Will You Have Dinner With Me: Episodes 31-32 (Final)

by LollyPip

Watching this show has been like a nice, relaxing meal… warm, comforting, maybe not perfect but ultimately satisfying. Our couple are learning to navigate a healthy relationship for the first time, as they try to put their pasts behind them and look towards the future.

 
EPISODE 31

While Do-hee changes his surgery bandage, Hae-kyung fixates on her lips and asserts that he definitely feels much better. He leans her back onto the couch with a deep kiss, and asks her to have breakfast with him in the morning. RAWR!

Do-hee nods, but when she wraps her arms around Hae-kyung’s ribs, he cringes in pain. He gasps that he’s totally fine and tries to get back to business, but Do-hee pushes him away by the face (lol) and orders him to bed… to rest until he’s completely recovered. He goes, protesting the whole way that he’s really, really recovered now.

Once in bed, Hae-kyung continues to plead with Do-hee to stay, promising a very platonic night of holding hands, but Do-hee knows better. She goes, but not before Hae-kyung promises to get better soon and make her feel better, too. Yeah, I’ll bet.

The next day, Ah-young calls a meeting and grumpily demands to hear some of the team’s ideas for future shows. They clearly have nothing and sit glaring at each other desperately, until Jin-kyu finally stammers that he has an idea for 2N Box’s first educational video.

He’s totally pulling idea out of his butt, so So-ra blurts out that they can make it about dating. Mention of dating does not make Ah-young happy after getting dumped by Keanu, so she orders them all to come back tomorrow with three ideas each or they’re fired.

When Hae-kyung sees Do-hee next, they get in an argument — he wants to meet Mom but Do-hee is still hesitant. Hae-kyung says he’ll just explain to Mom that he’s not a player, but Do-hee says it will be more annoying if she likes him because she’ll push them to get married.

Mortally offended that Do-hee acts like this is a bad thing, Hae-kyung pulls the car over and asks if Do-hee doesn’t want to marry him. She claims to be worried that Hae-kyung would be exhausted by her mother, so he angrily insists that they go see Mom right now so he can prove he won’t be.

When they get to Mom’s place, Hae-kyung introduces himself as Do-hee’s boyfriend. Mom pulls Do-hee aside to ask if she’s lost her damn mind, dating the guy who was on her show with his ex. Do-hee promises to tell her everything later after they eat, and Hae-kyung proudly sets out the samgyetang he brought.

Mom launches right into the questions about how and when they met, and Hae-kyung valiantly tries to remember the lies Do-hee asked him to tell (to avoid the whole complicated “dinner mates” explanation). She makes Hae-kyung choke when she asks about No-eul and Jae-hyuk, so Hae-kyung admits that they all know each other but says it’s not a problem.

Mom mentions that her new art class is going to Jeju Island next week, and Hae-kyung perks up since he’s there for work so often. He eagerly offers to give her some restaurant recommendations, like the one he and Do-hee went to… and Do-hee stomps on his foot, HAHA. Mom doesn’t miss it though, and when they leave, Do-hee is spitting mad at Hae-kyung for bringing it up.

Apparently, Mom spoke to Hae-kyung privately, too, concerned that Do-hee and Hae-kyung’s pasts might get in the way of their relationship. She’d told Hae-kyung that she wants Do-hee to live without being haunted by her past, sure he knows what she means, but Hae-kyung just tells Do-hee smugly not to worry about him and her mom.

Tired of pining silently, Ah-young sends Keanu a text that says she’ll wait for him while pretending that her boyfriend is fulfilling his military duty. He sees the message, but he doesn’t respond.

Geon-woo isn’t confident that he and No-eul can manage a whole company all by themselves, but No-eul insists that it will be a hit and make a ton of money. The show is about style, and once they start filming, even Geon-woo feels optimistic. He notes No-eul’s good mood, and she says that she feels excited and nervous about starting something new. Nope, still don’t care.

