This is actually a little earlier for the final Hangout as episodes 39 and 40 have not aired yet. However, maybe that is OK since most of the previous hangout was pre-Olympic hiatus.

The Mother and the older brother are absolute garbage, Lord help me!!!

The mom has always been self absorbed and evil, but Do-sik is far worse imo, he has enabled and justified his mothers disgusting behaviour for decades knowing full well that his younger siblings have been her biggest victims, he continues to defend her for no other reason other than "She's our mother"

Wow. The speed with which Ma-ri and Do-joon’s story accelerated almost gave me whiplash. Ma-ri confronted him over his (no doubt shocked) non-response to her confession- and he admits that he likes her too- but then has go on to explain that he is in no position to support her. He never even graduated from his studies, after all. Mari is not buying it but he is right- for the moment. Yes, Mari has money but Do-joon refuses to be a kept man. Good for both of them. They do not realize it but in fact they are beginning to work out how a marriage between them could actually work and are already establishing the dynamics of that relationship.

But before we celebrate the evolving love story between Do-joon and Mari there is already a storm on the horizon: Mari’s parents had a real scare, causing her father to think about Ma-ri’s future and just like that the possibility of Chairman Gong wanting to adopt Pilseung has become a real possibility, now that Jindan has disqualified himself.

The spectacular beginnings of the Fall of Jindan made so much of what came before so worth it.

Ji-young(Do-ra) is right! She should focus on her career first, so that she can establish herself anew in the entertainment business. I cheered when she left but sighed when she didn't confront her mother about the things she did in the past. Baek Mi-ha's shrieky scenes really hurt my ears!

In episode 40 we were treated to a very sweet scene where Do-jun and Ma-ri become a couple. Did anyone notice how differently Ma-ri was dressed for this- no little girl style clothes or hair ornaments- her hair in a single braid, etc. She looked like a beautiful young woman- which is what she really is.

But now comes Jindan’s babydaddy – who has decided- with help from Jindan’s momma- that Ma-ri is the problem. Uh-oh. Just as things were going well….

Chairman Gong’s announcement that he wants to adopt Pilseung is had an unexpected effect- but instead of Ma-ri being killed by Jindan’s babydaddy it is Pilseung who is hit saving her from the car Babbydaddy is driving.

Just like that this show is clipping right along again like it did in the first third of the show.

OK, since we need a few more curveballs just to keep things careening along let’s try a few more things- how about a pool on the next developments? I am putting my money on Pilseung waking up and not remembering Do-ra.

Why not? After all we already have Do-ra’s mom suddenly being ‘remembered’ by her adoptive Grandmother as Grandma’s daughter Dong-Dong. Did I mention that Do-ra’s mom is gambling again?

Well, after ep 39, I was ready to fully embrace the writer's vision. Do-ra out of that cursed house, her clever decision to hide the truth about her memories from certain people, and her wrestling back control over her finances. Great stuff! It only took 39 episodes, but we got there! But ofc, Mi-ja has to weasel her way back in, in the grossest way possible, can't leave Do-ra in peace for too long now 🙄

But, in a sense, it works. Do-ra and Mi-ja's story is the heart of Beauty and Mr Romantic, more than Do-ra and Pil-seung. Do-ra has never once been an idiot throughout this story - she's always been clever, assertive, strong-minded, and assured of what she wants. But her obligations to her mother, and family, kneecap her, and prevent her from having any perspective. Her entire journey so far has been about the effort & vigilance it takes for a young woman to have any kind of freedom in this world. Mi-ja isn't a calculating or smart villain - she's pure impulse. She's terrifying because her belief in her right to her daughter's body is absolute, comes as easy to her as breathing. And ofc, she doesn't expect the same of the boys as she does of Do-ra, because a pretty young woman is a more easily-exploited financial asset. It's easy for Do-shik to get on his knees and beg Do'ra to forgive Mi-ja, because he got to live an easy adult life on Do-ra's money. It's like, bro, your mother was *objectively* pimping out your sister. There's NO coming back from that. Do-ra was arguably a prostitute even before her mother's demands pushed her into official sex work. Where I fall on this show ultimately depends on how it handles this plotline. I don't care about Pil-seung and his obnoxious families (not you though, Ma-ri!), but where Mi-ja ends up is really going to decide whether this show has been worth it or not.

My KBS station posted it may be 2 weeks before last chapter episodes will air (if I stick it out). Your recent comments paint a picture of train wreck of a story going over a rotten, wooden canyon trestle. The writer's sudden character story and personality reversals are a lazy way to create faux drama.

