[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Why Her?" Episode 3

Soo-jae has vanquished Joon-myeong, graciously allowing Chan and his fellow students to take credit. This presents a problem, though. The whole reason Soo-jae is on sabbatical at a law school is because of her apparent connection with the death of So-yeong. And now So-yeong's younger sister Ji-yeong (played by Park Ji-won-III) sees fit to hound Soo-jae much as Chan hounded Joon-myeong over her being an enemy to victimized women.

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It's not too long before we find out that that Soo-jae had more contact with So-yeong than was let on. Soo-jae met So-yeong on the rooftop shortly before her death. What So-yeong was doing up there is not clear, but it's fairly obvious that she must have been meeting someone. Really, it's suspicious that So-yeong was still in the building at all. It's a secured facility that she only had access to as a guest. So who was she meeting, and why?

Soo-jae mostly dodges such a direct question, and instead asks her students to investigate the case as neutrally as possible. There are nice, subtle legal distinctions being made here, such as how aiding is distinct from abetting. While Chan obviously has a not-so-hidden motive for viewing Soo-jae in the best possible light, it's clear that the legal argument for Soo-jae's being a criminal is quite weak. It was also already investigated by the police, who came to the same conclusion.

While we still don't have a good idea of why, exactly, So-yeong died, it's becoming increasingly clear that Chairman Choi is more unhinged than we had seen in the first two episodes. The man is awful to anyone he can get away with being awful to, particularly his children. Soo-jae is an exception partially because of her hypercompetence but also because, as Chairman Choi explicitly notes, she was the fall gal in the event his more devious plans go awry.

And now, rather than be one of his team players, Soo-jae is content to passively threaten Chairman Choi in her own right. The power struggle between the two is fantastic and works alongside the death of So-yeong to create a compelling legal mystery. The romance Soo-jae has with Chan...not so much. To be honest I was a little annoyed that his expressions of love were so constant they completely blanked out Soo-jae's more compelling question of what possible grounds there could have been to arrest Ji-yeong without a warrant. But I guess we'll find that out next episode.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Why Her?" is directed by Park Soo-jin-II, written by Kim Ji-eun-III, and features Seo Hyun-jin, Hwang In-youp, Huh Joon-ho, Bae In-hyuk, Ji Seung-hyun, Lee Joo-woo. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/06/03~Now airing, Fri, Sat 22:00 on Coupang Play, SBS.