Best Drama of 2017

Hi friends, I would like to throwback to 2017 so far. It's been a great year and I would love to share some dramas that would be nice for you to take a look. Here's on my best version:

1. Hospital Ship

Rating: 7/10

This medical drama tells a story about Song Eun Jae (played by Ha Ji Won) as an immensely talented surgeon. She has seen a lot of success as a surgeon, but also a lot of struggles in her family life. When an unfortunate incident leads her to a ship instead of a prestigious hospital, she has little compassion for the stubborn elderly patients. Kwak Hyun (played by Kang Min Hyuk) is the emotional opposite of his senior doctor, Song Eun Jae and strives to be a warm and caring person. He heals not just with medicine but a smile. With the meeting of the two, Song Eun Jae began to change. 

I love how warm Kwak Hyun is. He may not be the perfect example of male lead, but he has those warm eyes and smiles. Though the difference in their age is quite big, I think Kang Min Hyuk has done quite well. Check out my review here I love most when Kwak Hyun is really persistent and consistent in loving Song Eun Jae. He becomes her pillar of strength and also someone to depend on. Though it takes quite a while for her to open up, but I love how patience Kwak Hyun is. Even when he said, "Between us, it's not a wall, but a door. When you are ready, just open the door. I'll be standing right in front of you."

Maybe it's just my personal opinion and the condition at that time really comforted me due to his saying, that "I am not holding on, just let things go the way it goes. At least that person is not uncomfortable with me around. And if nothing changes forever, that'd be good too. If she's not the one, there will be a different path. Relax, time will solve all matters." and that's when I love his character so much, for being so mature and understanding towards Eun Jae's pride. When you like someone, just be consistent enough. If he/she's not the one, then you get another one, isn't it? Let things go the way it should go. Wise enough, man. You can't force fate to happen, anyway.

It just one thing I don't like the most, the sudden cancer of Song Eun Jae which feels like being forced. It would be better to just have a happy ending instead. For the medical science, there are parts that I feel a bit too much for just a hospital ship. Sometimes I would wonder as well, why this ship suddenly handles all the surgeries. But let's just say that this is purely for the sake of drama. Anyway, if you just want a simple kind of realistic kind of love story, then go ahead for this one. You won't only gain the romantic story, but also medical case. 

2. Legend of The Blue Sea

Rating: 8/10

Legend of The Blue Sea tells a classic fairy tales of "Little Mermaid" who was created by Hans Christian Andersen. This is the first comeback of Jun Ji Hyun after starring in the massive hit "My Love From The Star" back then in 2013 as Cheon Song Yi. Her opposite is the famous actor of "Boys Before Flowers" & "The Heirs", Lee Min Ho. With the star-studded cast, we would say that the rating would be high, but this time, Jun Ji Hyun & Lee Min Ho didn't nail it like their previous dramas. I would say the story is very interesting indeed, and Jun Ji Hyun is super beautiful as well. 

In my opinion, maybe because both of them took a similar role with their previous character - which of course, for Jun Ji Hyun's case, I would say, I like Cheon Song Yi's antics better. She's just the best. But as Shim Cheong, she's good as well with her own antics here. She also nailed as the fashion icon. I also love the story between Heo Jun Jae and Shim Cheong here because their love spans across the ocean, across the time and again, they work together to prevent the tragedy to happen.

3. Goblin/Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

Rating: 8/10

The massive hit for 2017 with Guardian's final episode recorded an 18.68% nationwide audience share, making it the second highest rated drama in Korean cable television history. It received critical acclaim and became a cultural phenomenon in South Korea. The drama success is also due to the casting which line up Gong Yoo (first comeback after 5 years), Kim Go Eun, Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na. You all know that this drama tells a story of goblin life that bears a bloody sword in his chest and has been given eternal life as punishment. In order to end his life, he has to find a goblin bride who can remove the sword from his body. 

The twist and complexity of life and death make the story even more interesting. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook's bromance also shines throughout the drama. I give a standling applause to Kim Eun Sook for her creativity in creating a cultural phenomenon which she took an idea from children's folklore. One thing I don't like is the casting of Kim Go Eun (sorry), but I like someone else taking the character. Maybe that's why when I watched this drama, the temptation is not that big. As in I can watch it later on, rather than the next day after it aired like what I usually do. 

