Destined With You Episode 16 Recap and Review: The South Korean fantasy romance drama, (이 연애는 불가항력) stars SF9’s Rowoon and Jo Bo-ah in lead roles. The supporting cast also includes Ha Jun, and Yura. The JTBC series is directed by Nam Ki-hoon and written by Noh Ji-sul.
The series revolves around Lee Hong-jo (Jo Bo-ah), a civil servant and Jang Shin-yu (Rowoon), a lawyer who come face to face under unexpected circumstances. Hong-jo is revealed as the owner of an old wooden box that has been sealed over 300 years ago which contains a forbidden book that has a connection to Shin-yu. He is suffering from a mysterious illness and its cure lies in the book. Soon, they both realise that the key to saving Shin-yu from the curse is in the hands of Hong-jo. Amid the same, a romance blossoms between the two.
As for the cast, Jo Bo-ah recently starred in 2023’s Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 as Nam Ji-ah whereas Rowoon starred in 2022’s Tomorrow. Also, Ha Jun starred in Missing: The Other Side Season 2 as Shin Joon-ho and Yura previously played the role of Chae Yoo-jin in Forecasting Love and Weather. Destined With You airs on JTBC at the 10.30 PM slot on Wednesday-Thursday.
– Destined With You Episode 16 Review Contains Spoilers –
Destined With You Episode 16 Recap
Mr. Na goes towards the unconscious Hong-jo, only to learn that she was pretending to be drugged. Hong-jo reveals that Sam-sik confessed about the plan and she purposely came to get Na arrested. Hong-jo sprays mace in his eyes and runs out of the cave. Meanwhile, Shin-yu and the cops arrive at the cave and see the two missing. Shin-yu understands where Na would take her to and he asks the cops to follow him.
Meanwhile, Na knocks Hong-jo and takes her to the same spot where he previously dug a pit. Over there, he ties a red string connecting both of their pinky fingers and says that they will “soul marry” each other when the full moon rises. He feeds her poison and decides to end his life so that they both can be together in the next life. Thankfully, Shin-yu and the police arrive. They arrest Na and send Hong-jo to the hospital.
Hong-jo recovers and Shin-yu’s parents visit her. When Shin-yu’s father denies their relationship again, Shin-yu opens up about the Shaman, Eun-wol’s dream about a girl daughter that he is going to have with Hong-jo. This startles them all and Shin-yu’s father subtly accepts their relationship.
After all the chaos settles down, Sam-sik meets Hong-jo and discusses how he failed to tell the cops back then about Na’s vileness despite knowing it was he who killed his wife. Sam-sik tells Hong-jo that if he goes to jail, the small boy U-ram will have to go to the orphanage. Back in the office, a viral video of Nayeon pouring wine over Hong-jo goes viral. Everything that happened in the hotel, that is, the story of Nayeon forcing her ex-boyfriend Min-ho to kiss Hong-jo, trends. This causes a buzz in the City Hall.
Hong-jo doesn’t thank Min-ho for sharing the video since he failed to save her in High School. She acknowledges it and lets it go. Shin-yu gives his resignation letter to the Mayor who yells at him to not quit. Shin-yu mentions the ongoing ruckus regarding Nayeon and that’s when the Mayor finds out about the video. At the same time, Nayeon meets up with Hyeon-seo and asks him to marry her. He insults her and mentions that he won’t marry a bully.
Also read: The Kidnapping Day Episode 9 Recap and Review: The Girl Who Wants It All
Nayeon finds the viral video and tries to contact Min-ho but he doesn’t pick it up. Nayeon visits Hong-jo at her place and starts bashing at her. Just then the police arrive and arrest her for being Na’s ally. At Shin-yu’s office, Jae-kyung comes and asks him to be his lawyer for an important case. The next day media covers the wrongdoings of the Mayor and Hyeon-seo and it is understood that Jae-kyung has blown the whistle.
Jae-kyung states about the illegal issue and the bribery. Shin-yu gives appropriate evidence and gets Jae-kyung safely out of the mess. Jae-kyung and Hong-jo meet and the former tells her that he is going to the Blue House as many politicians have approached him after the case. After some days, Hong-jo’s colleagues Ma Eun-yeong and Gong Seo-gu get married. Wook decides to quit the law firm and join Shin-yu’s mother in the film.
At the film set, Shin-yu’s father brings a fan truck for his wife and supports her. When Sam-sik gets into trouble with the police, Shin-yu decides to be his legal lawyer so that he can save him. Jae-kyung moves out and tells Hong-jo that he regrets not accepting her confession. She says that love is a collaboration of timing and destiny and that one will soon come his way. They both bid farewell.
Soon, Shin-yu buys the entire house and moves into the first floor along with Hong-jo. When Shin-yu’s parents and Eun-wol come for breakfast, they urge them both to get married but they state they aren’t ready for it. Eun-wol says that they will soon have a daughter but Shin-yu replies saying Hong-jo isn’t conceived.
Shin-yu’s mother makes an announcement that she is pregnant and they’re going to have a late child, making Shin-yu choke on his food. Shin-yu and Hong-jo visit the beach where he looks at the sea and asks her father (metaphorically) whether he can have her hand forever. He proposes marriage and they get engaged.
The couple bury the spell box at the place it was found and thank it for making them meet each other. Time-skip, we see Shin-yu and Hong-jo happily walking together in a field. The episode ends revealing that in their past life, it was Mujin (Shin-yu) the one who buried the spell box so that 300 years later, their re-incarnations could meet.
Destined With You Episode 16 Review
Finally, the series has come to an end and as expected, it closed on a happy note. Mr. Na is arrested, Nayeon’s real face comes out, the Mayor and Hyeon-seo’s fraudery is charged, Wook finds his passion, and Shin-yu’s parents reconcile. Additionally, Seo-gu and Eun-yeong also get married. Shin-yu and Hong-jo take their vow and are off to the next part of their lives.
Something about the episode that bugged me was Hong-jo’s plan to go to meet Na alone. After knowing the real deal, she should have informed Shin-yu and planned the act along with him. Yes, she called in the cops but why didn’t she ensure the police arrived on time? She definitely should have said to Shin-yu about her idea rather than risking her life again and again. This habit of Hong-jo is irritating, to be honest. Apart from this, the series had all the needed romance and conclusions. Sadly, Jae-kyung ended up alone (as expected). Unlike him in his past life, in his present life. though he is a man who works for money, he does follow moral principles.
Destined With You is a good series but it can be watched only once. There isn’t any wow factor that makes this drama a comfort series. Rowoon has acted brilliantly given this is a big project for him. Jo Bo-ah, as usual, aced her role.
The fantasy drama is now streaming on Netflix. Let us know your thoughts about it in the comment section.
I agree on the foolish attitude displayed by the leading lady end number of times in the series. Other than that enjoyed watching the series and looking forward to Rowoon challenging his acting talent in various types of roles.
In the last scene, it didn’t look like he was burying the book. To me, it looked like he was retrieving it. Like he was planning to use the book of spells?
The last scene where Sinyu is seen holding the book confused me, it looked like he got it but then it would make sense if he’s the one that buried it since Honjo already died and the box with both the books was in possession of the royal troops initially is the scene shown of her death so I don’t know….
I felt that the series had a good plot but the script was not up to the mark, I didn’t find the series very engaging. Rowoon and jo boah have aced their roles, and acted brilliantly, but their characters were not built properly. Some of the supporting characters were simply exasperating.