Logan Lee
Episode 12 of The Penthouse begins with Eun-Byeol launching herself at Ro-Na in a blind fit of rage. Ro-Na defends herself of course and punches Seo-Jin’s daughter in the face. When Seo-Jin rocks up and sees what’s happened, she takes Eun-Byeol’s side and berates Ro-Na. Ho-Dong confronts Su-Ryeon over her daughter and specifically the way she “took care” of Director Min and the others. He shows her the audio recording regarding Seol-A’s mother and now she understands why he’s acting this way. Ho-Dong gives her 10 days to tell Joo and her family the truth about Seol-A or he’ll disclose everything to them. As we jump back to the past, we see Seol-A greeting Logan, her adoptive brother, in hospital and handing him gifts. He rejects them all though apart from a teddy bear which he clings to for comfort. Being there for Seol-A at hospital, it turns out he’s always stood up for “Anna” and vowed to avenge her. This is what’s driven him all this time to head over to Korea and exact his revenge. As Ho-Dong drives off down the road, Su-Ryeon follows in hot pursuit before eventually using her contacts to track down exactly who Ho-Dong is and his background. Well, back home we see this first-hand as he removes his fake moustache and wig, determined to find out what happened to Seol-A and refusing to acknowledge that she killed herself. Anyway, Joo invites Ho-Dong out for a game of baseball that evening where none other than Kim Byung Hyun happens to be, helping them pitch. For those unaware, this guy is pretty famous and even played for the Boston Red Sox at one point in his career. Anyway, apparently he and Chairman Joo are practically brothers and it’s obvious that there’s some favoritism here. The pitches for Ho-Dong are absolutely hilarious and over the top but this teacher manages to hit one of Byung-Hyun’s hardest pitches and wins a wish of his choice. He sends a text to both Kyu-Jin and Joo with his demands – video footage of the boxing ring bullying – and tells them his wish is for the world to see this. The gold toads that Joo gave Ho-Dong before weren’t actually taken and he refused to accept the bribe. Seo-Jin continues to weasel her way into everything, paying off one of the judges at the audition and managing to bag herself the script to get Eun-Byeol an unfair advantage. Only, she’s actually not the only one to see this of course, given Su-Ryeon was the one who snapped photos of this same test last episode. Anyway, Seo-Jin calls Joo into her room and tells him she plans to get divorced and hopes that soon they can become a couple. Not long after, the big audition arrives and Seo-Jin tells the other judges that she hopes there’s no outside influences or corruption involved. Honestly, how she keeps a straight face while saying this is beside me. Anyway, the English audition goes ahead and after Jenny completely messes up, Ro-Na takes to the stage. Instead of proceeding though, she tells the judges that the script has been leaked as she’s heard someone (Eun-Byeol) practicing backstage with it. Given Su-Ryeon is in on this too, she tells the others that it’s been leaked on the school website (obviously by her after Jenny’s performance) and together with Yoon-Hee, manages to change the audition script to make things fairer for all involved. The test is back in Korean again and Eun-Byeol completely panics up on stage. Instead of even trying, she heads backstage and sees Ro-Na who berates the girl for her lack of talent and watches as she eventually passes out on the floor. The audition results come out and both Seok-Hoon and Seok-Kyung win. Yoon-Hee shows up with Ro-Na and congratulates them both at Joo’s penthouse. In fact, Seok-Hoon even notices Ro-Na’s gift and thanks her for being so thoughtful. While the kids vacate the room, tensions immediately flare up with the adults when Joo accuses Yoon-Hee of “cozying up” to the residents by acting cute. Upstairs, a flustered Eun-Byeol looks close to having a mental breakdown which causes both Seo-Jin and Yoon-Cheol to disagree over their parenting styles. Seo-Jin wants her to work doubly hard given she threw away her opportunity while Yoon-Cheol incredulously comments how he won’t let her ruin Eun-Byeol’s life. The next day, the men head out as the deal for the investment looks set to go ahead. Joo has a meeting with