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It’s the last episode and we finally witness the conclusion involving all our characters. Despite all the struggles and challenges that our characters might have faced in the past, they learn to overcome those struggles with the help of one another and most importantly, food.

Let’s Eat Season 3: Episode 14 & Final Recap

The finale opens with Woo-sun dragging Seo-yeon out Dae-young’s office so that they can “sleep” together since that’s what Seo-yeon assumes Woo-sun keeps pestering her for. When Dae-young returns home, he grabs lunch with Ji-woo and attempts to avoid all conversations about Seo-yeon or Woo-sun. He refrains from revealing to Ji-woo what happened between Seo-yeon and Woo-sun back at his office so Ji-woo remains clueless and invites Woo-sun to join them for lunch. Contrary to what Dae-young thought, Woo-sun went jogging and will join them afterwards.

When Woo-sun gets into his car after jogging, he finds a piece of Seo-yeon’s earring left in the passenger seat. He recalls the moment he took Seo-yeon to his place and threw her onto his bed. Unlike what she was expecting, he tucks her into bed and encourages her to get some rest. She must be exhausted which is why she wasn’t thinking properly. Lol.

Woo-sun arrives at the restaurant and joins Dae-young and Ji-woo for some food. The dish they’re eating contains boiled meat instead of grilled meat which Woo-sun complains about. Dae-young – just like all the other times – goes off on his food rant to Woo-sun in defense of the boiled meat (he even sang a bit of ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’ by BTS to explain himself! I love it!). After the food lecture, the three dig in to their food. After they finish eating, Ji-woo leaves the two guys alone to go use the restroom. When she’s gone, Dae-young shows support for Woo-sun and is willing to give him relationship advice. He just needs to ask, but he won’t bring up the topic if Woo-sun doesn’t want to talk about it.

Seo-yeon finds herself sleeping later than usual at Woo-sun’s place. When she leaves his apartment, she encounters him waiting for her in the apartment lobby. He volunteers to take her home. Once Seo-yeon gets home, she recalls all the moments she’s had with Woo-sun and how kind and caring he was towards her. Maybe she’ll change her mind about him.

Ji-woo heads to the nursery home to visit Mom. There, she finds that Mom has already taken a shower and the room is clean. Who could have possibly done all of this? It’s none other than Seo-yeon who enters the room with Mom and Ji-woo. Seo-yeon shares with Ji-woo that she came to visit Mom because she missed her. Though reluctant at first, Ji-woo eventually informs Mom of Seo-yeon’s identity: Seo-yeon’s her younger sister. Mom then opens up to Seo-yeon and starts to care for her knowing that she’s related to Ji-woo. She’ll even cook Seo-yeon her favorite kimchi dough soup if she wants her to.

Woo-sun drops by Ji-woo’s place to evaluate her apartment. He wants to make sure that it’s adequate and healthy enough for Seo-yeon to sleep in. He even considers buying a queen bed for both Seo-yeon and Ji-woo to sleep on so Seo-yeon won’t have to sleep on the floor any longer. When asked if Woo-sun feels happy pursuing after Seo-yeon, he claims that he does. Compared to before, he feels much better now because he’s finally being able to express his feelings for Seo-yeon.

That night, Ji-woo, Seo-yeon, and Dae-young all have some fried chicken together on Ji-woo’s front balcony. Dae-young might be exhausted, but he feels good about his business. However, he is concerned about the restaurant that he’s attempting to collaborate with. He wants to collaborate with them, but their demands for the down payment is too much. Should he just give up? The three agree to visit the restaurant together the next morning.

The day arrives for the three to go on their trip. Ji-woo continues to accommodate to Dae-young so that he can get as much rest as he needs during the road trip. When they arrive at the restaurant, they eat the kimchi dough soup and notes how similar it tastes to Ji-woo’s Mom’s version of the soup. Since they are there for work purposes, the three heads to the back to find the restaurant owner. However, instead of the restaurant owner, they find Woo-sun working in the kitchen mixing some kimchi. He wants to help make the collaboration happen. After Woo-sun explains himself to the three, Dae-young attempts to contact the restaurant owner, but is unsuccessful.

The quartet leaves the town after a long day. Seo-yeon volunteers to ride with Woo-sun back home which throws him off but also makes him happy. While on the way home, Dae-young and Ji-woo have a conversation about Seo-yeon and Woo-sun. It seems like Seo-yeon might start liking Woo-sun too. What about Ji-woo? Does she have feelings for anyone? At that moment, Ji-woo gathers all her courage and prepares to confess to Dae-young. However, he interrupts her when he realizes that he’s not wearing his couple ring. Dae-young drops Ji-woo off to wait for Woo-sun and Seo-yeon while he drives back to the restaurant to search for his ring. Omg, my heart is breaking.

Woo-sun and Seo-yeon pick up a sullen and depressed Ji-woo on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, Dae-young searches the restaurant for his ring, but is unsuccessful in finding it. The restaurant owner even confronts him at one point for looking through their trash and grows disappointed in him.

