Was It Love? – Episode 16 (Finale/Ending) Recap and Review

A Happy Ending?

Online Rumour Mill

Was It Love comes to a decent conclusion this week with a happy ending for all our characters. It took a while to get there and the drama is certainly not one of the best this year. However, it still had a decent story with some nice characters nonetheless.

Episode 16 of Was It Love starts at the end of Ae-Jeong and Dae-Oh’s date. He tells her that she doesn’t have to give him an answer straight away and to take her time. Ae-Jeong smiles, gives him a kiss on a cheek and thanks him for saying he will be patient.

She then returns home and finds out from Ha-Nee someone is claiming online that the book Dae-Oh wrote is fake. We then see that Ms Song is of course the one behind the rumours.

At home, Dae-Oh finds out about the claims and sees all the bad comments online. In the office, Ae-Jeong is unable to find her bank book.

The Truth Will Out

The next morning, Dae-Oh meets with his assistant and admits that the rumours are true as he wrote the novel without considering Ae-Jeong’s feelings. On the back of this, he asks him to take the video of Ae-Jeong down.

Back in the office, Dae-Oh saves the day again during a meeting and offers to pay the staff who were complaining about their lack of wages and threatening not to do the movie. Ae-Jeong later invites him on the rooftop where she has a picnic prepared. This is just like they did in the past when they weren’t able to go camping.

Meanwhile, Ryu-Jin gets hounded by a journalist about the latest revelations. A-Rin sees it all so she decides to intervene. She berates the journalists for invading the privacy of Ae-Jeong and her daughter, which impress Ryu-Jin.

Ha-Nee returns home after school to her grandmother. She tells her that the kids haven’t been bullying her and also realizes that Dae-Oh is not a bad man when she looked into his eyes.

Dae-Oh decides to meet with Ae-Jeong and the two have a heart to heart. Dae-Oh explains that her mother and himself both thought they had been abandoned by the other and it was all a misunderstanding.

Happiness

Ha-Nee tells him that she has been happy thanks to her mother and grandmother but now it is her mum and his turn to be happy.

The next day in her office, Ae-Jeong is surprised to find Mr Kim waiting for her. He tells her that Dae-Oh is dropping out as director and that he is there to work on the movie “No One But My Man”. Pa-Do arrives and explains that it is Dae-Oh’s idea.

In a flashback, we see the latter meeting with Pa-Do and suggesting that the whole team start this project without him. It was the movie that Ae-Jeong had put a lot of energy in but it fell through when the company went bankrupt.

Ae-Jeong rushes over to Dae-Oh to confront him about his decision. Once she comes in, she sees that he is packing his things which upsets her. He tells her he wants to write their real story and doesn’t want everyone to pity her and Ha-Nee.

Ae-Jeong suggests that he stays and write it without having to leave ,but tells her he has to write in solitude. He wants her to fulfill her dream and he promises to become a new writer.

Fast Forward

We then fast forward sometimes in the future where we see that Ae-Jeong is doing very well and the movie is set to be a success. Ryu-Jin comes face to face with Ms Song and the two clear the air.

Ryu thanks her for helping him in his career before saying goodbye, while we see that Dong-Chan seems to have a better relationship with his father who encourages him at school.

During a party for the premiere of the movie, everyone is present and in good spirits. Hyang-Ja and Yeon-Woo’s mother are on good terms while A-Rin asks Ryu-Jin if he likes her. He also tells her if he is going to ask her out, to do it soon.

Ae-Jeong daydreams that Dae-Oh arrives to congratulate her and she later reads a new novel called “Last Love” which has a very familiar story. She calls Hye-Jin to arrange a meeting with the writer, a certain “Guido Orifice.”

As she arrives in the meeting, she is shocked to find Dae-Oh waiting for her. He apologises that he made her wait another two years again and the two hug,admitting they missed one another.

The episode ends in the future during Ha-Nee’s wedding. Ae-Jeong walks her down the aisle with all four men looking proudly at her.

The Episode Review

Was It Love hasn’t been a great drama but it isn’t an outright terrible one either. The story felt a little convoluted and could have done with being a little shorter. Still, the finale was decent and Ae-Jeong and everyone had the ending they deserved after many years of waiting.

Ha-Nee will remain the best character for me throughout the series as she showed a great level of wit but also maturity. Her story concluded with her wedding which was a nice touch and seeing all four men seeing her off, reminded me of the movie Mamma Mia a little.

There was another little Easter Egg in the finale; Dae-Oh’s new pen name is Guido Orifice which is the main character in the movie “Life is Beautiful”, one of my favourite movies.

While the story of that movie is very different than the one here, I wonder if he chose that name because Guido loved his wife unconditionally too.

I am not sure I would recommend Was It Love as a K-drama to watch this year as there are better ones out there. It is an easy to watch and pleasant series but unfortunately it failed to utilize its full potential. The narrative was often lacking in direction, despite some interesting characters and a fun story line.