A Love So Beautiful – K-drama Episode 19 Recap & Review

Farewell Formula

As Heon chats with fellow staff at the hospital, episode 19 of A Love So Beautiful begins with Sol-I running in and doing the ‘cute’ act, embarrassing him. They hug for a brief moment but Heon gets a call from the hospital. With a smooch on the cheek, he runs off back to work.

Autumn of twenty-seven and Sol-I wakes to a bomb of a room. She calls Heon but isn’t able to get through.

While Heon presents a case to other doctors at the hospital, Sol-I meets with someone she knows from school. He disturbingly squeezes her shoulder and offers to help her find a job but she slides away and declines.

Heon works and Sol-I is home feeling unwell. InDesign invites Sol-I to interview for an internship but can’t reach Heon to share the good news.

Heon is recommended for a training programme in the US as he’s at the top of his class.

Ha-Young and Jin-Hwan bring cold medicine to Sol-I but Jin-Hwan points out that her boyfriend is a doctor and she should be calling him. He then worries that Ha-Young will catch something from Sol-I.

Sol-I is sick in bed and Heon’s had a long day. He calls her but she’s already turned her phone off. Sol-I wakes to a text from Heon, which makes her smile. She prepares for her interview but is still coughing.

The interviewers don’t give her much of a chance and Sol-I fails, feeling inadequate. She gets a call asking her to fill in for an art teacher with a promise of generous pay.

The creepy mentor had called her and again offers to help with finding a job, but then paws at her. She struggles and hits him over the head to escape. Ick.

Sol-I overhears nurses talking about Dr Cha going to the US and realizes it’s Heon. She waits for him at the hospital and he runs to hear about her interview. Exhausted, she pulls her hand away and breaks up with him.

She asks about the US and he says he hadn’t decided yet. She checks whether she’s a factor in his decision but doesn’t receive a clear answer. He tries to stop her from leaving but gets a call to emergency and asks her to wait.

A car accident victim comes in and Heon tries to save him but fails. Devastated, he runs back to see Sol-I but she’s already gone. When he later goes to Sol-I’s dorm, a girl tells him that she’s moved out.

A month later and Heon is leaving for the US. He phones Sol-I and asks her to meet him but she refuses. They both look broken. Heon removes the wishing bracelet Sol-I had given him.

Flashforward to Dae-Sung who’s heading to Korea. Timing, right?

The Episode Review

And we’re back! This episode returns to the character-driven format we’ve been missing, diving into the emotions around maturing and finding one’s way in the world. As we know, not every day is rose-filled and now we’re seeing a glimpse of reality in Sol-I and Heon’s worlds.

And with that, they’ve already broken up. We witness some tough days for both Heon and Sol-I. With only two chapters for our couple to be ‘together,’ well, it’s kind of sad. We did, of course, zip through tons of time but I would have liked to have seen more happy moments. In any case, here we are and wow, they both have some unfortunate experiences without a chance to talk about it. I hope they confide in others ‘cause no one should be holding that stuff in.

Not a surprise that Heon is acknowledged as a doctor and offered an elite opportunity. He’s a laser-focused guy. Sad that Sol-I had that crappy discomposing interview – a lot of people have been feeling that these days, I’m sure. But the assault thing – that might have sent me home too.

The key obstacle seems to be time and timing. The two aren’t able to properly share success or failure or even every-day moments, like Jin-Hwan and Ha-Young obviously do. This seems to be the fate of Korean doctors – doctors everywhere – as, for example, this growing gap was what broke up long-time couple Na Jung and Trash in Reply 1994, to name one. It’s obvious, but it makes sense – relationships are built on moments and taking the time to understand each other.

So it’s sweet to see at least one happy couple is on board. It’s nice that Jin-Hwan is still full of energy (with his numerous hospital stays) and that Ha-Young seems to appreciate his dedication.

No word from little star Dae-Sung this time but the flashback tells us we’ll be seeing him soon. Maybe this is his chance? Hopefully, he returns to a hero’s welcome.