‘Hell For You’ Episodes 1-2 Recap & Ending Explained: What Is Sachiko Hiding?

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Netflix’s recent revenge drama, Hell for You, is a story of two women who appear to be total strangers to each other but share a common past. While one is aware of the extent the other can go to hide their unhinged self, the other believes that she can keep the first under her thumb. How long can they keep up with this play? Let us figure it out.

Spoilers Ahead


What Happens In Episode 1?

In Hell for You episode 1, Sachiko Tachibana is seen arriving at the house of a socialite who is about to be interviewed for the job of a babysitter. Before her meeting, an acquaintance drops Sachiko a text saying that the woman is a monster. The woman of the house herself opens the door for Sachiko. The woman says she is on the lookout for someone a little more experienced than Sachiko. However, Sachiko seems almost too eager to take the job, and this does not go unnoticed by the woman. 

The woman, Miss Hanai, is a celebrity pianist and seems to have some connection to Tachibana’s past, one that is not too pleasant. Tachibana asks if she went to Misaki Gakuen High School. Miss Hanai is surprised to find Tachibana completing her sentences. While rummaging through the photos in her cupboard, Hanai accidentally drops a photo that catches Sachiko’s attention. It is from Hanai’s schooldays. The photo captures her playfully posing with her friend. However, Hanai grabs the photo and drops it in the garbage bin without an ounce of emotion. Sachiko broaches a topic that seems out of place—an infamous murder at the Misaki Gakuen High School. Miss Hanai says she has no recollection of the incident. She then plays a record of a Brahms piano recital, which brings back incidents of Tachibana’s past. 


What is the truth about Miss Hanai?

Hell for You then rewinds to a time fourteen years earlier. The headlines were overrun by the constant coverage of the gruesome deaths of a reporter, Keisuke Bando, and his colleague. The colleague succumbed to their multiple stab wounds. The murder weapon, a knife, was reported to be carrying Bando’s fingerprints. Bando’s wife was left devastated following his sudden death and his posthumous infamy as a murderer. His daughter was bullied and cornered at school. Bando’s daughter, Sawako, was a close friend of Rena Hanai. It was Rena who helped Sawako learn to tackle the bullies and overcome the trauma of the catastrophe that had befallen their family. When a guy called Makoto showed interest in Sawako, Rena advised Sawako to stay away from him as he had an ill repute. However, Rena’s benign nature was only a facade, and Sawako was only moments away from witnessing her friend’s complete derangement. 

One day, when she arrived at Rena’s place to search for her, Sawako found that Rena had killed her piano teacher. She stabbed Sawako with a pair of scissors and put the weapon inside her clutch to pin the blame for the murder on her. She left Sawako to die and set the place on fire. Then, Rena just watched with a smile as her friend was burned alive. This is the visual we see when Tachibana is introduced. The question is, how is Tachibana related to this murder and Rena?


Will Rena hire Tachibana?

Rena is still unsure of Tachibana’s reliability as a babysitter. She wants to take some time to discuss the matter with her husband, Makoto. When the baby starts crying profusely due to an allergic reaction, Tachibana proactively works to make it feel better, which helps her secure the job. Rena finally accepts Tachibana as a babysitter. Sachiko, on the other hand, has a greater motive than just a lucrative opportunity to babysit Rena’s child. One of her apartment walls is plastered with news clippings of the Bando murder case. She has videos of Rena’s recitals being projected inside her room. Sachiko calls someone and informs them that she is ready to make Rena’s life a living hell. 


What happens when Sachiko is finally hired?

Hell for You episode 2 starts with an unknown voice, perhaps that of the person who has kept in touch with Sachiko about Rena, asking Sachiko to keep an eye on Rena’s father. It is very unlikely that he would not have the faintest hint of Rena’s real nature. There have been reports of many mysterious deaths around the area where Rena lives. The voice advises Sachiko to be extremely cautious while dealing with the monster that is Rena. Rena’s female friends, on the other hand, have the same advice to dole out to Rena about her new babysitter. Yuko, one of Rena’s friends, double-crosses Rena and employs the same manufacturer to make watches as Rena. Troubled by this but still keeping an eerily smiling face, Rena kills her by driving into her with her car. However, Yuko manages to survive, much to Rena’s annoyance. 


Who is Sachiko Tachibana, and what is she hiding?

Tachibana looks for clues in Rena’s father’s office and is almost caught by him. Not much is found from the office apart from some books on criminal psychology. The man warns Rena about the new babysitter, but it seems Rena is too confident in her skill to dispose of any inconveniences. Security cameras are installed around the house in the garb of precautionary measures, but in reality, they are a way to keep an eye on Tachibana. Professor Minoru Kurokawa, Rena’s father, teaches at a college. Tachibana shows up at his college to search for clues in his room. She finds a CT scan report of Rena hidden inside his cupboard and a diary detailing her case mentioning the gruesome acts she indulged in. 

Tachibana holds the man hostage and pressures him to spit out the truth about his daughter. She asks him if he knows what it is to live the life of a burn victim and then shows him her scars. The man, equally confused and shocked, asks Tachibana if she is Sawako Bando. Sachiko Tachibana confirms his suspicions. Sachiko, or Sawako, wants the man to confess that it was Rena who had killed Sawako’s father and his colleague. The man seems adamant at first but then breaks down when threatened with the same fate as Sawako. Kurokawa himself is not aware of Rena’s motive for the killing and has been studying her case for all these years. He asks Sawako to kill him so that he can get his desired freedom from his unstable daughter. Sawako gets annoyed by the man’s act of portraying himself as the victim. Sawako reminds him that if there is a victim, it is only her. 

The repeated traumas inflicted on her at such an early age caused Sawako to grow vengeful. When she was admitted to the hospital, following her burn injuries, the news had spread that Sawako was the prime suspect of the school murder. She escaped the hospital by self-propelling her wheelchair and faked her death to disappear forever. A few months later, she got herself reconstructive surgery and a new identity as Sachiko Tachibana. Sawako tells Minoru Kurosawa that she planned everything to finally confront the father-daughter duo one day, and the time has come. She records him confessing to his daughter’s involvement in the death of Keisuke Bando and his colleague. Tachibana promises to destroy everything that is dear to Rena. In the end, Tachibana chanced upon Rena’s husband, Makoto, as she prepared to leave for her home. The episode ends with Makoto asking her if they have ever met before. 


Damayanti Ghosh
Damayanti Ghoshhttps://letterboxd.com/deemem/
Damayanti is a Master of Arts in Film Studies from Jadavpur University. An inveterate admirer of the Hindi popular cinema, she takes equal pleasure in unearthing obscure animation and horror but does not let on much about it. Her favorite book is 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. Her favorite film is 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa'.


 

 

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