Oooooooooooooooomygosh. EAW #15, so much, so much, so much. The writers packed a lot, A LOT, into this episode. SPOILERS! This was a fun one. LONG, LONG POST WARNING!
1) A post I re-blogged over the weekend noted critically that us fan reviewers have not been paying enough attention to the connection between the cases and the personal matters of the characters, and I think that criticism is so valid and spot on for this episode. Because what did this case ultimately focus on? That’s right, what we’ve all been asking for throughout this series: COMMUNICATION!
The case focused on ways in which information gets communicated (or hacked, or leaked, or whatever).
The legal question at hand is: the private data of most of the population got leaked. What should the punishment be for this leaking?
To phrase the question very differently (ha): what should be private? What does privacy mean?
One of the main issues that the show grapples with is how Young-woo communicates, as an autistic person in a mostly nautistic world. I’m going to play with this for a bit, and I welcome constructive criticism on my thinking.
I’ve mentioned previously that I went to grad school for social welfare (note: I’m not a therapist, but I took many courses in direct clinical practice). Therapists very often struggle with setting up a micro-macro understanding of the world for their clients. In other words: if Young-woo is a client of a therapist, how can that therapist help Young-woo understand that her own style of thinking and communicating is not a, or the, primary way in which the majority of the population interacts with each other?
This is a tremendously difficult issue to grapple with in the therapeutic relationship, and it speaks to a societal push-and-pull, a give-and-take of our society to offer SPACE and VALIDITY to our fellow humans who do not communicate like the majority of our societies. As well, it speaks to Young-woo’s own push-and-pull of how she learns to engage with society herself as she grows and gains in her adulthood. Micro-to-macro, macro-to-micro: from Young-woo out to the world, from the world back to Young-woo.
Going back to the hacking for a second: it is generally understood that mass hacking and sharing of personal data is bad and subject to prosecution. (Although the plot doesn’t necessarily condemn hacking itself.)
Connecting this to the interpersonal relationships displayed in this episode: Attorney Jang is punishing Young-woo for her style of communication as “bad,” or arrogant.
Separately, many folks on the tag have been talking about how Young-woo and Jun-ho communicate, and some folks have even demanded from Young-woo more communication from herself. There’s been incredible feedback from folks who are autistic combating that back and recognizing Young-woo’s non-communication in difficult emotional moments as authentic and valid.
I want to tie this all together, because I think it speaks to how absolutely nuanced and in-the-moment the nature of communication is. Every second of our waking days are spent negotiating how we all, as humans, communicate with the world and ourselves. We type on Tumblr. We get coffee from baristas. We argue with our parents. We argue with our partners and our children. We love and connect and verbalize with the people around us. We self-deprecate to ourselves.
AND. We DON’T always say things. We DON’T always verbalize. We give our parents the silent treatment. We take a break from our partners to zone out. Our non-communication.....is communication.
I say ALL of this, because I think this episode really neatly tied together a lot of loose knots we’ve been feeling about the way in which the “world” of EAW accepts Young-woo in society and vice versa. Ultimately, the case was about how communication of a certain kind (data) was mishandled. This episode demonstrated, from an interpersonal perspective, how communication and information can also be handled, and mishandled, intimately.
2) Which takes us to Young-woo and Jun-ho, and Young-woo and Attorney Jung, because I think their stories in this episode were linked.
Young-woo ran to the hospital to literally plead to Attorney Jung to not die (ha). What’s that we saw from Young-woo? Empathy! (She’s such a badass, y’all, I so love her. Running into that hospital like that.)
And Jun-ho. Young-woo is concerned for his loneliness. A commenter on one of my previous posts noted the same loneliness connection to Young-woo’s dad, and it’s so spot on. Young-woo has internalized this shame for supposedly rendering folks lonely. She believes she will make Jun-ho lonely.
What is she showing to Jun-ho? Empathy. Even if the content of what she’s saying is not what we want her to say -- she’s communicating a love and empathy for Jun-ho that demonstrates an adult kind of growth that anyone can appreciate and emulate, regardless if you are autistic or nautistic.
