alina_56

Yeah it was basically again Seojoon gives everything and gets little in return which is definitely not a healthy balance for any relationship.
The only step forward JW did was open up I guess. I kept waiting for a heartfelt apology from him for his behavior but we didn’t even get that.
He seemed self centered to me in that talk. The I can't come to you if you reject me like you can line rubbed me the wrong way.
At least he admitted that could never sacrifice as much and give as much to make the relationship work like SJ would.
Which makes the relationship definitely unfair to SJ when he does the heavy lifting all the time

I do agree with you. These are definitely problems that they swept under the rug. I'd like to think that if they had more screentime per episode or a couple more episodes they could have made the reconciliation more believable.

True 😭😭😭

Definitely. I have an issue with that. Everything SJ did for the last couple of episodes should habe tipped him off . He can't be that oblivious.
They clearly rushed him realising he was wrong and the reconciliation but I'll overlook it I guess.

I'm unhappy with the reconciliation scene. I wish it was longer and more thorough. I really wanted them to get into it and talk it out . For Jiwoo to talk about his insecurities more and how he thought that SJ didn’t love him or wouldn't care that he's gone and how he thought he was losing himself and that's why he left, I wanted him to properly apologise and show that he was sorry for how he treated Seojoon this season and for leaving him without an explanation . I wanted Seojoon to get into his pain too, to ask JW how JW could have thought that he would be ok without him and that JW wasn't three letters away to SJ like JW said SJ was and he was worried out of his mind. Getting into how much JW behaivor in s2 hurt him would have been nice too.

All in all I thought that Seojoon accepted him back way too easily and together with the "I can't keep coming to you if you reject me like you can" line from JW it underlined the problem again that Seojoon is the one to give and fight more than JW in the relationship . But I suppose it would be out of character for JW to 180° change his personality and start being as insistent as SJ is while it is in character for SJ to be the one to forgive easily and give even if maybe that person doesn't deserve forgiveness so quickly just for the sake of having them back .
I'm like SJ in his case as in I am always the one to give more just to have the other person back in my life and as normal by my side even if I know deep down that maybe I deserve more/I should get more.
Not to get too personal but I also have similar abandonment issues and attachment issues to SJ and I know how hard it is to crack these habits especially with people you care about/love.

I loved all the fluff scenes and them as a couple. I'm really thankful that they gave us some of that before the show ended. I was worried we'd get one or two scenes and done. It almost made me forget some of my disappointments and problems with the rest of the season. The actors have wonderful chemistry and I loved all of their scenes. I wish that kiss hadn't been interrupted 😭 but I digress.

I do appreciate the messiness of the characters this season looking back on a person level. It depicted messy characters with issues and insecurities that I can relate to deep down ( parts of JW and SJ too) that really made me think about this type of behaivor and where it can lead in the future if you don't work on yourself. I also appreciated that they showed the issues in the couple and that now they are working on them. I much prefer to follow imperfect couples that need to constantly work on themselves and on the couple to make it work than fairytale like couples that some shows serve. So I liked the message they were trying to tell.

I do understand the people who had issues with the script, the direction, overly angsty and miserable tone and with the couple. I can definitely see those and I even agree objectively. I just think on a person level I found the season engaging and thoughtprovoking ( as seen by how much I commented here since I caught up with the show after ep 4) and I liked that. It's a shame they didn’t have more time . I'm sure with longer episodes they could have properly developed the story and characters to something really riveting. Overall I enjoyed it , probably even more than season 1( althought it's not for everyone)

They do end up together

I definitely didn’t care for the Main leads couple. Towards the end of the show I was skipping through their scenes like crazy ,
What made the show for me was the bromance between the two male leads and the second lead couple.

First 5 episodes were amazing. I was addicted to see what would happen next .However once her cover was blown to the ML the show went downhill. The storyline got boring, there were no stakes anymore and even the chemistry between the two leads once he knew who she was got worse .
Kinda disappointed in the second half of the show

Me too. Still hoping they'll delve into it next episode but I'm giving up hope

I didn’t say he is an abuser, I said those two instances were emotional abuse and manipulation. To me emotional abuse is not something fixed, there can be light emotional abuse and heavy one and everything inbetween. Just because it's not the heavy prolonged one doesn't mean it's not emotional abuse. And those weren't just simple lies. They were words said with venom designed to hurt somebody you supposedly love with your whole heart. When you do things deliberately to hurt others and you know it that's when you cross to the toxic and emotionally abusive side, especially after you lead them on by kissing them and sleeping with them. Doesn't matter if you're still in a relationship or not .

No he's not the biggest trash but people are well within their right to find his behaivor problematic and questionable .

"Seo Joon kept seeking Ji Woo over and over again, no matter how many times Ji Woo rejected him."

I would have been with you until episode 5 and 6 when Jiwoo kissed Seojoon out of nowhere and slept with him. That was Jiwoo giving him hope again and a clear sign that Jiwoo doesn't want him to go away like he claims, but then proceeded to crush him down in the worst way possible by suggesting exes with benefits. He knew it would hurt Seojoon. He could have just said it was mistake, forget about it ( like SJ was expecting) but instead he said something hurtful that he knew would hurt. There is no justification for that.

In episode 2 he blamed Seojoon's mannerisms on him leaving( now we know it was a lie) but then turns around and says it's all on him in ep 6 ( which seems to be the truth. It's his insecurities, inability to communicate and say what's wrong and low self esteem) . So he was lying to deliberate hurt Seojoon instead of just telling him the truth. Both times . That's emotional abuse.

