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Call It Love: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by Dramaddictally

It’s over! And there’s only one acceptable thing to do: use your weekend to binge it all from the beginning. We’re sending our siblings off into the sunset, with all the love, healing, and family they’ve found along the way. And while sometimes big growth means ending up in a distant place, the drama reminds us that it can also lead you somewhere even better: right back where you started.

 
EPISODES 15-16

The dreaded time jump! Why did they take this masterpiece and tack that ending on there? We had 30 extra minutes for some Episode 12-esque sparks between our leads and I’m disappointed to say we did not get anything even close. There’s one kiss (one!) and it’s between Joon and Hye-sung. Yes, that needed to happen and I give an A+ for getting these two together and ready to make a happy home. But Woo-joo and Dong-jin deserved some blissful feels — and, frankly, so did we.

There were no real surprises in these episodes and things went mostly just the way I thought they would — and I mean that as high praise. The drama was true to its characters, never backing down on what it set up, and it took the story to its logical, happy conclusion (minus the one-year hiatus). While I wasn’t psyched on the loss of momentum at the end, overall, this drama warrants a stream of accolades, from writing, directing, and cinematography to set design and ensemble cast. When it comes time to award the beans this year, I can already tell you which jar mine are going into.

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

We start our story where we left off last week: Woo-joo on the phone with her mom and Dong-jin off to the side, listening to all of Woo-joo’s kind words about him. He’s there to help her get her house back, and she’s saying she’ll give up the house for him. It’s such a beautiful moment, it almost hurts the eyes.

Dong-jin convinces Woo-joo to take her father’s will and use it to reclaim the house. He’ll be happy when she’s back in her home, so she shouldn’t worry about him in the process. He walks her to her door and they say a sad, painful goodbye — no hugs included.

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

When Woo-joo shows the will to her siblings, Hye-sung bawls her eyes out. Their father left the property to her, his eldest daughter. But really, she’s crying for all the things she’s been holding in and unable to release. She’s sorry for everything they’ve been through because of their dad — and even more sorry they have to feel grateful to him now because of this will. She and Woo-joo sit with their complicated feelings, and their sister bond is as strong as ever.

With Joon, they visit some lawyers who advise them to press criminal charges against Hee-ja. But, they all agree they’d rather find another route. Hye-sung is so grateful to Dong-jin that, like Woo-joo, she wants to be careful of how their actions affect him. And Mom feels the same. When Hye-sung calls to tell her they may have to file a criminal suit, her only question is, “How’s Woo-joo?”

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

Meanwhile, Dong-jin is busy getting the house back from the new buyers. When he explains the situation to them, they agree to nullify the contract as long as their down payment is returned. That’s good news and the matter seems settled, but later, Dong-jin quits Best Fairs and tells Sun-woo he will use his severance pay and company shares to get the money to pay back the buyers.

Why can’t he get the money from Hee-ja? Well, even though the drama throws in a few lines to help us understand her, Hee-ja is not going to change. After last week’s confrontation where Dong-jin admits he’s always been unhappy, we see Hee-ja cry when he leaves. She takes her luggage and moves out of his apartment, but not before doing his dishes and laundry (cameo by Dong-jin’s undies). As she folds his clothes, she thinks about what he said and it seems like maybe she’s ready to turn over a new leaf. But then, we see her try to swindle the buyers into paying for the rest of the house before they find out she doesn’t actually own it. So, not a total turnaround.

Woo-joo and Dong-jin meet up to discuss how to proceed with the house. They both have the same idea: Dong-jin will try to persuade his mother to give it up, but if that fails, Woo-joo should go ahead with the charges. Woo-joo thinks Dong-jin is doing all this because he’s a good person, but he says (basically) that he’s doing it because he loves her. The pain is palpable when they’re together, but they also can’t stand not being around each other, so they continue to keep in touch.

Hee-ja moves back into the house and, before Dong-in has a chance to speak to her, Hyun-joo is at her door. After throwing a few insults around, Hyun-joo tells Hee-ja she should thank her son. If it weren’t for him, she would have called the police already. Instead, she’s giving her the chance to leave without taking the issue to court. (Yes! Mom already has it decided and is taking care of it herself. I love this woman.)

On her way out, Hyun-joo runs into Dong-jin. He apologizes on his mother’s behalf and she tells him she doesn’t want to take legal action and that she’s trusting him to handle the situation. From there, she goes to see her kids and tells them not to press charges.

In the meantime, Hee-ja’s shifty boyfriend reports her to the police for hiding her husband’s will. I don’t quite get what he hopes to gain from this, but (for the story) it absolves the Shim family from having to report Hee-ja, while also getting Hee-ja in trouble. Dong-jin agrees to go with his mother to the police station and Hee-ja seems to gain some temporary humility. She says she just wanted to live a good life and Dong-jin tells her it’s not too late. They have a misty-eyed moment and she thanks him and apologizes — which seems to move him.

In the Shim family household (a.k.a., Joon’s house), Mom tells Woo-joo that she wants Dong-jin to come over so she can feed him — which screams to me that there’s already a reconciliation afoot. Ji-gu, though, is ahead of the game, hanging out with Dong-jin without telling anyone.

Dong-jin comes over for his homecooked meal, where he and Hyun-joo eat alone. Woo-joo told everyone else to leave so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. It’s a nice gesture, but it means that Woo-joo is not there to hear Mom say that she’ll make him food anytime he wants and that she feels sorry and grateful to him. Earlier, we heard her tell Hee-ja that she pitied Dong-jin for being her son, and in this moment over lunch, it seems to me that she’s almost inviting him into her family.

As Hee-ja prepares for trial, she learns that she faces jail time. To avoid it, she needs someone from the Shim family to write a “non-punishment application letter.” Woo-joo meets with her and gets a lot of things off her chest. She says she suffered for years because of the affair between Hee-ja and her father, but now she sees she aimed all her hatred at Hee-ja — when in reality it was her father that wronged her the most. Woo-joo reflects that it was easier to hate Hee-ja than to hate her own dad.

Hee-ja is too dim-witted to understand what Woo-joo is saying but it’s a turning point for Woo-joo. She vows to stop hating Hee-ja from that moment on. And then she agrees to give her the letter she needs so she won’t go to jail. During the conversation, Woo-joo also reveals that she loves Dong-jin. This is about the only thing that sinks in for Hee-ja and, when she gets back to Dong-jin’s place, she asks if he was in love with her too. He says yes. He felt happy for the first time and liked her a lot. Hee-ja cries and can’t look at him, and I think she does care about him on some level. She’s just very selfish.

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

All the running around in these episodes has at least one great outcome: Joon and Hye-sung are spending time together again. He’s still apologetic and she’s still standoffish — but, they’re coincidentally wearing matching outfits, so we know this couple is a go.

