The K-drama A Time Called You is a very complex story with an ending that might leave viewers' heads spinning. One of the best K-dramas currently streaming on Netflix, the series begins with Jun-hee mourning the loss of her boyfriend a year after he dies in a plane crash. However, she doesn't believe he's actually dead, and when she receives a tape recorder with the song "Gather My Tears" by Seo Ji-won on it, she listens and is transported back in time.
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The show then jumps around to various years, mainly focusing on 1998 and 2023. Jun-hee is living out the life of a teenager named Min-ju while trying to solve her murder, which she knows will occur on October 13, 1998. Soon, she finds herself falling for a teenage boy named Si-heon, who looks exactly like her deceased boyfriend Yeon-ju. While all the mysteries are solved by the end of A Time Called You, the complicated ending may require further explanation.
Who Really Kills Min-Ju In A Time Called You & Why
Min-Ju Takes Her Own Life
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The biggest mystery of A Time Called You is who is behind Min-ju's murder. Initially, it seems like her high-school peer In-gyu is the one who kills her, as his hearing aid is left at the scene of the first attack against her. In-gyu even takes the blame for Min-ju's murder, and in the future, it's revealed that he spends years in prison before taking his own life out of guilt. However, In-gyu isn't responsible for Min-ju's death, despite what Si-heon always assumed.
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The real story of Min-ju's death is much more complicated. Jun-hee and Yeon-jun's friend from 2023, Chan-Yeong, attempts to murder Min-ju while in the body of his older brother Chan-hui. Chan-Yeong becomes obsessed with Min-ju, and in the end, she encourages him to kill her because she's so miserable with her life. When Jun-hee takes over her body, her fearless and more outgoing personality wins over Si-heon and her other classmates.
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Chan-Yeong is awoken by the police in 2023, causing Min-Ju to take her own life.
However, when Min-ju returns to her body, it's hard to maintain her new personality. As she returns to her shy self, she feels like no one cares about her. If she takes her own life, she believes no one will remember her. That's why Chan-Yeong offers to kill her so that everyone will finally acknowledge her. However, before he can, Chan-Yeong is awoken by the police in 2023, causing Min-Ju to take her own life as she originally planned.
Jun-Hee's Time-Travel Plan To Save Min-Ju's Life Explained
Jun-Hee Allows In-Gyu To Save Min-Ju
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While Jun-hee initially sets out to reunite with her boyfriend, who she believes didn't actually die in a plane crash because his body was never recovered, she becomes engulfed in a murder mystery involving Min-ju. As she falls in love with Si-heon and adjusts to Min-ju's life, she takes it upon herself to save the high school student, even if it will prevent her and Si-heon from ever meeting one another. Jun-hee makes this decision when she finds out that her actions from time traveling have gotten everyone into this mess.
She travels back to 1998 one last time, returning to the moment when Min-ju is about to take her own life.
Jun-hee feels immense responsibility to make things right for the sake of all the people she's met. She travels back to 1998 one last time, returning to the moment when Min-ju is about to take her own life. Instead, Jun-hee allows In-gyu to save Min-ju.
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How A Time Called You's 1998 & 2023 Characters Are Connected
They Are Not The Same Characters
A Time Called You follows Jun-hee as she moves in and out of Min-Ju's body. While the similar appearances of Jun-hee and Min-ju suggest that they are the same person and that Jun-hee is actually just time traveling back to her high school self, it's revealed that in 1998, Jun-hee is only 11 years old. Yeon-jun and Si-heon also look the same, but Jun-hee reveals Yeon-jun would not have been old enough in 1998 to be in high school.
It's clear that the 2023 characters are not the same people as the 1998 characters.
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However, Si-heon also time travels to various periods where he takes over Yeon-ju's body and lives out his life. Due to the age differences in 1998, it's clear that the 2023 characters are not the same people as the 1998 characters. Instead, they are intertwined with each other due to time travel.
