Toppling the House of Cards
Episode 7 of Penthouse Season 3 begins with Vice Minister Yoon watching on as Minister Kang is bribed by Dan-Tae and the rest of his cronies. The CCTV footage confirms as much, with a suitcase full of cash handed over in exchange for moving the schools across to their district. Su-Ryeon uses this to make a deal with Yoon. They want her to make sure she prevents the schools from being moved. Elsewhere, Yoon-Cheol continues to be berated by Seo-Jin, who’s tasked with keeping Logan alive. Yes, as we found out last season he’s still clinging on to life and didn’t die in the explosion after all. Back with Su-Ryeon, she and Ma-Ri confront a man named Bae Chae-Shik and convince him to sign an oath not to work with Cheong-A Constructions. With incriminating pictures showing the bribe, he’s forced into submission. Meanwhile, Seok-Kyung is leaving town and heading to Italy to study. She hasn’t bothered to tell Su-Ryeon though and instead asks Seok-Hoon to see her off at the airport. He’s livid and refuses. Of course, he tells Su-Ryeon the truth and even offers to look into Yoon-Hee’s death for her as well. Tentatively, she breaks the news that this death is linked with Dan-Tae. Yoon-Cheol remains determined to tell Su-Ryeon everything. Only, Seo-Jin has his number and uses her scrambled voice again, telling him if he says anything to Su-Ryeon then Eun-Byeol will be hurt. Continuing her ascent back to the top, Dan-Tae asks Seo-Jin for a loan. He wants to continue bribing and the only way he’ll be able to do that is to use some of the money Seo-Jin has. Although she agrees, it’s on the condition that he give up 10% of Cheong-A shares. As Dan-Tae agrees, this money is used to bribe the members. They, in turn, will make sure this deal goes through. Famous singer Clark Lee arrives at the theatre ready for a press conference regarding the new vocalists. Midway through, Clark overhears Ro-Na singing in the back. Clark is shocked that she hasn’t ben given a better opportunity. Seo-Jin tries to hide her disappointment but in front of all these reporters agrees to give Ro-Na another chance and audition. All of this was a deliberate ploy of course, usurping Eun-Byeol into this prime position. Desperate to forget everything, Eun-Byeol calls on Ms Jin again, who scrapes together as many pills as she can for her. Meanwhile, Joon-Ki heads home to find Logan’s grandmother there waiting. They haven’t heard from Logan but Joon-Ki is convinced he’s still alive. The family hand over a briefcase full of money, determined to bring Logan back and tasking Joon-Ki with doing everything he can to make it happen. Su-Ryon is the one who strikes first, releasing the footage regarding Minister Kang’s bribery. Dan-Tae is livid when he finds out and is convinced the one responsible is inside the room. To make matters worse, Dohae Constructions win the bid. The subcontractors they bribed are dead-set on getting their investment back and storm into Dan-Tae’s office, snatching up his money. In order to scrabble cash together, Dan-tae heads to Haeyeon and asks for 100,000 won. In exchange though, Chairman Song wants the penthouse. The brains behind this whole operation is Su-Ryeon, using her as a front while she pulls the strings. After dropping the bombshell about Dohae Construction, Su-Ryeon shows up in person and reveals herself to Dan-Tae as the one behind everything. The pair end up wrestling, leading to Su-Ryeon eventually knocking Dan-Tae out and leaving the chairman a bloody mess. Interestingly, Dan-Tae’s past comes into focus while he’s knocked out. Here, it becomes clear exactly what he’s been doing. His Mother and sister died after a greedy contractor arrived and bulldozed their makeshift house. Given they were homeless at the time, Dan-Tae appears to have been the only survivor. Dan-Tae awakens in the parking lot to find himself berated and antagonized by Su-Ryeon in her car. Out of everyone who could show up, it’s Seok-Hoon who comes to the rescue. He scoops up Dan-Tae on his bike and takes off. At the police station, Ro-Na and Su-Ryeon head in and reveal a watch has ben recovered from the crash. This happens to have audio evidence on it of Seok-Kyung’s truth and how she’s Seol-A’s sister. While Seok-Kyung finds herself in a spot of bother with a group of blood-lusting teens, Yoon-Cheol remains dead-set on saving Logan. Well, he suddenly grabs Yoon-Cheol’s wrist and tells him to bring Su-Ryeon in.
The Episode Review
Penthouse storms back on air this week with another dramatic episode, one that sees the tide turn back in favour of our good and just characters. The operatic singing reveal with Ro-Na was certainly a satisfying moment, while Su-Ryeon usurping Dan-Tae and seeing him crumble with the Cheong-A construction plans is another highlight. What’s going on with Seok-kyung too? Who has set her up in this place? And who are these girls? I’m sure we’ll find out in the future but for now it’s left as a tantalizing plot point to mull over. The ending with Logan waking up is certainly a big moment though and it hints that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him. Hopefully it’s the last we’ve seen of Alex though, and it seems SBS have learned their lesson from this (at least for now anyway.) The various different subplots continue to tick over, although these do feel like padding next to the much more interesting main plot line. Penthouse is just starting to spice up now and the ending hints that we’ve got more drama to come.
