Cheer Up: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by Dramaddictally

It’s time for us to say goodbye to our Theia team, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to say goodbye to each other. Their high energy and team spirit have helped them conquer some steep hills, while learning they don’t have to go at it alone. Love, friendship, family, and teamwork are the words of the day as our characters make their way to adulthood older, wiser, healthier, and oh so cheerful.

 
EPISODES 15-16 WEECAP

We ended last week on a breakup. Hae-yi sat across from Jung-woo and told him it was over, right when they were happiest together. I was worried his life may be in danger, given that Jin-il was still running around with a knife. Well it turns out that Jung-woo was not safe from stab wounds — but that’s not the reason Hae-yi broke up with him.

Hae-yi just learned that her mother has breast cancer. With the cost of treatment, Hae-yi has unilaterally decided that it’s best for her to take a break from school and get a full-time job. This means quitting the cheer team of course, as well as quitting Jung-woo. But both her boyfriend and her mother disagree with her idea.

Jung-woo asks Hae-yi if they can take a pause instead. He understands that she can’t be worrying about his feelings when she has so many other things to worry about, but he suggests that — rather than a hindrance — his presence might be helpful. Hae-yi isn’t sold on the idea so Jung-woo asks to give it some time. If she still wants to break up, he’ll respect her wishes.

Hae-yi’s mom tells her not to take time off from school or the squad; she’ll find another way to pay for her treatment. But Hae-yi doesn’t listen to anyone and takes a leave from Yonhee anyway.

In the interim, Jin-il tries to pull the plug on the sunbae he nearly killed last week, who’s currently in a coma. Before he does, he’s stopped and identified and the team is alerted that he’s the culprit. Now that Jin-il is on the run, everyone is worried about Hae-yi’s safety and they decide to take turns walking her home from the bar after work every night. Little do they know that Jin-il is hiding in the school and tracking their whereabouts all the time.

To surprise Hae-yi, the team throws a fundraiser at the bar, where they all wait tables and pour drinks for free to be able to give her the cash at the end of the night. They play a video message on a big screen where each member sends their support to Hae-yi, saying she’s a hard worker who’s always smiling and they hope she comes back to the team next year. They end by encouraging her to cheer up (and it seems the drama has just been waiting for this play on words).

Afterward, Young-woong (who owns the bar) hands Hae-yi a thick envelope with the night’s proceeds and tells her he put some extra cash in there — they all want to help with her mom’s medical bills. Hae-yi doesn’t want to accept it since she has nothing to give in return. But Young-woong says that’s life — you should accept help when people offer it, and when you’re in a position to give back, be generous to others. It’s a moving scene not only because of the kindness of her friends, but because Hae-yi is growing by being forced to reconsider her own rigid rules.

Jung-woo talks to Hae-yi after she receives the money. Being with her made him realize he was lonely in the past and he doesn’t want her to feel lonely now too. That’s why he wanted to stay with her during this difficult time. He reaches for her hand and asks to be together, and she takes it in acceptance.

Hae-yi is in such a good mood after the events of the evening that she goes to buy popsicles for the team. Jin-il is waiting for her outside and he chases her into an alley, backing her into a wall with a knife. The rest of the team has realized she’s missing and splits up to look for her. Just as Jin-il moves in to stab Hae-yi, Jung-woo intervenes by grabbing the blade. Jin-il pulls the knife out of Jung-woo’s palm, spraying Hae-yi with blood, and then stabs Jung-woo in the stomach.

The rest of the team stumbles on them right at that moment and it takes about five of them to disarm Jin-il. Sun-ho also takes a cut across the arm in the process. They call for an ambulance and Jung-woo is taken to surgery where they learn that the wound isn’t serious and he’ll recover quickly.

Once Jung-woo is in his hospital room and awake, he tells Hae-yi that he wasn’t scared and he’s glad it was him who was stabbed and not her. All the ajummas in the room look on with disbelief, noting how young love is so stupid — and Jung-woo sees his mom is there, with the same look, having heard the whole chivalrous declaration. (Haha. I’ll never tire of the interplay between the moms’ and kids’ generations in this show.)

