Editors Note on Conclusion of Miss Ripley

It is always sad when the guy doesn’t get his girl. The story of Miss Ripley is based upon real facts, so the typical ending to most dramas in which the lovers are able to find each other and live out their lives together is not present here. So what meaning can we give for the way things turned out?

First of all, we can only speculate on how this all turned out because we cannot see beyond the picture painted by the screenwriter. The canvas is left uncompleted and open to speculation, and, to be honest, a sequel if desired. As much we may want a happy ending, it isn’t forthcoming because the circumstances
around which the drama is built aren’t happy ones. There has to be maturing on the part of Jang Miri, and we do get a glimpse of this in her letter to her mother. She needs time to sort out all of the details that shaped her life in the past, and without this maturing she will never gain joy and fulfillment in her future.

Jang Miri has destroyed chances for many people. Her actions have destroyed entire careers, but there are positives here, for she has also shaken her family out of their complacency and privileged attitudes. The greatest losses that she has inflicted have been upon her lovers, all three of them. Yes, I include her first love because his love, though unwanted, has been real. He learns the hard lesson of when to let go.
The manager is motivated to resume his career as a doctor, the most natural place for him to be.
The greatest loss is inflicted upon Song Yoo Hyun. He not only loses because of Jang Miri’s connection to his step-mother, but he also loses a portion of his respect and trust in his elders. His whole world is shaken from top to bottom. Miri’s needs completely blind him to the love for him that Moon Hui Joo possesses. It is hoped that he finally finds a love much deeper and lasting than his love for Jang Miri.

Jang Miri inspires others to love her because of her ability to be a chameleon. She is a different person toward each person she touches. She also possesses a form of innocence because she is still a small girl inside. Children are survivors. They use their charm to disarm those around them. It is a natural, God-given, survival gift. In a childish adult this gift can get distorted into the habit of manipulation without regard for other’s feelings and no thought to the consequences of their actions. All is self. Miri absorbs other’s energy and resources in order to survive. She swallows up those around her, and her childhood friend will need to make a break at some time so that she can realize her own true potential.

I am personally left with a hope that all of those who were touched by the woman portrayed as Jang Miri found their way to a better life, and that she was able to regain trust in her mother and trust in people. She deserved hope for a future with a man that she could love and respect.

I want to thank our own Park Yoochun and his fellow actors for their honest betrayal of a deeply moving issue in our world society. Yoochun, you are a class A actor. Your portrayal of Song Yoo Hyun was magnificent.

Credit: Momma Cha @jjyjfantalk