Side dish: If you’re going to commit career suicide, do it for pork belly. Tomorrow is Canada Day, so try this Maple Glazed Pork Belly with Crispy Crackling and Chipotle Aioli to celebrate any possible permanent vacation.
Episode Recap
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Hae Young (Seo Hyun Jin) is blissfully happy hanging out at home with Do Kyung (Eric Mun) for the month of June. They stay fully clothed on the bed together, and watch TV while stuffing their faces with ramen. Once the window to danger is over, Hae Young and Do Kyung go see his doctors who cannot confirm that Do Kyung will be safe even though he no longer has visions. Hae Young proposes that she and Do Kyung live together, but he suggests a marriage proposal instead.
Do Kyung’s stepbrother, Hoon (Heo Jeong Min) receives news that their sound production studio has been released from seizure. The team’s elation is short lived as they realize that they must haul their heavy equipment back to the studio.
Hae Young’s ex-fiancé, Tae Jin (Lee Jae Yoon) sends Do Kyung a text of reassurance before coolly taking his leave of a thwarted Chairman Jang. Shortly thereafter, Do Kyung’s mother, Ji Ya (Nam Gi Ae) arrives to manhandle Chairman Jang for messing with her son. Chairman Jang finds himself oddly attracted to Ji Ya, but Ji Ya threatens to put an end to him if they ever meet again.
Soo Kyung (Ye Ji Won) is fighting pregnancy induced nausea on a public bus when she asks a student for his seat, and he obliges. She is met at the bus stop by an embarrassed Jin Sang (Kim Ji Seok) while the community safety ladies watch on approvingly. The couple walk home together making awkward small talk, and struggling to figure out how to hold each other. When they get home, Jin Sang dips Soo Kyung, but fails to follow up with a kiss. A frustrated Jin Sang later bids Soo Kyung good night more vehemently.
Hae Young is at dinner with her mother, Duk Yi (Kim Mi Kyung) and father when she tearfully announces that she wants to marry Do Kyung. Duk Yi is speechless, then ushers Hae Young to pack and leave her house immediately. Hae Young then wails for her parents’ consent, knowing that Do Kyung will not take her without it. Duk Yi puts Hae Young’s sobs to a stop by marching her to Do Kyung’s.
Jin Sang laments to Do Kyung that the unprecedented level of respect he holds for Soo Kyung is getting in the way of easy physical intimacy. However, Do Kyung is not even listening, disgusted at his own timid proposal of marriage to Hae Young. Do Kyung promptly drives off to find Hae Young, unaware that Hae Young is on her way to his place; Hae Young is whining in a cab at an irate Duk Yi to put on a happy face when she pretends to give her consent.
Luckily, Do Kyung’s car comes face-to-face with the cab after he goes down a one way street the wrong way. Do Kyung instantly falls to his knees to ask for Hae Young’s hand in marriage. Hae Young’s father graciously gives his consent, while Duk Yi is all business. She tells them to simply live together immediately, hugs Do Kyung and promptly leaves without giving Hae Young a second look until her taxi is almost gone.
As soon as they are inside his home, Hae Young and Do Kyung get amorous, unaware that Jin Sang is struggling to get out of their way without being noticed by Hae Young. The couple are interrupted by Soo Kyung looking for Jin Sang. She spots his shoes, and Jin Sang is forced to emerge from his hiding spot. Jin Sang almost exposes Hae Young and Do Kyung’s plans to live together then marry to Soo Kyung, but manages to keep her in the dark. Instead, Jin Sang goes for a limber walk with Soo Kyung.
With the help of his girlfriend, An Na (Heo Young Ji), Hoon manages to get his script into the hands of a movie director ( (a cameo from Oh Man Seok) but is ordered to give a verbal synopsis on the spot. The director is impressed by Hoon’s frenetic energy, and gives Hoon the go ahead to inform producer, Hee Ran (Ha Shi Eun) that he has agreed to do his script. During the meeting with Hee Ran, An Na outlines her efforts to woo the director and sings Hoon’s praises as Hoon withers under Hee Ran’s gaze.
Hae Young calls up Duk Yi to ask if she will come with her to meet Do Kyung’s mother. Duk Yi makes no promises and hangs up on her. Meanwhile, fearing that his future son-in-law is ill, Hae Young’s father is dictating health tonic recipes to a confused Do Kyung before hanging up on him without further explanation. Later, poor soft-hearted Duk Yi drops off a supply of home made side dishes at Do Kyung’s door along with a letter asking that he and Hae Young stay committed to each other.
Do Kyung and Hae Young finally get around to revealing their plans to live together until marriage to Soo Kyung. Soo Kyung then drops her own bombshell that she and Jin Sang are not only dating, but expecting. An Na and Hoon top off this happy, revelatory moment with news of Hoon’s professional success.
Duk Yi does show up to lunch with Do Kyung’s mother, Ji Ya and the couple stay silent as Duk Yi defends their decision to live together before marriage. When Ji Ya won’t shut about about the impropriety of the situation, Do Kyung reveals that unmarried Soo Kyung is pregnant. Ji Ya goes quiet though she is pleased when she later learns that Jin Sang is the father.
Jin Sang is indeed quite the catch, being a man who is willing to be called away from work to unclog the toilet after both Hoon and Soo Kyung are unable to do it. Soo Kyung cannot help but share her mortification at forcing Jin Sang to deal with her poo when a teary Ji Ya calls to confirm her pregnancy. Ji Ya reassures her that Jin Sang will make a good husband, but Soo Kyung fears that romance is dead.
