Kseniya Green

I understand what you mean and agree that love always has a self-centered and altruistic component, and it's impossible to separate them cleanly.
Perhaps the problem is that we all perceive love differently, and what might be romantic for one person may be completely unacceptable for another.
For me, Pio's actions - taking the blame and condemning Jeongyo to this entire experience of thinking Pio was guilty and then blaming himself after Jeongyo learned the truth for all the words Jeongyo said to him out of hatred - I'll be honest. If I were Jeongyo, I wouldn't forgive that even to someone I really loved. I'd politely say goodbye to them forever and never looked back. But fortunately for Pio, Jeongyo is different.
We're all different, but when in a romantic drama, the characters commit acts unacceptable to me "out of love," it really knocks me out of the experience.

Oh yes!😁 You are absolutely right.

I don't think Pio didn't love Jeongyo, but I do think there's a strong element of self-centeredness in Pio's love for Jeongyo, even at the end. And for me, the problem is that in the second half of the drama, Pio's love is mostly demonstrated through Pio waiting and searching for him, but no, I don't consider this the ultimate act of love. It certainly indicates that Pio NEEDS Jeongyo . But needing someone can also come from a very egocentric position.
The ultimate act of love, in my opinion, is the ability to detach from one's own needs and consider the feelings and needs of another. It's the ability to notice someone else's pain. To actively care about their safety. And, inevitably, to hate the person who ruined your loved one's life. And I didn't see any of that in Pio.
But here I suspect I have a very different worldview from the screenwriter.

Yes, I feel something like that too. I have a feeling that in the drama they wanted to show that Pio loves Jeongyo, despite all the conflicting feelings and the depression that weighs on him, that was the idea. Like in that scene where Pio furiously attacks the kidnapper with the line, "Do you know how special he was?"
But in general, they didn't find the right way to show it, in my opinion. The whole drama, I was waiting for some scene that would clearly show that "Kai has thawed out and broken free from the Snow Queen's spell," but I didn't see such a scene.

I think Pio loved Jeongyo in some sense. Jeongyo was the only person Pio helped despite his own selfish interests. And the only person Pio was happy to spend time with, without trying to boost his self-esteem, just being with the flow. It was just that his own wounded ego Pio loved more, and it shows in any difficult situation.

I'm sure it was intentionally queer-coded. Even if we put aside the screenwriter's explicit statement that she was inspired by Wuthering Heights in writing Pio and Jeongyo's relationship, and look only at the drama as a final product.
Firstly, they follow all the romantic tropes with two guys (including those tropes that tired me in the straight version, but that's another topic 😅).
Secondly, the characters themselves are queer-coded, which is not typical for a simple bromance. Pio had some kind of quasi-relationship with a girl, but in not a single scene between them is there a sense of attraction on his part.
Jeongyo reacts to girls in a very revealing way - like a cat person to dogs 😁.
Plus, there are many subtle psychological details, like how Jeongyo is embarrassed when Pio sees his underwear in the room. Or how Jeongyo kept and even hid Pio's hoodie. This boy was going through his first teenage crush, and it showed.

I'd say it's definitely a love story. How far the physical side of this love goes remains off-screen and up to the viewer's interpretation. But in all its emotional aspects, it's written as a romance, filmed as a romance, and performed as a romance.

I believe it's simply a tone-setting image: two hands with rings as a recognizable image of a romantic connection between two people. A fateful bond "until death do us part."
The rest is up to the viewers to figure out.

And I want to add, without spoilers. I may not approve of some of the script's decisions, and I categorically disagree with the "forgiveness" rhetoric and how it was implemented in the finale.
But that doesn't stop me from being delighted that such a clearly queer drama was released and received such widespread popularity. I hope there will be more queer, or at least queer-coded, projects like this, with strong actors and beautiful cinematography, to suit a variety of tastes.

Many things felt wrong to me in the finale, but one thing was done very well. Like many, I was hoping that somewhere near the end, Jeongyo and Pio would play together again. I thought it would happen on a big stage. But in the end, this intimate scene in their old hideout turned out to be just the right note.
If they had performed together on stage, it would have been more about music as a career in art.
But this scene turned out to be explicitly about music as the language of love.
Because regardless of what was done right or wrong in this drama, it is undoubtedly a love story.

