Perfect Family – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Perfect Family starts with Soo-yeon running from Kyeong-ho’s house to meet Sun-hui. She tries to meet her but Sun-hui’s mother – Eun-joo refuses to let Soo-yeong visit her friend. Soo-heon insists on meeting Sun-hui and goes to her bedroom to find Sun-hui in a state of shock. Soo-yeon tries to force Sun-hui to go to the police station with her and own up to the murder in her place.

She asks if Sun-hui was the one who burned down Kyeong-ho’s house and killed his parents but the latter does not respond. Soo-yeon takes off her wig and tries to guilt trip Sun-hui into taking responsibility for the murder of Kyeong-ho as payback for her injury caused by the fire Sun-hui had set. Soo-yeon tries to take Sun-hui with her but Jin-hyeok stops Sun-hui from going. Soo-yeon gets upset and leaves to go home.

Meanwhile, Sun-hui breaks down in her room. Soo-yeon skips school while the rest of the kids talk about Kyeong-ho’s apparent drug addiction. Hyun-woo tries to defend his friend and threatens to attack his classmate who speaks badly about Kyeong-ho. Soo-yeon contemplates going to the police station and recalls the incident at Kyeong-ho’s house that led to his murder.

A flashback shows that after Kyeong-ho tells Soo-yeon that he is going to ask Sun-hui out, Soo-yeon gets upset. She tries to stop him from doing so but ends up getting angry when Kyeong-ho misunderstands her sexuality. She cannot confess her true feelings for him and decides to ruin his surprise.

Soo-yeon shows Kyeong-ho the swan keychain and tells him that Sun-hui had given it to her because she was not interested in him. Kyeong-ho asks Soo-yeon to hand over the keychain and the two end up fighting. Soo-yeon gets mad and starts destroying the painting and the cake. The scuffle leads to Soo-yeon losing her wig. She is embarrassed and wonders why she must always suffer.

She picks up a knife and tries to kill herself when Kyeong-ho tries to stop her. At the same time, Sun-hui overhears the noise outside and enters the house where she finds Soo-yeon holding out a knife at Kyeong-ho. When Sun-hui tries to intervene, Soo-yeon gets mad and tries to attack her. Kyeong-ho jumps in to save Sun-hui and ends up dying.

Present-day Soo-yeon walks home instead of going to the police station. However, Jin-hyeok finds her walking on the street and picks her up in his car, offering to drive her home. At home, Sun-hui tries to talk to her mother about the fire but Eun-joo acts nonchalant. She refuses to address the incident and acts as if everything is normal.

At the police station, the cops find a connection between Soo-yeon and Kyeong-ho. Detective Dong-ho points out that Soo-yeon was at the scene of the crime that morning while Sung-woo states that she was not at school that day. That night, Soo-yeon wakes up in Jin-hyeok’s car but he knocks her out by hitting her on the head.

However, Soo-yeon manages to wake up and escapes from the car when Jin-hyeok goes to get something from the trunk. Sun-hui tries to call Soo-yeon but cannot get in touch with her. She thinks about all the fun times she spent with Hyun-woo and Kyeong-ho and breaks down. Sun-hui tries to look up news reports about the fire and breaks down again.

The next day, Hyun-woo comes to pick up Sun-hui to attend Kyeong-ho’s funeral. The two pay their respects to Kyeong-ho and his parents. On their way out, Sun-hui gets unconscious and falls. Jin-hyeok shows up and picks Sun-hui up from the funeral home. Outside the house, the cops show up, asking to interrogate Sun-hui.

When Jin-hyeok leaves the car to talk to them, Sun-hui finds the swan keychain in the car and picks it up. She recalls how it was last with Soo-yeon and that she hasn’t been answering her calls. Sun-hui concludes that her father is also involved in the incident and gets scared. Inside the house, Sun-hui and her parents sit across from the detectives as Sun-hui answers their questions.

The detectives leave after not finding anything suspicious. Jin-hyeok praises Sun-hui for being strong. Jin-hyeok promises to protect Sun-hui no matter what. Outside the house, Dong-ho concludes that Sun-hui appears guilty. In her room, Sun-hui tries to call Soo-yeon and gets scared when she is not able to reach her. She asks Hyun-woo for the address to Soo-yeon’s house and visits the place.

There, Sun-hui meets Soo-yeon’s roommate and adoptive sister who reveals that Soo-yeon hadn’t returned home since she left for school the day before. She adds that Soo-yeon had the habit of disappearing from time to time whenever she ran into trouble. At the police station, the section chief asks Dong-ho to close off the case as it was an accident.

Just then, the forensic expert shows up there and reveals that Kyeong-ho died because of a stab wound. Dong-ho and Sung-woo tell their boss that now, they have all the more reason to investigate the case. That night, Sun-hui gets back home and tries to retrace Soo-yeon’s steps. In the alleyway of her house, she meets a man – Choi Hyun-min who introduces himself as a relative of Jin-hyeok.

Hyun-min asks Sun-hui if she knows who lived in the street-view room at her house. Sun-hui appears confused but Hyun-min apologises for the weird interaction. He leaves, promising to meet Sun-hui again. Before leaving, Hyun-min whispers in Sun-hui’s ear, asking her to be careful of her parents. Jin-hyeok watches the interaction from his room.

Another flashback shows Kyeong-ho asking his father to review his painting. The man, who was a painter by profession calls Kyeong-ho’s painting average. In school, Kyeong-ho and Sun-hui decide to sketch each other. Sun-hui praises Kyeong-ho’s painting and he feels better about himself as he starts falling in love with her. The episode ends with Kyeong-ho holding on to the painting that Sun-hui made for her.

The Episode Review

The show just got a lot more intense and psychologically thrilling. I just love the fact that there is so much that Sun-hui does not know about her parents that is making this show a very gripping thriller. From her mother covering up for Kyeong-hos death by killing his parents in a fire to her father trying to get Soo-yeon to disappear by killing her, the Choi family is messed up.

While we do know why Soo-yeon killed Kyeong-ho and what led to the incident, I am concerned about the fact that Sun-hui’s parents did not even try to understand what led to the death of a teenager. They just swooped in to clean up the mess that their daughter allegedly had made.

This makes me believe that there are many skeletons in their closet that they are willing to go to any extent to hide. I am very keen to see who Hyun-min is and what he has on Jin-hyeok and Eun-joo.