Lie to Me Episode 16 Recap

If Lie to Me the drama was akin to a lie, promising something that didn’t exist (the normative good script and good execution requirements), then the process of watching LTM transformed the viewers into living the lie within the drama that turned out to house something unexpectedly real. Ki Joon and Ah Jung discovered that a lie allowed them to find each other, a true love blossoming from something untrue. We similarly all discovered a candid truth about LTM – however ephemeral or lacking the drama was, the undeniable truth was that Ki Joon and Ah Jung’s love felt real to us, and the chemistry between Kang Ji Hwan and Yoon Eun Hye was so genuine it might never be duplicated again.

As for the final episode of Lie to Me? It was simply DAEBAK. It was daebak not because it was some sort of well-written, well-reasoned narrative masterpiece. It was daebak because it understood the love story between Ah Jung and Ki Joon and brought them to a tender, sweeping, and wholly satisfying conclusion. The story wrapped up starting with a montage of moments that literally had me bawling like a baby I was so moved because I felt it in my gut that I took this journey with Ki Joon and Ah Jung (and this drama with Ji Hwan and Eun Hye).

The experience of watching and recapping Lie to Me led to me hosting my third consecutive drama party at the playground (the first being Playful Kiss and the second M3). I can’t tell you LTM-fans that this has been the wildest drama-viewing party I’ve ever hosted (it might, but PK and M3 was likely just as passionate and rowdy), but you guys have undoubtedly created your own unique and never-to-be duplicated running commentary and appreciation for this drama that was so very mesmerizing to us who loved it.

Better (and worse) dramas come and go, but an unforgettable experience is an once in a blue moon occurrence that we should all cherish for the love, laughter, and tears it brought to us all who enjoyed this drama. LTM was like that rare solar eclipse that united us all in gazing at the wonder that was the undeniable and scorching chemistry between Ji Hwan and Eun Hye. Will they ever pair up again? Only time will tell. But we will always have this drama to re-watch over and over again. ‘Nuff said, let’s get to the recap!

Episode 16 Recap:

Ah Jung’s not turning down Ki Joon’s proposal for good, nor is she unwilling to marry him. The reality of marrying Hyun Ki Joon 5-Item Set + World Hotel President is just too daunting for her to process, and she’s unsure of what’s going to happen. Ki Joon asks why she’s suddenly thinking this way, doesn’t she love him, to which Ah Jung replies that she loves him. She loves him so much that it’s inconceivable for her to imagine living in a world without him.

The discussion about marriage is making her confused, she doesn’t know if she’s got what it takes to get married right now. She feels like she’s missing something important, and she asks Ki Joon for some time to find it. Ki Joon understands her concerns, and agrees to do as she asks. He concedes he might be rushing things between them. He reminds her not to make him wait too long. Even though he hates waiting, he’ll do it for only for Gong Ah Jung.

I feel like I had the exact same conversation Ah Jung is having with Ki Joon before. So don’t say this is some sort of dramatic contrivance, because it’s not. My situation may not be universal, but I can tell you that this exact conversation happens to countless couples around the world. Since the lie started (no, since Ah Jung lost Jae Bum), she’s been missing her pride. She buried in work, but her self-esteem is pretty shot on a personal level. She needs to find the real Gong Ah Jung – the spunky, capable, and sassy girl she was, before she ought to even consider marrying Ki Joon.

Ah Jung asks for and gets a transfer to Jeju. She leaves for the island with Ki Joon reluctantly sending her off at the airport. He hands her a box which contains a watch, his gift to speed up time. Omo, what a sweet and poignant gift. He reaches out his hand to shake hers, but really it was to pull her in for a kiss. I have a sneaking suspicion that Hyun Ki Joon The Kissing Bandit is back in full force for this episode. SQUEEE. He tells her to call often and not over think things. Just let her mind be clear.

Ah Jung asks to take a selca picture of them together before she leaves. Ki Joon smiles wistfully as he watches her depart. This time it’s Ah Jung who turns around to wave one more time before walking through customs.

