Last Friends 4-5
I have a backlog of four episodes waiting for me, but this isn't one of those dramas you can just marathon, because it just gets too much after a while. It's impossible to watch all the anxiety and pain and suffering among the characters for long. I guess two episodes at a time is the most I can watch, so I'll save the other two for tomorrow...
This is probably not going to be too coherent, but this drama really makes me want to write meta about it.
Episode 4
I guess Ruka's comment to Michiru, that it isn't love to use violence to make someone do what the other person wants is one of the main themes of this drama, in connection to it's handling ot the DV situation between Michiru and Sousuke.
Even though the group of friends go to all kinds of precautions to keep Michiru hidden, what struck me is that Ruka doesn't really think about the danger to herself. Because when Sousuke can't find Michiru, he will very probably go after Ruka - after all, he already sees her as a rival for Michiru's affections and is aware of Ruka's feelings for her.
He does appear on the racing track, but she tries to lose him by asking her coach out for drinks with her, with disastrous consequences. Ruka sees the attempted kiss as an "assault," but he was probably just getting mixed messages from her, because she asked him out for drink with her and seemed very interested in his stories. Of course, he interpreted that as flirting even though she didn't mean it that way.
She can't stand being touched in a sexual manner by a man. The way she's confiding in Takeru, saying he could never understand the way she feels about "things being done to her" is quite ironic, because it has been very strongly hinted that he was probably sexually molested when he was younger and as a result is afraid of women.
Like I mentioned in my previous post about this, he probably feels drawn to Ruka, because as a boyish woman, she doesn't feel threatening to him. Takeru holding Michiru's shoulder and she letting him is a big step, because he has been afraid of any kind of closeness with women. Also, Ruka doesn't see him as scary and his closeness doesn't "give her chills" like the attempted kiss.
He probably knows at least on some level that she doesn't return his feelings, but he doesn't care. Just like Ruka is trying to protect Michiru, he decides to do his best to protect Ruka.
Michiru's mother is really a piece of work, sponging off her daughter as much as she can and only contacting her when she needs more money. No wonder Michiru is so confused about what love or about normal relationships. She has always been taken advantage of, she just doesn't know anything else.
It was also so obvious that when the woman suddenly tried to contact Michiru that Sousuke had to be behind it. I knew he was in the apartment waiting for her to show up, but Ruka went instead and didn't reveal anything about Michiru's whereabouts. He must really be getting frustrated right now.
Still, Sousuke does find Michiru in the share-house after all (I guess he followed Ruka), but the others won't let him in. Michiru is taking a bath and doesn't know about his visit, but she must guess something is wrong the way they all are babbling and acting nervous when they see her again after the bath.
Ruka saying that it isn't safe to let Michiru leave the house until Sousuke gives up is just changing one form of prison into another one. It won't work if she isn't willing to cooperate. Even though she appreciates the protection and care and the way they all try to help her, she is still emotionally tied to Sousuke and has to work it out herself. A good indication of this is how furtive and guilty she acts when she tries to check her phone in order to hear his messages to her. She still hasn't given up on him even though she knows he's bad for her.
She pities him because he is all alone, but that is no real basis for a relationship. His loneliness is probably part of what makes him so desperate and possessive of her. Since his mother left him and he was passed around among relatives, she probably seems the first stable relationship he has had since his chilhood, but his fear of loss is making him push her away.
But Takeru tells her that essentially everybody is alone. This seems like such a big revelation to her. She probably has never thought of it that way. "How lonely someone feels isn't something that can be seen by watching them from afar." Still, she is so wrapped up in her own feelings and blinded by her situation that she doesn't really understand what he is trying to tell her.
While taking out the trash the next morning, she spots Sousuke, who has been waiting for her in the rain all night (though I must say it's amazing how all his clothes are dripping wet, but his hair looks completely dry and perfectly-coiffed XD...)
His proclamation that he'll always be waiting for her is probably part true, but also very calculated to make her feel all protective of him and to pity him. Especially seeing how drenched he looks. He looks so earnest, and it might be what he really is feeling now at this moment, but of course he would turn back to his old ways the moment she came back to him.
Episode 5
Michiru calls Ruka and lies that she is going to the hair salon, when in truth she is in a taxi with Sousuke who is looking feverish. I guess she is going to take care of him, but can't reveal the truth to Ruka because she knows she would disapprove. What makes it more painful is that Ruka knows that she is lying, since she saw her hugging Sousuke outside the building.
She takes him home and tells him to see a doctor, but then gets up to leave, saying she must go "home". It was a nice way of telling that Sousuke's apartment doesn't feel like her home anymore, but he is begging her not to leave him and is asking her to stay with him forever.
