Beyond The Bar episode 8 is very obviously trying to show us that the show is trying to be feminist, and I like it. Sometimes, we need to take the obvious route to make a point clear. In this case, we’re looking at domestic abuse and how even when women are public figures and beloved by many, they can be treated like trash at home. They hide it so well that they end up with severe mental issues. The last episode was very driven by Seok-Hoon, but this one is a bit all over the place, though it does go into Hyo-Min’s dynamic with her mom a little bit. As for the romance, does the fact that Hyo-Min shows up at the office to thank Seok-Hoon and share a beer with him mean we’re going to get a romance soon? I’m not sure, but for the moment, it’s still very mentor-mentee. But with that said, let’s jump into episode 8.
Spoiler Alert
Who Is The Abuser Of Power At Work?
Beyond The Bar episode 8 begins with the “trial” of Seok-Hoon in the office. He immediately calls out Tae-Seop for spreading false information and says he’ll file a defamation case against him. Seok-Hoon has all the proof to show why the woman, Seo, had visited him that night. Moreover, the papers that Tae-Seop is using to prove that Seo was sharing internal documents of the opposite side have a code that can be checked to see exactly whose computer they were written on and printed from. It seems Jin-Woo had already put in the work to get one of Tae-Seop’s lackeys caught for the documents. On the other hand, Seok-Hoon tells the whole group that Seo visited him because Hong Do-Yun was the one who behaved inappropriately with her.
Do-Yun has always been a prick to the women at work. He used to make her work till late, stay out of company dinners, and call her out for small mistakes like line spacing, and basically say she was useless. Remember when Seok-Hoon whispered something in his ear during Hyo-Min’s first court case? He was talking about the other women that Do-Yun had ill-treated and how Hyo-Min was going to be next for him. I just assumed it would be Tae-Seop, but I guess since he’s the partner’s son, they spared him a bit. Now, Seo told Seok-Hoon that after some time, Do-Yun started to take her alone to dinners with random “clients.” He made her “host” those dinners in shady places and told her she was good at it. She thought if she slept with him, he’d let her be, but that didn’t happen. One day, when she had had enough, she tried to walk away from dinner, only for him to stop her and blackmail her, saying nobody would believe her over a married man. Now, in the present day, Na-Yeon and the lawyers go to find Do-Yun at a bar with “brokers,” which is illegal. He’s caught in the act and penalized immediately. It’s good to see Tae-Seop calling him out, too.
What Happens With Min-Jeong?
Meanwhile, Min-Jeong needs to meet a woman to get a camcorder from her, and Jin-Woo drops her off. She tells him that she lost both her parents young, her mom at 23, and she doesn’t have many pictures or videos of her. When she was off to college, they went on a trip, and this couple offered to take a video of mother and daughter. The lady has the video still because the camera is still and never deleted anything from it. They don’t use it anymore though, and the only way to watch the videos is on the camera itself. Jin-Woo tells Min-Jeong that he has such a massive family that he can get whatever she needs in all of Korea. He also tells her that because she’s basically family-less, they should get married so she can join his massive family (huh, some new kind of arranged marriage this is). Min-Jeong finally gets the footage, and in it, her mother is crying because Min-Jeong is going off to SNU, a very big university in South Korea. She breaks down, and Jin-Woo comforts her; guess this ship is sailing soon.
What Happens With Seol-A’s Sister’s Case?
On the other hand, the main case of this episode is Seol-A’s sisters. She’s a famous TV anchor, and everybody loves her, but Seol-A gets a call randomly about her being in prison. Turns out, she’s physically abused her husband and even hurt the police officers while being taken to prison. Seol-A is shocked to hear Seol-Yeon would do such a thing. Her older sister has always been the sweetest and doesn’t even raise her voice. Hyo-Min takes on the case, but there’s one thing that comes in the way.
It turns out Seol-Yeon was a victim of domestic violence and now suffers from “Battered Woman Syndrome.” For this, she’d been taking medication, but this medication was recently changed. The new medication is known to have blackouts as a side effect, but for Seol-Yeon, it was a necessity. Hyo-Min tells Seol-A all of this, and she immediately breaks down, wanting to beat up her bedridden brother-in-law.
But the real problem arises because it turns out Seol-Yeon learned that she could become “Wonder Woman” after taking the medication. After she had her first episode, she found her house to be in a big mess but didn’t know why. She installed a camera and saw that she was doing all of that when she had blacked out. However, when she realized that it made her unafraid of her husband, and after she beat him up for the first time, she started letting it happen more often. This means, even if Seok-Hoon pleads not guilty because of insanity, it would still be considered abuse, since she knew she would do such things after going into that state. This puts Hyo-Min in a dilemma because she’s always put the law first. However, when Seok-Hoon says that the law is to protect those who can’t defend themselves, she realizes she needs to keep her promise to Seol-A and save her sister from ruin. The sisters promise not to tell anybody about Seol-Yeon “knowing,” and ultimately she’s found not guilty.
At the end of episode 8 of Beyond The Bar (still don’t know why we can’t just call it Esquire), Hyo-Min realizes she didn’t thank Seok-Hoon enough for his advice and for helping them win the case. After having a massive cry with her friends and seeing the video of Seol-Yeon beating up her husband, Hyo-Min buys some drinks and goes off to see Seok-Hoon. She’s meant to bring the drinks to her friends, but she ends up asking Seok-Hoon if he wants a beer with her. She tells him about her friend’s dad’s case, and how it made her realize that harsh words, if used right, could help people, so she thought being a lawyer could be fun. She then tells him about how his words helped her make the right decision to help Seol-Yeon. Seok-Hoon tells her she was made for this job, and she thanks him once again. The next episode looks to be about a murder case, so the stakes are getting higher. Since we’ve passed the mid-point of the season, it is now time to see if things will go downhill or stay as good. What do you think about the romance? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
