Pandora: Beneath The Paradise – K-drama Episode 12 Recap & Review

Playing Chess With The Devil

Episode 12 of Pandora: Beneath the Paradise starts with Hae-Soo, Chairman Kummo, Jae-Hyun, and Tae-Ra. Jae-Hyun goes over to talk to Chairman Kummo, who’s in a wheelchair, and Hae-Soo speaks to Tae-Ra. Hae-Soo tells Tae-Ra to put her guard up since Jae-Hyun took her out of police custody to kill her. Tae-Ra assures Hae-Soo she knows that and tells her Jae-Hyun will regret killing Sang-Bae. Meanwhile, Jae-Hyun mocks Kummo about his current state and tells him that he still has evidence that he is the one who ordered Hae-Soo’s father to be killed.

Jae-Hyun and Tae-Ra go back to their house, and Jae-Hyun bans Tae-Ra from leaving the house. He tells her that security will be watching her 24/7. Tae-Ra asks Jae-Hyun how many more people he has to kill to become president, and he tells her that he killed Sang-Bae for her and that if she tries to be clever again, Hae-Soo or Pilseung will be next to die.

Jae-Hyun walks out, and Tae-Ra calls Pilseung, who’s in France, with Jiu and tells him to get Jiu out of there because Jae-Hyun is looking for them. Meanwhile, Jiu is crying and wants to see her father (Jae-Hyun), and she even refuses to talk to Tae-Ra on the phone. Tae-Ra tells Pilseung that she’s worried that she’s being too hard on Jiu by sending her to France, and Pilseung assures her he’ll talk to Jiu and asks her to get to France safely.

At Hae-Soo and Do-Jin’s house, Hae-Soo begins telling Chairman Kummo how she used to see him around her father when she was young, and then he didn’t have the intention to kill him. Kummo asks Hae-Soo if she brought him there to torture him and if she should just kill him. Hae-Soo tells him that she thought he’d have even the slightest remorse for what he did and asks why he killed her father. Chairman Kummo tells her he’ll pay for his sins when he goes to hell. Do-Jin walks in, and Kummo asks him to get him out of there.

Hae-Soo tells Do-Jin that if he’s thinking of taking his father, he should forget it, as she will decide how he dies. Do-Jin asks Hae-Soo to allow them to finalize their divorce. He continues to tell her that since they can’t reach an agreement on their divorce, she should get good lawyers to prepare for what’s coming. Kummo commends Do-Jin for finally leaving Hae-Soo, but, Do-Jin tells him that he didn’t do it to please him. Then, Do-Jin gets a text from Kyojin asking to meet him.

Kyojin asks Do-Jin why he scrapped his red sports car seven years ago, considering he liked the car as it was a gift from Chairman Kummo. Do-Jin tries to come up with a story of how he gets bored with things quickly, and Kyojin tells him he knows that he, Jae-Hyun, Sung-Chan, and Sujeong were at Hatch’s lab the day before his accident, so he asks Do-Jin to tell the truth about what happened. Do-Jin says that the three of them didn’t go to the lab that day. Instead, they went to Jae-Hyun’s house to drink.

Kyojin asks him why he remembers that day so clearly as if he was waiting for Kyojin to ask him. Kyojin asks him again to tell him what happened that day, and he will cover for him no matter what happened. Do-Jin turns it on Kyojin and asks if he thinks he killed her. Kyojin tells Do-Jin that Ms Min was right about him not acting like his brother. And Do-Jin tells him that he knows he’s acting nice while manipulating Ms Min to help him take over Kumjo and that if he wants to make him look like someone who’s not grateful for what he has, he may as well be that person.

Elsewhere, Jae-Hyun meets with Yoo-Tae and his men and commends them for how well they framed Sang-Bae for Director Seoun-dok’s murder. Jae-Hyun asks Yoo-Tae if Sang-Bae’s death will catch up to them. Yoo-Tae assures him they’re safe as Sang-Bae’s cause of death won’t show on his autopsy results. It turns out, Yoo-Tae injected Sang-Bae with a poisonous needle from Hanwool Mental Hospital when Sang-Bae attacked him at the police station. Yoo-Tae tells Jae-Hyun that the needle dissolves when it enters the body, so his death will look like it was due to a heart attack.

