Tuesday, January 17, 2012

You’ve Fallen For Me: Episode 15 (Final)


We’re at the end! You know, I’m not a big fan of rushed endings (unless done right), but I’ll take what I get for this one. You’ve Fallen For Me is too lovable for me to ditch it in the dust after all I’ve been through. At least we do get a nice, neat ending tied up in a little fancy bow!






Kyu-won, Yoon-su, and Seok-hyun quickly rush the stage to Shin’s side. However, he immediately lets go of his wrist and pretends he had an intense stomachache. He goes on with the show, albeit with a grimace. His girlfriend’s not stupid though; she pieces together that her fall might have caused his sprained wrist. After the show, she tries to get him to admit it, but he won’t.

On the way home, Yoon-su frets about Shin’s condition. His injury could affect his future, and it reminds her so much of her own accident. Seok-hyun tells her not to worry, but when we see Shin trying to play at home, we know it’s something to be worried about.





Kyu-won meets with the record producer about her contract. He’ll be sending her to the UK for a year, with six months devoted to vocal and dance lessons, and watching as many musicals as she can for experience. It will also mean that she has to take a leave of absence from school. The producer tells her that she’s to leave next month, which is a bit too sudden for her.

When Kyu-won breaks the news to Grandpa about her departure, he pays her no heed. He’s got someone new to worry about – Jung Hyun. She then breaks the news to Shin at a cafe, and he says he’s not the least bit sad at her going away. I highly doubt that, and Kyu-won is quite unhappy at the prospect of being away from him for so long. However, he’s got other things to stress about…





Shin visits the doctor again, and it turns out one of his nerves is being pressed down upon. He will need surgery to correct the injury. Though he should be able to play the guitar again, the doctor warns him that there’s a likelihood of losing all sense of touch. Of course Doc – you just had to give us that worst case scenario, right? He wants to hold off the surgery for at least a month though; that way Kyu-won will never have to know about his injury. Being a bit of a Noble Idiot here, aren’t we?





Now on to the other characters: Seok-hyun and Yoon-su inform the school Chancellor that they’ll be gone for about a year, as he’s going to have to spend extra time getting the musical ready on Broadway. Yoon-su will simply be taking a vacation. Hee-joo is out of the hospital but her throat is still sore. She’s sad and a bit jealous at the news that Kyu-won will be going abroad to become a famous singer/actress, but Jun-hee cheers her on, saying that Hee-joo can be better than Kyu-won after she’s all better. And the Windflowers meet up with Kyu-won for one more time before she leaves. They’re the ones who tell her that The Stupid will no longer be playing at Catharsis. The “official” reason? Because Shin wants to take the summer off.





Before Seok-hyun leaves Korea, he wants to affirm just one more thing with Shin. He grabs the boy’s wrist, and Shin gasps out in pain. Yup – just as Kyu-won had feared, Shin really did injure his wrist. He makes Seok-hyun promise never to tell Kyu-won about his condition or the fact that he’s going to have surgery. Understanding him, Seok-hyun promises.





Now Shin goes to meet Kyu-won for a shaved ice date, but because his wrist can’t handle the weight of the tray, everything falls to the ground and shatters. Kyu-won immediately scolds him for not taking care of his wrist; she knows his wrist was hurt because of her, but Shin says that’s not true at all.





Kyu-won takes the matter into her own hands. She goes to the music producer to turn him down, willing to pay the penalty for breaking off the contract so soon to the date. However, the one person that she’s doing all this for is not happy. Shin doesn’t want her to give up her dreams for him, so with some difficulty, he once again lies that his hand is fine – and that he wants to break up with her. ARGH! Using the feeble excuse that his heart will change after not seeing her for a year, he ends things with her abruptly, giving her back the teddy bear charm.





So they mope, heartbroken – needlessly, and uselessly.

With nothing holding her back anymore, Kyu-won leaves for the UK. Shin gets his surgery, and makes sure his mom never told Kyu-won about it.

ONE YEAR LATER.





Kyu-won is now a famous musical star and her album is number 1 on the charts. She comes back to Korea for a new project, and to go back to school. Shin’s mother and Kyu-won’s father have been tracking her progress this past year, and the mother offers the father a job working for her at a new publication focusing on musicals. Well if they’re not to have a romantic relationship, they will have a work relationship!





