It could be argued that both of the women in Dong Hoon’s life betray him – Yoon Hee by having an extramarital affair, and Ji An by wiretapping and violating his privacy. However, his reaction to each betrayal is quite different, as Soompiers discuss below.
@akhenaten:
About the scenes when Dong Hoon was holding on to his phone after he found out that he was being bugged through it, I don’t know but I didn’t see it as him holding that phone lovingly in any way. What I felt was betrayal and a deep sadness. He actually cried while he was thinking about all the times he thought Lee Ji An just seemed to read his thoughts and feelings, not realizing that she was listening to every word he said and reading every message he sent or received. And then they showed him remembering what he said to Yoon Hee the night she admitted to the affair.
To me, it seemed like the scene was showing how hurt and confused Dong Hoon was when he realized that Ji An (who had become his pillar, much like what Yoon Hee was to him once) also betrayed him, and to Do Joon Young as well. Even at the movie theater when he was holding on to that phone, before he said her name into it, what I saw on his face was confusion and anger and sadness because he had given his trust to Ji An completely. His eyes were still shining with tears then, which shows how deeply hurt he was by what she did.
(One can also say that the depth of his hurt is evidence of how deeply he feels for Ji An. We are, after all, most hurt by those whom we love best.)
I don’t think he’s at the stage yet where he can forgive Ji An for what she did because he’s not yet cognizant of the full picture behind it. He’s only been made aware of the truth by Joon Young because slimy, manipulating bastard that he is, Joon Young wouldn’t have any qualms about ruining Ji An in Dong Hoon’s eyes. Anyway, regardless of her change of heart, Ji An in the beginning did have every intention of using him to get the money that she needed from Joon Young. He was just a means to an end for her then and if she hadn’t fallen for him, she would have gone through with the blackmail because she didn’t really care one way or the other. She just needed Joon Young’s money. But as Seo Choon Dae the garbage man said to him previously, “What’s so important about the truth?… Our hearts aren’t ruled by reason after all”. Dong Hoon will process the facts rationally, but ultimately he must decide with his heart on this one.
@timidjock0819:
Thank you for pointing this out. I agree that the flashbacks of YH scenes from DH’s perspective were mirroring the betrayal of Jian. Not the same, but has some similarities. He trusted both women and realizing their betrayal was really confusing for him. The best he can do is confront JYD, otherwise he will go crazy.
Watching episode 14 again. The irony? Jian and YH are guilty of betraying DH. However, both women made different decisions regarding that issue. YH decided to stay in hell or purgatory with DH, while Jian is determined to leave him and say goodbye. But guess who DH is desperately searching for? In my opinion, DH already made his choice between YH and Jian.
Again, I would also like to point out the difference in DH’s anger when it comes to both women. He only punched JYD once because he broke their deal of revealing his knowledge of the affair. DH didn’t punch him because he was sleeping with YH. But when JYD said something like sleazy and Jian on the same sentence, DH beat the crap out of him to the ground and split his lips apart.
The level of intensity of DH’s feelings with Jian can sadly be expressed in those rare moments of violent tendencies.
The show is really not shy in showing an intense level of physical violence. There is no filter and more like being on the streets. I don’t mind it quite honestly because it is just part of the realism. Jian also have the same level of violence by staring at the knives every chance she gets when someone annoys her. The show is displaying the animalistic or the id psychology of human nature.
@sadiesmith:
I love what you wrote about the way DH’s violent tendencies got showcased in the last few episodes. It made me realize that perhaps the production team was telling themselves that fine, if they could not make DH show his love/affection the conventional way (hugs/kisses/tender words), then they will find a “creative” way, just like the director said in the press conference. So instead of getting openly affectionate scenes between leads, we get to see DH’s rage. The more intense his rage, the deeper he is expressing his feelings.
@ccl82:
There’s another difference to how he reacted to YH & JA’s betrayal.
YH’s – Pretend none of this happened.
JA’s – Confront. Confront. Confront.
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