Plus Nine Boys: Episode 14 (Final)

by LollyPip

It’s time to say goodbye to our plus-nine boys, and wish them well wherever their love lives take them. All four boys have their stories wrapped up in ways that stay truthful to the characters, which is a lovely thing to see; and while they may not all have had the year they hoped for, I believe they have all grown and changed in ways that will bring them happiness in the future.

 
Track 14: “Boys become men”

After fighting with Jae-bum, Jin-gu follows Se-young up to her apartment door, reminding her that they knew this would happen and everything will be fine, but she’s too emotional to listen. She says they shouldn’t do this anymore, and he asks if she truly means that, but Se-young just cries that she can’t even think right now and slams the door in his face.

Waiting for Da-in at the cafe, Kwang-soo gets a text from her simply saying, “I’m sorry, Oppa,” and he runs out. He pounds on her door and yells for her in a terrible replay of their breakup from ten years ago, but she’s not even home — she’s out driving with a sleeping Eun-seo in the car and crying in pain.

Kwang-soo and Jin-gu both wait outside their ladies’ doors in vain, and Jin-gu says in voiceover that breakups are hardest for men, but that’s the moment when boys become men.

Su-ah shows up for Min-gu’s competition, and he takes strength from her presence and goes into his bout with his game face on. It’s the same opponent from his humiliating pooping incident, but he doesn’t let it faze him and he puts up a good fight. But the guy manages to win anyway, and when Min-gu looks up to the stands, Su-ah has gone. Min-gu doesn’t even look upset, just resigned, and he thinks to himself that he failed in his two goals at the same time — the girl, and getting into college.

Kwang-soo tries to find Da-in at the cafe, but it’s closed today. He waits in hope that she’s only late, but she never shows up. He goes to Eun-seo’s school but her teacher tells him that she’s absent today. He sends Da-in a text asking how she could do this again after saying she was sorry for disappearing the first time, and that he’s worried about her.

Jin-gu gets to work to find that Se-young hasn’t come in today, and he goes to their stairwell to call her but her phone is off. Their boss makes a comment that this is why office dating shouldn’t be allowed, because when the couple breaks up one of them always quits. Jin-gu freaks out at the news that Se-young actually quit her job, and he runs all the way to her place, but she doesn’t answer the door or her phone.

Determined, Jin-gu heads back to work and goes straight for Jae-bum’s office, asking him in very formal language to delay Se-young’s resignation approval. He argues her case — that she loves the company and the people and has big dreams, and he offers his own resignation if it’s too hard for them all to work together. Jae-bum stays silent but seems moved, and Jin-gu turns to go but Jae-bum stops him, though we don’t hear what he says next.

Se-young mopes while her friend tries to get through to her, refusing to even eat fried chicken (which is how we know this is Very Serious). Her friend calls her pathetic for refusing to eat and quitting her job, and gripes at her even more when she refuses to answer another call from Jin-gu. She asks if it’s so important what others think — aren’t her and Jin-gu’s feelings important too? Se-young just moans that if your relationship hurts others, it will hurt you too, but her friend counters that love is supposed to be hard.

Ever the supportive sidekick, Young-hoon commiserates with Kwang-soo over Da-in doing the exact same thing to him again. He goes a bit too far, forcing Kwang-soo to defend her. Young-hoon coos sarcastically that it must be true love, and complains that it was nice seeing him happy but now he’ll be gloomy again.

They’re called into the boss’s office, where Kwang-soo’s entire Sponge team is looking upset — oh no. Kwang-soo is told that management wants to cancel the show due to low ratings, and Kwang-soo takes offense that they didn’t even talk to him as the producer. He argues that if there’s a problem they should get a chance to solve it, and his team looks surprised to see him so passionate about their show.

Later in his car, Kwang-soo listens to a radio show where listeners are encouraged to call in to say something they never got to say to their loved ones (DJ cameo by Yoon Sang). He calls in a message for Da-in, wondering if she’s crying somewhere and asking her to call him. He says that he regrets losing her ten years ago and that he was immature, thinking that if he forgot about her he’d find a new love. But ten years passed and when he saw her again, he realized she was the only woman for him. He starts to cry and says it’s okay if she’s late as long as she comes back, and that he misses her.

Se-young still isn’t back at work the next day, and Jin-gu spends the day staring at her empty cubicle and looking through the couple photos from their work trip earlier in the year. He remembers how she talked about her dream of being a travel writer, and he heads out to Da-in’s cafe thinking she may be there with her friend.

