wait omg omg thank you for the meal (lengthy chap/chara analysis instead of stupid fanwars are a rare delicacy). hmm i dont rly see how they had a "chance" to run away after jason died. in fact, wouldn't that have been extremely dangerous? why would Big Boss and the others after tj (and even yw) let them run away and start a new life freely? moreoever, when jason died, yw didnt even propose the plan to run away. instead, he was willing to come back to the gang and kill everybody involved in almost having tj killed. yw was ready to kill the same people tj killed at the wedding, but then tj made the choice to disappear after the funeral. i do believe tj as a whole has been extremely selfish, but that itself was the best choice he could've made at the moment. by disappearing from yw's life, he ensured that yw wouldnt get more involved in the mess that was to come (he still did, but jamie's to blame for that). i do agree that it seems pretty impossible for tj to just abandon everything now, esp after the massacre.
on the other hand, im confused about what ian's gonna do. like, tj literally just killed the very people ian said HE would kill, so does it really make sense for him to clutch his pearls? though i do think he'll be disraught bc tj is now deeply DEEPLY involved in shit.
maybe i see tj through rose tinted glasses, but i personally dont think he's gonna make *any* attempt to rope ian back into being w him. before their reunion in the bathroom, he had already decided to (more or less) let ian go. his resolve crumbled when he saw ian, but then after everything ian said to him...... idk. unless he goes full villain mode i dont see him doing anything to bring ian to his side again.
this once again is probably me being delusional but tj remaining in the gang would mean he will never really be able to overcome his biggest insecurity. the biggest thing holding him back from leaving, which is that he feels like a nobody without money and power. and maybe that's the tragedy of his character, but then..... i dont see ian leaving tj forever while tj's stuck in this cycle of self loathing and regret and being an empty shell of a person? maybe thats just me. i DO wish ian will be happy by the end though, and not tied by any guilt.
im rly interested in seeing the confrontation between jo, ian, and tj bc its definitely coming. jamie is definitely a loose canon, and its interesting bc ian is the one who has let jamie live twice now: once back when they were teenagers, and now by stopping jo from killing him. i feel like ian's gonna regret this a LOT, but idk how. and then there's jo's 4 bullets........... IDKKKKK IM SO HYPED
Thank you to both of you that was really interesting and I agree with the both of you I think tj as let Ian go and from the scene of the bathroom we know that was kind of the end of they relationship. They « talk » about the things they done to each other, when they have told to each other to not talk about those things or it will be over.
And I feel that Ian can truly go in some ways but how knows
The only part I'll disagree on is that last one, Jo most definitely needs emotional regulation too, just far less than the other 2 lol
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Really appreciate your analysis on this! Just to give more reasoning to my statement that Ian and TJ could've ran away together after Jason's passing, I moreso meant TJ had a more ample opportunity and is much more primed to pass the baton like Jason did after his premature death, and that one person I had in mind was Chiwoon, who has shown himself to be a likely successor for TJ. Leadership in K35 seems to be that of a revolving door, and TJ could have left the gang following Jason's funeral or even in that bathroom scene because the only people that actually wouldve been looking for him would be his loyal members as everyobe else really just wanted him gone. But that would have been the case if he actually made Ian his priority, which I think is a really interesting juxtaposition as to *who* gets punished when they prioritize their ambition over their love. When TJ prioritized climbing the ladder in K35, he got what he wanted, when Ian prioritized his desire to leave that carnage behind, he got a broken leg and a crushed racing career. TJ is a character I find to be very complex and compelling, I love him! But I also see him as someone whos love is bounding and stifles growth because it is so heavily weighted by past traumas preverted by a hunger for power and the need hold onto a family he now has the power to protect.
