I spent the whole of ep 11 getting mad at Hye-joo. I haven't watched 12 but the recap has me trusting and mistrusting and trusting and mistrusting Joong-do, and also reeling through it all with Hye-joo. I'm still pissed with her but that can take a backseat for now.
Sacrifices are to be made, fine. It might come at a personal cost, yes. But to what extent. My initial feelings to Joong-do moving forward and getting Hye-joo's consent afterwards is huge but what he's doing to his family is more huge. When exactly will he stop? And here I was beaming with pride as Yoon-seo helped Hye-joo see reason with Joong-do only for him to do and to have done what?

And what's with the coffee or tea? Who knows what aspect of their marriage will be affected by his taking coffee when Hye-joo has always known him for tea.

I really don't know what to look forward to - How far will he go in his quest, to the detriment of his marriage? Or how they rebuild their trust? I can see the former right ahead.

And please, give Kim Mi-kyung something to do. I've barely seen her onscreen on Trolley and her scenes are short and somewhat displaced from the main story.

Thanks, @missvictrix for the thoughtful recap.

I knew the marriage was not that solid from the start, but I give myself no credit for that-I was just following the cues the show laid out.

But now I’m wondering if I wasn’t fooled by the way the trolley metaphor was employed. I thought it was sincere on the part of the writers—that they meant to suggest that Joong do faced a trolley dilemma—his marriage (the one) or helping others through politics (the many.)

Now that its become clear that even if he nominally loves his wife, he has always put politics first, I’m thinking that HE is going to claim the trolley dilemma as a really shallow justification for his self-seeking and ambition, even though its clear that it never really was a trolley dilemma, as I’ve been harping on in every comment I’ve made on this show. So I think the show duped me by pretending to take the trolley dilemma seriously as a characterization of the action.

Which is fine—since I always get too emotionally involved with fictional characters I’m often fooled by the feints of a show, and I give credit to the writers cleverness in this one. But there will be one development I can’t stomach: if in the last episodes the show pulls back and tries to show that despite the lack of trust he had in his wife and his keeping of secrets from her, Joong Do is really a truly good guy after all, who remains deserving of Hye-Joo’s love, I’ll really be mad. She might decide to stay with him, and in fact given her character’s truly unfortunate trauma-influenced passivity, that might be what happens. But the show better not attempt to provide justification for his actions. After all, as @missvictrix points out the bills he's trying to pass, really do nothing to protect the victims. They are just designed to provide for a revenging justice if the perpetrator of sexual assault dies or kills himself. And even though it seems like I’m watching little but revenge dramas these days, I don’t consider this type of quest for justice an especially noble endeavor.

One final thing—though I’ve appreciated this show, and am looking forward to seeing how it concludes, a drama demonstrating how political intrigue or occupational stress exposes the pre-existing cracks in an apparently solid marriage is nothing new. It would have been nice to show something else, just for a change. Alas, love and marriage seem to be fashion in the kdrama world. I know my world view is out of step with that of the Hallyu, when even Dramabeans falls prone to deep cynicism about lasting romance--with a whole feature forecasting the breakup of all favorite kdrama couples!

He just had to go and be a lizard didn't he? 😭

Sigh... I thought it will be The drama and then it starts...
But I guess I can't be mad to Joong-do, because he's 'good' politician and he got what it takes to be one. And his partner ship with Woo-joo is perfect for political maneuvering (they are the true OTP in this drama ha ha). He definitely can't be both good husband and good politician, but at least he chooses something.
I think Hye-joo is just naive to be married to a politician and thinks he can't do what Joong-do has been doing. Are you still 17? And the story turns to mirror her past situation but now she becomes the perpetrator's mother who refuses to believe her son was capable of. And her daughter becomes her friend, Seung-hee. I was grinning 😅 I see what you are doing there writer-nim

I do like the way that even though he's clearly in the wrong right now, Joong-do isn't a cartoonish political villain. In fact, I think he's reflective of many modern politicians, and when I say that I'm not talking about the ones who clearly are drawn to politics because they want power, money, fame, and attention. That may be a common type right now, but historically, I think most people drawn to civil service believe they can make a difference, want to be a voice for the voiceless, and relish the idea of solving complicated social problems with compassion and wisdom. Yet many of these good-intentioned people end up like Joong-do: believing that because they have always been a moral, righteous person who really does care about others, that they now have the right and obligation to believe that they know best, and that other people need to get in line so they can follow the true and righteous path.

In other words, they develop a kind of god complex, where they trust in their own abilities and honor so completely that they can't recognize when they've started to treat other people like pawns.

Joong-do is so convinced that he can make things better for everyone if they just trust in his decision making and let him do what he wants and thinks is right that he's now on the brink of losing everything that matters to him, including his own integrity. It's tragic. I don't hate him, but I am disgusted by his myopia at the moment.

I so feel for Hye-joo! This woman has had to deal with tremendous loss and pain, and none of it is her fault. She has tried to live a purposeful life of quiet dignity, and the husband who should know and honor her best has decided to take control of her own narrative without factoring in his wife's feelings and needs. She's better off on her own; even if these two love each other, Joong-do's lack of respect for Hye-joo is glaring now.

I’m just reading these wonderful and thought provoking recaps and comments, I have nothing to say other than I’m here for the ride. This show is seriously addictive

Another pair of episodes done and we Still don’t know Yeojin’s secret. And no clues (that I picked up, at least) given to us in the little screentime she had.

How big can this secret possibly be? We have a possible murder and a fabricated rape, what more could the writer pile on? This is exhausting and at this stage I’m no longer curious about it.

