Uncertainty and fear can go a long way in influencing one’s decisions and actions. Our characters give in to this uncertainty and fear and commit to actions that they never saw fore-coming or expected to ever experience.
Matrimonial Chaos: Episode 11 Recap
Seok-moo attempts to contact Hwi-roo, but fails at reaching her via phone call. He’s instead accompanied by Jang-hyun who plans on staying a few nights with Seok-moo. Hwi-roo seats herself in Ki-wan’s office and returns the orange outfit back to him that she had borrowed the day before. In his search effort for Hwi-roo, Seok-moo stops by Grandma’s cafe in hopes that Hwi-roo will be there. However, only Ma-roo is there and Seok-moo notifies her about Hwi-roo’s disappearance. Hwi-roo isn’t at home with her parents nor is she with Shi-ho since he left for London.
Ki-wan gives Hwi-roo some words of encouragement and advice after she shares with him doubts about her relationship with Seok-moo. She should apologize to him since she wrongly misunderstood and misjudged him this entire time. Hwi-roo has considered apologizing to Seok-moo, but she’s reminded of how much he still cares for Yoo-young so she feels like it might be too late to do any apologizing. Ki-wan heads out to grab Hwi-roo some food, but she’s asleep by the time he returns.
Seok-moo himself grabs some sleep. As he enters Hwi-roo’s bedroom, he finds her black hair tie resting next to her pillow. Later on that night, Seok-moo wakes up in the middle of the night and finds Jang-hyun sleeping on the floor in his room. Though he initially freaks out at first, Seok-moo permits Jang-hyun to sleep in the same room as him. Jang-hyun admits that he found Seok-moo and Hwi-roo a match for each other; does he possibly still like Hwi-roo? However, Seok-moo avoids the question and encourages Jang-hyun to just sleep.
Yoo-young wakes up to a phone call from her sister who asks her if she can stay with Yoo-young for the night. Yoo-young answers yes and adds that Jang-hyun isn’t living with her anymore. Hwi-roo also wakes up and finds Ki-wan entering the room with some coffee and bread. Being the silly person she is, she accidentally drops the cup of coffee onto the orange outfit she had borrowed from Ki-wan. The two wash the outfit at a laundry-mat and discuss about Hwi-roo’s book. Eventually, Hwi-roo decides that she would want her book to have a happy ending.
Seok-moo doesn’t get the technician position that he applied for within his company. Dong-koo celebrates the good news; Seok-moo got both rejected from this position and by Mi-ri. LOL. Hwi-roo cautiously enters Grandma’s cafe in fear that Seok-moo will also be there. Ma-roo informs that he isn’t at the cafe, but that he did come around initially at first to search for her. A few seconds later, Soo-kyung enters the cafe with a new hairstyle: a perm.
Ki-wan reads over Hwi-roo’s manuscript back at his office. As for Hwi-roo, she joins Soo-kyung and Ma-roo who are discussing with each other topics about their living situation. Hwi-roo interrupts to comment about how worried Ma-roo was for Soo-kyung when she was in the hospital; she never acted like that with Hwi-roo herself. Hahaha. Hwi-roo ends up learning more about Ki-wan thanks to Soo-kyung. Soo-kyung reveals that Ki-wan himself used to work at a publishing company in the U.S. that focused on erotica, but moved back to Korea to establish his own publishing company focused on children’s books. Maybe the change in genre could have been because of his son’s death that occurred back in the United States.
Yoo-young’s sister arrives at her place and the two sisters catch up with each other over their marriage. Yoo-young reiterates that Jang-hyun no longer lives with her, but does bring up Seok-moo to her sister. What does she think of Seok-moo? Yoo-young’s sister found Seok-moo irritating; she would choose Jang-hyun if they were talking about looks. However, Yoo-young’s sister doesn’t feel good about either guys. There are only 2 categories of guys: those who are annoying and those who aren’t.
Seok-moo returns home from work to find Jang-hyun cooking some food in the kitchen. The two are shortly interrupted afterwards by a visit from Hwi-roo’s dad. He’s in Seoul for an event so he stopped by the house to stay the night. Of course, he asks about Hwi-roo and also asks Seok-moo for some favors, such as borrowing his pajamas or getting his belongings out of his locked suitcase. Seok-moo abides to Dad’s request and does as he is asked.
The next day, Dad and Seok-moo head out to have some fun at the Namsan Tower. They take photos of each other and walk around at the attraction. There, Dad shares with Seok-moo the story behind Hwi-roo’s name. As for Hwi-roo, she meets with Ki-wan once again at the office to talk about her book. Ki-wan reveals that there’s one scene in particular in the book he’s the most fond of because it reminds him of his late son.
