MaryMeKpop

So it’s finally here. It’s finally done. The last episode to Korean drama ‘Let’s Eat’ aired on Thursday, March 13, 2014 and I finally managed to recap the last episode today. *sigh* I can’t be the only one who’s going to miss this drama when it’s done right?! Haha.

If I remember correctly, there will be a special episode airing next week. Depending if I get access to the special episode or not and what it will be about, I might do a recap on it.

Episode 16 starts off with Jin Yi and Gwang Suk on the roof of the building Jin Yi claims her father built. Gwang Suk blames Jin Yi for his father’s death; her father was the reason as to why Gwang Suk’s father jumped off the same building they are standing on at the current moment. As Gwang Suk is yelling at Jin Yi and explaining about his father’s death to Jin Yi, he inches closer and closer to her to the point where she’s literally on the edge of the building, ready to fall over if she moves one more step. Jin Yi refuses to believe that her father was the reason as to why his father passed away.

Episode 16 or the final episode of ‘Let’s Eat’ is called ‘Still…Let’s Eat.’ AWWWWWWW. *wipestears*

We see Soo Kyung exiting out of her apartment and while walking to the elevator passes Jin Yi’s apartment. She notices the bag of milk cartons hanging on her door so she rings Jin Yi’s door bell, but when there is no response she grows concerned. Dae Young joins Soo Kyung when he exits out of his apartment as well and they both discuss about how they believe Jin Yi has disappeared because no one knows where she is. Just then Soo Kyung receives a phone call from Lawyer Kim who called to explain that he received a text message from Jin Yi.

Soo Kyung rushes over to the attorney firm where Gyu-sik, Lawyer Oh, and Lawyer Kim are all sitting and waiting. They show her the text which reads, “Lawyer Kim, thank you for all your concerns all this time. You don’t need to defend my father anymore.” They all grow frustrated over how Jin Yi suddenly contacted Lawyer Kim to tell him that she doesn’t need his help anymore; they believe that Jin Yi is betraying Lawyer Kim. When Soo Kyung reveals that Jin Yi hasn’t been talking to her either, Lawyer Oh is surprised because it seemed like Soo Kyung helped Jin Yi ask Dae Young out so they should be close. Soo Kyung gives Lawyer Oh’s comment a thought while Lawyer Kim tries to break the intense atmosphere by excusing Soo Kyung.

When Soo Kyung tells Dae Young that she and her co-workers believe Jin Yi had gone to another attorney, hence not asking for anymore help from Lawyer Kim, Dae Young doesn’t fall for it so easily. He ends the phone conversation by saying that he’ll try to contact Jin Yi’s friends again. Just when he ends the conversation, he notices a guy working from the same Parcel Service company that Gwang Suk worked at.

This leads Dae Young to ask about Gwang Suk to the employee. We find out that he had quit not too long ago. This leads Dae Young to try to get his contact number. He is told to find Gwang Suk if he can’t reach him through phone so he’s eventually given Gwang Suk’s address (smart Dae Young, smart). When Dae Young calls Gwang Suk, Gwang Suk answers, but once Dae Young explains that he’s Jin Yi’s neighbor, Gwang Suk immediately hangs up on him. (WTH! YOU DO NOT JUST HANG UP ON MY BOYFRIEND LIKE THAT. URGH). Dae Young then has no choice but to find Gwang Suk by going to his apartment.

That’s when we go to Gwang Suk’s apartment where he’s seen packing and stuffing his bag with his belongings in a hurry. He takes down all the pictures he took of Jin Yi secretly on his wall and throws them into the trashcan. Gwang Suk is one step too late as before he can get out of the building, Dae Young has already entered and there they meet. Gwang Suk runs away from Dae Young so Dae Young chases him all the way to the top of the building. Dae Young throws a few punches at Gwang Suk then interrogates him to find out where Jin Yi is. Gwang Suk just replies, “Jin Yi…Jin Yi isn’t at home?” What. Are you serious?

