[Movie] A Model Family – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Cat and Mouse

Episode 5 of A Model Family starts with Kwang-Chul learning that Dong-Ha is on the way back from his successful trade. Joo-Hyun realizes that Dong-Ha could be the key in this and tasks her team with keeping a close eye on the professor to make sure he doesn’t die in the crossfire of what’s about to go down. She also realizes that Kwang-Chul could have someone on the inside that knows what’s happening with the raids… could they be from inside the police station?

Eun-Joo returns to Hyun-Woo and apologizes for showing up late. Yeon-Woo is still not home, so she covers for the girl and claims she’s staying at a friend’s house. As for Kang-Jun, he makes a move on Dong-Ha’s garage, believing the money is inside and determined to get it back. He also has plans to take out Kwang-Chul’s men at the same time.

When Dong-Ha arrives home, Kwang-Chul rings with instructions. He’s to keep the money in the garage and to “move the gear” soon. That gear being a stack of water bottles tucked away neatly in his closet. As Dong-Ha slips further into this seedy world, he finds it more difficult to keep things straight with Eun-Joo, promising to get the money to her shortly. She sniffs at this, bitterly retorting that it’s always about promises and “one more thing.”

Hyun-Woo messages his sister, who happens to be outside in the yard. She refuses to go in until after their parents are in bed. Only, this also means she’s close to the dead bodies buried in the yard too. Even worse, the rain starts absolutely pouring down.

Everything eventually escalates into pure carnage. Yeon-Woo finds the bag of money in the garage. Kang-Jun’s plan hits a snag when he realizes cops are all over the neighbourhood with eyes and ears everywhere. As a result, he decides to call off the raid – at least for now.

As for Yeon-Woo, she rides off in the middle of the night. When Eun-Joo heads to the garage, she notices all the money over the ground and is in a state of shock. Dong-Ha appears and immediately sets to work tracking her down in case she’s taken any of the money (which she has). Kwang-Chul notices him leave and attempts to ring Dong-Ha with an explanation. The call doesn’t go through. The thing is, as Dong-Ha has the money in his trunk, Kwang-Chul is inevitably going to think he’s trying to do a runner.

Kwang-Chul  catches up with Dong-Ha and knocks him down. “Professor, I told you not to mess with the money.” He says. Dong-Ha though tries to explain himself, pointing out that his daughter has taken off and he’s trying to play damage control and get it back. And it’s not just a little amount either.

As we cut across to Yeon-Woo, we see she has a whole rucksack full of notes. And if Dong-Ha doesn’t find the money tonight, Kwang-Chul promises to kill him.

Yeon-Woo holds out at a motel with her friend but unfortunately, the owner figures out that there’s something fishy going on. She’s forced on her knees to explain herself, as all the money is stacked across the ground neatly.

Kwang-Chul of all people shows up and makes swift work of the motel kids out in the hallway. After handing over the keys to the room, Kwang-Chul tasks Dong-Ha with collecting up the money and his daughter and heading home. Dong-Ha implores his daughter to keep what’s happened a secret. He doesn’t want Eun-Joo to know.

With the money back and Yeon-Woo keeping her mouth shut, the police – and namely Joo-Hyun’s investigative efforts – also come up short. The only thing they have to go on is that Dong-Ha seems to be an integral part of Kwang-Chul’s plans. She’s curious as to why Kwang-Chul is keeping the professor alive. She intends to get to the bottom of this.

As the episode closes out, Dong-Ha receives a message to visit the Incheon Chinatown at 3pm for his next drop-off. As for Kwang-Chul, he heads out to a secluded farm but he’s knocked out by a shadowy man who tells him he wants his money. After kicking Kwang-Chul in the face, we fade to black.

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The Episode Review

Things are starting to heat up now in A Model Family. With Yeon-Woo off with her boyfriend, Jae-Chan, it’s a miracle that she didn’t actually spend any of this money as that could have caused a whole world of problems for Dong-Ha. Thankfully, he manages to get the money back in the end but there was a moment – when the frog was hopping over the dirt in the backyard – that it seemed like she’d discover the bodies as well.

Eun-Joo’s plight continues and right now it’s unclear exactly what her connection is with the deceased. It could well be that she was having an affair with the undercover agent and isn’t actually part of Kwang-Chul’s operation at all but we’ll have to wait and see on that front.

Either way though, this show continues to deliver the goods, leaving everything wide open for where the next chapter may go.