What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim: Episode 16 (Final)

by LollyPip

Young-joon and Mi-so still have quite a few things to iron out in their relationship, whether it’s learning that being a couple doesn’t mean never disagreeing, or that they’re both still capable of making mistakes and needing to apologize. But no matter what happens, there’s never any doubt that they love and support each other, and that they can overcome any hardships that life might throw their way.

 
EPISODE 16 RECAP

After getting engaged, Young-joon’s mother invites Mi-so to dinner, and Young-joon assumes he’s invited, too. Mi-so informs him that Mom only wants to see her, without him along, probably to discuss their pre-wedding family meeting tomorrow night. Young-joon says to tell him if Mom starts being an annoying mother-in-law, but Mi-so says that won’t happen. Uh oh, that sounds like famous last words.

At dinner, Mom confesses that she’s always been jealous of her friends with daughters, so she’s excited to have a daughter-in-law to spend time with. She asks Mi-so to call her “Mother,” which makes Mi-so uncomfortable, but she complies.

Mom takes Mi-so to buy an outfit for tomorrow’s family meeting. She ends up buying her a whole rack of dresses, overriding Mi-so’s objections. This continues with shoes, so when Mom asks if Mi-so needs a bag, Mi-so is all, “I have lots and lots of bags!” Unfortunately that backfires and she ends up with a whole new line of bags as well.

Young-joon calls Mi-so after she gets home, curious about her date with his mom. She downplays the shopping trip, and Young-joon tells her to get some rest, but after she hangs up she sighs at the sea of shopping bags filling up her living room.

The next day, Young-joon is stunned speechless to see Mi-so arrive for dinner in one of her new dresses. He tells her she looks pretty, then notices that she seems nervous. She confesses that she’s worried that her dad will do something foolish, but Young-joon says not to worry since he’ll be by her side.

Mi-so’s dad arrives at the house with her oldest sister Pil-nam,and at the blatant opulence, Dad worries that Young-joon’s family will look down on Mi-so for being from a poor family. When they run into Young-joon and Mi-so, Dad swears that he’s not nervous, and he and Young-joon exchange “rock spirit” salutes, hee.

Dinner is served, and the numerous but tiny courses seem to put Mi-so’s dad off-balance. When Young-joon’s mom asks if he’s okay with his medium steak, he thinks she’s talking about the size and has to be corrected by Pil-nam. Still, things seem to be going well, until Young-joon’s mom directs the talk to wedding plans.

Mom says that she wants to give wedding gifts to Mi-so as well as her family, which unfortunately makes it sound as though she’s insulting Mi-so’s home and belongings. She’s very generous, even offering Mi-so a new car and a house near Young-joon’s place for her family, but Mi-so finally speaks up: “I can’t get married this way.”

She tells Young-joon’s parents that she knows they love her, but that she’s not comfortable receiving such lavish gifts and treatment. Young-joon explains to his parents that excessive kindness can be a burden, and says that he’ll take care of Mi-so’s needs himself. Mom apologizes for going overboard, and Young-joon’s father praises Mi-so’s dad for raising her so well.

As Young-joon drives mi-so home later, he says she did well today, though she’s worried she may have been too rude. He tells her that she was reasonable, and that he likes how she sticks to her principles. They agree that the marriage feels real now that they’ve set a date, and Young-joon teases that Mi-so must feel great to be getting a “special edition” man like himself.

Young-joon takes Mi-so to get the newlywed dinnerware set he wanted to buy before, when she replaced his chipped coffee mug. He has way too much fun bragging about their upcoming wedding, but he gets cranky when Mi-so takes a business call while he’s picking out cookware (which he forbids her to ever use, ha).

On a different day, Young-joon calls Mi-so to his office to ask her which wedding dress he should choose for her. He’s also trying to decide how she should do her hair, and he tells her how lucky she is to have a man who’s so involved in the wedding plans. Mi-so agrees, but she seems to be getting a little tense.

On yet another day, Young-joon arrives first at the boutique where he’s chosen to purchase Mi-so’s dress and his tuxedo. He gets a call from Mi-so’ who’s still at the office due to an emergency meeting, and although he tells her he’ll wait until she arrives, he looks slightly annoyed.

Yoo-shik’s secretary, Ma-eum, runs into his office all in a dither because instead of sending some fancy chocolate to a colleague for his birthday, she accidentally sent it to Seo-jin, Yoo-shik’s ex-wife. Yoo-shik is worried what Seo-jin will think, but Ma-eum points out that he still has feelings for her anyway.

Young-joon tries on his tuxedo while waiting for Mi-so, doing his “aura” pose at his own reflection. But Mi-so is so late that he finally tells the boutique owner to close the store, which he tells Mi-so when she arrives hours later. She explains that she had to send out invitations for a work event, but she can tell that Young-joon s disappointed in her.

