Gabriela

Of course Seon Yul didn't have a husband, I obviously meant Soo Hyun and made a mistake when writing it, but thanks for correcting me.

It's funny to see you now calling Seon Yul a victim, when until now he was just the son of a monster and a horrible person, who didn't even care about the death of a child.

It's not that I don't want to consider Seon Yul's husband a victim, it's because that way you're expanding the scope of the story too much, because in the same line of thought, Soo Hyun's mother is also a victim. She lost her only grandson, her daughter was arrested and she had to see a disgusting photo of her son-in-law with the person she considered a daughter... The story has a clear focus on the story of Soo Hyun and Seon Yul, even if you don't like their bond, that's the truth and it's easier to say that you didn't like the drama.

Someone who defends a man who cheated on his wife with her best friend, with a person she basically considered a sister, just because he lost his son, does that justify anything? Just because his wife, who was in prison, asked for a divorce, he thought it was right to sleep with someone who was basically part of his family? That's a pathetic excuse, using his pain from the loss of his son.

"if the husband had been the murderer, the wife would be justified in sleeping with his friend because she was grieving". Of course, the premise goes both ways. If Soo Hyun's husband had been the one cheated on in this same situation, with Soo Hyun going out with someone who was part of the family and almost like her husband's brother, that would be disgusting too, that's not something that can be defended.

I wouldn't technically classify Soo Hyun's husband as a victim. Yes, he suffered a lot and was traumatized, but the whole divorce situation on Soo Hyun's part was for his own good, she didn't want him to be labeled as the husband of a murderer. Soo Hyun saying she didn't need him in her life? That was clearly a lie, she wanted to say the harshest thing possible to make him give up on her.

When Soo Hyun got out of jail, with her husband insisting a lot, she gave in and decided to try to maintain their relationship, but how was that possible with that toxic mother-in-law, who only humiliated her at every opportunity? There's also the situation with his betrayal with Soo Hyun's friend, that was something that hurt her a lot, because it was her friend who did it. Soo Hyun felt like an idiot for trusting them, and so I think it's right to call her husband a cheater, because he cheated on her with someone close to them, someone Soo Hyun considered her sister and that was a betrayal she simply could not forgive.

I honestly think you are analyzing the story too coldly. You forgot to put yourself in Seon Yul's shoes. My experience watching the drama was to put myself in the shoes of both Seon Yul and Soo Hyun and see it from their point of view.

Seon Yul being focused on his own pain is normal. It is a human instinct to think of himself first, it is a way of protecting himself. Empathy is also part of being human. We feel pain for others and this is easier when it is not something related to us, like when we see something on TV. But if it was a situation that involves you, it is normal to be selfish and focus on your own pain.

And also, who can judge whose pain is greater? Yes, as has been said many times, Soo Hyun's family is important, but in the same perspective, isn't Seon Yul's family also? His father was not innocent, but his mother was and she also died. In my opinion, it seems like you only managed to focus on his murderous father and forgot that he had a mother who knew nothing, who suffered after losing her husband (even though he was a murderer), ended up losing her sanity and died in a hospital bed... in this drama, Soo Hyun's son is not the only victim.

Let's be honest, is there really revenge in real life? That's something that only happens in movies and dramas. In real life, bad things happen and what we have to do is endure the pain, accept it and move on. It's a harsh truth, but it's what we have and that's exactly what the drama wants to convey, after all, there was no revenge, because there was no need for it.

Seon Yul did apologize to Soo Hyun, he did everything he could to help her, but the way you point it out, since his father is a murderer, Seon Yul had no way out in life, besides continuing to live with guilt for the rest of his life... that's just too sad. I think I'll suggest a drama that has an extremely similar theme, only with the addition of romantic elements: "Come and Hug Me". Watch it and see if you change your mind.

I understand your point of view, but that wasn't my understanding of the story. Seon Yul wasn't running away from the truth or his father's guilt. He was fully aware of what his father did. But as it becomes clear at various points during the drama, he lost everything that mattered to him, there was no reason to continue living. Even though he knew it was wrong to hate Soo Hyun, it was the way he found to survive.