Another thing I don't quite like, is the ending of the story. What is the purpose of having the goblin bride if in the end, the Goblin still has to live a lonely life again, waiting for the reincarnation of his love? There's nothing better than this bittersweet ending, I agree. But I like a happy ending instead. 

4. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Rating: 9.5/10

This drama is my favorite of 2017 and I would say, it's a MUST watch drama if you like a romantic comedy and also thriller drama. You would surely feel the fun and happiness by watching this one. 

It tells a story of a woman name, Do Bong Soon (played by Park Bo Young) who was born with superhuman strength. Her strength is hereditary and passed along only to the women in her family. Her dream is to create a video game with herself as the main character. She desperately wants to become a willowy and elegant woman, which is the ideal type of her crush, In Guk Doo (played by Ji Soo), a police officer. Thanks to her strength, she gets the job of a bodyguard to a rich heir Ahn Min Hyuk (played by Park Hyung Sik), the CEO of a gaming company, Ainsoft. Contrary to Guk Doo, Min Hyuk is an odd man who is playful, a little spoiled, has no regard for rules, and dislikes policemen. He has recently received anonymous threats, blackmails, and has even been stalked at an occasion.

One day, a series of kidnapping cases break in Dobong-dong, the district Bong Soon lives in, and she is determined to catch the culprit after her friend was targeted. With the help and training from Min Hyuk, she manages to control her strength to use it for good causes. Min Hyuk and Bong Soon find themselves and their relationship grew into something more. 

I love this story because it's funny, light and the romance between Min Min & Bong Bong is just too cute too miss it. These two couple becomes the most adorable couple in the whole Korean dramaland. Besides, you would surely fall for Park Hyung Sik's puppy eyes and his heart-touching acting. I just love the story from the beginning, till the end of the story. Perfect ending as well. It took quiet a while to move on from Ahn Min Hyuk. 

5. While You Were Sleeping

Rating: 7/10

I always love Suzy no matter what. This time around, admitted that she's far better than her usual acting. I love that she finally choose a happy ending drama. This drama is a pre-produced story, with her opposite starring, Lee Jong Suk (sorry, I don't like him though). This drama is also a debut for Jung Hae In who is cast as the handsome police officer. 

This drama tells a story of a woman who can see future events through her dreams and she works together with a prosecutor to prevents the tragedy to happen. Mostly, this drama will tell a legal case about murder, kidnapping and also harrassment which is a concern in the society. The story is just so-so in my opinion, but if you are looking for something nice to watch, this one is still a good one to check. 

6. Temperature of Love

Rating: 5/10

This drama tells a story of two people who first meet online and soon develop a relationship when they meet in person but then get separated after choosing different paths for their careers. The first half of the episodes is super nice. 

But I am truly disappointed with the second half of the drama because the story becomes a bit dragging and I don't like how the writer wrote the story. Maybe it was just my personal opinion, but seriously, why don't Lee Hyun Soo (played by Seo Hyun Jin) gave a chance for Park Jung Woo (played by Kim Jae Wook)? When he decided to confess to her, she rejected him in a way I couldn't understand and still in love with On Jung Sun (played by Yang Se Jong) even after 5 years of being separated. It's 5 years, and the only person who always stay by her side is Park Jung Woo. 

You would have those heart-wrenching moment between those innocent couples, Seo Hyun Jin & the rookie actor Yang Se Jong in the beginning. And if you have to choose, you would be torn between Yang Se Jong & Kim Jae Wook, believe me. I know it's me being very subjective. It's hard I know to accept someone you don't love or feel anything with. But I hoped before that at least, Lee Hyun Soo would be realistic enough to see the reality. It's just me maybe who can't connect with her - our choices in life is far too different. 

7. My Golden Life

Rating: 8.5/10

It's a bit difficult for me to give the rating for this drama. If we talk about the real problem, this drama actually nails it. My Golden Life depicts a story about a mother's misguided love has caused her daughters to get swapped in status, and so the heroine Seo Ji An (played by Shin Hye Sun) enters the chaebol household to have a better life without knowing she is actually not their long-lost daughter, but her "former twin" sister instead.