Dae Young and Gwang Suk are at a café waiting for Soo Kyung. When she does arrive, she immediately asks about Jin Yi, but even Gwang Suk doesn’t know where she is. He’s forced to recall back to that night he had confronted Jin Yi at the very roof of the building. Just when she’s close to falling over the edge, a security guard arrives just in time to question why they’re on top of the building (phew, that’s a relief) so she pushes Gwang Suk out her way and runs off. Although Gwang Suk tried to find her afterwards, he was unsuccessful in that. We return to the current scene where he’s in the café with Dae Young and Soo Kyung. He explains to them about how he got a bit angry after hearing about Jin Yi’s father’s possibility of being released so he confronted Jin Yi. Angry Dae Young yells at Gwang Suk for doing something to Jin Yi that wasn’t her fault (OMG. YES. IDK HOW MANY TIMES I SAID THIS. DAE YOUNG, I LOVE YOU). They warn that Gwang Suk has to stay in Seoul until they find her so that they can call him anytime.

At the attorney office, Gyu-sik, Lawyer Kim, and Lawyer Oh all get a fax paper of Jin Yi’s father’s appeal abandonment statement. They can’t seem to wrap their heads around why he would want to abandon his appeal. Lawyer Kim then asks where Soo Kyung is.

At their apartment, Soo Kyung and Dae Young are walking together to the elevator. When the elevator door does open, it turns out to be Lawyer Kim who had wanted to talk with Soo Kyung. He notices Soo Kyung and Dae Young holding hands while standing next to each other.

While Soo Kyung’s struggling to let go of Dae Young’s hand, Dae Young holds onto it tightly. He ignores the fact that they’re holding hands and shows the both of them the fax paper that just came in regarding Jin Yi’s father’s decision to abandon his appeal. They conclude that Jin Yi had gone to visit her father, otherwise there would have been no reason as to why Jin Yi’s father made the decision he did. The crew now has a starting point to be one step closer to finding uri Jin Yi. They start by going to the prison itself.

After visiting Jin Yi’s father in prison, Soo Kyung notifies Dae Young on any updates. It turns out that Jin Yi had asked her father to abandon his appeal after hearing all that Gwang Suk had told her. Jin Yi’s father also told Soo Kyung and Lawyer Kim that when she visited him, she cried saying that she missed her mother so they assume that she could have gone to the United States. Lawyer Kim reassures Soo Kyung that once Jin Yi calms down and is able to organize her thoughts, she’ll contact Soo Kyung. Lawyer Kim then changes the subject and asks Soo Kyung to eat with him for the last time. Soo Kyung doesn’t understand what Lawyer Kim means by…the last time. And I don’t either. Hmm.

At the restaurant, Lawyer Kim asks Soo Kyung if it’s Dae Young that she likes which she doesn’t deny. He continually asks all these questions about Dae Young to her which annoys her, but he doesn’t care. He adds, “I wanted to eat with you. I wanted to go to the movies with you. I wanted to travel the world with you. There were many things I had wanted to do with you. Among those things, do you know what I wanted to do with you the most?” Soo Kyung excuses herself and is about ready to leave (because she can’t take anymore of Lawyer Kim’s bullshit), but he replies before she can leave, “I wanted to let you go coolly. If you say that I am not the one in your heart, I just wanted to coolly let you go. Like 10 years ago, pettily, I wasn’t going to harbor lingering feelings by saying I will take revenge. So…finish your food before you go.”

Soo Kyung agrees to sit down and continue to eat with him after hearing his speech. Lawyer Kim is hopeful again when Soo Kyung tells him that they can still eat together in the future as good co-workers. She goes back to eating, but he doesn’t. He can only stare at her helplessly while feeling broken inside, because he can’t let go of the woman he had an unrequited love for for ten years.

When Soo Kyung’s finished eating dinner with Lawyer Kim, she returns to the apartment. In the hallway, she sees Jin Yi’s door open so she immediately assumes that Jin Yi’s home…that is until she pulls the door farther back and a concerned Dae Young pops out of her apartment (awww man. I thought it was really going to be Jin Yi). When Dae Young reveals that he was unsuccessful in finding Jin Yi’s mother’s contact information, that’s when Soo Kyung realizes that they both don’t know much about Jin Yi (what have we spent watching the last 15 episodes then? Lol). She can’t date Dae Young comfortably knowing that Jin Yi would have gone to Dae Young for help had she been in this difficult situation, but because Dae Young’s dating Soo Kyung, Jin Yi never resorted to Dae Young for that assistance because of jealousy. “I stole her place,” Soo Kyung laments. She walks back to her apartment somber and gloomy, guilty and sad. She texts Jin Yi and apologizes. Suddenly, Barassi comes running over to Soo Kyung with one of the outfits that she had made for him. Soo Kyung takes this as a clue and enters Jin Yi’s apartment to find Jin Yi sitting on her bed, crying and hurt.