Jae-Hyun then asks Yoo-Tae to go and look for Jiu. He suspects Pilseung fled with her out of the country, and Pilseung is using a fake passport, so they should look for Jiu specifically since she may not have used a fake passport. Yoo-Tae asks what they should do with Pilseung once they find Jiu. Jae-Hyun tells him to wait until they get into the country and do whatever he wants with Pilseung.

Jae-Hyun holds a press conference about Tae-Ra being involved in Director Seoun-dok’s murder and Han Kyung-Rok pushing the police to do an illegal search in his house after Director Seoun-dok died. He says that Director Seoun-dok’s murder made Tae-Ra a bit delusional, so he is taking time off campaigning to care for her. Jae-Hyun’s campaign team also returns and asks Jae-Hyun for forgiveness for walking out on him in the last episode.

Meanwhile, Han Kyung-Rok is watching Jae-Hyun’s press conference and gets angry because he has made the country turn against him. Just then, one of his campaign staff tells him Detective Yoo, whom he promised to help him get a promotion at the police station if he investigates Jae-Hyun and Tae-Ra on Director Seoun-dok’s murder, is under investigation. And the phone conversations between him and Han Kyung-Rok will prove he pushed for an investigation against Jae-Hyun and Tae-Ra on Director Seoun-dok’s murder.

Elsewhere, Hae-Soo takes Chairman Kummo to meet Mr. Won, the head of the YBC station. Hae-Soo begins lying to Mr Won that Chairman Kummo has agreed to let YBC handle Kumjo’s production and distribution advertisements. Hae-Soo also lies that Kummo wants her to be promoted to a desk anchor at YBC and to be allowed to cover her father’s murder in an exclusive report in exchange for the advertisement contract. Chairman Kummo reluctantly agrees to everything because Hae-Soo can expose what he did to her father.

The alarm system goes off at Jae-Hyun’s house, suggesting a stranger is around the house. As the security guards go to look for the individual, Tae-Ra finds that it’s Kyojin. Kyojin was worried about Tae-Ra, so he came to see her. He asks Tae-Ra if Jae-Hyun is responsible for Sang-Bae’s death, and Tae-Ra confirms it. Kyojin tells Tae-Ra that Jae-Hyun is killing the people who know his secrets one by one, and she might be in danger. Kyojin even offers to take Tae-Ra and Jiu to a safe house. But, Tae-Ra tells him that she has to deal with all this by herself.

Tae-Ra asks Kyojin if he managed to see where Sung-Chan kept the smart patch’s research flash drive. Remember, they put a camera at Sung-Chan’s house without his knowledge. Kyojin tells her he hasn’t, but he saw the flash drive had an error when Sung-Chan tested it on the athlete. Tae-Ra asks if the error will stop Sung-Chan from doing the smart patch’s human presentation. Well, Sung-Chan will push ahead so he can take over Hatch, but the error on the flash drive will likely stop him, and Kyojin promises to be there to expose him.

Tae-Ra also asks Kyojin if he has found Sujeong. He tells her that while he hasn’t, he has a strong feeling she’s still alive and has been helping Sung-Chan, Jae-Hyun, and Do-Jin with the research for the smart patch. Tae-Ra asks Kyojin to send her Sujeong’s files so she can also investigate. Before Kyojin leaves, he gives Tae-Ra a bracelet with a tracking device so he can keep an eye on her.

Elsewhere, Dr Yang and other Hatch staff are preparing for the smart patch’s human presentation when Jae-Hyun comes in. He asks about the smart patch’s test on the paralyzed athlete, and Dr Yang tells him that Sung-Chan hasn’t let anyone in the special lab. Jae-Hyun tells her to keep an eye on Sung-Chan because he needs the smart patch’s human presentation to succeed so that it can boost his presidential campaign.

Jae-Hyun notices Dr Yang’s nose bleeding and asks if she’s well and if she has been taking her medication. Dr Yang tells him that while she has been taking her medication, she has been experiencing some bad migraines lately. Jae-Hyun tells her that it may be due to medicine tolerance and that it’s time for stronger medicine. He then tells her to meet her at the lab for the stronger medicine.

Do-Jin blackmails Dr Hwang, Kyojin’s doctor, with information about his affair. Do-Jin asks Dr Hwang to stop Kyojin from coming to the smart patch’s presentation in exchange for keeping his affair secret.

