Last week in The Penthouse, Baek Jun-ki has finally inserted himself in all the Hera Palace drama when he introduced himself to everyone as Joo Dan-tae’s friend from Japan. Little do they know that it could not be further from the truth! But Cheon Seo-jin snooped around his things and found the metaphorical bomb that Jun-ki had been keeping in his back pocket: a poster of Joo Dan-tae being a wanted criminal from Japan.

The Penthouse 3 episode 4 took us to the most action-filled episode of the season yet, thanks mostly to Oh Yoon-hee being a pain in Joo Dan-tae’s ass. What will Baek Jun-ki tell Cheon Seo-jin now that she knows his secret? Who is Kim Moo-sik and why is her dead body in the Hera Palace fountain? The burning questions get answered in our review, recap & reactions.

Feel free to leave your thoughts about this episode in the comments down below! And remember: if you missed our discussion of previous episodes of The Penthouse 3, you can always go back to them HERE.

Note: I am sorry that I was not able to do last week’s episode, but that’s what happens when real life gets in the way. The important thing is I am back to cover this very exciting part of The Penthouse 3.

The Penthouse 3 Episode 4 Recap

As always, sooo many things happened in this week’s episode. The Jun-ki vs. Dan-tae storyline that dominated much of last week’s episode had taken a backseat to more pressing matters. But Dan-tae better act fast because his enemies are growing, and he has no one but himself to rely on this time.

Cheon Seo-jin tried to extract more information out of Jun-ki after seeing Dan-tae’s face on a wanted poster. But the bigger piece of the puzzle was why it said that his name was Baek Jun-ki. Despite the Fake Jun-ki threatening her to stop digging, the ever-so-smart songstress was able to put two and two together: they were not actually friends as they claimed, and Dan-tae was stealing his identity.

We also saw how Logan Lee helped Jun-ki escape the mental institution that he was locked in for years. He even lent him his credit card afterwards! Rich guys be richin’.

READ: ‘The Penthouse 3’: Episode 2 Review, Recap & Reactions

Speaking of Logan, everyone in town was talking about the $10 billion dollars of his that they (correctly) thought Oh Yoon-hee had. In The Penthouse 3 episode 4, we were finally let in on the reason why he was giving that money to her. Are you ready for this?

Shim Su-ryeon didn’t give birth to only one daughter in America… she actually had twins. And the other twin — Min Seol-a’s sister or brother — may or may not be alive! And of course the disappearing twin act was orchestrated by Joo Dan-tae himself.

So Logan asked Yoon-hee to use the money so that she could uncover the truth about the mysterious twin without Su-ryeon knowing. And there was sooo much more drama that involved Yoon-hee and other people’s children. Su-ryeon told her about Dan-tae forcing Seok-kyung to steal her legal seal so that he could transfer the ownership of the penthouse and Lot 27 under his and Joo Seok-hoon’s name.

It raised a red flag in Yoon-hee’s head: why would he place Seok-hoon’s name instead of Seok-kyung when she had been the one helping him all this time?

Soon, Oh Yoon-hee was stealing hair from the kids’ hairbrushes for a DNA test that revealed everything: (1) one of Joo Dan-tae’s children was not his, (2) Shim Su-ryeon’s biological daughter AKA Min Seol-a’s twin sister was alive, and (3) it was Joo Seok-kyung all along!

Mind. Blown.

But before Yoon-hee could tell the truth to Su-ryeon, she was preoccupied with a car chase against Joo Dan-tae whilst rescuing a kidnapped Ha Eun-byeol. Girl was buuuuusy in The Penthouse 3 episode 4!

So let’s rewind a bit to how we got to this situation, shall we?

Jin Bun-hong was getting extremely, psycopathically obsessed over Eun-byeol to the point where she would not allow the child to do anything out of her sight. But a chance encounter with Bae Ro-na in the restroom made it possible for Eun-byeol to escape her precarious situation… temporarily.

Ro-na was able to deduce that Eun-byeol was being abused by Ms. Jin, so she and Seok-hoon created a plan to rescue her rival-and-almost-murderer. She instigated a fight with Eun-byeol that led to the latter being able to take a cab to Ro-na’s place in Hera Palace.

It was going well until Little She-Devil Joo Seok-kyung got a whiff of what they were up to. To make her former schoolmates’ lives miserable, she told Ms. Jin about where the two lovebirds had been keeping her “daughter”. This allowed Jin Bun-hong to set up a trap for Eun-byeol and chloroform her to unconsciousness. But Oh Yoon-hee was able to see the kidnapping take place, and the car chase was on!

