I am so pleased Way back love ended well and although it was incredibly difficult for them both, they got to be a couple and say goodbye. It really was a gentle reminder that Heewan didn’t need to suffer anymore and to rely on the people who could be with her for the rest of the journey.

I liked the sunbae being a new addition to Heewan’s friendship circle. I wonder if experiencing death of a loved one means being able to see grim reapers in the future or is it something unique to the circumstances of the sunbae’s loss. I loved the way she was doing her best to separate Ramwoo from Heewan😆.

I was also glad that Ramwoo’s dad’s wife finally accepted that the best way to deal with a cheating husband is to deal with him rather than harassing the mistress and mother of his child. Especially as she didn’t knowingly choose to date a married man.

This was a great mini series, a bittersweet tale that captured the deep sorrow by telling a realistic story despite using fantasy elements.

this was lovely. it is a must watch!

The overall tone of this short show can linger with you for a surprisingly long time, given it's short run. They captured grief, it's fallout and affect on the living so well. I was thinking if Hee-wan saw Ram-woo as a reaper at all, or if it was a metaphor for grief as a whole and he was just a part of her imagination - it wasn't, as we saw him chatting with his fellow reapers, but just as a thought. Lost loved ones often sort of manifest in a way when you're grieving.
Her sunbae being able to see a reaper can mean what you often experience as a grieving person - you recognize each other. When you try to explain what it means to you to lose someone often the only persons you can connect over this are people who have lost someone themselves.
I love how you can take the story as the story, but also at least parts of it as a metaphor.

Aristotle described catharsis (purgation) as the effect of true tragedy on its spectators. In the space of 6 episodes, WBL has accomplished that feat, as we laughed and wept with our protagonists - one dead, one dying - alongside others who were left behind in the devastating aftermath of loss.

Watching the last episode on Maundy Thursday was especially resonant. There were so many wrenching moments. So many. (ok, I lost a lot of body salts) But at one point deep in the quiet of the night, I heard myself make a strangled gasping sound, like an animal gutted. A sound of bone-deep pain (when I mistakenly thought she would not be able to push past her despair when she lost him a second time, and commit suicide).

Despite the heavy topic of coming to terms with survivor guilt and grief, this show was so charming. It sounds contradictory on paper, grief and charming at once, but this show made it work, I was amazed. And Kim Minha and Gong Myung were so endearing as the leads. ❤️ They made me laugh... and they made me cry... and when they both cried, I was a puddle. Also each time we switched to the present and I saw lifeless Heewan, my heart ached for her. I was glad when she reconnected with Ramwoo's friend who told her that he is missing Ramwoo as well, that she is not the only one grieving (and showed her that it is possible to live with it and turn it into something meaningful)... and then when she met Mom who saw Heewan's extreem guilt and told her not to think like that.
But then I have to admit the show felt a bit rushed (unsure about the final choice?), I wanted to see a smoother decision of Heewan to stay in our world (I thought that's what they were slowly building up to with the meetings?)... and I wanted to know more about Sunbae. So, while I found the first 4 episodes perfect, I missed this perfectness/smooth flow in the finale. It is still a show I liked a lot and I'm glad I watched it.

It was a great show!

For these 2 episodes, I knew the mother will be the same great mother who helped Hee-wan. If Hee-wan needed to hear she wasn't guilty, I think Ram-woo really needed to see his mother happy too.

Their dating time was cute and knowing it will have to end made it sad at the same time.

It's not really clear if the writer followed her own rules by making Ram-woo disapear. I think it would make sense he could save Hee-wan but had to loose something in return.

I'm not sure I liked the fact Yeong-Hyun could see Grim Reapers. I think the story could have worked without it and just with a sunbae who wants to help an student. But it's quite funny to watch her trying to ignore Ram-woo.

I wish to see the friends reunited but it was nice to see she reconnected with them.

In general, I really liked this drama, its message and the actors. Gong Myung and Kim Min-Ha did great and I liked their chemistry. I liked the continuity with her calligraphy.

Thank you, @sailorjumun, for the recaps. Even this last recap made the waterworks start up again. A beautiful, poignant little show that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you for the recaps. I am glad I got influenced to watch the show. It made me think about a few things.

