Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining us for this fated commemorative group watch of Winter Sonata! This really is the final one. 🥲

What a ride this has been. Huge, HUGE thanks to Trent, for being our MVP, week after week, and allowing us to see this show through his eyes!

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

1. There is NO SPOILER ZONE this week, since we are at the finale.

2. This is a heads-up, that after this show, we’ll be taking a break from group watches for a while, because I very much need some breathing space, and this is one way to get some. 😅

I’ll make an announcement, when I feel ready to take on another group watch – which will come, I promise!

Without further ado, here are Trent’s reactions to episode 20; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

Trent’s thoughts

Episode 20

Alright everyone, thank you for patiently waiting for this, the final installment in our epic fated group watch journey.  Hugs ‘n kisses all around 🤗😘.

Make sure you’re buckled in real tight, because things are gonna get kind of whiplashy here on the final trip. Oh, and if you know of any remedies for Noble Idiocy overdose, I…uh…I think you might want to stock up. Just sayin’.😉

We open where we closed last episode, Sang-hyuk meeting Yu-jin in front of her apartment building, while Jun-sang stands unnoticed in the background.

We shift to Sang-hyuk and Yu-jin sitting in the front seat of Sang-hyuk’s car. Sang-hyuk is all, look, I know you’re never going to forget the big guy, but if you guys can’t be together…I want to protect you (oh, is that what they’re calling it these days?).

Yu-jin gives him her best “b*tch, plz” look, so Sang-hyuk continues, I won’t ask you to forget him, but when you’re feeling like it’s all too much, you can lean on me instead of just holding it in, ‘cause I don’t wanna see you suffering all by your lonesome, you know?  (I know nobody asked me, but this seems like a bad idea to me?).

Yu-jin, to her credit, is all, thanks dude, but I can’t do that. Sang-hyuk is like, well, you don’t have to decide now… and Yu-jin is all, sorry, man, thinking about my boy is already too much, I just don’t have the computing cycles to spare to think about anything else (okay, fine, I’m freelancing a bit on the recap dialogue, sorry).

Sang-hyuk is all, dammit! I should have waited a while longer (uh, howzabout forever? Is forever good for you?) … but I mean it. You think about it, and I’ll wait as long as you need. …Meanwhile, Jun-sang is over in the bushes, staring at them having this conversation…

Sang-hyuk arrives back home, where professor dad is in his office staring at the fateful DNA paternity test results. Sang-hyuk knocks and then walks in and informs professor dad that he has something to tell him.

Professor dad sets the DNA results to one side (and like that’s not a mini-Chekhov’s gun… what do you wanna bet that’s going to create some chaos, eh?).

Sang-hyuk is all, I want to get back together with Yu-jin…but I don’t think mom would allow it, so… could you maybe do a brother a solid, here? Maybe put in a good word with mom? 

Dad is like, does Yu-jin agree? (wow, my gob is smacked.  Someone actually inquiring into what Yu-jin wants, FOR ONCE). 

Sang-hyuk is all…uh, no, actually, she’s still hung up on THAT GUY.  Professor dad is like, does she still love Jun-sang?! Sang-hyuk has to admit she does. So then dad is all, and does Jun-sang love her? And Sang-hyuk is like…I think he does?

Dad is all, well, then, you can’t be with Yu-jin. Just let them be together.  Of course, Sang-hyuk is all, what the hell, daddy-o?! Hello? INCEST, remember?! Professor dad is like, uh, yeah, about that…it was all a misunderstanding, you see. Actually, Jun-sang… is my son. 😳

Well, Sang-hyuk takes that about as well as you might expect; he goes rushing out of the house, which draws mother out to see what’s going on. She goes into the office, just as professor dad jumps up to go rushing after Sang-hyuk.

So OF COURSE mother turns around to peruse the desk, and when professor dad goes back inside after Sang-hyuk has sped off into the night, it’s to find mother with a very incriminating DNA paternity test report in her hand. OOPS. 😱

“여보!어떻케? 어떻케?! 어떻케!!!!” said in a tone of increasing volume and frenzy is probably not what you want to hear from your life partner of almost thirty years, right?

Next day, Jun-sang is seeing piano mom off on a trip somewhere. She asks if he will be coming to the U.S. soon? He says that he will. Mi-hee is all, I’ve hurt you so much. He hugs her and says, “see you in the U.S.” 

