It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to our boxer and her support team, but My Lovely Boxer ends on an emotional and suspenseful note. Both our boxer and her manager are battling separate fights, but ultimately their convictions, strength, and faith in one another brings them to the ending of our tale.
EPISODE 12
We enter the final episode of My Lovely Boxer needing closure to three things: Kwon-sook and Ah-reum’s boxing match, Tae-young’s dealings with the match-riggers, and the relationship status of our main characters. Now, I know these three items may seem like a lot to accomplish in a hour — especially when we’ve all been majorly let down in the past by dramas that really screwed the pooch in their final moments — but luckily for us, this story has been driven by mostly internal conflicts and character development since the beginning.
Thus being, by the time we reach our final episode, all the emotional groundwork has been laid and resolved. It’s just a matter of ensuring the corresponding action goes down in a way that’s satisfying to viewers and feels in line with the previous episodes’ character development. Other than a few nit-picky personal complaints, I feel this drama concluded on an extremely high note. (Yay!)
Let’s begin with Kwon-sook, the once young, immature young woman who ran away from boxing three years ago because she feared and hated the sport her father forced her into pursuing. Her ill-timed departure from boxing caused a major career setback for her opponent, Ah-reum. Kwon-sook initially returned to the ring in order to retire a loser and regain her anonymity, but along the way she learned to respect the sport and her fellow boxers — even if she lacked the same passion that fueled their desire to be the best.
The Kwon-sook who enters the ring and fights Ah-reum has matured leaps and bounds over the course of our story, and instead of throwing the match, she’s determined to win so she can firmly close the door on her boxing career with no regrets. She has a rocky start, though, because she almost immediately realizes that Tae-young is not in the audience. She loses focus, and the distraction leaves her vulnerable to Ah-reum’s punches. She’s knocked to the mat during round one, and she lays there — both dazed from Ah-reum’s punch and despondent over Tae-young’s absence — while the referee counts to ten.
At this moment, Kwon-sook appears prepared to throw in the towel, which I find rather disappointing. While I believe it’s very in-character for her to be distracted and take a punch from Ah-reum, I’m less convinced that she would need a hallucination of Tae-young (superimposed over her father) to motivate her and stir her into regaining her footing. She has her own reasons for wanting to win this fight, and I struggled to believe that they’d disappear in Tae-young’s absence. As a consequence, it feels as though all her aforementioned character development went poof during this scene because of her affection for a man.
But to be fair, Tae-young really is the man of the hour (long finale), and Lee Sang-yub absolutely nailed his scenes, which were just as emotional and suspenseful as Kwon-sook’s boxing match. You see, while Kwon-sook is duking it out in the ring, Tae-young is fighting his own battle of survival. Oh-bok threatens to kill Tae-young if Kwon-sook doesn’t lose the fight, but instead of caving to Oh-bok’s demands, Tae-young stands by his conviction — Kwon-sook must fight an honest fight and put an end to her boxing career on her own terms. He promised her she could do this.
When it becomes clear that Tae-young is willing to die to protect the integrity of Kwon-sook’s boxing match, Oh-bok has two of his goons escort Chul-yong to the boxing venue, where he’s supposed to pass along a message to Kwon-sook: lose the match or Tae-young dies. Chul-yong wouldn’t be Chul-yong without some fun trash talk to the goons, but once he’s at Kwon-sook’s side, it’s clear he’s struggling with what he should do. On the one hand, Tae-young was passionately emphatic that Chul-yong should ignore the threat. But on the other hand, Chul-yong doesn’t want Tae-young dead — even if he’s not a fan of the man who captured his daughter’s heart. Ultimately, though, Kwon-sook inadvertently makes the decision for him.
Ah-reum is the toughest opponent Kwon-sook has ever faced, and she quickly realizes she’s in trouble. Her desire to win has her setting aside her previous boundaries and turning to her father. She asks him to coach her — to tell her how to defeat Ah-reum. Chul-yong hesitates, knowing any (sincere) advice he gives her could be Tae-young’s death sentence, but when faced with his daughter’s passionate, pleading eyes, he caves and tells her to punch through Ah-reum’s blocks. Eventually she’ll find the opening she needs.
The boxing match continues through all ten rounds without either boxer getting a knock-out — although there are a few close calls. By the final round, both women are barely able to stand, running on pure adrenaline and conviction. The match ultimately ends with both of them throwing a punch and then becoming entangled in each other’s arms as they collapse onto one another in a standing hug.