And he did know that his father killed Soo Hyun's son, but he had no knowledge of anything they had said, how his father humiliated Soo Hyun, or the way he treated her. Until the day Seon Yul listens to the audio, he is completely devastated. As far as he knew, his father had "accidentally" run over a child. Isn't that horrible? Yes, but there were loopholes for him to still see that person as his father, to reason that it was an accident, a mistake... but hearing those words, basically seeing his father as a monster, that changed Seon Yul.

"Instead of seeking revenge on Soo Hyun, he should have confronted the monstrous reality of his father's actions". How could he do that with his dead father? Can you understand why Soo Hyun was the villain? It wasn't her per se, it was someone who was alive and conscious, who he could unload all his pain on.

If as you said, Seon Yul became "just another link in the chain of violence", that also has to include Soo Hyun, right? Do you think she was right to take justice into her own hands by killing Seon Yul's father? She also let her emotions get the best of her, because at a certain point in the drama, she regrets having killed Seon Yul's father, she didn't continue to think that she was right until the end.

I think completely differently, since the relationship between Soo Hyun and Seon Yul is the main point of the drama, it is where the whole story is developed.

Seon Yul started out wanting revenge against Soo Hyun, even though he knew that his father was to blame for her son's death, but Soo Hyun ended up not being a total victim in this story, since in a fit of rage, she killed Seon Yul's father. How is your anger, your pain justified, if you also hurt others in the process? It is a vicious cycle without end, because Seon Yul's mother and he were not to blame for anything in this and their lives were also destroyed.

The whole message of the drama comes from the relationship between Soo Hyun and Seon Yul, how they supported each other, even if it was initially hatred, to continue living. There's even a scene in episode 11, a dialogue that clearly shows this:
Soo Hyun - "I lost my child, I was arrested for seven years. When I was inside, I missed my child every single day. Also, I hated the person who did that to him, but I learned something one day, that person... also had a family"

Seon Yul - "I already knew, that you were in hell. It was the same for me, but I turned away from it. I thought I'd be able to survive if I did this or else I would die".

How can Seon Yul be blamed for what his father did? Since when do children bear the blame for their parents' crimes? That's not even fair.

Just think about it from Seon Yul's perspective. His life was turned upside down, his father was killed and his mother lost her sanity. For him, his perfect life was destroyed by Soo Hyun, and revenge against her was the only way he could find to move on, to have at least one reason to continue living.
If you look at it from Soo Hyun's point of view, Seon Yul's father is a monster who deserved to die, but from Seon Yul's point of view, he lost his entire family because of her. After all, we can't say that Soo Hyun's attitude was right; she herself realized that she made a mistake in an act of desperation, because she went from being a victim to a murderer.

https://www.tumblr.com/one-scene-one-drama/777662825023864832/jang-bo-ri-is-here-kdrama-2014?source=share

Woo Jin's changes started after episode 89 when Soo Jung gave him a hint about how he was being used and played with it. It was also the moment when she finally told him that she no longer had feelings for him, she was just using him for her revenge.

I respect your opinion too, as well as your point of view on the character, even if it differs from mine. Each person who watches the drama will have their own way of interpreting Woo Jin's development in the story. I also thought he was very aggressive and used his traumas and personal problems as excuses for his actions, a classic mama's boy, but I also saw a significant change in the character after he started to discover the truth.
I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and that's one of the cool things about mydramalist, this is a place where we can express them.

This is my personal opinion, which I have the right to. For me, Woo Jin did go through a kind of redemption. He discovered the whole truth about his mother's lies, who controlled him with medication. She always used the incident with Woo Jin's ex-girlfriend as an example, and yes, he assaulted her, but he wasn't the one who killed her... the guilt of that alone consumed him for a long time.

As for Soo Jung's father's death, he wasn't the only one involved. Yes, he was the one who pushed her father down the stairs, but after him came Hye Ra and Kyung Hwa, they were all guilty and if it weren't for Woo Jin's plan to manipulate his mother and Hye Ra, neither of them would have been punished for their crimes, so given the actions the character took at the end of the story, I saw this as a redemption for him.