I am not going to lie…I had an entirely other post, written in advance, to post here for this drama. But this line emphasized by @unit changed my tack: “And this is where Bora delivers one of my favorite quotes in the show, ‘If you can’t verbalize your feelings, don’t show them in the first place. [Because] it only makes the one who’s misled a fool!’

It reminded me in this context so much of Han Dong-jin‘s line in Call It Love (paraphrasing from memory): “I don’t like being misunderstood or misunderstanding others.” This gap between expressing one’s feelings and being tacitly understood by others was much more deeply engaged in this latter drama, IMO.

I did enjoy True to Love, but perhaps wished it stayed at the level of a physical comedy where it shined.

TrueToLove is the first kdrama that I looked forward every week to watch and tbh I still want to have more episodes of them (maybe 2 more?) lol I want to see how affectionate they're to each other but the ep14 takes all my breath away with the great highlights of these two characters from them arguing in the office, from giving hug to Su-Hyeok in the taxi, from the moment Bora confess her feelings, ala drama confession of Su-Hyeok's ending it with their Christmas exchange gifts to each other.

I enjoyed watching this kdrama and even now, I have the ep14 on repeat. I just can't get enough of this two.

Part of me appreciates the risk this drama took by making a lot of the characters pretty unlikeable and wanting us to root for them. And I did, mostly. And then came the final 2 episodes. Marriage and a baby for Bo-Mi and Jin-Ho without the finances to do it? Eeek! And the romance between Sang-Jin and U-Ri? Are you kidding me? And I've never rooted for a divorce more than I did with Yoo-Jung and Jin-Woo. I'm sad for what this could have been.

I had to write this down so I do not forget my thoughts when the recaps land. Jinlee Publishing's staff have a very toxic work culture. They refuse their employer's attempt to have an integral work environment/relationship between he and them and then murmur about the relationship between Sang-jin and Yu-ri. As if it wasn't their fault that only Yu-ri and Sang-jin had coffee alone that day. The fact that one of them actually saw them having coffee is literally offensive. As if they're any better people, not that the staffs are actually better, they are way worse individuals and far from good. Their hypocrisy is distasteful and gross. I really hope Sang-jin gives them a bitter pill before Bora! Deborah ends. That apology they gave at the end of the day after U-ri clarifying matters was one of the most insincere. I'd have preferred that they hang their heads in shame and simply go home, that would have felt way better than they apologizing. Their apology made their distasteful childish go away with a slap on the wrist. Company card...? As if they were ever inclusive in the first place.

There's more though. Soo-hyuk, and the Sang-jin U-ri pairing. I'll come back to those ones later.

For a book editor, Su-Hyeok sure struggled when it came to finding the words (or will) to express his feelings to Bora. Or even just to respond to hers. Overthinking how to do it? Say nothing if it couldn't be said perfectly? Maybe that's why he's an editor and not a writer.

Congratulations fellow beanies on completing yet another drama (after the epic Interests of Love) that got us rooting for the couples breaking up and not ending up together. Actually I thought/hoped the lead couple won;t end up together. There is no maturity in their relationship and both still have issues from Soo-hyuk's chickening out to Bora's hesitance to out Ju-wan in place.

Ah well, in the 'Your top ten dramas' article I joked that if the title had instead been 'Your top ten dramas (if you don't count the last two episodes)' people would be writing very different lists. Because so many great dramas just run out of steam before the finale.

I get the impression the writers of Bora! had a topic they wanted to explore and said all they wanted to say on the subject, but unfortunately they still had an episode and a half left to go, so gave us a typical 'K-drama' ending. Bora! remains one of my favorite dramas of the year, *despite* the last 1 1/2 episodes.

Bora as played by Yoo Inna was a likable character who showed real growth. She was the main reason to stick with the show. Episodes 11 and 12 had some very good dialogue between the two leads that actually suggested a mature realistic romantic relationship between two intelligent people. Even the initial episodes of the breakup were raw and not entirely unrealistic.

BUT
These last episodes were terrible. There are several messages one can draw from this show the way it ended.

1. This is the optimistic one: men lie and can't communicate, but women should make the extra effort and judge by their actions, which are not very good, but what can you do if you are heterosexual female? Put up with it!

OR (the most depressing)

It is woman's duty to content themselves with idiot men, because it is their place, even if their husband neglects them and their boss sexually exploits them. AND they must have babies, even if the out of wedlock child will be raised in poverty and the mother will likely be abandoned by the simple minded, self-centered father when times get tough.

OR, (the most likely)

Romance is a total illusion: longtime boyfriends readily cheat, marriage is a sexless, unrewarding relationship in which the best you can do is play video games together; intelligent men that love women can only express their love in a brief episode of baby talk; immature bosses can't have a decent relationship except by exploiting naive young employees, and young men who devoutly profess their love to young woman and get them pregnant only worry about themselves and are proud that they have "fathered" a child.

