saglbl

The “Who” doesn’t interest me, but the “why” on the other hand is more important to me.
I would rather they break up because they’re are so fundamentally incompatible( emotionally, mindset, priorities, love language, etc)
They need to grow as separately as individuals.
I don’t even need for them to get back together.

On that, we agree. 100%.
Thank you. I thought I was overthinking it. 'Cause even though I'm more sympathetic towards Flora, I can also admit that she is not that well-written.

Totally. We have different POVs, and I welcome that because it enriches our comprehension of the story.
On that note, can I ask you something? Don’t you think Luke’s character is more fleshed out than Flora’s? For example, we know where Luke’s insecurities stem from outside of Flora, but not the other way around.

I understand your point, and I agree that Flora’s avoidance and mixed signals can make her investment harder to see. But I think it risks measuring Flora by Luke’s way of loving rather than by her own.

Where I differ is in treating that as evidence that Flora is simply less invested.

Both are investing in the relationship in different ways—and both have weaknesses that prevent that investment from always translating into a healthy relationship.

Also, this latest episode showed that they’re improving. Just wanted to point that out.

You’ve made some really strong points, and honestly, they’ve made me reconsider and adjust my POV on our CP a little. I think we just approach their relationship from different angles, and that’s what makes these discussions interesting.

I understand the distinction between having feelings and actually building a relationship, but I’m not sure I agree that Flora having “one foot outside the relationship emotionally” necessarily means she is less actively invested. She may express her commitment differently—by staying, forgiving Luke, giving him grace, and continuing to choose the relationship despite her insecurities.
I also think her withdrawal needs to be viewed in context. Luka’s jealousy, defensiveness, and especially his hurtful communication can make emotional vulnerability difficult for her. That doesn’t excuse Flora’s avoidance, but it helps explain it.
Luka is definitely more visibly active and involved, but visibility of effort isn’t necessarily the same as greater investment. Sometimes staying, forgiving, accommodating, and continuing to choose someone despite your fears is also an active form of investment. Both of them are invested; they simply have different unhealthy ways of dealing with vulnerability. Luka pushes, while Flora retreats.

“I was just loving him purely.

It doesn’t matter who he liked.

Throughout my long years, he has given me countless moments of warmth and kindness.

I, Sun Yu, fell in love with an angel.” – Sun Yu, Ep 20 😭

Beautiful and heartbreaking.

Sun Yu and Yuan Zhu are both personifications of pure and selfless romantic love in this drama. Both loved, and their love was unrequited romantically. Still, they chose to love in silence, supporting their beloved from a healthy distance without burdening their loved ones with their feelings.

No wonder people say that the ML is for the FL to fall in love with, and the SML is for the audience to fall in love with.

At this point, I don’t have the energy to care about our MCP and their unhealthy dynamics.

I’m grieving Yuan Zhu. I'm grieving an angel

I actually appreciate how detailed this analysis is, and I agree that neither Luke nor Flora is perfect. But as a disclaimer, I’m personally more sympathetic toward Flora, so I know that probably influences how I interpret things. I’m not claiming to be completely objective here. 😂

That said, I do think there’s a slight imbalance in how their behavior is interpreted. Luke’s negative behavior is often given emotional context — his jealousy comes from caring, his anger comes from being hurt, and his controlling tendencies are framed as something he’s learning to overcome. Flora’s behavior, meanwhile, is more often used as evidence that she’s avoidant, distant, or not invested enough.

I don't necessarily disagree that Luke puts more visible or active effort into the relationship. What I question is whether that should automatically be treated as evidence that Flora is less invested, rather than simply that they express investment differently.

I also think “investment” is being defined a little differently for each of them. Pursuing, protecting, supporting, and fighting to maintain the relationship are certainly forms of investment, but so are supporting your partner emotionally, respecting their independence, being there for them during difficult moments, and trying to protect them from additional stress. Both of them fail and succeed at some of these things to some extent.

Flora may express her investment differently rather than simply investing less. For example, she repeatedly gives him grace when he messes up, and even though she gets mad, she forgives him. She understands how complex their relationship is - including the boss/employe side of it- and doesn’t ask too much of him or pressure him.

I don't necessarily disagree that Luke puts more visible or active effort into the relationship. What I question is whether that should automatically be treated as evidence that Flora is less invested, rather than simply that they express investment differently. I just think the analysis is more generous in interpreting Luke’s motivations than Flora’s. Luke’s jealousy can reflect how much he cares, but it can also come from insecurity. Likewise, Flora’s withdrawal can reflect poor communication, but it can also come from fear, self-protection, or concern for him.

To me, they simply have different unhealthy ways of dealing with vulnerability: Luke pushes, gets jealous, and becomes defensive, while Flora retreats, hides things, and avoids confrontation. Neither approach is particularly healthy, but both seem to come from their own insecurities.

So I’m not arguing “Flora good, Luke bad.” I just think the same level of nuance should be applied to both of them when we’re trying to understand why they behave the way they do.

We can be biased, but we can also try to be fair when analyzing both characters and their relationship.

Glory was my fav last year

I totally agree!

Right?! And I'll miss this comment section once the show is over

I'm genuinely confused about your interpretation.

Just to be clear, what I wrote is definitely more sympathetic toward Flora.

I understand Luke. I sympathize with Flora. Those aren't contradictory.

Flora can be responsible for her choices without being responsible for Luke’s reactions to those choices.

