Perfect Family: Episodes 1-2
by starrygazer
If you’re looking for something sinister and dark — and you like not quite knowing who in the show to trust — Perfect Family is definitely worth the watch. There are some twists and turns coupled with misdirection, and quite honestly I think this is going to be a shocking drama.
EPISODES 1-2
The main protagonist of our story is CHOI SUN-HEE (Park Joo-hyun) and for the moment she is living an idyllic life. Sun-hee was adopted from an orphanage as a child by Dad (Kim Byung-chul) and Mum (Yoon Se-ah). As a family they eat together, go for runs together, and it seems they are very close-knit. Dad wins an “Excellent Persons” award fourth year in a row at work, and Mum and Sun-hee are there to get the “perfect picture” of his achievement together as a family.
Sun-hee is also a high achiever at school, and is focused solely on her studies and the college entrance exam. Both of Sun-hee’s best friends have a crush on her: PARK KYUNG-HO (Kim Young-dae) is quite obvious about his feelings, and JI HYUN-WOO (Lee Shi-woo) tends to hide his feelings as he feels inferior being from a more humble background. For Sun-hee’s birthday Kyung-ho has bought her bedazzled keyring, it seems to me that Kyung-ho’s intense attention makes Sun-hee uncomfortable. The boys seem to have a friendly rivalry when it comes to their feelings for Sun-hee, but everything is about to change with the arrival of LEE SOO-YEON (Choi Ye-bin).
In a very insidious way, Soo-yeon joins Sun-hee’s class and asks Sun-hee if she remembers her. When Sun-hee is alone, Soo-yeon approaches her again and asks her about tying her hair up with a pencil (something we later find out Soo-yeon had taught her to do at the orphanage). She also hands Sun-hee a box of matches. This triggers a memory for Sun-hee from when she was young and a group of boys were bullying her behind the orphanage. Soo-yeon had come to her rescue and told a creepy story about her parents being killed in a fire while she lit the matches, and this was enough to scare the boys away. After this incident, the girls had become inseparable, and Soo-yeon had taught Sun-hee how to strike a match, even though she wasn’t very good at it. Then everything changed when Soo-yeon told Sun-hee she was going to be adopted so she would be leaving the next day.
In the dead of that night, a fire had broken out at the orphanage and Soo-yeon had been hurt pretty badly – burning half of her scalp. This meant that her adoption was cancelled because it costs a lot of money to treat burns. In the present, Soo-yeon snarls at Sun-hee that she wouldn’t understand because she’s always been happy. Poor Sun-hee feels awful — I genuinely think she had no idea all of this had happened to Soo-yeon. Soo-yeon holds Sun-hee to ransom with her guilt and tells her she wants the bedazzled keyring (that Kyung-ho had given her) and helps herself to it. It’s hard not to swing between feeling sorry for Soo-yeon and wanting to slap her – she’s been dealt a horrible hand in life so far but she doesn’t do herself any favors behaving like a brat.
After this revelation, we see Sun-hee return from school the next day and ask her dad for advice. Sun-hee tells Dad that she has a friend who she doesn’t really know how to talk to. And with Soo-yeon’s erratic behavior — screaming and throwing things at the drop of a hat — I can totally understand why. Sun-hee says it’s different with Hyun-woo and Kyung-ho, because she can tell what they’re thinking. Dad laughs and tells her that’s just what teenage boys are like, even though he was an exception. Yeah I bet you were. There is something creepy in the forced smiling and fake laughing that comes from both of Sun-hee’s parents. Dad suggests Sun-hee write a letter to this friend as it will enable her to get all of her thoughts out — not bad advice.
We get a little insight into Soo-yeon’s life at the moment. Soo-yeon has been swindled by her part time job: the boss sold the store and did off with all their wages. Soo-yeon’s living with an older girl from the orphanage and we learn that she chose to go to this expensive school because she wanted to be close to Sun-hee — weird, considering her resentment. Now that Soo-yeon has no money, she decides to ask Sun-hee for it. Sun-hee doesn’t hear her request at first which enrages Soo-yeon who then screams in Sun-hee’s face that she needs money, making a huge scene.
