songfalcon

Agree with you wholeheartedly on this, Up until this point, the majority of the focus/pov has been about Hyunwoo which is fine. But I was expecting for things to switch up in the second half so that we’re finally able to get both perspectives and learn more about Haein. Her character is so interesting and layered and there’s so much story to tell. However, she isn’t being utilized enough! Hopefully we’re able to get that in the remaining episodes starting tmrw.

I seriously don’t understand people sometimes. Just blatantly ignoring all of the disturbing things he’s done just because of one reaction. Yet when it comes to Hyunwoo they keep bringing up the same thing and ignore all of his many redeemable qualities. Oh yeah let’s not forget how Hyunwoo is actually a good person and not a sociopath…

The thing about Hyunwoo’s reaction is that a lot of people have misinterpreted the reason for his happiness. At that point in time Hyunwoo was only thinking about his pain and suffering which is totally justified. He was scared for his life. When finding out about Haein’s illness he wasn’t happy that she was dying. He was happy that he was able to get a clean divorce. Here he wasn’t thinking about Haein, but only himself. He didn’t consider what this would mean for Haein, and only felt relief and happiness in that moment that his life would be able to start again. And then being upset after finding out about the 51% percent was him being upset about having to put up with his in laws again. It’s difficult because Haein’s illness is intertwined with his ticket to freedom so the lines are blurred. But I truly believed that it wasn’t her dying that had caused him to be over the moon.

It’s just an assumption based on what Haein could’ve felt at some point over the years based on their family dynamics. What you said is true, and I agree. But, it’s totally not out of the ball park if there were moments of resentment towards Soocheol from Haein’s side considering the one thing that she’s always yearned for came so easily for her younger sibling. When love and affection from parental figures are involved, it’s normal to feel jealous towards your siblings if they’re able to garner more of that than you. There’s no shame in it and again it’s just an assumption. Whether she ever resented him for that or not, only the writer knows lol. Wish we could’ve gotten to see more of their sibling dynamics because it’s clear that they do care for each other.

The bar is in hell at this point! Seriously how could people be supporting this?? All the while Hyunwoo has been busting his ass trying to get the company back and supporting Haein in every way he can. Eunseong’s reaction was over the top and obsessive! Hyunwoo’s sole reaction at the end of ep 7 was enough to show how much he loves and cares for Haein and exactly how hard her direness of her illness is finally hitting him.

That one scene of Hyunwoo and Haein coming back from Seoul and joining the family for dinner was so wholesome. It was such a brief and simplistic scene but it’s literally one of my favs in the drama thus far. Wonder how different their lives would’ve have been if they’d gone and lived with Hyunwoo’s family after the marriage rather than Haein’s. We need more scenes like this!!

If they’re planning to go with the trope where Haein loses her memories, I hope it’s where she recovers her memories of everyone but her mom because that woman deserves to suffer and regret her actions. Her mother is also the person who has caused her the most pain in her life so her blocking out her mom from her memories would make sense.

From the difference of how she treats both Haein and Soocheol, it would be safe to assume that it’s played a part in affecting their sibling bond. Seeing Soocheol being babied and taken cared of by her mom probably made Haein feel jealous and envious of her brother growing up making her build up some form of resentment towards him despite still caring for him. Soocheol on the other hand sees the way his mom doesn’t care for Haein and therefore turns into a self entitled brat. Her constantly reinforcing the idea that Haein is strong and doesn’t need help has shaped Soocheol’s perspective of his sister, making him lack empathy towards her and brushing her off the same way their mom does.

It seems you’ve misinterpreted the point of my whole post and following comments. Nowhere did I ever put down Hyunwoo and hailed Haein as a saint. The purpose of my post was to shed light on Haein’s character and the reasoning behind her actions in response to Hyunwoo’s or on her own. My post clearly stated that they were both at fault and that both have their own reasonings as to why they act the way they did. It was also to point out the growth in Haein’s character because many people have been saying that she lacks growth which is not true. The following comments were to back up my claim of Haein’s growth and to respond to commenters who were hating on her for reacting a certain way when put in her shoes she has every right and reason to react that way when looking at things from her perspective. I pointed out misogyny because it seems as if people were putting the blame more on Haein and only empathizing with Hyunwoo even though they have both made mistakes, and have both suffered in their own way.

