Fated To Love You: Episode 19

by HeadsNo2

There’s plenty of cute to go around as Gun and Mi-young work furiously to convince the right parties that they belong together, come what may. Gun also goes on a side quest regarding his father and the words of wisdom he left behind, which sure would’ve done a whole lot more good during that three year split—but what’s past is past. It’s time to look toward the future, even if that means ignoring the threat of darkness looming on the horizon for happier thoughts.

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JYJ – “Dad, You There?” [ Download ]

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EPISODE 19 RECAP

We find everyone preparing for the (second) marriage of Gun and Mi-young, but they’re missing one thing: the bride and groom. It’s with shock that Grandma Wang finds out the two have suddenly skipped out on their own ceremony.

Not to worry though, Gun and Mi-young seem fine, even though they’re driving away in their “Just Married” car…

Rewind. Gun enters his office to find Mi-young waiting for him, only for Gun to ask: “Who are you?” Mi-young isn’t fazed, and tries to jog his memory by telling him that she’s Keddongie’s mom, Dalpengie, and Superglue.

A lightbulb goes off over Gun’s head as he remembers who she is before he loudly proclaims, “Jang Na-ra!” Hahaha.

The moment Mi-young slaps him for that, Gun wakes up in her old apartment. It was just a dream. They share a cute moment baking bread, but Gun doesn’t want to let her go off to the studio to work—even though she jokes that she has to bring home the bacon now that he’s not working.

He finally lets her go with a kiss, then heads to Mom’s restaurant for the day. It’s adorable how he practices satoori to try and fit in, because Mom is still not sold on him re-marrying her daughter.

He’s brought her supplements in what he admits is straight-up bribe, especially when they’re named “Mother, I’ll Be Filial So Don’t Worry.” Hah. Mom brushes him off, so Gun claims he’ll come back with something that really sparkles, even though he doubts that whatever he can bring will shine brighter than Mom’s eyes.

Mom doesn’t want anything from him and attempts to send him away, but Gun proves to be superglue as he begs Mom to at least let him eat before he goes, in terrible satoori, no less.

She reluctantly lets him stay, but doesn’t want him to keep calling her Mom. When he doesn’t get the point, she finally sits him down by calling him “Gun-ah” as she tells him that he really is like a son to her. Gun thinks she’s about to tell him good news and excitedly tells her that he thinks of her as his mother, too.

He asks her permission to marry Mi-young, but that’s not what Mom sat him down for. She doesn’t know how sick he is, but promises that because he’s like a son to her, she’ll help him no matter what… though that plan doesn’t seem to include Mi-young.

Gun defends his health as being more than perfect since he hasn’t even had a cold in the last three years, but Mom takes him by the hands as she pleads, “Can’t you let my Mi-young go?”

She knows it’s selfish of her when Mi-young wants to take what will inevitably be a hard road, but she can’t just sit by and watch either. “I really do like you, Gun. But I’m still opposed to your relationship with Mi-young. You know how I feel, right? You understand what your mom is saying, right?”

Gun looks moved by her desperate pleas, but in a surprising turn, he lets out a hearty laugh as he asks her whether she thought he’d give up just like that. He takes her attitude as a challenge as he promises to come back even stronger next time.

Daniel, wearing alarmingly gold footwear, finds himself confused by Se-ra’s cold attitude when they run into each other in their building. He doesn’t know she saw the picture on his nightstand, but she can’t forget it.

Gun crashes Mom’s hair salon, and introduces himself to all the other ajummas as Mom’s soon-to-be third son-in-law. He turns on the charm when it comes to all the ladies, and acts all surprised when he sees Mom there, like he toootally wasn’t expecting to see her there.

Mom just rolls her eyes as she tells him to just give it up now—no means no. Gun praises her for her consistency, even as his voice lowers just a bit when he adds that he knows he’ll gain her approval in the end. Until then, he’ll just keep trying.

He goes home to find Mi-young and freshly-made ramen with fish eyes (which he’d been craving ever since she made it for Yong), and as he digs in she brings up the issue with Mom—she’s making it difficult for him, isn’t she? “Easy women are no fun,” Gun jokes in return.

Mi-young knows he’s not letting his true feelings show to spare her, but Gun just tells her to trust him. He’ll do whatever it takes to get Mom’s approval. Mi-young finally smiles: “Gunnie, fighting!” Gun: “Fighting!”

After sharing a Lady and the Tramp moment with the ramen, Gun breaks into his low voice as he insinuates that tonight is the night for amour.

But of course, the moment he leans in for a real kiss, they’re interrupted by sudden and unexpected visitors for an impromptu housewarming party: it’s the Soapsuds Duo and Mi-ja.

Gun isn’t too thrilled at the interruption, even though they’ve brought the tools needed to play Go-Stop. (Meta Moment: They call Gunnie the similar-sounding “Go-ni,” his gambling character’s name from the drama Tazza.)

He’s not so great at the game, so Mi-young offers to step in and play in his place. Even though he doubts her claims that she’s not so bad herself, I love that Mi-young ties her hair back and puts her glasses on in preparation. It’s on now.

