Now that the chaos and commotion and almost-death incidents are over, it’s now time for our characters to recover and resume their journey to healing. It hasn’t always been easy for our characters and they’re going to face plenty of challenges in the future, but they will be going through these chapters in their lives with one another. Our characters will never walk alone.
Was It Love?: Episode 15 Recap
Ae-jung and Dae-oh barely manage to not get caught kissing when special visitors arrive. Grandma’s worried about Dae-oh who seems a bit frantic and out of it, but the doctor reassures her that everything’s fine (it was the kiss that made Dae-oh nervous hehe). After relaying the good news to the family, the doctor leaves and so does Yeon-woo and Ha-nee. Grandma too exits shortly afterwards leaving Hye-jin and CEO Wang with the two parents. They assume at first Dae-oh and Ae-jung must not have anything going on between them, but it also doesn’t take them long to realize otherwise. Dae-oh and Ae-jung are a thing! 😮
Once outside in the hospital lobby, Yeon-woo has a casual conversation with Ha-nee about her parents. Ha-nee notices just how happy her mom looks with Dae-oh, but it’s not something she’s necessarily hurt about. She’s actually okay with it. Seconds later, Mama Yeon-woo comes running into the hospital frantically in search of her son. She immediately blames Ae-jung and assumes she must have done something to Yeon-woo to land them in the hospital. Mama Yeon-woo even goes as far as to claiming that she’ll ruin Ae-jung’s life right in front of Ha-nee. However, Grandma intervenes in the conversation and shows Mama Yeon-woo exactly who’s boss.
Yeon-woo, his mom, and Grandma take the conversation outside and all Mama Yeon-woo cares about is her son and her background. However, Grandma points out that Yeon-woo is so much more than just the son of a prestigious family. She was grateful to Yeon-woo for simply being Yeon-woo and to have met someone as generous and kind as him. Eventually, Mama Yeon-woo and Yeon-woo leave the hospital together to which Yeon-woo makes it obvious just exactly why Ae-jung means so much to him. She was there for him at his lowest point in her life; when he had to give up his lifelong dreams of playing basketball, it was Ae-jung – and not his mom – who was there for him. Yeon-woo wanted to return the same type of comfort and support that Ae-jung gave him during his hardest moments in life and that explains why he’s with her currently.
Yeon-woo is reminded of the moment he discovered that Ae-jung was pregnant. It was in 2006 and he had stopped by Grandma’s bathhouse to confess to Ae-jung. However, what he overheard instead was a tough conversation between Ae-jung and Grandma. Grandma was pressuring Ae-jung to get an abortion, but Ae-jung refused to. After running out of the bathhouse in tears, Ae-jung reunited with Yeon-woo who voiced his support for Ae-jung. He volunteered to help her and to be there for her, but Ae-jung declined his support and suggested for him to go away.
Mama Yeon-woo gives Yeon-woo’s honest words a second thought and feels guilty after having learned how her own son feels about her. Yeon-woo arrives home later on that evening and expresses his gratitude for Grandma. He’s glad to know what Grandma thinks about him and he too has been thankful to have been a part of the family. However, Yeon-woo has other plans and he announces to Grandma his decision to move out. Back at the hospital, Dae-oh and Ae-jung have a conversation about Ha-nee amongst themselves. Ae-jung is opened to the idea of dating Dae-oh again, but him joining her family is a different matter. Dae-oh is well aware of this and he’s willing to wait as long as possible for Ha-nee to open up to him. He won’t rush anything and he’ll remain patient with Ae-jung and Ha-nee.
Dong-chan enters his dad’s office to find him struggling to put on his shirt. After helping Pa-do put on his shirt, the two sit down and have a talk about Dong-chan’s Mom. Pa-do refrained from saying anything about Dong-chan’s Mom to Dong-chan in fear that all of his nightmares would return. Now Pa-do feels as if he can be honest with Dong-chan and he opens up to the middle schooler about his mother. Even until the last minute, his mother was worried about Dong-chan which Pa-do feels sorry about. He couldn’t protect Dong-chan’s Mom which was why she died. However, Dong-chan is grateful enough that Pa-do kept the promise with his mother. Pa-do was able to save Dong-chan and that’s all that matters.
