"My Perfect Stranger" drama: Episode three of sixteen recap

 

 Air Dates: May 1st until June 20, 2023 on KBS 2, Monday and Tuesdays nights at 9:45 pm

Director: Kang Soo-Yeon, episodes are 65 minutes in length and subs done by iTs

Rating for this episode: 4.0%, not high ratings as KBS2 is a cable network which means the numbers are actually very respectable.

Main Cast: This drama was originally scheduled to air in the Autumn of 2022 but got pushed back twice. Have been looking forward to this series as it stars my second favorite Korean actress who is Jin Ki-Joo and hasn't seen her in any show for two years. Writing much of this up after viewing the first episode, there will be a lot of editing to the characters and more of them will be added in. This is a time travel drama, it began off in 2021 when the main male star Hae-Jun found a car that can travel in time either forwards or backwards! But think most of the drama will be set in 1987 and it could be nostalgic for any older K-drama fans who may visit here. 

**** When Yoon-Young was transported back to 1987 it was the evening of May 9th, dates will be important as a serial killer murders his first victim on May 14th.... or will he be stopped????

Kim Dong-Wook as Yoon Hae-Jun.... 32 year old KSBC anchor who one night happened to find this time travel car at the entrance to a tunnel! He believed in only facts but thought why not read the user manual to see if this car could travel in time... it could as Hae-Jun went to the year 3089! Shortly after returning to the year 2021 Hae-Jun took another trip and this time to 2037, what he found out is one of the main stories to this series. Hae-Jun discovered he was murdered in 2022 by a serial killer and went to visit this killer in prison upon returning to 2021. This man Go wasn't the true killer of many people way back in the year of 1987 but had been framed for the killings, Hae-Jun believed this man and to clear his name and also to save his own life Hae-Jun went back to the year 1987 to find out who the killer really was and to possibly stop the murders. The location will be the smallish country city of Woojung.

 Jin Ki-Joo as Baek Yoon-Young.... Editor in chief for a very popular woman author of murder novels though Yoon-Young seems to do most of the work. In the first episode she was fired by this author who was named Mi-Sook and it had to be a relief to be fired! Right around the time of Yoon-Young being fired her mother killed herself and she blames herself for the death, also her alcoholic father. A few days after her mother's death Yoon-Young was wandering near a tunnel when the time travel car driven by Hae-Jun came close to hitting her, at the time the machine was set to travel to 1987 which is where the pair ended up at. Of course Yoon-Young thought it was a dream but when she realized she had travelled back in time she was thrilled! The second main story will be of  Yoon-Young stopping her parents from meeting each other and getting married, if so what will happen to her???? Like Hae-Jun's story it will be set in the smallish city of Woojung. In the third episode Yoon-Young began to impersonate as a high school student to get closer to her mother. Yoon-Young is around thirty in age but claimed to Hae-Jun she could pass for being 22, she told everyone she had to stay back a few years because of family problems.

**** The above two are from the year 2021 but most of the action will take place in 1987, here are the main characters from that year. The location is a smallish city named Woojung-ri.

Seo Ji-Hye as Lee Soon-Ae.... In 1987 she was 18 in age and the top girl in her senior high school class. However she had no true friends and spent her time writing stories as she was such a fan of novels. Soon-Ae is actually Yoon-Young's mother and now that she somehow ended up in the year 1987 she's trying to prevent Soon-Ae getting married to Baek. So you have to wonder if Yoon-Young is successful would that mean she never existed?

 Lee Won-Jung as Baek Hee-Sub.... Yoon-Young's father though he too was only eighteen in 1987. He was a bit of an innocent lad and actually was quite nice back in 1987, Hee-Sub loved music but never began a band. He eventually became such an alcoholic and that was one of the reasons for Soon-Ae committing suicide in 2021. Hee-Sop is also a new transfer student at Woojung high school, he began on the same day Yoon-Young did.

Park Soo-Hyung as Hyung-Man.... Soon-Ae's father who owns a combination tea shop, general store and bus stop for travelling to and from Seoul.

Kim Jun-Young as Ok-Ja.... Soon-Ae's mother and has two other children.

Kim Ye-Ji as Kim Hae-Kyung.... Friend of Soon-Ae's, like Hae-Kyung the other girls Soon-Ae hangs out with none of them are 'true friends' and all love to party which at times has gotten Soon-Ae into trouble. On the left below is Hae-Kyung, the other two are her cronies Eun-Ha in glasses and Yu-Ri, all bully Soon-Ae.

Ji Hye-Won as Ko Mi-Sook.... Another 'friend' of Soon-Ae's who we met near the end of the second episode. She's the same woman who became a popular writer many years later and of all things Yoon-Young was her editor in chief! Mi-Sook's first novel was a huge hit but she had actually stolen the story from Soon-Ae who never said a word. Mi-Sook was such a creep back in 1987 and was even worse in 2021! Mi-Soon does come from a very wealthy family so her snobbery began on the day she was born!

