Well, we finally made it. We’ve seen romance from the beaches of Yangyang to the streets of Seoul. We’ve seen the heartache of lost love and of lost self — so much heartache that I wasn’t sure if our couple would get their happy ending. But maybe, just maybe, this lost couple can finally find what they were looking for.
EPISODES 16-17 WEECAP
I’m ready to jump into these last two episodes, mostly because I just want the drama to be over, but also because the story seemed to be going in a decent direction. Right off the bat, Eun-oh starts working for Jae-won’s company, and she’s surprised by his professional attitude toward her. She keeps staring at him during meetings, and Kyung-joon (who still has no idea they were lovers) jokes to both of them that they should date.
Behind the scenes, Eun-oh finds a necklace in the suitcase Jae-won returned. She’s not sure about the meaning behind it, and he’s unwilling to tell, much less answer her calls. He tells Director-nim that he wanted to include a letter with the necklace but changed his mind, so she could interpret his feelings herself. But his feelings, he says, are that the old Eun-oh, the Sun-ah he knew, and the new Eun-oh are all her. I liked when Rin-yi said this last week, and I love that Jae-won is saying it now.
To celebrate Jae-won’s new building project, they hold an opening event, which Eun-oh is in charge of. And the whole night, the couple is making googly eyes at each other — they’re just itching for some alone time. They finally get their chance to talk after the event, up on the roof.
It seems like Eun-oh coming clean to her friends has really given her a lot of strength and catharsis, and she uses this to tell Jae-won how she truly feels. As he listens intently (with a sweet smile), she admits that she still doesn’t know who she is and that there’s a good chance he won’t even like the real her.
She’s a mess and there’s still a lot for her to fix — knowing that, does he still want to be with her? He suggests that, instead of fixing the messed up parts of her, they get to know them together. With that, we get more sweet smiles and a lot of kissing. This is their new beginning, and I have to say, it feels earned.
With one beginning, we also have one supposed ending. Rin-yi is upset after hearing that Kyung-joon lied to his uncle about her part-time jobs. In response, Kyung-joon confesses that he doesn’t like her lifestyle, making her tear up. She’s so sad to hear this is what he thought of her, since her own mom was ashamed of her lifestyle. And just like that, she ends their five-year relationship.
Moving into the final episode, our main couple is very much in love, being all cheesy in front of the camera, while Kyung-joon’s heartbreak has made him angry and whiney. (Yup, Jae-won and Kyung-joon are definitely related.) The drama then takes a weird turn, spending most of the finale’s time on two side characters — Officer Dong-shik (Minho again) and actress Hae-na, who are good friends with some romantic feelings involved.
Hae-na escapes her movie set to avoid having her first kiss with her sleazeball co-star. With the help of Eun-oh (who was working on set), Hae-na finds her way to Dong-shik’s place to spend his birthday with him. She clearly wants her first kiss to be with him, but he’s too much of a babo to see it. Eventually, when she has to leave, she braves up and gets her kiss.
Then… the drama… ends? Our main characters give the viewers their parting words and wave at the camera, Kyung-joon and Rin-yi still awkward around each other. We get some cute ending credit scenes with the couples, and yeah, it’s actually over. Wow… It honestly feels like a cliffhanger, like they’re prepping for a second season, because why else would they include an extra episode with all this filler?
So, as expected, I didn’t get much satisfaction from this wrap-up, but I didn’t leave angry either. I started this drama wanting an easy, mindless watch, which for the most part it was. Sure, the main couple was frustrating and their relationship was about as complicated as a pile of tangled-up earphones, but it would only be 30 minutes out of my day.
This was my first time watching Ji Chang-wook and Kim Ji-won in a long time (I skipped their last few projects), and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. They definitely had some good moments — like the tearful confrontation in the bar — but those moments just reminded me that they could give so much more. I wanted so much more.
If there is a second season for Lovestruck, I doubt I’ll be tuning in. I’d rather wait and see Ji Chang-wook and Kim Ji-won being lovestruck in their future dramas. *waves goodbye to Director-nim*