Summary
The revenge might not come in the form of Haewon but through her loved ones.
This recap of the Netflix K-Drama series Reflection of You season 1, episode 6, contains spoilers.
Watching Reflection of You provides me with everything I love in a contemporary drama. Though I might vehemently disagree, it’s nice to see a lead female character not being morally sound. Sometimes female characters are nasty and messy because they want to be — it doesn’t mean I like Heejoo, because I don’t, but I do love how it’s breaking some stereotypes. Coupled with the female leads, it’s about art, high society, and the fancy yet problematic schools we know and love in the form of a melodrama that keeps us on our toes.
Reflection of You season 1, episode 6 recap
Reflection of You season 1, episode 6 doesn’t hold back. We pick up at the end of the fifth episode at the exhibition. Hyungseong seems confused at Woojae and asks, ‘how do you know me?’. Immediately, he apologizes and says, “I thought we knew each other, and I’ve gotten into the habit of pretending to know people.” Maybe Woojae doesn’t remember, but Hyungseong definitely knows him but plays it off in front of everybody. The scene flashbacks to Hyungseong and Haewon in the same bar; she mentions how Woojae was hospitalized and that after doing some digging, she learns that someone’s paying his hospital bills. And because the Jeong family meddles in everything, we learn that the school’s social service team was involved. But she still doesn’t know what happened to him or his accident. All I can say is nobody in the family is innocent – maybe Lisa and Hosu, but that’s about it.
In the present, Woojae is encapsulated by the grasslands painting in Heejoo’s exhibition. The painting is similar to the grasslands in Ireland they used to visit. Perhaps the painting is bringing back memories. At the house, Woojae mentions he can’t stop thinking about the painting and notes, “strangely, I could hear sounds. The sounds came from the painting.” While he’s in the shower, Haewon mixes his prescribed medication with a sedative. Everybody is drugging him at this point.
The following day, Heejoo has a Q&A at her exhibition, and Woojae attends. He’s curious about the location and inspiration for the grasslands painting, annoying Heejoo. But she thinks he’s just messing with her. At first, you might think that Heejoo is being paranoid – as she should be, she’s a nasty character – but maybe Woojae is plotting on her and her family too. He’s been in hospital for years because of the family, was unable to see his son, too, so he just might be playing the game.
Ireland seems to be giving everybody trouble. Hyungseong’s mother confronts him about the video between him and Haewon, thinking he’s cheating. She mentions how she’ll never condone cheating, especially after her own experiences with their father. She then brings up how Heejoo isn’t business savvy and that he needs to watch out for her as he’s been doing since she went to ‘visit’ Lisa in the UK. The mother puts clues together and remembers that she also went to study in Ireland and how Hosu was also born in Ireland. She’s almost there but doesn’t piece everything together. Instead, she remembers that maybe Hosu’s birth is the reason for their partnership with the medical center in Sligo. Also, Heejoo’s unaware of the partnership, so is Hyungseong hiding something from her?
Hyungseong’s threatened by Woojae. He couldn’t make it any less obvious. From unethically snooping through his medical records, speaking to Minseo about his diagnosis, and now, denying that they’ve met in the past once Woojae asked. But, it has us thinking, does he know about the affair or pretends not to know for Heejoo’s sake?
In another scene, Haewon comes down to the lake to unwind, and unexpectedly, Heejoo arrives a few moments later. Like her husband, she’s threatened by Haewon, who doesn’t seem to be actively targeting them, she’s in her own state of mind, albeit a bit unstable, but she’s there. She tells Heejoo about her swimming experience in the lake and how she was scared of dying in a pitiful state. Ruffling Heejoo’s feathers, she also brings up how in the author’s note of her book ‘The Story of the Island and the Lake,’ she mentions that she came to the lake when she was reminded of tough times in Ireland and so wanted to visit it. Any mention of Ireland has Heejoo shook. She then mentions how she thought she was visiting Lisa in the UK, that Woojae was in Ireland, and thought maybe they were in Ireland together. Instantly, she shuts her down and, as always, lacks accountability. At this specific moment, the audience can confirm that Haewon knew about the affair and how the specific mention of ‘Ireland’ triggers Heejoo.
