The Lunar New Year
After last episode’s emotional scene between Yu-Ra and Cheong-Ah, Beautiful Love returns with a lighter episode as the characters celebrate the lunar New Year. More revelations are brought to light about Si-Wol while Jin-Woo continues his antics around Seol-Ah, much to the dismay of his mother. We pick up where we left off with Joon-Hwi joining Cheong-Ah on the bench and hugging her while she tells him his mum found out about his brother’s suicide. She then tells him to stay with her and as he arrives home, he’s surprised to find his mother really calm and claiming that she didn’t read the letter. Back home, Cheong-Ah tells her mum that Yu-Ra now knows everything which has her worried. Young-Ae tells her she needs to get it sorted because if Yu-Ra holds her responsible, she won’t be able to be a police woman anymore. Later that night, Joon-Hwi leaves a voicemail on Cheong-Ah’s phone asking him to call if she can’t sleep and vowing to be there for her. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo tries to clean mussels in the kitchen which surprises his Mum. Worrying that he hasn’t heard from Seol-Ah in two days, he decides to send her a video of himself singing a song and apologising about his recent behaviour. Seol watches the video, amused, and sends a reply that she accepts his apology. Joon-Hwi receives a call from the priest to meet him that same day while Yoong-Woong is being reprimanded by his boss who asks him to quit. Suddenly, Jin-Woo arrives in the restaurant and orders food for everyone in his office. After giving Jin-Woo his order, Yoong-Wong hands in his apron to his boss, ready to quit. However, his boss changes his mind (as he realises who his son-in-law is) and tells him he was joking. Joon-Hwi meets with the priest who reveals that his mother sponsored Si-Wol just after his brother’s accident. He then asks him for the files on Si-Wol as he would like to find out more about Joon-Gyeom’s death. After he leaves, Si-Wol arrives to meet with the priest who berates him for losing another job. Si-Wol defends himself though, claiming it wasn’t his fault so the priest tells him that his sponsor has offered to pay for him to study abroad. It’s here that we also find out that Si-Wol had a twin sister as the father gives him a picture of her. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo confronts his mum about the shareholder meetings she has planned as his dismissal is on the agenda. Despite telling her he’s the one that made the company successful, she tells him she wants him to grovel and that he has one week to choose between his position and Seol-Ah. Seol-Ah decides to visit Tae-Rang in his restaurant and explains that she has decided to date Jin-Woo for a month to say goodbye and make him get over her. She tells him that she’s also waiting for someone, who turns out to be the new producer of their radio show coming in to try convincing Tae-Rang to accept the job offer. In the Moon household, Joon-Ik and his children discuss their upcoming visit to the orphanage. Pa-Rang mentions that a boy had been adopted but without his twin sister. In the Kim household, the three sisters are dressed in their Hanbok costumes to celebrate the lunar New Year. As they do their traditional bows to their parents, they’re surprised to find their father giving them cash gifts. Suddenly, Jin-Woo arrives and decides to perform the traditional bow as well. Yoong-Wong is reluctant at first but gives in and throws him a cash gift… only it happens to be a piece of paper with the word “jerk” written on it. Hwa-Young later calls Seol-Ah to ask if her son is there and threatens to come over. However, Seol-Ah warns her against coming and tells her to leave her family alone or she will show her how she fights. In the evening, Si-Wol arrives at the station and asks Cheong-Ah if he can stay there. She refuses at first but after he starts singing the song he sang to his sister at the orphanage, she lets him stay. After giving her some food, he tells her that he came because he didn’t want to be alone. He then gives her the file with the sentencing from his hit-and-run. She sees that he stole a car on that day, which he admits to, but still denies having caused the accident. On the other side of the page, they’re both surprised when they see a statement from Yu-Ra, which triggers Cheong-Ah to remember Joon-Gyeom‘s words when he mentioned that his mum was his third victim where the episode ends. While this latest chapter didn’t have as many shocking twists and emotional scenes, Beautiful Love continues to deliver good story progression as we follow our main characters. Both Cheong-Ah and Joon-Hwi are slowly getting close to the truth while they’re trying to deal with their heartbreak. Now that things are out in the open, Joon-Hwi seems to be determined to be with Cheong-Ah but with all the obstacles standing in their way, it’ll be difficult for them to get there. We have also learned Si-Wol has a twin sister and I’m wondering if we already know who she is; my money would be on Hae-Rang as she was adopted. It was also interesting to see the lunar New Year and how it’s celebrated in South Korea, leading to another amusing scene with Jin-Woo who still has a lot of determination and plenty of ideas to get his way with Seol-Ah. I enjoyed seeing their relationship change over the weeks and I’m still hoping there will be a happy ending for these two. We have only got a couple of months left with this weekend drama but the past few weeks have gone so quickly as the show has doubled down on its soapy drama and delivered some excellent episodes full of twists and dramatic moments.