As for Shin, he’s better after the surgery, but his playing is not back where it used to be. He’s still practicing, as his wrist would still get stiff. Well – if he’s no longer the music prodigy, then his sister can be! She’s now taking traditional music lessons under Grandpa’s watchful eye. Grandpa (as usual) butts in whenever she’s not doing well, but Jung-hyun is one smart aleck. Before Grandpa can go railing on about his life story, she interrupts and finishes it for him: “You know, I can memorize word for word the life of Lee Dong Jin the Great!”

Grandpa’s met his match!

Seok-hyun and Yoon-su also return from the States and get picked up by Soo-myung and his ratty old car. Seok-hyun complains that his friend hasn’t changed at all – but that’s not true! He’s now dating Sa-rang! And on top of that, they’re running Catharsis because Madam Goo ran off to Santiago, Chile for some girl. How freakin’ random.





As for some other characters – they do remain the same. Another performance is coming up at the art college, and Hee-joo’s mother is as pushy as ever. She’s pissed at seeing Kyu-won’s name all over the news so she’s already made a deal with Tae-joon to make sure Myung-joo (Hee-joo’s sister) is made the lead. (Myung-joo somehow gets Hee-joo’s room too.) As for Tae-joon, he’s trying to blackmail Young-min into helping him make Myung-joo the lead. Young-min reminds him that things are different this year – there’s no Seok-hyun to foil them!

Hi guys!” And Seok-hyun and Yoon-su arrive! HAHA!

But no worries again, because Seok-hyun isn’t interested in directing the annual performance again. This time, he has another project in mind, and hopes to make it the winter musical with all the students. The Chancellor gives him a go, and Seok-hyun starts recruiting.





First he goes to see Kyu-won. And my oh my Kyu-won has totally changed. She’s popping slinky moves left and right to Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction.” She’s like Hee-joo, but her moves are much more frenetic and flexible. Seok-hyun is completely impressed with her, and gives her his script. Of course, he’s going to make her audition for the role first. He finds out from her that she and Shin have broken up, and that Shin no longer plays at Catharsis.





He seeks out Shin next, hoping that he could do the music. Shin has a few songs that he’s written, and will give them to Seok-hyun to check out. With a few questions, Seok-hyun figures out that Shin broke up with Kyu-won for her sake, so that she could leave for the UK and not be burdened by the fact that he had to get surgery for an accident she caused. Shin claims to have moved on, so he’s not really looking to get back with her. But when Seok-hyun mentions that Kyu-won may be the lead actress for this musical, Shin’s face darkens.





That evening there’s a mini reunion with the entire cast. Now that Ki-young has a job at a drama company, he buys Seok-hyun some beer. Hee-joo mentions that she wants to audition too and go against Kyu-won. But when they all find out that Shin might be doing the music, everyone goes quiet. It would be really nice if Kyu-won and Shin would get to work together again, and perhaps get back together.





Back at home, Kyu-won finds the old record Shin had given to her. She waits outside his home to give it back to him. The air is tense between them, and Kyu-won apologizes for not having returned his father’s record before she left for the UK. Shin takes it and tells her to go home.





But that one moment of interaction is enough to break Shin down into tears. Sheesh – these two are so clearly pining for each other – but they can’t get together for another twenty minutes or so…

Shin gives Seok-hyun some of his demos and then backs out of the production. Seok-hyun thinks it’s because of Kyu-won that he doesn’t want any part in it, but Shin attributes his backing out to also his wrist. He can’t play that well just yet, and if he does the musical Kyu-won is sure to find out. Urgh you Noble Idiot.





He does go back to the practice room though, much to the joy of his bandmates. They hope that this means they can play at Catharsis again soon. Shin then gets a call from Kyu-won, who just found out that he’s dropping out of the musical. When they meet, Kyu-won tries to convince him to join the musical again. They can have a professional relationship, can’t they? Kyu-won promises to not cross paths with him too much. But Shin is stubborn – he refuses to work on it, and he tells her to never contact him again.





Afterwards, Kyu-won heads over to Catharsis with Bo-woon and drinks herself drunk. Bo-woon has no one else to help her bring Kyu-won home, so she phones up Shin. However instead of him showing up, he sends Kyu-won’s father instead to carry his daughter home. That’s not to say he wasn’t worried though; he waits outside her door until her father shows up, carrying Kyu-won on his back. After dropping her in her room, Kyu-won’s father comes out to thank Shin. He also hopes that perhaps the two of them can start over; he and Shin’s mother were like this years ago too. Because no one was brave enough to step forward about their feelings, they ended up never getting back together again. He doesn’t want Shin to live with that regret.





