Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

15 July 20, 2023July 19, 2023

Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by mistyisles

As our story draws to an end, our characters must face the consequences of their actions and either own up or double down on excuses. Because while each of us can only play with the hand we’re dealt, we’re still responsible for our own choices, and we’re not in the game alone — unless we choose to be.

EPISODES 15-16

Prosecutor Ryu interrogates Ro-woom, but she refuses to answer his questions. To his credit, he does seem to be trying to help her in his own way. The problem is that his way isn’t helpful without concrete evidence that 1) Ro-woom didn’t kill Kyung-ja and 2) Jay was the mastermind all along. Ro-woom doesn’t have this evidence, but she does have a plan to get it.

The rooftop kiss was a distraction so she could slip Mu-young the key to a safe where she stashed the revolver. While Ro-woom waits out the requisite hours until prosecution can get a warrant issued, Mu-young collects the revolver and the Jeokmok Kids (since Jay has sent his messenger to kill them and thus destroy Ro-woom’s support system), and hatches a plan to break Ro-woom out.

Kim Dong-wook Chun Woo-hee Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

First, he has Ro-woom name Da-jung and Nasa as her accomplices so they’ll be summoned for questioning. This puts them, Mu-young, Ro-woom, and Reporter Woo all under the same roof. Mu-young recycles Ro-woom’s key-smuggling tactic (though he opts for a handhold instead of a kiss), and the others play their respective parts in engineering an escape so flawless, Ro-woom walks right out the front door. Da-jung and Nasa are immediately apprehended, ensuring their safety in case Jay tries sending any more hitmen. (Ringo is still unconscious, but has been secretly moved to a secure location.)

Only then do we address the big question: no, Ro-woom did not kill Kyung-ja. The two had an honest, emotional conversation about Jay — Kyung-ja admitted she always envied how effortlessly Ro-woom understood Jay, Ro-woom admitted she’d always wanted Kyung-ja’s help — and Kyung-ja gave Ro-woom access to her secret vault containing almost all the information needed to incriminate him.

Even after all that, Kyung-ja still tried to convince Jay to run away with her. “Who could love you as much as me?” she asked, even as he made her ingest debilitating drugs as a trust exercise and proceeded to strangle her to death.

Back at the police station, Da-jung readily confesses to helping Ro-woom escape. When Prosecutor Ryu warns that they’ll search her home, she hands over the keys and deadpans, “Don’t smash your way in.” She’s organized the evidence from Kyung-ja’s vault in neat, color-coded boxes for Prosecutor Ryu and his team to find. (Did I mention I love her?) She also has one request: Ro-woom will signal when the time is right — so please be there when she does.

Kim Dong-wook Kim Tae-hoon Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Ro-woom and Jay agree to meet up alone, though Ro-woom brings a tracker with her (two, actually, but one was planted by Mu-young without her knowledge). Jay intends to take her away with him and start over, but Ro-woom has no intention of playing along. She’s not like him, she says, contrary to his claim. She’s learned to accept others’ understanding and empathy, but he continues to insist the world has abandoned him while actively betraying those who trusted him most.

Ro-woom bluffs that she has all the evidence to convict him, sprinkling in just enough truth to unnerve him. His caution slips, he switches on his personal phone, and Da-jung’s system automatically connects and pings the prosecutors with the final link tying Jay to his crimes.

Kim Dong-wook Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Jay realizes almost immediately that Ro-woom has tricked him, but too late to stop it. He throttles her in a rage, screaming that he’s going to kill all her friends and make her his forever. He pulls out his gun, but at that moment Mu-young arrives and shoots him instead. Ro-woom stops Mu-young from firing a second shot as police, led by Prosecutor Ryu, swarm the scene.

Several trials ensue. Jay, having effectively burned every bridge he ever built, is sentenced to prison with little to no hope of a successful retrial. With help from Prosecutor Ryu, Mu-young’s illegal firearm use is ruled self-defense. This frees Mu-young to defend the three Jeokmok Kids in their trial. Jae-in testifies about the psychological effects Jeokmok’s torture and training had on them. Then Mu-young sets his scripted closing remarks aside in favor of an emotional plea for the judge to let the Jeokmok Kids choose their own futures, which Jeokmok denied them.

When asked, Ro-woom says she doesn’t want leniency — as a victim herself, she wants to see justice served; her victims must be no different. In the end, the Jeokmok Kids are each sentenced to less than two years in prison and commended by the public for taking responsibility for their actions.

