Summary
The theme for today’s episode is the fox that pretends to be a bear; the bear that pretends to be a fox. Yes, it’s all about deceiving, victimizing, and more prejudices.
This recap of the Netflix K-drama series Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 4 contains significant spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous chapter.
In the previous recap, I started mumbling about how I wanted to see more wives and drama. I wanted to see their angst, agony, and how they rise and overcome everything. I guess the universe is on my side. If my guesses are right, from this episode onwards, we will see more satisfying confrontations. It’s a miracle how I survived the episodes from this week. It’s probably because I survived The World of Married before or a heavy drama like Penthouse. Kudos to the writer for finally giving us a development on the plot!
The theme for Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 4 is the fox that pretends to be a bear; the bear that pretends to be a fox. Yes, it’s all about deceiving, victimizing, and more prejudices. Starting with our anxious Hae-ryeon, who can’t seem to enjoy the rest of his day after receiving a sweet good morning call from her beloved Ga-bin, who tells him she will be guesting on a radio show with his soon-to-be-ex-wife — the head writer of the show.
The scenes move to Hye-ryeong having breakfast while anxiously asking about Song Won’s information. Ye-jung insists how Hye-ryeong should not worry about Song Won because she has no intention of marrying Se-hyeon. Hye-ryeong, who can’t seem to trust both of her in-law’s judgment, won’t give in and keeps juggling her trust on them to take care of Song Won matters. Will her trust be broken, or will everything be sorted out the way she wants?
“Choose your flower.”
After the morning rush with Hye-ryeon, Sa-hyeon’s parents visit Song Won at her apartment. She waits for them in front of her door, takes care of their clothes, and pampers them with manners. Everything about her is perfect, except the reality that she carries an unborn baby by someone else’s husband. Of course, our old-fashioned and conservative Moon-ho is sold by her modest attitude. He seems to forget how it was just yesterday when he called her “gold digger.” After the heartfelt confrontation, he invites Song Won to have lunch together at their usual family restaurant. To protect her identity and family’s dignity, they agree to call her Song Yuan and introduce her as a relative. While Moon-ho seems to enjoy their reunion carelessly, Ye-jung is more aware and careful of the situation.
There’s an interesting topic to point out throughout Hye-ryeong and Song Won’s issues: the double standard and comparison between women. Hye-ryeong is constantly brought up against Song Won by both Ye-jung and Moon-ho to justify their son’s unfaithful behavior. Moon ho describes Hye-ryeong as a prickly rose, a modern independent woman with high value and strong opinion, while Song Won as a lilac, a modest and vulnerable woman who will listen and pampers you with love. There’s nothing wrong with either a prickly rose or lilac—every flower blooms in its own way. The question is: what flowers do the bees choose in the end?
“The woman I’m seeing.. is Nam Ga-Bin.”
This revelation is probably the highlight of today’s episode. If in the last episode we get to see the bold confrontation of Ye-jung, then this episode we get to see a heartbreaking confrontation from Si-eun.
Hae-ryeon decides to meet Si-eun, who is currently using C-collar due to a fender bender. Due to the accident, Si-eun asks her colleague to fill in for her, which brings a slight relief to the anxious Hae-ryeon. At least the devoted wife doesn’t have to meet his beloved mistress yet. Si-eun, who has no idea what’s coming for her, secretly wishes that Hye-ryeon will be humble and talks about reconciliation for the sake of their family over a cup of americano. Reality check, Hae-ryeon crashes her wishful thinking by telling the true identity of his mistress instead.
Nam Ga-Bin. These three syllables are enough to raise Si-eun’s raging emotions. She no longer can keep up with all of his acts. Watching your husband lie through his tongue; finding absurd reasons to divorce you; leaving his children, yet still tries to protect his mistress until the very end by pulling the “she didn’t do anything wrong” card when Ga-bin clearly knows his status and situation. Even after leaving his family, he still has the nerve to ask for Si-eun’s understanding of everything without considering how he puts his devoted family at the end of a cliff; all of this in the midst of the consideration phase, not the official divorce yet.
Remember when Hae-ryeon felt suffocated seeing Si-eun working with band-aids on her wrist because it resembled his sick mother? Or that time when he asked Si-eun to “level up” herself because she refused his invitation to the motel? Si-eun understands it so well, and I’m glad how she counters everything right back at his face, not giving any chance for him to explain, and leaves him when he tries to play victim to the mess he created. Finally, a scene that got me feeling so satisfied!