Ms. Jin would call Joo Dan-tae for help, who already seemed like he was very eager to drop her as an ally earlier. But when he learned that Yoon-hee was involved, he knew that it was his chance to destroy her. So he told Ms. Jin to lure her into his cottage in Gimpo.

Yoon-hee was able to arrive at Dan-tae’s Gimpo cottage with Ms. Jin and an unconscious Eun-byeol. She was smart enough to run towards Ms. Jin’s car immediately and attempted to drive away from the scene as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Joo Dan-tae followed her in the heart-stopping car chase of a lifetime!

Their long-winded adventure was cut short when they reached the end of a cliff. This only meant good things for the evil Dan-tae, who continuously rammed his car onto Yoon-hee’s several times in an attempt to push her (and Sleeping Beauty Eun-byeol) off to their death. She-Hulk Yoon-hee was only delaying the inevitable by getting behind the car so that she could stop it from falling off the cliff.

As police car sirens sounded off, Dan-tae made his exit. But to make sure that the girls would plunge into their death, he placed a huge rock on the gas pedal of his own car. And that’s where we ended her journey in The Penthouse 3 episode 4: with Yoon-hee hanging on the edge of a cliff, trying her damndest to rescue Ha Eun-byeol.

And if you didn’t get enough of She-Hulk Yoon-hee this week, then you’ll be happy to know that she has another thing to hold over Joo Dan-tae’s head if she survives. When she learned more about Joo Hye-in’s birth mother, Kim Mi-sook, she immediately confronted Yoo Dong-pil about her murder. Even if he just threatened her to back off, she already knew that he was covering for Mi-sook’s real murderer: Dan-tae.

So Dan-tae found out that she had been snooping around about the Mi-sook thing too, so add that to the long list of Why Oh Yoon-Hee Should Die.

But in a flashback in The Penthouse 3 episode 4, we finally learned more about what happened the night she was murdered. Kim Mi-sook was blackmailing Dan-tae because she found out that one of the twins was not really his own. And just to make it clear, that also meant that Na Ae-gyo never gave birth to twins!

The ballsy move by Mi-sook was enough for Dan-tae to murder her. As he tried to cover up the body, Dong-pil walked in on him and agreed to take the fall for the whole thing. As what had been hinted to us in the second season, he did it to ensure his family got compensated well and had a place in the penthouse.

We ended the episode with Dong-pil discovering Mi-sook’s dead body within Hera Palace. And of course, Dan-tae stood there laughing at him like the cockroach that he was.

That was mostly all the excitement we got this week. Elsewhere, the Cheong-a Arts Theater had finally been built and most Hera Club members are vying for the director position. And we finally got some insight into Secretary Cho and his undying loyalty towards his abusive boss! We confirmed that he was originally “Dong-pil’s guy”, but Joo Dan-tae had his family captive or something. There was also a scene where a scary maid drugged Seok-kyung in the Gimpo farm… wonder what that’s all about.

The Penthouse 3 Episode 4 Review & Reactions

Are all episodes in this season just gonna have a lot happening all the time? If so, then sign me up!

I never realized how “average” the start of the season was until I watched this episode. It definitely made me realize that we had been missing something from the previous weeks. Plot twists, compelling character arcs, more Ha Eun-byeol… whatever it is, we’re back!

The Penthouse 3 episode 4 basically made me root for Oh Yoon-hee again. I’ve always been meh towards her since the very beginning, and felt especially betrayed by her when she turned to the dark side in season 1, but she has proven herself to be a great person recently. Even her sketchiness around Logan’s $10 billion dollars had a justifiable reason behind it.

If only she wasn’t stupid enough to keep Su-ryeon in the dark for sooo long.

I also loved how Joo Dan-tae recognized her (and all the other women in his life) as a pest that just won’t go away. How does she always manage to be an obstacle in his life? Unfortunately, I think that go-getter behavior of hers may have just landed her a spot in the afterlife.

I don’t think I’ve ever been scared for a character in the show since Shim Su-ryeon was allegedly killed back in the first season. But the car chase between Oh Yoon-hee and Joo Dan-tae was just excellent and had me at the edge of my seat! I was rooting so hard for her to hang on for dear life. The fact that she personally rescued her daughter’s almost-murderer spoke to her character.

This is one of those moments where I’m actually not sure about how a character will escape their death. With only a few episodes left in the show, anything is possible! If I were a betting man, I’d say that Yoon-hee will fake her deaths for some time and wait for her moment to strike against Dan-tae.

