Summary
A strong instalment which expertly sets the scene for the show’s second half.
We recap the Netflix K-Drama series Divorce Attorney Shin Season 1 Episode 7, which contains spoilers.
With a nice balance of comedy, drama, and grounded realness, Divorce Attorney Shin episode seven felt like the show at its best. The titular character is expertly written, the current cases are intriguing, and the side characters are far better on-screen entertainment now that they’ve been fleshed out more. Hopefully, this consistency sticks around for the rest of the season.
Divorce Attorney Shin Season 1 Episode 7 Recap
Yeong-ju’s scheming
At Yu-seok’s office, Sung-han arrives for an appointment to ask whether his adversary put his all into his work all those years ago.
“There’s a fine line between an attorney and a con artist,” Shin explains before heavily implying the man across from him is the “money-hungry” type who lacks both “competence and conscience” and has ended up a “puppet or figurehead” for someone else. Then, when leaving a note for Yeong-ju, Sung-han departs.
Next, with the assistance of Keumhwa, Dinh Thi Hoa gets shielded from Ma Chun-seok, who desperately wants contact with her and his child.
This, it’s then established, was the start of Yeong-ju’s “bait” for Attorney Shin, as she had given the divorce expert’s business card to the demoralized husband being kept away from his family.
In the present, though, Yu-seok expresses his belief that Sung-han has “seen through” Yeong-ju’s “ulterior motive” but only finds himself assigned to Dinh Thi Hoa’s divorce case pro bono.
While Yeong-ju subtly panics over Sung-han’s “nice timing” message, Geum-hui reflects on her meeting with Attorney Shin, where she had told him Ms. Jin was in Hawaii at the time of Ju-hwa’s death.
As an aside, it’s clear the former pianist regrets not prioritizing his late sister more and that he wishes he’d prevented her from marrying into Jeong-guk’s family, which she seemed to do anyway reluctantly.
After teasing Sung-han about his new suit and whether it meant he’d gone on a blind date, Hyeong-geun is called in for a special meal at So-yeon’s noodle restaurant, marking his next chapter post-divorce.
Yeong-ju admits to her “inferiority complex,” and tells her father she wishes to use Dinh Thi Hoa’s pro bono case to sever ties with Attorney Shin. Yet her in-law seems to view this as silly, given his response is for the PR director to “get over it and move on with your life.”
Jo Min-jeong’s hospitalization and Attorney Shin’s interest in Chun-seok’s case
As Yu-seok worries everyone is “doomed” should Yeong-ju go too far in her plan to “destroy” Sung-han, Attorney Shin floats around the idea of So-yeon’s meal being proof of her liking Hyeong-geun.
Concurrently, Seo-jin worries when hearing the schizophrenic Jo Min-jeong has been hospitalized for an overdose, so he anxiously prepares to meet with the woman’s father, believing she must’ve made a mistake in her consultation with the patient.
When Seo-jin is nervously explaining Min-jeong’s want of a divorce to her parents, a weeping, apologetic Hyeon-tae makes it to the hospital. The intake coordinator seems suspicious here, drawing parallels between her ex-husband Hui-seop’s manipulative behavior and what has just transpired in front of her.
This, in turn, becomes a point Seo-jin uses to help explain her empathy for Min-jeong’s suffering, though all the latter wants is to “die before things get even worse.”
While Seo-jin continues to encourage Min-jeong to perhaps try a “different choice” so she has a chance of eventual happiness, Choi Jun keeps tabs on Hyeon-tae in the hospital waiting area, noting how unbothered he looks.
Elsewhere, Attorney Shin becomes intrigued by the claim Dinh Thi Hoa fractured her left arm, protecting herself from Chun-seok’s alleged baseball bat attack because he’s aware his client can’t raise his right arm due to a frozen shoulder.
Comfort, potential divorce, and controversy
Seo-jin is comforted by So-yeon over a meal, with the restauranteur pointing out that the former DJ isn’t even aware of where she went wrong in Min-jeong’s case, so they shouldn’t feel needless guilt.
At the office, Choi Jun is disappointed by how things turned out with his prospective first client and detailed the “fishy” behavior of the cynical Hyeon-tae to his colleagues.
As Geum-hui rejects her husband’s request for the two to move back in together, despite his assurances he’ll treat her “like a Queen,” Ho-yeong (Seo-jin’s former producer) visits her friend’s workplace and finds herself thrust into a lively atmosphere. Jeong-sik does almost put a stop to this, complaining about the guest’s parking, but he too swiftly becomes engaged with the hubbub.
In the midst of a meeting with Geum-hui about her potential divorce – which the elder is concerned about given the Daenam Electronics team of lawyers, Sung-han will be up against – Attorney Shin is interrupted by an agitated Chun-seok’s phone call.
It turns out his divorce case has become the subject of media coverage, where he has been accused of abusing his Vietnamese wife. Pretty soon, Sung-han becomes aware this must’ve been Yeong-ju’s doing.
Divorce Attorney Shin Season 1 Episode 7 Ending Explained
Following a long night of thinking, Sung-han calls Chun-seok. Here, the divorce expert hears the story of his client’s “naive” love for Dinh Thi Hoa and how he is labeled as an “old man who bought in a poor woman.”
In response, Attorney Shin tells Chun-seok it’s time for him to get his honor back. “You need to prove to everyone that you didn’t buy or abuse a young, foreign woman,” Sung-han states before warning his upset client of the impending messiness of this lawsuit.
Then, with a promise he’ll do something that’ll make him the “talk of the town” and another vow to get Chun-seok’s honor back, Attorney Shin brings an end to the episode.
What did you think of the K-Drama Divorce Attorney Shin Season 1 Episode 7? Comment below.
