Well, this episode picks up right where we left off, but in greater clarity: Hak Young threatens to reveal Woo Tak’s secret if Woo Tak doesn’t help him prove his innocence, and Woo Tak pulls out a prepared letter of resignation and says “Ok. Let’s do this then.”

Seriously, could this boy get any cooler?

Good friends follow through

Hak Young takes it all back and breaks down, falling at Woo Tak’s feet, and Woo Tak is obviously touched by his friend’s anxiety. Wait, what is this? Hong Joo running to the rescue? She gets there just in time to see Hak Young being taken away by the police, and proceeds to beat on Woo Tak for not believing her. That’s funnier than it sounds, btw. And then suddenly they’re hugging? OH WAIT. That’s Jae Chan dreaming. Heh heh heh. His nightmare, but not for the rest of us…. But he arrives just in time to break it up. I don’t know how I feel about that. 

Friendship dreams to the next level

It’s interesting to see how the dreams our Three Flying Dragons have influence their choices, and how often those choices work to strengthen each other and support each other. I wonder what this is building towards. On the other hand, I worry, because as Kmuse said in our last recap post, we might be headed towards a beloved character death. I might be a pessimist, but I can just see it happening because NOTHING has gone the way I expected it to in this drama. In the meantime, I’m doing my best to enjoy the journey!

Awkward breakfasts for the win

Anyway, I think Mama Han is in her happy place — she’s convinced Jae Chan AND his brother AND Woo Tak to come over for breakfast every day. No more bathroom solos for Hong Joo! They watch a bit of the news as they eat and Hak Young again protests his innocence. Woo Tak, remembering his dream of being interrogated as a witness by Jae Chan, comes clean and admits just how well he knows Hak Young. He tells the group that he convinced Hak Young to turn himself in because the law would take care of him.

The facts and only the facts

Here we have a revealing conversation: Jae Chan shows his impartiality and his willingness to suspend judgment until he has all the facts, whereas Hong Joo takes what she sees on the surface and runs with it, sticking to her opinion. It’s an interesting division in paths and takes our trio on quite the journey.

Does dream hugging counts?

I was amused when later Hong Joo and Jae Chan were bickering in the coffee line about Jae Chan’s revelation that Woo Tak was going to hug her. But I really loved the fact that Cho Hee was THERE and was helping them out. Heh. Or at least trying to. And I really loved Hong Joo’s comparison of prosecutor’s robes to choir robes and what Jae Chan imagined right after that.

Their debate between Hong Joo’s surety that Hak Young is guilty and Jae Chan’s unwillingness to commit to a decision is great, because he makes an allowance for other possibilities. I hate it in procedurals where the detectives decide on a certain outcome, then mishandle the facts to make them fit their vision. Jae Chan stood his ground and I cheered.

Human Lie Detector

Then we get a series of plot threads being laid out: More insight into the incidents at the funeral home in a flashback, Woo Tak helping Hak Young’s mom scrub graffiti off her restaurant, and Yu Beom agreeing to sue Hak Young civilly on behalf of the archer’s family to make sure things move quickly, then a snippet of Hong Joo’s dream of Jae Chan getting her a ring (NOT an engagement ring). I do love how Jae Chan gets to prove that he’s a human lie detector. Though, are the bros covering for each other? Does Woo Tak really like Hong Joo? Hmmmm.

Yu Beom sucks……shocker

Hong Joo’s senior asks her to cover the civil case being put forward by the archer’s family, but she loses her interest in the assignment when she finds out hat Yu Beom is the lawyer. Woo Tak comforts his friend in jail, and we learn that he was top in criminal law in the police academy. What I’m really starting to love is what comes next: Jae Chan has lunch with Investigator Choi and asks the investigator for his help. He’s found a reliable mentor! For a character that I wasn’t sure of in the beginning, I’m beginning to really respect Investigator Choi.