Hye-jin and CEO Wang eat out at a restaurant. They’re still in disbelief that Dae-oh and Ae-jung are a thing and now it all makes sense to them, lol. While Hye-jin argues that Ae-jung had to raise Ha-nee all by herself, CEO Wang points out that Dae-oh must be loaded with money from all the royalties he got with his book. This prompts CEO Wang to run out of the restaurant and to Thumb Films where he frantically searches for a bank book. Uh-oh. Jin and Ah-rin head to a small event together as part of the promotions for their upcoming movie. Ah-rin is back to doing the movie and uses the cancellation fee as an excuse to stay. Eventually, the two head to their event together and both managers notice just how awkward they seem around each other. When the event ends, Jin and Manager Myung meet with CEO Song at the site which Ah-rin and Manager Do notice.
Jin still isn’t so happy to see CEO Song so he’s threatened by his former CEO who argues that she can put out another article about him again. Ah-rin intervenes and she steps up for Jin by voicing her discontent with CEO Song. CEO Song’s actions caused a lot of trouble for their upcoming movie which Ah-rin isn’t so happy about. Her career is dependent on this movie and it wasn’t cool what CEO Song did. Ah-rin pretends to be close with Jin based off her actions and words which confuses everyone else there, but Jin goes along with it. When CEO Song threatens to also reveal dirt on Ah-rin, Jin defends the popular actress. Ah-rin isn’t someone who CEO Song would necessarily want to mess with. Plus, there’s also plenty of dirt on CEO Song that they too could expose. With that being said, Ah-rin, Jin, and the two managers go out to grab some lunch together. Jin and Ah-rin make sure to thank each other along the way.
Furious, CEO Song finds out more information about the movie and learns that production has been delayed as a result of the gas leakage incident that both Dae-oh and Ae-jung were involved in. As if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Na also meets with CEO Song so that they can hash out a revenge scheme. After visiting Tan Zi-yi at the temple, Pa-do receives an offer to return to the gang that he was originally a part of. However, he declines the offer as he likes his life the way it is. At school, Ha-nee and Dong-chan catch up with each other. After checking in with each other and Dong-chan showing Ha-nee a photo of him with his mother, they talk about the heroic efforts of both their dads. Pa-do saved Dong-chan even though he isn’t Dong-chan’s biological father which was really cool of him. Dong-chan feels the same way about Dae-oh who also risked his life to save Ha-nee.
Dong-chan and Ha-nee are eventually approached by the school bully who teases Ha-nee about her parents not attending the school sports event. Dong-chan steps up to advocate for Ha-nee and even threatens for them to leave them alone or else he’ll have his dad teach them a good, good lesson. Right at that moment, Pa-do shows up at the school and he comes walking towards them. The school bully and his two sidekicks easily become scared by Pa-do’s manly appearance and they all go out for some food later on. While eating, Pa-do makes sure to teach the three kids a good lesson about the importance of words and how hurtful they can be. The three kids take in Pa-do’s words carefully and it doesn’t take long for them to showcase what they learned. The school bully thanks Dong-chan a few seconds later and it’s clear that things might get better for our two middle schoolers.
Ha-nee spends some time with her puppy and Sook-hee at Sook-hee’s bar. Ha-nee is fond of Pa-do who promised to protect the son of his first love and finds his promise so romantic. Sook-hee reminds Ha-nee that Dae-oh too feels the same way towards Ae-jung and that he too has only been after one person his entire life. Speaking of Dae-oh, he grows heart-broken when Ae-jung prepares to be discharged. How could she even think of leaving him?! Haha. Ae-jung reasons that someone needs to work on the upcoming movie so she needs to leave. Dae-oh then takes the remaining time to stare at Ae-jung’s beautiful face until Ha-nee enters the room. She pulls Dae-oh aside to have a talk and she presents to him a checklist for him to fill out in order to be Ae-jung’s husband. To clarify, Ha-nee doesn’t care to have a father as Ae-jung has been fulfilling that role for the past 14 years, but she’s still willing to give Dae-oh a chance to prove himself as Ae-jung’s husband.
