The Frog – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

As Though You Couldn’t Get Me Off Your Mind

Episode 3 of The Frog picks up in the 2000’s timeline, with Gi-ho rushing out with a bag full of bottles to the bullies’ room. He heads inside, but those in there call him a loser and reveal that he’s late.

Back in the present, we pick up with Sung-a showing back up at the rental place. She wants to stay the night, but it couldn’t come at the worst time as Yeong-ha’s daughter, Ui-seon, arrives. She’s only here for dinner and not staying as initially intended. The pair go back and forth, and begrudgingly, Yeong-ha sees that Sung-a is able to stay for the night after all. Yeong-ha is distracted as he works on the barbecue with Ji-su, Ui-seon’s partner, burning his hand and constantly checking his watch.

It appears he may be waiting for Sung-a, who’s similarly a bit out of it. She looks around her room and eyes the vinyl player, before getting dressed up in a beautiful black dress. She asks Yeong-ha to use his vinyl player before heading inside, but he simply tells her that it’s not working. This is clearly a nod toward her knowing he’s cleaned up the blood from that record.

After dinner, Ui-seon leaves while Sung-a drinks wine in the doorway. A bad dream about shovelling dirt in the garden soon paves way for Yeong-ha to outright ask Sung-a questions about her true purpose here. She heads down to the pool and dives underwater, despite her initially telling him a year prior that she was afraid of water. And what of Si-hyeon here? This seems to be the sticking point in the whole story.

In the past, Eun-gyeong continues to spiral while working in our past timeline. She’s been sneaking drinks off on the sly and the only reason she’s still employed is actually because of Sung-jun. After causing a big ruckus, Eun-gyeong and Sung-jun are united as they decide to push for selling the rental, but it also means dropping the price considerably.

Eun-gyeong is optimistic that this is going to help, but there’s still the Gi-ho situation to contend with. He continues to steal bottles of soju from the fridge, unaware that his mum is going to clean up her act and stop drinking. She wants to turn her life around, and she does so by throwing away all her soju.

Sang-jun has a different outlook on life. He lost his parents when he was 17 and was actually homeless at one point too. He’s drifted around various jobs and in ’85, he ended up in charge of a factory where he met Eun-gyeong for the first time.

He sold that factory to end up here, with the Lake View Motel, but unfortunately everything looks to be slipping through his fingers. He’s hoping to sell the Motel to move past everything, but for now, Sang-jun is back to the daily grind of working.

As for Eun-gyeong, she’s also working but without alcohol to numb her senses, she’s suffering from PTSD and keeps seeing the dead body. She’s also got sleeping pills which Gi-ho has unknowingly taken with him when he leaves to see these kids.

Inevitably, drama ensues when an ambulance is called to the scene. All the other kids claim Gi-ho is the ringleader in this, but he’s been suffering the most and it becomes apparent what he’s been taking sleeping pills, as he passes out right there and then. While unconscious, Eun-gyeong notices the writing on his hand, which reads “Murder Motel 9pm”.

When Sang-jun finds out, he’s shocked when he realizes all the drama this Motel has caused them. Sang-jun is angry and as he shows up at the school and causes a fight with the parents, it’s also bad news foe the Motel. It turns out the developer interested in this lot of land is also close friends with the student’s family so it unfortunately falls through.

So what of Eun-gyeong in all this? Well, with little other choice she decides to start sorting out the Motel again. Gi-ho is there studying the Hyang-cheol case, and specifically how there’s going to be a documentary about the place. Bo-min is there too and she sees all of this.

The whole endeavour has completely broken Sang-jun and Eun-gyeong’s marriage though, and when reporters show for the year anniversary, Bo-min even gets involved. She points out that reporters just profit off the pictures and move on, but one of the men, Yeom Dong-chan, doesn’t fit the same profile. He actually seems more like an investigative reporter, and wants to try and do right by the Motel.

Jang-du vouches for him and when Dong-chan shows, he points out that Hyang-cheol has been running his mouth non-stop since being arrested. He sees his murders as a conquest and is bragging. This will cause untold damage to the motel, so Dong-chan actually wants to do an interview with Sang-jun to get his side of the story; a more human report that will hopefully garner some sympathy over his plight. Sang-jun refuses but just after, Bo-min receives a call at the station and rushes out.

Back in the present, Sung-a eats the same pasta and tomato sauce that she made Si-hyeon, only this time she makes the same dish for her and Yeong-ha, who sit together and eat. Apparently she couldn’t stop thinking about him so she came back after a year. And she knows he hasn’t been able to forget her either.

When Yeong-ha awakens, he finds himself on the floor, with the two plates still on the table. Sung-a is gone and Yeong-ha races out to the police station. When he gets there, Yeong-ha is bleeding from the nose. In his pocket though happens to be a note. He races out after getting a tissue from the others (and passing Bo-min in the doorway) and prepares to hit the road.

Back in the 2000’s timeline, Bo-min shows up at the motel and finds Eun-gyeong passed out in Room 403. Sang-jun is there too, in a state of shock. She’s dead, and up on the mantlepiece there’s a bottle of soju and pills.

As the episode closes out, we cut to the present once more. Yeong-ha checks out the note and it’s a picture of his daughter, with her face circled.

The Episode Review

Alas, the plot thickens. It would appear that Sung-a knows more than she’s letting on and that’s particularly bad news for Yeong-ha, who finds himself at the mercy of this woman. Whatever she wants, it’s clear she has a big vendetta against him. It could well be that he’s actually Gi-ho and that’s how the two timelines are connected, but we’ll have to wait and see.

For now though, the thriller continues to intrigue and although this episode is slower than the others, it’s no less enjoyable. So far this has been a solid effort and it’ll be interesting to see what direction this one takes next. Roll on episode 4!