Regardless of what happens, I’m sure that act of bravery would almost be enough to make Cheon Seo-jin trust her… almost. While I always mention how frustrating it is that the Hera ladies can’t come together to take down Dan-tae, I totally understand the slow burn. Between murders, man-stealing, and multiple betrayals, they have many reasons to distrust each other.

In fact, if Yoon-hee actually does give up on trying to save Eun-byeol’s life to save her own, it might cause an even bigger rift among the ladies.

Anyone else got confused about the whole Shim Su-ryeon/Na Ae-gyo/birth mother/twins situation going on? For the past two episodes, I found myself gasping at all the revelations about the twin switches and birth mother drama, and after a few seconds, I’d be like: wait, what? The whole situation has become ridiculous and complicated — as if it wasn’t already after the second season — but a few rewinds and online searches later, I am finally caught up to speed.

Joo Seok-kyung being Su-ryeon’s real daughter is gonna shake up their rocky dynamic… for the better, I hope. After they find out the truth, the two of them could hopefully attend some family counseling because Seok-kyung has some issues. And hopefully, learning that she had been bullying her twin sister Min Seol-a would be enough to make her realize that she needs to change her ways.

But I wouldn’t put it past Seok-kyung to continue being the way she is.

I’m surprised with how abruptly the Kim Moo-sik murder played out. With the way the show has been building it up since the first episode, I thought that there’d be more to the story behind it. Instead, her appearance was just used as a way to confirm that Na Ae-gyo gave birth to only one child.

It was quite odd, but I guess she served her purpose? She was a vehicle to start the Yoo Dong-pil vs. Dan-tae storyline. While the scene where her dead body tumbled out of the wall definitely scared the living hell out of me, the whole Moo-sik thing definitely became less interesting to me because of how anti-climactic her death was.

On the other hand, I am interested in what Dan-tae has planned for Dong-pil now that he has been caught red-handed trying to dig up the past.

Joo Dan-tae better watch out with everyone figuring out all the skeletons in his closet. Baek Jun-ki is a ticking time bomb, and he’s just waiting for the right opportunity to play his cards. I hope that he’s not holding out on revealing the truth for so long though, because it sucks that Dan-tae has still been getting his way when: (A) Jun-ki can easily end his life with one call to a TV station, and (B) Cheon Seo-jin knows that he killed Logan Lee.

And speaking of, when will Seo-jin tell the girls that she knows?! Su-ryeon and Yoon-hee just risked their lives to save her daughter, so she better spill sooner or later.

Since we’re on the subject, how happy are we that Eun-byeol had more scenes in The Penthouse 3 episode 4? I was never a fan of Bae Ro-na because she started out a really spoiled brat in the first season and then slowly became a boring Mary Jane in the second season. Although her saving Eun-byeol from the psycho that is Ms. Jin just earned her some brownie points from me.

You bet your ass that I’m waiting eagerly for the next episode to learn what Eun-byeol’s fate is! If she dies, I’ll riot.

 Get updated with our weekly episode recaps of The Penthouse Season 3. Just place your e-mail address below, it’s that easy! 

 The Penthouse 3 Episode 4 Rating: 8.5/10 

What were your thoughts watching the fourth episode of The Penthouse 3? Let me know in the comments below!

If you feel like reminiscing about the early days of The Penthouse, check out our listicle series where we pick the best moments here. Don’t miss out on anything by following us @ZoomersCornerPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post ‘The Penthouse 3’: Episode 4 Review, Recap & Reactions appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

Last week in The Penthouse, two of the most notorious Hera Club members in Joo Dan-tae and Cheon Seo-jin were able to escape a longer prison term. And we also finally got to see the events leading up to the shocking death of Logan Lee!

The Penthouse 3 episode 2 directly took off from the final scene of the previous episode where Shim Su-ryeon pushed Seo-jin off a cliff. Then we had quite the class reunion when everyone in the Hera Club finally got out of prison. Now it feels like The Penthouse again!

How did Cheon Seo-jin survive being pushed off a cliff? Who is this Mr. Baek we’ve been hearing about? Where has Ha Eun-byeol been hiding? Let’s find out the answers to these questions in today’s review, recap & reactions.

Feel free to leave your thoughts about this episode in the comments down below! And remember: if you missed our discussion of previous episodes of The Penthouse 3, you can always go back to them HERE.

