Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

28 November 27, 2022November 27, 2022

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

by Unit

Our cute little show comes to an end this week, and it’s everything we’d hoped for — smiles, sweetness, and healing in more ways than one.

EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

Being famous is exhausting, as Yu-na comes to realize, with the entire hospital gossiping about the fan letter fiasco. But rather than feel intimidated by the whispers surrounding her and her dad, she chins up and takes it all in stride. She also forgives her dad because she knows he was only trying to make her happy. Plus, she kinda already knew the letters were fake based on the difference between Kang-hee’s real handwriting and the ones in her dad’s letters. Smart girl!

Jung-seok also releases a video to admit that the whole thing was his idea, and thanks Kang-hee for going along with it to fulfil his daughter’s wish. The video goes viral as expected, and the wishy-washy public go back to adoring Kang-hee — some of them even begin to ship Jung-seok and Kang-hee. Of course, Yu-na is their biggest shipper even if Jung-seok hasn’t realized his daughter’s end game yet.

Travelling back to their high school days where the love story began, Jung-seok wrapped up some chocolates as part of his confession package for Kang-hee. Unfortunately, a jealous classmate GU HYE-RI (Kang Da-hyun) also wrapped up a bloody note and a dead bird in a similar parcel which Kang-hee ended up opening first, hence her fan letter trauma. Hye-ri is now a celebrity of sorts, but she still hasn’t forgotten her beef with Kang-hee even going as far as making snide remarks about Kang-hee on her radio show.

In the present, as Jung-seok and Kang-hee relive their high school days, he gifts her chocolates — without the confession — and they go from being locked in a romantic moment to being locked in the room for real. They have to exit through the window and run across the school grounds like teenagers. Lol.

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

In typical K-drama second female lead behavior, Hye-ri comes up with a sob story to Reporter Son about their high school days, implying that Kang-hee was a delinquent and a bully. And when the article comes out, Hye-ri hides behind a “panic disorder” to draw sympathy towards herself and avoid clearing up the rumors. Once again, the media feasts on Kang-hee and this time, the witch hunt is worse.

Kang-hee reaches her breaking point and in the heat of the moment, she blames Jung-seok for starting everything with the fan letter business. Jung-seok initially backs off, but recalling Yu-na’s words that to understand a person one has to look inside their heart and not what they say, he goes after Kang-hee who then backs down and admits that she’s terrified.

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

With Kang-hee’s house besieged by reporters, Jung-seok takes her to his house as she has nowhere else to go. Kang-hee tells him that his place is her first choice and not a last resort, and it’s quite funny when the CEO of her agency YOON AH-YEONG (Jung In-ji) drops by with mother-like questions for Jung-seok. What are your intentions towards Kang-hee? Do you own this house? Do you have a job? Heh. I don’t blame her, though, Jung-seok and Kang-hee totally give off a newlyweds vibe.

But the almost-couple get a reality check after Yu-na briefly goes missing. She’s at the rooftop making a wish, but in his worry, her dad thinks she’s about to do something silly — he was once in that spot after his mother died, and Yu-na was the one thing that held him back from ending it all. Now Jung-seok chooses fatherly duties over love, and he tells Kang-hee they need to stop seeing each other. And I’m going to cry now.

Kang-hee moves back home, and everyone is miserable. But in the meantime, Yu-na gets discharged (yay? I don’t know yet). Kang-hee eventually addresses the public to share her side of the story, and with the corroboration of yet another high school classmate — who is also a parent to one of the children in the hospital — the bullying rumor is put to rest. Hye-ri is forced to apologize, the public turns against Reporter Son, and this is all so very satisfying to watch.

Kang-hee walks on the flowery path again with a casting offer from a director she’s always wanted to work with, but it’s a Hollywood project. Using one of my favorite tropes, Jung-seok rushes to the airport, but he arrives too late and Kang-hee is already gone. Nooooooo!

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

In the sweetest of gestures, Jung-seok does some voice acting of his own as he waits for Kang-hee’s return: he records all of her fan letters and sends them over for her to listen to. And it’s really the effort and dedication for me. From the cheesy letters to the most heartfelt ones like, “Don’t ignore the hearts of the people who like you because of the hurt you got from those people who don’t like you.”

The letters get Kang-hee through her lonely days abroad, and she is moved to personally reply every single letter, to the immense delight of all her fans. There’s also a glimmer of hope that she’ll be able to read her fan letters by herself soon. When Kang-hee eventually returns to Korea, it’s straight into the waiting arms of her two biggest fans: Jung-seok and Yu-na, and it’s happily ever after for one of the cutest ever families in dramaland! *Brims with unshed tears of joy*

I was nervous the whole time and now I can properly belt out my yaaay for Yu-na! Thank you, writer-nim and thank you dramagods for keeping her alive, and for such a beautiful, beautiful drama. It was a welcome break from all the heavy stuff going on in the current drama offerings, and I’m happy the story kept its promise of simplicity and light-heartedness from beginning to end.

For only four episodes, there were a number of tropes used by the drama, and while that didn’t take anything away from it, I can only imagine how the drama would have turned out if there were more episodes. It really gives credence to the saying that less is more, and we don’t always need 16 episodes to tell a good story.

