Divorce Attorney Shin (Season 1), Episodes 7 & 8 “Netflix’ Recap & Ending Explained: “Divorce Attorney Shin,” in its latest two episodes that aired over the past weekend, continues with its relaxed and amusing exploration of its central characters. Along with that, it sets up two dramatic cases that will prove to be challenging for our beloved eponymous lawyer. The cast, led by the enigmatic Cho Seung-Woo, continues to impress. Everything seems to point to a poignant and satisfying finale.
Divorce Attorney Shin (Season 1), Episodes 7 & 8 Recap
The Ma Chun Seok Case
Shin Sung-Han’s (Cho Seung-Woo) new case pits him against his rival, Park Yu-Seok (Jeon Bae-Su), of Keum Hwa Law Firm. The firm has already sensationalized the case by portraying Sung-Han’s client, Ma Chun-Seok (Choi Jae-Sup), as the villain in the story. Chun-Seok is an elderly farmer who has married a young Vietnamese girl, Dinh Thi Hoa (Huong). The mismatched couple has a young toddler. The popular narrative, peddled by Keum Hwa, is that the farmer lost his temper one day and injured Thi Hoa. This is why Sung-Han’s case becomes quite difficult, as he goes against the popular narrative to stand by the alleged abuser.
Yu-Seok visits Thi Hoa to extract more details about the fateful day she left her home injured. Allegedly. Sung-Han’s friends, the other two of the ‘Three Musketeers,’ Jang Hyeong-Geun (Kim Sung-Kyun) and Jo Jeong-Sik (Jung Moon-Sung), set out for Haenam together—the location of the incident. Jeong-Sik and Hyeong-Geun enquire, and they find that Thi Hoa had been seen with a young male, drinking and having fun, unbeknownst to her husband. In the conservative environment of the village, this has caused some murmurs.
The Jo Min-Jeong Case
In the last episode, Lee Seo-Jin (Han Hye-Jin) interacted with Jo Min-Jeong (Lee Yoon Soo), a young woman seeking a divorce. Min-Jeong is schizophrenic and has trouble separating reality from imagination. However, she told Seo-Jin that she was doing better. Park Hyeon-Tae (Im Ji-Kyu) is her husband, and she does not trust him anymore. Hyeon-Tae has told her that she betrayed him by not telling him about her condition. Min-Jeong claims that it is Hyeon-Tae who has betrayed her.
Things escalate in this episode as Min-Jeong attempts suicide by medication overdose. Her parents bring her to the hospital in the nick of time. Seo-Jin, accompanied by Choi Jun (Han Eun-Sung), rush to the hospital as she feels responsible for not grasping the gravity of Min-Jeong’s condition when they talked. Hyeon-Tae joins them and comes across as a loving spouse who can’t bear the thought of his wife being in the hospital like that. However, when Choi-Jun follows him to the hospital lobby, he sees Hyeon-Tae laughing while watching a show on his smartphone. Choi-Jun also notices Hyeon-Tae is careful to see if Min-Jeong’s parents are coming or not. So that he could re-plug the sobbing husband act.
Divorce Attorney Shin (Season 1), Episodes 7 & 8 Ending Explained
Why Sung-Han Decides to Help Chun-Seok?
Sung-Han starts to doubt when he finds that Thi Hoa is planning to go to Vietnam when she gets the divorce. He could not think why a young girl would prefer to go back to her previously described poor condition in Vietnam since, especially as a single mother, she could get childcare benefits in Korea. Another observation that makes Sung-Han side with Chun-Seok is the fact that Chun-Seok has a fracture on his right hand. The supposed injury that Thi Hoa received from Chun-Seok could require Chun-Seok to swing a heavy object with his right hand, which seems quite improbable.
Additionally, Hyeong-Geun and Jeong-Sik’s report about Thi Hoa’s male friend makes Sung-Han wonder about the existence of an affair from Thi Hoa’s side.
Can Sung-Han deliver a win for Chun-Seok?
Sung-Han visits Chun-Seok at Haenam. Even though Sung Han realizes that Chun Seok’s angry outbursts towards his wife would be counted as mental abuse, he deduces that the paternity of the baby is in question. As the court commences, he questions Dinh Thi Hoa about it. It takes us to a flashback where Park Yu-Seok instructs her to lie in court if needed but never to him, her lawyer. He orchestrates a plan to ensure that the person in question, Thin Hoa’s boyfriend, remains in Vietnam while the case takes its course.
It seems likely that Sung-Han, and Chun-Seok, would get a massive boost if the requested DNA result concludes that Chun-Seok is not the father. Which seems quite evident.
Will Sung-Han continue to struggle against Ji Yeong-Ju?
Sung-Han’s continuous efforts to spend some time with his nephew, Gi-Yeong, are consistently thwarted by Ji Yeong-Ju (Noh Susanna). With the arrival of Ma Geum-Hee (Cha Hwa-Yeon), it seems that Sung-Han might get some support where Ma could override her new daughter-in-law, Yeong-Ju. It works to some extent as Ma Geum-Hee brings Gi-Yeong to Sung-Han. But before the two could spend a night, Yeong-Ju comes knocking at Sung-Han’s doors.
The first meeting between the two results in Sung-Han’s defeat as he has to relent to let Gi-Yeong go with his stepmother, Yeong-Ju. Sung-Han knows there is some involvement from Yeong-Ju in Ju-Hwa’s death. It also seems Ma Geum-Hee had some soft spot for Ju-Hwa, her former daughter-in-law. At this moment, the only motivation for Yeong-Ju to stop Ju-Hwa’s child from meeting his uncle, Sung-Han, is the pride of being the new wife—the urge to gloat via control.
Jeong-Sik’s History with Yu-Seok
Sung-Han’s friend, Jeong-Sik, seems to particularly despise the Keum Hwa senior associate, Park Yu-Seok. The reason for that is Jeong-Sik blames himself for bringing that lawyer to Sung-Han and Ju-Hwa’s lives. Jeong-Sik had known Yu-Seok. And it was he who recommended Yu-Seok to Sung-Han, for Ju-Hwa’s divorce. Yu-Seok switched sides with the lucrative opportunity to work at Keum Hwa Law firm.
Under the circumstances, it seems quite normal why Jeong-Sik would particularly harbor ill feelings toward the veteran lawyer. Jeong-Sik seems to hate Yu-Seok even more than Sung-Han hates him. And that is saying something.
