Summary
Maybe Gaewon is the good guy in the story.
This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Reflection of You season 1, episode 3 contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
Reflection of You season 1, episode 3 recap
The third episode opens up with Heejoo and Haewon looking at each other in front of Heejoo’s car but there’s no dialogue. Instead, it takes us on a brief flashback, and vividly highlights images of Heejoo and Woojae interacting in a romantic sense. We learn that Heejoo is talking to Haewon about her story as the episode begins with Heejoo saying, “Every story has a beginning. My story begins with you,” then the flashbacks roll on — whether she’s referring to Haewon or Woojae, there was an element of confusion. From here, it’s easy to see that Heejoo may not be the innocent one out of the pair.
The second scene takes us to the flashback of Haewon and Heejoo meeting in German class. Heejoo had no intentions to learn German but chose to attend in spite of her mother-in-law, wanting to prove her wrong. It’s clear that there’s tension between Heejoo and her mother-in-law and by extension, her husband, Hyungseong. At the dinner table, she’s the one serving and organizing the food whilst her mother-in-law, husband, and the rest of the family talk business — constantly, leaving her out of the mix.
They clearly see her as less than yet Hyungseong never seems to stand up to his mother, despite being a grown man. We also learn that she never wanted Lisa to go abroad for boarding school, which is where her feeling of emptiness came from. She leaves her bed to go to a younger Lisa’s room and cries on a video call to her, who’s all the way in England. The feeling of emptiness from having a daughter who’s abroad, a busy husband, and unfriendly in-laws led her to seek solace in painting and art. With Haewon, she feels an element of wholeness.
For Haewon, her experiences changed and it seems like Heejoo might have been the deciding factor for this. She tells Heejoo that failing was never an option for her and that her grandfather worked his entire life for her to be successful in her pursuits. The following day, we learn that her grandfather falls sick and so she can’t teach Heejoo for a few days. And then, this is where everything changes. Instead, Haewon recommends that her friend, who turns out to be Heejoo, teaches her whilst she takes care of her grandfather.
Now, we’re back to the present in front of her car and the flashback is over. Haewon firmly reassures her that she wants nothing to do with her but Heejoo remains unconvinced as she says, ‘You gave up a full-time position, came to the school where my husband works and assaulted my daughter.’ Again, she re-emphasizes that she’s sorry but still, the apology makes Heejoo uncomfortable as she wants her to apologize to Lisa, who isn’t too keen on seeing Haewon again. After all, she did call her a b*ch multiple times, so I don’t blame Lisa.
We also find out that Hyeongseong confronts Haewon in the teacher’s room about Lisa and Juyeong but Haewon slightly threatens him about potentially dismissing her and ruining her reputation as a teacher. There’s a link between the both of them but it’s still pretty much unclear. Hyeongseong is wary of her, like everybody else, as he realized that she was in Korea when Woojae was dismissed from the hospital in Ireland. If Hannah is her alias and she was married to Woojae, who on earth discharged him from the hospital?
The ending
The hospital issues don’t end here either, we learn that the mother-in-law only finds out that there’s a hospital based in Ireland. She’s convinced that Heejoo has something to do with this too, which isn’t a surprise because Woojae has been there since 2018 and had a relationship with Heejoo for a while. In a flashback, Woojae accidentally leaves his journal in Heejoo’s art studio and as we flash forward to the present, she keeps the journal. Instead, she burns it and it foreshadows how she’s burning the memories and experiences she had with him.
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