Mi-young ends up surprising everyone when she cleans them all out, and it’s funny how Gun can’t get her to stop even when he points to the rising sun. But at least she wins him all his money back? Hah.

After Se-ra fails to have a heart-to-heart with her heartless mother, Gun and Mi-young provide some unexpected company to Mom on her morning walk. She knows that they’re working in tandem now to try and convince her, and reiterates that when she says no, it’s final.

Gun is determined to show Mom just how healthy he really is, and proceeds to do some challenging exercises in front of her. Mi-young is there to cheer him on the whole time, leaving Mom actually speechless—whether it’s at their teamwork or Gun’s amazing acrobatic ability is up for grabs.

It’s extra cute when Mi-young and Gun exercise together, and when Gun’s strength starts failing during a sit-up, Mi-young entices him to go that extra mile by offering him a kiss at the finish line.

They’re both exhausted, but neither of them stop showing their collective strength until Mom finally walks away. Gun insists on carrying Mi-young home on his back even after all that, which doesn’t escape Mom’s notice. I doubt it’s his strength winning her over, but their love for each other.

After Gun reads an entry in his father’s diary detailing his regret for his noble idiocy act and how it caused him to miss out on valuable time with his family, Yong and Ji-yeon play house at Lee Manor as they work out what to call each other.

She doesn’t want him calling her “noona” anymore, so he instead switches to calling her Ji-yeon-ah. But Mama Yong intervenes before they get a chance to kiss, and another makjang drama scene plays out when Mama Yong’s disapproval of Ji-yeon causes her to run off crying.

Gun returns to the manor to ask Mama Yong about his father—specifically, how he was the last time she saw him. She flashes back to the memory of him leaving as he told her he was sorry and thanked her, while in the present she tells Gun that there was nothing she could do when his father wanted to return to his family.

Both of them grow misty-eyed when she recalls that the day he returned to the wife and son he loved so much was the same day the car accident happened, the one that killed both Gun’s parents. Mama Yong sighs that if there’s only one good thing to be gleaned from the tragic situation, it’s that Gun’s father spent his last moments with the woman he loved.

Before Gun goes, he bows his head to thank Mama Yong for giving him his father’s diary. Mama Yong is in shock, since that’s the first time Gun’s ever thanked her.

Gun and Manager Tak visit a private investigative agency populated by gangsters—and more specifically, CEO Doodoo of Doodoo Industries (the man Gun almost sold Mi-young’s island factory to). Of course, he’s not a big-time CEO anymore, which he explains as being due to a stint in jail for some illegal activities.

Unimpressed, Gun decides to leave only to find the door blocked by CEO Doodoo’s gangsters. He shadow boxes with them to show them his moves, and CEO Doodoo finally relents to offering him a ten percent discount to find whoever it is Gun needs finding.

He’s shocked when Gun hands him a picture of a tree, the same tree we saw in a flashback with Gun and his father. CEO Doodoo is up to the task, and swears he will find that tree.

Se-ra brings Daniel an unidentifiable plate of food from her very first attempt at cooking, which Daniel describes as looking “metaphysical.” Hah. After admitting that she looked into his background a bit, she asks if he remembers the night he was so drunk she had to help him home.

When she admits to seeing the picture on his nightstand, Daniel openly tells her that it’s of his little sister, Mi-young, who he lost when he was younger. Se-ra’s expression looks somewhat panicked as she leaves with hardly another word, freeing Daniel from the obligation of eating her food.

There’s a ring at the door, and it’s Se-ra again: “The little girl in that picture… I think it’s me. But I don’t know why I’m in that picture.” Daniel looks understandably stunned.

Daniel calls Mi-young out for a drink, unable to help himself from commenting on her beautiful smile—especially since it makes him want to start over as her neighborhood oppa again. Aw.

After making some small talk about work, Daniel says he called her to give her one last gift. He goes up to the stage and takes the microphone to sing her a ballad from the OST of Prince’s First Love (specifically “Since That Day” by Sung Shi-kyung):

As usual, the sunlight was warm
And you were beautiful leaning against me

You talked about leaving, as if asking for time
I smiled so you wouldn’t suffer.

The things I said like a habit
I’ll do anything you want
I was a fool to keep that promise
Since that day, I’ve always been sorry
Worrying that even for a day I might forget about you
The saddest thing is to realize that
I still smile every now and then
Even though you’re not around
I feel sorry about breathing without you that I sigh
Since that day, it’s always like this
Since that day, I’m always in pain.

As he sings his heartfelt song, Mi-young flashes back to all the precious moments she shared with him. Tears are streaming down her cheeks by the end of the song, and when he returns to his seat, she tells him how precious a gift that was and how she’ll cherish it always.

“Don’t forget it even when you become a grandmother,” Daniel warns her playfully. “Call me if you ever need a priest or a neighborhood oppa.” Aww, this actually sounds like a goodbye. The forever kind.

Mom calls Gun over to her restaurant where she serves him plain tofu, the national food for freshly-released prisoners and sinners. But the message is intentional, because Mom says Gun is a sinner to her: “Since you’re taking my perfect daughter away from me forever.”

