Summary
Private Lives episode 4 has plenty of twists and turns which makes it exciting for the viewer — there are many moving parts and at this point, we are all guessing where the story is going to lead.
This recap of Netflix K-drama series Privates Lives episode 4 contains significant spoilers.
We will be recapping this weekly — check out the archive.
The opening
Here we go, folks. The fourth chapter that gets a little confusing — if I have missed the point, please make sure to comment below.
With Cha Joo-eun learning the news that Lee Jeong-hwan is dead, she wants to verify the body at the police station. The body is extremely charred and barely recognisable. She tells the police officer that it isn’t Lee Jeong-hwan and she’s insistent on it. The police officer highlights how the body had his distinct features, but she refuses to believe it. When she sees her mother, she tells him to find Lee Jeong-hwan and make him double-pay for what she did.
Private Lives episode 4 balances a revenge mission and an investigation for the truth for Cha Joo-eun.
The mother wants support
Cha Joo-eun’s mother meets the father in prison and makes him aware that the wedding was cancelled. She also updates him on the trouble their daughter has gotten into since he’s been away, and he is emotional about hearing it all, asking God for forgiveness. The mother meets Kim Jun-beom and asks if they should try to find Lee Jeong-hwan for Cha Joo-eun.
A quick funeral and back to financial ruin
The next day, Cha Joo-eun gets the DNA tests of the body. She visits Lee Jeong-hwan’s urn in a funeral parlour with her friend Ming-jeon. He was cremated. Afterwards, she realises she’s behind on rent payments, and she owes a lot. The mother offers her the money but wants to know how Cha Joo-eun will pay her back. She asks for three months to pay her.
The jagged mother/relationship continues — they barely act like they love each other.
A broken Cha Joo-eun
The next day, Kim Jun-beom rings Cha Joo-eun while looking at her in the distance. He then sits on the table with her, and she’s very drunk. Cha Joo-eun wonders if Kim Jun-beom finds it funny that she had a sham marriage and storms off.
The next day, Cha Joo-eun gets a call and storms to a restaurant. She meets Lee Jeong-hwan’s apparent parents. They are obviously not birth parents, and they were paid.
The plot continues to deepen for our lead character.
We need a full story
Cha Joo-eun meets the police officer again. He wants to know what pieces were missing leading up to the wedding day and he wants to know about her personal life with the man. Cha Joo-eun changes the conversation and asks questions about him, like is he married or does he have a girlfriend. She’s trying to prove a point about an invasion of privacy.
She owes money
In the middle of the night, a group of men visit Cha Joo-eun and want to talk. They know Lee Jeong-hwan and want a payment plan from Cha Joo-eun as he never paid off his loans with these men. She’s in trouble with a loan shark situation now. The next day, Cha Joo-eun hands in Lee Jeong-hwan’s death registration which includes looking at his assets.
Heading to his business
Cha Joo-eun heads to Lee Jeong-hwan’s Spy business building and sees Sophia Chung inside. She puts her against the wall. Sophia mocks her for her failed marriage. Cha Joo-eun believes Sophia Chung was involved in the scam, but then Ms Ko heads inside, and Cha Joo-eun let’s go of her. When Sophia leaves, Cha Joo-eun asks Ms Ko questions about the business and their clients, but Ms Ko says she cannot answer her questions.
The more our lead character delves into Lee Jeong-hwan’s life, the more she is learning the true extent of the issues that lay beneath their relationship.
Please investigate it thoroughly
The police head over and ask Cha Joo-eun why she is at the business. The officer then asks if she’d like a drink. Ms Ko is very upset that Lee Jeong-hwan is dead and has a crying fit. The police officer shows Cha Joo-eun the skid marks of Lee Jeong-hwan’s car — he states it’s not easy to prove a defect in the car. She asks the officer (now known as Detective Kim Myung-hyun) if he can investigate thoroughly.
Gaining access
Cha Joo-eun tries to log in to Lee Jeong-hwan’s computer and tries out different passwords. She remembers a time they were talking about attractive women in a TV show, and she forced him to pick the one he fancied — in the present, the password is that woman’s birthday.
The next day, Ms Ko wakes up Cha Joo-eun in Lee Jeong-hwan’s office. Cha Joo-eun asks Ms Ko if she had a crush on him and she admits it. Ms Ko believes Lee Jeong-hwan ran away from the wedding because he had feelings for her.
Looking at the cases
While looking through Lee Jeong-hwan’s computer, Cha Joo-eun sees a case for client Sophia Chung who is looking for Edward Kim — she also sees the name Jeong Yoon-kyung. She learns that Edward Kim is Kim Jae-wook. She’s starting to believe that Lee Jeong-hwan got involved in something dangerous and that the man wasn’t trying to hurt her deliberately.
Episode 4 is planting a seed of doubt in Cha Joo-eun’s mind. There’s also an air of her wanting it to be a truth that he did not set her up for a scam marriage. It’s not surprising she feels this way.
The ending
Cha Joo-eun visits Jeong Yoon-kyung and asks about Kim Jae-wook. She then implies that Jeong Yoon-kyung put her father in prison — is this Bok-gi? Cha Joo-eun then heads to the mansion, the last place Lee Jeong-hwan visited. She sees Kim Jae-wook through a window, but he alerts security, so she has to run. A cute dog gets up behind her and starts barking which alerts one of the security guards. Someone wearing a motorbike helmet comes to Cha Joo-eun’s aid which helps her drive off.
The man in the helmet is Lee Jeong-hwan, I believe.
Private Lives episode 4 has plenty of twists and turns which makes it exciting for the viewer — there are many moving parts, and at this point, we are all guessing where the story is going to lead.
