Bittersweet Hell – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of Bittersweet Hell continues from where Yeong-won discovers that Sa-gang was aware of Jae-jin’s affair, barely managing to stop her from contacting the police.

Later, at the TV studio, Yeong-won receives a case study similar to her own and advises the woman to persevere through the conflict, stating that she should be legally compensated. While leaving the studio, Yeong-won receives a toy car from an anonymous sender. She tries to investigate the sender but to no avail. When she’s back at her office, she finds something written underneath the toy car in invisible ink. Following the URL, she discovers a video of the toy car crashing into an aquarium. Since the toy car has Jae-jin’s car number, it becomes clear that the next target is Jae-jin.

Sa-gang and Yeong-won visit the police station, where they find out that Seung-jae, Kang-sung’s nephew, was behind the spy camera. Kang-sung had asked Seung-jae to plant the camera. Consequently, Sa-gang pardons him, and they withdraw the case.

After Sa-gang leaves, Yeong-won invites Kyung-tae for counselling at her clinic with the aim of using him to find Jae-jin. Since Kyung-tae has seen Jae-jin’s pictures on Dr. Oh’s phone, he’s willing to help find her, anxious about their deteriorating relationship. Meanwhile, Sa-gang has the same idea and asks Kang-sung to follow up with Kyung-tae about Dr. Oh’s disappearance.

Kyung-tae, joined by Kang-sung, aggressively tracks Jae-jin’s car. At home, Yeong-won finds Tae-o, who has come to tutor Do-hyun, and later proposes that Do-hyun should go on a trip with her sometime soon.

The next day, Kyung-tae shows Yeong-won CCTV footage tracking Jae-jin’s route. It’s revealed from the footage that Jae-jin was accompanied by Se-na, not Dr. Oh. Yeong-won begins her journey to where Jae-jin was last seen. Elsewhere, Sa-gang also learns about his location through Kang-sung, and she meets Yeong-won somewhere along the way. The two then continue their journey to find Jae-jin together.

When they reach the place, they discover that Jae-jin has taken a ferry ride to an island. Sa-gang and Yeong-won head to the island, joined by Kang-sung and Yeong-min. They have a video call with Dr. Oh, who has regained consciousness and hysterically screams, “We were going to die. No, my Jae-jin would die!”

On the ferry ride, Sa-gang reveals that she found out about Jae-jin’s affair as soon as it began. She kept a watch on the two and thought they’d ended things since she had paid Se-na to break up with Jae-jin.

On the island, they head to a restaurant Jae-jin could have visited. The owner confirms Jae-jin and Se-na’s presence. A boy then informs them about an accident: a car has been found in the ocean. Yeong-won and the party rush to the scene and are shocked to confirm that the rented car belongs to Jae-jin. Something heavy falls off the car, and the episode ends.

The Episode Review

The latter half of the episode was much better. The show tries extremely hard to make the black comedy relevant to the plot, but the execution fails because the characters feel detached from the seriousness of what’s happening to Yeong-won and Sa-gang’s family.

The black comedy isn’t very clever or appealing either in most cases. Rarely does it evoke a chuckle from viewers, such as when the name of the restaurant Jae-jin visits, “Gesekki Jjamppong,” sounds similar to a curse word clearly intended for Jae-jin.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger, which is the only hook retaining the viewer’s interest and attention in an otherwise seemingly average plot. However, since we are still at episode 4, it’s too early to judge how the events will pan out.