After the talk, Ha-nee and Ae-jung head back home together. Ae-jung isn’t so curious as to what Ha-nee and Dae-oh had a talk about, but Ha-nee still gives her mother some context. She knows just how happy Ae-jung is when with Dae-oh and she wants to give him a chance to maintain that relationship and love with Ae-jung. Although Ha-nee might not be the most fond of Dae-oh at the moment, she’s aware of how Ae-jung feels about Dae-oh and how worried she was about him at the hospital. Ha-nee also wishes that her mother would live for herself. She’s spent her entire life raising Ha-nee and never had the opportunity to live life as she wanted. Now is that chance and Ha-nee encourages Ae-jung to also focus on herself. Ha-nee is all grown up now 😦
The mother-daughter pair return home to find a bunch of belongings out in the living room. It’s all Yeon-woo’s stuff and he announces his plans to move out. Ae-jung and Yeon-woo have a talk over some beer later on in front of the house that evening. Just like how Yeon-woo has been thankful for Ae-jung this entire time, Ae-jung too has been thankful for Yeon-woo. He’s been so much more helpful for her than he thought whether it was 14 years ago or in the present. Nothing’s changed for Yeon-woo either who has always felt happy when with Ae-jung, back when they were in school and in the present. Ae-jung finally takes the time to read Yeon-woo’s card that he originally planned on giving to her during his confession. He writes,
“Noona, I finally turned 20! It feels so great to be in college. We’re in different universities, but we can take the same class thanks to the credit exchange program. I can see you in class and I get to see you for doing assignments too so I get to see you often. When I gave up basketball because of my injury, you were the only one who told me to get a grip. You trusted me and supported me until I got back on my feet. Thanks to you, I was able to dream a new dream. You’ve done so much for me, I couldn’t possibly put it into words. But I can only say one word: thank you. For when I was 19 and also when I turned 20. I was all alone, but you were by my side. But, there’s something else I wanted to say other than thank you. I like you a lot. It took me a whole year to say this. It makes me happy to like you so I’ll wait for you.”
Ae-jung is close to shedding tears upon reading the card that Yeon-woo wrote to her back in the Spring of 2006. Meanwhile, CEO Wang gets into some trouble by loan sharks who he borrowed money from in order to gamble. They beat him up in a warehouse and watching not too far away is CEO Song and Mr. Na. As if the loan sharks wasn’t enough, CEO Wang receives more threats from the two. They threaten to release an article about CEO Wang’s embezzlement case, but CEO Wang begs for them to leave him alone. He’s also still angry and upset over Mr. Na’s article claiming Jin as Ha-nee’s father when really it’s Dae-oh who’s the father. This catches CEO Song’s attention and she goes to watch the video of Ae-jung at Dae-oh’s book concert a while back. CEO Song connects the dots and realizes that the heroine in Dae-oh’s novel was based off of Ae-jung – his ex-girlfriend who had lived as a single mother for 14 years. Jin and Manager Myung drive their way back to the dormitory where they’ve been staying. It seems as if Jin’s perception and opinion of Ah-rin is changing. Whereas the two had bad blood with each other a few years ago, Jin doesn’t think of her so negatively anymore.
Ah-rin stops by the hospital to visit Dae-oh who’s working on the upcoming movie. They talk a bit about the movie and Ah-rin’s plans to stay. She no longer is going to drop out like she originally planned, but it’s not because of Dae-oh or anything. Ah-rin makes it clear that she no longer has any feelings for him and she even goes as far as to say that she doesn’t plan on working with him ever again. Her words sound eerily similar to the words she lashed at him 14 years ago and it’s not until Ah-rin leaves that Dae-oh realizes who Ah-rin is. Ah-rin used to be his former student and he’s astonished by the revelation.
It’s time for a date! Dae-oh preps Ae-jung for their first date of 14 years by purchasing her some PPL cosmetics. He’s finally been discharged from the hospital so they can spend some time together. After debating on her outfit, Ae-jung finally puts something on and her beautiful appearance amazes Dae-oh. He’s stunned by her gorgeous and simple look and the two make their way on their date. Eventually, they find themselves back on the same site where they first met: their college campus (AWWW). While walking hand in hand, the couple come across another couple and is inspired to take photos of themselves as well. Just like they did back then, Dae-oh shoots photos of Ae-jung with his camera through his left eye and Ae-jung does the same. They’re even asked to stop for a filming taking place on campus and they watch as they’re reminded of having done that back in their college days.
On the next part of their trip to memory lane, Dae-oh even steals a huge table umbrella like he did back then and runs towards Ae-jung with the umbrella. Although it’s not raining, they begin to run with the umbrella when a lady comes yelling after them for it. Haha. Back at home, Ha-nee closes the search for her father since she’s solved her mystery. Although she knows who her father is, things are still complicated. She and Dong-chan discover a forum post about Dae-oh with a title post claiming to expose the popular author.
For the final part of Dae-oh and Ae-jung’s visit to their college campus, Dae-oh brings Ae-jung to the auditorium and plays the graduation film that she produced and worked on along with Dae-oh and Jin. Dae-oh feels sorry that Ae-jung had to drop out of school once she got pregnant so he announces that she can finally “graduate” like how she wanted to. He hopes to be able to spend more time with Ae-jung as her lover as well as be given the chance to be Ha-nee’s dad. Ae-jung might be his first love, but Dae-oh also wishes for Ae-jung to be his last.
