The Real Mother
Episode 10 of Mine begins with Hi-Soo warning Ji-Yong and forcing him out the apartment. She reminds him that this isn’t the way to resolve their issues. Besides, she wants to be the only one who can deal with Hye-Jin. When he leaves Ji-Yong confronts the fighter where he learns his brother isn’t actually dead. Ji-Yong refuses to help though, at least for now. Not long after, he finds out about the lawyer Hi-Soo is using. Elsewhere, the Chairman regains consciousness which throws yesterday’s subject of the will and what everyone will gain with his death into limbo. Hilariously, it’s Soon-Hye’s doing that saved his life. The way she went mental and hit him seems to have awoken the man from his slumber. He even has the bruises across his chest to prove it. Back home, Ji-Yong confronts Yu-Yeon and forces her to report whenever anyone takes Ha-Joon, including Hi-Soo. Meanwhile, a drunk and enraged Jin-Ho lashes out against the hired help. He not only hits Butler Joo but also berates Seo-Hyun too – which lends himself a swift slap across the face and a stint inside the bunker for his troubles. At her wits end, Seo-Hyun tasks Joo with ringing an alcohol treatment center and taking Jin-Ho in. As she sits outside, Seo-Hyun contemplates what Suzy Choi told her before. She realizes the happiness she’s been experiencing with Suzy – and the way she’s suppressed it – is no different to how she’s been toward her own son and Yu-Yeon. In fact, she even heads off to see Soo-Hyuk, deciding finally to support his wishes against being CEO. Speaking of which, Hi-Soo uses the press to her advantage, using a reporter and admitting she’s returning to acting. She also tells him to emphasize what a great Mum she is. With the court case coming up, she needs to use every card in her hand to win a favourable result. With the Chairman on the mend, Seo-Hyun speaks to her Father and relays Soo-Hyuk’s wishes – and that the engagement has been called off. She asks for him to support her son’s wishes. This leads the Chairman to make his final choice. With Jin-Ho in rehab and Soo-Hyuk rejecting the call, he asks for Ji-Yong to be brought in. With Ji-Yong in the hospital room, he apologizes to him for everything as he weeps. Anyway, we soon come to learn that Ji-Yong is not the legitimate son to the Chairman. It turns out when the Chairman started to date his Mother she was already pregnant. Only the Chairman and Seo-Hyun were aware of this, hence why Ji-Yong has had such a miserable upbringing. The fateful day arrives and both Hi-Soo and Hye-Jin arrive in court ready for the trial. Among the belongings, Hye-Jin has a journal detailing all of Ha-Joon’s birth details for the first year and a half. She gives an impassioned plea, going on to admit Ji-Yong let her into Hi-Soo’s home willingly. Hi-Soo causes a massive stir by agreeing rather than disagreeing with her, going against Ji-Yong’s wishes and giving her own account of events. After hearing these statements, the court rule in favour of Hi-Soo and dismiss the entire case. Although there’s a win in court, there’s an even worse reveal – Ji-Yong is now the chairman. Hi-Soo leaves and congratulates him – going on to drop a bombshell reveal – that she wants a divorce.
The Episode Review
Mine bows out with another good episode, one that tightens the screw as each of our characters see the impact Chairman Han’s recovery has on their future ambitions. The reveal that Soon-Hye is the root cause of him reawakening is a lovely bit of poetic irony too. Meanwhile, there’s more humour injected this time around with each of the different characters given some development for their individual storylines. Specifically, seeing Jin-Ho thrown into rehab is what finally pushes the chairman to choose Ji-Yong as his successor. The whole Hi-Soo/Hye-Jin situation continues with the court ruling in favour of Hi-Soo. This is perhaps unsurprising and the series wisely chooses to finish this quickly without dragging out the story more than it has in the first half of the show. The Seo-Hyun situation is easily the strongest of the show though and sees her finally understand her son and agree to support him with his forbidden love. Overall though, the second half of this show has easily been stronger than the first and now the melodrama is starting to become a lot more exciting. The ending certainly leaves the door wide open too, and quite how the family will react to this divorce remains to be seen.