We see Ah Jung driving in Jeju, her voiceover tells us that it’s been a month now since she left and it’s been a month since she’s seen Ki Joon. She exchanges emails with Ki Joon every day, the emails like love letters between them. Initially it felt foreign, but she’s settled in just fine and now Jeju feels like home.

Ah Jung asks Ki Joon how he’s doing, and Ki Joon says he’s had a hard time since he hasn’t seen her in a month. She won’t let him visit and doesn’t allow that many calls between them. He warns her to be prepared for what he’s going to do when he does see her.

Ah Jung works at the museum at Jeju. She tells her colleague that she’s been there for a month and she still doesn’t know the entire museum. Her colleague says he’s been there ten years and doesn’t know it all either. In fact, he’s been married twenty years and still doesn’t know everything in his wife’s mind.

Aunt sits down with Ki Joon and asks when he’s planning to get married. Rumors are flying that he got married and got divorced already. She asks what Ki Joon sees in Ah Jung, to which he smiles and says that she’s pretty. I love his flip answer. Ki Joon promises to get married soon. He asks if she has time at the end of the month, he’ll bring Ah Jung to meet her and set a date. Aunt promises to make time for him.

Ki Joon calls Ah Jung and tells her that he can’t visit this weekend. Ki Joon asks why she hasn’t been emailing or calling that often. Ah Jung says she’s been busy. They end the call because Ki Joon gets called away for a matter, but he promises to call her back later.

So Ran finds out from the OB/GYN that she’s expecting, but when she comes home to break the good news to Jae Bum, she finds he’s left her with a note saying that he can’t stand it anymore. So Ran tears up the note and yells at Jae Bum for being a bad guy, knocking her up and taking off.

Ah Jung is laying on her bed practicing her English for work. She switches to writing in her diary, where we see she’s taped a picture of her and Ki Joon inside. Ah Jung wonders what to call the upcoming museum exhibit, settling on Island, Earth, and Cup of Memories. So Ran calls to let her know that Jae Bum left her and that she’s pregnant.

Ah Jung emails Ki Joon saying that So Ran is pregnant and Jae Bum left her. Ah Jung can’t understand marriage and this further confirms that she’s not ready for it. Park Hoon delivers to Ki Joon a matter for him to handle on Jeju. Ki Joon decides on a battle plan.

Ah Jung leaves work and walks outside to find Lee Jin Soo Hyun Ki Joon waiting for her (seriously, what’s with Jin Soo randomly popping up in LTM – bad, you get back to Coffee House and stay there). They head to the beach to catch up. Ki Joon asks if Ah Jung feels awkward seeing him since they’ve been apart for some time. Ah Jung confesses it is a little awkward. He compliments her on looking good, but bemoans his dark circles under his eyes. He’s totally turned into Gong Ah Jung’s fan. Ah Jung says he looks even more handsome, wondering if he’s got another woman.

Ki Joon confesses that he used work as an excuse to come see her. Ah Jung thinks Ki Joon is very busy, but he says he’s not busy at all. He’ll get his work done quickly so he can spend the rest of the time playing with Ah Jung. She teases him that she’s really busy. Ki Joon gets a call about his meeting, and he requests the person meet him at the resort.

She tells him to go to his meeting. He tells Ah Jung that he will be staying at the same resort they stayed in last time. Ah Jung says they didn’t stay there together since they had separate rooms. Ki Joon teases that she must be regretting that now. He takes Ah Jung back.

Turns out Jae Bum is also at the resort, oogling bikini-clad ladies by the pool and feeling fancy free about getting his freedom back. Ki Joon sees him and remembers Ah Jung writing to him about Jae Bum leaving pregnant So Ran behind. So Ran calls Ah Jung because she found out Jae Bum is at Jeju. So Ran heads to Jeju and meets with Ah Jung first, then heads to the hotel to find her errant husband.