She takes him to a nice coffee shop which Young-joon says feels familiar, and Mi-so suddenly realizes that this is where her ill-fated blind date took her. Young-joon gets upset that she would bring him to a place where she went on a date with another man, and he sarcastically thanks her for resurrecting a bad memory, recalling about how he caught her fixing her date’s tie.

She quickly says that it didn’t mean anything, it’s just a work habit, but now Young-joon is upset that something that makes his heart flutter is just a habit to her. He calls himself an idiot for thinking otherwise, so Mi-so hauls him out of there.

Trying to recall a more positive memory, Mi-so takes Young-joon to the bench where he fell asleep on her shoulder after drinking with her dad, and orders the pizza they ate when they almost had their first kiss. Young-joon relaxes a bit, but when two men walk by loosening their ties, he pouts that Mi-so should probably go fix them.

Mi-so tells him to knock it off or he’ll hear all of her complaints. Young-joon seems confused, so she points out his previous girlfriend Ji-ran on a soju poster nearby, and reminds him that she once had to buy Ji-ran flowers on her birthday on his behalf. Young-joon says that was just for his image, but Mi-so says that’s the point — it’s all in the past and meant nothing.

She gets a call from Se-ra wanting to go for drinks, and she’s just upset enough with Young-joon to accept. She leaves, which is how he ends up on Yoo-shik’s doorstep wondering what’s wrong with Secretary Kim. Yoo-shik tells him to stop being so sensitive about the coffee shop mistake, since it’s not like Mi-so had a relationship with that guy.

Young-joon reminds him about the tie, so Yoo-shik says that fine, she’s actually very thoughtless. That makes Young-joon bristle at him for daring to insult her, so Yoo-shik tells Young-joon to go home and complain to the wall if he’s just going to get mad no matter what he says.

Young-joon goes, but the doorbell rings again seconds later. This time it’s Seo-jin, who thanks him for sending the same chocolate he bought for her after proposing in Paris. HA, Yoo-shik has no idea what she’s talking about, but being a smart man, he goes with it.

When Seo-jin asks why he sent that chocolate today, Yoo-shik lies through his teeth. He says he wanted to go back to that day when they were happy, because he’s still in love with her, and it works. Seo-jin throws herself at him, and Young-joon walks back in to see them making out against the wall.

Seo-jin squeals and tosses Yoo-shik at Young-joon. Young-joon says hi to Seo-jin and tells Young-joon that they’ll just call things even now, since he once walked in on a similar situation. HAHA, all the while, Yoo-shik is making faces and snarling, “Go. Leave. Get lost!” while Young-joon smirks.

Luckily for Yoo-shik, Young-joon eventually leaves, and Seo-jin gets right back to ripping off Yoo-shik’s clothes. They end up on the couch in a hilariously awkward parody of Young-joon and Mi-so’s interrupted first night, but they somehow manage to be more successful than Young-joon and Mi-so were.

Se-ra has called the girls together to whine that she and her hero went to a restaurant where she used to go with an ex, and unfortunately, that ex happened to be there. Mi-so says it’s no big deal, but Ji-ah, says that even if it’s all in the past, if you’re boyfriend is hurt, then you did something wrong.

Later, Ji-ah takes the leftover guobaurou from their dinner up to Gwi-nam, but she’s quick to reassure him that she’s not trying to make him like her. She says she wants to say one last thing — that loving a woman can be put off until after he achieves his goals, but she hopes he doesn’t put off loving himself.

She tells him to buy himself some more clothes and to eat healthier meals. She says he shouldn’t sacrifice his present for his future, and should enjoy his life a little while he’s young. Ji-ah leaves, but Gwi-nam looks like he wants to call her back.

Young-joon mopes around the house, and he looks dismayed when he realizes that others might see how adorable Mi-so is when she’s drunk. He badly wants to go pick her up, but he reminds himself that this fight is all her fault, then slumps over in despair.

Mi-so is feeling bad for taking him to that coffee shop, and for consistently prioritizing work above their wedding plans. She gets an idea, and as he’s sulking in bed, Young-joon gets a text from Mi-so, asking him to come to the living room.

When he does, he sees Mi-so there… in a gorgeous wedding dress. He’s too stunned to speak, and just stands there blinking at her. Mi-so says she’s keeping her promise of today’s dress fitting, to make up for her mistakes. She asks Young-joon to accept her apology and forgive her, but he breathes that he already forgave her the moment he saw her.

He does ask her to keep in mind his amazing memory, and the fact that he’ll see that photo of her with another man any time he goes near that coffee shop, probably even after he dies. Mi-so tells him to remember something else until he dies, then she kisses him.

She backs up and says that he should also remember that she thinks he’s cute when he’s jealous, and that she loves him very, very much. Young-joon wraps his arms around her and murmurs that he won’t let go for the rest of his life, even if her feelings for him change.