First, the reaper who got too close and disappeared--isn't the eventual process of letting go in death to become part of the universe or some cosmic oversoul? The "getting involved" meant that the person was helped and the business on earth was resolved. The reapers discussing it didn't see it that way because their deaths were traumatic. Ram Woo is going to be watching over Hee-wan--but eventually we're all going to disappear. At least from this world, I know a lot of people believe in a life after death.

But we do leave behind a trace, in what we did and how we are remembered in this life. This was well captured in the metaphor of handwriting. Handwriting is not quite as individual as a fingerprint, or teeth, or DNA, but it is left intentionally. In Ways of Seeing, John Berger talks about why he loves oil paintings--because you can see the gestures of the artist. By turning Ram Woo's handwriting into a font, Hee wan makes his individuality immortal. (In Korea, a country that invented metal moveable type and has the oldest wood block printed sacred text.)

The combination of humor and grief in this drama reminded me of people I have lost, albeit in my 20s and 30s. One friend we lost very suddenly to a brain aneurysm. When I think of him, I think of his silly jokes and singing. Thirty years later I still have access to feeling sad about his death because he was so very funny.

Whether there is or is not a true "life after death" or reincarnation or heaven or cosmic oversoul... we can keep alive what was essential and ultimately individual in how we think about the person.

I can only join the chorus in praising the little show that could. Yes, a few wobbles at the end, but its finale stayed true to its message. We love. We lose. We keep living.

(If I could have changed anything, it would have been instead the unnecessary chaebol son storyline, and spent more time instead on the areas shortchanged.)

I am now a fan of Kim Min-ha. I was charmed by her high school portrayal, and her grief, ah, it just hit me in the solar plexus. Brava.

Just Beautiful.
Thank you for the lovely recaps sailorjumun.

I waited to binge-watch this rather than watch weekly, and overall, I loved this premise -- grim reaper is your first love who secretly loved you back and you spend your last week together -- and squeed over Gong Myung and Kim Min-ha's romance, but imo the story would've been perfect if some plot points were rewritten.

1. I can't believe nothing happened after Ram-woo's confession at the end of Episode 3. That was the sweetest confession ever. She was crying, he was crying, it was the perfect moment for them to kiss and start dating after. Then for Hee-wan to realize all those things on his bucket list were things she wanted to do with her future boyfriend. This would've made a perfect cohabitation drama. I so wanted our grim reaper to move into her apartment.

2. Ram-woo's cause of death was nonsensical. The whole point was how romantic it'd be to see shooting stars together just the two of them. Why would Hee-wan send him to the observatory by himself, and why would he agree to go? Can the winner bring a guest because he asked if she wanted to come, which at least they would be alone away from their friends? During this show's promos, I was the opposite of everyone thinking it'll have a sad ending. To me, this is totally a happy ending -- he's dead, she's dying, so they can be together forever! I know Ram-woo's goal is for Hee-wan to move on and live happily, but I'm actually sad that she didn't die.

3. I hated the clairvoyant sunbae who conveniently can see reapers because she was the deus ex machina, but when Ram-woo kept insisting Young-hyun watch fireworks with "someone like Hee-wan," he knew she would attempt suicide anyway. It's like Final Destination, but would Hee-wan have killed herself in the first timeline if she hadn't spent the week with him? That foreshadowing about the reaper who disappeared as punishment for saving his sick daughter would've been the perfect twist. If Ram-woo had been punished for intervening in Hee-wan's death, he shouldn't have been able to reappear on the rooftop.

4. I hate when best friends like the same girl, but I was really put off by Hee-wan dating Hong-seok after Ram-woo's death. Ram-woo constantly watched over her like when he held the umbrella for her as she sobbed in the rain (aww!), so did our poor reaper know that she dated his best friend? Hee-wan was so depressed that she could barely leave her house, so how could she have immediately gotten into a relationship? I liked the concept of Ram-woo helping Hee-wan reconcile with people in their past (Hong-seok, his mom) and really wished Tae-kyung had stayed in Korea.

Lastly, I squeed at Krystal's cameo. My Habaek reunion! A big thanks for recapping Way Back Love, @SailorJumun!