The Penthouse 3 Episode 2 Recap

Let’s follow Cheon Seo-jin first, shall we? After getting pushed off a cliff, she was quickly saved by a pair of divers hired by Su-ryeon. So the penthouse owner possibly just did that as an intimidation tactic… and because she was bored. Su-ryeon and Oh Yoon-hee finally told Seo-jin why they really kidnapped her: personal vendettas be damned, they needed to form an alliance to take down Joo Dan-tae. Finally!

Obviously, these three ladies were hesitant to trust each other given their history. But all of them knew that it was the only way to take him down for good.

After that, Seo-jin’s assistant came to fetch her. He immediately revealed that he was actually there when the bomb went off on Logan Lee. And the kicker was, he had photos taken of an “old man” in the scene. She realized that he was in fact, Joo Dan-tae in disguise.

It didn’t take long for her confidence to come back as she stormed into a Cheong A board meeting with people from the press. Her presence shocked Dan-tae, who thought that he would be able to take over the Cheong A Group that afternoon. In a hilarious scene, Seo-jin and a reluctant Dan-tae acted their asses off pretending to be a happy couple in front of the cameras. Seo-jin would then give an apology to the public for betraying their trust in an effort to increase stock price.

While this was not an ideal situation for the ex-couple, they did end up agreeing to a contract marriage. The tables have turned this time around. Cheon Seo-jin was calling the shots and was basically turning Joo Dan-tae into her slave. She didn’t hesitate to blackmail Dan-tae with the photos of him in the old man disguise, so she was going to have some fun with him… until he inevitably slithers his way out of that predicament.

What was interesting was that Seo-jin didn’t tell Su-ryeon that Joo Dan-tae was involved in Logan’s death.

READ: ‘The Penthouse 3’: Episode 1 Review, Recap & Reactions

Meanwhile, Seo-jin learned that she had other enemies aside from her husband in The Penthouse 3 episode 2. She came to visit Ha Eun-byeol in the most awkward Coffee Bay scene ever. So apparently, Eun-byeol was able to avoid juvie.

As had been foreshadowed in the previous season, Ms. Jin had been grooming Eun-byeol to see her as a mother instead of Seo-jin. After having a screaming match with the two of them, Seo-jin laid off Eun-byeol because she knew that they would be much safer from Joo Dan-tae if they were apart.

And if you’re wondering how Seo-jin was able to get her assets back, she had to blackmail her goody-two-shoes sister and her mother into giving her back the Myeongdong building. Her sister was apparently involved in a scandalous affair with her driver, so Seo-jin used that information to make her mother cave. But she was furious when she learned that Cheong A Foundation was actually now in the hands of Su-ryeon.

Shim Su-ryeon’s whole world was shaken when Alex Lee, Logan’s brother, came to visit her. I’m not sure if he was ever mentioned before this, but yes, Park Eun-seok (the actor who plays Logan) is officially back sporting a bad dreadlock wig and lots of tattoos.

The presence of someone who looked so much like her former lover was enough to make her break down. He came to threaten Su-ryeon because Logan was going to give her $10 billion which has gone missing.

Little did they know that Logan actually entrusted the money to Oh Yoon-hee, who used a portion of that $$$ to open a shop in Hera Palace. Obviously, Su-ryeon and everyone else was suspicious of how she was able to fund that shop when she had just gotten out of jail.

But Su-ryeon also had her hands full with her family when her daughter, Joo Seok-kyung, came back running into Dan-tae’s arms. The latter had enough of her mother not supporting her dream of getting into Seoul National University. Now that Su-ryeon took over as the Director of Cheong A Arts, she vowed not to give anyone special treatment… including her own children.

Obviously, Seok-kyung was not happy about that. She also hated how Su-ryeon and her twin brother seemed more fond of Bae Ro-na than her. So it wasn’t a surprise that she immediately sided with her father instead.

We got to see how the performance test for Seoul University turned out in The Penthouse 3 episode 2. Not only was Seok-kyung super competitive, but she knew that she’d have a difficult time in college if the people she bullied got in with her. So she simply asked the help of her father to get rid of her fellow classmates.

Jenny’s father, Kang Dong-pil, wasn’t so nice to Seok-kyung when they first met, so she wanted to put him in his place. She sneakily recorded a conversation between him and Dan-tae about how he actually got arrested for murder. So right before her test, Seok-kyung played this recording to traumatize Jenny from singing well in the performance test. She even held a sign during Jenny’s turn saying that Dong-pil was a murderer, so out of panic, she ran off-stage.

