Bitter Sweet Hell – K-drama Episode 11 Recap & Review

Episode 11

Episode 11 of Bitter Sweet Hell begins three days prior, when Se-na and Tae-o disagree on their methods to exact revenge on Young-won. Se-na prefers psychological torture, keeping Young-won worried about her son’s secret, while Tae-o advocates for a more direct approach and argues that they should publicize Do-hyeon’s secret.

Later, Tae-o helps Se-na with her next move: killing Secretary An and making Young-won appear as the culprit. However, Tae-o believes that the real way to torture Young-won is to attack her family, so he unilaterally leads to Sa-gang becoming the culprit, putting a dent in Se-na’s plans.

When Se-na realizes that Tae-o’s secret is out, she makes him a scapegoat for all her crimes, planting evidence in his apartment and tipping off the police. This is when Kyung-tae informs Young-won about the real culprit behind Secretary An’s murder, and Young-won plans to lure Tae-o so the police can catch him.

After Tae-o realizes that he has walked straight into Young-won’s trap, he tries to attack her, but Jae-jin interferes. After a scuffle with Jae-jin, Young-min, and Seung-jae, Tae-o is finally arrested by the police.

In the investigation room, Young-won visits Tae-o, where it’s revealed that upon Young-won’s advice to Tae-o’s mother about cutting contact with his father, his mother tried to kill him, leading to Tae-o’s family dying on the fateful day with only him as the survivor. This is why he blames Young-won for ruining his family.

On the other hand, as a result of Tae-o’s arrest, Sa-gang is allowed to leave prison, where Jae-jin picks her up. They reminisce about the old days, and Jae-jin reveals that he learned he is not Sa-gang’s son after overhearing his father while playing hide and seek as a child.

He further reveals that he felt anxious about Sa-gang leaving him and wanted to be her son. The mother-son duo reconciles, forming a stronger bond built on honesty and love. Later, Jae-jin’s aunt prepares dinner for the entire family as they celebrate Sa-gang’s release.

Sa-gang and Young-won discuss the possibility that Se-na might be the real culprit behind the murder. The next day, Jae-jin meets Dr. Oh at the clinic and offers her the chance to take charge of the clinic. However, Dr. Oh becomes bitter when she realizes that Jae-jin doesn’t plan to leave his family and threatens to reveal their dirty secrets. Later, Se-na visits her and incites her to publicly reveal the Choi family secrets, which she does along with CCTV evidence of Dr. Oh performing Jae-jin’s surgeries.

As news breaks about Young-won’s family secrets, including Dr. Oh being a ghost surgeon for Jae-jin, Young-won receives a package with a written script for her to read at an impromptu and unplanned conference. This is certainly Se-na’s doing. If Young-won doesn’t go through with it, Se-na might reveal Do-hyeon’s secret. However, Do-hyeon is in favor of strongly facing Se-na.

At the press conference, Young-won reads from the script only to tear it up. She reveals that her family is being threatened by Se-na and asks the public to help her find Se-na. Through her public appeal, Young-won is able to win the people’s sympathy. Clearly, this irks Se-na, and the episode ends with her kidnapping Do-hyeon.

The Episode Review

 This episode saw all the mysteries from the last unfolding in a layered fashion. Tae-o’s motive in participating in Se-na’s plans is crystal clear, and it’s understood that he helped Se-na since both of them share a similar past, although Se-na is quite a bland antagonist with a weak motive in a show that claims to be a thriller.

It’s also revealed that, unlike Sa-gang and Young-won’s earlier assumptions, it was in fact Se-na who had killed Secretary An and not Tae-o. Since Tae-o still believes that Se-na couldn’t have turned him in, it’s probably up to the Chois to save Do-hyeon and get Se-na arrested. But will they be able to stop this maniac of a villain?