As you said, I am hoping that TJ has become a bit more conscience with how he navigated and subsequently navigates his relationship with Ian, because they both need closure after 20 years of this. Now as for Jo... my god I love his character so much because he is in such a unique position being a civilian that teeters the line more than Ian does whilst still trying to be the north star on everyone's emotional and moral compass as we witness his own direction waning! Jo to me feels like a character that shows how love is supposed to help one grow rather than feel guilty, he's very quick to recognize his own selfishness and apologize for it, acknowledge and aim for his own ambitions as long as it doesn't compromise the autonomy of Ian, it's genuinely refreshing. But how long can Jo be the light when he's now ankle deep in this tarpit trying to pull out Ian who's chest-deep? I am hoping that Jo remains the pillar that helps these characters (i.e., Ian, Toby, TJ, Chris) move forward in their own story without completely corrupting his spirit, but only time will tell!
Really love this discussion because this story is so layered and subtly delves into a tale of addiction and cycles that are in need of breaking. TJ lost his family and felt powerless to help, but now has been driven so much by that hunger for power that he has lost sight of who he did all this for to begin with. Ian is actively battling 3 addictions being (1) his drug addiction, (2) his codependency with TJ, and (3) his propensity to carry the guilt and responsibility for everything that happens to someone in his proximity because he thinks he is the problem, something that started with his mom.
This was such a nerve-wrecking chapter tbh! I'm happy to see that TJ's plan has been successful thus far, but it feels likes things are going too smoothly for him, which makes me believe that either someone (i.e., Jamie, Ian, Jo, the police, or a combination of sorts) will intervene and make a mess of things, or big boss has an unexpected failsafe that will muddy the waters for TJ. Either way, I'm still hesitant on seeing how exactly this plan will help TJ in the long run. Yes, he's collectively getting rid of enemies that seek to remove him, but he's also created a larger power vaccum in his own organization that can easily be aquired or eliminated by another org if they see fit. K35 has proven to be a weak organization that has no real loyalty between leading members, making their value and allyship questionable. K35 looks more like a somewhat unstable and hostile asset that should preferably be neutralized when finished using rather than trusted partners, making their longevity rocky if we're being realistic. Plus, we really don't know what the fallout of this massacre will be, there are claims of women and children being in attendence, though we cant fully confirm that (we see two women laying dead, but no children from what we can tell so far). Although this chapter mainly focused on TJ and the execution of his plan, I can't help but to think about how this will also affect Ian as this series is mainly his story.
I feel like TJ's actions have been selfish in one degree, which is his desire for more power in the organization. But in another aspect, he still cares for Ian and wants to keep him protected, and possibly still within proximity. This begs my question: does this plan allow for TJ to have his cake and eat it too? We've how much Ian hated being in the org and how much he wanted to escape it, with TJ being his only tether. What does this now do to Ian when this wedding massacre essentially marks TJ becoming the figurehead of the very thing Ian despises? TJ wouldn't destroy everything just to drop it all and run away with Ian because had that been the case, he would've just left with Ian long ago when they had the chance to following Jason's passing. But seeing as how TJ was groomed to be the same type of planning man that would kill his opponents for more power as Jason was, TJ is not going to let go of this now, it wouldnt make any narrative sense.
There's just so much about TJ that seems... destructive, as if he is trying to establish a home on a landmine. I also honestly don't know if he plans to seperate himself from Ian or if he plans to try to bring him back into his life in a way he feels is best, either way, everything about the wedding and the fallout within the K35 just feels very eerie. I genuinely feel like Ian is suicidal and doesn't care what happens to him at this point and will do something that will go against Big Teddy's warning in an attempt to help TJ and protect Jo from pulling himself any deeper into this world. Not to mention Jamie being the biggest thorn in this story they have yet to remove! It seems like Ian is battling multiple addictions at once: his drug addiction, his co-dependent relationship with TJ, and his crippling attachment to the guilt of his past. Ian really won't be able to heal until he is able to actually reconcile with the things hes done and have an genuine discussion with TJ that definitively establishes where they are in their own lives and what that means for their relationship. These men lack communication and emotional regulation (apart from Jo) and it is a MESS, lol