Pandora: Beneath The Paradise – K-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Confrontation

Episode 5 of Pandora: Beneath The Paradise starts with Jae-Hyun looking at a picture in his office. Meanwhile, the person in a hooded raincoat Yoo-Ra was running from in the last episode is revealed to be Do-Jin. But Sung-Chan is also wearing the same hooded raincoat and following Yoo-Ra. Back at Jae-Hyun’s office, he gets a call from someone.

Yoo-Ra meets up with Sang-Bae and hands over Sung-Chan’s flash drive with the human trial research files on the smart patch. That is what she was looking for in Sung-Chan’s house. Yoo-Ra asks Sang-Bae if he’s done with her, and he gives her a ticket back to France and tells her that $2 million will be wired to her bank account. Sang-Bae adds that his “boss” said Yoo-Ra had been a great partner. Yoo-Ra wonders if Chairman Kummo may be the one behind it. She also warns Sang-Bae that Sung-Chan is following her.

Shortly after, Yoo-Ra catches Sang-Bae handing the flash drive to the real “boss.” It’s hard to tell if it’s Do-Jin or Sung-Chan since both of them are following her, and the guy Sang-Bae is handing the flash drive to still has his hood on. Yoo-Ra is shocked, and the guy with the hooded raincoat immediately starts chasing her again. As Yoo-Ra is running, she tries to call Tae-Ra, but she doesn’t pick up because she’s busy chasing down Hae-Soo, who has her daughter, Jiu. It seems Hae-Soo wants to make Tae-Ra feel the same way she felt when her father was killed.

Yoo-Ra is still running from the guy in the hooded raincoat chasing her. The guy finally catches up to her and strangles her. Yoo-Ra’s body is hanged from a tree when lightning strikes the tree, and it catches fire.

Tae-Ra is still chasing Hae-Soo when she finally catches up to her. She finds Hae-Soo standing on a cliff, and when Tae-Ra asks her where her daughter is, Hae-Soo looks down at the cliff. Thinking she pushed her daughter off the cliff, she begins screaming for her. Fortunately, Jiu is just fine. Hae-Soo asks Tae-Ra if she thinks she can harm Jiu and that she’s like a daughter to her.

Tae-Ra asks Hae-Soo what she wants, and she says she wants her to join Jae-Hyun for her special presidential interview. She mentions that she wants the people to know who Tae-Ra is and to help Tae-Ra become First Lady. But, by how she looks, it seems she has something up her sleeve.

Tae-Ra returns home and finds the Police, Jae-Hyun, Do-Jin, Sung-Chan, and Hae-Soo at her residence. Yoo-Ra’s body has been found. Tae-Ra is devastated, and everyone, especially Hae-Soo, is shocked. They return to Jae-Hyun and Tae-Ra’s home, and the Police come in to notify them of Yoo-Ra’s cause of death. They say she hanged herself, and the tree hanged herself on was struck by lightning, causing it to catch fire and damaging her body. This isn’t true because someone strangled her, and that person set her up to look like she committed suicide.

Tae-Ra asks if she left behind a suicide note, but the Police tell her that she didn’t. However, circumstantial evidence proves that she committed suicide. Jae-Hyun asks the Police to conduct a thorough investigation, and one of the police officers tells Jae-Hyun that they will wrap this investigation as soon as possible because it may affect his presidential campaign, but, Jae-Hyun tells him that he lost a family member, so he should watch what he says.

Sung-Chan notices that Do-Jin is uneasy and asks him if he killed Yoo-Ra. Remember, he now knows about their affair. Of course, Do-Jin is pissed off by his question, but, Sung-Chan has his suspicions, and so does Hae-Soo. The Police question the entire group, and everyone mentions where they are except Sung-Chan, who refuses to speak until a lawyer is present, is he guilty?

Back at Hae-Soo and Do-Jin’s home, Hae-Soo points out that Do-Jin is an insomniac, so he lies about taking a nap after working out when the Police are questioning him. Hae-Soo asks if he was really at home when Yoo-Ra died, but he becomes defensive, making him more guilty. When he leaves, Hae-Soo takes out a recording camera she had placed in their home earlier. She watches it and sees Yoo-Ra confronting Chairman Kummo about allowing her and Do-Jin to be together. She now realizes that the lady who left the earring in her bathroom sometime back is Yoo-Ra.