The long-lost daughter is a very typical story in Korean drama land (still remember about Autumn in My Heart, right?) But it's still a very interesting story to watch as you would be curious enough as how the show managed to find the right track back. Even I found myself was addicted in the first half of the drama. No wonder this family drama could break 44% of rating - which is very rare.

Besides, Seo Ji An also develops a deep relationship with the chaebol heir, Choi Do Kyung (played by Park Si Hoo). After the complicated family problems, it is difficult to say that their love story would also end up in a happy ending. Regarding their romance, I would say, I wish the writer could write a more convincing story. I don't quite like Park Si Hoo's acting actually, and it's Shin Hye Sun who did a really great job. Her character stands out and she deserves all the praise. Maybe it's me, but I couldn't find the chemistry in their bittersweet story.

8. Eternal Love/Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (三生三世十里桃花)

Rating: 9.5/10
It's been quite long since I watched Chinese/Taiwanese dramas. After the popular Taiwanese Drama of Fated To Love You 命中注定我愛你 and Autumn's Concerto 下一站，幸福, it's been quite a while for a Chinese dramas to do a good job in producing a good series. But in 2011, Taiwanese drama did a comeback nicely with In Time With You 我可能不會愛你 starring Ariel Line & Bolin Chen. Besides, there is also a popular classic period dramas called 步步惊心 Startling by Each Step or called Scarlet Heart. It's a travel time kind of dramas which brought a 21st century girl to experience the live in Qing Dynasty. 

Since then, I rarely watched Chinese series till I found a very good period drama again, called Eternal Love. It's a super romantic and heart-touching dramas which has a complex kind of story, plot and twist. It's boring in the first 5 episodes, but bear with it, because it sets a background with the touching love story that ascends through three lives and three worlds. 

This story tells about a story of the Immortal Princess of Fox Clan, Bai Qian (played by Yang Mi) who happens to lose her identity when she was in a war with the Ghost Lord and was sent to the mortal world with her true identity sealed and does not even know who she actually is. During her time in the mortal world, she met with the Heavenly Crown Prince, Ye Hua (played by Mark Chao) who was there for a mission. Ye Hua gave her the name of Su Su. The two of them fell in love and got married in the mortal world. 

Ye Hua knows that his Heavenly Lord would not approve his marriage with a mortal girl, thus intend to hide her. But his plan failed and Su Su was brought to the Heaven to be given a death sentenced until it was revealed that she's pregnant with Ye Hua's child. She was then given permission to live in the Heaven until she gave birth. But during the time there, Princess Su Jin, who likes Ye Hua crazily got jealous of Ye Hua's love for Su Su, thus accomplice with the Heavenly Lord to send Su Su back to her world. She then made a plot to steal Su Su's eyes. Ye Hua took Su Su's eyes to replace Su Jin's eyes whose got hurt because she purposely threw herself to the Zhuxian Terrace (a pond that could bring anyone back to its true identity - or death pond). Su Su was left blind and she finally gave birth to a Prince - which she never holds. She was in so much pain for not being able to take care of her child and she knew the Heaven's people do not like her exsistence. Ye Hua's love couldn't even bury her pain. Thus, she decided to suicide by throwing herself to the Zhuxian Terrace. 

She was then backed to be her true self, High Goddess Bai Qian of the Fox Clan, still remembered her life as a mortal. Because the memories is not bearable for her, she decided to drink the amnesia potion to forget it. 300 years later, she met with Ye Hua again, the Crown Prince who she supposed to be engaged to. Ye Hua recognized her as Su Su and draws conclusion that Bai Qian and Su Su is the same person, thus decided to pursue her love again. Their love was so beautiful, even by living a life with different identity, they would fall for the same person again. Their love story is so beautiful that spans across the lifetime and becomes a legend.

I just love Ye Hua's character in this drama. He can be charismatic, cool, calm, gentle, soft, warm, and sweet at the same time. A typically good father and husband. I loved how devoted he is towards Su Su, no matter how many girls tried to chase him. He's just that loyal to Su Su till I have no words to describe it. Yang Mi's acting as Bai Qian is also extraordinary. She's just that elegant, charismatic and innocent at the same time. 

