Disney+ kdrama “Call It Love” has dropped its two final episodes a couple of hours back, here is a recap of the finale and the ending explained.
“Call It Love” episode 16 recap
The episode starts with Dong-Jin having lunch with Woo Joo’s mother who apologizes for having suggested they have lunch with the siblings present.
The mother asks about how Hee Ja has been and he says she’s preparing for trial. He then adds that he wanted to let her know she shouldn’t worry about him. They eat lunch together, she tells him she feels bad and grateful for him.
After lunch, he meets up with Woo Joo at their spot and while she tries to break it off officially with him, she asks for more time. He agrees to it.
At the court, Dong Jin speaks to the lawyer who says they should at least get a non-punishment letter from the family, there is fraud involved and it will make matters more difficult for her.
Thus, Hee Ja decides to go to their aunt’s workplace asking for the children’s number. However, she refuses to give it to her.
At night, she meets up with Yoon Jun and explains what happened to him with Dong Jin, she asks if she’s pathetic and he says she’s not. He asks if she regrets meeting him and she denies that, but she says she regretted the way she behaved at her father’s funeral.
Dong Jin shows up at his old workplace and signs the release papers. Choi Sun-Woo tells him he’ll always keep his desk vacant in case he comes back. The office holds a departure small gathering to wish him the best. He gives a short speech and thanks everyone.
As he’s about to leave accompanied by Choi Sun-Woo, Dong Jin tells him he’s not coming back.
The aunt calls Woo Joo a couple of days later telling her Hee Ja asked for her number. Once Hee Ja sees her, she’s flustered. They have lunch together. She talks about how the humiliation Hee Ja is suffering right now will not undo the damage she’s been through. Woo Joo tells her she’ll stop hating her moving forward, she also tells her she loves her son. The mother is absolutely taken aback and ends up leaving.
Woo Joo says she’ll send her the letter she needs by mail.
At home, Hee Ja talks to her son and say she met Woo Joo, she asks him if he also likes her, he says yes. He says he was happy for the first time with her. Hee Ja is in tears thinking of all the things that happened recently and connecting the dots together.
At night, Woo Joo calls Dong Jin and tells him she wants to go to the trail at the campsite he talked about. They meet up the next day, they walk together, she tells him she’s not going to cry, she tells him without him she would have kept walking backwards, she also apologizes for what she put him through, he tells her, ‘you gave me everything.” He tells her he won’t live a boring life.
At night, they go back to their spot in Seoul and hug each other goodbye.
The three siblings move out of the home and Yoon Jun can feel their emptiness.
1 year later
Yoon Jun and Hye Sung are happily dating, her co-worker says she’s getting married and treats them for lunch, she get asked if she’s getting married. The coworker also tells her she has to catch the bouquet.
At night, the couple go back to Yoon Jun place, Hye Sung talks to him about the proposal and he ends up asking her to get married. She’s flustered and upset. She tells him if she’s known he wanted to get married she would have proposed to him.
He tells her its because the house is empty without her, he likes her voice and wants to be with her, she calls him a child inside. They share a kiss.
At best fair, Choi Sun-Woo overhears Kang Min-Young being persuaded to go on a date that she’s hesitant about, he’s upset. They go out for lunch and its implied Kang Min-Young knows about his feelings for her and is happy about how things are now.
We also find out that Baek Soo-Hee was promoted to the CEO position and the company is doing very well.
At their house, Woo Joo leaves in a hurry to go to work. She’s now working with fairs, she works for a company that designs and sells the walls for the fairs. She does her job diligently. She later meets up with Baek Soo-Hee who is happy to see her doing well, she asks about Dong Jin, we find out he’s left that place and has not been heard from.
Woo Joo goes back to their places that they shared at their neighborhood hoping she’d run into him.
We then see Dong Jin traveling around in his van, he then sells it to someone else. He goes to the same spot he used to eat at with Woo Joo.
At night, Hye Sung talks to Woo Joo, she tells her if she knew her mother had asked Dong Jin to call her whenever and she’ll send him bangchan dishes, Woo Joo didn’t know. Hye Sung then adds, ‘who’s to say no, that’s my conclusion, there is nothing that’s preventing you from being together anymore,’ basically telling Woo Joo they should date again.
