Your Honor (2024) – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Your Honor begins with Pan-ho watching Cheong-ha and her grandmother when their house suddenly explodes. He tries to save them but in vain. Elsewhere, the board of directors at Woo One are in a flurry and arguing about what to do. Gang-heon arrives and tells them to focus on their own duties, implying that he’ll take care of the issue himself.

At the site of the explosion, the police arrive, including Detective Jang Chae-rim. Cheong-ha’s brother arrives as well and the police break the news to him. Gang-heon then goes to the site of his son’s death. He learns of the fire at Sang-taek’s house and then signals something to his secretary, who nods and walks away.

Yi-hwan meets Pan-ho. He seems sure that Gang-heon orchestrated the explosion. Pan-ho is more concerned about what Sang-taek will do when he hears the news. Meanwhile, Sang-hyuk catches one of Gang-heon’s men. He works for Gang-heon’s wife and Sang-hyuk accuses him of knowing people from the Boodu Gang.

He orders him to connect him with one of them. When he returns to his room, he finds Gang-heon’s secretary waiting for him. The secretary says that Gang-heon wants to meet him.

Elsewhere, Yi-hwan, Jo Mi-yeon, and Jeong (the butcher from earlier episodes) discuss what to do. Yi-hwan reveals that the culprit is Pan-ho, which seems like a terrible idea. But he tells Mi-yeon to consider the power of the Boodu Gang if they can hold this over a judge like Pan-ho, who is bound to keep getting promoted in the justice department. She seems to agree to help cover the accident up but we see that she’s also taken a video of this entire meeting.

At the hospital, Cheong-gang does not identify his grandmother and sister’s bodies, which hampers the investigation. At home, Sang-hyuk arrives to see Gang-heon but only receives a beating. Gang-heon tells him to stop butting into the investigation of Sang-hyeon’s death and go to the US. Meanwhile, Lee Sang-taek sees a news report about the fire.

Pan-ho begins to receive texts from an anonymous person who knows what he did. When he tries calling the number, it is disabled. On the other hand, Ho-young is on the phone with Kim Eun. They seem to know each other well and plan to meet. In a dimly lit street, a man in a shiny jacket sells some drugs to two men. Sang-hyuk approaches him and gives him a bag of money.

Gang-heon and his secretary discuss how Sang-taek can’t be the killer because the emergency phone call revealed that the culprit has asthma. The secretary then points out the sound of the car’s flat tire alarm in the recording. He says they should look for auto repair shops. They find the right shop and see footage of Pan-ho entering, though his face is obscured by a cap.

Cheong-geong gets in touch with the Boodu Gang who let him speak to Sang-taek on the phone. The boy wants revenge. Sang-taek speaks to Jo Mi-yeon and tells her not to do anything, after all he has the upper hand now since he could give her up to Gang-heon at any time. The drug dealer from earlier, Jo Bin is there as well and he immediately calls Sang-hyuk and tells him Sang-taek is going to meet Mi-yeon soon. Sang-hyuk tells him to arrange a gun for him.

Pan-ho is naturally not getting much sleep. In the morning, he gets a visit from none other than Sang-taek. He tells Pan-ho to deposit the “price of his crime” into Sang-taek’s bank account. If it’s enough, he’ll escape to Cambodia. If not, he’ll go to Gang-heon.

Detective Jang Chae-rim investigates the fire and realises that it was arson. The place was rigged to explode. Gang-heon’s secretary tells Gang-heon that the car belonged to Jo Eun-hye, whose husband is Song Pan-ho. Chae-rim then visits Gang-heon and tells him he will be called in for investigation regarding the fire. Gang-heon then asks if she’s sure Sang-taek killed his son.

As she leaves, she tries to contact Cheong-gang since she believes he’s in danger. The boy is staying with the Boodu Gang at the moment. Jeong tells him that he and his father will go to Cambodia that evening. Pan-ho meets Yi-hwan and gives him a bag full of 500 million won. He asks Yi-hwan to transfer it to Sang-taek’s account.

Meanwhile, Gang-heon gets closer to catching Pan-ho when the auto repair shop identifies his face. Sang-taek receives the money and Mi-yeon tells him to come to a pier at 11 pm. She reports this to Yi-hwan.

Eun visits Sang-hyeon’s resting place, where she also meets with Ho-young. Elsewhere, Gang-heon and his secretary find out from the warehouse worker that Pan-ho took a headlight.

Cheong-gang is brought to the pier by four men from the Boodu Gang. Sang-taek arrives but realises the gang don’t mean to let him leave alive. He gives Cheong-gang a bag of money and tells him to run. The rest of them begin to fight but they are interrupted by Sang-hyuk, who shoots them all dead.

At home, Pan-ho gets another phone call from a restricted number but doesn’t pick up. He gets another text message that says “I know who killed Gang-heon’s son”. When the person calls again, Pan-ho picks up. The person tells him that he witnessed the car on the day of the accident at the end of Your Honor Episode 3.

The Episode Review

Your Honor Episode 3 adds more twists and turns and it’s great. The fire and the death of sweet little Cheong-ha and her grandmother give Sang-taek reason to turn things around on Mi-yeon and Pan-ho. Pan-ho is struggling to keep things together and this anonymous blackmailer is just going to make things worse. Meanwhile, Ho-young is going on dates with the dead boy’s sister? While his father does everything to keep him safe? How did this happen? We need to know more!

Gang-heon is very close to pinning down Pan-ho for the crime, which seems a bit soon. We’ve got plenty of episodes to go so how will the story keep its momentum? Well, for now at least, Your Honor is serving up an intricate web of characters and dark dealings. It really doesn’t need to keep using spider imagery though.