"Let the Girl Cry" Episode 12

Kyeong-cheol has many flaws, but the worst of them has to be that the guy's just not that smart. Last cliffhanger he "discovered" that Deok-in was having an affair with Jin-woo. A more farsighted person might have realized that Deok-in finding a boyfriend is a good thing. It makes Deok-in less likely to try to cling to the marriage. Which, consequently, would make it easier for Kyeong-cheol to get a divorce and finally marry Jin-hee. So how does Kyeong-cheol use this information?

Naturally, he tries to antagonize Deok-in with it. Kyeong-cheol's efforts predictably fail, mainly because at this point no one in his family actually likes him anymore. Everyone else is still worried that their mother is going to relapse. Heck, Deok-in pretty much explicitly told Kyeong-cheol that this was why she's rescinding her consent to the divorce. And yet Kyeong-cheol continues to pout like a small child, as if Deok-in's only motivation has been to spite him.

It's fairly compelling stuff. Obviously"Let the Girl Cry"is cut from the family drama mold- so it's not too dramatic or anything. We're looking at a fairly transparent case of sympathetic characters putting non-sympathetic characters in their place. Kyeong-cheol and Jin-hee have consistently failed to realize that their personal life decisions don't take place in a vacuum. If that was what was going on they wouldn't need permission to marry in the first place. Their failure to negotiate this issue doesn't bode well for their overall future.

Elsewhere, Hyeon-seo gets a pretty good word in with his mother. That whole plotline, while not necessarily innovative, still does good basic work with its material. Hyeon-seo appears to be a happier, healthier person now than he was before he started hanging out with Hyeong-tae. The main wrinkle in this storyline is that everything has to pivot around Hyo-jeong- even though she's consistently been trying not to cooperate with Hyeong-tae's weird schemes.

"Let the Girl Cry"is managing a fairly good synthesis right now between its characters. There's just the right mix of sympathy and unlikability, and it definitely helps that the script isn't contriving to make anyone stupid. Writer He Cheongok has correctly appreciated that people who have know each other for a whole lifetime aren't going to change their broader personal evaluations overnight, even if the characters themselves haven't all managed to figure this out yet. The result is a reasonably compelling and sweet drama that deals fairly seriously with family conflict.

Review by William Schwartz

"Let the Girl Cry"is directed byKim Geun-hongandPark Sang-hoon-II, written byHa Cheong-okand featuresKim Jeong-eun,Song Chang-ee,Lee Soon-jae,Ha Hee-ra,Oh Dae-gyooandLee Tae-ran.