Perfect Family: Episodes 11-12 (Final)

1 September 20, 2024September 20, 2024

Perfect Family: Episodes 11-12 (Final)

by starrygazer

We reach the finale of our show this week, and thankfully the last two episodes are more linear than any of the previous episodes. After all of the explanations last week we are shown how the past shaped the future. But will our “perfect family” get the closure they need?

EPISODES 11-12

We are brought back to the night of the fire that killed Mum and Dad’s son. Dad is working late when a gangster is brought in front of him. He’s one of the gangsters that was threatening Hyun-min. Bargaining for lesser charges, the gangster tells Dad that he can give him information on someone posing as a prosecutor. Meanwhile, at the “death trap office” their son is there to watch Sun-hee as a favor to Hyun-min — but both the son and Sun-hee have passed out after drinking a drugged glass of juice given to them by Hyun-min. (This guy is really something.) It seems Hyun-min is planning on asking Mum and Dad for ransom money to pay off his creditors. Poor Sun-hee is always a pawn in the crossfire when it comes to her bio-dad and his awful plans.

As Hyun-min is leaving – and attempting to chain the doors shut — the police swoop in and arrest him for 1) impersonating a public official 2) forgery and 3) fraud. Good! However, when the police and Dad search the office, Hyun-min has blocked the door to the room where the kids are, so they leave not knowing that the kids are in there unconscious. Hyun-min thinks he has the upper hand judging by that joker-like grin he has on his face. Hyun-min is gloating to Dad at the police station, telling him he better save him if he wants his son back. Dad loses his composure and goes for Hyun-min who is laughing maniacally. It astounds me how clever this lunatic thinks he is.

While all of this is happening, back at the office the son wakes up, and he is starting to feel a little panicked when he can’t find his phone (Hyun-min took it). He can’t wake Sun-hee, and it’s dark, so he decides to look for a light. Oh this is such a bad idea, I’m low key hoping the son never finds the light switch – but we all know he does. As the son flips the light switch on and off, we see sparks fly from the electrical board in the other room. When Sun-hee wakes up the son hugs her and says it’s okay just as he starts coughing from the smoke. He opens the door but the other room is engulfed in flames, so he quickly closes it looking for another way out. There is a small set of windows quite high up, so he breaks a window and carefully helps Sun-hee out… but there’s no way he would fit through there.

Once Sun-hee is out, the son goes back to the door, and makes his way through the fire-filled room that is collapsing around him. As he gets to a bigger window, he panics and is frantically clawing at things to get out. Just as the son turns around he sees the fire reach what looks like containers with turpentine inside, and he is enveloped in the explosion that follows. This is just so sad. He was such a lovely kid and he was so sweet with Sun-hee. It may not have been intentional to kill him on Hyun-min’s part, but he was definitely to blame.

Even more heartbreaking is that Mum and Dad are on their way to the office when the fire comes over the police radio. (Hyun-min has their son’s phone and the last place it pinged was at the office. Dad also remembered a door he had seen on his first visit, so with police in tow, they’re all on their way back to the office.) When they arrive at the office a “survivor” is brought out, and through the smoke a fireman materializes holding Sun-hee. My heart broke into a million pieces hearing Mum screaming in pain for her son when she saw he wasn’t the survivor.

This leads us on to Mum being curious about Sun-hee. Bio-dad is in prison (thank God) and her grandma passed away, so this leaves Sun-hee no other option but to go to an orphanage. Talk about traumatized! Mum and Dad visit her at the orphanage and Dad wants to leave and never to return, but Mum sees Sun-hee as a gift from their son. Their son’s last act on this earth was to save Sun-hee — the poor girl wasn’t to blame for any of this. Mum goes back to the orphanage every day to see Sun-hee from afar, and there she meets the young Soo-yeon. Mum chats to Soo-yeon asking her to be Sun-hee’s friend, which is the start of the girls’ friendship. Even though Dad thinks no one will understand their choice to raise their enemy’s child (his mother included), Mum explains her feelings about Sun-hee and they go to adopt her (this is a couple of years post fire). There is a really sweet moment here where Mum asks little Sun-hee for a hug, and you can almost feel her healing.

Finally, we are back in the present day! Dad has survived *claps* and Soo-yeon is barely alive after being found shoved in a locker — I just assumed she was still in the boot of Hyun-min’s car, but hey-ho. Hyun-min however, is nowhere to be seen and that uneasy feeling is starting to come back tenfold. Cut to: Hyun-woo and Sun-hee shopping (Hyun-woo’s alive! *double claps*). The two of them have a chat and Sun-hee thanks Hyun-woo for everything. It sounds final, but Hyun-woo is feeling as uneasy as I am as he watches Sun-hee dash off.

Sun-hee is cleaning their house which is fire damaged (they don’t live there at the moment), and is preparing a commemorative birthday meal for their son. Mum and Dad arrive and Sun-hee says she wanted to make her oppa a birthday meal, cake and all. Sun-hee tells her parents she’s grateful their son saved her. It’s sweet how Dad tells Sun-hee they hid things to protect her, and Mum says their son brought Sun-hee to them like fate, and he would have loved this. Both parents are trying hard to let Sun-hee know this is not her fault, and as the “perfect family” sit around the table something just feels… off. Sun-hee’s hands are shaking when she puts the seaweed soup down in front of Mum and Dad and both parents notice. Even though they notice something is wrong, both Mum and Dad eat — oh no. When they pass out, Hyun-min appears. Just how many lives does this dude have?! Shot, drowned — what’s next?

