Like Flowers in Sand 2023 K Drama Episode 3

Episode 3 of Like Flowers in Sand begins with the younger versions of our leads Kim Baek-du and Oh Du-shik. The last episode ended with the mysterious appearance of a man who called out to Oh Yu-gyeong (Du-shik) as “honey” implying that Du-shik might be married. However, on being teased by a neighbourhood uncle regarding Baek-du and Du-shik’s marriage, the young Du-shik replies that she will never marry and live like her role model, “Mi-suk unni”. 

Reverting to the scene at the arena, Yu-gyeong leaves with her husband leaving Baek-du completely baffled about the situation. As both of them are walking down the lobby, the man refers to Yu-gyeong as “sunbae” (senior). Meanwhile, Baek-du is watching the two through the glass and the man gets close to Yu-gyeong, telling her to pretend to be affectionate since the “villager is watching us”. 

In the car, the Yu-gyeong’s junior discusses the possible murder of the reservoir case victim. Moreover, his phone and dashcam have also gone missing. He asks her about who Du-shik is and Yu-gyeong feigns ignorance. She asks him to be careful since they cannot disclose their identity to the public. On the other hand, Baek-du is busy grumbling when he meets Mi-ran. She asks him if Du-shik is his first love. Baek-du is left flustered. 

In another instance, a man finds Coach Yeon Sang-Chul’s car with him possibly dead inside. At the police station, Cho Seok-Hui is busy with the reservoir accident case when his senior mentions that the officers from Seoul probably do not want the case publicised. At Yu-gyeong’s house, Min Hyun-Wook, her junior, questions whether they should publicise the matter but Yu-gyeong has something that is bothering her and hence wants it to be under wraps.

Yu-gyeong accepts that she is Du-shik indirectly while talking to Baek-du and insists on keeping it from others. Baek-du tells hers that he is considering appearing for the police exam but she tells him to stop being ridiculous. She asks him about the man from the reservoir but gets cross-questioned about her knowledge for the same. Baek-du finally asks her about her marriage but she brushes it off. 

At the arena, Yu-gyeong finds out that Coach Yeon has committed suicide. The head coach is worried about the match in 15 days. The neighbourhood uncles and ex-wrestlers discuss filling the coach position for the upcoming match. At the library, Baek-du is sleeping while trying to read an English vocabulary book for exams. Meanwhile, Yu-gyeong watches Baek-du’s match against Lim Dong-seok and notices Coach Yeon acting strangely nervous. 

Mi-ran talks about Min Hyeon-wook with the neighbourhood ladies about his expensive watch. He appears at the site and the aunties are enamoured by his handsome appearance. He tells them that he’s unemployed and living off of his wife who’s recently become the general manager of the ssireum team. Yu-gyeong finds Hyeon-wook drunk and he calls her “detective”. He tells her about the intel he got from the ladies that Coach Yeon had a lot of gambling debt and was being chased by loan sharks. He assumes that maybe he and Choi (the reservoir victim) were involved in match-fixing. 

Baek-du appears at the arena to give his resignation to the head coach and finds out about Coach Yeon’s quitting the team. It seems they are unaware of his death. The team along with Baek-du discuss their predicament. Athlete Kim Beom-Su almost tells Yu-gyeong something about Coach Yeon but a fellow player calls him out before he can do so.

Later, Baek-du asks him about the coach. Beom-Su reluctantly tells him that he saw the coach arguing with someone before Baek-du and Lim Dong-seok’s match. He relays the information to Yu-gyeong but nobody knows who he was talking to. Yu-gyeong is suspicious about how Coach Yeon seems devastated when Lim Dong-seok wins the match against Baek-du, despite him being his favourite student. 

At the arena, Jin-su agrees to be the coach for the team much to the displeasure of Yu-gyeong who pushes to consider Baek-du as the coach. Cho Seok-Hui finds an unknown woman and demands to see her ID. Her name is Chu Mi-suk. She asks him for the house that Du-sik used to live in. Meanwhile, at the arena Yu-gyeong confronts Baek-du and calls him out on his lie that he is quitting ssireum because he hates it. She comes up close to him and says, “You may be able to fool others but not me. Do you know why? Because I am… Du-sik”. 

The Episode Review

Episode 3 builds upon the mystery surrounding Yu-gyeong’s identity. She finally accepts that she is, in fact, Du-sik. It is also revealed that she has become a detective and is carrying out an undercover investigation into the issue of match-fixing. 

This episode was quite slow in developing its events. It seemed like it had more filler content than needed to arrive at little plot development which made it a bit monotonous and dull at times. With Yu-gyeong’s identity being disclosed, the story also seems a bit predictable. The focus on the sport and the players was less than expected while the alternate plot of the murder mystery took centre stage.

However, Jin-su’s challenge to Baek-du regarding the position of the coach in the next episode might steer the course of the narrative in the right direction. The arrival of the new personality of Mi-suk is a welcome addition and there’s hope for the next episode to be an exciting watch!