Hae-kyung asks Byung-jin what he would do if his girlfriend’s mom hated him, complete with a dramatic re-enactment of every makjang scene where a mother refuses to approve of a relationship, hee. Byung-jin says that he would figure out why the mother was against it, because if she says it after she knows the guy, there’s no hope.

Hae-kyung admits that this is about him and Do-hee’s mom, sighing that it’s not him so much as his past, which he can’t control. LOL, he’s so desperate that he’s ready to tell Mom that he’s got amnesia and can’t remember his past, and Byung-jin tsks that he’s a psychiatrist, for pete’s sake.

When Do-hee goes back home, Mom pouts that she doesn’t like Hae-kyung because he’s met Young-dong and Jae-hyuk and saw how things ended with them and Do-hee. She’s worried that Hae-kyung will use that knowledge against Do-hee one day, but Do-hee says that her past is her past whether the man she’s dating knows about it or not.

She knows that Hae-kyung is the kind of man who will embrace her knowing everything, and also pretend not to know anything. She feels that it’s more important that she wants to be with him, no matter what. She meets Hae-kyung for dinner, and he’s thrilled that Mom has agreed to meet with him again (Hae-kyung: “What does she like?” Do-hee: “Me!” Hae-kyung: “Oh right! We have similar tastes.”)

One year (and many social media dinner pictures) later.

Hae-kyung pouts when Do-hee shows up for dinner two hours late, complaining that they’ve only had dinner together seven times this month. Do-hee aegyos that Ah-young is working her extra hard, and when he doesn’t accept her explanation, she snaps in banmal, “I said I’m sorry!”

She belatedly slaps a “-yo” on there for formality, but it just makes Hae-kyung even more upset, so she vows to quit her job if it ever makes her late for dinner again. It’s her cute “oppa~~” that finally softens him up a little, and they go to eat.

Someone (I’m guessing Jin-kyu, by his gigantic grin) sends flowers to So-ra at work, and Do-hee demands to know who So-ra is dating. But So-ra just faceplants on her desk, wailing, “I don’t knooow!”

Hae-kyung counsels a woman whose husband of ten years calls her constantly, asking what she’s doing and who she’s with. She says she can’t tell if it’s interest or obsession, so Hae-kyung suggests she bring her husband to their next appointment.

The moment she’s gone, Hae-kyung checks how often he texts Do-hee, wondering if it’s too much. He asks Byung-jin, who says that any more than ten times a day is too much and worries that Hae-kyung needs some counseling from Keanu.

Geon-woo nearly gets kicked in the jewels when he wakes up No-eul from a nap on his studio couch, ha. He sarcastically applauds her frizzy-haired, be-spectacled appearance, and she snaps at him not to let anyone know how she looks when she’s relaxed.

Jae-hyuk walks in, sporting a new goatee, and lol, he struggles to compliment No-eul. The three hang out, and Jae-hyuk says that he’s doing well since he was discharged, and has been working manual labor jobs, which help keep his mind clear.

He doesn’t want to go back to reporting, though he’s still not sure what he wants to do with his life. No-eul offers him a job working for her and Geon-woo’s business.

EPISODE 32

Do-hee and Hae-kyung stop by the convenience store on the way to her place. Keanu is there at his old table, and he gives them his trademark MWAHAHAHA when he spots them. They go to dinner together and Keanu says he’s back for good.

He asks if Hae-kyung and Do-hee are living together, and Hae-kyung takes offense at Do-hee’s vehement denial, hee. He keeps squinting at her when she says that they’re both too busy to get married, and all three of them MWAHAHAHA heartily, though Hae-kyung’s laugh is pretty sarcastic.

Do-hee calls Ah-young, pretending that she needs her to come pay for dinner again. She surprises Ah-young and Keanu into seeing each other, then pretends to have a stomachache to give them some privacy.

As they leave, Do-hee talks about how much she’s liked Keanu even when she thought he was homeless. Hae-kyung fusses at her for befriending a strange man, asking what if Keanu hadn’t been smart and kind.