She sees Jae Bum in the lobby hanging around some hoochies. She calls him Yobo and stakes her claim. Jae Bum claims he took off because he was stressed living with So Ran, with her nagging and bad temper. She tells him that she’ll have to raise “it” alone then. Jae Bum guesses that she’s pregnant, and is actually thrilled at becoming a dad. Mmmm, ooookay, you two are the weirdest written characters ever! Ki Joon comes by and congratulates them on their good news. He asks them for a favor.

Ah Jung leaves work to find Ki Joon leaning against her car waiting for her. Jae Bum and So Ran pop up, and the four of them go out on a double date. At the restaurant, Jae Bum and So Ran feed each other and are loveydovey. Ki Joon looks at Ah Jung with a wanting expression but she just drinks her soju and doesn’t meet his gaze.

They walk down to the pier and take pictures along the way. So Ran puts Ah Jung and Ki Joon together and Jae Bum snaps come truly adorable couple shots of them. They go shopping and Ki Joon holds Ah Jung’s hand the entire time. He wants to buy her more stuff but she shows him the bags of stuff he already bought her.

At dinner, Jae Bum orders juice for So Ran and takes care of her. Ah Jung asks if they are happy now, and asks why they fight and make up? So Ran says that is what a marriage is about – fighting is passion, making up is love (true for the most part, just not the cheating and running away all the time part, at least not in most normal marriages). Ki Joon notes that he wants to know what it’s like being married, too. Jae Bum thinks Ah Jung is the one dragging her feet. So Ran doesn’t feel well so they take off, leaving Ah Jung and Ki Joon alone.

Ki Joon watches Jae Bum and So Ran walk away, murmuring that they seem happy together. Ah Jung is envious. Ki Joon asks if she’s really envious, but Ah Jung says that she’s just happy that So Ran and Jae Bum are making it work. Ki Joon mumbles under his breath that his plan worked! He pulls Ah Jung up and says he’ll take her home.

They walk hand-in-hand back to Ah Jung’s place. Ah Jung says she’s home and tells Ki Joon to go now. Ki Joon uses a bunch of excuses for why he needs to go inside, ranging from he doesn’t know the way back to just give him a cup of coffee to he doesn’t feel well. Just let the man inside, Ah Jung! Ki Joon asks to just sleep together holding her hand, and Ah Jung says no.

Ji Hwan Ki Joon says “you don’t trust oppa? Shit, Ki Joon pulled the oppa card again. I dies. Are you insane, Ki Joon, you two could never just hold hands when a bed is around? That is against the laws of nature. I wouldn’t trust you if I were Ah Jung either.

Ki Joon just drags her inside the apartment regardless. He barrels inside and starts checking out the place. He looks inside the fridge and wonders why she has soju when she lives alone? She wants to know why he’s checking out her place, is he acting like the World Hotel President now? He says if he is, then she’d be fired.

He checks the bed and finds a stray hair, which he says is evidence a guy has been by. Ah Jung points out the hair is long and clearly belongs to her. Ki Joon grabs Ah Jung’s diary which is laying on the bed and flips it open, wanting to see what she wrote about him.

Ah Jung jumps on top of Ki Joon to grab it back, in the process pushing him down on the bed with herself laying on top of him. Rawr. They look at each other, but Ah Jung doesn’t forget to grab her diary back. He asks if she wrote bad things in it about it. She teases that she wrote Ki Joon is ugly and silly and she doesn’t miss him one iota.

Ki Joon is about to lean in and kiss Ah Jung when the phone rings. I KILL YOU PHONE.

It’s a work call that quickly ends, but the moment has passed. Ki Joon gives Ah Jung a sizzling look and tells her to get over here. But she runs off to grabs something to eat. He yells at her that they just ate, is she a pig? He chases after her. Argh, Jungie, you are killing Ki Joon (and me!).