Do Kyung only has love on the mind as he skips out early on a business dinner in order to cater to Hae Young’s pork belly cravings. He tells her that the meeting ended early, but she inadvertently learns the truth from Hoon. Rather than worry that Do Kyung is damaging his career, Hae Young is pleased.
After learning of Soo Kyung’s pregnancy, An Na declares Soo Kyung and Jin Sang a cool couple, because they are conducting their relationship in reverse, with the baby coming first and the declaration of love coming last. Soo Kyung overhears An Na convincing Hoon and Jin Sang of the couple’s cool factor, and seems quite pleased. Later, Jin Sang slips An Na and Hoon some money, pleased to have fooled Soo Kyung into some peace of mind. The couple slowly become comfortable engaging in skinship during their nightly limber walks.
A happy Hae Young meets up with Tae Jin one final time during which he posits that his role was to simply help her find a better man than him. She also finally relents to having a drink with her former nemesis, pretty Hae Young (Jeon Hye Bin). Despite the convivial mood, pretty Hae Young wisely decides not to attend Hae Young and Soo Kyung’s wedding, and to find another job.
Do Kyung is waiting for Hae Young outside a possible wedding venue when he notices petals raining down on him and a billboard announcing the death of singer, Lee Byung Joon. Both are hallmarks of his recurring vision of his own demise, so when a car being chased by cops comes barreling around the corner, Do Kyung stands in the street, ready to receive the inevitable. The car hits Do Kyung and sends him flying into the air. Do Kyung lands on the ground and notices that, unlike his vision, it is daytime, and he knows that Hae Young is happy. He waits for Hae Young to come hold his hand, finally able to understand that no one wants to die alone.
Hae Young sees the billboard and a passing ambulance, and immediately understands what has happened. She runs to Do Kyung’s side and takes his hand, much to his relief.
Everyone waits with glum faces and teary eyes at the hospital. Yet, Duk Yi takes a calendar, and starts planning the wedding date. Ji Ya picks up Duk Yi’s lead, and gives her opinion about her proposed date. Everyone chimes in, and it descends into a mass squabble. Only Hae Young stays silent, but she appreciates the optimism that everyone is trying to put forth. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone, a news bulletin reveals that Lee Byung Joon has come back from the dead.
The hospital scene fades to white and the next scene is Hae Young and Do Kyung getting married as everyone watches on. It appears that a near-death experience has changed the couple, and they can now live happily ever after. Well, at least, until they die.
Comments
Let me get the unpleasantness out of the way first: I could have slapped Hae Young in this episode. The way she whined and wailed at her parents until they gave their consent for her to live with Do Kyung was just disgusting. I am usually all in favour of skinship, but when horny Hae Young and Do Kyung get at it shortly after her flood of tears and her mother’s reluctant acquiescence, I felt sick to my stomach. I do not know why the writers decided to reduce the female lead to a spoiled brat in the final episode. Did they want to leave a bad taste in my mouth for the entire series?
While Hae Young was determined to make my stomach turn, Do Kyung was determined to die. Could he at least have attempted to dodge the car? He was standing in the road! I suppose we’re supposed to accept the ending at face value, and not as some coma-induced dream, because the fact that Do Kyung does not appear to suffer from any permanent effects of being hit by a car at high speed is pure fantasy.
I will say that I liked the pacing of the growing romance between Soo Kyung and Jin Sang. By the end, their weird relationship was believable, and actually quite cute.
And, while Do Kyung stayed wooden right up until he smiled at his own wedding, I was rewarded for making it to the end with the sight of Tae Jin. He only made two appearances in this episode, but he managed to look like a dreamboat in both of them. Happy Canada Day, Lee Jae Yoon, from two fellow Canadians. Hope you have more screen time in your next series.
Don’t forget our series review! Coming soon!
Noonas Over Forks 
I’ll save all my adoration for Oh Hae-young Again for your final review. I just want to state the obvious: Hae-young had never left her parents’ house even before her (almost) first wedding. I think it’s a cultural thing in conservative Korean households and that’s why she cries and begs her mother so much. Besides the whole family has already been through so much gossip among their relatives and friends, not to mention their “kind” neighbours who were always whispering behind their backs. The writer made this fact clear in more than one occasion.
Do-kyung has barely survived the accident and I’m sure we owe it all to the director: he did a fabulous rom-com until the end!!
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The most interesting aspect of this episode was that after setting up the premise (and dropping lots of visual clues) that it is unknown if this world is a memory or reality – that it left the “reality” of the final wedding up to interpretation. Coming right after OHY noted she would be swept up in everyone’s pretence that he would survive. The scene then cuts to the outdoor wedding full of cliche as if it could be her dream wedding.
There is still a core of interest in the show. However, the series became more contrived and driven less by how each character would naturally react to the situation.
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I liked the idea of Do-kyung having flashes of the future. It was the best part of the screenplay. The fickle nature of Oh Hae Young & the reticence of Do-young to be in a romantic relationship got old. But not as old as the constant theme of getting plastered day after day or night after night by most of the characters. That seems to be romanticized in k-dramas, but this was the worst. All I could think of was, how stupid & especially for OHY, did it EVER lead her to anything positive? My other thought was, what shape could their liver be in? One word, cirrhosis. Most of the actors were great, the script & directing, not so much.
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Omg totally agree!!! It took away from what could have been an epic love story….ohy was extremely irritating to me the match felt super forced I never warmed up to them …… There were other great ways they could have connected to make it believeable…she just felt like a spoilt brat….I liked the other hy.
That character was way better…great idea but poorly excecuted…
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