Joseon Attorney: A Morality – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Divorce Suit (Part 2)

Joseon Attorney: A Morality episode 4 starts with Han-soo chasing after Yeon-joo to ask why she thinks firing him is a good idea. Yeon-joo believes that his approach is dishonest and wants to handle the case in a lawful way, with no shortcuts and prove Lady Yeon’s innocence. Han-soo argues that that would be impossible because from the start women get the short end of the stick in Joseon, especially in marital affairs. He gives Yeon-joo some tips as she walks away in anger.

Meanwhile, Lady Yeon thinks about what Han-soo and Yeon-joo said while her husband is at their house taking all the documents relating to her wealth.

The next morning, Yeon-joo decides to listen to Han-soo’s advice and find out more about Park Je-soo. She recruits the help of Lady Hong and other workers at the merchant house.  She gives Yoon the job of sying on Je-soo. Lady Hong is asked to find people willing to testify and start a petition to spare Lady Yeon’s life. Lady Baek is asked to take care of Lady Yeon and keep her spirits up while she is in jail.

Han-soo is sure that Yeon-joo will fail and will be back asking for his help. He prepares himself for the trial, and he visits Myung-Wol, planting doubts in her relationship with Je-soo.

Unaware of what is about to come his way, Je-soo asks his friend to look for a good lawyer to handle his divorce case. Yeon-joo is also looking for a lawyer to represent Lady Yeon but no one is interested. She decides to dress up as a man and visit Myung-Wol. Han-soo is surprised to see her but admits her plan was not too shabby.

They both try to convince Myung-Wol to reconsider her affair with Je-soo and testify for Lady Yeon. They each give her a gift to try and they start competing on whose gift will ultimately convince her.  Myung-Wol takes her time to think about the gifts and what they each told her. Yeon-joo gave her an opportunity to start her own cosmetic shop and Han-soo gave her yakgwa to remind her what Je-soo did to his in-laws.

Yeon-joo finally gets a lawyer willing to take up the case but he is a spy.  After seeing that Yeon-joo replaced him, Han-soo decides to offer his services to Je-soo. Cheol-Joo vouches for him and Je-soo thinks that Han-soo is trying to good in his good graces. He hires Han-soo and they start to discuss their winning strategy. Han-soo suggests that Je-soo asks his noble friends to testify on his behalf.

Je-soo summons his friends and they share stories about how their wives are stressful to deal with. Each one of them thinks that their wives deserve to be cheated on. Han-soo listens to all the stories and orders the noblemen to use their stories to testify against Lady Yeon.

Later that night, Han-soo continues to party with Je-soo and his noble friends. Yeon-joo spots him and confronts him for getting a job as Je-soo’s lawyer. She thought they were on the same team even after she fired him.  Han-soo tries to explain he has good intentions but Yeon-joo shuts him down and claims his behaviour proves otherwise.  She gives him the purse he had asked her to make.

After the fight, Han-soo returns to the drinking party and finds Je-soo alone. He starts planting doubts about Myung-Wol’s loyalty. He tells Je-soo that he saw Myung-Wol meeting with Lady Yeon’s attorney in secret. Je-soo gets furious and heads straight to  Myung-Wol. He accuses her of betraying him. He hits her head so hard against the wall, she passes out as he continues to choke her.

Han-soo arrives at the scene and Je-soo tells him to let Myung-Wol die. He asks him to make it look like she committed suicide. Han-soo has a flashback of what happened to his mom. She was killed by Je-soo and her death was made to look like a suicide. Je-soo quickly explains that he has done this before and that he will bribe the medical examiner.

Dong-chi and Han-soo take Myung-Wol to see a doctor and Yeon-joo rushes to find out what happened.  Dong-chi tells her that Myung-Wol’s condition is helpless and Yeon-joo is frustrated with the constant abuse of power. She also realizes the lawyer she hired is gone, he went to the merchant’s house and took all the evidence and petition they had managed to collect. He took the documents to Yoo Je-Se.

At the same time, Je-soo went to see Yoo Je-Se to beg for mercy and assistance. He brought with him a ledger book containing all the deals he has made for Hungu in the past seven years. Yoo Je-Se tells him not to worry he already had his man, Attorney Kim handle the issue. They burn the evidence Attorney Kim stole and Yoo Je-Se advises Je-soo to come to his senses and win the suit.

Faced with a new challenge, Yeon-joo visits Lady Yeon and explains what happened. She apologizes for her naivety and Lady Yeon remembers what Han-soo said. She starts trying to break her leg but Yeon-joo asks her to be a little more patient. She promises to get Han-soo back on the case and rushes to find him.