This drama is a must watch in 2017. You would surely love it. Even I cried in some of the episodes. 

With the deep plot and complicated story, this show really deserves all the love...It makes me Check out here

How do I give a rate?

I would give 8.5+ for a drama that could make me addicted with the new episodes, or the one that I couldn't stop watching, being a little bit addicted that would affect my everyday life, or the one which I watch directly after it aired.

So, which one is your favorite? Tell me in the comment below!

Legend of The Blue Sea - Episode 20 Finale Summary

Joon Jae (played by Lee Min Ho) asks Chung (played by Jun Ji Hyun) not to erase his memory before she leaves, reminding her that it’s better to remember love even if it hurts than to remember nothing. She doesn’t want him to suffer in case she can never return, but he assures her that even if she couldn’t, his love would outlast his life and go into the next one. Ultimately, he leaves the choice with her, and after she decides, she kisses him.

A short while later as Chung leaves the house, she runs into Nam Doo, Tae Oh, and Joon Jae’s mother at the front gate. She says she’ll just be going somewhere for a short while, but her goodbyes have an air of finality to them as she thanks them for everything.

Chung visits Jin Joo and Shi Ah’s house just as the two sisters-in-law are arguing over whose coat was more cruel to the animal sacrificed for it (mink versus duck). Shi Ah gets in a dig about Chung not only being Joon Jae’s girlfriend but also the object of Tae Oh’s affections, saying that his phone was full of her pictures. Chung tells Shi Ah to delete them, and Shi Ah retorts that she already did.

Then Chung explains that she’s going somewhere for a while and wanted to say goodbye, extending a hand to the surprised family. Next on her list is little Yoo Na, and as they sit in a convenience store window drinking yogurt, she tells her that she’ll miss everything she ate here. She offers a handshake to her too, and then gets up to go. Yoo Na asks why she’s leaving so soon, and Chung is surprised that she still remembers her—ah, she’s been using her mermaid memory-loss handshake on everybody.

Chung wonders why Yoo Na’s different, and why she could hear her thoughts. Yoo Na explains seeing Chung in a dream, and we flash back to Joseon, when a freshly caught Sae Wa had sent out a call for help as the children heckled her. Yoo Na had heard her then, and she explains now that in her dream, unni was a mermaid—and so was she, as the daughter of a fisherman father and mermaid mother.

Yoo Na explains how in her dream, she could communicate with the mermaids in the sea and warned the fishermen not to go out to sea when bad weather was on the way. Chung asks what happened next, and Yoo Na just says that in her dreams everything seemed happy and good, and that whenever she wakes from that dream, she feels happy all day.

Chung says she’s glad: “It must not have been just a folktale. It must have really happened.”

A bit later, Chung stands on the beach, looking out at the waves. “He said that memory is the road back,” she thinks. “Our story that only I know… So that it doesn’t turn sad, that it doesn’t disappear, I will protect it. I’ll cherish it. And I’ll return.”

With that, she goes back into the sea.

Joon Jae wakes with a start, and finds one lone pearl on his nightstand. He picks it up curiously and stares at it for a while. 

Three years later.

Everybody’s still living in Joon Jae’s house, and Mom calls the boys to the table for breakfast. There’s good-natured bickering about when the others will finally move out, although Mom tells them all affectionately to stay until they get married. Nam Doo and Tae Oh both say they enjoy having someone to call Mom for the first time, and Joon Jae gets mock-jealous when Mom hands over his favorite egg dish to Tae Oh instead.

Nam Doo wonders why they’ve fallen into the pattern of keeping one seat open, as though someone belongs there. He calls it strange, and Joon Jae’s face clouds over as he replies, “There are a lot of strange things.”

Joon Jae pulls up at the prosecutor’s office looking sharp, scanning the lobby much like the last time, when he cased the joint to scam a target. Today he scans a badge and arrives at an office, where he knocks on the door and enters.

He introduces himself to the prosecutors inside, using his real name—he’s a law student who’s been assigned to this office as a trainee.