Ah Jung comes back with food to find Ki Joon sitting on her bed and reading her diary. She tries to grab it back, telling him that he can’t read it. They are tussling for the diary when the phone rings. Dad and Ae Kyung have decided to officially marry and wonder how to tell Ah Jung. Dad calls Ah Jung and they beat around the bush about his marriage to Ae Kyung. Ah Jung says “just get married” a few times so Ki Joon thinks she’s talking about agreeing to marry him. He hilariously gets all happy and starts pointing to himself.

Finally Ah Jung says that even if she’s opposed to the marriage, her dad should just be a man and get married. This causes Ki Joon’s face to fall and he plops face down on the bed in disappointment. Ah Jung hangs up the phone and pokes Ki Joon a few times. Omo, she even pokes him in the butt. You naughty little minx, Ah Jung. She asks if Ki Joon isn’t going to eat the food she made? Ki Joon mopes that even Ah Jung’s DAD is getting married before him. When he is ever going to get married?

Ah Jung changes the subject and asks Ki Joon if he read her diary? Ki Joon is unapologetic and asks Ah Jung why there are days with stars drawn on them. Ah Jung confesses that it’s a day only women need to know. Ki Joon, you bad bad boy, smirks and says that today’s date doesn’t have any star on it. My god, Ki Joon’s expression is so naughty. But seriously? Just tup her right there, dude. Oh, and this is the same look Ki Joon was shooting at Ah Jung in episode 13 where they flirted across her office table.

Ah Jung and Ki Joon sit on the bed and drink beer. Ki Joon plops down with his head on her lap. He says this place is more comfortable. She tells him to get up, and he says no. She says his head is heavy, and he says it’s because it’s filled with Gong Ah Jung.

She asks if he’s really going to stay here tonight? If so, she’s going to need to buy a toothbrush for him before the store closes. Ki Joon says he was planning to share hers. He just wanted to hold her hand and sleep tonight like that. Ki Joon asks if she wanted to kiss him? Ki Joon wonders if he should just stay here and not go back to Seoul? Just living like this would be so easy on them. Ah Jung tells him to stop being silly.

Ki Joon pouts and asks Ah Jung if she isn’t suddenly disliking him now? Awwww, give the poor boy some affection, Ah Jung! Ah Jung gets shy and then leans down and gently kisses Ki Joon on the lips.

He smiles with his eyes closes. Ah Jung says “how can I dislike you, I like you”, to which Ki Joon lets out a joking sigh of relief since he was worried every day that she rejected his proposal because she didn’t like him. Ki Joon asks if Ah Jung still hasn’t found what she lost? What if it’s in her pocket? Ki Joon tries to search in Ah Jung’s pocket. They tussle on the bed. Ki Joon tickles Ah Jung and then Ah Jung ends up on top of Ki Joon and smacking him on the head. Poor Ki Joon keeps yelling “andwe, andwe” (no, no).

The next morning Ah Jung is still sleeping in bed when Ki Joon comes in with her breakfast prepared. He wakes her up and tells her to eat her breakfast because she needs to go to work. Ah Jung sleepyhead wants to sleep for another 5 minutes but Ki Joon drags her ass up.

He presents her with the breakfast he prepared and happily starts eating. Ki Joon promises to make breakfast for Ah Jung every day after they are married, but she teases that he’s too busy to do this. Ki Joon teases her, asking if she’ll marry him if he agrees to make her breakfast every day from now on? She tells him to use this tactic on another woman.

Ki Joon drops Ah Jung off at work. She hurries inside but he calls her back because they didn’t properly say goodbye, especially after he came all the way to drop her off. He leans out the window, and while she’s embarrassed, she nevertheless leans in and kisses him quickly on the lips. Her colleague sees this and looks away smiling.

Ki Joon and Ah Jung are both working. Ah Jung gets approached by a foreigner asking to get a tour guide who speaks English. The guy is totally picking up on wuri Jungie. Bad man, go away. Ah Jung turns him down and tells him to use the recorded tour tape to guide him. Her colleague comes up and asks Ah Jung to give a personal tour to someone. Of course it’s wuri Ki Joon.