The cafe is still closed, but when Jin-gu turns to leave he finds Jae-bum behind him, having had the same idea. They finally sit to talk now that they have a common concern, and Jae-bum admits that when he met with Se-young two days ago he was still furious with Jin-gu. Since Jin-gu hurt Se-young so much in the past, he was worried he’d do it again.

But Se-young had told him that she’d loved Jin-gu ever since then, and Jin-gu seems serious this time, so Jae-bum admits his jealousy and apologizes for his behavior. Jin-gu apologizes in turn for lying to his friend, and in the manner of guys all over the world, Jae-bum just says he hates him and all is forgiven.

It’s Underwear Couch Time again for poor Kwang-soo, but Mom has no sympathy and tells him to take out the recycling and go for a walk. He does, still in his undies, but suddenly he wanders through a cloud of bubbles and looks up as romantic music swells… it’s little Eun-seo, happily blowing bubbles into the wind. D’awww. Da-in isn’t far away of course, and she smiles at him genuinely.

Jin-gu still can’t get Se-young on the phone, and he paces on the roof at work but freezes when he sees Go-eun. He tries to slink by her but she stops him to talk. She tells him that he disappoints her, but clarifies that it’s because he let his girlfriend quit. She says she’s worried about Se-young because she stresses so much (I’ll say), and tells Jin-gu that she still hates him but he should go take care of his girlfriend, and tells him where Se-young is hiding out.

Se-young is currently shuffling back to her friend’s apartment in her sweatpants and looking very, um… unemployed. She gets to the corner and sees Jin-gu waiting near the steps, and there’s this hilarious moment where her eyes dart to the staircase, then his eyes dart to the staircase, and she makes a run for it. But she’s no match for his long legs, and he grabs her before she can get far.

He immediately notices her puffy eyes from crying and knows that she missed him, and he tells her that he talked to Jae-bum and that she’s to show up to work tomorrow. He fusses at her for acting like this and says he doesn’t understand her, but that neither Jae-bum nor Go-eun want to see her in pain and they both understand.

Se-young still won’t look at him so Jin-gu persists, telling her it’s just a rocky start for them. He says he knows she likes him and he goes crazy when he sees her, and he promises he’ll be better. He admits that he was only acting like he knew love, but he thinks he really knows now because even though they fight, he’s useless without her. SWOON.

Se-young finally looks at him, and he tells her they’re inseparable because they’re related search terms, and asks if she wants a hug. He nods her head for her and she leans on him (so cute), getting in a few smacks when he asks if she’s washed her hair, HAHA.

Da-in and Kwang-soo (still in his unders) sit to talk, but he has trouble speaking and only asks if she’s okay. Looking more relaxed than she ever has, she apologizes and promises she’ll never disappear again (Kwang-soo: “Good. It’s a bad habit.” Ha). He asks if she didn’t show up because he was pushing too hard or if his sister interfered again, but Da-in says it’s neither of those.

She says that Kwang-soo is still like a boy, but she’s been married and had a child since they last dated. She says that it’s hard being a single mother and she didn’t want to bring those hardships to him, only wanting to leave him with the beautiful memories of what she was like ten years ago. Kwang-soo pouts at her that she’s more beautiful now than in his memories, and that he doesn’t want only beautiful memories.

He says that at his age he thinks the best thing is someone you’re comfortable with and who accepts the good and bad things, and that she’s that person for him. He says he’s in no hurry to marry her, but asks her to just think about it — even if she needs to think her whole life, he’ll wait.

Min-gu sits alone in a noraebang singing to himself, and hangs his head when the song he sang to Su-ah at the Standing Egg concert (“Yes, You”) starts to play. He sings along, and Su-ah finds him there. They go outside to talk and she tells him that she left his competition because he was struggling, and asks what he’ll do now about school. She correctly tells him he lost because he didn’t train hard enough, being too busy chasing her.

Su-ah says that if he really wants to go to college, to train hard and try again. She says that we have lots of chances in life, and to keep trying and not give up, and she adorably pulls noona-rank when he gets a little mouthy that she hasn’t gotten into college yet either, hee. She tells him she has something other than college that she truly wants, but it’s a secret.

Speaking as his noona who has two more years of failure under her belt, Su-ah advises Min-gu that he doesn’t just have to do what everyone else does and go to college. She says that at first she thought he was weird, but now she thinks he’s a great kid, and wants him to succeed.

