The Penthouse – K-Drama Episode 14 Recap & Review

The Real Killer

We begin episode 14 of The Penthouse with Logan packaging  Seol-A’s old shoe and preparing for his final step. With cameras set up all round Hera Palace, the infamous note is there for all to see as confetti falls to the ground during the lighting ceremony.

The residents all gather together and notice Seol-A’s shoe on the mannequin, prompting Su-Ryeon to stagger back in shock. Logan was the one who planted this but he plays his role well, telling him he’s disappointed in Joo.

Down in the basement, Logan immediately checks the cameras and sends Su-Ryeon a message. Within this, he tells her that Joo was the one who killed Seol-A. He also wants her to admit everything and begins counting down.

Just as Su-Ryeon stands up to reveal all, Seo-Jin points the finger at her, claiming Su-Ryeon’s the one responsible. It turns out she has proof, brandishing the painting of Seol-A from Su-Ryeon’s office.

Everyone turns on Su-Ryeon, with Seo-Jin eventually forcing the girl into submission. She admits to seeing Seol-A while riding down in the elevator, believing Seo-Jin and Joo were responsible because of their affair.

Now the whole truth is spilled in front of everyone, including photographic evidence to incriminate Joo and Seo-Jin. Su-Ryeon mentions how Seol-A was locked in the mechanical room, confronting Seo-Jin outright over whether she killed her. Whispering in Seo-Jin’s ear, Su-Ryeon mentions the red ruby ring was on the hand of the person pushing Seol-A off the balcony.

Meanwhile, Eun-Byeol confronts a tied-up Ro-Na who promises she’ll make them all pay for what they’ve done. As Eun-Byeol spills the truth about Yoon-Cheol and Yoon-Hee, Ro-Na believes she’s found out the truth but gets the wrong end of the stick completely.

Untying her, Eun-Byeol bolts while Ro-Na decides to quit the show, heading back to her room and crying.

Joo speaks to his wife about the affair and decides they should have a divorce. Joo is against it but does learn that Su-Ryeon wasn’t the one setting up the elaborate scheme that evening during the lighting ceremony.

Afterwards, Joo meets Seo-Jin again as they continue their affair. Lying together, Joo asks whether they should be careful going forward or not. Seo-Jin plays the pity party though and claims to be the victim in all this.

As Joo embraces her, Seo-Jin pleads with him to divorce Su-Ryeon before asking what happened to Seol-A. It seems they’re both playing a very dangerous game. A game that Kyu-Jin jumps head-first into as he approaches Joo and tries to blackmail him.

Despite Joo brushing this aside, Seol-A left a message on her phone claiming that if anything happens to her, it’ll be because of Joo. Kyu-Jin has taken this and contemplates sending it to the police. Kyu-Jin wants his investment in exchange for handing over the phone, which he eventually agrees to do.

Meanwhile, Ma-Ri and Sang-A’s attempts to get Seo-Jin to resign backfire when it turns out she has dirt on them both. Their kids have been given pass marks despite not performing very well. Unfortunately this forces them both into submission.

Su-Ryeon visits Hye-In who seems to be recovering, even managing to say her own name now too.

Meanwhile, Ro-Na grabs Yoon-Hee’s phone and sees messages from Yoon-Cheol along with the picture of him asleep on the sofa. She chalks it up to an affair but of course, that’s not the truth. However, Eun-Byeol spins the story the next day as Yoon-hee seducing her Father. Ro-Na pleads with her not to say anything and promises to do anything she asks. Oh no Ro-Na, why would you do this?

Anyway, Ro-Na is forced into submission and admits in front of all the kids that she was posing as Seol-A all this time. Even worse, she’s forced into doing anything Eun-Byeol asks of her, including dropping out of school and intentionally sabotaging herself in class.

Kyu-Jin’s mother shows up at the office and throws her son around, beating him relentlessly. Unfortunately the reason for this comes from Joo turning the tables and using Kyu-Jin’s name as the scapegoat for the flaws of his company. Kyu-Jin is forced to hand over Seol-A’s phone.

Su-Ryeon learns from her private investigator that Logan has been using Ho-Dong’s identity. Wait, how were the school not aware of this? Did they not do any background checks on who they hired? Anyway, Kyu-Jin is beaten to the ground for what happened as Yoon-Hee bursts in. It turns out Logan Lee is on his way there.

Logan manages to infiltrate Seol-A’s phone on the way to Joo’s penthouse, bumping into Kyu-Jin and snatching it away from under him. With this now in his possession, Su-Ryeon turns the tables and finds out the truth – that Ho-Dong is actually Logan Lee. She also learns that he’s Seol-A’s brother.

Su-Ryeon grabs Logan and holds him up with a feathered fountain pen. Eventually the pair wrestle for dominance, leading to Logan stabbed in the chest. While blood oozes down his shirt from this minor wound, he plays the audio recording Seol-A left regarding her mother. However, there’s a part after what we’ve been hearing claiming that she wants her Mother to be happy.

Eventually the pair decide to team up to take out Joo and those responsible for killing Seol-A. Su-Ryeon blames him for not helping Seol-A initially before eventually leaving the room. Logan heads out too and bumps into Joo, claiming Su-Ryeon was there to back him up.

Yoon-Cheol’s money woes come back to bite him. Needing to hustle up a substantial amounts to repay his debt, Yoon-Cheol reluctantly turns to Seo-Jin who agrees to pay his debtors back… for a price.

After agreeing to the divorce, she wants him to give up custody of Eun-Byeol, the house, mutual properties and his position at the medical centre. Yoon-Cheol scoffs at the notion but Seo-Jin blames him for having an affair. Unable to hear any more, he leaves, vowing never to agree to these terms.

Back home, Yoon-Hee gets Ro-Na a new purse to try and cheer her up. Instead, she throws it on the floor and walks away from her Mother in shame.

On the back of Ro-Na’s withdrawl letter, Seo-Jin can hardly contain her happiness as she reads the letter. The only one who seems to be by her side is Seok-Hoon, but he struggles to find her given Ro-Na has gone home.

That evening, Kyu-Jin shows the Chairman the CCTV footage showing Ho-Dong was the one to take Seol-A’s phone. As the episode comes to a close, we see from a flashback that Chairman Joo was the one who threw Seol-A over the edge.

The Episode Review

As the truth about Seol-A’s death comes tumbling out, a part of me is still clinging to the idea that the kids had something to do with this. Chairman Joo being responsible just seems far too easy and I’m not sure if this was actually a realistic flashback or just Joo imagining he was the one to do it. I’m assuming it’s the former but you never know with this series!

The balance of power yet again shifts back to the evil characters as both Seo-Jin and Joo continue to spin their webs of deception. The English/Korean speaking Logan feels a bit inconsistent but it seems he only speaks full English in the presence of Joo so maybe this is just a ploy to psyche him out.

The kids in Penthouse are still pretty awful all round, with Seok-Hoon the only one really with an interesting arc. Ro-Na for example, had plenty of opportunities this episode to speak to her Mum about what’s happening but chose to stay quiet instead.

The messages she read could have easily been interpreted in a different way too and the only picture she saw was of Yoon-Cheol sleeping on the sofa.

Anyway, Penthouse continues to deliver enjoyable drama despite its flaws and this show is definitely one of the bigger guilty pleasures of the year!