But I do want to know whyyyy does she keep going to the GYN clinic? Has that been explained and I missed it? It wasn’t to accompany Soobin, that came later. Why was she there in the begin with when she ran into Soobin that first time. And she wasn’t there with Soobin when she took the elevator with the doctor/school mom in these eps 11 or 12.

A mess. This loving relationship isn't what it seems. How sad for Hye Joo.

Your recap was exactly how I saw these two episodes, and my reactions were exactly the same. I just want Hye-joo to be able to repair tattered pages and bindings of treasured books. I feel bad for their daughter, too. Joong Do(whose name I just spattered out) is a husband and father first, but has trampled those precious relationships beyond repair. How can he be sorry for what he did when, if he had it to do over, he’d do the same? That’s not being sorry. The long tentacles of politics have too far-reaching consequences. Good writing abd acting all around. What DiD happen to Joong-do’s son??

What did happen to Ji-hoon, Joong-do's son? Joong-do killed him.

I think Joong-do is the reason Ji-hoon was a troublemaker. Ji-hoon saw that his father was a bad person, unfit to be a politician with influence over people's lives. So he began to cause trouble in order to ruin his political career. I think that is why he bought drugs.

Because Joong-do and Woo-jae are "the ends justifies the means" kind of people, they decided the best way to deal with Ji-hoon was to eliminate him.

Su-bin knows this. Perhaps she saw it happen.

I think this is Yeo-jin's big "secret." Su-bin told her about this, and Yeo-jin is horrified and doesn't know what to do with such a terrible secret.

I don't know what the fallout will be, but I know Hye-joo will be beyond devastated.

The coffee/tea thing is indication that Joong-do is a completely different person when he is with Hye-joo. There's nothing wrong with drinking coffee. So why would he pretend to never drink coffee around his wife? I feel like he's playacting a certain persona - he doesn't drink coffee and only drinks that green health juice his wife makes for him every day. He really wants her to think that.

I supported Joong-do until Ep. 12. Politicians do need to play these manipulative games in the media in order to not be destroyed by their rivals. I did believe that it was worth it, for the greater good, and that Joong-do's ultimate goal was to create a better world.

Yeah, so... I'm pretty bummed out now.

This week was horrible and amazing.
As a simple viewer I felt really good about how unpredictable these two episodes were. As Hye Joo's (self proclaimed) bestie, I felt SO bad for her.

After the first few lies in episode 11, my trust for Joong Do was completely gone. Everything he said sounded like bs. And, well I was right, it was; but I NEVER imagined that he was going to be involved in Ji Hoon's death. I'm guessing Joong Do most now about the drugs and he most know how/why JH died.
Ugh.

I just want Hye Joo to get a divorce ASAP. I don't think she can live with the guy that made her son a rapist on national television just to get a damn bill approved, especially if that man knows about her traumatic past.
Making the dead son of his sexually abused wife a rapist... Joong Do is trash.
I wouldn't trust the future of my city or county to someone that can destroy his family just to get what he wants. Who knows how many other families he will hurt in the future just to make "the country better". If he doesn't have the means to get things done without hurting innocent people, then I guess he isn't the right guy for the job. I wouldn't be thankful at all as a citizen if I knew what this guy did to get that project approved. I would just think "am I next?". This guy totally forgot that his wife and his son are also regular citizens. They're part of the people he needs to protect and they haven't done anything to deserve all this crap.

I feel really bad for anyone that knows Joong Do. They all are potential political tools for him. I'm pretty sure he's involved with wtv that's killing Yeo Jin inside.

Aigoo. The fact that Soo Bin is the only person in this show that tells Hye Joo the truth... That's sad. Soo Bin is the only one that's on her side no matter what. Soo Bin is the only one acting like her true family.

Trust issues are everywhere in this week's episodes. The drama is more thought-provoking than I was first led to believe. It isn't a simple politics or greed for power story. Instead, we got a dark plot where everyone might be at fault somehow in the end. The characters are grey with no pure evil or pure good.

I can't empathize with Joong-do anymore. With each lie he tells, he goes down more until he will end up in a bottomless pit with no one by his side.

I am crossing my fingers that in the last two weeks, the drama won't turn Hye-joo into someone bad or evil, giving us the shock of our lives. Looking at how the show excels in blindsiding us, it won't be farfetched if they turn everything we have believed is true so far upside down.

Normally, I would be mad at dramas that fragments scenes when a character tells their side of the story and leaves the viewers to figure out if the said scene was a fiction or reality, but here it is totally upping the suspense and curiosity because the characters are all compelling despite the secrets they hide. I am impressed and I only wish the drama would not end on a open note, given that the story employs a trolley problem.

I think I just lost my comment. Good, because I blabbed on for too long anyway.

I will say this. So many beanies show such comprehensive intuition and perception into the human condition. It’s a true pleasure reading your comments.

@missvictrix can author an excellent recap week after week. That takes commitment and skill. Bravo!

Feeling some anxiety with this show's twists and turns.

I feel bad for Hye Joo. She's constantly bombarded with shocker after shocker. Like missvictrix mentioned, Hye Joo has been reacting to everything and going through all the pain. I hope she will be proactive next week and do more of her investigating. Gather her own intel and confront Joong Do.

Kim Hyun Joo is so soft here. I continue to be mystified yet amazed at her acting. I've only seen her in one other drama (Watcher) where she was cold and badass. What a difference.

Thank you for the recaps missvictrix, great observations! This goes to DB community as well for their insights 😃

Although HJ is presented as a quiet character we know she's resilient. She doesn't face the problem head on but she has huge amount of empathy especially to those who she believes are honest, plus her willingness to protect the people she loves. What if in the end she's the one to expose the secrets of JD, is he really killed his son foe political gain. Then she's the one with the trolley dilemma all along & not JD 🤔