49 Days: Episode 20 (Final)

494 May 19, 2011November 10, 2016

by girlfriday

If I tried to explain this episode in a paragraph, I think I’d spill more tears, and frankly, I don’t know if I have any left. So here it is in a nutshell: It’s FUCKING PERFECT. Gah. Okay, fine, it’s maybe a hair shy of perfect, but damn if it isn’t the most satisfying ending I’ve seen in a long time. It solidifies the assumption that I started this drama with—that the best thing about this show would always be the writing, which elevates everything else, and brings all our characters full circle.

FINAL EPISODE RECAP

Yi-kyung asks if Ji-hyun really remembers her, and Kang, from her 49 days. She says she does, but then adds, “I’m going to die soon.” What the?

Lest we think it’s her assumption because her memories are intact, we flashback to earlier in the hospital, when the Scheduler appeared in front of Ji-hyun. She recognizes him and asks why he’s here, why she can see him, if she’s not dead…

As soon as the words come out of her mouth, it dawns on her that something is wrong. Why does she remember her 49 days? Why is he appearing to her?

And in his trademark blunt but sympathetic way, the Scheduler says, “This is your last cruel gift. You can refuse it if you like.” She asks, trembling, if this means she’s going to die.

He says that he received his last schedule for his remaining time, and the last person on that list… is her. Ooof. I knew his last schedule would come back to bite us in the ass, but this is too cruel.

He tells her that she is to die six days from now, and that this date of her death was determined as she was born. He says that because she experienced the 49 days and even earned her three tears, only to be met with this, the powers that be have given her the gift to remember her time on the other side, if she chooses.

It’s crushing to watch this, because it’s clearly even upsetting the Scheduler, to have to deliver such news. But he gets through it, and tells her that she can choose not to remember, in which case six days hence, he’ll appear to her as if for the first time ever.

He tells her to go ahead and get angry. She shouts through tears, “Get angry at whom?! No matter how unfair it is, no matter how much it tears up my insides, I know it won’t change a thing. No matter how much I beg.” Heartbreak.

He puts a hand on her shoulder as she cries, and tells her that it’s one thing human hands cannot control—life and death. Still, for the love of all that is hopeful, I can’t believe she went through all that just to die again. I mean, I know she’ll die eventually, but SIX frackin’ days? Show, I know you love your circular narratives, but this is just mean.

Back in the present, Yi-kyung asks who would deliver such cruel news to her, asking defensively for Ji-hyun, not realizing that Yi-soo’s been her afterlife guide all this time. Ji-hyun just says that such beings exist.

Yi-kyung says what we’re all feeling, that it’s so unfair for her to have go through all of that, just to end up having to die all over again. But Ji-hyun shows just how much she’s matured over her 49 days, and the new perspective that’s come with being on the other side:

Ji-hyun: If I hadn’t gone on my 49 days’ journey, my father’s company would be in Kang Min-ho’s hands, and I wouldn’t be in my right mind from the trauma of being betrayed by my fiancé and friend. It’s possible that my fate was to commit suicide from that shock. But because of my 49 days, I was able to receive love from someone like Kang-ie. I was able to love. I was able to guard my father’s company. And I was able to look back on the life I had lived. I’m grateful actually, because if I hadn’t known anything and died, I would’ve lived a fake life until death.

Yi-kyung asks why she’s pretending not to remember then. She says that she wants to show the people in her life that she lived happily, as the immature, naïve, sweet Ji-hyun. Aw. But then when she saw Yi-kyung, she couldn’t hide it from her.

She clasps her unni’s hands, and it’s so sweet how happy they are to see each other, and sit next to each other in their own bodies. That sounds weird out of context, but you know what I mean.

Yi-kyung reminds her that her family might not know anything, but Kang remembers all of the 49 days, and he asked her to tell him how she feels, and not to leave without a goodbye. Ji-hyun thinks it’s no use giving him more heartache, if she’s destined to die. She’s leaving; he’s staying, and knowing isn’t going to change that. In fact, it’ll make things harder.

Ji-hyun adds that she’s learned one thing from watching Yi-kyung, and it’s that the living need to go on living. She wants to leave as Kang’s friend, so that he can live his life once she’s gone. Oh man, I’m already welling up just thinking about how sad this is going to be.

Kang goes to see Min-ho in prison, and though he does admit to being satisfied that he blocked the Haemido takeover, he asks Min-ho to serve his time and repent, and someday return to the hyung that he once respected and liked.

Ji-hyun goes home and eats with her parents, putting on a cheery smile for them, but holding back tears. Watching them be so happy that she woke up is just making it even sadder, knowing that they’re going to suffer all over again.

See, this is the stuff that totally gets to me. It was the same with Yi-kyung / Yi-soo. Their happy moments put my heart through the wringer more than anything, because of the bittersweet end that I knew was coming. It’s the happiness before the fall. When she starts doing this with Kang, I’m gonna be a wreck.

Ji-hyun shows up the next morning to Yi-kyung’s house holding a picnic basket. On her way down those familiar stairs on her street, Ji-hyun takes a moment to put her hand on the rail as she walks down, as if she had been dying to put her hands out and feel the world that she couldn’t for so long.

Yi-kyung helps her make a kimbap lunch, and Ji-hyun takes her basket to see Kang. She tells him that she’s never once been on a picnic with a boyfriend, and asks to borrow his car, his mp3 player, and he asks what else she wants to borrow. Ji-hyun: “You.”

Aw. Proper swoon. He does a double take, but agrees to play her boyfriend for a day, as long as she agrees to play his girlfriend tomorrow. Hehe. It’s just like their I-know-you-know game from before. Except, I guess, Kang doesn’t actually know this time.

They have a picnic, being adorable together and play-fighting like little kids. While they’re fighting over who looks best in their pictures, Ji-hyun’s bracelet falls out of his pocket, and she pretends to be surprised, asking if he’s had it all this time.

Then she tells him that it’s actually his mother’s, and that they were close once. We flashback to her high school days, when she’d go see Kang’s mom from time to time, and eat food and chitchat with her about Kang.

Ji-hyun asked why Kang was so mean to Mom, and she had told her that it’s because there are things she didn’t tell him. Because when you love someone so much, sometimes it’s better to just have him misunderstand, so that you can spare him pain. They’re the same words that Ji-hyun had repeated to Kang, the day she had quit Heaven before her first tear.

As they walk along in the present, Kang realizes that back then, Ji-hyun had given his mother’s words back to him. He adds, quoting 49-days-Ji-hyun, that hiding your feelings is a lot harder than not knowing (as in, the person sparing the other’s pain has the harder time of it).

That stops her in her tracks, not only because they were her words, but because it’s true of her, right now.

He takes her to a wishing statue, and tells her to toss a coin and make a wish. She gives it a toss and then closes her eyes to make her wish, and Kang turns to her, his eyes giving away more sadness than he ought to be feeling…

…Which is when we flashback to yesterday, when Yi-kyung had come to see him. She tells him the truth, and that she wasn’t supposed to say anything, but she can’t stand watching Ji-hyun go through this alone.

She tells him that she understands Ji-hyun’s wishes, to go smiling rather than crying, and to give the people she loves less pain. AHA! So it totally IS their I-know-you-know-but-you-don’t-know game!

Kang finally looks up at her, tears brimming in his eyes. “The thing I hoped for the most was for Ji-hyun to live. Isn’t there something like that? It’s okay if I never get to see her again—she just has to live!”

Nooooo! Aaaaand, here start the tears. Oh god, I can’t handle this. I can pretty much take anyone else turning into a wreck, but Kang-ah? Waaaaaaaaah.

Back in the present, Kang closes his eyes and makes a wish: “That Ji-hyun lives and stays by my side.” And Ji-hyun makes her wish: “That Kang forgets me.” God, that’s just… so… heartbreakingly perfect. Gah.

