Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) Season 1 Episode 2 Episode 2

Set in the bustling city of Seoul, Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) is a melodramatic series that follows the complicated lives of three women who all work in the field of radio. As they navigate their struggles in love, commitment, and marriage, their professional accomplishments are also put to the test.

Episode 2 continues in the vein of the series’ strong female-centric perspective. Hailing from three different age brackets and inhabited by vastly different personalities, each of the women receives the same, life-changing diagnosis from an ominous hospital: they’re pregnant. Seo Ban, Sung Si-kyung’s writer wife, is the most joyfully surprised, when the news of her pregnancy brings in a flush of color to her otherwise pale face: "I'm pregnant! We’re going to have a baby!" she exclaims to her husband, who is equally excited and in disbelief. Meanwhile, the other two sirens, Lee Si-eun’s therapist character, as well as Park Joo-mi’s housewife, experience bitter-sweetness to varying degrees.

This unexpected plotline sets the backdrop for a lot of the episode’s questions to arise, as the women struggle with a range of conflicting emotions. Is the news of their pregnancy good or bad? What implications does it have on their job or their personal life? How will their husbands take it, and what lies ahead for the trio in terms of their immediate and long-term future? This episode’s themes around maternity and motherhood are explored with sensitivity and insight, but also with an eye to detail.

The episode also touches upon important themes that resonate with working women everywhere. The women are faced with continually navigate work-life balance, their ambitions with personal life, and how to make it in a male-dominated workplace while still maintaining their agency and sense of self. These dilemmas are particularly apparent in the face of the pregnancy news, as Si-eun’s therapist character receives backlash from her boorish colleagues for “being careless” when it comes to her contraceptive choices. Meanwhile, Park Joo-mi’s eldest character grapples with insecurities about her husband’s infidelity, even as she continues to balance household chores with her duties on the radio show.

The episode’s cinematography is visually stunning, with a lot of focus on each of the women’s crises at hand. The camera captures the women’s facial expressions and tells a story in and of itself. Additionally, the score adds a layer of complexity and depth to each scene, giving it a rich, cinematic quality.

The dialogue is nuanced and thought-provoking, making for a show that feels realistic and relatable to viewers of all backgrounds. As one of the characters faces an existential crisis over her unexpected pregnancy, she muses to her friends, “What is my life? What am I doing? What am I working toward?” These questions around meaningfulness and purpose are not different, despite the cultural context of the show. The series transcends its domestic drama roots to tap into universal themes that connect with viewers on a deep level.

All in all, Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) season 1, episode 2 is a moving, well-crafted piece of television. With themes around motherhood, career, and relationships that are thoughtfully explored and rendered in exquisite detail, the show has already proved itself to be a must-watch for viewers in South Korea and beyond.