Episodes 15-16 (Final) » Dramabeans MGG

My Demon: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by alathe

Our hero is gone — and our heroine, determined to cover up her heartbreak with a smile. He’s convinced she ought to find happiness without him. She’s insistent on burying her misery in work. Welcome to the Emotional Repression Olympics! But with so many things between them left unsaid, it’s only a matter of time before they’re thrown back together again…

 

EPISODES 15-16

After letting go of Do-hee’s hand, Gu-won simply vanishes from her life. At least — that’s the plan. He’s determined that Do-hee get her happy ending without him. But he leaves an awful absence in everyone’s lives. Ga-young and Bok-gyu are left lonely. Our newly-minted restauranteurs, the Scallions and Perilla Seeds, long for his return, but their hopes are as empty as their tables. As for Do-hee? She’s bereft. Much as she tells herself she’s accustomed to loneliness, everything in her life feels hollow. And so, she copes the only way she knows how: empty hours in the office, where she works until she drops.

However, Gu-won couldn’t bring himself to leave for real. Instead, he hovers on the margins of Do-hee’s life. If one were being uncharitable, one could technically call it stalking. No one ever accused our leads of having good coping mechanisms. When she collapses asleep on the couch, he sits close by. When she stumbles home drunk and scrapes her knee, he carries her to bed, heals her, and holds her hand throughout the night. In the morning, he disappears. Do-hee can feel his presence, but can’t bring herself to hope it’s him. Instead, she refers to the “alter ego” who looks after her.

Secretary Shin knows best how Do-hee operates: repress like your life depends on it. After watching her boss skip meals, scrutinize legal documents, and force herself to smile all the while, she has no choice but to speak up. After her divorce, she tells Do-hee, she did exactly the same thing: took refuge in work. But time only heals if you let yourself grieve. Not only is it unnecessary to be okay all the time — it’s impossible. As for Secretary Shin herself? Well, she’s well on her way to repressing less. Upon learning that Bok-gyu waited outside for her, mid-December, she clasps his freezing cold ears and almost cracks a shadow of a smile. Luckily, Bok-gyu is fluent in micro-expression, and knows this for what it is: a confession of undying love.

Meanwhile, Do-hee makes her way to Gu-won’s empty office. Thumbing through the pages of the demon manual, she finally lets herself cry. When Bok-gyu comes in, she can’t contain herself any longer; it all comes out in a torrent. I missed him so much, she says. And now, I have nothing left: not a glimpse of him, not a chance to say thank you — or sorry. Bok-gyu realizes that it’s cruel to leave her like this. Instead, in the hopes that it might trigger memories, he gives her the necklace Gu-won left with him — the one Yi-sun gave Wolsim, lifetimes ago.

That night, Do-hee wears it. And as she dreams, she remembers. All at once, she is Wolsim again, exiled from Hanyang, working at a village gisaeng house where everyone despises her. She wants, more than anything, to die. But every time she resolves to kill herself, she is interrupted by the man who loves her against all odds: Yi-sun. He saved her. And even as she died, executed for no reason but spite, her last thought was of how much she longed to see his face. Do-hee wakes in tears. Alas, as she hurries to find Gu-won, she is ambushed in the car — and for a staggering third time in several months, a chloroform handkerchief is forced over her mouth. By now, our poor girl must be suffering from kidnap fatigue.

When Do-hee wakes, she finds herself tied to a chair in the ruin of a building. Before her stands a man last seen dangling by his tie over a clock tower. Reports of Suk-min’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Turns out, he fell into the one thing guaranteed to turn a lethal fall into a feather-bed landing: a large body of water. Not to waste this stroke of fortune, he immediately stuck his own face into a fire, burning it beyond recognizability. With this, he was able to evade Gu-won’s demonic GPS powers. Now, he intends to lure our demon out — by injuring Do-hee. With an ugly grin, he sinks a knife into her thigh. Then, he aims for the throat.