They smile at each other adorably. After he drops her off, Kang says to himself that he did the right thing, over and over again. Aw, stiff-upper-lippy Kang is so cute. And so sad.

Back at the hospital, Ji-hyun sweetly tells each of her parents that she’s so happy to have been born as their child, and hugs them. They laugh and smile together, and then… she gets a sharp pain in her stomach, and doubles over, falling to the ground.

Dad calls out but her eyes start to close. Her soul gets up, while her body lies there, and then the Scheduler appears, all dressed up, and puts out his hand. No! Already?

She looks up at him and asks if he’s been waiting all this time. She tells him that they should go, and he stands her up. She looks back, and there’s Dad, holding her lifeless body, crying, trying to wake her up.

The Scheduler walks her to the elevator. Without a word, he puts out his hand for their final goodbye. She takes it and looks up at him, smiling in gratitude. He tells her that she worked hard, and with a wave of his hand, he opens the door.

She steps inside and looks out at him with a smile, and he smiles back at her. As the doors slowly close, they betray tears at their final parting.

The doors close, and then the elevator disappears, leaving the Scheduler alone.

Mom and Dad weep over Ji-hyun’s body, now covered with a white sheet. Kang comes running in, and cries.

In Jinan, In-jung gets a phone call, and collapses in tears. So does Min-ho, only now showing true regret as he cries.

They hold the funeral, and bury her ashes by planting a tree in her name. Oh, I love that. It’s so beautiful, and simple, and marks her death with new life.

In-jung watches everything from afar, crying but unable to go near, knowing all the wrong she’s done. Min-ho weeps in his jail cell, finally repenting for the person he’s become. Kang, Yi-kyung, and Seo-woo send her with full hearts and tears.

Back at home, Mom and Dad walk into Ji-hyun’s room, and are shocked to see it stripped of all her belongings, as if she had known she was dying, and prepared for it. That’s when Dad asks what Ji-hyun had whispered in Mom’s ear that last day at the hospital, and they realize that Ji-hyun just woke up for a short time, to say goodbye.

The Mom and Dad part is where I really start to lose it. I need a tissue break.

Kang lies around in his office, hearing Ji-hyun call out his name and jumping up to find no one there. He then remembers that she’d entrusted a box of stuff to him, and opens it up. He finds a letter addressed to him:

Ji-hyun: This is Song Yi-kyung. Please return these things to me… they’re important. I’m someone who needs a friend. It would be nice if someone like Han Kang would be a friend to someone like me, who has no one to lean on. Like he was to Shin Ji-hyun…

Oh my god. She’s sending him to her. It’s breaking my heart. It’s perfectly perfect, and yet… crushingly crushing. It’s her last gesture, to send him to her, to fulfill her wish that he live go on living his life. I didn’t even know I HAD this many tears.

He returns the box to Yi-kyung, whose eyes open wide when she sees a key inside, which had been Yi-soo’s locker key, in his music studio. They go to the abandoned studio and she opens up his locker.

Inside, she finds a stack of his old music notebooks, and in the back, she notices something familiar. It’s a little child’s backpack, and she tells Kang that it was hers, from when she was first abandoned at the orphanage. They were supposed to have gotten rid of those things, but Yi-soo must’ve kept it all this time.

She looks inside and finds her little pink shoe, and then a bank book. We flashback to the day they had run into Ji-hyun and Kang and gotten the pink rose, when Yi-soo took her to the bank later that day.

He asks for her student ID card, lying that he doesn’t have his on him, and that he needs it for something. While she waits, he opens an account in her name.

The even cuter part is that every time he makes a new deposit, he adds a line in the description, and over time the whole thing reads like a letter, or rather more like song lyrics, line by line, with each deposit. It’s maybe the sweetest thing ever.

She reads it now, in the present, with tears:

Yi-soo: Yi-kyung-ah, it’s Yi-soo
The thing I promised
The February Pension
To give it to you
I made an account
In the future little by little
Our dream
Will be built
Even if we encounter hardship
If we are together
We can conquer it
This is a secret, but
Truthfully, Song Yi-kyung is
Song Yi-soo’s guardian
Because you’ve given
Me a reason to live
In all the world
Someone who needs me
You are the only one

She clutches it to her heart and cries, and we see that Yi-soo is there watching her, crying too.

Kang goes to visit Ji-hyun’s parents, and finds them arguing over old photos, as Mom clutches to her memories and Dad argues that she has to move on. Dad leaves the room in a huff, and Kang sits down next to Mom. He picks up one of the photos, but doesn’t recognize it as Ji-hyun. He asks who it is.

Mom: “It’s Ji-hyun’s unni, Ji-min.”

DUN DUN. Man, I knew they hinted at this possible thread and left the door open, but I actually didn’t think that they’d go there. I… honestly don’t love this story thread, only because there was plenty of connection and resolution without this. It seems unnecessary to me. Anyway, here we go…

Mom tells him that Ji-hyun had an unni, and that she’d lost her one day at the bus station. A lady had kidnapped her, and called to ask for ransom twice, but each time they went, no one was there. Finally the calls stopped coming. Ji-hyun was traumatized at first, but was too young to remember it as she grew up.

Kang looks at the picture of Ji-min and immediately recognizes the little girl’s shoes (not just randomly, but because Mom’s story included the bit about the girls wanting the same shoes). They’re exactly the ones Yi-kyung took out of her backpack, from Yi-soo’s locker.

They go to see Yi-kyung, and Mom asks to see the shoes. Yi-kyung denies that it could be her. She firmly remembers being abandoned by her mother. But Mom asks just to see. She adds that Ji-min liked stars, so that’s how she had differentiated the girls’ shoes.

Yi-kyung cautiously hands her the backpack, and Mom’s eyes immediately well up at the sight of it. She instantly recognizes the star Ji-min drew on it, and then takes out the shoe. She looks up at Yi-kyung and cries, “You were alive. Our Ji-min-ie was alive.”

Aw, despite the fact that I dislike how quickly this thread is being wrapped up and forced on us, it’s still tear-inducing. We see that Yi-soo is there, watching the scene unfold, and it shocks him. This is a twist he was not expecting.

But then this leaves a big gaping hole in the plot… Flashback to the Scheduler, explaining that the three tears exclude blood relations. Then on Ji-hyun’s final walk to the elevator, she asks him who her final two tears were from.

She guesses Seo-woo and Yi-kyung, but he tells her that Yi-kyung wasn’t one of them. Then flash back? Forward? Gah, who the hell knows anymore – to In-jung when she had come to try and kill Ji-hyun.

She reaches her hand toward Ji-hyun’s respirator, and in spirit form, Ji-hyun screams for In-jung to stop. I don’t know if she hears it, but something makes her stop and turn around, and she’s met with her own reflection in the glass behind her.

It’s enough to knock her back to her senses, and she cries, as she says, “What am I doing? What am I doing to you?” We see that this is when she began to regret what she had become. She confesses that this wasn’t because of Ji-hyun, but herself, and then she gets on her knees, and says that she was wrong.

She gets up to touch Ji-hyun’s face, and that’s when Kang had found her, thinking the worst. She tries to get Min-ho to stop, calling him out on his own feelings for Ji-hyun, and the fact that he pushed everything back when Ji-hyun’s dad needed surgery.

She knows that he can’t admit it, but he’s grown attached to them, and feels sorry. But he refuses to acknowledge it, and says he can’t stop it now. He’ll drag it out till the end. So In-jung goes to his mother, and asks for the file that he entrusted to her.

At first she refuses to give it up, but In-jung pleads with her that Min-ho is becoming worse than his own father. And to save him from himself, she sends the file to the prosecutor.