Joon admits that when he heard Hye-sung crying over the will, he wanted to go hold her tight. He thought about her all night long — and so, that’s his answer about how he feels. With the confession out of the way, he takes her hand, interlacing fingers, and they walk home, where he’s about to make her dinner. Awww. What a rewarding road it’s been with these two.

But the happiness of their union makes the official breakup between Woo-joo and Dong-jin feel even worse. Woo-joo wants a last farewell, so they can formalize their breakup without feeling so sad about it. She invites Dong-jin to take a trip to his favorite hiking trail, where they say their goodbyes.

Both express what they gained from the other, with Woo-joo saying, “If I hadn’t met you, I’d be walking backward for the rest of my life.” Dong-jin thanks her for loving him and promises to live a fun life, which is what she wants for him. When they finally part, they hug so tenderly, you can almost feel it through the screen.

And here is where our one-year time jump takes effect. We start by checking in with Joon and Hye-sung. In earlier episodes, we learned that Joon did not want to get married. But now that our siblings have moved back into their own house and left Joon’s so empty, he wishes Hye-sung never had to go home. He asks her to marry him so she’ll stick around his place full-time. They joke that it’s a childish reason to get married, but it’s actually a pretty mature (and cute) conversation.

Woo-joo is now working on trade fairs for another company and liking her new job. We learn that Dong-jin has been living out his camping dreams, driving around and rarely returning to Seoul.

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

One day, Woo-joo goes to Joon’s pharmacy after not visiting for a year. When Hye-sung finds out, she senses that Woo-joo went back that neighborhood because she’s thinking of Dong-jin. She tells Woo-joo that Mom was not upset with Dong-jin — in fact, she had offered to make him food whenever. Hye-sung concludes that there’s nothing prohibiting Woo-joo and Dong-jin from being together. (Which, *flips table*, someone could have told her a year ago!)

Ji-gu has kept in touch with Dong-jin this whole time and, overhearing his sisters’ conversation, he invites Dong-jin to a performance where he’ll be singing. He tells Woo-joo to go, too, hoping they’ll meet. Both Dong-jin and Woo-joo attend and smile at each other across the crowd. In the final shot, Woo-joo runs over to Dong-jin as if she’s about to grab onto him, and they both move out of frame.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if I’m not happy at the end, I don’t consider it a happy ending. I have two principal problems with the last 30 minutes. First, I found it boring. Literally zero feels. After feeling so much for these characters for so long — with such measured buildup — I can’t understand why the writers would choose to pull the plug and drain out all that intensity.

My second issue is that there was no narrative reason to keep our leads apart. The central conflict had been resolved and there was no compelling explanation for why they separated. The drama tries to tell us that they’re “taking a romantic rest.” This information is shoehorned in after the time jump when we hear a narrator (possibly a radio DJ?) talking about “taking some time for your soul after fiercely blazing your trail.”

Uh, I mean, I guess this explanation could make some sort of sense except our leads had already talked about their healing process when they were out in the woods together. That conversation made it sound like they’d already gotten what they needed on this journey — and what they needed was each other. These are two people who had spent so much of their lives feeling alone that I don’t see how more alone time would serve them in any way.

The ending didn’t serve the story or the audience. It was cute, but it could have been great. And we could have had 30 minutes of handholding and camping kisses!

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

All right, let’s move on to talk about all the outstanding things this drama did. I don’t want the the ending to color my perception of the whole show — and, right now, my perception is in desperate need of a rose-colored filter. This is a drama that pushed boundaries. It continually set up trope-y expectations and then knocked them down. It gave all the side characters flesh and blood — and I felt for every one of them. It played with ideas about different kinds of love and what it means to be a family. And it gave us complicated, relatable leads that were impossible not to root for. How many dramas can say all that?

On a technical level, the choices were just as good. The use of one-point perspective (which is the cinematic technique that creates that clean, symmetrical look) added so much to the beauty of this story. It conveyed coldness, emptiness, and loneliness when it needed to — and allowed the color filter to supply the atmospheric warmth.

Plus, the whole cast deserves an award, individually and as an ensemble. And Lee Sung-kyung way exceeded my expectations with her performance. She and Kim Young-kwang did such a fantastic job with their micro-expressions and transformations that — I don’t want to take anything away from either actor — but I have to give massive credit to PD Lee Kwang-young for bringing it out of them and capturing it.

In short, this drama deserves a re-watch and I’ll be binging it pronto from start to finish — or, at least, from start to Episode 15.

Call It Love: Episodes 15-16

 
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Tags: Call It Love, Hani, Jeon Suk-ho, Kim Ye-won, Kim Young-kwang, Lee Sung-kyung, Nam Ki-ae, Sung Joon

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Funnily enough I think I had an opposite experience to you @dramaddictally with the last 30 minutes of the show! It was a wonder I could see through the tears at the end there, with that violin BGM, soft wind, the lighting, Jigu smiling so brightly like he’d swallowed the damn sun, the expressions, the way time seemed to slow down and stop, everyone else disappearing, the pink haze no longer there. At this point my standards for love have reached beyond the stratosphere, good luck to any future partners hahaha.

I do understand the critique you've raised with the ending though and why it made people feel a little bittersweet - I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a little that way too. I do wish we had more happy Woojoo and Dongjin scenes at the end there. Stylistically though, the ending did make sense to me considering the themes of self-love and healing in particular. The way I read it was that yes the conflict was resolved but they needed to learn how to be happy and comfortable with their own company first before getting together and it was really nice seeing them explore their new found 'emotional' freedom if you will. Plus I did expect this kind of ending to a degree - it feels like a staple of the genre after all too. I just love the leads so much that I was greedy for more, so as a fan it left me a bit wanting but as someone appreciating the overall craft of the plot, I think it was a very poignant and beautiful ending. The look in Dongjin’s eyes when he spotted Woojoo at the concert spoke SO loudly, and I’d much rather that than a timeskip reuniting happened offscreen. Even the final second when they both seemed to brake character felt symbolic of the actual characters breaking free of their restraints finally.

And also - Jigu!! As the eldest sibling myself, my attention naturally fell on the older two out of the three siblings for most of the show. I saw myself in both of them and could totally sympathise with the pressure of feeling like you’re the pillar of the family and mum 2.0 with a sometimes self-appointed (to a degree, because the expectation comes from parents too sometimes) duty to ensure that any younger siblings are on the right path and shielded from ‘the bad stuff’ . So I forget sometimes that that love and concern can be a little suffocating and stifling for the younger one/s and that they’ve grown up too/aren’t little kids anymore and have their own thoughts, dreams and aspirations. So by the end, whilst I liked Woojoo and Hyesung as characters, I think my favourite sibling ended up being Jigu because I really liked his quiet understanding and observations of everything that was going on around him and as well as his love for the family. Whilst Woojoo was expected to be the pillar and Hyesung felt the burden of ‘but I’m the oldest sibling so I should be the pillar’, I think the real glue in the family was Jigu - the way he flitted between mum, his two sisters and Jun to keep the family ‘vibes’ together,...