Ah Jung and Ki Joon walk through the museum, with her explaining the exhibits and him asking questions. Ki Joon sees a banner for the upcoming exhibit titled Island, Earth, and the Cup of Memories. He asks what the meaning of the title is. She says it’s about finding out lost memories. Ki Joon says that love is also like that, one needs to find back the memories of love.

Ki Joon thanks her for giving him a good idea. He asks again whether she found what she lost, especially since she’s taking so long. Ki Joon grabs her arm and tells her that he’ll write down a hint for her on her arm since it’s too hard for her to remember it. Ah Jung protests and giggles from the tickle of the pen. Ki Joon writes: time has no end and leaves no trace, space is infinite and leaves no mark.

At the hotel, Ki Joon tells Ah Jung that he has to head back to Seoul now that he’s taken care of work on Jeju. He wonders when he’ll see her again? Ki Joon asks Ah Jung to come to Seoul on her day off so that they can have dinner with Aunt. He hands Ah Jung the necklace again. Ki Joon’s rejected heart has been inside that box for the past month and it’s feeling mighty suffocating inside.

Ah Jung confesses again that she doesn’t think she’s ready yet. He asks her to wear the necklace to dinner, which will reveal that she’s accepted his proposal. He knows she’s not ready yet, which is why he gave her time. But if she wears his necklace that means she’s ready now. He tells her that she can decide not to come, but he still hopes that she will.

At the airport, Ki Joon is about to board his flight and he looks around for Ah Jung. She’s hiding behind a column and calls him. She apologizes for not having the courage to see him face-to-face, but she wants to know what might happen if she doesn’t go meet Aunt.

Ki Joon says that she has to come because he already told Aunt, and if she doesn’t come he will be really upset this time. Ah Jung agrees to think about it. Ki Joon buys a present for his future mother-in-law. Ah Jung sits in her room and looks at the necklace, remember Ki Joon’s request that she come to Seoul. She writes down the date of the meeting in her diary.

On the day of the meeting, Ah Jung is at work when a problem arises when one of the display pieces goes missing. Ah Jung frantically searches the entire museum for it. Ki Joon and Aunt wait for Ah Jung, who ends up calling late to tell Ki Joon that an emergency came up and she couldn’t make her plane. She doesn’t have the time to properly explain to Ki Joon right now, but asks him to apologize to Aunt. Aunt leaves upset, and Ki Joon looks stunned.

Ah Jung finally locates the missing piece inside another display where it had been misplaced. She starts to cry, finally breaking down and saying “I found it.” Her colleague remarks that Ah Jung doesn’t appear to be simply talking about finding the missing artifact. He asks if she was looking for something else as well? Ah Jung cries and says yes.

Ah Jung goes home but doesn’t end up calling Ki Joon to explain because she remembered him saying that he would be upset if she missed the meeting. Ki Joon hands a box for Park Hoon to mail to Ah Jung. He then calls Ah Jung and asks her to meet him at the Jeju airport since he’s headed there for a meeting and wants to hear her explain in person.

Ah Jung writes a note and puts it in the necklace case, sans the necklace itself. At the airport, Ki Joon asks Ah Jung if she didn’t come because she didn’t want to, or because she wanted to but couldn’t? Ah Jung apologizes and hands him the necklace case, telling him that this is her answer.

Back at home, Ah Jung looks at the necklace and wonders why Ki Joon hasn’t called since she gave him an answer already. Ki Joon sits in his office and looks at the necklace case. He’s about to open it when Aunt calls. Aunt asks if he went to Jeju and saw Ah Jung, asking further if she’s not willing to marry Ki Joon. He says he’ll explain later. He puts the necklace case in the drawer without opening it because he’s still upset.

Ki Joon is meeting with Park Hoon in his office when Hoon gets up to grab a seal from Ki Joon’s desk. Hoon opens the case and sees the note, asking Ki Joon what the note is about? Ki Joon runs to his desk and opens the case to find the note in question. He opens the note and reads Ah Jung’s answer to him.

