Heartbreak & Healing
Episode 12 of Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol begins with Joon bursting in the doors of Lala Land and standing teary-eyed in front of Ra-Ra. She too struggles to hold back tears as he walks over and holds her. Taking Ra-Ra out on his bike, they pedal down by the shore as Ra-Ra continues to cry. She claims to be super happy to see him though and Joon can’t help but crack a smile while she holds him. Together, they head up to their usual hang-out spot where Ra-Ra stops crying long enough to let him know what she’s been up to. As the two connect again, Joon apologises for deceiving her and tells Ra-Ra he originally ran away from home because he had enough of everything. From his grades, overbearing family and his pre-written career, he had enough and just had to leave. The reason he didn’t want to say goodbye to her before is this was the last thing he said to Ji-Hun before he died. Meanwhile, Seung-Ki continues to pretend being Joon, hiding under the covers until the secret is revealed and Yun-Sil realizes Joon has deceived them all. With Yun-Sil demanding to know the truth, Joon eventually rings and tells her he’s on his way back soon. Meanwhile, Ra-Ra admits that she knows everything from the past about him now. She even remembers how Joon looked at her back then. Joon eventually admits the truth to her and goes on to admit he can’t stop thinking about her. Just before he kisses her, Ra-Ra pulls away which prompts Joon to leave. He’s not too beat up about it though but makes her agree not to forget their original promise to one another. Back home, Yun-Sil agrees to give Joon back his phone. Joon has also decided to focus on his studying but wants to carve his own identity. This includes studying math over medicine. He struggles with nose bleeds too while Ra-Ra settles back into her role at the academy. Through all of this, Joon and Ra-Ra continue to talk. Joon even talks to Mr Kim too, who uploads his piano playing in a message for Joon to watch. When Ra-Ra falls off her bike, she believes her life is over. Eun-Seok chuckles, reminiscing about old times between them. Just then, Joon bursts into the room after Ha-Young informs him what’s up and he races over to make sure she’s okay. While he and Ra-Ra talk, Joon’s Mother continues to ring. Ra-Ra notices too and her smile quickly dissipates. Because of this, Joon doesn’t show up to a family dinner which causes his Father to become furious. He knows who Ra-Ra is but Yun-Sil does her best to calm him down. In order to do that, she contemplates whether to head up to Eunpo herself. News of this reaches the salon, with Sook-Kyeong doing her best to stick up for Ra-Ra. With all the ladies ready to jump in if things go awry, they don disguises and watch from afar as Ra-Ra appears, out of breath and slightly late. Yun-Sil admits that she doesn’t like her but goes on to reveal exactly why she’s so protective over Joon. Ra-Ra promises to help her get Joon back on track and hands over an envelope full of money – money that Joon lent her all this time. After handing it over, she heads back home with Sook-Kyung where she admits she sold her car in order to pay him back. On the back of this, a happy and euphoric Ra-Ra takes Joon out for food. They have a great time on their date, with the pair sitting by the shore and holding hands. When Joon heads off to get her a bike, Ra-Ra’s true feelings are felt and she struggles to hold back tears. When Joon returns, Ra-Ra is gone. She’s left him a note though wishing him well in the future but unfortunately breaking up with him. She wishes Joon well and tells him to focus on his work and grades – just as Yun-Sil asked her too. As we flash back to the moments of her writing this, Ra-Ra lets her tears flow freely. As Joon reads the letter, he promises to see her again – while Ra-Ra is not so hopeful things will work out. Once again Eun-Seok and Ra-Ra sit on the swings chatting. This time though he has a canned drink for her instead of ice-cream. He admits that he’s seen her before at her graduation recital. He was burnt out and miserable back then, relying heavily on sleeping pills. On his way the recital, he heard Ra-Ra playing the piano and couldn’t help but chuckle at her improvisation; she was the one person who made him feel happy. He tells her how grateful he is and tells Ra-Ra he’s rooting for her. It turns out he was the real Dodosolsol online persona all along! We then cut forward 6 months. Ha-Young and Seung-Ki sit with the ladies in the salon and brief them on a new business plan. They’re looking to use their college tuition fees for this but the women are understandably not happy with this. Meanwhile, Joon finds out that Eun-Seok and Ra-Ra are getting married – today in fact. Joon is shocked and races up to Eunpo to find out what’s going on. Eun-Seok and Ra-Ra exchange rings in the church and begin walking down the aisle. Suddenly, Joon bursts in and sees them together. He grabs Ra-Ra by the hand and races out the church. Mr Kim is happy to see it but the rest are completely shocked. During the epilogue, Si-A shows up late at the church, just as Joon races off with Ra-Ra.
The Episode Review
Wait, what? How did Ra-Ra and Eun-Seok fall in love and get married just like that? The 6 month time jump is good but it all feels very rushed for Ra-Ra and the contrived marriage. It’s a shame because the moments before-hand established her and Eun-Seok as good friends with a lot of respect for one another. At least that’s how I interpreted it anyway. Now that they’re married, it destroys that dynamic somewhat. I appreciate that the drama is throwing these last minute twists in for dramatic tension but personally I just don’t think it works that effectively. Still, we’ll have to wait and see what ramifications this has on this show going forward. In the meantime though, Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol continues to remain a warm, enjoyable k-drama!