Ji-woo falls sick and suffers from a fever. Seo-yeon informs Dae-young of her condition which causes him to worry. He’s still worried about his missing ring and now he’s even more worried about Ji-woo. When Seo-yeon returns home from work with Dae-young, she finds Ji-woo doing her laundry. She’s sick, she should get some rest. Woo-sun then enters the apartment a few seconds later to join the two sisters. Unlike what Seo-yeon had expected, he hands Ji-woo the bouquet of flowers in his hands and even checks up on her. Seo-yeon grows a bit jealous, but tries not to show it. Meanwhile, Dae-young finds his missing ring in the restroom in his apartment unit. He had placed it there when he was getting ready the other day, but just forgot about it.

Woo-sun bids farewell with Seo-yeon later on that night. Before leaving, he gives her a kiss on the cheeks. Seo-yeon grows shy and embarrassed, but she’s satisfied. EEEEK. While walking back to his place, Woo-sun witnesses Dae-young drinking alone at a restaurant. He approaches Dae-young to check in on him.

Dae-young is now the one drinking to clear his mind. Woo-sun assumes he must be drinking because of his new start-up, but Dae-young reveals the real reason to Woo-sun. He’s disappointed in himself for taking off the ring and even losing it at one point when that’s never happened in the past two years he’s worn the ring. He also feels apologetic to Soo-ji for losing the precious ring. Woo-sun cheers Dae-young up and reassures him. It’s not that Dae-young forgot about Soo-ji on purpose; it’s rather that he’s just slowly learning to move forward with his life without her and that’s okay. That’s natural. Aww, I love this bromance.

When Dae-young wakes up the next morning, he finds the ring laying on his drawer. He decides to place the ring inside his drawer and to have it rest there. He can’t go back in time, but he can always move forward in life. Dae-young will always love Soo-ji, but he will also learn to love himself and his life without her.

Ji-woo takes a peek at Dae-young’s balcony before entering her apartment. She finds two of his white dress shirts hanging out on the balcony so she takes them in to iron them. Upon witnessing this, Seo-yeon encourages Ji-woo to just confess to Dae-young at this point. However, Ji-woo is reluctant because she still believes he loves his ex-girlfriend. He did drop her off to find his ring the other day. Seo-yeon grows enraged upon learning this and takes back her original statement. Ji-woo shouldn’t be doing things for Dae-young. Lol. Ji-woo doesn’t mind though; her life has gotten so much better since reuniting with him. Omg.. this is so sad T___T

When Dae-young returns home from work, Ji-woo greets him outside their respective apartment units. She hands him his white dress shirts which Dae-young is thankful for but also feels apologetic about. Is there anything that’s stressing her out or making her worried? That’s when Ji-woo finally does what she had wanted to do all along. She confesses her feelings to Dae-young. She likes him, and he’s always been her first love since they were in college (OMGGG T___T). It’s okay if he doesn’t like her back, she just wanted to get this off her chest.

Dae-young thinks about Ji-woo’s confession back in his place and tears up at the thought of Ji-woo. Meanwhile, Seo-yeon comforts and consoles a crying and heart-broken Ji-woo. She didn’t think it would hurt so much to get rejected, but it does. It hurts so much (I’M CRYING WITH YOU TOO JI-WOO).

Seo-yeon has a talk with Dae-young about Ji-woo. After their talk, Dae-young asks to meet with Ji-woo at the park. He apologizes for not having told Ji-woo about Soo-ji and the ring, but Ji-woo doesn’t mind it too much. She didn’t want to bring it up to him unless he said something about it first. Dae-young explains that he felt frozen in time until he reunited with Ji-woo who helped him slowly move forward with his life. Unlike what Ji-woo assumes, he’s not rejecting her. He just needs some time to think over her confession.

Fast forward and our four friends all head to a restaurant together to rejoice over Dae-young’s start-up. As usual, Ji-woo, Dae-young, and Woo-sun all engage in a conversation about the dish they’re eating while Seo-yeon just hurries them into eating. Lol.

While eating, Woo-sun feeds Seo-yeon and learns to accommodate to her eating preferences. Meanwhile, Dae-young eats out of Ji-woo’s bowl. It seems like there’s been the birth of two new couples. Hehe. All in all, the four enjoy one another’s presence as they eat food that makes them the happiest.

Just like all the other times, it is ultimately food that connects the quartet and strengthens their relationship with one another.

My Thoughts:

And that’s a wrap! Ahh, I’m gonna miss this drama so much. Despite the drama having to end earlier than expected and the somewhat rushed finale, I was still so satisfied with how everything ended. I’m especially glad that we witnessed Dae-young learn to move forward (not move on, but move forward) with his life since he was stuck in the past for some time. He will always love Soo-ji and will always remember their shared memories, but he is also learning to love himself and do what makes him happy. He hasn’t forgotten about her and never will, but he’s learning to live in the present. That’s the most important thing in helping him grow and progress and improve as a person.

