Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life – Episodes 3 & 4 Recap & Review

Inconsistent Stories

With more drama and plenty of character development, episode 2 of Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life begins with a flashback to the day before, with Cheong-Ah and Joon-Kyum getting to know each other. Back in the present, the police call Joon-Kyum’s mum and break the news about her son, while Cheong-Ah’s mum makes it back home with Joon-Kyum’s belongings. Suddenly, his phone rings prompting her to hide it in the fridge. When her husband arrives home, she tasks him to get rid of everything.

At the police station, Cheong-Ah’s parents arrive looking very upset. Her dad slaps Cheong-Ah as soon as he sees her, telling her she’s not his daughter anymore before a heated debate about whether to tell the truth about the suicide takes centre stage. Joon Kyum’s mother, Hong Yu-Ra, is reunited with the body of her son and later meets with Detective Kim Bong-Kyun. She asks to see pictures of scene, which leads to more drama as Yu-Ra arrives at the station and sees Cheong-Ah and her mother acting as if nothing happened, causing the grieving mother to become angry at the pair.

Cheong-Ah gives her statement but lies to the police, with the help of her mother. Yu-Ra confronts Cheong-Ah after as she doesn’t believe the fabricated story, goin on to explain he was found wearing his expensive trainers, which were a gift from his brother. Cheong-Ah’s mum then changes her story; he actually died trying to save her from drowning, as they’ve been dating since the Spring.

Yu-Ra decides to visit the scene of the accident with the detective, unconvinced by what she’s just found out while back home, Cheong’s mum sets a separate dinner table for her daughter. She tells her they all have to keep quiet for her sake and goes on to ask why Cheong-Ah wanted to kill herself. Removing her top, she reveals the bruises, explaining that kids at school are responsible.

Seol-Ah tries on new clothes in an expensive store as Don Ji-Woo arrives with his mum. Seol-Ah ask the shop assistant if it’s possible to get a wardrobe sponsorship but she replies they only offer it for the hottest stars. Still intrigued by the woman, Ji-Woo decides to pay for the sponsorship but tells the shop assistant to keep it a secret. While out for coffee, his mother reprimands him for offering to pay as she thinks she’s too poor for her son. It’s here we also find out that she’s the sister of Yu-Ra, making him Yun-Hwi’s cousin.

Cheong-Ah remembers what Joon-Kyum said about eating people and his two victims – Kang Si-Wol and Park Keut Sun. Cheong-Ah’s mum later talks to her about him and warns to be careful as his mum is a judge, prompting Cheong-Ah to remember Joon-Kyum’s goodbye letter that she left in her tracksuit, now consequently with the police.

Heading for the station, they make up an excuse to get her belongings. As Cheong’s mum distracts one of the policemen, Cheong-Ah manages to take the letter. Yu-Ra arrives at the police station soon after, only to find Cheong-Ah there as well, standing right in front of her, where we leave things hanging in the balance.

The second episode of Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life delivers, as expected, more drama surrounding Joon-Kyum’s death. With Yu-Ra’s suspicions growing and Cheong-Ah treading on thin ice with their inconsistent story, the truth is bound to come out sooner or later and the consequences will certainly not be pleasant for either woman. Cheong-Ah has been quite the unlucky character so far too and it’ll be interesting to see if she will ever get a happy ending.

Episode 2 mostly stayed away from the slapstick jokes this time around and feels a lot more dramatic most of the way through. Yu-Ra delivers a great performance as the grieving mother, determined to uncover the truth behind her son’s death. Another intriguing plot has developed too around the reason Joon-Kyum wanted to kill himself. What did he actually do to his two victims? We should hopefully find out as the episodes tick along but so far, Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life has been a real guilty pleasure.