JY carries Eul all the way to the hospital, where he dumps her on a bed and harshly asks the doctors to kill her, since she says she wants to die.
He stalks to the hallway angrily to wait while Eul is examined, and he looks through the pictures on her phone.
He finds a video that she recorded when he forgot about her and she was left alone at the cabin.
She’d pretended to be filming an interview of herself, and said that she wasn’t worried about JY disappearing. Even if he were to collapse, someone would be there to help him, because the whole country loves him. Eul says that she’s good at waiting, but her voice shakes as she adds that what she’s most scared of is that one day, she may not have to wait anymore. “I might wake up one day, and JY might no longer be part of this world.” JY’s eyes fill up with tears as he watches Eul cry on the video. So his mood is softer when he goes back in Eul, brushing her hair aside and telling her that the doctor is too busy to kill her today. Since she’s only got mild gastric inflammation, she’s released.
As they walk back to the cabin, JY gives Eul his scarf and coat, while she stands there numbly. He smiles and kneels to piggyback her, but her face remains blank and she walks past him. JY watches Eul walking away, then turns to face the ocean and screams, “Let me live! I don’t want to die — let me live!”
Eul turns back to him, and JY continues, asking who will take care of his mother if he dies. He cries out that he’s never been a good son, and only broke his mother’s heart. He’s fighting tears, and he says that he can’t die like this, with so much he still wants to do. He continues, saying that all the people he loves are here now: “We’re only just about to be happy. Why do I have to die now? I don’t want to die. I want to live. Let me live… I’m scared…”
At that Eul runs to JY, and throws her arms around his neck. She apologizes over and over, unable to do anything else to console him.
The video of Jung Eun’s confession is aired, and the whole country is rocked by the news that two politicians covered up a hit-and-run death. Jung Eun’s face is blurred, but the media is swift to identify the parties involved. Ji Tae’s mother fumes to hear that the case will be reopened, and watches as Assemblyman Choi arrives at the police station. He faces a flock of reporters, and promises to answer all of their questions truthfully. Assemblyman Choi tells the police every single detail about his involvement in the cover-up, even admitting that he demoted the prosecutor who refused to participate. He confesses that he did all this in return for Assemblyman Yoon’s promise to support his political advancement.
Jung Eun leaves for the airport, yelling to her father over the phone that he promised he’d take care of this for her. She shrieks that she always did what he told her to do, asking what she did that was so wrong. The police catch her before she gets in the car, and Jung Eun is arrested.
Jik cries over the phone to Eul, asking if their father can rest in peace now. After their talk, JY asks her why she gave Assemblyman Choi the video. At first Eul lies that she didn’t and he must have stolen it, but JY accuses Eul of never intending to air it.
At JY’s stern glare, Eul admits that she gave Choi the video because she didn’t need it anymore. She says that it was enough for her that they found her father’s killer, but JY argues that the guilty parties might have gotten away with it, and thought that what they did was okay. Eul reminds JY that Assemblyman Choi did turn in the video and take responsibility. She parrots JY’s words, saying that this is the world she wants to believe in.
Now, it's time to settle down with everything first before we see him leaving us. JY and Eul are interrupted by the delivery of a dog house, which Eul says is so that Pororo can come live with them. JY looks touched when she says that she’ll just take allergy medicine, and they settle down to paint a sign for the doghouse.
Eul paints JY’s nose green, and he returns the favor, and soon they’re chasing each other around the house laughing and being silly. JY narrates that that night, Eul woke him up to tell him how she plans to live without him — not with heavy ideals like justice and convictions, but with simple common sense. She just wants to live in a way that doesn’t embarrass her father, Jik, or JY.
Eul runs upstairs, but she grows concerned when JY doesn’t follow. She goes back down but he’s nowhere to be seen. I was afraid at first that he is dying but thankfully there are still many things to settle, and he grabs her in a back hug.
Eul isn’t amused, and JY turns her to face him. He holds her face and kisses her, slow and gentle. JY continues narrating that when Eul fell asleep, he received a text from his father. It’s an echo of JY’s words to him, when a disillusioned JY said he’d be ashamed of his father for the rest of his life. This time, Assemblyman Choi had written that he would take pride and joy in the fact that he’s JY’s father, until the day he dies.