At school the next day, Kyung-ho puts money on Soo-yeon’s desk and tells her not to bully Sun-hee and ask him if she’s desperate for money – Kyung-ho’s father is a famous painter so he’s loaded. Enraged again, Soo-yeon smacks Kyung-ho as he’s walking away from her, and screams she doesn’t want his money. Soo-yeon proceeds to get in Sun-hee’s face on the way out screaming, “Do you think I’m a beggar!?” Calm down, tiger – geez. Kyung-ho didn’t exactly handle the situation well, but Soo-yeon seems to be becoming more unhinged by the second.
Jealousy peaks for Soo-yeon when she sees Sun-hee’s mum pick Sun-hee and Kyung-ho up after school. This is noticed by two school bullies who start following Soo-yeon. The bullies say they’ve heard about Soo-yeon’s outburst and they’ve heard she was infamous at her last school. Trying to get Soo-yeon on their side, they ask her if she wants them to take care of Sun-hee, whom they call annoying because she is rich, a model student, and even has a handsome bodyguard. If Soo-yeon agrees, she can become their friend. But Soo-yeon isn’t interested; she’s not interested in making friends with the nice kids, let alone these two.
The next day, Kyung-ho apologizes to Soo-yeon for the way he behaved. Soo-yeon was not expecting that (but I noticed she didn’t give him an apology for whooping his ass…). Meanwhile, Sun-hee waits for Soo-yeon after Kyung-ho’s apology, and Soo-yeon asks if she made him do it. Sun-hee confirms she asked him too because she felt it was her fault. Sun-hee seems to be a genuinely sweet girl, and it seems since the orphanage, she hasn’t really had to deal with challenging people or situations; this is her way of keeping everyone on good terms.
However, this gentle maneuver by Sun-hee seems to have gotten right up Soo-yeon’s nose. Soo-yeon waits for Sun-hee to finish at her academy and then lures her to a dark alley with “something to tell her.” Soo-yeon starts menacingly asking Sun-hee how badly she thinks she was hurt in that fire…? Soo-yeon yanks her wig off, and we see half her hair missing and she has disfiguring scars over half of her scalp. Sun-hee is stunned into silence and completely shocked — as was I. Soo-yeon starts asking Sun-hee how much she has wronged her. She is placing all the blame on Sun-hee.
In a flashback, we see a sad Sun-hee behind the orphanage thinking about being left all alone and trying to strike a match. She thinks she hasn’t lit it, and decides to put the match back in the box and leaves it there amongst a load of wood and rubbish. It seems Sun-hee had no idea she had started that fire, and she is horrified. It turns out Sun-hee had been adopted while Soo-yeon was in hospital and didn’t know about the extent of her injuries. In the present, Sun-hee tells Soo-yeon she assumed she had been adopted too and was living a good life, and Sun-hee promises to pay Soo-yeon back for the rest of her life. Upon Sun-hee’s return home after that horrifying story of enlightenment, she can’t sleep. She decides to write that letter to Soo-yeon, apologizing and asking if they can be close friends like before.
With said letter in hand, Soo-yeon goes to a rooftop at the school to read it alone, and she seems touched by the contents. Just as Soo-yeon is about to calmly go back to class, the two school bullies from earlier turn up. The bullies taunt her, asking her what she had to talk to Sun-hee about and if she wears a wig. Calm Soo-yeon has left the building, and slightly unhinged Soo-yeon is back as the camera angle pans to the sky. When the audience reenter the scene, the bullies are cowering on the floor with bloody noses and Soo-yeon telling them to stay away from Sun-hee. (Soo-yeon’s bad personality traits seem to come in handy sometimes.)
On her way, home Soo-yeon is followed and attacked by the two bullies she put in their place earlier, but unfortunately for Soo-yeon, they have back up in the form of two older boys. One of the boys comments that Soo-yeon is tough because she’s not making a sound even though one of the girls is slapping her on the ground. Seeing this as an invitation, the other boy goes over and smacks Soo-yeon – hard. Just then, Kyung-ho turns up and defends Soo-yeon from the boys. (Hyun-woo is hiding around the corner calling the police.)
