At this point, I’m starting to question whether Flora actually understands what it means to be in a relationship…
That is exactly the point of the show. It is about Flora’s struggle to be in a relationship with her boss, knowing he looks down on her and knowing that revealing the relationship would cost her career and credibility.
- She struggled to see Luke as just her boyfriend because he never stopped treating her like a subordinate even in private. He always talked down on her and dictated her. Luke tells her she isn’t good enough, is dumb, weak, and cheap. The weight of those words just don’t disappear, much like how Luke’s dad’s words continue to impact him. Much of her behaviour came from trying to avoid giving him more ammunition to look down on her and criticise her.
- She needed to keep their relationship secret because, if discovered, she stands to lose everything she values as a young woman and professional. Flora wanted her achievements to stand on their own merit. She was uncomfortable with the possibility that people might think she was sleeping her way up the ladder. Introducing Luke as her boss, as he obviously was, to her ex was consistent with her effort to do so. Her proposing to Luke to make their relationship public showed how much more she came to value Luke through their years together.
So to answer whether Flora understood what it meant to be in a relationship with Luke, I think the bigger question is whether Luke ever fully understood what it meant for Flora to be in a relationship with him. She was constantly navigating the power imbalance, protecting a career she had worked hard to build, and trying to earn the respect of someone who repeatedly made her feel inferior. Yet she still chose to be with him and eventually wanted to make their relationship public. It wasn’t only Luke who tried to understand and accommodate the other person. Flora was doing it too, just in ways that were less visible and came at a different cost. Reducing her struggles to a failure to understand commitment completely misses what the show was trying to tell us.
Deep, relatable, thought-provoking. Ended up binge-watching this over the weekend. It’s criminal that this is below 8.0! Or even below a 9.0. Didn’t know they made asian dramas as progressive as this. Glad to have a world of asian entertainment open up for me.
This has become one of my favourite k-dramas. None of the fluffy tropes, just stone, cold reality. Probably infuriating to watch for uncomplicated people (like PJW lol). But if you understand the feeling of not being good or strong enough / not having shit together / not feeling worthy of love - this would hit home and hit hard.
Rewatching it (focussing on the main leads) and now have a deeper appreciation of ML’s change when he realised he liked FL. I now see the nuances of the brother-sister dynamic transforming to a romantic one (and can sympathise with FL on how jarring it was!). Credits to the leads for making it believable and endearing with great acting and incredible chemistry.
Also want to commend the portrayal of adults in the show esp of Mr. Xue, their homeroom teacher. Teachers are society’s unsung heroes!
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- She struggled to see Luke as just her boyfriend because he never stopped treating her like a subordinate even in private. He always talked down on her and dictated her. Luke tells her she isn’t good enough, is dumb, weak, and cheap. The weight of those words just don’t disappear, much like how Luke’s dad’s words continue to impact him. Much of her behaviour came from trying to avoid giving him more ammunition to look down on her and criticise her.
- She needed to keep their relationship secret because, if discovered, she stands to lose everything she values as a young woman and professional. Flora wanted her achievements to stand on their own merit. She was uncomfortable with the possibility that people might think she was sleeping her way up the ladder. Introducing Luke as her boss, as he obviously was, to her ex was consistent with her effort to do so. Her proposing to Luke to make their relationship public showed how much more she came to value Luke through their years together.
So to answer whether Flora understood what it meant to be in a relationship with Luke, I think the bigger question is whether Luke ever fully understood what it meant for Flora to be in a relationship with him. She was constantly navigating the power imbalance, protecting a career she had worked hard to build, and trying to earn the respect of someone who repeatedly made her feel inferior. Yet she still chose to be with him and eventually wanted to make their relationship public. It wasn’t only Luke who tried to understand and accommodate the other person. Flora was doing it too, just in ways that were less visible and came at a different cost. Reducing her struggles to a failure to understand commitment completely misses what the show was trying to tell us.
Also want to commend the portrayal of adults in the show esp of Mr. Xue, their homeroom teacher. Teachers are society’s unsung heroes!