What I truly appreciate about this show is that, for me, Young-woo’s growth is contextualized from the frame of her autism. But it is ABSOLUTELY APPLICABLE TO EVERY ONE OF US AS ADULTS. We can all grow and become more empathic. We can all appreciate that we might make our partners lonely. It happens. Divorce rates are high for a reason, y’all! We ALL need to work on our empathic responses, right? We’re not perfect.
Young-woo is WORKING on herself, to understand herself as a partner, even while she thinks her lens is still self-centered. She’s learning. I don’t know of a more empathic meditation that any human, autistic or nautistic, could undertake. It’s just gorgeously written. It literally makes me want to weep, because it is all SO HUMAN, and Young-woo embodies this beautifully.
3) One other Jun-ho note. “Why can’t we be together?”, he asks. Remember what I said about that micro-to-macro-and-back existence, the push-and-pull of your intimate self to the world and back again. My gorgeous homeboy (heh) needs to reflect on what Young-woo’s positioning is in the world to understand the meaning of his question, and I’d like to see some self-reflection on his part (although I will totally get if the writers don’t have space to do that). That would be my ideal scenario. He’s putting a lot on her, and I am gently criticizing that set-up, and would like to see it addressed if possible. (But I get that the writers are also using that moment to demonstrate Young-woo’s empathy.)
Okay, this is so long already, but a few more quick points and then two footnotes, sorrryyy.
4) WTF, Attorney Jang, how the hell did you become a senior partner? Seriously, you do NOT act in court like that! W.T.F. Not being able to carry out MULTIPLE arguments, especially in the face of counter-arguments? Seriously embarrassing.
That little, conniving, sniveling, little POS. Oof. CEO Han, pay attention!
Okay, with that out of the way (ha), he was a great demonstration for arrogance and insecurity. I liked comparing his insecurity to Young-woo’s total security in her legal analysis, and insecurity in her personal life. An easy reflection on a lack of empathy vs. a growth in empathy.
5) I don’t know what’s happening with Min-woo, y’all, lol. I’m going to wait to pass judgement until tomorrow. Is he fighting himself between wanting to have a relationship with Su-yeon vs. his desire for world domination between Hanbada and Taesan? I have no idea. Let’s just see.
6) I saw some criticism on the tag regarding Su-yeon and her pushing Young-woo in ableist ways, and I think the criticism is worth meditating on, again from this push-and-pull framework of how Young-woo interacts internally and externally with the world. Su-yeon, at least from my POV, is framing the way the world works, from her POV, to Young-woo. I think some folks might want Su-yeon to help Young-woo exist in the world in only Young-woo’s way. But, as I said up above, that’s unfortunately not entirely the way the world works. In my mind, Su-yeon does demonstrate bravery for representing Young-woo’s legal analysis in court, but I do VERY much get that that can be criticized.
I take that along with the question of why Jun-ho drove away with Attorney Jang. Attorney Jang got rid of Young-woo. Su-yeon spoke up. He was about to get rid of Su-yeon when Min-woo spoke up. Young-woo, Jun-ho, Su-yeon, and Min-woo each interacted (or were interacted with) POWER, as represented by Attorney Jang, in different ways. They all met or stretched their own limits in the face of power. Su-yeon, representing Young-woo’s legal analysis in court, was grappling, in her own way, in the face of the power that Hanbada put in front of her in the figure of Attorney Jang.
AND -- we can see that Attorney Jung, our beloved senior partner, demonstrates HIS power far differently than Attorney Jang. With -- what? EMPATHY. Full circle, baby!
Alright. WOW. THAT’S IT, except for the footnotes. SEE YOU TOMORROW! AAAHHHHH!!!
* I’m definitely processing the news of season two. I’ll get more clarity on my feelings after we see what happens tomorrow. I’ll be particularly curious about how they handle Kang Tae-oh’s enlistment.
** Speaking of Kang Tae-oh, I saw on social media that he wondered to the writers and directors the line from ep. 14 -- “are you kidding me?”, as too harsh. It really speaks to me that the writers are doing what they’re doing with presenting that kind of emotion. Even though we think it’s harsh, it’s real for the character of Jun-ho, and I appreciate the risks the writers are taking there.