Saying he was always good to her is a reach considering they have both been at a cold war since the death of their baby. The flower example you mentioned was before her miscarriage which was when they were still happy with each other. Again this flower example you mentioned was also a clear example of both of their flaws that I have talked about in action. Haein, not clearly communicating that she appreciates/likes Hyunwoo’s romantic gestures, and Hyunwoo just assuming that she doesn’t like it at all. Similar to how she never said that she doesn’t need him by her side but he assumed that’s what she wants.

And like you said relationship is a two way street so why are we only blaming one party? We’ll just be going around in circles! Haein could’ve opened up first, Hyunwoo could’ve approached her first but the problem is they both were unwilling to take the first step. To answer your question of what was stopping her from going to him was when he first moved out of their room after her miscarriage. And yes I know what you’ll say after this, he did it because of her cold dismissive words towards the death of their child. But grief comes in many forms. She was grieving in her own way, so she bottled up her emotions. Hyunwoo was also grieving in his own way and didn’t have the emotional capacity to try and understand her grief and take care of himself at the same time. Before you bring up the past and how she never took the initiative, let me bring up again when she followed him all the way to his hometown to propose to him, as well as all the advances she made during their dating days. Refusing to break up with him after his sister confronted her, renting out places for their dates, and even telling him about her illness in which he is the only person she trusted enough to tell.

A relationship is never 50/50, one side is sometimes giving more compared to the other. There are many scenarios where this could’ve gone differently. Haein could’ve expressed her true feelings and understand that Hyunwoo was also grieving and needed her support. Hyunwoo could’ve taken the time to realize that this is the typical defense mechanism of Haein and further asked her what she really feels. Each person also shows their love in different ways. That is also a problem in their relationship. They love differently, and because of that the other person never feels like that are loved.

Yes I agree a lot of her growth was seen after her illness, but the same could be said about Hyunwoo. That’s the thing, Haein’s illness was the catalyst for both of them to open up again. It led to Hyunwoo taking the first step from Haein’s perspective by showing her affection again for the first time in a while. It was after that that she started opening herself more too. This all could’ve been resolved if Haein had reached out first or vice versa. But the problem has always been that they were both alone in their marriage and neither wanted to take the first step. Like Da Hye said, they both like each other but are never on the same page. This is not a blame game. I have never blamed Hyunwoo for the things he’s done, I’ve only pointed out the flaws of his character and have done the same for Haein. The reason why I posted defending Haein was because I’ve only seen Haein slander. If it were the opposite I would also post to defend Hyunwoo because he is also not the villain. Again to reiterate what my stance was, it’s that they have both made mistakes and have played a part in the downfall of their marriage. In order to fix things, they have to face the problem together.

Yes, I’m very well aware of what I wrote. And your responses have been backing up that very statement. The point of my post is pointing out how many people are only emphasizing with Hyunwoo’s character, the male perspective, and not with Haein’s.

Action is literally what Haein has been doing all throughout the drama hello??? She defended Hyunwoo against her family and spoke up for him consistently since ep 1 whether he knew it or not. She supported his family and showed up for them when they called her. She beat up her brother several times for disrespecting Hyunwoo. She literally finalized the divorce to give him what he wants. After their divorce she still came to his rescue when he was getting kicked out. Hell even during their dating days all she has done was show how much she values and loves him. Renting out places so that they could have their own privacy, following him from afar and admiring him, flying a fucking helicopter to propose to him and ignoring that his background is different from hers. Haein’s actions have been the only thing speaking for her which is one of the main faults of their marriage. Hyunwoo values words. He needs to hear Haein say herself that she needs him and loves him. But she lacks that communication because of her upbringing. But through her development we see that she’s slowly starting to get better at voicing out her affirmations which in turn helped him understand her better and made him start falling for her again.

I’ve understood everything just fine. It seems like you might need to watch the drama a couple more times to better understand the plot line and characters. Both Hyunwoo and Haein have shown growth. The fault I’m pointing out in the comment section is people only see Hyunwoo’s improvement and hate on Haein when she is equally making the same improvements. They both have different flaws. You can’t expect them to improve and develop in the same way. Maybe that’s why you may have missed it Haein’s development because you were expecting her to develop in a different way that fits into your ideals.