I completely agree. I was deeply disappointed with the turn the plot took in the final episodes, but I probably would have simply forgotten about this drama and moved on if not for the character Junyoung created.
For me, this drama will always feel like the tragedy of Jeongyo, the tragedy of the only truly living person in a very lifeless world, who ultimately pays the price for everyone else, simply because he is the only one capable of love.
In my opinion, the ability to create such a vibrant, "larger than the sky" positive character is much rarer among actors than even charismatic antiheroes.
I sincerely wish Junyoung bright, powerful, and complex roles in projects worthy of his talent.

Yes, I suppose it wasn't ultimately a point of the drama. After all, the drama is a classic romance. And Pio's character arc is structured very similarly to the central characters in classic romances. And in this part, the drama achieved its goal.

No, no, my point was absolutely not to compare who suffered more. My point is that a drama that raises serious psychological issues ultimately spares its central character any need to grow through those issues.
It's not that I wanted to see more of Pio's suffering - I've already seen more than enough of that. But I would have liked to see more moments of Pio's personal growth and encounter with the consequences of his decisions, a break from his self-centeredness. Subjectively, I didn't see that in the drama.

But seriously, if we look past the vibrant chemistry and beautiful romantic scenes and focus on the core events, it's clear that the entire drama is designed to create the perfect life for Pio with minimal losses.
Let's just look at the list:
Pio has a girlfriend who is always there for him when he needs help, loves him unconditionally, and admires his talent. And even when he breaks up with her, she continues to protect him and drive him home. None of the hard feelings, broken friendship or something - quite expected in such a situation.
Pio receives his grandfather's absolute approval and blessing, which he always wanted.
The situation with Pio's mother is resolved without any active confrontation on his part. He doesn't have to sever ties with her or go through the agony of choice that's in reality is necessary for true personal growth in such a relationship.
Pio doesn't even have to face Jeongyo's pain. Jeongyo conveniently shields him from this experience and goes off to suffer alone.
Pio truly masters music, and everyone is delighted with his performance.
None of this is hate directed at Pio. I just don't like how the drama shields him from any need to grow up. And this, given that another character in this drama has gone through hell, feels somehow unethical.

🤣 Or maybe she just had a big unrequited crush on some artistic genius.

I'm glad I'm not alone in this feeling. Until the final episodes, I was hoping for some personal growth in Pio, but I saw none. Instead, the drama very manipulatively placed Jeongyo in a position of guilt before Pio, and then Jeongyo again coddled Pio's feelings. Ultimately, this story feels like a self-insert fanfiction written by Pio himself.

I'm very, very not ok with the concept that peace of mind comes through forgiving abusers, and that the responsibility for this forgiveness should fall on the victim's shoulders. This is a deeply abusive and twisted idea.
Peace comes through restoring justice, holding those responsible accountable, and - especially - through other people's compassion for the victim's pain.
Jeongyo found himself in a very twisted situation not because he was filled with hatred, but because Pio lied to him. And it infuriates me that the drama pretends otherwise.
If Pio had been honest throughout - in the interview and, especially, in his conversation with Jeongyo after receiving the photo. If Pio had made more effort to investigate his mother's involvement. Jeongyo wouldn't have found himself in all this pain and guilt.

I think it would have been more honest to kill Jeongyo in the finale, then make him a priest. Then the audience would at least understood, that the drama broke this character.

Yes, I understand, we can imagine Jeongyo shedding his robe and running into Pio's passionate embrace. I'm sure many fanfiction writers are already writing such post-canon.
But in reality, the church and priestly robes send a very wrong message. They are associated with the rejection of earthly passions and humility.

Jeongyo has always been a very passionate, earthly, and free-spirited person. But the drama consistently breaks all of this in him, so that all the other characters, including the complete psychopaths, get their happy endings.

I think this drama is a clear illustration of how in an "all is forgiven" scenario, the victim pays the main price.

A very unpopular opinion, but:

For me, the perfect example of this trope "from hatred to love" done right is the drama Beyond Evil. It also features a hero frozen by abuse. But there's a very powerful, heart-wrenching scene where he expresses empathy for the man whose life was ruined by his father. And this moment truly feels cathartic, for both of them.
But here, Jeongyo's love offers him no catharsis—only more pain.