And WOW talk about cheap forgiveness! Has our boy Jun-sang just kind of given up caring about anything at this point? That’s kind of the vibe he’s giving off. Have to say, were it me, I suspect I’d still be nursing a big ol’ wodge of resentment toward piano mom…😠 

(As it happens, Sang-hyuk (who has apparently been sulking, or at least thinking deep thoughts, in his car since last night’s fateful revelation), is watching this send-off from across the street).

We move over to Yu-jin’s place, where she answers the door to find Sang-hyuk in all his moody glory. She’s like, my dude, what brings you here so bright ‘n early? Come in.

Sang-hyuk is like, no, what I have to say won’t take long.  I’ve been thinking, and I don’t want you to study abroad alone. I’ll quit my job and go with you 🙄🤪.

Yu-jin is all, uh, don’t really want you to do that… so, don’t do it. Sang-hyuk is all, nope, I’m gonna. Can’t let you go on your own, no matter what you say. Then he leaves. 

(So, I guess we’re just going to continue with the theme of jerkwad dudes trampling Yu-jin’s expressed desires and personal agency right through to the bitter end, huh? 😬🤬😤).

Over to Jun-sang’s office, where the receptionist announces that he has a visitor. It turns out to be our boy Sang-hyuk, who is apparently making the rounds.

Jun-sang asks how his father is doing (without, of course, making any reference to our father…), then asks what brings him to visit today.

Sang-hyuk says he has a favor to ask: he wants to get back together with Yu-jin, and since Jun-sang can’t be with her, he’d like Jun-sang to help persuade her. 

And would you just look at the Big Brass Ones on this jamoke? I mean, seriously? Especially since Sang-hyuk now knows that actually, Jun-sang can be with her.  What a goober. And just when we’d been tentatively buying into your whole redemption tour, dude. 

(This goes to show’s very inconsistent characterization, especially of its villains, especially in the latter half: they’re callous villains when they need to be, then semi-decent people when they need to be. Often in the space of the same episode. Definitely contributes to the whiplashy feel).

Tell Yu-jin to study abroad with me, Sang-hyuk continues.  This bit is news to Jun-sang, and he’s like, is Yu-jin going somewhere? And Sang-hyuk is all, yeah, to France.

So Jun-sang is all, la France! Oui, I know it well…maybe I’ll just take her myself, eh?  No, wait, he doesn’t say that, sorry.  What he actually says is, dude, how could I possibly tell her that?

Sang-hyuk is all, why not? You don’t want to meet up with her again, do you? Jun-sang is sticking to his guns, all, sorry, I can’t say that to her. 

Sang-hyuk is like, why not?! You hurt so many people, and now you can’t do a little thing like tell her to study abroad with me? You two can’t be together again, even if you aren’t siblings. You have no idea how much you’ve hurt me, or what you’ve done to our family!!

(And I mean, c’mon, my guy… I realize you’ve got some family trauma bubbling along here, what with the sudden arrival of the unacknowledged hyung you never knew you had, but how is Jun-sang responsible for either his birth or his parentage?)

So then Jun-sang is like, you knew. That’s why you’re doing this. I’m sorry, Sang-hyuk. What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything.

(And look out! I’m gettin’ back in throwing-stuff-at-screen mode…I’m starting to get a definite whiff of some Noble Idiocy vibes, and it’s making me feel real dyspeptic, you know?).

Sang-hyuk goes into an extended whine about how ever since Jun-sang came along, his life has gone to sh*t 💩, and of course it’s Jun-sang’s fault, before storming out. 

Back to Sang-hyuk’s house, where mother has taken to her bed with a cold compress on her forehead.  Professor dad is trying to be conciliatory, but she ain’t havin’ it. 

He steps out of the room just as Sang-hyuk comes in. Professor dad sits an unwilling Sang-hyuk down to talk, and is all, yes, I’m a nasty hound dog, and I won’t ask for your forgiveness… but can’t you understand how I felt about Jun-sang? 

Sang-hyuk, also not in a conciliatory mood, is all, no, I can’t, understand what? Professor dad is all, I haven’t done anything for Jun-sang except hurt him. He loves Yu-jin, and she loves him back. I can’t break them apart. 

Sang-hyuk is all, yeah, so? Aren’t I your son, what about me?  Dad is all, I may have been a hound dog, but I did raise you up right.  And I didn’t do anything for Jun-sang. 

Sang-hyuk’s response to this is, I’m going to study abroad with Yu-jin…AND! I’ll marry her, too. 😬😳. I met with Jun-sang, and he said he’d help me out. 