Within seconds, he crumples under an invisible force. Gu-won emerges from the darkness, eyes gleaming bright red. He is not even slightly here to play around. Suk-min is hurled across the room as the building cracks around him. Do-hee screams for Gu-won to stop — she’s horribly aware that if he kills a human, his life is forfeit. But our hero is too far gone. A chunk of concrete breaks from the ceiling, slamming against Suk-min’s chest. He spews blood. Using the knife to cut herself loose, Do-hee staggers forward to throw her arms around Gu-won. That’s enough, she demands. I’m okay now — so please, please stop.

The rubble lifts from Suk-min’s chest. Gu-won’s arms slowly move to hold Do-hee. But just as she pulls him closer, there comes the crack of a loaded rifle. As Suk-min fires at Gu-won, Do-hee spins them around, catching several bullets in the back. In a burst of devilish fire, the gun explodes in Suk-min’s face — and Gu-won finds himself cradling a dying Do-hee. In the end, the choice is an easy one. For the first time in centuries, he whispers a prayer. Then, he breaks the most important rule in the manual: a demon may not bring the dead back to life. Do-hee’s eyes flicker open, as Gu-won tells her that everything is okay now. Horrified, she sits up — did he save her? I saved myself, he replies. Weeping, she clutches at his face as he begins to burn.

Within seconds, all that’s left of our demon is ashes. The clocks in his office snap to a halt. Bok-gyu and Ga-young sit in the office, crying together. Secretary Shin receives a sad, quiet phone call. By the time Seok-hoon reaches Do-hee’s office, she is sitting alone, coat streaked with blood, clutching Gu-won’s wedding ring. Abandoned afresh, our heroine shuts down utterly. But as much as she despises a world without Gu-won — as much as she is adamant that she was the one who killed him — she cannot hope to die. Not after everything he went through to ensure she’d live.

And so, instead, with hollow eyes in her empty flat, she puts on the blouse she first wore when she met Gu-won, making her way to the beach. Merry Christmas, Gu-won, she says, glancing across the shore. It feels like when you died, a part of me died with you. And so, I insist that you make a deal with me. Jung Gu-won — my wish is to have you back. As the words leave her lips, a wave crashes at her feet. Just like at the very beginning, Gu-won looks back at her across the spray. Merry Christmas, Do-hee, he says. After a moment of utter astonishment, they fall into each other’s arms.

God is still standing on the clock tower when Gu-won comes barreling in, thanking her profusely. Wryly, she explains that Do-hee had wanted a deal — and since Gu-won was nowhere to be found, she’d had to step in. But, not to panic. The payment has already been made. Doesn’t Gu-won remember that bet he made, not long ago, when he’d hazarded that he and Do-hee would both live? Well, he and God are even now. I suppose I should be thankful, says Gu-won — for sheer joy of watching God’s face twist in indignation — that you’re terrible at gambling. And hey, just so she knows? She’ll never find an employee as handsome and hard-working as yours truly. On that note… any openings available? God laughs. Her face says it all: “Pikachu, I choose you!”

In the dregs of December, far too late for Christmas, Do-hee and Gu-won cannot be deterred from decorating their tree. It’s here, holding her newly-resurrected husband, that Do-hee gathers the resolve to ask about her father. What kind of deal did he make with Gu-won? Even if the truth is hard, she has to know. That day, explains Gu-won, there’d been a twelve-vehicle collision. Do-hee’s mother, heavily pregnant, lay injured in an ambulance. But when they reached the hospital, there were no beds. They were told to seek treatment elsewhere. Staggering through the rain, Do-hee’s mother collapsed, bleeding. It was here, as her father called out in despair, that Gu-won had answered his plea.

With one wish, not even waiting to hear the consequences, Do-hee’s father rescued both his wife and daughter. I didn’t want to confuse you more by telling you, admits Gu-won. In the end, all I did was make you miserable. But Do-hee refuses to think that way. I spent ten wonderful years with my parents, she says. And you saved me — both in this life, and my last. You saved me too, replies Gu-won, pulling her into a kiss.