Jin Joo enjoys bragging on Mom’s behalf about Joon Jae to their social circle, telling them all about how he went back to school to complete his degree and is now aiming to be a prosecutor. Moreover, Mom has donated half her company holdings to set up social welfare programs and alternative schools for runaway youths.

Jin Joo praises Mom to the high heavens, especially grateful to have finally found a place to invest her funds, thanks to Mom’s help. She says that she and Mom must have been sisters in a past life, which is hilarious since we know she was her servant. And then Jin Joo jumps up to bring Mom more coffee and snacks, happy to serve her.

At lunchtime, one prosecutor invites Joon Jae to eat with him, while the other remains behind. Joon Jae wonders why they don’t all go together, and the prosecutor asks what the most important thing is for a prosecutor.

“A sense of justice?” Joon Jae asks. “That’s important,” the prosecutor informs him, “but there’s something that’s more important. Never leave the office empty.”

He confesses that their office was infiltrated by con artists three years ago during lunch break, and Joon Jae feigns ignorance as the prosecutor gripes about the scammers who dared to sit in his own seat and pass themselves off as prosecutors. Moreover, they deleted the security footage and messed with the traffic lights to cover their tracks. Acting affronted, Joon Jae denounces those scam artists and vows to catch bad guys like them.

Later, Joon Jae sits with the main prosecutor as they question a businessman who’s under investigation for fraud. The man confidently asserts his innocence, stating that everything he’s been charged with is just a normal part of doing business.

Joon Jae notices that the company address and all its subsidiaries are listed as the man’s home, and that their finances were in shabby condition. Then he looks over the casefile and list of transactions and pokes holes in the man’s defenses, one by one, getting to the heart of the man’s fraud at one swift glance.

It’s clear that the businessman didn’t anticipate anyone seeing through his various cover tactics and false fronts, but Joon Jae sees exactly how he constructed his fraudulent business practices. The man starts to fidget in his seat, and Joon Jae even recognizes one of the names involved as a money launderer and says he’s well aware of his current activities and how deep this operation runs.

The businessman is shocked that Joon Jae sees everything so easily—and so is the main prosecutor, for that matter, who asks later on their way out if Joon Jae really knows people connected to the case. Joon Jae says that he just picked up the information here and there, but the prosecutor eyes him shrewdly, not buying it.

Just then, Joon Jae spots Detective Hong waiting for him in the lobby and excuses himself. He runs up to join the detective like an excited little boy, and the two of them awkwardly scuttle through the revolving door. 

Over dinner, Detective Hong asks about his studies and says that he’s glad Joon Jae found his path, admitting that he got scared for him during his rough patch when he’d started saying weird things and disappearing for spells. “What you suffered wasn’t something that could be mentally handled by ordinary standards,” he reminds him.

Joon Jae says he doesn’t remember “it” very well anymore, not even if he tries. (I presume they’re talking about the whole stepmom-killed-my-dad ordeal, though they don’t name it specifically.) Then Detective Hong asks what Nam Doo’s up to these days…

…and we find Nam Doo giving a lecture about navigating that gray zone of life between fully legal activities and evasion of the law. Today’s lecture is on taxes, and he does so glibly and entertainingly to a room of appreciative ajummas.

Nam Doo joins the other two at dinner, and assures the detective that he’s not scamming anyone these days. He reminds him that he’d be crazy to, knowing he’d get caught by Joon Jae when he becomes a prosecutor, then recalls how surprised he was when Joon Jae suddenly decided on this path. Detective Hong says it must have been after Joon Jae met him and was inspired by what a good person he was, though Joon Jae drily assures him that wasn’t the case.

Nam Doo asks what did spur his decision, and Joon Jae tries to think of the exact reason. He’s unable to pinpoint it, saying only that it feels like there was a particular reason, but he can’t recall it.

The guys continue drinking at home, where Detective Hong nags Tae Oh to make sure he’s also living clean. Nam Doo assures him that Tae Oh works on the right side of the law now, hacking into companies legally to find bugs and strengthen security.

When Nam Doo looks around for his cell phone and Tae Oh produces it, the boys sigh that “it” has started again. Everyone reaches into his pockets to ensure nothing’s missing, and reveals that Tae Oh swiped the detective’s handcuffs without him noticing. 