This episode was especially obvious and apparent with the rushed ending with how many flashbacks the episode threw at us. Granted, there wasn’t a lot of time left and the original two extra episodes would have been nice to properly wrap everything up. Despite the rushed ending, I was relieved that everything seemed to have ended well for our characters. Seo-yeon and Ji-woo made up with each other and are living with each other again just like how they did back in college. Ji-woo and Dae-young reunited and bonded over food just like how they did back in college. Woo-sun and Seo-yeon are now a couple and complete each other in their own ways. History surely does repeat itself and everything came back around as it should have.

I was hoping for some appearances by Sung-joo, Byung-sam, and Jin-seok in the present. Another F4 reunion would have been so amazing and fun. However, even though there was no reunion, I’m glad we got the scenes of them together in college. I enjoyed the scenes in the present and I think the transition from college to the present and vice versa was so well done every time. However, the college scenes stood out to me the most in this season and was what made the drama shine. Our F4 were so comedic, silly, and quirky, but they were also such great friends who did everything together and were always there for one another. They completed one another in their own ways. Individually, they’re so silly and funny, but together they’re just something else. I wonder what Byung-sam and Jin-seok are up to in the present and if another season allows, I hope we’ll get to finally witness that reunion between our F4. It has to happen!

Watching Woo-sun comfort a stressed and drunk Dae-young was such a nice sight to see. It made me wished there were more scenes of this bromance. There were plenty of bromance in this drama, but they were more comedic and humorous. I just loved watching Woo-sun take care of Dae-young and console him as it was more serious, heart-warming, and touching. He knew the right exact words to reassure Dae-young and to make him feel better. They have such a playful relationship with each other, but they also know how to make the other feel better about their respective lives.

I know some people might not have liked this season as much as they did with the past two seasons. I try not to compare it to either seasons (or at least season one since I didn’t watch season two) and instead watch this season as its own. Despite what people might think, I enjoyed this season primarily because it gave us insight and context on how Dae-young became the food expert that he eventually transformed into. We know that food makes him the happiest and that food plays such a big role in his individual life but also in his relationships with others. He even started a food business to pursue his passion and dreams in life. With this season, we learned who influenced him into loving food and who exactly it was that introduced him into the delicious and beautiful world of food. When I think about it from this perspective, this drama was just as meaningful as the other two seasons in its own ways (and I even dare to say maybe it’s a little bit more meaningful just because we gained so much insight on Dae-young’s love for food). Whereas the other two seasons primarily showed us Dae-young’s passion with food, this season showed us how he got into that and what he’s doing with his life years later. It’s a nice introduction and conclusion to his passion for food and the world of food that he lives in.

‘Let’s Eat’ has had three seasons so far so I would like to see more seasons if possible. Granted, the rushed ending and last-minute chaos that ensued with this season might have hurt the chances of there being another season, but it’d be awesome to see Doojoon return again as Dae-young in a season four. It’d be so weird if there’s another season of this franchise without Doojoon, because he’s always played Dae-young and we’re so used to seeing him portray the character. I’ve always enjoyed ‘Let’s Eat’ because it’s such a simple, easy-going, and minimalistic drama with no makjang plots or out-of-the-world arcs. Instead, we watch as our characters go on with their lives and learn to balance their work, relationships, and dreams in life. Along the way, they face struggles and challenges that they eventually learn to overcome with the help of their loved ones, friends, and food. ‘Let’s Eat’ might not have been the most exciting and heart-stopping show to watch, but it was heart-warming, touching, sentimental, and moving. I appreciate how easy it is to watch and catch up with this drama since there isn’t a lot going on and things are easy to follow. While food didn’t play that big of a role in this season as compared to the prior seasons, we still witness and understand the type of role that food plays in the lives of our characters. The drama stays true to its name and food is what connects everyone to one another.

With this finale, everyone is on good terms with one another again and everything seems to be going fine for our characters. I’d love to see a season four where we witness how big and successful Dae-young’s start-up has grown into as well as where Ji-woo, Seo-yeon, and Mom all spend time together like they did in the past. Plus, a F4 reunion would be awesome and amazing as well. There’s many things I would love to see and maybe another season would be great in allowing that to happen. But for now, I’m satisfied with how things turned out in this season of the ‘Let’s Eat’ franchise. All our cast members were great in their roles and all the plots were well-done for the most part. Witnessing the bond between all our characters – whether in the past or present – was the most satisfying. I’m going to miss everyone and this drama is going to be a hard one to let go of. Big thanks to all our cast members and production team for doing their best and making last minute accommodations. Maybe when I miss Doojoon too much I’ll rewatch and marathon all three seasons of ‘Let’s Eat’ to satisfy myself. It’s been a fun seven weeks with this drama and our cast members. I’ll cherish the great memories that I have of this drama like how our characters cherished their college memories and their relationships with one another.