Concurrently, Sung-Chan is seemingly burning the hooded raincoat he had when he was following Yoo-Ra while hysterically crying. He recalls when he followed Yoo-Ra and confronted her. Yoo-Ra mentioned being threatened to do what she did (steal Sung-Chan’s flash drive). He also remembers when Do-Jin told Yoo-Ra that he would never leave Hae-Soo for her and threatened to kill her in the last episode. So, Sung-Chan concludes that Do-Jin is at fault here. It’s confusing to know who killed Yoo-Ra because Sung-Chan and Do-Jin followed Yoo-Ra the night she died.

Sung-Chan begins to hit stuff around him when Jae-Hyun stops him. He asks why he’s acting that way, and that is when he reveals Do-Jin and Yoo-Ra are having an affair. Jae-Hyun asks him why Yoo-Ra made a move on him in the first place. Sung-Chan tells him that Do-Jin sent her to steal his drive with human research on the smart patch.

Jae-Hyun asks him if the smart patch was successful in the human trial, and Sung-Chan confirms it. He even tells Jae-Hyun that he would have told them without Red’s side effects. Jae-Hyun asks Sung-Chan if he’s sure Yoo-Ra took the flash drive, and Sung-Chan starts being hysterical, telling him that Do-Jin is about to hand over their company to his dad, Kummo. But, Jae-Hyun finds it hard to believe it.

Sung-Chan returns home and exposes Do-Jin and Yoo-Ra’s affair on the internet and his supposed intentions to hand over their company, Hatch, to Kumjo Group. And sure enough, it gets everyone talking.

The next day, Police come to Hatch headquarters to question Do-Jin further. They reveal text messages between him and Yoo-Ra confirming that they were having an affair. They also reveal that Do-Jin threatened to Yoo-Ra. Police also reveal that Sung-Chan witnessed the night Yoo-Ra died, and Sung-Chan and Yoo-Ra were engaged to be married. Do-Jin is shocked since he didn’t know about this.

Do-Jin confronts Sung-Chan and tells him he didn’t know that Yoo-Ra and he were an item. Otherwise, he would have dumped her. As expected, this pisses off Sung-Chan. Sung-Chan tells Do-Jin that Yoo-Ra revealed everything the night she died and claims Do-Jin killed her. Well, Yoo-Ra didn’t exactly tell him that because earlier in the episode, when Sung-Chan was confronting Yoo-Ra, she told him that “they” threatened her, and that is why she stole the drive. So, it’s still not clear who killed Yoo-Ra.

Jae-Hyun walks in and also confronts Do-Jin about his and Yoo-Ra’s affair. He then tells Do-Jin that Hatch will hold a stakeholder meeting to reassess Do-Jin’s qualifications as CEO.

At YBC station’s headquarters, people are gossiping about Do-Jin and Yoo-Ra’s affair and the possibility of her special presidential interview being cancelled when Hae-Soo walks in, shuts them up, and tells them that the special is on as scheduled.

Joon-Ho follows Hae-Soo and asks her if she’s really going to stay married to Do-Jin, and Hae-Soo tells him to watch his tongue. He also asks Hae-Soo why she still wants to go on with the special presidential interview, considering that Jae-Hyun’s presidential campaign has been affected by Yoo-Ra’s death. But, Hae-Soo insists that she will still go on with the interview.

The other presidential candidate, Kyung-Rok, is busy with the campaign team, mocking Jae-Hyun’s situation with Yoo-Ra’s death and Do-Jin’s affair with her. On the other side, Jae-Hyun’s campaign team is pondering how to respond to Sung-Chan’s exposing Do-Jin and Yoo-Ra’s affair on the internet (they don’t know he did it). They ask Jae-Hyun for advice, and he tells them to give him time to think. Just then, Hae-Soo calls.

Jae-Hyun meets up with Hae-Soo, and she sympathizes with his predicament. Hae-Soo then tells Jae-Hyun that the only way to clear this mess is to accept her special presidential interview. On the other hand, Tae-Ra is at the police station. A police officer tells her that Do-Jin confessed to having an affair with Yoo-Ra. They also reveal Yoo-Ra tried to call Tae-Ra, and when she didn’t pick up, she left her a voicemail. The officer asks her if she listened to the voicemail, and she tells him she didn’t. But, when the officer leaves the room, she listens to the voicemail.

Tae-Ra and Jae-Hyun go to view Yoo-Ra’s body, and Tae-Ra asks to be left alone. She finds something in her mouth, believing that this is what Yoo-Ra wanted to tell her right before she died, and she still couldn’t forgive her.

Tae-Ra, Jae-Hyun, Sung-Chan, Hae-Soo, Jiu, and other friends and family attend Yoo-Ra’s funeral. Hae-Soo comes up to her and asks Tae-Ra once again to be in the special presidential interview with Jae-Hyun, and to Hae-Soo’s surprise, she agrees.

