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

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.

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.

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!

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!

 
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