An Explosive Finish
Episode 13 of The Penthouse Season 2 begins with Yoon-Hee walking into the police station, deciding to turn herself in for Seol-A’s murder. At the same time, it’s all change at Hera Palace as Ma-Ri admits to Kyu-Jin that her husband is coming back to Korea very soon. Only, all of them are interrupted by news breaking that Cheonsoo has been completely flipped upside down. In fact, the value has plummeted and it’s now worthless. The residents are left reeling over what’s transpired. As they begin packing up their things, police arrive and confirm they need to come with them. The case into Seol-A’s murder has been reopened thanks to Yoon-Hee’s confession. Well, Yoon-Hee is visited by Logan who confirms that Ro-a is still alive. In fact, she looks outside and sees her daughter wheeled off in her wheelchair. It’s here we cut back in time and see Ro-Na surviving her ordeal thanks to Su-Ryeon and Logan keeping a watchful eye on her all this time. In fact, Su-Ryeon risked her life to save the girl with some pretty terrible CPR. Yoon-Hee decides not to see her daughter; knowing she’s alive is enough for her. After, Yoon-Hee visits Seo-Jin while she’s in the prosecutor’s office. There, she outright admits to killing Seol-A. At the same time, Su-Ryeon breaks some home truths of her own, admitting to Dan-Tae about switching identities with Ae-Gyo. Her Father shows up too, knocking Dan-Tae down and promising he’s now going to rot in prison. Just before he does, Logan appears one more time and confirms he’s moving back to America, promising to expose absolutely everything Dan-Tae has done. Out of everything that’s happened, Dan-Tae’s biggest regret is killing Ae-Gyo. As he thinks back over what he’s done, Dan-Tae deliberates over Ae-Gyo’s death and despairs. He curls up and starts crying while lying against the wall. Meanwhile, Eun-Byeol sneaks out her apartment and sees Ro-Na in the hallway. She confronts the girl and promises she’ll be punished for trying to kill her. Seok-Hoon is with her too, and he helps Ro-Na back into her chair. Eun-Byeol meanwhile, heads back inside where Ms. Jin berates her for walking off. She decides to take care of her for now, even encouraging Eun-Byeol to call her Mum. We then cut forward 2 months later. The sauna is for sale while Seo-Jin’s belongings are kept in boxes. Dan-Tae is taken away to the courtroom along with Ma-Ri, Kyu-Jin and the others involved with both Seol-A’s murder and the Cheonsoo District issue. The court case goes ahead, with Su-Ryeon up first as the witness. Yoon-Hee gave her a personal note to confirm she saw her push Seol-A over the edge.
On the back of this, all the residents decide to gang up on Yoon-Hee and confirm that they’re not involved. However, there’s video evidence to prove otherwise. This happens to be from the bus that night, where all the residents admit their part in this. Although they are under duress at the time, Yoon-Cheol speaks up and confesses, confirming that what’s being said is true. On the back of this, the various different residents receive their sentences. Ma-Ri and Sang-A are sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison. Seo-Jin receives a larger charge of 7 years. Yoon-Cheol and Kyu-Jin also receive 2 years in prison. Dan-Tae, through everything he’s done, is given life. Oh, and also a contempt in court charge too! On their way to prison, Seok-Kyung and Seok-Hoon speak to Dan-Tae and decide to give up their paternal rights. Seo-Jin grins…but not for long. Of course, the video confirming Seo-Jin killing her Father could be shared now and give her a larger sentence. Seo-Jin pleads with her daughter-in-law not to but as she’s taken away, it’s clear Seok-Kyung has alternate ideas. Thanks to an earlier impassioned plea from Su-Ryeon, and an explanation of Yoon-Gee’s good nature, she’s given a 3 year sentence in prison. With all the evil purged from Hera Palace, Su-Ryeon returns home. With Seok-Kyung and Seok-Hoon along with Ro-Na, they learn Eun-Byeol has gone off the gird. Meanwhile, the kids themselves are divided, with Jenny and Min-Hyeok promising to get their revenge on Ro-Na and the others. When they leave, our trio of kids decide to visit Seol-A at her gravestone. While they pay their respects, we cut to the detention center where one of the prison guards is working with Dan-Tae. He hands over a newspaper with a variety of red-ringed words, hinting at D-day for Logan Lee in 9 days. Anyway, Logan touches down in Korea and waits for Su-Ryeon in the parking lot. As they approach one another, a homeless man suddenly spins round and looks at Logan. The car he’s next to completely explodes, killing Logan instantly. Unless this is a doppelganger/twin/dummy/dream or clone, Logan has bee killed. Then again, this is Penthouse and who’s to say!
The Episode Review
Penthouse bows out with a shocking finale, one that adds a trademark twist ending but also a lot of closure to the main plot points that have been discussed over the past 2 seasons. Seo-Jin and Dan-Tae really are the perfect couple and seeing them both bickering and arguing on the way to the courthouse is a great touch. Both of these characters have been golden in their villainous roles and they have done an excellent job making you hate everything they’ve done up until this point. Meanwhile, all the other residents receive their sentences, which is honestly not something I expected this season. Still, it seems everything is falling to the kids now and it’ll be interesting to see where the third and final season goes from here. We haven’t got long to wait for the final season but with an agonizing one episode a week (why SBS?!) we’ll have lots of time to theorize and see the conclusion of this crazy, crazy show. What a rollercoaster ride! Let us know what you think will happen in season 3 – or your thoughts on season 2 in general in the comments below!