He says she’s too trusting and tells her to avoid strangers and dangerous situations, but she pouts that if she’s done that, they never would have met. Hae-kyung gives her that one and hugs her, though he tells her never to do it again, hee.

Later, Hae-kyung meets with Mom to talk about Do-hee’s seeming reluctance to get married. HAHA, he’s actually kind of irritated that Do-hee’s prediction that Mom would pressure them into marriage never panned out, and he urges Mom to pressure Do-hee now, which Mom finds hilarious.

At work, Do-hee peppers So-ra with questions about her mysterious flower-sender, but So-ra just mopes that she doesn’t know who it is. She explains that she recently joined an internet singles forum and met a guy she likes, so she asked him to dinner. She shows Do-hee the card that came with the flowers, which says, “I never meet people I met online in reality. That’s my rule. Our fate is in a different world. I’m sorry. Be happy.”

So-ra wants to know why he was so nice online if he didn’t want to meet her. Do-hee calls him “an ugly man with sweet fingers” and has Jung-hwan throw out the flowers. As So-ra is lamenting about the lack of decent men in the world, Jin-kyu delivers a coffee to her desk, which So-ra gulps down without acknowledging him.

Do-hee points out that Jin-kyu has never brought her coffee, but he seems to buy coffee for So-ra quite often. So-ra only now realizes that she’s the only person Jin-kyu brings coffee, but she rejects the idea that he may be the “James” behind the flowers.

Jae-hyuk meets with Keanu and tells him that he saw No-eul yesterday, and that she’s doing well. He’d worried how it would feel to see people who saw him at his lowest, but he admits that it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. Keanu asks how Jae-hyuk would feel if he saw Hae-kyung or Do-hee, and Jae-hyuk confesses that he doesn’t think he could do it.

Meanwhile, Geon-woo asks No-eul if she’ll really be okay working with Jae-hyuk, and she says there’s no reason not to, since he’s smart and hard-working. She adds that it’s not like she’s trying to date him, so Geon-woo agrees to hire him.

Keanu informs Hae-kyung that he’s retiring early — Jae-hyuk will be his last patient. He says there are a lot of things he wants to do in the world, but that he has no plans to take off again, because, “Now I have someone I want to protect.” We see that last night, he and Ah-young had a tearful but successful reunion, and Keanu bursts out in a happy MWAHAHAHA.

Do-hee teases Ah-young for details on how things went last night, arguing that she’s earned them after a year of putting up with Ah-young’s drunk antics. Ah-young vows never to let Keanu go again, and she preens that he called her the coolest, making Do-hee leave the room in disgust, ha.

Hae-kyung shows up at 2N Box with lunch for everyone, and when Jung-hwan asks Do-hee’s opinion on which of several models is the prettiest, Hae-kyung says very seriously that it’s obviously Do-hee. She drags him away and asks what’s wrong with him.

He admits that he’s a little anxious lately, so he’s done some scientific analysis and decided that it’s because he wants to get married. He officially asks Do-hee to marry him, and she’s quiet for a long moment before asking incredulously if he’s proposing with a lunchbox. LOL, that’s our girl!

She complains that she was expecting this, and was even planning to do it herself if he didn’t, but she’s unimpressed with his method. She tells him to cancel this proposal and come back with a better one, so he says that he’ll plan something.

Some time later, Ah-young calls an emergency meeting on a weekend, making the team certain that they’re in big trouble. On the way, So-ra and Jin-kyu engage in some light flirting, which is adorable.

Geon-woo and No-eul are also on their way there, having been called by Ah-young, when they run into Hae-kyung, Do-hee, and Byung-jin. No-eul stops Geon-woo from mentioning Jae-hyuk and excuses herself, citing a last-minute emergency.

Everyone gathers at a nice restaurant, and when Ah-young comes out in a gorgeous white dress, flowers in her hair, they all wonder what in the world is going on. Keanu joins them, looking handsome in a suit, and Ah-young introduces them to her new husband as of this morning. OMG I’m gonna cry!

