hct1750

yeh, i watched it.....good guess, you aren't far off. I'm not sure i agree with all you've written- there were some interesting moments- but we do agree on one thing; it gets really tiring to see men as perpetual villains (not always) when they cheat, while women are almost always portrayed as the victim of over-bearing or manipulative men to justify the woman's cheating or wrong-doing. Life is much more complex than these stupid stereotypes.

the subs are created by the rakuten viki "teams".......the teams use different names to coincide with the drama series.

rakuten viki is the viewing media

You wrote- "Society constantly tell women they have to act, dress, think and be a certain way." I don't think this is applicable any more; it started changing drastically in the 70's. It's now to the point that women can take on almost any typical male job role......and they can be as sexually active as they want with multiple partners w/out stigma. In Japan for example many women enter the porn industry without fear of criticism. A very large number of women remain unmarried and w/out children all of their lives. These "traditional roles" have all but disappeared from Japanese and american societies. Sadly men have not made these same inroads into female roles.
Someone wrote in one of the other reviews that "men tend to be idolized for philandering ." You seem to reflect this a bit in your review. This is a myth. A good example would be any non-gender based college: A freshman girl of average looks can use her sexuality to attract above average junior and senior men......i've seen this MANY times. Whereas a freshman male of average looks has almost no chance of attracting any female. Most women seem to want the attractive "bad boy"....i've seen this in real life many times also. "Average" guys are almost "invisible" to most women.....and that's the vast majority of men. These average guys DO NOT idolize the
womanizers....they resent them; bad boys get all the girls while the average guys get none. These poor slobs would cherish any woman who would have them.
Anyway, i'm getting long winded now........i apologize for that. I would like you to know that my social commentary is in no way a criticism of your review. I'm very thankful that you took the time to respond in depth.......you're very kind. I've seen many of the other forums; "he's/she's sooooo cute"....."i love her make up", etc......no real substance at all of course. Hopefully i'll run across your reviews for other C-K-J dramas. Take care.

The main issue i had was that by the middle of the movie i had lost interest in the characters.....there seemed to be no "good guys" in the group. Though i initially found sympathy/empathy for the FL, i later found her to be less and less laudable. She became more like the other players (friend, mentor, actor) in that she became a hedonist; all of the characters seemed focused on their pleasure with little regard forthe feelings of others.
What i wanted more of is the motivation for "mom" and her husband. For the mom i would expect that she had abusive parent(s). She also may have felt that she was losing her daughter. It is no surprise how many successful people will abandon their parents. As for the husband, i began thinking that he became "controlling" because he had a growing recognition that his wife was "outgrowing" him. I've seen this play out in real life with both men and women. A good example would be a spouse (man or woman) who supports the other spouse/partner through medical school. Once the partner becomes a doctor, they begin to engage with a more professional social circle. If the Dr's partner is a non-professional (i.e. -secretary or a plumber etc) the couple starts drifting apart because of the significant deference in "social status". Too many times the marriage/relationship cannot be saved; again i've seen this first hand. The FL was on the path for serious success; she was engaging with other successful people, while he was left at home.; this is when the "controlling" behavior begins. It's a last desperate attempt to keep their partner. Often of course there were other indications that he deserved less sympathy.

OOPS!! ndpndtwoman; thank you VERY much for taking the time to offer your in depth opinion/analysis. I'd like to offer my humble opinion if you don't mind. You wrote, "My interpretation was that she wasn't going to go back to letting other people define her and her life." I guessed that it might be that, but i was initially puzzled by the screen time for the "shoes". There seemed to be stronger symbolism there. After some thought, i came to this conclusion- the shoes were traditional Japanese shoes..... and they symbolized the traditional roles that women were expected to play. When she went down the hill after the one shoe, she was still bound by out side forces/traditions.....she must have the shoe to conform. When she found the shoe and then damaged it, she took off both shoes and climbed the hill barefoot. Most people would not have climbed the hill barefoot for fear of stepping on something that may cause injury. When she got to the top, she was declaring that she would not let fear of conformity and fear in general dictate her future.....she would not turn back again. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending......which is pretty much what you wrote.

Curious how others interpreted the ending and her final words.

i was curious how you interpreted the ending and her final words