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...brought a smile to their faces (even if it’s masked by exasperation at his antics) and even his interactions with Dongjin, helping him be a little less lonely and find happiness with Woojoo, it was all really, really sweet and so understated. It’s made me look at my own younger sibling in a new light actually, because when I think back to certain fights or issues in the household, it’s usually my brother who works quietly in the background to make sure everyone is okay and the one that puts a fond smile on our faces at the end of the day. Baby of the family perks I guess 😂

I don’t know how to put into words precisely everything I felt and feel about this drama but I do want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the beanies who posted and shared thoughts from the very beginning - I wouldn’t have given this drama a shot if I hadn’t read all of your lovely opinions - and also to you @dramaddictally for the beautiful recaps. Hands down the most enjoyable part of watching this show was having been able to take the journey with you all 🥰 It brought me genuine happiness waiting for Wednesdays to roll around each week, to share that excitement with everyone and to engage with all of your beautiful perspectives and thoughts. Drama watching can be a bit of a lonely experience sometimes and I’m forever grateful for this wonderful community for making it feel little less lonely ❤️

It's not a comment if I don't make at least one typo - *than a timeskip where the reuniting happened off screen 😂

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@lapislazulii: I want to echo your lovely words. Your point about KD watching really resonated with me as I also don’t have any one in RL to discuss them with. I sometimes wish you and others would materialise from the thin air when I’m watching dramas that I’ve come to like so much or not so much so we could talk and kvetch. You could all then go back to your lives as though it never happened because we will all get amnesia (maintaining the anonymity of the DB and utilising the trope for good!😂. And, rinse and repeat.

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Love your points re discussion. Without the comments here, I'd have no idea how divisive the ending was. On other forums it seems to have passed muster. But beanies have made strong arguments for otherwise. Drama watching is much more fun while having a (civil) passionate discussion.

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JiGu kind of won MVP in the end, didn't he? :D
I didn't see much point in him throughout, and he seemed liked a dumb, goofy but kind chap mostly, but he pulled himself together towards the end, showing far more empathy and playing unexpected machinator to bring the OTPs together.

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He was there in all important moments of the family, being the bridge connecting two sides as if he really didn't know what he was doing, but knowing. As the donsaeng in my family, I relate to this position.

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JiGoo made up for the fact that I fully detested Haesung throughout. In her own sweet way, she is just as selfish as Heeja, and I actually pity Jun for being so lonely that it is worth it for him to give Haesung what she wants. That last, year-later 'oh-by-the-way-mom-thinks-he's-okay' was the last straw.

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I like your theory about the connection to the female gaze!! You know it's good art when it makes you think beyond the story to look at how the story is told and the purposes/potential meanings behind those choices!

My theory is a stretch but I was thinking that maybe it also had something to do with creating a bit of a 'twilight' or 'dusk' feel - that time of the day when the sun either hasn't quite risen hasn't quite set/hasn't quite risen and it feels like time is stuck in a bit of a limbo. It's like you're on the verge of a new day but not just there yet. Maybe to mirror our leads feeling like they're perpetually stuck static in a constantly moving world? Idk but it's fun coming up with theories and reading ones others have come up with!

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interesting theory. I'd definitely like it if the creatives responsible for this decision actually came and discussed this!, so that we understand this choice better.

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@pickleddragon: I hear you. I often wish that DB had the clout to interview the thoughtful creatives behind my favourite dramas. As much as I like to hear from some actors about their process, a fair number of them are empty vessels but the brain power, inspirations and emotional intelligence of some of the creatives intrigues me. Of course, even if interviewing them was a possibility, many of them might not want to open up given the unwritten conventions and the need for caution in their field in SK.

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Definitely, a few disappointing, predictable choices made for these last episodes (a few more for me than you listed). And I also wanted to spend some time with our OTP once they reunited. After so much angst, they deserved happiness, and we deserved to see it!

But, to me, that very last scene was just lovely, exactly the right visual and emotional note for this drama. As the cliche goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, the drama excelled in layering meaning into it:

- Jigu brought them together. I loved his growth esp. towards his sisters; we saw him advance to busking, with the guitar Dongjin purchased, and his eyes led WJ-DJ to see each other. Lovely details.
- The fakeout where it appeared DJ left after not seeing WJ, mirroring their casual/not casual search for each other during their time apart.
- The lovely color palette, so bright and blue. A pop of orange. (I do not miss you, pink filter.) The cinematography of this show, just amazing.
- DJ breaking out of his black uniform, ditching the backpack. She's wearing a cheerful blue. Their clothes tho are still them, not turned into some fashionistas.
- The whole world fading away until it's just them as WJ once wanted.
- Not only seeing them smile, but WJ running and DJ laughing. It would have been satisfying to see them cling, and hug, and cry, romantic music swelling. But we got a happy, playful couple, breaking out of their own reserve and external constraints, exactly what's been missing in their angst-filled relationship.

Those last seconds were so fresh, unexpected. Just wonderful.

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Also, all this while I was in Team Anti-Bangs. I thought I'd want DJ to have a new haircut in his happier incarnation. But I saw some recent KYK interviews, his forehead fully visible. No doubt he's handsome. But I couldn't recognize him. I felt nothing. He wasn't DJ! So, I ended the drama in Team Bangs. :)

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Lol. I waited till the last minute to see KYK’s forehead. Sigh. Until the next drama.

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Thank you for your analysis of the last scene. It makes me feel a little better about that one-year time jump.

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I'd always thought the last moment of the show intro -- after Woo-joo had finished coloring over the happy drawing with black crayon -- looked like a night sky filled with stars (putting an optimistic spin on it as I hoped for an uplifting ending). So, I'll just imagine myself an epilogue in which Woo-joo and Dong-jin, after reuniting at the concert, go to their favorite campground and sit by a fire, at peace with themselves and the world, and then the camera tilts up and we see a starry night sky and the words "Call It Love" appear one last time.

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Yes. I rolled my eyes at the time skip as well. But I think there was a good reason for it (the fall out from the previous episodes was intense and everyone needed time to process) and made good use of it for character growth. It just wasn't terribly interesting the way it was done so I get the complaints.

I think we're all tired of the trope because it's so overly used, and unnecessary. Just top of my head, when the ML goes to the US for school in Our Beloved Summer, or the ML goes to the US for his grandfather's operation in Business Proposal.

Oh hey, at least neither of them went abroad. Camping is way more fun. :)

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The time leap trope is my least favourite. I can’t time leap in real life and hate seeing it in dramas especially in a romance drama. If I’m in “love” with someone I want to be around them or fixing my problems so I can be with them everyday. So much can happen in a year. I wouldn’t have the patience to wait a year for someone. That’s just nonsense. Does anyone actually do this in real life?