Seok-moo and Dad walk back home together. Dad shares with Seok-moo the night she brought Seok-moo home to introduce him to Dad. Hwi-roo described Seok-moo as someone like her friend and expressed her wishes in helping him improve his life. Dad still hopes the message rings true to this day and loves the idea that Seok-moo and Hwi-roo help each other everyday. However, Seok-moo breaks the truth to Dad about the divorce. Dad punches Seok-moo in the face as a response, causing Seok-moo to fall to the ground.
Seok-moo rests on his bed while treating his injured nose. Jang-hyun enters the room to speak to Seok-moo about Hwi-roo, but Seok-moo isn’t too sure where she is. Though he denies that he’s not over her, Seok-moo adds that there’s rather just some things that he still wants to say to her. Back at Yoo-young’s house, she bids farewell with her sister. Before bidding farewell, her sister encourages Yoo-young to visit Mom every once in a while. She apologizes for the harsh words she commented the last time they met; Yoo-young will end up different from their mother because she’s stronger. With that, Yoo-young’s sister leaves.
Seok-moo sneaks out of the house to visit Grandma’s cafe while Jang-hyun stays behind with a sleepy Dad. There, he meets with Yoo-young and reveals to her about Jang-hyun’s stay at his house. Yoo-young is indifferent to the news though; she doesn’t care about Jang-hyun anymore. What about Seok-moo and Hwi-roo? Seok-moo claims that things are over between the two of them too.
Hwi-roo and Grandma both leave to attend their weekly games of curling. Seok-moo waits outside the practice arena for the two of them once practice is over. Seok-moo accidentally gets himself into some trouble while waiting for Grandma and Hwi-roo, but is soon rescued by the two ladies themselves. Along with Hwi-roo, Seok-moo meets with Dad at Grandma’s cafe. Dad demands for an explanation to the divorce, but Hwi-roo urges her dad to stay out of her life. She had a reason for the divorce and it’s none of his business. Seok-moo blames himself for the divorce, but Dad isn’t having any of it. He leaves afterwards, stating that Hwi-roo will never be allowed to step foot inside his house.
With Dad gone, it’s just Seok-moo and Hwi-roo at the cafe. They catch up with each other since Hwi-roo’s moved out of the house. Hwi-roo comments that she’s getting to do what it is she wants now that she’s moved out. She also wishes for Seok-moo to find someone who will love him and who will make him happy. Though she doesn’t reveal to Seok-moo about her children’s book, she hopes that it will be successful nonetheless. The divorced couple ends the conversation with Seok-moo congratulating Hwi-roo on her new start. He hopes she’ll be happy.
Seok-moo sends Dad off the next morning as he returns home. Dad doesn’t say much and bids farewell with Seok-moo to head back home. Yoo-young attempts to contact her mother, but her mother doesn’t answer her phone call. While walking around in the neighborhood, Yoo-young finds Jang-hyun walking across from her and quickly avoids him. Seok-moo spends another day at work, taking some time to eat during his lunch break.
That night, Yoo-young encounters Seok-moo on the way back home. They agree to grab dinner with each other so the two head out to a restaurant they used to frequent back in college. While Jang-hyun watches TV and folds his laundry (LOL that’s so me!), Yoo-young and Seok-moo reminisce their past while eating. They agree to stop by the old apartment they used to live in together a decade ago. Memories rush through their mind as they recall past memories at the apartment. The two head out for some drinks afterwards. Yoo-young can tell that Seok-moo is working very hard just to survive; she gives him a pat on the head for his hard work.
Meanwhile, Jang-hyun stops by the grocery store to do some shopping. Back at the restaurant, Seok-moo and Yoo-young have a talk about loneliness as well as their hairstyles. Yoo-young volunteers to cut Seok-moo’s hair for him since she personally cuts her own hair. While studying his face and his current hairstyle, she acknowledges the physical distance between the two and backs off.
Yoo-young breaks the awkward silence by adding that she’s afraid of being alone. She’s afraid that she’ll die alone and not have anyone by her side. Maybe sleeping with random men and strangers will fill up that loneliness inside of her, but Seok-moo grabs onto her wrist and refuses to let her do that. Yoo-young then suggests another idea: she and Seok-moo can sleep with each other then. Meanwhile, Jang-hyun and Hwi-roo make out with each other inside of a building, his grocery bags still hanging onto his arms.
My Thoughts:
UGHHHH, I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE IT. LOL. I did NOT like that ending at all for a variety of reasons. Of course, the main being that my Seok-moo and Hwi-roo ship is sinking (it’s been sinking but still!) and that our characters are getting so desperate and crazy to the point where now they’re turning on each other. It’s a direction in the storyline that I don’t like because it just screams iffy to me and it was out of the blue.