I doubt if Pilseung will betray his foster parents by agreeing to an adoption. It would not change his status to Mari. And Jindan's dad killing Pilseung or Mari would no affect on Gong's intention to adopt Pilseung. There is no logical cause and effect in that plan. Is this the writer’s redemption plan an attempt to lighten Dora’s mom’s gold-digging schemes?

I gave up on everyone in Dora’s family, including the younger brother who should have not gone along with the lies for sake of Country Grandma (who was just filler but continues to get more screen time) instead of getting her the medical help she requires. It would seem this weekender’s lack of a true romantic couple is forcing Mari to pick up that major plot hole. Mari deserves better than being associated with Dora’s family of leeches.

Lost on everyone is the ticking time bomb that would crush Dora’s career: her actual identity revealed to the public. Recall, Mom only paid back the loan sharks not the normal people who were owed a lot of money. In Korean cancel culture, the story would be fashioned that Dora ran away to get cosmetic surgery to avoid her creditors and lied to the public about her true identity when she made her “comeback.”

So we had to wait over 25 episodes to see some of the original chemistry between Do Ra ad Pil Seung at the end of ep 41, and boy, didn't it remind me of how good their chemistry was and why the drama in the first place. But it really went off the rails in the middle, by ditching their selling point in favour of screeching, hair pulling and repeat button on annoying villains. Well, I've gotten this far, let's hope it ends well with the home stretch.

By the way, the Do Ra has one thing in common with Pil Seung now: abandoning their bags when in shock. How did she suddenly get her handbag back in the hospital?

Just skimming the comments here. So if I start rewatching this weekender from about EP38 I should be on the safe side of not getting royally annoyed about the extreme stereotyping in this drama? I might miss some details but maybe, once I have watched it to the end, I do decide to take the step into the middle ground. I stopped watching at EP 27 or so.

I lost my theoretical betting pool- Pilseung did not get amnesia.

At least we are getting a true side romance with Do-joon and Mari. Of course, Do-joon’s mom objects (she didn’t know that Mari is rich) and tells Mari that she is not good enough for Do-jun when Mari meets her to try to reconcile mother with son. And we get that wonderful moment in episode 42 when Do-jun meets a crying Mari as she returns to the house- and reminds her that he has promised to stay with her forever. Do-jun has spent a lot of time with Mari- enough to understand her real value is her beautiful heart (and honesty). He understands in short that theirs is not a one-sided relationship- Mari really brings something very big to that relationship (and I am not talking money) and actually has a lot to give.

Do we really have to have Do-ra’s mom back to gambling again- and stealing from Grandma to do it? And could we not have left her in the dark as to Ma-ri’s family for at least a little longer? You can just see trouble coming.

And now Jin-dan knows that Do-ra is Do-ra. Great, just great. More trouble.

Just a shout out here to Lee Il-hwa, playing the downtrodden (but not blameless) biological chaebol mother of Pil-seung and Ma-ri here in this drama. She also played a downtrodden (but blameless) chaebol mother in Chief Kim...

But in No Love No Gain she's a spunky, energetic chaebol mom to Lee Sang-yi, no less. With her winged eyeliner and love of online content, she's so awesome. If I didn't like the rest of NLNG, I'd watch just for her. Go and see if you haven't!!

Also, if you've not seen Run On you can also go over and see Cha Hwa-yeon play someone so MUCH less detestable than Mi-ja, you might not even recognize her. Again, not a blameless mother (to Im Si-wan), but a delightful and fully-rounded character.

My two-cents' for promoting excellent actresses in this drama...but for their work in other dramas in this thread!

Episode 43 has Mija's gambling addiction striking again with first her theft of two gold bars from Grandma (worth about $22 K apiece) and then her taking about 170 K from Mari. Dora has ended up covering the money she got from Mari and she has been arrested for taking the gold. Is it too much to hope that this is the last we see of her other than perhaps back in prison?

This time she hurt her youngest son who was genuinely happy to be dating Mari (and understanding the need to take things very slowly). Now he is out of a job and forbidden to see Mari.

Meanwhile Jindan goes ever further into madness.

As episode 44 ended the inevitable has happened: Thanks to her mom Jin-dan found out that Do-ra is Do-ra- and carefully timed the release of that information to coincide with the very moment when she was walking down the aisle at their wedding (exactly as I expected). She and Jindan have successfully ruined Dora again (and hurt Pilseung too). But this is almost an encore: Because of her gambling addiction she had first destroyed the romance between Mari and Do-joon.