I think the anti-romance message is the most plausible, so I'll credit the show with that. I just don't like it, in what could have been a really rewarding rom com with such a charismatic female lead. Also, I don't agree with it in principle!

Think of the Woo-ri - San-jin romance as being like Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Twenty three years age difference, married for 22 years until Stieglitz died.
Okay, that's as far as I'm willing to go with that analogy. I can see why each likes the other, and since dating relationships are kind'a random anyway, it might as well be them and anyone else. Still, the optics are not good and I do not see this as a 'forever' romance. Only until Woori-matures a bit and wants a less problematic boyfriend.

Well, at least Sojin was good. I thought she acted circles around Yoo In-na, which I never would have expected to say before the show started.
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Shows that have any segment as bad as the first half of day 13 should be required to have warning labels at the beginning of every episode.
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Per Asianwiki, the writer doesn't seem to have much of a track record. We can safely least it that way.

The last two episodes have shown me once again how realistically the two main characters and their character traits are portrayed. Perhaps I can understand Soo-hyuk so well because he is so similar to me in many ways. I myself am the queen of overthinking, it's important for me to be in control and I find it hard to let myself go and show my vulnerable side (and when you speak out, you are vulnerable). That's why I don't think pride was the overriding reason why Soo-hyuk took so long to tell Bora what she wanted to hear, but the fear of being hurt. To protect himself from this, he builds a wall of pride around himself and it is hard to overcome. Soo-hyuk managed to do this when he read Bora's essay and the doubts were removed that her feelings for him were not just based on gratitude and that she did not want to go back to her ex. The fact that Soo-hyuk had gotten the necklace for Bora and written the card before the ex showed up shows me that he was ready to take an important step by then, even though Bora had actually kept him at arm's length with her Mulder and Scully comparisons.
And I kept noticing how similar he and I are when I thought, why does he have to say those words, surely she can see and tell by his actions how important she is to him. But I can understand why she needed to hear it, simply as a sign that he was willing to change his years of behaviour for her, as difficult as that may be.

I am proud of how Bora handled the situations, both with Soo-hyuk and with her ex. She was able to leave the room with her head held high every time.

And I'm glad Soo-hyuk didn't give Bora the ring she bought at the beginning, but chose her own. She didn't need to get a gift that was originally meant for someone else, however beautiful the ring may have been.

The ex got exactly the ending he deserved. I hope his business goes bust. And there's a good chance of that - Maternal Grandma's Chicken doesn't sound like a cash cow now.

I looked forward to and enjoyed the new episodes every week. It's a shame it's over. Although I could have done without one or two episodes of heartbreak with acute relapse and boozing, and most of the other couples didn't really convince me either, Bora and Soo-hyuk were almost perfect as two complementary people who first became friends and then lovers.

Regarding Soo-hyuk: I get that he wanted to be his true self to Bo-ra when showing his feelings (or failing to), and his true self isn’t a guy who makes dramatic or sentimental proclamations. BUT. As @marysadanaga pointed out, this is a guy who does words for a living, and all he could do was feebly mimic a cheesy “you’re here in my heart” line from a drama? And then Mr. Darcy’s notorious “I have tried not to love you” first confession from Pride and Prejudice? Come on, show, pick ONE literary theme and ride it to the end. He did need to see that she loves him even knowing his worst traits, which include trouble verbalizing his feelings - his equivalent of her less-favored right side of her face or her tendency to swear - but that dragged-out confession was painfully reminiscent of the dragged-out breakups. As so often happens with kdramas, the writer took a character fault way too far and didn’t leave him time to outgrow or reverse it convincingly.

Despite all my complaints, I found the show enjoyable on balance for Yoo In-na’s performance, for the interactions between Bo-ra and Soo-hyuk, and for Sojin’s effervescent Yoo-jung (who deserves SO MUCH BETTER than her hound-dog husband). And thanks, @unit! You made it all more tolerable.

I think the highlight of this show for me was the rebranding of Mom's Chicken to Maternal Grandmother Chicken. NGL, that made me laugh out loud! HAHA

Bora and Soo-Hyuk were great. I wish they gave us more scenes of them together being flirty and talking because it was the best part. The rest was meh.

All the other couples were a disaster :
- Bomi and Jin-ho : I never liked them. Bomi was touching when she was afraid that her sister will kill hersef but otherwise she was a spoiled girl. Jin-Ho was creepy. Neither of them has a home and think they can have a baby... They are both immature.
- Yoo-jung and Jin-woo : he's still acting like a teenager. The fact she had to stop him investing their money in stupid things and he's angry for that... She let him loose his money and live your own life.
- Woo-ri and Sang-jin : I had difficulties to hear her talking... She was talking like a little girl or someone who's not a native Korean. But when Sang-Jin did what it was right, they made him interested to someone who is clearly at the same stage in her life... Why? A crush was enough.

