Episode 13 of Love begins with Sa-Hyun back at Song Won’s place after she awakens from her drunken black out. She makes him some beef porridge and eventually the pair have fried eggs. This is a significant moment, as we find out that Hye-Ryung looked at Sa-Hyun with disdain when he stumbled home drunk and refused to make him some when he asked.
As the two eat, Sa-Hyun offers to do the dishes. Song Won calls him amazing and eventually agrees to be his life coach when she asks. He admits he doesn’t really have anyone else to talk to, prompting Song Won to shoot him a warm smile. As the pair agree, they part ways for the evening. Predictably, both find themselves thinking about the other while lying in bed.
Elsewhere, Pi-Young’s Mum deliberates over telling her daughter about her condition. As we’re still in the realm of flashbacks though, we know that’s not going to happen just yet.
Meanwhile, Hae-Ryun heads out on his lunch date with Ga-Bin. He compliments her on her body and singing, eventually connecting over her performance. He asks outright what it’s like to have super fans and hangs on her every word. Ga-Bin shoots some compliments back though, talking about his students and how they must really respect him as a professor.
Back at the radio studio, Hye-Ryung holds a competition for the public to give her a nickname. The one who seems to be most interested though is her own boss, Seo Ban. When Pi-Young offers to buy him a meal, he certainly perks up and seems very interested.
Anyway, Hye-Ryung heads over to surprise Sa-Hyun, nagging him about his schedule and deciding to go for a dinner date. Sa-Hyun wants to go to the gym though but Hye-Ryung is having none of it. With Sa-Hyun failing to show up, Song-Won believes his absence is because of her obnoxiousness.
Meanwhile, A-Mi celebrates her birthday alone, weeping as she lights the candles. Her trip to America is a disaster, and she rings Yu-Shin for comfort. He immediately stops horse-riding and heads over to her apartment. Eventually he admits that he missed her, and the two kiss. While they do, an unaware Pi-Young proudly calls herself the best wife in the world while she’s talking to her daughter about their relationship. Ouch, poor Pi-Young.
There’s also a subplot involving Moon-Ho’s dog here but to be honest, it’s so inconsequential to the main plot line we haven’t included it in this recap, outside this mention.
Elsewhere, Sa-Hyun is stuck in bed with a nasty cold. It’s definitely a case of the man-flu but Hye-Ryung is not happy. She forces him out the bedroom and onto the sofa. He’s not exactly thrilled at the idea and rings his Mum, asking her to bring some ginger tea in the morning.
Hye-Ryung immediately interjects though and calls Sa-Hyun thoughtless, imploring him to grow up. She warns him not to make her ill given how well her career is going at the moment. When she leaves, Sa-Hyun makes himself some noodles and despairs over how he’s being treated by his wife, believing she should be doing this.
While Dong-mi sings a song, we cut to a montage through time as our three men continue to grow closer to their mistresses. This eventually culminates in Yu-Shin buying a bag and leaving it in his car. Now, presumably this is for Pi-Young but when he receives a thank you text from her saying I “wuv” you, he doesn’t seem to show much emotion.
As the episode closes out, all our characters converge at the ice rink for a fun afternoon while A-Mi heads out with Yu-Shin. She admits she’s content with how they are at the moment and doesn’t expect anything from him.
Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) delivers another hour of formulaic drama and lackadaisical plotting as we catch up to where we left off several weeks ago.
While it is interesting to see how these different relationships have come to be, it’s done at the expense of drama and excitement. In fact there’s absolutely no substance to this show anymore and between Penthouse and Sky Castle, Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) is not a makjang to remember.
Despite its high ratings, this show will almost certainly fall into obscurity by the summer. If there is a second season though, let’s hope it’s an improvement on this.
I would say this show has left a low bar but really the bar is so low it’s non existent, ploughed deep into the earth where all the other mediocre, forgotten shows of old live.