Outside the hospital, In-jung says to Ji-hyun that she wishes she could turn back the clock, to when they would just look at each other and laugh. And she sheds a tear. It was Ji-hyun’s third and final one, that brought her back.

Back to Ji-hyun pre-elevator-ride, the Scheduler tells her that her final tear was from In-jung. Ji-hyun looks surprised, but then instantly she lights up with a smile. “That girl. I knew it was sincere.” Wow, even after everything she’s seen, she’s so genuinely happy and trusting, that her friend really loved her. It’s amazingly pure of heart and completely without bitterness.

She turns to start her walk to the elevator, satisfied. The Scheduler looks on with a smile, and then follows her down the hall.

Alone, Yi-kyung clutches her backpack and cries, calling out Ji-hyun’s name, regretting all the things she wasn’t able to do for her, not knowing that they were sisters. Yi-soo watches her, and then realizes now the full weight of his sunbae’s words.

Flash-(listen, if you think I’m gonna keep this timetable straight, you’re sorely mistaken) to when granny sunbae told the Scheduler that he could meet Yi-kyung. She asks if his wish is still the same, to give her the rings and tell her that he loves her.

He scoffs that she assumes he’s still a child, and she laughs, kind of impressed that he’s not just a lovesick puppy anymore. And then he catches on, realizing that she gave him his memory back early on purpose, so that he’d change his wish and not waste it on something that doesn’t help the living.

She calls him smart for catching on, and then he surmises that she also broke the barrier between Yi-kyung and Ji-hyun for a reason. She doesn’t divulge what it is, but does muse that they might be connected well into the next life as well.

Then in the present, Yi-soo turns to Yi-kyung, to say his final goodbye. Gah, I HAVE GIVEN YOU TOO MANY TEARS. Stop taking more!

Yi-soo: Now I can leave with my heart at ease. Live happily, for Ji-hyun’s life too.

He reaches out to touch her face, but knows that he can’t anymore. He draws back and looks at her one last time. He smiles, and as a tear falls, he disappears.

He takes his final walk through the garden, dressed in his reaper finest, and vanishes, having completed his work.

In the coming days, Yi-kyung begins to finally live her life, eating rice instead of ramen, and looking for a new job.

Han Kang goes to… Han Kang (the river) and says his final goodbye to Ji-hyun:

Kang: Ji-hyun-ah, now I understand why you wanted to leave without a word. Though you were lonely, you’ve allowed those of us you’ve left behind to be encouraged by you. I’ll trust your words, that your 49 days were a blessing. Because they’ve returned many things to their rightful place. Be happy somewhere, Ji-hyun-ah.

Two years later.

In-jung is in Jinan, and she flashes back (wait, did we just flash forward in order to flash back? Is this drama trying to kill ME on its way out?) to when the girls were in high school.

She smiles as she thinks of Ji-hyun, and then goes to see Min-ho in prison. It’s been two years since they’ve seen each other, and she tells him that she’s moved his mother down to a hospital in Jinan.

He tells her to stop coming here, and to forget him and go her way. She tells him that she’ll continue to take care of his mother for three more years—the rest of his time in jail. She says it’s her fault that all this happened, but he makes it clear that he was the one who made the decisions and acted. She tells him that she’s living her life, and that he’ll see—someday he’ll be able to forgive himself too. He finally says that he’s sorry.

Kang is… wait, is he… WORKING? Oh my god, the man DOES have a job! It’s a miracle! He oversees a construction site for a building he’s designed.

Yi-kyung is working at Heaven, though today is her last day. Manager Oh and his wife have a baby on the way, and Seo-woo is happily dating Ki-joon.

In comes Dr. Noh. NOOOOOO! Not the doctor! No Dr. Noh!

But then, here comes Kang-ah. Oh, thank god. KANG-AAAAAAAH!

Phew. Seriously, I nearly had a fit at the reappearance of Dr. Creepy. Thankfully they hint at his being paired off to her waitress friend.

Yi-kyung confirms her plans with Kang for tomorrow, and heads to dinner with her parents. She’s heading to Haemido to work at the new resort, which is of course what Kang is designing and building.

Though the whole losing a daughter / finding a daughter thing isn’t my favorite, it IS really satisfying to see Yi-kyung with a family, and not off on her own anymore. Mom and Dad are as cute as ever, now doting on Yi-kyung, as they talk about Ji-hyun fondly. Aw.

On their last day before going down to Haemido, Yi-kyung and Kang go to pay their respects to Ji-hyun and Yi-soo, whom they’ve buried side by side with identical trees. Aw, it’s kind of killing me how poetic it is, to bury them next to each other, as they were each other’s friend and guide in the afterlife.

Kang and Yi-kyung put a bouquet of pink roses by each tree, and stand next to each other, the two in this life mirroring the two in the afterlife. In voiceover, we hear their thoughts:

Yi-kyung: Ji-hyun-ah, Han Kang is busy working, and as you requested, he’s been a really good friend to me. Because of your bright personality and your connection to others while you were with me, I was able to adjust well.
Kang: Ji-hyun-ah, though people know they’re going to die, they live as if they aren’t. Because of your 49 days, I’m living my life as if it’s 49 days. Because I saw things change that never would have happened, if you hadn’t known when you’d die. Here lie the two most important people in our lives.
Yi-kyung: Here are the two people who changed our lives and left beautifully.
Kang: Because of the 49 days’ journey that we were on with these two
Yi-kyung: We live today as if it’s precious, and our last.
Kang: Ji-hyun, because I met you
Yi-kyung: Yi-soo, because I met you
Kang: I was happy.
Yi-kyung: I was happy.

THE END

GIRLFRIDAY’S COMMENTS

Wow, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so satisfied with a drama ending as I am with this one. Maybe Return of Iljimae, which also has this circular, contemplative tone and structure. I was fidgety about the sister thing (still am, only because it’s unnecessary, not because it doesn’t fit) but I see why it’s part and parcel of the whole resolution. I still contend that there is enough mirroring in Yi-kyung living for Ji-hyun that their blood relation isn’t needed, but I will yield that it’s very satisfying to see Yi-kyung with a family. That alone is worth the deus ex machina plot twisting that had to occur in the last episode, when all I really wanted was the death and epilogue. Thankfully, most of the episode was just that, so I got what I wanted, full-throttle.

Truthfully, until the end of Episode 19, I wasn’t expecting Ji-hyun to die. It was something I was expecting earlier on, but then the drama did a number on me, focusing all our expectations towards what would happen when she woke up, by bringing her back so early. I was so engaged with how Kang would bring her memory back that it hit me like a ton of bricks when her death watch was reset.

And though I wasn’t anticipating it, this is exactly the ending I wanted, and even better than the one I was expecting. I thought we’d get this ending for Yi-kyung, while Kang and Ji-hyun went on to be happy in this life. But the parallel send-off actually makes Ji-hyun and Yi-soo’s lives much more poignant, in what they each leave behind in their deaths. It also fits the parallel life / afterlife mirroring better.

Throughout this drama, we’ve had the motif of mirrors and circles, both as a visual motif and figuratively as a theme, in characters facing each other across the divide and living parallel lives. It’s a theme that is rendered so poignantly, because it’s a simple one: that life is circular; that life ends in death, but death brings new life; that the way you live this life affects the life you live after it.

Yi-kyung begins the story wanting death, and ends choosing life. Ji-hyun got to live the happy, secure existence that Yi-kyung so cruelly had stripped from her; and then it gets returned to her, in Ji-hyun’s death. Yi-soo guides Ji-hyun as her friend in the afterlife, and Kang guides Yi-kyung as her friend in this life. Yi-kyung’s struggle to hold onto Yi-soo’s memory is what informs Ji-hyun to leave Kang without that tether, and her choice to do so is what helps Yi-kyung move on from her pain.

