All That We Loved: Episodes 7-8 (Final)
by Dramaddictally
Our high school drama has come to an end. Triangles are broken, tears are shed, but ultimately all is well, and the mystery of our present-day doctor is solved. While the story is thin and not much is explained, at least we get a romance thrown in for good measure.
EPISODES 7-8
We left the boys last time in the middle of a bully fight. When we reunite with them, they’re getting pretty roughed up. The scene is just another example of how Joon-hee is becoming more and more like Yoo — even starting fights and throwing the first punch.
But that’s not all. To add to our list, Joon-hee also develops Yoo’s lethal allergy to nuts and starts having the same recurring nightmares as Yoo. Joon-hee believes this is all due to cellular memory syndrome — the theoretical phenomenon where an organ transplant recipient gains the preferences, memories, and other habits of the donor.
When Yoo learns about this, he thinks that Joon-hee must like So-yeon because of cellular memory too. The boys have been bickering a lot lately because Joon-hee keeps taking So-yeon’s side and getting closer to her. When Joon-hee notices So-yeon about to steal one day, he takes her by the hand and leads her out of the store. But when Yoo sees them “holding hands,” he gets jealous.
Yoo tries to convince Joon-hee that he should stop hanging out with So-yeon because she could get them in trouble. Joon-hee says it’s none of Yoo’s business and tells him to back off. He also admits that he liked So-yeon from the moment he saw her, just like Yoo, so that part has nothing to do with cellular memory.
When a rumor starts at school that So-yeon is a thief, Joon-hee confronts Yoo and asks if he started it. Yoo is a total jerk and says — in front a crowd of classmates — that it’s not a rumor if it’s true. Then he asks if Joon-hee is going to date her anyway, and it’s pretty clear that Yoo’s problem is mostly that he still likes So-yeon. If Joon-hee dates her, he loses them both.
Yoo takes it a step too far and Joon-hee uses his newfound aggression to punch him in the face. The boys grapple on the floor until a teacher breaks it up, and Halmeoni has to come drag them both home.
Unfortunately, it’s the last time they’ll see Halmeoni because she suffers a stroke later that night and collapses in the rain. At the hospital, as they wait for her to wake up, they get over their differences and realize they have bigger problems. Yoo confesses that he’s had a hard time with love (likely because he’s so conflicted about his parents), but he had no trouble loving Halmeoni. Both boys are heartbroken when they have to say their final goodbyes.
Now that Joon-hee is alone (poor kid lost his brother, both parents, and now his grandmother), Yoo’s mom invites him to come live with them. Joon-hee accepts the offer but then suddenly disappears, leaving only a note behind. This is the reason that he and Yoo have been separated all these years — not because of anything so dramatic as So-yeon or jealousy, but because Joon-hee decided to up and leave without warning. (I’m a little confused.)
And if you haven’t guessed it by now, that leaves Yoo to be Dr. Go. In our 2023 timeline, he and So-yeon are spending a lot of time together — now that she’s staying at his apartment due to her scandal. Since media people are crawling all over the place, she can’t go home.
One night, as they’re out walking, Dr. Go holds her hand and says he’s been wanting to do that for a long time. So-yeon is over the moon because she’s always liked him too. And once they start, they’re holding hands all over town (which somehow gave me the feels, even though I’m not really invested in these characters. Totally the power of Jung Yoo-jin and Song Jae-rim).
For the final number, So-yeon sets up a meeting so Yoo and Joon-hee can be reunited, since she’s evidently been in contact with Joon-hee (this whole time?). In the last scene, So-yeon and Dr. Go walk through a park where a man is waiting by the waterside. It’s Joon-hee (Bu Bae), and he and Yoo hug and smile.
After all the potential of the premiere week, this one disappointed me. It had great cameos and production quality but the story was half-baked. I couldn’t help but feel like the cellular memory bit was thrown in solely to make Yoo and Joon-hee so similar that we wouldn’t be able to figure out who Dr. Go was. It felt like a lot of events were to serve the mystery, but lacked emotional weight or relevance on their own.
About the mystery, I had the hunch that Yoo was Dr. Go all along, but it was more based on logic than on any clues the show threw at us. The drama put its hardest work into tripping us up on Dr. Go’s identity and, if that was its aim, then it succeeded. But I found it hard to care much about the characters when everything seemed like it was just there to keep the mystery afloat. By the end, all I could think about was So-yeon and Dr. Go getting a spin-off.
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Tags: All That We Loved, Jo Joon-young, Jung Yoo-jin, Sehun, Song Jae-rim
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1 Bunny Sonaki
May 28, 2023 at 10:41 AM
A lot of things happened without a proper explanation. This one was a disappointment after a promising premiere.
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2 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️ Underpants buddies for life. 😎
May 28, 2023 at 10:50 AM
@dramaddictally thanks for the weecap. It was a let down for me too, because I don't get why a young kid who had no one and was not feeling well would go off on his own and stay away from the only family he had left and for so long. It also didn't make sense that he disappeared for a month after saying he would move in and they didn't notice. I am hoping that I misunderstood and it was a month from the death and he organised to move away during the week he was due to move in with Yoo.
I didn't guess the identity of the doctor but could see the clues with hindsight. I am glad Soyeon finally got to go out with Yoo as it was clear she had always liked him from the start. I was confused about her absent brother they seemed to have been close and yet with all that was going on for Soyeon we never saw him and the only mention was over the mistaken identity over the shirt the day he was due to return home.
I don’t get why Yoo was so isolated and quiet as he was always the lively and popular one. His parents would have been very happy that he also became a doctor. I don't understand how Soyeon had contact with Joonhee but no one else had heard from him. It would not have taken much for them to have gone for a coffee to share the backstory to fill in the missing years as Joonhee seemed to be successful too but who knows what he is doing now.
It was a nice touch to have the younger version of the characters looking on at their adult selves. I liked the drama I just feel they could have done a better job in tying up the loose ends.
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3 geminirat
May 29, 2023 at 5:23 PM
Thank you, @dramaddictally, for the weecap! These last two episodes made me think of what was I really watching. I came in for Sehun - one of my favorite idols - and stayed because I liked the bromance at the beginning. Yes, I also thought the psychiatrist was Joon-hee! From a promising beginning it went into bland territory. At least I got a bean for this.
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4 CasualDramaFan
June 15, 2023 at 1:33 PM
Well.. it was a quite bland. What was even point of the drama? What it was about. It wasn't the love as drama title suggests.
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5 Qingdao: likes scented candles
December 27, 2023 at 6:51 PM
What a mess! Although the scenes were well-executed, the plot-line was all over the place: cellular memory, teen love triangle, morality versus empathy, mystery of who is the doctor--the focus was all over the place. And, it never resolved. What a was of potential....
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