Professor dad is all, how could you do that? Jun-sang is the victim who’s suffered the most. Sang-hyuk is all, what about me and mom? Don’t we count for anything?  Then he storms out again (he’s getting his leave-in-high-dudgeon exits really down pat at this point).

Jun-sang is meeting with puffy doctor, gathering his charts and records, since he has apparently informed the doctor that he will be getting the recommended brain surgery in the U.S.

Jun-sang asks if he’ll be able to fully recover, and the doctor is all, I’m not sure. Honestly, I’m afraid that even if it goes well, you’ll have some side effects.  Like, you might lose your eyesight.  

So then we get some scenes of Jun-sang with thoughtful ponder-y face, and then he’s back at the office looking at the scale model house that Yu-jin designed and left with him.

He starts making drawings and architectural elevations, maybe like blueprint drafts, looks like, of the model.

When minion comes in the next morning, he’s just finishing up, and Jun-sang explains that it’s something he wanted to draw while he still could (yes, show, FORESHADOWING, we get it).

Over to Yu-jin’s place, where she’s sitting on the couch. She gets a call, it’s Jun-sang.

He says he has something to tell her, and can they meet for a moment (so much for the emotional “goodbye forever” scene in the park, I guess?  But…surely he’s going to tell her the whole incest thing is off the table, and they’re good to go, right? RIGHT?!).

Yu-jin has to get all dressed up for the occasion, prompting Jin-sook (who’s watching from the bed) to wonder just why she’s gettin’ all prettified, hmm? 

We move to a random lobby somewhere, where Yu-jin observes to Jun-sang that he’s not looking so well. Jun-sang is all, I’ve just been busy with lotsa stuff, you know?

Then Yu-jin is like, so you’re really leaving tomorrow? Jun-sang is all, I heard you’re going abroad to study with Sang-hyuk?

He stares intently at her, and she’s all, what? Jun-sang is all, oh, nuthin’, just wanted to see your purty face because I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see it again? You’ve always been beautiful. I’m just sorry I couldn’t preserve that, but instead just made you sad. 

Yu-jin is all, get that nonsense out of here, mister… you have no idea how happy I was to know you.

So Jun-sang is like, thank you. And, I have a favor to ask you. Can you do whatever it is I ask? (I haaate this sort of blind promise. Tell me what you’re asking me to commit to, and I’ll tell you if I can do it. 😤). 

Yu-jin (like a big dummy!) is all, okay, sure. Then Jun-sang is like, please go abroad with Sang-hyuk to study. Yu-jin (to her credit) is all, what the hell? And Jun-sang is like, I’d be relieved if you have him along to protect you.  

Then Yu-jin (even more to her credit) is like, no, don’t wanna. I can’t do that, no (싫어/shireo!). So Jun-sang is basically begging her, like, I believe Sang-hyuk will make you happy…and then out come the emotional manipulation guns, and he’s all, it’s for me…please do it for me.

And Yu-jin is crying big fat tears like only she can, and me, I’m just mad, as usual, so I guess you got a reaction, dude, go you! 

Oh, and also apparently our final Noble Idiocy tour is in full swing, and we aren’t going to bother even clearing up the incest misconception or trying to put the relationship back together, because wouldn’t want our beloved cinnamon roll Yu-jin to be saddled with a guy looking at risky brain surgery and possible blindness, would we?

Arrrgggh. To Hades with your stupid Noble Idiocy, my man. 

Jun-sang drops Yu-jin off at her apartment, and he’s like, don’t come to the airport tomorrow, it’ll be too hard to say goodbye. Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself and live well, and Yu-jin is all, I promise.

And then Jun-sang is like, let’s never meet again, and just remember that great time on the beach as our last memory.

Once again Yu-jin is leaking oceans, and I swear to heaven I’m about ready to lodge a complaint with the UN Human Rights Commission or something, because the sheer amount of tears 😭 our show has required this poor woman to shed has to be like a human rights violation, I’m pretty sure….

Next day, on the way to the airport, Jun-sang stops by his dongsaeng’s workplace, and so he and the boy go up to the roof for a wee chat.

Jun-sang is all, Sang-hyuk, please take good care of Yu-jin, it will be a real load off my mind (I mean, not as much as whatever the surgeon is able to dig out physically, but still…😁). I’m serious, I won’t be back…so, take care (brother, he doesn’t say…at least with his mouth, although I think his eyes kind of do). 

