'When I was the Most Beautiful' Episode 16: It is not about which brother gets Ye-ji, but whose love moved her
'When I Was the Most Beautiful' Episode 16, the finale, begins with Hwan's question about whether she was ever in love with him or if she loved him more and she responds by saying that she will never answer that question however many times he asked her at this home where his brother also lived. Ye-ji packs her things and before she leaves, she wants to bid Jin goodbye too and so, he decides to use the medication from the US to send her off while on his two feet. When a relationship comes to an end after it takes a toxic round, it is difficult to come to terms with how the characters within this relationship must feel.
To figure out who is right or wrong from the outside of this dynamic is easy, but to understand what these characters experience as each of them feels heartbreak unlike any, is what this show is all about. It isn't about unrealistic romantic happy endings, but about the guts, it takes someone to end a relationship that has been equal parts happy and abusive. For Ye-ji, her love story with Jin might have very well begun on a happy note, but the biggest reason why she chose Jin was not that she was in love but because she wanted to belong to a happy family. In hindsight, she sees that it had always been Hwan. He was the one who had understood her in pain and in silence. She had also realized early on that Hwan's sincerity despite being young was honest.
All Jin had done back then was to save her from a tough situation with her family and help her out by providing her a safe haven. Even while Ye-ji had assumed that things between them wouldn't work out, he kept pursuing her until he changed her mind and change he did. It is strange how the decision that you believe in 100% at the moment can end up becoming a death warrant because that is what happened in Ye-ji's case. Because of her husband who did not have the strength or the belief in his wife, she suffered for seven years and her only ray of hope had been Hwan. For once, Ye-ji also confessed to her mother that she had begun developing feelings for Hwan even further in her husband's absence. She, however, did not let any of her feelings be visible. She did not let any of this show when in front of Hwan and led him to believe until the very end that she was never in love with him.
It is only after she leaves the house that she gets a chance to show Hwan that she had appreciated everything that he had done for her. He gives her a ticket to New York and tells her to leave the city with him. As he waits for her in the station, we wonder, will Ye-ji make it? She does. However, she has no intention of leaving with Hwan. Instead, she convinces him regarding why her leaving with him would be a bad idea. She explains that at one point as they begin to live together, they will come to hate each other because of what they have cost each other and that is not something Ye-ji wants for Hwan despite Hwan being ready to experience this himself.
Until the very end, Ye-ji is certain about this one thing, and over time, as the two of them stay apart, we wonder if they will attempt to get over each other. However, what really redeems this show is the ending. It is not about any one of them attempting to get over each other, but about learning to live with their choices and their past. To remember the memories that they would like to cherish and forget the ones that would make their life difficult. The gift that Ye-ji is capable of giving Hwan is to let him know that his feelings for her were not one-sided. So when Hwan visits her before leaving to Bali for years, she spends a day with him. The two attempt to do simple things that they weren't allowed to do before like holding hands, leaning on each other or for that matter, professing their love for each other.
This one day is not only a gift for Hwan, but also for herself as she lives her life remembering all the good times that she spent with him, remembering how loved she was by him. Before leaving, she leaves Hwan a letter in which she tells him to live happily too without any worry about her because she has finally found peace and happiness in her life. In fact, a shot where Hwan approaches Ye-ji to give her a ticket is all shot in shadows. Contrary to this, as the episode proceeds and moves towards Ye-ji finding it in her to accept her feelings, the two of them begin to see the light together and alone, and this portrayal is symbolic of their relationship spanning the many years.
Jin, on the other hand, ends up understanding that the longing that he feels for what could have been with Ye-ji will not be something that he can move past anytime soon. So he just learns to live with the same and keeps the last promise that he made her -- to get rehabilitation for his condition. That's how Jin, Hwan, and Ye-ji begin to learn to live apart from each other.
'When I was Most Beautiful' will air on MBC on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9.30 pm KST. It will be available on Viu outside South Korea.