No-eul rejoins Jae-hyuk back at the studio, and finds him eating cup ramyun for lunch. He shares with her and they sigh that they were both in delusional relationships last year, but they seem healthier than ever.

After the wedding lunch, Hae-kyung tells Do-hee that she looks like a mother who just attended her daughter’s wedding — he can tell she’s a little jealous. Do-hee realizes that he’s driving somewhere unusual, and he says nervously that he’s just taking her to eat.

After two hours, they end up by the ocean at a food truck, and when Do-hee complains that they came all this way for this, Hae-kyung quips, “When it comes to picking restaurants, I’m pretty good.” It sounds familiar to Do-hee, and she suddenly recalls that that’s what she said when she insisted on eating at the food truck in Jeju.

Hae-kyung calls out their rice bowl orders, and asks if she remembers the first time he asked her to have dinner with him. He says he’ll remember every detail for the rest of his life: “Asking you to have dinner with me is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, which is why I want to have dinner with you every day.”

He asks Do-hee to stop playing hard to get, and she nods and smiles. They ask at the same time, “Would you like to have dinner with me?”

 
COMMENTS

Awww, I love that Hae-kyung and Do-hee are back where they started, having simple food together and just enjoying each other’s company. This was a sweet finale for a sweet show, wrapping things up for everyone in a satisfying way, and I don’t think I’d change anything about how things ended. Overall, Will You Have Dinner With Me was a satisfying watch — maybe not one I’d have stuck with if I’d been a regular viewer, but not because it’s not a good show. I think the characters were well-written and nicely fleshed out (with one glaring exception), and most of them had very good growth arcs and ended up better people than when they started.

One of my complaints about this drama — and I wouldn’t exactly call it a complaint because it’s more about my expectations than the show itself — is that I was expecting a cute, sweet show about a quirky mismatched couple finding out that they’re actually perfect for each other, and that’s not what I got. I got it about fifty percent of the time, but it also turned out to be fifty percent about ridiculously clueless or literally delusional exes who didn’t actually impact the main couple much at all, other than to be serious annoyances. And again, that’s because I had an expectation that turned out to be wrong, but considering that so many of us feel the same way, I do feel a bit bitter about that. I would have loved a lot more of Do-hee and Hae-kyung being cute together, and a lot less pointless discussion with exes that just need to say one more thing, for the twentieth time.

Having said that, and while I still feel that No-eul was a bland, useless, and utterly unnecessary character, I really got invested in Jae-hyuk’s journey. I have a strong personal interest in psychology, and seeing the stereotypical possessive second-lead character portrayed as sick rather than just mean and greedy was extremely interesting to me. I just feel that Jae-hyuk was out of place in this story — it’s as if the writer had an amazing theory about why second leads act the way they do, and a great idea for a character, but put him in entirely the wrong drama. I would have loved to see Jae-hyuk facing this challenge but as the lead of his own drama, which could explore the psychology of his unhealthy dependence and breakdown, what lead to it and how he learned to heal from it. I feel that Lee Ji-hoon would have really nailed a role like that. , but as it was, Jae-hyuk as a character didn’t have enough screen time to truly cover everything he was going through as a basically good person whose brain was tricking them into doing the wrong things.

But I really appreciate that Will You Have Dinner With Me started and ended rather simply, with everyone just living the best lives they can with what they have. Do-hee and Hae-kyung have each other and their careers, No-eul has her friends and her company, So-ra and Jin-kyu might be starting something, and Ah-young and Keanu are now married and have someone they can trust and lean on. Even Jae-hyuk and No-eul seem to have formed an interesting friendship, which I hope for both their sakes never evolves into anything more serious. This show accomplished something quite well — it’s good solid comfort food, with a great main couple who had fantastic chemistry,and a nice satisfying ending. It was like a great meal topped off with a delicious dessert, made better by the company shared while enjoying it.

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