The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (2023) Episode 11

Episode 11 of The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract begins with Myung-Soo confronting the Chairman and blaming him for killing his wife and son. Tae-ha tries to protect his grandfather, but he’s too late. In fact, he pushes Tae-ha out the way and takes the full blow of the vase to the face. He begins bleeding and passes out on the floor.

Seeing red, Tae-ha is shocked and heads over to Myeong-soo, choking him out. Yeon-woo shows up just in time and tells him to stop, pointing out that he’ s better than this. And he does stop himself. Just.

With the Chairman admitted to hospital, the company are confused over what this means going forward. After all, who is going to take over? Tae-ha acts like nothing is afoul and shows up for the morning meeting. Tae-min is there too but this time he’s actually open and welcoming, claiming that Tae-ha is no longer Kang Dro. He hands over a drink, as Hong comments on how brothers are always brothers and he’s now looking out for Tae-ha. 

After the big accident, the Chairman is now suffering from Euphoria. It’s a condition where he’s happy about everything, despite the amount of despair and problems he’s had lately. Tae-ha speaks to Yeon-woo about how he feels after, happy that she’s here for him. He points out that he needs her… but Yeon-woo is conflicted. There’s only a few days left and the Guardian Angel told her explicitly that Tae-ha’s heart will stop and he’ll pass if she stays here.

While this is going on, we’ve got more drama with Sa-wol as she believes she’s lost her wedding ring. When Hong returns home he finds the place a complete mess and both his sister and fiancé drinking heavily. It’s an amusing scene, and it’s backdropped by Tae-min finally opening up and speaking plainly to Yeon-woo. He patches things up with her, and she encourages him to come by more often.

Tae-min overhears that Hye-suk is still scheming at work and decides to interject. He shows up to see her and confronts her plans about becoming Chairwoman. He tells her to stop and points out that all these wrongdoings keep coming back to her. He wants her to think about it again and leaves her to mull it over. The thing is, quite a few on the board are holding a grudge against the chairman so it’s going to be hard to dissuade them.

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo hands over the old diary to Lee Mi-dam. She’s decides she’s going to go back to protect her husband. With tears in her eyes, she prepares to leave tis world behind. This is unbeknownst to Tae-ha though, who sits in the board meeting. He’s shocked when he finds out Hye-sul is relinquishing her position and actually handing all her shares over to Tae-ha. So now Tae-ha is going to be the one to take charge of SH Group.

On the way out, Tae-ha thanks Hye-suk for what she’s done and for her hard work. She admits that she’s always disliked him… but does thank him for looking after Tae-min at least.

That night, Yeon-woo admits the truth. She’s leaving and heading back home. “I must go in order for you to live. You won’t be ill anymore.” She says. Tae-ha though is shocked and refuses to let her go. However, Yeon-woo has already made her mind up.

Tae-ha tries to dissuade her though, pointing out that he loves her when he comes over for them to have their last meal together. Yeon-woo knows that time is precious and it’s also of the essence too. After some rocky confrontations together, the pair eventually come to an agreement and the pair agree to part ways… but not before eating food and sharing an amazing day together. This eventually culminates in the pair kissing and Tae-ha handing over a beautiful butterfly necklace.

Meanwhile, Hye-suk speaks plainly to Tae-min after an encounter with Myeong-soo at prison causes her to re-evaluate her feelings. She points out she’s not qualified to be a mother and speaks plainly about her flaws. Tae-min actually reacts well to this, and he tells her that she can start being a mother properly now.

With the agreements put into place, Yeon-woo says goodbye and prepares to leave completely. Sa-wol is not going with her though, given she’s staying in the present. Between learning lessons from Hong, she also gets ready for her new life with her husband as they prepare for their marriage. All of this culminates in Yeon-woo sharing a night of passion with Tae-ha… and then waking up to find herself back in the Joseon period!

Sa-wol is not known in this time period, and Yeon-woo has also gone back to the night before her wedding day too. When Tae-ha emerges from his house, an arrow holding a note pierces next to his front door. On this, it asks him to arrive quietly at the riverside bridge at the hour of dog (8pm).

This is, of course, where the pair shared their time together before Yeon-woo was carted off to the present. After everything they’ve shared together, Yeon-woo speaks plainly and warns that his life is in danger and he needs to be careful of poison. She hands over a silver hairpin to check it for himself, and pleads with him to be careful.

When Tae-ha returns home, he finds his mother there, asking him to drink a herbal concoction. We don’t actually see hm check the poison himself though, as we cut forward to their wedding night instead. That night, he asks her why she’s decided to marry him. However, before we get a reply, Tae-ha spits up blood and it turns out he never took the medicine. Instead, he holds her arm, tells her not to worry… and then passes out.

The Episode Review

So has Yeon-woo really gone back in time and not actually changed anything? Aside from the last 10 minutes of this episode and a couple of moments scattered throughout, this chapter felt like one big filler.

There’s lots of scenes with Yeon-woo and Tae-ha together sharing a good time but honestly, it just doesn’t really feel like we’re making great progress on the plot. We’ve had very little in the way of development and everything is wrapped up quite quickly.

The solution with the chairman getting Euphoria feels like an easy way of writing off his character, although there are good redemptive arcs for both Hye-suk and Tae-min. It’s hard not to feel like this episode was one big filler and given the finale is around 70 minutes long, we’ll have to wait and see if the show can actually pull it out the bag and deliver some compelling drama. Unfortunately, this penultimate chapter felt like a step back.