But for once she tries to be sensible and tells him she can't stay, and she can't be with him anymore. She know everything would just go back to the way it was. She's telling him to grow self-control and not act so possessive and stalkerish. If he does that, she will some day be able to come back to him, but right now it is impossible.
Even though she tries to act brave and determined in front of the others, it isn't quite so easy. When she leaves work, she is still apprehensively checking outside in case Sousuke is again waiting for her there. She also keeps checking her phone for messages very often.
Heh, the way Ruka brings both Takeru and Michiru with her to her parents makes them think he is her boyfriend. Meanwhile Ogurin is trying to grow a backbone and serve his wife the divorce papers, but since he is such a wet blanket, he can't do it and ends up staying over the night at their house, making Eri jealous, because she knows that he still loves his wife.
She is getting completely drunk and in her desperation (and loneliness - another major them in the drama) makes a pass on Takeru who gets completely panicked by the situation and roughly pushes her away. I suppose it's too reminiscent of whatever happened to him when he was younger. Knowing that he has an elder sister, I'm beginning to suspect she or some friend of hers took advantage of him at some point in the past.
It's a bit uncomfortable for a while, but she thinks that he just doesn't like women and when he doesn't deny this assumption, they patch things up.
Ruka and Michiru having a sleepover in her parents' house is very nostalgic to both of them. When Michiru says that she wanted to leave her home and make her own home happy and warm like Ruka's parents' house, Ruka tells Michiru that Sousuke can't make her happy. She should choose someone like Takeru (and there have already been indications that Michiru is a bit attracted to him).
Then Michiru asks if Ruka likes someone, because for as long as she can remember, there has never been any indication that she might like someone. And Ruka tells her that there is someone she has liked for a long time, but she will never confess her feelings, because she knows it's hopeless and nothing would come of it.
Michiru really is hopeless. Even though she tried to be strong, she kept wondering why Sousuke hadn't approached her or even called her. And after a while she called his work and found out he had been home with a cold all week, and worried about him, went to see him. I just know this can't turn good!
She goes to a completely dark apartment where Sousuke is lying on the bed. When she comments that he has lost weight, he says he's lost his appetite since she isn't there. He's clearly trying to pressure her into coming back to him. She even spoon-feeds him just like he were a little child who couldn't eat himself.
But when she says she'll leave after he's eaten, he grabs her and says that he won't let her go. But after a brief struggle, he releases her. However, his next comments sound higly ominous: "Why did this happen? I hate whoever made you this way. It won't come without a price. That damned Ruka!"
He's clearly blaming Ruka for making Michiru leave him. He can't see his own faults in this. I suppose in his mind he is just loving and protecting Michiru, though everybody else would say that he is trying to own her and control everything she does. His interpretation is that Ruka has stolen away Michiru.
And then he attacks her again and even though there's a discreet fadeout, from the situation it's very clear that he rapes her. Is the child she was carrying in the scenes shown in the beginning of the drama perhaps a result of this act? That does sound highly probable.
When she gets back to the share-house, she acts like nothing is wrong, but when she goes to the kitchen with Takeru to get some plates, he sees the marks on her arms. However, she won't admit anything and just acts all bright and sunny in front of everybody else. But when her phone rings, she rushes away with a guilty expression and is just staring at it with an apprehensive look on her face - and everybody can tell something is wrong. But it's only her workplace after all.
Ruka is telling her to get rid of that phone, because everybody gets scared whenever it rings. Everybody is always prepared for the worst and getting anxious that it's Sousuke. Though why the heck does she have to get rid of the entire phone? Can't she just change her telephone number? (Just like people in dramas always always take off the entire battery when they don't want someone to reach them. Wouldn't it be enough to just turn off the frikking phone?! :P)
But immediately afterwards, Ruka tells her not to throw it away after all. She realizes that she sounds just like Sousuke, trying to control Michiru's life and decide for her who she can contact and who she can't.
There have already been several comments in this drama that she treats Michiru like her girlfriend, and I'm surprised they haven't figured it out yet. I think Takeru is the only one who can see that she has strong feelings for Michiru, but I guess it still comes as a bit of a shock to him when Michiru later on innocently tells him that Ruka has had a one-sided love for someone for years.
Michiru is finally starting to accept that she can't get happy with Sousuke. Especially after the most recent events. But she can't help being drawn to him and loving him whatever happened. And his stalkerish tendencies are probably not going to make it that easy for her to break up with him, since he isn't willing to let her go.
