A few days ago, I was a bit bored and remembered the popular drama "Furious Life" from some time ago, so I searched for reviews on Douban. After reading the short reviews on Douban, most of them were about how they enjoyed watching East Asians go crazy, how East Asians need emotional release, how East Asian love is always so torn, and then it went on to talk about how our nation lacks unconditional love and how East Asian culture has ruined many lives. So, with a curious mindset, I decided to watch this drama and see what kind of East Asian culture it portrays.
The story begins with a road rage incident. The male lead was reversing his car at the entrance of a supermarket when suddenly a white SUV came from behind and honked at him. In response, the male lead chased after the car, and the owner of the SUV, who is also the female lead, flipped him off and threw a water bottle at him. The two of them raced each other on the road. In order to catch up to the female lead, the male lead drove straight through a lawn, but of course, he couldn't catch up. However, he remembered the license plate number.
Later, the male lead found the female lead's address and pretended to be a decorator to enter her house. He urinated on the bathroom floor, and the two of them started a cycle of revenge until the female lead's family fell apart and the male lead was abandoned by everyone. They ended up in the wilderness, trying to kill each other and accidentally poisoning themselves with wild fruits. They both thought they were going to die and started pouring out their hearts to each other, eventually reaching a reconciliation.
This drama is very absurd and realistic, starting with a road rage incident and analyzing the inner world of the two characters and their growth experiences. The female lead is considered a successful woman with a harmonious family and a successful career, but she doesn't feel happy. Even when facing her own husband, she has to put up a guard and maintain her facade. She doesn't express her likes and dislikes at home. She doesn't like her husband's work, but she still compliments him. She is neurotic and has some strange sexual preferences, like hiding under the covers and having sex with older men. She goes to couples therapy with her husband, where he confesses his actions, but she hides her own infidelity. The road rage incident continues to escalate online, and just as she is about to be exposed, her mother-in-law takes the blame for her. She believes that there is no unconditional love in this world, not even from her own daughter. And all of this is because during her childhood, her parents constantly argued and there was never open communication in her family, and even as an adult, it remains the same.
Now let's look at the male lead. His parents are typical "I'm doing this for your own good" type of parents. He was bullied by classmates at school and had to take care of his younger brother at home. He hoped that his brother could study well and be in the same class as him so that he wouldn't be bullied anymore. He didn't go to college and became a repairman instead. The year his brother got accepted into college, he threw his brother's college application into the trash, causing his brother to miss out on going to college. He was mocked and looked down upon by others, but he pretended not to care and worked hard. He worked hard and bought a house for his parents, but he intentionally wired the electricity incorrectly, causing the house to catch fire, and he blamed the fire on the female lead. In the road rage incident with the female lead, he also blamed a friend, even though that friend wasn't a good person either.
There are a few lines in the drama that I really liked. One is when the male lead pretends to get close to the female lead's husband, and they have coffee together. The female lead's husband says that when we were children, our perception of time was 100%, but as we grow older, a year becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of our lives, and time seems to pass by faster.
Another one is in the final episode, where they originally wanted to kill each other but got lost and couldn't find the way out. They had to stick together because they accidentally ate poisonous fruits and thought they wouldn't survive until tomorrow. But on this night, when death was so close, they let go of their facades and pretenses and were honest with each other. They had moments of exchanging thoughts and got a glimpse into each other's lives, understanding why they had become the way they were and seeing each other's most vulnerable parts. They communicated, forgave, found peace, and embraced the arrival of death.
The next day, they didn't die. Instead, they found the way back to the city. I thought there would be a twist here, where they would betray each other again, as such endings are not uncommon in O. Henry's stories. But my worries were unnecessary. They really found the way out, and waiting for them was the female lead's ex-husband, who swiftly pulled out a gun and shot the male lead, leaving him lying in a hospital bed. The female lead stayed by his side day and night on the hospital bed, and that's how the drama ended.
Throughout the drama, despite the oppressive, tense, and anxious atmosphere, I couldn't be moved. I couldn't understand why people would applaud such madness. It's undeniable that the male and female leads experienced trauma in their childhood, but why, even as adults and even after starting a family and having children, do they never confront their own issues or solve their psychological problems? Since they were once children themselves, why do they burden their own daughters with the same experiences they went through? What they want is for others not to leave, whether it's their spouse or their daughter. She says she can't love unconditionally because she doesn't believe in unconditional love, but she still yearns for it. Ultimately, it's a form of selfishness.
The male lead's younger brother is the pitiful character in the drama. Everyone applauds when the male lead goes crazy, but no one feels sorry for his brother because he didn't get into college. His brother later falls into a downward spiral, playing games and investing in cryptocurrency every day, and the male lead even criticizes him for not focusing on his work. He hates that he didn't have the right to choose, but he also deprived his brother of the right to choose his own life. He intentionally starts a fire but blames the female lead, and even though he knows the truth about the fire, he doesn't tell his brother until his brother refuses to give up on him. As they said in the drama, "Our bodies absorb nutrients and then excrete harmful substances through defecation and urination. What if we treated babies the same way? But as parents, they 'excrete' their own trauma onto the next generation."
At this point, when I look at the reviews on Douban again, all I feel is the intense self-hatred of certain East Asian individuals. They are just like the countless Dannys and Amys, pitiful and tragic.