This was what I would call an informative review... I mean, complaining about the age gap when it was clearly specified in the tags, as some other reviewes did (serially, I might add, leaving similar reviews in multiple age gap dramas) is really an abuse of the system. Makes as much sense as going below zombie movies and complaining about there being walking dead people. Or BL dramas and complaining about "disgusting BL romance": offensive on multiple levels: 1) it's not disgusting, I just have different preferences, 2) this kind of language is offensive to people who enjoyed it, who are shamed for what they liked, 3) it is an abuse of the system... yes, there are boys kissing each other; yes, this is kind of the point. So with, say, Noona romances. Yes, there is an age gap. Yes, that's kind of the point. I mean, this would be like one going below Secret Love Affair and complaining about there being "cheating (plus age gap and power imbalance)"... yes, but it's not only in the title, but also clearly marked in the labels. So was with the age gap in this drama: labels, description, actor list, poster... one knew what was going to happen (even if you didn't see any of the above, it's clear from the first episode who the romance is going to be about). I could at most accept not knowing about the second couple (since we don't have the Noona age gap romance tags set). Point being, people watching it know about it, and are obviously okay with it. If one hates age gap romances and still goes through 24 episodes, only to complain, they are essentially looking to be offended and have only themselves to blame.
By contrast, I feel that this review makes more cogent critique which is not about complaining that a car has 4 wheels and is not a boat. On the merits of the above, I must say that I did appreciate FL's characterization instead: she does the unexpected, and avoids the cliche. Frankly, I didn't take the words literally, nor did I judge her so harshly... on account of her not considering the full implications in terms of their concrete consequences, or maybe because she never lost a lover or didn't fully internalize the concrete implications? Or her circumstances? Perhaps... or maybe I was just taken aback by the fact that she would ask... I mean, kind of like you are not "supposed" to do that, but she allowed herself to be selfish and to tell him how she felt... and how we feel and what we desire are not always what we "should" desire... I frankly didn't imagine a future with ML living in misery, and I would bet FL didn't either... maybe she just didn't consider the implication, or maybe that's how she felt in that moment... maybe it was kind of a promise she was making to herself, to "force" herself to survive for her lover's sake... maybe that's cope -thought the last one did sound like a reasonable interpretation-, in any case I didn't take that as the law of the universe, and am more than willing to cut her some slack, it was certainly not a deal breaker for me...
In any case, in my mind I imagine her surviving and this being a moot point... maybe her explaining the last point I made about the "anchor" and extra motivation to fight to survive... but if I am honest, I kind of like the chutzpah of defying expectations... I don't know, I guess I would say that for whatever reasons it was not a deal breaker... she told him how she felt, and how one feels might not coincide with how one is supposed to feel: she cannot help how she feels any more than she could help loving him, etc., it's not exactly a rational process, which is why we don't judge people on the basis of their feelings and random thoughts, but on the basis of their decisions... in this case, I could at least say that she was honest with him... yes, I could imagine the "bad scenario", thought to be honest, considering how things went after the death of his first girlfriend, it's not as if I could see him looking for someone else... okay, I'll stop now... not sure how much of the above is cope, but bottom line, this was actually not a deal breaker for me, and I actually kind of liked the "courage" it took, writing wise, to defy the expectations of what a "good", "selfless" person was supposed to say (well, I can think of "rationally egoistical" reasons to want to give closure to someone in that position, such as wanting to be given closure if the roles were reversed, etc.) -the alternative would have seemed banal in hindsight-... the premise being that, in my mind, they end up together in the end, and everything goes well, rather than ending with her dead and him alone forever...
