What The Heck Is Going On? Episodes 9 and 10 Final (A HyoCap)

SakiVI: Finally, a finale!  I thought it would never happen the way everyone's been dithering on this show.  Okay, Sora hasn't been dithering, to be fair, but she's annoying anyway, and not the heroine she imagines herself to be.  Also, the theme song is stuck in my head, so annoying...
Shuk: [helpfully slaps the back of Saki's head]
Oh, thanks.

All subbed episodes, including 9 and 10, can be found at Beesubs here.  I strongly suggest watching them in one go.

And I for one am ready to see this one conclude. Then I can finish my other webdrama, Noble My Love with the lovely Sung Hoon. Don't know if he can sing or ever been in a boy band; I'm not even sure if he can act, but man can he pose! 
SideBar: Sung Hoon, not only looks like Jaehyo's older cousin, but sings ballads, and DJs in China, while Jaehyo sings one line per Block B song, and plays lots and lots of League of Legends.

Ep 9

So, the secret's out.  Anna-in-Hanna is wrapped in a white blankie in her room at Ilwoo's house thinking of how she had to admit she was Anna to Ilwoo. Flashback to her telling Ilwoo who was remarkably calm discussing all this with her.  Also, he took it all very well considering there was a legitimate reason for Hanna knowing everything he told Anna: she's supposed to be Anna's daughter!
At least his face isn't as confused as usual. Way to go, Ilwoo!
 
Then we see Ilwoo remembering how Hanna was just like Anna and also Hanna telling Halmeoni she was Anna.
All the little flashy flashbacks that made us question his IQ.
It was a weird situation.  In many ways, he was totally normal - for a webdrama.

Cut to the Clara Go exhibition, full of some revolting looking gold painting and, annoyingly, Sora. Apparently, Sora just needs to say the name, Clara Go, and the artist shows up because she's cool with plebeians like that.
For some reason, their meeting in front a giant farrowing pig made me giggle. Most artists do make appearances at their galleries. Dare we call this one FATE?? Or more lazy writing?
This artist has nothing but her art, which she's made in 24K gold and without a security detail.
 
Then we see Ilwoo lethargically drying cups in the coffee shop while Jinwoo hurries to ask Hanna, still with her colouring books even though she's technically Anna, age 40, if the two of them had fought.
I was thinking it might be her homework but still... And Jinwoo is a clueless lug but he is worried about his friend being even more expressionless than usual.
Ilwoo tells Jinwoo to get back to whatever work it is he does, and then sits to tell Anna, let's keep this our secret.
Was there any other option? How long did it take the logic train to reach the station?
About a night and a day.
I guess they forgot about Sini (who? haha just kidding). But she disappeared entirely these past two eps! AinH asks if Ilwoo understands any of this, how she became like this. And she says she'll live in her own house. 
If she doesn't understand it, Mr Confusion hasn't got a prayer.
I dunno, because he comes off as more mentally balanced and intelligent than her.
Ilwoo says no way, but AinH insists she cannot be his partner.  Ilwoo says come home, because he needed some time to think and he's sorry. (recapper's note: for what?) The actress playing AinH does that cute little voice and says, nah, she was just kidding, dude.
She is a complete contradiction. She should have come with her own warning WTH label. Is she still trying to test his resolve? Or jerk his chain? Or was she really just kidding? Blech.
Harabeoji shows up, and asks for his photo. AinH gives it to him and asks he recognizes the tarot card? He says, yes, he made it 60 years ago. And she tells him Ihwa Halmeoni is waiting for him. They have an emotional reunion at the nursing home. Ihwa sobs, why did he take this long? (Recapper's note: yes, why? Even with the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he could've still come back to the same small town, just as he's doing now.) Ilwoo and AinH watch this all sadly.
I guess this is the Love Conquers All scene. To help our Clueless Couple, yunno, get a clue.
As Ilwoo and AinH walk outside, Ilwoo says that kind of love, where you're always missing the person is dreadful. AinH says missing a person is a happiness too. (Recapper's note: nope, after Block B finished their US tour, I've been missing them, especially Jaehyo, terribly and am so sad!  I considered trying to fall out of love with Jaehyo, except, yunno, bias.) 
I don't see missing someone as a happiness, per se, but I do see it as proof that you were loved, even if it was only one time.
Then in my case, it's proof I have excellent taste in young men.