Epilogue
Dae-oh and Ae-jung get yelled at by a lady for stealing the table umbrella. They’re instructed to put it back on the table and it’s only after the lady finishes scolding them that they whisper to each other how scary the lady is. Haha.
My Thoughts:
This episode was lighter and less chaotic which was expected given that there was no kidnapping or gas leaks or anything of that sort. The episode was breezy and made for a lighter watch and the drama was beginning to tie up its loose ends. While I’m still heartbroken over how dreadful and disappointing of a drama ‘Was It Love?’ has become over time, there are still a few scenes in each episode that really gets to me and reminds me of why I haven’t completely written off the drama just yet.
In episode 13, it was when Jin took Ha-nee on a trip to his college campus and showed her around the school and explained to her the special history behind everything. In episode 14, it was when Ae-jung was listening to Dae-oh’s voicemail and a bunch of scenes popped up while Dae-oh was explaining his regrets and mistakes and wishes. In this episode, it was the moment when Dae-oh took Ae-jung back to their university as their first date in 14 years. I didn’t really feel any way about the rest of the episode up to that point, but then that trip down memory lane just completely got me and I fell in love with the drama again.
There’s just something about the way that Dae-oh and Ae-jung relived moments and memories that they experienced 14 years ago that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. They could have gone anywhere on their first date since their reunion, but they visited the college campus where they first met, dreamed, and loved. Like I’ve mentioned multiple times before, I’m a very nostalgic and sentimental person so you bet that I was totally sold when Dae-oh drove Ae-jung to their college campus and showed her the graduation film. He even stole the table umbrella like he did back then and they even took pictures of each other like how they did back when they were in love in college. I mean, the college date was sort of predictable in a way, but I still loved every single little thing about it because it screamed nostalgia all over it (and I’m such a sucker for those things T_T).
While I’m glad that Dae-oh and Ae-jung are dating again, I do think the process to getting there could have been better. Again, I’m not surprised at how quickly they began dating again after the whole kidnapping incident and in a way, I sort of expected the drama to work things out between the two former lovers rather quickly because 1) it was running out of time and 2) it was being lazy and didn’t want to spend actual time showing that process between the two. I guess Ha-nee sort of makes up for the cheapness and laziness of things by allowing her to be that person that brings her parents together. She doesn’t quite acknowledge Dae-oh as her dad just yet, but she does acknowledge him as her mother’s lover and boyfriend and she’s mature enough to put her mother first. She knows just how much her mother had to go through and endure just to raise her so she wants to pay it back by allowing her mother to finally live a life where she can put herself first. It was as if Ha-nee was saying, “Mom, you’ve already done so much for me. Now it’s time for you to do you and focus on yourself.” The checklist is a reminder of Ha-nee’s growth and how much she cares about her mother and her desire to be her mother’s savior, but it also serves as a reminder that Ha-nee is still a kid at the very end of the day.
With this being the second to last episode, I can’t say that I’m completely disappointed with the direction that the drama took in regards to Ha-nee and Dae-oh’s relationship. I thought the drama was going to immediately somehow pull the two together and that the bond between the two was going to be formed right off the bat. While I would have liked that kind of father-daughter relationship between the two, I’m also glad that the drama didn’t introduce that idea right away in this episode (given the bad timing and pacing of everything). It also makes sense narratively given that Ha-nee was closed off to Dae-oh before the kidnapping incident and while she does sort of see him in a different light after the incident, she still has her walls up around him which aligns with her character. I’m not surprised that Ha-nee doesn’t feel so comfortable with Dae-oh just yet and that Dae-oh still remains the same in that he wishes to be in Ha-nee’s life as her father. I wonder if the drama will eventually come around and allow for our family of two to grow into a family of three or leave it as they are. Regardless of what the drama does decide to do, I just hope things continue to make sense for everyone.
With the final episode airing on Wednesday, it’s that time of the time when I decide on what drama to recap next. There’s actually a few upcoming dramas that I’m anticipating and that I’ve written posts about on my blog. If you have a specific drama that you would like to be recapped next on my blog, please feel free to vote using the poll below so I have a general idea. Thanks everyone, and here’s to hoping the finale to ‘Was It Love?’ will be a satisfactory one.
Extra screenshots from the episode~
MaryMeKpop 