ECHAN232

To add on, Thyme had the opportunity to hit Talay, but he stopped himself because he doesn’t want to give in to violence any longer. In episode 11, when Talay held Gorya hostage, Talay made it clear that he wasn’t going to hurt Gorya. Unlike the other versions, Thyme didn’t fight back not because he was afraid that Talay would get hurt, but it was because he no longer wanted to use violence towards others.

Coming back to this show because I truly love it. Out of all of the adaptions of Hana Yori Dango, this version was the best at truly showing how horrendous bullying is and how the cycle of violence is perpetuated. It directly addresses how the cycle of violence CAN stop - (thyme apologizing to his victims, and is willing to take accountability for his actions by posting Talay’s post). At the end, Gorya mentions that bullying still exists, but now people actually fight against it, and is not as severe as it once was.

as the previous reply said, you haven’t made it far enough. the whole school has had violence (whether physical or through means like humiliation) engrained in them for so long. it’s unrealistic for them to change overnight. the thing is, it doesn’t really MATTER what the reason is - they enact violence because they want to, not because there’s a “valid” reason for them to he angry at someone else. the show having violence in it doesn’t glorify violence- it shows that it can eventually stop, and that redemption is never too late.

the one thing that bothered me about the korean version’s fiance arc is how she insisted they get married despite her acting like jandi’s friend. at least in this version, it’s CLEAR that she felt betrayed by gorya, and it seems like she put their friendship on hiatus because of how betrayed she felt. it makes a lot more sense for lita to treat gorya overtly harsher than saying they’re friends while still pining for thyme.

the ML’s acting gets better.

in all the other versions, when the FL asks the ML why he didn’t fight, he says that it’s because he doesn’t want her to get hurt. in this version, thyme says it’s because he doesn’t want to lose. in this version, thyme isn’t fighting back not because he has no choice, but he is consciously choosing not to fight back because that’s not who he is anymore!! he doesn’t want to hurt others or use violence, and this is what distinguishes him from all the other MLs in the previous versions.

to me, it looked like he did push talay, it just looked like talay expected thyme to do so.

i also think that the tesla situation is in a different realm of misunderstanding. in the tesla situation, gorya doesn’t even stop to think what might’ve occured between thyme and tesla. in this situation, though, gorya SEES with her own eyes that thyme pushed talay. it also doesn’t help that thyme taunts gorya for being easy - if thyme was following them to protect gorya then he should’ve just said that. him saying that to gorya just makes it seem like it was a problem of jealousy and not him worrying about gorya.

actually it is her business. she’s quite literally in the middle of all of this chaos. not just because she’s thyme’s love interest, but also because she’s lita’s only friend. additionally, part of how “adults figure things out” is by knowing others’ opinions. we don’t live in a vacuum - we rely on other people’s thoughts to figure out how to make decisions. also, gorya doesn’t tell thyme TO try and love lita, she tells him if he thinks he CAN, then he should.

woah i totally forgot that that’s the title for this episode. i swear every detail of this show is so well thought out and everything feels like a slap in the face when you catch up on those nuances.

see the thing is - lita makes it clear to gorya that she thinks she can fall in love with thyme. lita and thyme’s relationship is SUPPOSED to be just them trying to love each other. that’s why gorya says “if you think you can love her”. she says this because she wants thyme to try and love lita, just as lita is allowing herself to fall in love with thyme.

although it’s wrong, i think gorya genuinely believes that thyme is better off with lita. she can see the similarities between thyme and lita, and that’s what’s making her believe that thyme can grow to love lita more than he can love her. that, along with thyme’s mom and having to see what it’s like for the ultra rich, is what lead to her suggesting that thyme should date lita.

as for what’s the difference between gorya and thyme’s mom. it’s pretty clear - his mom is making his som marry lita for power, money, and pride. gorya is telling thyme to date lita (however misguided) because it’s what she thinks is best for thyme.

the way i see it, talay falling was genuine since thyme did push him - but talay wasn’t surprised because he expected thyme to act that way towards him.

although gorya’s bullying scene was hard to watch, it was an important one. in episode 7, thyme closes the stadium and vows to stop being violent. he doesn’t realize that you can’t just put a bandaid over an issue and put it behind you. by creating and issuing the red card, he’s already made monsters - both in the form of vengeful people, but also in the form of people who have begun to enjoy bullying others. thyme never fixed his atrocities from before, and that’s the problem. to be a changed person, you don’t only have to move forward as a better person, you have to address and fix the issues of the past.

the difference is that gorya ALREADY saw thyme being violent towards talay while gorya was there. it’s not like gorya stumbled upon talay and her, thyme pushed talay without knowing anything about him and his relationship with gorya. of course gorya is going to side with talay.

the last sentence you said is exactly on point. you can’t equalize thyme and gorya’s experience. it’s ridiculous to do so. sure, it might be hard for thyme at first because he’s not used to it, but at the end of the day, it’s all INCONVENIENCES. he’s not sacrificing himself to fit into gorya’s world, he’s just having to do small adjustments. and when he’s adjusting himself to gorya’s world, he also gains the love of gorya’s brother.

gorya, on the other hand, will have to sacrifice her pride and her principles just to be in thyme’s world. she has to be alright with being looked down upon, to being told she’s not good enough, etc. she also has to be ok with the fact that these rich people don’t care about people - they care about power and prestige. that is NOT who gorya is.

people love to act like gorya and thyme are on equal playing fields. they’re not. there’s a clear societal hierarchy, and thyme is leagues above gorya so their experiences will not be the same.

although i hate that gorya has to suffer for thyme’s crimes, i think this is what thyme needs to truly stop the violence. even though thyme promised gorya that he wouldn’t use violence anymore, he pushed talay when he saw gorya and him together. this shows that he hasn’t fully internalized what it means to not be violent. this time, when he finally sees the consequences of his action - of the monster(s) he’s created because of how drunk he was with power - he might finally stop being violent for good.

oh my god, thyme’s face when he’s running at the end. he’s not even mad at talay - he’s TERRIFIED and overcome with fear for gorya. holy shit i’m so impressed by the emotions you see in his face.

“On a day like this [a funeral], do we still have to think about business?” let’s break this down for a second. gorya is at the funeral because the flower shop has been hired for it - more than likely, this means that gorya has probably had to work at funerals before. she probably expects people to be mourning. what does she see instead? she sees business people there solely because of propriety. kavin mentions to them that they should work hard because it’ll be good for their business if someone at the funeral is impressed with their work. a man just died, and all everyone cares about is their business. all this shows to gorya is how little they value the lives of people. to the rich, wealth and power is always the priority. do we really expect gorya to understand that?

im convinced that the people bashing on gorya have no consciousness of the power the wealthy have on society. we live in a world where our lives are literally in the hands of the ultra rich. who would want to be entangled in that??? we’ve seen how twisted the rich can be from the start - they were able to delete incriminating evidence against f4, essentially showing that the rich can do whatever the hell they want. if i were gorya, i wouldn’t want to be entangled with that crap either.

i love thyme, but i think this episode really showed that he still needs more time to truly grow. thyme needs to learn that the things you do for love doesn’t entitle you to someone’s love. i was annoyed by how he grabbed and shook her shoulders and screamed about how hard he’s tried - gorya has never asked him to do that. and for a while, she was a burden to her. he still doesn’t know how to make a true sacrifice.