If You Wish Upon Me – K-Drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Unbearable Pain

Episode 3 of If You Wish Upon Me sees Gyeo-re find himself sneaking into the locked room on the fourth floor of the hospice when Tae-sik tells him that the room has a ghost inside. Gyeo-re laughs and asks Tae-sik if he really is a good person who is helping people or if it was an act.

Tae-sik responds saying he isn’t sure if he is as he gets a text from Yeon-joo that Mr. Pyeon does not have much time left. At Mr. Pyeon’s old house, Team Genie gathers for the last supper as per his wish. Gyeo-re arrives with his belongings.

Yeon-joo bickers with him for a bit but as he notices Mr. Pyeon, he starts to smile awkwardly. Outside, Tae-sik spots the true owner, Hye-jin’s older son, Dong-ho trying to peek inside the house. He invites the child in and asks him to sit for the meal.

Team Genie waits for Mr. Pyeon’s estranged daughter who has arrived from the states with her husband and daughter. The family reconciles and Mr. Pyeon envisions his daughter in his grandchild. The entire group sit to eat but Gyeo-re is overwhelmed by the situation.

He sets off outside the house and he cribs about not being able to fit in with the rest. Hye-jin is waiting for her son when Tae-sik texts her to tell her he is with them. Dong-ho calls his mother to the local park and they finally reconcile.

The child has had a change of heart after hanging out with Mr. Pyeon and his estranged daughter. He asks his mother what made her decide on letting Mr. Pyeon fulfil his last wish. Hye-jin tells him that she was tired of the silence and wanted to end her life when Gyeo-re convinced her to change her mind.

Later that night, Mr. Pyeon passes away in his sleep as he looks at his daughter and the persimmons tree outside. Gyeo-re is in shock when he learns that Mr. Pyeon is no more, but Yeon-joo reassures him that everything will be alright.

The next day, Soon-ja and Tae-sik are discussing how Gyeo-re took Mr. Pyeon’s passing to his heart. That night, Gyeo-re gets drunk at a bar and invites Jin-goo, his childhood friend and vet over for some drinks. Jin-goo stoically states he is not Gyeo-re’s friend and that he does not even drink alcohol.

The two recall their childhood in the orphanage as Gyeo-re says he trusts him because Jin-goo did not laugh as the other kids did. After a while, Jin-goo takes a drunk Gyeo-re to the Hospice and leaves him to Tae-sik who is standing by the ambulance.

Gyeo-re goes inside the ambulance and shuts the door leaving Tae-sik outside and shelter less. The next morning, Gyeo-re wakes up on a makeshift bed inside the Team Genie common room. Yeon-joo has a break that she is spending with Sonny. The dog now has a small kennel Yeon-joo made for him.

Gyeo-re is shell-shocked and confused about how he got there. Yeon-joo and Gyeo-re bicker about her breaking the mirror of his car and having to pay him back. After her break has ended, Yeon-joo leaves while Tae-sik joins Gyeo-re in the room.

He hands Gyeo-re a hangover drink while the latter inquires about the room on the fourth floor of the hospice. Tae-sik tries to dismiss him by making up a story about there being a ghost but Gyeo-re is irritated. Gyeo-re attends a training session to be a Hospice volunteer and learns to write his will.

As he leaves, he notices Yeon-joo rushing to a cancer patient – Se-hee who is in pain. The patient asks to be given more painkillers and lashes at the nurse but Yeon-joo states that she has already had a lot for the day. Dr. Chi-hun asks the nurse to get more of the medicine.

Yeon-joo is hurt by Se-hee’s behavior as she picks the medicine from the cabinet while Gyeo-re observes her from outside. Meanwhile, Seo-jun visits Joon-kyung in prison asking her about the money that he could not get out of Gyeo-re. She slams him for exploiting her in the past when she used to be a cam girl.

Joon-kyung claims that she earned the sum but mentions that it burned into flames when Gyeo-re and she tried to kill themselves. She demands her $2 million back from Seo-jun and asks him to stop cribbing about the $300,00 he was looking for.

At the Hospice, Se-hee asks Tae-sik to grant her wish because she is not sure when she would pass. Tae-sik promises the young patient he will try his best to fulfil her wish of performing with the country’s biggest musical artist. Se-hee then apologizes to Yeon-joo for her bad behavior when she was in pain.