Logan later on that day (which he cancels) while Su-Ryeon receives a letter through the post reminding her she has 8 days to disclose the truth. Meanwhile, Yoon-Hee falls hook, line and sinker for another scheme, this time concocted by Joo. As he loudly talks about an investment out in the hallway that will be big, Yoon-Hee foolishly withdraws all of her funds and decides to invest in this. All the kids involved in bullying Seol-A receive a message and a video call from Seol-A’s number. Eun-Byeol immediately starts to panic which causes all the students to turn on her and question what she knows. As Eun-Byeol mentions Hera Palace, she admits that Seol-A died there and not Bosuk Village. It turns out Ho-Dong is the one who sent this message after all. Anyway, as we flashback to the past we see that Seol-A phoned Logan (Ho-Dong) and recorded all the instances of bullying. As he promises to head over and help, a sudden jump between Korean and English cuts in as he promises her to make the bullies’ lives a living hell too. Meanwhile, if Hera Palace wasn’t crazy enough a new woman shows up on the scene and looks set to make her move. It turns out this woman is Ms Yang, Joo’s housekeeper, which Ho-Doing figures out. He questions the woman over drinks and wants to know all the secrets Joo and Su-Ryeon hold together. Specifically, what took place at the lighting ceremony at the fountain. Ms Yeon happens to have photos too, with a picture of the fountain showing the shoe wedged in the middle. This shoe, as it turns out, was actually bought by Seok-Kyung who found it at the lost and found centre at their apartment. Because of this, they realize that Seol-A was killed at Hera Palace and apparently instigated by one of their parents…is this a red herring for the truth? The inevitable happens and Yoon-Hee’s foolish investment comes back to bite her. Dr BioGen fail their clinical trial and as such, the share price plummets. She tries in vain to withdraw her funds but eventually realizes that everything is spiraling out of control again as she looks set to lose all of her money. In order to get it back however, Su-Ryeon has a task for Yoon-Hee to conduct and sends her out on an errand. As we jump back 4 months, we see Su-Ryeon sifting through the trash and uncovering a ruby ring. This ruby ring belongs to Seo-Jin which she was wearing when she choked out and smacked Seol-A. This, coupled with Su-Ryeon’s errand, seems to hint that Joo is going to get his comeuppance sooner rather than later. It turns out Su-Ryeon’s plan is to disrupt the meeting with Logan Lee, which works pretty well given Joo is put completely on the spot. As the episode comes to a close, Su-Ryeon shows up at Seo-Jin’s with a big bouquet of flowers from Chairman Joo (they’re actually from Su-Ryeon) and a ring box holding that infamous ruby ring. When Seo-Jin sees it, she scream in fright and cowers as she realizes everything is coming undone now.
The Episode Review
What a great episode! So many big plot reveals to unwrap. So now it becomes clear that Logan Lee and Ho-Dong are the same person and his past, tying in with Seol-A, now makes a lot more sense over what he’s doing around campus and at Hera Palace. It’s also clear he’s got many people right where he wants them and has clear motivations over why he’s doing this to the different residents. Poor Yoon-Hee though! She keeps falling for these dastardly tricks by those around her and ended up falling for Joo’s plan all along when she invested all her money in this health company. And what of the kids too? They claim that it’s one of the parents involved in the murder but I’m still not so sure. There’s a lot of variables to consider here and personally I don’t think the murderer is either Joo or Seo-Jin – it’s just too easy and simple. Personally, I think it’s Seok-Hoon who may have done this by accident and felt guilty about this. He was quite reserved and quiet following the incident all those episodes ago and may be actually kindly toward Ro-Na as a way of atoning for his sins while holding a guilty conscience. As we draw ever-closer to the end of this 20 episode drama, it’s clear that the balance of power has well and truly shifted now. Quite who will come out of this on top though, remains to be seen but tomorrow’s episode should be very interesting indeed!
