The Lighting Ceremony
We begin episode 13 of The Penthouse with Yoon-Hee sweet talking Kyu-Jin into finding out more about Joo’s canceled meetings with Logan Lee. After this, she works with Su Ryeon to brush up on her English. It seems to work too and while sporting a lavish outfit, meets Logan and admits the truth. Well… partly the truth anyway. Yoon-Hee admits that she lost her money and needs to bring him to Joo as her life depends on it. This cuts us back to the present as Joo demands proof that the person in front of him is the real Logan Lee. As he rings Joo’s phone, Joo finally realizes that this is the man he’s been looking for and now they can get down to business. That begins with Logan wanting to see Hera Palace (he’s obviously already seen it) and putting into motion the plan surrounding the investment. Elsewhere, Seo-Jin’s fright is played on by Su-Ryeon who acts dumbfounded and questions her over the ruby ring. She even mentions how it’s lucky she didn’t scratch her face. Seo-Jin bolts out the room and demands answers. On the back of this, Joo decides to take on Yoon-Hee as an employee but only until Logan signs the forms he needs – then she’s gone. As Yoon-Hee walks out into the parking lot, Seo-Jin heads inside the office to talk about the ring. Of course, Yoon-Hee has left a recorder on the table and everything they say is recorded. Seo-Jin is beside herself with panic as they mention Seol-A definitely didn’t die by herself. They all but admit that it was instigated by someone at Hera Palace but quite who remains to be seen. Logan (Ho-Dong) starts to piece together what happened that fateful night with Seol-A, including pinning up Yoon-Hee’s picture on the wall as a possible suspect. Meanwhile, Seo-Jin continues to use Eun-Byeol as a weapon against Yoon-Cheol. This despicable woman has revealed everything about Yoon-Cheol’s past. This brings Yoon-Cheol before his wife, who tells him to keep quiet if he wants to see his daughter again when they get divorced. Back at Joo’s penthouse, it turns out the maid there is actually working with Logan and feeds back information about what they’re up to and where they’re going. At the clothes store, Ho-Dong shows up and changes his mind, deciding to make Su-Ryeon admit everything at the big party with Logan Lee that evening. Su-Ryeon pleads with him for more time but right now it’s clear that her time is up. At school the next day, Eun-Byeol gathers the rotten students and tells them she thinks Ro-Na is the one responsible for spreading the news and acting like Seol-A. Seok-Hoon is not so sure but when they snatch up Ro-Na’s phone, they find pictures of her with Sugar, Seol-A’s dog. This seems to constitute as evidence enough for them to go after Ro-Na. Meanwhile, Yoon-Hee meets with Logan Lee that night and indirectly mentions Seol-A. He questions who Seol-A was to her and her kind words are enough to make him question whether she really is involved or not. As a drunk Yoon-Hee gets in the elevator at Hera Palace, pressing the buttons brings back a flash from the past of Seol-A pleading with her for help. She tells Yoon-Hee that the “people of Hera Palace” are after her. Yoon-Hee deliberates on this and tries to work out whether Seol-A was really killed or not that night. Anyway, the party goes ahead but Ro-Na is invited along to the community room with the other kids. There, they all gather round and begin bullying Ro-Na. Tellingly, Seok-Hoon isn’t there. The others are relentless though, and tell Ro-Na to drop out of school. They even tie her up too – which looks very similar to what happened to Seol-A. Su-Ryeon shows up at the party along with Seo-Jin, both wearing the same scarf. Seo-Jin is obviously flustered but eventually composes herself as she decides to fight against Su-Ryeon. Logan Lee arrives not long after but the real star of the show here is Yoon-Hee, whom Su-Ryeon continues to use as a weapon against the others. She admits that she’s working for J King Holdings and this only further winds up Seo-Jin. Seo-Jin completely embarrasses herself, drinking constantly and eventually spilling the truth about Su-Ryeon’s kids in front of everyone. Su-Ryeon holds her nerve though but it’s clear that bad blood is brewing between the two. This is only made worse when Seo-Jin forces herself on Joo outside, prompting him to pull away. Joo’s clearly not happy given this is his big opportunity but as they talk, Logan happens to be watching from round the corner. He’s not the only one though, given Yoon-Cheol suddenly snaps and grabs Joo. He wrestles with him out in the hallway and it all starts to get nasty. As they fight, Kyu-Jin does his best to try and break it up. Eventually they all stumble back into the main room where a beaten and bruised Yoon-Cheol kisses Seo-Jin in front of everyone. He tells her he’s not going to divorce after all and instead make Seo-Jin as miserable as possible. Anyway, Yoon-Cheol soon leaves and as the group count down at the lighting ceremony, the crystal ball in the main atrium springs open. Inside happens to be a note reading “The One Who Killed Seol-A Is Here.”
The Episode Review
This drama is so addictive. While some of the acting is completely exaggerated and over the top – especially for Seo-Jin and Eun-Byeol – others do a good job bringing their characters to life. Ho-Dong/Logan is easily one of the more interesting inclusions to this drama and he does an excellent job with his English too. That’s before mentioning Yoon-Hee and Su-Ryeon who make quite the formidable team and have managed to twist everyone up into an intricate knot that’s caused them all to doubt themselves. It’s a great inclusion and this balance I’ve mentioned before has been nicely poised to give as much weight to the “evil” characters as the “good” ones. Whether we’ll find out who killed Seol-A this season or not remains to be seen but it’s clear that the kids may well be involved in what happened to her. Seeing them torture and tie up Ro-Na – especially after what happened to Seol-A – is testament to just howl far they’ll go to get their own way. And what of Yoon-Hee? Sure, she’s got a kind heart but the way she was fumbling with the elevator buttons could have led her up to the rooftop where she may have accidentally knocked Seol-A over the edge. It’s just a thought anyway but it would definitely be a heartbreaking revelation if that’s true. For now though, Penthouse continues to be a real guilty pleasure and I can’t wait to see what happens next week!