Ilwoo asks her why she was planning to sell her store and leave without telling him. AinH apologizes, and says if he knew everything about her, he would leave her later. She says she doesn't have any confidence. Ilwoo says he wants to be with her always, but AinH protests she doesn't know when she'll be an adult!
The older person in this relationship doesn't have confidence in the relationship. Man, that makes us cougars look wishy-washy.
We're not, though, because when normal women reach cougar-stage, they know what they like and what they don't and they don't mess about.
Truth.
Ilwoo, rockstar that he is, says he'll wait for her, even if she has to grow up all over again.  He says they are a family now while they hug.
Makes sense from his point of view. A fifteen-year gap between the two is the same, it's just that their roles are reversed and he now has to wait for her to go through puberty, much like she had wait for his. [evil grin]

Cut to scene in coffee shop with Ilwoo's mum, Clara Go, Sora, Sora's dad, and Jinwoo's mum.  Turns out Ilwoo's mum left them all to go studying the USA and Ilwoo's father said, "have nothing to do with Ilwoo, ever."  And Ilwoo's mum accepted that!  (Recapper's note: nope, doesn't make sense at all.  I don't know a single mother who completely lets go of her child without a massive fight, and, they keep fighting even when everyone is telling them no.)
In this scene, we can at least see more of where Sora's horrible attitudes and actions come from: the passive-agressive father and the just-plain-mean mother. I still don't like Sora and wish she would take a long walk off a short pier, but you can see that her behaviour has parental approval.
Sora' attitudes seem to have societal approval in a society that basically undermines single women over a certain age. Oh wait, that's all societies!
And my mother. [sigh]
 
Anyway, this weirdo woman says she hired Anna to care for Ilwoo after his accident. Turns out two years ago, Ilwoo's father died in a car accident where Ilwoo was the driver. Same accident caused Ilwoo's leg problem. (And again, poor acting of a supposed debilitating injury at his father's funeral rites) So, he had to deal with a parental death, survivor's guilt, and a handicap all at once. Ilwoo's mum saw Anna caring for Ihwa Halmeoni, and hired her to look after Ilwoo, but to make it seem like it's all her own kindness.
So the crematorium is in the same building as the nursing home. Anybody else think this is taking efficiency waaay too far??
Not the nursing home, but the hospital where the ex was and where Anna met Ihwa Halmeoni; we all know from kdramas is where funerals are held.  Note to self: don't go to a South Korean hospital.
Just another day at the Perfect Health Hospital in Itaewon.
Wow.  Ilwoo comes in, hears all this, and gets his absent mum telling him he can't see Anna anymore because Anna fooled her and Ilwoo both.
Mom's explanation of past events fits nicely into a trope called "Exact Eavesdropping" in which the person talked about overhears exactly everything that anybody didn't want him to know ever. 

And yet I have to scratch my head. If she was his rehab nurse, how come he didn't know she was his rehab nurse? Did Anna really agree to just casually kick a ball and rub his leg? And be a total snitch to his mom for two years? I don't believe it. No nurse would break their professional morals of patient confidentiality on something so spurious as "I had people tell my adult son I'm dead, so just give me a monthly update and he'll never know, pinky swear."
 Remember, webdrama!  Plus, Anna hasn't exactly been rational...
 
Sorry, lady, but even if there's a breach of fiduciary duty, you don't have the moral ground at all. Word, sister, word. Plus, Ilwoo didn't know Anna was actually his nurse, so a judge might say what happened happened naturally since Anna couldn't insist and act like she was his nurse. At any rate, the whole situation is dicey, dicey dicey! You all are sketchy people!
Although sketchy would be Anna, too, you know. She deserves that panic-stricken look on her face!
Yes, I include Anna in the Sketchy Crowd.

