The Price of Confession, a masterfully paced crime drama, challenges the assumptions we make about people and questions the biases held by people in power. The Netflix series is the latest from Crash Landing on You director Lee Jung-hyo, features a twisting script from Proof of Innocence director Kwon Jong-kwan, and gives some of Korea’s biggest actors a chance to show their impressive range.
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Jeon Do-yeon (Crash Course in Romance, Kill Boksoon) stars as free-spirited art teacher Ahn Yun-su. When Yun-su’s painter husband, Lee Ki-dae, is stabbed to death in his studio, hot-headed prosecutor Baek Dong-hun (Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo) becomes convinced that Yun-su did it. Despite Yun-su’s insistence that she is innocent, and that she saw a woman in a hooded jacket leaving her husband’s studio the night of his death, she is deemed guilty—by the court of public opinion and by the court of law. Yun-su is sent to prison, leaving her young daughter without either parent to raise her.
Meanwhile, dead-eyed Mo Eun (Little Women’s Kim Go-eun) confesses that she killed a married couple whose dentist practice she worked in. She poisoned them in their own home, watched as they died, and accepted her punishment when the police arrived. When she is placed next to Yun-su in solitary confinement, she suggests a deal through a crack in the wall that separates their cells. Mo Eun will confess to the murder of Yun-su’s husband, if Yun-su does something in return: kill college kid Ko Se-hun (Nam Da-reum), the son of the couple she murdered.
Why does Mo Eun want Se-hun dead?
When Mo Eun admits to killing Se-hun’s parents, she offers no explanation, other than that they were bad people, leading the public to assume she is a sociopath. As The Price of Confession progresses, however, it becomes clear that Mo Eun is able to empathize with others, and takes human life very seriously. Her stoic, seemingly unfeeling mask is the result of the deep pain she has suffered and her commitment to getting justice for her late father and sister.
It’s revealed that Mo Eun’s real name is Kang So-hae. She is a doctor, who previously worked in Thailand with under-resourced populations who need medical care. She was there when COVID broke out. Just before Thailand shut its borders to stop spread of the virus, she got the news that her little sister So-mang and her father had both died by suicide.
So-mang, she learns, was raped by Se-hun. He filmed the sexual assault to post on the internet. When So-mang finds out about the video and reports Se-hun, his wealthy family ensures that he gets off with minor consequences. In retaliation for reporting him, Se-hun sends the video to her friends and family.
Devastated that he wasn’t able to protect his daughter, So-hae and So-mang’s father dies by suicide. Unable to get through to So-hae, who is sick with COVID, So-mang also kills herself. So-hae is inconsolable. When her good friend, a Korean national named Mo Eun with no family back home, dies from COVID, she offers her identity to So-hae as a tool to use in her revenge. So-hae, now going by Mo Eun, sets out to punish Se-hun and his parents.
Does Yun-su kill Se-hun?
Yun-su agrees to Mo Eun’s plan, and is released on bail following Mo Eun’s confession to the murder of Ki-dae. Yun-su is reunited with her daughter, but a life of freedom is far from secured. She has to win her appeal, and she has to kill Se-hun to do so. Mo Eun has made it clear that, if she doesn’t show proof of his death before Yun-su’s appeal, Mo Eun will retract her confession.
After weeks of surveillance, Yun-su goes to Se-hun’s house to kill him, but ultimately does not have the heart to finish the job. He begs for his life as she chokes him to death, and she lets him live. Instead, Yun-su tells Se-hun that Mo Eun is trying to kill him and, if she doesn’t do it, someone else will. They pose Se-hun for a photo that makes it look like he is dead to Mo Eun, and then Yun-su tells him to stay hidden until she comes back. Days later, Se-hun is found dead in his house, stuffed into a freezer. All evidence points to Yun-su.
Who killed Yun-su’s husband?
Once Yun-su realizes she is not willing to kill Se-hun, she knows she has to find the person responsible for her husband’s death. On the run following Se-hun’s death, she visits an art show featuring a retrospective of her husband’s work. At the show, Yun-su notices a photo that includes both Ki-dae and Mo Eun’s lawyer, Jin Yeong-in (The Defects’ Choi Young-joon).