Can Mari find a way to get them back together? It cannot be Do-joon who does it because her family has effectively checkmated him, and he knows it. What does the writer have in mind here? Anything?

Can Pilseung clear Do-ra’s name?

I thought Mi-ja was under arrest for stealing Grandma’s gold? Why is she on the loose? Why isn’t she back in prison already?

Mija (Dora's mom) is about the most despicable character I've come across in a long while, with not a single redeeming quality. And that's saying something when the show is full of greedy, manipulative, self-centered, insecure, ridiculously-behaving women (PS's mom, PS's grandmother, Jindan's mom, Jindan's aunt). Only JY's grandmother and Mari think of others, while the others seem to be incapable of empathizing or looking at the situation from someone else's perspective. I wish the show had another sympathetic female character to balance out the show's extreme female toxicity, such as a close friend to Dora/JY.

I finally saw the post-Olympic weekend reset. It confirmed the worst of all aspects of the show.

JY/Dora taking Country Grandma's money for a new apartment and paying off Jindan is really no different than her mother's fraudulent borrowing. JY/Dora has her memories and knows she is not related to Grandma. But she plays to the old woman's mental loss to personally benefit. She takes her money under false pretenses; it is a clear case of financial elder abuse.

The obsessive selfish behavior of characters remains unabated. Jindan refuses to take NO to mean no (in the break-up with JY). Likewise, PS refuses to accept JY's position that she does not want to date him after dumping Jindan. The only chemistry between the leads is like the chemical reactions taking place in a compost heap. Dora's mother continues her rampaging, screaming, entitled blood sucking of Dora's career earnings as a matter of a right of motherhood. Enough.

And just is bad is the continuing screeching, goat fainting stupidity of adopting an adult for the sake of the family line/business. Chairman Gong was once a beacon of kindness and reasonableness but he was thrown into the stupidity blender. He does not have to adopt PS to give him half of the company. Korea's inheritance laws says a person can give half of their estate to a non-priority (family) member. Family members have a right to inherit 50%. Gong's plan to give the company 50-50 with PS and Mari can be done simply by a will. K-drama writers' misstatements of legal principles is not dramatic license.

After the last couple of episodes, I think Pil Seung and Do ra shouldn’t get married. He’s too absorbed with not making the same mistake again, that’s it’s become his own obsession.

I started this drama fully aware of it being a ridiculous Korean telenovela, it was a train wreck though a thoroughly entertaining one. Now the writer dialed the entertainment down to below zero and the wreck is what remains. I hope for the finale Dora and PS can separate for good so that Dojun and Mari can be together.

Tell me the Korean press is not this bad? I mean, it’s one thing to wait outside the wedding venue’s doors to ambush interview the bride, but to really stop the wedding while the bride is walking down the aisle just to shove the mic on her face is the worst behavior in th world! Then add the throwing of eggs to someone already in front of you for the presscon, when she already said that actually took her life before, even if that person hasn’t even stolen public funds to deserve such treatment. It’s even worse than the paparazzis who drove Princess Diana to her death.

It was so hard watching the drama in ep 45 because part of me hated the despicable press, excessive shouting, and also how PS and Dora don’t talk back to the press to have some conscience after all they’ve done.

Well, that was the worst. Did anything happen in episodes 45-46? Or did something need to happen with every line? I think there were about as many lines as scenes.

New characters showing up as clear plot devices...old characters saying tired things, sparking thoughts like, "Oh, that's right Myeong-dong exists." I swear that actress has spent the last 15 weeks showing up to work in order to sit behind that low table in the set that is that living room with the direction to frown, nod and say the same line each episode, "Mom, be quiet!"

The only saving grace was Jin-dan dancing and sneaking around like some sort of silent movie villain.

We are now through 46 episodes. Do-ra has now been cleared- but no one wants to hire her? At least any of the people who might want to sue her for breach of contract no longer have grounds, so that is something.

Jin-dan knows the truth about his birth secret.

Her father now knows that the attempt on Mira's life was murder for hire.

I suppose that all this is mostly positive but what will the writer give us for the final four episodes?

So this weekend's episodes were: 1) Do-ra and Pil-sung were able to convince the fake sponsor to show himself; 2) even after the press conference of fake sponsor, Do-ra and Pil-sung are still under attack; 3) CEO Gong found out that Mari was targeted; 4) Jin-dan's mother finally tells him that gigolo is his birth father; 5) Do-sik also abandons his mother; 6) Pil-sung's grandma is putting together some clues that their tenant is Jin-dan's father. Will wait for the results next week: What will Jin-dan do to hide his real father? What will CEO Gong do when he learns that Jin-dan is connected to all that's happening to his family (specially Mari's accident)? When will the press stop hounding OTP?

