Trying divorce cases has a different feel when your own marriage is fraying at the seams. Our ace attorney’s marital issues take center stage as she struggles to take her own advice and remain rational. She may hate relying on others, but she’s coming to realize she might not be able to do it all on her own. And as luck would have it, she’s got a hoobae frenemy who isn’t good at staying on the sidelines while women are wronged.
EPISODES 3-4
I liked the premiere episodes, but this week hooked me. There was a stronger balance of personal and professional, which made it feel a bit less generic and more engaging. We get more existential this week, exploring what marriage truly is. What does it mean to be a spouse and what do you owe each other? What’s your line in the sand? As we see in these episodes, there’s no single answer that satisfies everyone.
We learn a lot more about Eun-kyung’s marriage this week, and it’s clear their troubles have been brewing for years. At this point, she and Ji-sang are barely speaking, and even calling them roommates seems a stretch. He’s the primary parent, and Eun-kyung’s work keeps her so busy he argues she’s barely a part of the family. Things are so bad he’s been asking her for a divorce. Despite their internal relationship issues and the affair, Eun-kyung refuses – how would that look publicly, the renowned divorce lawyer with the perfect life getting a divorce?
While Ji-sang’s affair is inexcusable, his grievances are legitimate. It seems like Eun-kyung has put career before family and hasn’t been a present mother or wife. Her anger at his affair might be impacting her response, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this dynamic of him saying how he feels and her coldly dismissing his concerns is a pattern. (She is allergic to feelings, after all.) Their marriage issues go beyond an affair, and there’s clearly hurt to go around.
Yuri, unsurprisingly, is terrible at keeping a secret, so she lets slip to Eun-ho about Eun-kyung’s cheating husband. Not that it makes much difference; if you cheat at the office, people are bound to see something. Woo-jin has spotted Ji-sang and assistant CHOI SARA (Han Jae-yi) together looking lovey-dovey, and he is tormented over whether to tell Eun-kyung. He tentatively asks if they’ve been having marriage issues, but he doesn’t reveal what he saw. Eun-kyung, stoic as ever, pretends everything is fine.
So we’ve got Eun-kyung who refuses to acknowledge she has emotions, and Yuri who is nothing but emotions. Gotta love those drama opposites. While Eun-kyung has remained cordial with Sara at work for months, Yuri almost explodes when she realizes that not only does Sara (who she treats as a mortal enemy now) live in her building, but she’s chummy with Yuri’s mom.
Yuri can’t imagine what’s holding Eun-kyung back from divorce, but what looks straightforward from the outside can be anything but for those involved. There’s a generational divide with younger women, like Yuri, all for divorce and not letting a man hold you back from your best life. But although the stigma for divorcees has lessened, it’s not gone, particularly for women of older generations. Some women would rather stick out a terrible, even abusive, marriage rather than face the criticism they’d get for divorcing and guilt for not doing their supposed duty.
In one such case, a woman being abused by her husband can’t bring herself to divorce him, even when her daughter begs her. She argues that this full-grown man doesn’t know how to cook for himself and can’t survive without her help. He’s the type of manipulative person who uses self-harm to trap his wife in the marriage, and it works. She’s so beaten down she thinks suffering is her lot in life and accepts it.
Yuri is shaken by the case, but it’s commonplace to Eun-kyung who assures her it’s not her fault. She encourages Yuri to separate her normal self from her lawyer self, something that’s easier said than done. The idea of continuously fighting her conscience at work is too much for Yuri, so she resigns. Before she leaves, she gives Sara’s address to Eun-kyung and reveals Ji-sang practically lives with Sara.
Eun-kyung may act unfazed by the affair, but she can’t help going to see for herself. She watches their domestic bliss from a distance and cries alone. Something in her snaps – even Eun-kyung has a limit. She then makes a surprising move: she files her divorce papers with Yuri and asks her to use her “pathetic sense of justice” to punish her husband. Eun-kyung could represent herself, but she acknowledges that Yuri balances her out since their approaches are completely different. Resignation not accepted. Well, this should be fun.
If Yuri thought her boss inescapable before, it’s worse now that she’s her lawyer. She even gets roped into chauffeuring Eun-kyung’s daughter KIM JAE-HEE (Yoo-na) who is her mother’s daughter what with her attention to detail and no-nonsense manner. From the way Jae-hee vehemently denies being like her mom and insists she resembles her dad, it’s clear who she’s closer to. And that might be a problem for Eun-kyung because Ji-sang is determined to get custody. He may not be able to deny the airtight evidence of his affair that Eun-kyung submits to the court, but he isn’t willing to give up Jae-hee to a mother he sees as negligent.
All the stress has Yuri venting to her work buddy Eun-ho over drinks. A few too many drinks, it would seem, because she wakes up beside him in a hotel the next morning. They’re both super awkward the morning after, but they don’t have long to worry about it. Eun-kyung’s divorce hits the tabloids, and the CEO makes a huge scene in the office, worrying how it’ll affect the law firm. But the ever confident Eun-kyung isn’t worried – she plans to use her divorce to put on a show and boost the firm.
Both Eun-kyung and Ji-sang are out for blood, so this promises to be an ugly divorce. And if our final scene is anything to go by, it’s about to get uglier. Yuri sees Eun-kyung in what appears to be a compromising position with a man, possibly lending credence to the complaint submitted from Ji-sang’s lawyer that Eun-kyung also had an affair.
What a mess! Not that I’m happy about how the marriage has thoroughly broken down, but I do like that we get to see Eun-kyung reacting emotionally for the first time. It’s obvious she uses her stoicism and superwoman image to cover any vulnerabilities, and the veneer is already cracking. As the case progresses, I’m looking forward to seeing more of what’s underneath.
Eun-kyung has her faults and has contributed to the state of her marriage, but I do hesitate to believe she’s having an affair. Given some comments by Ji-sang, it sounds like he suspects her of being a little too close to Woo-jin. I’m betting that’s who they’ve accused her of having an affair with, but they don’t give off that vibe to me. True or not, this could make Eun-kyung’s case murkier. I just hope both parties remember there’s a very real child between them who deserves better than to be collateral damage in their fight.