“CHEAT ON ME IF YOU CAN” EPISODE 12 RECAP
“Honey, I think there’s a misunderstanding.”
In Cheat on Me If You Can’s latest episode, there is something very cold and chilling about the interaction between Kang Yeo-Joo (Cho Yeo-Jeong) and Han Woo-Sung (Ko Jun) within the first five minutes of the show that really marks the tone of their relationship.
At this point, Yeo-Joo is frustrated. She’s witnessed her husband getting familiar with Ko Mi Rae (Yeon Woo), and she feels insecure, maybe even a little betrayed. Woo-Sung can guess this because he is scared about how she may have perceived the entire interaction and yet nothing was spoken of this dissonance within their relationship until she threw away his jacket.
“That shirt has traces of another woman,” she tells him. “Honey, I think there’s a misunderstanding. She and I have nothing,” Woo-Sung responds with a silent quaver in his voice just as Mi-Rae calls him yet again. The stiffness in her face and voice as she tells him “she Likes you. And you enjoy the attention,” is tragic because it’s clearly a warning mixed with a cry for loyalty, but Woo-Sung is deaf to both.
In previous episodes of Cheat on Me If You Can, it’s not clear why Woo-Sung insists on being with his wife while also cheating (especially given that he is scared of her using her physical rights against him). But when he attempts to go out for a smoke break following this exchange, finding that she replaced his cigarettes with a note that reads “you can have your own nest egg, but not cigarettes,” his sigh of exasperation makes it crystal clear. He feels suffocated by his wife’s domineering and controlling attitude doubled by the iciness. At least she supports his political career, right?
In reality, Mi Rae was suffering. A man we can only assume to be her partner attempted to sexually assault her and when she didn’t acquiesce, she could only run to avoid his abusive antics. She knew no one else to call except Woo-Sung, likely because she is trying to keep her identity a secret. So, when Woo-Sung was eventually called to the police station to help her, he felt responsible for her safety. How could he possibly have ignored her in her state?
Either way, he didn’t explain the situation to his wife who had apparently installed some kind of a tracking device on him, so she was able to see that he’d gone to his favourite ramyeon restaurant and spent quite a dime at the supermarket—both red flags since he lied about doing so. He wasn’t too worried about his seemingly all-knowing wife learning of the truth, instead he spent time comparing Mi Rae to her, wishing his wife was more like her. But they’re just friends of course! Mi Rae also swears that with her money, connections and influence, she truly has no one to turn to but also doesn’t want to put him in a difficult position. Let’s try and reconcile what we’ve learned about Woo-Sung so far in Cheat on Me If you Can and what he says.
During their marital woes, Yeo-Joo’s fake assistant Cha Soo-Ho (Kim Young-Dae) was investigating her previous relationship with a journalist from her old job. Turns out her ex so happened to die in a car explosion with the woman he was cheating with. Then brazenly, she wrote a magazine article about car explosions. Savage.
But in this episode of Cheat on Me If You Can, an outline of the relationship between agent Ma (Oh Min-Suk) and Yeo-Joo is finally starting to take shape. Surprise Surprise, the person behind Ma is the candidate for presidency? Or the current president? It’s still unclear who this unknown man is, but whoever they are, they’ve hinted that Yeo-Joo isn’t an ordinary writer and is someone worth being cautious about. Then who is she really? A retired agent turned serial killer or his daughter? Maybe both?
However, he did slip that Woo-Sung’s campaign manager Nam Ki-Ryong (Kim Do-Hyun) is using him to somehow control Yeo-Joo which seems to also be the same directive behind agent Ma’s fake publishing house. The objective is to find out what she will print in her next book and stop it from going public—apparently at all costs.
Still, with an abundance of clues in this episode of Cheat on Me If You Can, somethings are difficult to understand. For instance, their maid took something from their closet. Also she knew Woo-Sung was cheating all along but said nothing so that’s suspect considering how scrupulous she posits herself against Soo-Ho’s nosiness. Also, for whatever reason, Yeo-Joo asks to shadow Woo-Sung during his work to draw primary research for her lawyer character and maybe file for something in his name? Then, Mi Rae’s obsessive and abusive partner set a target on Woo-Sung’s back that is sure to materialize into something big later.
The ending of episode 12 of Cheat on Me If You Can had a spectacular lead up to it with a slow burn of foreshadowing. Woo- Sung’s ex Park Hye-Kyeong (Han Soo-Yeon) tried to warn him. Even his own friend Son Jin-Ho (Jung Sang-Hoon) tried to alert him, but did he listen? Nah. There were many hints of what Yeo-Joo was capable of but until Manager Kim, it was all conjecture. Remember, Manager Kim Duk-Ki (Yoo Joon-Hong) asked to see Yeo-Joo before cooperating with police but for obvious reasons, she wasn’t allowed to see him. But! His lawyer can.
This is how Yeo-Joo finally gets revenge. She casually asked Woo-Sung to see Manager Kim during visitation and to give him a packed meal under the guise of finding out details about the CCTV file on Baek Soo Jung’s apartment (Hong Soo Hyun). “You just need to ask him a couple of questions,” she said, handing him some food to give him. “This will help you.”
So, when Woo-Sung meets Manager Kim, at first, the atmosphere is light right until Woo-Sung realizes the significance of their meeting. (After all, Manager Kim knows quite a lot about Woo-Sung’s secret affair.) Still, Manager Kim seems unfazed about their meeting but very hungry for Yeo-Joo’s cooking. Then, just after confessing the location of the flash drive holding the CCTV footage, he suddenly develops chest pains that increases in discomfort. Eventually he drops to the floor while pounding his chest as a distressed Woo-Sung screams, “Mr. Kim! Wake up!”