It’s the last week of the K-drama My Perfect Stranger, and all the loose ends are getting tied up. Episode 15 is a little bit slower than expected, but it’s probably so that there’s time for some fun in the last episode. The mystery sci-fi show is about a journalist who finds a time-traveling car and decides to hop on it on a whim. After that, mystery ensues, and an unexpected stranger joins his journey. Over time, Hae-Joon and Yoon-Young grow close to each other, and of course, the expected outcome is a happy ending. The killer was revealed last episode, and it may have come as a surprise and a terrible twist.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In ‘My Perfect Stranger’ Episode 15?
In the last episode, it was revealed that Yeon-Woo, Hae-Joon’s father, was the killer this whole time. Hae-Joon didn’t just trust him blindly; he even invited him over to his house to fix the time machine. Hae-Joon realizes where Yeon-Woo may have run off to and finds himself right in front of the tunnel. Yeon-Woo hits Hae-Joon with the car, unlike what happened with Yoon-Young in the first episode, where they both ended up time-traveling. Yeon-Woo beats up Hae-Joon terribly and is about to kill him, but by that time Yoon-Young has reached Woojung-ri and gets Detective Baek to the tunnel. Yoon-Young heard the true story from Mi-Sook and finally knows who the killer is. Detective Baek shoots Yeon-Woo in the hand so he can’t batter Hae-Joon with a rock, but Hae-Joon is unconscious. Yeon-Woo is arrested by Detective Baek, and Yoon-Young takes Hae-Joon to the hospital.
At the hospital, Hae-Joon doesn’t wake up for a while, and Yoon-Young is very worried. She also can’t believe how terrifying and saddening all this must be for him. In the meantime, Principal Yoon is shocked by Detective Baek and the rest of the police department in front of his house. They’re there to check for evidence. The murders apparently occurred the night before Yeon-Woo arrived back in Korea, but it’s revealed from his passport that he had been back earlier. Unfortunately, Yeon-Woo is extremely thorough with what he does and has hidden the evidence very well, leaving no traces behind to prove he’s the culprit. The first thing Hae-Joon does as he wakes up is apologize to Yoon-Young for having a father who hurt her family terribly. Yoon-Young assures him that it’s not his fault; his father turned out that way, and Hae-Joon is not to blame for any of this. On top of that, Hae-Joon himself has been so hurt because of his father’s actions. On the other hand, even the handwriting is not a match for Yeon-Woo’s. Chung-A brings some letters to Hae-Joon’s grandfather and tells him that they were written by Yeon-Woo. He had written to her with a special handwriting, and she thought it was because what they shared was special. When the matchboxes were found with the victim, since they were from her cafe, the police questioned Chung-A about them. She had lied to them through her teeth at the time because she had just found out about her pregnancy.
Yoon-Young wants to help as much as she can, so she asks Detective Baek if she can help with anything else. Considering Chung-A is missing, she suggests she can find her because Chung-A would’ve gone to her grandfather’s bus terminal. Her grandfather doesn’t know where Chung-A ultimately went, but Yoon-Young was able to comfort him after the culprit was caught. Interestingly, Yoon-Young’s grandfather isn’t disappointed with the principal for having a son like Yeon-Woo, but instead, he wonders how such a nice person could end up with a son like that. In such a case, the parent would usually get blamed. Elsewhere, Hae-Joon is struck by a memory from his childhood, when Yeon-Woo sent him a letter, but his grandfather threw it away immediately. It means that he knew about Yeon-Woo at the time, but he protected him. Hae-Joon rushes to Principal Yoon’s home and finds him burning Chung-A’s letters. Luckily, he can save some from burning, and he has a confrontational conversation with his grandfather. He tells him that even if he tried to save Yeon-Woo, Hae-Joon would never receive the dream life that Principal Yoon had imagined for him, so burning the letters or making sure Yeon-Woo is not arrested will not change anything in Hae-Joon’s future. Principal Yoon breaks down, and Hae-Joon leaves with the letters. Hae-Joon doesn’t plan on looking for his mother now because the letters have been found and there’s evidence to keep Yeon-Woo imprisoned.
Why Did Yeon-Woo Kill The Women?
Hae-Joon decides to have one last conversation with his father and finally confesses who he really is. Yeon-Woo’s entire hatred for women who read books began because his mother abandoned him at age 7, and all she used to do was read books when he was around. Because she never gave him any attention, he ended up loathing her. Finally, as an adult, he wanted to check up on where she was, but she rejected him again. This probably led Yeon-Woo to the extreme and he used this feeling as an excuse to kill the Woojung-ri women. Yeon-Woo can’t imagine Hae-Joon would put him in jail if he were his son, nor can he believe he would kill his own son, because he promised himself that he’d find a woman who would love his son and not abandon him as Yeon-Woo’s own mother did. Hae-Joon easily puts down Yeon-Woo’s story and calls him out for ruining his own life and victimizing himself when he’s a cold-hearted murderer. Hae-Joon hopes for him to stay and rot in prison all his life. He tells Yeon-Woo that he missed out on the “perfect life” he had planned out for his son all by himself and leaves.
Yoon-Young, too, got one final chance to say goodbye to her family so that they could meet again in the future. Soon-Ae is extremely mad at her for leaving just like that and not telling them where she’s going, but Yoon-Young promises that they will meet again 34 years later, looking different but feeling the same way. Soon-Ae’s family also thanks Hae-Joon for everything he’s done for them. Hae-Joon and Yoon-Young are both nervous to go back home but excited at the same time. Finally, they take the car and get ready to leave, only to remain in 1987. It is possible that Yeon-Woo made a mistake in fixing the car or intentionally pulled out something after finding Hae-Joon’s evidence room. Yoon-Young’s final thoughts at the end of the episode are that this might be meant to be, and they will just have to live the rest of their lives in the past.
Final Thoughts
There’s a common thread of abandonment by a parent in this show. An interesting comparison can be seen between Hae-Joon’s life without a mother and Yeon-Woo’s life without a mother, making no judgment for mothers who leave their children. Usually, in such cases, there is a very straightforward moral message, but we appreciate the two sides of the coin in this show. Additionally, Yoon-Young also felt abandoned by her own father, but seeing his circumstances, she was able to understand his feelings and garner some empathy for him. Ultimately, she changed her life for the better because she may end up having a present father at the end of the day.