Then when Detective Hong stands up, Joon Jae drunkenly grabs his hand and tells him not to leave, slurring, “Tonight, nobody goes home!” He slings an arm around his neck and refuses to let him go. Man, I love drunk Joon Jae.

Annnnd then drunk Tae Oh tries to stuff a coffee mug in his trouser pocket. Meanwhile, Nam Doo tipsily chats up a lady on the phone, only to realize she’s married.

All of a sudden, Joon Jae’s mood plummets and he starts to cry, repeating over and over, “I miss you.” Nam Doo notes that this crying habit is new, and that he won’t even remember when asked later. He asks who Joon Jae’s always so sad about missing whenever he gets drunk, but Joon Jae just keeps crying to himself.

Far away in the ocean, Chung curls up to herself among a bed of coral, wiping away tears that roll away as pearls.

Joon Jae opens a locked safe in his closet and pulls out a journal, while outside, Nam Doo notes that it was after “that incident” that Joon Jae became strange. He started driving to the sea all the time, but when asked why, he’d reply that he doesn’t know. We see Joon Jae driving out to the seashore and looking out at the water, which his friends puzzle over.

Legend of The Blue Sea - Episode 19 Summary

Chi Hyun knocks down a cop and steals his gun, pointing it at Joon Jae. Chung sees what’s happening a split-second before Joon Jae does, and leaps in front of him just as Chi Hyun pulls the trigger. The gun fires, and the bullet lands in Chung’s back.  

The cops wrestle Chi Hyun to the ground. Joon Jae stands there in horror, holding Chung in his arms, and his mind flashes back to Dam Ryung’s sacrifice to save Sae Wa. He sees blood staining Chung’s back, and then her body grows heavy as she loses strength. She pulls back to look him in the eye, thinking, I was afraid you’d protect me again on your own, but I’m happy—the ending changed. This time, I protected you.

Her eyes close, and Joon Jae cries out in disbelief that it can’t be. Her thoughts continue: Now it’s time that you knew. That even if I’m not with you, I’ll keep loving you. Chung keeps repeating his words back to him, assuring him to live even if she’s gone. Joon Jae calls out to her desperately as she continues thinking, So you have live happily without me, smiling a lot, loving, like ordinary people do. Comfortably, for a long, long time. An ambulance arrives, and medics carry Chung to it. She adds: I don’t want to become a source of pain for you, or a frightening dream.

Joon Jae sits with her in the ambulance, begging her not to leave him. She thinks, I love you, and he says those words aloud to her.

The whole thing hits the news quickly, with Stepmom and Chi Hyun arrested for murder and attempted murder. In shock, Mom watches the report on TV alongside Jin-joo and her husband, worried for Joon Jae and Chung. Chi Hyun’s attitude becomes defeated as he’s driven off in the back of a police car, and a flashback shows that he’d offered Nam Doo two vials of poison with which to kill Joon Jae—one to do the deed, the other as a spare. Nam Doo had assured him he’d only need the one, leaving Chi Hyun with the backup. So now, he requests a bathroom stop, and sits in a stall choking back fearful sobs. He pulls out that vial, and moments later when he exits the bathroom, he’s swaying a little on his feet.

Chung is wheeled in for immediate surgery, and Joon Jae runs alongside the doctors, telling her encouraging things until he’s forced to stay outside the operating room.

Chi Hyun is silent and unresponsive during his interrogation—his thoughts are fixated on Dae Young, and a conversation they’d had while Dae Young was hiding in their basement. Dae Young had described how he lived feeling chased and in constant punishment, and had told Chi Hyun he didn’t want him to live like that. “I don’t know who you are, but strangely, that’s what thought comes to mind,” Dae Young said. The poison has been taking gradual effect, until Chi Hyun slumps to the ground in pain.

In the next interrogation room, Stepmom argues with Detective Hong that he set her up and demands her lawyers. He informs her that she no longer has any fancy lawyers, and that she’ll have to find new ones or use a public defender. Just then, his partner interrupts to inform him of Chi Hyun’s condition. Stepmom tears out of the room to Chi Hyun’s next door, and screams his name when she sees him lying on the ground.

