it’s been 3 years, but the 2521 ending—
while i do admit that some parts felt realistic, which gave the ending a tinge of nostalgia and bittersweetness, some parts felt so unrealistic and out of character, that they just left a sour taste in my mouth.
the parts that felt realistic:
1. na heedo’s mom changing and coming to her senses the older she gets. so many parents aren’t perfect, and some parents are simply selfish. but so many, after growing older and retiring, are left unable to escape the weight of their actions, and nothing in their lives can help distract them from the pain of their guilt. and most children, can be very forgiving, especially as they’re growing older and becoming parents too. na heedo’s relationship with her mom improving as the years go by, as they let go of their old resentments and just stay by each other’s side, that felt right.
2. na heedo not wanting to put up with the same shit she’s put up with for her whole life. i found the fact that na heedo not wanting to spend the rest of her life chasing after a reporter’s time, the same way she did with her mom, unfortunately, very realistic. the older we get, the less patient and tolerant we become, and we often get too fed up trying to balance everything out, that we stop being able to just be patient, to just be understanding. most adults do not wanna spend the rest of their days suffering from the same shit that they did from back in their childhood. most of them grow up to say, that’s enough. and her waiting for him to come back from new york, wouldve honestly just felt like a miserable ending.
3. baek ye jin getting blinded by work, falling into depression, and just losing the will to exist for a while. baek ye jin was always portrayed as someone honest, righteous, and honorable. he is someone who constantly showed up for our highschool kids, someone who became a guardian of his brother at a young age, someone who took on the responsibility of shouldering the weight of his family without a second thought, someone who constantly says wise shit like “my suffering now is the price that i paid for being happier than others” or “twisting and exploiting a story just for our ratings doesnt feel right” or “adults should date adults, high school students should date high school students” or “your mom inspired me, but now that i know how much heartache that moment has caused you, i am conflicted”. he is wise, he is empathetic, he is mature, and he understands just how privileged he is. it makes sense for him not to want to give up on those in new york, not to want to ‘abandon’ them and leave them all behind, just to go back to korea to live for himself. and his depression made sense too, him losing his sense of self amidst all the dead bodies and miserable interviews.
now here is everything that felt unrealistic:
1. seung wan’s ending. wtf was that about? no actually, WHAT THE FUCK was that about? you mean to tell me, that the girl who was always on top of her class, the girl always felt dutiful and obliged to help out her peers, the girl that gave up her reputation to stand up against abuse, the girl that did not hesitate to call the police when it had nothing to do with her, the girl that would rather drop out and give up an entire year of her life rather than apologize for something she knew she shouldnt apologize for, the girl who started a podcast to inspire and help out other youths and speak out on important matters, the girl who was in the broadcast club trying to figure out how to motivate her classmates get through the upcoming exams. the girl who literally said, “i dont wanna stand by and do nothing just because it has nothing to do with me”. you want to tell me that THAT girl….started working at an…entertainment industry? as a backstage worker? huh? HUH????? that’s the career she CHOSE for herself? with her marks and scores that couldve given her anything else? instead of becoming a headmistress, opening up her own school, starting a show or broadcast for all the troubled people and youngsters out there….why is she choosing to do that? it felt like her entire character was treated as a second thought, all that build up, was thrown away for nothing. i was so frustrated. so they all got their dream career lives but not her? and dont try to convince me that working at a variety show was her dream all along.
2. baek ye jin’s brother showing up to date seung wan. that was soooooo unrealistic, i was like aint no way. it felt like something straight out of a fanfic.
3. na heedo’s marriage. to some unknown man😭 yall be fr. i know the writers were all like, “it doesn’t matter who mim chae’s father is—“ yes it does actually??? that man, was actually never there. his daughter was injured, ran away from home, is staying at her grandma’s, wants to give up on her life as a ballet dancer, and he’s just not there. his wife and mother in law are going for a colonoscopy, and he’s just not there. not a single trace of him, could be found anywhere, not in the past, and not in the future. while baek ye jin’s and the squad are practically found all over na heedo’s room, we dont even see a single marriage portrait in the living room or something 😭😭😭. what’s worse, min chae never thinks of her dad. she never wonders how her mom met him after reading the diaries, she is too busy pinning for her mom to end up with another man. which just felt very unrealistic to me, cause personally, no matter how invested i was in my mom’s past experiences and stories, my dad’s name would always be brought up cause….that’s my dad? and you’re telling me, na heedo who had the best and most present father in the world, ends up choosing a man who’s absent and neglectful? she doesnt wear her wedding ring, she still mourns her past, she still visits that bridge, her face still saddens at the mention of baek ye jin’s name, all in the future. you can argue with me that that’s just sentiment and nostalgia, but it all just feels off. na heedo just doesnt seem like the kind of person to get married on a whim, and she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would just marry anyone for the sake of getting married, and she doesn’t seem to be the sort to pick a neglectful or absent man. so yes, the husband’s identity matters. because it’s a reflection of heedo’s character, and her growth, and what direction did she choose to steer her life towards. after being so heartbroken, who is the man who came into her life, and convinced her to marry him and have a child with him? that feels like lazy writing tbh, the whole “oh she married and had a child” as if na heedo is the sort to look for marriage and romance in the first place.