As the police arrive, Kyung-ho grabs Soo-yeon’s hand and along with Hyun-woo they run away. Soo-yeon has a serious “savior crush” now, and the boys follow her home to make sure she’s safe. At school, Soo-yeon takes the class bin out and overhears Kyung-ho and Hyun-woo talking. Hyun-woo asks Kyung-ho if he likes Soo-yeon now and he says no way – he’ll only ever like Sun-hee. Unhinged Soo-yeon makes another appearance as she aggressively tells Sun–hee if Kyung-ho wants to speak to her today that Sun-hee better ignore it and not go – otherwise their friendship is over. Sun-hee is so out of her depth not knowing how to handle Soo-yeon’s rages, and she does as she’s told.
At this point, we finally reach the scene that has been flashed forward to several times throughout these episodes, but the month-long lead up is needed for the scene to make sense. When Sun-hee gets home, she remembers she hasn’t given Soo-yeon the math text book yet, so she goes out to find her. Seeing Soo-yeon enter Kyung-ho’s house, she dithers about following her in until she hears shouting. Kyung-ho has decked his front room out in pictures and balloons for his love confession to Sun-hee. Then Soo-yeon comes in and tells him it’s a crappy idea, and not to do it because he will fail. Kyung-ho asks Soo-yeon if she likes Sun–hee, and that’s why she’s being like this. This is enough to flip that switch in Soo-yeon’s head and she goes nuts. When Sun-hee enters, Soo-yeon’s wig is on the floor and she is wrestling with Kyung-ho and a very large kitchen knife.
Soo-yeon starts screaming at Sun-hee telling her she broke her promise she shouldn’t be here. As Kyung-ho breaks free, Soo-yeon screams that her life is like this because of Sun-hee. She lunges for her just as Kyung-ho jumps in the way and gets stabbed on Sun-hee’s behalf, falling to the floor and losing consciousness. We then see Sun-hee stumbling home in shock, covered in blood. She tells her mum she killed Kyung-ho and she needs to turn herself in. (Pretty normal response, I would say, apart from the fact Sun-hee didn’t actually do it. Maybe her guilt over Soo-yeon is making Sun-hee want to cover for her?) Mum’s response, however, is worrying to say the least.
Sun-hee is curled up on the floor an absolute mess, but Mum asks what did she kill him with, where’s the body, and if there were any witnesses. (Sorry Mum, run that one past me again?) After telling Sun-hee to change and wash, Mum brings Sun-hee some warm milk with a side order of drugs and tells her to turn herself in if she wants to make mum an accomplice. Mum’s last parting question was: did Sun-hee leave anything behind? Sun-hee says she left her phone and text book, and a very shifty-looking Mum leaves Sun-hee to pass out. When Sun-hee comes to, her lost belongings are on her desk, and Mum and Dad are being very creepy and smiley at the breakfast table saying Sun-hee looks unwell, and asking if she had a nightmare. Argh – the chills…
Things start to resemble the twilight zone when Mum and Dad are being as “normal” as ever and everyone is eating breakfast when Sun-hee hears the news. A fire broke out in Kyung-ho’s house and his entire family are dead! Wait a damn minute, covering up a murder for your child is wrong. But killing an entire family is a completely different level of crazy, wrong, and a few more expletives I have chosen but will not share.
The police are on the scene at Kyung-ho’s house and discussing how the parents were blackout drunk in bed, and how that’s strange because even in this situation at least one person usually survives. The fire started in the son’s room with cigarettes and thinner – Kyung-ho’s dad was a painter, remember – and it looks like Kyung-ho will take the blame for this. Soo-yeon is standing behind the police barrier looking all shifty, and the police see her and decide to look into Kyung-ho’s friends. Soo-yeon is frantically trying to get in touch with Sun-hee who is currently having a breakdown in her room.
Wow, what a premiere week! If you want a drama that makes you think – this is it. Soo-yeon is clearly acting out and feels the world is unfair (which it is). However, this is not an excuse for her violent and manipulative behavior. But as bad as Soo-yeon is, I don’t think she’s the “big bad” in this show. Sun-hee’s parents however, seem to be in a whole other league of creepy and badness. Next week’s episodes will hopefully fill in some blanks and give us a clear direction, because right now I am uncertain where this is going… which I think is exactly as intended.