In the end, Ji-hyun makes it so that Yi-kyung can live, while at the same time, Yi-kyung helps Ji-hyun to move on in the afterlife without regret or remorse. It’s the idea that regardless of the moniker “life” or “death,” that each is a road and a journey, and that you can’t go from one to the other without letting go.

There must be death to make new life, and it’s the same in love. You let go of your last love, in order to love again. The last scene sets up Kang and Yi-kyung not necessarily to be lovers, but in the position to be able to love again, which is what’s important, and what Ji-hyun and Yi-soo made possible in the way they left the ones they loved.

JAVABEANS’ COMMENTS

Hm, Imma have to deviate and express some dissatisfaction. I’m of two minds of the finale. I admit to not having expected that the drama would actually go as far as to let Ji-hyun die, not because it didn’t make narrative sense — it did, as girlfriday points out — but because it wasn’t the way the show was positioning itself. The dramatic trajectory didn’t suggest it, even if the seeds were planted (a little clumsily in some cases) well in advance. Examples: Ji-hyun’s mother crying in an early episode about how she can’t lose “my one remaining child” or the hint that the Scheduler’s last assignment was a shock to him.

I do think there’s a difference between dropping a few hints and paying off a storyline satisfactorily. The drama did the former; I don’t think it did the latter. Introducing, and then completely resolving, the mystery of Yi-kyung’s birth in the finale feels like cheating, frankly. Being mysterious successfully requires more than sheer withholding of crucial information.

For instance, In-jung being the third tear is an example of a successfully paid off storyline — because it was properly set up. We saw plenty of hints that In-jung still loved Ji-hyun, that she felt remorse, and that she could be the tear, so the twist works. Not so much the birth secret. Yi-kyung happens to get her old locker contents back, happens to find Yi-soo’s old stuff, happens to discover that he kept her childhood belongings, and Kang happens to be there so he can days later recognize that backpack in old photos at the Shin household? Yeah, I’m calling that one out, drama. What this show has done pretty well so far is keeping coincidence OUT of the equation, so to provide such a huge puzzle piece through a whole series of them is kinda lazy.

In a lot of cases, I think I’d be taking girlfriday’s line and expressing satisfaction for the symbolic, metaphoric, narrative completeness of this kind of ending. Heck, I’m someone who felt perfectly satisfied by the infamous Hong Gil Dong ending, and appreciated that the writers went for a meaningful wrap-up on a deeper level. It’s just that this kind of ending wasn’t paced properly into the story — not like the Yi-kyung/Yi-soo storyline, which I think was beautifully done. I’m now recalling the pitch-perfect ending of Flowers For My Life, which accomplished what I think 49 Days was aiming for, but in a more skillful, emotionally satisfying way.

Furthermore, I do think that effect is as important as intent, and if a large portion of your (hitherto avid) viewership has to convince itself that the ending works, then it doesn’t wholly work, does it? And I don’t mean we need to bow to fanservice, because cheap fanservice that gives us the easy resolution independent of story logic is, well, cheap. 49 Days never positioned itself as a comedy, or a light-hearted drama, so I don’t think you can accuse it of hoodwinking the audience with a slightly bittersweet ending. But I don’t blame some people for feeling bait-n-switched, because you can’t spend 19 episodes hyping up one soul’s struggle to survive, and then…just…NOT.

Having written all that, maybe I’m not so two-minded about the finale after all. I’m not bitter or upset, because I agree with all that girlfriday points out so incisively above. This is a case where I’m bumping on execution, despite being happy with the dramatic intent. On a gut level, it just didn’t hit that spot for me. I leave feeling dissatisfied, and as we know, with dramas, often the heartspeak is stronger than the headspeak.

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201 cHeL~

May 20, 2011 at 7:21 AM

superb writing,.. just like prosecutor princess, very minimal flaws, one of which is the "yi kyung and ji hyun being sisters". just like what gf said, its not actually necessary, the story would end fine w/out that twist.
but generally,.. it was a great drama,.. one of the best.,,

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202 soojin08

May 20, 2011 at 7:39 AM

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~

LITTLE JIHYUN IS YOOCHUN'S DAUGHTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ♥♥♥♥♥♥

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203 Inkee

May 20, 2011 at 7:54 AM

Up until episode 18 this was and still is one of my favorite drama's. And then the ending happened. I really feel cheated and stabbed in the back! I know it's not a comedy, but that doesn't mean they have to make no one happy, 2 couples and they both have to separate. Come on!?
I haven't actually seen the last two episodes yet, but I will watch them once and then I am going to pretend they never happened.
A drama is not real life, if they can have a magically 49 days, they can also let someone magically live after she succesfully finished her 49 days.
I really don't see the point, it's not in the least satisfying even though I can understand what they were going for. But in that case they shouldn't have let us believe it was going to end at least partially well.

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LadyPennyLane

May 20, 2011 at 9:46 AM

I totally agree with you!
How could they break up 2 couples? They could have let one couple have a happy ending!!

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204 Rina

May 20, 2011 at 8:01 AM

Thank you so much Girlfriday and JB for recapping this series.

Man...I haven't watched the episode yet, but reading the recap alone made me share tears.
I was hoping that maybe Ji-hyun misunderstood because she still had her memories. But I guess the way she explains it makes some sense, despite me feeling that making her live for 6 more days was a bit cruel after gaining so much during the "49 Days". Her parting and leaving Kang was just as bittersweet as Yi-kyung/Yi-soo.
I like how the relationship between Yi-kyung and Kang appears to be a close friendship, united by their love for Ji-hyun. They didn't try to pressure them into being a couple or having them set as married. At least the Scheduler sunbae gives me a little hope for Yi-kyung/Yi-soo saying that they might be connected in the next life. I absolutely love that up to the last moment as Scheduler he was watching over Yi-kyung.
I also love that In-jung and Min-ho were able to realize how far they've gone in their scheme and face the consequences for their actions. In-jung feels guilt and remorse for what she did to Ji-hyun and Min-ho is able to realize what Kang was telling him, that he had become what he hated the most, his father and was truly sorry for what he did to Ji-hyun and her family.

What I didn't like was the whole discovery that Yi-kyung was really Ji-hyun's sister. There were hints I picked up early on, but I dismissed it since nothing was done about it, thought it was just a coincidence. But to find out that she was kidnapped, and the kidnapper contacted the family twice for ransom, just to later abandon Yi-kyung at the subway didn't make sense. I thought it was unnecessary at this point in the drama. I agree with JB & GF, that it was nice to see YK surrounded by family and feel loved, I just didn't seem right in this way.

I'm going to really miss this drama (maybe not so much all the crying I was doing bc of it).

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205 amatsu

May 20, 2011 at 8:03 AM

Thank you javabeans and girlfriday for all the recaps (and more!). This was such a great drama. :D

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206 PringesV

May 20, 2011 at 9:01 AM

I am so disappointed! The ending really sucks! Really, she does not even have to die! Gosh! After the long 49 day journey, she still has to die. Seriously? Man! She could of pretended to not remember and test Kang's love or something. But oh well, it's all over now :)

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207 Sidney

May 20, 2011 at 9:02 AM

nooooooooooooooo! Not another Hong Gil Dong ending!!! I'm sooooo crushed!!

Thank you javabeans and girlfriday for your wonderful recaps!

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208 mariolawpanda

May 20, 2011 at 9:04 AM

I loved it. Listing this as one of my favorites now!

Am I the only one who thought that InJung's flashback where she fed JiHyun and SeoWoo was just so perfectly sweet and satisfying as a final proof of their friendship. Its just too sweet.