And next, Ha Eun-byeol was disqualified for having her a phone ring in her pocket when the rules clearly stated that it was not allowed. It was later revealed that it was Ms. Jin who was behind it all! She placed Ro-na’s phone in Eun-byeol’s pocket and gave it a call during her turn. And why did she do it?

Because she’s actually working for Joo Dan-tae! Dun dun dun~

But that’s not all! Literally everyone from Hera Club is back from prison in The Penthouse 3 episode 2. As we learned in this episode, Su-ryeon actually helped Yoon-hee get out of prison earlier by changing her witness statement. Lee Kyu-jin was released early thanks to Dan-tae pulling some strings and getting out on bail. Kang Ma-ri and Go Sang-ah actually served their full term and have gone back to their old gossipy ways.

Perhaps the most shocking return from prison was Ha Yoon-chul. It wasn’t so much his presence that was shocking, but it was how he returned. He seemed like he was done playing the “ethical and just” role within Hera Club and was all aboard the evil train. We learned that he lost everything, including his license to practice, when he got back from prison. To show his loyalty, he knelt in front of Dan-tae and smashed a wine bottle on his hand. Obviously, the egotistical Joo Dan-tae loved it!

Kang Dong-pil was actually the one who brought him back into the fold, so it seems like they’re actually secretly forming an alliance against Dan-tae. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned out to be bad guys either! Yoon-chul was so convincing that he had actually turned bad.

And we ended this week’s episode by learning more about where Baek Jun-ki’s allegiance truly lies. While he was able to go incognito for some time, Su-ryeon was finally able to track him down and stop him from doing something stupid. He attempted to shoot Dan-tae while he was having dinner with Seok-kyung, but thankfully, Su-ryeon stopped Jun-ki from completely killing him.

As they had a heated exchange, Dan-tae walked up to see where the gunshot had come from and was able to see them together. But I’m willing to bet that it was just a clever editing trick and he didn’t actually see them. I’ve watched too much episodes of The Penthouse to believe those damn editing tricks!

The Penthouse 3 Episode 2 Review & Reactions

That was a lot of storylines to get through. Let’s start once again with Cheon Seo-jin because she has been killing it since she got back from prison. I love the fact that she’s firmly #TeamSeoJin even when the other girls offered an alliance with her. I mean if I were in Seo-jin’s shoes, I would never be able to trust people whose lives I ruined.

But I do believe that she needs to tell Shim Su-ryeon the truth about Logan because y’all just know that it’s going to break their trust even further. And what these girls need to do is join forces if they want to take down Joo Dan-tae for good. Last season, we all saw how far working together can get them.

It was fulfilling to see Seo-jin get some form of revenge on her family when they have never been supportive of her in anyway. I don’t blame them though; after all, Seo-jin killed the dad.

I am a bit torn on the introduction of the Alex character. This was obviously a way to get Park Eun-seok in the show without having to revive Logan, but his whole presentation is just very off-putting. I mean those dreads, tattoos, and grills are a bit too much, don’t you think?

Alex was never properly foreshadowed which makes his presence feel like just another way to shock viewers. What I’m saying is we should’ve probably heard his name brought up more if they were going to have him appear on-screen. I mean sure, I was surprised when I saw what he looked like, but it was the bad kind of surprise.

The spotlight on Kang Dong-pil continued in The Penthouse 3 episode 2. His interaction with Lee Min-hyeok was funny because that’s absolutely how a dad should react to a person who bullied his daughter. And you know I was all for the little feud he’s having with Joo Seok-kyung as well. I think we’re all expecting Seok-kyung to be put in her place when it’s revealed that Dong-pil probably didn’t kill anyone.

I did find it odd that he placed a fish to clog up the Hera Palace fountain though. We still don’t know what exactly happened there (though a death seems to be involved) and what he’s really up to, but it doesn’t smell good (pun intended) for Dan-tae.

Now what I’m lowkey excited for is how he’s going to react when he finds out that Kang Ma-ri had some sexy time with Lee Kyu-jin a little while back. Remember that weird storyline that they seemingly dropped in Season 2 where they were all up on each other? Well, I didn’t. And it feels like it is going to have a payoff soon especially learning how happy Go Song-ah truly was when she thought that Kyu-jin was still in prison.

While that crack among the Hera Club guys will probably explored in the near future, let’s talk about the reunion between Dan-tae and Ha Yoon-chul. My gut’s telling me that Yoon-chul is probably just faking the whole “I’m a bad guy now” thing, but that is something I’m looking forward to seeing more of. Is it all an act? Or is he truly evil? Is Oh Yoon-hee the only one who can redeem him?