Please enjoy my stream of consciousness comments once more. no analysis, just my brain melting.

EP. 13: 20 mins in and she already forgave the dude who cheated on her and blamed for it

What a cursed workplace and what a half assed apology... Nice to see Suhyeok step up tho

They're gonna cram a lot in these two eps huh... he was against kissing like an episode ago, and these mfs out here having unprotected sex??

There's nothing about this marriage worth saving, jfc.... wait, did bro just crawl inside the TV cabinet ????

I've heard of last minute breakups but this.... how did they manage to ruin the only thing I liked about this drama - the main couple ??? tbf, I won't lie, I don't even understand what they're fighting about at the end of the episode, it felt like a fever dream at this point

One more episode and I'll be free

EP. 14: Ok, yeah, obligatory kdrama alcoholism scene but that was a cool shot.

Fuck it, I'll date Suhyeok myself.

What is going on rn??? Is this old man seriously gonna date this weird ass girl??? No....

No way.....NOOOOOOOO 😭😭

This drama, man.... No words... except put this creepy ahjussi in JAIL. 🚨🚔 bro listed every reason why he shouldn't date her... and then decided to date her anyways.

I would never have the balls to google "should I get a divorce" on my massive work computer screen... in the office, but y'all stay safe tho

Y'know what? Very based of Bora, I'm proud of her for standing up for herself and telling this wishy washy idiot to go fck himself

I give the young parents with the shotgun wedding about 5 years. The boss and the employee "couple" are one newspaper exposé and/or HR violation away from a scandal that ends their careers (but most likely only of the low-income young woman with no connections).

50/50 on whether married couple truly repair their relationship or have a loveless, cold one for the next few decades

I still like main couple but the misunderstandings & last minute fighting was just silly. But just standard kdrama plot development ig. they still cute tho and the visuals are 🔥🔥

in conclusion, this truly was one of the dramas all time. I liked the part where she said "it's Deborah time" and Deborahed all over the place.

I think I have been made a fool of because I have been misled- this show was promoted as a romantic comedy but kept banging us over the head with break up issues and ex's until the very end.

Over the course of 14 episodes there was minimal romance or romantic moments for any of the characters and the comedic moments were in short supply.
It leaves me feeling very unfulfilled.

The married couple- their relationship is suddenly fixed because she is happy to game with him downstairs in his man cave....um really.
The CEO (in episode 14) stood in the office in front of the staff and made the comment that he had a work place policy of no dating amongst the staff... 20 minutes later he is out with his junior, much younger employee, what the!
The two kids, episode 13 filler, let's throw in a random pregnancy and waste time on that plot point to take time away from the leads. Meanwhile the father of the unborn child sleeps in a cupboard! and it's not even his own cupboard! Maybe, there's the comedy I found lacking.
The main couple, I love these two actors but not their characters. Towards the end when Bora was walking away from Soo hyuk after he couldn't communicate, I thought okay, I will actually be happy that you found happiness without needing a man in your life.
Then we get the obligatory 5 minutes of being a couple, can no kdrama have the courage buck the trend?

I should be happy there wasn't a random serial killer thrown in I guess but come on, why didn't the writers use the truck of doom to get rid of Bora's ex.
Please can someone just make a decent romantic show, it doesn't seem like too much to ask for surely.
Sorry beanies, feeling somewhat bitter for what could of been with Yoo In na.

what a waste of two good actors with good chemistry.
I was on board during the first half bcs the leads scenes made up for the rest of the mess (well, minus that terrible holocaust reference). but then even their storyline got bad and the whole thing ended up a mess. i like the cast, I think the directing and art design was pretty but the writing really destroyed what could be a nice drama.

The moment I watched the final, I knew it was going to get scorched at Dramabeans. The is the first drama I watched that ended at episode 14, and I felt like the floor just dropped under the plot in the haste to plummet us all to the happy endings. This drama needed at least two more episodes (and a much bigger time jump) to have a meaningful conclusion because "oh, f*ck it, we're in love today, who cares about tomorrow" is just not doing it for me.

Woo-ri and Sang-jin didn't bother me too much, especially as we're left with the impression at their gift exchange that their puppy romance reflects two people who still don't understand each other. She wants a Daddy Long-Legs, and he wants to feel like he's a person worth love. It may not be ideal, but it's understandable for their present selves. A time jump could have shown them moving on to healthier relationships or even just growing into this one.

