3 Takeaways From The Final Episodes Of "Love Your Enemy"

As “Love Your Enemy” inched towards its finale, emotions ran high. As secrets were revealed, many got the closure they were seeking, and our lead couple finally got the beginning they had been waiting for. Seok Ji Won (Ju Ji Hoon) and Yoon Ji Won (Jung Yu Mi) have finally been able to put a ring to their 18-year-long relationship, but it seems our lead couple has a few more hurdles to navigate before the happily ever after. The last two episodes of “Love Your Enemy” focused its lens on the elders, who had their own baggage to deal with, and the two leads stood by each other against the storms their families geared up to face.

Warning: spoilers from episodes 11-12.

“Be the bigger person”

The Yoon family faces yet another heartbreak. Senior Yoon (Kim Kap Soo) is happy that his granddaughter Yoon Ji Won is finally getting married but is also worried that he may not be able to provide for her. When he goes through the savings he has made in her name, he decides to sell some of the land he owns so that he can give her a handsome wedding gift. However, he is in for a huge shock when he learns that Ji Kyung Hoon (Lee Seung Joon), whom he had raised as his own son, has been embezzling funds and lying to him all along. It wasn’t Yoon Ji Won’s father who had ruined the company, but Kyung Hoon, who also had a large hand in her parents’ death after he had mercilessly walked away from the accident site 12 years ago.

Unable to take the shock, Senior Yoon faces a cognitive disorder, regressing back in time. But Senior Yoon soon visits Kyung Hoon in prison and tells him it is important to forgive Kyung Hoon in order to forgive himself. Senior Yoon divulges that he never wanted to adopt Kyung Hoon, but has done so on the behest of Yoon Ji Won’s father, who was a kind-hearted soul and had worried that his friend would have no place to go. And despite seeing how Kyung Hoon had set out to ruin the very family that had made him, Senior Yoon says he has no option but to forgive and let Kyung Hoon go for his own peace.

Senior Yoon showcases his strength of character. Despite being devastated and hurt, he doesn’t seek to take revenge, but pardons Kyung Hoon and walks away.

Meanwhile, Cha Ji Hye (Kim Ye Won) finally musters her courage and confesses that she was the one who had played a large part in Yoon Ji Won and Seok Ji Won’s breakup. Yoon Ji Won looks a bit shocked, but smiles at her friend, saying it happened a long time ago and that they were all rather young to know any better. As she tenderly reaches out to hold her friend’s hand, it’s Ji Hye who is moved to tears by Yoon Ji Won’s generosity and caring heart.

Both grandfather and granddaughter proved that forgiveness is not a sign of weakness but rather fortitude. There are no histrionics or high-end drama but a quiet strength in the way they deal with the betrayal by people whom they thought were the closest to them.

“Let go of the past and grudges”

Seok Ji Won’s father (Lee Byung Joon) is not amused when he sees Yoon Ji Won flashing her diamond ring. He tries to be rude and mean by showing her the list of prospective brides he has in mind for his son. Yoon Ji Won takes it on the chin and says she is the prettiest among them all. As Seok Ji Won’s mother (Kim Jung Young) apologizes for her husband’s behavior, saying he was born grumpy, Yoon Ji Won says that she has actually seen a kind side of Senior Seok. She recounts an incident from years ago when Seok Ji Won’s father had helped tend to her scrapped knee and even treated her to ice cream, gruffly telling her to keep it a secret from her family and his. Yoon Ji Won further charms Senior Seok with her forthright attitude, but he maintains his gruff exterior so as not to show that he is actually thawing.

We see the caring side of Senior Seok again when he is waiting to meet Senior Yoon, who is late for their appointment. He sees Senior Yoon cross the place they were to meet, and as he rushes out to chastise him for being late, he is worried to see the old man disoriented and takes him to the hospital. A few days later, when he is summoned regarding Senior Yoon’s missed follow-up at the hospital, he puts on his grumpy act and chastises him for being difficult. Well aware the two will be in-laws soon, one sees the ice thawing between the two. Things get funnier with the arrival of Seok Ji Won’s grandmother, the woman who was once the object of Senior Yoon’s affections and also the cause of the feud between the two families, since she had chosen Seok Ji Won’s grandfather over Senior Yoon. She tells her son to end whatever is going on between the two men because with the marriage of Yoon Ji Won and Seok Ji Won, the families are on the cusp of a new beginning, and the cycle of hate will finally end.

The sweetest moment is when Senior Seok complies with Seok Ji Won’s wishes and builds an ecological park over the ambitious golf course in town. When Kyung Hoon tries to get Senior Seok’s support against Senior Yoon, he is firmly put in his place with “we are family.”

Finally rid of the grudges and hate which have bogged Senior Seok down, one sees him for the kind person he truly is. On the other hand, Senior Yoon too has come a long way from losing the woman he loved and tells Gong Moon Soo (Lee Si Woo) that if the person you love is happy and smiling with another, it is best to let go.

“Every end could be a new beginning”

Yoon Ji Won tells Cha Ji Hye that she is so happy that she worries she may be struck by misfortune. Ji Hye tells her that instead of thinking like that, she should look at it this way: now she has someone to share her happiness and burdens with. Yoon Ji Won’s face shows relief as she realizes she has a strong rock in Seok Ji Won, who is always looking out for her.

18 years ago, when a teary Yoon Ji Won had waited for Seok Ji Won at Namsan Tower on a snowy night, she had thought he had never kept his promise, and it had been downhill for the two after. But what she doesn’t know is that he had kept the promise and even knitted her a red muffler as she had asked him to. Though he was never able to give it to her, he finally gets a chance to do so 18 years later. When he gets ready to leave on a work trip for a month, Yoon Ji Won tries to put up a sulking act, saying he will miss their birthday which falls on the same day and how she’ll be sitting by herself at Namsan Tower. She waits his return and is unable to reach him. As soon as it starts to snow, she finds herself at Namsan and tells herself it’s foolish that she is here when Seok Ji Won is away in New Zealand. But she gets a call from him saying that it is snowing where he is, she says, but it is summer where he is. She turns around to see him standing in front of her. And as they hug, he drapes the red muffler he had so lovingly knit for her. The moment is truly delightful and bound to make you smile.

It has been 18 long years, and finally the two are getting their happily ever after. But one thing that won’t ever change is that they will continue to squabble and bicker with each other. If they didn’t, things would seem rather abnormal. As the Seok family insists on a grand wedding, the Yoon family wants something intimate. Seok Ji Won sides with Yoon Ji Won’s wishes, but the only thing he wants is a romantic wedding photo-op with her, to which she agrees. It’s sweet how these two spar and make-up, and it is apparent married life for the two will be far from boring and mundane.

Ju Ji Hoon is a hit in his performance as Seok Ji Won, winning hearts with the love and support he has for Yoon Ji Won. On the other hand, Jung Yu Mi made Yoon Ji Won a lived-in and relatable character. The chemistry between the two actors was easy and natural which further added to the breezy narrative, which will be missed!

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Puja Talwar is a Soompi writer with a strong Yoo Yeon Seok and Lee Junho bias. A long time K-drama fan, she loves devising alternate scenarios to the narratives. She has interviewed Lee Min Ho, Gong Yoo, Cha Eun Woo, and Ji Chang Wook to name a few. You can follow her on @puja_talwar7 on Instagram.

Currently watching: “When the Phone Rings.”