Summary
Episode 12 is a whole 60 minutes of couch talk between Pi-young and Yu-shin. Some points are unbearable, but the dialogue is greatly crafted.
This recap of the Netflix K-drama series Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 12 contains significant spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous chapter.
I can’t believe we get a whole 60 minutes of Pi-young and Yu-shin’s emotional confrontation. Yu-shin keeps on holding on to the marriage, while Pi-young firmly pushes the divorce. I don’t know what happens behind the scenes. Is it really necessary to gives a whole episode for what is essentially a talk show? Well, I’ve seen a movie with the same settings, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it in a k-drama series.
It’s hard watching the episode until the end. Don’t get me wrong, the dialogue is greatly crafted. It really shows how the couple talks through their problems to compromise nor say goodbye to each other, yet the tension wore me out. The actors did a marvelous job of pulling the scene together. If the writers want to bring the audiences inside Pi-young’s wrath, then she did a great job of making us feel agitated over the whole 60 minutes.
Anyway, the episode begins with Pi-young and Yu-shin having breakfast together. Yu-shin seems to be in a good mood after seeing her. He offers to bring her favorite food, but she keeps on refusing everything. After the food is served, they catch up with each other. Yu-shin gets caught up in the moment, thinking that everything is slowly turning back to the way it used to be. He offers to visit Ji-a, who is going skiing with their friend’s family. However, Pi-young says, “We’re going to the court.”
Yu-shin is bewildered. He refuses to leave and demands her to think about Ji-a over the divorce, yet Pi-young insists that she’s already made up her mind. In the car, she sets the sat nav to the court address, yet Yu-shin stubbornly drives to their house instead. Yu-shin confronts her by saying that men are wired differently to justify the affair. He even adds that he will forgive her if she’s ever caught cheating on him. Pi-young savagely replies that cheating is not a matter of gender, it’s a matter of character. She does not buy his empty words anymore.
Stage one: beg your heart out
After they arrive at home, Yu-shin kneels, begging for forgiveness. Pi-young remains unshaken. She lets him kneel while tidying up. It’s symbolic how she no longer serves the house as the wife anymore. Later, she asks him to stand up because it will not change a thing since everything he does disgusts her. Despite all of that, Yu-shin keeps on begging.
He keeps justifying about being a man in the making and quoting all the famous books and articles. He brings up Confucius, who at age 70 stopped playing around with life. He uses this example and argues how he’s still in his 40s to justify all the curiosity and flaws. He blurts off about being briefly distracted from their marriage, explaining how his affair is a part of the “guy things” agenda.
Pi-young counters, with the affair as the main issue. She also uses the broken vase as a metaphor for their broken trust. “Even though all the pieces are glued back, the cracks are still there.” Yu-shin pushes the narrative about his relationship with Ami as “not more than a fling.” He later argues how he is stressed out dealing with patients and running the hospital, so he needed to find a distraction.
To describe their relationship, he uses references from the book Man from Mars, Woman From Venus. Pi-young argues that he could have stopped using Ami if he has no intentions of pursuing further. She also recalls how he started horseback riding to channel his stress, but he never brings his family, even though Ji-a wanted to come. Instead, he takes Ami every time. She clearly sees how he sincerely likes Ami but is smart enough to question whether he loves her or not.
The problem with Yu-shin is that he wants to avoid the main issue by using all the philosophical and psychological methods. He tries to explain Ami’s weak mentality and family situation. From her daddy issues and how she is born out of wedlock. Pi-young quickly dodges the bullet by arguing that he could have held himself back.
Stage two: victim-blaming
If you listen carefully, Yu-shin always starts every argument with “they said,” “what men are wired to do,” or “it is written in the book/articles.” He never once takes accountability for his actions as Shin Yu-shin. Pi-young is fully aware of it. After failing to gain her sympathy, he states he will give all of his assets to her. Pi-young refuses the offer by saying that it will not gain anything for her. He defends himself; for the last 13 years, he has always been a devoted family man. Of course, Pi-young laughs it off.
He brings up his past, on how he did not receive much affection from his mother because she died early, even though Dong-mi fills that void, yet it is never the same. He also brings up his father’s hectic schedule on maintaining the hospital, so he does not get much attention from him either. But Pi-young is not buying anything. She keeps on resenting him by asking how it feels to have a young woman cling to you and her affection.
Failing to gain sympathy, he starts to blurt out about all of his good aspects. From good hygiene, good reputation, how he has a perfect job, so he never uses her money to buy things, and always put his family first. Pi-young dares him to never use the word “family” ever again to her. Yu-shin argues it’s the first time he’s had an affair, and it will happen once in a while to every marriage. Pi-young later counters by saying how she also finds men attractive at her work, but that’s it. She does not pursue it any further. She also adds, “once a cheater, will always be a cheater.”
