The Times Have Come to an End
Su-yeong arrives back home after being caught in the rain, keeping his distance and giving his crush some space. He hands him a towel and the pair talk outside. Sang-su admits he saw her and Jong-hyeon's fight and believes they will both be successful in the future.
The bank has a few calendars to give out the next day, as well as end of year reviews to come. Given the flashbacks we've seen this season, Mr Yuk briefs the team.
Mi-gyeong offers to cover for Su-yeong at the sub-branch, and she stops to pick up Gyeong-pil, who starts humming cheerfully and generally annoying her.
Mi-gyeong discovers how far her father will go to "protect" his daughter at work. In reality, Chairman Park discovered that Gyeong-pil's father is an ex-convict and refused to marry her daughter. This explains why Gyeong-pil was all on board with ripping Sang-su and Mi-gyeong's feelings.
Sang-su goes over to Su-yeong, who is sick and bedbound, after spending a long time after-hours rolling up calendars. He helps her out and gets some medicine, but in doing so Sang-su realizes that he's in love with Su-yeong. He prepares her food, sending a letter, a calendar, and a plant for her veranda.
Sang-su is surprised when he discovers Su-yeong has finally been granted her transfer the next day. She suggests they hang out the following weekend, with her slapping him with a meal.
Su-yeong and Mi-gyeong have their final meal, with the latter admitting she doesn't like her nor understand her but felt compelled to apologize. The pair do so in a strange way.
Su-yeong removes her ex boyfriend's clothing and supplies for studying for the police exam once more, as well as a flashback of Su-yeong telling him to never give up no matter what.
Sang-su goes to see Mi-gyeong's father, but Chairman Park is a tough nut to crack. He offers to give him a loan to help with Sang-su's job performance, and reveals that he wants to see his mother as well.
Mi-gyeong appears and confronts her father, putting him in his place. Sang-su and Mi-gyeong discuss how she slept very well for the first time and how she decides to go full-on Two-Face and decide their fate with the flip of a coin. She declares that this is the end and properly breaking up this time.
Sang-su and Su-yeong meet for dinner after attempting twice to get food all those episodes ago. Sang-su admits that he wanted to get her out before and be her lover but unfortunately a slew of unfortunate events got in the way!
Su-yeong also reveals that the flower he left on her veranda has another meaning – "future happiness". Sang-su admits he just picked the prettiest one from the store.
Sang-su believes that his future happiness comes from stability and living the next day better than his current one. Between his job and friends, he just wants to settle down and have a decent wife.
Su-yeong has decided to prioritize her feelings and happiness, and part of that comes from not wanting to please others or simply doing what makes her happy, as shown in the final scene of this episode.
Sang-su arrives at the KCU Bank and is surprised to discover Su-yeong has left a letter of resignation in her locker after their night together. After all, she isn't working at the Sindo Branch.
Sang-su, when he learns that the oyster shop has been closed and replaced, goes to Su-yeong's house, where he discovers all the furniture is being removed. The apartment is completly empty.
Did anyone else notice that the coffee shop Su-yeong and Sang-su visited at the end of the night was called "Time's Up?" It almost feels like a nod towards their relationship prospects, which I think suggests that the two aren't on the same wavelength and want very different things from the future.
Sang-su admitting that he likes "pretty things" (bit shallow that, surely!) is indicative of this, while Su-yeong is still figuring out where she wants to go in life.
Su-yeong has decided to do the same and return to her proverbial warmth as she did that transfer to the Sindo Branch.
Su-yeong's life has been mostly about lies, not just the big ones like Gyeong-pil and Jong-hyeon, but also the minor ones, such as lying about being somewhere else but actually being at the bus-stop. It seems Su-yeong has embedded herself in these lies so much that this is the only way she knows to live her life. Until the final scene where Sang-su and Su-yeong meet up at "Time's Up".
This is an entertaining show that is also somewhat frustrating. It's one of those tricky shows that has a lot wrong and that embraces many K-drama tropes (are we going to get the nervous pacing outside the surgery and the white truck of doom too I wonder?) but also has some surprising character development.
The final week of this emotionally draining K-drama is approaching, and this one will certainly require a thorough post-mortem to dissect all of the themes and ideas this one has been grappling with!
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