Divorce Attorney Shin Episode 11

Episode 11 of Divorce Attorney Shin starts with a look at the past. Specifically, we’re back with Ju-hwa on the night of her death. She looks over baby photos before grabbing a red umbrella and heading out. The rain is lashing down and she receives a call from Yeong-ju, who taunts her. She threatens Ju-hwa over Gi-yeong, as Ju-hwa pleads with Yeong-juto let her see her son.

Yeong-ju is vicious, venomously spitting that she should let go of Gi-yeong before she’s etched in his brain. She gives her the choice of either leaving to see her brother (Sung-han) in Germany or die. As we know, she ends up inadvertently choosing the latter.

Back in the present, Gi-yeong quizzes Sung-han about Ju-hwa. He feels awkward talking to him about this, especially when he brings up that Yeong-ju kicked Ju-hwa out. That’s what all the kids at school are saying, and given Sung-han is not Gi-yeong’s legal guardian, he’s unsure how he’ll be able to help. Sung-han admits he’s not sure either but promises to do everything he can for his nephew.

Gi-yeong opens up about what’s been going on and why he’s so alone and down in the dumps. His driver, Mr Jung turns a blind eye to everything he’s been doing and always calls Gi-yeong a good boy. However, he’s been dismissed by Ju-hwa and he’s now going to have a new driver watching over him.

Sung-han promises to find a comfortable place for Gi-yeong going forward, but for now, he needs to go back home. Sung-han wants him to eat well, exercise and stay positive. He decides to feed the child before they part ways, but Yeong-ju is not happy when she finds out, wanting him home immediately. And what better place to eat than Grandma’s Noodle Shop.

Only, this time So-yeon is joined by Hyeong-geun behind the counter. They have a good time, until it comes time for Gi-yeong to say goodbye. After dropping him off, he hugs Sung-han tightly outside before going in.

When Sung-han heads home, he finds his brothers already there, having got into his house using the code. Hilariously, they’re both asleep when he shows. Sung-han doesn’t wake them though, instead getting a blanket for the pair. Unfortunately, Sung-han also falls asleep but when he opens his eyes, he finds Jeong-sik snapping pictures and sunlight flooding in through the windows.

Geum-hui speaks to Mr Jung and apologizes for how hard Yeong-ju must have been to deal with. Apparently, the reason he’s leaving is because Gi-yeong has been binge-eating lately and after eating he throws up a lot. Yeong-ju seemed annoyed when Mr Jung told him, and that’s the reason why a new driver has been brought in.

While this is going on, Choi and Seo-jin head to a restaurant that’s not doing too well. Unfortunately, the grandma’s daughter had an affair with another man and shared the family recipe. They started their own restaurant, which hasn’t helped, and even worse, she’s neglected her daughter (Jun-hui) whom the grandmother has had to look after. The mum has never paid any child support, which is against the law and could be grounds for suing.

Choi believes she should push forward with getting child support for Jun-hui. If you’ll remember, Jun-hui is the LifeSucksAnyway kid who was badmouthing Seo-jin online. They feel like they should move forward with this and eventually press on with the work back at the office.

Sung-han desperately tries to find a solution to the Gi-yeong situation, while Yeong-ju finds herself in a tricky position too. Yu-seok has been scheming and he reminds Yeong-ju that she’s given up her morals when she was illegally messing with Ju-hwa’s divorce case alongside him. In exchange for keeping quiet, Yu-seok suggests he be relocated to a lovely office in a really nice area, as part of his “severance pay”.

Sung-han meets with Geum-hui and admits he can’t finish the Beethoven composition. In layman terms, he can’t move forward with something he can’t understand. He’s decided to settle on her receiving 27% rather than the potential 50% of the shares for the settlement. Geum-hui is shocked but it seems there’s no wavering here. The rest of the office are surprised too when they find out, especially when they receive word to sort out the funds.

Seo-jin heads out to talk to Sung-han, who admits he wants Gi-yeong to have a happy life but he knows the law will never allow him to be the child’s official guardian. She believes there must be another case similar to this one but he can’t find it.