Ji Tae’s mother is furious when Assemblyman Choi arrives home and tells her that he won’t be appealing any of his charges. He says that Ji Tae was right, that they’ve become monsters, and he begs his wife to stop. Offended, she tells him right away that she made him what he is now. She says that he was in the gutter when she found him and transformed him. Ji Tae walks in to hear her ask if her husband wants to go back to where he came from, poor and powerless.
She even accuses Choi of letting his own mother die when she needed a new heart, and he wasn’t able to stop stronger, richer people from cutting ahead on the transplant list. She reminds him that he’d he wanted power so that he’d never have to lose to anyone else again. Her words are cold and angry as she asks if he wants to go back to those days, saying that he has to pay the price if he wants to keep his powerful position. She turns to Ji Tae as she spits that to protect her husband, she even manufactured Ji Tae’s car accident.
Ji Tae is too shocked to speak, and his mother tells Assemblyman Choi to get out of her house and go back to the gutter. She storms out of the room, and Ji Tae tells Choi that he no longer has to keep his promise to stay with her.
Ji Tae says that he’ll be the one to take care of her the rest of his life, but Choi answers that she’s his wife, and the mother of his children. He promises to stay, even if it’s worse than living in the gutter, and the two men smile tearfully at each other.
Jik finds Haru hovering outside his workplace, and they go for a walk. They point out each other’s pimples, guessing that they’ve been having a hard time. Haru gives Jik a kiss on the forehead, then asks if he hated it. Jik says that he didn’t hate it — it made his heart pound. Haru says that she knows Jik lied about being gay, and that he did it because of her father. She hands her phone to Jik and asks him to give her his number again, though she promises not to call or see him again. She says that she wants it for later, so that if she ever finds a man as good as Jik, she can call him. Jik enters his number and says to call him then, and he’ll answer.
Ji Tae comes to JY's built-in house and meets with Eul in front. Ji Tae asks where JY is, and Eul hesitates. Before she can explain, JY walks right past them with barely a nod to Ji Tae, no recognition in his eyes. Eul explains that in the last week, JY has started forgetting people, even her. Today he doesn’t even remember who he is, and she’s told him that she’s a live-in helper so he wouldn’t be upset.
Ji Tae follows JY out to a nearby pier. JY finally turns and asks if Ji Tae knows him, and when Ji Tae says they know each other well, JY innocently asks what he was like before.
Ji Tae is honest, and tells JY that he was a self-important jerk. He says that JY would say hurtful things, and always thought he was right. Miffed, JY tells Ji Tae to stop, but Ji Tae continues that although he was rude and hurtful, he was always right. He says that JY did crazy things that made cowards like him feel small and ashamed. JY asks if that’s a compliment, and Ji Tae says that it is, which makes JY laugh.
He asks if they were friends, but Ji Tae says they weren’t, that he hated JY a lot, and that he wished JY would disappear. But he adds with a smile, “Let’s meet again next time. I’ll treat you really well then. Like a real hyung, I’ll cherish you, and love you.” JY says to forget it, and walks away sneering that Ji Tae is weird. Ji Tae watches him go with a tearful smile.
Ajusshi finds JY’s mother in the kitchen washing dishes, and without a word, he slips a ring on her finger. He says he found it and she gives it right back, saying that she’s not a beggar. So he admits that he bought it for her and puts it back on, but this time she throws it onto the floor.
She tells Ajusshi to give it to his girlfriend, and he snaps back that she’s his girlfriend. He finally tells Mom that he likes her, and she calls him crazy and tells him to get out. Ajusshi just puts the ring back on her finger a third time, then gets up to go. Mom stands and throws a pan of water at his back, and screams that he’s crazy. She sobs that her son is dying, but Ajusshi calmly says for her to wear the ring when she goes to see JY, and show it to him. Mom pounds on his chest, asking how he could do this right now.
Ajusshi tells her that JY asked him to take care of her, so she should go show him the ring and say that she’ll be fine without him. He says that he knows she avoids her son because she feels guilty, but she’s his mother, so she has no reason to feel guilty. He tells her to go see JY before it’s too late, and Mom sinks to the floor crying.
Ji Tae visits Jung Eun in jail, and she tells him that she’ll be released soon, still completely unrepentant. She even threatens to get revenge, saying that her father intends to crush his whole family. She’ll have Assemblyman Choi destroyed so badly he can never recover. She asks why Ji Tae isn’t lecturing her like usual, but he just says, “If I say there was ever a time I’d felt something for you, will you believe me?” He’d even entertained the thought that having her for a girlfriend might have made life fun and happy.