From there, it’s happy endings all around (except for Jay, who will rot in prison and never see Ro-woom again). Ro-woom successfully sues for damages from her previous wrongful imprisonment. Navis Well-Being victims receive compensation. Mu-young reconciles with his mother. Yo-han and Jae-in make their relationship official. The Jeokmok Kids are reunited (and Da-jung smiles for I think the first time in this entire show!), Ringo fully recovers, and they all move into a new house together.

Ro-woom visits Mu-young’s dad in prison and apologizes for the fraud that ruined his life and family. She knows what it’s like to have nightmares every night, and now that she’s found peace, she hopes he’ll sleep soundly. She and Mu-young leave ramyun on her parents’ grave, and then officially close their lawyer/client contract. We end with the Jeokmok Kids bickering as they fix up the new house and Mu-young dropping by to see Ro-woom for personal reasons, not professional ones.

I really wasn’t sure what kind of conclusion Delightfully Deceitful was going to arrive at, but I have to say I’m pretty satisfied with this one. While Ro-woom’s final confrontation with Jay did feel a tad anticlimactic (for a while, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and someone to be in danger again), it also drove home what I think was the main point the show has been trying to make all along: the importance of understanding and leaning on each other for support. That only by understanding why people make certain decisions can we learn to see them for who they are instead of what they do, and then work with them to “create a better outcome,” as our characters were so fond of saying. But also that understanding is a two-way street.

That’s why my favorite parts of this finale were all about how our characters have changed each other for the better: Ro-woom asking for help, Mu-young’s boss refusing to give up on him, Yo-han coming to Nasa’s rescue, each Jeokmok Kid having someone there to pick them up upon their release, and pretty much all of Prosecutor Ryu’s interactions with Mu-young, Ro-woom, and Da-jung.

On the whole, I wouldn’t say I loved Delightfully Deceitful, but I certainly didn’t dislike it, either. And while I have some pretty big complaints (especially related to Yo-han’s characterization and underutilization), my biggest takeaway is simply that I’m glad the characters I genuinely cared about get to step into a wide-open future that is theirs to design.

Kim Dong-wook Chun Woo-hee Delightfully Deceitful: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

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1 Bunny Sonaki

July 20, 2023 at 7:12 AM

Finally a wrap.
Thank you @mistyisles for those great recaps. I agree with your conclusion but that takeaway came after weeks of boring episodes so I was dozing off watching the finale.

PS while Yo-han is underutilized. I find his relationship with the doctor cute. Do you send heart emojies to others than your nephews and nieces? 😂😂😂

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2 Nefret

July 20, 2023 at 7:20 AM

Having only watched episodes 14 and 15 on fast forward and not being able to bring myself to watch the last episode so far, I decided after reading the recap that I'd save myself the time.

I really liked the first episodes of the drama, but it got more and more boring towards the end.

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3 Diana Hansen

July 20, 2023 at 8:20 AM

I quite liked it overall and agree that it was good to see the kids grow and accept responsibility for decisions made and have chances to improve and change their lives after the hell they went through. Kim Dong-wook had my heart all through this drama and I might add he is looking ever so fine still. I really liked Yoon Park this time around and wished he was more prominent in his role.

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4 vienibenmio

July 20, 2023 at 10:24 AM

I haven't watched this but have been reading the recaps. When you say personal reasons, does that imply romance or does it end with them just as friends?

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captainlaika

July 20, 2023 at 11:28 AM

I'd say implied romance, but you could probably ignore it if it's not working for you

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5 Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)

July 20, 2023 at 10:40 AM

How quickly they grow up. The girl who plays Da-jung is in her late twenties, but it seems like just yesterday she was playing a high school kid in Duty After School.

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6 Relisher

July 20, 2023 at 11:08 AM

I thought it was a lovely finale. It was great that the conclusion for their stories wasn't that they got revenge and got away with everything, but that they made things right, regretted what they had done (been made to do) and tried to pay for it and took their sentences without an appeal. And then they lived happily ever after. They were victims but also perpetrators and I'm glad that it was a feeling of closure for their own lives before they started living it properly.

I have some issues with a few of the logistics of the plot and law related stuff lol, but I was in it for the character dynamics and I was very happy with all of them. I liked that Ro Woom wasn't suddenly a marshmallow, but she felt less burdened and more open in sharing what she felt and thought (with Da Jung about the job offer and with Ringo in the hospital) and her smiling so freely at Mu Young was adorable. Prosecutor Ryu turned out well too. Yo Han and Jae In were mostly pointless, though Yo Han was less annoying over time.

