Crushology 101: Episodes 11-12 (Final) » Dramabeans

Crushology 101: Episodes 11-12 (Final)

by Unit

If jumping into conclusions was a sport, our lead couple would be gold medalists. Misunderstandings, wrong assumptions, and mini angst color the final lap of their journey, as our campus romance comes to an end. But happily ever after is the goal, and we’re headed there whether they like it or not.

 
EPISODES 11-12

Our final week resumes with Jae-yeol’s arrival at the airport after Hee-jin’s departure to the U.S. The duo then proceed to forget about helpful inventions like cellphones, email, social media — or even letters — because they’re obviously not desperate enough to communicate with each other. Tsk. Hee-jin returns to Korea a year later, and her friends are curious about her relationship status with Jae-yeol. But one year incommunicado means the relationship is over, right? Besides, they’re not in the same department, and they won’t run into each other again. Right? Wrong!

Hee-jin and Jae-yeol find themselves in the same class after registering for the same elective. A flustered Jae-yeol ignores Hee-jin, and she assumes he has moved on. She contemplates dropping the class because she thinks her presence makes him uncomfortable — but when he learns she’s dropping the class, he assumes she doesn’t want to be around him. Jae-yeol decides to drop the class to spare her the effort, and Hee-jin’s “he cannot wait to get away from me” assumption deepens. It also doesn’t help that she overhears him telling his friends that he’s not interested in dating someone on campus again.

While Hee-jin and Jae-yeol are out there dropping classes and playing ping-pong with their future, Ji-won returns to Korea. Worried that he came between the unhappy ex-couple, Ji-won tells Jae-yeol that he no longer has feelings for Hee-jin — and that Jae-yeol has always been the only one for Hee-jin. To put this assertion to the test, Show finally brings Hyun-oh into the plot to shake things up. It’s a little too late for that, but whatever.

Hee-jin runs into Hyun-oh when he’s sharing gym fliers for a friend, and she recognizes him immediately as her former nextdoor neighbor and first love. She’s happy to see him, and while they’re hanging out, she learns that he’s the one behind the “I want to spend Christmas together with Hee-jin” note on the confession tree. I knew it! Turns out their families spent Christmas together while they lived next door to each other, and he was just reminiscing. So, nothing romantic, right? Because the platonic vibe between these two is very strong.

Hyun-oh invites Hee-jin to his photoshoot for an interview with a university magazine — and Jae-yeol is present at the shoot because he was also selected for a feature. The shoot hilariously turns into a peacock mating ritual where both guys spread their figurative feathers to impress Hee-jin. So embarrassing. Jae-yeol proceeds to crush his crush’s heart when he tells the interviewer that he’s single and wants to focus on work for now. And while Hyun-oh admits that he’s also single, he says there’s someone who captured his heart. Unfortunately, said someone is not even looking at him.

After the interview, Jae-yeol and Hyun-oh get tickets for two to ride hot air balloons on the Han River. Hyun-oh immediately asks Hee-jin to go with him and she agrees. A disappointed Jae-yeol is so lost in thoughts on the ride home that he forgets his bag in the cab, but he doesn’t forget to ask his new best friend, Ji-won, to accompany him to the balloon ride. Heh. It’s funny how Jae-yeol’s former rival in love is now the wingman who encourages him to get the girl from his new rival.

Our two idiots-in-love finally have a conversation after Jae-yeol wrist-grabs Hee-jin before she gets on the balloon ride with Hyun-oh. Jae-yeol explains that he got some opportunities (most likely from the contest) that kept him busy after Hee-jin left, and this helped him understand how she felt about the scholarship opportunity. He tells her she made the right decision to leave, and he would send her off better if he could turn back time. But it’s already in the past.

Unfortunately, all Hee-jin hears is “the past,” and she assumes Jae-yeol wants them to leave their romance in the past and move forward as friends. *Facepalm* Then she goes ahead to be disappointed all by herself because she thought he would ask to get back together. Girl, you didn’t even let him finish his train of thoughts before jumping into conclusion! Sigh.

Moving on to non-romance matters, Jae-yeol realizes his external hard drive — that contains footage from a commercial project he and Dong-ha are working on — is in the bag he forgot in the cab. Hee-jin opts out of a date with Hyun-oh to help a panicked Jae-yeol search for the cab driver. The search takes our idiots-in-love outside of Seoul for some countryside shenanigans that involves Jae-yeol saving Hee-jin from getting splashed with water, and changing to ahjumma floral patterns. Heh. Jae-yeol admits he missed Hee-jin a lot while she was abroad, but the cab driver’s arrival cuts the conversation short. Jae-yeol gets his bag back and they get a free ride back to Seoul.

Hee-jin goes to clear things up with Hyun-oh, but he has always known that she’s still in love with Jae-yeol, so he’s not really affected. Hee-jin then goes on to say she used to think he (Hyun-oh) was her first love, but now she thinks it’s actually Jae-yeol. *Rolls eyes* It’s bad enough that my boy wasn’t a serious love interest after advertising his character as such — on the freaking poster of the show! — but y’all went further to snatch his first love title to give freaking Jae-yeol? Ugh! *Begins prayer circle for casting directors to arise and find a leading role for Hong Min-ki*

When the newest issue of the university magazine is released, Hee-jin read’s Jae-yeol’s real answer to the interviewer’s “are you single?” question. No, he’s not single because “he wants to focus on work.” He’s single because “he’s still waiting for his girlfriend who left a year ago. He lost her because he wasn’t good enough, but now he knows that he likes her a lot.” Our idiots-in-love finally have a romantic reunion, clear each other’s doubts about their feelings, compete for who likes the other more, and then kiss.

As the drama winds down, Jae-yeol makes up with his mom, and Mom meets Hee-jin’s parents. Ji-won begins an internship at his grandfather’s company — and there’s romance brewing in the air between him and Hee-jin and Bo-bae’s other friend. I didn’t see this pairing coming, but I don’t mind one bit. Bo-bae debuts as an actress, and she’s still going steady with Dong-ha. Jae-yeol and Dong-ha are already landing jobs, and Hee-jin is taking active steps towards a career in commercial art direction. In the meantime, Jae-yeol and Hee-jin bask in their campus romance, and the drama ends on a sweet and contended note for everyone.

Our delulu show is over, but it should have been an 8-episode drama if we’re keeping it real. I didn’t expect much from the drama, and it absolutely delivered on the nothingness front. But the last-minute Jae-yeol and Ji-won bromance was surprisingly fun, and I wish the show spent more time with them as friends rather than rivals. Overall, Crushology 101 was an easy way to pass time and it was fun while it lasted. The show is going into my brain’s recycle bin until the end-of-year Bean Count — after which, it’s most likely getting the permanent boot. Sorry, not sorry.

 
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