I guess that what I will land on is this being more her expressing the way she was feeling in that moment, rather than making a normative statement, or maybe expressing what she wished he would do, since she really has no way to force him to do what she wants to do, and he has every ability to choose not to abide by her desires and to pursue a relationship, so by their very nature they really have no way to force the other person to comply to their request/desire. Copium? Maybe. In any case, since this was not something I was bothered by, I will not try to create a problem for myself" that I didn't have before ;) I would certainly say that FL did love him, and that the fact that she felt that way does not mean that she wouldn't agree if someone sat her down and talked her through the implications, etc. In short, I guess I'll not overthink it. I mean, sometimes I do have to put myself in the mindset of "what is being said is not what the writer probably wanted to convey", etc., as in Queen of Tears, where some of the first part scenes put up for shock value/comedy, if taken seriously, would have different implications, etc... So I guess I won't see that as a "statement", and generally cut slack. Again, coming back to "copium"... I mean, at the end of the day I didn't experience this as a "deal breaker" or a "problem", and in my mind it was a "happy ending" ;)
By contrast, I feel that this review makes more cogent critique which is not about complaining that a car has 4 wheels and is not a boat. On the merits of the above, I must say that I did appreciate FL's characterization instead: she does the unexpected, and avoids the cliche. Frankly, I didn't take the words literally, nor did I judge her so harshly... on account of her not considering the full implications in terms of their concrete consequences, or maybe because she never lost a lover or didn't fully internalize the concrete implications? Or her circumstances? Perhaps... or maybe I was just taken aback by the fact that she would ask... I mean, kind of like you are not "supposed" to do that, but she allowed herself to be selfish and to tell him how she felt... and how we feel and what we desire are not always what we "should" desire... I frankly didn't imagine a future with ML living in misery, and I would bet FL didn't either... maybe she just didn't consider the implication, or maybe that's how she felt in that moment... maybe it was kind of a promise she was making to herself, to "force" herself to survive for her lover's sake... maybe that's cope -thought the last one did sound like a reasonable interpretation-, in any case I didn't take that as the law of the universe, and am more than willing to cut her some slack, it was certainly not a deal breaker for me...
In any case, in my mind I imagine her surviving and this being a moot point... maybe her explaining the last point I made about the "anchor" and extra motivation to fight to survive... but if I am honest, I kind of like the chutzpah of defying expectations... I don't know, I guess I would say that for whatever reasons it was not a deal breaker... she told him how she felt, and how one feels might not coincide with how one is supposed to feel: she cannot help how she feels any more than she could help loving him, etc., it's not exactly a rational process, which is why we don't judge people on the basis of their feelings and random thoughts, but on the basis of their decisions... in this case, I could at least say that she was honest with him... yes, I could imagine the "bad scenario", thought to be honest, considering how things went after the death of his first girlfriend, it's not as if I could see him looking for someone else... okay, I'll stop now... not sure how much of the above is cope, but bottom line, this was actually not a deal breaker for me, and I actually kind of liked the "courage" it took, writing wise, to defy the expectations of what a "good", "selfless" person was supposed to say (well, I can think of "rationally egoistical" reasons to want to give closure to someone in that position, such as wanting to be given closure if the roles were reversed, etc.) -the alternative would have seemed banal in hindsight-... the premise being that, in my mind, they end up together in the end, and everything goes well, rather than ending with her dead and him alone forever...
I guess that what I will land on is this being more her expressing the way she was feeling in that moment, rather than making a normative statement, or maybe expressing what she wished he would do, since she really has no way to force him to do what she wants to do, and he has every ability to choose not to abide by her desires and to pursue a relationship, so by their very nature they really have no way to force the other person to comply to their request/desire. Copium? Maybe. In any case, since this was not something I was bothered by, I will not try to create a problem for myself" that I didn't have before ;) I would certainly say that FL did love him, and that the fact that she felt that way does not mean that she wouldn't agree if someone sat her down and talked her through the implications, etc. In short, I guess I'll not overthink it. I mean, sometimes I do have to put myself in the mindset of "what is being said is not what the writer probably wanted to convey", etc., as in Queen of Tears, where some of the first part scenes put up for shock value/comedy, if taken seriously, would have different implications, etc... So I guess I won't see that as a "statement", and generally cut slack. Again, coming back to "copium"... I mean, at the end of the day I didn't experience this as a "deal breaker" or a "problem", and in my mind it was a "happy ending" ;)