Seok-hyun listens to Shin’s songs, and he notes the sadness in it. Despite swearing himself off from getting involved in Shin and Kyu-won’s love lives, he finally can’t take it anymore and gives the music to Kyu-won. After one listen, she figures out that the song was written by Shin about her. Seok-hyun tells her that Shin had a surgery for his wrist, and broke up with her so that she could go to the UK.

(download – it’s a rip from the episode, so some dialogue is in it too)





Well Kyu-won’s had enough. She storms into Shin’s practice room and sees him playing with some pain in his wrist. How could he not tell her about his injury? How could he just break up with her like that? She tried so hard to hate him then, trying to understand why he broke up with her then, but couldn’t. Now with the truth, she can really hate him.

She leaves the school grounds, and passes by certain landmarks of their relationship: the balcony where she gave him coffee every morning, the store front where they had paused under the awning in the rain, and the park where they had their date when her scandal with Seok-hyun broke out.





Shin is on that very same Walk of Memories, and they see each other in the park. He can’t help but smile, realizing that the both of them were reminiscing about their relationship, and he makes the first move – he rushes up to her and hugs her.

Well yay! Someone did something proactive! “I missed you,” he says. “Me too,” she replies. Shin: “I love you,” and with that he kisses her.



Whew! Finally! That’s over and done with!

They go to Catharsis that evening. Kyu-won sings her song “To Love Me,” and Shin sings “You’ve Fallen for Me.”



The power couple is back! And everyone cheers.

Comments:

Well that was a very cheerful ending. The last episode piled on the angst that I felt dragged down the episode needlessly. Shin was such. a. Noble. Idiot. But I guess that’s what I should expect for a boyfriend who’s so supportive of his girlfriend’s dreams, right? Nevertheless, it was additional angst that I feel wasn’t necessary at all by this point. I’m happy to see that everyone has moved on in some way, though I feel like Kyu-won’s shot to stardom is a little too much. (She becomes insanely successful and everyone else is more or less the same?) Seeing Hee-joo not be catty and jealous was refreshing though, and her mother and Tae-joon were comical.

I feel like You’ve Fallen For Me started off decently, soared by midway through the series, and then ended flat. I kind of wish the writing wasn’t so lazy by the end of it. I think what really sold this drama for me was the actors. It was clear that the actors all had chemistry and got along behind the scenes – which is something to be immensely grateful for nowadays. Jung Yong Hwa wasn’t great (though much improved) and So Yi Hyun will forever be a plastic ballerina to me, but in the grand scheme of things, I think they had enough chemistry with their respective onscreen partners to help sell the drama. Even the secondary characters were incredibly fun – I mean, who can forget Soo-myung and Ki-young?! And as annoying as the Three Angry Girls were, they were definitely scene stealers. And Hee-joo managed to be a more three-dimensional “evil bitch” rather than a simple stereotype.

I really liked the relaxing, fresh vibe of this series, but for me, the series ended the moment Shin said to Kyu-won, “You are the best lead actress to me.” Everything else was just icing – some of which I would scrape off my cake, and some of which I would keep on.

You’ve Fallen For Me: Episode 14


It’s the last week!! I was sad, but after this episode, I’m not that sad. I think it’s commendable that the actors have really made this series more interesting than the story presents itself to be. The weaknesses in the writing are far more blatant now, especially with the musical and obstacles all resolved now. What are our characters going to do now?!






So we all need a little explanation on what transpired before the performance, and something to explain those tears on Kyu-won’s face as she sang the final song. Turns out she had called Hee-joo to come. Hee-joo didn’t want to go initially because she’d be too sad to see Kyu-won onstage, but Kyu-won dragged her anyways.

Kyu-won’s father is the first to recognize his daughter’s voice singing, despite seeing Hee-joo onstage. Hee-joo’s mother marvels at her daughter “bringing the house down,” while Yoon-su flashes a knowing smile to Seok-hyun. He totally knew this was going to happen right?





Backstage, tears stream down Kyu-won’s face as she wishes she were out there; onstage, Hee-joo is tearing up as well, all to aware of this deception. But despite their emotions, Kyu-won sings with more passion than ever as she brings the musical to its conclusion.



