the whole episode was perfect, but right now i just want to talk about two things:

I. sunjae in the (changed) present is an idol, mature, perhaps even a little jaded — but the minute he pulls out that photo of him and sol you can literally see the years disappear from his face — the sheer vulnerability and raw yearning in his eyes as he looks at sol!!! (give byeon woo-seok his flowers for his phenomenal acting!!!)

II. god, the bridge scene was sublime. for sunjae, he's meeting sol after more than a decade of silence, but she's been lingering in his mind (like incense in an abandoned temple) for even longer. for sol, she risked life and limb in the past to meet him, only to be catapulted into the present without the solace of seeing him, finally reunited with him even though it's the one thing she wishes he wouldn't do. you can see her terror and profound relief, twinned in her eyes. you can see the complex mathematics of their relationship — the delicate interplay of nearness and what poet and activist audre lorde calls 'the marvelous arithmetics of distance:' you can see that space, those fourteen years of separation collapse in on themselves with sunjae's "it's been a while (i missed you)," and sol's "yes, it's been a while. (i missed you too.)" you can see the exhausted gratitude and deep affection radiating from sunjae's face when sol says "i was waiting for you" and he realizes it's HIS sol, the one who protected him, chased after him, cared about him. she's it for him — the only girl he's ever loved.

the moment is so beautiful it seems suspended in honey — a little slow, a little sweet; unbearably tender: exquisitely painful.

The way you forget he's a grown man now, and see the same 19 yo Seon Jae again in that moment--reminds me of the scene from the original timeline where he's asked about his first love, and you can just see how his face lights up as he recounts that day.

Their reunion scene at the bridge will be etched in my mind. The way he doesn't move and just stands still behind Im Sol, waiting for her to turn to make sure it indeed is her, squinting his eyes a little, and once he does, he still doesn't move because he's trying to make sense of what is happening. trying to make sure, with his breathing uneven and emotions on overdrive, if it is real. Just how many times had he imagined and rehearsed their reunion in the last 14-15 years?

what's actually insane about all of this is that, before Sol went back to the past, the story of SunJae's first love was bittersweet simply because there was no real interaction between them. She had no idea who he was before he was an idol, had no idea he even existed, he just stared at her from afar, walked everyday behind her to the bus station to go to school without talking to her.

A childish crush, in a way, like many have had in their teenage years, but it turned super sad and tragic, when he saved her and she still forgot all about him and yelled at him on the hospital and later on a phone call that hundreds got to listen to.

*crying*

And what breaks my heart is that he still smiles about it. He still remembers fondly that day, he re-lives it when he tells the story, describing what he felt in that moment. Despite everything, he holds that memory close to his heart. He never let it become a sour one.

The look of longing.

YES!!! also omg poor Sol was way more scared of Sunjae being there than of the shady truck

HIS FACE WHEN HE REALISED!! I loved it. His future self never figured it out, because Sol left before his theories could actually make sense, but this Sunjae had it all (actual confession by her and a little push from Taesung) to know what was ahead.

OMG!!! HE'S CRAZY!! like yeah this confession is out of this world, just shows how devoted he is, how IN LOVE he is, how much he prefers to have her by his side, for whatever time they can have, rather than be apart from each other BUT he's also quite literally crazy, because dude, there's a really BIG chance (like you have already died twice chance) you'll end up dead and you don't care! Not at all. Amazing.

That was just so cute. And finally a kiss they both will remember lol

P.s. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I'm gonna lol Because I just have a really bad feeling about the future. The last timeline was basically the best outcome there could have been(not to mention Sunjae didn't actually die). Why would that be the second to last timeline? Why would that be the second best? I think it's gonna end up being true that Sol made a careless decision in going back in time before she could make sure about how things were gonna turn out. I think this isn't, somehow, the last trip to the past or there's a twist coming up.

Also there's this:

Why would they show us a glimpse into the future if we are still in the past? In the happy past, may I add. Idk, something's fishy...

“Because you said to call back only when there’s a corpse”

For once, I want to protect you.

So warm, yet so cold. So harsh, yet so kind. I can't figure him out. I thought I knew him well, but I don't think I do at all.

Why did you think I'd accept the presumptuous demand to abandon Hong Hee Joo? Why are you dragging my person into this?

A hero can’t get over a beauty.