Essentially all the characters are deeply flawed, not really admirable people. All of the charcters in some way don't acknowledge and own up to what they've done. Actually the only charcter that I have respect for is Hae Won's mom. Even tho it's clear she's not the most responsible person/mother, she is the only one in the show who truly faces something bad she's done head on without trying to scheme out of if. When she finds out the women who was the victim of her and her boyfriend's scam is the bartender's wife, she turns her boyfriend in as well as herself.
Everyone else in the show wrongs several people without genuinly trying to own up to it. Hee Joo and Woo Jae cheat, Hee Joo betraying her family and her friend Hea Won. Woo Jae betraying his girlfriend Hae Won. Hee Joo's husband, Hyeong Seong knew of the affair and runs down Woo Jae in a car and secretly keeps him hid away in Ireland in a coma. Hee Joo doesn't seem that sorry that she betrayed her once friend Hae Won or that Woo Jae was in an accident and lost the last 3 years of his life, just happy that he doesn't remember her, because she is regretful of the affair. When her husband confronts her about the affair and they reconcile she continues to hide from him the fact that Woo Jae keeps persuing her, even hiding Woo Jea's death later on, even tho their daughter was involved.
Woo Jae, while his memories were lost, is grateful for Hae Won because she's caring for him and wants to make amends to her because he can see how hurt she is by something that he did, which she won't tell him about. But when he gets his memories back, he wrongs her all over again. He specifically got his memories back so that he could apologize to her, but he doesn't apologize, not at first and not sincerely. He also doesn't explain why he called to apologize years ago before he suddenly went missing, which is something she wanted to know. Even by the end of the series there is no closure there. He gets obessed with Hee Joo all over again once he remembers her. He wants to get back with her and refuses to let her go even tho she pleads with him to leave her alone.
Hae Won while genuinly wronged and having every right to feel betrayed and scarred by being betrayed by two people she loved, and also having every right to find Woo Jae (who was missing while in a coma) and get answers, acknowlegement and even apologies from everyone (Woo Jae, Hee Joo and Hyeong Seong), orchestrates this elaborte plan to bring down Hee Joo and either get back with Woo Jae or get her explination from him, mentioned earlier. (I'm actually still confused at her expectations with Woo Jae, she hated him, I guess, but wanted to marry him all over again, knowing that he left her without a S i n i g l e W o r d for Hee Joo. She get's Hee Joo's son kidnapped, get's the guy who she manipulated to do it, framed as the sole purpotrater of the crime, takes gaurdianship of his daughter. Provokes Hee Joo's daughter Lisa with insinuations about her mom cheating on her dad, which indirectly leads Lisa to follow them to the studio where she ends up stabbing Woo Jae when Woo Jae in a fit of desperation and rage was choking her mom Hee Joo.
All of this is actually fine as far as a tv shows go. What I don't like and can't understand is the ending, where 1) Hae Won, who supposedly loved Woo Jae so much and is part of the reason she did all of this scheming for revenge for, when she sees him dead in Hee Joo's studio in a pool of blood on the floor, instead of calling the cops, she takes the pen that he was obviously stabbed with and leaves. ?!?! And, essentially, leaves Hui Joo to dump his body in a lake. That's the fate she leaves for the guy she instigated all this trouble over. And granted, she didn't know exactly what Hui Joo was going to do, she intentionally took that pen to use against Hui Joo. So she intuitively knew Hui Joo was going to cover it up and she was more concerned with revenge and holding something over her than she did that Woo Jae died. Didn't she only want revenge because she supposedly loved him so much (as well as Hee Joo, her friend)?
Maybe she didn't love him that much. And she's just a petty person all the way through and was hurt merely by being betrayed rather than being betrayed by people that she deeply loved. Even so, there's something unsattisfying about whatching something culminate that way when it's that petty, it makes it seem all so unnecessary. Mind you it seemed unnecessary early on. I had trouble full empathizing with her because she was furthering her own unnecessary misery.
And by the end, she goes on to finally start over and is opening an exhibit as a painter. Are we supposed to feel happy for her, seeing that she caused all this trouble? She had right to cause some trouble but not that much. Somebody died. Even tho Woo Jae was a terrible person with no remorse, he didn't deserve to die and she had a hand in that.
2) This is the bigger thing that I can't understand, is why Hee Joo would agree to abandon her family to keep Hae Won quite about Jae Woo's death. She may want to protect her daughter, but she's letting her daugter and her son think that she abandoned them (and this is shortly after just finding out her daughter routinely cuts herself). She has to know that her daughter wouldn't get in trouble, she was acting in defense of her mom. She herself would get in trouble for disposing the body but has already said that her husband would get the best lawyers and would make it clear that Woo Jae was obsessed with her (which is true).
And Hae Won will also have to explain to the cops why she took the pen from the 'scene of the crime/accident' and only called the cops later. So it really doesn't make sense why she would do that. And her husband eventually accepts it and lets her go? That's inconsistent with his character during the entire show. That also leaves an unsatisfying feeling. Like his family and wife were what he fought so hard for, oh wait, I guess I don't care anymore. You grow to expect something and there not met, but without any good reason.
So besides it not making sense, it's just not satisfying. Is the moral of the story that Hae Won now gets to live her best life and Hee Joo gets to be alone and miserable? And what about Woo Jae? He gets to be disposed of and forgotten again? All the makers of their own demise and misery but no real satisfying acknowlegement of their actions beause more lies and secrets just cover everything up again?? They are literally back where they were before just in slightly different places (or in worse off shape in the case of Woo Jae since he's dead).
It defintely drew me in, and I liked the acting but I just don't get what they were trying to say with the ending. Maybe they didnt' want Hee Joo to go on with her pretty little life, but her ending just seemed artificial. I kind of liked that she had this pretty decent life even tho she did this terrible thing and had this big lie. Not because I think people should get away with bad things but because that is often the case that seemingly decent people often do terrible things and just because it comes back to blow up in their face doesn't mean their whole life is going to be ruined. Even tho someone in Hae Won's position would feel that that's justified. And maybe she's right, or maybe she's just bitter and vengeful, at the very least she's understandable for thinking/wanting that. These are interesting questions. But maybe Hee Joo was right when she said that Hae Won destroyed her own life because she choose to be a victim. And she was a victim but she literally wasted good things she had going for her because she felt sorry for herself and then resented Hee Joo because she had some of those good things that she, in her self pity, choose to let go of.
Thinking about who was justified in feeling and doing what and seeing the lengths they all went to for revenge or obsession or love or for protecting their own lies were great ideas the show played with but the ending was so unsatisfying because it didn't bring any resolution or closure to those ideas, they just let the characters continue to act out their worst traits until the end with no other point than to show us a tradegy. All that being said I don't regret watching it and still think it was a good show although a bit frustrating through out and unsatisfying at the end.
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