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How do you feel about the ENDING? *Heavy Spoilers*

Moonstruck

So they definitely tricked us by posting those wedding photos as if they were future scenes.
At first I got a bit sad that they chose the amnesia cliche. But going thru the episode made me realize how well executed it was and how integral it is for Hyunsu's character. It was a literal REBIRTH.
He finally really got to live as his true self and have feelings that were not tainted by the fake persona he built for 14 years. Everything that he will experience from now on are raw undiluted feelings where he wouldn't even question it's genuineness. His memories may have been gone but his whole being remembers his family.
I love the parallels they made between the present and the past, it's like they relived the moments but now they are exclusively for Hyunsu to experience (not shared with his Baek Heesung persona).
The way the script echoes their original script from their first kiss as Jiwon and Heesung and to now their first kiss as Jiwon and Hyunsu.
As well as asking if Eunha will like him the first time meeting as Hyunsu, similar to him asking the same question as Heesung when Eunha was born.

It's also implied based on the wedding flashback that they will marry again. And seems like he will gradually remember the 14 years. They robbed me of that dinner scene between Haesu, Moojin, Jiwon, Hyunsu and Eunha though. T.T

My greedy self self wanted the ending to be longer, but in a way I knew it was already perfect.

And that scene where Eunha asked about her parents divorce made me cry. Poor baby, but although her Daddy couldn't remember he still buys egg tarts for her.

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Rawa

It was perfect! and just before the episode went on air today, I realized they had never shown their first time being married (or say their first marriage wedding). They had already shown us many "Firsts" between them.

"First Encounter, First Confession from Ji Won, First Date, First Kiss, First time Ji Won wearing the cop's Badge, First Day moving into a New House, First Day holding Eun Ha "Her birth",

Hyun So once told told Ji Won that after he met her, his life became full of "Firsts".
The world inside "Flower of Evil" was like a very difficult puzzle to Hyun So at first. He started piecing together all those firsts, and little by little, his life made more sense and in the very end, just before solving it all, an unwanted hand made quite the mess, but since he has already seen how it looks, the result of his very hard continuous work. It wouldn't take him as much time to connect the pieces together again, it's also done much more comfortably now.

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Moonstruck
 Rawa:
"First Meeting, First Confession from Ji Won,, First Date, First Kiss, First Moments after Ji Won Passes her bar exam, First Day moving into a New House, First Day holding Eun Ha "Her birth",

Yes! Although his feelings have been genuine all throughout these First, he had only acknowledge d them as real later on.  Now as Do Hyunsu he will again reexperience many First but this time without the burden of the past and only with love and freedom.  He will not doubt whether the 14 years of facade had conditioned his brain with whatever he now feels.

I had mixed feeling in the beginning about the amnesia, I thought it was cliche. But when I gave it deeper thoughts and recapped on all the bits and pieces the Director has shown in the past episodes, I came to the conclusion that this was indeed the best closure for Hyunsu. He was given a clean slate, a real redemption and as Haesu said 'a starting point'.

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Rawa
 usernamenotfoundXX:

Yes! Although his feelings have been genuine all throughout these First, he had only acknowledge d them as real later on.  Now as Do Hyunsu he will again reexperience many First but this time without the burden of the past and only with love and freedom.  He will not doubt whether the 14 years of facade had conditioned his brain with whatever he now feels.

I had mixed feeling in the beginning about the amnesia, I thought it was cliche. But when I gave it deeper thoughts and recapped on all the bits and pieces the Director has shown in the past episodes, I came to the conclusion that this was indeed the best closure for Hyunsu. He was given a clean slate, a real redemption and as Haesu said 'a starting point'.

Yeah I feel the same way! I have already felt this drama would not follow any cliche and would stay original and realistic till the end! and I'm glad it did stay true to my faith! I kept rooting for Hyun Su to be able to re-experience love, to his family, and still be free from the burdens of his past!

I was so happy when he finally collected the courage and asked Ji Won whether it's possible to change her mind... the words following that and explaining the story behind the workshop's name were all such great developments for his character! I just loved this ending so much!

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celestial

There were so many things unexplained that leave me unsatisfied.  I don't know how amnesia works but wouldn't he be 18 years old mentally (despite his body being able to remember events of the past 15 years)? Waking up thinking you're 18 and survived a car accident to find out you're a middle aged man who was shot in the head, accused of being a murderer, with a wife and kid.... that is a lot to take in and it feels kinda weird seeing Hyun Soo just accept it all at the end. 