The next day in the office stairwell, Se-ra apologizes to Cheol for upsetting him. He pouts that it’s fine, and Se-ra aegyos for him to forgive her until he smiles again. Just like last time, Team Leader Jung and Mr. Park catch them, so Se-ra slams Cheol against the wall, pretending he’s made some mistake.

Once they leave, Cheol says that he’s not confident that Se-ra truly likes him, because she took him to the same restaurant where she used to go with her ex, and hides their relationship at work. He heads back to his desk, but when Se-ra says, “Let’s make our relationship public,” he nearly hurts himself rushing back to her. Oh, that smile on his face, wow.

With his hero anthem swelling in the background, Cheol marches Se-ra back to the office, hand-in-hand, and they announce dramatically that they’re dating. The office team is all, Yeah, we know, so you can stop acting weird in the stairwell, lol.

When planning their honeymoon, Young-joon says he doesn’t care where they go since they won’t be leaving the hotel room anyway. RAWR. Mi-so misses his point, but his cheeky wink answers the question quite nicely, hee. She wails, “Vice President!” and he asks when she’s going to start calling him by name.

Dang, Mi-s whacks poor Young-joon so hard he can barely breathe. He asks her to let him live until the wedding, then makes her blow on his boo-boo, laughing at her the whole time.

As they count down the days to their wedding, Young-joon yells at the calender to move faster and teaches himself to make the perfect omelet. When Mi-so says she’s glad they decided on a quick wedding, he proudly reminds her that it was his idea.

The day before the wedding, Young-joon tries to send Mi-so home early from work. She says that she can’t rest if he’s not resting, and he jokes that she just doesn’t want to be apart from him. He grabs her phone and changes his name in her contacts from “Vice-President” to “Husband” with a little heart emoji, flashing some aegyo to make her laugh.

As they leave work for the last time before the wedding and honeymoon, Young-joon says he probably won’t be able to sleep tonight. He invites Mi-so to spend the night at his place, but she says she’s spending the night with her sisters.

They meet up at a pojangmacha, but her sisters refuse to let her drink the night before her wedding. Pil-nam says it would be nice if their mother were here, sad that she’s missed every important event in Mi-so’s life. She says she’s okay not having a mother, but she feels bad for Mi-so, being the youngest.

Mi-so says through tears that her sisters are like a mother to her, because they took such good care of her as she was growing up. She thanks them, her voice breaking, and they tell her to get married and receive all the love she missed for not having a perfect family.

Dad joins them just as they’re all trying not to cry, and Mi-so gasps — he cut his hair! He says he doesn’t want to embarrass her at her wedding, and that even though long hair is a rock musician’s pride, Mi-so is his pride. Awww, Dad.

A friend of Young-joon’s parents send Mi-so a wedding gift of jewelry, but they worry that it’s too lavish and will make Mi-so uncomfortable. Mom says that they should be more understanding of Mi-so’s feelings — then decides to wear the jewelry herself. HA, talk about missing the point.

Young-joon shows up to spend the night before his wedding with his family, too, surprising them. He thanks his parents for raising him well, and Dad jokes that this polite Young-joon is only here because they’re getting a good daughter-in-law.

He and Sung-yeon speak privately later, and Young-joon asks if Sung-yeon is going back to France soon. Sung-yeon says he’s decided to travel and find himself, and maybe write a new book. Young-joon says he’ll wait, and Sung-yeon gives him a strange look, saying that’s the first time Young-joon has ever said that to him. He promises to try his best not to let Young-joon down.

Sung-yeon says that he’s told their parents not to receive flowers tomorrow, but Young-joon doesn’t understand what he means. Sung-yeon tells him that Mi-so is allergic to flowers, and Young-joon is shocked to hear something he never knew about her.

Lying in bed, Mi-so gets a text that Young-joon’s having all the flowers and her bouquet replaced with artificial flowers. He apologizes for not knowing about her allergy, and promises to try to learn more about her. She thanks him and makes the same promise, calling him “husband” and sending a heart emoji.

Young-joon gets love-attacked by the heart as usual, so cute. He texts that tonight ends their time as boyfriend and girlfriend and begins their marriage, and Mi-so goes to sleep with a smile on her face.

It’s finally Young-joon and Mi-so’s wedding day, and the families meet up as guests begin to arrive. Yoo-shik is there with Seo-jin on his arm, and when Ma-eum starts to apologize for sending the chocolate by accident, Yoo-shik growls at her to delay today’s mistake until tomorrow.

Ji-ah runs into Gwi-nam outside the wedding venue… and he’s wearing a new suit! He says he bought it because he’s going on a first date today, making Ji-ah’s face fall. She asks in dismay if he has a girlfriend, and he says he does… if her heart is still available. Awww. Ji-ah realizes that he means her, and she eagerly accepts his offer.

