The show begins with Park Dong-Ha (Jung Woo) dropping a glass in response to the arrest of “I Am Justice” author, Professor Kim. Allegations claim Kim sexually assaulted a female student. Surveillance footage and text messages were secured by the police. A news report claims Kim denied the allegations.

Ha Dong questions why Park Hyun-Woo (Seok Min-Gi) is home from school. Hyun-woo says his mom, Kang Eun-Ju (Yoon Jin-Seo) doesn’t think it’s safe for him to go on the class picnic. Eun-Ju informs Ha Dong that she will be taking the kids to her mom’s house today. He asks if she would like him to join them later. She suggests he find out what he wants to do with the divorce.

Kong Byeong-Gu (Lee Chang-Hoon) complains about their bad investment. After suggesting they make the director give the bribe money back, Dong-Ha says it was supposed to pay for Hyun-Woo’s heart transplant. He admits Eun-Ju knows nothing of a loan he took out. Chang-Hoon warns bribery is a criminal offense. Dong-Ha assures him that he wouldn’t care to go down if it weren’t for his family. Chang-Hoon says it involves him as well. After his loan request is denied, Dong-Ha becomes irate claiming the bribe was his idea.

After class, Dong-Ha beats his head on the steering wheel. He pulls off to the side of the road to take a call. Hyun-Woo calls to invite him to his grandmother’s birthday celebration. Dong-Ha claims to have something to take care of. Hyun-Woo asks him to not drink. Dong-Ha breaks down crying when his car is rear-ended. He walks back to the vehicle to find the driver and passenger covered in blood. He calls dials emergency but immediately changes his mind when he spots cash scattered everywhere inside the vehicle.

Hyun-Woo and Park Yeon-Woo (Shin Eun-Soo) discuss Dong-ha. Yeon-Woo warns him that Dong-Ha may not be around too much longer. He suggests they should be together as a family. Eun-Ju asks if he’d like to live there since the hospital is nearby.

Dong-Ha anxiously crams the money into a duffle bag as a car approaches. Once the car passes, he rushes away from the scene and returns a short time later on a bicycle. He drives the van until he comes upon a police roadblock. After a car in front of him races through the roadblock, he quickly makes a U-turn and a police cruiser follows suit. He pulls into a parking spot between two large semis. The police cruiser goes speeding past. He hides the van in a garage when a man and his dog walk past.

While looking at Eun-Ju’s photos, Hyun-Woo asks why a guy is always with her. She assures him that the guy was just part of the clique. They briefly discuss living without Dong-Ha.

Dong-Ha buries the two bodies and scrubs the van down. When he drives through the roadblock, an officer asks if he recently sped past the roadblock. He assures him it wasn’t him. He tells the officer his daughter called when the dead men’s cellphone rang. A text message that reads, “Kang-Jun, Where are you? Did you take care of that basta**?” He veers off onto a dirt road, where he wipes down the van to remove his fingerprints before dumping it.

Dong-Ha tells himself that bad money isn’t so much when it’s utilized in a good way. He considers utilizing the money for a house.

Police officer Kang Joo-Hyun (Park Ji-Yeon) utilizes GPS to track down a tracking device inside the van. She calls the chief to discuss the investigation.

Hwang Yong-Soo (Choi Moo-Sung) tells Ma Kwang-Chul (Park Hee-Soon) that he has a week to locate the money. Choi Kang-Jun (Kim Sung-Oh) questions who would’ve intercepted the van.

Joo-Hyun watches as Kwang-Chul removes a tracking device from the van. After discovering blood inside the van, he orders his men to transport the van to the office. Joo-Hyun orders another officer to follow the van while she meets the chief.

Dong-Ha hides the money in a closet.

Eun-Ju schedules Hyun-Woo an appointment while looking at her account balance of 4,720 WON. When a transfer amount of 35,000,000 WON is detected, she rushes home with the kids. Yeon-Woo complains that they make everything feel like crap. Eun-Ju assures her that she doesn’t like it either.

Eun-Ju scolds Dong-Ha for the bank transfer before telling them it is over. He claims to have invested the money in a textbook startup with Byeong-Gu. She smirks when he swears to get the money back by next week. He tells her to not fret over Hyun-Woo and Yeon-Woo’s expenses.

Dong-Ha researches large cash transaction reporting when Yeon-Woo approaches to complain about a cellphone ringing. He walks out on the deck to hear the ringing emitting from the men’s makeshift grave. He promises to speak with a neighbor about the cellphone noise. Dong-Ha utilizes the computer to research cellphone tracking.

Kwang-Chul tracks the cellphone to a neighborhood. His man suggests whoever took the money stopped there before leaving the van off-grid.

Dung-Ha digs in the makeshift grave in search of the cellphone. While driving away from the phone, he encounters Kwang-Chul and his man walking along the road. An incoming call from Eun-Ju pops up on the cellphone screen as the episode comes to an end.

 

A Model Family Review

A severely destitute Dong-Ha is on the brink of losing his family. A bribery gone wrong zaps his bank account. When Eun-Ju discovers the monstrosity, she clashes with Dong-Ha. By this point, Dong-Ha is sitting on a boatload of money that he has no idea its origin.

In the meantime, Kwang-Chul is tasked to locate the money or be killed at the hands of Yongsoo Ring leader, Yong-Soo.

Hyun-Woo is in dire need of heart surgery, which is what Dong-Ha hopes to utilize the money for.

Dong-Ha has his own secrets, but so does Eun-Jun. She is somehow connected to Yongsoo Ring. Dong-Ha detects something is going on when her phone number pops up on the drug cartel’s cellphone as he is ready to trash it.

The editing and cinematography are good. The execution is spot-on. The downside is the snail’s pace. Not a lot going on but enough to hold your attention.

An amazing performance by Jung Woo. The episode deserves a 6.5. Get more A Model Family recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by clicking the link.