Misty: Was It Really That Good?
*Warning - MAJOR spoilers ahead*
If you haven't watched the show and plan to watch it (please do, by the way, it's amazing), do not tread any further.
Enjoy this lovely GIF of Duk Seon (Hyeri) being Duk Seon:
So. Were you disappointed with the ending? Did you take to Twitter and pour all of your heartbroken anger onto its 140 character limit? I know a lot of people (personally) who did.
Why didn't Duk Seon end up with Jung Hwan? How is the future husband Taek? How does any of this make sense?!
Luckily, I shipped her with the right person from the start (well, my first ship was her and Sun Woo but shhhhh), so I came out happy and jumpy-- but a lot of people didn't, and this article is mostly for them.
As you all know, one of the main reasons why the Duk Seon-Jung Hwan ship didn't sail was because of how much time Jung Hwan took to actually muster up enough courage to confess to Duk Seon. It was even openly acknowledged in the show, in an iconic scene when Jung Hwan laments silently that while he wasn't willing to take a chance and risk it, Taek even forfeited a match to hang out with Duk Seon after she's jilted by her date.
My Opinion
It's not that Jung Hwan didn't love her enough or care for her; he was just scared, and that's natural when you face the risk of losing your childhood best friend. But if you really, really want to be with somebody, you have to take risks sometimes, something Jung Hwan didn't realise until it was too late.
But that was just one reason. The other reason is probably the simplest and easiest to understand: he cared too much about what others thought of his feelings for her.
There is really no delicate way to put this. Jung Hwan obviously loved Duk Seon, but secretly felt slightly ashamed at having feelings for someone who was thought as 'one of the guys'. In contrast, Taek didn't try to hide it: the moment he was old enough to understand his feelings, he confessed to his closest friends (Sun Woo, Dong Ryong and Jung Hwan) that he liked Duk Seon. He never thought about what his friends would think of him for liking her, and being the person he is, was straightforward about it from the start.
Duk Seon is a character who wants to be liked. She wants to be considered pretty and womanly, not as a graceless 'dude', which is how her neighbourhood buddies treated- while she never minded that Dong Ryong and Sun Woo (later on) thought of her that way, she was especially conscious of Jung Hwan, someone she liked. But when one minute he treated her like a girl, the next he went back to talking roughly with her. This behaviour can be paralleled to Taek's, who we learn had always liked her from the start. Duk Seon wanted to be a girl, for once, and she always felt that way around Taek.
It's not even that Jung Hwan didn't get any chances; in fact, throughout their teenagehood, he had an edge over Taek. With Duk Seon's friends egging Duk Seon on, Duk Seon's girlish wish of being liked by someone, Taek being away for matches most of the time, Duk Seon's cute lil' crush on Jung Hwan and him living right above her, Jung Hwan had all the odds in his favour. Again, this is where his eternal pitfall, hesitation, came in.
Jung Hwan always had one reason or another to put off confessing to her - her crush on Sun Woo, Sun Woo's potential crush on her (which, thank god, wasn't true) and lastly, Taek's feelings. There was always a reason, but he never thought of confronting it and fighting for her, being-- well-- very Jung Hwan-like and not pursuing her for his friends. He valued his friendship over his love, which isn't a bad thing (not at all-- in fact, it was one of the things about his character that made all of us fall in love with him), but lead to the outcome we saw.
Even Taek, being the loyal best friend he is, cancelled his date with Duk Seon and took a step back once he found out that Jung Hwan liked Duk Seon, too, giving Jung Hwan a chance to pursue her. Jung Hwan didn't lack opportunities or encouragement, he just didn't go for it.
In retrospect, it was probably for the best that neither of them confessed to Duk Seon; she wouldn't have been in the right state of mind to accept, anyway. She just wanted to be liked by someone, no matter who. She likely confused her feelings for Jung Hwan with her desperation to be liked back and Jung Hwan's hot and cold signals (her friends' encouragement didn't help, either). If either Taek or Jung Hwan had accepted, she would have likely accepted it... but would it have lasted? Who knows.
It makes sense that the writers chose to leave the viewers hanging and fast forwarded the show to 5 years in the future, where all three involved in the love triangle are older and more mature. Jung Hwan is finally able to realise that he needs to fight for Duk Seon and Duk Seon was comfortable enough with herself to truly be able to like someone back. Unfortunately for him, though, Taek realised that faster. Basically, it all boiled down to that.
Hints in the Drama
How can I finish off this post without listing out the various clues that the show left us to figure out who the Future Husband (FH) is? Admittedly, it was quite hard (and very vague) in the beginning, but got bigger and more obvious as the show went on. The first part was completely my opinion, but in order to balance this article, here is every clue given about Future Husband in the show and how it makes total sense with the ending:
Future Husband did not get the chocolate that Duk Seon gave Sun Woo- Hence, not Sun Woo. Which was surprising, since Reply stuck to the first love theme in the previous instalments.
Future Husband had dated quite a few people before he and Duk Seon got married- This was the first concrete clue about FH we got very early on in the show. At that point of time, nearly all of us (including me) thought that it 100% meant Jung Hwan. He was popular, cool and well liked, unlike Taek who never even talked to a girl other than Duk Seon. But then we see that Jung Hwan becomes a fighter pilot and is deployed in the middle of nowhere, so the opportunities to date are almost nil. Taek, on the other hand, admitted to going on many blind dates (though reluctantly) and was involved in some minor dating scandals.
Future Husband used to talk to No Eul formally- It was an offhand statement, but had viewers been a little more observant from the get-go, they'd probably have figured out this whole guessing game by the 8th episode (which is when this clue was put in). Taek was the only one who talked to No Eul formally. Sheesh.
Future Husband took a picture with Duk Seon- Okay, this one tripped me. I had seriously no clue and had to look online for this one. People still debate over this and both sides (albeit, Duk-Taek theorists being less in number) make valid arguments, one theory was that the whole photo thing completely sidetracked the audience from what could possibly be a clue- Duk Seon nagging FH to wear more comfortable clothes for the winter, which something Duk Seon does to Taek a lot.
Future Husband smokes- Jung Hwan, being in the military, has likely more rigorous standards that don't particularly encourage him to smoke, considering how he'd be unable to do his duty while slowly having his lungs destroyed. Taek, on the other hand, has been smoking since he was a teenager.
Future Husband dislikes interviews- Something Taek hates, too, right from the beginning.
Future Husband mentions a kiss in 1984- Jung Hwan and Duk Seon never kissed in 1984, whereas Taek and Duk Seon did.
Future Husband and Duk Seon had their first official kiss in Beijing- Taek is the one who usually travels for Baduk matches and Duk Seon is a flight attendant. Jung Hwan, being in the military, rarely would get to go to any other country as a fighter pilot (job-wise, that is).
In the end, though, whether you were #TeamJungHwan or #TeamTaek, I think we all can agree that guessing who the actual male lead was wasn't easy. It could have very easily been anybody, considering how vague the most of the hints were.
Bear in mind, these opinions are just mine and I might have missed out on a few key points that could have hinted in a different outcome, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
P.S.: I almost cried out in frustration when the writers didn't even mention what Jung Hwan or Dong Ryong were doing in the future. Are they happy? Have they got hitched? Aaah!