In addition in episode 8 he said that perhaps he hoped deep down Seojoon would hurt after Jiwoo left him . I fould that line to be weird at first but after I thought about it and read comments here I think it's because that would have been some confirmation that he mattered in Seojoon's life and was loved despite what is insecurities told him. But that's so messy... especially in contrast to Seojoon just wishing him well and happiness when he left despite being broken hearted.
That's things that make me not able to sympathize and I think I am well within my right to call this rapport they have toxic because of such things

Exactly! I really wish they went into it and I thought they will after they teased the root cause in episode 4. What was the point to show that if they were never going to get into it ... but nothing so far and I don’t see how they'll have time to do so in the last episodes

The viki translation is : "Although I wished that wasn't the case, perhaps I wished that Kang Seojoon would suffer immensely... I put walls up"

So not much better than gagaoolala

You might be right. There's no other way for me to interpret that line . At first I thought it was a bad translation cause it sounded so questionable but Viki's translation is " Althought I wished that wasn't the case, perhaps I wishes that Kang Seojoon would suffer immensely...." , so pretty much the same idea as the gagaoolala translation.
@Pincolino pointed out the same thing to me . That JW wanted SJ to feel hurt and pain because that would mean he mattered to SJ, something which he doubted back then and still does somehow? And I find that really messed up honestly...

I just posted a comment about it too and only say your comment after I refreshed 😭

I think they tried to tell too much in a show with 20-30 min episodes . The story and feelings they wanted to convery are complex and need a lot of time to explain well. The result in my eyes is lots of ideas and feelings mentioned but not necessarily shown or well conveyed. So it ends up being surface level and some of us can't properly understand or sympathise .

I saw a reddit comment ( the top comment on the TMS 2 Ep 7 and 8 thread on the BL subreddit) that I found very interesting. They said JW might have not been cruel in his eyes in that dinner scene with the suggestion of the eating together sometimes, sleeping together sometimes because this is how the relationship was for him towards the end with SJ being away most of the time for work and when he came back they mostly only got to eat and sleep sometimes. So he didn’t think SJ would find it that offensive and demeaning because he still thinks he didn’t mean much to SJ . And he was just trying to cut the emotional ties for him so he wouldn't become obsessed again and feel lonely and he didn’t think SJ would mind cause again his issues came in the way and him thinking he doesn't mean much to SJ.
And I think that's an interesting perspective even tho I'm not sure how much I subscribe to it because like I said multiple times I don’t buy how JW still thought he didn’t matter after SJ came for him after he got left so horribly/kept being pushed away.

However the problem is all these things are left up for the viewers interpretations and for us to read into their interactions to explain Jiwoo's behaivor and I think that's just a sign of the writer overreaching when they had lots of ideas but not enough time and a good enough structure in mind to tell it. For all we know that user might be right and maybe not but it's not clear. We shouldn't have to guess what Jiwoo meant and why he did what he did this season, we should be told and most importantly shown to understand and eventually sympathize. This is where the season fails for me.

Edit : I agree that the season also wasn't structured well and lots of time was wasted that could have been used to explain their issues deeper and earlier. Like thinking back now what was the point of the girl going missing? I was sure the whole point was to trigger SJ trauma so they can tease it cause it will come into play later. Well it didn’t come into play at all. Maybe it was so it lead to the kiss but they could have done it differently.
And also lots of unnecessary time on the ex . I wouldn't have cut her entirely, i understand why she's there so their relationship can be compared to Jiwoo's feelings now but it still got too much time.
The drama filming bits maybe could have been cut a bit too even if the scene where SJ tells the director off is satisfying.

I can understand this and you put it beautifully. I do think the execution could have been done better , less messily and not over so many different flashbacks and episodes. It got too convoluted and hard to properly follow. And they definitely needed more time to flash Jiwoo's feelings during the whole season that just one episode when the entire season was going to hinge on it.

What i think they especially messed up was the present and how Jiwoo treated SJ since he came to the village. That to me was too much and something I can't justify or explain using what you said above . It felt to me like they just wanted angst galore and didn't care that they were making JW too harsh and cruel to somebody he supposedly loves to the point where it becomes toxic to the other person . I don't see how SJ should get back together with JW at this point unless JW gets therapy immediately.

I also feel like they left way too many blanks to be filled by the viewers which makes this all more confusing. They wanted to tell a way too complicated story in such little time and should have structured the season better and tighter if they wanted to tell all this properly without leaving at least a third of the story to be figured out by viewer.

Exactly this!!
And let's say I buy that Jiwoo low self esteem and insecurities run that deep that he couldn't see it , that him running away would cause this pain and that SJ loved him this much but what I don’t buy is that Jiwoo still didn’t see it even after Seojoon went after him 1 year later and tried his best to get them back together. Very few people would still look for that person after 1 year and then still want to get back together and fight tooth and nail for it when that other person is only cruel . That alone should have told Jiwoo how much Seojoon was hurting and how much SJ loved him and that he wasn't easily replaceable. That fact that he continued to push him away and hurt him despite all this leaves me with a bitter taste because the second time he should have known that he wasn't as insignifiant to SJ as he thought .

The least he could have done was be honest when SJ went looking for answers and tell him the reasons from the start and if he's still scared to not be lonely again then say that and that he doesn't want to try anymore...

Just everything he did was unfair to Seojoon from the start and no amout of crying and" I was lonely , I was losing myself" is going to excuse that. SJ should go find himself somebody healthier for him...

Well said. I agree

I agree with you. Well said