Cas3innitrate

One thing you need before you watch this it to leave all your expectations at the door, nothing will go the way you want it to. Nothing.

That being said...HOLY HELL WAS THIS THE MOST INTRIGUING CINEMATIC UNIVERSE EVER!!!!

BAEK AH JIN.
A girl shaped by her circumstances. I've seen many people term her the perfect villain. She wasn't a villain. Baek Ah Jin didn't seek your ruin until you came at her, until you placed yourself in her path. Then she comes for you and yours.
You cannot hold her to the standards of a normal person. As a child, Baek Ah Jin survived her mother's abuse and her father's complacency. Then her father killed her mother, and he explained it to her like that was not a big issue, made her think of the bigger picture, so when the abusive mother asked for help, she went the safer route. The writers ate with that first episode since it dictates Baek Ah Jin's persona to a T.

Her father tells her life will get better as he remarries, but some part of Baek Ah Jin believes that, only to be disillusioned when her father and her new mum plot to have her sold, or film child pornography. So she finds a way to defend herself, blackmail, when that fails, and she's almost drowned, she goes for the next weapon: Junseo. And it works. It is important to note this going forward, for it shapes their relationship.
Another gem the writers subtly nudged at the viewers was Ah Jin's hate /mistrust of females; she has a misconstrued view of her gender, and this is also a factor in her manipulation.

Her high school bully had no business coming at her, belittling her background, and her lack of parents; she got her due.

The cafe owner was marked the moment they met, but Ah Jin cemented her decision to use him when he told her, EXPLICITLY, that she could. She even repeated it. Now, under normal circumstances, it would be considered kindness to offer someone help in these words, but Baek Ah Jin isn't normal; she doesn't think as anyone would, her fight is for survival, and so she survives.

Jae Oh is my favourite character by far, and the perfect partner for Ah Jin. He gets her, her entire flawed self. He doesn't try to change her. not like Junseo, who tries to mould her to his understanding of behavioural norms. Jae Oh put her first, believed her first. And their relationship was the most open and comfortable. He could have survived, though I guess his sacrifice, which Junseo shat on!!!! required a steep price.

Junseo tries to have everything, his morals, and the woman who went against everything else. He is a hypocrite who deservedly loses everything in the end. At his own hands, too.

LET ME REITERATE, IF JUNSEO HAS NO HATERS, AH JIN GOT TO ME FIRST. FUCKER LET THE PSYCHO CEO GO SCOT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IN KANG.
One of these days, they will stop giving HIY tragic love stories. Is it that he yearns so well and plays the broken heart so good they have to cast him?

This man had Ah Jin well on the track to security and freedom. Freedom to love and feel safe in being loved. He had his demons, she had hers, but they were working it out. Grandma was healing Ah Jin one interaction at a time. Had given Ahj Jin a second chance, so had In Kang.
Then, JUNSEO HAPPENED.
He could just let it go; he did what he did best, then got into Ah Jin's head, and she did what she was good at: surviving. Survival meant protecting herself, and protecting herself meant getting rid of weaknesses. In Kang was becoming has, so she broke it off, awful timing, because the man was holding on by a thread.
In Kang's death nullifies all of Ah Jin's healing. Makes her even 'worse', especially when her carefully curated world comes tumbling down.

CEO Moon puts Ah Jin's behaviour under contemplation. He is a master manipulator, unlike her, who is majorly on the defensive. He plays everyone like a chess piece, and a desperate, heartbroken Ah Jin, falls right into his trap. When Ah Jinn doesn't fall in line, he seeks to break her, and with Jae Oh's help, she fights back. But in the end, he goes untouched courtesy of Junseo, the hypocrite.

Baek Ah Jin finally feels the freedom and survival she fought so hard for within reach, when it all comes tumbling down, on the biggest night of her life. Junseo betrays her, I think he finally embraces the part of himself he fought so hard to keep down, using Ah Jin as his shield. He wants to end it all, so he picks up a fleeing Ah Jin, stupidly confesses his love, offers to send her to hell with him, and drives them off a cliff.

If it had ended here, the writers wouldn't have done this magnificent work any justice.

Junseo dies, and his last desperate grab at Ah Jin is fought off. Ah Jin had called him his last shackle during the death drive, and with that final scene, as she is standing on the cliff, looking down at the wreckage, she didn't even try to pull him out of, she finally achieves what she fought so hard for. FREEDOM.

Her last shackle had fallen, and without her direct interference. A truly fitting ending.

I would love a second part, but this ending feels complete. Knowing KDramas, they might have botched SN 2 anyway.

Those hating on this failed to understand the film. Or they were looking for something other than what was advertised. Or forwarding masters. Their loss.

I would watch it again.

Now I'm off to rewatch my demon, and any other film with KYJ, because she ate this up, and I want more.


THIS MIGHT BE THE LONGEST REVIEW I'VE WRITTEN EVER. BUT THIS FILM DESERVES IT.

WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!