Flashbacks are actually good!

[Lovely]

At first, I didn't like flashbacks at all. I would do this: every time I saw one. I was like, "Okay! I saw this already! Let's get on with the show!" But now I know why the writers put the flashbacks in there and why flashbacks are actually good! There was a time when I felt so bad for Sang-min and actually angry towards Ja-young because she was being so mean to him. But when I saw the flashbacks of how Sang-min was telling Ja-young to abort the baby and how he threw away the memories of loving her, I understood that Ja-young had a right to be as vicious as she wants to Sang-min. So flashbacks are there to give us little reminders. But I think Sang-min has totally changed ever since he found out about his ailment. From the flashbacks before, Sang-min showed himself to be cruel, arrogant, and a total jerk. But now, he seems to be the exact opposite. I used to dislike SM, but now I don't anymore.

[JadeEyes]

I like the flashbacks to much earlier episodes, especiallybecause I missed so much of the beginning and it's a chance to see snippets of what I missed. But I confess to getting very impatient w/ the flashbacks they seemed so fond of doing for a while, that would flash back to something that had happened in the same ep., sometimes just in the scene before. There would be either a visual flashback, or an audio flashback w/ a line of dialogue running through somone's head.

A little of this once in a while could be reasonable. But it was getting to be too much there for a while. Almost every ep. contained one or more flashbacks to scenes from the same ep. or from an ep. just a day or 2 before. As much as I enjoy the show, I did feel the flashback thing was becoming a little tedious.

In the flashback scene yesterday, w/ SM remembering how badly he reacted to learning of JY's pregnancy, I had a feeling the purpose of that was to indicate that SM might be thinking his present situation is a kind of "payback" from fate for being so cruel and unfeeling toward a woman he had loved and his own flesh and blood she was carrying insider her. I would prefer to think it was more just feeling guilt and regret, and shame too for wanting to destroy a little life that turned out so beautiful and is all there is now to be a genetic link to the world after he's gone. I could certainly see feeling that way. I'm sure if I was in his shoes, I'd feel that way too.

I think they've been working for a while to reform and redeem SM. He really is showing a side of himself we haven't seen much of previously...courage, dedication, strength and regret for his past sins and a wish to make right his past wrongs before the end comes. I like feeling better about him too and liking him and feeling sympathy for him instead of despising him. I think the fact we feel this way shows the work of the writers is paying off.

Jade