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SAME. And in 60+ years of life I've never known any one to "take time to process" unless they were forced to by circumstance (school, work) and then as soon as they could they were together, if they still felt the same. It is especially annoying in cases like this where absolutely NOTHING changes in the time skip: no one had a revelation, became a better person, etc. etc. so why bother.

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that whole world fading away was really well done! the penny dropped a few seconds after I saw the closing scene, but when it did, it was deeply satisfying!

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@indyfan I love your deconstructing that final scene - there is so much to unpack a seemingly familiar finale scene yet all the details are on point, relevant and thoughtful.

The last two episodes feel slow-paced and it may perhaps need a 20-min cut BUT I love it. This drama is on a slow mode anyway (which is part of its charm because those long shots, close ups, taking the time to eat a bowl of noodles, or idling on a bench are all part of what makes this drama great. In terms of the artistic style and directing, it always reminds my another favorite, My Beloved Summer. Through these directing choices, the characters draw us INTO THEIR world, as opposed to we are watching their world.

This is the drama that needs a time jump and one year is the right duration. Yes, no one is stopping these two from being together but I see it as a self-imposing self-censorship. These make absolute sense for these two who always think about other people first and place their own happiness last.

I am so pleased to have watch it due to other Beanies’ comments, as I normally avoid LSK and KKW dramas. Glad the two pull this off and make it a memorable piece. I think KKW’s bowl cut is totally fine - the usual dashing KKW is not what we want to see in DJ as you said.

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I had posted in the open thread that with those last 3 (maybe 3 1/2) episodes you could really start to see the underlying 'K-drama formula' framework showing through. But I didn't really mind. The show gave me what I wanted and they did an excellent job doing it. I knew a time jump was coming and it came for the standard K-drama reasons. The pair had to discover who they were individually before finally coming together stronger (Just like Bong-sun going to Italy to study at the end of 'Oh My Ghostess').

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Another point. I think the series had its 'formula' ending because for the writers Woo-joo renouncing vengeance was the true series climax, the whole point for the story being told, not the romance. The rest was just tying up loose ends.

The worst Kdrama ending I ever saw was 'Lovers of the Red Sky'. It seemed like they had lost the final episode script and told to cast to randomly improvise something to fill the last 40 minutes.

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More kisses, please!

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Rightt
Was it too much to expect one final kiss from our leads😭

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My thoughts after the show ended were:
#1 - high rewatch value
#2 - definitely a classic
#3 - my drama of the year (yes, I'm calling it now)

It was not a perfect drama by any means, and had many flaws (pink; central premise - of house/dad/evil mom was a #fail; unnecessary time jump, unjustified noble idiocy).

But it got more things right than wrong, not least the visual storytelling part. IMO, scriptwriting credit should go to a larger team than just the scriptwriter, because of how evocative the show was visually, every frame was practically a painting, very intentionally crafted, and beautifully filmed. (*ignores pink again*)

Thank you for a great ride which I'll be going on again soon!

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Yup, this is my drama of the year too (for now).

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YES...and then My Dearest came along and Twinkling Watermelon. 2023 was a good year!

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I'm with you. For all my quibbles, when I think of my overall impression, this is my favorite show thus far of 2023, nothing comes close. It's going to set a high bar for another show to scale.

It might also be because romantic melo is my jam. It doesn't seem as popular genre these days, and littered with failure. When I think of those, this show's faults are minimal in comparison with what it gets right even in the last episode.

To each their own, but to want to wipe away Episode 16 entirely, I just don't get. It was imperfect, it wasn't an utter, spectacular fail. I reserve that for shows like DDSSLLS.

I'll rewatch CIL too one day, really right till the last joyous leap.

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Agree with everything you said, and I'll definitely add this to my rewatch list, which I deliberately limit to about 10% of everything I've watched. Some on that list I've already watched several times, and some I'm still keeping for a rainy day (or season).

Some titles on that list:
- My Mister - this one is in that latter category for me - fantastic, but not the easiest watch, but I will return to it
- Our Beloved Summer - a fave of min and have already watched it twice
- Oh My Ghostess - both the main couple and the sous-chefs are just so darned cute (even though I could do without the evil spirit sub plot)
- One Spring Night - I love the main couple, and the ML's son and parents, but skip all the scenes with the FL's manipulative ex, overbearing father and the sister's abusive husband
- Search WWW - for the girl power, although I'm not one myself, but I love seeing it in K-dramas
- also Business Proposal, Still 17, Touch your Heart / Reach of Sincerity, Hi Bye Mama

Looking at my list I find I gravitate towards rom-coms and shows with empathetic characters, and away from school bullies, pushy parents, victim-blaming and gratuitous murder sub-plots.

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Thanks so much for the recaps and comments, but before I read any beanie comments I have to say I totally disagree with you about the time jump. To me it was a perfect. No matter what mum and the rest of the family thought, Woo Joo needed time to process everything that happened and the place she was now, and the same can be applied to Dong Jin. After being separated for one year and being actually happy on their own, they can be together knowing that the other can only add to their actual happiness. One year before they both were hurt souls, and now they are healed. On their own. And this I love because it tells me that the first way to happiness is finding the balance inside.

I loved the way Jun confessed to Haesung, and the way he proposed to her, so in character. They are a well balanced couple.

As for the rest of the characters, I'm glad we never knew whatever happened to HeeJa, probably because writer couldn't really deal with it. I mean, giving filial piety in Korean society, HeeJa will forever be an issue in DongJin's life until she passes away.

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I like your insight on hurt souls to healed souls. That really applied to all of the characters. However, I don't think an entire year time skip was necessary but I suppose Heeja's legal battle could have taken that long. I think she was written out of the ending because the characters wrote her out of their lives--as much as they possibly could. Anyway, we were there for the angst and their story was completed in the ending by resolving angst to happiness.

I LOVED seeing DJ & WJ smiling as the ending. I can't imagine how the reunion dialogue would have proceeded.

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Usually for final episode comments I restrict myself to overall impressions - which would mean a glowing comment on how much I loved this show and how physically beautiful and delightfully understated it was.

But I feel nonetheless compelled to say I felt there was something missing from this finale. I'm not even entirely sure what this is. I hesitate to say 'catharsis' because generally its commitment to anti-climax was one of its best qualities.

After thinking about it at some length, I think it's the show's attempt to waltz around the mother issue as though if they box step past the hole we won't notice it's there.

I think this was inevitable when they set up the mother issue as an unresolvable barrier or at least an immovable one. Not knowing how this relationship would work with his mother in it, the show just ignored it. There was a reason his previous engagement couldn't survive his mother and it wasn't just the lack of communication and his inherent passiveness.

