ORANGE MARMALADE - EPISODE 12 (FINALE)

Q: Why are they smiling? A: It didn't end like 'Big.'

All things must come to an end, but at least they did it well:

All of Jae Min's memories come back in a torrent. When he realizes his connection to Ma Ri, he takes her hand and parades her down the halls at school. It gets around school that Shi Hoo is a vampire, and Shi Hoo decides to leave class so he can find some peace. Jae Min thinks about everything and decides he wants to reform the band. Soon, the parents hear about two vampires in school and petition the board to transfer Shi Hoo. Jae Min and the other students go to bat for him.�

Meanwhile, Orange Marmalade manages to find an audience,� but not before experiencing discrimination from other performers on a TV music competition and from the music producer initially. The band holds a guerilla concert in front of the fountain where Ma Ri and Jae Min made their wishes come true. The music producer, seeing this, signs them, and they cut their debut single. Netizens' reactions are mixed, but the positive comments give them hope, and they continue to hold concerts by the fountain each week and grow their audience. Shi Hoo almost gets fired from the store for being a vampire, but giggling fangirls coming in to ogle Shi Hoo (and buy stuff) change the manager's mind. Soon, more vampires are outed, and eventually the vampires enduring punishment are released, culminating in a tearful reunion between Shi Hoo and his mother. Eventually, Ma Ri and Jae Min have a picnic, her drinking blood and him eating toast with orange marmalade. As they lean in for a kiss, Jae Min's voiceover reminds us they're just a bit different.��


Ma Ri briefly considers poking His Laziness in the eye before opening her drink.

As a love story, I think it took way too long to get to the point, with some artificial contrivances thrown in their way. I'm aware it's a drama. More to the point, it's a romance, and you must have obstacles thrown in their way otherwise the show can be lacking in suspense. But for a love story to be successful, you need it to be halfway believable. It just seemed like Jae Min pursued the loner only to go back and forth about whether they could be together. How about the families' approval? Or maybe the families themselves don't get along? Maybe one of them moves away? I think the romance was a bit better in the Joseon Era.

Speaking of which, I miss their saeguk sequence. While it was jarring at first, I quickly got into the characters, who were more fleshed out and more animated. The characters were usually a bit stiff and 2-D in the modern times. At least we got a motivation for Ah Ra, we learn more about our main couple, a bromance between Shi Hoo and Jae Min, and you had a cool good v. evil vampire story on top of that. Now I almost wish they had finished there, and maybe quickly flashed back to the modern era with a montage at the end?� I dunno. Maybe that wouldn't have worked so well.


"And I'd like to thank Red Bull and soju for giving me the courage to perform tonight..."
�
A sweet ending overall. Everything ends up all right, and it gives you hope that vampires will find a place in this world. It's almost eerie how this emulates the U.S. civil rights struggles in the 60's, the resistance to desegregation, and the strife that still exists today. But the show has a positive message: if you persevere and rise above it all, then things will turn out alright in the end. It's nice to see the vampires settle into society pleasantly. If you look at Ma Ri's parents, for example, you'll find decent people, fangs or not.

I think, largely, it was a good drama, with a great message. It wasn't an amazing ending, but it did pretty much tie up all the plot threads and nothing was left dangling. I just wish it was a little more even. Still, not a bad run at all.

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