I also wanted to see what happened to Mr. "I'll protect you forever, even from myself, but not actually use any protection" Jin-ho. Of course he would adamantly "do the right thing" and marry Bo-mi, but for the drama to just end at their weird impromptu wedding, after having shown his panic at her pregnancy and her feelings for him being relatively lukewarm until that pregnancy test...ugh. Come on, drama. There's definitely going to be more to that story, especially with that photo of twins during closing credits.

Yoo-jung and Jin-woo...you know, I don't have much to say about them. I buy their friendship, so good for them.

But Bora and Soo-hyuk - they frustrated me so much. Bora straight out asserts that Soo-hyuk has shown his feelings, but she wants verbal confirmation. And then she refuses to let him give it. He tries to explain himself, but he doesn't say what she wants to hear, so she walks off? And that is on top of giving Mr. Chicken every damn time of day, seemingly endless opportunities to explain/justify/give corporate presentations. Girl, you already gave him at least two "final goodbyes" for the sake of closure, WTF are you doing in this finale? You are so incomprehensible, you have poor Soo-hyuk quoting "The Heirs" to make you happy, only to lead to the most awkward drama kiss I've seen between two mature actors.

Their closing aegyo was cute and probably the thing I enjoyed the most about the finale, though it seemed totally out of character and out of place. If this drama was supposed to show us the growth of the two leads, it failed because they were both making the same mistakes and assumptions at the end as they were at the beginning. If it was making a statement about love being an open ending, it needed more time to explore the reality of that for the different characters.

What an annoying mess this show turned out to be. I feel bad for Yoon Hyun Min, who is the only reason I stuck this out. The show will leave me always wondering what the writers were trying to say. And wondering what was the point of her alchoholic gastritis if she wasn’t going to stop drinking.

This drama had a lot of things that I really liked, but overall didn't quite work for me. Maybe if the second couples had been more fun to watch and not such trainwrecks. Or maybe if they had gotten Ju-wan out of the picture sooner.

Enjoyed the drama overall but could have done without the cringey romance between Uri and the publishing house boss. The age gap was icky not to mention the inappropriateness of the boss dating a subordinate. Additionally, Bora entertained her deadbeat ex too much and the pregnancy story was unnecessary. All these plots just sucked time away from what made the drama shine…the delightful chemistry between the two leads.

For me this drama was about love language. How we love and how we want/need to be loved. We may want to be shown how loved we are in a certain manner but we also need to recognise the others love language. Similarly, it can’t just be ‘this is how I love take it or leave it’. You need to understand your partner and give them reassurance in the manner that most resonates with them.

Confession time : I also did not like the side couples, and stayed because of the OTP. But most importantly, I stayed because of Soo-Hyuk character's uncanny resemblance to someone I had been with for over 20+ years now - my husband. I was actually amused by the comments in this recap about SH, especially the ones who hated his character - I am sure if these beanies met my husband they would have hated him too. But no offense, as I did hate this part of my husband too, at first. Someone said also , that for an editor , SH does not seem to know how to express his words, this got me rolling on the floor, because my husband used to be an editor, too.

But anyway, I did come to learn that SH and my husband's love language is indeed action. When we were just getting to know each other, he would always quietly go with us and drive for me and my friends everywhere, and patiently wait. We were already holding hands and yet he has not confessed until I bluntly asked him to define our relationship. Later on, we of course learned our own love languages , and appreciated each other for it - and learned how to meet halfway for it. He still patiently does things for me and our son, which obviously were done out of love. He sometimes expresses his emotions now, but when he hesitates, I just ask directly and bluntly. I don't think we would have lasted 20 years (and still going strong) if we had not adopted to each other's true selves.

So you may wondering, what was going on in his head ? my husband's explanation was: whenever he contemplates what words to say, for example, he would already be thinking about the answers to the follow-up questions and so on and on. He then ends up with too many options / words to use so in the end, he ends up just showing/not saying. Pretty much what SH did =)

Anyway, that is my defense of SH, and my defense of this love story. In the end, I am just glad that my husband's unique personality got represented in a k-drama.

There goes one bean for a romcom! Not the best but it was entertaining. I stuck with it because I love Yoo In Na.

I wished that Lee Soo Hyuk actually played So Hyuk instead of Yoon Hyun Min. That smoldering eyes and deep voice would have been made the drama 100 times better!

I'm late to the party.

I enjoyed True to Love. It was fun.

I agree with majority of the comments by others.

My thoughts...
-I'm in the camp that Su-Hyeok loved Yu-ri. Su-Hyeok is unable to verbalize his feelings. Su-Hyeok

Coming back to this final recap almost 2 months later. XD I did watch the finale back when it aired.... Had mixed feelings. My fresh feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction made me reluctant to visit here. I think I was crushed about the wasted potential. I really wanted to see Yoon Hyun Min in a stellar rom-com and have a breakout role.