Divorce Attorney Shin: Episodes 5-6 » Dramabeans MGG

Divorce Attorney Shin: Episodes 5-6

by lovepark

A messy divorce case lands in our attorney’s lap this week, and though he will try his best to win, the entire situation leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. As he witnesses his clients’ self-serving fight that harms everyone around them, will our attorney learn from their mistake or will he fall prey to the same temptations?

 
EPISODES 5-6

The main divorce case this week depicts a messy love triangle between three selfish people: a professor with cancer who cheated on his wife and is willing to accept his girlfriend’s liver, a homemaker blinded by rage who would rather become a widow than a divorcee, and a hairdresser lacking shame who envies and steals for her own gain. In the end, everyone is consumed by their desires and rushes headlong into the fire, unaware of the damage caused by their actions.

Unlike the previous cases, the story of the cheating professor, his wife, and his mistress acts as a juxtaposition to highlight other strands in the drama. The unsavory end of the divorce may be a message in and of itself — the folly of humans, perhaps — but the greater impact comes from its effect on others.

One, in particular, is Seo-jin who continues to struggle with anxiety and possibly PTSD after her public divorce case. In some ways, she sees herself reflected in the professor and mistress since she, too, had an affair, and it makes her wonder why Sung-han finds their situation more unpleasant than her own.

Showing his true character as the tenderhearted pianist, Sung-han approaches Seo-jin gently and answers her questions with compassion. Even when she admonishes herself for overreacting after an incident with flowers, he helps her be kinder to herself and let the healing process take its time.

As someone who carries his own grief, Sung-han understands that matters of the heart do not fix themselves overnight, but this also means that someday things do get better. It is a message Seo-jin needs at the moment, and gradually, she makes progress towards recovery.

The other character affected by the divorce case is Hyung-geun. At work, he plays the role of mediator, especially when it comes to their new recruit Jun and Sung-han. However, in his personal life, he flounders, not knowing what to do about his wife. Whether it stems from stubbornness or love, he hopelessly holds onto an empty relationship at the cost of his own heart, until one fateful evening.

In the midst of another pity party, Hyung-geun receives a call from his wife, and with the help of the ramyun shop owner KIM SO-YEON (Kang Mal-geum), he takes her to the hospital where he meets the other man for the first time. Forced to face reality, Hyung-geun realizes that his wife found someone new who cares for her deeply, and unlike Sung-han’s nasty divorce case, the cheater hangs his head in shame.

Despite Hyung-geun’s efforts to keep this incident private, one call with Sung-han unravels his poorly hidden secret. Without a fuss, the three friends meet up to comfort Hyung-geun, and this scene wonderfully captures their friendship. They understand each other implicitly, and because of their shared history, they feel no need to keep up pretenses. Thus, even at their lowest moments, they can joke around and take profile pictures if the angle is right.

In the end, Hyung-geun recognizes the selfishness in his attempts at reconciliation and learns that continuing down this road will only turn him into the bitter wife who prefers her husband dead instead of divorced. Despite the ache, Hyung-geun decides to let go and wishes his wife be happy from now on.

Though he sends her off with a smile, he dissolves into tears as soon as she leaves, but when he looks up again, he spots his friends sitting at a nearby table. They offer to buy him drinks, and between sobs, Hyung-geun says that he wants to open the hidden bottle of whiskey under Sung-han’s kitchen sink. Ha!

Outside of the main divorce case, the plot also thickens for Sung-han and his goal to uncover the truth behind his sister’s death. In a series of flashbacks, we learn that she died in a hit-and-run accident, and the last call she made was to a “friend” with a phone number ending in 1225.

To complicate matters, a new figure joins the fray: Ju-hwa’s ex-mother-in-law MA GEUM-HEE (Cha Hwa-yeon). An enigmatic woman, Lady Ma’s motto is “being kind brings trouble” yet something about her seems genuine unlike her current daughter-in-law JIN YOUNG-JU (Noh Susanna) who embodies the evil stepmother trope.

Recently arriving to Korea after living abroad for years, Lady Ma pays a surprise visit to Sung-han’s office and asks about Ju-hwa’s gravesite. Sung-han declines to answer and tells her to leave before he regrets his next words.

While Lady Ma’s meeting with Sung-han was tense, it is nothing compared to the hostile interaction between her and Young-ju. Lady Ma asks her daughter-in-law if she can sleep after letting Ju-hwa pass like that, and then she laughs in her face when Young-ju insists that this is her family. Lady Ma tells her that it was her grandson’s family first, but Ju-hwa rejects that claim since this life would have been hers from the start if Lady Ma did not interfere. So many secrets!

Young-ju enlists the help of her partner-in-crime Attorney Park, and he cunningly tells her that he planted a spy at Sung-han’s office. Unbeknownst to our nefarious duo, Jun is the worst spy ever. In fact, as soon as Attorney Park blackmailed him to comply, Jun went to Hyung-geun for advice and revealed everything to Sung-han who then made him a double agent. Heh.

Despite Jun’s enthusiasm, the rest of the office ignores him for the most part, making his role as spy essentially null. However, they do invite him out to camp, but alas, the three ahjussis stifle his attempts to set the mood and play with their phones the entire time. (Definitely not the glamorous life Jun was probably imagining.)

Though Sung-han won his latest divorce case, he hesitates to fill in his final grape. As he wrestles with doubts and confusion, a call from a strange number ending in 1225 brings a sudden wave of clarity to his mind. The caller is Young-ju, and that sliver of connection is enough for Sung-han to move forward.

While Sung-han contemplates his next action, an odd client drops by his firm. The man is from a different city, and when Sung-han asks him how he found his place, he shows him Young-ju’s business card. That becomes the final push he needed, and Sung-han tears the grapes off his wall. Time for the real battle to begin.

Compared to the previous cases, I thought this week’s divorce case was the weakest, yet these two episodes were my favorite so far. The biggest draw of the show for me has been the characters from day one, and I think the professor’s divorce case, while not engaging on its own, was fascinating in light of the overarching themes and relationships developed in the show. It served more as a reflection of Seo-jin and Hyung-geun’s situation with each character learning from their “counterpart.” The professor’s case was almost like a warning, and while it was clearly meant for those two characters, I also think it works as an analogy for Sung-han’s current dilemma. Sung-han describes the professor’s case as moths flying toward a flame, but as the episode reached its climactic end, I couldn’t help but see our protagonist as a moth as well. His goal has become a flame — a trap that threatens to engulf him and bring about his demise — yet like a moth, Sung-han cannot turn away.

The three friends continue to be the highlight of the show, and they seem to get better with each passing episode. I absolutely adored the scene where Sung-han calls Hyung-geun about marinated crabs, and the effortless switch from comedy to drama was amazing. The show does an excellent job portraying the strength of their bond through subtle details such as the way they understand each other’s pauses as a sign that something is wrong. The silences between them speak volume, and while the writing deserves some credit, it really is the acting that sells it for me.

Even Jung-shik who is more of a comedic character is not shoehorned into a cardboard cutout (though he does act like a fool most of the time) and actually displays some depth, especially when it comes to his friends. His teasing and random comments are meant to lighten the mood because he uses humor as a defense, but just like the other two, he notices when they are down and has an uncanny sixth sense about these things. He’s also the first one willing to jump into a fight if his friends need him, and despite his tomfoolery, he is fiercely loyal. I hope the show gives him a story, too, because there is a lot of potential with his character, and it would be a waste to not let Jung Moon-sung step into the spotlight as well.

 
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