Ticket to Heaven - Finished!
Disclaimer: Whatever comments I may say may be out of ignorance. I don't have a Christian or Catholic background even though I was raised in the US which I think is predominately of the Christian faith. I don't at all mean to be critical toward any church or faith.
I was worried about watching this drama in case the MLs were caught and treated badly , tortured or kicked out by a religious group . That was my imagination projecting onto this kind of story. Not only did that not happen, but the Father of the church was actually very kind, patient and accepting toward Tanrak all the way to the end. At least that's my understanding. It was unexpected in a good way.
Fourth did a good job of acting out Tanrak's confusion and pain I could really feel it too. He went back and forth cuz one minute he's avoiding Barth and the next he's telling Barth how much he loves him. It must have been an agonizing mental struggle since his only source of support in life (emotionally and physically) is the church and the Father. Not to mention the burden of expectations of others. Also, one of the real issues may have been whether he would get to see his parents again, since I think he was told by the Father if he lived a certain life he would join them in heaven.
I felt bad for Barth and his story. I can see why he was bitter and rejected the teachings of the church.
There are some scenes that didn't make sense. Like when Tanrak had the lighter and his rosary in his hands in the motel room. Or the whole smoking in the bathtub. Or like when they left the religious place they were living at for a few days and no one there said anything. There were other moments too.
After the last episode I went back and read Jadeheart's post. I don't fully understand it but I also felt smth was missing in the last ep after all of Tanrak's struggles up to then. I didn't get to see Tanrak actually arrive at his final decision and how he got there in the end. Or Barth's reaction to it. Maybe I missed it. I won't say more cuz that would reveal ending details.
The main message I took was everyone is deserving of forgiveness, love and grace, no matter what path they choose in life.
I'm sure I didn't have the same kind of connection to this story as others may have, and I'm not able to appreciate or pick up on the deeper meanings to things, but I enjoyed the drama and think it's good. Not amazing but pretty good, lol.
Hopefully I will have a chance to see GemFourth projects in the future.
8/10