The Sins Of A Father
With the truth about Chairman Joo’s exploits seemingly out, episode 15 of The Penthouse begins with Seo-Jin phoning Yoon-Hee and letting her know about the withdrawal letter. She immediately confronts Ro-Na, who blames Yoon-Hee for everything that’s happened. Still, she refuses to open up to her Mother and reveal what she knows. Joo heads back home and admits that he’s after the one responsible for the mannequin. This immediately causes Su-Ryeon to message Logan and tell him to be careful and watch his back. Yoon-Cheol caves and decides to continue the divorce settlement after all. Seo-Jin is certainly happy, telling him that she can finally become the real version of herself. Well, that real version winds up confronting Yoon-Hee, who heads over and pleads with her to keep Ro-Na in school. Yoon-Hee promises to convince Ro-Na no matter what. Enraged, Yoon-Hee brings Ro-Na into school and asks her to rip up the withdrawal letter. Unfortunately Ro-Na refuses to, prompting Yoon-Hee to believe she’s being bullied. Seo-Jin is having none of it, as Eun-Byeol shows and watches gleefully from afar as all this takes place. On the way out, Ro-Na sees Seok-Hoon who pleads with her not to go. However, Ro-Na brings up the subject of Seol-A and tells him not to meet her at Hera Palace again. Yoon-Cheol hands over the divorce papers to Kyu-Jin just as he finds out Ro-Na has left school. At the same time, Seo-Jin is called in to see her Father who gives her the position at the foundation as Director. Seo-Jin promises to make it the best private foundation ever and to make her Father proud. With things looking up for Seo-Jin, she heads out to celebrate with Joo that evening. She tells him she loves him but Joo simply smiles tentatively but doesn’t say it back. Meanwhile, Kyu-Jin follows Ho-Dong from school and watches as he rocks up at the apartment block he’s obviously staying at as Logan Lee. Kyu-Jin keeps a safe distance and phones Joo, telling him Ho-Dong is there to speak to Logan. After drugging Logan (dressed up as Ho-Dong) in the corridors, Kyu-Jin abducts him. When he awakens, Logan finds himself alone with Joo and a gun-wielding Kyu-Jin. After doing their background on him, they ask to see his shooting prowess. Only, wouldn’t they have seen his picture too if they did their homework? I guess not. Instead, they force him to shoot a target…with Seol-A’s face on. After a tense stand-off, including Logan holding a gun up to Joo’s face, he eventually turns the gun and shoots the target without a moment’s hesitation. Su-Ryeon speaks to Sang-A and Ma-Ri about Ro-Na and how Seo-Jin usually isn’t afraid of anything. Given she’s afraid of Ro-Na, it means she can sense some real potential and talent in this girl. Yoon-Cheol takes Eun-Byeol to see a therapist behind Seo-Jin’s back. While she rehearses her lines well, Yoon-Cheol sees the note Ro-Na wrote up about the various rules in the waiting room. Afterwards, they head out to eat. Only, Yoon-Cheol is troubled by the doctor’s assessment, revealing that Eun-Byeol is suffering from Imposter Syndrome. Eventually Yoon-Cheol shows the letter to her and finds out the truth about threatening Ro-Na and forcing her out the school. Eun-Byeol is completely unhinged and tells her Father she wants Ro-Na to die. She even brings up Yoon-Hee and tells him to move in with her. Eventually, Eun-Byeol leaves but when Yoon-Cheol tries to bring the letter to Seo-Jin;’s attention, she simply shrugs it off. Yoon-Cheol turns the tables on Seo-Jin though and shows her he’s in possession of the ruby ring. Meanwhile, Su-Ryeon speaks to Ro-Na who admits that she believes Yoon-Hee committed adultery. Su-Ryeon sticks up for her though and listens as Ro-Na spills her wacky theories, including Yoon-Hee sleeping with Yoon-Cheol as revenge. Su-Ryeon however, does her best to stick up for Yoon-Hee. Eventually, Yoon-Hee learns the truth from Yoon-Cheol about the letter and Eun-Byeol’s threats. Yoon-Hee scrambles home but while Ro-Na is asleep, she winds up speaking to Su-Ryeon who believes Seo-Jin did all this to make Eun-Byeol hate Ro-Na; Seo-Jin is using her own daughter as a weapon. Yoo-Hee is enraged and vows to get her own back on Seo-Jin. Yoon-Hee invites Seo-Jin out for dinner and reveals that she knows what’s going on. As they sit together, Yoon-Hee goes over everything that’s transpired between the two and even learns that Seo-Jin is in love with Chairman Joo. She admits to the divorce and mentions how Eun-Byeol may have a stepdad soon. It turns out Yoon-Hee isn’t really alone. She invited Seo-Jin’s Father along, who now appears before them. Yoon-Hee confronts Seo-Jin’s father about the cut throat too but unfortunately despite her plan, he simply walks away and tells her that he won’t be threatened by her. In the aftermath of this, Seo-Jin’s father phones Joo and tells him Seo-Jin is being replaced as Director with her sister. Even worse, she’s being taken out of Cheong-A academy, her inheritance is gone and she’s about to hit rock bottom. He tells her he no longer wants her as a daughter and walks away. Only, when Seo-Jin follows and wrestles with him on the stairs, the old man tumbles and starts bleeding from his head, eventually passing away.
The Episode Review
Seo-Jin’s father showing up and learning the truth about what his daughter is really like may well be the most satisfying moment of this Korean drama. Seo-Jin is a nasty piece of work and seeing her knocked down a peg is incredibly satisfying. Unfortunately, all of this comes undone by the end when Seo-Jin’s Father has his accident. Seo-Jin is so determined to cling to power that she’ll let her own Father die to preserve power. It really shows the extreme lengths she’ll go to and Seo-Jin is easily the most sadistic character in this series. Alongside this comes the frustrating Ro-Na/Yoon-Hee saga which could have easily been resolved had Ro-Na just opened up and admitted the truth about what she saw to her Mum. Instead, she withdrew from school and arguably blew her chances of being the top student. With Seo-Jin flying off the handle and clinging to power, who knows what’s next for her but one thing’s clear – this conflict is far from over.
