"Should Have Stopped It, Whatever It Took": Mother's Rage and Regret Erupt in Love on the Menu

Han Gyu-rim blames her family for not stopping her marriage by any means necessary. In episode 22 of the KBS drama Love on the Menu, she appears for a part-time job interview at a side-dish shop, and the wounds family members left on one another burst out as belated regret and resentment.

Blame, a question about money and a cold rebuttal

Han Gyu-rim poured out bitter resentment that her family had not fought harder to stop her marriage in the past. "You should have stopped me no matter what, even if you had to pull out my hair or break my legs," she said, pinning the ruin of her life on her family's passive stance. When the family asked whether she was blaming others, she shot back: "Is it a sin to love money and want to climb higher?" She stressed that for people who have known the pain of poverty, the desire to survive is not a choice but a necessity, and she linked her mistaken choices in the past to her present situation as she vented her anger.

Another voice answered her with a cold remark: "The goal is good, but the method was wrong." Desire for money is not in itself a fault, the argument went, but the way she pursued it may be what shaped her present life. The sharp clash exposed the deep rift within the family.

An interview that turns into a confession to her daughter

During the interview, Han Gyu-rim made no attempt to hide her guilt toward her children or her self-reproach. She called her daughter Gyeol "a burden that will be the biggest obstacle to my daughter's marriage," worried that being an unmarried mother could stand in the way of her child's future. She voiced a realistic fear that in-laws would not welcome the child of an unmarried mother, and revealed her anguish at being a burden to her child.

The emotion ran higher in her conversation with Gyeol. Han Gyu-rim thanked her daughter for being a light during her own dark days, but also apologized for the past, when she could only run away cowardly. Gyeol answered her mother almost pleadingly, "Don't break up because of Mom," and tenderness and remorse crossed between the two.

Source: KBS Drama (YouTube)