Stepmom cradles his head in her arms, while Chi Hyun gasps that there’s no use calling doctors. With his last breaths, he fights back tears and tells her, “Mother… the fact that you are my mother… is like a curse.” 

He falls back gurgling and goes prone. Stepmom bursts into wails, screaming that it can’t happen.

Joon Jae and his boys wait for hours outside Chung’s operating room. At a certain point, Nam Doo hears the news that Chi Hyun died and informs Joon Jae. Explaining about the two vials, Nam Doo speculates that Chi Hyun drank the second one. It’s hardly happy news for Joon Jae, who mutters that Chi Hyun was irresponsible through the end.

Chung makes it out of surgery, and the doctor describes it as a miraculously successful operation. The bullet had gone through the left atrium of her heart and she’d lost a lot of blood, and he’d never seen anybody survive something like that. Every explanation begins with “Normally what happens is [this terrible thing],” and ends with “But she recovered quite readily.”

Still, the doctors states that it could take Chung a while to wake up, and that if her blood supply to the brain had dropped enough, she could lose some brain functions. Still perplexed about her unusual case, the doctor asks whether Chung usually ate any strange foods, and Nam Doo replies that she just ate strangely large amounts of them.

While napping on the couch, Shi Ah has a strange dream from Joseon: Dam-ryung sits with his young bride on their wedding night, and finally gets up and leaves to go to Sae Wa. Shi Ah cries out in her sleep, “How can you leave like that? What chick are you going to?” It doesn’t look like the same actress, but no doubt Shi Ah identifies with that abandoned bride. Shi Ah wakes up puzzled, and scoffs at the random dream.

Over breakfast, Jin Joo asks her husband if he could get hit by a bullet for her, and he replies that he could at least get hit by a rock. Lol, at least he’s honest? She’s grumpy at the response, but when he asks her the same thing, she points out, “I have to take care of the kids. If I got shot, who would raise the children?” Shi Ah joins them and wonders at the gun talk, and Jin Joo fills her in.

Mom joins Joon Jae in keeping watch over Chung, and worries at her not waking up. She wonders if this is why Chung said “that” before, and a flashback takes us to a short while ago, when Mom had cooked a meal for a despondent Chung.

Chung had asked about the story of the Little Mermaid, who’d had to make the choice between stabbing her prince to live, or not stabbing him and disappearing into bubbles. She’d asked what Mom would have done, and said that she thought it was right for the mermaid to disappear—everything happened because she’d been greedy in coming to land.

Mom had thought differently, telling her a different story of a mermaid who’d saved a young fisherman when his boat overturned. They’d married and had children and lived happily, and some of their children returned to the sea while others remained on land and became like guardians to the villagers, communicating with mermaids to warn them of oncoming storms.

“A mermaid coming to land isn’t doing it out of greed,” Mom had said, “but love.” Chung had said that it would be nice for all stories to have happy endings, but that not all of them do.

Joon Jae asks his mother if that’s a real story, and Mom reminds him that she used to tell it to him when he was a child, and he used to love it.

Mom sends Joon Jae up to visit Manager Nam’s wife, and he heads over with Nam Doo in tow, introducing him as a close hyung. It’s the first time Nam Doo is meeting Ajusshi, but he furrows his brow, thinking he looks familiar somehow.

Flashing back to Joseon, Nam Doo’s doppelganger pursues Ajusshi with the hidden scroll. Ajusshi freezes in fear when he’s discovered in his hiding spot… but then Nam Doo directs him to an escape route and hands him a string of coins, telling him to use his horse to ride to the capital.

Nam Doo adds that Ajusshi should complete that task that Dam-ryung had given him. Aww, you were totally faking us out with Joseon Nam Doo! I’d been hoping for something like this, and it’s nicely satisfying. Ajusshi asks why he’s helping, and Nam Doo replies that he’s repaying an old favor—and an old enemy.

And then, just like that, present-day Ajusshi opens his eyes and sees Nam Doo’s face—and even calls him by his Joseon name. Joon Jae hovers excitedly at the bedside, and Ajusshi first calls him Dam Ryung. Then he collects himself and says, “Joon Jae-ya, I dreamed a long dream.” Joon Jae takes his hand and says, “Then and now, thank you for being my friend.”