I think I may tap out on this one after watching 41/42. It is the same story spinning its muddy wheels on the edge of a cliff. There is really no difference between "good" and bad characters. Example, both Jindan and PS cannot take NO for an answer. Both are extremely possessive and controlling with Dora/JY (JD gave her money; PS gave her jobs). They refuse to give Dora/JY any breathing room or her own agency. They constantly try to guilt her into liking/staying with them.

PS parents were against PS adoption but then in the next scene, they abruptly change their mind. There must be a gas leak in the house. And the misinformation and outright lies about the effect of an adoption (It's just on "paper') is unfathomable. And the medical errors egregious: ruptured intestines prognosis has a 30 percent death rate, and to survivors, a 70 percent complication rate. You are in ICU for days or weeks to monitor infection but PS is out of hospital after a day or two like it was a scratch to a superhero. Unbelievable.

And JY allowing her mother to prey on Grandma by allowing her to live with them is criminal. As I said before, I am extremely bothered by JY taking Grandma’s generosity and money under false pretenses. It is no different than her mother scamming others. And it gripes me that JY can put a lot of energy in time finding the sponsorship actor but never once thought about finding Grandma’s real family (she knows all their names).

Reading the comments on future episodes leads me to conclude that the writing does not get better and the show continues to screech of self-absorbed selfish madness. The leads have zero chemistry or mature discussion to get married; if they had a spark it would ignite the gaslighting into a massive explosion (which would be a fitting end to this drama).

When the paralyzed Do-ra fell out of her hospital bed with a dull *THUD* , what did they expect us to do with that information?

The penultimate episodes have aired. I liked a few things and disliked other things.

Things I disliked. The fall of Jin-dan was great but having him simply go crazy was not. Did we need to see Do-ra in the hospital? I also disliked the idea that Pilseung could now descend into the same level of rage as Jin-dan and now be seeking revenge. Why did Jin-taek simply give Jin-dan’s mom a bag of money as bait for Jin-dan- but not apparently alert the police? Whatever happened to the smart and rational businessman that he was through the first two thirds of the show? He used to be almost as much the voice of reason as his daughter Mira, who obviously inherited the faculty from him even if she is somewhat impaired. This is simply stupidly irrational: If he has adopted Pil-seung for the sake of both Mira and his company why let him go commit a serious crime?

Things I liked: Do-shik telling his mom that she should stay in jail. I would have to say that jail really is the best place for her and worth the cost to the taxpayer to keep her from doing more harm.

Also, I liked Do-shik standing up to Jin-taek on behalf of his little brother and Mira: Making it clear that Do-joon really likes Mira and that they have cut ties with their mother.

Also- Mira returns to her role as the voice of reason, both in asking Pilseung’s dad to forgive her dad (and volunteering to be his daughter too). But even better in finally getting her parents to acknowledge that Do-joon is not at all like his mom- and that they are only separated at her parent’s command because she knows that Do-joon really does like and care for her and she for him. If you listened carefully, you also heard her note that marriage is potentially on the horizon. The single sweetest and most poignant scene in these episodes was the moment when Mira comes through the door of Do-joon’s apartment and embraces him- that is how we learn of their agreement. Do-joon was so moved that he was about to cry.

I did not think the writer could dig a bigger hole of nonsense but this show is all about nonsense.

The scene where the police show up to the apartment to investigate Grandma’s missing gold missed the mark at every level. JY filed the complaint as the “granddaughter” (under a known false ID). The police arrive knowing that Dora’s mom pawned the gold for money. She is a convicted felon and now a thief. The detectives would have interviewed every member of the household, including Grandma, about the crime. They would have easily found that Grandma’s dementia has allowed non-family members into her house to take advantage of her since Dora’s brothers would have had to shown their IDs. (This is the basic plot of Parasite). A background check of Grandma’s real family could have shed light on her real family members and the elder abuse. But no, Baek is released from the police station with no even a wrist slap. The show makes the police and viewers incompetent, or the only conclusion is that JY/Dora continued her own identity theft to protect her real family more so than Grandma’s well being. It is a disgusting proposition and an immoral result.

Then, at a blink of an eye, there is a marriage ceremony that defies common sense. PS’ insane logic that the only way to protect Dora is to marry her? Despite her own reasons not to, she submits? It makes Joseon era bossam proud.