Daily Dose of Sunshine (2023) KDrama Episode 12 (Final Episode)

Episode 12 of Daily Dose of Sunshine begins the finale with Go-yun and Da-eun on the up. They’re holding hands until they reach the front of the hospital, where they try to keep up appearances and pretending to be just friends.

When Da-eun makes it to the ward, Byeong-hui has cut herself and Mr Yoon is holding her down. She has scars all up her arm from self-harming and she’s not in a great way. She’s now being moved to the Protective Ward and is going to be observed closely to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself again.

What happens with Byeong-hui at the ward?

Byeong-hui’s mum tentatively speaks up and apologizes for Da-eun for what happened last episode. Specifically, around the picketing and the protesting. Da-eun shrugs it off and tells her all of this is in the past. However, there’s still the situation of Byeong-hui’s health.

Da-eun quizzes Hyo-sin about her thoughts on this, and she theorizes that it’s either a cry for help or her way of believing she needs to be “punished” for being sick.

Byeong-hui lashes out when she learns she can’t have her tablet and believes this is why the other patient “croaked”. This is, of course, a reference about Seo-wan.

Does Da-eun end up with Go-yun or Yu-chan?

Da-eun tries to keep it together but between this, and learning that Deul-re is going to leave the ward, everything seems to be changing. Deul-re has to really think about what she wants to do going forward, and her face lights up when she talks to Yeo-hwan about it. He encourages her to follow her dreams, and lightly hints at her leaving to do just this.

When Soo-yeon finds out about Deul-re leaving, he’s worried about what this means for the ward. She thinks Hyo-sin should have done more to help stop her, but Hyo-sin is adamant in that it won’t have helped. As for Da-eun, she’s still hung up over Seo-wan and with Byeong-hui’s self-harming, she’s flying closer to the sun when it comes to Seo-wan.

Da-eun and Go-yun head out in the morning for a walk, something to help her mental health and wellbeing. Yu-chan is there getting ready for his big day a work and he’s accepted the pair are together. He takes a picture and send it over to them, calling them a “mayfly couple”, teasing that they’re not going to last.

Does Yu-chan do well at work?

Speaking of lasting, Yu-chan takes a bold step into work but he’s confronted by one of his old workers. She jokes about Yu-chan having a pet-name at work, EZ-Yu-Chan. Essentially she points out that they’d coast by by having him do all the work, given he’d get everything approved, and help get them all fat bonus checks.

What initially triggered Byeong-hui?

Da-eun speaks to Byeong-hui’s mum, learning more about her daughter. Byeong-hui was always a little slow to pick up on language and she done poorly at school. She was grilled by all the other students too, who eventually call her Dumb-hui. That is, until she started cutting herself with her pen, constantly across the wrist.

She’s told to take an IQ test at the psych ward but when it comes back below average, her mum tries to make her retake the test.

When Byeong-hui tries to self-harm again, Da-Eun hands over a hairband and gives her this to focus on. She points out that it burns and is likely to be just what she needs to get her mind off things. At the same time, Yeo-hwan heads off to take Deul-re to an audition where her old friends are all practicing their moves. Although she tells him to stay outside, he does sneak a peek in and smiles warmly when he notices her with a big ol’ grin on hr face. However, the cruise is a big one and she’d be gone for an entire year if she accepts it.

Why does Byeong-hui’s mum want her daughter to stop pursuing flying

Byeong-hui’s issues are reinforced by her mother, who wants to try and discourage her from flying. She wants to protect her daughter, while also making sure she doesn’t encourage dream that’s never going to come true. Da-eun does her best too, and speaks to Byeong-hui a little about how you don’t need to be a pilot to fly. 

Go-yun continues to do what he can to help Da-eun, showing up super early for their scheduled walks. After, Da-eun’s mum speaks plainly about how worried she is about Da-eun and how she’s been having rough time of it as well. She admits that seeing Da-eun by Go-yun’s side has been a blessing and with the pair together she can now rest in peace… as in sleeping for longer, not that she’s ill or anything!

What is the turning point for Yu-chan?

At work, Yu-chan finds himself swamped with messages all over again. The panic disorder threatens to flare up again, and it’s just as bad as it was before. He tries to talk to his boss about it, bringing up his panic disorder and how he needs to set the pace for his work. Naturally, his boss shrugs it off and claims that he just needs to keep himself busy.

In the bathroom the water starts to rise up again… but this time it’s for real! The place is genuinely flooding. Yu-chan make a big decision and when the Deputy Chief is messaging, he decides to drop his phone in the water and ignore it. In fact, he leaves work at the allotted 8 hour work-day finishing, pointing out to his boss that if he stays, they’ll be in breach of that.

What does Deul-re decide to do?

When Yu-chan leaves, we cut back to Da-eun once more. She says goodbye to Byeong-hui who’s discharged, and her mum calls Da-eun a great nurse, which is quite the compliment. As for Deul-re, she’s now getting cold feet about leaving and isn’t sure this is what she wants. Outside, Yeo-hwan tells her to go on the cruise and find happiness. He tells her that her dream is more important than their relationship. He’s quick to point out that they’re not breaking up, but that he’s supporting her in what she needs.

However, they all go for her leaving food and drinks, where they lavish praise on one another. Soo-yeon has nothing but nice things to say about Deul-re, while the truth is revealed about Yeo-hwan being her boyfriend, and Da-eun dating Go-yun. Outside, all the nurses hug each other warmly; one final goodbye for Deul-re.

Da-eun shows up to see Deul-re off. Before she goes, Da0eun points out that she always wanted to be as good a nurse as Deul-re. Ironically, she actually left her post because she saw how hard Da-eun worked to pick herself up and wasn’t sure she could do the same.

What happens to Byeong-hui and Yu-chan?

After saying goodbye to Deul-re, Da-eun bumps into Byeong-hui at the airport. They sit together and Byeong-hui asks whether Da-eun thinks she’s troublesome. At this point we cut back to Byeong-hui at school. Instead of cutting herself with a Stanley knife when she gets stressed, she uses her hairbands to stave off the impulses.

She’s actually working at the Airport Information Service desk as a way of getting closer to where she wants to be. As for Yu-chan, his boss actually works to help support his desire not to over-work, while Go-yun and Da-eun continue to go strong.

How does Daily Dose of Sunshine end?

And as the episode closes out, Seung-jae shows up again! Given we last aw him struggling with panic disorder, he’s now in his scrubs and about to work on the psych ward with them.

As the episode closes out, Da-eun thinks over how each person is standing on the border between normal and abnormal. Seung-jae smiles warmly, as the series comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Daily Dose of Sunshine rounds of this season with a beautifully poignant chapter. We finally see Deul-re and Yeo-hwan’s relationship come to a satisfying point, while there’s also good endings for almost every single character. Seeing Seung-jae in his uniform at the end is such a nice way of rounding out the story and bringing everything full circle again.

The most important part of this episode though comes from Byeong-hui herself. Her situation is very similar to Seo-wan, and Da-eun definitely feels that across this episode and the previous one. Seeing her help Byeong-hui, even if it is just a little bit, is enough to give her some closure on this suicide situation and perhaps help to heal the depression she’s been feeling all this time.

This show is undoubtedly going to be triggering for some people but regardless, the series is a must-watch when it comes to the way it depicts and treats mental health. The ending certainly leaves plenty of room for another season should the show decide to go that route, while there’s enough here to round things out on a high too. Daily Dose of Sunshine has been an excellent watch, and a thoroughly entertaining one at that.