Warning: Love and Leashes spoilersIt’s no secret that dating has become increasingly challenging in this changing world. The pressure to findyour personortwin flamethat will share or even accept your interests is enough to make you chew your nails off.Love and Leashes, a Korean rom-com, was released in February 2022 on Netflix and did a terrific job of exposing how hard it is to navigate thedos and don’ts of dating in the modern world.
Seo Ju-hyun, a former member of the K-pop group Girls’ Generation and more widely known as Seohyun, took the lead inLove and Leashesas Jung Ji-woo. Her co-star Lee Jun-young, who debuted in the Korean boy band U-Kiss, played Jung Ji-hoo and Ji-woo’s love interest. Even with such similar names, the two couldn’t have been more different. The duo met when Ji-hoo (Lee Jun-young) started working in the same public relations office as Ji-woo (Seohyun). Right away, their polar opposite personalities were pointed out by their boss, with Ji-woo being considered cold and unfriendly while Ji-hoo was all smiles and welcoming.
Ji-woo later revealed her interest in Ji-hoo by complaining to her mother about wanting to make the first move. “Why can’t girls say how they feel first?” she asked her mother (Baek Hyun-joo). “Are we in 1920 or something?” In return, her mother told her the belief that men should approach women first will probably be around even in 2220 and thatwomen who are assertiveare often rejected because most men prefer to take the lead. So perhaps it was divine intervention or just their similar names that led to Ji-woo being given a package meant for Ji-hoo.
Realizing the impending disaster, Ji-hoo didn’t make it in time to retrieve his delivery that was already opened to reveal a leather dog collar covered in silver spikes but large enough for a human to wear. Petrified that he’d be judged, Ji-hoo lied that the collar was for his pet poodle. A lie that wasn’t very convincing, mind you. because Ji-woo caught a glimpse of a coupon that the collar was, in fact, for her coworker. But Ji-woo being her usual self, showed little interest in the matter, which led to Ji-hoo misunderstanding the meaning behind her lack of judgment.
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Believing Ji-woo to be someone that shared his private preferences, Ji-hoo confessed his joy that he’d found someone like him. In today’s society, people who favor being submissive are sometimes looked down on, which Ji-hoo experienced with his ex-girlfriend once she discovered why he enjoyed being so giving. In that respect,Love and Leashestouches on the topic of being mistreated due to being different. Ji-hoo enjoyed being at his partner’s beck and call, but he was left feeling less human without being truly understood. So intrigued by Ji-woo’s dominant side and feeling seen by her, Ji-hoo went as far as to ask her to be his master, someone who’d be comfortable giving him orders. But as you can imagine, that didn’t go over well when Ji-woo clarified that she merely didn’t feel the need to judge his choices and wasn’t actually a part of his community.
Ji-hoo and viewers alike were mortified that he’d overshared. We’ve all been there. But unknown to Ji-hoo, Ji-woo’s interest was piqued.
The Beauty of Acceptance
After her eye-opening conversation with Ji-hoo, Ji-woo turned to the internet to learn more about her shy co-worker’s secret world. The more she researched, the more she realized that there was a place where her ‘do as I say’ personality would be accepted and even admired. While there was a focus on Ji-hoo being forced to keep a significant part of himself hidden, the same was happening to Ji-woo. In other words, they were two sides of the same coin, sitting on the outside of what the world would consider normal.
One particular scene showed various pictures of Ji-woo throughout her life since childhood, and there were no pictures of her smiling. Although intimating, throughout the movie, she was shown to be helpful and reasonable while her boss was talkative and friendly but hypocritical and judgmental.A lesson surely overlooked by someis that being friendly doesn’t always correlate to being a good person.
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Ji-woo accepted Ji-hoo’s offer, curious about the challenge she was being presented with, and the duo began their journey down a leather-paved road that started as an experiment. Still, feelings have a funny way of butting in where not needed. While Ji-hoo was having the time of his life, the lines between being a “master” and wanting a relationship begin to blur for Ji-woo. How can someone not fall for another person that accepts them wholeheartedly, right?
The duo stumbled through the murky waters of friendship and intimacy and came out on the other side a little beaten up but fortunate to have found each other.Love and Leashesearned its 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and in fact, it deserved more. The show taught viewers a valuable lesson about accepting oneself and that judging others, while easy to do, has deeper repercussions like sowing seeds for trauma and inciting bullying. Being kind costs us nothing, but bullying someone for being different may cost them everything.
Searching for Love and Its Risks
More widely known for her role inGoblin: The Lonely and Great God,Lee El played Hye Mi and Ji-woo’s friend and mentor. While Ji-woo sought to work through her relationship or lack thereof with Ji-hoo, Hye Mi encountered her share of relationship troubles.
After agreeing to go on a date, Hye Mi found herself randomly attacked and on the verge of being assaulted. Through quick thinking, she called Ji-woo, who, with Ji-hoo’s help, rescued Hye Mi before things could get out of hand. Shaken up by the experience, Hye Mi confessed how frustrating it was trying to find people who genuinely shared her interests and didn’t have ulterior motives.
Hearing this, Ji-woo realized that she too was being fictitious and not true to her role as Ji-hoo’s master, when during her date that was interrupted, she’d suddenly asked for them to be more than what they’d agreed on.Dating in this modern worldcomes with risks, especially online. So take the necessary precautions, and for first dates, have your date agree on somewhere public. Finding love is euphoric and fun but doing so safely makes it all the better.