Jin Yi struggles to tell Soo Kyung about her father so Soo Kyung just hugs Jin Yi to comfort and embrace her (aww, sisterly love). For the rest of the night, Jin Yi continues to cry in Soo Kyung’s arm while Soo Kyung pats Jin Yi’s head.

A few days pass and we see Jin Yi directing a bunch of people from a company take out the belongings from the neighbor in Room 905’s apartment (the one planning to move out). The employees reveal that they’re hungry so Jin Yi orders the same black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork that Dae Young ordered when she first moved in. The difference this time is that Soo Kyung will also be getting some to eat. Haha. (The first time around, she just witnessed Dae Young and Jin Yi eating the noodles, but she’s going to finally get some! YAY!).

Dae Young is at the hospital receiving some news about his arm. He will be finally able to take his cast off, but before the doctor is about to cut it off, he pauses the doctor. Ooh, what is he gonna do now?

Later on that day, Soo Kyung invites Dae Young into her apartment. She anticipates the gift that Dae Young was going to give her which in the end turned out to be the part of the cast that she wrote on (can I get an aww?). He eventually steps closer and closer to her to the point where he’s thisclose to kissing her (my reaction: NOOOOOO! Not another kiss!) but thankfully Dae Young just grabs Barassi instead. (phew, almost had a heart attack).

She grows disappointed that he didn’t kiss her so Dae Young leans in once again and is serious about kissing her this time, but just when their lips are super close to meeting, Kyung Mi comes rushing into Soo Kyung’s apartment. Haha, poor Soo Kyung. Can’t you see? You’re not meant to kiss Dae Young. Lol. Just kidding.

Soo Kyung and Dae Young end up sitting across from Kyung Mi where she interrogates Dae Young and asks him questions to see if he’s worthy enough of dating Kyung Mi’s best friend. Lol, I love Kyung Mi!

Kyung Mi asks Dae Young about his age. He who had lied that he was born in 1987 was actually born in 1985. We also learn that Dae Young possesses sincere feelings towards Soo Kyung. If he was just playing around with her, he would have gone to younger and prettier women. LOL. He at first tried to sell Soo Kyung some insurance, but over the past two years, she never listened to him so he stopped trying. When accused of being a player, Soo Kyung yells at her best friend to stop and nicely asks Dae Young to leave. Once Dae Young leaves, Soo Kyung returns to Kyung Mi mad and disappointed, but Kyung Mi just smiles and says “Daebak!” about 50 million times. She’s impressed with Dae Young. You know you’re doing something right if Kyung Mi approves. Haha.

The next day at work, Lawyer Kim, Gyu-sik, and Soo Kyung talk about Lawyer Oh’s appearance on the tv show that Lawyer Kim used to go on. They’re impressed with Lawyer Oh’s appearance, but apparently the viewers weren’t for she was able to make it onto the search word list because people thought she resembled a blow-fish. Omg, that’s horrible. Soo Kyung pities Lawyer Oh because the viewers were making fun of her face and states that Korea is infatuated with beauty (TRUE THAT) while Lawyer Kim tells them to not just say anything about Lawyer Oh’s face to her. Just then, Lawyer Oh enters the office looking like a boss and is approached by Gyu-sik who compliments her all over. Okay okay, Gyu-sik. Calm down there. Haha.

Gyu-sik heads out to a café and stands in line to order. The two customers in front of them, both ladies, have finished ordering and is getting ready to pay when they suddenly get into an argument. The boss leaves leaving behind the employee who Gyu-sik sparks a conversation with. They both relate in that they suck up to their boss and have to bare with them no matter how difficult it is. The drinks are finished being made. The employee ends up spitting into the drink that belongs to the boss. LOL. Too funny.

