Destined With You Episode 11-12 Review: The secret is revealed

* This review contains minor spoilers for episode 11 and 12 of Destined With You.

Last week, Shin-Yu and Hong-Jo’s romance was filled with drama. With Na-Yeon scheming with the mysterious plant nursery owner to break them up by using curses, to Jae-Kyung confessing that he has fallen in love with Hong-Jo himself, there are many potential disruptions to their love.

We also took a trip back to the past, where we learnt that the two of them were truly destined to fall in love with each other. However, in the present day, Shin-Yu and Hong-Jo’s romantic confession scene is interrupted by the return of the bloody hand that once plagued him.

READ | Destined With You Episode 9-10 Review: Curses and heartbreak

Where the story picks up

Shin-Yu backs away in horror, and Hong-Jo asks him what is wrong. He tries to distract her by pretending all is well. They fall asleep together, and wake up to watch the sunrise by the sea. They then run into Jae-Kyung, who has tracked them down.

Jo Bo-Ah as Lee Hong-Jo and Rowoon as Jang Shin-Yu in Destined With You Episode 11-12 Review

The three of them share breakfast, with Shin-Yu and Jae-Kyung lobbing insults at each other. Back at work, Shin-Yu and Hong-Jo’s relationship is still a secret, and he is cold towards Na-Yeon. We also see that a new potted plant has been delivered to Shin-Yu’s office, looking suspiciously like the one Joong-Beom used in his curse spell.

Shin-Yu later talks to Mr. Gong, and suggests that City Hall breaks their contract with the plant nursery owner. We also learn that Joong-Beom’s wife went missing five years earlier, and he was suspected of killing her, but was eventually acquitted.

Karaoke from hell

Hong-Jo is taken out for dinner by her two seniors, who start grilling her on her relationship with Shin-Yu. Shin-Yu joins them, taking one of his subordinates with him. He confesses that he and Na-Yeon have broken up. Hong-Jo’s colleagues are thrilled to learn that he is single.

Destined With You Episode 11-12 Review

Later, they all go to a karaoke joint, where Hong-Jo’s colleagues begin singing love songs to Shin-Yu. He is forced to pick up the mic himself, and sings a love song to Hong-Jo. Rowoon fans will enjoy this moment, as he shows off his wonderful singing voice, even if for a few minutes.

He later sends Hong-Jo home, and she runs into a drunk Jae-Kyung. He wonders out loud why she fell for Shin-Yu and not him. The next day, he feels embarrassed, but Hong-Jo tells him not to worry about it. They appear to reconcile as friends. However, we see Joong-Beom secretly taking photos of the two of them, which he sends to Na-Yeon.

Shin-Yu and the bloody hand

Shin-Yu decides to see a doctor to report the return of his ‘hallucinations’. He meets up with Hong-Jo, and tries to bring up the topic of past lives with her. She tells him that “what matters is the present”, and he asks her to promise that she will never change her mind.

The next day at the office, Hong-Jo discovers that photos of her and Jae-Kyung have been spread on the internet. The photos cause an uproar at City Hall, with everyone thinking that Hong-Jo is dating multiple men.

Meanwhile, City Hall workers digging up a rotting tree discover a human skeleton buried in the ground. Shin-Yu immediately suspects it could be Joong-Beom’s missing wife. At the same time, Hong-Jo goes to survey a mysterious pit in the ground on Mount Onju, and is suddenly pushed in by Joong-Beom.

Ahn Sang-woo as Na Jung-beom and Jo Bo-Ah as Lee Hong-Jo in Destined With You Episode 11-12 Review

Destined to remember

Joong-Beom attempts to bury an Hong-Jo alive, but is stopped by a phone call from Shin-Yu telling him about the bones being found. While unconscious, Hong-Jo has a vision of her past self. We learn that Shin-Yu’s ancestor Jang Mu-Jin was the one who gave her past self the name of Aeng-Cho.

After searching for hours, Shin-Yu manages to locate her. She tells him that she fell in the pit on her own. He then pulls her out, and she has a vision of Mu-Jin trying to pull Aeng-Cho out of a similar pit in the past. At home, she begins to wonder why they are having the same ‘dream’.

Jo Bo-Ah as Lee Hong-Jo in Destined With You Episode 12

The next day, the discovery of the skeleton has overshadowed her own ‘scandal’. The bones were identified as belonging to Joong-Beom’s wife, and he is arrested. We later see that he was released by the police.

Shin-Yu is attacked again

While at the office, Shin-Yu experiences another ‘attack’ by the bloody hand, and passes out. Hong-Jo finds him, and drives him to the hospital. Worried about his condition, she decides to cast the Mind-Body Cleanse Spell. While reading the page, she has a vision of herself as Aeng-Cho writing it.

Shin-Yu returns to work, and is suddenly called to a lunch with his father and the mayor to discuss his wedding to Na-Yeon. Realizing things have gone too far, he calls Na-Yeon for what she thinks is a romantic dinner. He reveals that he has also invited Lee Hyeon-Seo, and that he knows about their affair.

A humiliated Na-Yeon tells Hyeon-Seo that she will take revenge upon Shin-Yu. She asks her father to hire Hyeon-Seo’s company to redevelop Mount Onju.

Hong-Jo tells all

Hong-Jo finally manages to tell her colleagues that she is dating Shin-Yu. Ms. Ma orders that everyone attend a team dinner, and a drunk Hong-Jo confesses her situation, even admitting that she cast a love spell, which they think is a joke.

Jo Bo-Ah as Lee Hong-Jo and Rowoon as Jang Shin-Yu in Destined With You Episode 12

She then heads to Shin-Yu’s apartment, and he lets her sleep in his bed. She wakes up in the middle of the night and touches his face, but has a vision of a dying Aeng-Cho touching Mu-Jin’s face with her bloody hand. The next morning, Shin-Yu wakes up and finds her gone.

He later picks her up after she has visited the shaman. She asks him to join her and watch the snow. Shin-Yu tells her that his father has invited her to his birthday party. Hong-Jo looks distressed, and says she doesn’t want to go because she is worried by her ‘dream’. Shin-Yu reminds her that she once said that only the present matters.

Hong-Jo then asks Shin-Yu if he knew that the bloody hand was really her. We finally see that Mu-Jin stabbed Aeng-Cho in the past in a similar snow-covered field. As she is dying, she tells a sobbing Mu-Jin that whoever kills her will be cursed.

Jo Bo-Ah as Lee Hong-Jo and Rowoon as Jang Shin-Yu in Destined With You Review

What we liked this week on Destined With You

Rowoon and Jo Bo-Ah truly excelled this week with their portrayals of Shin-Yu and Hong-Jo. They really showed just how good their chemistry is together. Even their ‘cutesy’ moments, which in less capable hands might be annoying, are so charming that one can’t help but feel the love.

This week’s episode finally revealed what happened in the past, and shows us a major obstacle to their ‘destined’ relationship. It will be interesting to see how they manage to overcome this new revelation.

Meanwhile, in the other office romance, Mr. Gong and Ms. Ma grow closer together, and their love story feels just as destined as our main love story. We also get more of Jae-Kyung this week, and are introduced to his father, with whom he has a contentious relationship.

While it was satisfying to see Na-Yeon’s affair be revealed, we are worried about what her future manipulations will mean for Hong-Jo and Shin-Yu. And with Joong-Beom released by the police at the end of the episode, we can be sure he will also want his revenge.

Join us in finding out what happens next week on Destined With You!

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