Kim Yeon-Woo as Ko Min-Soo.... Mi-Sook's older brother and the same man Hae-Jun met in 2021. In that year Ko had just been released from prison after serving 34 years for murders he never committed. Though innocent for those crimes Ko is still such a creep who may have raped some girls back in 1987 and almost did so to Young-Yoon!

Choi Young-Woo as Dong-Sik.... Hee-Seop's tough uncle who is a detective. We learned in the third show Hee-Sop's parents are dead and he's now moved in with his uncle.

Joo Yeon-Woo as Yoo Bum-Ryong.... High school student who became Hee-Sub's first friend in Woojung and we didn't meet him until the third episode. Bit of an oddball who is on the suspect list of some upcoming murders!

Kim Jong-Soo as Yoon Byung-Gu.... Principal of the Woojung high school.

**** The below group of characters we met in the first episode who are from the year 2021, unsure if we'll be seeing much more of them as most of the drama takes place in 1987.

Lee Ji-Hyun as Lee Soon-Ae.... Yoon-Young's mother and the pair didn't get along so well, it was a reason for Soon-Ae committing suicide in the first episode.

Lee Kyu-Hoe as Baek Hee-Sop.... Yoon-Young's father who is such a waste as all he does is drink, him and his wife lived off what their daughter sent them in cash and he's the other main reason Soon-Ae killed herself.

Kim Hye-Eun as Go Mi-Sook.... Popular writer of murder mysteries, Yoon-Young was her editor who seemed to do most of the work until she was fired in the first show. Mi-Sook also lived back in Woojung in 1987 and had known Yoon-Young's mother, actually she stole the story for her first novel from her!

Im Jong-Yun as Ko Min-Soo.... Man who was accused of killing many people in the small city of Woojung back in 1987. However Go was innocent and after 34 years is about to be released from prison. No one had listened to Ko's pleas for all those years until Jae-Hun visited him the day before his release and has vowed to discover who the real killer was. 

 Whew, big cast and sure more characters will be introduced so that section above will be increasing for the first few shows and of course will also be updated.

Links to the previous recaps, may help to read a few of them and especially the first.

Episode one .... Episode two

Short promo video for this episode.

  

 Did a lot more editing and think that'll be happening for a while. Also added in two characters though one of them is also in the 2021 section and that's the man Ko who we saw in this episode back in the year 1987 and most of the drama is currently taking place then. For the longest time it was an unwritten rule that a Korean drama had to be twenty episodes which I thought was a negative. There had to be a lot of filler after the tenth episode to stretch things out which is why I wasn't a huge fan of most of their dramas for so long. But right around 2015/6 the norm became 12-16 episodes and the shows became much more better because of that. Was thinking towards the end of this episode how there's been zero filler to date and don't think there will be. Everything that's taken place had something to do with that episode or will become important in the future so really glad dramas were shortened. To an extent they were as most Korean series are still over twice as long as a Japanese drama.

 There was a incident I forgot to include in the last recap, it's not too important at the moment but may become so. So if you read the previous recaps you know that near the end of the first episode Yoon-Young had been grazed by Hae-Jun's Time Machine car and went back to the year 1987 with him. In the last show Hae-Jun was wondering why that happened, according to the manual the car is programmed not to get into an accident. The car may have a brain of it's own for if it feels it may hit a person it would become transparent and go through that person! That didn't happen with Yoon-Young so did the car know she truly wanted to be transported back to 1987 to stop her parents from meeting and then get married? That's what Hae-Jun was wondering but to date Yoon-Young hasn't told him the true reason why she's glad to be living in 1987, maybe that will be a bit important in the future. Enough of an intro and let's finally get to what took place in the third show and quite a bit did happen. However first off is what is in the below screenshot, it's a matchbox from a 1987 teahouse. We've seen it on occasion in the first few shows and it's supposed to be a clue to the 1987 killings. What kind of clue is unknown but we do learn a bit more about near the end. One matchbox Hae-Jun had found, when he met Yoon-Young he discovered she had one too and why????

 Weren't any major cliffhangers to end off the previous episode. Yoon-Young had saved her future mother Soon-Ae from drowning in a stream after being pushed in by a trio of bullies. Yoon-Young also met her future boss and the soon to be popular writer Mi-Sook at the scene, much more about them coming up. The episode ended with Hae-Jun finally being able to fix his Time Machine car that he had found at the beginning of the series in a tunnel. It was badly damaged this last time travelling back to 1987 and it didn't appear Hae-Jun could fix it; But he thought it was ready to go and he told Yoon-Young it's time to go back home or at least the year 2021. However she didn't want to leave, we viewers know why as she wants to prevent her parents from ever meeting and then marrying. Yoon-Young still hasn't told Hae-Jun her reasons for staying but he did believe it had to be important and agreed to let her stay on for a while. However all of that may have been a mute point for at the end of their conversation some sparks appeared out from the car's engine and Hae-Jun hasn't quite finished his repair job.