Oh, and of course, again, Sora has to snitch about the shop being sold. Seriously, Sora, just disappear!
Ilwoo knows, so it's useless trivia designed to humiliate Anna. Sora's fangs are pulled the more she behaves this way. Let her keep going and be good and toothless! 
Sadly, she's not saying this about Sora.
Ilwoo points out how Clara Go sucks as a human being and parent and to butt out.
Fist bump for Ilwoo!
This should be Saki, fist bump and head rub for Jaehyo!
I like, I like! 
And AinH hears all this too and, overwhelmed, runs to her own place.
She has never had the guts to face her own actions and her irrational fears, sadly.
If she'd been in adult form and run away, I would be madder. But not much she could do like this.
Ilwoo follows her there and begs her to say it wasn't true. He had thought it was all destiny, but surely she didn't actually do everything that made him fall in love because she was hired? Oops, but she did.
Well, I don't think the love part was in the original plan. And no reason for him to go stomping off, especially if he wanted to clear the air between them.
Since he's been suckered to one extent or another throughout, let him stomp. Plus, he must be furious his absentee parent came back to interfere.
And then we get the cute little actress playing AnnaInHanna crying, and that makes me want to punch someone.
She is slightly better than Jaehyo when it comes to expressing emotions.
Oh, she's lots better than anyone else here!
No making the little cutie cry!

Ep 10

We begin with Sora and Jinwoo worrying about Ilwoo. And Jinwoo telling Sora, did you have to go this far, hiring a detective, and breaking Ilwoo's heart? Sora tries to defend herself saying at least the truth is out. (Recapper's note: all truth does not have to be told. In this case, Ilwoo's mother was not around, and the two people, Ilwoo and Anna, could've lived happily together.)
Also, who is she to butt in someone's life and ruin things? But now she has nothing else in her arsenal, and her actions have lost her the respect and friendship of the one person she wanted to keep close. Eediot.

She still seems to think Ilwoo will love her without Anna in the picture (Recapper's note, pfffft) and Jinwoo tells her to get it straight, Ilwoo is not into you! Sora whines Ilwoo is her first love, even though that statement implies a second and more, and Jinwoo, scrunching up his face tightly, kisses her!
My first love still has a tiny corner of my heart, but even way back when he was never some type of overwhelming, looming, suicide-inducing presence in my life after he broke up. Is there really this much obsession in the world about that first significant other? If so, then I am very glad it whooshed past me.
And I did throw up a little in my mouth.
So did Jinwoo.
He then offers himself as a less-attractive-but-same-height substitute, hee.
I hate stupid redemption arcs. [grouses]
She doesn't get redemption, just a neat ending.

Switch scene to AnnaInHanna packing her little girl clothes, and Ilwoo drinking alone. He remembers telling AinH that they are a family no matter what, and AinH appears to remember too.
Come here, Ilwoo, I want to give you a hug. And some chapstick. Maybe the chapstick should come first.
Next morning, AinH shows up at the nursing home with her rollalong suitcase. The haraboji is picking flowers for Ihwa Halmeoni, who thanks Anna for bringing her first love back to her. She hugs AinH and tells her, don't worry, you will have your love. As Ihwa Halmeoni and AinH sleep, they have a joint dream of the Halmeoni young and saying thank you to her first love. In the dream, young Ihwa disappears into a twinkly light.
No really, this happened. 
Next morning, Anna gets up as actual adult Anna and in the same clothes she originally slept in when she shrunk to a little girl. (Recapper's note: people, use PJs so your clothes don't wear out fast.)
And if I switched from little girl to adult woman, I'd first notice the skin on the backs of my hands, not my boobs.
Anna was shown a bit too obsessed with her own shape back in eps 1 & 2.
Yes.
But, sad news: As Anna rushes to tell Ihwa Halmeoni, she sees Ihwa Halmeoni has passed away in her wheelchair. Well, that sucks.
Would have been worse if she woke up with dead grandma in the same bed. Oh well, at least they just have to wheel her across the hallway to the funeral rooms. 
She also had to say goodbye to the harabeoji orabeoni.
Ilwoo returns home and looks pretty. 
So, so pretty!
He sees AinH's shoes and her folded clothes and feels sad.
Feeling sad.
Looking pretty.
Cut to some seagulls. Why? I don't know. Maybe to show us life is ephemeral like a bird's flight?
Or maybe it just craps on us like that.
Anna can be seen writing to Ilwoo's mother whom she first addresses as Master Clara, and then as Ilwoo's Omoni.
How about "Jerk Who Abandoned My Cabana Boy"?