I guess I wanted to see some hint of precisely how this couple was going to navigate the continued presence of this woman in their lives. Because she is 100% going to be in their guest room with a suitcase within two years. She's going to be appalling at their wedding. She's going to show up if/when they have kids and make it all about her. And in all of these scenarios, Woojoo's family - especially her mother - are going to have to deal with her as well.

Dramas tends to use time jumps to pretend they've dealt with issues they haven't and, while I think this is one of the few shows where a time jump was absolutely necessary, it doesn't change that in this one thing they've definitely used it this way.

And so while I unreservedly love this show and pretty well think it stuck its landing, I'm left feeling a slight dissatisfaction.

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Parents issues are non-resolvable unfortunately, especially in the context of Asian family issues.

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Asian family values.

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Yes, that was quite the missing piece. A braver drama would have shaded the happy ending with the understanding they come with complications.

I will give credit to the show, however, for not giving a last-minute, unbelievable, redemption arc to Heeja, even if it left them with a dilemma they failed to resolve.

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Hmmm. I actually thought they resolved the mom issue the best they can. We saw some signs of reform (but not a complete character shift) and that she did care of Dong Jin and her last shameless act was indeed a desperate attempt to save herself from going to jail.

Will she return? I don’t know. May be or may be not. Will she want to come back and face the family? Her discomfort when she faced her old friend was obvious. So I don’t think she will come back to face that family.

Yea Dong Jin might have to support her financially if she reaches out again but I doubt she wants to crawl back because she wants to be family again.
And even if she does visit it won’t be to endlessly take (as seen from the scene where she did cleaning and laundry for her son, for the first time in her life.). She will give back. It won’t be her last time.

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She said was going to try to do better, not disappear. She hasn't gone anywhere.

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I thought the solution to the Heeja problem was refusal to continue hating. The Dong-Jin approach was to acknowledge that he had no control over her, avoid her as much as possible, and try to keep her from ruining his own happiness. Forgiveness was the theme and by replacing hate with forgiveness they could proceed with life on their own terms.

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I'm also very disappointed with the ending. I hoped they would have an ending like IOTNBO where they would go camping together, so they could heal together, leaving everyone else behind. I don't understand why they needed to be apart, storywise that doesn't make sense. I also didn't like the end scene, because it felt like it was the actors not the characters, the characters have never been playful, I don't see why they would be now.

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Totally agree on the ending scene, to me it totally looks like it was just actors goofing around, which they left as a sort of fun behind-the-scenes for the finale. Because if that was intended for the characters, then they really should have included some sparks of that playfulness before, however overall gloooomy they needed them to be until the end.

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I just typed the same thing below about the ending seeming like the actors goofing off and not a real intend end to the show. I mean, KWK is literally backing away from her, lol, which doesn't seem like something Dong-jin would have done.

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Totally agree with you on this one. A disappointing ending. I’ve rewritten the ending in my head with ML & FL off camping together living their best lives perhaps selling camping good’s & driving off into a pink sunset in a cool looking Ute/truck with a roof top camper. Not that stereotypical campervan thing they had the ML in.
The house was sold with the profits split between the siblings. Also the mother spends some time in jail & sister has time on her own learning to love herself.
Can’t believe the sister could watch the FL be so unhappy for a whole year and even gets herself engaged and then just randomly says one day “oh yeah mum wants to cook for the ML sometime”. What was that? How selfish was that sister? That slap across the cheek ruined me. I would never ever think of doing that to one of my sisters and I have 3

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I liked Jun's character. And also thought HS was memorable as well. But together, nope.
Even though they had cute moments in the last episode, the show didn't sell the road to their relationship to me. I also wanted HS to take time off from relationships and learn to be by herself. And also value her friendship with Jun again rather than toss him away. And, his falling for her under pressure felt so uncomfortable to me.

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I had the same issue. Haesung was still selfish Haesung, and in the end she got Jun to acquiesce to her ultimatum: be my boyfriend or I'll make sure you are lonely. The proposal scene, I just felt sorry for him because she will not be easy to live with and he is going to be a doormat for life. After that slap, I needed some major growth on her part to be team Haesung and it never happened.

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She called it though...was he just getting married to avoid boredom?

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I loved Call It Love to the end.

The meal that Hyun-ju and Dong-jin shared gave me hope that she doesn't disapprove of him. It was also loving and tender and kind.

Ji-gu is following his dreams of being in music.

Sun-woo fitting into the shoes Dong-jin's shoes. Ms Baek Soo-hee becoming Deputy CEO(I expected this already and would throw a fit if she didn't move up Best Fair's hierarchy.

Min-young going back to work.

Call It Love? flirting with Sun-woo and Min-young till the end. You know what? This two are a couple in my books. But I liked that CIL acknowledged the growing feelings that were springing up.

Joon and Hye-sung ☺️☺️☺️. I just have nothing but a wish they stay happy together for a very long time, till they get frail.

Good bye, Call It Love? 👋🏽👋🏽

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Sun Woo and Min Young’s progression was so well done. The way she put him at ease (after she figured he was a bit upset) was subtle yet so telling. What a steadfast friend Sun Woo turned out to be.
This show really gave us some solid secondary characters.

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Thank you @dramaddictally for writing exactly what I thought of these last two episodes.

They started out so beautifully with Woo-joo putting Dong-jin's feelings before her own, pleading with her mother not to hurt him anymore.
It followed with the best part, for me at least, with Woo-joo making peace with Hee-ja, for her own self and not because she is a parent and an elder who under Kdrama rules are always forgiven, never mind how evil they were. Freeing herself from hate is such a big step. Also recognizing that her father is the one responsible for all of Woo-joo's and her family's pain.

And then, after all that heavy lifting has been done and love has been declared, they break up. To heal, apparently, because, for reasons I can never understand, healing has to be done alone, as if being in a caring, loving relationship is detrimental to it.

The drama's slow pace was never a problem for me, but these two episodes did drag a little too much. But I really liked Joon's marriage proposal!

Great acting and wonderful cinematography make this drama a cut above the rest.

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Which, *flips table*, someone could have told her a year ago!
Lol, I totally get your frustration here.
Dramas need to be a bit more sensitive about these year jumps. You have to connect your audience to the time lapse. Otherwise, it'll feel rather forced.

Anyway, the drama did good overall. Specially all the characters were layered & didn't have any drastic angel-to-devil character developments to my delight.
The pink filter was an issue for me at first, but I grew to embrace it ( ngl, it made some scenes set at night rather warmer)
The story was pretty laid back (You can get the whole idea from just the key synopsis. & that's all happens throughout the whole 16 episodes). If you are in for a slow burn romance melodrama binge, only then I can recommend it.

