My Perfect Stranger (2023) Episode 13

Episode 13 of My Perfect Stranger begins with Hae-joon put into handcuffs by Detective Baek and led away. Yoon-young is shocked and pleads with Baek to stop. She points out how ludicrous this all is but Hae-joon agrees to comply with the detective all the same – but only if he’s given 3 minutes with Yoon-young alone.

“You trust me right?” He says to Yoon-young, going on to retort exactly what’s happened at the crime scene. He promises to return soon but for now, she needs to go to Soon-ae’s and stay safe. Interestingly, as the handcuffs were originally placed on Hae-joon, we catch a glimpse of a gold-faced watch. Now, this was actually Mr Yoon’s gift to Yeon-woo’s son, something he intended to hand over personally and that he’s only just bought.

Back to the present, Hae-joon wants Yoon-young to drive the time travel car incase everything goes awry, but Yoon-young shakes away that implication, telling him to return soon. Well, as police arrive at the scene and begin examining everything, Soon-ae is taken into the hospital. There, her family discover the matchbox tucked in her pocket, including the familiar note about “a woman who reads is dangerous.”

Yoon-young sees all of this and realizes she needs to speak to Mi-sook, given she’s the only one who knows what the suspect looks like. Yon-young heads to Mi-sook and demands answers. With Beom-ryong dead, she’s more desperate than ever before.

Mi-sook feigns ignorance, claiming she doesn’t know anything. That is, until she learns Hae-joon has been arrested and they know Min-soo isn’t the real suspect. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, despite flickers of doubt, and she walks away.

At the station, Hae-joon recites everything that happened at Kyeong-ae’s death, along with Beom-ryong being mixed up with Joo-young. He’s also quick to point out Beom-ryong is not the one responsible for this, given the handwriting, and he similarly requests Baek look at this properly, including asking Soon-ae, who was actually there, what she remembers.

Baek is having none of it, believing Hae-joon is his man, and tells him to get used to being at the station. While everyone waits for Soon-ae to awaken, Soon-ae’s parents notice that Hae-seob is on a hunger strike, worried sick that his beloved won’t wake up again. However, her parents reassure him, heading out for some food and encouraging him to eat heartily so he has the strength he needs.

At the station, Hae-joon is force dout of his cell by Baek, who has his teaching licence in hand. That’s not good news, especially when he points out they’re all faked and everything in his name has been forged. There’s not even a record of him being alive.

Detective Baek realizes how serious this is, given Hae-joon could be incriminated under espionage charges, and he wants the truth. “Explain in a way that I’ll understand,” He pleads. So Hae-joon decides to do just that, and that includes bringing Director Yoon over to his place.

Hae-joon brings the pair into his office, where he shows off all the newspaper clippings and various papers from the future, a whole bunch of random police files and a whole bunch of other files all correlating to this case. When Hae-joon reveals that he’s a traveler, he also unveils the relationship between everyone.

Baek is shocked but Yoon starts to come around to the story, especially when he sees the watch, complete with the same engraving of “time flies but love endures”.

Yoon speaks to the detective outside and tries to explain himself, including the watch and the timeframe between Hae-joon being arrested and having the watch in hand. Baek is incredulous and believes they just need to arrest him and be done with it. Yoon though, is not so sure.

Back in the hospital, Soon-ae wakes back up and everyone is overjoyed to see her come around. The thing is, she has a very important job to do. The police show up and ask her questions, and she’s very quick to point out that Hae-joon is not the culprit. Yoon-young is overjoyed and races out to hug Hae-joon warmly… but they’re not alone and it’s rather awkward.

However, there’s more drama here though as Hae-joon and Yoon-young also point out who Hee-seob marries in the future, along with other bits and pieces about the timeline.

Baek still doesn’t believe it though, although Hae-joon is quick to point out a whole bunch of correct sport results and getting articles from the various newspapers of the time correct too. It’s enough for him to entertain the idea and work with Hae-joon to try and find the real murderer. After all, if he does so he could actually change his own future and not live out the guilt-ridden future we know he ends up with.

Meanwhile, Director Yoon speaks to Hae-joon as they head out for drinks together. He brings up the watch and the significance of the phrase on its face, including how the love for his grandson will endure for hundreds of years even after he’s passed. Hae-joon retorts how Chung-a is who Yeon-woo ends up with (and subsequently his mother) but the Director gets blind drunk, so Hae-joon takes him back home and into bed.

Hae-joon decides to head into Bong Bong Cafe, where Chung-a tells him he’s the 20,000th customer so he gets a prize of free tea. The place is completely empty save for them, and he quickly realizes she just wants to talk to him. She’s closing down the cafe and is going to leave town. She’s not willing to divulge the reason why ust yet though, but it seems time has changed. After all, she doesn’t seem to be pregnant and she’s leaving ahead of when she should be.

While people mourn Beom-ryong’s passing at his funeral, Hae-joon gets talking to Yeon-woo outside, who points out he had a lovely meal with his girlfriend the night before. Hae-joon moves from there to the hospital, where he greets Soon-ae. Only, among her big pile of gifts, he notices something awry.

A matchbox, including a brand new note reading “I’m glad you came to. See you again.” The culprit has been in Soon-ae’s room…but who could it be?

The Episode Review

It’ll be interesting to see just what ramifications Hae-joon and Yoon-young’s actions have on the future. The reality has very clearly changed already, given both Director Yoon and also Detective Baek Dong-shik know about the time travelling. This wull almost certainly have changed the timeline right? But we may be getting ahead of ourselves there!

For now, we’re getting closer to figuring out who the killer is and it still seems suspect that Yoo-seob and Yeon-woo aren’t clearer culprits. We also get nothing about the bloodied boot print from the house the killer escaped from (despite the camera very prominently showing it in episode 12), nor do we have any further clues over why this individual is killing.