Overall, it was such a delightful show with a neat resolution to everyone’s arc, and it’s just perfect for a light binge. The chemistry between the cast — especially our little family — was so adorable, and you could tell the actors had fun playing their roles. I’m reluctant to say goodbye but it was fun while it lasted. And now I await more lead roles for Yoon Park (and the cute mole on his nose), please!

Please Send a Fan Letter: Episodes 3-4 (Final)

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1 emsel

November 27, 2022 at 7:13 PM

I like the drama enough to recommend it to others, but Kang Hee's fear of fan letters stretched a bit too much in the last two episodes and sucked out the fun, but given the crux of the story it is understandable. Using plush toys with audio was a nice touch and little Yu Na winning in the battle of life and as a fan girl made the drama sweet. Thanks @unit for recapping the drama.

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2 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️

November 27, 2022 at 8:34 PM

@unit thank you for weecapping this sweet tale. They added a lot of unnecessary complications into the story, they could have kept it simple and explored the key themes in far more detail.

The other dad’s were very absent from their sick children’s lives and emphasised Jungseok isolation with only gossiping mum’s and a shop keeper for company and support. In such a short tale it could have been a straightforward backstory for both grandmother and mum’s absences from the father and daughter’s lives. Instead I was left confused about the story behind Yuna’s separation from her mum.

The bullying rumours always seem to come out for the stars at a key point in their career and the fickle general public reaction has such a huge impact on the actor’s ability to work. When the ‘real’ story comes out and everyone back pedals it must be so hard for the actor to forgive, forget and know who to trust as a genuine supporter to be relied on. I was so glad in this case that someone filmed the false ‘victim’ showing her entitled behaviour so she can feel the effects of the public backlash she was so happy to inflict of Kanghee.

I like the four episode format and feel that it worked well in this instance. The use of the noble idiocy trope was not needed especially when it was followed by a forced separation but the reconnection process was very sweet.

All in all a lovely slice of life romance with a happy ending.

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hacja

November 27, 2022 at 9:18 PM

@reply1988 Have to agree with you about the noble idiocy trope. In this case, it wasn't particularly noble, it was just idiocy. You had a daughter who was really needing a Mom, and who absolutely doted on the woman you loved. So you broke up with her? Luckily, he had a 10 year old with more sense than he did. But where noble idiots are concerned, I always find applying the logic of a 10 year old would resolve the issue.

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Unaspirated

November 30, 2022 at 7:07 AM

I didn't mind the noble idiocy, since it fit so well with Jung Seok's character. He felt he had to be everything all the time to Yoo-na, and her going missing was understandably terrifying to him because she's his daughter, she's sick, and he's been left behind in one way or another by everyone else in his life. What I really dislike about the noble idiocy trope is when the ML lies to the FL about why they're breaking up ("I don't like you anymore"), which Jung Seok never did. He was super up front about the reason, and I honestly think the timing being off and needing to focus on your cancer-ridden daughter is a pretty valid one, even if it's not what anyone really wanted.

I love your point about Jung Seok being the only dad in the hospital! I hadn't really though about it, but you're right that it emphasizes his isolation really neatly. My take on the absent mother was that the drama wanted her to be as much a non-entity as possible. Her only role was to make Yoo-na wish for a mom, but they were really careful to establish that she had been in the wrong from the beginning (cheating on Jung Seok and running off to the States) and then removed her entirely when she died off-screen. I guess this was to clear the already-clear path to step-mom-hood for Kang-hee? I didn't think it was super necessary, but I appreciated that her death worked as an occasion for Yoo-na to be (adorably) exasperated at her dad for not catching her drift!

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3 DancingEmma

November 27, 2022 at 9:34 PM

Can someone record this on a magic doodad and get it to me as Viki in my region is useless and routinely doesn’t license what I want to watch.

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OldLawyer

November 27, 2022 at 10:06 PM

Viki does take requests, but this was a Kocowa show which complicates things.

If you want to give it a try here is the URL: https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034633713

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DancingEmma

November 27, 2022 at 10:28 PM

@oldawyer: Thank you kindly. I have filled that form about 40 times in 2 hears and not once has it been effective. I finally stopped being naive and accepted that it is just window dressing in my region.

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OldLawyer

November 27, 2022 at 11:02 PM

I am sorry to hear that. I have the same feeling when I hear about a good show that I would like to watch but it is on Disney+, which means it will not be available to me even if I were to subscribe to that channel.

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DancingEmma

November 28, 2022 at 2:55 AM

I shouldn’t have insulted the Vengeful God of Viki as 2 hours ago the app suddenly went berserk and blocked my access by accusing me of using a VPN which I’m not. It is just bonkers. And, I’m convinced their so-called Tech people are all bots. No help whatsoever apart from telling me redundantly to ‘trouble shoot’ which I have already done to no avail and informed them as such in my first email. So @hacja, please hurry and develop that magic ice remote. I need it. Badly.