I also did not like how the drama did not show the resolution of the serial murder case. Literally half the drama built up the suspense of who the accomplice is and right when Baek Hee Seung wakes up from his coma, he dies from a gunshot... A serial killer like him should've been locked up in jail for life. It would've been nice to see the reunion of Jung Mi Sook and her husband (idr but was the husband arrested for attempted murder? they did say he had 2 months to live iirc).  I'm glad Hae Soo left to find herself though. Moo Jin was clingy AF (but good for comedic relief). 

I wish they would've shown a time skip where Hyun Soo recalls his memories, they remarry and live peacefully in a new place like they wanted.

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Moonstruck

I agree that if we stick with being realistic that twist is very less likely to happen.

But since it's drama we just roll with it.

I don't think he simply accepted it though, there was a 4 month gap where they didn't show anything (not even Hyunsu's thought process after waking up). I think the Director didn't want us to focus on that anyway. It seems after 4 months he just came up with the conclusion that he purely manipulated Jiwon (altho he admittedly feel 'strange' about her), he also did not even see Eunha and only made plans to give her inheritance. He did think about his situation but what can he do anyway if not to accept it, it's not like he can force himself to remember.

Personally the serial case murder for me had been closed nicely. There was no more to dig into it as we know both culprits and their motivation (their psychotic nature). There was no other hidden agendas or anything where Heesung need to make more statement. If Heesung was alive he would have been put on the Psych ward too, we just lost the gratification of seeing him suffer. His parents did though and I kinda feel bad for them. :(

I agree about Jungmisook, would have been  nice if they gave them even a few seconds of airtime.

It is implied that he will fully remember and marry Jiwon again, but I guess the Director just want to leave the message of Hyunsu being purely his real self that's why they just left that part to the viewers imagination.

The show gave us such high quality vibes from the beginning that we are looking for perfection up to the last second. I would say despite some details where we can nitpick, it is still a very high quality show thats a lot better than other mainstream show produced.

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Stevie70

I was glad there was a happy ending but admit I was disappointed with how little time the leads and their daughter spent together and instead dwelled on the cold case and amnesia

The sister or even the ML would NOT have to go to trial since the statute of limitations on murder in 2002 was 15 years so that would have expired in 2017 since they didn't change it to 25 years until 2005... Even the villain stated his murders back in 2002-2005 were past the statute of limitations so they wasted about 1/2 the finale of something they didn't need to

I think the ML gained his emotions as a result of the head injury but pretended he didn't since he felt so guilty about hurting the FL and that is why he broke up with her and knew if he told her she wouldn't let him go... You can tell in the interview with the village chief's son where he says "if you don't tell the truth now you may feel guilty and regret it later" which implied he felt guilt towards his wife

I was bummed the sister went abroad when her brother needed her since he forgot the past 15 tears but also because they just found each other and she is the ONLY person can relate to him... Or at least the reporter could go with her since he could do freelance reporting as a Korean in a foreign land or write about her sculpting... Tired of the FL's travelling abroad to run away in the finale like SOGC or MMS... She had 18 years to do that since no one was chasing her and she had money... At least wait a few months to go 

Glad the villain died since they will NOT have to worry about him escaping or getting released from jail... Tired of seeing serial killers living a good life in jail with nice meals, TV and recreation while the victim's families or poor people have worse lives plus the taxpayers have to pay for them to be in there for 20-50 years plus no worry about overcrowded jails

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shakingsnoww

Not gonna lie I'm not a huge fan of ep 16. The series was fantastic though. Ep 16 was not bad, but it could've been better. I find it quite sad that Hyun Su's love for Jiwon was less since he lost his memories and all that. It would've been nice to see the couple live normally and happily after everything that had happened. I was expecting sweet couple scenes and cute father-child scenes but I didn't get a lot of that. I guess the whole amnesia thing isn't too bad; it kinda worked for the concept of this story, but they could've done  it in earlier episodes so that we could see how Hyun Su and Jiwon got back together. 

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PapaET

I too am not a fan of the ending. Whilst the amnesia trope worked ok, I would have preferred not to have it. I think Hyun Su could have been able to slowly mend his guilt and come to terms with the fact that Ji Won still loved him notwithstanding his lies and that they could still live happy ever after. Itwas time here for Hyun Su to live up to his confession to Ji Won that he loved her. 

