‘The Potato Lab’ Ending Explained – The Happy Conclusion We All Wanted

Everyone knew that The Potato Lab would have a happy ending. Really, it deserved one, and Episode 12 provides it with relish. It wasn’t always a totally smooth ride, but despite the inherent wackiness of its premise, this is a show that consistently delivered in a big way on those most essential underlying components – great characters who feel like real people in a real relationship, existing in a context that at least resembles real life. The more I think about The Potato Lab, the more I feel like this is its secret; for all its eccentricity, it feels true.

I noted in my recap of the penultimate episode that the show was sticking closer to the tropes as it got nearer to the end, and that’s kind of true in the finale in a macro sense, but it still has some nice micro details that aren’t entirely predictable. Fundamentally, the story is about moving on from trauma and distress and finding a way forward, perhaps with the help of someone else, and that’s very much embodied here, with the final episode feeling as much like a new beginning for Mi-kyung and Baek-ho as it does an ending. But it also flips that initial dynamic – Baek-ho in the position of power and Mi-kyung being forced to roll with the punches of her dismissal, various potato-related crises, and eventually big reveals about her personal past – in a fresh-feeling way, suggesting that those new beginnings can be quite radically different as long as you have the right support system around you.

Before all this, of course, there’s the small matter of Baek-ho and Mi-kyung having to kiss and make up. And that requires some self-examination. On the part of Baek-ho, what he comes to realize is that his logical, data-driven approach to everything in his life was a mask to obscure his lack of empathy. Mi-kyung has shown him something fundamental – that people are worth caring about.

But it isn’t that easy to move on from. Mi-kyung needs time, patience, and understanding before she can think about real forgiveness, but they at least make up in the meantime (not that Hwan-kyung necessarily gets that memo). Naturally, this helps them out a bit at work, where potato negotiations turn out to be surprisingly tense and complicated. The Potato Lab Episode 12 is smart here. It recognises how the inevitability of the romance can add a little something to each scene. When Baek-ho is successful where Mi-kyung wasn’t, her excitement almost tips her over the edge, romantically speaking.

The situation is still complicated, though. Mi-kyung’s dismissal and imminent departure add a ticking-clock element, but Baek-ho can’t walk it back because at this point it would seem like a placatory gesture. To make matters worse, and more complicated, Baek-ho loves the aspects of Mi-kyung’s character that have germinated from the trauma that he himself was complicit in. The power he has over her is an outgrowth of trauma. But she’s already said she’d forgive him eventually, so she can’t justify being mad at him in random intervals, even though that’s how she feels, because that’s kind of how life – and love! – works. It’s all very complicated.

But they get there, obviously. Baek-ho and Mi-kyung eventually spend the night together and solidify their relationship, which is all the stronger for the tricky turns it has taken. It’s the exact opposite fate, for what it’s worth, for Hee-jin and Ki-se. That resolution is amicable, but also final, a permanent separation to be followed by an enormous geographical distance for good measure. Both romantic endgames feel deserved – karmic, if you like.

Where the ending of The Potato Lab plays with the formula a bit is in Mi-kyung having a breakthrough success with her research and Baek-ho deciding to quit his job, hoping that she’ll accept an unemployed boyfriend. It’s a very nice inversion of the power dynamic that was established early in the season, and it still persists as we bid farewell to the characters, with Mi-kyung at the lab during the day and grad school at night, and Baek-ho kind of fed up waiting around to see her. The maroo potatoes are a deserved success, and they both manage to find time for one another. It’s an ending, sure, but it feels as much like a beginning: of Mi-kyung’s new career, of Baek-ho letting go of his pathological need for logic and order, of the two of them as a local power couple, grappling with new roles and feelings. Not many shows feel like they might continue apace whether the audience is still watching or not, but The Potato Lab is one of them. I reckon Mi-kyung and Baek-ho will be just fine.