This scene is interspersed with flashbacks to show how far they’ve come and how hard they’ve worked to reach this moment. Although the flashbacks are a bit lengthy, in my opinion, I’m glad that both women were prominently featured. Yes, Kwon-sook is the main character of this drama, but Ah-reum was Kwon-sook’s boxing foil and a bigger contributor to Kwon-sook’s character development than Tae-young. She deserved the highlight reel — and the win.
Because the match ended without either boxer knocking out her opponent, the winner was determined by a panel of judges, and the referee raises Ah-reum’s arm and announces that she’s the victor. Although Kwon-sook wanted to win, she accepts her loss gracefully, and in a show of true sportswomanship, she hugs Ah-reum, grabs her hand, and raises Ah-reum’s arm again. The spectators cheer with renewed enthusiasm. (Gah! I love it when women build up other women!)
In her post-fight interview with the press, Kwon-sook is asked about her loss — namely, what she thinks contributed to it — and she answers: “It’s probably because Ah-reum loves the ring more than me.” From there, Kwon-sook does as she’d planned (win or lose) and opens up to the reporters about her dislike for boxing and her intention to retire and lead a peaceful life. After her interview, Kwon-sook says goodbye to the boxing ring by kneeling and kissing the boxing mat (*ewwwww*), but it also turns out to be a goodbye moment between her and her ajusshi.
After Kwon-sook lost her match, Oh-bok celebrated his windfall by pointing a gun at Tae-young’s head, but miraculously — even though we hear a gunshot go off when the police arrive — Tae-young walks away from the kidnapping mostly unscathed. Unfortunately, because Kwon-sook lost her match he must keep his distance from her so she does not get tied to his involvement with the match fixing. He bids one last goodbye to Kwon-sook from afar, and turns himself over to the police.
One year passes, and everyone is leading happy lives. Chul-yong is coaching Ho-joong for his own comeback, and Ho-joong’s girlfriend, Ah-ra, watches their training session with mixed emotions. There are obvious hearts in her eyes, but she tells Kwon-sook that she’s worried that her boyfriend’s age and extended hiatus will put him at a major disadvantage. (FYI: Ho-joong and Ah-ra are so cute together, and I’m disappointed that this couple didn’t get more screen time.)
Meanwhile, Ah-reum is training to win the championship in all four boxing associations. Soo-yeon is still her agent, but Soo-yeon’s company has hired a new junior employee: Jae-min. And — wait — are they trying to imply from that little exchange of Jae-min’s business card that Jae-min might be Ah-reum’s future love interest? I hope not ‘cause she deserves *waaaaaaay* better.
As for Kwon-sook, she’s studying for her horticulture certification, but she pops into her father’s gym to give boxing tips to his young students, who have to remind her that they are only boxing for fun when her advice is too serious. She also maintains her daily routine of waking up early in the morning to go for a run, but the ankle weights are noticeably absent. She’s free, and boxing is no longer weighing her down.
It is during one of these runs that she’s finally reunited with Tae-young, who served a short sentence in jail and then spent the remainder of his time helping the police track down Oh-bok (who is actually revealed to be “the chairman” himself). Now that Oh-bok has been arrested, Tae-young feels free to approach Kwon-sook.
At first, she puts on a good show of being mad at him for being MIA for a year, and she punches him in his gut to show just how displeased she is over his absence. Given how fast he recovers, though, it’s clear she pulled the punch, and when her pouting quickly gives way to a smile, it’s clear she’s too happy to be mad at him. I can’t say that I’d forgive him so quickly, but — damn — if he isn’t charming as he quotes himself and reenacts their first meeting.
She plays along and responds similarly until he deviates from the script and hands her a lollipop, at which point she asks if he has anything better. Tae-young looks briefly panicked that she might reject him, but then Kwon-sook gestures pointedly at her lips and asks for a kiss.
Gotta say, I was not expecting her to be so forward — especially since he’d never explicitly confirmed that he had romantic feelings for her before or after his year-long hiatus. I personally feel like some sort of deeper conversation was needed before the kiss because — let’s be real — he’s been gone a year. But with only limited airtime remaining and for the sake of a happy ending, I guess we’re left to assume their love is so deep that there was no need to define the relationship before locking lips.
Overall, while I did have my complaints about the romance between Kwon-sook and Tae-young, I find myself mostly forgiving of their relationship as the show comes to an end. I can’t tell if this is because the romance won me over or because the rest of the drama was so gosh darn fantastic that I’m willing to forgive the romance plot since it didn’t detract from the rest of the story. From start to finish, My Lovely Boxer had me hooked by its plot and superb acting, and in its final moments, it delivered a suspenseful and emotional ending. This is a real diamond in the rough, and even though this drama had poor ratings, I sincerely hope the cast is honored for their brilliant performances when award season comes around.