As is proven again, when he calls Michiru and asks her to come to him right away. Hearing that she is watching a race that is really important to Ruka, he tells her that she will regret it if she doesn't come immediately to him. But she is keeping firm, however hard it is for her. The way she is still keeping all this bottled up inside of her and won't tell anyone else about anything that is going on with Sousuke can't end well.
Later on, during Ruka's victory celebration she gets another call where Sousuke says that since she didn't go to him, she doesn't have to bother anymore. He is going to kill himself.
I knew this was going to happen. If he can't control her any other way, he'll threaten to hurt himself, just like he did earlier when she cut that other guy's hair. He is trying to make her stay with him whatever he takes. And the way this is filmed, shows how calculated his actions really are. He is in no rush, because he knows she can't help coming to him now. He can't wait a bit and hurt himself just enough to make her feel guilty about leaving him.
Michiru rushes out, and when Ruka asks her where she is going, she again lies and says that she is just going home early. But Ruka knows she is lying and this time confronts her about it. She tries to tell Michiru to be strong, but since Michiru's self-esteem has been trampled to the ground, she thinks she is weak and a coward, and sees Sousuke's behaviour only as an expression of his love for her. She can't see how he is manipulating her and making her completely miserable in the process.
She doesn't even tell the others of his suicide threat, only says that she wants to be by his side and that he needs her. It's really hard to watch the way she just keeps going back to him time after time. Intellectually she knows that he won't change, but she still can't help loving him and hoping he could change.
Everybody in this drama is a somewhat broken character. They all have their traumas and faults, and above all, they all seem lonely, trying to find some happiness and a connection with someone else.
Eri and Ogurin are no exception, even though they haven't been as prominently figured the other three main characters. Ogurin is in an unhappy marriage with a woman who is involved with another man. He is too timid to do anything about it, only getting more and more miserable since he still loves his wife.
Eri, on the other hand, equates sleeping with someone as an escape from her own loneliness. She gets involved with Ogurin even though she knows that he hasn't gotten over his wife and tried to seduce Takeru when Ogurin stays back with his wife.
There are no easy answers and pat resolutions to these problems which makes this drama seem so realistic. Human emotions are messy and can lead to all kinds of complications. They can't always be ruled by reason, however we might like that at times.
I should be going to bed, since I have a disgustingly early shift tomorrow (I have to be at work at 7 a.m., a completely inhuman hour IMO), but I guess I'll watch something light and silly first, because watching Last Friends always makes me feel so angsty and anxious.
This is probably not going to be too coherent, but this drama really makes me want to write meta about it.
Episode 4
I guess Ruka's comment to Michiru, that it isn't love to use violence to make someone do what the other person wants is one of the main themes of this drama, in connection to it's handling ot the DV situation between Michiru and Sousuke.
Even though the group of friends go to all kinds of precautions to keep Michiru hidden, what struck me is that Ruka doesn't really think about the danger to herself. Because when Sousuke can't find Michiru, he will very probably go after Ruka - after all, he already sees her as a rival for Michiru's affections and is aware of Ruka's feelings for her.
He does appear on the racing track, but she tries to lose him by asking her coach out for drinks with her, with disastrous consequences. Ruka sees the attempted kiss as an "assault," but he was probably just getting mixed messages from her, because she asked him out for drink with her and seemed very interested in his stories. Of course, he interpreted that as flirting even though she didn't mean it that way.
She can't stand being touched in a sexual manner by a man. The way she's confiding in Takeru, saying he could never understand the way she feels about "things being done to her" is quite ironic, because it has been very strongly hinted that he was probably sexually molested when he was younger and as a result is afraid of women.
Like I mentioned in my previous post about this, he probably feels drawn to Ruka, because as a boyish woman, she doesn't feel threatening to him. Takeru holding Michiru's shoulder and she letting him is a big step, because he has been afraid of any kind of closeness with women. Also, Ruka doesn't see him as scary and his closeness doesn't "give her chills" like the attempted kiss.
He probably knows at least on some level that she doesn't return his feelings, but he doesn't care. Just like Ruka is trying to protect Michiru, he decides to do his best to protect Ruka.
Michiru's mother is really a piece of work, sponging off her daughter as much as she can and only contacting her when she needs more money. No wonder Michiru is so confused about what love or about normal relationships. She has always been taken advantage of, she just doesn't know anything else.
It was also so obvious that when the woman suddenly tried to contact Michiru that Sousuke had to be behind it. I knew he was in the apartment waiting for her to show up, but Ruka went instead and didn't reveal anything about Michiru's whereabouts. He must really be getting frustrated right now.
