Summary
When the Phone Rings crosses the T’s and dots the I’s in a finale that provides all the payoff fans were expecting.
Allow me to spare you the suspense – When the Phone Rings has a happy ending. For a long time, it was easy to suspect it might not. So many twists and turns – including plenty in the penultimate outing – suggested that perhaps the family drama surrounding Hee-joo and “Sa-eon” was too much to unpack, and a happily ever after was too much to ask for. But Episode 12, the finale, has other ideas.
This is largely one of those closers designed to cross the T’s and dot the I’s. It’s not the place for radical swerves and surprises, which probably explains why there were so many in the previous episode. This is about resolution, giving fans the emotional payoff that they’ve been craving. In that regard, at least, it performs exactly as advertised.
Sa-eon’s Mysterious Disappearance
It’s a slightly more complicated road than expected to the eventual, inevitable happy ending.
The real Sa-eon is shot dead by the police during the stand-off that ended the penultimate episode. But as you’ll no doubt recall, the kidnapper whispered something in fake Sa-eon’s ear that threw him for a loop, and in the aftermath of the event, he donated all of his money, quit his job, and left without saying a word to Hee-joo.
Despite Sa-eon having been by Hee-joo’s side during her recovery, or at least part of it, she knows nothing about where he might have gone or why and is left depressed and confused by his absence. She sits around at home hoping that he might return at any moment, and everything she hears – like that he met with In-a secretly before he went – only makes the situation weirder.
Months later, Hee-joo gets a call and some mail from a country called Argan, and through Sa-eon’s assistant, she learns that he fell in love with the war-torn country while stationed there and had a favorite haunt where he’d watch the sunsets. It’s as good a lead as any for Hee-joo, and she sets out to find her husband.
The Truth Behind Hee-joo’s Brother’s Death
In classic Hee-joo fashion, she almost gets herself killed by rebels immediately after arriving in Argan, but in classic Sa-eon fashion, he comes to her rescue, even if he’s a little dismayed that she didn’t get on with her life and leave him to his humanitarian efforts.
Of course, Sa-eon has been hiding because of what the real Sa-eon told him before he was gunned down. Most people guessed what this would be since there weren’t too many viable options. To confirm, though, it was that Grandpa Paik had arranged the accident that killed Hee-joo and In-a’s brother. He had seen the real Sa-eon’s face, so Paik took a scorched earth approach.
This was why Sa-eon met with In-a at their brother’s grave, where he was paying his respects. But she wasn’t too concerned, and neither, it turns out, is Hee-joo. Sa-eon can’t be held responsible for someone else’s actions, and he can’t continue to punish himself in a dangerous country for the rest of his life. Sa-eon and Hee-joo reconcile, do the no-pants-dance, and decide to get remarried. Sa-eon isn’t Sa-eon, not really, and he wants to change his name to something else so their union can finally be legitimate.
Do Hee-joo and Sa-eon End Up Together?
The answer to the big question of whether Hee-joo and Sa-eon end up together is an obvious one – yes, of course they do.
Sa-eon changes his name to Yu-yeon. He returns to Korea and announces both the change in his identity and his marriage to Hee-joo. There are no secrets between them any longer, and, as symbolized by Yu-yeon finally eating seafood with his adoptive father, no trauma holding them back. They’re free to be together.
In voiceover, Hee-joo and Yu-yeon wonder what their lives might look like if they had shared their true feelings earlier, which is an idea that When the Phone Rings has returned to multiple times. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Everything happened for a reason, and every bump in the road led them to the right place. What they went through showed them their true feelings and the strength of their love, and they’re more happily married for it.
How The Ending Of When the Phone Rings Ties Up The Loose Ends
Of course, When the Phone Rings isn’t entirely about Hee-joo and Sa-eon’s marriage, and Episode 12 provides solid conclusions to some of the other matters that have been brought up other the last few episodes.
Kyu-jin is arrested for her crimes and sentenced to life in prison. She howls when she learns of Sa-eon’s death and appeals for the death penalty. It all seems pretty richly deserved to me. Ui-yong is also punished, and upon his release gives an apologetic press conference claiming no knowledge of what his father was really like.
In other good news, though, Sang-woo and Yu-ri are also getting married, giving both main couples their respective happy endings.