Geum-hui heads over to see Yeong-ju, and the pair end up in a heated argument. Geum-hui indirectly blames Yeong-ju for Ju-hwa’s death, pointing out their phone call just before she passed away. Yeong-ju plays the victim and claims that she’s been looked down on as subhuman all this time. However, Geum-hui throws a live grenade in the mix, pointing out that she overheard her on the phone that night (Ju-hwa’s death) and knows what was said. Just before she leaves, she demand Ju-hwa apologize and allow Gi-yeong to stay with his uncle.

Meanwhile, Station Director Jang has big news for Seo-jin. He’s jumped through hoops to get her back on the air for a 4pm slot on the radio. It’s a big breakthrough and Seo-jin is over the moon. However, the Noodle Shop is closed early given So-yeon has a date so the celebrations are cut short. When Hyeon-u finds out about the radio slot, he’s excited as it means he’ll get to listen after school.

Hyeong-geun and So-yeon meet up for the date, with the latter letting her hair down. The pair end up watching dramas together back home, first a saucy and rather romantic one and then a comedy… and finally a sad one. After their date, the pair go for a walk, where Hyeong-geun admits why it took him so long to break up with Ji-eun, admitting that he wasn’t a particularly good husband when they were together. He’s fully over her now though and ready to move forward with his life with So-yeon. The pair hold hands and eventually rush off together.

In the morning, Sung-han speaks to Mr Jung, who points out that Yeong-ju has never taken Gi-yeong to a doctor. Since fourth grade he’s been really bad but Sung-han had no idea what was happened. He always thought the boy was fine as he was happy when they were together. The thing is, he’s far from it, especially the miserable life he’s been stuck with growing up with Yeong-ju.

Jeong-sik keeps an eye on Gi-yeong, tailing his car from a distance to figure out what may be hidden from plain view. However, he does so for several days and it scares the driver, who eventually calls the police on him. All of this spills over outside the police station, when Yeong-ju and Sung-han butt heads over this entire situation.

Yeong-ju brings up Ju-hwa and how she wouldn’t back down from getting custody of her child. Sung-han is pissed and squares up to Yeong-ju, especially when she mentions Ju-hwa’s accident. She also brings up information about Geum-hui too, specifically about how she sold her building and donated money and now she’s asking for a settlement amount, which seems more than a little fishy.

Sung-han starts to piece all of this together and realizes that she’s doing this for Gi-yeong. She wanted the money for Gi-yeong, so she can use it as a powerful weapon to get him out of Yeong-ju’s tyrannical grip. That’s the real play here, and she wants to do right by Ju-hwa. She couldn’t stop their divorce but did have a nice day out with Ju-hwa, where she realized that she was pregnant.

Sung-han is determined now, and in the morning he heads up to see Gi-yeong. After taking some money from his wallet (a down-payment for his services as his lawyer), Sung-han embraces his nephew and prepares for the final play. It’s now all on the line for Gi-yeong to get his happy ending. With a shot of a shocked, annoyed Yeong-ju opposite a determined Sung-han, the episode ends.

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode to Divorce Attorney Shin delivers a decent chapter for us to chew over, one with far less comedy and much more drama as the final case is not actually to do with Geum-hui’s divorce, but actually Gi-yeong’s custody. It’s not directly linked to a divorce but I guess it is indirectly linked to it, given it’s the aftereffects of Ju-hwa’s death.

The editing with the Jeong-sik scenes certainly leaves a lot to be desired here. I genuinely thought it was the same day he was tailing Gi-yeong’s car before realizing it was multiple occurrences. The editing didn’t make it particularly clear what was happening which was a bit annoying.

This minor point aside, the episodes still feel a bit undercooked, especially Seo-jin’s case that just feels underdeveloped and thrown in now. I’m guessing the LifeSucksAnyway case is just going to run concurrently with what’s going on with Sung-han for the finale.