Miraculous Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

7 August 18, 2023August 18, 2023

Miraculous Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

by quirkycase

It’s finale time, and our protagonists put it all on the line to seek justice for the victims of the 1995 case. Our writer makes bold, very public allegations that have serious consequences for him and the people around him. While the cops scramble to use the situation to their advantage, our avenger and superpowered teen make big decisions about their futures.

EPISODES 15-16

Dong-joo gives a no-holds-barred national interview, not only sharing the video but name dropping all the perpetrators. He tells the full story of the 1995 case, including the recently deceased Jong-il’s role in framing Myung-nam and burying the case. Then, he further shocks the public by making his own confession: he stole his award-winning novel from Ha-neul. The only thing Dong-joo keeps to himself is the existence of Tae-man’s bribery ledger; he didn’t want anything to steal the limelight from the murders and thought it should be Hye-kyung’s decision if and when to reveal it.

Everyone is talking about what Dong-joo revealed, and he gets a lot of hate for his plagiarism, as expected. Dong-joo takes his punishment, ashamed of his actions. People burn his books, leave nasty messages taped to his door, and reporters and influencers dunk on him. Luckily, he’s got a strong support system in Kang-san, Yong-dae, his mom, and even Hyun-soo who admires his decision to come forward.

Miracle Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

The only person who came out of this on top is Myung-seok. Everything went exactly as he wanted: his brother is forced to step down, and Myung-seok gets to take over as chairman. Tae-man doesn’t buy his naïve act and knows Myung-seok has been gunning for his spot. He nastily accuses Myung-seok of being like his mother who snuck in and “stole” from their father.

Myung-seok may not be a murderer, but he did get his family’s nasty streak. He revels in Dong-joo’s downfall, although he stops short of suing him – he just orders him to return the advance for a second novel and to leave the apartment he gave him. Dong-joo gets his own petty revenge, though. When Yong-dae learns about the bugged watch, Dong-joo talks to Myung-seok through the watch and bluffs that he’s going to tell Tae-man that Myung-seok knew his plan all along and didn’t stop Dong-joo. (I love that the pettiness between these two never stops.)

After the interview, the tattooed man shows up at the house when Dong-joo is out and begs Kang-san for forgiveness. When Kang-san touches his arm, he sees the man’s role as the evil paster Ah Hyun-mook’s loyal lackey who carried out many of his orders like kidnapping Ha-neul and assisting in Dong-joo’s father’s death.

Kang-san’s eyes turn red, and he teleports right onto the stage at Chunyoung Church during a sermon. Kang-san begins psychically chocking the pastor and is so rage-filled, he doesn’t even notice when Dong-joo shows up. Unseeing, he blasts Dong-joo out of the way but stops horrified when he recognizes Dong-joo on the ground. Kang-san teleports away, reappearing at Kai’s before falling unconscious.

For some reason, Kai hasn’t yet left despite the cops stopping by and clearly being onto his identity. While Kang-san sleeps, Kai calls Dong-joo so he won’t worry. Once again, Dong-joo urges him to run away with Kang-san whose health is getting worse after each episode. The danger to Kang-san convinces him to take his brother with him, and Kang-san is thrilled.

Miracle Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Side note, we finally learn about the magic rock! Dong-joo is actually the one who found it when he was little in 1995. He claimed it was a star (a meteorite) that fell from the sky, so he gave it to Ha-neul since his name means sky. The meteorite was in the backpack when Kang-san leaped into the future, and it “led” him to Dong-joo.

Meanwhile, the cops finally start making arrests. I’m not sure why they get the slo-mo walk like they actually did something. All the evidence, perpetrators, and witnesses were handed to them by Kai and Dong-joo. I chuckled when Byung-man said it felt strange, like they were working with Kai – no, you’re working for him.

Tae-man’s lackey is the first one they arrest. Then Myung-seok swoops in to make their job easier by convincing Tae-man’s assistant to flip on him when he’s brought in. Now they have an accomplice who admits that Tae-man killed Sang-woo for threatening to reveal what happened in 1995. They find Sang-woo’s body, which allows them to arrest Tae-man. They then arrest the last perpetrator alive, the prosecutor “friend” of Tae-man’s.

We get one final arrest thanks to Dong-joo. He finds the tattooed man leaving flowers where his father died and tells the man to repent for his sins by exposing what the church did to all those children. They’re the ones he needs to seek forgiveness from, not God. And that’s exactly what the man does. He leads them to where the children are buried and testifies to the fact that Dong-joo’s father was murdered. Our final baddie, the evil pastor, is arrested.

One arrest the cops don’t make, however, is Ha-neul’s. When Byung-man comes to visit Kai, he’s sure he’s about to be arrested – Byung-man and Hyun-soo visited his “father” and know his current identity is fake – so he’s shocked when Byung-man says they are no longer suspicious of him. He apologizes for not listening to young Ha-neul about the case and wishes him a peaceful, happy life, choosing not to chase after evidence that would put him away.