Thanks for the support! There’s too much Haein hate and she does not deserve that slander!

In case you missed it in my post, or failed to comprehend it, I stated that from Haein’s perspective, she still thinks that Hyunwoo wants to divorce her. Because since finding out about the papers, he did not clearly state in any way that he no longer wants a divorce. Haein’s way of fixing things is to give Hyunwoo what he wants, which is to liberate him from her mess of a family and all the suffering he went through. And she had come to this realization after settling her anger which HE provoked when they were in Germany to give her the will to live. She had ran the audit on him and had seen the evidence her dad had gathered, and realized how miserable he had been. It was after all of this that she decided to go through with the divorce.

You are talking as of they are still married and that divorce was out of the question. And if that were the case then criticizing Haein would be right. But with divorce at hand, Haein is doing what she believes Hyunwoo wants. I don’t know what dramas you’re watching where it’s only the ML putting in effort, but if thats the case you need to watch better ones lmao.

I’m so confused if we’re watching the same drama because it’s so clear that Haein knows how much Hyunwoo has suffered. That’s the whole point in ep 7’s epilogue! When they got married she promised not to make him cry, but yet she’s realized that she’s broken that promise seeing how miserable he’s been because of her and her family. Which is why she decided to divorce him! The divorce is her consequence. She’s losing the one person she loves most. The person who was always by her side. That is her biggest loss. But she’s making this sacrifice and accepting the loss because she realizes that she was not able to live up to her promise.

Why are you arguing if whether Hyunwoo’s provocation is justified or not?? I’m not blaming him for provoking her, I’m just saying that it’s the reason why she got angered and decided to take revenge for those who were questioning why she was doing so. She did it because he intentionally provoked her to get revenge on him. That was the only point I was trying to make. Never did I say that Hyunwoo’s anger isn’t justified…

My post never disrespected Hyunwoo… It was literally to defend Haein from people who fail to understand her character and blindly taking Hyunwoo’s side. Did you not read my final statement?? It’s not about putting them against each other but about understanding that they’re both at fault but rather than fighting each other, they should fight the problem!

This comment section reeks of misogynistic mindsets and so many people are only taking things at face value and only emphasizing with Hyunwoo's feelings and situation because his perspective has been the focal point of these past 8 episodes. It's clear they are both at fault and both are flawed characters. Haein is cold and unexpressive while Hyunwoo views things as black and white. These flaws resulted from the way that they are raised and where they grew up. Haein in a distant, unloving family, causing her to build walls around herself as a defense mechanism to protect herself from getting hurt and have her weaknesses exposed. Hyunwoo grew up in a close knit, loving family in the countryside, so he has a more naive mindset, often leading him to think about the sacrifices he made and the things he suffered, causing him to lack empathy towards Haein and dig deeper to understand her perspective. Both of them have failed to communicate in their relationship which was deeply rooted in the death of their unborn child.

For people to blame Haein and saying she has no right to be mad and take revenge on Hyunwoo are thinking like Hyunwoo themselves. Haein believed that Hyunwoo was the only person who loved her and would always be by her side. Not to mention that he is the one person she loves most in her life. Finding out that this person wants to divorce her, who wouldn't be devastated??? He was the the sole reason of why she was still hanging on and fighting for her life. After finding out about this betrayal of course she has no energy to listen to him explain because the news itself had emotionally and physically drained her. She has no will to live left, what does it matter if she listens to him? In her perspective, divorce is still on his mind. And was she wrong? Up until the day prior, Hyunwoo was still planning to go through with the divorce. What's the use of listening to him if she was no longer willing to live?? After dealing with a shock like that, how could anyone be in the right state of mind to sit down and have a civil conversation much less someone who was dealing with a terminal illness?? Is she a robot?? Yes, if she had listened to him and let him explain, things would have been different, but please place yourself in her shoes and look at things from her perspective and truly ask yourself if you would act differently.

