This recap of Love (ft. Marriage & Divorce) season 2, episode 13 contains spoilers.
The episode starts with Pi-young and Dong-mi golfing together. They meet the Seo-brothers, where it is also the first time she meets Dong-ma. Of course, our sneaky Dong-mi won’t miss a chance to flirt. After they briefly catch up, Pi-young declares herself to Seo-ban, “I’m going to divorce!” which surprises everyone. Dong mi asks her is it really necessary to let them know and Pi-young cooly says that everyone will soon find out after all. At the golf car, Pi-young got Seo-ban thinking. Dong-ma thinks that she might be joking, but Seo-ban denies it saying that nobody would joke over something like that.
After the encounter with the Seo-brothers, the two of them are having lunch somewhere at the golf’s restaurant. Upon having a conversation, Dong-mi plans to invite Moon-ho over, when suddenly Moon-ho and Ye-jeung come into the restaurant. Dong-mi happily goes to greet the couple. Moon-ho is giving her a cold shoulder, which surprises her. After the awkward encounter, Dong-mi leaves the restaurant, followed by Pi-young.
“I’ll divorce you”
While waiting for the movie at the theater, Hye-ryeong suddenly asks Sa-hyeon to go to his parent’s house. After a series of “let’s try to make it work”, Hye-ryeong finally gives her blessing to Sa-hyeon over their divorce. Everyone is in shock, at least in front of her. She asks Sa-hyeon to fill the paper tomorrow and explains how it broke her heart seeing Sa-hyeon is often glaring at a pregnant woman. She confronts Sa-hyeon to be a responsible father. Ye-jung tries to defend his son by justifying everything, but Hye-ryeong counters every one of her arguments.
Hye-ryeong gets vulnerable while thinking about all the consequences she will be facing after her divorce news leaks since she’s a public figure. On top of that, being as sassy as she is, instead of asking for dividing the assets, she asks for an expensive property instead (yes, go and take all their money, Hye-ryeong!) which surprises Sa-hyeon and Ye-jung. But Moon-ho ought to give her everything she wants since it’s her rights as their daughter-in-law. After the sudden visit, the in-laws are intrigued with the reason for Hye-ryeong’s sudden change of mind, but at the same time, happily planning on visiting Song won to share the news.
The same thing goes for Sa-hyeon, but this time Hye-ryeong is the one who encourages him to call Song won on sharing the news of their divorce. She even attentively asks about the baby’s due date and possible gender.
“The perfect wife has resigned.”
This is probably my favorite part of the whole episode. The trio goes on a dinner date together. Hye-ryeong, who does not know anything, asks Pi-young about her so-called perfect husband and that is where the deep conversation begins. “The perfect wife has resigned,” she said, following her announcement of divorcement after the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. Si-eun insists Pi-young save her marriage for Jia’s sake and opens up how she wants to let it slide for her children until she realizes how Hae-ryeon is determined to leave. Out of desperation, Hye-ryeong finally opens up about her marriage issue to the table, how Sa-hyeon has an illegitimate child with a woman ten years older than him and how her in-laws are earnestly waiting for the due date.
As a way to celebrates their path to become independent women, Hye-ryeong invites them to watch Nam Ga-bin’s musical. The tension suddenly rises. Pi-young gives a signal to Hye-ryeong, “Didn’t you know?” After that, Si-eun finally tells Hye-ryeong about his ex-husband’s affair with the musical mistress which left Hye-ryeong speechless. Well, as they said, nobody knows what the future holds. They conclude how men are all wired that way. Whether you have children or not. Whether you dress shabbily nor elegantly. Whether you’re being a diligent wife who is good at doing chores or not. If they cheat, they cheat.
The other side of the story.
Sa-hyeon goes to meet Song won afterward. He quickly informs her about the divorcement. Sa-hyeon embraces his beloved mistress who is still bewildered and delightfully wants to arrange their marriage as soon as possible. The next day, he comes to visit Song won with his parent. They explain how everything is going to settle after the payment of Hye-ryeong’s new house. Ye-jung thinks that Hye-ryeong is meeting someone new since they hardly believe that she will sympathize with a pregnant woman. After the catch-up, the four of them went on shopping for new furniture together. Well, I honestly have nothing left to say about the whole family romanticizing about the affair since it might not be good for my clarity.