RELATED POSTS
Tags: Kim Byung-chul, Kim Young-dae, Park Joo-hyun, Perfect Family, Yoon Se-ah
Required fields are marked *
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
1 Jezz
August 17, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Don't forget to mention that one of the Kdrama's mistakes. I am confused that instead of Seon-hee, the TV screen on the opening scene of first episode accidentally said that she was Sunhui (Dear Sunhui). Oops. That's not Sunhui, she's Seon-hee.
Required fields are marked *
Jezz
August 17, 2024 at 5:11 PM
Note: My another confusion regarding Sun-hee/Seon-hee. The Wikipedia page of this Kdrama says she was Seon-hee... but on this first weecap, she was Sun-hee.
Required fields are marked *
missvictrix
August 17, 2024 at 5:25 PM
These are all just different romanizations of the same name 선희 :)
Required fields are marked *
miso
August 17, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Like @missvictrix said, it's the same name just romanised differently. For instance, Kim Hee-sun and Kim Seon-ho both have 선 in their name but their names are written differently in English on Wikipedia.
Similarly, for 희, 'Hui' is probably the closer romanisation but it's often also listed as 'Hee'.
Required fields are marked *
2 Jezz
August 17, 2024 at 5:09 PM
Comment was deleted
Required fields are marked *
3 Blue (@mayhemf)
August 17, 2024 at 5:49 PM
That was crazy! Parents acting so chill the morning after the murder was creepy as f.
Soo-yeo temperament and her explosive behavior is scary!! Not to mention the guilt tripping.
Sun Hee seems like a sweet kid. Hope she gets a happy ending.
There is a good chance Sun Hee didn’t cause the orphanage fire. I won’t be surprised if she was indeed the mothers biological daughter who she gave up for adoption before marriage.
Expecting some twists and turns.
Required fields are marked *
Peridot
August 18, 2024 at 7:02 AM
Yes, I also agree that there is more to the fire story. What will Seon-hui think when she realizes her guilt (and what results from it) is based on a lie/misinformation?
Required fields are marked *
4 kay4625
August 17, 2024 at 6:20 PM
Part of me feels bad for Soo-yeon, as she's obviously been dealt a bad hand in life, but of course that doesn't justify any of her behavior. Her actions are inexcusable, and she needs to take responsibility for them and accept the consequences. Whether she'll actually get that chance though is another question altogether.
If the mom is this normal after killing a family by burning their house down, it really makes you wonder what other skeletons the parents have in their closet, and what else they're capable of. I'm pretty sure Soo-yeon is going to be next on their hitlist when they find out she's the one who killed Kyung-ho, and everybody who gets to close to the truth will probably find themselves on that list as well. This also begs the question as to how safe Sun-hee is. Sure, the mom covered up a murder for her (with more murder), but something tells me she herself might be in very real danger if she starts to uncover their secrets. I'm also curious about the adoption, because something feels shady about that too.
Also, I didn't quite trust Kyung-ho. I don't know what it was, but something about him just rubbed me the wrong way, and I wonder if we'll find out more about him through flashbacks. I also wonder how Hyun-woo will react to Kyung-ho's death. Is he going to be an ally to Sun-hee, or is he gonna be a problem? I sure hope it's the first, because I think she's gonna need all the help she can get.
Required fields are marked *
5 tabong
August 17, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Thank you for the recap, starrygazer!
I had lots of fun with this.
I liked how the high school scenes gave us this sour and sweet flavor.
Seon Hui and her friends had this cute and youthful vibe, but everytime Su Yeon was there the air got tense and she would give you the creeps.
But it's interesting that during the childhood flashbacks the one that scared me was Seon Hee. That child actress was the highlight of the first episode, imo. She was scary. Anyway, I just think it's interesting that the Seon Hee would grow up to be manipulated by the girl she protected. The personality switch could mean something in the future.
But what I liked the most was this:
"Things start to resemble the twilight zone when Mum and Dad are being as “normal” as ever and everyone is eating breakfast when Sun-hee hears the news."
