More on Dr Cha - the finale
I’ve been reading responses to the finale of Dr Cha. If you read my previous post, it will not surprise you that I loved the ending.
Dr Cha spent 20 years and more putting other people first. This is not uncommon for women who make up the sandwich generation (our mothers and grandmothers may also have occupied this space - it is not a new phenomenon.) in addition to having jobs and generally most of the household responsibilities, some of us care for elderly parents and parents-in-law, a partner, children, and even grandchildren. Everyone’s needs are likely to come first - partly because we are conditioned to believe our needs should not be a priority, and partly because until everyone else is taken care of, it is hard to get any space, time, or peace to take care of ourselves.
If this does not resonate with you, I suggest you speak to a woman between the ages of 45 and 80. I bet this reality beats like a gong for her.
As for Dr Roy Kim falling in love with Jeong Suk and supporting her and wanting to be her saviour - WOMEN DO NOT OWE MEN LOVE.
Read that again: WOMEN DO NOT OWE MEN LOVE.
Or anything else. Someone else’s love and devotion cannot dictate a person’s feelings.
I think Jeong Suk was genuinely grateful to Dr Kim. She may have thought about what it would be like to be with him romantically. But she was not in love with him. And in the end she knew that her debt to him would be too big to find any balance.
Which is why she could accept the liver from Seo In Ho. He discharged his debt by signing the divorce papers, giving her the building, and promising to not “pathetically cling” to her. She could take his donation as payment for all the sins he had committed and feel no more obligation. He could rebuild his karma - remember when Eun Seo asks how both her mother and “that lady” could feel so much for him and he says, “I must have done some great deed in a former life”?
You don’t have to like that way of thinking, but it is a genuine and deeply held belief among billions of people. As audience, we should at least respect it.
I don’t understand the people watching this drama making no attempt to understand a very different way of thinking about life, obligation, duty, and happiness.
Plus - this story is not The Glory. Dr Cha doesn’t burn down the world. Her revenge is in living her best life with peace and happiness.
That seems like a good choice to me.