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209 Jess

May 20, 2011 at 9:09 AM

Although the ending is a sad one, I still like the ending. Erm... can I ask, is there a kiss in this whole drama?

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fmv

May 20, 2011 at 10:25 PM

the scheduler/yi kyung kiss.

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houka

May 21, 2011 at 2:03 AM

Yeah & I really loved that KISS... LOL. They're both amazing actors. Loved the Yi Soo/ Yi Kyung love-line.

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210 49daysleft

May 20, 2011 at 9:56 AM

This was a great ending for a meaningful drama digging into the insight of how people perceive life in general.

The only flaw in the whole story was as mentioned by javabeans, why didn't they drop more hint on the possibility of Yi-Kyung being Ji-Hyun's Unnie? They should have left more trails for the viewers. It felt kinda squeezed in?

However the Yi-Soo/Yi-Kyung pairing was done perfectly. Even up till the last episode it didn't disappoint. Tear teasing us till the end, man those writers are evil i tell you.

Huge plaudits should be given to Lee Yo-Won, she has done a terrific job transitioning throughout the drama being Yi-Kyung and Ji-Hyun.

Well all good things must come to and end, to make way for greater things i suppose. Adios 49 days, thanks for the journey!

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houka

May 21, 2011 at 2:06 AM

Yes the transition was nicely & smoothly done, great actress!

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211 dunlop

May 20, 2011 at 10:27 AM

I think Jihyun dying was the best solution they had.

What is Jihyun did not die? Then she cannot remember the 49 days (unless they break that rule, in which case we would feel cheated). If she cannot remember the 49 days, it's not the same Jihyun in the frist 18 episodes. Also, they memory of the 49 days Jihyun would slowly fade away. Kang and Jihyun's relationship would NEVER be the same, and she would not even have one with Yikyung.

By letting Jihyun remember the 49 days, the writers had to give something else. I liked that the writers knew that they cannot make things up just because they are writers(except the the birth secret thing). They in an earlier episode that Jihyun would not remember. So for they must pay the price for letting her remember.

Also, her being back in the world of the living with her memories allowed her to say the proper goodbyes to let her loved ones live their lives and move on. She made such a bigger impact on their lives this way. And I do feel so sad for Jihyun, but I feel that everything turned out as best as it could.

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Fabmari

May 20, 2011 at 7:28 PM

I totally agree.

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beatrix

July 15, 2011 at 5:16 AM

that's what i thought too. if they let ji hyun live, that would mean they would have to start from scratch in terms of coming up with a new set of "circumstances" that would let her return to her previous life...only without having to marry kang min ho and dealing with their betrayal the second time around. it's like an added burden for the writer or something. her death also fit perfectly well with the theme of the story AND it was very unpredictable.

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212 cathy

May 20, 2011 at 10:35 AM

Excellent drama ending , life is impermanent , nobody living for ever , living with present , doing right thing , open your heart , forgive yourself and who ever giving you hard time .
Heaven or not that you create it not God .
very deep meaning drama ending , love it .

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213 grateful1

May 20, 2011 at 11:51 AM

*gives standing ovation*

What insightful and superbly-written comments by both GF and JB! Just.... WOW! Hope you both get a little sleep now that 49 Days is finally over.

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214 Venus Smurf

May 20, 2011 at 12:25 PM

I'M upset by the ending. In fact, while I can see why some consider it satisfying, I sort of hated it. I spent the entire show expecting her to find a way to live, and when she still doesn't in spite of everything, I sort of feel like I've been slapped in the face. I get the point of it. I get the meaning behind it. I even agree with it. I just still hate it.

This was an amazing drama, right until the last episode. It was too sad then. What's the point of struggling through life if we don't even get to be with our loved ones later? There might have been some hope that they'd be together after this life, or even in the next one, but Scheduler took even that away when he told Yi-Kyung that even if she killed herself, they'd still be separated. Why love at all? I know the point we're being sold is that Ji-hyun doesn't have regrets and that she's a better person for it, but what does that matter when she still had to leave Kang behind to mourn?

I really, really didn't like the ending. This would have been my favorite drama of all time if she hadn't died. Since she did, it just made me depressed. I'm waiting from now on until the dramas are complete and I know the main character won't die on me before I watch.

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215 Yume

May 20, 2011 at 12:48 PM

I really thought I cried all my tears while WATCHING this episode. But now...I am trying to read the recap and I am not even half through and I have to take a break, because there are even more tears swelling up in my eyes. Maybe I should drink something, so I can't dehydrate...*sob*

But I think it was just the perfect ending for a perfect drama. I mean, normally endings are just lame. But this one was so well thought out. Even though it was no traditionally happy ending, I think it was one of the best endings I ever watched.

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216 layla

May 20, 2011 at 12:53 PM

i love this drama ... its the best drama ever .... man ... i cried a lot .... i really wish that the sisters stayed togther... its the most sad drama ever ...usually i hate sad dramas but this drama really touched me ... i wont forget this story ever .... such a very good job ... i will always remember it... i wish the best for the actrors too ... they really did a god job ... i like them all.... specially Jung Il Woo ... i love you... you are the best ....

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217 crazyblacklab

May 20, 2011 at 1:06 PM

the ending was PURRFECTT... EXCEPT for the convenient discovery of family ties.. there it felt like the shallow emotional manipulation of an old second rate cinema (siblings/children lost at birth/childhood only to reunite or be rediscovered due to the unique locket they've conveniently managed to not lose and keep around their necks an odd 20 yrs or so.. it was a very recurrent plot device in old bollywood & very convenient for parents who did not have to bother with raising the child but had him/her neatly rediscovered all packaged for love & grown up usefulness.. but I digress)

I get the whole wheels within wheels motif of the afterlife and the idea that everything happens for a reason- hence hinting that the reason ji hun was fated to meet & resonate with yi kyung or even the reason their ghost-host relationship was perfect enough to break the supernatural barrier was because of this surprising revelation.. but still its all too sudden & convenient (especially its coincidental discovery- as JB pointed out) & it jars in an otherwise tightly knit plot..

agh wot the heck I loved it anyways way to keep the surprises going till the end & I didnt think ji hyun's death took away from the ending if anything it added more meaning to the overall theme of the drama & made the ending with mirrored farewell by the two surviving halves more poignant. Well Done drama I'm proud of you :]

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218 everlastingsong

May 20, 2011 at 1:21 PM

I have to agree with javabeans. I understand the whole parallelism and everything, but I'm really not a fan of the ending. I know life doesn't always turn out ideally, but :(

Also, I really didn't like the story about Yi Kyung being Ji Hyun's long-lost sister. I think it would have been more poignant if Ji Hyun's parents had unofficially adopted her into the family because they'd all lost the same beloved person.

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219 e1203am

May 20, 2011 at 2:44 PM

I never knew I could cry so much given two episodes (I waited to watch episode 19 and 20 together).

Amazing.

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220 Phyllis

May 20, 2011 at 3:53 PM

When Yi-Kyung cried while Ji-hyun was singing to her parents for their anniversary should have brought the second tear, but it did not. This is a clue to their relationship.
The ox bone soup that made Yi-kyung vomit was a clue, since we knew the mother was also allergic to it.

It is kind of strange that the parents had a photo album with the two girls but Ji-hyun was unaware of her lost sister?

I always felt and wrote about (weeks ago) that Yi-kyung and Han Kang are the most compelling characters in the drama. He sort of fell for Yi-kyung before he knew it was Ji-hyun. Part of that was, of course, the similarities and quirks she had. He is totally comfortable with hugging her body! And I think Yi-kyung may have some ulterior motives for letting Ji-hyun hug Kang in Episode 17. I am sure she feels his steadfast love and warm heart.

I FEEL there is more than speculation that Kang and Yi-kyung will be together. The whole story revolves around them and their lost opportunities.