Whichever way the writers go with his character, I think I’ll be all up for it. Yoon-chul has never truly had a win in his life, and he is getting a little bit pathetic now. So if he is actually planning to betray Dan-tae and it ends up successful? That’s gonna be muy bien. But Yoon-chul was right when he mentioned that his “just and principled” act was getting tired… so I’m also very curious to see how Evil Yoon-chul pans out.

And lastly, can we just appreciate Joo Seok-kyung? That girl has overtaken Ha Eun-byeol as the Quintessential Child Villain just by being a pest to everyone except Dan-tae. I love how she continues to be fearless against the adults in the show like Seo-jin and now, Dong-pil.

But as crazy as it sounds, I kinda get why she’s pissed at Shim Su-ryeon. The favoritism she has for Bae Ro-na has been getting quite out of hand. And she reminded me in this episode why it’s fucked up that Su-ryeon fell in love with Logan. After all, he did torture the kids back then.

Next week, it seems like we’re going to get more exposition on Baek Jun-ki which promises to be exciting! We’ve only gotten a few glimpses of him, but now we know that he’s also out for Joo Dan-tae’s blood. It seems like there will be troublein Oh Yoon-hee and Shim Su-ryeon’s friendship once again because the former got Logan’s $10 billion and didn’t say a word.

And Ms. Jin… giiiirl, what is your endgame here? Why are you working with Joo Dan-tae?! Anybody but him!

 Get updated with our weekly episode recaps of The Penthouse Season 3. Just place your e-mail address below, it’s that easy! 

 The Penthouse 3 Episode 2 Rating: 8.0/10 

What were your thoughts watching the second episode of The Penthouse 3? Sound off in the comments below!

If you feel like reminiscing about the early days of The Penthouse, check out our listicle series where we pick the best moments here. Don’t miss out on anything by following us @ZoomersCornerPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post ‘The Penthouse 3’: Episode 2 Review, Recap & Reactions appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

Well folks, we’re back with yet another season of the craziest k-drama of the decade so far: The Penthouse. Despite having to wait a few months for them to wrap filming, the show continued to keep us enthralled after the amazing second season. We left things on a bittersweet note when all the Hera Club members (minus Shim Su-ryeon) got thrown into prison for their crimes.

But just when we thought Su-ryeon would finally get her happy ending, she witnessed her lover-slash-almost-fiancé die(?) in a fiery explosion. That’s right, Logan Lee is dead… for now. While there is no indication that he is in fact alive, you never know with this show!

The Penthouse 3 episode 1 threw us back into the harsh world of reality that we had been all too familiar with — a world where disgustingly rich people can get away with anything. What trick does Joo Dan-tae have up his sleeve to get him out of trouble this time? And what events led to Logan Lee’s death in the previous season?

Let’s find out what happens in this week’s review, recap, and reactions. Feel free to sound off about this episode in the comments below!

The Penthouse 3 Episode 1 Recap

I think the biggest impression that I was left with in this episode is: who are these people?! We were introduced to quite a number of new characters who seemed like they were going to be major players in this season. Let’s start with the people we met behind bars, shall we?

Joo Dan-tae was having a tough time in prison; with his lifetime sentence, it seemed inevitable that he was going to be a lifer. And things only got worse for him when bribing a prison guard backfired and landed him straight into the same room as Lee Kyu-jin and Ha Yoon-cheol. Needless, they were not thrilled with him. The doctor had some unfinished business with Dan-tae and wanted his blood on his hands.

He attempted to murder Dan-tae in his sleep with the end of a toothbrush he had sharpened. Fortunately or unfortunately, he was able to wake up and fight Yoon-cheol off. Despite this, the prison guards believed the doctor when he said that Dan-tae was the one who tried to stab him after Bang Chi-soon, the Big Boss of the boys’ cell (New Character #1), vouched for him.

But we learned later on that they weren’t just going against Joo Dan-tae for no reason; Logan Lee was paying them to keep an eye on him… and probably to make his prison life a living hell.

So it wasn’t all daisies and roses for the disgraced Hera Palace owner. On the other hand, Kang Ma-ri was able to put herself in a comfy position in prison by being a great aide and the Unofficial Masseur of the Big Boss in the girls’ cell (New Character #2). Go Sang-ah was also trying to get into the good graces of the Big Boss, but she wasn’t as successful as Ma-ri.

