As we were halfway through episode 4 ofLies Hidden in My Garden, we felt that it was time that the series picked up the pace. There has been enough setting up of the intrigue, but it is time for some action now. Despite this one criticism from us, we would say that the scene between Jae Ho and Sang Eun was legendary. The way they lay down their cards on their table, with Sang Eun s thinly veiled madness threatening to break out at any moment and Jae Ho s cold assessment of how he could push her buttons, was the highlight of the series so far, and here s a recap of its fourth episode.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened In Joo Ran s Past?
Something that is becoming clear to us is that the reason Joo Ran and Jae Ho moved from Seoul has nothing to do with the smell of the garden. Of course, our assessment could change, but right now, we know that their move had something to do with Joo Ran s sister s death. She remembers that after she discovered her sister s body and was crying outside her door, her neighbor calmly looked at her. There was a level of indifference in that gesture that wasn t normal, and it implied that he was unsurprised by a girl crying her eyes out in horror. That could only mean that he knew what she had seen inside. It is never proven whether the neighbor, Woo Chan Il, had anything to do with Joo Ran s sister s death. In fact, we would guess that he was probably never even doubted. But when years later, Joo Ran sees him again as Seung Jae s homeroom teacher, and the memory comes rushing back to her, she is instantly uncomfortable.
What we call intuition is often an amalgamation of a lot of silent clues and analysis that we are not always able to verbalize, but that end up leading us down a certain train of thought. When Joo Ran saw Chan Il again and remembered how he had behaved, she did not want her child in his vicinity. Her doubts were very far-fetched, and it sounded like the workings of a paranoid mind; therefore, her wishes were ignored, and Seung Jae went on the school trip with Chan Il. Joo Ran followed him, and when she saw what looked like Chan Il leading her son somewhere, she hit him on the head. We don t know whether the person she hit was indeed Chan Il or someone else, but the boy wasn t her son. Regardless, the damage had been done, and Joo Ran had to move with her family after it was probably declared that she had severe mental health issues.
Who Is Lee Soo Min?
After Jae Ho tells Joo Ran off for being delusional, she meets Hae Soo and once again asks to watch the CCTV footage between the 19th and 20th of the month. This time, Hae Soo doesn t ask her for tea and brings out the recording, proving that Jae Ho did indeed leave that night, which means that he was trying to divert Joo Ran by yelling at her. This is why the next day, Joo Ran goes to meet Sang Eun, who shows her the phone and everything in it. From Yoon Beom s records, Sang Eun has figured out that there was a prostitution racket of sorts that many people in the hospital were involved in, and the name of the girl was Lee Soo Min. While Joo Ran is still trying to keep faith in Jae Ho, Sang Eun says that she believes these claims because she knows the extent to which her husband is capable of going. Joo Ran simply says that whatever the result, she will try to protect her family. That night, Joo Ran apologizes to Jae Ho for doubting him, and he says sorry to her for raising his voice. We don t think Joo Ran is actually sorry, but she is definitely trying to make Jae Ho think that she is complacent so that he won t be monitoring her all the time.
The next day, she borrows Hae Soo s car so she and Sang Eun can visit Lee Soo Min s place. When they get there, only Sang Eun goes to the house, asking Joo Ran to wait outside. She comes to know that Soo Min had run away from home a while ago, and her father hasn t heard from her in a few days. Soo Min wanted to be a dog groomer, and he did not approve of that career. Sang Eun lies to Soo Min s father that she is the girl s homeroom teacher, but he catches on to the lie since he knows that a teacher is a man. When he raises his voice at Sang Eun, demanding to know who she is, she has flashbacks of her abuse at her husband s hands, and Sang Eun loses her composure. She threatens him as a knee-jerk defense mechanism, but Joo Ran steps in and takes her away. As the two of them sit outside, reeling from the heightened emotions of the situation, they ask each other their names for the first time. That uneasy partnership between these two that we predicted has finally started.
When Sang Eun meets Jae Ho that day, her phone is on, and Joo Ran can hear every word. Sang Eun wants 500 million won, and Jae Ho is not prepared for that. He knows for a fact that Sang Eun is only holding onto the whole thing by a thread. He is willing to give her some money (300 million won) so that she forgets all about it, but knowing that her information is sparse and she lacks any concrete proof, he refuses to give her the amount she asks for. Between the two of them, Jae Ho makes it clear that he never visited Yoon Beom that night. But he also implies that Sang Eun must have had a plan of her own, and when Jae Ho did not show up, it went wrong. He is convinced that she was the one who killed and moved Yoon Beom. Jae Ho s conviction makes us think that he knows a part of the truth or may have witnessed something. We believe he visited the reservoir for such details, but he is playing it safe. Once he leaves and Joo Ran drops off Sang Eun, she asks her whether, if she gave her the 300 million won, she would stop pursuing the matter altogether. Sang Eun needs some time to think it over since she has her husband s debts to think of.
Did Yoon Beom Kill Lee Soo Min?
Sang Eun has lost her job, and she is going to be evacuated soon. She knows that 300 million won is not enough to buy an apartment in the neighborhood, but 500 million won might be. As for Jae Ho, the meeting with Sang Eun has completely unnerved him, and at the end of episode 4 ofLies Hidden in My Garden, he keeps thinking about the terrible accident. Lee Soo Min was lying dead at his feet, and he had taken her body upstairs to hide in the closet. He must have taken the opportunity later to bury her in the garden. On the night of Yoon Beom s death, he dug up her body again and must have gone to dispose of it in the very bag that Yoon Beom had left for him. Were the two men in on this whole thing together, helping each other get what they wanted? Jae Ho certainly has something to do with Soo Min s death. Maybe she knew Seung Jae, and when she saw Jae Ho at school, or somewhere, she started threatening him for money. Another crazy theory would be that it wasn t Jae Ho but Seung Jae who killed Soo Min during an argument when she probably told him the truth about his dad. That would explain his discomfort around his parents and his obvious knowledge of the smell in the garden. Seung Jae was looking for an apartment for two people. Maybe he wants to live there with his mother, away from his dad and his crimes? We will get these answers in the coming episodes.
Final Thoughts
We might be wrong in feeling this way, but we have seen nothing but confusion on Joo Ran s face ever since the series began. While we understand that it is the need of her character, where are the righteous indignation, the anger, and the stubbornness that are the keys for her to break out of her husband s manipulation? These emotions have been written into the script, but we haven t felt them through the actress Kim Tae Hee. However, we have become fans of Lim Ji Yeon. In The Glory, it wasn t her but the child actress who played her younger self that we hated. We didn t think much of Lim Ji Yeon then, but here, she has our complete attention, and we want to see more.