But now Ji Tae looks at Jung Eun with an impassive face, and says that he’d rather she stay in jail and do her time. If she does, he promises to wait: “Let's see if you'll really never get back on your feet, or if, you'll have at least a bit of hope to become better. If there's hope, I'll be there for you.”
Jung Eun cries, but when Ji Tae promises to visit her again she yells at him to never come back.
JY’s mom goes to see him at the cabin, but he doesn’t recognize her, and her presence seems to make him nervous. She manages to hold back her tears and says that she’s here to see Eul, so JY invites her in.
Hearing that Eul messed up an attempt to cook spicy beef soup, Mom cooks for JY while he watches from a wary distance. Then she invites him to taste it, and he accepts happily. Eul comes home and sees them, then goes to the upstairs balcony to give them privacy.
JY tastes the soup and pronounces it delicious, while his mother doesn’t take her eyes off his face. He says carelessly that it tastes just like his mother’s soup, then he freezes. Mom thinks the soup is bad and reaches to take the bowl, but JY clutches her hand tightly. He looks up with tears in his eyes, and apologizes for not recognizing her.
JY washes his face then rejoins his mother, back to himself again. He tells her that she looks pretty with his old cheeky grin, and she admits that her earrings and outfit are gifts from GY and Man Ok. She shows him the ring from Ajusshi, telling JY that he proposed, and JY happily congratulates her.
Mom says that now she’ll have two sweet stepchildren in GY and Man Ok, and JY says ruefully that he was a bad son. Mom says that he was a good son when he was little, that he always slept and ate well, and never got sick or cried. She adds that every time he looked at her, he smiled. JY goes with it, allowing her to think he was a great son. Then he grows serious and says that he doesn’t want her to think that he didn’t do the best he could. He says that he always lived hard, and that if he had it to do over again, he couldn’t do better. But he still feels sorry towards her.
As JY apologizes, tears stream down his face. Mom tells him to visit her whenever he misses her, and that when the flowers bloom and the wind blows, she’ll think that he’s there. Even when it rains or snows, she’ll think that he came by. She softly thanks JY for being her son, and JY says through his tears that it was a great honor to have her as his mother.
Ji Tae holds a press conference, revealing that the tax audit revealed that KJ Group has many issues to repair. He announces that both his and his mother’s resignations, then he looks over to see Assemblyman Choi watching him, smiling proudly.
Assemblyman Choi leaves, and his assistant runs over to tell him that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. But Choi looks unconcerned, and just asks his assistant to find him a good beef soup restaurant nearby.
That night JY catches Eul taking selcas to send to Jik, and he sits to join her. They don’t have any pictures of them together, so JY takes several, teasing that his good looks are wasted on her.
Later they sit on the patio, and Eul notices that JY seems tired. She offers to let him rest on her shoulder, and he complains that she’ll just wake him up to play. Eul promises that she won’t, and JY lays his head on her shoulder and closes his eyes. Eul immediately asks if he’s asleep, and he says yes. She asks again a second later, and he says not yet. Eul asks if she’s really not pretty, and JY answers sleepily that she’s so pretty he can hardly look at her. A short while later, Eul asks again if JY is sleeping, and this time there’s no answer. Eul seems to stiffen, heart in her throat as she asks if he’s really sleeping. Then she says she won’t force him to answer, or wake him to play with her. She says that he’s had a really long day, so he can forget about his mother, his father, and even her. “Don’t think about anything, just sleep. Thank you, JY-ah. See you tomorrow.”
Eul looks up, tears in her eyes, and a shooting star streaks across the sky.
It’s some time later, and spring is in full bloom. GY and Man Ok (who have thankfully gotten better haircuts) are cleaning out JY’s house, and GY stops to marvel at the new leaves on a tree that JY thought was dead. He sneaks off to take a call from Na Ri, who calls him Oppa and asks if they can go to dinner tonight after they see a movie.
President Namgoong calls them inside to watch a video that he found of JY. It’s the video he made after he found out about his illness, and learned that he didn’t have long to live. He says that he was shocked at first, but then he realized that everyone dies.
JY: “What worries me the most is that the people I love might think I was unhappy. I was truly happy. I lived a warm life and couldn’t have asked for more. It could even be that knowing that my time is limited helped reveal my true feelings, and gave me courage. It may even be my final blessing.
