Question: Am I Missing Something Or Does The FL From Something In The Rain Only Exist To Torture This

Question: Am I missing something or does the FL from Something in the Rain only exist to torture this man? Because my goodness she is so frustrating and I only have three more episodes to go.

So, after breaking up with the ML in probably the most spectacularly humiliating way possible, the FL shows up at his door oh so casually as if nothing is wrong.

"You're really angry, aren't you? I miss you."

She doesn't acknowledge anything that has happened in the past 72 hours like how she:

Demeaned their relationship by going on a blind date with another man;

Went behind the ML's back to meet with his birth father who he had gone no contact with for years because the man had abandoned him and his sister shortly after their mother died, moving to another country to start his "real" family;

Invalidated his feelings by suggesting he is immature for not wanting to connect with his father who, again, is a dead beat who left his older sister to raise him alone;

Disrespected his wishes once again by allowing said dead beat to get so shit faced drunk at her house that she was “forced” to ask the ML to come and pick him up;

Subjected him to even more verbal abuse from her vicious social-climbing mother who just a few weeks earlier had beat him and told him he wasn't good enough for her daughter...

And instead asks if he has tea in the house.

My face exactly, Joon-hee.

She somehow spontaneously gains a shred of empathy and FINALLY apologizes, explaining that she just wanted to "end a hectic situation". The ML, who must be a saint, acknowledges the situation and tries to share his feelings about what happened:

ML: I told you I understand that. FL: You are mad at me. ML: Even if things were difficult, you shouldn't have said that we should break-up. FL: At that moment I was angry. ML: I get it. Fine. FL: You're not fine. (pouts like a child)

Emphasis on the "tries" because when he starts sharing his frustrations and how worried he was about her during that fight with her mother, she skirts the issue:

ML: Do you know how I felt just now? FL: (Nods) I do. ML: Sure you do. FL: It was my mistake. I won't do it again. (smiles coquettishly) ML: Don't try to end the conversation. FL: When people get angry, they tend to say things they shouldn't. It's not like you don't make mistakes.

And then cuts him off because the "kettle started boiling".

Once she moves her emotional manipulation to the kitchen, she asks:

FL: Since the water is boiling, can we have ramyeon? ML: Why are you acting like this? FL: I'm too hungry. I don't have the energy to get scolded.

He picks out a pack of ramyeon, which she petulantly rejects and signals for him to pick another flavor. He does, shaking his head in disbelief, before heading to the closet to create some distance.

She then calls to him from the kitchen, "am I going to eat ramyeon by myself?"

This is the image of a man defeated.

Sir, I really don't understand how you're justifying to yourself that she's worth it. She has the emotional intelligence of a gnat.

FL: I said I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you, but I don't know how. That's why I'm being like this. ML: I'm trying to talk it out with you. Why do you take it so lightly?

So of course she moves to the bed for more emotional manipulation.

She needs therapy and he needs to grow a spine.

On one hand, I’m impressed that Something in the Rain actually has a complex (and occasionally unlikable) female lead who really illustrates how childhood trauma manifests in unhealthy behavior and thinking well into adulthood.

But I also have never wanted two characters to break up so badly as I do here so that she can work on herself and heal without hurting him so much in the process.

She exhausts me.

Side Note: The ridiculous amount of pouting this grown ass woman does makes my eye twitch.

One of my fave Cdrama production teams so I'll need to check Be Your Knight out! (Although I do miss the dreamy visuals of Director Zeng Qingjie.)

To @renewedmotionforjudgment's point about maximizing the creative potential of the short drama format, I think something A Familiar Stranger also does well is it picks a theme and unpacks it not only in the writing but in the visual storytelling. It's a very layered but efficient approach to communicating the show's main ideas.

I talk about this a little in my visual analysis here, but it's incredibly striking how Director Zeng uses camera close-ups, parallelism, fourth wall breaks, and other techniques to illustrate the theme of trusting our intuition versus what we see on the surface. The visual storytelling gives insight into things like the ML's character (e.g., all those direct stares into the camera) and the sister's relationship with the prince (e.g., the difference in intimacy with how the sex scenes between the two couples are shot) without needing to spend time on exposition. We can feel (and therefore know) all this through our eyes instead.

was just telling @renewedmotionforjudgment I'm 2 episodes into Be Your Knight and I love this short drama production team (Familiar Stranger, Provoke, Hard to Find, Butterflied Lover). They GET IT.

Republican drama?

Dark, wet streets! Grimy alley ways! Close-up on high heels stepping out of a glossy black car.

Waking up tied to a chair. Flipping coins to decide your fate. Secret twins. Snow falling over the slow-mo princess carry of a woman he knocked out.

Suits suits suits! Fighting a gang of men with a bat. Mysterious gangsters. Burning a secret file in a room lit by candles.

