Intrigue Me.

No cut kiss scene -suspicious partner 😊😊😊

Just putting in my two cents. I’ve been reading a lot of backlash for the kiss that happened in the most recent episode of Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart: Ryeo (a.k.a. “the longest title ever”, but I digress) between Hae So (IU) and Wang So (Lee Jun Ki). While I totally understand the distaste that a viewer might have for a forced kiss, or any kiss done under duress, I want to step in and just offer a little perspective.

I think you need to consider that this is NOT a modern romance, in which all the societal rules, and norms regarding femininity, masculinity, and romance are understood. For a man in a Sageuk to claim a woman as “his” and “his property” is a statement that carries some latent truth — for men to “claim” a woman would have been routine in the time period of the drama, so while seen through a modern scope, he appears sexist or misogynistic in actuality, he is no more sexist than Wang Wook (Kang Ha Neul) — who technically has also “claimed her”. They aren’t exactly two opposite sides of one coin in terms of their interactions with So, since this isn’t good vs evil between them, but civility vs savagery.

That brings me to another point. The characterization of Wang So. Here is a man, who has opposing realities — 1) he justifies corporal violence at every turn, but 2) is deeply and emotionally weakened by his scar and the neglect and hatred in represents. Instead of receiving familial love, he has received scorn and has internalized this. Where Wook and the others were generally loved by their parents, So was quite deliberately treated like a dog — a savage beast trained to kill. For So, he doesn’t just bite out of hatred for his master, but because like any dog in a dog fight, he has equated respect and love to what he could do for his master. When he goes to his mother after he has killed the men she and her son hire to dispatch the crown prince, So does it because violence is the only thing he can show to receive affection. It backfires spectacularly, but when all the tools laid out in front of are that you must take or else be taken, there isn’t much of an alternative.

So for his relationship with Hae So, he is (for the first time) not solidly in control of the outcome of his actions. He desperately wants to love someone, and have them love him, so the fact that he cannot make So react in the same way as he is reacting, is frustrating. Force is all he knows, so I don’t think it’s disrespect for Hae So that drives him to force himself upon her and claim her as “his” but desperation.

That’s hard wired in the character, in the performance, and in the writing. How that savagery is broken down, and healed is what I look forward to most. Wang So is as pitiful a character as it gets, and as a viewer, I am able to recognize his savage behavior and yet have some forgiveness and compassion for him. I think Hae So will too, eventually.

So I think it is abundantly necessary to step back and look at the context of the world that these characters live in — women’s rights, marriage for love, freedom from persecution and violence — none of these are commonplace, and they certainly aren’t absolutes. Just like it’s jarring for the audience to see these characters go to such lengths to protect what they desire, this truth is now becoming clearer to our heroine, and she must decide if she can, or even should, help to set it right.

Don’t hate me.