#im so. im SOOOOOOO. ougjrhfkfhfjhfj

[snow-and-saltea]

finished yangtze river dolphin episode from extraordinary attorney woo and i think im near tears. i love this episode so much. a huge chunk of my media experience keeps telling me to be on edge, telling me that things are going to get dirty and dramatic and people are going to get antagonised for the sake of a good show, but it never goes there. the witness (? is that what you call them for civil cases?) temporarily snapping in court because everyone from the company is tired about the lawsuit, but after the court hearing ends, the plaintiffs end up hugging her and reassuring her that "it's okay, people have their own opinions, you're not a bad person, this is just how circumstances are and i wouldn't fault you for not picking the ‘moral high road’ for the sake of your own stability and comfort. i would've made the same decision in your shoes. these things shouldn't be blamed on you, but the way our patriarchal society has been set up even before we were born that forces us to choose between these two things. we will never fault you for not making the impossible perfect choice. no matter what happens in the end, we will never fault you for it."

and i'm just like. crying man. it's easy in shows involving law to easily spin a tale to villainise characters the main characters are disagreeing with, but like... this show goes beyond that and reveals something very simple and true, which is that humans are flawed, which means they can make flawed decisions, but that is not always a failure of morality or conscience.

and my god the critique of the mir life company was so good too. even when i thought i'd hate the hr guy, it turns out he's also just another cog in the machine they'd throw out. he's also been fed the same lies and sweet promises the others were, and i couldn't feel that familiar sense of "vindication!!!" i felt when villains got what they deserved. because it reminded me, once again, that he's not a villain; he's just another guy crushed under the weight of his imperfect decisions, becoming the scapegoat for all the targeted animosity when in reality he was discarded just as easily. it felt like his appearance was deliberately put so we'd have someone's face to hate, to throw the eggs on, but in reality the shitty choices are always made from people higher up than him, invisible and faceless but very much present in influencing the quality of thousands of people's livelihoods.

god. what a good show. between young-woo and su-yeon's friendship, i'm also loving the women solidarity in this episode. i love it so much. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON RYU JAE-SOOK AND HER PHILOSOPHY ABOUT BEING AN ATTORNEY AND HER POEM SHE READ ON THE ROOFTOP. I'LL BURST INTO TEARS IF I REMEMBER IT