Yeon-Jun's Death Explained
Yeon-Jun Dies In The Plane Crash
In 2023, it has been a year since Jun-hee's boyfriend Yeon-ju passed away in a plane crash. She starts receiving gifts that she believes are from him, and she truly suspects he's alive when the texts she sends him are marked as read. She's also convinced the scarred man in A Time Called You might be Yeon-ju in disguise.
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The mystery of Yeon-ju's death isn't answered until the end, and it's pretty confusing, as it's related to Si-heon being in his body. Yeon-ju does die in the plane crash, despite Jun-hee being in denial, but Si-heon is in his body when it happens. An older Si-heon warns him about the crash, but he gets on the plane anyway. After all, if Yeon-ju never dies, Jun-hee never time travels and meets Si-heon.
The Scarred Man In A Time Called You Explained
The Scarred Man Is Si-Heon
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Another confusing aspect of A Time Called You that is intertwined with Yeon-ju's death is the identity of the scarred man. He appears early in the series, and while Jun-hee is convinced that he is Yeon-ju, he is Si-heon. Si-heon knows everything about Jun-hee because he is dating Jun-hee in Yeon-ju's body. However, when Yeon-ju dies, Si-heon goes back to his real body and wakes up in the hospital in 2002 after the bus crash that leaves him scarred and in need of a cane. The scarred man — Si-heon — warns Yeon-ju about the plane crash.
Do Jun-Hee & Si-Heon End Up Together?
The Ending Leaves Their Connection Open
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After saving Min-ju's life, Jun-hee destroys the time travel tape recorder so that no one else can mess with the timeline the way she does. By doing this, she erases all her memories of everything that happened, including meeting Si-heon. Everyone else's memories are erased as well. All the characters go on to live their lives, but the ending of A Time Called You suggests the memories may not have been erased after all.
She and Si-heon could reignite their relationship in the current timeline.
On a bus ride home, Si-heon hears a woman singing a song from the tape recorder, and he's convinced the woman is Min-ju. She denies this, but when she gets off the bus, Si-heon follows her. They share one final look that suggests they have a connection. The K-drama's cliffhanger ending doesn't confirm that Si-heon has found Jun-hee again or that they get back together. However, A Time Called You hints that the woman is Jun-hee, so she and Si-heon could reignite their relationship in the current timeline.
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The Real Meaning Of A Time Called You's Ending
Fate Exists, But Messing With The Timeline Causes Problems
When A Time Called You ended, Jun-Hee realized that her time travel was what was causing all the pain to Min-Ju and In-Gyu. She realized that, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't control her fate by traveling through time to force it to happen. The entire meaning here is that a person can't change their fate, but if they are patient, they might find that fate has plans for them. When Si-Heon seems to recognize Jun-Hee at the end, it shows that the couple might find a way without cheating.
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A Time Called You showed early on that the two were always destined to meet in the past. The attempts at "fixing" the future never disturbed or changed the timeline. Instead, it was always meant to be, and they were always fated to be together in the end. This is a story about eternal love, and while they doubted it and didn't always believe it was destined to be, fate never forgot about them. Jun-Hee eliminated the time travel option once and for all, which caused the universe to fix itself.
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A Time Called You
TV-14
Drama
Fantasy
Romance
Based on the Taiwanese TV series Someday or One Day, A Time Called You is a South Korean romantic fantasy drama that centers around a young woman named Koo Yeon-jun, grieving her boyfriend's passing. Koo Yeon-jun's life is thrown for a loop when she wakes up in the 1990s - in an eighteen-year-old girl's body named Min-ju. As she tries to solve the mystery and return home to her original body, her life is complicated further when she meets a young man who looks identical to her former lover.
Where to Watch
- stream
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*Availability in US
- Cast
- Ahn Hyo-seop , Jeon Yeo-been , Kang Hoon , Park Hyuk-kwon , Jang Hye-jin , Lee Min-goo , Sung Ki-yoon
- Release Date
- September 8, 2023
- Seasons
- 1
