DarkAurora

Of course the system is broken. And I can see that you wanted to put emphasis on that. My issue is that your words suggested that you think he is not guilty and the system is the only one to blame. The question is do you find him guilty or not. If you do, then we are on the same team.

Yes! Exactly what I had on my mind when I wrote that he does not live in Third World country. I am sure he was aware what he was doing.

Yes, he said that. But there is evidence he flirted with her when she was teen. So even if we assume he is telling the truth about dating her when she was older, he still flirted with her when she was teen.

I am not saying that you said SK is Third World country. I said that SK is NOT Third World country. And I said that to show you that he has internet connection, lives in a developed country and he can THINK FOR HIMSELF and not only depend on society for his moral judgement.

You said that he is excused. By saying that he is the product of his environment. You are putting the blame for what he did on society and not on him.

Just because all the people do it does not matter you should do it, too. South Korea is not some Third World country, he should know better. Your words "he is the product of his environment" are pretty dangerous. This is how tragedies in the past happened, when people were blindly following political leaders and doing cruel things to other people just because everyone around them was doing it. It was their excuse. Poor one, if you ask me.

It doesn't matter that it was legal at the time. It was just morally wrong to date a kid. And it is enough reason for him to be condemned. If he didn't date her but "only" flirted with her it is still bad. As adults we should know better and protect naive teens. He was morally obliged not to flirt back. I don't know if you have regular contact with people who are 15 but I do. I am 24 (younger than he was when he dated or flirted with her) and I tutor 15-year-old boys and girls in my university-free time, so I know how people behave at this age. And believe me, they are still very immature and if a grown up person wants to flirt with someone like that there must be something wrong with this person.

I won't comment on everything you have written since I did not follow this matter closely but I wanted to address the thing you said about her being 15 when they started dating. I am 24 years old now and believe me, someone who is 15 is NOT emotionally mature. When I was 15 I thought I was mature, too. But I was not. Being 15 you still lack a lot of life experience, you are a schoolkid not a univeristy student, and you do things you will regret in your adulthood. And the fact that he was about 27 when he started dating 15-year-old teenager is utterly wrong. I know boys who are 15 years old and the thought about me dating them (and I am 24) just seems appalling to me - I see them as kids. It's not normal he did it. If she was 20 and he 32 that would be fine. BUT she was 15!

I think you might be right that we actually don't like the choice Lin Fang Lu made. I really like your take on that. Maybe even me saying that he was a coward was too exaggerated - he was actually just a normal person. I think we see it on a daily basis, people just walking their own path, worried only about their own problems, afraid to step out of their comfortable path to help someone. He ended up like that when he was young. It might be why Lin Fang Lu's attitude hurts us so much. He is ordinary, he is just like many of us, unfortunately. It is Zhou Luo who is special and not Lin Fang Lu who is out of the ordinary.

I totally agree, romantic part of Zhou Luo's relationship with Nan Ya was a very important point, too! I think you might be right with the flashback as well because I don't think, if it really happened, that Zhou Luo would tell him about kissing Nan Ya in that moment. It actually might have been his jealous imagination, as you said.

I really think people misunderstood Lin Fang Lu. Yeah, he was very keen on finding the truth. But at the same time I think it wasn't the only thing why he was so determined to prove it wasn't self defense and that Zhou Luo was involved. I think that proving Nan Ya's guilt would make him feel less guilty about leaving her when they were kids and not sticking to his promise about taking her from the town. He was also angry at Zhou Luo because their experiences were pretty similar, yet Zhou Luo was someone who Lin Fang Lu failed to be. I think Lin Fang Lu was ashamed - you could see it in his eyes when Nan Ya, during her last interrogation, told him how men were disappointing her constantly throughout her life. He was especially ashamed because his mother was in similar situation, she was abused, too. I don't think he wanted to hurt Nan Ya. I think he wanted to help her, actually. This is why he tried so hard to obtain the rest of the tape and why he was so happy when it turned out the events of that night were different. And I don't think his change of attitude was out of nowhere. There wasn't much change actually. He was just conflicted. Because at the same time he wanted things that were not aligned with each other. He wanted: 1) to find the truth, 2) to protect himself from the thought that he wasn't as righteous as he thought he was (initially he is portrayed as meticulous policeman, but he left Nan Ya behind in his youth which indirectly put her in a situation she is right now, he didn't help her even though she needed help), 3) help Nan Ya because he was fond of her and because his mother was abused, too. As I said, I think he wanted to achieve all these goals but it was impossible. But it doesn't change the fact that he just turned out to be a coward (in his youth), unable to hold to his promise. The only good thing is that in the end he decided to do something good for her.

I feel that almost everyone who Nan Ya has ever met wronged her deeply. Everyone except one person - Zhou Luo. He made a mistake when he met her but he truly reflected on it. He was so young yet he was the only one who was mature. Truly, this is one of the most (or maybe even the most) beautiful and poetic dramas I have ever seen. Not only Chinese or Asian. I meant everything I have ever watched.

Nan Ya's case was rejudged so I don't think she served the full sentence. I was happy when I've read it since at first I was angry that the victim didn't get the justice she deserved. And, in the end, Zhou Luo was taking care of her kid, I think it is pretty safe to assume that he was waiting for her to come back and live with him.

Before I watched the few last episodes I found a comment that the ending is unsatisfying and I was afraid to watch it. I was prepared for the worst. Then I watched it and I think the ending was VERY GOOD, almost perfect. This was for the people who were still conflicted about watching it or not. And I really think people misunderstood Lin Fang Lu. Here is why:

!!!!Now, some SPOILERS IN THE COMMENT BELOW!!!!