However, the chemistry between the leads was palpable till the end. ( Ahh we needed more of episode 12 ish thingsss)

Finally, I'm happy with the ending ( though not very satisfied). At least it didn't go for an open ending which has become a trend of 2023 dramas.

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Well said @Emily Hewitt!

I'm done with open endings so this one provided us with minimal satisfaction.

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Ah...it's been a year already ! & talking about open endings, I'll never forget what 'Interest of love' did to me after weeks of stress 😤 ( although I'm not complaining, the ending was suitable for the tone of the show)

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Thank you @dramaddictally for the wonderful recaps. It’s been a wonderful journey watching this along with you and other lovely beanies.

I did not have an issue with time jump. I read it differently. It was time for everyone to heal and face each other. Dong Jin and Woo Joo’s family needed time to reconcile. And somehow I thought it was Hye-Sung who needed that time. And that WooJoo needed her entire family to be healed before she can do anything. In fact I think that Jun played a role here. I loved his conversation asking her how the neighborhood is after a year. And Woo Joo says it would be weird if things change in a year. I loved the subtext there. The friends get each other. And Jun knew she can never get over Dong Jin. I feel right after this he has nudged Hye-Sung to let go of her hatred towards that woman and that’s how she came around.

My favorite part of the last two episodes is Woo Joo’s healing. Hatred and anger was self destructive and the fact that she realized it and chose to let go of it was such a liberating scene. And how she recognized that it was her father who had wronged her the most but that it was easier to hate a third person. This scene was perfect to me. It was the ending I wanted for Woo Joo.

To me both Woo Joo and Dong Jin lived miserably that they finally figured to find happiness being with themselves. Like Woo Joo learned to enjoy her job and even have career aspirations. And Dong Jin just looked happy camping and working with his camping friend.

The ending was sweet. I loved it. Fin.

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I agree, Woo-Joo was waiting for Hye-Sung to say it was ok. Everyone else in the family had made their peace with it, Hye-Sung was the last one

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First, @dramaddictally thanks for that great last episode recap. Count me on the disappointing ending side for a drama with emotionally complex themes and characters, and just sensational cinematography and use of sets. The one feature of Joon's house, the wall sconce with the cactus underneath, was just a striking visual metaphor.

I had emotional problems with the ending--everyone in the family got a full happy ending except Woo Joo (and the Mom); like many, I wanted a full happy ending with the main couple; the YEAR time skip was totally unnecessary, even given the idea that they needed to be apart for things to calm down--a couple of months seems like enough to me! given that the sister had her own happy ending way before!; the good Mom really disappointed me, knowing that Dongjin was a good guy who helped right things, but still telling Woo Joo the pain from the break up will pass, and not giving a strong indication of tacit approval to their love; plus the year time skip really made me doubt Dongjin's own love--sure, there was noble idiocy, but not to reach out ONCE even in a text to see how Woo Joo was doing, while he was yukking it up with his new boss? Of course I knew we were NOT going to get another kiss, since the show was clearly going to observe the only one kiss rule in kdramas.

But thematically, I also didn't like it. I really appreciated the message that revenge is unsatisfying in every way, especially given the spate of revenge dramas, so that was well realized. But I also like the way the show was showing the pros and cons of acting impulsively but genuinely vs. patient and thoughtful inaction. The passivity of Woo Joo at the end, counter to her previous impulsivenes, was understandable given her continuing sacrifice for her family, but Dongjin's was not, and came awfully close to repeating the year he tolerated his previous girlfriend cheating on him. So in the end, I felt the usual kdrama last scenes let down. Still a very worthwhile show, though!

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I was thinking Dong-jin would fight for them, after Hyun-ju gave a subtle approval that she's fine with them acting on how they feel about each other. If it were me, I'll joyfully slip that recommendation letter from Mom into Woo-joo's head when they met to plan their last hangout and hope she factors it in in whatever she wants to decide. Having a stamped seal of approval and not using it is kinda noble idiocy when I think about it again.

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Maybe this was it, the continuation of Dong-joo's general passivity. Perhaps what I was missing from the final episode was some kind of action.
I think the problem here is that Dong-joo has internalised the idea that a relationship with him will never work because of his mother and as far as I can tell that is unchanged. Nobody said to him, "Hey things this time could be different" and the show acted as though it wasn't an issue when they spent a great deal of time telling us that it was. That was the real core conflict as far as I could see and that was skirted around.

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The problem for me is that they didn't act. They waited for permission. The other characters decided for them. I struggled undestanding why they had to part. They never really talked about it so it looked like a big taboo. I decided it was one of those Korean things difficult to understand. But then the sister says: "well, mom kind of like him, did you know? Oh shoot, you didn't." And that solves everything? It was kind of clear from the start that mom didn't really hate him. So why? The time jump it's okay with me... they needed to clear their minds and set their lives in order. But after that let them be proactive and take the decision to be together. But I agree that the drama had to put the characters in a complicated position in the end... difficult to solve properly.

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Yeah it's not like Mum didn't want her to be with him because of anything to do with him.

Maybe if it was her Mum who came to her and said, "I was really angry and it dredged up everything again and I couldn't handle the thought of that woman being in our lives on an ongoing basis but now I've had some time to calm down I've realised that you and he shouldn't be punished for other's crimes and so if you want to be together then you should do it and not worry about me."

That would have better resolved one half of the equation at least. The other half (his insecurities) are a giant land mine in the middle of their relationship just waiting to explode the second his mother gets out of line - which she will.

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Well put. I absolutely agree. And that would have worked really well for this story. But also the two of them being able to say that what happened was in the past and they deserved to have their own happines would have worked. In the end, being kind with everyone won't always solve everything. It's okay to give up revenge and let the past go, but you also need the strenght to make your decision and choose your own path. What if no one had said anything? Would they have let their relationship fall apart just to not upset anyone? Maybe not... but that is the doubt the drama left us with.

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This. I couldn't believe it that they didn't act. I was very disappointed with Woo-joo waiting for her sister to say it was okay. And DJ not doing anything. I really wanted them to go camping together, and I hate long time skips. I think you can get your self together and be with someone or take a month or two, find that new job etc, and then be with someone.

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Overall, I think it was a good drama. The writing, the story, the characters were good and the actors did a very good job. I would have liked however less angst and brooding and more time with the leads finally together as a unit and with the Sim family. I understand they could have needed time apart but, still I think they could have done without. I liked the messages it gave on forgiveness, revenge (revenge does not quite satisfy and mostly ends up eating up the person seeking it), happiness, self-love, being true and honest with oneself ( so appreciated Haesung for that. She knew her flaws and was not afraid to voice them, to show her vulnerability). It was a good one and though I would have changed a bit of the orientation for the 4 last episodes, I am glad I watched it. It will be among my favorites this year so far (I have dropped so many, it is among the very few I looked forward to watching).