“Yesterday marked the end of the three months the doctor gave me. When you find this and watch the video, am I still alive? And my love Eul, how is she living now?”
Eul harasses her work sunbae about some videos regarding doctors taking bribes that she’s been working on for months. He agrees that they shouldn’t cover it up, but then he hands her a fat wad of cash and asks her to turn a blind eye just this once. Eul does allow that she had a lot of expenses, and gasps when he shows her the key to his new car. Then she points out the camera in the ceiling and tells him to wave. Thanks to him, she can add “bribing the media” to the offenders’ list of charges.
She heads to the bus stop, where there’s a poster of JY with flowers and a giant smile that says, “You have done well today.” Eul smiles back at the poster, and says, “Right? I did really well today, didn’t I?”
She gives JY’s picture a sweet little kiss, and stands back to smile. “See you tomorrow, JY-ah.”
Personal Thought:
Alright, give me a second before I start writing my thought.
Okay, this episode seems to take my energy so much because I am crying a river now. The first half of this episode seems to do with accepting the fact that Joon Young has to die in the end, even though he doesn't want to, He said by himself that he still got many things to do, even his happiness is just about to start but why it is unfair for him to leave the world like that? and that's when my whole energy was eaten up.
In my opinion, this last episode is wrapped perfectly for some reasons, even though I still cannot beat to lose Joon Young in the end. But if the ending was the other way round, I guess I'll be complaining much due to the unrealistic ending. First, Joon Young is able to leave the world in a simple, elegant and in the way he wants the most. I thought that we are going to see him suffer a bit more, like Zai-Zai in Silence. But, nope, this time, he just died while sleeping on the shoulders of the woman he loves who loves him back. I thought he is not dying when he answered her back, but when he finally said that Eul is so pretty that even makes it hard for him to look at her, and that's when I thought this scene is going to be his last. He says the most beautiful thing to her and leave her alone. Ohmy, I still wish him to just stay alive, but again, that mean unrealistic ending.
This episode also manages to settle all of the issues, in summary:
- Jung Eun is now in jail for her wrong doings, although she still doesn't know what she is wrong about.
- JY's Dad turns out to be a villain who happens to come back to his world. I am so glad that he finally has the courage to speak up and be punished.
- Ji Tae is sound and safe, meanwhile he comes to JY, cares for him and asks him to cross path with him again in the next life and he promised if they do, he will take care and love JY as a real hyun. And this is where I am glad that Ji Tae did consider JY as his little brother. Although both of the guy seems to be so rude towards each other, but Ji Tae still has heart for JY.
- I am so happy that Ji Taae visits Jung Eun to give her lesson since she's lived a wrong life and if there's even a slight of hope in her, Ji Tae is ready to take her. But, to be noted, if there is. I guess that's gonna be hard since she think she has done nothing wrong.
- JY asks Ahjussi to take care of JY's Mom and it turns out that JY's Mom comes to JY and finally speaks her true feeling that she is proud and grateful to have JY as his son. I cried a river when his Mom told him to visit her when he misses her, in spring, summer, autumn and even winter. JY is sure gonna be missed a lot. In the end, it turns out that JY's Mom gets together with Ahjussi and she's not lonely anymore.
- JY's Dad is still with Lee Eun Soo to pay the price for his wrong-doings. It's nice that the writer doesn't give him a chance to be back with JY's Mom because he has to feel the hell for making JY felt guilty for the past few years.
- Eul is courageous enough when she finally accepts the fact that JY will no longer be a part of the world. Rather than forcing him to wake up, she accepts the fact that JY is suffering much and it's now time for him to be free.
- Eul is living a life in the world she believes in, the world that JY made for her. It's not about conscience anymore because she now lives with her common sense. I thought that Lee Min Ho is gonna make an appearance but unfortunately not. And so, Eul is living diligently, so that she won't embarrassed Jik, her father and JY.
- Jik and Haru learns the truth and they are now trying to understand the situation and uses their logic. Even though they like each other so much, Haru still maintains her composure that she will come back to Jik when she has no other choice. That's because she is embarrased for making Jik losing his father and the one who made it happened is her father.
- Gook Young and Nari ends up being together.
And overall, this drama is wrapped pretty nicely for all of the people and this shows tells us that each of the character may not always be a perfect portrayal and that's when the story seems to be more realistic.