Still, Sousuke does find Michiru in the share-house after all (I guess he followed Ruka), but the others won't let him in. Michiru is taking a bath and doesn't know about his visit, but she must guess something is wrong the way they all are babbling and acting nervous when they see her again after the bath.
Ruka saying that it isn't safe to let Michiru leave the house until Sousuke gives up is just changing one form of prison into another one. It won't work if she isn't willing to cooperate. Even though she appreciates the protection and care and the way they all try to help her, she is still emotionally tied to Sousuke and has to work it out herself. A good indication of this is how furtive and guilty she acts when she tries to check her phone in order to hear his messages to her. She still hasn't given up on him even though she knows he's bad for her.
She pities him because he is all alone, but that is no real basis for a relationship. His loneliness is probably part of what makes him so desperate and possessive of her. Since his mother left him and he was passed around among relatives, she probably seems the first stable relationship he has had since his chilhood, but his fear of loss is making him push her away.
But Takeru tells her that essentially everybody is alone. This seems like such a big revelation to her. She probably has never thought of it that way. "How lonely someone feels isn't something that can be seen by watching them from afar." Still, she is so wrapped up in her own feelings and blinded by her situation that she doesn't really understand what he is trying to tell her.
While taking out the trash the next morning, she spots Sousuke, who has been waiting for her in the rain all night (though I must say it's amazing how all his clothes are dripping wet, but his hair looks completely dry and perfectly-coiffed XD...)
His proclamation that he'll always be waiting for her is probably part true, but also very calculated to make her feel all protective of him and to pity him. Especially seeing how drenched he looks. He looks so earnest, and it might be what he really is feeling now at this moment, but of course he would turn back to his old ways the moment she came back to him.
Episode 5
Michiru calls Ruka and lies that she is going to the hair salon, when in truth she is in a taxi with Sousuke who is looking feverish. I guess she is going to take care of him, but can't reveal the truth to Ruka because she knows she would disapprove. What makes it more painful is that Ruka knows that she is lying, since she saw her hugging Sousuke outside the building.
She takes him home and tells him to see a doctor, but then gets up to leave, saying she must go "home". It was a nice way of telling that Sousuke's apartment doesn't feel like her home anymore, but he is begging her not to leave him and is asking her to stay with him forever.
But for once she tries to be sensible and tells him she can't stay, and she can't be with him anymore. She know everything would just go back to the way it was. She's telling him to grow self-control and not act so possessive and stalkerish. If he does that, she will some day be able to come back to him, but right now it is impossible.
Even though she tries to act brave and determined in front of the others, it isn't quite so easy. When she leaves work, she is still apprehensively checking outside in case Sousuke is again waiting for her there. She also keeps checking her phone for messages very often.
Heh, the way Ruka brings both Takeru and Michiru with her to her parents makes them think he is her boyfriend. Meanwhile Ogurin is trying to grow a backbone and serve his wife the divorce papers, but since he is such a wet blanket, he can't do it and ends up staying over the night at their house, making Eri jealous, because she knows that he still loves his wife.
She is getting completely drunk and in her desperation (and loneliness - another major them in the drama) makes a pass on Takeru who gets completely panicked by the situation and roughly pushes her away. I suppose it's too reminiscent of whatever happened to him when he was younger. Knowing that he has an elder sister, I'm beginning to suspect she or some friend of hers took advantage of him at some point in the past.
It's a bit uncomfortable for a while, but she thinks that he just doesn't like women and when he doesn't deny this assumption, they patch things up.
Ruka and Michiru having a sleepover in her parents' house is very nostalgic to both of them. When Michiru says that she wanted to leave her home and make her own home happy and warm like Ruka's parents' house, Ruka tells Michiru that Sousuke can't make her happy. She should choose someone like Takeru (and there have already been indications that Michiru is a bit attracted to him).
Then Michiru asks if Ruka likes someone, because for as long as she can remember, there has never been any indication that she might like someone. And Ruka tells her that there is someone she has liked for a long time, but she will never confess her feelings, because she knows it's hopeless and nothing would come of it.
Michiru really is hopeless. Even though she tried to be strong, she kept wondering why Sousuke hadn't approached her or even called her. And after a while she called his work and found out he had been home with a cold all week, and worried about him, went to see him. I just know this can't turn good!
She goes to a completely dark apartment where Sousuke is lying on the bed. When she comments that he has lost weight, he says he's lost his appetite since she isn't there. He's clearly trying to pressure her into coming back to him. She even spoon-feeds him just like he were a little child who couldn't eat himself.
