Happily Ever After
The finale to Melting Me Softly is here and as expected the show delivered a very dramatic and emotional conclusion to this tale. While it wasn’t the strongest chapter in the series, it still offered up enough closure for all of our characters and after a tense build-up our two characters finally get their happy ending. The episode starts in the aftermath of Mi-Ran being frozen in a capsule as we see her family and Dong-Chan having a hard time coping with the situation. Dong-Chan decides to move out while we see both professors trying their best to find another antidote. Kyung-Ja and Young-Sun discuss the bad news about Mi-Ran in her coffee shop when Byung-Sim calls his ex wife to tell her that he has been suspended due to his behaviour towards Mi-Ran. However, she brushes him off and tells him she doesn’t care as he’s not her problem anymore. In the station, a depressed Dong-Chan reminisces about his time with Mi-Ran. Ji-Hoon then arrives and does his best to comfort him. Back home, he reads the love essay she wrote about him and how she believed they were brought together by fate. Unable to hold back tears, he reads her last sentence where she declares that she would die for him. Meanwhile at the police station, Young-Tak receives a call telling him Terry Kim has been found which prompts him to rush over and arrest him. We then cut forward 3 years where we catch up with all our characters. A happier Dong-Chan is still living with Mi-Ran’s parents and we see Ha-Young returning from the US. Hung-Seok has been dismissed and Hyun-Ki is now married to Kyung-Ja who is very unhappy with him. Nam-Tae has his own bakery too but when Professor Hwang comes to visit him, they talk about his new job before the conversation turns to when his sister will wake up. The last day of Mi-Ran’s clinical trial arrives and Professor Hwang tells Dong-Chan that there are risks as they will have to administer the shot as soon as she wakes up but she will also need surgery. He also explains that they’re not sure how her body will cope with the shot and surgery soon after. From here, they head off to the operating room while Dong-Chan and Mi-Ran’s parents wait outside. After a few hours, the doctor arrives and explains that it’s taking her longer than expected to wake up. Over the next few days, it’s touch and go as her temperature fails to stabilise. A few days later, Dong-Chan receives a call that Mi-Ran has finally woken up while visiting Jeju Island. Determined to be reunited as soon as possible, he rushes back to Seoul to find her outside the hospital looking at the snow. As they finally see each other, they have an emotional reunion, leading to them crying in each others arms. After returning to work, Mi-Ran announces at a dinner with Dong-Chan’s family that she’s planning to study abroad for 5 years. This shocks and angers Dong-Chan as he just waited 3 years for her. After his mother suggests they get married and have a child first, they drive home where Dong-Chan gives Mi-Ran the diaries he kept for 3 years. After reading the diaries, Mi-Ran tells Dong-Chan that she’s changed her mind as she doesn’t want to be apart from him anymore. However, he tells her that he doesn’t want her to give up on her dreams for him and promises to wait for her. After reading a text from his niece, he suddenly has an idea. We then flash forward 2 months where we see that our couple now have a YouTube travel channel and are happily living their lives together. Melting Me Softly certainly hasn’t been the strongest drama this year. It’s often felt slow and at times has had real trouble settling on a consistent theme. However, the show did slowly improve as the weeks ticked along and eventually grew into a pretty decent show toward the end. The idea behind the story is certainly original and the way this was brought back full circle in the penultimate episode when Mi-Ran had to be frozen again was a nice little twist. The finale was quite emotional too as we watched Mi-Ran’s family and Dong-Chan desperately waiting for her to wake up. While Melting Me Softly failed to reach the heights Hotel del Luna has managed to achieve, it did deliver some decent dramatic and emotional episodes towards the end of the series. It might not be the best k-drama of the year, but for anyone looking for an easy to watch and entertaining series, Melting Me Softly’s slow burn has made the long wait worth sticking with in the end.
