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A Story That Forgot Its Female Lead
Honestly, what frustrates me the most about this drama is how ridiculously one-sided the storytelling is. The entire narrative feels so Namgoong-centric that you'd think he's the only character with feelings, struggles and emotional baggage worth exploring. Somehow, he's constantly positioned as the victim of circumstances that are largely a consequence of his own choices, while Mido is made to carry the blame for practically everything.
Let's talk about Mido first, because I genuinely think her character deserved so much better.
From losing her father to losing her career, Mido has experienced so much loss, disappointment and emotional turmoil. Her depression, suicidal thoughts, guilt and the sheer exhaustion of being trapped in a relationship where she is constantly made to feel responsible for everything deserved proper exploration. But instead of giving us an actual understanding of her emotional deterioration, the author seems more interested in highlighting her mistakes and making sure the audience never forgets them.
And yes, cheating is wrong. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But if you're going to build an entire narrative around judging a character for one drunken kiss, at least have the decency to explore the circumstances that led her there. The emotional neglect, the guilt-tripping, the accumulated trauma and the feeling of being completely drained in a relationship are all important parts of her story. You cannot just isolate one mistake, strip away all the context and expect the audience to view her as the sole villain.
What happened to character development? What happened to acknowledging her struggles? Mido deserved to be understood as a person, not constantly reduced to the worst thing she ever did.
And the double standards surrounding Namgoong are honestly something else. The audience seems perfectly comfortable condemning Mido for one drunken kiss, but somehow has very little to say about Namgoong flirting with and leading on the second female lead. Why are his actions constantly given a different interpretation? Why does he get endless sympathy and justification while Mido gets absolutely none?
He's not some innocent victim who has done everything right. His behaviour is manipulative, his arrogance is exhausting, and the way he twists situations to position himself as the betrayed party is infuriating. He seems perfectly capable of making his own choices when it comes to pursuing someone else, but suddenly becomes the wounded party when Mido makes a mistake. The hypocrisy is unbelievable.
And the second female lead isn't entirely blameless either. She needs to understand boundaries and recognise when someone is emotionally unavailable instead of willingly participating in a situation that involves someone else's unresolved relationship.
My biggest issue, however, is with the author's treatment of the female lead. From the beginning to the end, it feels like the narrative is constantly looking for another reason to blame Mido rather than genuinely exploring WHY she behaves the way she does. Her pain becomes a plot device, her mental health becomes an afterthought, and her character development gets sacrificed to maintain sympathy for Namgoong.
You can write a flawed female character. You can make her cheat, make bad decisions, hurt people and face the consequences. But you also have to give her the same narrative empathy you give your male characters. Accountability and empathy are not mutually exclusive.
I don't need Mido to be perfect. I don't even need the story to justify her actions. I just wanted the author to acknowledge that she was struggling, that she was hurting and that she was slowly losing herself long before that drunken kiss ever happened.
A character's worst decision should not erase everything they've endured or every bit of growth they've experienced.
Ultimately, this drama had the potential to explore complicated relationships, emotional manipulation, grief, depression, guilt and flawed human behaviour. Instead, it became a frustrating exercise in selectively distributing sympathy. Namgoong gets the nuance, the explanations and the emotional justification, while Mido gets the blame.
And honestly? I'm more disappointed in the writing than in the characters themselves. Mido deserved better writing, better character development and a narrative that actually cared enough to understand her.
Let's talk about Mido first, because I genuinely think her character deserved so much better.
From losing her father to losing her career, Mido has experienced so much loss, disappointment and emotional turmoil. Her depression, suicidal thoughts, guilt and the sheer exhaustion of being trapped in a relationship where she is constantly made to feel responsible for everything deserved proper exploration. But instead of giving us an actual understanding of her emotional deterioration, the author seems more interested in highlighting her mistakes and making sure the audience never forgets them.
And yes, cheating is wrong. Nobody is arguing otherwise. But if you're going to build an entire narrative around judging a character for one drunken kiss, at least have the decency to explore the circumstances that led her there. The emotional neglect, the guilt-tripping, the accumulated trauma and the feeling of being completely drained in a relationship are all important parts of her story. You cannot just isolate one mistake, strip away all the context and expect the audience to view her as the sole villain.
What happened to character development? What happened to acknowledging her struggles? Mido deserved to be understood as a person, not constantly reduced to the worst thing she ever did.
And the double standards surrounding Namgoong are honestly something else. The audience seems perfectly comfortable condemning Mido for one drunken kiss, but somehow has very little to say about Namgoong flirting with and leading on the second female lead. Why are his actions constantly given a different interpretation? Why does he get endless sympathy and justification while Mido gets absolutely none?
He's not some innocent victim who has done everything right. His behaviour is manipulative, his arrogance is exhausting, and the way he twists situations to position himself as the betrayed party is infuriating. He seems perfectly capable of making his own choices when it comes to pursuing someone else, but suddenly becomes the wounded party when Mido makes a mistake. The hypocrisy is unbelievable.
And the second female lead isn't entirely blameless either. She needs to understand boundaries and recognise when someone is emotionally unavailable instead of willingly participating in a situation that involves someone else's unresolved relationship.
My biggest issue, however, is with the author's treatment of the female lead. From the beginning to the end, it feels like the narrative is constantly looking for another reason to blame Mido rather than genuinely exploring WHY she behaves the way she does. Her pain becomes a plot device, her mental health becomes an afterthought, and her character development gets sacrificed to maintain sympathy for Namgoong.
You can write a flawed female character. You can make her cheat, make bad decisions, hurt people and face the consequences. But you also have to give her the same narrative empathy you give your male characters. Accountability and empathy are not mutually exclusive.
I don't need Mido to be perfect. I don't even need the story to justify her actions. I just wanted the author to acknowledge that she was struggling, that she was hurting and that she was slowly losing herself long before that drunken kiss ever happened.
A character's worst decision should not erase everything they've endured or every bit of growth they've experienced.
Ultimately, this drama had the potential to explore complicated relationships, emotional manipulation, grief, depression, guilt and flawed human behaviour. Instead, it became a frustrating exercise in selectively distributing sympathy. Namgoong gets the nuance, the explanations and the emotional justification, while Mido gets the blame.
And honestly? I'm more disappointed in the writing than in the characters themselves. Mido deserved better writing, better character development and a narrative that actually cared enough to understand her.
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