May I Help You (Season 1) Episodes 15 & 16: A cocktail of romance, drama, and thrill, the K-drama ‘May I Help You’ came to a fantastic climactic end last week. As the show proceeded to close a plethora of open threads, it left a soft, heartwarming feeling in the heart of its audiences. The 16-episode drama has been created in the magic realism genre and boasts of an enticing storyline rife with layered emotions and well-rounded characters which are sure to stay with the viewers long after the story has ended.
Before we get going about these episodes, let’s catch up with the previous ones. So far, Joon Ho’s murder case seems to be coming to a close as Baek Dong Ju and Tae Hee have started to doubt if the drunk truck driver was actually the killer. Also, Dong Ju and Tae Hee are swiftly falling in love. Chung Ha (Tae Hee’s ex-girlfriend) is out of the picture, and lastly, Dong Ju is only left with 2 dead people whose wishes she has to grant before moving on.
May I Help You (Season 1) Episodes 15 & 16 Recap:
Episode 15
Episode 14 ended on a high where Hae An was trying to strangle Dong Ju as he was scared of being exposed to the murder. As this episode begins, the same scene continues where Hae An is trying to strangle Dong Ju with his hands. But immediately after, his grip loosens as Tae Hee walks in on the scene. An exciting chase sequence follows, and ultimately Hae An reaches a dead end on the terrace of a building. As he draws a parallel between himself and his father, who killed his mother in the same fashion, he also realizes the umpteen mistakes (read: crimes) that he has committed over the last few years. He thinks it’s best to end his life by jumping off the building, but he is saved by Tae Hee, who later hands him to the police.
At the police station, Hae An meets Dong Ju and apologizes to her. Upon knowing that his brother could hear his words when he was in a coma, he feels ashamed of telling him to take the blame and die soon. In guilt and regret, he gives himself in and informs Dong Ju of the memory card from the camera inside the truck on the day of the crime. Dong Ju finds the card, which has clear footage of Hae An at the scene of the crime, and she hands it over to the police. Hae An is sentenced to prison for 14 years.
Tae Hee meets Joon Ho in a dream sequence where Joon Ho convinces him that it wasn’t his fault and he should move on in life, thus bringing closure to the primary murder mystery angle of the story. Tae Hee, Vincent, and Dong Ju spend a lot of quality time with Dong Ju’s father making kimchi together, whereas Baek Dal Sik approves of Tae Hee as her daughter’s boyfriend. Dong Ju also finds out that her father is working as a guard. Towards the end, she decides to go back to live with her father and study for the civil exam, but on the condition that he quits his job, to which he agrees.
Episode 16
Just when you think that the K-drama is out of all shocking revelations and plot twists, Baek Dal Sik (Dong Ju’s dad) dies in an accident while trying to save the life of a pregnant woman. Dong Ju is very devastated, but she still wants to send off her father on her own so she can see him in his final moments. Also, he is her last ‘client.’ The father-daughter reunion lasts for hours on end while Tae Hee keeps watching from the door. They reminisce about their happy days together, he makes her hair just like he did when she was young, but most importantly, he asks her to stay happy.
Dong Ju comes back home with the Father (of the church, who is also her maternal uncle), Tae Hee, and Vincent. They help her while she tries to bring her life back on track. The first order of business that she executes is sending out the ‘kimchi’ that she made with her father to all the people she knows in order to spread the love. Her father has also become a local ‘hero’ and is applauded for the noble act that he did (saving the life of a pregnant woman). She fleetingly mentions the same to Tae Hee that he should also be saving lives.
This acts as a trigger, and Tae Hee goes back to the hospital where he rightfully belongs to work as a doctor. Vincent gets a call from an investor who will help him expand his business. And Dong Ju herself goes to work as a funeral director because she realizes she is meant to send off people happily. So Ra and Il Seob start dating. It is a happy ending, after all.
Episode 16 Ending, Explained
In the last episode, Dong Ju asks the Father of the church about the secret behind her hands. Meaning how could she talk to the dead? Her actual father also calls Dong Ju ‘a miracle child’ before he leaves for heaven. The drama puts this last loose end together in the most fascinating and magical way possible. The Father is shown to be looking at a scrapbook with news clipping on it.
The story behind it is that several years ago, there was a fire in the Bongsu Electrics building in the Bongsu market. 21 people were killed in that fire. The building had all the people that Dong Ju had met in the funeral parlor after they died- one by one. There was also Tae Hee, his pregnant mother and grandmother, and this is the place where his hand had gotten burnt- the mark that he has to date (which confused Dong Ju in the first episode as well).
These people who were hurt and killed in the accident were taken to a hospital, and on the same day, a miracle child was born. This child was Baek Dong Ju. Consider it as a universal miracle or a destined plan from above that Dong Ju was anointed to fulfill the last wishes of the people who shared her place of birth (hospital). After her last dead client- which was her own father- Dong Ju never met anyone in the powder room. She had fulfilled her destiny. But comically, the ‘gift’ was passed on to her colleague, who started seeing the dead.
Also, in the end, our protagonists meet again- very much together, very much in love.
She helps the dead. He helps the living.
It’s a match…made in heaven!
