Name: Once Upon a Small Town episode 12
Director: Kwon Seok-jang
Released: 2022-09-28T17:30:00

Once Upon a Small Town episode 12 marks the series finale with another heartwarming affair and a comforting resolution to the arc of Han Ji-yul and Ahn Ja-young.

Recap

The cliffhanger ending of the penultimate episode turns out to be a false alarm for Ji-yul and Ja-young, as the two soon realize that it’s not them who have been caught making out, but Yun-hyeong and Yeong-suk.

The veterinarian and the nurse are in a relationship, and passionately so, as Cha Yeon-hong catches them making out inside a car and interrogates them. Ja-young and Ji-yul arrive at the situation pretending they both just happened to be there, trying to deflect the attention to the new couple in town.

Ja-young and Ji-yul plan to go on a movie date but their professional obligations keep hampering their plans. Frustrated and fed up, Ja-young downs several shots and storms off to make an announcement to the entire village of Huidong.

Through the speakers everywhere emanates the tipsy voice of Ahn Ja-young, requesting everyone to give her a break and let her and Ji-yul go on their dates openly.

Se-ryeon and her buddies laugh at whatever just transpired and then make fun of the couple, exclaiming they’ve all known about the two dating from the start.

Days pass and Ji-yul goes back to Seoul, and Ja-young gets busy with her usual routine too. There’s not as much video calling or texting between them as many others tell them is necessary.

It is true, too. Ji-yul doesn’t tell Ja-young about the hairline fracture he got but on a video call, she notices it. She gets upset with him trying to not give her a chance to worry about him and take care of him.

Ji-yul apologizes while Ja-young also feels bad about lashing out at him earlier. Ja-young takes off to Seoul and Ji-yul takes off to Huidong but has to go back when he learns his girlfriend is already at the hospital.

Both of them give each other a warm hug and reconcile. The end of Once Upon a Small Time sees Ji-yul surprise Ja-young at the Huidong veterinary hospital.

Ji-yul has become is the new director of the hospital and is now going to stay in Huidong, with Ja-young, for the rest of their life.

This chapter of Ji-yul and Ja-young’s love life resolves with the former proposing and the two exchanging rings, sitting together, in all their affection and love for each other.

Review

With episode 12, Netflix’s wholesome rom-com Once Upon a Small Town comes to its conclusion.
The twelve-episode run has been rife with a whole lot of tropes and clichés but for a show that isn’t trying to change the game, all the sins are absolved as long as it doesn’t delve into any problematic territory.
Once Upon a Small Town never falters in terms of a problematic depiction or message. Comedy dramas like it are supposed to be comfort food and this Netflix comedy kdrama does comfort right.
The final episode sees the main couple navigate their life after they begin dating. Being in a long distance, there are some understandable difficulties for the two to contend with.
After some hitches pertaining to miscommunication and a lack of communication, the two eventually do come around and the status of their relationship changes for the better, making the only problem in their relationship a non-issue.
Once Upon a Small Town episode 12 is a great send-off to the story and the only issue with it, as with the rest of the show, is the pacing, which was inevitable when the makers decided to adapt the webcomic within a 12-episode run.