The jTBC Mon-Tues drama Secret Love Affair wrapped up today after raking in the high ratings and near universal warm reception. I handed off the recapping baton to dearest jomo for last week’s episodes since I took up two more newly premiered dramas. The result was like peanut butter meets jelly and the readers the happy bread to sample extra servings of her detailed and heartfelt recaps for this lovely show. She’ll be cooking up her fabulous recaps for this week’s final two episodes and I can’t wait to read it along with everyone else! SLA was a drama not for everyone but those who took a chance were treated to a feast for the eyes, ears, heart, and mind. This story was a tour de force that pulled so much out of the actors and the viewers reaped the rewards. Yoo Ah In‘s performance deserved the Baeksang Best Actor nomination, IMO, and it’s a shame Kim Hee Ae was left out of the nominations for Best Actress though I think the academy was trying to spread the wealth since she won last year for A Wife’s Credentials.
The episode 16 ending arrived as beautifully as the drama was to watch from beginning to end. Beautiful is such an apt word for this drama even if beauty doesn’t necessarily mean happiness or easy resolutions. The adultery theme was a high barrier to cross to give this drama a try but ultimately the story was about redemption. The very act of adultery, or corruption, of musical epiphany, or paying a steep social price, all were merely catalysts that pushed a world of characters forward to a different place at the end from where everyone started. This drama was never about what happened to characters as much as it was about what everyone felt and decided to do in the journey we spent with them. I was moved by SLA from the first frame until the last having walked alongside Hye Won as she plunged into an abyss and discovered there was more to her life than what she was living. For those who want spoilers on the ending or a place to talk about it early, this is the thread for you to release some overwhelming feels before the final two episode recaps arrive.
In the end, Hye Won got her divorce from her loveless marriage of a dirtbag husband Joon Hyung and confessed to her role in the corruption and embezzlement schemes she did for the Seo family. To have a chance with Sun Jae she needed to start from zero and let go of all the chains, burdens, wrongdoings, and mistakes of her past. She chose her path before, she’s choosing it again now, taking agency into her own hands regardless of what others think. She gets sentenced to a few years prison and in her incarceration she is finally at peace and happy, able to sleep soundly even in a cell and enjoy the sunlight from being a barb wire fence. She doesn’t ask for Sun Jae to wait for her, but that is what he chooses to do. In the end, he heads off to continue to his musical career and tells his empty apartment (his home with Hye Won, the place where their hearts reside) that he’ll be back soon so wait for him. It’s a hopeful ending but without any promises of forever and kisses and gaudy rings. Just two musical soulmates who have dared to love and chosen to keep on loving each other.
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awww :)
and thank you for the beautiful recaps!
was ify about starting this but knowing its a happy ending I think I might give it a try thanks for the fast ending review =)
We can safely say it for a mature minded audience!! And It's a sour reminder that money is not = happiness
I loved this drama to pieces!!!
In their last scene together, she behind the jail glass and him just looking at her so intensely... You could almost feel and see him caressing her lovenly with his eyes!! That was W O W !!! They both are an increable actors!!
Thank you Sooo much to you & jomo for the recaps!!!
Took the words right out of my mouth...
It was a lukewarm ending to me. I suppose she had to be punished for her business dealings with her boss but I think the writers may have punished her for her relationship with SeonJae by having the women cut her hair in such a haphazard way as "punishment". Cutting a woman's hair is a way to humiliate her especially when it's forced, one woman was holding her down. I was kind of miffed when HW seems to agree and was so meek about it and made a joke out of the whole thing.
the older woman giving her the haircut says just that i believe; it is punishment for touching a young boy (he's 20 but still...). her reaction to the forced haircut says a lot about her character. she is built to survive and will make do with the curve balls thrown her way.
He’s not a young boy, he’s a young adult! What’s with the double standard? A forty year old man can marry a 20 year old young lady, but a forty year old woman can’t be with a 20 year old young man? That’s a lot of baloney! If it works and you’re both happy—why not? Go for it!!
Episode 15 and 16 completely revamp my passion for this drama and brings this drama to another level.
What is happiness? Happiness and freedom can only be found through letting go, and this is the precious lesson Dir. Ahn tries to deliver.
Kudos to everyone's hard work!!!
thanks koala. this drama made me do
something I has not done before, which was to register at the soompi forum just to share my thoughts at the ending :).
the ending truly was EVERYTHING I wanted for this ending ( I had an alternate ending I would have accepted which would have been HW hooding to keep her old way of living and SJ leaving her as a result) but this definitely was my preferred ending.
that she independently, upon real reflection, decides that her past life is no longer one that she can go
back to, not after seeing and experiencing life lived with passion and emotions. her, offering SJ to leave her for me means that she came to this conclusion without factoring SJ by her side in the equation.
I love that she wants him to live his fullest life outside and if that includes her, them it's completely on his own accord, unencumbered by any manipulation of emotions on her part or any obligation he may feel for the position she is in.
but of course, I love that he now can love her without any doubt or wavering in his heart. there was no way he could love her fully had she chosen to go
back to her old life.
it's had been a fantastic ride and as you said a visual, aural, intellectual and emotional love affair with the drama for me. I look forward to revisiting it again and again for a while. I can't even feel
like watching most stuff right now, exc the fluffiest ones!!
HW CHOOSING not hooding. sorry. autocorrect I think
I like "hooding" I thought it was some cool slang that meant regretting. ;)
hehe Jomo. you're right! it doesn't sound so wrong after all!
OH KOALA! I love PB&J!!! You are funny and sweet.
Just finished 16. I need a big hug. A nice happy one. A BIG NICE HAPPY ONE from Sun Jae with his arms. Yes.
All I can say is this would have been one unhappy jomo if HW did not listen to her Sun Jae. Had she picked the Swivel Chair of EVIL at the Desk of Luxury, I would have hurled a Mahjong set at her.
Thank you writers! Thank you directors!
I am going to re-watch and re-sob out loud for a little now.
Oh my god, that scene was so intense, when she touch the chair, I just can't, no Hye-wonah, no, please make the right choice, please make the right choice... lol
Wait, were you in the room with me? What about the piano room? "Don't be saying good-bye! Pick SUNJAE!! Look how happy you are with him!!"
The piano room? Me: Look Hye-woonah, THAT! THAT'S ALL THAT MATTER, no money in the world can buy THAT!, remember George Sand "to love and be loved" :)
Could not have said it better myself. Thank you. What a journey SLA has been for me. I watched it "live" not understanding one word of what was being said(unfortunately I do not understand Korean) but I was crying like a baby.
SLA was the best K-drama I've watched so far. There have been many an "easier" watch, but none that gripped me in this gut-wrenching way. I think the ending was perfect. Just stellar writing. What a amazing group of actors. Feeling bereft. I'm really going to miss Sun Jae.
i completely agree! the great thing about "easier" watches is they are fluff and help pass the time. i appreciate the break they give me in-between life. something like secret love affair plucks the heartstrings and keeps you thinking about it long after it's over.
It's ended in absolutely artistic/ realistic way...but i just can't bear HW would receive a freaking long 10years sentence that as in HELL!!!
it's not 10 years. according to Jo in seo maximum 1.5 years. prob less on good behavior