Yeong-in is a legendary public defender who took on Mo Eun’s case at the behest of his wife, celebrated cellist Choi Su-yeon. Yeong-in has never before mentioned that he knew Yun-su’s husband. As Yun-su investigates, she learns that Yeong-in was harassing Ki-dae before he died. Yeong-in and Su-yeon had donated an art piece to the university hosting the art show that Ki-dae had suspected was plagiarized. Ki-dae had told the university’s president about his suspicions and in the weeks before his murder, Yeong-in demanded an apology for what he viewed as a public slight to himself and his wife.
The night of Ki-dae’s murder, while the artist was working in his studio waiting for his wife to arrive, Yeong-in and Su-yeong paid a visit. Overcome with anger at Ki-dae’s refusal to apologize, Su-yeong smashed a wine bottle over Ki-dae’s head and then stabbed him repeatedly in the neck with one of his art implements. Yeong-in, who knows a great deal about crime from his life as a lawyer, stayed behind to clean up the scene. He was hiding in the studio when Yun-su arrived, called emergency services, and held her dying husband in her arms.
Initially, the death of Yun-su’s husband has nothing to do with Mo Eun’s tale of vengeance. They only become connected when Mo Eun is unable to kill Se-hun herself and asks Yun-su to do it. However, as Mo Eun gets to know Yun-su, she develops a soft spot for the woman who wants the chance to raise her daughter. As Yun-su’s life gets harder, Mo Eun also starts to feel some guilt for the role she has played in her troubles.
Who killed Se-hun?
Se-hun was killed by Yeong-in. Desperate to protect his wife, whom he loves, he is committed to framing Yun-su as a murderer. He uses his position as Mo Eun’s lawyer to stay apprised of Yun-su and, if necessary, steer the police investigation into Se-hun’s death towards her.
Luckily, Yun-su has a good lawyer, Jang Jeong-gu (Aema’s Jin Seon-kyu). Though Yun-su doesn’t initially trust Jeong-gu, he eventually proves his commitment to the truth. As a result, Yun-su sends Jeong-gu a webcam video proving that Se-hun was alive when she left the house. Meanwhile, Jeong-gu uses his position to nurture the doubt that prosecutor Dong-hun is beginning to feel over Yun-su’s guilt. Led by Yun-su, both begin to turn their suspicions towards their colleague, Yeong-in.
The Price of Confession ending, explained
When Mo Eun realizes that Yun-su needs her help to clear her name, she orchestrates an escape. They meet up and head to Ki-dae’s studio together. Yun-su has realized that a fingerprint on Ki-dae’s final print could belong to the real killer, whom she now believes to be Yeong-in’s wife, Su-yeong.
Unfortunately, Yeong-in has also come to the studio—to destroy the evidence of Su-yeong’s crime. Mo Eun sacrifices herself for Yun-su, forcing Yeong-in to stab her and then using his surprise to stab him in the heart. Both Yeong-in and Yun-su die, the latter in Yun-su’s arms, just as Jeong-gu and Dong-hun arrive.
Does The Price of Confession have a happy ending?
The Price of Confession has a happy ending of sorts. Mo Eun is able to get revenge for her family, and Yun-su secures the chance to raise her daughter. She is found guilty for conspiring to kill Se-hun, but is given a light sentence. She uses her freedom to bring her daughter to Thailand, where Mo Eun—then So-hae—was at her happiest. She leaves the watch that once belonged to the true Mo Eun and then to So-hae as a memorial.
Meanwhile, Su-yeong seems poised to get away with killing Ki-dae. She is brought in for questioning by Dong-hun, but he doesn’t have any conclusive evidence that she was the one to stab Ki-hae. Yun-su’s eyewitness account and Su-yeong’s fingerprint on Ki-dae’s art prove she was there that night, but Su-yeong claims it was her husband who dealt the killing blow. Yeong-in is dead, and was willing to take the fall anyway. Perhaps this is the cost of Dong-hun’s arrogance in initially going after Yun-su for the murder so decisively: the true killer will slip through his fingers.
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