This review may contain spoilers
really well written character
i usually hate open endings but it felt really fitting here, i don't even think whether na ends up with nine or leemhai is the point of the story (even though i will absolutely be pretending they get together anyway :D)
beneath the romance, i think this is a story about na herself. for most of the four episodes you're so caught up in the love triangle that it's easy to overlook the fact that the conflict is just internal. na isn't written as the stereotypically kind or "safe" protagonist you're immediately supposed to root for. she is messy, avoidant, contradictory, sometimes rude and selfish.
her approach to her problems is very relatable and felt very human, we are very nuanced beings with very nuanced feelings. when someone experiences misfortune over and over again, regardless of the reason, it's easy to start blaming outside forces, especially when those misfortunes happen so often, but deep down, na obviously blames herself too,
which is why i think she's someone who's spent her entire life chasing happiness and external validation, she would rather change her number for a change of luck, do all these extremely ridiculous rituals in front of people and risk getting fired, or embarrassing herself, tricking others, and literally blow up her life than look at that part of herself, as confronting the possibility that the problem might come from within is too much.
the series understands that self-discovery isn't linear, and is sometimes messy. na is someone who desperately wants to be loved, is terrified of being alone, and i think that is evident in her inability to choose between nine and leemhai (also probably mixed with comphet). she spends so much of the story suppressing her emotions and struggling to process them (and probably most of her life), when everything she's been suppressing finally comes crashing down, it's the first time we see her cry as, up until then, she’s been unable to even when she really wants to and that made the moment hit so much harder.
in the end, she chooses neither of them, a decision that is the most important decision she makes in the entire series and the most important to her character.
i personally interpreted the story much more as a comphet narrative than "a bisexual woman realizes she's bisexual", but i think i've seen other people interpret it differently, and that's okay too. i personally think it’s about someone caught between the life she always believed she was supposed to want and the one she never imagined for herself but came to find out she really, really wants. self discovery can sometimes be messy and that's okay, humans experience very nuanced feelings all the time and that's something i always look for and hope to find in characters
i do wish we'd gotten a little more time with the post-timeskip version of na because i would've loved to actually watch that growth happen, but considering this is only a four-episode miniseries, i think it does an incredible job of telling a cohesive story with a clear message and emotional core.
jan and jingjing were both phenomenal, their chemistry is just so incredible to watch. jan's portrayal of na was really beautiful, idk how to explain but i think the story works so much more because its jan, i found the panic attack scenes and the final breakdown scene so so so incredibly well-acted.
beneath the romance, i think this is a story about na herself. for most of the four episodes you're so caught up in the love triangle that it's easy to overlook the fact that the conflict is just internal. na isn't written as the stereotypically kind or "safe" protagonist you're immediately supposed to root for. she is messy, avoidant, contradictory, sometimes rude and selfish.
her approach to her problems is very relatable and felt very human, we are very nuanced beings with very nuanced feelings. when someone experiences misfortune over and over again, regardless of the reason, it's easy to start blaming outside forces, especially when those misfortunes happen so often, but deep down, na obviously blames herself too,
which is why i think she's someone who's spent her entire life chasing happiness and external validation, she would rather change her number for a change of luck, do all these extremely ridiculous rituals in front of people and risk getting fired, or embarrassing herself, tricking others, and literally blow up her life than look at that part of herself, as confronting the possibility that the problem might come from within is too much.
the series understands that self-discovery isn't linear, and is sometimes messy. na is someone who desperately wants to be loved, is terrified of being alone, and i think that is evident in her inability to choose between nine and leemhai (also probably mixed with comphet). she spends so much of the story suppressing her emotions and struggling to process them (and probably most of her life), when everything she's been suppressing finally comes crashing down, it's the first time we see her cry as, up until then, she’s been unable to even when she really wants to and that made the moment hit so much harder.
in the end, she chooses neither of them, a decision that is the most important decision she makes in the entire series and the most important to her character.
i personally interpreted the story much more as a comphet narrative than "a bisexual woman realizes she's bisexual", but i think i've seen other people interpret it differently, and that's okay too. i personally think it’s about someone caught between the life she always believed she was supposed to want and the one she never imagined for herself but came to find out she really, really wants. self discovery can sometimes be messy and that's okay, humans experience very nuanced feelings all the time and that's something i always look for and hope to find in characters
i do wish we'd gotten a little more time with the post-timeskip version of na because i would've loved to actually watch that growth happen, but considering this is only a four-episode miniseries, i think it does an incredible job of telling a cohesive story with a clear message and emotional core.
jan and jingjing were both phenomenal, their chemistry is just so incredible to watch. jan's portrayal of na was really beautiful, idk how to explain but i think the story works so much more because its jan, i found the panic attack scenes and the final breakdown scene so so so incredibly well-acted.
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