Stalking = Romance?
Episode 6 of Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) starts with Dong-Ma dropping his bombshell proposal for Pi-Young. She’s shocked that he’s serious about this and even more so when he claims they have a spark – something he actually felt back at the golf course. Anyway, he continues on but he can’t call it love right now, believing what they have is an indescribable feeling. Pi-Young encourages him to head on his trip to Germany, believing it’ll help refocus his mind and think clearly about what he’s saying. Instead, Dong-Ma doubles down and drops the bombshell that he actually broke up with Ga-Bin for her. Dong-Ma continues to throw analogies into his dialogue, comparing feelings to clouds and bringing up icebergs. Well I’ll tell you what, the prospects of Dong-Ma and Pi-Young getting together into a compelling relationship is like an iceberg. The iceberg that the Titanic struck. Pi-Young immediately senses as much and throws him in the friend zone at best. Dong-Ma is relentless. He promises not to betray her and to think of this positively as they have a chance of being together. This conversation goes on forever, with a good chunk of this episode uncomfortably dedicated to Dong-Ma constantly goading Pi-Young and trying to convince her to give this relationship a go. He really doesn’t take no for an answer (#metoo) and even holds her hand, much to Pi-Young’s shock. She pulls away and eventually turns the subject away from marriage… only for Dong-Ma to immediately bring up having a child with her. Dong-Ma even claims he can be the sole breadwinner and she can just stay at home when they get together. Meanwhile, Sa-Hyeon’s parents urge their son to go back to work soon. That’s it. That’s all thee screen-time they get. At the same time, a distraught Ga-Bin starts playing the piano. Hey, maybe she should start a band with Hye-Ryung as she plays on the drums? Anyway, we’re back to the meal as it mercifully ends and Pi-Young heads out with Ji-A to the amusement park, the same one showcased in yesterday’s episode. Only, while she’s there Dong-Ma stalks her from afar… in a pirate outfit. Jesus, was this episode written by an algorithm? What is going on! While Ji-A and Pi-Young are sitting together, Dong-Ma sends a picture to her of the pair and watches them from afar, eating ice-cream. But wait, what’s this? Ghost Ki-Rim is here and instead of abusing people, he lifts up into the air and waves goodbye to Ji-A, disappearing… forever? Just this episode? Who knows. Back home, Pi-Young receives a visit from Dong-Ma who appears at the door before going on his business trip. He grabs Pi-Young and begins kissing her. She doesn’t pull away though and kisses him back. Who knew being a creep and stalking your love interest would be so romantic for Pi-Young!
The Episode Review
Fun fact, I’ve been teaching my kids how to edit scenes together on the computer with a simple video editor with them coming up with some pretty random videos, cutting from a car driving on the road to someone laughing and then over to a random bar for no reason. While doing this I felt a sense of Deja vu and now I know why. It’s literally how Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) has been spliced together. There are so many random scenes that don’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things, like Dong-Mi laughing in a bar or a character just randomly watching a movie or walking. These scenes last a few seconds at most before cutting again and it gives the whole show a sort of random sporadic appeal with absolutely no rhyme or reason. That’s something I’ve said a lot over the course of the three seasons but here it’s terrible because the majority of the episode is taken up through Pi-Young and Dong-Ma’s pointless chatter. Okay maybe not pointless but creepy stalking and forceful behaviour, talking about marriage and kids to a woman who’s obviously flattered but very uncomfortable is projected across to the audience who are also likely to feel uncomfortable watching this. Dong-Ma’s persistence is creepy and borderline psychotic. The problem with this show is that it seems to romanticize and comedically portray completely backwards themes that really shouldn’t be championed. We’re led to believe that Ki-Rim has now gone to heaven after physically abusing Dong-Mi. Did he just need to beat her to the point of almost causing her a nervous breakdown to move on? And is Dong-Ma being a creep and forcing himself on Pi-Young what we’re considering romance here? I’m not sure but the whole thing feels icky for what’s been an absolute car crash of a serious already.
