Family Matters – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Good Samaritan

Episode 4 of Family Matters starts with a flashback of Young-soo and Chul-hee in their training days. From a young age, Chul-hee dedicated himself to protecting Young-soo.In another flashback from two years ago, Chul-hee has a recurring nightmare, causing Young-soo to worry about him. She admits she still occasionally thinks about the centre, but her real fear is losing the kids. She recalls when she once lost Ji-woo at an amusement park.

We circle back to where we left off in the last episode. Young-woo uses her power on No-won, and he immediately starts agonising. She makes him believe that she cut off his arm and genitals and that he is in chronic pain. She lets his secretary and her dad watch to give them peace in his suffering.

On the other hand, Chul-hee beats Deacon Jo and his men to a pulp. Thankfully, Chul-hee has been training Ji-hoon, and together, they are a good team. After saving Ji-hoon and Min-jung, they all return home.

Grandpa and Ji-woo welcome them home, and they all have dinner. In the meantime, Ho-chul watches the family from afar. He is disappointed when they all return safely. Later that night, Young-soo thanks Chul-hee for saving them. He confesses that he wanted to help No-won’s secretary because she reminded him of Young-soo when they were young.

Young-soo has breakfast with the kids, and Ji-woo reveals she heard what her mom said to her the previous night when she was sleeping. It turns out Young-soo promised to always protect her. She also promises to get Ho-Chul and deal with him. Ji-woo brings up Ho-chul, and Grandpa backs her up. Gang-sung believes catching Ho-chul as a family will bring them together.

Elsewhere, No-won returns home to his wife, Sister Oh, and she is shocked to see how he is in pain. On the other side of town, the police arrest Dong-min, but Jung-hwan and Joong-man don’t think he is the serial killer. Unfortunately, the police chief wants the case wrapped at whatever cost. Jung-hwan continues to look into the case and returns to the vet shop.

In the meantime, Chul-hee tries to gift Young-son a hairpin but misses the chance. Chul-hee feels jealous when he sees her wear lipstick to head out, and Grandpa starts teasing him. He reveals that Chul-hee had an affair.  Young-soo gets ready and leaves to meet Pastor Yoon. She confronts him about the despicable behaviour of the officials in his church. The pastor acts surprised to learn that No-won included Jae-gon in his antics. He texts Jae-gon and tells him that he is disappointed. Pastor Yoon is shaken when Young-soo suggests that maybe the serial killer is a member of his church.

Later at home, Ji-hoon asks why Young-soo cries when performing her hypnotic ritual on the villains. She explains that the pain comes from her mind, and she feels the pain, too. Ji-hoon is moved to learn about his mom’s suffering. Still. Young-soo tries her best to be a good, present mom to the kids. At school, the kids celebrate their freedom with Kyu-tae gone. Jae-gon starts plotting on how to regain power again.

After Young-soo’s visit, Pastor Yoon visits No-won and Sister Oh at home. He informs Sister Oh that Young-soo is the one behind Kyu-tae and No-won’s pain. He watches as Sister Oh kills No-won after learning what he has been up to. She figures that they are better off collecting No-won’s life insurance than taking care of him in his current state.

In the evening, Jung-hwan visits the vet and finds Chul-hee. As they talk, Ho-chul drops by since Chul-hee and Gang-sung had called earlier to threaten and mock him. A fight ensues as Ho-chul pulls out a knife. Grandpa comes to check out what the ruckus is about. In the fight, Ho-chul knocks open a cabinet, and all their mascots fall out. Jung-hwan realises that the family were responsible for pushing the car with the victim’s body in front of the police office. The kids and Young-soo return with the kids and find the ongoing ruckus.

In a flashback, we learn that Young-soo and Chul-hee returned to the town to find the serial killer. In the past, he has killed women in every city they have ever lived in. However, at the time, they felt no need to step in, so what changed?

The Episode Review

Family Matters is one of the best dark comedies this year. Bae Doo-na carries this show with her acting prowess. This episode ends with a cliffhanger since we don’t know what will happen now that Jung-hwan knows what the family did. The plot thickens now that Ho-chul also showed up at the wrong time at the vet shop. We also have Pastor Yoon and Sister Oh; they seem to be planning something, and the arrival of Young-soo’s family and the serial killer has ruined their plan. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see how Deacon Jo is doing after his duel with Chul-hee.

According to multiple sources, this drama only has six episodes, so this means we are two episodes away from the finale. I am curious to see how the show will wrap up the multiple storylines before the show ends. We still don’t know the serial killer and his link to Young-soo’s family. So far, we only know that it might be someone from the training centre.

We also don’t know what Young-soo is planning to do to Jae-gon and the other criminals who tried to mess with the kids.