Gun’s eyes go wide—Mom’s finally changed her mind! “Can you promise to live a long time and protect Mi-young?” she asks. Gun takes her hands as he gladly promises that he’ll always make Mi-young smile and laugh.

He and Mom celebrate by getting wasted together, which is the scene Mi-young happens upon. Hahaha. She has to drag the both of them to Mom’s house, where Gun promptly passes out.

Mom’s still awake though, and Mi-young hugs her in happiness now that she knows they have her approval. After Mom blusters that she doesn’t need to attend the same wedding twice, she laments that she only gave in because of Gun’s tenacity, “But I can’t give my blessing with a smile.”

Even so, it shows that Mom can’t help but love Gun regardless. As Mi-young cuddles up with her for the night, we find that Gun isn’t quite as drunk as he led them to believe, since he heard everything. “Thank you,” he whispers. “Thank you.”

Wedding day. After getting dressed in his tuxedo, Gun gets a call from CEO Doodoo about the tree. Mi-young’s sisters help her into her gown and apologize for Mom’s absence, explaining it away as due to her being stubborn.

That’s when Gun grabs his bride with the declaration that they have somewhere to go, and they have to hurry. The wedding party is left in shock as Gun drives away with Mi-young, telling her in the car that there’s just somewhere he has to go with her.

She takes his hand and reassuringly says, “We’re already going there together.”

We return to the scene that opened the episode, with Grandma Wang all but collapsing at the news of the runaway couple. At least this time, Gun sends Manager Tak a text explaining that they’ll be right back.

Gun and Mi-young arrive at the tree, where CEO Doodoo and his men are just barely holding back a crew of men who were, coincidentally, about to dig it up and move it. The men agree to leave the tree alone for now so that Gun and Mi-young can have some privacy.

It’s the same tree from Gun’s flashback with his father, around which he and his father had shared precious memories and happy times. But more importantly, it’s where his father had buried a box filled with keepsakes, including a pair of cufflinks Gun would only get to wear when he was an adult, and a signed baseball little Gun got from the first game he ever went to with his dad.

But Gun hadn’t understood at the time that they wouldn’t revisit the tree again, since he hadn’t known about his father’s illness. “Gun, listen to me carefully. Right now and from now on, whenever you feel scared, be like Daddy.” Dad laughs his trademark laugh, now Gun’s. “Laugh like this, okay? If you do, I’ll always be with you to protect you.”

In the present, Gun digs up the keepsake box, and cry-laughs when he pulls out the baseball first, then the cufflinks. After he puts them on, he reads a note left by his father for when he’d inevitably find it as an adult:

“Gun-ah, by the time you read this letter when you’re an adult, you’ll probably know everything about me. I walked the same path you did. Even though I decided to leave you and your mother’s side right now, I know that perhaps one day, I might come to regret this choice.”

Gun and Mi-young hold hands as they run back to their own wedding, while Dad’s letter continues in voiceover:

”Should there come a moment when you have to make an important decision, don’t be anxious about a time that hasn’t happened yet, like I was. Don’t waste this moment in the present, and I hope that you will enjoy living life to the fullest every day. My son, my loving son Gun.”

 
COMMENTS

So this was an interesting conclusion, and strangely enough could’ve worked as the ending to the series as a whole. While all this about Gun’s father speaking to him from beyond the grave works to provide some much-needed closure for our hero, I’m still left scratching my head as to why the issue with the keepsake box was so urgent that Gun had to interrupt his own wedding for it.

If Gun was still waffling in indecision or still hell bent on staying away from Mi-young for her own good, these memories and messages from/about his father could’ve actually carried a lot of relevant weight. There was a time where they could’ve served to solve conflict, widen Gun’s perspective, or even change his mind—but I can’t help feeling that that time has already passed, which makes this sudden treasure hunt touching, if not a bit moot when we consider the fact that Gun had already made his decision, with no visible signs of wavering.

Or who knows, maybe he was so stuck on finding that box because he was wavering, at least inwardly. I just wish we would’ve been shown that, because while this hour had plenty of cute moments (and cute for cute’s sake isn’t bad), so much of it fell flat because there just wasn’t enough conflict to sustain the story. Because aside from Gun’s sudden fixation on the box, the only conflict presented and solved in this episode revolved around gaining Mom’s blessings, which at least saved it from falling into the filler bin. But just barely.

Despite her small(ish) part, I really do like the way Mom has been written and portrayed, since she managed to do the traditional parental opposition thing we’ve all come to know and hate but with the added twist that she genuinely, truly loves Gun as a son. It actually broke my heart when she promised Gun she’d take care of him like a mother even if (and especially if) he would never become her son-in-law, because we got to see her at war with herself in trying to do what was best for Mi-young and Gun.

Eventually, of course, she came to realize that her only course of action was to step aside and let them be—but I respect Mom all the more for admitting that while she couldn’t say no, it doesn’t mean she has to be all smiles about the decision either. It definitely would be nice if Gun and Mi-young could be fated to love each other without being fated to deal with heartbreak and loss down the line, but maybe that’s the whole point of Dad’s diaries and letters. Maybe it’s useless to worry about what hasn’t happened yet, because the here and now is what matters most.

 
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