Elsewhere, Han Kyung-Rok asks Jae-Hyun’s forgiveness for pushing an illegal investigation against him and Tae-Ra on Director Seoun-dok’s murder, and they “make amends” in front of the press.

Tae-Ra tries to look for information on Sujeong in Jae-Hyun’s office when she remembers Sung-Chan telling her about Jae-Hyun’s locker in the dock. Tae-Ra and Hae-Soo go to the dock, and Tae-Ra breaks into Jae-Hyun’s locker. She finds Dr Yang’s passport and other personal documents and wonders why they’re there, so she takes pictures of them. Hae-Soo tells Tae-Ra they have to hurry and bring down Jae-Hyun because the smart patch’s presentation will boost his chances of becoming president, and Tae-Ra assures her they will.

The day of the smart patch’s presentation arrives, and Kyojin is sick. Dr Hwang tells him he shouldn’t go anywhere and injects him with something. At the presentation, Sung-Chan tries to test the smart patch on the paralyzed athlete, Jang Subin, and it fails in front of hundreds of media reporters and other people. Just then, an unconscious Kyojin is brought in. It turns out, Kyojin found out about Do-Jin ordering Dr Hwang to stop him from going to the presentation and stops Dr Hwang from doing so. Kyojin enters his car to go to the presentation, but Dr Yang injects him with a sleeping agent.

Jae-Hyun begins telling the audience how the smart patch helped Kyojin recover from his accident, and Dr Yang injects him with something else, this time reviving him. Kyojin has no other choice but to acknowledge before the audience that the smart patch and Hatch’s rehabilitation program helped him recover after his accident.

At YBC station, Mr Won announces that Hae-Soo has been rehired and that she is the new chief. Hae-Soo begins making changes in the station, including placing herself as the reporter of the news.

Back at the smart patch’s human presentation, Jae-Hyun tells Sung-Chan he knows he used the flash drive he stole from Kyojin for the presentation, and if he had told him about the error, he would have taken care of it. Sung-Chan tells Jae-Hyun he knows that he asked Yoo-Ra to steal the flash drive from him and that Tae-Ra found and returned it. He also tells Jae-Hyun he knows he killed Yoo-Ra and that his watch shattered when he was struck by lightning when killing Yoo-Ra that day. Well, Jae-Hyun also tells Sung-Chan that he has video footage of him cutting the rope that caused Kyojin to fall to the bottom of the cliff on the day they were off-road biking.

Kyojin meets Dr Yang, who commends him for his speech about Hatch helping him recover. Jae-Hyun also meets him and starts mocking him about what happened earlier.

Meanwhile, Tae-Ra follows Dr Yang to her house. She sees her acting strange, and then Jae-Hyun injects her with something. Dr Yang starts asking where she is and where Kyojin is, and he injects her again. Jae-Hyun hears Tae-Ra escape but doesn’t catch her.

Hae-Soo goes to meet Tae-Ra at a restaurant. Tae-Ra, who already arrived at the restaurant, calls Kyojin and tells her about Dr Yang, asking about him, which is strange since Kyojin says he doesn’t know her. Tae-Ra tells Kyojin she’s returning to the lab where Dr Yang is to investigate. Hae-Soo arrives at the restaurant and finds a note from Tae-Ra telling her she’ll be right back.

Tae-Ra arrives at Dr Yang’s lab/house and is caught by Tae-Ra and Jae-Hyun, who injects her with something that makes her unconscious. Meanwhile, Hae-Soo tries calling Tae-Ra and can’t reach her. Kyojin also goes to the lab and tries calling Tae-Ra, and Jae-Hyun sees the incoming call from Kyojin and smashes Tae-Ra’s phone. The episode ends with what seems like a confused Tae-Ra at a gathering with Jae-Hyun, Sung-Chan, Do-Jin, Jiu, and other people.

The Episode Review

This episode has proven that Hae-Soo is much more capable than we thought. As expected, Jae-Hyun continues to get his way with almost everything, so I can’t wait to see his downfall. There’s also something strange about Dr Yang, considering she asked about Kyojin as if she had known him for a long time.

I also wonder what Jae-Hyun and Dr Yang did to Tae-Ra when they caught her spying on them in the lab because the episode ends with her looking confused and suspiciously lovingly to Jae-Hyun. Also, now that Jiu is back from France, what happened to Pilseung? Because Jae-Hyun asked Yoo-Tae to do whatever he pleased with him when they brought Jiu back.