Unfortunately, Han-soo is nowhere to be seen. Cheol-Joo kidnapped him and tied him to a boat, a few miles offshore. Cheol-Joo was suspicious of him and wanted him to stay away until the lawsuit is done.  After failing to find Han-soo, Yeon-joo and her people try to use sky lanterns to send a message to him. Han-soo sees the lanterns but is still unable to get to land as he was injured during his fight with Cheol-Joo. He tries to stop the bleeding in his arm but faints from exhaustion.

Back on land, Yoo Ji-sun asks his father why he is so concerned about a mere divorce suit. His dad tells him it is not about the divorce suit but about showing kindness to his people.  That way, the men will continue to serve him loyally. Ji-sun points out that Je-soo is committing a crime and it is unfair to punish his wife instead. His father brings up Yeon-joo and threatens to reveal the princess’ identity if Ji-sun doesn’t drop his holier-than-thou questioning.

The next morning, Lady Yeon is brought forth before the court. Han-soo wakes up and after seeing Yeon-joo’s purse, he motivates himself to swim to the shore. He creates a floater using a pumpkin patch.  He does his best but his wound keeps bleeding and the pumpkin patch gets a hole in it. He starts to sink and prays to live and avenge his family. Luckily, Yeon-joo spots it and dives in to save him.

At the court, Je-soo still maintains his bad attitude and tries to weaken Lady Yeon’s spirit. However, Lady Yeon is aware that she won’t win the case, not without Han-soo and wants to simply tell everyone the truth before being sentenced to death.

Concurrently, Yoo Je-Se is at the palace submitting a request for the King to promote one of the noblemen in Hungu to the Third Deputy Commander position. He also wants Je-soo to be appointed to the Royal Academy of Painting in Pyongyangbu. In reality, this is a mere formality as King Lee Hyul has no power to say no. He gives his approval and remembers what his sister told him about Han-soo.

The court procession starts and Ji-sun is the magistrate on the divorce case. He notes that Lady Yeon has no attorney but the case must continue. Fortunately, Yeon-joo manages to drag Han-soo to the court just before Je-soo’s attorney starts addressing the court. Han-soo manages to point out an exception in the law that allows a woman to ask for a divorce and live. He uses the fact that Je-soo knowingly gave Lady Yeon’s father sweets when he was diabetic to plead his case.

Of course, Je-soo tries to discredit these allegations and mentions instances to prove how his in-laws adored him. In an exciting twist of events, Myung-Wol, who was presumed dead shows up and gives her testimony about how Je-soo killed his father-in-law. It turns out, she was testing Je-soo and when he left her for dead, she realized what a snake he is. Dong-chi helped her fake her death and rescued her.

Je-soo loses it when Myung-wol shows up to give her testimony and tries to attack her. The noblemen on Je-soo’s side abandon him after hearing he committed murder. Je-soo tries to reason with the Court and ends up testifying against himself. Everyone is left too stunned to speak after hearing the motive behind Je-soo’s actions.

Ji-sun calls for the arrest of Je-soo and gives Lady Yeon the divorce she wants. In his ruling, he heavily criticizes Je-soo and sympathizes with his wife. Everyone is happy about his ruling and even the King is moved by Han-soo’s talent. Je-soo is publicly humiliated and wonders who Han-soo really is.

Later, Yeon-joo asks Myun-Wol what changed her mind and she says that the opportunity to start a new life was tempting. She also says it was Han-soo’s idea to test Je-soo. Myung-wol apologises to Lady Yeon and is forgiven.

Yeon-joo tries to comfort Lady Yeon and inspires her to be proud of her divorce. She assures Lady Yeon it is not her fault and she shouldn’t live in shame. Lady Yeon sincerely thanks her for saving her life.

At the end of the day, Yeon-joo takes a bath and relaxes as she shares the story of how she saved Han-soo. They have a heart-fluttering moment and Lady Hong feels embarrassed watching them. Overall, Yeon-joo feels quite pleased with herself.

Later that evening, Han-soo pays Je-soo a visit in his cell and finds him dead, hanging as if he committed suicide.


The Episode Review

Han-soo is as funny as he is talented. Woo Do-Hwan does a good job of making his character believable and no matter what, the audience relates to him.

I think that Han-soo has proven himself to Yeon-joo but she still finds it hard to see his intentions. She sees him as someone who uses the law as a game but she couldn’t be more wrong. Han-soo is using the law as a tool to avenge his family. Unfortunately, he was not able to get answers from Je-soo about what will be his next move. I am curious to see the next target on his list.

Ji-sun is different from his dad and that is a good thing but sooner or later he will have to go head-to-head with him. Is he prepared for that fight?

This episode was a reminder of how far women’s rights have come. I am glad Lady Yeon found the justice she deserved but we all know how bad it could have turned out for her.

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