Breaking Down the Romantic Ending of Can This Love Be Translated?
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Can This Love Be Translated?
Interpreter Joo Ho-jin (Hometown Cha Cha Cha’s Kim Seon-ho) may speak four languages, but it doesn’t make understanding Cha Mu-hee (Resident Playbook’s Go Youn-jung) any easier. When the two first meet in Japan’s Shonan area in the first episode of Can This Love Be Translated?, they have feelings for other people. By the series’ end, they have fallen in love with one another. But it takes more globetrotting, the emergence of a split personality, and Mu-hee starring in a dating reality show with another man for the two to finally get on the same page.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Can This Love Be Translated? is the latest romance epic from the Hong sisters, the legendary K-drama writing pair that behind hits like My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Hotel del Luna, and Alchemy of Souls. They worked on that last one with Go, who stars here as an actress with a traumatic past who becomes famous overnight. Swept up in a maelstrom of fame, interpreter Ho-jin becomes her confidant. Let’s break down the romantic ending of Can This Love Be Translated?, and how Ho-jin and Mu-hee eventually find their way into each other’s arms.
Romantic Trip’s romantic locations
While the connection between Ho-jin and Mu-hee transcends its setting, the gorgeous international locations that serve as a backdrop to their love story certainly add to the epic romance. “When you’re traveling and you meet someone completely new and strange for the first time in a strange place, there is a greater sense of connection toward one another, right?” Kim says of the characters’ initial connection in Japan.
Following their initial international meet-cute, Mu-hee and Jo-jin travel to Canada and Italy as part of the filming of in-universe travel dating show Romantic Trip. Mu-hee is cast alongside handsome Japanese actor Hiro Kurosawa (Sota Fukushi), and Ho-jin is hired as their interpreter. “I think, from Mu-hee’s perspective, the fact that they keep running into each other, it already is enough for her to be really drawn to him.” Romantic Trip allows them to spend time together, even when misunderstandings and fear of vulnerability keeps them from feeling like they should.
The Netflix production filmed across Korea, Japan, Canada, and Italy. “A place that I hold dear is Banff in Canada,” says Go. “I felt like, no matter where you shot the scenes, the beauty of it all was surreal.” For Kim, early scenes of Ho-jin and Mu-hee wandering the streets of Japan stand out, perhaps because they immediately set the exotic tone for the series. “When you go around and shoot in different locations, sometimes just with a single angle, a scene feels completely different, and it feels very foreign,” he says. “It doesn’t feel like it was shot in Korea, and I think that has to do with the hues, the color, and the ambiance … I thought that what was captured on screen was even more beautiful than what I saw in real life.”
Who is Do Ra-mi?
While Can This Love Be Translated? takes place in the real world in a way the Hong sisters’ recent romance fantasy projects are not, the series is not without its melodramatic elements. In the first episode, Mu-hee falls from a Seoul rooftop while filming her final scene for a stylized horror movie. In the film, she stars as a butt-kicking zombie protagonist named Do Ra-mi. As a result of the accident, Mu-hee is in a coma for months. The film comes out, and Mu-hee rises to global fame as Do Ra-mi—all while she is unconscious.
When Mu-hee wakes up, she is a superstar. As she begins to live her new life as a sought-after actress, she also begins to see a manifestation of Do Ra-mi. Initially, it is in reflections or out of the corner of her eye. “I thought that the presence of Do Ra-mi really tapped into the curiosity of the viewers,” says Go. “It made you want to see what’s going to happen next. It really keeps you at your toes, on your toes, which was something that I really liked [about the script].” Eventually, the Do Ra-mi personality grows more powerful. By the time she starts filming the second leg of dating reality program Romantic Trip in Italy, Do Ra-mi is taking over Mu-hee at night, spending leisure time with Ho-jin in a way that Mu-hee will not let herself.
“[Mu-hee and Do Ra-mi] are indeed two different characters, but also they are one at the same time,” Go says. “So I thought that if there was too big of a gap between the two, both for my performance and also for the way it’s perceived by the viewers, I thought that it could be something that people didn’t really accept well or respond to very well.”
Go focused on differentiating the way each personality speaks and in their sense of freedom. “Mu-hee is a character who isn’t really direct and straightforward. She tends to beat around the bush or just try to go around in terms of the way she communicates, in order for her to protect herself from being hurt and also to protect others from being hurt,” explains Go. “But with Do Ra-mi, she’s much more free, she’s very straightforward, and she has a troublemaker vibe.”
Ho-jin and Mu-hee finally understand one another
While many K-drama romances use external factors to keep their lovers apart and longing for each other, the main obstacles between Ho-jin and Mu-hee are internal. Ho-jin has trouble understanding Mu-hee, which scares him. He underestimates her love for him, and dismisses his own heartbreak as minor; he is more comfortable being in pain then he is being confused by the ways Mu-hee expresses her love.
“I don’t know if talking about the personality types, the MBTI [which is very popular in Korea], might help in understanding them, but it’s really ‘T’ thinking versus “F” feeling for these two,” says Kim of the characters’ differences. As a result, it takes a while for both Mu-hee and Ho-jin to understand just how deeply the other cares for them. While Ho-jin worries Mu-hee’s erratic behavior means her feelings for him are also inconsistent, Mu-hee straight up thinks Ho-jin has an Italian girlfriend. This misunderstanding stems from the Romantic Trip crew seeing Ho-jin out with Do Ra-mi one night, and gossip getting back to Mu-hee, who doesn’t remember her time as Do Ra-mi.
