Recap
While Issei hugs the Stalker, Suzu pats his back. Then Sasaki sneezes on him while trying to get them to move out of the cold.
They go to the public baths to warm up, and the guys are in a tub together. Haru isn’t sure how they got there. Sasaki starts awkward convo about an old TV show. Issei brings up AV. Suzu takes care of the Stalker’s daughter and they part ways outside.
Issei is upset because Suzu left him behind earlier. Suzu blames him for turning him into a busybody but apologizes and thanks him. He forgives her easily.
Sasaki goes back to the home he shared with his wife and looks at her picture. He goes to Chiaki’s work with food that isn’t extra for his wife but for Chiaki and Sakura. At the clinic, he tells Suzu that he’s hired Polaris to clean his place, and she asks if she can come.
On the day of, everyone cleans while Sasaki walks around and remembers the joy they felt anticipating the baby. Outside, Sasaki shares with Suzu that his wife was the one who stargazed first. He remembers them deciding on the name Issei.
He became a doctor as revenge because he imagined he could find the mistake that was made. But as a doctor, he realized there was no one he could blame their deaths on. His awkward expressions are from being jealous and happy whenever a healthy birth occurs, and not feeling like he could express it. Suzu thinks he’s too considerate and needs to share his feelings.
Polaris finishes, and everyone bows respectfully as Sasaki does a final walk-through. Issei gives him a memento, matching shoes that Sasaki’s wife had tucked away to give him. Sasaki reads her note and cries as he hugs the present.
Chiaki comments to Haru on the special quality of Issei, Suzu, and Sasaki’s relationship, as we see them all hold hands.
Sasaki decides to leave the clinic because by leaving Suzu’s side he can become more like her. She thanks him for supporting her, asks him to keep supporting her no matter where he goes, and promises to come running if he needs her.
Issei and Sasaki share drinks and Issei advises Sasaki to go to a clinic in the south.
Walking home, Suzu looks at the night sky and remembers meeting Issei. He is doing the same somewhere else. They text, and this time it’s Suzu who texts that she wants to see him. And there he is, on the other side of the train tracks like that time.
He signs that he loves her*, and this time she signs that she loves him back, and goes running to him. They kiss in front of well-timed lights.
A year later, Sasaki is north, still turning heads and tripping over poorly placed rugs. Uta/Haru and Marina have had their babies. Polaris is expanding and growing. Charlie and Sakura are dating. Issei’s grandma is partying with other grandmas.
Issei and Suzu see a movie together, and when someone behind them makes noises while crying they both sign that it’s okay. Afterward, they run into the Stalker. He works at a grocery store and he and his daughter look much better. He doesn’t say much but gives them half-off stickers for their vegetables.
Suzu and Issei live together and leave for work together, running back for a final big hug and kiss.
Thoughts
* Translation note: I commented in my thoughts on episode two, where the first version of the declaration scene by the tracks occurs, that Issei used a sign for a word that can mean either like or love depending on context. The translation I’m watching used ‘love’, which I wasn’t sure I agreed with.
It’s worth noting that here he uses a different sign, “愛してる”, which unambiguously means love and is less commonly used in Japanese. Suzu returns the same sign. So they are being very open here.
As for the episode itself, I kinda love the awkwardness of the men altogether in the tub, including the Stalker. They are 4 men with complicated and strange relationships with one another, just trying to warm up and recover from their dramatic moment. No one knows what to say, except Issei wants to talk about porn. It seems about right.
I really like that Sasaki’s is the last character arc to get completed, not the Stalkers. He really is possibly the best second male lead I’ve seen in Japanese dramas. He’s tall and handsome, but awkward and strange, trying to repress all his emotions out of consideration. He turns to Suzu for advice and listens. He loves her but he’s not trying to interfere with her life. He’s a good guy with interesting depth, and I’m glad we got to see him start the next chapter of his life.
Now that Suzu is doing that much better, she’s really there for Sasaki. She can ask him to keep supporting her and promise to keep supporting him. Their relationship and Issei’s with them as well, is as special as the Sasaki character.
The message that a good cry will fix things is a little simplistic and bothered me because some of the character’s issues felt too complicated for such a simple fix. But I think the message that having and expressing feelings, and not trying to bury them or be some kind of perfect human, like Sasaki was, is important. I appreciated that Suzu cried when she saw Sasaki cry. And that Suzu and Issei encouraged the woman in the theater to cry.
At the end of the day, I love all these characters. In places where the plot went a little bland or off track, the characters carried the show. I can see myself wanting to spend time with them in the future when I need a comfort watch.