So then as Jun-sang is walking away, Sang-hyuk gets another convenient attack of conscience, and he’s all, Jun-sang! Don’t leave. I was just being a stubborn jerk, but you’re not Yu-jin’s brother, so you don’t actually have to go. Just go back to Yu-jin. 

And Jun-sang, the big soggy muffin, is like, newp! Can’t do that. 

Sang-hyuk (speaking, I think, for all of us) is all, WHY?  Is it because we’re brothers? Did you give her up because I love her too?  Jun-sang is like, you shouldn’t give up your love…the one who is good for Yu-jin right now is you, not me. You can stay with her longer than I would. So, later dude.

(I need to designate a “Noble Idiocy” emoji, so I can just liberally seed it throughout as a way to vent my feelings, you know? I mean 🙄😠😒😬🤬🤮 all come close…)

Sang-hyuk arrives back home just as the phone is ringing. He picks it up, and it’s puffy doctor looking for professor dad, because that’s actually the only contact point he has for Jun-sang.

It appears that there is one more test result they wanted to send along with Jun-sang for his surgery in the U.S.

Doctor goes on to opine that Jun-sang is probably “barely hanging on” and could be “in grave danger.” (hardly worth noting the incredibly loose attitude toward medical privacy at this point, but still!).

So then we see Sang-hyuk racing off in his car, then bursting into Yu-jin’s apartment, where he commands Yu-jin to hurry up and come with him! Jun-sang is leaving!

Yu-jin is all, I know, I saw him yesterday, and I promised I wouldn’t come to the airport.

So then Sang-hyuk is like, no, you’re a fool!  After briefly wrestling with his conscience (so it appears), Sang-hyuk is all, I’m sorry Yu-jin, I lied because I was scared to lose you again (uh, not like you actually had her, you know?). Actually, it was also because I couldn’t stand the thought that Jun-sang was also my dad’s son. So I just didn’t tell you.

Yu-jin is all, so, like, say that last part again? Sang-hyuk obliges: yeah, Jun-sang is my dad’s son. My brudder (from another mudder). NOT RELATED TO YOU.  Oh, and by the way, he’s probably gonna die, sorry. That or lose his eyesight, who knows? That’s why he didn’t say anything to you before he left.

(Here come Yu-jin’s tears, right on schedule…where is that UNHRC number, dangit?!)

So now we get a repeat of the ol’ airport chase montage, with Jun-sang headed for the boarding area, and Sang-hyuk and Yu-jin racing up escalators and down the concourse…except unlike last time we did this, Jun-sang has departed by the time they get to the gate. 

We shift to the kitchen table, where now it’s Yu-jin’s mom who’s crying, and Yu-jin is all, c’mon, mom, enough with the waterworks, it’s not like I’m going away to die or something. I’m just off to study.

So then Yu-jin is in her room getting her bags ready, and looking at her boarding pass to Paris, and Sang-hyuk strolls in, and hands her a different boarding pass, to New York City.

He’s like, go to Jun-sang. So Yu-jin recalls their last parting scene (“let’s never meet again”), and then we see her at the airport, and as she walks toward the boarding gate, we see that she has left the ticket to NYC sitting behind on the chair in the waiting area.

(And we get the helpful, albeit kinda unnecessary voice-over from Sang-hyuk that Yu-jin left soon after Jun-sang, but for Paris, not New York). 

And so OF COURSE we have to have a time skip, fifteen minutes before the end of the show—could hardly call this a show trailblazer if we didn’t indulge in a little time skip tomfoolery here at the end, right?—so we open to a scene of a young toddler in pigtails named Ji-hyun running down the road, as the sign “3 years later” flashes on the screen. 

As the scene comes into focus, a bespectacled Sang-hyuk and a (relatively) long-haired Yu-jin chase her down and scoop her up. 

(And I’m not gonna lie even a little bit, I spent a bad couple minutes here, during which I was contemplating skipping right over the intermediate step of throwing stuff at the screen, and moving right on to throwing the entire screen out the window. Because if show is telling us that Sang-hyuk and Yu-jin got together after all, and had a kid who’s big enough to be a toddler now? BURN IT ALL DOWN 🔥🐉🔥🐉🔥).  

Fortunately for everyone’s mental health, show is having a wee bit of (cruel, uncalled for) fun with us, because just as toddler is melting down and Sang-hyuk is figuring out she’s peed on him (yeah, karma sucks, dude), out come Yong-gook and Jin-sook, and Jin-sook is all, come to mommy! WHEW.