With everything solved, Kang-san is ready to leave with his brother, but he’s worried about Dong-joo. Of course, Dong-joo plays it off like he’s fine (he’s not) and says he’s happy for Kang-san (he is). Kang-san goes to say goodbye to his friend Woo-jung and learns she’s suffering from dementia after a car accident a few years ago. Way to throw in some last-minute tragedy! So now he feels guilty for leaving her, and it doesn’t help when she asks him through tears to come back before she forgets him. Geez.

Before they take off, Kai goes to see Hye-kyung who ended up turning in the ledger and testifying to the men’s crimes. There have been mentions of how the two of them liked each other as kids, but for some reason, they play it as some grand love story. Honestly, it’s confusing because we’ve never seen Kai and Hye-kyung interact as adults, so it’s hard to buy when they hold hands and look at each other with hearts in their eyes. I guess they’re doing long-distance while he goes on the run?

Elsewhere, Kang-san and Dong-joo keep things light, although they’re both sad he’s leaving. One good piece of news is that Kang-san’s abilities have disappeared, which means he gets to live more or less normally. Then, it’s time for him to go. He sneaks out quietly in the morning, leaving behind a non-goodbye note thanking Dong-joo and saying he’ll be back.

And that happens a little sooner than he thinks because he arrives at Kai’s to find the place empty. Kai turned himself in, wanting to truly have a fresh start after taking responsibility for his crimes. Once again, he entrusts Kang-san to Dong-joo while he serves his sentence.

Miracle Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

We jump ahead two years. Dong-joo published another novel, this one based on his real-life experience with Kang-san. If you guessed it’s called “Miracle Brothers,” you’d be almost right because for some reason it’s “Miracle Brother.” Kang-san is in college and regularly visits Kai. He and Dong-joo are still living together, now in Kai’s old place. We end after Kang-san suddenly gets his powers back (suggesting maybe there’s more for him to accomplish), and Dong-joo’s broken, old watch that belonged to his father starts ticking again.

For a second there, I thought the watching ticking meant Kang-san was about to return to the past, which would’ve been an upsetting last-minute surprise since we’d had no indication that was going to happen. But nope, instead I guess it was just signifying another miracle or new beginning? That’s what I’m going with.

So it’s a happy ending with all the bad guys caught and the heroes having learned lessons along the way. Nothing really took me by surprise with the ending, so I don’t have much to say there. I truly wish this drama had capitalized on its more interesting aspects rather than taking the most tried, true, and boring route of a crime procedural. They had a superpowered, time-traveling teen and a man who stole a manuscript which he then passed off as his own, but instead we focused on rich businessmen being nasty and cops uncovering what we the audience already knew.

If it had been shorter and focused on the unique elements, this could’ve been a much stronger drama. They could’ve gone the healing route and nixed the crime aspect altogether, making it just about a time-traveling, superpowered teen and his new, reluctant, morally questionable guardian. Or, they could’ve done a short (maybe 8-10 episode) crime-thriller that nixed the cop stuff and kept the focus on everyone involved in the 1995 case. But by trying to do everything at once, focus was pulled in too many directions and the pacing suffered.

I enjoyed the drama most when it was character and relationship focused, centering Dong-joo and Kang-san’s journey (and Kai’s) and exploring the consequences of violence and bad behavior. Maybe my expectations also played a role in my disappointment since I thought we were getting a healing drama about found family with some sci-fi elements, and I’ve grown tired of cop procedurals. Regardless, I did enjoy the central brothers’ stories and journeys to becoming better people, and that’s what I’ll take away from the drama.

Miracle Brothers: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

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1 djf

August 18, 2023 at 8:59 PM

I enjoyed this series. Good series. It did have a happy ending for most of the characters.

The cast did a very good job.

I liked Park Yoo-rim, Detective Park Hyun-soo, and I look forward to her future work. The detective was feisty till the very end, and had a fighting sequence in the last episode.

I was hoping Woo-jung and Kang-san would have had a happier ending. They made a cute couple when they were in high school. I was hoping Kang-san would have somehow found his way to the past and he and Woo-jung would have had a happy life together and the timeline would have fallen into place and audience would have seen Kang-san and Woo-jung together in present day.

I'm looking forward to the series, Destined w/ You, that follows this series.

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2 Bunny Sonaki

August 19, 2023 at 12:59 AM

Thank you a lot @quirkycase for those great recaps. I would have long dropped the drama if not for those weecaps that were much more coherent that that chaotic drama. Like you said, there has been a lot going on and the dark mode made it hard to get all the details. Sometimes I relied on the weecaps to figure out what is happening. Too many baddies and the cult leader story was the least significant and could have bee cut. I would go on and on about my disappointments but I will use that time to watch a more interesting drama.

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3 miso

August 19, 2023 at 2:46 AM

Thanks for the recaps @quirkycase. Like you I had a lot of what-ifs regarding this drama. The core story of the two (three?) brothers was actually great but was mired in the usual chaebol-crime-corruption drama. The cops were basically useless till the very end. I'd be happy to watch an edited version that was basically just Kai-Dongju-Kangsan.

