lets talk about joon hwi's "i'm grateful for her"
disclaimer: as always i might be making a stretch but this was just my interpretation. please ignore any typos or grammar mistakes. also credits to @cathartichaoss on a previous post of mine for bringing this up and it really got my thoughts rolling on this scene!!
okay i know we're making fun of joon hwi's "i owe her" bit but on a real note, i don't think that is meant in a we're just friends way like we're seeing it.
in most romance kdramas, the declarations of love are more explicit and often exaggerated, but what we have to remember with law school is that the drama isn't centered around romance. solhwi is a portrayal of a realistic friends to lovers arc, where their love is gradual and the shift from friends to lovers is blurred together. their relationship is growing in the background of the main plot, which is why we see their relationship develop through smaller moments (getting drunk together and sol revealing her issues with her grades, working side by side to solve a case, sol using joon hwi as a person to bounce ideas off of at the legal clinic) rather than grand gestures (by grand gestures i mean very explicit declarations of love, buying flowers, kissing in a very dramatic moment).
for those who have watched vincenzo and was a chayenzo shipper, you'll see that sol A and joon who's relationship grows very gradually throughout being there for each other, and i think most notably, this show doesn't show a point where "everything changed for the two of them" or one moment where the realized they loved each other (similar to vincenzo and cha-young's relationship). joon hwi has very gradually grown to like her presence and we can see that from their bickering friendship in ep 1 to now where he is on call for her at any time, putting up cctv for her and making hangover soup when one is drunk. much like a realistic friends to lovers, there is no one moment where they fall for each other, they've actually been falling for each other the whole time.
this brings me to the scene where sol B asks "why are you trying so hard to persuade me? why do you care so much about my roomie?" and he replied that he is "grateful for her." As we've seen from the previous episodes and even the events building up to this scene, Sol B isn't a very expressive girl. BUT she still cares about her friends in the study group, seen through her comforting ye-seul in the way she could and her standing up for sol A when her classmate calls her an ex-convict. in the same way sol A shield's her roommate, sol B does the same towards her. i believe that sol B knows that joon hwi is in love with sol A; pretending otherwise is a disservice to her intelligence and keen mind. her asking joon hwi why he's trying so hard is more than just a simple question. what she's asking here is "why are you in love with sol A? what is it about her that you like?" in a protective way. i interpreted it as her asking what his intentions with her roommate is. sol B is looking out for her roommate in her own way and asking why he likes her.
and joon hwi knows this, he understands what she's asking so he gives her an honest answer without his explicit confession. he tells her how grateful he is for her and it flashes to a scene that displays sol A's courage, her resilience, her loyalty, her compassion. she is making a risk because of him, and their study group. and the anger she expresses in assemblyman ko's involvement in the ruination of prosecutor seo, who joon hwi idolized and loved so much, connected with him. he's seeing that she cares so much for him and seeing her so passionate and loyal is the reason why he is grateful to her. you can see the camera shift to his expression during this scene and it looks as if he's truly seeing her for the very first time. this scene is showing the qualities that joon hwi loves the most about sol A, the characteristics that he admires and made him fall for her.
then of course we have the "i owe her. and i don't like owing people." i believe that this is conveying his shock at how much he actually cares for her. i believe before that moment he flashes back to, he assumes it more as a schoolboy crush, rather than him actually being in love with her. he's expressing that how he feels with sol A is new to him and the way he feels for her is different to anything he has felt before (therefore explaining why he says why he doesn't like it/he isn't comfortable with the realization). and sol B goes through with the justice mock trial with the understanding that joon hwi is in love with sol A and understanding that he is the right one for her roommate.
ultimately, solhwi nation, do not be afraid. we will be getting our endgame couple and having a good ending for them. they have so much development throughout the show, and this scene was a confirmation that there is something between them and an official confirmation of his feelings for her.
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