Divorce Attorney Shin Episode 1 introduces us to the main character of the Kdrama (신성한, 이혼) – Shin Sung-han. He is approached by Lee Seo-jin to be her representative lawyer in her divorce. However, the case takes a trivial turn & he later meets with a central figure in the case.
The cast of the series includes Cho Seung-woo as Shin Sung-han, Han Hye-jin as Lee Seo-jin, Kim Sung-kyun as Jang Hyeong-geun, Jung Moon-sung as Jo Jeong-sik, Kang Mal-geum as Kim So-yeon, Jeon Bae-soo as Park Yu-seok, Han Eun-seong as Choi Jun, Cha Hwa-yeon as Ma Geum-hee, and Noh Susanna as Jin Young-joo among others.
Netflix’s synopsis of the show reads:
Driven by a personal tragedy, a pianist-turned-lawyer navigates the complex world of divorce — fighting for his clients to win by any means necessary.
-Divorce Attorney Shin Episode 1 Review and Recap Contains Spoilers-
Episode 1 starts off with the iconic lines from the drama The World of Married where the male lead states that ‘falling in love is not a crime’, setting up the base that our lead attorney takes such cases and helps in their divorce. Soon after we see Shin Sung-han in action as he helps his client to win her divorce case against a cheating husband.
At first, the defendant claims theories like – his client was reading palm and the face of the person he was with & not having affair. But when Sung-han brings out the broken phone, which apparently contains the pictures of that act, they agree to the settlement. On the other hand, we see a woman who is leaving a hotel & being cautious of the people around her.
Even when she is in her car at the red light, Sung-han’s car also parks by the side & we get to see that he is blasting music & celebrating his win, which is interrupted by his colleague Jang Hyeong-geun. Following him to the office we get to know through their interaction that Shin used to be a pianist in Germany who came back to Korea & cleared the bar test in just 2 years. Despite the such accomplishment, he only takes divorce cases only.
Mr Jang further shares that he is feeling sad because his favourite Radio host has quit the show due to a leaked sex tape scandal. Lo and behold the same host – Lee Seo-jin walks into their office and wants Sung-han to take her divorce case. She states that the divorce should go well but he refuses to take the case by replying that it’s not the best case due to her scandal & the chances of losing are high.
She counter-questions him that what’s a good case according to him, to which he says – when he can help achieve his client’s demands. Seo-jin then expresses that he should ask about her demands first & she only wants the custody of her son. This strikes his mind & he confirms if that’s all she wants and then accepts her as a client.
Moving onto Lee Seo-jin, we get to know that she met the man with whom the affair & the sex tape was leaked – was introduced by her show producer only. The PD took her to a restaurant where the chef said to be Seo-jin’s fan, which eventually turned into a romance. It was a way of respite from her controlling husband who keeps an eye on her each activity, even the number of underwear etc. And her son is quite indifferent to her as well.
In between the back story, we are introduced to Sung-han’s character – who drinks soju in a wine glass, equally divides the kimchi with his friend & even pays for it. He also owns the building in which his office is located & even a real estate office which is run by his other childhood friend Jo Jeong-sik, who is apparently always late on giving rent.
At the first divorce mediation, the plaintiff’s lawyer (husband’s side) states that Lee Seo-jin was supposed to be at her son’s school on the day the sex tape was filmed & she declined the teacher’s call. It led to her son Hyeon-u getting upset & throwing a fit. However, we see that Seo-jin’s boyfriend was filming her even though she asked him not to & was the one to switch off her phone. He pretended to keep both phones on the side but positioned his phone in a way that recorded their intimate act.
The defendant – Shin Sung-han defends the client by asking why do think Seo-jin cheated. It wasn’t because of loneliness but the over-controlling nature of the husband that asks her to send a picture of what she is doing & who is she with, every 30 minutes. It made Seo-jin gradually cut off contact & meet with people. Along with it, he showed the sticky notes by his husband from the last 3 years, which felt like hate comments criticising & accusing Seo-jin’s every action.
The plaintiff countered that by questioning if Hyeon-u sees the sex video, how will Seo-jin face him then? They state that the video is still circulating on the internet despite deleting all of them. The judge stops the mediation at this point & says that it will continue another day with the son’s psychotherapy test result.
But it turns out that the dad already searched up what kind of questions are asked in tests & instructed his son to draw exactly what he tells. While Sung-han sends his colleague & Seo-jin fan to the police station to look into the circulating video & get them deleted. There they get to know that the video is not being reposted by the boyfriend, since it was erased from all his device & clouds.
Shin also meets up with Hyeon-u and gets to know that the son wants to erase his memories. When asked if he wants to erase his parents fighting, the boy remains silent & looks teary-eyed. It raises suspicion that he has seen her mother’s video & despises her because when he was at the hospital wanting her mother, she was doing what he saw in the video.
Afterwards, at night Hyeon-u has a panic attack and when his father tries to call 911, he smashes it into the wall. This breaks Seo-jin’s heart & she calls Sung-han to drop the case, as she can’t see her son like this. This call confirms the suspicion that maybe the father showed his son the video & he replies that the case will now be taken to court & will be tried there.
Summing Up: Divorce Attorney Shin Episode 1
Although I expected to see the back story of Shin Sung-han of how he came to become an attorney & changed his career, but I guess it will be unravelled slowly over the episodes. For the pilot, it was a pretty intriguing episode & definitely makes you want to tune in for the next episode.
The lead’s character is quite peculiar – he keeps his things in a particular order & tracking everything. Special mention of his choice of trot music, adds a fun element to the story. Also, the clever use of a prop like a door which gets stuck in the middle, which in my opinion mirrors Sung-han, who is like a half-open door – we know just some things about him while personal details are hidden/closed at the moment.
Divorce Attorney Shin is currently streaming on Netflix.