We also find out that Ji Gu had kept in contact with Dong Jin and he invites him to his first ever busking event. He tells Woo Joo to come too saying it’s a 50-50 chance he’d show up.
He shows up and then goes down before Woo Joo comes inside, she runs towards the place. Then when she arrives, she glances across the stage and sees him holding a bouquet of roses. They smile at each other.
Then we pan into another scene where Woo Joo runs towards him and seems to be teasing him.
The end.
“Call It Love” FAQ
Did Woo Joo and Dong Jin get back together?
While they ended up breaking up, a year later, its implied they got back together when they reunited at the busking event.
Did Yoon Joon and Hye-Sung end up dating?
Yes, and they’re getting married.
What happened to Dong Jin’s ex Kang Min-Young?
She joined his former company and is doing fine.
What happens to Dong Jin’s mother Ma Hee-Ja?
She ends up getting investigated but the siblings extend an olive branch and send her a non-punishment letter. Its implied she avoided jail time and likely had to pay a fine and was given a suspended sentence, but its never confirmed.
Did the siblings get back their home?
Yes, they got their home back.
“call it love” final thoughts
Ok… that was BEAUTIFUL. Loved it.
“Call It Love” has been tremendously enjoyable and a fun watch. Truly one of the standout kdrama projects of 2023. Despite saying this, I do have something to point out, which I’ll get to shortly.
I loved how despite Hee Ja screwing over the family, they still had the decency to not want to take this to court, personally speaking, if this happened to me, I would have jumped at the idea. But again, I would hesitate if her son had given me the will.
Hee Ja, despite being an utterly horrible human being, is lucky. Lucky her son turned out this well, if it weren’t for him, I don’t think the Sim siblings would have had this sympathy towards her. He saves her and continues to do so until the very end when he doesn’t have to, what has she done for him? Beside giving him pain and trauma….
I loved that Dong Jin promised to live a happy life, he’s truly suffered and needed that break. I also especially loved the way they parted initially, it was beautifully done, very respectful and mature, until the very end. A beautiful relationship, this is the type of relationship the younger kdrama fans should be hyping up.
I also loved that Yoon Jun and Hye Sung ended up dating and are getting married. Although I’d say the way he proposed was definitely lame. I mean, what he says came off as if he wanted her to be there for him in the background, I know he doesn’t mean it like that, but I couldn’t help but wish he had done the proposal a bit better. But I know he loves and cares for her so…. He’s not the best at properly communicating his feelings, in part due to the way he’s been raised.
The other thing I wanted to say was I loved how they broke up at first, I think it would have been a huge punch to Woo Joo’s mother if they proceeded with the relationship regardless, especially during that time.
However, when Hye Sung told her the fact that her mother said she’d give him side dishes whenever he asked to and this translates into her somehow being ok with the relationship felt odd…. Because I didn’t perceive it like that.
I come from an Asian household, so when I approach this from the mother’s perspective, its disrespectful towards her that her daughter would proceed with the relationship if she protested. I know that fans from the west would say its Woo Joo’s life and she should live as she wishes, and in part, you’re right, but in Asian households, parents respect is a huge deal and this breaks the fundamental definition of that.
When she said it [giving side dishes], I perceived it as a thank you for the will, because in the end, he could have chosen to save his mother and not have her prosecuted but he didn’t. I also think its because she felt sorry he ended up with a mother like her. I didn’t think it meant she wanted them to end up together.
She also told Woo Joo the pain would soften as time goes by, and didn’t tell her otherwise.
This tells me it didn’t mean she particularly was co-signing them getting back together. Hye Sung is an emotionally driven person so I’d understand why she’d come to this conclusion.
I also know the scenes would be understood differently depending on the person. I also understand it might be difficult for the mother herself to ever come out and tell her daughter she’s ok with her dating the son of the woman who ruined their entire lives.
Its just a personal thought I wanted to share with you. I am still happy they got back together and happy it was done a while later.
Overall, I am happy with the drama, definitely one of the best kdramas of 2023 thus far.
what did you think of “call it love” ending?