Hyunwoo is only redeeming himself because he realizes that he's still in love with Haein. How does he realize this? He's starting to see things from her perspective. He sees that she isn't as cold and heartless as he made her out to be, he's realizing that she has also been suffering alone without him, and that she never stopped loving him. For Haein, her love has never dwindled. She gave Hyunwoo space because she thought that was what he wanted, she silently protected him, and cared for him in her own way. Even though their marriage was going through a rough time, she had never even considered divorce. Saying Haein has no development is absurd because have we been watching the same drama? From what we've seen Haein is slowly starting to open up more about her feelings and be more empathetic to those around her. Because Hyunwoo finally took the first step towards her, she finally allowed herself to bring her walls down again and let him in. She was always waiting for him to come to her because he was the one who had taken the first step away from her by moving out of their room after her miscarriage.

Let's not forget that Haein only started her path of revenge because Hyunwoo had PROVOKED her. Every word that he spoke was done with the intention to make her despise him and make her want to make his life miserable. So why are we blaming Haein for doing the exact thing that Hyunwoo egged her on to do???? The role reversals in this drama is really showing how painstakingly difficult it is to be a woman. If it were Hyunwoo in Haein's role, I know people would be coming up excuses for him left and right, and defending him as if there's no tomorrow. Not to mention that we're only halfway through the show. There is still so much of the story that is untold, and people are already jumping to so many conclusions without considering the bigger picture and that there is still more to the story. Hyunwoo is not to blame. Haein is not to blame. Please stop pitting these two against each other because this is supposed to be story about how they rekindle their love and marriage. This is how most relationships fall part when you're fighting against each other rather than tackling the problem together. Rather than fight about who's more in the wrong and painting either of them as the villain, we should be discussing about how they're finally gonna get back together and be the power couple that'll take back Queen's group from the actual villains of the story!

Why is all the blame shifted towards Haein though? Hyunwoo was the one who had pulled away first. Haein may have failed to show her love, but Hyunwoo was no different. Hyunwoo is not the only one bullied in the family, but Haein as well. They both played a part in the failure of their marriage. Haein for being too reserved and Hyunwoo for only seeing things on the surface level. These two things are the two main root problems that led to the misunderstandings between them that eventually caused the failure of their marriage.

I just wanted to make a post to explain Haein's character and why Hyunwoo's want for divorce was the ultimate betrayal to her.

Haein grew up in a cold, distant, and structured family. Most of her life she has lived with the guilt of being the cause of her brother's death which is emphasized by her mom's hatred and coldness towards her. She's not close with her brother, and both her her grandfather and dad are pretty distant towards her as well. The only time she's seen to have experienced true unconditional love was when she had met Hyunwoo. She had fallen for him through his affirmations of sticking through it with her even if she was dirt poor and he had to take care of her for life. She fell for him in the way that he took care of her. If we look back and examine how she explains what love is to Eun Seong, it is exactly all of the things that Hyunwoo has told her and done for her.

To Haein, love is when you endure through everything together. To her, love is about choice, and to be willing to stick through everything with each other in both the good and bad times. Despite the hardships her family puts her through, Haein still chooses to stay and live with them because she loves them. Her character lacks communication skills and it's difficult for her to communicate her feelings. But it's in her actions that we see how much she loves and cares or those around her. Love to Haein isn't about the grandiose actions. She doesn't feel the need to vocally speak up about her love for Hyunwoo because she believes that her actions are enough to show how much she loves him. Despite him distancing himself from her after the death of their child, she gave him the space he needed to heal. And despite being distant in their marriage for so long, it was clear that her love for him has never faded. So of course when she found out that Hyunwoo had wanted to divorce her, it had deeply wounded her because it shows that he doesn't love her enough to stick it through with her. She has the right to feel hurt, angry, and betrayed because the one person who she thought would always be by her side and loved her unconditionally was only faking it this whole time.

I'm not saying Hyunwoo's feelings aren't justified. He has every right to want to file a divorce living in such a family. But to dump all of his trauma and hatred on Haein was wrong for him to do so. He kwas the one who had made the choice to move out and distance himself first. Sure Haein had said some cold words, but being with her for so long and knowing the dynamics of her family, he should've known that she's not one to be expressive with her feelings. Seeing the baby stuff was annoying to her because it reminded her of her guilt for not only her brother's death and now for their unborn child. If Hyunwoo had took the time to understand her rather than just focus on his own pain, he would be able to see just how much she was equally hurting. Both characters are flawed and played a part in the falling out of their marriage. I just don't think it's fair to blame it all on Haein and make her the villain of the story. I love Haein and the complexity of her character. As the audience, we are able to see the full picture, and rather than look at things from a black and white perspective like Hyunwoo, we need to see and understand the nuances of the situations, actions, and words of the characters that are always more than they appear.