But when she says she'll leave after he's eaten, he grabs her and says that he won't let her go. But after a brief struggle, he releases her. However, his next comments sound higly ominous: "Why did this happen? I hate whoever made you this way. It won't come without a price. That damned Ruka!"
He's clearly blaming Ruka for making Michiru leave him. He can't see his own faults in this. I suppose in his mind he is just loving and protecting Michiru, though everybody else would say that he is trying to own her and control everything she does. His interpretation is that Ruka has stolen away Michiru.
And then he attacks her again and even though there's a discreet fadeout, from the situation it's very clear that he rapes her. Is the child she was carrying in the scenes shown in the beginning of the drama perhaps a result of this act? That does sound highly probable.
When she gets back to the share-house, she acts like nothing is wrong, but when she goes to the kitchen with Takeru to get some plates, he sees the marks on her arms. However, she won't admit anything and just acts all bright and sunny in front of everybody else. But when her phone rings, she rushes away with a guilty expression and is just staring at it with an apprehensive look on her face - and everybody can tell something is wrong. But it's only her workplace after all.
Ruka is telling her to get rid of that phone, because everybody gets scared whenever it rings. Everybody is always prepared for the worst and getting anxious that it's Sousuke. Though why the heck does she have to get rid of the entire phone? Can't she just change her telephone number? (Just like people in dramas always always take off the entire battery when they don't want someone to reach them. Wouldn't it be enough to just turn off the frikking phone?! :P)
But immediately afterwards, Ruka tells her not to throw it away after all. She realizes that she sounds just like Sousuke, trying to control Michiru's life and decide for her who she can contact and who she can't.
There have already been several comments in this drama that she treats Michiru like her girlfriend, and I'm surprised they haven't figured it out yet. I think Takeru is the only one who can see that she has strong feelings for Michiru, but I guess it still comes as a bit of a shock to him when Michiru later on innocently tells him that Ruka has had a one-sided love for someone for years.
Michiru is finally starting to accept that she can't get happy with Sousuke. Especially after the most recent events. But she can't help being drawn to him and loving him whatever happened. And his stalkerish tendencies are probably not going to make it that easy for her to break up with him, since he isn't willing to let her go.
As is proven again, when he calls Michiru and asks her to come to him right away. Hearing that she is watching a race that is really important to Ruka, he tells her that she will regret it if she doesn't come immediately to him. But she is keeping firm, however hard it is for her. The way she is still keeping all this bottled up inside of her and won't tell anyone else about anything that is going on with Sousuke can't end well.
Later on, during Ruka's victory celebration she gets another call where Sousuke says that since she didn't go to him, she doesn't have to bother anymore. He is going to kill himself.
I knew this was going to happen. If he can't control her any other way, he'll threaten to hurt himself, just like he did earlier when she cut that other guy's hair. He is trying to make her stay with him whatever he takes. And the way this is filmed, shows how calculated his actions really are. He is in no rush, because he knows she can't help coming to him now. He can't wait a bit and hurt himself just enough to make her feel guilty about leaving him.
Michiru rushes out, and when Ruka asks her where she is going, she again lies and says that she is just going home early. But Ruka knows she is lying and this time confronts her about it. She tries to tell Michiru to be strong, but since Michiru's self-esteem has been trampled to the ground, she thinks she is weak and a coward, and sees Sousuke's behaviour only as an expression of his love for her. She can't see how he is manipulating her and making her completely miserable in the process.
She doesn't even tell the others of his suicide threat, only says that she wants to be by his side and that he needs her. It's really hard to watch the way she just keeps going back to him time after time. Intellectually she knows that he won't change, but she still can't help loving him and hoping he could change.
Everybody in this drama is a somewhat broken character. They all have their traumas and faults, and above all, they all seem lonely, trying to find some happiness and a connection with someone else.
Eri and Ogurin are no exception, even though they haven't been as prominently figured the other three main characters. Ogurin is in an unhappy marriage with a woman who is involved with another man. He is too timid to do anything about it, only getting more and more miserable since he still loves his wife.
Eri, on the other hand, equates sleeping with someone as an escape from her own loneliness. She gets involved with Ogurin even though she knows that he hasn't gotten over his wife and tried to seduce Takeru when Ogurin stays back with his wife.
There are no easy answers and pat resolutions to these problems which makes this drama seem so realistic. Human emotions are messy and can lead to all kinds of complications. They can't always be ruled by reason, however we might like that at times.
I should be going to bed, since I have a disgustingly early shift tomorrow (I have to be at work at 7 a.m., a completely inhuman hour IMO), but I guess I'll watch something light and silly first, because watching Last Friends always makes me feel so angsty and anxious.