“Had I gone to study abroad and Woojae didn’t disappear, would things be different?” she asks and indirectly blames her for the mess they’re in. And she’s right to an extent. But Heejoo does have a point as she spits back at her, blaming her for solely relying on a man for her happiness. Heejoo is entirely right, but she is part of the issue! Woojae didn’t cheat by himself, and her holier-than-thou attitude is tiring. You know you cheated and have a long-lasting reminder through your son. All while lacking accountability, she continues mentioning how she pities her and essentially calls her pathetic. In the moment, they tussle as Haewon attempts to pull her into the lake but fails. Heejoo tries to foolishly help her only to be dragged into the lake by Haewon. “You never had any respect for me. You haven’t changed one bit.” Haewon says to Heejoo, and it’s a delight to see her reflect on her relationship with Heejoo, but it would be even better if she kept the same energy with Woojae, who doesn’t and never did care for her.
At the lakehouse, this is the first time we finally hear Heejoo talk about the affair. Her friend was shocked as she mentions it wasn’t a fling and how she took accountability for her actions by telling her friend. “It wasn’t a fling. I shouldn’t have cheated out of loneliness while my husband was supporting me. I regret it.” She also assumes that Haewon doesn’t know about the affair. If only she knew.
At Woojae’s physiotherapy session, he rants to Seongwoo about too much time being wasted. “I sometimes wonder if my guilt is forcing me to pretend to be an amnesiac.” There’s speculation on social media about Woojae faking his amnesia, and now I see it. Is he truly an amnesiac, or is the guilt around how he left Haewon forcing him into faking the condition? He also mentioned in the previous episode that he’s not a good person and confirms that he feels like he’s done something awful to Haewon. Yeah, the affair.
We also learn that the curator wants to hire Haewon, so at least she’s finally employed again. But Woojae’s artwork has been bought for an extremely high price by an anonymous buyer. It’s obvious who the buyer is. Lisa’s played an important role in this episode too. She bumps into Woojae at the exhibition, and they look around at the artwork. Lisa pulls out her purse and brings out the heath from episode 4. She might not know it, but she could be unlocking his memories. He tells her that it’s a heath and it’s found in the wilderness. But, the question is, why is Lisa so desperate to know about the heath?
Woojae’s memory seems to be coming back, or is he manipulating Haewon. As she prepared some food, he mentioned, “while you were busy at school, I did all the cooking.” He didn’t. He’s confusing Haewon with Heejoo, or was this intentional?
The ending
Haewon being three steps ahead, has Woojae’s artwork delivered to the mother-in-law’s office. She texts her saying, ‘thank you for purchasing.” She knows that she riles Heejoo up and enjoys it. At the bar, they confront each other. Heejoo wonders why she’s fussed about her buying the sculpture.
Meanwhile, Haewon questions why she would purchase it if she were so anxious about others finding out. Now, the women get into it. After mentioning she’s tired of her sob story, she also says, “don’t ever meet my husband alone again.” Heejoo opened the floodgates for Haewon with that comment. “But why did you? Because he was the only thing you lacked? But he meant everything to me…. Why didn’t you just come clean? You two were the most precious people to me so I would’ve ultimately let you have him.” It’s interesting to see that Haewon valued their friendship more if she would let her ‘have’ him. But of course, Heejoo being the delusional woman she is, denies everything and throws alcohol in her face at the mention of Hosu. Haewon has warned her that she won’t sit still this time….so maybe she is planning revenge. All in all, Heejoo brought this upon herself.
At Hosu’s baseball game, Heejoo is giving him a pep talk, and he throws the baseball only for it to land near Woojae’s fault. This was the mess I was waiting for. He runs to Woojae, picks it up, and tells him that his name is Hosu. We learn that Hosu means ‘lake’ in Korean, and Woojae tells him about his favorite lake in Sligo where people can hear sounds – the same sounds he heard from Heejoo’s painting. Hyungseong spots the pair together and flashbacks to him hitting Woojae in a car accident.
Heejoo doesn’t know Hyungseong’s there, but she creates a scene. “What are you playing at? What is it you’re trying to achieve?” She shouts at Woojae, hiding Hosu behind her. Her defensiveness kicks in when it comes to Hosu and Ireland and couldn’t be any more obvious about her affair.
Episode 6 was great, and I think that Woojae might not have his entire memory but remembers things to trigger the women. Kim Jaeyoung, the actor portraying Seo Woojae, pulls you in with facial expressions confirming that something’s up. He might be faking the amnesia to fool the family. After all, his mistress left him with their son, and her husband is the reason for him being unconscious. As for Heejoo, if Haewon doesn’t get her revenge, it will come in the form of Lisa, who keeps her mother on her toes. Haewon won’t make her miserable, but Lisa will. I, for one, am ready for that!
What did you think of Reflection of You season 1, episode 6? Comment below.
