@pinkaibstan Holy hell. I can't believe you're still going at this. You're definitely the type of person people would hate getting into an argument with because you can't deal with not always getting the last word in, even if you are the one in the wrong.
Of course, my profile picture has no relevance to this discussion. It's not a reflection of my beliefs nor does it reinforce a certain idea about my character which in your case, seems to be that you coddle problematic, unsympathetic men and probably have the same level of empathy as they do since you can't understand why victim blaming is generally frowned upon.
Thanks for your surface level psychoanalysis on Taeju, but I don't need it. I watched all 8 episodes of My Name just like you did, and I'm pretty sure anyone with the intelligence of a 5th grader who's capable of critically viewing a piece of fictional media could pick up on Taeju's hatred for Jiwoo and his reasoning for so. Also, the fact that I stated in my OP that I had some sympathy for Taeju (i.e. because in his eyes, he was overlooked by Mujin in favor of two people who ultimately didn't have Mujin's back like he did) indicates that I know all of this already. I didn't actually expect Taeju to shift the blame onto Mujin. Of course, he fucking wouldn't. He was Mujin's right hand man and undyingly loyal to Mujin because he owed his entire life to him. Rather, I said what I did to express my frustrations with him and to emphasize how his anger and blame was misplaced. I don't get how that wasn't obvious to you.
For the last time, Taeju was not correct in blaming Jiwoo for why he lost his most beloved subordinate. "Gangjae wouldn't have left if she wasn't so determined to kill people." Gangjae didn't leave on his own! He was dishonorably discharged for trying to rape Jiwoo. Your argument would make a little more sense had Gangjae specifically targeted Jiwoo because he knew at the time that she was Donghoon's daughter, but that wasn't the case. Even then, a desire to kill Jiwoo would've been far more understandable than a desire to rape her.
The only reason why Gangjae had it out for Jiwoo was that she was a girl who defeated him in a fair fight. Because he couldn't cope with this, he chose to reassert his dominance by drugging her and attempting to gang rape Jiwoo which was a woefully unfair match up and a disproportionate response to the situation at hand. It's not Jiwoo's fault that she happened to be a woman at the wrong place and wrong time nor that Gangjae needed to train harder. Gangjae was also exiled by Mujin before Jiwoo cemented her alliance with Dongcheon, so your argument that she was the direct cause of his banishment is entirely false.
Also, why are you speaking on Jiwoo as if she were some blood thirsty killer without a rhyme or reason? She was specifically hunting down the person who murdered her father in cold blood right in front of her eyes, lmao. Anyone else she killed were people who either hurt or tried to kill her first. Taeju didn't discourage Jiwoo from leaving because he felt that she was in over her head but rather because he knew that Jiwoo would inevitably figure out that Mujin was her father's killer. He saw that she had the potential to singlehandedly destroy their empire and livelihood, and he was threatened by this.
You keep being hypocritical and contradicting yourself. First, you try to insult my intelligence and ability to discern fiction from reality because I attached real human emotions to this story and its characters, but here you are doing the same thing whenever it serves your viewpoint. You seriously think that I don't know what I was getting myself into when I decided to watch a noir mystery about a girl who joined a notorious gang to avenge her dead daddy? You don't think that I know that being a part of a gang isn't like being a part of a book club and that this lifestyle attracts the most gutter people of society? You don't have to keep explaining to me that Jiwoo made a voluntary choice to enter a world of high crime and expose herself to danger and physical harm. I'm not stupid.
However, just because something is a given or expected doesn't mean that I can't react to it still. The show's writer deliberately added that scene of Gangjae and Jiwoo to shock the audience and to establish Gangjae as a disturbed individual but somehow, you can't understand why someone would be *gasp* shocked by a sexual assault scene and find Gangaje's motivation for revenge absurd? The writer also included that specific line of dialogue by Taeju to demonstrate his callousness and lack of regard for Jiwoo and you're dumbfounded as to why someone is *gasp* put off by his apathy? The purpose of storytelling is to take a fictional story that is reminiscent of real life scenarios and people and to present these life-like themes in a way that stirs up strong emotions within the viewers, moves them, and generates conversation amongst them. Why you're mad at me because the writer was effective at doing exactly what she set out to do is beyond me and makes absolutely no sense.
Anyway, this is the last time I'm replying to you about this. I feel that I've thoroughly explained myself more than enough, and I'm tired of the back and forth over something that's not even worth arguing about. Nothing that I said in my ONE sentence post warranted dragging this out for 4 whole days. Please just admit that you were easily offended by a mild critique that I made about your favorite character (who you're convinced can do no wrong) and be on with it already.