In the waiting room, Young-joon asks if Mi-so is nervous. Looking serene, she notes that he’s the one who looks ready to jump out of his skin. He insists that he can make speeches and sign contracts worth millions, so there’s no way he’s nervous, while simultaneously punching his leg in a futile attempt to make it stop shaking.

He offers to hold her hand, since she’s so nervous and all, and when she feels his hand shaking, she offers him some of the tranquilizers she got from her sister. Young-joon says he doesn’t need them, but that he’ll take them if she absolutely insists, then practically dives headfirst into her purse.

Out in the wedding hall, Young-joon’s former girlfriend, Ji-ran, stomps in. The office intern recognizes her, and Team Leader Jung falls all over himself offering her a seat at their table. Mr. Park asks who she’s here to congratulate, but she spits that she’s not here to congratulate them, calling Mi-so a liar for saying she wasn’t dating Young-joon.

Ji-ran snarls that she’s here to get revenge by looking prettier than Mi-so, pointing out that she even wore white to the wedding. LOL, their collective Oh girl, I don’t even think so faces are perfect. The team try to shush Ma-eum when she joins the table and recognizes Ji-ran, but she gets so excited that she knocks a drink into Ji-ran’s lap, ruining her white dress and sending her storming out.

Young-joon is feeling much calmer by the time they’re called to start the wedding. Suddenly Mi-so looks a little green, but she gamely heads to the wedding hall. Yoo-shik announces their entrance, and Young-joon offers Mi-so his arm.

Seeing how nervous she looks, he says softly, “I will protect you like this for the rest of my life. I promise.” Mi-so laughs, and Young-joon asks if she doesn’t think he can keep his promise, but she says that it’s not that.

“I know you’re someone who keeps your promises, more than anyone,” she tells him. “You’ve kept each and every promise you made to me since we were young.” In flashback, we see little Young-joon pinky-swearing to fall in love with Mi-so and marry her when they grow up.

Young-joon confidently leads Mi-so down the aisle, as their friends and family clap and cheer. When they arrive at the stage, Young-joon leans down and kisses Mi-so as if they’re the only two people in the world. We hear his voice recite from Mi-so’s favorite book, “You are my world, and every moment of my life. And every moment of my life was you.”

COMMENTS

So much cute in this finale, I don’t really even have much to say, because the show really said it all. I appreciated the little conflicts that Young-joon and Mi-so encountered as they planned their wedding, like her confused priorities and his tendency to blow small things out of proportion. It felt really true-to-life and didn’t make me feel like they were just setting off into an unrealistic, perfect fairy-tale future. They’ll continue to butt heads, both at work and at home, and fight and make up and work things out in their own way. It’s great that they at least have their meltdowns at different times, so that the other can help support them, like how they took turns being nervous before the wedding.

I really liked that Mi-so’s objection to getting married had to do with Young-joon and his family’s wealth, because it’s something that was occasionally mentioned but hasn’t really been an obstacle until now. Again the show flipped the trope of the chaebol’s family disapproving of his choice of wife, and instead made the issue one of their being a little too generous. It’s very sweet of Young-joon’s mom to be willing to buy things for Mi-so and her family, but they’ve always lived simply, and by offering them everything from new clothes to a new house, it seemed as though she was saying that they’re not good enough to join her family as they are. Then again the trope was flipped, when Young-joon gently but firmly informed his parents that he would take care of Mi-so, in the manner she prefers.

I also liked that, even though nearly everyone got a romance, none of them were perfect, either. Yoo-shik got his wife back, but through another lie that, hopefully, he’ll straighten out right away this time instead of letting it fester for years. Ji-ah toughened up enough to fight for what she wants, and Gwi-nam learned that, while it’s good to plan for the future, you shouldn’t neglect your present in the process. The only thing I wish we’d gotten some closure on is Young-joon’s parents, and why his mother seems to despise his father when he’s actually pretty adorable and obviously dotes on her.

While this show was cute and sweet from start to finish, and I don’t really have any complaints about it, I do find myself wishing that it had had a better idea of what it wanted to be — either a fluffy rom-com, or a drama about two people who shared a childhood trauma and helped each other heal as adults. It worries me that neither Young-joon nor Mi-so ever sought therapy for their lingering issues, and they both really, really needed it. Without that, it felt like neither of them really grew as people, or learned any important lessons from their experiences. Love is great, and I’m happy that Mi-so found her Oppa and will live happily ever after, but the last four episodes felt a little empty after all that tension in the preceeding weeks. Otherwise though, I loved all the adorable romance, and the characters were fun, and I always looked forward to each weeks’ episodes and felt satisfied with the story we were told. I would wholeheartedly recommend this drama to anyone looking for a sweet, easy watch for a rainy weekend.

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