The real heart of these episodes comes when Hae-yi’s mom leaves town for a few days and Hae-yi can’t get ahold of her. Hae-yi remembers her mom saying she’d find another way to take care of the money problem and starts to think that maybe she went to kill herself. Hae-yi becomes more panicky and fearful until her mom reappears, saying she went to ask for money from an estranged relative — and was successful in getting enough to cover at least her surgery.

When Hae-yi sees her mom, she starts sobbing. At first, Chun-yang doesn’t understand the strong reaction. Then Hae-yi recounts a memory from after her dad died. At that time, Chun-yang had left Hae-yi and Jae-yi alone in the house with the intent to commit suicide. We see the mom’s perspective in a flashback where she walks to a bridge, planning to jump, but changes her mind when she sees a child and parents walk by together. She then returns home, where a young Hae-yi is sobbing and asking where she was.

This scene is done surprisingly well with little melodrama. Chun-yang simply has a thought about jumping off a bridge, changes her mind, and comes home. There is no grand suicide plan that goes awry or calls for intervention. In that way, the effect it has on Hae-yi is the center of the dramatic action. Hae-yi becomes terrified of being left behind and that fear has stayed with her. We see her present-day reaction parallel her childhood response, making it all the more effective.

After Hae-yi says she remembers what happened back then, Chun-yang cries too. She explains that she didn’t kill herself precisely because of her kids — she’s not going to leave them, and she’s never had another thought like that again. She then tells Hae-yi to get back in school. Chun-yang felt proudest when she watched Hae-yi performing with Theia and just wants to see her daughter doing what she loves. Hae-yi continues to worry about the money and her mom tells her to let her be the parent. (This scene completely shattered my heart. This mother and daughter are fighting so hard to take care of each other and I just wish the world would let them.)

After all the tears, Hae-yi rejoins the squad. And it’s just in time for the final rivalry with Hokyung. There is a looong lead up to the event, showing us the bus ride, pep talks, practice, and walking into the stadium… and then no performance! I guess it must be the same old routine we’ve seen a hundred times but still it’d be nice to know how it went.

Following the cut to black on the last performance, we jump to 2022 and see what the Theia team is up to now. Hae-yi is going on job interviews and still fighting with her family (Jae-yi is now a member of a cheer team himself — for Hokyung). All the couples on the squad are still together three years later, and working on big important jobs in their respective fields. Sun-ja and Min-jae, however, have stayed on campus to coach the Theia newbies.

We end with a reunion of sorts as the 2019 team attends Young-woong’s wedding. They finally meet the infamous prophet who said a member of their team would die. He corrects them, saying his prophecy was that one person would die of loneliness — adding that he meant only one would remain single in the middle of all couples. They say he was wrong because even though most of them paired up, they still have three singles. We learn the prophet was right, though, because Cho-hee and Yong-il have been dating in secret (yay!). Sun-ho is the lonely single the prophet predicted.

Even though the killer plot was annoying and did not fit, I see where the show wanted to go with it. It’s too bad they took it too far and wasted so much time that could have been dedicated to what this drama did best — because there really were some things it did well. The family dynamics were quite good all around. I loved the moms from the beginning and watching the relationships with their children grow and transform was the highlight of this drama for me. Hae-yi and her mom were particularly realistic and I was happy to see this depiction of a single mom and her too-grown-up kids.

Apart from that, we really had some adorable moments in all our love relationships, along with some strong girl bonds, and a team that taught our female lead the definition of teamwork. Hae-yi ends the drama by saying she learned how powerful it is to root for one another, and that hard times turn into good memories because of the support you get from others. I can’t help but think about how good this show could have been if that was the backbone of our story for all sixteen episodes. And while I appreciate that they wanted to spend time cheering up their teammates, I wish they’d spent more time cheering on the crowd.

 
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