Stage three: gaslighting
After several attempts to turn things around, Yu-shin starts to attack Pi-young’s vulnerability about her family’s past. He confronts Pi-young about her parent’s divorce and how she resents her mother. He gaslights her resentment towards him with her guilt over her mother’s illness and death. He uses Ji-a and her physical, mental condition as an excuse for their sinking marriage. When Pi-young brings up the car he bought for Ami, he counters it by saying that he uses his own money and it is a price he has to pay for the separation.
Yes, Pi-young is not 100% innocent either. She has flaws. She strives for perfection due to her past family upbringing. From being a perfect wife and mother, this probably has taken its toll on Yu-shin. And that’s when he begins to attack her flawless and perfect wife persona, saying if he is not the breadwinner of the family and she does not earn her own money, then Pi-young will just be on the same level as the average woman. Before this, Yu-shin argues how the average wife would have forgiven their husband’s infidelity once and for all. Well, Pi-young is beyond average, sweetie. He also adds that if it weren’t for Dong-mi, his father wouldn’t approve of their marriage due to her background. On the other hand, this also indicates how Yu-shin is actually feeling an inferiority complex over Pi-young. Unlike Ami, he is clearly dominating everything while Pi-young knows her ground.
Stage 4: Slap and burn
Feeling frustrated, Pi-young stands up to grab some water, and she asks Yu-shin if he wants a drink. After she comes back, Yu-shin criticizes her for being unforgiving and holding grudges. He continues about how Pi-young never learns to deal with hardship by ignoring her own mother to the extent that he attacks how a single parent raised her… Pi-young slaps him in the face.
“Is this how Mrs. Kim taught you?” she asks. Well, if we think about it, Yu-shin is most likely influenced by Dong-mi. Dong-mi always knows how to say the right words to be on Pi-young’s side while secretly putting a drug in her drink to try to sleep with her husband. I’ve lost count of how many times Yu-shin tells Pi-young how everything is already over between him and Ami. But, remember the numerous times Yu-shin asked Ami to wait for him after 2-5 years? It might be out of pity since Ami is mentally unstable, but he never officially leaves her, and that’s the main point.
Pi-young counters all of his gaslighting by saying that being raised in a perfect family does not guarantee becoming a saint. A human is not perfect, to begin with. She sarcastically says how both of them should just marry a deity since they strive for perfection and forgiveness. Pi-young also cuts him off by saying that she does not want to take his assets since she has a decent job. He just needs him to pay for Ji-a’s education costs. She is not going to back down from the divorce. He puts his ego down and begs for one last time. This time, tears streaming down on both faces.
The ending of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 12
Pi-young recalls the story when she accidentally witnessed Yu-shin embracing A-mi on her VIP ward. The thoughts of her mother dying while her husband cared for his mistress disgust her. She remembers vividly how the hospital walls were trembling after witnessing his affair. At first, she denied everything. She later states because of his affair, she couldn’t have her last conversation with her mother because of her mutism due to her emotional turmoil.
Pi-young admits her flaws as a wife and a daughter. She breaks down in tears. She already tries to give her all to the family in order to avoid the twisted fate that happened to her parents. Yu-shin begs for one last time, but she does not want to raise Ji-a by putting on a show for the rest of their lives. Why must one have to lead an unhappy life filled with doubt? She promises to let him meet Ji-a from time to time, learning from her family’s past mistakes. Upon hearing her last blow, Yu-shin finally backs down.
Tears stream down his cheek. It is quite painful to watch. We can feel the guilt and the devastation from both sides. Moreover, if we look back on how happy and perfect their family life was before the storm. He helplessly asks how to file a divorce and insists on taking charge of dividing the assets. Pi-young also agrees to have a meal from time to time as a whole family. She explains how she will not tell Ji-a the truth regarding their marriage until she is at an age where she can fully accept it. They will move into her late mother’s house for the time being. This means Yu-shin will be stuck with Dong-mi for the time being.
After all the tension, Pi-young grabs her coat and tries to pamper herself by retouching her makeup in agony. The house that used to be lively turns shallow. Yu-shin covers his face in tears over the divorce.
Pi-young walks out of the room to face their destiny. Yu-shin once again kneels before her and apologizes for everything. He also brings up how he is not a good son-in-law in the first place. He spends more time with his mistress rather than taking care of his mother-in-law. Pi-young breaks down, admitting all of her sins as a daughter to her mother. She deeply regrets everything and how all she can do is write down the words on her shirt before her heart stops beating. She hates Yu-shin on how he breaks the family apart — “We could have lived a good life together.”
But what’s done is done. The two of them gather their strength and walk to the door to face their destiny.
What did you think of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 2, episode 12? Comment below.
