‘Truth Will Out’
The truth behind the face cream incident is finally out! Turns out the real culprit is … Chang-ho. The basic facts – Chang-ho swapped out some of the ingredients with cheaper substitutes and then blackmailed the HIT host (Yun-ji, who has a secret daughter and needed money for her surgery) to get the cream listed without going through their stringer testing requirements. Myeong-hwa, who is finally of some use to Ye-jin, uncovers the plot when she sees Chang-ho and Yun-ji together and convinces Yun-ji to come clean.
Meanwhile, Matthew has also realized that there’s something fishy about his old friend and conducts his own investigation. He discovers that Chang-ho has a history of conning small firms, forcing them out of business and then stealing their products (with cheaper ingredients) to bolster (HO) cosmetics sales. This in turn leads him to go through his old friend Woo-su’s phone and discover the truth.
But why is the big question. And why, after so many years, did he step back into their lives and pretend to be helping them out? The reasoning behind his actions is pretty muddled and the whole thing felt a bit like all the loose ends were just being quickly tied up as the series drew to an end. Before the truth is revealed, he acts as though he is motivated by a desire for revenge after Matthew messed up the face cream formulation and to ensure that he doesn’t repeat his mistake. But why even put up that charade? Noone was really questioning his motives at that point in time. Later it appears as though his true motivation was to maximize profits. And yet there’s nothing in all the flashbacks to suggest that the company was in financial difficulties or that they were struggling to manufacture the cream profitably. Yes, using cheaper ingredients might increase the margins but what was the pressing need to go behind everyone’s back and make the switch. And the fact that he blackmailed Yun-ji to bypass testing implies that he knew there was a good chance of the substitution leading to bad skin reactions. What was the long-term plan then? And why step in again now and try and sabotage their new product. I guess we’re meant to believe from Matthew’s investigation that his goal this time round is to steal the formula for his company. But at the time he reached out to them, they hadn’t formulated anything yet. In fact, they were on the verge of collapsing as L’Étoile had pressured all their customers into canceling their contracts.
Still later, it’s suggested that he was motivated by jealousy since Woo-su was going to give the lead of a new project to Matthew instead of him. And when confronted, his behavior swings wildly – first he tries to brazen it out (which tracks), then he sends a squad of goons to beat up Matthew and destroy his mushroom farm (full-on evil villain mode…a bit over-the-top but still reconcilable with what we’ve seen so far), and then suddenly does an about turn and, apparently overcome with remorse, decides to commit suicide. There is absolutely no explanation given for this tonal whiplash and it’s hard to see this as anything other than a vehicle to have Matthew play the hero. Play the hero he does – yet again ignoring the distance between the city and the village (a fact that has been stressed on several times in-show), he races to the correct rooftop (naturally!) just in time to talk Chang-ho down and convince him to go to the police.
All’s well that ends well and everyone (almost) gets their happy ending. The new cream is a success, Matthew and Ye-jin are happily living together with more product launches planned in their near future, Ye-jin and her mom reconcile (and apparently so do her mom and dad), Jin-yi gets the job as Ye-jin’s assistant host, and all the secondary couples are doing well. With that large helping of happy endings, the series comes to a close. It started out with promise, only to be weighed down by the shallow storylines. At least it remained a pleasant watch throughout, even if it did leave you with the feeling that there was potential for more.
Stray Musings
- I liked that Som-yi had the courage to stand up in front of the camera and defend Matthew when Chang-ho was trying to sabotage him with false reports about issues with the new cream. She is perhaps the best developed character on the show. Despite her limited screen time she went through a journey of self-growth which made sense in the context of her interactions with Matthew, Ye-jin and the others.
- Loved that the final shot of our lead pair wasn’t a wedding or some other such romantic scenario but instead, the two of them fast asleep. Given the troubles they’ve had with sleep throughout the show, it’s a nice symbol of how content they truly are now.
- I almost forgot to mention the wrap-up to L’Étoile’s storyline. Michelle had in fact ordered the microbial strain to be inserted into their product to implicate Eric in the scandal so that she could take over the Korea expansion. Again, this could have been a much more impactful storyline if it had been better developed. Anyway, Eric successfully exposes her and takes back his role.
- We also finally see the conclusion to Eric’s unrequited love for Ye-jin. She didn’t actually ghost him on their planned cafe date in the past but ended up sleeping through it due to the effects of her new medication. It makes sense given her character though I fail to see why she couldn’t have explained this to him way earlier. However, it helps give him closure. Some things are just not meant to be, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a meaningful impact on your life while they happen.
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