Jin Yi is spending time with Kyung Mi and her youngest son (the one who has a crush on Jin Yi) at Jin Yi’s apartment.

Jin Yi is planning to open a business on the internet that has to do with making pet clothes. She is thankful to Barassi who was able to make all of this possible. Kyung Mi’s youngest son gets jealous of Barassi and tries to her attention by standing up and spinning around the same way that Barassi did as well. LOL. While spinning around, he falls flat on his face (I forgot to mention that he’s wearing his taekwondo uniform which makes it even funnier). Hahaha. Jin Yi asks for Kyung Mi to stop yelling at her son and to help her. Meanwhile, the son takes Barassi to the restroom where he scolds Barassi for hogging up all of Jin Yi’s love. AAWWWWWWWW.

He threatens to use his taekwondo skills on Barassi, but backs away when Barassi starts to bark violently. Haha. SO. FREAKING. CUTE.

At the attorney office, Lawyer Kim requests to go out and eat dinner together to celebrate Lawyer Oh’s successful appearance on the TV program. Lawyer Oh refuses to go because she’s currently on a diet so that she won’t look so fat on screen when she does appear on TV while Soo Kyung has to attend Dae Young’s ceremony for being awarded the ‘King of Insurance.’ This leaves Gyu-sik only who agrees to eat dinner with Lawyer Kim.

While Gyu-sik and Lawyer Kim are seated at the restaurant, this lady enters alone (heeyyyy, it’s the sister from ‘Good Doctor’!).

Gyu-sik immediately notices the pretty and young lady, but Lawyer Kim only focuses on his food. When he also catches the lady stealing glances over at Gyu-sik and Lawyer Kim, Gyu-sik tells Lawyer Kim that he believes the lady likes Lawyer Kim. Lawyer Kim is amazed at how beautiful the young lady is, but tries hard to not be distracted by her. The waiter asks the young lady what she would like to eat in which the young lady points over to Gyu-sik and Lawyer Kim’s table. She was staring at the food they were eating, not AT them. HAHAHHA. Omg, why is that so funny but sad. Gyu-sik notices that her eating style is similar to Soo Kyung’s so Lawyer Kim ends up buying another dish for the young lady. She then finds out that Lawyer Kim had bought her another meal so she thanks him. (Hmm, a possible love interest for Lawyer Kim?)

Soo Kyung and Dae Young are walking out of the ceremony dedicated to Dae Young who had won the ‘King of Insurance’ a second year in a row. Jin Yi joins them a few minutes later and together they all agree to go eat dinner together. YAY!

While in the car, there’s a fly buzzing around in the car. Dae Young manages to kill it with his trophy, which explains the mystery behind there being blood on the bottom of his trophy. He’s a genius at killing mosquitoes. HAHA.

The restaurant they arrive at happens to be the same one that Gwang Suk’s mother runs. It turns out that they have all decided to live in Seoul together (aww). Gwang Suk’s mother (who is played by none other than the wonderful Lee Il-hwa who is mostly known for playing the mom from Reply 1994 and 1997) runs out of the kitchen and greets Jin Yi.

Gwang Suk ends up joining the three neighbors at the table and once the food is served, they all eat and fill up their stomachs happily. Dae Young plans to take pictures of the empty plates to update his ShikSha blog so Soo Kyung hands her empty plate to Dae Young. He turns towards her holding up his cell phone to take a picture which makes her think he’s taking a picture of her, but Dae Young pushes Soo Kyung’s head forward because her head is blocking the picture of a poem he wanted to take a picture of. LOL.

The poem is called ‘Rice’ by Chun Yang Hee and it reads, “To you who eat a lot of rice because you’re lonely, to you who sleep a lot because you’re bored, to you who cry a lot because you are sad, I write this down. Chew on your feelings that are cornerned like you would chew on rice. Anyway, life is something that you need to digest.”

The episode ends up with all five of them staring at the poem and smiling at it, content.

(While the credits are rolling, there are bloopers and behind the scenes clips playing. IT’S SO CUTE. Everyone’s just smiling and laughing and having fun during the bloopers while the cast members and staff production are hugging each other and taking pictures with one another now that filming’s ended. It feels so good to see everyone interacting with one another so happily and always smiling and laughing. It warms my heart. Oh how much I will miss this drama truly.)