I am enjoying much and really proud to say that Kim Woo Bin's portrayal as Shin Joon Young is a piece of his work in which I consider it as a success. There is no one who will portray Shin Joon Young as perfect as him. Kim Woo Bin really changes his bad boy image because of this drama and I am sure, many more opportunities will come to him since we have seen how much he grows through the episodes.
Suzy, my beautiful girl, you've made a nice choice for appearing in this drama, though I wonder what's your real reasons for choosing a sad ending drama everytime you get offered? Is it because you don't believe in romantic story or what? In any case, Eul's journey is not an easy journey and with every episodes, I think Suzy's acting is has improved so much and this is the best acting in her works so far and I am sure everyone knows about it, so please don't criticize her anymore. One thing I wish for Suzy and I believe, she will catch on that with time and experience, she needs to work on her voice. She needs variety in her tone, add a bit more live and deeps to how she talks. If you compare her to other experienced actors in this drama, you can see, that she is a bit lacking there. BUT, it doesn't mean she is bad or that she should be just like that actors. Since she is young, there is always room for improvement. I'm not her fan, I think she is likable. Like really likable and very beautiful. So in my unbiased opinion, she was good in drama. She made me feel, what I needed to feel. That's what actor's job. She succeed in it.
I don't understand as to why KBS hype this drama so much when right from the start, they know this is not going to be a hit. Is it because they don't know what type of story it is or what? They should have known from the beginning that Uncontrollably Fond is not a romantic comedy, instead a heavy melodrama with sad ending. In my opinion, this type of drama would not be able to be a hit like Descendant of the Sun because:
We, as a viewer, no matter what the story is, we all like a happy ending drama. We love drama which make us be able to laugh and forget all the burdens life offers. But if you put us into a drama which will dry out our energy, then the drama may not be everyone's cup of taste. As I have mentioned before, it is good if you want to make a melodrama genre, but the story should not be heavy all the way from the start. We want happiness along the way, with simple joke and a little bit of problems.
As for LKH, I respect her creative autonomy as a script writer, and she sure had a swell time writing the story SHE wanted to to tell. The reality is, full blown melodrama hasn't been audiences' cup of tea for many many years now. When was the last time a melodrama hit it big? We can't even remember! My take is, the sweet spot for a drama to succeed is probably a ratio of 70% sweet romance and 30% angst nowadays, anything with more than 50% angst and audiences will just get impatient and lose interest. But in UF,we had angst right from the get-go, which lasted for 9 episodes in the first half, only tasting sweetness for one-half episodes, then we were hit by an even stronger dose of angst for another 8 episodes. Why KBS wld be caught off-guard since they are the experts in the TV industry is totally beyond me. If the writer had started off with the sweet college romance and built up from there, while breaking up the angst into short episodes and added more sweet episodes of the OTP in-between, it could have held audiences' attention better, but then, it might not be the story LKH wanted to tell.
Uncontrollably Fond is just an old typical story of Romeo and Juliet who are separated. It's just an old cliche and I am sure this kind of drama would not be able to boost the rating since we all know what ending we would expect. I guess Silence came out in 2006, so this UF which has the same kind of ending, is a 10 years gap drama. The production drama should have noticed that they need to do some improvement instead of following the same path, to make it more realistic to the current year.
I noticed that some of the drama which gets high rating, for example Secret Garden, Gentleman's Dignity, Descendant of the Sun, Man who came from the Stars includes a sense of reality in the drama which makes us able to relate more. For example, in Secret Garden, Ra Im says it is impossible for them to be together since every woman would not want to start a relationship knowing it would end somehow. And the ending is a happy and realistic ending, in which Joo Won's Mom still haven't give them permission for their love. Another example, Gentleman's Dignity portrays the life of Ahjussi in their 40s and that's what men do in their 40s too. It relates much to the society. Another one in Descendant of the Sun, it's right from the start that we know a Soldier and a Doctor may not be able to be together because they have to serve. The ending we get is a happy ending, although they also input a scene whereby they still need to serve the nation, even though it ends already. Thus, they all feel very realistic and from the progress of the story, they make it a hit
The good thing is that, Uncontrollably Fond has a realistic ending so far and I am glad they did it. But they should have aired this drama sometime later on during fall up to winter instead of in the hot summer, who turns out to compete against W. But, in the end they still get 10% overall in rating and that's a good number anyway.
UF, you have made my life colorful enough for the past 2 months and I am sure this drama would always stay in my heart ~