Yes! It was such a sinister scene, and I loved it!
In other shows after what Seon Hui did we would see her mom slap her, and talk about how "orphans are bad because". And then the husband would've turned out to be a cheater because. And more BS like that. But nope! They stayed the same and that was more scary and thrilling than anything else.
We don't know how much of their lives is a lie. Do they only see Seon Hui as a doll? do they care for her at all? Why did they adopt her? The dad didn't seem too happy about it.
What else do they hide behind those smiles? Did the mom really set Gyeong Ho's house on fire to get rid of the evidence? How many bodies have they buried? Is Seon Hui going to join them or confront them?
I'm excited to know all the answers!
PS. The BGM is ALWAYS on point. I love it.
Required fields are marked *
Peridot
August 18, 2024 at 7:09 AM
Yes, the dad seemed to be reluctant and unhappy in that flashback scene.
Required fields are marked *
Jane
August 18, 2024 at 8:24 AM
The small girl being bullied was Sun Hee. It wad Soo Yeon who scared of the little boys with the matches.
Required fields are marked *
Blue (@mayhemf)
August 18, 2024 at 6:07 PM
This. I thought the same too
Required fields are marked *
tabong
August 21, 2024 at 3:05 PM
You guys are right. The small girl was Seon Hui.
My bad!
Required fields are marked *
6 Bunny Sonaki
August 17, 2024 at 7:38 PM
My takeaways from the premiere
#1 To survive high school bullies, martial arts practice is a must.
#2 Soo-yeon needs to practice anger management better yet to visit a psychiatrist
#3 Sun-hui is too naive thinking they are friends
Required fields are marked *
7 world-smitten
August 18, 2024 at 4:43 AM
Sky Castle parents are back!! And as expected, they're instantly the best part of these first 2 episodes. Yoon Se-ah sucks all the air out of a scene with her cloying smiles and sharp eyes - she's a delight to watch. I think the script is paper thin, but the direction is very terse and patient. I'm less impressed by the show's insistence on these kids tho. Seon hui and Soo yeon's relationship should be interesting, but I mostly just find it tiring. And the awkward doomed love triangle that triggers the murder was so trite, been there done that. I'm inclined to like Soo-yeon, but I don't know if this show does, so we'll see. I need, NEED Yoon Se-ah and Kim Byung-chul in front of my eyeballs all the time, thanks.
Required fields are marked *
8 Peridot
August 18, 2024 at 7:08 AM
I wonder if Soo-yeon was meant to have been adopted by Seon-hui's parents. Who was really behind the orphanage fire and why? Was it to cover up something?
Required fields are marked *
FormAnOrderlyQueue
August 18, 2024 at 5:27 PM
Yes, there's something sinister here. We've had a couple of flashbacks showing that Soo-yeon seemed to be the parents first choice and then they suddenly changed their choice. I'm thinking that is deliberate, but not because she was burned in the orphanage fire. We clearly saw the fire happen and Soo-yeon was unharmed outside. So what happened to her later that she ended up with such burns? And has this been planned from the beginning so that the parents can use Soo-yeon, fuelled on bitterness, as a weapon in the future? Woah...
Required fields are marked *
tabong
August 18, 2024 at 5:31 PM
Woah, that would be a mastermind plan.
Required fields are marked *
Justsomeone
September 4, 2024 at 12:51 AM
wait. what? suyeon was outside when the fire happened? i didn't notice that. after seeing your comment, i rewatched the episode. but i still couldn't find it. i only watched the first 2 episodes so i don't know.....
Required fields are marked *
9 Annie
August 18, 2024 at 11:27 AM
I gave up after the first half of the first episode, because it was too dark for me, but I will continue to read the recaps.
I've been thinking, is there any connection about the story the little Soo-yeon told the bullies, about her mom starting a fire in the house, and the fact that after the stabbing there was a fire in Kyung-Ho's house?
Is it possible that Soo-yeon is mom's real daughter, who has inherited the arsonist gene? And mom somehow gave her up, and later adopted another child?
I think it's gonna be interesting, but I just can't watch all the gloom :-((
Required fields are marked *