Now that the penultimate week of See You In My 19th Life has come to an end, we are more than ready for the final touches. Despite the fantasy element, this drama has proved to be a simple and sweet story that has delivered what it promised. One would like it a lot more if they didn’t compare it to King the Land and judged it independently. Until then, here is a recap of the episode.
Spoilers Alert
Ji Eum And Seo Ha’s Growing Relationship
When Ji Eum sees the vision of her and Seo Ha on the bridge, it comes as a bit of a shock to her, and she almost passes out. Seo Ha takes her away and wants her to go to the hospital, but she refuses. Both of them end up going to their place, and Seo Ha is completely shy, being in such close proximity to Ji Eum. She catches on to that and takes the opportunity to tease him about it a bit. Later that night, they have a talk about the news going around about the MI group, which then comes to how Seo Ha tried to protect Ji Eum by burning the evidence of her father’s involvement in Ju Won’s death. On that note, it was cute how Ji Eum made Seo Ha confess to her three times for all the running around that she did since the beginning of the series. One would think that their problems have all ended, but Ji Eum’s recurring nightmares say otherwise. She remembers that her name in her first life was Su, and Seo Ha was named Han Ya. She wonders whether theirs is indeed a relationship that has lasted for a thousand years. After all, Min Gi had told her that the answers to why she remembered her past lives lay in her first life itself.
The next day, Ji Eum and Seo Ha continue their date as she keeps telling him about her past lives. She tells him about the times she was a commander in the army, a musician, and a person of importance in the palace, and Seo Ha is in awe of it all. Our takeaway from this scene is that Seo Ha is beyond handsome, and we want to keep staring at him in sunglasses. Ji Eum and Seo Ha also discuss Do Yun and how it is Seo Ha who keeps him with him, even though everyone thinks that it is the other way around. Ji Eum assures him that Do Yun must want the same thing since that is what it takes for a relationship to sustain: for two people to share similar goals. This is when Ji Eum gets a call from Min Gi telling her that Ae Gyeong has been admitted to the hospital.
Why Are Do Yun And Cho Won Not dating?
The general assumption about Cho Won seems to be that she is too naive to be able to judge people correctly or take a strong stand for herself. She never really got proper credit for her intelligence and strength. Do Yun was no different, and that is why he wanted to be away from her. He told her that she did not realize the way people spoke about him, and he did not wish to bring that into her life for her to deal with. What Do Yun failed to realize was that she understood it just fine and knew how to take a stand for him and for herself while keeping such people at a distance. This is what happens when Ji Seok invites her to a get-together where one of their friends is handing out her wedding invitations. Ji Seok has always been a bit of a nasty person, and he seems to take special pleasure in putting down Do Yun.
Since Seo Ha is not picking Ji Seok’s calls, he calls Do Yun about the matter, and he shows up on Seo Ha’s behalf to take the card. As usual, Ji Seok doesn’t let go of the chance to make fun of Do Yun’s status, much to Cho Won’s annoyance. She tells him to handle himself, as he is a little too drunk, and puts him in his place for talking like that about Do Yun. We believe that Ji Seok likes Cho Won, and since their families are about to do business together, he expects an arranged marriage to happen between them.
Ji Seok knows that Cho Won likes Do Yun, but his ego won’t allow him to accept that, so he makes the excuse that Do Yun is the one chasing after Cho Won, and she is too naive to disallow it. An annoyed Cho Won asks to leave the get-together. The fact is that Ji Seok was the only one there who behaved in such a way. Everyone else kept their manners, but it is also true that no one really stood up for Do Yun when Ji Seok was needlessly irritating him. This is the constant battle that Do Yun was referring to, and that is why he keeps his distance from Cho Won, even though it breaks his heart and ruins his sense of smell and taste.
Meanwhile, Seo Ha achieves some success in the matter of the hotel with the help of Hanna, though he doesn’t know that it is her. She anonymously leaves a box for him that has all the notes of his mother and some of the older documents of the hotel, which is enough to prove that Ms. Jang Yeon Ok has stolen from the hotel and that she never had its best intentions at heart. The board of directors also dismisses her, and she has to leave the hotel with the police ready to arrest her. As Seo Ha comes out of the room victorious, Hanna meets him one last time, though she doesn’t tell him who she is. She only gives him a crocheted turtle as a gift, which reminds Seo Ha of when his mother said that he must have been a turtle in his past life.
Why Does Ji Eum Attack Seo Ha?
Ji Eum is worried about Ae Gyeong and is taking care of her. She tells Min Gi that they will be closing the restaurant for a few days in her absence, but his general attitude annoys Ji Eum. She doesn’t understand why he is acting as if Ae Gyeong’s deteriorating health is a given, and that is when he tells her that this is the result of her having contacted people from her previous lives. Ji Eum doesn’t believe it, as she says that she has done this before. But Min Gi tells her that she has never been in contact with them for such extended periods of time, and that is what makes this current scenario different. Min Gi says that he has experienced the same thing, and that is why he knows with certainty that those who Ji Eum has contacted from her past lives, be it Ae Gyeong, Cho Won, or Seo Ha, are all going to be in danger.
There is a solution for it, but Ji Eum must find it herself by recollecting the memories of her first life. He gives her the bells and puts her to the task. At the end of episode 10 of See You In My 19th Life, when Seo Ha comes to meet Ji Eum, he runs into Min Gi, who tells him that they know each other from before and then guides him to Ji Eum’s room. Ji Eum is having visions of her first life, and Cho Won is a part of it. She was hurt and dying in front of her eyes when Ji Eum was begging someone, probably Seo Ha, to help her heal Cho Won. But there was some talk about heavens and gods, because of which Cho Won did not receive the care she needed, and that is when Ji Eum decided to kill the Seo Ha lookalike. When Ji Eum opens her eyes, she is still in that trance, and thinking that the Seo Ha in front of her is the man from her first life, she tries to strangle him.
Final Thoughts
Seo Ha will be fine, and next week will also see Do Yun and Cho Won’s story reach a conclusion. We still believe that Director Mun had something to do with the accident all those years ago. Maybe Hanna will help reveal that secret as well. Ji Eum is also about to discover her first life, so maybe she can finally end the cycle of remembering what she doesn’t want to and lead a happy life with Seo Ha once they get past these last two obstacles.