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hacja

November 28, 2022 at 7:28 AM

That's terrible! Did you try turning off your t.v. set, waiting 10 seconds, and turning it on again? (Sorry, that is a really bad joke in this circumstance.)
I think rather than ice remotes in this circumstance, you'll need to develop a new romantic fantasy: VPN: The Great and Lonely God

hacja

November 27, 2022 at 10:10 PM

@dncingemma One idea I have for a fantasy drama is what I think I'll call "Alchemy of Shows" It will present an elaborate alternative universe in which magic ice remotes, created at the beginning of time, allow the transfer of shows to different streaming services. But with great power comes great responsibility, and the shifting of shows could eventually bring down the entire Hallyu, unless a chosen one who was born at the conjunction of LED's and LCDs emerges to marshal the power of the ice remotes. I'm thinking I'll make him one of of 3 tech nerds competing for the love of a female robot who had 2 different warring programs within her. Unfortunately, the robot might have be destroyed half way through because I'm not sure the directors will want to pay the necessary rental fees to keep it for additional episodes, but that's not the point. Instead, after 50-60 episodes or so there will come the triumphant conclusion: all shows will be available everywhere.

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DancingEmma

November 27, 2022 at 10:34 PM

@hacja: For this to eventuate, I might even consider surrendering my soul, at least for a while?
Btw, I’m glad you’re back. I hadn’t come across your comments recently. They always make me smile.

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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain

November 27, 2022 at 10:52 PM

For this, it is entirely appropriate to demand "worship me."

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DancingEmma

November 28, 2022 at 12:15 AM

@elinor: I loved that post by @hacja so much. I wish I had a KD loving human around me that I can fake-terrorise with that command!😂

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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️

November 28, 2022 at 1:14 AM

🤣

hacja

November 28, 2022 at 7:35 AM

@elinor I too would bow my head in reverence to one (inexpensive) universal streaming service. But I was really thinking of the various sexy promo posters possible of the male couch potato hero gazing directly at the camera in sweatshirts, pajama tops, or tank t's.
Enough of this fantasy, however. Its time to get back to the pressing question raised by this drama: Why are precocious little girls almost unbearably cute?

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4 OldLawyer

November 27, 2022 at 10:10 PM

My wife's comment as the credits concluded: "That was really cool".

I know that I too had tears in my eyes at the end- happy ones. We could use more shows like this.

There are people who could find fault with this show. I don't care, I loved it.

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5 aida

November 27, 2022 at 11:05 PM

I consumed this sweet four-episode drama the way I believe short-format series are meant to - by binge-watching all four episodes on a lazy sunday while loving every second of it.

It was a simple story, but the leads were engaging, the child actors were adorable, and the chemistry between the cast was stellar! My only gripe with the series is, I wished they'd show more cute family moments/their happily ever after. I just wanted sunshine and rainbows dammit!

...Yoon Park saranghae 😩🥰

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6 Fan from Nigeria

November 28, 2022 at 12:07 AM

Like @unit stated, this drama was a fresh air amongst all the Bullying and crazy endings we have in dramaland this days. It was short, simple and sweet.

Thank You @unit for the weecap, my only peeve is i wanted a wedding......I mean that would have been the perfect icing on the cake

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john

November 28, 2022 at 9:14 AM

I was looking at the time remaining on my screen calculating if they were going to be wed.

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Unaspirated

November 30, 2022 at 7:13 AM

I love that we got an implied one though! Yoo-na's drawing was so cute!

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7 Toodlepip

November 28, 2022 at 12:08 AM

This was such a cute bingeable drama. Four episodes was the perfect length for this story. I wish it got a little more love in the ratings though.

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8 john

November 28, 2022 at 9:07 AM

Unit, thanks for the recap.

Short and sweet, they packed many tropes but it still came out okay.
I would like to see more dramas in 5-8 Ep and 8-12 Ep ranges
The leads did well together and as always, the child actors were cute.
The reporter being chased by the mob had a cartoonish look and feel

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9 ♡Peach_Mochi♡

November 28, 2022 at 10:16 AM

Such a cute, heartwarming show. One scene I appreciated in the last episode was our happy couple’s outing that saw them in public among fans without concealing their identities behind caps, sunglasses and face masks. It was a stark contrast to Kang-hee’s earlier fan interactions and showed how she’d grown more comfortable with her celebrity. I have no idea if such openness would be possible for a mega celeb in real life, but it was lovely to see in our fictional drama world.

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10 Britney

November 28, 2022 at 1:23 PM

The fan letters recorded into the stuffed animals was the sweetest thing I've ever seen or at least top 2 haha
This drama is so wholesome and nice and it felt complete. Absolutely perfect for binge watching. I love all the pairings.

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11 quirkycase

November 29, 2022 at 5:06 PM

This was such a sweet little story, and I share your relief, @unit , that it didn't end in tragedy!

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Unit

November 30, 2022 at 2:56 AM

Cheers to happy endings! @quirkycase

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12 Decraew

November 29, 2022 at 10:36 PM

Damn I really liked this show, there should be more like this, mostly feel good thay is. Not that it was perfect e.g. I’d have liked to see more of Yu-Na (the REAL FL here 😀) and HK together at the end. Ah, and Sooyoung looks simply amazing with her shorter hair!!

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