You worded this perfectly! People are too impatient and quick to judge. It’s only been 4 episodes! What makes QOT so interesting to me and makes me anticipate every upcoming episode is because we know how bad their relationship is, but not why it has gotten to this stage. With each episode we are given puzzle pieces that begin to fit in and better explain how Haein and Hyunwoo go to this point. It’s much more heartbreaking to find out little by little about the things that led up to the fracturing of their marriage. With each new reveal, we’re able to connect back to previous scenes and better understand the characters and why they said what they said or behaved in a certain way. For example the scene in ep 1 where they fought over having a baby hits so much deeper now after the relegation that they had lost their unborn child prior.

With Hyunwoo as well, although his mind is telling him that he’s glad that Haein’s illness will provide him a safe escape and that he no longer loves her, his actions have consistently proven to be contradictory to what he thinks.

As for Haein’s character, she appears cold and indifferent, but from flashbacks it is clear that there was a moment in time where she was happy with Hyunwoo. With the reveal of her miscarriage, it’s the first hint to us as to why her walls have started to come up again and she becomes the person she was prior to meeting Hyunwoo.

Still rewatching clips, still listening to osts, still coming here to chat with everyone and read their comments... Yeah it's gonna be a while before I get over this drama. 🤧

Wonderful analysis, I enjoyed reading your take on the ending and how each character came to their end. LTG and Yang Ying are foil characters of each other and I believe you perfectly described how each of them had developed and acted due to the conditions and circumstances they were dealt with. Agree with everything you said and couldn't have said it better.

Yup, I know exactly what you mean. An actor can be great, but there are those where you just feel like they are just acting whilst with others you feel that they are their characters and the essence of that character just flows out of them naturally like you said. And yeah it is based on preference at the end of the day. Agree with everything you said about Liu Shi Shi's eye expressions too.

Hi, I really enjoyed your breakdown of the different forms of acting styles. Similar to you I really enjoyed Liu Shi’s Shi’s acting here in the subtlety of her expressions. Like you said every part of her face plays a part in conveying the emotion of her character but it’s mostly her eyes that are most expressive.

I’ve seen some remarks about how she appears too cold, or her face is too stiff or frozen, but I feel like people have either not paid close attention or like you said appreciated a bit more over the top acting. I feel like it’s also because unfortunately we international audience are occupied with reading subs most of the time so it’s difficult to fully observe the actor’s facial expressions and appreciate the nuances in their acting. Which is why when I rewatch some scenes from AJTL I am so much more mesmerized by Liu Shi Shi’s acting because of how well she’s able to control these little movements whether if it’s with her eyebrows or in the way that she smiles. Her eyes as an a cold blooded assassin are deadly, and the loving gazes she has for NYZ are just so warm and gentle. You can also see a change in them whenever she’s teasing him and there’s a challenging and amused glint in her eyes haha. Her gaze whenever she interacts with LTG is also noticeably different. If one were to compare her gaze when she’s with him in the past compared to the past, they would be able to see that it’s less cold but more sad and reminiscing in a way as she realizes that her old disciple has changed from the person that she remembers and that she is also the same master he has grown to love. Her crying scenes are perfectly executed and not over the top as you can really feel her pain and sorrow. I also appreciated the differences in her crying scenes and how they’re each differently controlled according to the situation. Examples being when her godmother died, when she was realizing that she might lose NYZ, when NYZ woke up from his coma, when she found out the reason behind the Empress’s death, and the final scene when she realized NYZ met his demise. Sorry the rant lol.

Ep 1 was such a a great execution of introducing a lead character especially a female one at that which I am so happy about.
It showed us her many sides, initially making us think that she was weak and helpless yet knowing how to use her beauty and wits to fool a prince, and then giving us that epic fight scene that shows us that there’s more to her that meets the eye. Seeing Ruyi fight and exert her dominance over Qian Zhao and Shisan was a treat haha. And the fight scene in ep 8 just absolutely blew m away! Like giving each character a moment to shine in their own fighting styles and entrance and seeing how they fight together was just so amazing!