I have to mention again the episode where Yi-soo is surprised that he loved a woman he believed was not his type, and Kang told Ji-hyun's Dad that Ji-hyun was not his type. There is a clue there. Also, Yi-kyung is skilled in restaurant work. Perfect for Kang.

Anyway, I am satisfied with the ending. I am comforted that the parents have a daughter. Not everything is found out at the LAST EPISODE like many dramas. The writers did an amazing job of keeping things interesting, kept new information coming, and allowed characters to find out things sooner than usual. THANK YOU!!! The heart beat is alive the whole way through with no asystole or dysrhythmias.

Thank you girls/women for your insightful, funny, wonderfully written, and detailed recaps!!!

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ar_arguably romantic

May 20, 2011 at 6:30 PM

I think the photo album was a secret album. I think the father wanted all of YK's pics thrown away - i guess to erase the hurt of having lost a child (guess some people deal with grief that way), but the mom held on.

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221 Mz Miko

May 20, 2011 at 3:55 PM

My head hurts from crying so much, and the flashback, flash forward, flashback, flash forward, flashback, flash forward. But it was awesome, I'm satisfied.

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222 Thatgirl

May 20, 2011 at 4:15 PM

I swear! I already know! 49days is sooo going to win Drama of the year!!!!! I can feel it.

...... Ok, I don't understand why Yikyung's tears didn't count..... Related or not, she didn't know about it. So the crying because of blood relations wouldn't have applied.

It was a sweet ending, I liked it. But it kinda didn't really do much for me. Though most of the things I wanted to happen did. I found myself kinda confused watching this episode. This episode, unlike other dramas, heck, unlike other episodes in this drama, didn't leave me wanting to rewatch it..... So, even though I'm confused, I don't think I'll be rewatching this episode. I agree with Javabeans, the whole long lost sibling thing really wasn't necessary.

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Thatgirl

May 20, 2011 at 4:18 PM

So long 49days! Now on to City Hunter!!!!! Please Don't Suck, I've been waiting too long for Lee Min Ho.

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223 oh moe ni

May 20, 2011 at 5:10 PM

to gf: please refrain from using profanity. I have teenage kids reading the recaps. Thank you.

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eca

May 21, 2011 at 11:23 PM

gotta be kidding right? if they have access to the net, there's a whole world of profanities abounding out there...can't protect kids nowadays from friends who do use them, tv, magazines, etc...

and besides, it's their blog...

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224 Kaity

May 20, 2011 at 5:17 PM

Just finished it...such a bittersweet ending.
I was absolutely NOT expecting Jihyun to die. The whole time after she died I was like....SHE'S GONNA BE REVIVED SOMEHOW. It didn't happen but yet, I feel it worked out for the better in the end. Really great ending, I'm gonna really miss 49 days :')

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225 moochi2000

May 20, 2011 at 5:31 PM

I haven't written anything for the previous episodes but seriously show, you deserve to be praised. I agree that the ending must have sucked for a lot of viewers because we didn't get a 'happy' ending. But I don't think the show was meant to be happy from the beginning. I'm very very impressed that they killed Ji Hyun because it's quite a daring move from the writer. I'm also extremely happy to know that it's the same writer as Brilliant Legacy and Prosecutor Princess (because I love both of these shows). I think I just feel a deep hole of emptiness because Kang tried so hard and got almost nothing in return. Yi Kyung got to meet with Scheduler again and was able to receive love from her family...but I guess Kang was only able to fall in love with Ji Hyun in the open.

I think it's okay that Ji Hyun didn't leave, she was never meant to...so if it wasn't for the 49 days, her life would have been more of a tragedy. IF anything, she should be grateful? Obviously it's fine to be sad about the ending, and it makes me think about life as well. Should we also live life like we only had 49 days? For the first time I felt sorry for In Jung...you could of love Ji Hyun, but you wasted that time to ruin her life. We should treasure what we have because who knows....not everyone gets a second chance to say goodbye.

Props to our reviewers here on dramabeans and everyone who shared this roller coaster ride. I want to be in love now =)

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226 Ayre

May 20, 2011 at 6:20 PM

I haven't been able to access Eng sub for episode 20, but the preview is emotionally great. My eyes are so sored but my heart is very satisfying with the ending.

What a twisted fate that YK is JH's unni. I love it.

I'm so happy, I think I have never watched a better, fictional story.

Thanks for all the translation, sharing and sparks you folks allow viewers like us to enjoy.

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Kiara

May 20, 2011 at 6:44 PM

Watch it here Ayre. Both eps 19 and 20 English sub and you dont need to dl it.

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Kiara

May 20, 2011 at 11:24 PM

http://www.kimchidramas.net/

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227 didibabez

May 20, 2011 at 6:52 PM

yeah I'm with you Javabean,,,the whole yikyung being the missin sister threw me a whole lot because well......there weren't relaly any hints of it....it did not flow at allll...and for kanga to figure it out sooo easy that yikyung was the missing child....it wasn't really needed...but this drama was well worth the long hours........i lost a lot of tears too....one of the best yet.

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228 ANN19

May 20, 2011 at 7:23 PM

Did not like the ending at all...why did she have to dieeeee.....I'm SO going to Korea to ask for a REMAKE!!!

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229 bobo

May 20, 2011 at 7:31 PM

one of the worst drama endings ever, after high kick through the roof--which was a sitcom, not some melo-drama. it seems like everything was thrown together at the last minute. yi-kyung is her sister? how come they never mentioned a sister until the very last episode? stupid. waste of 20 hours of my life that I will never get back.

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230 Greisys

May 20, 2011 at 7:48 PM

All I have to say is that I wasn't a fan of this drama at first I started watching it because I heard going things about it but everytime I would see an episode I wasn't excited about seeing the next one I don't know why......but I kept on because I kept getting the episode re caps in my mail and you gus made it seem like such a good drama I kept giving it a chance.....i have to say I'm glad I did, I'm the kind of person that wanted the happy ending but appreciates the one we got I have never cried so much in my life I've cried at dramas before but its just tears these were actually crying as if some one close to me someone I held dear was dying I don't think I've ever cried as much.....thank you again for guiding me on this journey thank you for not letting me give up on this drama.....please continue the good work

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231 missjb

May 20, 2011 at 8:22 PM

really, as much as I Love So Hyung Kyung as a writers, I have to admit, I really didn't like the ending. Just like JB the satisfaction factor isn't not there for me because it feels..... contrived???

Not that I hate sad ending, just because built up in the storyline it's not supposed to be like this. From ep 1 until ep 18, the flow of the story gives us hope, the story will end with happy ending. So when I understand the messages they want to deliver, the flow of the story feel absurb to accept the ending.
I kind of shock with the ending because in her previous works, the ending not only fits to the story, but also fits development

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232 Ellen

May 20, 2011 at 8:40 PM

Wow, I just finished watching that ep, and read your recap. And i felt the exact same way. Didn't like the sister part, but DAMN that was one hell of an ending. I usually hate bittersweet/sad endings where ppl dont stay together, but this one was way too fulfulling for me not to like. Officially one of my fav dramas ever .

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233 binzer

May 20, 2011 at 8:51 PM

Loved this drama, and though I technically like the ending (the message and the parallels all seem so poetic) I agree with JB that it doesn't quite feel right.

Besides all the deus ex machina stuff, I thought Ji Hyun's death was a bit sudden, which made the episode feel even less natural. After being given 6 days to live, the passage of time wasn't really made clear, and I thought she still had a couple days left (as a result, her date with Kang had less impact too, because I wasn't viewing it as their last time seeing each other). Also, isn't it kind of weird that it didn't show Ji Hyun and Kang part ways after the date?

