The Mandarins
The latest episode of Beautiful Love finally shows us a little more about what happened the night Joon-Gyeom hit an old lady and the beginning of Yu-Ra’s downfall. Our main characters are also getting close to the truth and when they realise just what happened, it’s bound to be quite explosive. Beautiful Love has managed to remain intriguing and enjoyable throughout its runtime, building up the tension and different dramatic scenes smoothly so far as it slowly heads toward a climactic finale in the next couple of months. We begin the episode with Yu-Ra shocked to see Si-Wol by her house. She rushes inside and as she sees Joon-Hwi, starts remembering that fateful night. A flashback reveals she drove to the scene of the crime and checked if the woman was still breathing. She then picked up a cigarette butt and put it by her face before calling the ambulance. Back in the present, Joon-Hwi questions her about Si-Wol. Meanwhile, Hwa-Young speaks to Jin-Woo at breakfast about his behaviour from the night before. She also explains that Hae-Rang looked after him all night long, just like she did when he was in a coma. In Intermarket building, Tae-Rang sees that his restaurant has attracted more female customers after he appeared on the radio show. He later meets with Jin-Woo and asks him to not stop Seol-Ah from doing her new show as they didn’t plan it to work together. Jin-Woo is not happy though, as it means they’ll see each other every week. Tae-Rang suggests doing it for 3 months then he’ll quit. The producer arrives with Seol to have lunch which prompts Jin-Woo to walk out, looking depressed. After lunch, Seol-Ah pays Jin-Woo a visit in his office and discusses the night he got drunk. She tells him she saw him with Hae-Rang and didn’t want to disturb them. He tries to defend himself but she unfortunately doesn’t believe him and tells him he hasn’t changed. Meanwhile, Yu-Ra meets with Si-Wol’s lawyer and requests to find the court case file from 10 years ago. After he does, she promises to pay him again to make sure he forgets all about it and make it disappear. Cheong-Ah carries on her investigation and looks for a lawyer too but doesn’t have much luck. She later relays to Si-Wol that she’s having trouble as he cooks and seemingly starts to fall for her. Arriving in her street, Cheong-Ah is surprised to find Joon-Hwi waiting for her with mandarins. He follows her and as Young-Wong comes out with the bin bags, Joon-Hwi apologies for not being there on the lunar new year and promises to cherish Cheong-Ah. He invites him in and makes him drink as a punishment for breaking Cheong’s heart. He later speaks with Young-Ae who tells him she understands what he did. He explains that he tried to do the right thing but has decided to overcome the problem together with Cheong. Young-Ae is worried about his mum though and determined to make Cheong-Ah pay. After gathering evidence about Si-Wol, Hae-Rang and Hwa Young meet to discuss him and wonder what his connection with Joon-Hwi is. At the same time, the young boy meets with the priest again to talk about him studying in the States. He tells him he’s not interested and wants to know why his sponsor is so determined to send him abroad as he realises who she is and who her son is. Back home, Joon-Hwi realises that all of his brother’s pictures are gone. He confronts his mum about it and reveals that he knows she read the letter. She doesn’t say anything so he carries on, wanting to find out what pushed Joon-Gyeom to end his life. She brushes it aside though, telling them they need to get on with their lives. As she heads out for lunch, Cheong is surprised to see Joon-Hwi waiting for her outside the police station. Yu-Ra also comes to look for her and becomes angry when she sees her eat with her son. She later confronts her at the station and demands she quit her job as she’s a criminal and doesn’t deserve to be working with the police. Unfortunately, Joon-Ik happens to walk by and overhears the conversation. Hae-Rang pays Si-Wol a visit to tell him that Hwa-Young wants to see him. Before leaving, he looks at the picture of his twin and after wondering if Hae-Rang is her sister, comes to conclusion that it couldn’t be. In Intermarket, Si-Wol upsets Hwa-Young again with his behaviour and starts asking questions about her sister. Joon-Hwi enters the room and Si-Wol asks him to meet his mother as she’s a witness in the hit and run accident and wonders if she could clear his name, which ends the episode. If there’s one character who has had the worst luck so far, it really is Cheong-Ah. She’s also the kindest but has so far faced a lot of heartache. Yu-Ra has given her a very low blow by demanding that she quit and in front of her boss too. Ouch! What will happen next? I’m certain it’ll be quite dramatic but hopefully the truth comes out soon, which should relieve some pressure poor Cheong-Ah has been under. Seol-Ah and Jin-Woo are also becoming strained too after she finds him with his ex-mistress. While things remain awkward between her and Tae-Rang, this love triangle is intriguing, with big question marks over who she ends up choosing. We have only got a couple of months left now for this drama and it has been quite the ride, as we follow our characters going through many changes and challenges. I’m very curious to see how the show will end and who will come out on top but in the meantime, Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life remains an enjoyable, soapy drama.
