Encounter Ep 13-16:-

Yay! I FINALLY found time to finish this show!

1) I really did fully, unequivocally love this show at the start. It was on its way of becoming my favorite romance of 2018. But all that lasted only until Ep 10. From 11 it just…everything just started falling apart. This show had never been about external conflict A or B. The plot was minimal. However, what it did phenomenally well was show this very simple story about two people falling in love in such an emotionally powerful way that every episode left me feeling…full. Just happy & calm from feeling so emotionally full that I just wanted to hug a pillow & contentedly sigh as I basked in the afterglow of the episode. But all of this came crashing down after ep 11, when it turned into a very typical kdrama. I had desperately hoped for these 4 eps to be different, but they were not. These eps were a slog to finish. The show just kept going in circles, just retreading the paths it had taken before. The plot was not just minimal, but non-existent this time. All the conflict points that had been established before just…disappeared here. As much as I had loved the start of this show, the last leg of the show just brought the show down to an OK. It was still nice & heart-warming to see the main leads finally smiling happily at each other in the end, without any hint of worry. They WERE characters I cared for after all.

2) Soohyun’s struggle to find her self worth back, was really what even mildly interested me in these eps. However, there were a lot of aspects of her character that I felt were not explored. For example, when Jinhyuk first asks her to marry him, I was disappointed that they did not bring up the way her previous marriage must have scarred her from taking such steps. Also, when Jinhyuk’s mother told her that she did not approve of their relationship, her taking a step back made sense to me. She had always been weak under parental pressure & a disapproving mother-in-law, just like in her first marriage, seemingly also guaranteed a rinse-and-repeat of everything that broke her before. But then she later on went on to say how her decision to break up was not because of her mother, which is where she lost me as it was just the show going around in circles again.

3) This is more about what happened in ep 12 but I am still going to mention it here. I hated how they brushed over Jinhyuk lying to Soohyun about the dinner. How was that any different from the way her ex decided to “solve” her problems for her. I also didn’t like how he said she couldn’t come to the dinner because Soohyun was busy. He may not have meant to do that, but that was like putting the blame on her, when he could have instead said that he decided to uninvite her & taken the responsibility upon himself. He also didn’t really try to shut his brother up when he said how Soohyun was maybe going to go the the memorial for her ex-father in law, which again puts Soohyun in a bad light in front of his parents. That, & his reaction to finding out about what his mother did (which was not really wrong under other circumstances), makes me wonder if Jinhyuk would also have turned out like Woosuk if his mother had been manipulative & evil too.

4) The final ep made me admire the two evil mothers of this show. Yes, they were wrong in every way & I am happy that one of them got punished & the other reflected upon her actions & started on a path of change. But I admired the way that these two women were ambitious & knew what they wanted right from the start, & worked for it unflinchingly. The Chairwoman, especially, kept her dignity right up till the end, which was amazing to see. It was in this ep that I really realized why & how she became the owner of gigantic company in a very patriarchal system. I especially really liked these two shots of her

In the former, even as she was being boxed in, she still looked & felt every bit the queen that she was, right down to the heels, that we see being focused on again in the next shot. I loved the show acknowledging that no matter what, no matter her demise, she was, is, & always will be, a very powerful woman.

5) I liked that the romance between Daechan & Mijin was left the way it was. I admire Mijin for admitting that she has certain expectations that she can’t let go of, & Daechan understood that & backed off. Sure, they are in a “some” relationship now, but at least it doesn’t have any strings attached & both of them can take their time deciding whether they want to make it serious or not. Considering how contrived this couple had seemed to me at first, their ending saved their romantic storyline. I had also been worried when Jinhyuk first proposed to Soohyun, because it felt like it was too soon. Their relationship didn’t feel solid enough for that kind of a step at that point of the show. But I am glad that by the end, I was ok with it & understood it.

6) Sigh…I am NOT rewatching this. As much I loved the first half, I would get bored to tears thinking about what happens in the latter half.

7) I still love Park Bogum whole-heartedly. I especially loved when Jinhyuk finally broke down. I loved the way PBG acted out Jinhyuk’s slow-setting grief when Soohyun breaks up with him. Also, ASDFGHJKL doesn’t he look like a puppy here?!

P.S. Is it only me who gets shocked every time I see PBG kisses on this show? He looks way too pure to know how to do that XD