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Between Steps... Walked Gracefully, Then Stumbled and Crashed
(My POV : Future viewers just skip 9,10,11 episodes and you get a realistic drama with soothing, healing vibes about humane, messy, flawed characters which are genuinely lacking in drama world...and considering this I am bumping up my initial rating of overall 6.9 to a very generous 8...)
The drama started strong, and I was genuinely invested. Finally, a drama that seemed interested in portraying real human beings — messy, flawed, immature people who haven't figured life out yet.
The ML, a survivor of osteosarcoma, is at a stage where he's still catching up with the years, opportunities and dreams he lost to the disease. He's made significant progress academically and professionally and is finally looking to open himself up to dating and relationships.
The FL has just dropped out of her major to maintain her integrity and honesty. Following a major academic setback and betrayal by a trusted friend, she's also trying to redirect her life. She's hot-headed, immature and has plenty of growing up to do.
Put these two flawed characters together and explore how their relationship develops... I'm invested... popcorn, please! 😂
It could have been a meaningful, realistic and grounded story about two people navigating their individual struggles while learning to build a relationship.
But no... Towards episode 9, the writers had to introduce a love triangle with SML who is also in love with the FL. And among all the possible narrative choices and scenarios, they went with a cancer relapse and the ML breaking up with the FL to spare her the pain.
This is where the drama took a turn towards what I can only describe as "narrative gaslighting".
The ML's medical condition becomes an almost impenetrable shield against criticism of his behaviour. How do you call out his actions without being made to sound insensitive to what he's going through? Meanwhile, the FL's emotional pain is increasingly sidelined. And then, following his medical collapse, we're pushed towards a guilt-ridden reconciliation.
What frustrates me is the constant use of medical crises to shield behaviour, with little meaningful accountability or healing for the FL. His suffering deserves empathy, absolutely. But so does hers. His illness doesn't make her emotional experience any less significant, nor should her love be measured by how much hurt she's willing to absorb.
What annoyed me even more was the imbalance in their relationship from the beginning. The FL was the one who pursued him initially, putting in almost all the effort while he remained half-hearted. Even after he broke up with her, he doesn't exactly make a wholehearted attempt to repair things. Instead, he tries to run away again, and the reconciliation happens because the FL shows up and initiates yet another conversation.
Why is one person expected to do all the emotional heavy lifting? At what point does the other person actively choose to work on the relationship?
I wanted to see two flawed individuals with traumatic experience learn, grow and actively choose each other. Instead, the narrative increasingly expects the FL (and the audience) to accommodate the ML's suffering while glossing over the emotional consequences of his actions.
And that's particularly disappointing because the drama initially showed so much promise. It had the makings of something refreshingly human and grounded, only to fall back on the very melodramatic tropes I thought it was trying to move beyond.
What started as a refreshing story about imperfect people finding their way through life and love eventually became just another familiar melodrama. The intial episodes had a very soothing, calming ,graceful vibe and then at ep 9...a real stumble, and then a crash.
( Writing this at episode 11.... Even if the final episode shows significant efforts from the ML, it might be too little, too late after three whole episodes of emotional manipulation of viewers. I'm finding it difficult to see how the narrative can undo the frustration and disappointment these episodes have built up.)
Strengths: Direction, realistic characters, soothing overall vibe.
Burn: The writing after episode 9. The writers really did this drama dirty.
Upto episode 9 : a big 10/10
After ep9 : 1/10
Edits after ep 12 :
ep 12 also a 10/10 episode...I don't see the point of ep 9, 10, 11...
Future viewers just skip 9,10,11 episodes and you get a realistic drama with soothing, healing vibes about humane, messy, flawed characters which are genuinely lacking in drama world...and considering this I am bumping up my initial rating of overall 6.9 to a very generous 8...
The drama started strong, and I was genuinely invested. Finally, a drama that seemed interested in portraying real human beings — messy, flawed, immature people who haven't figured life out yet.
The ML, a survivor of osteosarcoma, is at a stage where he's still catching up with the years, opportunities and dreams he lost to the disease. He's made significant progress academically and professionally and is finally looking to open himself up to dating and relationships.
The FL has just dropped out of her major to maintain her integrity and honesty. Following a major academic setback and betrayal by a trusted friend, she's also trying to redirect her life. She's hot-headed, immature and has plenty of growing up to do.
Put these two flawed characters together and explore how their relationship develops... I'm invested... popcorn, please! 😂
It could have been a meaningful, realistic and grounded story about two people navigating their individual struggles while learning to build a relationship.
But no... Towards episode 9, the writers had to introduce a love triangle with SML who is also in love with the FL. And among all the possible narrative choices and scenarios, they went with a cancer relapse and the ML breaking up with the FL to spare her the pain.
This is where the drama took a turn towards what I can only describe as "narrative gaslighting".
The ML's medical condition becomes an almost impenetrable shield against criticism of his behaviour. How do you call out his actions without being made to sound insensitive to what he's going through? Meanwhile, the FL's emotional pain is increasingly sidelined. And then, following his medical collapse, we're pushed towards a guilt-ridden reconciliation.
What frustrates me is the constant use of medical crises to shield behaviour, with little meaningful accountability or healing for the FL. His suffering deserves empathy, absolutely. But so does hers. His illness doesn't make her emotional experience any less significant, nor should her love be measured by how much hurt she's willing to absorb.
What annoyed me even more was the imbalance in their relationship from the beginning. The FL was the one who pursued him initially, putting in almost all the effort while he remained half-hearted. Even after he broke up with her, he doesn't exactly make a wholehearted attempt to repair things. Instead, he tries to run away again, and the reconciliation happens because the FL shows up and initiates yet another conversation.
Why is one person expected to do all the emotional heavy lifting? At what point does the other person actively choose to work on the relationship?
I wanted to see two flawed individuals with traumatic experience learn, grow and actively choose each other. Instead, the narrative increasingly expects the FL (and the audience) to accommodate the ML's suffering while glossing over the emotional consequences of his actions.
And that's particularly disappointing because the drama initially showed so much promise. It had the makings of something refreshingly human and grounded, only to fall back on the very melodramatic tropes I thought it was trying to move beyond.
What started as a refreshing story about imperfect people finding their way through life and love eventually became just another familiar melodrama. The intial episodes had a very soothing, calming ,graceful vibe and then at ep 9...a real stumble, and then a crash.
( Writing this at episode 11.... Even if the final episode shows significant efforts from the ML, it might be too little, too late after three whole episodes of emotional manipulation of viewers. I'm finding it difficult to see how the narrative can undo the frustration and disappointment these episodes have built up.)
Strengths: Direction, realistic characters, soothing overall vibe.
Burn: The writing after episode 9. The writers really did this drama dirty.
Upto episode 9 : a big 10/10
After ep9 : 1/10
Edits after ep 12 :
ep 12 also a 10/10 episode...I don't see the point of ep 9, 10, 11...
Future viewers just skip 9,10,11 episodes and you get a realistic drama with soothing, healing vibes about humane, messy, flawed characters which are genuinely lacking in drama world...and considering this I am bumping up my initial rating of overall 6.9 to a very generous 8...
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