Hae-Soo returns home and finds Do-Jin, who apologizes for having an affair with Yoo-Ra. Hae-Soo asks him if he thinks Yoo-Ra’s death was really a suicide. Do-Jin becomes defensive and says Yoo-Ra is using him, and surprisingly Hae-Soo agrees. She begins telling Do-Jin that Yoo-Ra may have been ordered by someone to seduce him. She also mentions that Tae-Ra didn’t cry during Yoo-Ra’s funeral, considering she was Tae-Ra’s only sister.

Back at Tae-Ra and Jae-Hyun’s house, Tae-Ra is in their bedroom when Jae-Hyun comes in. Tae-Ra tells Jae-Hyun that she has agreed to Hae-Soo’s presidential special interview. She tells Jae-Hyun she’ll do anything for him since he’s the only family she has left.

Later, Tae-Ra goes to investigate the area where Yoo-Ra’s body was found, and she finds a pearl from Yoo-Ra’s necklace she gifted her some time, so she suspects she was killed. Just then, Pilseong comes and tells her that he saw Sang-Bae with a man in the hooded raincoat in that area the night Yoo-Ra died. He even shows her a photo he took. Tae-Ra apologizes to Pilseung for yelling at him after Hae-Soo took Jiu in the last episode.

At Hatch headquarters, Jae-Hyun doesn’t allow Do-Jin to join the stakeholders’ meeting. Do-Jin is furious, but Jae-Hyun tells him this is best for Hatch. He even tells him he can pay back the price of his shares at Hatch.

At Kummo’s office, Kummo shows Do-Jin an article mentioning that he resigned as Hatch’s CEO. Do-Jin tells Kummo that his resignation was the best move for Hatch. Kummo says he’s always being pushed around and that it is time for him to prepare to become Kumjo Group’s heir.

Do-Jin refuses and says his brother, Kyojin, is the rightful successor, but Kummo tells him that he can’t because Kyojin isn’t his biological son. Jang Kummo married his wife when she already had Kyojin with her late husband. Do-Jin tells him that Kyojin’s mother was the original heiress of Kumjo.

Do-Jin is pissed off, but Kummo calls Sang Bae and tells him to settle Kyojin’s shares in Kumjo. Do-Jin continues to tell his father that he won’t be part of it but Kummo says that that is for him to decide. He continues to tell Do-Jin that all he has to do is reclaim Hatch and bring it to Kumjo.

At Hatch headquarters, Sang-Chan and Kyojin’s mother are visiting Kyojin when Sung-Chan reveals that Do-Jin tampered with Kyojin’s bike the day he had an accident, and Kyojin’s mother collapses in shock.

At Jae-Hyun’s residence, Jae-Hyun’s campaign team prepares Tae-Ra for Hae-Soo’s interview. Meanwhile, Hae-Soo seems like she is preparing to expose Tae-Ra in the interview.

At Hanwool Mental Hospital, Jae-Hyun meets Director Kim Seoun-dok, who asks him to allow Hatch and Hanwool Mental Hospital to join hands, which he refuses. Meanwhile, Kummo ordered Sang-Bae to take Kyojin’s mother to Hanwool Mental Hospital. In the meantime, he tries to kill Kyojin, who is still comatose, and Do-Jin stops him.

At Hanwool Mental Hospital, Kyojin’s mother wakes up and runs away when he Jae-Hyun rescues her. At Jae-Hyun’s car, Jae-Hyun tells Kyojin’s mother that there’s a way to make Kyojin wake up. Do-Jin comes to pick up Kyojin’s mother, and she yells at him, thinking he is in on Kummo’s plan to kill Kyojin. She even tells Do-Jin that she has never once considered him as her son.

Fast forward to Hae-Soo’s special interview with Jae-Hyun and Tae-Ra. Hae-Soo confronts Tae-Ra on live TV, asking if she was the No.50 who assassinated her father.

The Episode Review

It’s sad that Yoo-Ra is dead, but who killed her? Is it Do-Jin or Sung-Chan? On the other hand, I think Tae-Ra has an idea of what happened the night Yoo-Ra died because after she listened to Yoo-Ra’s voicemail, she was looking for something on her dead body.

Do-Jin, on the other hand, has been misunderstood by Kyojin’s mother. So, does this mean that he’ll finally agree to take over Kumjo? As for Hae-Soo, I knew from the beginning that she was planning to expose Tae-Ra during the special presidential interview. Now that she has, I’m interested to see what will happen next.