I enjoyed the show, might not be a rewatch but it was definitely worth my time and I liked it. I will say that Chun Woo Hee carried it for me, she was charming and made even the iffy stuff work, I might not have finished with a less magnetic lead. I've never seen Kim Dong Wook in anything else and his acting here didn't make me feel the urge to look further lol but he was a good enough foil for how great she was. The supporting characters were almost all pretty good too.

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7 captainlaika

July 20, 2023 at 11:23 AM

Thank you @mistyisles for all the recaps!

Structurally speaking, this show was a mess and so many characters and plot devices felt disparate or weirdly used. But for how poorly it was paced at times, I have to give it kudos for pretty much sticking the landing on the ending. And there's some good stuff in here too— I love the Jeokmeok kids, their growth felt rewarding and I'm delighted with their happy ending in a house all their own. I think they handled the potential subtle romance between Moo-young and Ro-woom pretty smartly too; it's there if you're looking but you can ignore it if you want.

With that I have to agree with the conclusion that Delightfully Deceitful is ultimately an average drama. I can't say I loved it or that I'll be recommending it to others but I enjoyed the watch and I loved discussing it here on DB

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8 Kafiyah Bello

July 20, 2023 at 12:27 PM

Well.....okay, I got my bean.

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9 ar_arguably romantic

July 20, 2023 at 6:00 PM

I was half-expecting them to screw up the ending, but I was pretty satisfied. Everyone who deserved a happy ending got one, and it was nice seeing the Jeok-mok kids getting the house together like siblings. And each of them who had gone to prison had someone to wait for them once they got out.

Not being on a legal streaming site in the US had me primed to skip out if I stopped enjoying it, but it kept my attention for all 16 episodes. Pace was good. Chun Woo-hee definitely enhanced the drama and made her character riveting to watch. The casting of the Jeok-mok kids was done well too. My only gripes included Moo-young empathy illness which ultimately had no bearing on most of the episodes and the number of characters who just didn't stand-out. Moo-young's role was pretty blah too but I like Kim Dong-wook so that made it watchable.

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10 motleycrew

July 20, 2023 at 6:09 PM

Started off great but the pacing and narrative for large parts of the show were off, vacillating abruptly from loophole filled scam/action sequences to introspective character building moments which dont quite gel together. Both Yohan and Jae-in were underused and could very well not have been in the script at all. They could have spent more time on the Kids who are the heart of the show.

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11 Jingbee

July 20, 2023 at 10:39 PM

Thanks for the recaps @mistyisles. Reading the comments for this show and the other ongoing shows made me realize how divergent my viewing tastes are from this community. But , since diversity is accepted here in DB, so I do comeback to comment from time to time.

Sure, this show did have some holes and some underutilized characters and side plots not further explored , but I think the show succeeded in telling its story.

Have long ignored the English title (the direct translation fits better), and since I had not been looking out for romance, I genuinely did not see any romantic overtones/undertones so I knew that there was something purposeful (to the heist) about that kiss that people complained about previous episodes so I am not disappointed when it got revealed.

I think this show ended well, and I am satisfied that the Jeokmok kids still paid for their crimes - after all, they did break the law. Thus, this highlighted more the contrast between them and Jay , who until the end was trying to bribe/intimidate his way out of prison and does not show remorse.

Will I rewatch it?, No , but will definitely recommend it to friends who are looking for the same type of show. No regrets with the 16 hours spent.

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12 jillian

July 21, 2023 at 1:58 AM

I am glad it ended well for all the characters I care for. The Jeokmok kids definitely are better off now and have each other to lean on for support. I watched each episode just for the love of the leads. I can't say this drama will be memorable for me but I did like most of it. I did like the lesson the show was trying to make all along. That you can not know what a person is going through without understanding and empathy. Also that its important to surround yourself with good people for support and guidance. Maybe I wasnt as articulate in explaining it but I hope you get the gist.

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13 Kurama

July 22, 2023 at 1:42 PM

This drama was far from perfect but to see this no more kids caring for each other at the end, being free from their past because they paid for their crimes, was really a nice end. Mu-Young was a great guide for them.

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14 MikeyD signed up

July 30, 2023 at 1:47 PM

You see some dramas that have a concrete idea for the body of the drama but don't seem to know how to end it. This drama had a solid ending in mind but the body of the drama sometimes struggled to get us from point A to point B. All in all, a good ending makes up for a lot of earlier faults, in the same way that a bad ending can retroactively spoil what had been a good show up til then.

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