Now who is going to help me fill my Gobin and Mermaid void?

I enjoyed the finale of Legend a lot and it was a nice change after that nerve-wrecking episode of Goblin. Here’s my thoughts on the last episode and the drama as a whole!

I think the drama’s strongest points was in the middle and towards the end where the show remembered the legend of the mermaid and the man, rather than it being just a chaebol story (although I think this chaebol story is fantastic – I’ve not met such a crazy stepmother in AGES!). I liked those bits the most where there’s a melding between present life and the past.

I think the idea of the two lives being reincarnation of each other and yet working on a parallel universe is smart because it allows one universe to affect the other. That being said, I think it’s important to rationalise Ahjussi’s dreams as that of dreams and that the events were not happening on the same timeline as the past – because he was dreaming of the events in bits and pieces (also to increase the viewers’ suspense), it couldn’t have been on the same timeline, otherwise that would be a plothole.

In the last episode, Cheong wipes out everyone’s memories and leaves to recuperate in the sea. I was right that her heart hurts due to the gunshot. She returns after three years, but in the mean time, Jeon Jae constantly pines and remembers someone. Shin Ah prepares to propose to Tae Oh which is hilarious hehe. I like it that Shin Ah remains the same till the end. It’s a minor point but there’s just something about drama finales and sudden character changes which I don’t really fancy. Here, Shin Ah is the same but she’s a lot more likeable, at least to me. Cheong finds her way to the house but Jeon Jae doesn’t recognise her. She wonders if she should return to the sea, seeing how he’s happy without her. In a reenactment of our beloved umbrella-holdinghands scene, Jeon Jae asks her out loud if she wiped his memories then just so she could leave again –> showing that he remembers her and he can still hear her voice. Turns out, he had written every single memory down before Cheong wiped them out and he struggled to remember them everyday. So he has never forgotten about Cheong. Kisses (everyone gets crazy over the french kiss) later, Jeon Jae successfully becomes a prosecutor and moves to a small house by the sea with Cheong.

The finale is typical of a kdrama in that it ties up loose ends which is a contrast with Goblin’s finale where there’s so many life lessons and there was still actual plot. Although I’m thankful for the pleasant, easy-going finale of Legend, I do think that the latter’s finale serves to cement its status as a classic drama – the start to the finish was almost flawless. The two dramas do have a few similarities in that it talks about reincarnation and lost memories, but I also really like Legend and its little rom-com bits. Lee Min Ho as Jeon Jae really stole my heart this time, and I’m so glad for that, because I couldn’t stomach the Heirs the previous time.

I may actually re-watch the middle bits again, just to re-live the funniest moments and the craziest, bat-shit moments.

<3thoughtsramble