Up until the last episode, there was no indication or hint whatsoever that Yoo-young had any feelings for Seok-moo. She didn’t have many good memories with him and was brutally honest with him on how she felt about their relationship back in college. I understand that her feelings for Seok-moo didn’t rebuild until the last episode when he offered her his support and words of encouragement, but even then, her sudden wish to sleep with him was so odd and random. You go from tolerating your cheating husband and finding your ex-boyfriend unattractive and irritating to now finding your husband irritating and unattractive and your ex-boyfriend charming. I disprove of the sudden character change in Yoo-young and her spontaneous shift in her opinion of Seok-moo. I understand that she totally didn’t hate him, but I also understand that she never really felt all that great about him either. I didn’t think Yoo-young liked Seok-moo that much to all of a sudden want to sleep with him.
Maybe it could be because Yoo-young’s just desperate and uncertain about everything especially with the whole Jang-hyun situation. Maybe the loneliness is eating her up inside and she just needs an outlet to release all this frustration and fear. Maybe she’s using Seok-moo as that outlet because she has no one else by her side and no where else to go. Still, I just feel so iffy about the whole trade-off between their partners, especially when you know that Hwi-roo and Seok-moo still have lingering feelings for each other. It’s just so icky to me, and it was something that the drama never hinted to us at all. That’s why I was so shocked to see Yoo-young vouching for Seok-moo and Hwi-roo making out with Jang-hyun in this episode because it was so unexpected and random.
I don’t even know what to say about the make-out session between Jang-hyun and Hwi-roo. I would much rather he just hang out with his many other women than do anything with Hwi-roo. I know Hwi-roo and Seok-moo are divorced, and Jang-hyun isn’t with Yoo-young any longer so they’re not technically breaking any rules or doing anything bad by hooking up with each other. However, it just leaves a foul taste in my mouth and it’s not a decision that I expected nor approve of from our characters. Once again, the ending to this episode heavily confused me and these decisions to exchange partners felt so out of the blue. Hwi-roo and Jang-hyun never had any eyes for each other at all, but they were suddenly making out at the end of this episode. Something must have triggered for them to do that, but I’m assuming it must not be because they have secret feelings of affection for each other.
I was a little disappointed with how this episode concluded because I feel like the drama has been placing some of our characters – like Grandma, Ma-roo, and Soo-kyung’s storylines – onto the side to focus more on our two main couples. That’s expected to happen since Seok-moo, Hwi-roo, Jang-hyun, and Yoo-young are our lead characters, but the drama did a much better job in the past balancing all our characters and their storylines out. Now, it just feels like our minor characters (who weren’t really all that minor in the first place because of how intertwined and connected everyone in this drama really was to each other) is nonexistent and it’s a little sad to me. I want to see more family since I feel like it’s been something that’s been lacking the past few episodes. Whatever happened to Seok-young and her divorce? What about Seok-moo’s parents? Where has Grandma been this entire time? The drama has slowly been deviating away from its special ability to incorporate all its characters and meshing them well to spread messages about love, family, marriage, and divorce. Now, the drama feels less about family and a lot more melodramatic.
That’s not to say that the drama is bad now. While I do agree that the past two episodes haven’t been up to par with the rest of the drama, I’m glad that we still received some kind of progress with Hwi-roo and Seok-moo’s relationship. They were able to finally inform Hwi-roo’s Dad about the divorce so finally now someone in the family (other than Grandma and Ma-roo) is aware of the divorce. It took a while for it to happen and I actually forgot that no one else in the family was aware of the divorce except for Grandma and Ma-roo, but I’m happy this sub-plot received some attention in this episode. I especially found intriguing Hwi-roo’s response to Dad’s reaction in comparison to Seok-moo’s imagination of his father’s response and how his dad would react to news of the divorce. Seok-moo seemed to be a lot more scared to tell his family about the divorce while Hwi-roo didn’t care that her Dad discovered the truth. Maybe it’s a part of her accepting the harsh reality and situation that she’s in and maybe another part of it is also that she just doesn’t care anymore.
However, you know that Hwi-roo does care and that she still isn’t over Seok-moo to an extent. The conversation they had with each other in the cafe was heart-breaking and bittersweet in many ways. They’re finally able to live how they want now that they’re “free” from each other’s hands, but you can also tell that they secretly yearn for each other’s company and presence inside. Seok-moo nor Hwi-roo can bring themselves to say this, but you’re aware that’s how they really feel about everything. I think this is what devastates me the most when I see Seok-moo spend time with Yoo-young or when I saw Hwi-roo make out with Jang-hyun. Seok-moo and Hwi-roo still have so many things they want to say to each other and there are many truths that are untold, but they just don’t know how to break it to each other so they rather endure the silence and the pain.
Bonus: Extra screenshots from the episode~
MaryMeKpop 