I feel bad comparing such a great drama to BoF, but the feeling I'm left with is similar. In Boys Over Flowers, it always felt wrong to me that Ji Hoo didn't get the girl (and not in the typical "I love the 2nd lead" way). I found out later that the manga writer initially DID plan for his character to get the girl, and wrote most of the volumes with that intention. She then changed her mind as pure fan service.

Although the 49 Days ending doesn't feel like fan service, it does feel like the show's intent got change somewhere along the way. A beautiful ending isn't quite as touching because it's the like the last piece of a puzzle that looks it should fit, but doesn't quite.

All that being said, this is one of my favorite dramas in a long time. Massive props to Jung Il Woo, who is a fantastic crier (something I'm very picky about) and who has been very enjoyable to watch grow as an actor since his first episodes of Return of Iljimae.

Episode 19 was wonderful. I cried like a baby (I usually have a heart of stone) and that episode did feel right to me. I'm not a huge melodrama fan typically, but since Yi Soo started off dead, his journey was bittersweet to begin with and was as touching as I hoped it would be.

Thank you GF and JB for recapping this fantastic drama. A few weeks of your introductory recap blurbs made me break my personal rule of not watching shows that haven't finished airing (not to mention shows with ridiculous sounding premises).

I feel very emotionally drained. Thank goodness for the cheery May dramas that will hopefully recharge our batteries!

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234 Lang

May 20, 2011 at 8:55 PM

dam... another bucket of tears...

My dad walked in on me crying and asked if everything was ok?

Sad part?

He thought I was having a mental breakdown or something?

Why?

I'm a 27 year old guy... crying watching kdrama...

SIgh.....

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omo_omo

May 21, 2011 at 10:48 AM

haha..that must have been really weird, man. Your dad, must have been surprised.
But yeah, this drama I think can really make anyone cry TT_TT.

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chel

May 26, 2011 at 11:10 PM

youre so funny waaaa....

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235 rouby

May 20, 2011 at 9:16 PM

Oh,,,, its perfect sad ending.......(-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩__-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩)
i weird,, I love this ending. 49 days is one of the best korean drama I ever watch....
I m gonna miss this... I love all the cast :')

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236 LOL434

May 20, 2011 at 9:30 PM

Just finish watching this drama. I'm recovering from the sadness and happiness of this drama. It's in my best drama list ever :D.

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237 wrp

May 20, 2011 at 10:04 PM

i love this drama, and story. but... why ji hyun have to die? poor kang-ah :(
everytime i rewatching eps 19-20 iam still re-crying ahaha...
my head can accept that ending but not my heart :( :(

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238 fmv

May 20, 2011 at 10:34 PM

this is the first drama that has a sad ending but was most satisfying/perfect for me. i think how we like/dislike the ending depends on how we view life and death.

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chel

May 26, 2011 at 11:11 PM

so true...

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239 adelaide

May 21, 2011 at 12:05 AM

I agree 110% with javabeans' review. I'm not upset but I'm not completely satisfied either (count it as a marginal dissatisfaction). Why? The whole "oh, by the way, Yi kyung is actually Ji Hyun's sister" bit was a tad rushed and TOO coincidental. I know it's possible that production was pressed for time but if the whole sibling relation thing was developed a little more, I think "49 Days" would have been absolutely, positively, amazingly incredible! But as it stands now, "49 Days" is only absolutely, positively incredible. Regardless, I love this drama. Initially, I thought Ji Hyun was a tad irritating, in an absurdly cute way, but her 49 days morphed her into a wonderfully wiser and stronger character, giving her more depth and substance. She was beautiful. What I liked best was how she forgave In Jung in the end in her own way, which was really poignant because she forgave her before knowing that In Jung was one of the characters that cried pure tears. Honestly, her betrayal provided insight to how fragile human nature can be at times. Wow. Hope my friends aren't really back-stabbing, crazy biaoottches. Hmm. And may I also add that I LOVE Kang! OH MY GOSH! Officially, my favorite k-drama hero, without a doubt! Actually, no wait, I still love Min Jung Ho from Dae Jang Geum. Both men are wonderful characters so they are understandably tied for first. Yes! Anyway, I loved Kang for his tremendous insight and unwavering love for Ji Hyun. What a guy! Unfortunately, it is characters like Kang that compel me to hold unreasonable expectations for guys. Note to self: Do not expect future partner to be a good-looking, remarkable architect with a restaurant, a whole lotta love to give, sensitivity, humor, and character. BOO for my prevailing reality check. Anyways, yes this drama is among my top 10, and my list is no joke. Honestly, I only began watcing 49 days a few days ago because I was in a slump and I needed a 20 episode pick-me-up with chocolate on the side. FUDGE (no pun intended). Well I am happy that I gave this drama a shot..who knew it was be this sensational!

But I'm kinda sad that this is over now. What am I going to do until another beautifully written drama comes out? Study for MCATs mayhaps? will do, will do. Until next time...Addy

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adelaide

May 21, 2011 at 12:41 AM

oooh, I swore just a little! apologies to anyone who might take offense! And I read some of the comments (I didn't do so prior to posting my first comment because I'm the impatient sort..whoops) so I would just like to add that those of you who saw the hints pointing to Yi Kyung and Ji Hyun's blood relation make convincing claims. I see what some of you are trying to get at now. Yi Kyung was crying in the hospital while she listened to Ji Hyun sing to her parents, yet a tear never appeared in the necklace. By this point, we all understood that tears from any relation would not count. So I took Yi Kyung's tears as impure tears that had been shed. I knew she sympathized for Ji Hyun but I felt that she wasn't as connected to Ji Hyun as she was the night before the 49th day, thus rendering her incapable of actually crying pure tears at that stage . But when I saw the final two tears in episode 18, I assumed Yi Kyung's tears had to have been one of them after Ji Hyun meaningfully spoke to her the night before, which gave Yi Kyung a new perspective about appreciating life and loving Ji Hyun because Ji Hyun gave her so much love as well. However, I completely overlooked the ox bone thing with Ji Hyun's mother and how Yi Kyung didn't like it either. My poor memory is at fault...I think. hahaha, oh well. Nice catch then. So I guess the surprise bloodline shouldn't have been that surprising considering the hints the writers left for us.

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240 imagine8

May 21, 2011 at 12:41 AM

I ran out of tears. I was so dried up. I cried one last time but by the ending, I just had no more tears left.
Its awesome...when you just naturally start crying like that. stop. and then start over again.

I agree 100% with girlfriday. it was EFFING PERFECT.
everything they did was just.....soo right. I seriously can't believe they went against the predicted ending, & let Ji-Hyun die. I was like OMG this is actually happening in a 21st century drama. never happens. But its not like they let us down. I think they taught us/their viewers a really good lesson.
They taught, in the finale & throughout the entire drama, how and the importance of letting go, of living, of loving, of soo many things.
I think i actually LEARNED something meaningful that i'll carry with me for the rest of my life from watching this kdrama. It really moved me on so many levels.
On top of that, pacing & everythiing about this drama was just ABSOLUTELY perfect!!!. I love the YiSoo/YiKyung ending and story. Its jsut......its reality, its life. I'm glad they showed that we may not get the happy endings we want, but we have to move on and continue to be happy.
I'm sooo satisfied with this drama.
& im totally loving how the Shin family gets their new daughter back. i didn't think it was rushed. maybe a littleeee bit, but it was all good.

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241 Mustspeak

May 21, 2011 at 1:14 AM

I just finished this drama.