Su-ah gets up to leave and Min-gu asks if they’re really breaking up, and she says that maybe after they each figure out what they want in life and become the right people for each other, they’ll meet again. She suggests a cool breakup scene like in a movie, and pulls out her MP3 player. She plays their Standing Egg song for him and asks him to close his eyes and think about what he really wants for his future. She puts in the other earbud for him and hands him the player, and walks away crying. When Min-gu opens his eyes, she’s gone.

At home later, Dong-gu practices his lines (it turns out he got a supporting role in the movie after all!) and even Min-gu has to admit he’s gotten better. His character has a line about going to a bathhouse with his father, and he asks Min-gu if he ever went there with their dad, but Min-gu can’t remember. Mom asks if Dong-gu is curious about his dad, and she motions Kwang-soo to follow her to her room.

She pulls out a box that she’s saved for Dong-gu of her deceased husband’s things, and asks him to be a good uncle and give them to Dong-gu. Kwang-soo says to have Jin-gu do it, but he didn’t come home last night (oh really?). Mom assumes he was working all night but Kwang-soo is all, “PSSHT right, he’s with a girl,” and Mom panics. Way to out your nephew, dude.

Jin-gu blearily answers his phone from Se-young’s bed (rawr!) but Mom doesn’t believe his lies that he’s working. He happily snuggles in again with Se-young, who tries to throw him off because she’s hungry, but I’m on his side — cuddles before food! She tosses him off the bed but he just pulls her down with him, determined to get in all the skinship he can.

Min-gu’s friends fit in a short Spam PPL, and his one friend who always makes the weird food combinations says he’s taking a cooking class. They ask Min-gu if he’ll keep doing judo, and he says he decided that judo is his dream — he wants to give it his all, and try different techniques to get better and learn.

Mom sets the table while Kwang-soo and Dong-gu exchange deep-tissue back massages, and everyone freezes in shock when Jin-gu walks in with Se-young. Se-young looks nervous but Jin-gu couldn’t possibly look prouder to introduce his mother to her future daughter-in-law, it’s so adorable. Kwang-soo only grumbles at being caught in his underwear yet again, HAHA.

Lunch is super awkward until Jin-gu tells everyone to stop staring at Se-young so she can eat. Mom asks about her parents, and exactly nobody will be surprised to hear they own a sashimi restaurant. Mom complains that she didn’t cook anything nice because she didn’t know they’d have company, and when Se-young offers to make eggs, Kwang-soo hilariously orders a couple of poached ones.

Jin-gu tells Se-young not to cook anything and Mom has a fit and goes to make them herself, slamming them down on the table. Mom is a little shocked to see how solicitous Jin-gu is to Se-young, and Kwang-soo gives Mom food attentively too, just in case she’s jealous. Se-young offers to peel fruit, calling her Mother a few times and totally disarming Mom. Soon she’s clapping her hands in delight at her new daughter-in-law.

Jin-gu drags Se-young into his room for some more skinship like the giant cuddlemonster that he is, but when he goes in for smooches she sees Dong-gu giving her the “I’m watching you” fingers from the doorway and shoves Jin-gu away. PWAHAHA. Better get used to bratty little brothers, Se-young.

The whole family sits down to watch a home video, and Min-gu gets home just in time (and is thrilled to meet his new sister-in-law). Mom tells Dong-gu that this video is a gift from his father, and she notes that this was a bad year but they got through it and they even gained a new addition to the family.

The video is so sweet, mostly clips of baby Dong-gu and his daddy, who looks like he was a wonderful loving father. There are still shots of the whole family, including cute nine-year-old Min-gu and a gawky teenage Jin-gu. Everyone laughs and comments except for Dong-gu, who gets quiet and starts to cry. Kwang-soo hugs him while he sobs for his lost father — I’m totally not crying, it’s just really humid in here.

Jin-gu and Se-young go out with Jae-bum and Go-eun to their friend’s restaurant, who all cringe at how sappy they are together and holler at them to quit it (which they don’t, of course). Kwang-soo practices stupid human tricks with his Sponge team, and Min-gu trains at judo harder than ever. Dong-gu runs his lines for his movie and he’s pretty good now, having learned to access his emotions.