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4 AJ

October 8, 2023 at 3:51 PM

I don't know what to say about this drama drama on the one side it was really thrilling and interesting (I like sci-fi dramas) but on the other side the ending killed all my hopes. The last 2 episode where so rashed and in the episodes before was too much, that was not necessary for the plot.
Also I didn't see a right focus in this kdrama.
- The meteorite (what wished dong joo? Maybe he could send Kang San back, if he touched it and wished something again and what was it about, that the brothers where searching for him in the wood? Where is it coming from. I thought he saw them just a few times in the bookstore but this scene looked like they were family or really close to each other)
- What's about the scene, where Dong Joos hands got invisible for some seconds just like Kang sans. Does he have some power too?
- woo Jung is really a sad character. She lost her first love, is single and has a serious illness. That is really too much. I thought maybe Kang San is so sad about it, so he can return back in time and save her but so her whole character was not really important for anything. Just the photo.
- Killed KY somebody? I didn't get this right. Did he killed the author shin? But nobody else his decision in the last ep. was like a sudden Mindtwist. I don't get it.
- Also the scene with ky and his girlfriend. It looked like the writers wanted to show every character in the last ep. But it makes no sense. The both got no screentime (in the romantic way) together in the episodes before. And suddenly they meet and holding hands? Seems out of place to me.
- What is with the old man who was 25 years in prison for nothing? Is he still in coma?
- The superpower of Kang San could be really awesome plot but we saw only three people that he saved (what is with the girl, he saved. She got his number and send him the video. That's it) the video itself was useless too. He also helped the doctor. He transferred all her negative feelings to the culprit. So why not do the same thing to the rich bastards?

I have so many questions about this drama but unfortunately there won't be any answers or maybe there will be a season 2? It seems really as if the writers got out of time or money and they wanted to produce 18 episodes or something like that but had to shorten everything in the end. Really really sad.

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5 Charlotte

October 10, 2023 at 9:40 PM

Thanks @quirkycase. Nice you stuck with this one. It served as a great mind-map when I lost my bearings in the plot. I dove into the first half, enthralled by the intersection of our struggling writer, the lost-in-time Kang-san and the very intriguing novel, "God is Dead". From there it got even better as we learned that Kang-san's weird powers came out randomly and he had no memories of who he was or why he was here, especially since he was sent home from the hospital with a stranger as his guardian: grumpy Dong-joo. This relationship was the prime motivating factor that kept me watching this drama. Yes, learning that the book mirrored the Mystery Murder at the Lake was cool, but my focus was always on the bromance and their connection with the past, as well as their adjustments to living with each other. Dong-joo's choice to submit the manuscript as his and then to brashly keep lying as his book parallel began to be questioned, was a great counterpoint to Kang-San, who insisted on the truth from Dong-joo so he could make sense of the new world he was in. A truth Dong-joo withheld to protect him from the hurt learning about his brother would cause. A great source of tension between them. The drama was alive when the camera was on them and their tentative journey from irascible roommates to a solid trusting 'hyung/dong-seng' relationship. That's what kept me watching. Jung Woo ('Reply' series 1994 and 1988) and Bae Hyun-sung ('Extraordinary You', 'Hospital Playlist') built such a nuanced & strong bond between their characters as the series progressed, that every time there was movement in solving the murder, I cared less about that than how Dong Joo and Kang-san would unlock their coincidental connection to the past and also help Kang-san explore and then control his red-eyed, frozen-breath outbursts. The police were constantly out-played by the villains (Ugh. Although well played by seasoned character-actors we've grown to respect over the years--especialy Ahn Tae-sang as the older detective who had failed his duty to Han-eul in the past). Oh Man-Soek was believable as Kai, Kang-san's older brother, who chose violence as revenge, but finally made amends. THAT was a good ending, but the rest of the last episode added some angst to my heart when Kang-sang's first crush was developing Alzheimer's. Perhaps because the writer just couldn't figure out how to have their ages match at the end? Sad, I liked their relationship. As for the whole police procedural, there wasn't any value-added by including them. Might have been more interesting if instead, the writer kept out their interaction with the police by having the evil pack of high-status murderers try to kill them privately, knowing they can't report them because of Han-eul's past. Again a chance to see this trio in jeopardy and on the run, arguing with each other as they use their smarts and Kang-san's powers to beat these powerful men and deliver them to the police. So...

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Charlotte

October 10, 2023 at 9:41 PM

So all in all, for me, it had a great premise and some unique core relationships, but the drama lost grip of that biggest strength by stuffing it into a detail-heavy tepid murder mystery.

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6 CH

October 21, 2023 at 8:09 PM

great review
but there is something I do not understand
maybe someone can answer me
who murdered director Shin?
and what crimes did Kai commit to end in prison?
thanks!