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This show definitely earned its spot in my Top Five Dramas of all time list, but I wish the ending had been more decisively happy. Five more minutes would have done it, honestly. Additionally, 15 and 16 were the only set of episodes in the entire series where I felt the writers didn't sufficiently resolve a conflict or problem they had set up so carefully. Namely, the Sim mom's disapproval of Woo-joo and Dong-jin's relationship.

We saw Mom flat-out tell Woo-joo that she couldn't be with the man she loves, and that one day she'd wake up and be over him and that's that. Although I did overall respect the mom character and understand her pain, I was more frustrated with her than other viewers, I think. However well-intentioned and based on the fact that she was the victim of cruelty on the part of Dong-jin's mother and based on her own sincere and undeserved pain, her nothing to my mind justified her causing Woo-joo and Dong-jin this much heartache. I couldn't get over the feeling that she was punishing them because she couldn't punish the people who had truly hurt her, and that didn't sit well with me.

But then, by the end of the year time skip, it seems like we're supposed to understand that Woo-joo's mom not only changed her thinking, but also did so a year ago. Which means these two didn't have to break up at all! In some dramas, it makes sense for characters to take time for themselves and then reunite, but it wasn't the right solution for these two. They had already suffered and grown so much, and learned that what made them happiest was being together. What's the point, then, of making them find professional and personal fulfillment without each other before they could reunite?

We needed either to see a) a pre-time skip confrontation where Woo-joo, Doo-jin, or the siblings (or even Jun!) provoked or revealed Mom's change of heart and/or b) a moment post-time skip where we saw Mom have this revelation on her own so she formally reaches out to Dong-jin and/or Woo-joo and gives them her blessing. Letting Dong-jin know he was welcome to ask for food any time he wanted (an offer she must have known he'd never take her up on out of courtesy to everyone) was not sufficient.

But I am thankful we can safely assume Woo-joo and Dong-jin are, and will stay, together by the end. I'm so used to bad, sad, or open endings lately that I feel real gratitude for the fact that I didn't have to guess. And yet, I wish there had been something more as the characters and viewers both deserved it.

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"I'm so used to bad, sad, or open endings lately that I feel real gratitude for the fact that I didn't have to guess."

Yes! I think the bar has been set so low with the ending of some recent romance dramas (not looking back at you TiOL, neither at you Strangers Again) that this ending was a relief. At the very least, it was clear cut, and also, whatever else, visually arresting.

But then, the bar had already been set high by the show's earlier episodes, and if it didn't provide the ending you hoped for (particularly for many beanies, less tropes and many more moments in the HEA for the OTP), then it'd be disappointing.

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I agree with all your points. Loved this show but last 2 episodes have frustrated me. I was wondering if it’s a cultural thing why I couldn’t understand why the characters acted the way they did. I usually come here to Dramabeans when I struggle to understand a Kdrama especially understanding Korean family values. Most recently I needed a recap on One Spring Day as I couldn’t understand the fathers actions in this drama. That behaviour is totally foreign to me.
The Sim mums behaviour and actions made me just as confused but for different reasons. Surely she could have given her daughter the nod of approval herself and not left it up to her eldest daughter to past on the message that she was going to be okay with their relationship?
I don’t approve of my own daughters relationship but I would never stop her from finding her happiness even if I think it will end in tears, which I’m sure it will, but she is happy right now and that is all that matters to me. We all need to walk our own path no matter how rocky it is.

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Count me amongst the disappointed. I wanted WJ to run to DJ many other times before the final scene. Why not run to him as he walked away after giving her the will? Why not run to her as they parted after their walk along the trail? But my best would have been her running to him as he sat in his tent in the rain near the end of the show. What a great scene that would have been! I needed a loving camping scene. The "run to" scene at the end was not enough. We didn't even get to see the embrace at the end of the run. Okay, I admit it. I just wanted more WJ and DJ at the end. I really loved this series but I feel a bit cheated that I got more Haesong and Jun romance than WJ and DJ.

I'm also still upset about WJ's family's response to DJ. So a year later, Haesong decides it's okay to tell WJ she's free to see DJ. Huh?

I want more WJ and DJ! We need a season 2. Now!

Okay, I loved the series, these two characters and the wonderful actors. I just want more of them!

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The fact that that run-to scene resulted in them both literally running out of the frame is what killed it for me. It was the perfect representation of the whole strategy of the final episode, which seemed to be to deny the characters and the audience of what they wanted to explicitly see right up until the very end. In fact, my first impression with that scene was that it was just the two actors goofing around and the camera happened to catch it, but they fell out of frame because it wasn't supposed to be filmed. I'm not saying that's what happened, just that it seemed that way, and largely because the show seemed so determined to not give us a real final reunion scene for reasons I truly don't understand.

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Ah well, another annoying ending to an otherwise perfectly enjoyable series. Can someone with connections please pass on the message that these long break-ups are good for exactly nothing ? And characters like the bad mom don't change, they should be broken with, complztely.

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I don't think I've ever felt satisfied with time jumps. They always feel abrupt and whatever feelings I have about the story and the characters' predicament have not had time to catch up with those of the characters who've lived through those years and possibly gained a different perspective and whose feelings may (or may not) have dimmed somewhat.

As for no one bothering to tell Woo-hoo, given that she ended the relationship almost exclusively out of a sense of familial duty, I agree it was rather infuriating they didn't bother to tell her earlier that they weren't actually seriously against Dong-jin after all. Did she have to somehow "earn" the right to be with him through delayed gratification? Did anyone doubt the sincerity and depth of their feelings?

I do see the point that they got to prove to themselves and the viewers that they had grown and were able to live full lives on their own, although Dong-jin seemed to manage better during that year. I guess he got to go off on a road trip though, and all that nature must be good for the soul or something... (Besides, between what Hyun-Joo had said over dinner and Ji-gu keeping in touch, he must have had a sense that all was not lost.) Woo-joo, on the other hand, looked more like she was just hanging on and at most managing not to be (outwardly) miserable. I guess she looked somewhat happy at work, or at least satisfied from a professional point of view? However, it was a beautiful contrast to see how happy they were to finally meet again at the end, and how they were suddenly so alive again, and we got a lovely visual representation of her earlier wish as the world around them literally fell away and all they and we could see were the two of them beaming at each other.

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Re-reading my comment, I realize my comment was nearly all gripes. I still love the series (10-star rating from me) and was not unhappy after ep 16 either.

One thought I had about the show's approach to common tropes was when Dong-jin heard the end of Woo-joo's phone call at the end of ep. 14 / beginning of ep. 15. The coincidence of him overhearing her call is a bit of a stretch, realistically, but what was so refreshing to me is that in nearly all other series, such coincidences lead to MIS-understandings and unnecessary drama. Here it just served to cement their unwavering trust in each other.

