Just when we thought things couldn’t get more intense for our divorcée, this week there’s a police investigation that takes everyone a step deeper into the madness. Loyalties, motives, and lies are all getting tangled up, and everyone continues to fight for what they want without much regard for who gets hurt in the process.
EPISODES 11-12 WEECAP
It always feels like a minor victory when we’ve survived the weekly turmoil of A Couple’s World. It takes me all week to calm down from the adrenaline highs of this drama, where even the pop of a toaster can be terrifying, as Sun-woo shows us this week. And by the time we do recover, it’s the time for more episodes! Are you ready?
As it should, the death at Gosan Station becomes a huge deal. I think Sun-woo and I were the only ones that thought it was really Hyun-seo that died — but thank goodness it’s not. It’s In-kyu; he’s fallen from the roof and is very dead. While I’m not sorry to have the character of In-kyu and his vicious antagonism gone from this story, his death opens up a whole new layer of horrors. Suspicion, doubt, and betrayal are all at play after his death. The drama just keeps hitting repeat on those emotions, but it doesn’t get old for a millisecond.
There are so many bad outcomes from In-kyu’s death. Sun-woo is considered a suspect, especially since In-kyu was clutching her scarf when he plummeted to his death. Joon-young, who’s already at the breaking point, gets bullied about it at school. The Women’s Gossip Club is ruthless. Hyun-seo is terrified that she’ll be framed for the murder. And as if those chain reactions weren’t enough, Sun-woo is now (even more) suspicious of Yoon-gi, who suddenly appeared at the scene of the crime as well, shepherding her to safety.
But Tae-oh’s obviously the culprit, right? Not only does he drip with evil these days (okay, since forever), but he comes home with a blood-stained shirt, a parking receipt with an incriminating time stamp, and Hyun-seo is an eye witness that he was there, searching for In-Kyu with the devil in his eyes.
Tae-oh puts on such a show with Sun-woo, claiming innocence — but we know better, and so does Chairman Yeo. He’s secreted away the CCTV footage that will theoretically prove Tae-oh is the murderer, all for the sake of his daughter and granddaughter.
But it’s Sun-woo who comes to Tae-oh’s rescue. Say what? Yes folks, she actually a) thinks he’s innocent and b) is willing to do what it takes to prevent her son’s father from becoming a murderer. That means lying to the police + fabricating an alibi for Tae-oh. With the handy “proof” of his wedding ring (which Hyun-seo had picked up during their scuffle), Sun-woo says she and Tae-oh were together in her car that night. Have you no shame, Sun-woo?
The outcome of the investigation is that In-kyu committed suicide (this is way better than where I thought they were going to go, scapegoating Hyun-seo). Sun-woo and Hyun-seo say goodbye for the millionth time, but something else important happens here.
Hyun-seo draws an important parallel between how she was unable to break free from In-kyu (out of pity for him), and says that’s the same thing that she sees with Sun-woo and Tae-oh. This is the second warning that Sun-woo has gotten from fairly reliable females that are able to see her situation with some objectivity. Aaaaand that means more foreshadowing for us, too. Gulp.
Sun-woo can’t catch a break. She might have saved Tae-oh, but the next obstacle is Joon-young. He’s been getting more miserable by the second ever since this show started (I really feel for this kid), and what finally gets to him? The cunning words of Da-kyung. She’s evil, so she plants an evil seed in his mind: that his mother would have an easier time without him around.
I have to give it to Da-kyung for knowing exactly what to say to this poor little teen to make him take action. Next thing we know he’s breaking Sun-woo’s heart and leaving for Palace d’Tae-oh with a giant suitcase and not even a goodbye. I had a hard time with this. I’ve really been disappointed in Sun-woo’s parenting skills, but this is just so hurtful to her… and so bad for him.
Tae-oh is strangely sympathetic to Joon-young’s cold move — for the first time in forever, he seems to be thinking about the situation from someone else’s perspective (and ability that no one in this drama displays for long). But, I suspect that’s because there’s a splinter in his “good life” #2 — and sure enough, there really isn’t much happiness at his home anymore. He sleeps in another room, barely makes eye contact with Da-kyung, lies to her on a moment-by-moment basis… and suddenly it makes sense why Da-kyung decides to use Joon-young as a pawn.
It looks like it works, at least at first, though it’s positively galling to see the four of them playing family. And if it was like a knife through my heart, I can’t imagine how many knives it felt like to Sun-woo. Losing Joon-young, even temporarily, gives her some perspective, though, and I think she needed that. But what she does with it is another story.
Because this show is such a plot arc roller coaster, I haven’t really sat back and thought about what A Couple’s World is saying about marriage — or love for that matter — but it has been talking about it quite a bit. We’ve peeked into many a marriage and many a relationship, but what we find there is not much faithfulness and not much loyalty.
Love and marriage are often separated in this drama’s rhetoric, whether it’s Je-hyuk realizing he had love when he only sought passion, or Tae-oh’s admitting to Sun-woo that “once love becomes marriage everything is the same.”
I don’t mind one bit if Tae-oh is unhappy (in fact I think he deserves to be), but I’m not sure if I was ready for the explosion of anger, regret, and passion that ended this week’s episodes. All of those emotions, and more, have been lingering between our divorced couple for years now, and in a way it’s not a surprise that things got intense. I could naively suggest that maybe this would give them some closure, but who am I kidding — this is A Couple’s World. It’s only going to snowball from here.
