Perfect Family – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Perfect Family starts with Choi Sun-hui returning from school. She finds her friend Soo-yeon’s workbook in her bag and goes to her house to return it. On her way, she spots Soo-yeon entering Kyeong-ho’s house. Kyeong-ho and Sun-hui like each other but Sun-hui decides to return home instead.

Inside Kyeong-ho’s house, Soo-yeon finds him preparing a feast to propose to Sun-hui. Soo-yeon gets upset by a comment made by Kyeong-ho and threatens to attack and kill him with a knife. Sun-hui hears the commotion from outside and enters Kyeong-ho’s house to find Sun-hui holding up a knife with her burned head exposed.

Soo-yeon is about to attack Sun-hui but Kyeong-ho saves her and ends up getting stabbed instead. Kyeong-ho dies and Sun-hui returns home, her uniform now drenched in Kyeong-ho’s blood.

At her house, Sun-hui’s mother – Eun-joo is alarmed to see her daughter drenched in blood. Sun-hui tells her mother that she just killed Kyeong-ho and breaks down.

The episode jumps back in time to Soo-yeon’s first day at the school. Sun-hui and her friends – Kyeong-ho and Hyun-woo are in the same class. The teacher introduces Soo-yeon as the new student. Soo-yeon tries to talk to Sun-hui but realises that the latter does not remember her. Soo-yeon is embarrassed and goes to her desk as she watches Sun-hui.

During lunch break at school, Sun-hui has lunch with Kyeong-ho and Hyun-woo when Kyeong-ho mentions Sun-hui’s peanut allergy. The trio discuss how perfect Sun-hui’s family is with her mother always packing her food and her father being excellent at his job. Soo-yeon overhears the comment from her table and gets up to leave.

That night, Sun-hui’s dad, Jin-hyeok, receives an excellence award. His wife, Eun-joo and daughter,  Sun-hui celebrate the event with him. The next day, Sun-hui gets to school when one of her male classmates gives her a present. Kyeong-ho appears jealous by this while Hyun-woo playfully teases Sun-hui.

At the same time, Kyeong-ho gives Sun-hui a swan keychain that he customised for her and she thanks him. Both Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon watch the two from afar. After classes are over, Sun-hui tells Kyeong-ho and Hyun-woo that she needs to study.

Soo-yeon finds Sun-hui alone in class and tries to talk to her. She tries to remind Sun-hui of their childhood friendship with a matchbox.

A flashback takes us to a young Sun-hui being troubled by some boys when Soo-yeon shows up there and saves her. The two orphan girls talk to each other about their respective families when Soo-yeon mentions that she does not know where her parents are.

Sun-hui states that he mother had died but her father is still alive. At the orphanage, Sun-hui and Soo-yeon grow closer until one day, the latter tells Sun-hui that she is going to be adopted.

The episode moves back to the present day, Soo-yeon mentions that her adoption was cancelled because of an accident but Sun-hui is unaware of it. She promises to help Soo-yeon in any way she needs when Soo-yeon asks to borrow the keychain Kyeong-ho gave her.

That night, Kyeong-ho and Hyun-woo are sitting on the basketball court as they talk about Sun-hui. Hyun-woo tells him that Sun-hui will never accept Kyeong-ho’s feelings because she is too focussed on her studies anyway. Sun-hui shows up there and asks her friends what they are going to do for her birthday which gives Kyeong-ho an idea.

That night, Sun-hui is lost thinking about Soo-yeon during dinner and asks her dad for advice on how she should approach her friend. Jin-hyeok suggests that Sun-hui write her a letter to convey her feelings.

Meanwhile, Soo-yeon goes to her part-time job to collect her pay-check but learns that her boss has closed off the shop due to his gambling debt. Soo-yeon is worried because she is not able to manage her finances after she enrolled in the private school that Sun-hui went to.

At school, the following day, Soo-yeon asks Sun-hui to lend her some money but the latter has earphones on. Soo-yeon is embarrassed and loudly yells at Sun-hui, asking to borrow some money. The rest of the class including Kyeonh-ho watches them in shock.

That night, Soo-yeon is in her hostel room when her roommate asks her if she has been making new friends at school. Soo-yeon mentions that even after having financial aid, it was hard for her to make ends meet. The roommate wonders if Soo-yeon’s childhood friend is helping her. Soo-yeon states that Sun-hui does not remember her anymore.

The next day, Kyeong-ho gives some cash to Soo-yeon and asks her to stop bullying Sun-hui. Soo-yeon gets upset by the comment and punches Kyeong-ho in the face. She yells at Sun-hui for treating her like a beggar and storms off.

That day after school, Soo-yeon watches Sun-hui’s parents pick her and Kyeong-ho up after school in their car. Two of her classmates try to get Soo-yeon to be their friend by talking badly about Sun-hui. However, Soo-yeon refuses to entertain the two and leaves.

The next day, Kyeong-ho asks to meet Soo-yeon in private and apologises for lending her the money without her permission. She is touched by the apology and leaves to go back to class when she runs into Sun-hui. Sun-hui tells Soo-yeon that she asked Kyeong-ho to apologise, which upset her.

Later, Soo-yeon meets Hyun-woo and talks about his feelings for Sun-hui. Hyun-woo tells Soo-yeon that Sun-hui and Kyeong-ho both come from very well-off families. He adds that he could never dream of dating Sun-hui. Soo-yeon gets upset by the comment and wonders if an orphan like her should even dream of dating someone.

That night, Soo-yeon shows up outside Sun-hui’s academy and asks to talk to her in private. She leads Sun-hui to an empty parking spot and confronts her about the accident that made her lose her hair. Soo-yeon claims that after the accident, her scalp burn led to her adoption being cancelled.

She reminds Sun-hui of the night before her adoption when she was sitting outside the orphanage when Sun-hui unknowingly caused a fire. While most of the students escaped, Soo-yeon ended up getting burned in the fire.

Following the incident, Sun-hui was adopted while Soo-yeon’s adoption was cancelled due to her injury. The episode ends with a flashback of little Soo-yeon putting little Sun-hui to sleep by reading her a story at the orphanage.

The Episode Review

This is such an intriguing drama and I am sure that there is going to be a lot more chaos considering this was just the first episode. I suspect Sun-hui is not as innocent as she seems and I wonder if she caused the fire on purpose.

I love the idea of seeing Kim Young-dae and Park Ju-hyun as a couple all over again after the show Forbidden Marriage but it seems like the genre of this show is quite different than that one.

We are going to see very little of Young-dae as Kyeong-ho has already died as of the first episode of Perfect Family. Now, as we head on to the next episode, I am sure the truth about the perfect life of Sun-hui and her perfect parents will soon be exposed.