ok at first I was kinda ehh on the Bethel rape plotline, because it felt so after-school-special. Rape Is Not Okay, Men Can Be Raped Too, everyone reacting in 100% appropriate ways and Believing the Victim and being maximally considerate and understanding.
then over time I became more sympathetic to it. well yeah, it wasn’t okay! Bethel is a shitty person! and yeah people should be considerate and Joon shouldn’t have to keep interacting and working with his rapist no matter how valuable her talents are, and you don’t need a reason beyond “because fuck that.”
so anyway I’m now fully on board with the plotline because the initial treatment just made the ultimate Bethel forgiveness arc hit harder
“being a good person means forgiving your rapist, and fighting for them when someone tries to hurt them because they’re a person with feelings and that’s all that really matters” is such a classic fucked up Worth the Candle moral but like it’s true