Ep 7. Misook Wang

Jennifer Pan was a straight-A student, skilled pianist, and the pride and joy of her Vietnamese immigrant family. Her parents worked long hours to provide Jennifer and her brother with a comfortable life, but as Jennifer approached her senior year of high school, she began to feel the weight of their expectations bearing down on her. Despite her achievements, Jennifer felt an intense pressure to excel that led her to resort to a dangerous and deadly scheme.

On November 8, 2019, Oxygen's true crime series Snapped explored the case of Jennifer Pan in an episode titled "Misook Wang." The show delved into Jennifer's life, revealing how her strict and controlling upbringing pushed her to concoct an elaborate plan to deceive and betray her family. With interviews from investigators, prosecutors, and family friends, "Misook Wang" presented a thorough examination of the circumstances that led to Jennifer's shocking crime.

The episode began with a glimpse into Jennifer's idyllic but suffocating upbringing. She was born and raised in Canada to Vietnamese immigrant parents, and her mother, Bich Ha Pan, was particularly invested in Jennifer's education. Bich made sure that Jennifer attended piano lessons, tutoring sessions, and extracurricular activities, hoping that her daughter's hard work would translate into success in the future. But when Jennifer started dating a boy her parents didn't approve of, she felt like she was losing control of her own life.

In an effort to regain some power, Jennifer began to fabricate her academic achievements, pretending to be enrolled at the University of Toronto and passing off fake report cards to her parents. She also started lying about going to work at night, claiming to be a waitress at a nearby restaurant. Jennifer's charade continued for several years, even as her parents became increasingly suspicious of her behavior.

Finally, Jennifer's plan culminated in a horrific act of violence. With the help of two accomplices, Daniel Wong and David Mylvaganam, Jennifer staged a home invasion in which she and her parents were tied up and held at gunpoint. Bich was shot and killed, while her husband, Hann Pan, was wounded but survived. Jennifer claimed that the attackers had demanded money and jewelry, but the police quickly realized that her story didn't add up.

As the investigation unfolded, Jennifer's lies began to unravel. The police discovered that she had hired Wong and Mylvaganam to carry out the crime, paying them with the money she had stolen from her parents. They also uncovered the elaborate web of deceit that Jennifer had spun for years, including the fake university enrollment and the false job.

"Misook Wang" provided a comprehensive account of Jennifer's crime, from the planning stages to the aftermath. The episode presented interviews with the prosecutors who tried her case, as well as with one of Jennifer's childhood friends who spoke to her on the phone while she was on the run from the police. Through these interviews, viewers gained a sense of the impact that Jennifer's crime had on her community and on her family's homeland of Vietnam.

Ultimately, "Misook Wang" was a haunting portrait of a young woman who felt so trapped by her own circumstances that she resorted to extreme measures to escape. Jennifer's story was tragic, but it also raised important questions about the pressures that immigrant children face to succeed and the toll that can take on their mental health. Snapped's nuanced and empathetic portrayal of this case made "Misook Wang" a standout episode in the series.