Pose as my fake husband or one of us will DIE

Did you kill the real one? ... ominious vague flashback so the viewer is unsure

This is exactly what I want. 100% dream logic.

following up on my prior ask! i found the luyang arc pivotal for xff and xh (i mean, who wouldnt? we got that beautiful rain scene!), but so much of their conversations confused me because of the way they use metaphors and dance around answers! i apologize if i come off as spamming ur inbox, lol!

some things i wanted to understand more:

-ep 16 tearoom: when xff talks about him inviting her over after every "show" and how what he says is apathetic but always hits the mark and makes her in debt. but now hes showing his cards and asks him if he wants to join?

ep 17 in the rain: when she says "you never tell the truth" and he says "what about you? even after drinking you havent told the truth once" what is she referring to? him i can kinda guess but her? idk!

-ep 17 eating dumplings: when xff offers to invite him to watch a play (her helping the ye family) and he says "i dont watch plays" why is he mad?! lol and why does she respond "if you like these buns and want them in the future, ill settle everything" when he says that when its found out to be a "misunderstanding" who does she think has to take the blame (referring to himself as he would tip them off)

-ep 18 eating dumplings (again): when she asks about how he tried cases in the past and he tells her she doesnt have to make him put up an act before she confesses? where did this come from? did i forget something in the past?? and then even more... "today onward, i am once again despised by everyone" what does he mean? when wasnt he? why does she respond with luyang is beautiful and the night duty is coming??

idk theres so much i think i grasp but then i relisten to it and confuse myself lmao! theres definitely more (like the huixiang pawn speech she had with him) but the luyang parts im most interested in! so sorry that this is so long and such word vomit!! thank you so much if u do take the time to respond! i think you have such a good comprehension and a way with words that seriously has added to my enjoyment of this show SO much more. thank you!!!!!

I welcome all word vomits but oh boy you're really stretching my memory here 😂

Ep. 16 Tearoom

Fangfei is still annoyed at Duke Su because of her jealousy over seeing him with another woman at the brothel in Episode 15. In that episode, she had assumed he was following her to Luyang but then thought differently once she saw him with Wu Lan. I think her calling out his sudden "apathy" is essentially her implicitly asking if their odd little relationship has changed (i.e., why are you acting differently?). Which is why he asks:

Duke Su: Are you getting angry at me? Fangfei: Can't I? Duke Su: Your words are really pleasant then. (smiles)

He just confirmed that she's behaving the way she is because she's jealous, which is why he finds her words "pleasant". So he reassures her by telling her who Wu Lan is even though she has nothing to do with Fangfei's dealings with the Ye family--he's like a husband keeping his wife informed about his struggles at work lol

Ep. 17 In the Rain

He's referring to her real identity as Fangfei (which he's known about for a while but wants to hear directly from her about) and I believe she's referring more generally to all his private dealings, which keeps entangling him in her plots (e.g., General Biao, who they had that drinking competition with).

Ep. 17 Dumplings

This was the day after Fangfei's drunken flirtatiousness in the rain so my guess is that he was fishing for her to reveal her true feelings about him ("does that mean you remember what happened that night?") and he gets frustrated when she friend-zones him by wanting his help for her scheming versus talking about this shift in their relationship. Especially since one of the last times they talked about theater, it was when he tricked her into being his cover during the theater attack and she told that him that she now clearly sees what their relationship actually is. Her talking about the theater after their almost kiss probably feels like taking one step forward and two steps back for him!

But Fangfei's "If you like these buns, I'll settle everything" is ultimately her asking for his help to execute her plan and trying to settle the score. Remember, at this point in the drama, she's always counting how much he helps her so she can pay him back and not have to owe him. (Which is why one of my favorite flirting moments of theirs is in Episode 16 when he swoops in during her drinking competition and tells her that his help won't be put on her tab.)

Ep. 18 Dumplings Part Deux

Oh that's just another flirtatious way of giving Duke Su permission to ask her questions about her real identity! By this episode, he's interrogated her at the nunnery as well as his residence but they're always interrupted and/or she leaves when he gets too personal. She's telling him she's willing to share more about herself because of how much he has helped her up to this point.

I'm not quite sure what "today onward, I am once again despised by everyone" refers to (maybe if the palace finds out how he has helped Fangfei given that I think at this point he knows of Princess Wanning's involvement in Fangfei's death?) but I wonder if Fangfei's night duty comment is her reflecting on how even though she just experienced momentary success there is still a long road of challenges ahead of her. That's why Duke Su reassures her that she's strong and a survivor ("right now, all the lights in Luyang are on. If you were a restless spirit, you would have long been reduced to ashes") and she promises him that she "will live on well."

--

Hope these ramblings were helpful!

hey! so sorry to bother you about this, but i want to say i ALSO saw ur posts on reddit (only knew it was you cause i checked the icon just now!) and i loved ur posts about the episodes there too, lol! just letting you know!!! thanks for providing beautiful, in depth reviews of the episodes. i genuinely want to know your thoughts on other things in the series, but only if thats okay!

Aww thank you so much 💙 Blushing over here like Duke Su.

Please ask away! It's been a while since I finished The Double (so my memory might be a bit spotty) but I'm always down for nerding out about Cdramas!

sometimes a post isn't for you

Currently on 4th ep of something in the rain and I might just get a crush on jung haein idk kskkskskskks