Ah Jung writes: To my beloved Ki Joon, she knows he’s mad that she didn’t go meet his Aunt that day. But on that day, she found what she had lost. Just like that words Ki Joon wrote on her arm about time and space being infinite and leaving no mark, she and Ki Joon are born into the same time period. So they met and fell in love, and she finally understands how special that is. The memories that she lost for a period of time, she’s found it again. Now she can finally run towards Ki Joon. She thanks him for waiting, and tells him that she loves him.

Ki Joon’s eyes start to redden as he reads the note. He takes off without even explaining anything to Park Hoon. Ki Joon races to the airport to fly to Jeju. Ah Jung sits in her apartment to have breakfast. She’s wearing the necklace, and grumbling about why Ki Joon still hasn’t called. She chides him for not keeping his promise that he would make her breakfast every single day.

The doorbell rings and it’s a package for Ah Jung. She opens the box to find it contains a collection of items that mark many of the significant moments and memories between Ah Jung and Ki Joon. And here I start to cry. Big gulping sobs of happiness.

She takes out the bottle of coke.

There is a rubber ducky for the duck boats they rode together.

Next comes the tomato juice.

An envelope containing the exact amount of money Ah Jung paid back to Ki Joon for the hospital bill.

Their lucky pen.

A miniature statute of the giant Jeju statues behind them when they laid on the grass.

An ice-cream cone for when he shoved ice-cream in her face.

Tickets for the traditional music performance he bought wholesale to support her.

A newspaper article of Ki Joon’s public declaration of love for Ah Jung

Ah Jung cries through this walk down memory lane. She remembers that she was the one who gave him the idea to send such a care package. Suddenly her phone rings and it’s Ki Joon.

We see Ki Joon sprinting on the cliffs of Jeju, the camera cutting away to Ah Jung running towards him. They embrace and just soak up the feeling of each other. Ki Joon asks Ah Jung if he’s too late? Ah Jung cries and chides him for calling so late. Ki Joon apologizes for not knowing what was in her heart. Ah Jung apologizes once again for making him wait. She loves him so much. Ki Joon replies that it is he who loves her even more.

*No recap is necessary from this point. Call me when they come up for air, okay?*

After kissing, more kissing, and even more kissing, our OTP break apart. Ki Joon tells Ah Jung that he’s not going to be apart from her for even a day from now on. Ah Jung says that she feels the same way, so Ki Joon has to make it so she can’t move.

Ki Joon leans in for one more kiss (for the road, or at least until they find a room). Ki Joon and Ah Jung embrace as they look out towards the sea. Ah Jung voiceovers to So Ran that she’s getting married soon. So Ran doesn’t believe her, she thinks Ah Jung is lying again. Ah Jung says no, she really is getting married this Fall.

Ah Jung narrates: Love is like a lie that came towards me, and then this lie became love

Ki Joon narrates: And we changed, learning that sometimes in a lie is hidden a truth that is more passionate than fact.

Thoughts of Mine:

There are dramas so well-constructed that the story lingers with you long after the drama has ended. We remember this overarching narrative that delivered awe or angst, an appreciation stemming from qualitative quality. But there are also dramas that make you feel, reaches somewhere inside of you and burrows itself inside your heart. Sometimes both are complementary, but mostly it’s one or the other. With respect to LTM, the schism between the former and the latter is one of the most extreme I’ve seen happen in drama watching.

You either loved this drama (inspite of its fault) or you loathed it (unable to accept its strengths). I have seen better dramas that never rise to the affection so many fans had for LTM, and there are conversely many way worse dramas than LTM that never get eviscerated with such sharp knives of mockery and condescension. I was thrilled that folks kept it civil here, and more importantly, found a happy place to share their love for LTM. While I can’t ask people who dislike LTM to try seeing the other side of why folks rabidly love it (and could care less if they did), having a community of fans sharing the watching experience does enhance it considerably.