And the rest, as they say, is heartwarming vignettes! Gu-won’s second stop as Demon 3.0 is to finally stop neglecting his duties as mob boss. Or, I guess, restaurant manager? Either way, every single ex-gangster sheds a tear or ten as he arrives at their (now thriving) noodle shop. Elsewhere, Secretary Shin takes a deep breath, musters her courage, and confesses her deeply-held secret: that she and Bok-gyu are — wait for it! — dating. This would be much more momentous if everyone hadn’t been quietly pretending they didn’t already know. But hey, she’s made one unfortunately-named butler deeply happy!

Meanwhile, Ga-young, having spent the past six episodes very conspicuously not leaving Korea, is coming to the conclusion that… she might not be ready to leave Korea. Still, she gives it her best shot, visiting her old house to put herself off for good. Here, she happens upon a barefoot girl with distressingly familiar bruises. When the child’s father calls for her, her flinches. Decades of sword-wielding instincts kick into action, as Ga-young holds the man at bay with an umbrella Gu-won gave her. Later, at the police station, the girl asks Ga-young if she’s an angel — instantly propelling Ga-young into the past. Gu-won had, of course, said he wasn’t one. Yes, she tells the girl, decisively. She writes down her phone number. It seems she still has unfinished business in Korea.

As for our leads? Four months on, and Do-hee is warming to the concept of work-life balance. You won’t find her anywhere near the chairperson’s seat. That one, she’ll leave to a man who has returned to his first love, paperwork. Let’s hear it for everyone favorite second choice, Seok-hoon! Do-hee’s main reason for steering clear of the top job is that she refuses to rely on Madam Ju to succeed. Nonetheless, it seems that Madam Ju can still surprise her. There was a reason she insisted Do-hee marry so soon: shortly before her death, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Do-hee makes another bittersweet trip to Madam Ju’s grave, assuring her that she has someone on her side now — and always will.

Enter our demon! Gu-won is working his nine-to-five for God with newfound relish. He’s doing his best to only make deals with the people he reckons deserve it, so no one needs worry about that anymore. (Uh… if you say so, show!) Our leads spend their days sweetly bickering over cake, immortality, and everything else in between. Actually, sometimes the bickering gets a little out of hand. But that’s entirely the point, thinks Do-hee. Even when they hate each other, they love each other tremendously. People may destroy each other at times, but they’re also each other’s salvation. And judging by the adoring look Gu-won gives his wife, even mid-dispute, our demon wholeheartedly agrees.

An endearing finale! I’m delighted that our leads are happy. But folks, I can’t deny it — this week, My Demon went out with a whimper rather than a bang. I reckon one fix would have given Episode 15 a little extra oomph. Do-hee spent the entire time missing Gu-won, and absolutely none of it conflicted over the fact that he sent her father to hell. If her feelings had been more complex, it would have made Gu-won’s sacrifice far more meaningful. The reconciliation would have felt earned. But these last two episodes seemed frightened to touch the narrative complications that the rest of the show established. Similarly, they flirted with moral conflict over our hero’s day job, but never committed. The narrative arc where he goes from demon to guardian of humanity was right there, and foreshadowed heavily — so, the fact that it was overlooked feels weird.

Still, as a whole, this show has been completely delightful! The chemistry between our leads never wavered; for me, it’ll set the bar for all this year’s rom-coms. My Demon had a wonderful habit of putting a fresh spin on much-loved tropes, culminating in a satisfyingly believable love story. And much as I feel this ending took the easy way out, it highlights just how few shortcuts the writing took elsewhere. Very rarely did it rely on standard narrative formulas — in fact, it took great delight in breaking them. I came into this show anticipating two beautiful people staring at each other soulfully next to various scenic backdrops, and was gifted with so much more. My Demon set a super high standard from the get-go with its zany brand of humor and the layered characterization of its leads. Do-hee and Gu-won will live in my mind for a long time — and whenever I think of them, I’ll be incapable of doing anything other than smile.

 
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