 Yoon-Young's main mission is to get closer to her eighteen year old mother Soon-Ae and to prevent her from getting close to her her future husband Hee-Sub. But how does a woman of about thirty get close to a high school senior? Yoon-Young's bright idea is to become a student at the Woojung High School, she says she can easily pass for someone 22 in age. Then she can say because of family problems she had to stay back a few years and has moved in with her relative Hae-Jun to finish her schooling. Sounds a bit far fetched but the next day the plan began and least for this episode everyone believed the story. The current time is Sunday night, the next day Yoon-Young will accompany Hae-Jun to school. But first those plans may be put on hold as knocking at Hae-Jun's front gate was the detective Baek, he soon could become an important character. Think back in 1987 the tensions with North Korean spies were very high in the South and he was investigating anyone very suspicious. Someone had pointed out Yoon-Young's recent arrival and he went to Hae-Jun's house to question her. Seeing how she had no ID Baek was ready to drag Yoon-Young down to the station and he can be one mean detective. Luckily Hae-Jun was there to save the day and he too is a tough man though doesn't look it. Baek really doesn't care at all for Hae-Jun but knows he's become so respected in Woojung and let Yoon-Young remain with him, will their hatred of each other become important to the story in the future?

 In the last recap mentioned how the dates are going to be very crucial for the next few episodes. The last incident took place on Sunday May 10, it's now Monday May 11th. Hae-Jun went back to 1987 to stop some killings from taking place, the main reason is the killer eventually killed Hae-Jun in 2022! In the first batch of screenshots Hae-Jun was talking to a man named Ko who was just released from prison in 2021 after serving a 34 year sentence for the 1987 murders. Ko did live in Woojung at the time but was innocent, unless Hae-Jun can find the real killer the first murder will take place on May 14th, three days from now. More about Ko near the end and it being Monday it's the first day of the school week, also the first day at Woojung High School for Yoon-Young. In a way attending school will help Hae-Jun keep tabs on Yoon-Young who can fly off the handle so easily and could wreck both of their plans. It was also the first day of school for Baek Hee-Sub, Yoon-Young's future father(!) and also the nephew of the detective Baek. Don't know the full story but seems Hee-Sub's parents are now dead and he's just moved to Woojung which is why he didn't know who Soon-Ae was in the last show.

Hae-Jun is Hee-Sub's homeroom teacher but not his regular one, classes are separated so there's boys and girls classes. Hee-Sub loves punk rock but he's never been in a band and don't even know if he can play an instrument. The class he was assigned to all rolled their eyes at Hee-Sub as all seem to be so studious save for one boy who Hee-Sub sat next to. He's the boy in blue above and his name is Yoo Bum-Ryong, the pair hit off instantly and more about them later. Yoon-Young has been assigned to Class A and naturally her future mother Soon-Ae is in that class, of course the only empty seat was next to her! Soon-Ae is friendless, the only ones who hang out with her on occasion do so just to use or bully Soon-Ae. But seems she's finally found a friend in Yoon-Young though in their first few encounters Soon-Ae thought she was high on super glue! In the bottom screenshot above is the trio of girls that bully Soon-Ae endlessly, surprised she's in classes with them. The ringleader in red is named Hae-Kyung and she immediately came up to threaten Yoon-Young and Soon-Ae a bit. Bad mistake as Yoon-Young did learn a trick from Hee-Sub while they were waiting to be assigned to their classes, Young-Young gave Hae-Kyung a head butt that drew blood and hope there's more of them coming!

 Naturally the small group of bullies were irate but with blood spewing out of Hae-Kyung's nose the trio had to take their leave and patch up their ringleader. One person was very impressed with Yoon-Young's feat and that was Mi-Sook who after Soon-Ae appears to be the smartest girl in class. The class where this incident took place was Korean literature and the teacher was Hae-Jun, you can tell he never was a teacher in 2021 for he isn't all that good but his looks have made the class swoon, Soon-ae especially has fallen for Hae-Jun. The girls had quickly given him a nickname which was Five Second Prince, that's how long it would take in class for Hae-Jun to begin warning the girls of life's dangers! There is a screenshot of that above and of course Hae-Jun knew three days from now is when the first girl in Woojung would be killed. We don't know who she is though Hae-Jun may, he's telling the girls to watch themselves so none become the killer's first victim! Above is Hee-Sub's new and only friend to date who is Bum-Ryong, he was asking Yoon-Young after class if she could give Soon-Ae a note. She's not well liked by most other girls in school yet he and Hee-Sub have crushes on Soon-Ae and why not as she is one very attractive girl. However Bum-Ryong did do a no-no as boys aren't allowed on the girl's side of school and was quickly sent back by Hae-Jun, don't think Soon-Ae ever received that note. 

