I get your approach, but imbalance itself is normal as long as it is not used to control. All kinds of people form relationships, with differences in many aspects of them. If we go by that, people should not date and cannot love unless they are the same age, have the same education, social status, level of looks, level of fat on their body, same tastes, ideology etc. And most people are not dating their doppelgangers. Abuse is the issue and abuse has nothing to do with age/educational background/looks/weight/social status/money/job etc.

Fox example, if a mature person was hired to teach an immature one of the same age and used that somehow dishonestly (no clue if SLA is like that, I'm just saying), it would be a problem, despite the age gap not being there. Because the imbalance comes from those differences being used to control one with the power one's own privilege gives them, be that one's maturity, age, job etc. So that's where your issues with it come from, which is very reasonable, I just don't feel age itself is to blame for those.

In our case with Mr. Back, I don't see why age is the problem and not the fact that he might be using his higher social status to control the woman's life through his power, which happens in most such romances, without age ever being an issue. Also, him lying about his identity and getting her involved with him under false pretenses is a much bigger problem too. Why is it we can accept jerk chaebol abusing women as a normal romance, and not see the imbalance there, but two nice people being kind to each other is bad just because of age or looks or a job? That's my question.

I don't get why the same audiences who adore all kinds of abusive or control-driven romances and have no problem with other types of imbalances and abuse suddenly find it "wrong" when age is involved. I don't see why how long someone has been alive is somehow a bigger issue in a relationship than how well someone treats another and how much someone loves and respects another.

Which is why a lot of these more offensive "eww" types of comments I see in age gap discussions feel so very dishonest and like a double standard. If one acts like it's morally fine when hot young men/women they are attracted to abuse their partner, but cry "outrage" over older men/women they dislike do the exact same thing, I call bullsh...manure.

Yes, I kind of did figure out we were saying the same thing, I just added that in your case, the age isn't the issue, but the abuse. Which is reasonable. So you're not icky over age gap romances, but power gap and abuse romances, in that sense. Even if some of those might also have an age gap, from what I understood.

And yes, I do feel odd about the romance in this, because of the element of deceit and also the reality of him probably dying soon. He will have to get old again by the end, I doubt we'll get a miraculous second chance for him, so where would that leave her? I hope the show can tackle it in a way that does not leave characters miserable or have them ruin one another just to feature romance. We'll see how it goes.

Great points from everyone.

"I hope it proves me wrong tackling the subject in a clever way." This is the most important thing in whether drama romances work or not, whether it's romances with a power imbalance or with an age gap. In real life, I've seen how hard these issues can be for some of my friends. But I'm also inspired by my friends who've created really amazing, long-term marriages despite big differences.

I'm always hoping for a show that includes the really dramatic, romantic stuff that happens with an age gap, or cultural/class/economic differences. About 5% of dramas actually try, though!

Orion, I think you didn't understand my thoughts, or I didn't explain very well, sorry, when I talked about the imbalance in the relationship I meant one side has some form of power or control over the other. That is what I don't like.

In SLA that was exactly what happened, at least until ep 8 which was when I dropped the show. That has nothing to do with differences of any kind.

I don't like the abusive leading characters that stalk and scream and are generally rude towards their girlfriends so I never really mix these subjects. Again, it has nothing to do with age.

As far as Mr Back goes, let's wait and see but the premise seems to be he will lie to her? That is already manipulative, it is a form of control. I hope there is no romance in this stage or at least if there is, that the show acknowledges he is being a creep instead of treating it as a joke. I mean, I don't know if you're a woman or a man but just imagine you date someone for a while and later discovers he or she is 30 years older than you. It is different, it's a lot of life experience, it's another stage in life, even if you are an adult, this other person might end up controlling you

Mandy was talking about the ageless characters below on 15 and I think it raises an interesting question, How come we are fine with those? I think I can answer. We are led to believe they are frozen in time emotionally and their maturity levels accompanies their looks. That was my explanation for MGIAG for instance, she was a pure creature that was locked up in a painting for hundreds of years and had very little real life experience. I had a hard time imagining her as a granny. YFAS didn't work so well for me, show tried really hard to sell the alien lived locked up in his own world for centuries but I never really bought it besides I didn't understand exactly how he fell in love either so didn't work very well on the later half even if I loved the first. I also loved the first 2 eps of Gu Family Book but again, that gumiho was not human at all, didn't act like a human, so it was more an ageless creature than a hundred year old human so no icky feeling from me.

Anyway, I hope Mr. Back surprises and proves me wrong tackling the subject in a clever way.