We’re sending our mother-daughter duo off this week in the quiet and understated manner I’ve come to expect from this drama – no matter how much it tries to pretend it’s brash and loud. Even if the final scene has me feeling conflicted, I know I’m going to miss these characters on my screen each week. They stayed true to themselves until the end, with a heartfelt story that felt as real as it did outrageous.
EPISODES 11-12
We begin with Eun-mi in the hospital following her stab wound last week. As expected, she recovers without a hiccup but in the process she learns just how many people truly care about her. Jin-hong cares so much he moves into the same apartment building as Eun-mi and Jin-hee and comes over every day to support Eun-mi’s recovery and let Jin-hee relax while he’s got it covered.
Things are moving along fine until Jin-hong’s snooty parents suddenly appear and try to weasel their way into his life again. This time, they want Eun-mi to marry Jin-hong (after they request a DNA test to prove Jin-hee is really his daughter) and then they want to coerce Eun-mi and Jin-hee into living how they see fit. Jin-hong is amenable to marriage but he doesn’t want Eun-mi to feel forced and leaves the decision up to her.
At first, Eun-mi considers marrying Jin-hong for Jin-hee’s sake. She feels that Jin-hee would benefit from having more people to love her — and Jin-hong’s parents are already considering an inheritance for Jin-hee. However, when everyone gets together for dinner, the parents start laying the pressure on thick. They throw their money in Eun-mi’s face, saying they could give Jin-hee a better education – and anyway, she should be a doctor or a professor, not a cop.
Jin-hong intervenes and tells them to stop but when they won’t, Eun-mi says she’s refusing the marriage and then excuses herself and Jin-hee from the restaurant. Afterward, Jin-hong and his sister both tell their parents they’re cutting ties with them and leave with Eun-mi and Jin-hee. The four of them ride home in the car together and it’s nice to see them all getting along.
Later, Eun-mi and Jin-hee argue about who was more hurt by the whole grandparent fiasco and Eun-mi kicks Jin-hee out of the apartment. This is perfect because with nowhere to go Jin-hee ends up with Jae-won having a few drinks and getting a (sort of) confession (at least, that’s how I read it!). He understands when she complains about her mom and says he gets it because he’s been observing her – the way she talks, smiles, runs (and this whole leadup feels like a slow burn that I can’t wait for).
It takes a little more time, but one night Jin-hee winds up at Jae-won’s house a little tipsy and asks if he likes her. He pauses briefly before saying yes and then she drops her purse on the floor and pulls him in for a kiss. Their scenes are always fraught with tension because of how much Jae-won holds back, and this scene is no exception, which makes the moment pretty heart fluttering.
She spends the night in his bed, but we only see the morning after where he’s making breakfast. Jin-hee is honest and ready for coupledom while Jae-won is reserved thinking about the fact that she’s supposed to return to her position at headquarters soon. He lies that last night was an accident but she tells him he’s a bad liar and it looks like she has no intention of backing down now.
Just at that moment, she gets the news that her grandmother has died – meaning Mi-jung’s mom, the woman who took in Eun-mi as a teenager and helped raise Jin-hee. She rushes out to the funeral to meet her mom and Mi-jung, where all three act as chief mourners, and Jae-won later appears with the police team to show their support for her.
We learn that Mi-jung’s extended family is upset that Eun-mi and Jin-hee are considered part of the family – and that they’re even receiving an inheritance when others are not. But the drama goes deeper into its theme about what it means to be a family, showing that it’s the people who are repeatedly there for you that matter the most. Bloodlines don’t mean much if you can’t count on each other. And further, you don’t get privileges just for being blood related. Eun-mi cries, for the first time that we’ve seen, and affirms that Mi-jung’s mother was her mother because she chose her.
Right around this time, Jin-hee starts toying with the idea of moving out and getting her own place. This makes Eun-mi squirmy and she’s totally against it. So, in lieu of that idea, Jin-hee decides she wants to go backpacking abroad for a year, and it’s important to her that she goes by herself. She’s been through a lot in the past few months – from getting demoted to meeting her father to watching her mom almost die – and she wants to process it all before it starts to fester. She promises Eun-mi they’ll live together again when she gets back.
