You stated this perfectly. Manipulation is thrown around so frequently and I think in this case, incorrectly.
There was no intent on Han's part, while he behaved poorly and fucked up a lot, I feel it was always clear it was never in pursuit of a schemed outcome.
In the end he was shown multiple times to be struggling on what the "correct" or right thing to do was. Both characters are flawed and I really do love this story as a portrayal of two individuals coming together, with baggage, finding something neither expected or was necessarily prepared for.
Yes thank you.
As someone that’s part of the kink community I agree with people saying this isn’t the best representation of BDSM but I do think that it’s a good representation of a couple trying to communicate and accept each other sexual interests. Also specifically accepting BSDM rather than looking at it as an “excuse to abuse people”
I think my hot take is I don’t really agree with people saying that Han is manipulative. I agree that he fucked up about pressuring Lee to do stuff in the beginning. I’m not pushing aside his trauma truly. Though him not discussing his trauma or even briefly telling it to him so he can be aware of it would’ve been better in the beginning to save himself from the pain of the situation. Though I know he struggled with trusting Han in the beginning.
I think that Han truly and sincerely apologized and it’s discussed even in the end that he still feels guilty in the end and would never hurt Lee like that again. I don’t believe it was a manipulation tactic rather than a sincere apology to someone he liked.