't do anything right.
3. She survives. (Third place)
Jun-seo's death makes her want to stop. She goes somewhere and lives quietly (not because she's forced to, but because she actually wants to).
4. She survives and everything was meaningless. (Worst ending)
This is the ending we got.
She hasn't changed a bit. She frees her hand from Jun-seo with resentment (twice). Not even a fraction of a change after everything that happened.
She goes somewhere and lives quietly (not because she wants to, but because she has to).
And she'll still cause harm to others if the situation presents itself.
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