Move to Heaven – K-Drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Forbidden Love

We begin episode 5 of Move to Heaven at Seha University Hospital in the middle of an intense hostage situation. It’s a shocking moment, one that sees Doctor Soo-Hyun slashed across the neck for his troubles. As he bleeds out on the ground, the scene comes to an ominous end.

We then cut to Geu-Roo at the aquarium again, pulling faces. It’s a brief respite, one that immediately sees the gang together to head up on their next case.

They arrive at One Village Townhouse, which is where our doctor lived before he passed away. His full name is Jung Soo-Hyun. After their usual ritual for paying their respects, Geu-Roo and the others get to work, with our protagonist putting on his headphones. However, he quickly finds a letter in the room.

He shows this to Soo-Hyun’s father who simply throws it in the fire, discarding it like trash. Geu-Roo tries to fish it out but burns his hand in the process. Geu-Roo is insistent that he delivers the letter though, given it was Soo-Hyun’s only wish before he died.

Sitting together, the group try to work out who this letter is for and settle on a mystery lover. They deduce that it could be linked to classical music, especially all the different flyers for concerts. They all pick out different girls, eventually finding that this clue matches up to a concert playing the following day. Our mystery girl is likely to be there, at the First Blanc concert.

While the receptionist refuses to let them in initially, a desperate Geu-Roo suddenly needs to use the bathroom, which is just the cue they need to bust in. They ask the different cellists playing whether they know Soo-Hyun but none of them seem to be a match. It turns out it’s actually Ian Park.

This guy happened to be in the bathroom at the same time as Geu-Roo and he noticed a tattoo spelling out Soo-Hyun on his wrist. Geu-Roo heads straight up to see him and blurts out that Soo-Hyun passed away.

An awkward silence descends on them, as Ian eventually races off. With him gone from the music hall, the other staff scramble to try and find him and bring the man back.

It turns out he’s left, distraught over the news of his lover’s death. The crew try to deduce where Ian and Soo-Hyun first met, which leads them back to the hospital.

The pair met a year back, on Christmas. Soo-Hyun was the doctor for Ian Park and listened to him playing the cello. It’s a beautiful song, and one that sees both of them immediately grow closer together. There’s obvious chemistry between them and the pair joke, holding hands in public before heading to see a movie together. There, under the blanket of darkness, they hold hands.

However, everything changes when Ian Park receives an invitation to go to school in San Francisco. Things fall apart between them as Soo-Hyun’s parents put pressure on their son to get married to a girl. Soo-Hyun eventually turns away from Ian and decides to leave him at the airport. Soo-Hyun and Ian both part ways but this decision clearly affects both of them.

Back in the present, Geu-Roo finds Ian up on the rooftop and he hands over the box of personal belongings. Within this, the concert ticket and the plane tickets reinforce that Soo-Hyun was going to leave to be with his lover.

Thankfully Geu-Roo memorized his letter and echoes the words out loud; a brave, beautiful note about two lovers and how Soo-Hyun doesn’t want to live like a coward anymore. He even has a relationship rings for him too. The letter finishes with “I love you.”

That night at the concert, Ian Park pays tribute to Soo-Hyun, whom he sees sitting in the crowd watching. Of all the songs he chooses, it’s “We wish you a merry Christmas.” This, of course, has symbolic meaning dating back to when they first met.

With the case wrapped up and Soo-Hyun’s memory cherished, it gives this reviewer (and many others I assume) a chance to dry his eyes and stop crying. Anyway, I digress.

The trio head back home and reflect on the case and what impact it’s had on them. Sang-Koo gets thinking and reflects on Soo-Cheol’s words about something he needs to say.

Before we hear that, Sang-Koo heads to the nursing home and checks on a comatose boy whom we soon find out is called Soo-Cheol, telling him he’s his mortal enemy and needs to wake up.

This could well be linked to the fight promoter he owes money to but right now it’s too early to tell.

The Episode Review

What an emotional episode. Move to Heaven delivers a tragic and heartfelt story about forbidden love. The acting throughout this episode is absolutely on-point and each case has, so far at least, managed to give a different slant to the topic of death.

This isn’t the first time Korean dramas have tackled this of course, but the way Move to Heaven weaves these stories through the relative innocence of Geu-Roo is nothing short of extraordinary.

The show knows when to press its comedic buttons and also when to dial that back and let the story naturally flow. Out of all the segments this season, episode 5 is the one that really stands out as the best.

This absolutely beautiful and poignant chapter serves as a harsh reminder that one cannot sway what the heart desires.

Beautifully written and absolutely heart wrenching, this is a real stand-out gem of an episode.