Name: Divorce Attorney Shin season 1 episode 9
Director: Lee Jae-hoon
Released: 2023-04-01T23:27:09

In the ninth episode of Divorce Attorney Shin, Sung-han and Choi Jun fight their own cases while Seo-jin tries to overcome her fear of being recognized. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

During Chun-seok’s divorce trial, Chun-seok is accused of neglecting Dinh Thi Hoa’s postpartum depression and exploiting her.

Sung-han argues that Chun-seok has done everything that he could and more to take care of her and has worked just as much as her, if not more. He further presents the statements of Chun-seok’s neighbors to prove his point.

He then asks Dinh Thi Hoa just one question — whether Yeong-gwang is Chun-seok’s son or not. He also demands a paternity test, as Yeong-gwang’s blood type matches neither of his parents’ blood type. Chun-seok knew this but hid the truth from Dinh Thi Hoa.

It is proved that Dinh Thi Hoa is the spouse at fault because she cheated on her husband. Yu-seok uses Seo-jin’s case as an example to justify her actions and claims that Chun-seok’s violent tendencies will affect Yeong-gwang negatively.

To prove that Chun-seok did not assault Dinh Thi Hoa, Sung-han asks her to tell the court which arm Chun-seok used to hit her with the bat, as there were no witnesses present there at that time.

Dinh Thi Hoa had asked her partner to break her arm and pinned the blame on Chun-seok. She tells the court that Chun-seok hit her with his right hand.

Sung-han presents Chun-seok’s orthopedic diagnosis; it proves that he has been getting his right shoulder treated for over a year now because he cannot even lift chopsticks with his right hand.

Yeong-ju, who had come to watch the proceedings, storms out of the courtroom angrily, knowing that Sung-han has won. Sung-han wins the case and keeps his promise of getting Chun-seok’s honor back.

He also accuses the media of slandering Chun-seok, which once again brings him to the media’s attention.

Despite everything that happened, Chun-seok buys Dinh Thi Hoa and Yeong-gwang an apartment, as Yeong-gwang’s real father abandoned them. Dinh Thi Hoa returns to Chun-seok’s house with Yeong-gwang. He and his mother both take them back.

After losing the case to Sung-han, Yu-seok is visited by Yeong-ju, who reminds him that he can still be removed from his position if he is not competent and if he does not remember his place.

Yu-seok reminds her that he did everything he could to help Yeong-ju while representing Ju-hwa, as Yeong-ju had bribed him with a job offer. He also blames her for provoking Sung-han, which he believes will be their end, and making decisions without involving him.

The ramen restaurant’s old owner, Ms. Kim’s mother, is back and does not hesitate to express her opinions on Sung-han, Hyeong-geun, and Jeong-sik’s lives. She also notices that Ms. Kim likes Hyeong-geun.

Choi Jun and Seo-jin go to the support group Hyeon-tae joined to get more information about Min-jeong’s case, but Seo-jin backs out at the last minute because she is not ready to meet people.

During the divorce mediation, Min-jeong’s father shows up on her behalf. Choi Jun has proof that Hyeon-tae fulfilled all the unreasonable and expensive demands of his brother and his wife because they were keeping his daughter; Hyeon-tae had lied that she was his niece.

From the support group, Choi Jun found out that he joined the group before he even became a member of the church where he met Min-jeong, which means he always knew that she was schizophrenic and approached her for that very reason.

He also shows the video that he recorded of a carefree Hyeon-tae in the hospital to prove that he never cared for or loved her. Hyeon-tae ends up admitting that he married her for her parents’ money and that he was aware of her condition.

Choi Jun wins the case, and Hyeon-tae does not get the alimony that he was demanding, but Choi Jun gets into a physical fight with Hyeon-tae. Sung-han does not yell at him much, but no one celebrates his first victory with him.

Hyeon-u had asked Seo-jin for new sneakers, and she realized that she needed to take him shopping so that he could try the sneakers and find the most comfortable pair.

In order to face her fear of being in public, she tries to take a small step first by taking out the trash without covering her face, but people see her and whisper about her, which makes her uncomfortable.

Ms. Kim takes Hyeong-geun’s number from Choi Jun and calls him to meet her. She asks him if she should open a macaron shop or keep running a ramen restaurant. She then asks him if his ex-wife was his last love, and he tells her that she was his first love, which results in his friends yelling at him.

Ms. Ma files for a divorce, and her husband, Chairman Seo, blames Yeong-ju for it. He further insults her parents and tells her that Ms. Ma has hired Sung-han as her attorney.

He then orders her to leave Keumhwa because it would make them look ridiculous if she stayed. He plans to hire a team of attorneys and will not hire anyone from Keumhwa.

Sung-han’s employees, along with Jeong-sik and Ho-young, go for a team dinner. Everyone finds out that Choi Jun got drunk in the office the night he won the case and started live streaming, but Ho-young came to his rescue.

This gives Ho-young the idea that Seo-jin should stream online with her. Right after the dinner, Seo-jin is harassed by a drunk man who claims to be her fan, but Ho-young and Sung-han save her from him.

Sung-han asks Seo-jin to stay strong, even though it is not easy. He tells her that they even managed to keep Hyeon-u, which was the most difficult thing to do.

Seo-jin then tries to get over her fear and takes Hyeon-u shopping. While Hyeon-u is simply happy to step out of the house with her, she admits that she is still not fine but promises that she is going to try.

Review

Even though this episode dealt with two cases, it was mostly a light-hearted episode. The humor and playfulness were balanced so well that they did not affect the seriousness of the cases, which were just as interesting as they usually are.
Choi Jun’s character always manages to stand out, thanks to Han Jae-seok’s performance. In this episode especially, his use of physical comedy was truly praiseworthy.
While Seo-jin’s story arc can get dull at times, it is still necessary. The show has to take its time to depict her development to not make it look like she unrealistically overcame all her fears overnight after her life changed entirely.