The previous episode ended with Kiichi finding out the truth about Anzu’s identity. Meanwhile, Yuzu reconnected with their father, Osamu.
Burn the House Down - Episode 3 Summary & Recap
Going down the details
Now that Kiichi knew Anzu’s actual identity, Anzu is in a predicament. Initially, she told Kiichi that she so happened to get the housekeeping job at the Mitarai family’s house. Her employer allowed her to change her name because she had a previous connection to the house.
Nevertheless, Kiichi was quick to call Anzu bluff. He pulled out a video which he secretly recorded the day before, where Anzu was running through Makiko’s clothes searching for the cardigan.
Therefore, Anzu told Kiichi that “she had to tell him the truth”. She revealed that her mother had amnesia and she’s trying to find her mother’s old things to jog her memory. Somehow, Kiichi believed that and let Anzu go. Nevertheless, Anzu knew her cover had been blown and made sure to move out of the house to stay with Claire. She warned Yuzu to tell others that she (Anzu) had long separated from her family.
More hands to help
The next day, sure enough Makiko did not know anything. But instead she started to give Anzu more cooking work as she has been posting Anzu’s cooking on Instagram. That got her a cooking segment on a show, so Makiko had no choice but to get Anzu to teach her how to cook.
But that’s not all for Anzu. Kiichi also started blackmailing her to help him with his celebrity gossip website. With not enough time in her hands, Anzu felt stuck. Coincidentally, her mother, Satsuki’s memory started to improve a little bit, and that allowed Satsuki to give Anzu a piece of advice. She reminded Anzu that just like how she always watches over Yuzu, Yuzu is also watching over her. Then, Anzu asked Yuzu for her help.
Yuzu would gladly help in this operation to prove their mother innocent. She took up Shinji’s offer to meet their father, Osamu in the Mitarai hospital. Then, she found a way to excuse herself and sneaked into the hospital office to retrieve the CCTV memory card.
Career before children
Anzu and Claire wasted no time dissecting the footage, but it did not show that Makiko was the person wearing the cardigan at the time. So, Claire suggested that Anzu continue to search the Mitarai house for evidence. This part gets extremely frustrating, because it seemed like Anzu never had a chance to get the full set of evidence to prove Makiko set the fire in the first place. So why the hassle?
Regardless, the story continues. That night, Makiko received notification of a website slandering her, and she knew immediately that it was Kiichi’s website. Although Kiichi is her son, she went up to Kiichi’s door that night and belittled her son, telling him that he would not be able to survive in the outside world. She also made it known that she knew about the website.
That conversation tore Kiichi’s confidence down and when Anzu was with him the next day, he got rough and even intimidated Anzu about her mother. Caught in a precarious situation, Anzu let out that she believed that Makiko was the arson 13 years ago. Kiichi calmed down and finally agreed to help Anzu find out the truth, as the incident has also been eating him up this whole time.
Additional Observations From Episode 3
- The head nurse in Mitarai hospital, Ishihara saw Yuzu going in and out of the hospital records department.
More recaps from Burn the House Down
Burn the House Down is a Japanese thriller series based on the manga Mitarai ke, Enjou Suru by Moyashi Fujisawa. Starring Mei Nagano, Kyoka Suzuki and Asuka Kudo.
Streaming on Netflix