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most deceitful of all?
While the two other wives are walking down the thin lines of their marriage and ready to risk everything, Pi-young is the epitome of a sheep that is sent in the middle of a wolf pack that’s ready to attack anytime. Everyone around her, except her lovely daughter and the wives squad, holds the betrayal card against her.
Pi-young shares her concern regarding Si-eun’s situation to Yu-shin; how divorce affects everyone, especially the children. Well, Pi-young always unintentionally knows how to trigger Yu-shin’s attention. Come to think of it, he always does things out of the blue for her whenever he feels guilty or alarmed. Little did she know that every time Yu-shin is out horse riding or drinking, there’s a demanding mistress, Ami, that is tagging along with him and even intentionally sulking over the never-gonna-happen-divorce.
Anyway, I found the similarity between Dong-mi and Song Won. Both of them understand clearly that the best way to earn someone’s heart is through a deep conversation over a glass of wine, a modest wifey attitude, and a vulnerable story about how sad and lonely your life is. Pi-young and Dong-mi share a heartfelt conversation, starting from reminiscing their old days to Dong-mi opening up about her dark and lonely past and how fond she is of Yu-shin, to the point that she’s risking her maternity for him. We also get to hear a glimpse of Yu-shin’s biological mother, who Dong-mi describes as “coldhearted.” Just like that, Pi-young decides to stop her suspicion towards Dong-mi; the same way Sa-hyeon’s parents fell for Song Won. I must say that Dong-mi’s frank story had me fall for her, but not for long — it’s easy to remember how she’s already planning her betrayal towards Pi-young and her late husband in the name of being a woman.
Meanwhile, Ga-bin is lucky that Si-eun is absent due to the fender blender. She has an awkward encounter with Seo-ban, or should I say, her ex’s (Dong-ma) brother? There’s an undeniably weird tension between them. Something must be going on behind the curtain that hasn’t been revealed yet. Hye-ryeong asks Ga-bin during the broadcast whether or not she has met someone she loves dearly. Sitting in a tight position, she hesitates but finally braces herself by announcing a possible marriage in the future with her current partner (without mentioning Hye-ryeon). The interesting part of this scene is that we can clearly see Ga-bin’s hesitation, which is highly influenced by the presence of Seo-ban and not by her hidden affair. What is actually happening between Dong-ma and Ga-bin? Do their stories really end or…? Well, it’s for us to find out.
The rise of the storm
After Ga-bin confirms her future possible marriage in Hye-ryeong’s radio broadcast, Si-eun has to deal with everybody around her praising the actresses’ love and marriage (minus divorce) gossip. Hyang-Ki, who ironically knows nothing about the truth behind the affair, is happily chatting about the possible marriage with no other than her father. “Charming, looking young and fresh in her 40’s, and admirably honest” attitude are the words thrown at Si-eun’s face by the naive Hyang-Ki. She can only remind her daughter that people are not always how they appear to be.
In the meantime, Hye-ryeon tells Ga-bin that the head writer of the radio show is the mother of his children and that she already knows about her. He reassures and asks her to inform him if Si-eun calls her. Meanwhile, Si-eun has an emotional breakdown, all alone in the room that used to hold the warmth of their marriage. Her breakdown scene is heartwrenching. Jeon Seo-kyeong nailed her part here.
The ending of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 4
Sa-hyeon picks up Song Won for a romantic getaway. They happily talk about how nice his parent treats her. In the meantime, Moon-ho visits Hye-ryeong. He asks her to stop meddling in Song Won’s situation and just focus on mending the relationship between her and Sa-hyeon. Hye-ryeong will not let it slip that easily. She rebels against Moon-ho by pointing out the favoritism and how he talks about the mistress, even though both of them are older than Sa-hyeon.
In the previous recap, I asked myself, “who will be the first one to confront?” Well, I received my answer quickly. It’s our musical mistress, Nam Ga-bin. The episode ends with Ga-bin asking for Si-eun’s number from Pi-young. Not knowing anything, Pi-young asks for Si-eun’s consent on giving her number to Ga-bin. Feeling dazed and confused, Si-eun eventually said yes.
Si-eun and Ga-bin are having a brief moment before the storm. Both of them staring nervously at their phone. Ga-bin finally dials her number. After giving it a quick thought, Si-eun dauntlessly answers the call… “Hello, this is Nam Ga-Bin.” and the episode ends with another tempting cliffhanger!
What did you think of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 4? Comment below.