Cheon Seo-jin would not swallow her pride at first, but when the Big Boss taught her a painful lesson on obeying prison hierarchy, she would end up keeping in line. What’s worse was hearing news that Shim Su-ryeon bought the Cheong-a Foundation from her mother!

But perhaps what was most uncomfortable for her was Oh Yoon-hee being assigned on lunch duty. That meant that she had to beg for extra side dishes from her arch-rival. The shame!

However, our two main villains would once again slither their way out of their tough predicament in The Penthouse 3 episode 1. Joo Dan-tae had a more complex plan in mind because it wasn’t enough to just escape prison for him. Dr. Ha’s sharpened toothbrush would ironically be the key to his freedom.

He provoked Yoon-cheol in the field so that they’d get into a brawl. In the middle of it all, he would stab himself in the gut to make it look like Yoon-cheol was the one who did it to him. And it worked thanks to Kyu-jin was bribed to be a “witness” to the incident.

Joo Dan-tae would be brought to the hospital where he would escape with the help of a doctor he paid off. But he wouldn’t just run off to become a fugitive as he quickly set the next steps to his plan in motion. He told Secretary Cho that he only had one hour to pull off his scheme before he had to go back to the hospital.

And what an eventful hour it was.

It was revealed that he was actually behind Logan Lee’s death all along! You know what, every time something heinous happens in this show, let’s just always assume that it was Dan-tae behind it. He put on the disguise of an old man, and wheeled along a trash bin with an explosive next to Logan’s car. And just when Logan realized the man behind the disguise, the bomb went off. Goodbye, Logan Lee!

But Joo Dan-tae couldn’t take in his victory that quickly because he had to make his way to the Chief Justice’s house so that he could threaten him and his daughter.

And then it was back to the hospital for Dan-tae. He would legitimately have a heart attack in the bathroom floor as he waited for the doctors and policemen to find him. It’s just a very wonderfully convenient alibi, don’t you think so?

Anyway, Joo Dan-tae was revived not long after. Not only that, but he was able to have Na Ae-gyo’s murder case be reopened. The guy from the crematorium eventually confessed about Logan Lee’s bribe. And it didn’t help that the silhouette and height of Ae-gyo’s killer matched his own… because it was him!

Shim Su-ryeon knew deep inside that it was all a ploy by Dan-tae, but things were not looking good for her in The Penthouse 3 episode 1, because she didn’t have proof to back up her claims. And he had a heart attack as an alibi!

She would try to murder him dressed up as a nurse, but the two would just get into a notherscuffle. There was no love lost among these two! As retaliation, Joo Dan-tae visited the penthouse to taunt her and to “visit the kids”.

Meanwhile, Cheon Seo-jin hatched a plan for her sentence to be reduced. She pretended to have a mental illness by acting like a violent horror movie mental patient and singing at the top of her lungs in the middle of the night. Not gonna lie, I saw some of those Ha Eun-byeol genes during those moments. But to her credit, the plan worked because she was out of there in no time.

However, the moment she got out of the courthouse, she was kidnapped by Oh Yoon-hee and Shim Su-ryeon. The two women drove her to the edge of a cliff (literally) and interrogated her. Su-ryeon just had it in her head that Seo-jin was involved in Logan’s death, and wouldn’t let up until she confessed.

Of course, the songstress had to deny it because she legitimately didn’t kill him this time.

Shim Su-ryeon had enough of her and pushed her off the cliff and into the river! That is where we left off The Penthouse 3 episode 1, but you know what, there were so many more things happening that we have to continue.

Kang Ma-ri’s husband, Yoo Dong-pil (New Character #3), was finally out of prison. We had some teases about his history in season 2 when Ma-ri mentioned how he went to prison for Joo Dan-tae. And then we learned that Secretary Cho was also working for him.

While we don’t know with whom Secretary Cho’s true allegiance truly lied, this episode showed that it seemed to be with Joo Dan-tae. But this guy is so mysterious, I’m telling ya; I still can’t tell whose side he’s going to be on. Why was he going up Shim Su-ryeon’s building to make a copy of her keycard at the exact moment that Logan died?

And then there was New Character #4: Baek Joon-ki. We saw him fly together with Logan Lee to Korea in the final episode of season 2. Hell, we even thought that Joon-ki was behind Logan’s death because he went for a cigarette break when the bomb went off. I mean… what a coincidence, right?

But we dug some more into the relationship of Joon-ki and Logan where we learned that Joo Dan-tae actually took his identity. That plot twist!

