Yijins love taught heedo to want more for herself than fencing and to advocate for more in her life remember she couldn't talk to her mom in ep 1.
accepting a ldr n not the companionship she needs is not growth. She gets married and has a family, she leaves fencing and becomes furniture maker. Her life is richer due to yijins input n love.
Heedo so selfless, was selfish for her needs n rightly so just as she instructed jiwoong to also be selfish.
heedo n yijin used their love to chase their unlocked versions of happiness they revealed in each other. Heedo used to be simple minded with sweetie pie that she was with him cuz he liked her and not about her wants. Heedo chose loving herself and her needs rather than give that up for the love she has for yijin. Well done.
Heedos love taught yijin to dream and be something that fulfils him gives and gives purpose. To not go for US correspondent n not chase more would let down everything heedos love inspired him to when he was at lowest. Heedos mum inspires him he becomes correspondent n then anchor. He finds trauma but also fulfilment in his job it's important role n is important to his self identity that he is making a difference in people's lives unlike the soul destroying fish market job which he had accepted for himself.
Yijin could not offer his whole self to heedo because he had to untangle his obligations to his new dreams for himself his job and this would also ultimately fulfil his original dream to reunite his family.
Their love for each other means they choose themselves first despite their love for each other. Their mutual love has healed them so even though they cannot be together in each other's lives which feels gut wrenching they leave better for the love they shared and gave.
We forget they were hurting when they met and that hurt has been healed through their love. They are heart broken because their love was pure but it would be a disservice to give up on themselves and their wants just to hold onto their relationship and if they did this it would dampen the brightness n purity of the love they shared.
Don't get me wrong I can only come to this conclusion after cursing the writer for a full 3 days and nights first.
They played and tormented us unnecessarily by dangling random bits like why the 2009 interview could be interpreted like they together n michae shouting at yijin for not kissing heedo back when he is not her dad??? Michae looking for the diary n then at the last minute declaring she is not gonna read it? Haha the comic book guy had it WTF !! That's not clear writing.
The Suitcases mix up only wad the reason they have the break up convo because naheedo otherwise chose to ignore yijins return to wrap things up before leaving forever? Naheedoo who never forgave her mum for not honouring her dad with a goodbye at his funeral would just shrug n return it back to the airport rather than say goodbye. Does this mean if there was no suitcase mix up and contract cancellation needed would she have ghosted yijin??? Totally out of character!!!
I can accept the break up, it needed to happen, but the way they went about it is so clumsy- it did injustice to the past 15 episodes creativity and excellence that it felt sloppy and infuriating to the excellent character work they'd done all throughout the show. It was a slap in the face for the audience who learnt to trust the writers to give an ending deserving of the quality we had come to expect over the last 8 weeks. This sours the utter joy the show was.
