Castaway Diva is just an extremely well-done drama, and we are absolutely in love with it. The unprecedented ‘feel-good’ quality of the drama had us in a chokehold, balanced with the surprising depth of the characters. It has been an interesting six weeks with the story, and we are sad to say goodbye to it. Let us go through the recap of the drama now that we are at the conclusion.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens Between Mok Ha and Ran Joo?
Mok Ha and Ki Ho had tried to run away from the island to escape their abusive fathers. They planned to meet Ran Joo and work with her at her new agency. However, at the last minute, Mok Ha’s father showed up near the ferry, and Ki Ho had to get off to stop him. Ki Ho was unsuccessful, and when Mok Ha was trying to escape her father on the ferry, she jumped into the water and got stranded on a deserted island. Her father washed up ashore as he too passed away, and Mok Ha was finally free of her tormentor. She spent fifteen years on that island, waiting to be rescued until, finally, one day, a cleaning crew saved her. Bo Geol and Woo Hak are on that team, and they take her back to Seoul. Woo Hak is a reporter who is covering Mok Ha’s case, so he takes care of her for the time being. When she goes back to the island, she finds that Ki Ho left a long time ago and no one knew where he was. The next thing for Mok Ha to do was try to meet Ran Joo, hoping to meet Ki Ho in the process. Ran Joo has become a washed-up singer who is largely ignored by her agency, and she is about to give a disastrous performance when Mok Ha, who is singing for her from the background, saves the day. That is the start of their partnership, and they decide to work together for mutual benefit. If Ran Joo is able to sell enough records, she will get half the shares of RJ Entertainment, and once she achieves this, Mok Ha will be able to debut as a singer with the agency.
Mok Ha never stops looking for Ki Ho, and it isn’t long before she finds out that Bo Geol is Ki Ho. After he forces Ran Joo and Mok Ha to reveal the truth about their singing, which goes better than expected, Mok Ha overhears a conversation between him and Woo Hak that tells her that he was Ki Ho all along. The family had to change identities to escape from Bong Wan, and they had kept Woo Hak in the dark about it because he had lost his memory long ago, and they wanted to protect his innocence.
What happens to Bong Wan?
Lee Uk had taken over the identities of a missing family to start a new life with Jae Kyung, and ever since his family had disappeared, Bong Wan had been looking for them. After Mok Ha came back, he trailed her to see if she would meet Ki Ho, and ultimately, he got his wish. Bo Geol himself comes to meet him and asks him to stay away. However, Lee Uk’s actions saved the family. He confesses the entire thing to the authorities, and in the investigation that follows, Lee Uk and his family are cleared of all charges when it is established that Jae Kyung and her sons had good reason to try to escape Bong Wan.
Bong Wan is unable to take the loss of his family, and he attempts to kill Lee Uk. Bong Wan’s objective is that he doesn’t want to die alone. Bong Wan commits suicide, and his goal is that if he and Lee Uk die together, Jae Kyung will still be his wife since they never divorced, and his sons will still carry his surname. Thankfully, as luck would have it, Lee UK survives. He and Jae Kyung register their marriage immediately, and Bo Geol and Woo Hak also go back to their original names (though we will call them Bo Geol and Woo Hak for the remainder of the article). Bong Wan ends up alone in life and in death because of his inability to be a decent person.
Does Mok Ha’s Song Top The Charts?
Now that the family’s personal life is sorted, Mok Ha and Ran Joo’s professional troubles take center stage once again. Ran Joo goes to a lawyer to find out what she can do about her shares, and she is given an optimistic answer, though she is warned that it will be a long battle. Meanwhile, Seo Jun wants Mo Rae and Mok Ha to switch their songs for the upcoming albums. Both the women and Ran Joo are completely against it, and Ran Joo goes straight to Seo Jun’s house to confront him about it. She also questions him about the shares, and he tells her that Ran Joo’s mother wanted her daughter to be a singer, and he used that as an excuse to hide facts from her. Also, he promises not to force Mok Ha and Mo Rae to switch songs and says that he will respect their decision. Surprisingly, though, the two women have found that they like each other’s songs better, and Seo Jun made this decision from an artistic viewpoint more than anything else. Seo Jun promises Ran Joo that if Mok Ha’s song doesn’t have the required result, he will give her his share.
Ran Joo doesn’t like Mo Rae’s song despite the changed lyrics; however, Mok Ha is confident about it. She says that the song reminds her of her time on the island, when she worked towards having hope for the future. Hearing this, Ran Joo simply decides to trust her decision. Mo Rae’s song is an instant hit and is topping the charts, while Mok Ha’s song is lagging behind. However, after a spectacular performance at a festival and with some time, Mok Ha’s song became the most awarded music of the years, and at the end of Castaway Diva, Mok Ha went on to have her concert at the stadium of her choice, and she also enjoys the success that has been long overdue for her. As for Ran Joo, she doesn’t take the shares from Seo Jun, but she is doing well for herself by earning the royalties from Mo Rae’s song and teaming up with Mok Ha as well. Even Mo Rae is learning to feel more secure about herself.
Mok Ha is leading a happy life with her family. Woo Hak has gotten over his feelings for Mok Ha after seeing just how deep Bo Geol’s feelings were and that there was never any question of Mok Ha being with anyone other than Ki Ho. It is a happy ending for everyone, though Ran Joo should have taken the shares from Seo Jun.
Final Thoughts
It is a wonderful ending to a great show. There was an inherent simplicity to the characters, and the extremely intuitive writing dispelled any and all doubts we had at the beginning of it. Castaway Diva is not a drama to be missed.
