Forgotten Birthdays & Forgotten Drama
Episode 15 of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) begins with Ga-Bin singing to Hae-Ryun outside. Instead of going to her house, she gives him a special performance. Ending the song, she sings the words “I love you,” which Hae-Ryun clings to as he heads home that evening. Meanwhile, Yu-Shin goes horse riding with A-Mi. They crack jokes before running into one of Yu-shin’s work colleagues. Yu-shin quickly lies, telling him that A-Mi is his cousin, before the pair head out for lunch together. After (or before, the editing doesn’t make it clear) Yu-shin goes swimming with Dong-Mi, creepily flirting with her outside. Just as a reminder, he’s flirting with his Step Mother. Anyway, Sa-Hyun surprises Song-Won with some wine, claiming it’s from a client. In reality, it’s actually from the pantry back home. He heads over and the two drink, discussing Sa-Hyun’s marriage woes. Song-Won eventually suggests that Sa-Hyun head home and patch things up with Hye-Ryung. Hye-Ryung is still not happy about the panda eyes comment last episode, and continues to angrily comment on what Sa-Hyun’s done. Spineless Sa-Hyun can’t say what he really feels though, as he stays silent when Hye-Ryung suggests angrily that they get a divorce. In his head he agrees with her. As he leaves the room, silently, Sa-Hyun crawls back to Song Won. The next day, Seo Ban drops off a box of caviar for the ladies at the radio station. It’s a gift he was given but he’d rather share it with the ladies. This leads our characters off to celebrate this with their respective families. Sa-Hyun however, meets Song Won with big news. He doesn’t want a relationship but instead decides they should just continue on with what they currently have, continuing their cutesy Chinese names. Song-Won agrees. Things for Sa-Hyun take a turn for the worse when he meets Hye-Ryung again. She makes a big scene at the spar, mentioning his ingrowing toenails and cancelling plans to see his Father on his birthday. She’s forgotten, as it turns out, and refuses to cancel her plans for a golf meet because of it. The client she has doesn’t want to reschedule. Sa-Hyun is inevitably left to break the news to his Mum, who isn’t exactly pleased. Meanwhile, Hae-Ryun grills a student at the university for dropping honorifics with Ga-Bin. He talks to her in his office and reminds the girl of the current class system between seniors and juniors. Or, in this instance, between student and teacher. When she leaves, Ga-Bin arrives and instantly receives a call from back home. It turns out her speakers are broken. With repairmen costing a lot, Hae-Ryun suggests he head over and fix it for her. Well, that evening he does just that, taking a slight break to eat dinner with her. When Jin-A shows up too, the trio spend time together and drink wine, being sure to pour glasses for each other. A call from her son sends Jin-A away though, as it turns out her son has been taken to hospital with a nose bleed. This leaves Hae-Ryun and Ga-Bin together. The wine obviously goes to her head and she thinks back over painful memories with her ex. On the back of this, she asks Hae-Ryun to hold her as the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) has been one of the worst shows of 2021 and this episode perfectly exemplifies why. Nothing happens! There’s barely any drama and the bizarre changed focus from the married women across to the cheating partners and their mistresses has dragged on and on and on. I can’t actually remember when this began but the early season drama – for all of its problems – at least had some melodramatic moments and light bites of humour. Here, everything feels so flat and lifeless. After Hyang-Ki’s impassioned, scathing speech toward her Father, everything has just sort of petered out and flatlined. The various dories just aren’t that interesting and none of these men have redeeming features to make us care about their “plights” which drove them all to cheat. I get that this is supposed to show the true nature of what it’s like to juggle marriage with a mistress, but it just doesn’t work as well as it should. As the finale looms on the horizon, it looks like we’re gearing up for second season. Given how outrageously high the ratings are for this one, it’ll almost certainly be a hit too.