 Next was a very important scene which led into the final scene of the show, both were a bit long and the second was also very important to the story. Passing by a storage room Yoon-Young heard her future mother Soon-Ae having a conversation with Mi-Sook who dreamt of becoming a writer, so didn't Soon-Ae. Mi-Sook had written a story and had asked Soon-Ae to proof read it, if anything needed to be edited or improved Mi-Sook told her to do so. Which is what Soon-Ae did, as a matter of fact she changed almost everything with Mi-Sook's story and it soon became to be something entirely different. Also much better and Mi-Sook was going to use Soon-Ae's writing for a novel she wanted to pen which did happen months later but everything about that story came from Soon-Ae. Of course with Yoon-Young being Mi-Sook's future editor she knew how this thief worked and burst into the room to take Soon-Ae's story away from Mi-Sook. You would have thought Soon-Ae would have been so pleased as the story was so good she should be the one to have it printed and become popular. But instead Soon-Ae was furious with Yoon-Young as she grabbed the manuscript back and told her to mind her own business! All that is right above and Yoon-Young was so baffled about what took place, why is Soon-Ae defending this creep Mi-Sook and what kind of hold does she have over her future mother?

After that incident Soon-Ae refused to speak to Yoon-Young and as you can see in the top screenshot above Mi-Sook has even threatened her! Yoon-Young knew what kind of cruel and devious person Mi-Sook became in the future and what better way to prevent that from happening than stopping her ways right now! Yoon-Young cornered Mi-Sook outside of school but that conversation went nowhere, Mi-Sook was able to flee away in a taxi. Observing this confrontation was Mi-Sook's older brother Ko who is about four years older, that's him in a few screenshots above. It began to rain heavily so he said he would give Yoon-Young a lift home, during this period Hae-Jun had been searching the school high and low for Yoon-Young for he was supposed to bring her back to his home. Ko did give Yoon-Young some advice on how to battle his sister who is very smart and if Yoon-Young doesn't keep her head up she'll have no chance against Mi-Sook. Keeping her head up is what Yoon-Young didn't do in Ko's car, he grabbed the back of her neck and slammed her violently into the car's dashboard, the next thing Yoon-Young knew she was waking up at Ko's house which his parents own. Seems like Ko has done something evil like this in the past too, he plans on getting Yoon-Young drunk and then having his way with her!!!!

 But suddenly there was knock at the door, when Ko turned his head to the sound Yoon-Young grabbed the whiskey bottle, hit him over the head and screamed for HELP! Crashing in was Hae-Jun who took one look at the situation and began to beat Ko badly, Hae-Jun doesn't look it but he is one tough fighter. Soon the police were notified of what Ko had planned on doing and may have done to others, the detective Baek came and took Ko away. Shortly after Hae-Jun brought Yoon-Young back to his home and finally explained a bit of why he's living in 2021. This lowlife Ko is the same man Hae-Jun had met in 2021 that was just released from prison after 34 years. Ko had been wrongly convicted of killing some girls and also possibly kidnapping at least one back in 1987. Hae-Jun is a reporter and was able to see the police files from 1987, after much investigating he believed Ko's story that he was framed and the real killer has never been caught. If Hae-Jun can't catch the true killer the murders will start in three days plus Hae-Jun himself will be killed by this maniac in 2022!

 Need to have one more mini paragraph as so much did happen. The Woojung police in 1987 had a short list of suspects in the killing, Ko's name was on there but of course he was innocent though as mentioned above was still a slimy man. In a shock the new boy in town and Yoon-Young's future father Hee-Sub's name was also on the list of suspects, he doesn't seem like a killer to me. The final person was Hee-Sub's new friend Bum-Ryong, have only seen him in a few of this episode's scenes but there is that something odd about him which could make him a killer! Then again all three could be innocent and the police never suspected who the real killer could have been. Hae-Jun also brought up the matchboxes he and Yoon-Young had from the 1987 teashop Bong-Bong, they appear to be clues about the killer but in what way? Whew, that finally ends this recap and had to go a bit longer as so much took place, especially in the second half of this episode. Now on to view the fourth show and the recap for that is the next post, many more screenshots to help you follow the story a bit better.

**** Quick edit to the above. Hae-Jun never did say anything about the killings and why he came back to 1987, just viewed the next episode which is where I learned that. What happened in the final scene was what Hae-Jun wanted to say though can't and the entire conversation took place in his head, he still needs to keep his mission a secret from everyone.