I felt it was unfair for Ji Won who tried so hard to wrestle with her emotions about her husband possibly being a killer to now having to “love” another person in her husbands body who didn’t necessarily feel the same way. I felt it was also unfair on Eun Ha. The amnesia trope made some of these key past emotional moments irrelevant  

I would have liked to see reconciliation between Hyun Su and Hee Sung’s mum and dad. Again giving his dad memory issues was also too easy of a way out.  He should have faced his crimes (eg calling the middleman to kill Hyun Su). 

I also agree with the comments by Stevie70 regarding the sister and Moo Jin. 

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Moonstruck

I do not think that he loved her any less just because he lost his memories. It's quite the opposite, now he loves her for no understandable reason at all. No guilt, no doubt, no manipulation. He just simply feels and doing what he wants. 14 years of building the facade of the perfect guy in front of Jiwon is a hard habit to break. It's not like he's a completely different person, he's still the same just minus the habit of trying to only show what Jiwon wants to see.

 I guess the Director still wanted to leave us with that Melodrama feelings. If it is too happy, people would also complain that it became too cheesy in the end.

Just thankfully it did not end like Scarlet Heart, I was almost ready to throw a fit.lol

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PapaET

Yes I can see your view. I just think the guilt doubt etc could be overcome even without him getting memory loss. 

But yes luckily it didn’t end in the way Scarlet Ryeo did. That would have taken real boldness from the writer and director - probably something they’d want to avoid during this pandemic. 

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RamenKingAndI

Yeah, not a fan of the amnesia plot turn. It doesn't feel like a rebirth or fresh start  when his memories have reverted to a time when he was actually at his unhappiest, on the run, and still traumatized by his village's mistreatment and his father's "ghost." All the bad memories were still there and more fresh, while the ones of his wife and child, who helped him realize that he was capable of loving in his own way, were gone.  So, he wasn't unburdened by his past and given the opportunity to start fresh and live for himself, as the writers would have us try to believe.

Instead he was given a new set of burdens: a 15-year-gap in his memory, sudden fame and attention for having assisted in the capture of his father's accomplice, and the ability to feel new emotions, like frustration and affection, without the memories  to provide context to what he's feeling and why he is feeling it.

Additionally, the show's emphasis--especially in the last episode-- on having the characters "live freely" and make decisions according to their own happiness is undercut by the writers' decision to have Do Hyun Soo suffer from amnesia. If given the choice to forget the last 15 years or remember them, he would not have given up those memories for the sake of--What? Being able to fall in love with his wife again without the burden of lies?

Yeah, their initial romance involved a lot of lies and manipulation  on his part, but she also forgave him and accepted him for those lies, a moment in the show that had a tremendous impact on his emotional development. Instead, though, the writers chose to strip him of those memories and without them, he doubts that he ever loved her in the first place. So instead of having a fresh new chance to meet his wife, he's saddled with the internal conflict of being told that he "loved"  his wife while knowing that that is in direct opposition to who he was 15 years ago and who he believes himself to be in the present, post-gunshot.

Instinctively, he wants those memories back, further demonstrating that he would not have chosen to forget his family and that, despite what the writers are trying to say, he is not truly "reborn" and given the opportunity to start anew. No, he is still being pulled to his wife, and not because he is falling in love with her all over again, as romantics would believe. Instead he accepts that he must have really changed and learned to love because of her.  He wants to reconnect with that version of himself, which is romantic in it's own way, but it is still not enough of a rebirth to merit giving him amnesia and putting his wife and child through the wringer. 

In short: I feel like the writers went against their own message of "people should live freely" by presenting the amnesia as a fresh start that Do Hyun Soo would have wanted, when the reality is that his character would not--and did not--want to forget those memories.

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Moonstruck

I did not interpret the Rebirth as something where he wouldn't have any starting point. For me it is more on he was given the chance to feel what he feels as Do Hyunsu and without his 14 years of thinking patterns as Heesung.
I feel you are implying that he lost his feelings for Jiwon along with his memories, I do not think that is the case. If you rewind the part in the car scene where they both cried, he already admitted that he has feelings for her although he can't remember her (don't know the how and why but it is a fact that he is still drawn to her), he was just questioning it's sincerity and afraid it will not last as he thinks as his Heesung persona he had merely used Jiwon. He was not pushing Jiwon away because he doesn't feel anything for her or no interest in reconnecting but because he believes it's the decent thing to do.


They were not meant to fall in love again as they never really fell out of love.


