The Penthouse – Season 2 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Painting The Town School Red

Episode 4 of The Penthouse Season 2 begins with Yoon-Cheol kissing Seo-Jin, just as the Chairman arrives at the suite. Seo-Jin bundles Yoon-Cheol into the closet and tries to remain calm. The only trouble is, the Chairman has a surprise for her… inside the closet. It’s a designer dress no less, and he encourages her to wear it for the upcoming luncheon.

Thankfully she manages to evade being caught, but she does notice Yoon-Cheol’s smiling face from behind the clothes. Evading the chairman, Yoon-Cheol tells Seo-Jin outright that he loves Yoon-Hee and he’s just there to stir things up.

At the same time, Eun-Byeol tries to profess her love to Seok-Hoon but he completely shuts her down. He does, however, tell her that things between him and Ro-Na are not going to start up again. Seok-Kyung meanwhile, shows up at Ro-Na’s door, spray-painting and throwing eggs. Ma-Ri notices though before she heads in to talk to Je-Ni. She really wants to speak to her Mother but she claims to be too tired.

In the morning, Yoon-Cheol invites Ro-Na back into her old place, complete with a postcard from Mr Ha to cheer her on. Now we jump back and see the moments in America, as Logan and Ro-Na sit together in a diner. They discuss Seol-A’s dream of winning the Cheol A Arts Trophy – something Ro-Na promises to win in order to honour her memory.

And just like that, we’re back in the present as Ro-Na receives a message to confirm she’s been approved re-enrolment. Yoon-Cheol is all smiles, giving her breakfast and a new necklace, while Yoon-Hee remains concerned.

Despite Eun-Byeol and Seok-Kyung not liking one another, they decide to team up and take out Ro-Na to prevent so much competition. Back at Hera Palace, Yoon-Hee meets with Logan’s contact, who confirms that Ro-Na is back because she broke her promise. It turns out Yoon-Hee was tasked with finding out who Seok-Kyung’s birth Mother was but given she’s been unsuccessful in that endeavour, it’s left wide open for now.

Seo-Jin is invited into Dan-Tae’s office. Rumours have begun circulating about Seo-Jin’s new lover, prompting Dan-Tae to confront her about this. Given the CCTV footage in the hotel, he knows that she wasn’t alone and demands Secretary Cho find the photos and uncover who it is. With the stock plummeting, trouble is most certainly brewing in paradise.

In fact, this situation is only made worse when Dan-Tae shows up at JohnBIO and speaks to Yoon-Cheol. He admits outright that he was at the hotel that night. He chuckles at the compromising pictures, telling Dan-Tae that they sure look convincing. It turns out Yoon-Cheol actually paid off the reporter to intentionally take these photos. He wants to break the couple up no matter what.

At school, the different students are grouped together but it’s all completely fixed by Du-Ki, especially when Eun-Byeol and Ro-Na are faced up against one another. Seok-Kyung dumps red paint on Ro-Na in the hallway, as Je-Ni jumps in and supports Ro-Na. Only… they’re both stuck inside the bathroom. At least for the time being anyway. Eventually they manage to break out with the help of a mystery student smashing the glass.

Soaking wet and stained with paint, Seo-Jin scoffs at the distraught Ro-Na and tells her the time is up. Even worse, Je-Ni has actually betrayed Ro-Na and runs in, claiming all of this was Ro-Na’s doing.

After class, Ro-Na breaks down crying as Yoon-Hee shows up at school. She claims to have seen everything and promises to do her best to make sure Ro-Na can still attend. For now though, she’s forced to sit before the school board where she tries in vain to say her side of the story. It’s no good though and Seo-Jin will not be swayed.

On the back of this, Yoon-Hee decides to submit a formal complaint to the Office of Education. With everything kicking off, Je-Ni suddenly shows up and admits that Ro-Na is telling the truth. She breaks the news that she was bullied too, breaking Ma-Ri’s heart. She even shows off the ripped out chunks of hair, caused by stress.

Thankfully, Je-Ni recorded the entire incident in the hallway, including Seok-Kyung bullying Ro-Na and throwing the paint on her. With this in hand, Yoon-Hee decides to post this on the school website.

Afterwards, Ma-Ri bursts into Kyu-Jin’s apartment and checks Min-Hyuk’s phone, seeing the videos first-hand of her daughter being bullied. After hitting Kyu-Jin with a stiff right hand, she next bursts in to see Seok-Kyung.

She smacks Seok-Kyung straight across the face and demands an apology. When the Chairman shows up, the two talk. Ma-Ri brings up an incident from the past involving her husband. Apparently he took the fall and went to prison instead of Dan-Tae in exchange for them keeping quiet and living a better life. Now that Seok-Kyung has betrayed that trust, Ma-Ri promises to get her own back.

After, Ma-Ri speaks to Yoon-Hee, teary-eyed and repenting for what she did to Seol-A in the past. She believes she’s being punished for those incidents, prompting Yoon-Hee to hug the girl and remind her that she needs to be strong for Je-Ni now.

At school the next day, our characters get their comeuppance. Seok-Kyung is disqualified from the Art festival, made a sacrificial lamb. Ro-Na meanwhile, arrives to see Seok-Hoon, who happens to be the one who saved her from her ordeal in the bathroom.

Outside the room, Eun-Byeol watches jealously until Seok-Kyung shows up. As she scurries away, Seok-Kyung picks up her phone and manages to figure out the passcode. Checking the videos, she sees the footage of Seo-Jin killing her Father.

Seok-Kyung immediately heads in to see Seo-Jin, blackmailing her into gifting her the Arts trophy. She brings up the murder and Seo-Jin doesn’t even try to deny it. With Seok-Kyung figuring out her big secret, the door is left wide open for what’s going to happen next.

The Episode Review

Penthouse bows out this week’s double bill with a decent episode, one that sees Seo-Jin and Dan-Tae’s relationship start to deteriorate thanks to Yoon-Cheol’s influence. It’s clear that these two are going to have to weather one heck of a storm going forward if they have any hope of staying together by the end of this season.

Meanwhile, Ma-Ri and Je-Ni are the real stars of the show here, with the former showing some excellent acting in the wake of the big bullying reveal. You really feel for Ma-Ri too, who had no idea that her daughter was being bullied all this time. It helps to give some substance to these supporting characters and a depth that perhaps wasn’t quite there in the first season for these guys.

The various different feuds cropping up all over the place certainly help this season blur the line between right and wrong, as all these characters do their best to win the Arts Trophy. And who could the girl be in episode 1 who died? I’m thinking it may be Seok-Kyung now, especially after that conversation with Seo-Jin.

What about you guys? Who do you think was killed at the start of this season? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear your theories!