AA2024

That's a heavy debate! What if the "drunk kiss" has not happened? How Mido-Ho relationship would have been going (healing or breaking)?
But the kiss happened, a terrified Mido tried to hide it, but failed;
facing the break-up reality, she decided to punish herself by getting the same hurt feelings as Ho got;
as she unfold this "plan", she is realising she could lose Ho, gets terrified again but also confused - because now she realize freeing Ho is best for him.
Romans used to say "alea iacta est": Mido is now facing the consequences of her decisions, regardless the turmoil she is stirring while defensing her interests/needs. I think this is the key line of what writers are offering us, but you are right: 2eps to go, who knows what will follow!
"deus ex machina" was invented >2000years ago in Greek theaters, why not use it today to sort out this drama story.

About that scene: I got the completely opposite foreshadow = TS will intentionally fail the order he got (conning the villagers), because he wants to have Mido "not regreting bla-bla".
Ka-ching! this is first TS step towards his redeem/deliverance, saved by Mido (feelings!?).

just to be picky on GPT translation:
last phrase = "she mistook the butterflies (wings) for a collection of red flags"
I suppose that was the pointing remark you intended.

Wow! we have needed on MDL this level-headed point of view.
Of course, most of the viewers are looking more for emotions... and this is the fun of this comment section as anyone can express him/herself openly.

Agree with you, this drama is not everybody cup of tea. imo you need to have quite a lot of life experience to understand and digest this story and the characters. Regardless the writing/filming/production unavoidable flaws (on such subject), the story is standing by itself and makes you ask the right self-questions.
As for entertainment value, the ending will decide: realistic = French film-noir or optimistic = almost Hollywood classic ... and the viewers will qualify.

I wish we would exchange our opinions/conclusions after the ending is released. I am curious about your take.
Enjoy your watch!

Concur to your opinion; her "best area" is melodrama type where you need to convey msg through your eyes expression. imo for other areas like rom-com she feels ok and she has time to progress/evolve.
I understood from one of her interviews that she was happy to have her career break-trough (My Dearest), so now she can have an easier life. As her life goes sunnier, her acting should also get happier/funnier for us, viewers.

Ren's perspective:
At the end of the Special, Ren is going through a major maturation:
• Taking the risk: Ren finally gives up pride and fear of failure. Understand that his past silence left Rina alone in difficult times.
• Acceptance of reality: He sees Rina transformed from a popular girl and cleansed into a strong and independent single mother. He no longer looks at her from the bottom up, but as an equal.
• The final decision: For Ren, the open ending is no longer a hesitation, but a promise. He consciously chooses to stay on that “thin line” in her life, determined not to let the time or distance interpose each other and become the support she never had.

Rina's perspective (ep.1)
"When Ren reappears in her life (and he is now divorced), Rina is no longer the vulnerable and insecure girl in college. Matured by suffering and motherhood, her prospect at the end focuses on Absolute sincerity:
• She refuses to play emotional games or wait for Ren to take courage.
• Rina accepts that their complicated bond has defined her entire youth.
• The open ending, viewed through her eyes, is the regaining of control over her own destiny. She is no longer looking for a savior, but an equal partner with whom she can walk that thin line between love and friendship, without secrets and without fear of being rejected"

ep.1 with CHN subs (Rina persp.): https://nnyy.in/dianshiju/20230483.html

some useful links to better understand this/these eps.
a kind of synopsis: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000001283.000000084.html

Understand your rage and frustration... I calm myself telling it's just a drama = fictional product. It's supposed a performance is best as it makes the viewer to go through the 4th wall, but for this plot going through 4th wall it becomes frustrating and you fall back to 2nd wall. Honestly, I quit watching the eps ~2wks ago and now I'm waiting for final ep to rewatch/binge all eps.
Still, I'm watching previews/clips and follow MDL discussions; It's an exciting ring of emotions and opinions...

Many thanks! I was trying to understand their dynamics from the age/experience/expectation perspectives. Why do I have a deja-vu impression as in Tokyo Tower?

imo Ho is not perceiving himself as Mido man, more like her father. that would explain failing to get them into romance again and his "unmanly" proposal to Mido. I still believe they need a clear cooling time (better complete break-out) so they will settle themselves their feelings/wishes, way of living, etc. after successfully self-healing then meet again to see chances to get back.

Concur to your understanding of the infamous scene (sleep with / save): when saying the sentences she was clinging TEA arms and clutching fingers, just as she had serious pain to say that, lying to herself.
Regarding writer intentions: I still believe she has some survival instinct and for the sake of her career she has not gone into that despicable direction which most of the viewers rejects.

It also depends how they come together...
If they first break up to let each other find each own way of living happy and self-healing; then a time skip and they meet by chance (kind of) and slowly start to get close.... imo that would be HE for most of the viewers.

Actually, when looking to his eyes you get this vibe of a person not enjoying the life. Maybe he chose these roles mirroring his "demons"

I've seen A2Z and the story is based on 2 rational people/spouses. Here we have 2 broken people; maybe this the explanation their story goes so crazy. the essence is similar: couples dealing with transformation of their relation, as romance is fading.
But, what do you think about similarities with another Jdrama currently aired - Naked People (Hadakanbotachi) - where the FL decides to cancel her wedding after being seduces by ML ideas (wedding is not for all people; one should chose what she/he feels right for her image of life, other selfish ideas, etc)

Yuck! that's how SML invitation sounds.
Going on date with SML sounds another dissonance for Mido. imo she wanted to punish herself by throwing ML into SML hands; she got that, why she need to continue with SML? self-punishment/masochistic? square the situation: "found you in bed" = kiss+date?
It seems some of the characters - at least Mido & SML - are losing any sense/rationality.

It seems a nice watch, somehow needed to balance the parent story.

Thank you for quick reply. From eps.11 preview (SML asking FL "when we have sex?" or something like that), I got they have not done it in that night... but still, what Mido was doing half of the night?
Maybe she was wondering on the streets, realizing what utterly scum is SML... and run to ML flat for deliverance?

Anyone, what are the ages of main characters: Sabasaki, Momo, Kyoko and Ishiwa?

But at the end of eps10, Mido finds ML in bed in the morning, while last scene with SML was at night; question: what has Mido done with SML during this interval? Just crying and holding together?
... or it was just a long commute from police station to ML flat!...