Jin-gu narrates that just as we must fall in order to start over, a boy must experience growing pains to become an adult. Mom runs across Kwang-soo playing with Eun-seo and Da-in at the playground and starts to bluster but smiles to see how happy they are, no longer able to maintain her grumpiness about him seeing a single mother. In voiceover, Kwang-soo says that a plus-nine year is a chance to look back slowly on the road you’ve taken thus far.

We see Su-ah with a guitar strapped to her back, bracing herself for a music audition, and I’m not surprised that music is her secret life’s dream. Min-gu narrates that a plus-nine year is crossing a new threshold. We see Jin-gu waiting impatiently until a curtain draws back to reveal Se-young in a bridal gown, and Jin-gu can only stare with the same besotted stare he always gives her when she looks especially beautiful. He narrates that a plus-nine year is just a small hill, where you can lay down your heavy burdens and rest a while, as a broad smile crosses his face to see his gorgeous bride.

 
COMMENTS

It’s very rare for me to be completely satisfied with a drama finale, but in this case I can’t think of a single thing I would change. I feel that all four boys had their stories wrapped up in genuinely truthful ways, and that even though they each grew during the course of the series, they always grew in a direction that was honest to the people they were from the beginning.

Dong-gu’s story never really was a love story with a girl — his arc was more about learning to stop relying on his cuteness, and that he needed to get in touch with his emotions if he wanted to be a successful actor. I love that the thing that pushed him into being a genuine actor started with losing Baek-ji, but really sunk in when he had a chance to mourn the father he never knew. And it’s not that he even lacked for father-figures, because he had more than his fair share of those — but nothing can truly take the place of your father. I’m happy that he got to make that connection and feel that loss, because it will serve him well in the future.

I thought Min-gu handled his disappointment with grace and maturity, and really took Su-ah’s words to heart. Work hard, find your true dream, and don’t necessarily just do what everyone does and maybe someday they’ll find each other again when they’re the people they want to be. I do think they genuinely cared for each other, but they met too soon and were too immature to have a real relationship — and truthfully, their ability to recognize that was a big step in gaining that maturity. I have every reason to believe that some day, if they meet again, they could fall in love for real.

Jin-gu and Se-young — what can I say? Sweetest couple ever. I loved the way they balance each other out, since Se-young is an over-worrier and Jin-gu is a let-me-fix-it-for-you kinda guy. I feel like they can be together and feel safe that what each lacks, the other can take up the slack for, and that’s a rare kind of security that bodes well for a long happy life together. I was happy that they worked things out with Go-eun and Jae-bum in a realistic way… their friends were still hurt and angry, but they were good enough friends to put their feelings aside in order to keep all their friendships. That’s some true love, right there (and maybe it’s just me, but I feel that Jae-bum and Go-eun are far more suited for each other anyway, unless I was seeing foreshadowing where there was none). And I know that no matter how long they’re together, and no matter what they go through, Jin-gu will always look at Se-young with those wonderfully infatuated puppy-dog-love-filled eyes.

But I think my favorite ending was Kwang-soo’s, despite not getting exactly what he wanted. I know what Kwang-soo suffered when Da-in disappeared, and I had to really dig deep to care about Da-in’s side of things. I still think that what she did to him was horrifically hurtful, but I accept that she did regret it and wanted to make it up to him. And while I’ll never understand her behavior in the past, I do get her present fears of not wanting to hurt Kwang-soo again or bring hardship on him in a society that would judge him for dating a single mother.

Kwang-soo had two major hurdles to jump in the course of the drama — getting over his past hurt when it came to Da-in, and learning to meet her on her own terms in the present, instead of rushing headlong into commitment. I feel like he was a bit frantic to “fix” the past and get engaged, as if getting that one step further this time would erase her previous rejection. But he learned that it’s okay to not have her locked down, and that in fact he has more chance of a future with her if he relaxes and lets her come to him in her own time. He was such a different person by the end, and it’s great to see all that pain and anxiety gone from his face. The final scene with him and Eun-seo and Da-in playing was the first time I felt he was truly happy and without worry, even though things are still up in the air with Da-in, and it was wonderful.

Overall I loved this show, even when I struggled to understand the characters (or let’s face it, sometimes to even care about some of them) because they all just seemed so real, and their lives never felt like a script. It really made me think about life and love, which sounds so corny but it’s true, and I do feel like I learned some things about people by watching the show. Plus Nine Boys will definitely go down in my memory as one of my favorites, populated by some of my favorite characters, with one of the most satisfying drama endings I’ve experienced.

 
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