4. na heedo and ko yu rim’s friendship not lasting. come on now. that makes NO sense. not every person in your life is meant to stay, sure, but not every person is meant to leave either. they hug so hard when na heedo is retiring, yet min chae barely knows who ko yu rim is??? the way i imagined their ending, na heedo would storm ko yu rim’s training center every now and then, help train the kids, spar with her infront of the youngsters. but where is all of that? youre telling me min chae has never been to auntie ko yu rim’s training center as a child before? cause it sounds to me like they barely even call and dont say ‘that’s life’. that just feels like lazy writing, again. and my biggest disappointment. i get the rest of them not staying in contact, but them? THEM? be. for. real.
5. finally, baek ye jin and na heedo not fighting for each other. yes the circumstances surrounding their breakup made sense. yes their frustrations and their reasons behind wanting to let go made sense. but that’s it. i’m not saying the right ending was for them to end up together, i’m saying that ending it so impulsively and abruptly made no sense. first of all, it didnt make sense, that baek ye jin, who always overheard na heedo’s fights with her mom, who always saw how heartbroken na heedo’s mom left her, who always saw how lonely na heedo was, would proceed to do the SAME exact thing, and be totally unaware that he’s doing the same exact thing! im talking pre new york here, when he told na heedo at the bridge, “before new york, everything was fine” HUH???? no, no no no no no. baek ye jin, mr empathetic, mr emotionally intelligent, mr attuned towards everyone’s emotions, the man who SAW her problems with her mom in first person, NOT noticing that there was a problem? the baek ye jin i know, before new york? the one who TRANSFERRED departments because he didnt wanna hurt his beloved? and dont give me that, “he was too busy to notice, life sometimes does that to you” NO, yes life makes you too busy, but deep down, you always notice. baek ye jin is the kind who would notice, baek ye jin is different from na heedo’s mom, who’s very emotionally unavailable and lacks the ability to be visibly vulnerable. baek ye jin is the sort, who would ASK for a vacation, he’s the sort, who would ASK his colleagues to cover for him, baek ye jin, unlike na heedo’s mom, would actually ASK to not get called in on certain days if it’s not urgent. yes he overworks himself so that no one would look down on him for not having a college degree sure. but he’s the sort who ALWAYS talked back, who ALWAYS put his position at risk by defying orders just for na heedo. so no, i refuse to believe that he wouldnt even TRY to make time, at least in the beginning, at least before new york. his ‘ignorance’ and ‘blind eye’ just felt very forced and out of character. and why did our characters, who were always portrayed as persistent, defying all odds, standing up for what they believe is right, fighting for what they want, break up after literally their first fight. i’m not saying they shouldve been end game, i’m saying that fight shouldnt have been the end, YET. they should’ve fought for each other some more, cause theyre definitely the sort to not give up on each other so easily. why did na heedo never take a flight to new york? why did baek ye jin never try to change? why didnt they not try to give it another go? why did baek ye jin not try to look for na heedo the moment he came back, when she wasnt yet married? you’re trying to tell me the man who stayed single after his first heartbreak, wouldnt do that? you’re trying to tell me the girl who would always wait by the door at his place every night in the middle of winter, the girl who ran in slippers on the streets for two hours looking for his dad, wouldnt try to visit him in new york even once? it all felt so…rushed and incomplete? like the writers were just trying to wrap things up. yes i expected them to break up, but not this easily and not….like this.
in conclusion, the writing was amazing, up until the first half of episode 15. then everything was rushed and half assed. the show clearly needed to be 20 episodes long, not 16. the last episode and half, did not do this amazing, amazing kdrama, justice.
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