I’m so glad I readjusted my expectations on what to expect for the ending of Lie to Me. I know folks have clamored for a Secret Garden fanservice type ending, but 16-episode K-dramas rarely end up a surfeit of happily-ever-after scenes. The ending of LTM was lovely. A simple and honest moment of tenderness and love between two people that bespoke a future built on solid foundation that was initially premised on a shaky lie. I don’t need boating, wedding finery, or babies to confirm that Ah Jung and Ki Joon got their forever after. Oh, of course I would love to see that, but this ending has the hallmarks of the second writer all over it.

LTM ended on wildly romantic reunion and kiss on the cliffs of Jeju that nevertheless felt so down-to-earth. It ended on a promise and a decision. Yes, Ki Joon and Ah Jung never did resolve much of Ah Jung’s concerns about marrying Ki Joon, but what happened was that Ah Jung took the time she needed to find herself. Do you know what Ah Jung found? In addition to her memories about falling in love with Ki Joon, Ah Jung also found her pride, her faith in her own ability, and her purpose in life.

Armed with those things, Ah Jung was able to make the decision that she wanted to marry Ki Joon, because she had faith in herself that she could be Mrs. Hyun Ki Joon and weather any and all situations that should arise in the future. Because she realized how special their love was: a love that was built on so many shared memories between them from the good to the bad.

Episode 16 wasn’t about tying up loose ends with everyone sitting down to have long talks about career, marriage, how to balance between a chaebol wife and a civil servant. Episode 16 was about Ki Joon learning to be patient and fighting for his love, and Ah Jung finding herself until she was certain that she could choose to be with Ki Joon and face whatever issues being his wife would entail.

While I don’t necessarily think Ah Jung definitely found herself in the end, what she did find was that she wasn’t afraid anymore about starting a future with Ki Joon because of how much they loved each other. That was the purpose of an entire episode spent with our beloved OTP. No one knows how married life will unfurl, but with love and understanding, our couple can weather the odds because they have each other.

Episode 16 put a definitely happy conclusion on the love story of Ah Jung and Ki Joon, taking a couple who got involved based on a lie and allowed them to discover how to stay connected through the truth. I loved this final episode, not because it was so darn well-written and wrapped everything up with a bow. But because it was meaningful to see our OTP take that final step together in pondering how to make a lifetime together when there is nothing standing in the way except for themselves.

In my decades of drama-watching experience spanning countries and genres, I have never before seen the type of raw, undeniable, and powerful chemistry between two leads as between Kang Ji Hwan and Yoon Eun Hye. Well, okay, there was something very similar, a movie called Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Did I just compared HwanHye’s chemistry to Brangelina? Yes, I did.

Yes, I hope they do another project together. This type of chemistry can’t be manufactured or forced between any two actors, and it truly stunned me into submission with its undeniable connection onscreen. While rare in K-ent (and much more common in TW and Japanese dramas), but onscreen couples have reunited before. Let’s hope Ji Hwan and Eun Hye have another opportunity to collaborate, next time gift with a stellar script. Nevertheless, I loved LTM as is, warts and all, wasted opportunities and missed chances to do better, because Ji Hwan and Eun Hye did their best, and I felt every emotion from them.

It has been an indescribable ride watching, recapping, and discussing LTM here at the playground with everyone. For those of you who left a comment (or a hundred comments) in any of the posts, I thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me, whether about my writing or about the drama itself. It’s been a pleasure Captaining the good ship Lie to Me, which weathered storms and placid waters, taking pot-shots from all corners, but nevertheless reaching port and safely depositing all its passengers, namely us the viewers.

Always stay true to yourself, and your tastes in entertainment. Good or bad, acknowledge what works and what doesn’t, but ultimately find validation and meaning in things that make you happy. Lie to Me made me crazily happy for pretty much 8 straight weeks, and for that, I bid a fond farewell to the big drama that everyone expected so much of, which turned out to be just a little drama that brought joy and love to a slice of viewers the world over.