Recap Korean Drama The Heavenly Idol 2023 Episode 3

Episode 3 of The Heavenly Idol starts with Kim Dal and the doctor trying to help Yeon-woo regain consciousness. The doctor believes that Yeon-woo is suffering from hypoglycemia. Kim Dal later takes  Yeon-woo to get an energy drink. Pontifex tells her that he has made a holy vow with the real Yeon-woo to switch back their bodies after Wild Animals win Artists of the Year.

Kim Dal thinks that  Yeon-woo also has Dissociative Identity Disorder. She and the doctor think that it is possible  Yeon-woo is using it as a defensive mechanism to escape the reality of being a failed idol. She doesn’t discourage Yeon-woo but simply tells him that it won’t be easy to win the Artist of the Year Award. Pontifex is curious about her relationship with the real Yeon-woo but Kim Dal refuses to divulge any information.

Elsewhere, Sun Woo-sil is informed that Yeon-woo will be part of the Sing Survival show he is scheduled to appear in. Woo-sil has a history with  Yeon-woo and he is not happy to hear they will be running into each other again. He used to be  Wild Animal’s vocal coach and he hated Yeon-woo because he couldn’t sing and depended on his good looks to advance his career. Also, Yeon-woo wanted to focus on starting an acting career and couldn’t care less about singing.

Woo-sil is not the only one who is not pleased with Sing Survival’s latest addition to the show. Another artist Oh Jung-shin wants to use the show to change his image and come back with a new album. His manager assures him that Yeon-woo is just on the show to create buzz and will not outshine him.

The day of the first recording arrives and Kim Dal works as Cash and Yeon-woo’s manager. She helps them get ready and asks Yeon-woo to try and be on his best behaviour.  She is honest with him about the fact that he has no fans and will most likely struggle to have screen time. She asks him to change everything except his good looks.

Yeon-woo takes this to mean he should be more friendly with everyone. He approaches Woo-sil to say hi but Woo-sil is offended that Yeon-woo doesnt remember him. Yeon-woo also runs into Jung-shin and confuses him for a young boy. Cash tries to stop him and asks him to keep his distance from Jung-shin as he has scary fans. Jung-shin is infuriated by Yeon-woo but tries to keep calm.

For the round of the competition, the contestants are asked to be original and rearrange a song according to what they think suits them best. Yeon-woo doesn’t like the song as it promotes materialism. He makes his disdain for the song clear and opts to change the lyrics. He also decides that he will sing the song with a choir. Kim Dal and their music producer think it is a bad idea. They know that Yeon-woo can’t sing but after Kim Dal hears him sing she changes her mind and agrees to his demands.

In the meantime, the Evil one is now acting as the Vice President of the Broadcasting station. He gets the show’s producer, Kim Moo-rok under his influence and orders him to try and mess with Yeon-woo’s performance. They switch Yeon-woo’s cue time and even though Yeon-woo gives a beautiful performance and outshines the other contestants.

After the first round, Kim Dal heads to their room and finds Cash going through a panic attack.  Yeon-woo tries to heal him but is unable to and he realizes he is unable to heal the illness of the mind. Kim Dal explains to him what a panic attack is and tells him that most people get healed through music and their favourite idols. Yeon-woo promises to do his best so he can heal Cash and Kim Dal who he has noticed is mostly sad.  He asks to go to church to pray.

Before the second round, the winners of the first round are announced and Yeon-woo is ranked at the bottom. Yeon-woo is surprised he lost and questions if the judges of the show are heathens. Kim Dal is happy that Cash did well on the show but confronts Moo-rok about his unfair judgement call. She questions why they changed the voting system and if he is ready to deal with the aftermath of being biased. Moo-rok is under the influence of the Evil One and he couldn’t care less.

For the second round, the contestants are asked to team up and sing a duet. Coincidentally, Woo-sil ends up picking Yeon-woo as his partner. Kim Dal tries to prepare Yeon-woo and asks him to let Woo-sil choose the song and make sure no one finds out they have bad blood between them.

As expected, in front of the cameras, Woo-sil pretends to let Yeon-woo pick a song but he switches it to a song that fits him more.  Woo-sil does his best to make sure  Yeon-woo makes a fool of himself but he is surprised that Yeon-woo can keep up with his vocal range. They also watch the first episode of the show and Sun-ja is angry that Moo-rok went overboard with making Yeon-woo appear as the villain. However, Yeon-woo is clueless about his portrayal in the show and is just happy he gets to eat a lot of food throughout the show.

Soon the recording for the second round start and the Evil One manages to tamper with Woo-sil’s voice. The episode ends with Woo-sil losing his voice and Yeon-woo freezing on the spot, unaware of what to do. The Evil One is happy and is excited to mess with Pontifex in this world as well.

The Episode Review

Yeon-woo used his powers in the song and that is why most people felt moved by his performance. I gotta say, Min-Kyu has a great voice, I can see how he used to be an idol trainee and it’ll be interesting to see how his musical performances on the show will be used.

As an avid fan of Korean Variety shows, I am so happy to see Tak Jae-hoon. We are so used to seeing him as a comedian that we forget he is a singer. He did a great job portraying Woo-sil and I look forward to seeing how his character progresses in the show.

Overall, this was another fun episode. It seems like Heavenly Idol is on a roll when it comes to delivering.