If he had his memories there is of course not a second he will even consider giving up his family, the feelings of love, guilt, habits and obligation will always mix together though.  By being simply Hyunsu, he is now free to choose what he wants and to react however he likes given those feelings. You can say that can he not do that with his memories intact? Maybe yes, maybe no. How do you even draw a line between your real self and the fake persona you built. Now that he is living as his real self and still receiving unconditional love from his family, he wouldn't have any thoughts or doubts if Jiwon and Eunha only liked the perfect facade that he built all those years.

It's also heavily hinted that he is slowly getting his memories back, these whole amnesia thing is really just a time for him to process his feelings and situation while removed from his Baek Heesung persona. But things will anyway fall back into place for them eventually.

The good thing about series like this is that they are always subject to different interpretation and that makes it more interesting.

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RamenKingAndI
 usernamenotfoundXX:
I did not interpret the Rebirth as something where he wouldn't have any starting point. For me it is more on he was given the chance to feel what he feels as Do Hyunsu and without his 14 years of thinking patterns as Heesung.
I feel you are implying that he lost his feelings for Jiwon along with his memories, I do not think that is the case.

My issue isn't with his characterization after the amnesia plot device. It's clear the feelings are there. He just has no context for them, and that's what he's trying to work through.

Instead, I take issue that the writers included amnesia plot device in the first place and then presented as though Do Hyun Soo rediscovering his feelings for his wife was somehow better for him.

They pushed the idea that he is now free to rediscover his love for his wife and build his own life without the cover of his fake identity...except his fake identity wasn't tied to his love for his wife. He didn't start his relationship with her  in order to appear more normal or because he found manipulating her fun. In fact, having a relationship with her was in direct defiance to his fake parents. It was always something he, Do Hyun Soo, wanted and felt, and being called Hee Sung wasn't a factor. No one--not him, not his wife, not the viewer--ever thought that his love was a happy consequence of his fake identity, so being able to rediscover his love for his wife under his real name offers no real payoff for either the plot or the character. 

The only hangup he ever had at having his wife and child tied to the name Hee Sung was that he was afraid that  he would lose them once his real identity came to light, but that became a non-issue prior to the final episode, so again, plot-wise, I don't feel it was a good move for the writers to make him lose his connection to his family after regaining his name--the very thing he feared--and then try to present it in an optimistic light and a form of character building.

In my opinion, if anyone was going to get amnesia, it should have been Cha Ji Won. While she was always confident that he loved her, having Do Hyun Soo go through the motions of helping her regain her memories and love for him would have been more impactful.   Not only would he have been able to have a fresh start with his wife as Do Hyun Soo, knowing without a doubt that what he feels for her is love, but he also would have been able to watch his wife fall in love with him for who he really is and obliterate any lingering insecurities he may have had that she only fell for a persona he created.

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Moonstruck

Okay, I got you and respect your pov. As I've said I also didn't like how they added the amnesia but in the end chose to see it in the direction where the writers wants to interpret it.

I want to mention though is that although we all know his feelings had been sincere the whole time, he acknowledged it only later when they are really so deep into the mess. All those years he did genuinely believe he was using Jiwon, and he never questioned whether if he does afterall feel something for her. Coming into terms with his own feelings was just one step. Makes me think that in reality once things have calmed down (when he doesn't have to scramble to keep his family safe) he would have his insecurities back. He is obviously putting Jiwon more so in a pedestal and sees himself less worthy of her. That he'd think again how the foundation of their relationship was built in lies, wonder if Jiwon would have fallen for him if she knew the truth from the beginning, if maybe she was so into him because he tried so hard to be the perfect guy she wants to see, or that he sort of brainwashed her into loving him.

And being the poor communicator Hyunsu is, it would create an issue. For sure as the other commenters said they could work it out without the need for memory loss.
But I would say the pay off for this 'short term amnesia', is that they rediscover each other in a different light. Not only does he verify his own feelings, Jiwon also get to meet the 'real him'. One could argue he's anyway the same as his Heesung self, but as Moojin pointed out he was actually different in some ways and Haesu commenting that perhaps this is the real him. In the process of rediscovering each other, for sure Jiwon will see side of him that will disappoint her. Side that probably he wouldn't show even if he gets to live as Hyunsu with memories intact as 14 yrs of being the perfect husband is a hard habit to break.

Anyway, with this reasoning I am fine with the ending but wished they could have made it longer. Just throw away that melodrama tag and give us the full cheesy moments.lol

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