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What a beautiful drama! I too am a little sad that we didn't get more time with our happily reconciled couple, but I actually disagree that the time skip wasn't necessary. And I'm as surprised by it as you, because I am an avid time-skip-hater.

Generally, I hate time-skips because they either a) make it feel like all the hard work was done off-screen, b) create an artificial stagnation in our character's growth, or c) feel like a lazy way of saying "Look, see how sad they are when they're apart. That continues!! They will be miserable apart, so we have to get them together!" For me, Call it Love's time-skip didn't do any of that. We still got to see the hard-won growth (a), but we also saw them continue to pursue happy lives (b). Most startling for me, actually, was that this time skip seemed to work exactly OPPOSITE of my last complaint (c).

Unlike any other drama time-skip I can think of, the jump in this drama truly showed us that our main couple improved each other's lives. This drama doesn't make us feel like the other way this character could leave a satisfying life is with this one person (a rather disempowering message, even if it feels romantic on the surface). Instead, while we still feel the absence of the other character, I felt like this time skip really highlighted the healing nature of the drama and relationship. From seeing them a year later, I could tell that they both really had gotten to a better place due to the influence of the other person, even without them physically present. It really made Woo-joo's "If I hadn’t met you, I’d be walking backward for the rest of my life" line hit home -- we saw them move forward, which is something they couldn't have done before falling in love with each other. I left the time skip convinced that these two were Good for each other and that they could be even better when they were fully together.

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I agree that the last episode, although satisfying and logical, lacked the intensity I was hoping for from a couple so deeply in love, and I really don't understand how they could all stay apart for a year. I was so impressed with the superb acting of the extremely charismatic male lead, I looked up his biography and saw some of the other dramas he has been in and by chance, turned on something called "Somebody", I very nearly fell of my sofa!

Having moaned gently about the squeaky-clean and sanitised portrayal of most Korean drama love-scenes - the perfect hair, lipstick and makeup all still in place from beginning to end, where nothing but the occasional bra-strap (still on in bed) indicates that the couple have been intimate (and I'm not complaining, I certainly don't want American-style love-scenes which are FAR too graphic). I absolutely could not believe my eyes!!! In episode 5 we see our gentle Dong-Jin in an extremely graphic scene where - I kid you not - he is absolutely stripped for action, but fortunately not too explicit. What will NOT surprise anyone is that he has the most incredibly perfect male body you could possibly imagine, to the extent that when my always adorable husband came to bed that evening I found myself regarding him, for once, with a certain amount of dissatisfaction.

Sadly, from my point of view Episode 5 was as far as I got, as it is an extremely dark and violent story which I found very disturbing. It is only 8 or ten episodes but five were enough for me. No idea how it ends but I felt it was getting more violent all the time. So, dear ladies, my impression - and it is an impression based solely on watching Dramas - that Korean men are perfect little gentlemen who perform once at night (briefly), place their lady on their outstretched arm and fall promptly asleep, and who never make love in the morning........well, I've changed my ideas. Watch Episode 5, and you might change yours too. Just saying..........:-)

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Also I love Hye Sung co workers especially the girl who is getting married . When they first appeared I was afraid they are gonna be catty but instead we get an understanding coworkers who checked their remarks and also push Hye Sung to improve herself.

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I thought I was done, but here I am with another comment. LOL.

So, time skip trope, overdone, yes. But made somewhat sense to me here because a bomb had gone off in their family thanks to them. The drama did well to show the leads learning to be happy during this time, but it could have shown why the family needed this time as well for the forced separation to make sense.

- WJ's mum accepted DJ-WJ relationship far too quickly. I could see her logically wanting too, liking DJ, but also needing time for the emotional turmoil to settle. The old wound had just been reopened (and maybe was never fully healed). Also, if it took some time for her mom to settle, it would make sense for WJ to wait a little longer before returning to DJ. Family means all to her.

- DJ could have used the time to learn how to manage his toxic mother. For himself, yes, but also so she did not impact his relationship with WJ as she had with MY. He started with an honest conversation, but it was only the first step of a long process. WJ learned to appreciate kindness and forgiveness from him. He could have learned the value of a little backbone from her.

- For her sister as well, I didn't like the quickie relationship with Jun. It would have been nice if Haesung had taken the time to love herself without being in a relationship, given space to Jun to process his feelings. And I wanted more meaningful reconciliation between the sisters after HS exploded on her, rather than the, Oh, I got the house and boy so you can be happy as well.

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Thank you @dramaddictally for expressing all my frustration with the ending.

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I really liked episodes 1 through 6. But then the drama somehow wound down, and incredibly had TEN more episodes, when 3 or 4 would have sufficed. Weird.

By the way, what does everybody mean with "healing"? The term frequently pops up in drama discussions (like here), but... What does it *mean*?

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I liked this drama a lot but I'd love a chance to re-write that final episode... It made no sense for them to be apart and while I feel that the conflict was essentially resolved, that doesn't mean that Dong-Jin's evil mother wouldn't have been a problem for their future together.

I would have liked snapshots of the two of them together, just being happy for once as well as how they might learn to deal with Hee-Ja when she inevitably causes trouble or is insensitive towards them.

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February 2024. Thanks for the review and all of the comments. To me this drama will always be "My Mister + romance."

Binge-watching a series provides a different sense of a drama versus watching week-to-week. I LOVED this drama. The revenge & hate versus forgiveness & healing theme was just perfectly done. Both of our leads learned to let go of hate (WJ) & shame (DJ) and to love themselves & each other. It had lots of good angst, not dreadful or suspenseful angst; it had romantic angst.

Rant: Unfortunately, Kdramas have now set the bar so low that time skips are almost a mandatory method for plot resolution; any kind of an "actual ending," even if it is merely implied, has become acceptable and even palatable. That said, this time skip sort of worked--why a year rather than a few months because who goes camping for an entire year?--and the smiles--why a few seconds barely in the screen?--in the last few seconds sort of satisfied. (I did love the "only us" scene). In this drama, suddenly the siblings approved and quickly (sister-mother comment and brother alerting DJ the "coast is clear") cleared a path to reunion. Missed opportunities.... So, I remain in the camp that a good story ends with closure. CLOSURE--one of the techniques that Kdrama need more of; the lack of closure is their weakness, a fail. I don't care for implied endings or off-screen/after-the-credits endings, to-be-continued endings, etc. Unfortunately, it now seems that producers/directors are picking up on the trend towards let-the-viewer-figure-it-out endings--here's looking at you "Doona!" where the PD actually filmed but cut the last scene. Seriously!

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You just put the right word for a must add ingredient for finales, that is - Closure. I love it when dramas take their sweet time to wrap the ending perfectly ( not meaning dragging, though). Some of my favourite
well done endings with perfect closures are "It's ok to not be ok" , "Little Women", "Our Beloved Summer ".

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