Then Yong-gook asks Yu-jin if she’s getting used to being back, since she hasn’t been back for very long? Then Chae-rin(!) hollers out the window to ask what took them so long, so it looks like the gang is all getting back together for a reunion. 

Well, then we are back at Polaris, where it looks like Yu-jin has gone back to work. (I have to say, I’m definitely not loving Yu-jin’s new wig.  I guess I had actually gotten kind of fond of her previous bob cut).

Anyway.  Jeong-ah comes in and is all, hey, look at this! And she shows Yu-jin a spread in a magazine, and she’s like, isn’t this the house that you designed a long time ago? It looks exactly the same…did someone steal your idea? Yu-jin is all, can  you…find out where this is located?

So then we shift to the actual house itself, where we see Jun-sang moving around the spaces in the house, carefully pacing off dimensions, and it soon becomes evident that he has in fact lost his sight.

He feels a jigsaw puzzle that has been hung on one of the walls, a gift from the minion (as we hear in voice-over), and a loose piece falls out and to the ground. 

Well, the house is somewhere near the sea shore (and it has really beautiful views, to give the location scout on this one credit…), so then we shift to a ferry, delivering Yu-jin to the dock. She checks her directions, and then goes hiking up the path up the hill.

Meanwhile, Jun-sang is waiting out on the front steps of the house. His handyman pulls up with a golf cart, and they load his bag up, then Jun-sang gets in and they drive off…just as Yu-jin is strolling down the stairs from another direction.

Yu-jin walks up to the front gate of the house, and goes in. She looks around the house…finds the puzzle on the wall, then finds the missing piece and replaces it (show helpfully gives us a flashback to her doing the same thing to Min-hyung’s puzzle in his office).

She goes over to the porch rail and stares out at the sea. 

Just then, Jun-sang and his guy drive back up to the house…apparently Jun-sang has forgotten something (besides, well, Yu-jin). Jun-sang is all, I can get it, I’ll be right back.

He enters, and is walking across the porch when Yu-jin shifts and bumps the table, which makes a sound. Yu-jin turns from the rail to see him.  Jun-sang asks, who is it? Yu-jin is silent, so he says again, who is it? Then, are you Yu-jin?

Are you Jun-sang? she answers. They both start crying again, but with only a literal minute left of run time, I am confident it is FOR THE LAST TIME. 

We shift to a shot of the two of them at the rail, backlit against the mountain range in the distance at which the sun has just set. He gently traces her face, they kiss, then embrace, then turn to face the sunset.  The End. 

Well. That was a journey and no mistake.  Thank you, friends, for sharing it with me, and each other. 

“For the Quest is achieved, and now all is over. 

I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things…”

Is this show flawed? Lord, yes. Does it deserve its iconic status? Also yes, I would say. There are certainly any number of other shows that I’ve liked better, been more moved by, and have felt accomplished various goals or embodied various dramatic aspects with greater skill.  

But I’ll be honest; flaws and all, I did find this show generally interesting, and often, unexpectedly, quite moving.

I do admit that I am more than a little surprised that no one ended up dead by the end. I was honestly expecting someone (or more than one someones) to shuffle off this mortal coil by the closing credits. 

I am likewise fairly surprised that we meandered and rollercoastered our way to a more-or-less conventionally “happy ending,” which I am somewhat roughly defining here as the fated OTP ending up in each other’s arms, breathing, ambulatory, and with no obvious impediments to continuing to be together.

I was also not particularly expecting that, I have to say.  So, yay? Yeah, yay! ✨🎉🎊💖💞

It’s difficult to judge a show like this—iconic, yes, but also dated, and necessarily viewed through the prism of a drama world that has already significantly changed and evolved, even though it’s only been twenty-one years—and assign it a “grade.”

It feels a little bit like comparing apples and oranges, in a sense.  Or maybe I protest too much? After all, it’s still recognizably a kdrama, a forerunner of today’s fare.

Pushed to the wall and forced to give it a grade, on pain of not getting dessert?  I suppose I would give this an A- ? Maybe?  Ask me again in a few weeks…. 

FINAL GRADE: A-

Bonus!

KFG: Huge thanks to phl1rxd, who volunteered to keep a scarf count during our watch – and then outdid herself, in finding a way to share her findings with us. Wouldja take a look at this dedication and attention to detail! 🤩