To be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what it was that drew me to this drama (I have been turned off k-drama for a long time, because... well, frankly, I usually find it an overdose of romance, and not enough... subtlety? for short dramas. --And then there is the protagonist I don't sympathize with for being a silent punchbag to unreasonable... anyway- enough of that) but I watched it and its ending was

...good. It was Good. Not happiness and bubbles, which I genuinely wanted for Ji Hyun and Kang after all (and that's saying something, since for some reason or another I usually don't care for the romance between the two main characters), and the end of episode 19 was something I did not freaking expect. At all. As Javabean said, it was something for them to just suddenly ... NOT give you that ending.

But it was Good. It Felt Good. When I saw Ji Hyun walking to the elevator, I halfly (not wholly? because I believed in the writing of this drama) thought it would be some lame “dream sequence” or something. But I held that thought back, so I wouldn’t be conned to feel relieved if it was a dream sequence, and I sort of was mortified that it wasn’t… and I cried when Ji Hyun just smiled in the elevator. And then it disappeared. It was real. I had to accept it, and see what was going to happen next, to the other characters. I had trust of the writing of this drama, but would it let me down on the last episode? Answer was No. Not a Loud “NO!” with laughter, but a gentle, resounding “No.” with a smile. (Did that make sense? Ai… oh well.)

I liked the circularity of the drama. I actually wasn't really expecting the sisters thing, and I wasn't sure how Yi Kyung was going to end up happy (although I wanted her to) but I am glad to see her happy by the end of the series (which, again, I usually don't care for if I think the writing or something didn't make me cheer for her: Oh, what? Sad girl turns happy because she found long-lost parents of girl she helped?-- I would be critical, but in this case, 49 Days passed the test :) I genuinely was happy that Yi Kyung got a family, and her happiness at the end wasn't unrecognizably bubbly, but... happy. That was PUFFIK… ahems, Perfect :) Well, for me, anyway (it seems like not a lot of people liked the "unnecessary" daughter thing? But I was glad of it. Yes, they could have moved on, but what's wrong with a miracle? Especially when I have been "cheated" of my bubbly ending. Not that I'm complaining at all, at the end. (Btw, when YK found YS’s chequebook/account thing… I really loved the last part of it.)

Shed lots of tears at the Ji Hyun's farewell to her parents. I think family love is the only love I can relate to, so... it's the one that tugs at me the hardest?

And BTW, I am SO glad it's hinted that Yi Kyung is not going to end up with (ahahaha!) “creepy doctor” as Girlfriday names him. I guess sometimes you just click with a drama and sometimes you don’t, but I never liked him (not Hate him, but not Like him either. He’s just… there.)

In Ep 19, I thought (as I am sure many people did? as intended by the drama) Yi Kyung and Seo Woo’s tears were the last two. But I actually wanted one of them to be In Jung’s. I am sure most dramabean readers would have guessed at it, but I wanted it, because the writing made me forgive the girl. Again, PUFFIK. Ahaha, well, I was really happy with it :). I think In Jung was never an unrelateable villain (asides that time when she told Min Ho to end everything?) which, again, I think 49 Days was a really good drama because of. They didn’t make their villains absolutely stock and paper. I liked the ending, with In Jung’s flashback, where they all looked at each other and laughed. I am glad that girl got out of her craziness. It’s a real pity when people are driven by some small seed of resentment to something so huge… I definitely felt In Jung was in a Redemption mode?

And the ending, the last scene…. Waow. Okay. Yes, good. And it takes a while before that bittersweet Good ending becomes…. Perfect. Goldilocks’ Just Right. If it wasn’t for Girlfriday’s comment, I wouldn’t have really thought Kang and Yi Kyung possibility of being together would be valid (I was worried it was from light-headedness of Yi Kyung not ending with Dr. Meh)… maybe they’ll get together, maybe they won’t. But they will be friends… and that is good enough. And, if they do get together, that’s even better.

Ending Point is: I liked how all the characters I cared about grew wiser from this drama. YES, REAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Satisfying as eating a Reese tart in a chocolate craving.

On technical points: The drama, especially this last episode? (Freshest in my mind) was so beautiful. There were at least 2 points which stuck one. One, when Kang and Ji Hyun were closing their eyes for a (both unanswered) wish, with Kang faced towards Ji Hyun and Ji Hyun to the statue, and two, the last scene where Yi Kyung wore white(ish) and Kang black.

(P.S. The last scene, thinking about it, made me think of my initial thoughts of the possible “impossible pairings” of this drama. Ji Hyun and the Scheduler, Kang with Yi Kyung. I am sure some people like messing with the pairings as some sort of pathetic rebellion right? Well, I do anyway. And in this case… in the end… although it’s not really, it is sort of, isn’t it?)

P.P.S. Why are Korean child-actresses (and actors) so good? HK kid-actors, please learn it. (I can’t stand watching TVB children actors with my mom, I know it’s terrible. But seriously, I know I know, they’re kids, they should be allowed to be shitty actors—… but after watching K-drama over and over again where children-actors are involved… uh… NO THEY AREN’T.) Ahems. Okay.

Yes. 49 Days is definitely something I liked. I would recommend a friend to spend 20+ hours watching it, if they can help it, in less than one sitting, because it’s definitely something worth savouring.

Kkeut. (Sorry for the essay)

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242 surreal sapphire

May 21, 2011 at 1:27 AM

49 days has ended...now I'm even more crying!!! huhuhu! I'm surely gonna miss them all especially KANG-AHHHH!!!

Thank you so much JB and GF! Without both of you, understanding K-dramas would be just one-sided. Reading your reviews really makes a difference rather than just watching it plainly. Sometimes your comments even answers my questions if I find parts that are somehow confusing. I understand the story more and love it till the end.

My 49 days journey (I mean my time spent watching the drama) was a blast! 49 days made me realize how to value everyday...49 days fighting!

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243 aX

May 21, 2011 at 2:06 AM

Girlsfriday,

BRAVO! Well-said, indeed! I completely agree with you and I loved reading your perspective especially regarding the circle of life. There's so much in this drama I can relate to and it made me think so much about my life and what I had gone through.

I am glad to have watched it!

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244 Net-chan

May 21, 2011 at 3:14 AM

On the 1.06-hour long of this last episode, I think I cried for 1.01 hour.... My heart hurts, my eyes are swollen, and I have no tissues left...
But as you say, gf, this ending was really satisfying.

Thanks for the recap!

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245 Hana

May 21, 2011 at 3:44 AM

SHE DIED???? i want 20 hours of my life back~ i really dissagagre with this being a good ending! she finally collects 3 tears and then DIES! and then the whole Ji hun is Yi kyung's sister?? i know yi soo and yi kyung wouldn't end up together but shouldn't ji hun and han kang have a happy ending??? *rage*
~Vent over~

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246 XCB

May 21, 2011 at 4:38 AM

hi javabean,

what is the song for episode 19 when yi soo is saying goodbye to yi kyung for the last time before disappearing
thx

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247 baosizzle

May 21, 2011 at 9:22 AM

I am in concordance with the final words of javabeans. Those were my thoughts exactly when the drama ended. The ending works and yet, it doesn't.

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248 jacq

May 21, 2011 at 10:49 AM

Don't like the ending, but overall a great drama. I adore Kang-Ah and I'm glad the third tear was from In-Jung. I really really wish Ji-hyun didn't die.....

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249 kdrama

May 21, 2011 at 12:00 PM

Wait, whats going to happen to the scheduler is he dead now and never coming back, or is he going to be reborn again?

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250 Molly~ my heart is burned by the Phoenixes #ningyizhiweiforever

May 21, 2011 at 12:54 PM

I loved it. I cried buckets. But I loved it. I do hope that Scheduler and Ji hyun will bicker and keep each other comapny in the afterlife too. I dont have much to say except for the fact that despite a few minor plot flaws (the acting was superb) one of my fave dramas. I will forever sigh when I see Jo Hyun Jae or Jung Il Woo.

And now I want to watch flowers for my life.

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