Yeon-joo is exercising on the rooftop when Gyeo-re walks in as he notices the nurse act cute. He then overhears Se-hee and Yeon-joo’s conversation about dealing with pain. Yeon-joo is directing her words as Gyeo-re who is listening from afar.

The nurse says that bearing pain to the end is not right and that people should scream and ask for help when they are suffering. Tae-sik and Se-jin are looking up the musical actor and idol – Pyo Gyu-tae who Se-hee wishes to perform a duet with and the student thinks it is impossible to meet him.

Gyeo-re sits alone pondering over Yeon-joo’s words when Tae-sik drags him along to Gyu-tae’s musical show. The two bicker about who will talk to the singer when Tae-sik sneaks into the green room with Gyeo-re’s help distracting the security.

Tae-sik realises that Gyu-tae is a mean person with a bad temper. As the actor leaves, Tae-sik attempts to convince Gyu-tae to help fulfil Se-hee’s wish. Gyu-tae declines the offer and leaves as a group of his fans push Tae-sik away. Gyeo-re holds the old man as he falls but Tae-sik desperately tries to call out to Gyu-tae.

At the Hospice, Gyeo-re helps Soon-ja prepare food for the family members of the patients. Soon-ja talks to the guardians and shares her story about how she came to the hospice accompanying her daughter who was suffering from Leukaemia like Se-hee.

Gyeo-re is touched by Soon-ja’s story and learns how she started cooking for the Hospice. He is about to leave when Soon-ja forces him to have the meal set out for him. This time, Gyeo-re attempts to half-heartedly consume the food but leaves after a bite.

After everyone has left, Gyeo-re comes back to the kitchen and explains his relationship with food. He claims that he eats only for survival and does not have anything that he likes to eat. Soon-ja promises to figure out Gyeo-re’s favorite dish by process of elimination.

On the other hand, Tae-sik sets up his homeless friends to send a message to Gyu-tae on his behalf. When Tae-sik is by himself, he stops using his crutches as a flashback reveals that he asks his doctor to let him keep it on in order to force Gyeo-re to continue his work with Team Genie.

Gyeo-re takes Sonny for his regular check-up at Jin-goo’s clinic. The vet talks to Gyeo-re about the recently euthanized dog but Gyeo-re thinks Sonny is feeling better now. Gyeo-re gets a message from Tae-sik informing him to reach the theatre that Gyu-tae is at.

The musical actor is holding auditions for the next talent on his show when Tae-sik plays Se-hee’s song in an attempt to convince him. Gyu-tae is nonchalant but his security tries to kick Tae-sik out and push him to the ground. Gyeo-re appears just then and tries to assault the security but Tae-sik stops him.

As they drive back to the hospice,  they converse about the kind of work Team Genie does. Gyeo-re gets a call from Seo-jun that pisses him off and he throws his mobile phone out of the moving vehicle. After they arrive at the hospice, Tae-sik forces Gyeo-re to stay in the Team Genie common room. 

Gyeo falls asleep in the room as he thinks about his present life with the people of Team Genie. He ends up saying he feels more alive with them but that being at peace does not suit him. Soon-ja goes to the locked room on the fourth floor and calls Tae-sik telling him that the patient is alive as Tae-sik clutches the photograph of himself and his son. 

The Episode Review

Every new episode of this K-drama feels like an emotional roller coaster ride. Viewers start from crying over how they want to protect Gyeo-re before moving on to laughing their hearts out every time he bickers with Tae-sik or Yeon-joo. I love the relationship Soon-ja and Gyeo-re are developing.

She is like a mother to him and it is endearing how he is slowly trying to feel closer to the people there. I am sure the room on the fourth floor has something to do with Tae-sik’s real son and Gyeo-re.  I am not sure about Gyeo-re’s relationship with Joon-kyung but she gives off badass vibes.

Hopefully, when she is eventually freed from prison, she will join Gyeo-re at the Hospice and the people there become her family too. This episode showed fans an emotional side of Yeon-joo (played by Girls’ Generation’s Sooyoung).

I loved her emotional acting even if it was just for a few seconds. The scene proves that Gyeo-re and Yeon-joo are destined to be each other’s soulmates as they are often looking out for each other.