Also, the office ladies reaction to Woo Tak? “NICE.” I love them too. Collectively.

Yu Beom and Hong Joo meet, and Yu Beom tries to convince Hong Joo to manipulate the media to trash Hak Young’s reputation under the guise of using society to investigate him. I find it interesting that Yu Beom continues to play with the glass of soda as he talks, almost as if he’s trying to hypnotize Hong Joo. It’s a parallel to the spilled milk metaphor from the last episode, but Yu Beom is asking Hong Joo to fill the glass with “evidence” from the court of public opinion. She did drink the first glass of soda (believing in Hak Young’s guilt) easily enough.

The best lawyering interview ever.

In the meantime, Jae Chan interviews Woo Tak, after being roundly insulted by his paralegal for being boring. His little coat flip as he walked past her was hilarious. Jae Chan has asked all his seniors and the chief prosecutor to observe the interrogation, which seemed like a rookie thing to do, but let’s face it — anytime our Three Flying Dragons work together, they become brilliant. More on that in a minute. Right now, the chatter among the seniors as they watch the beginning of the interrogation shows that they are clearly biased towards Hak Young being guilty.

The key to the case quickly becomes clear — the design drawn in the victim’s blood. The death could have been an accident, but for the design. There’s also the fact that Hak Young asked Woo Tak to prove his innocence, not to give him an alibi. I love that through flashbacks, we’re led to see how Investigator Choi taught Jae Chan how to handle the seniors — not to work alone, but as a team, to show them what he sees. Investigator Choi pointed out that just telling them they were wrong wouldn’t work and they would both get fired, but if Jae Chan led them down the trail the evidence left behind, they would see the truth for themselves. And they do. Jae Chan and Woo Tak working together (go Flying Dragons!) and using the interrogation as the vehicle of change was so well done.

Brilliant writing and editing here. I will probably say that in every episode, because it’s true and worth repeating. 

Doing the right thing

After these incidents, we get a continuation of the flashback before. Young Jae Chan and Hong Joo are on Jae Chan’s motorcycle, following the soldier’s policeman brother to a river. They arrive just in time to watch the officer walk into the water in an attempt to drown himself. Jae Chan finds a rope and ties it around himself, then hands the other end to Hong Joo so she can pull the two of them out. But she struggles with the idea, because she hates the soldier so much and she doesn’t see why she should save his brother. Jae Chan convinces her, reminding her that the policeman isn’t responsible for their fathers’ deaths. He dives in to rescue the man, leaving her holding the other end of the rope and to make the decision whether she will save them or not.

 

Hong Joo finally decides to do the right thing — in both Hak Young’s case AND the soldier’s brother’s situation. But it took Jae Chan changing her perspective to help her see the truth. In the present day, Jae Chan explains that the archer had a health condition that made her faint and she struck her head on a table–accidental death. He still doesn’t know who or what drew the design, but he knew that 13 minutes wasn’t long enough for Hak Young to have murdered the woman, completely cleaned up, and draw the design. In the reenactment of the “crime”, we see the archer’s robot vacuum move through her blood, drawing the mysterious design, then falling off the balcony and being thrown away by a diligent child. As much as the prosecutors’ office fears backlash, since Dae Hee was released initially and then found to be a heinous criminal, they must cancel the arrest. It’s not easy for them.

Sweet dreams become nightmares

And then, Jae Chan confesses to Hong Joo! “What’s this, all of a sudden?” she asks, and he explains that even though he likes her, he’s not going to throw away a man’s life because of his feelings for her. Hong Joo finally understands, then makes a ring out of a twist tie to show Jae Chan her ring size, thus making *her* dream of him giving her a ring possible. BUT THE DREAM CHANGES! At the end of the episode, instead of coming to her to give her the ring, Jae Chan is stabbed by a mysterious man. YIKES. Enough with the stabby people already!!

Yours in suspense until next week, drama fans–

Karie the Maknae

Dramas with a Side of Kimchi