The audience cheers; the cast bows. Kyu-won can only hear it, but not see it. Shin takes off his guitar and goes straight backstage to his girlfriend. “Even though you didn’t stand onstage, you are the best lead actress to me.”And he embraces her so that she can let out all of her tears.





After-party at Catharsis! The Three Angry Girls fawn over Ki-young because they were so shocked at seeing his delicious abs. (Heck, you gals weren’t the only ones.) They want Ki-young to do it again, and Soo-myung scowls at them. Oh, so you jealous now eh? Because Sa-rang is no longer chasing after you, eh?

Seok-hyun approaches his leading ladies, shocked that they kept this from him. (So he didn’t know!!) He ruffles their hair, much to both their annoyances. Don’t guys know that girls don’t like their hair being touched?! When he goes away, Hee-joo fondly helps Kyu-won fix a stray hair, and Kyu-won does it right back. Aw – they’re friends.





Hee-joo is about to leave when suddenly her mom enters with reporters. Ick. She showers her daughter with love and praise, and the reporters ask how she managed to sing so soon after her surgery. But Hee-joo says she didn’t sing – it was Kyu-won’s voice.

Mother’s jaw drops. Me? “HELLS YEAH – IN YOUR FACE!” The reporters? They start snapping pictures of Kyu-won.






Back at home, Mother is pissed at Hee-joo for admitting to lip-syncing. She managed to stop the articles from being published in time, but now that she’s realized she can no longer control Hee-joo, Mother turns her attention to the younger-sister-who-magically-appears. The sister is on the chubby side, so Mother immediately puts her on a strict diet and signs her up for ballet classes.

Someone’s life is going to turn into hell.

Shin walks Kyu-won home, and she frets that Grandpa might be really angry with her. But no calls means good news right? Wrong – Grandpa is really mad at her for not being the lead actress onstage, and for neglecting her practices for the traditional music competition that’s occurring in a week. He wants her to win 1st place, and she must start practicing tonight. (Side note: I love how Kyu-won and her father lean across the table, anticipating what Grandpa is going to say, and then lean back together when Grandpa starts spitting angry words at his granddaughter.)

Well, at least Kyu-won has a new phone charm to cheer her up; she and Shin traded their teddy bears.





The next day, Hee-joo is in the hospital, now about to get her surgery. Her mom and Jun-hee are there to comfort her, although it’s more like Jun-hee-interrupts-the mother-every-time-she’s-about-to-speak. Hee! Serves you right! But Jun-hee is adorably supportive, so the mother doesn’t hate him that much. She even suddenly becomes clear-headed, and realizes that her pushing Hee-joo caused this condition.

The Chancellor is pleased with Seok-hyun and the performance, but Seok-hyun turns down his offer to stay and teach. He’ll just take a break – with Yoon-su. Meanwhile, Young-min bugs Tae-joon about getting yelled at by Hee-joo’s mother. It’s a sore point for Tae-joon, because he’s getting blamed for everything even though Hee-joo did appear onstage. He sends Young-min out, but then Young-min drops a bomb: did Tae-joon know that Seok-hyun is leaving?

The sunniest smile lands on Tae-joon’s face, and he quickly offers to treat Young-min to coffee.





Now that Seok-hyun’s a free agent, the musical producer from before makes his offer again. Seok-hyun decides to seriously consider it, and the producer then adds that he wants to make a new album with Windflowers and The Stupid, with Kyu-won as the lead singer. He really enjoyed their songs at the musical, so Seok-hyun contacts all the band members.

Shin and Kyu-won are on an ice cream date – since she’s not progressing very much in her gayageum practice. He frosts her nose with whipped cream, but when she tries to get back at him, it ends up on his shirt! Time to buy her boyfriend a new shirt!





She’s perusing the store for a good shirt (though Shin confidently says he can wear anything and make it look good), when they’re contacted by their band members. They all head to the school, and they meet Seok-hyun and the music producer. Everyone’s absolutely excited about making an album, although Kyu-won is a little less sure. This project would definitely pit her against her grandfather again.





Afterwards, Seok-hyun contacts Yoon-su, wanting to go over to her place that night. She’s embarrassed because she has no food in her house, but he offers to pick it up. That’s because… he’s going to propose! But he needs Soo-myung and Ki-young to help make it special; he gives them his credit card and a license to spend an unlimited amount to make it perfect.