The two finally get their act together as filming on Romantic Trip wraps up. When Hiro confesses his love to Mu-hee, Ho-jin must interpret. He is obviously upset by the development. The next day, the Romantic Trip director sends Mu-hee footage of Ho-jin, alone and upset after the shoot. It helps Mu-hee realize that Ho-jin cares for her deeply, which helps her be brave. She confronts herself, and remembers all of the times she was Do Ra-mi with Ho-jin. She finally stops hiding.
In a romantic reunion on some Tuscan steps, Mu-hee tells Ho-jin she remembers everything and that she doesn’t want to forget. But she is scared because he knows her like no one else ever has. Ho-jin playfully uses reverse psychology on her, saying that they will break up soon so she doesn’t have to worry about the pressure of a happily ever after. While he is obviously joking, the superficial lie expresses how much he understands Mu-hee. “I’m coming up with a plan so that you don’t reject me again because you are anxious,” he tells her, with a loving smile. They let themselves love each other.
What happens to Hiro?
While Hiro may never be a believable romantic option for Mu-hee, who is drawn to Ho-jin from their first meeting, his increasingly sincere presence acts as a reminder that Mu-hee does have other options. Also, as a character, his journey of learning not to hide from himself mirrors Mu-hee’s growth.
The final episode of Can This Love Be Translated? begins with Mu-hee and Hiro watching the proposed edit of Romantic Trip. The producers would like to include Hiro’s trip-ending love confession to Mu-hee, and Mu-hee’s warm reception of it, but they will leave the final decision to the actors. They both agree to go with the full edit. Following the meeting, Mu-hee apologizes for confusing Hiro, explaining that when she was Do Ra-mi, she sometimes encouraged his feelings. The two part amicably.
While Hiro may end the series with a wounded heart due to his unrequited feelings for Mu-hee, he has grown immensely from his experience on the show. He learned to be vulnerable and to take chances for what he wants. He also learned Korean, and realized he is good with languages. He ends the series by going for an English-language role in a film, showing he can. take chances, both professionally and personally, and seems more at peace with himself.
When Can This Love Be Translated? begins, Ho-jin is hung up on Sin Ji-seon (Lee Yi-dam), the woman he met years ago while traveling through Japan and later re-encountered when she started dating his older brother, Jin-suk. Unable to get over Ji-seon, he traveled to the island where they first met on her birthday. It’s a hopelessly romantic action that leads to him first meeting Mu-hee, before she skyrockets to super stardom.
While there is a time when Ho-jin and Ji-seon might have found a happy ending together—Ji-seon admits that she had feelings for Ho-jin in the past—that time has passed. They were not able to translate their love for one another. Ji-seon, who breaks up with Jin-suk midway through the show, ends up falling for Mu-hee’s assistant, Kim Yong-u (I Am A Running Mate’s Choi Woo-sung). When Yong-u gets his dream job working in sports rather than film and TV, he hesitates because it means relocating to the UK. However, when he tells Ji-seon, she decides to move to the UK with him, where she plans to go to graduate school.
Mu-hee’s mother and her connection to Do Ra-mi
While Mu-hee may come off as a carefree person, she has a traumatic past that still haunts her. Her mother, who struggled with mental illness, poisoned her father when she was just a child. Mu-hee’s mother then tried to poison Mu-hee, but she climbed over the balcony and escaped. Mu-hee was sent to live with her uncle and aunt, who treated her terribly. Young Mu-hee pretended not to remember what happened to her mother and father, thinking then her aunt and uncle might love her. But they never do.
In the series finale, Mu-hee’s aunt and uncle give Ho-jin a photo of Mu-hee’s mother. She looks just like Mu-hee, but dresses like Do Ra-mi. Mu-hee realizes that Do Ra-mi was never an incarnation of her big film role; she was a manifestation of a child’s memories of her mother.
“[Mu-hee] has always been someone who is filled with a high level of anxiety due to the trauma that she carries that’s related to her mother,” says Go. “But I think because when she meets a time in her life when she feels truly happy … that really amplifies her anxiety and insecurities. I think for Mu-hee, happiness and anxiety almost go proportional. And so now, especially because she finds someone that she loves, she is also deeply afraid of not being loved back. And I think that’s what brings Do Ra-mi about.”
Does Can This Love Be Translated? have a happy ending?
In an unexpected series finale twist, Mu-hee’s aunt and uncle reveal that they lied about Mu-hee’s parents. Her father survived the poisoning and lives in China, while her mother’s whereabouts are unknown. Though Mu-hee doesn’t want a relationship with either, she does want to see her mother with her own eyes and tracks her down in Los Angeles. Before she goes, she temporarily breaks up with Ho-jin. They agree to reunite when she returns, at which point Mu-hee thinks she will be able to commit to forever.
Mu-hee returns to Korea around Christmastime, and the two meet at an observatory. Mu-hee uses the Papago translation app to tell Ho-jin how much she missed him in all of the languages he speaks. He takes his time deciding how to respond. “If you’d rather not talk, you can use a universal language,” she jokes, raising her middle finger. Ho-jin agrees to that option, and kisses Mu-hee. They look at the stars together, happy.