We then learn that Hyun-min had called Sun-hee and asked for a favor (in what world does this girl owe you anything?!) Looking at Mum and Dad passed out, Hyun-min says it’s over for them — Sun-hee can’t live with them anymore anyway. Hyun-min wants to rob Mum and Dad so he and Sun-hee can “start a new life together.” The delusions of his warped little mind are just incredible! Hyun-min continues that he can be a good dad if he has money. Sorry, but I’m positive you can be a good dad/parent regardless of how much money you have, you cretin. Sun-hee’s demeanor through all of this is very calm and emotionless; is she finally getting a chance to be active instead of reactive?

After telling Hyun-min that the money is in the safe, Sun-hee says the passcode is her birthday. Does bio-~~degenerate~~ dad remember her birthday? After a million attempts he does. *slaps palm to forehead* Luckily for Sun-hee, in the midst of trying to remember her birthday, Hyun-min takes a massive slug of whiskey — she’s been watching him and waiting for him to do this. Hyun-min’s happiness at opening the safe is short-lived as he falls to the floor clutching his throat and crawls to the main room. Sun-hee had also dosed all of the liquor in the house with what I’m assuming is the peanut powder that they are both massively allergic to.

Although Sun-hee is upset, she says to Hyun-min that this was the only option. Sun-hee’s not wrong: Hyun-min would continue to ruin her parent’s lives every chance he got, and I know it’s mean but I’m not sorry that this is the end for him. It is shocking when Sun-hee pours herself a glass, and gets down on her knees to drink it, imagining Mum and Dad consoling her. We can take a deep breath, however. Hyun-woo’s uneasy feeling got the better of him and he called Detective Shin, who goes to the house with back up to find everyone passed out.

Following a three-year time jump, the show keeps its usual format of not telling us anything straight away to keep us guessing. It was obvious Hyun-min died, but we never saw Sun-hee’s face. Mum and Dad are okay and letting Hyun-woo take a look around the new remodel of their home. We see Hyun-woo emailing Sun-hee saying her parents looked sad — hollow — and he continues that everyone is worried because they can’t reach her. He hopes she’s okay and he misses her. Hyun-woo then goes with Soo-yeon’s older friend to the prison for her release. (Soo-yeon needed a reality check so hopefully prison did this for her.) Upon seeing Soo-yeon, Hyun-woo says he has forgiven her for stabbing him, but I’m not sure I have yet…

Over coffee, Soo-yeon and Hyun-woo talk about how she feels about Sun-hee. Soo-yeon says Sun-hee reminded her of what the warmth of a family should feel like, so when Sun-hee left, Soo-yeon felt lonely and lost. Now she regrets not being honest with Sun-hee from the start when she turned up at school, and making her suffer instead. Hyun-woo comforts Soo-yeon by saying she should tell Sun-hee how she feels when she returns from Canada. (Side note: Mum and Dad have obviously told people Sun-hee is in Canada. I really hope they’re not covering over another death of a child because it’s painful for them.)

Ah, I spoke too soon! Mum and Dad are at home talking about how the house is too quiet when Mum goes to the window and says she can feel Sun-hee’s presence. Mum and Dad hightail it outside and catch up to Sun-hee (yey she’s alive)! Over the breakfast table it’s time for a frank conversation. Sun-hee apologizes for making her parents worry, but she thought they could only be happy if she wasn’t here. But no matter how far she got, she missed them and just wanted to see them one more time. Sun-hee continues that she has no right to live with them after everything that happened. Of course she has a right, Mum tells her: she’s their daughter — their everything. (So sweet.)

As the apologies are flying, Dad picks up the baton. Dad says that when Sun-hee said she stabbed Kyung-ho, he was too busy covering it up to see her. Dad thought that was the best way to care for her, but ultimately realized he was caring for himself. Dad didn’t want to lose her and watch his family fall apart again. Mum chimes in that no one in this family is perfect, and Dad poses a question to Sun-hee: Mum and I are imperfect, but will you be our daughter? After watching lots of reassurance and hugging, I did not think for a second my warm and fuzzy meter would be going off watching this drama.

Remembering Dad’s advice on writing a letter to people you have trouble communicating with, Sun-hee writes a heartfelt letter to Granny asking her to come to a family photoshoot and trusting that she will. It seems Granny harbors a lot of her own guilt for not believing her younger son who died and leaving Dad to struggle alone; she even mentions being cruel to Sun-hee. However, Granny arrives at the photoshoot and Sun-hee helps her walk in much to Dad and Mum’s surprise. Granny apologizes to Dad for allowing him to suffer and Dad says he’s sorry for not understanding her more. Granny even acknowledges how hard everything has been for Mum. Well this is a turn around, and it’s nice to see Granny thawing out.

We end with our not-so-perfect family preparing a meal and sitting around their breakfast table, with the lovely family portrait hanging where the old one used to be. It’s a nice note to end the show on, but I would have liked to have seen Sun-hee reconnect with Hyun-woo and Soo-yeon, just to get some closure for all three of them after living through such traumatic experiences.

As for my final thoughts, I will forever be creeped out by “Aquarium” from Carnival of the Animals now, as it was played throughout the whole show every time something underhanded was happening. It is supposed to sound like fish swimming underwater, but in this instance I think it was to show how this “perfect family” were slowly drowning in fear. After Sun-hee spent most of the show quaking in her boots, seeing this poor girl step up and finally end things makes the ending a win in my book.