Bittersweet Hell – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Bittersweet Hell picks up from where Yeong-won finds Dr. Oh in a pool of blood at their family vacation home. Sa-gang tells her that she discovered Dr. Oh unconscious shortly before Yeong-won arrived. After much debate, they decide to move Dr. Oh to a trusted hospital without alerting the police to avoid making it a public issue.

At the hospital, Sa-gang suspects that since Dr. Oh is involved, Jae-jin might also be involved. Yeong-won reveals the text messages she received saying “A downright lie,” accompanied by pictures of Jae-jin with another woman. She adds that the medical society Jae-jin claimed to visit regularly for over a year did not exist at all. Despite this, Sa-gang emphasizes that Jae-jin is innocent and would never cheat on Yeong-won.

After Sa-gang leaves, Yeong-won visits her mother, who has dementia, in the same hospital. They seem to have a difficult relationship. Sa-gang returns to the vacation home with Park Kang-sung, the owner of Soft Hands, who has been working for Sa-gang. Together, they discover traces of Jae-jin’s affair in the second-floor office-cum-bedroom, prompting Sa-gang to recall how her own husband used to cheat on her in the same room. She orders Kang-sung to clear the space.

On her way to Jae-jin’s office, Yeong-won meets her brother Yeong-min, who reveals how he met Jae-jin while on his way to the consortium. We also learn that Kang-sung’s nephew is Yeong-min’s friend. Yeong-won secretly transfers CCTV data from Jae-jin’s clinic and studies it, finding footage of Jae-jin and Dr. Oh rushing somewhere. She also finds Dr. Oh’s mobile phone in the back of the car. At the hospital, she uses Dr. Oh’s thumb to unlock the phone and finds multiple images of Jae-jin, along with a childhood picture of Jae-jin and Sa-gang.

Yeong-won shares her suspicions with Sa-gang, who insists that they are only friends and that Dr. Oh has a one-sided crush on Jae-jin. Sa-gang then impersonates Dr. Oh to send a message to the clinic staff, informing them that Dr. Oh is on vacation for a while.

To their son, Do-hyeon, Yeong-won and Jae-jin explain that Jae-jin is on an indefinite work tour. Yeong-won then receives a call informing her that spy cameras have been found in Jae-jin’s clinic. It is revealed that Sa-gang planted the cameras to halt the clinic’s activities in Jae-jin and Dr. Oh’s absence. Later, Sa-gang shows Yeong-won a video of Jae-jin holding a metal rod with blood on it but reasons that Jae-jin could not have attempted to murder Dr. Oh. She asserts that someone is framing their family.

This is when they meet Dr. Oh’s partner, Go Kyung-tae, who reveals that Dr. Oh is missing and that he is a police officer. This revelation dismays Yeong-won and Sa-gang, who wanted to keep the case low-profile and away from police investigation. They decide to visit Dr. Oh’s apartment to dispose of her phone. Sa-gang, calling herself the Agatha Christie of Korea, figures out the passcode by dabbing powder onto the machine. They are almost successful in planting the phone when Kyung-tae arrives at the apartment.

As he calls Dr. Oh’s phone, it rings inside the closet where Sa-gang and Yeong-won are hiding. They are saved by Kang-sung’s arrival, who claims to be Dr. Oh’s uncle and steers Kyung-tae away. Meanwhile, Do-hyeon spends time with Mun Tae-o.

Upon returning home, Yeong-won and Sa-gang meet private investigator Jung Doo-man, who has been investigating Lee Se-na at the request of Go-myu. Doo-man provides evidence of Jae-jin’s affair with Se-na and informs them that Lee Se-na is a suspicious woman. Men associated with her have eventually died, leaving her as the recipient of their insurance money.

It is also revealed that Sa-gang knew about Jae-jin’s affair but kept it from Yeong-won. Yeong-won confronts Sa-gang about this and vows to find Jae-jin herself.

The Episode Review

This episode was fairly predictable. While the plot is interesting, the show’s pace is extremely slow, and the execution is poor. The clichés don’t help either.

Despite these issues, the story does maintain its “whodunnit” vibe, keeping us curious about what exactly is happening and why. Since we are still in the initial few episodes, the plot is still building up, so it’s too soon to judge the show entirely based on this episode.