My Thoughts;

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin?! Haha. I guess we can start off with talking about the last episode first. I’m satisfied with it. Of course I wish we could have had our four main characters Soo Kyung, Dae Young, Jin Yi, and Lawyer Kim eat dinner with one another one last time to confront their feelings and to tie up all loose ends so that their friendships aren’t altered or broken, but I’m satisfied with how things turned out in this episode. I do think the disappearance of Jin Yi the first half of the episode was rather random, but I’m glad that it allowed for our two neighbors to reach upon the realization that even though they are neighbors with Jin Yi, they really don’t know much about her. This will only motivate them to spend more time with one another and strengthen that bond. I do think it was a bit funny how in the earlier episodes the drama made out Gwang Suk to be the evil villain who seemed like his intentions were to hurt and possibly even kill Jin Yi for something that was totally not her fault, but then in the final episode, he’s suddenly a good guy who had no intentions of hurting her whatsoever. The transformation and change of image from creepy guy who lays under her bed in her apartment to a sweet and kind guy who helps his mother out at a restaurant was just too quick and abrupt it didn’t flow well. I wish more time was spent developing on this transformation, but I guess it’s fine. Gwang Suk is being a kind and obedient son in the end so we can’t argue with that. In all honesty, I just wish the last episode had ended with the four main characters joining each other for dinner or something. As much as I love Gwang Suk and his mother, the way they were included in the final scene of the final episode felt a bit random and out-of-place, especially considering that Gwang Suk didn’t enter the drama until more than halfway into the drama. I yearned to see Soo Kyung, Dae Young, Jin Yi, and Lawyer Kim all together and enjoy being in each other’s presence. That would have been the perfect ending.

Soo Kyung ultimately in my eyes showed the most growth out of all the characters in this drama. She went from being a quiet and timid girl to someone expressive and open. She refused to open up to anyone else as a result of what happened with her divorce, but I’m glad that by the end of the drama, we saw her grow and progress as an individual. She’s now found someone to love and a person to rely on. Along the way, she even yelled at her own boss and stood up for herself and her belief. HER OWN BOSS. That’s definitely very impressive. Although she might not have been my favorite character, Soo Kyung definitely showed progress in this 16 episode drama and I like that. A lot.

In my earlier recaps, I talked about how Jin Yi was my favorite character just because she seems so relatable and optimistic about everything which is why she’s my favorite and by the end of the drama, she still remained my bias. I might have been the only one to feel this way, but I felt like she suffered an abrupt change in her character when she discovered that Dae Young didn’t return the same feelings back to her. She’s usually an understanding and patient person so for her to grow mad and angry and to ignore everyone was a bit random, but then again maybe that’s just what love does to you. Or should I say unrequited love as we all witnessed with Lawyer Kim. Speaking of Lawyer Kim, during the scene where he was eating dinner with Soo Kyung, I definitely felt pity and sympathy for him. To have tried so hard to win the heart of the girl you loved for ten years and to not get her in the end must suck a lot. Maybe that’s why I’m able to excuse him and his inability to let go of Soo Kyung so easily as compared to Jin Yi and her desire to pursue after Dae Young. It’s not easy to move on when you’re told to do so by the person you had feelings for for ten years. It’s hard, it’s difficult, it’s going to take time. I honestly hated Lawyer Kim at the beginning of the drama, because he was getting revenge on Soo Kyung, but when he realized his wrongdoings and immaturity, that’s when I grew to forgave him and saw him in a new light and perspective. I guess you can say that he definitely progressed as well individually.

The drama revolved around our three neighbors Soo Kyung, Goo Dae Young, and Yoon Jin Yi and their interactions with one another. I definitely think we were able to see their witness their journey together and the little things that happened that cause them three to become good acquaintances by the end of the drama. Like Jin Yi taking care of Barassi or Dae Young taking Soo Kyung to the hospital when she suffered from appendicitis or Soo Kyung comforting Jin Yi when she was crying in this last episode – just little things like this contributed towards the three neighbors and their friendship. And if there was something that I took out of ‘Let’s Eat’, it would be the idea that it’s only when we’re put in dire situations like Jin Yi that we truly realize who our friends are. Those who are willing to put in the time and effort to find you because they are truly worried and sincerely care about you. There will be many people you meet and interact with in your lifetime, but there’s only a handful that will be there for you when you need them the most. And Soo Kyung, Dae Young, and Jin Yi were all there for one another – all the way until the end.