To answer your curiosity about Hye-ryeong’s sudden decision on settling for divorce, it is not mainly about the property. There’s a scene where she’s calling her parents in Canada and inform them about the divorce. She explains how Sa-hyeon is mainly the reason for her divorce, but she does not go to the extent of telling about his affair or illegitimate child. The truth is revealed when she also took the blame because of her uterus incapability on getting pregnant. Hye-ryeong does know how Sa-hyeon wants a child but she’s not mentally or physically prepared for the treatment and everything is already going down in a hole either way. Later, she comforts them that she’s got everything under control like it is always been.
“Nothing beats youth or innocence.”
In today’s episode, we see how Ami always uses the same pattern: tries to win everyone’s heart with her tragic story and innocence but Pi-young knows better than dealing with a childish mistress. I always know she’s a pushover and naive, but I never expect to the extent that she will nag Pi-young, even Dong-mi, for the sake of her desire to live with Yu-shin. She even blindly believes that Yu-shin will marry her even when everything is yet to be settled by the law between Pi-young and Yu-shin.
At their unfriendly encounter. Pi-young gives her permission on doing whatever she wants and even insists she be happily married as soon as possible to avoid all the ruckus. As an audience myself, I’d probably do the same thing as Pi-young or just blatantly slap her with reality instead. It’s a fruitless attempt at giving Ami a fruit of thoughts. Well, we all know how Ami is bound to push boundaries. She later spills how Dong-mi is Yu-shin’s first love and even promises to take care of her if she’s sick which left her astonished. Later, Pi-young meets with Dong-mi and gives her a ride. Dong-mi shares her plan on moving back to Yu-shin’s house to take care of him. Pi-young does not give any words to her and concludes everything — “That’s why he’s never hungry” — on her mind.
While Pi-young is having peace of mind by enjoying her bath time and a heart-to-heart talk with Ji-a, Yu-shin is having a hell of a time when both Ami and Dong-mi move into the house. Dong-mi asks Ami to leave and that’s when everything turns into a dramatic soap opera. Yu-shin, who has been left wrecked ever since Pi-young’s absence in his life, does not want to make things more complicated. He just lets everyone be. On the other hand, Ami keeps on pushing her way to become the perfect daughter-in-law being all innocent and dramatic. She later prepares a romantic bath together with Yu-shin.
She naively expresses her admiration towards Pi-young, probably because she grants her wish to have Yu-shin for herself when nobody knows what the future holds. Dear Ami, your real rival is right there living with you, under the name of Kim Dong-mi. We already witnessed how Dong-mi will do anything, including pouring drugs into her own daughter-in-law’s drink to fulfill her desire. Of course, she’ll do anything to get rid of Ami to have her dreamy house life with Yu-shin come true.
The ending
Hye-ryeong cooks Sa-hyeon breakfast which leaves him astonished. They have a peaceful morning together. We can all see how Hye-ryeong tries her best to making peace with the situation by confronting them. She asks him to invite her when the baby is born, she also asks about what names will he give. This new side of Hye-ryeong is refreshing somehow, but also sends intriguing feels. Sa-hyeon apologizes for being a lousy husband. Hye-ryeong confronts him by saying that she does not regret everything that happens and it was her who asked him on getting a personal trainer at a gym anyway. After that, both of them go to court to fill in their divorcement. Whether you like Hye-ryeong or not, you’ll feel for her today.
On the other hand, Hyang-gi helps Si-eun with cutting vegetables. She later brings up the topic about Hae-ryeon possible failed marriage since they’re planning on getting married after the Lunar New Year but there’s no good news that occurring between them ever since. She asks her mother whether or not she will take him back. Si-eun firmly says that whatever happens, it is too late for them to go back together. She knows well enough how Hae-ryeon is not going to let go of his pride easily and it is a part of his consequences.
Right after that, we get a glimpse of Hae-ryeon anxiously trying to reach out for someone but left with no answer, which is probably Ga-bin. In the meantime, Ga-bin is seen crying all by herself in the waiting room until someone comes in with a bouquet of roses. Yes, it’s Dong-ma. The man from her past.
