Don't forget that So Yi is just as emotionally damaged as Chae Yoon. She just hides it better. In a very short period of time, she got everything back... and the guilt was killing her. She's just far too damaged to be able to walk away from everything and just be happy. Not when she hasn't "earned" it. She needs to fulfill her responsibilities first. (And **slight spoiler** she also totally hero worships Chae Yoon and the idea that he might not be able to live up to her expectations never crossed her mind.)
Agreed. I think Chae Yoon and So Yi leaving together was doomed from the moment Sejong proposed and allowed it. Neither Sejong nor CY for that matter questioned whether that was what she wanted, they just assumed it was. But as you said, what she wanted in the end was to finish what she'd started. It was obvious in the flashbacks with Sejong that she only came out of her shell when she found a purpose and a means of penance. And finding her dear orabeoni alive wasn't going to make up for all the others who perished that day, including her own father. If she didn't fully understand the extent to which she mattered to him, he didn't understand she'd poured her heart and soul to this project and needed to see it through the end.
1. He was willing to give up his goal (revenge) for her, while she was not willing to give up her goal for him.
2. I realize that she isn't privy to how fucked up he truly is, the way the audience is, but it's one thing to leave him for a mission and another to expect him to come back asap to be pally with Sejong.
I can understand why she is like that - I agree, she's very damaged. But on an emotional level, I wanted to shake her.
Also agreed, and that while revenge is the thing that Chae Yoon lives for, the alphabet is similarly So Yi's reason to live. She's found a cause to fight for - one that maybe could have saved all those people years ago, if such an alphabet existed - and she can't give it up because she's found Chae Yoon. I don't think she could have lived with that, knowing the struggles the king and the rest of the court are going through.
I'm actually okay with that because I feel like it's very in-character. Cha Yoon's entire existence is built on his emotions: his rage against the king, and later his bliss with So Yi. But So Yi's determination is directed toward the king and her belief that the alphabet will help people. I would say So Yi is an externally driven person while Chae Yoon's externally driven. (they're still both supremely messed up, though. srsly, that scene in episode 12 when she writes about her memories made me cry ridiculously)
So I guess what I'm getting at is that Chae Yoon doesn't really give a crap about the state of the world overall but So Yi sees things in the bigger picture and she doesn't want to leave things the way they are? I don't even know where my brain is going with this.
I guess I am more in agreement with CY's view of the world which is why I felt the way I did. I mean, it's great to have an alphabet but I severely doubt peasants and slaves were less oppressed twenty years after the alphabet was created than they were 20 yrs before.
It's not even the walking away, but that somehow she expects CY to be fine and become besties with Sejong asap. I get the sense she's trying not to think about the reality but still...
I don't think she expects him to become besties or even like Sejong all that much, at least not to begin with. But I think she was expecting, in a completely not-self-absorbed way, that he would be following her. Because they can't be apart. The way that she would follow him without looking back if she were free to do so.
And I don't think it's So Yi not wanting to think about reality. It's just that her reality is that Chae Yoon is stronger, smarter, braver and more loyal that anyone else she knows, with the possible exception of Sejong. She expects he will eventually see what she sees. (And she had no way of knowing that his father's will would send him doubly reeling.)
I know she is not privy to the same information we are but seriously - I think it's more of a case of seeing what she wants and not what really is. This is a man who just tried to off the king in front of her (she saw him reaching for that sword), who she knows blames the king for his father's death (and does he really look like Korean Gandhi?) - she thinks he's going to be OK with just following her and doing whatever she wants? WTF! Best case scenario he won't come after her, worst case scenario is what happened happens and he either offs Sejong or gets killed himself
( ... )
That is my problem. She is as free to follow as he is. She chooses to do the mission. And yet she expects differently from him. His mission is as important to him as hers to her and both as as put-downable.Oh man. I had a whole answer ready and then I realized it was based on a conversations in episodes that you haven't seen yet! But I don't think it's as spoilery to say that even though Chae Yoon and So Yi's respective missions served the same purpose, they are not the same thing
( ... )
I'm actually with So Yi on this one and was gonna draft up a response but couldn't seem to express it adequately. And your explanation covers the major points and is well said! Also I agree that future episodes does shed more light on why the alphabet is so important to So Yi and vice versa.
Thank you for your response, it clarified a lot of things!
1. I agree that So Yi's goal is a lot nobler and saner than CY's goal. I was referring to the goal's importance to their inner selves.
2. My problem was only a little with her going back to her work, it was much more with her blithe expectation that CY will follow her and they will all work well together. If she was all (as you put it) 'I'll go back to work and when it's done, I'll find you', I'd have much less problem with her. But then I realized that she doesn't know him very well at all - they had 4-5 interactions as adults total. Meaningful, important interactions, but still not enough to know what he's really like (unlike us, the audience). And once I thought about that and once you pointed it out, I got more OK with it (though emotional kick still remains).
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1. He was willing to give up his goal (revenge) for her, while she was not willing to give up her goal for him.
2. I realize that she isn't privy to how fucked up he truly is, the way the audience is, but it's one thing to leave him for a mission and another to expect him to come back asap to be pally with Sejong.
I can understand why she is like that - I agree, she's very damaged. But on an emotional level, I wanted to shake her.
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I must note he was willing to give up his mission in exchange for her, but she wasn't willing to do the same.
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So I guess what I'm getting at is that Chae Yoon doesn't really give a crap about the state of the world overall but So Yi sees things in the bigger picture and she doesn't want to leave things the way they are? I don't even know where my brain is going with this.
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I guess I am more in agreement with CY's view of the world which is why I felt the way I did. I mean, it's great to have an alphabet but I severely doubt peasants and slaves were less oppressed twenty years after the alphabet was created than they were 20 yrs before.
And yet, of course, the alphabet is a good thing.
conflict conflict.
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And I don't think it's So Yi not wanting to think about reality. It's just that her reality is that Chae Yoon is stronger, smarter, braver and more loyal that anyone else she knows, with the possible exception of Sejong. She expects he will eventually see what she sees. (And she had no way of knowing that his father's will would send him doubly reeling.)
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Also I agree that future episodes does shed more light on why the alphabet is so important to So Yi and vice versa.
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1. I agree that So Yi's goal is a lot nobler and saner than CY's goal. I was referring to the goal's importance to their inner selves.
2. My problem was only a little with her going back to her work, it was much more with her blithe expectation that CY will follow her and they will all work well together. If she was all (as you put it) 'I'll go back to work and when it's done, I'll find you', I'd have much less problem with her. But then I realized that she doesn't know him very well at all - they had 4-5 interactions as adults total. Meaningful, important interactions, but still not enough to know what he's really like (unlike us, the audience). And once I thought about that and once you pointed it out, I got more OK with it (though emotional kick still remains).
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