As ‘Let’s Eat’ was my first recapping project ever, I would be lying if I said that this drama wouldn’t remain memorable to me. I think recapping this drama allowed me to experience what recapping a drama is like and has also helped me become more attentive when watching dramas as hard as that can be. The last sixteen weeks were not the easiest. This drama was a crazy and wild roller coaster ride. There would be episodes where I was in love and then there were episodes that I disliked and wanted to stop watching, but I’m glad that I stayed and never quitted. One reason was because I knew there were people who were looking forward to my recaps so I didn’t want to quit on that and disappoint my readers, but also because I was genuinely curious about how things would turn out for our 3 neighbors. Was it worth it staying until the very end? Yes, yes it was and I’m happy I did. In all honesty, I’m quite content with choosing ‘Let’s Eat’ as my first recapping project just because the drama was simple and served as a great experiment for me. Reading amazing recaps on Dramabeans and A Koala’s Playground motivated me to do recaps and now that I’m doing that on my very own blog, I’m very happy with how things turned out. Of course mines aren’t as professional, great, and quick as theirs, but I’m still learning and improving. I guess you can consider doing recaps as one of my dreams (if you watched Let’s Eat, you would understand this. If you still don’t understand, I’m referring to Jin Yi who had many dreams. Haha).

I might be the only one who experiences this but when I watch a drama from the very beginning to the end, I get attached to the drama easily because I happened to be one of those viewers who was there from the beginning and watched as the drama progressed. I would be lying if I said that I won’t miss ‘Let’s ‘Eat’ because I will definitely miss it. I will miss seeing Dae Young, Soo Kyung, and Jin Yi interact with each other who went from strangers, to neighbors, to friends who came to learning to trust and rely on one another. I will miss the attorney office and Gyu-sik, Lawyer Kim, and Lawyer Oh’s visits to every restaurant in Korea. I will miss Kyung Mi and her two adorable and hilarious sons and will forever remember the one time they greeted Soo Kyung in the store for the New Year. I will miss Barassi and his witty and intelligent actions. And I will most definitely miss Dae Young’s rampage and rants about the foods every time they were at a restaurant. Haha, you definitely can’t forget that. Granted, this drama wasn’t the most amazing and phenomenal drama that I have seen, nor is it a favorite one of mines, and can even pass as forgettable, but there were scenes in this drama that really reminded me of why this drama was worth watching when it was one of those dramas that I could have easily dropped. I wanted to see how things will unfold and what will happen to our neighbors and whether we would get to see all three of the neighbors form that bond and friendship like how the drama promised us. And being a witness to their journey together really makes it all worth it in the end, because we did get to see that.

I’m glad that I didn’t quit recapping this drama even when I was quite a few episodes behind, because this drama was worth all those hours of sleep I lost just so I could finish the recaps for this drama. It managed to provide me so much happiness and warmth and because of that I am thankful and not regretful of anything. There were a few things I was confused about, dissatisfied with, angry about, irritated with, but which dramas are perfect right?  In the end, if I was to think back on this drama overall and my recaps for it, I enjoyed it because I was able to laugh and smile. And when a drama is able to make me feel all fuzzy and giddy inside, when a drama is able to make me cry tears of sadness and joy, when a drama is able to capture the beautiful significance of each character and their contribution towards the drama, when a drama is able to make their viewers feel important and happy, you know that drama is doing something right. Let’s Eat was able to do all of those things and I am forever grateful for this drama.

So long ‘Let’s Eat.’ It’s going to be hard to let you go. Maybe some time in the future, I will revisit the series again and be reminded of the happiness and laughter you gave me. Maybe some time in the future, I will revisit my recaps and cringe over how bad they were. Haha. Thank you for being that drama that allowed me to start my first recapping project on. Because of this, Let’s Eat will be a memorable drama for me, even if it’s not my favorite.

Bye Let’s Eat. It was great watching you and writing recaps on you while you lasted.