You can understand that Luke's jealousy comes from insecurity, that he genuinely loves her, that he's proud of her, and that his cruelty is partly defensive—and still say, “Okay, but sir, you are responsible for what you do with those feelings.”

Meanwhile, Flora's flaws are more frustrating than malicious. She avoids conflict, gives up on communicating, and makes choices that might trigger Luke. But those choices come from exhaustion and self-protection, whereas Luke's choices often come across as him acting out his insecurities onto her—through jealousy, accusations, insults, and deliberately hurtful behavior.

That distinction matters to me.

That's actually the heart of my argument.

You can hold these two truths intellectually without compromising either one. Your biases included!

And yes, I’m not impartial, nor am I trying to be. I’m writing commentary, not delivering a courtroom judgment. Of course I have a perspective. I can understand both of them, recognize where each of them is at fault, and still be more biased toward Flora. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Thank you for being patient enough to read it till the end. 😊

We start with the dating-app misunderstanding. Flora was genuinely helping a friend and didn’t know what the company was doing with her account. But the second she tells Luke she’s going to help her friend that night, you can practically see the jealous gears turning in his head.

What’s frustrating is that Luke is a savvy guy. Once Flora explains the situation, he absolutely could have put those same gears to work and realized she was telling the truth. Instead, his default reaction is to insult her again.

He felt insecure and acted out of those insecurities.

And we immediately see Flora getting tired of this dynamic. She tells her friend, “If the other person doesn’t trust you, nothing you say will matter.” She deleted the account, explained the situation, and eventually just gave up trying to reassure him.

Key point: she gave up trying. And that becomes a recurring theme throughout the episode.

I was completely on her side during the app situation. The ex, however, was a different story.

Listen, I’m all for being friends with your exes, and Luke shouldn’t dictate whether Flora can see hers. But girl… give the man a heads-up, not a last-minute notice.

I’m not saying she shouldn’t have met her ex. I’m saying she should have considered Luke’s feelings, told him beforehand, and, knowing he would be insecure about it, reassured him.

I agree that Luke is possessive and jealous, and if it were me, I would never date a man like that. But Flora chose to date him. So if you choose to stay with someone you already know has these tendencies, wouldn’t you want to do what you can to make the relationship less stressful?

Then we get petty Luke again, followed by some of the most entertaining minutes of the episode. And Flora checking him on his big mouth was the cherry on top.

One thing worth noting, though, is how good the acting is. Especially when Luke watches Flora work. You can see how proud he is of the woman she has become. So all that looking down on her simply doesn’t hold up anymore.

Which makes it even sadder that his words say the opposite whenever he’s hurt or angry.

When he asks his sister, “Do I really say awful things?” you can see that he knows he does. He’s aware of it. He’s even ashamed of it. And honestly, he should be, because he was deliberately trying to hurt Flora in the same way he felt she had hurt him.

But Flora also needs to take some accountability.

Instead, to avoid conflict — something she does a lot — she waited until the last minute. And, of course, it backfired.

She gave up. Not consciously, but she gave up nonetheless on finding a better way to handle the situation before even trying.

And that’s what makes this episode so fascinating. We keep seeing Flora getting tired of the same old dynamics and patterns, but to her credit, she doesn’t give up on the relationship. Not yet.

Instead, she takes one last gamble.

And like any last gamble, you either go big or go home.

The final scene was frustrating, sad, and at the same time fascinating to watch.

Prompted by her senior, Flora asks Luke about taking their relationship to the next level and building a future together. And it’s interesting how she approaches the subject. She talks about her bucket list, about wanting to get married before 30 if she meets the right person, and then asks what he thinks about marrying her.

In other words: she is telling him that he is the right person for her. She wants a future with him. Marriage, commitment, the whole thing.

And Luke’s answer is probably the most interesting part of the episode to dissect.

Without repeating his words, Luke, feeling pressured and vulnerable, starts admiting that he knows he’s not an easy person to be with, that he has a bad temper, and that he isn’t good at loving someone.

He continues pointing out her relationships with other men, and on the surface, you could interpret this as Luke doubting Flora’s feelings for him or making more jealous accusations against her—which is fair.

But I think it’s much deeper than that.

It comes from a much deeper insecurity.

I don’t think Luke is necessarily jealous of these other men because he distrusts Flora. I think he’s jealous because, deep down, he feels like he isn’t enough for her. Deep down, he doesn’t believe he’s the right person for her. And honestly, he doesn’t know if he can be the right person for her before she turns 30.

But that’s clearly not what Flora hears. She hears rejection and accusations. And in that moment, with the tired sigh and the glassy eyes, we watch her actually start to give up on their relationship.

God bless her, she gives it one last try — using the word “tired” again — but Luke immediately shuts her down.

And there it is:

“Between us stood an invisible wall that neither of us could break through.”

Episode 18 is a textbook example of two people repeatedly letting instinct override the conscious effort needed to make the relationship work.
WARNING: The following text/comment is a lenghty one. Readers beware and read with care.

is the "national geographic channel" for me... lmao

Her life be lifing 😭

Idk exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the way, this show became a case study for me in just how much hurt and disappointment someone can take in a relationship before deciding they’ve had enough and walking away.
Holding both characters accountable for the relationship they're in.

You’re asking the important questions. I appreciate you for that.

ehh... I wouldn't want him to resing as my boss. The devil you know... yah know

After putting us through this roller coaster of emotions, the breakup and groveling better be cathartic.