Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) – K-Drama Episode 12 Recap & Review

The Spicy Chicken Saga

Episode 12 of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) begins with Yu-Shin showing off the gift he’s got for A-Mi. She cheekily runs through a number of different intriguing items until the truth is revealed. It’s painkillers. He drops her off back home and the two hold hands briefly before Yu-Shin takes off.

A-Mi rings though and tells Yu-Shin to come back. She has something to tell him and wants to say it face to face. This causes him to suddenly turn around and head back to her apartment. He messages Pi-Young and tells her that he’s going to be late and picks up A-Mi. She tells him that she’s decided to head back to the States as she’s lost confidence. A-Mi admits that she likes him and even tells Yu-Shin that she’s happy to overlook his current situation.

Well, Yu-Shin has a lot to think about and eventually leaves her at home, crying, while he heads back home. Just before he does though, he sends a text and promises to keep the ship anchored. Back home he talks to Pi-Young, encouraging her to have another child.

A-Mi eventually leaves for the States while Yu-Shin heads up to see her off before she goes through the gate. Only, he misses her and eventually heads home, defeated.

In the morning, Pi-Young dishes up Dong-Mi’s spicy chicken and admits that she has a special ingredient that she couldn’t add. However, Pi-Young has figured out that she’s using artificial flavouring.

Back home Pi-Young stuffs the chicken dish in the fridge as Dong-Mi rings to quiz her over the food. She acts prickly with Pi-Young telling her to ask permission before taking food next time and forcing her to call her Mother at the end of their conversation. This isn’t the first instance of this as we cut back and see Pi-Young questioning Dong-Mi over making Ki-Rim wear a wig. While she contemplates this in the bath, Ki-Rim comes stumbling in and uses the toilet…without washing his hands. I’m not saying he deserves to be killed for that but it is pretty disgusting.

Anyway, Dong-Mi sorts out an artificial wig for Ki-Rim as their driver comments that he looks like he’s in his mid-fifties now. Eventually they head in for dinner with Yu-Shin and the family where both Ki-Rim and Dong-Mi continue to pedal the idea of raising another child. Well, Pi-Young is clever and claims that a fortune teller has requested she raise Ji-A as an only child.

Midway through dinner, Yu-Shin suddenly receives a text and races off. He claims it’s from a patient but we don’t really get to see this. Instead, Yu-Shin heads back home and speaks to Pi-Young, asking if she can eat an apple without making a sound. When she can’t, it just brings back more memories of A-Mi.

At the same time, both Ga-Bin and Song Won message their future-cheaters. Sa-Hyun happily sits and eats with Song Won, who comments on his muscle definition. On the back of this, Sa-Hyun decides to do another gym session in the afternoon and even invites Song Won out for dinner. He’s pretty forward but she suggests he bring his wife along. Sa-Hyun however, refuses to do so and claims that she’ll be too busy.

Anyway, Song Won and Sa-Hyun head out for dinner together where they get talking. He admits that Hye-Ryeong doesn’t really want children but tells her  that he wants one in the future. Sa-Hyun admits that drumming is what made him fall in love with her. The attention turns to Song Won next, who admits she was married for 5 years but was unable to have children in that time.

The two polish off the bottle of wine and move on to sake, where they begin talking about what to name each other. They eventually settle on Xiexian and Song Yuan. As they walk together outside, Sa-Hyun uses this opportunity to talk about Hye-Ryeong and how she isn’t very feminine. He’s distracted though and decides to buy her some gloves. In exchange, she buys him a scarf and drunkenly wraps it around his neck. Sa-Hyun hugs her and kisses the girl on the forehead. In exchange, Song Won passes out.

The Episode Review

These recent episodes of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) should probably be renamed Cheating (ft. boredom and no drama.) There’s just nothing that exciting going on here and worse, the show is somehow romanticizing the idea of these men cheating on their partners. The fact that romantic score that plays underneath these moments together reinforce this when it should be more of an uneasy, minor key chord to demonstrate how wrong this is.

All three of these men are difficult to warm to as well, while Song-Won is quite clearly the only one of these three that’s trying to keep Sa-Hyun at bay. For her, she’s definitely not interested in him in this way, but Sa-Hyun is practically throwing himself at her.

Alongside shows like Sky Castle, Desperate Housewives or even The Penthouse, Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) just does not compare. Even worse, it’s eye-wateringly boring at times. Let’s hope things pick up in the coming episodes.