Ilwoo can be seen mooning in his cafe. Jinwoo gets fed up and gives him the catalog to Ilwoo's mother's exhibition in case Clara Go knows where Anna is. Ilwoo looks disheveled but pretty. He sees a dedication in the catalog "to my beloved child" and decides to see his mother.
Disheveled Pretty.

Decisive Pretty.

As they look at the picture of the (creepy looking) little boy that he also has in his house and that Anna apparently put up there, Ilwoo looks a bit like a duckie as he questions his mother's life choices, and tells how Anna helped him. The mum just excuses herself saying she wouldn't have changed any of her decisions to leave to study abroad (Recapper's note: she could still have kept in touch?). Anyway, she hands over the letter from Anna.
Thanks for nothing, mom. Except a creepy picture of a little boy with a rabbit between his knees and lots and lots of guilt as to why Mom didn't love him enough to work it out.
I think he's very clear that it's Mom's fault in this. He should also blame his father for keeping his mother from him, though.
Since he's not around to defend himself, I wouldn't believe Mom 100%.
Ilwoo is prettier than that picture even from behind.
Are you talking about Ilwoo's behind??
We pan over to Anna writing the letter saying although she was supposed to look after Ilwoo, she also healed because of falling in love with him. Anna is then shown riding a pink bicycle (past a giant anthill) and then walking along the beach where she pick up a shell that says, "I love you, Anna." She looks up, and there's Ilwoo! 
Pretty Ankles Alert.
Then they both laugh with relief that this show is over. (Recapper's note: hee!).
They both are smiling because now they can purchase some pants for him that fit.
Oh,the relief!
Final Thoughts

Phew, finally over!  I do get happy looking at Ahn Jaehyo, the actor playing Ilwoo, so that made it easier for me, but I wouldn't have chosen a story like this to watch without him.
Out of sheer love for our Saki did I venture into this fable. And only regretted the scriptwriter.
Shucks, I'm blushing.

To be honest, I didn't really comprehend the OTP's relationship much, since I didn't feel much spark between them. And then, I wondered, perhaps both of them had been through so much emotional trauma in their lives - Ilwoo certainly had - that what they found was a place to rest within each other. And that is a blessed relationship.
In two-and-a-half hours of total onscreen time, you are never going to get much more than a light brush on any subject. It's just a shame they spent way too much time on Stupid Sora and Jinwoo The Useless. They should have eschewed faking up a love triangle and just focused on overcoming the age difference. Which is hard enough to work out in fifteen-minute increments.

An 11th century book on love called The Dove's Neck Ring tells us "like attracts like" and that if one person loves another, it's because they see something in that person that is similar to themselves and so they relate. Perhaps Ilwoo sensed Anna's own emotional pain while also appreciating her loving kindness, a feature that is also very much part of his own personality. And both seem to need a maternal figure of some sort in their lives with Anna adopting Ihwa Halmeoni and Ilwoo attaching himself to Anna; thing is, I don't think the ex-boyfriend's crack about Ilwoo having an Oedipal Complex was that far off, but since it didn't prevent him from being the man in the relationship, it didn't really matter.
Since all the hangups about their couplehood were squarely on her shoulders, I agree. And in that, I see more differences than similarities between them. He accepts his actions in a responsible, if slightly confused, manner. And never shied away from anything regarding Anna, be it her age, her child, her abandonment, her lies...

She on the other hand, was secretive, worried about other people's opinions, and downright shrinking when it came to the two of them, especially in public. Her MO was always to run away and think about the consequences later.
Maybe that's how she's always lived life. In fact, I'm guessing that's exactly how she lived her life. Nursing is something she can do anywhere. So, when problems, for example ex's mother hating her, arose, she took her escape route in the form of Clara Go's money.
Good observation. I never did understand the Useless Information Lotion Emporium.

Of course, Anna had her issues, and while I think she shouldn't have worried about the age, it seems her problem was also one of fear that Ilwoo would stop loving her when he found out she was a hired nurse. And yet, lucky, lucky her, he didn't, because, as her fanboy, he could've been too disappointed to continue with someone he found fake. Instead, he still appreciates her good qualities, loves her still, and so they're off to their happy ending - and possibly an actual little Hanna.
Hopefully with a combined IQ of both of the parents.



Trivia: Cafe Contigo is in Yeok Sam-dong if you're ever interested in finding the cup that touched the cracked lips of Jaehyo.
Whoever gets there first!