Destined with You season 1 episode 9 recap & review

Open Go TV / September 21, 2023 / Reviews

The ninth episode of Destined with You reveals Sin-yu and Hong-jo’s past connection and sees Sin-yu accepting his feelings for Hong-jo. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

When Hong-jo is examining the site where Onju’s fireworks festival is supposed to take place, the lights go out and someone follows her. Hong-jo ends up running into Jae-gyeong. The lights come back on, and Hong-jo never finds out who followed her.

Mr. Gong goes to Ms. Ma’s house on the day he is supposed to go on a blind date. His shirt gets ruined. He never makes it to his date, but he does embrace Ms. Ma. Later, he continues to try to get close to her, and his efforts make Ms. Ma happy.

Meanwhile, Sin-yu has fallen sick and is in the hospital. His mother finally finds out about his illness. Like Sin-yu, Hong-jo is also sick, and Jae-gyeong brings her medicines. She asks Jae-gyeong why he was at the park earlier, and he tells her that he was working. Hong-jo is still scared and cannot sleep at night because of nightmares.

Sin-yu does not wake up for two days, but his doctor tells his parents that it is a temporary TIA and that he will recover soon. Hong-jo gets better, but when Sin-yu does not come to work, she starts worrying about him.

Sin-yu finally wakes up and sees all the messages that a worried Hong-jo sent him. When she finds out where he is, she comes to meet him. This time, she is the one doing all the things that she had asked him not to do.

Someone clicks photographs of them together and sends them to Na-yeon. It turns out that Na-yeon had asked the garden owner to follow them around and take their photographs. The two of them have been working together.

Na-yeon also gives him Sin-yu’s pajamas. He is planning something, and Na-yeon is ready to help him. She then meets Sin-yu and acts like her usual self. She tells him that Hong-jo cleared all her misunderstandings, so she is no longer upset.

Hong-jo is worried that the curse might have been the cause of Sin-yu’s sickness. With Sin-yu’s permission, she gets the wooden box from his house. She reads about the love destruction spell in the book of curses and realizes that whoever hung the straw doll must have cast that spell.

She meets Eun-wol to ask her whether she believes in spells or not. When she does not get a satisfactory answer, she decides to cast another spell to check if spells work.

Sin-yu had earlier told Hong-jo that he was going on a trip after getting discharged. He also said that he would not go if she stopped him. Hong-jo attends the fireworks festival and calls Sin-yu to stop him.

Sin-yu asks his parents about past lives, and instead of going on the trip, he ends up going to the festival. He hugs Hong-jo and tells her that he loves her. Hong-jo thinks that the spell she cast worked, but that does not matter to Sin-yu, who knows what he feels for her.

The scene shifts to Hong-jo and Sin-yu’s past life. In their past life, Sin-yu was the governor’s son, and he wanted to run away with Hong-jo. The next scene shows a few men carrying a child to the shrine that Hong-jo was responsible for getting demolished in her current life.

A young Sin-yu wants to meet his sick mother, but he is not allowed to do that. His mother dies, and Hong-jo, who has the power to see people’s future, comes across Sin-yu crying all alone. She tells him that his mother left him a letter, and Sin-yu finds the letter in the place where Hong-jo said it would be.

Sin-yu reads the letter and finds out that he was not allowed to meet his mother because she was scared that he might catch the disease. His mother wanted him to know that she loved him. After that, Sin-yu and Hong-jo meet again, and with time, they grow close.

Sin-yu chooses to join the military, but before that, he asks Hong-jo about his future. Hong-jo knows that he will be haunted by the Red Hand in the future, but she does not tell him anything. Sin-yu then leaves to join the military and returns years later. Although they have both grown up, they are still in love with each other.

Review

The development of Mr. Gong and Ms. Ma’s relationship is quite rushed in this episode. It is as if the writers wanted to wrap it up, so all their past grievances were abruptly forgotten.
On the other hand, Sin-yu and Hong-jo’s romance is sweet now. In the previous episodes, it was quite funny, but that is no longer the case, as Hong-jo’s feelings have changed and Sin-yu understands his feelings better.
The fact that Na-yeon had hired someone to stalk Sin-yu and Hong-jo does not come as a surprise, as it was quite expected. However, Na-yeon working with the garden owner is surprising and it does create a sense of foreboding.
While the depiction of Hong-jo and Sin-yu’s past lives is nothing extraordinary as of now, Hong-jo’s powers could make the story of their past lives exciting.