The Windflowers and The Stupid all decide to practice on the ending song a bit before presenting it to the music producer again. But during practice, Grandpa calls, wondering why Kyu-won isn’t home yet. Everyone freezes in silence as she answers her phone, but Jun-hee air drums a little too fervently and accidentally hits the cymbals.

Kyu-won blames it on someone dropping a gong, but Grandpa doesn’t really believe her. He catches her red-handed later that night, and in front of everyone, drags her home. He forces his granddaughter to play the gayageum in front of him; from now on she will practice from home.




That evening, Seok-hyun arrives at Yoon-su’s empty-handed, mainly because he had relied on Soo-myung and Ki-young to deliver the food! (Along with roses and balloons and the whole nine yards.) Thing is, Soo-myung’s crappy car finally breaks down on him! Great timing, eh?

Seok-hyun and Yoon-su are forced to eat ramen for dinner, and when Seok-hyun goes to get the boiling water, he accidentally leaves the ring box in his seat. Yoon-su sees it and opens it with a smile.





Now the cat is out of the bag, Seok-hyun sheepishly admits that he had this whole fancy event planned, but Soo-myung’s car ruined it all. She promises to pretend she never saw it, but Seok-hyun pouts.

They reminisce of the past, back to when Seok-hyun’s song won her over back in college. So he sings to her again, and he ends the song on his knees, proposing to her. She accepts. Hip-hip hooray!

Back at the practice room, Shin gets a call from the producer asking to change their recording session from Tuesday to Wednesday. He accepts without realizing that Kyu-won’s traditional music competition is on Wednesday. Operation Conflict has now been created!





With his mother’s help, Shin manages to meet Kyu-won’s father. He wants the father’s help to get Kyu-won away from her grandfather, since they need her to sing lead. He promises to do all he can – although “all he can” might not be enough.

When her father arrives home, he tries to reason with Grandpa about letting Kyu-won do what she wants in her life. Forcing her down the path of traditional music is not fair for her. Grandpa points out that he had done “whatever he wanted” by playing western music, and he didn’t end up all too successful now, did he? What’s more shocking is that Kyu-won is willing to continue with traditional music; she’ll make her decision after thinking about it, but doesn’t want her father and Grandpa fighting.





The next day, Kyu-won arrives at the practice room bearing bad news. She withdraws from the album, partly because she’s afraid Grandpa will get sick from all this. She makes them promise to make the album anyways. Instead of being disappointed, Shin supports her no matter what her decision is. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be a little sad that she’s not around. Instead of practicing the ending song, they all practice their Carmen medley, as it doesn’t require a singer.





The Three Angry Girls, Soo-myung, and Ki-young visit Jun-hee and Hee-joo at the hospital. They’re flabbergasted at his utter devotion to her (Ki-young looks a little disgusted) because Jun-hee knows how to interpret Hee-joo’s every command. Because Jun-hee had to take care of his sickly mother, he knows how to nurse people back to health. Even Hee-joo’s mother trusts him now.

Because Princess Hee-joo needs sleep, everyone has to leave her room. Sa-rang is so pissed off that Hee-joo gets such royal treatment and wails that she must have been a traitor in her past life. Feeling a little sorry, Soo-myung asks her out on a date to watch a play. Well that perks her up! Unfortunately, her two minions overhear and want to go too! But Soo-myung doesn’t have to worry – they’ll pay for their own tickets.





Ki-young: “Looks like it’ll be hard for you to date Sa-rang until they all get boyfriends.” Hee.

Soo-myung: “Aren’t you lonely?” Ki-young stops smiling.





Kyu-won tunes up in the waiting area, dressed in a hanbok. However, all she can think about is being onstage and singing, practicing and performing for the musical. Her grandfather and father are there to support her, and she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. But outside, Shin is there too! He’s there because he wants to give her one more chance – a last minute dash to the studio to go and perform with the bands. Even though he keeps saying that he’ll support her decision no matter what, he clearly wants her to record with them, and he knows she wants it too.

And dash away they go! Operation Conflict resolved.





Using Shin’s phone, she speaks to Grandpa, asking for forgiveness. She’ll receive the punishment later, but right now she has to go! (How many times is this already, three?!) However, she trips on her hanbok and falls on Shin. He slams his wrist on the ground, but doesn’t think much of it.

They reach the studio in the nick of time and record the song together. The wrist bothers Shin a bit, but he pretends it’s nothing to Kyu-won. It does affect his playing though, which his bandmates notice.