So now we get to the next question: who is this Joo Dan-tae that’s been making everyone’s lives miserable, really?

After the previous season placed the Hera Palace kids front and center, it seemed like the spotlight is now back on the adults. We only got a few glimpses into what’s to come for the children. But I mean, how much more of the same bullying scenes can we stomach before we end the show?

In The Penthouse 3 episode 1, Joo Seok-kyung and Shim Su-ryeon’s relationship continued to crack like we’d seen in the first season. This time, it was Seok-kyung’s jealousy of her mother’s treatment of Bae Ro-na that had been bothering her. More than that, Ro-na had been spending more time with Seok-hoon.

While she’s getting into Seoul National University thanks to “winning” the Cheong-a Arts Festival, Ro-na and Seok-hoon were planning to study abroad in Julliard. Yes, that Julliard. Obviously, Seok-kyung was not happy with that so we should expect her to go back to her Bad Barbie roots soon. She even defended Dan-tae after he was released from prison!

The Penthouse 3 Episode 1 Review & Reactions

While it wasn’t super explosive as per The Penthouse standards, I’m pretty pleased with this episode. We needed to ease back into the show because the second half of the previous season was just hella stressful to watch.

One thing I’ve always loved about this show is how every scene seems to drive the narrative forward. And The Penthouse 3 episode 1 was filled to the brim with new storylines and characters which will eventually affect how the endgame will play out. While I admittedly was taken aback by the number of characters introduced, I won’t knock it until I see what they bring to the table.

While the Mr. Baek/Real Joo Dan-tae character seemed to come out of nowhere, I am excited to explore his history with the Fake Joo Dan-tae. He may be the key to the latter’s demise, which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, I’m always up for a villain backstory, but on the other, I want the story to focus on the Hera Palace women taking down the Dan-tae empire.

I mean, it’s the freaking last season so I want the spotlight to be on the core characters as much as possible! Plus, it’s been clear since season 2 that the three women just need to get over their differences if they want to end Joo Dan-tae for good.

Meanwhile, Yoo Dong-pil AKA Kang Ma-ri’s husband intrigues me, and I like how the show was able to tease his character back in the early episodes of the previous season. If I was going to bet on it, then I’d say the show is making him out to be Dan-tae’s enemy, but he would end up being his ally.

Without Na Ae-gyo and Cheon Seo-jin, he now needs an ally in his corner and I think Dong-pil is taking that spot.

And since we’re making bets, would it make sense if I say that Mr. Baek is actually the Fake Joo Dan-tae’s real brother? IDK. I just have this feeling… let me know in the comments below if my conspiracy theory has holes.

I noticed how the first few minutes of The Penthouse 3 episode 1 was much more heavy on the comedy which went perfectly because we had the opportunity to laugh at these terrible people before they wound up getting their way again. It was glorious watching Ma-ri and Sang-ah slap Seo-jin to the tune of Queen of the Night, for example.

But things turned back to serious mode when Dr. Ha attempted to murder Joo Dan-tae. And just like that, The Penthouse worked its magic by showing us how a character schemed their way to the top. It was difficult watching Dan-tae getting his way yet again… but honestly, I love the fact that he has nine lives. He had always been built up to be this mastermind, and he continues to uphold that reputation of his.

Now, it’s going to be extremely interesting, because Joo Dan-tae’s strength has always been his ability to turn shitty situations into opportunities, while Shim Su-ryeon has always relied on her long-term planning. Su-ryeon didn’t expect Dan-tae to escape prison, so now, I feel like she has no idea what to do next. I mean… she did push off Cheon Seo-jin off a cliff.

But you never know what’s in the mind of the elegant woman. Obviously, Seo-jin isn’t dead so she has to have a plan, right?

If there’s something I didn’t like about this episode, it’s how the timeline is sooo confusing. I think I need someone to explain it to me because I don’t get how Oh Yoon-hee and Cheon Seo-jin were suddenly out of prison, and how the kids were still in high school at the same time? The math probably adds up, but I was so confused with it.

Plus, there was no Ha Eun-byeol in this episode! She is someone I just love to hate, and her absence was definitely felt here. We heard she was in juvie, but whatever happened to the creepy woman who wanted to keep her as her own daughter? I’m just gonna sit here and wait patiently for the Cheong-a Queen’s return, I guess.

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 The Penthouse 3 Episode 1 Rating: 8.0/10 

What were your thoughts watching the first episode of The Penthouse 3? Were you as impressed as I was? Sound off in the comments below!

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