Eun-mi seems to be going through a growth process herself when she tells Jin-hong, “I have to let go of Jin-hee so she can let go of me. I’m an adult and her mom.” She’s still afraid to move in with Jin-hong, but he’ll stick by her side and wait no matter what.
As a short aside, we learn that Jin-soo has not been having girl troubles all this time, but boy troubles. He’s been hiding his relationship, worried what others will think, but he’s ready to stop doing that. Eun-mi is accepting right away (I think Jin-hee already knew) and it looks like they’re little family is adopting yet another member when they sit down for a meal with Jin-soo and his beau.
Before Jin-hee leaves for her travels, Eun-mi expresses her fears. What if she dies like grandma while Jin-hee isn’t around? But then she changes tune, saying she plans to get on with her life too while Jin-hee is gone. With that, Jin-hee says goodbye to Jae-won who promises to wait for her. They walk off in a very cute scene where he lifts her backpack to see how impossibly heavy it is. And I just find his timidity and hesitation adorable.
The night before her flight, Jin-hee stays at a hotel near the airport and opens the envelopes of money she received from Mi-jung and Jin-hong for her stay abroad. In Mi-jung’s envelope there’s also a family relations certificate, listing Jin-hee and Eun-mi as granddaughter and daughter to Mi-jung’s recently deceased mom. In voiceover, Jin-hee thinks, “My grandma, who chose me. And my mom, who chose me” – and then she breaks down in sobs. At the exact same moment, in another part of the city, Eun-mi is also crying her eyes out in her now-lonesome apartment, where Jin-hong comes in to comfort her.
At the last minute, Jin-hee is at the airport ready to leave when she runs into Eun-mi, who says she’s also going to Spain. Jin-hee makes it clear she intended to go alone and Mom can’t just tag along. But Eun-mi says she has her own plans and it has nothing to do with Jin-hee. They walk their separate ways and Jin-hee tells us in voiceover that life has all kinds of unexpected tough times, but it’s all about finding the right people to run with.
I was prepared to love this ending and write a rave review until we get some final shots during the credits. We see Jin-hee and Eun-mi in a montage of images with various landscapes of European countries behind them as they take selfies. The screen is split in two and, at first, I wondered if we were seeing the women traveling separately in split screen. But no, they are interacting in the foreground as they take photos. So, it seems they ended up traveling together after all – which is a very different ending than the one I anticipated during the last thirty minutes.
When I thought we were approaching an ending with mom and daughter going separate ways for a while, I was ready to applaud this drama for finding a way to show growth in their relationship. In the Week 1 recap, I questioned whether or not we would see any growth because I found their dynamic all too realistic – which made the possibility of escaping their unhealthy entanglement seem farfetched.
But in the final stretch, I found it believable that Jin-hee would go off on her own and get some space. It felt like the right ending for a few reasons. First, I had hoped to see development in the relationship between Jin-hee and Jin-hong, but really, it was still too soon. Her going away would give everyone some time and space to deal with their emotional baggage and then, when she got home, they could see how they felt. Second, Jin-hee and Eun-mi separating long enough to breathe a little seems entirely reasonable at this juncture. It fit the story and it would be a way to show they had both grown.
Instead, the final credit shots tell me that neither has changed from when we met them. As realistic as that ending might be, I find it difficult to come to terms with the show’s message that we should find this heartwarming and cute. Why can’t they have lives separately and together? It’s okay to have family (chosen or otherwise) and it’s also okay (healthy even) to have an independent life. I wanted more for these women who I’ve really come to love. And I wanted more for Jin-hong and Jae-won, who will always remain at the outskirts as mother and daughter stay enmeshed.
So, rather than moving forward, we come full circle. We see our leads acting just as they did when the drama started, proving that nothing can shake them or their bond. While that’s a sweet way to spin it, it’s not what I wanted for these lovely characters who deserve to have it all, especially when we were so close to a more perfect ending.