After the recording session, Shin’s hand is swelling up, but he pretends it’s ok. He takes her home, where Kyu-won then gets chewed out by her Grandpa. Grandpa kicks her out, and so she’s now forced to stay with her friends. Dad gets a better idea – she can stay in Shin’s house! Hehehehehehehe…..

Shin’s mother has to leave for work, and Jung-hyun heads off to tutoring class, so Kyu-won is left waiting alone for Shin. He’s late because he stopped by a pharmacy for a patch first, so he’s absolutely surprised to see her over after getting kicked out. He doesn’t want her to cook as she’s a guest, so he makes a special meal for her – ramen!





Afterwards, he shows her his room, and puts on a record. It’s his father’s. Shin offers it to Kyu-won; he’s listened to it so many times that he feels like he’s being influenced by his father’s style rather than developing his own. When he becomes a great guitarist, she can give it back to him.





He leans in to kiss her… and Jung-hyun interrupts! Gah – she has impeccable timing like Bo-woon. Kyu-won runs out, all embarrassed, and Shin chases after her. She resolves to move to Bo-woon’s the next day; after all, how can she face Jung-hyun now!? Plus, at Bo-woon’s she can concentrate on practicing gayageum; the reason why she wants to continue with it is because she can see her future more clearly. Musicals provide a more uncertain future, but since they’re all young she’s willing to give it a go as well.





The following day, The Stupid and the Windflowers go to the studio to meet the producer’s boss, who was also at the recording session. They won’t sign the bands on for a recording contract; the kids were good, but not that good. However, he offers a contract to Kyu-won as a solo singer. She would have to travel abroad and work hard. Everyone’s amazed but happy for her.

Kyu-won discusses it with Shin, unsure if she should take on the project. Shin thinks she should take the opportunity; she got kicked out of her house for this, and he knows that they’ll still be together. That’s enough to ease her worries.





Jung-hyun stops by Grandpa’s place to drop off a gift from her mother. She is actually interested in the folk songs he’s playing on the small radio and Grandpa offers to teach her for free. After all, the Great Lee Dong Jin doesn’t teach just anybody. Looks like he’s got a new protegee to control!

It’s also why he easily accepts Kyu-won of signing on for a record deal. As long as she’s the best singer out there, it’s all good!





Kyu-won shares the good news with Yoon-su and Seok-hyun, and of course the director gloats that it’s all because of him that she now has this opportunity. Therefore, she ought to repay with more than just a “thanks.” Even Yoon-su agrees that a mere thank you is too cheap! Seok-hyun has grand ideas that perhaps in the future they can all collaborate on another project.

Shin practices the guitar before his gig at Catharsis, but his wrist is impeding his playing. He goes to visit the doctor, who wants to get it examined. Shin is reluctant to play that evening, but when Kyu-won arrives with Yoon-su and Seok-hyun, he decides to do it anyways. After all, he needs to pretend nothing’s wrong in front of her.





Pain is written all over his face in the opening notes of the song, and finally Shin can’t handle it anymore. He grabs his wrist painfully and falls to the ground.

Comments:

Honestly, I liked this episode, but I was also disappointed by it. There’s no more tension in the drama because everyone gets their happy endings. Hee-joo’s mother and Grandpa both get new protegees to focus all their bothersome meddling onto. Seok-hyun and Yoon-su get a happy ending. Hee-joo and Kyu-won have made their peace. And Kyu-won gets a recording deal.

I mean, could things get any better for these characters? And I would have included that whole “kicking out of the house” a good thing because I wouldn’t be able to live with such a grandfather. I would rejoice!

Shin’s broken wrist is not that shocking to me because his new inability to achieve his dreams felt a bit tacked on. I understand that on a narrative basis it’s intriguing (his girlfriend gets to achieve a dream she never thought possible, while he is now a fallen star. It’s the Yoon-su/Seok-hyun situation but gender-opposite), but it doesn’t make it that much more poignant for me. Perhaps seeing him less supportive about Kyu-won going away would have been a more interesting conflict, because he’s always so supportive. Though it would have made Shin stereotypically domineering, it would have made him a little more flawed, and a little more interesting.

Overall this episode felt tonally bland. Everyone’s going through the motions because most of the characters didn’t really change. Everyone is acting exactly how I expected them to act in the face of all these “problems.” Every problem is getting a shallow treatment, and while it makes for a fast and light episode, it also makes it insanely predictable and, again, not poignant. I guess this is what happens when all the problems are resolved a week early.