Lookout: Episodes 19-20

by CandidClown

Lookout seems to delight in keeping me on the razor’s edge of panic. Don’t get me wrong, I love a little suspense as much as the next drama addict, but this is getting ridiculous. It seems like Do-han has everyone out to get him, with his crew doubting him, allies making other plans, and his mortal enemy circling closer to a truth that could destroy everything. I swear I’m going to have white hair by the end of this show.

 
EPISODE 19 RECAP

Do-han and the priest both arrive at the church. Each thinks the other messaged them to meet, until Suji strolls down the aisle to reveal that she called them. She shows them the paper that she took from Do-han’s apartment and matches it with the paper that their boss sent messages with, proving that he is their team’s elusive leader.

The priest mutters that they never should have gotten her involved, but Do-han maintains his smarmy façade, claiming that she could have planted the paper there. Suji smiles and warns that he can’t talk his way out of this one. With the priest and prosecutor watching, Suji phones up Jin-ki on the Joint Investigation Team. Do-han looks distinctly uneasy as Suji says she’s turning herself in, instructing Soon-ae to come pick her up once they’ve traced her location.

Suji hangs up, and Do-han grits out that if she’s caught, it’s game over for her. Suji fires right back that if she is caught, then it’s over for him, too.

Do-han smirks as he says that she’s bluffing, at least until Soon-ae calls him to report that Suji just turned herself in, confirming that Suji’s call was real. As Do-han glares, Suji demands that he tell her all his plans before the police arrive.

With no other option, Do-han drops the act and admits that there’s someone he’s after, just like the rest of them. Suji argues that he’s been using them for his own plans, but Do-han reasons back that he provided the information they needed; she and the others pursued revenge for themselves, not for him.

Suji cuts through Do-han’s smooth logic and says accusatorially, “Why did you use Yoo-na for this?” The priest shifts guiltily, but Do-han snarls that if he hadn’t intervened on that case, then Chief Prosecutor Yoon would have just used someone else to cover it up.

With fire burning in her eyes, Suji yells that that doesn’t justify using her daughter’s death as an opportunity for his revenge. She cries, “You are no different from Yoon Seung-ro. You crush someone’s life so that you can achieve your goal, and you don’t even realize that it’s wrong.”

Do-han trembles with rage at being compared to his enemy, but they’re interrupted by Bomi and Kyung-soo bursting in through the side doors. Suji wipes away her tears as she tosses a recorder to Kyung-soo, asking if he got everything. Oh, snap!

As Soon-ae and her crew race to Suji’s location, she calls Eun-joong to fill him in. He asks if they’ve called Do-han yet, and gets suspicious when Soon-ae says she’s been unable to reach him after he hung up on her.

Well and truly cornered by his own people back in the church, Do-han asks what they want. Kyung-soo demands the intel on his mother’s case, and Bomi asks for his plan for catching Yoon. Do-han agrees, but he suggests that they relocate before the police arrive. Strangely, Suji assures him that they have lots of time.

The police speed to the traced location of Suji’s call… only to find an empty street. Soon-ae uncovers a burner phone, and Detective Nam snarks that Suji is just toying with them. Eun-joong runs up asks if Soon-ae has heard from Do-han yet, saying he has a feeling that he’s with Suji right now. Uh oh.

Said Do-han is currently chuckling as he works out how his team fooled him. We rewind to see that when Suji made the call to the police, she’d actually called Bomi. Kyung-soo had then used a burner phone to call the real detectives, and he and Bomi had held their phones together, patching Suji through to Jin-ki. After the call, they’d abandoned the burner and cutely ran off, high-fiving each other in the process.

Returning to the present, Do-han answers Eun-joong’s call and fibs that he’s on his way back to the police station, adding that he knew they’d never catch Suji. Suddenly, the sound of approaching sirens fills the church and Bomi checks her surveillance feed, displaying the incoming cops. Grimacing now, Do-han asks Eun-joong where he is. The prosecutor answers, “I’m on my way to catch Suji.”

Do-han hangs up, glowering at Suji. To stall for time, the priest meets the detectives and tells Soon-ae that the church is empty. Unfortunately, Eun-joong (who is being entirely too clever) remembers seeing the priest with Do-han and instructs the police to search inside. The detectives burst in, but Team Lookout has already vacated the church, so Eun-joong tells the cops to look for Do-han’s car.

Outside, Do-han and Suji are sneaking through the shadows when Detective Nam, Eun-joong, and some officers pass nearby. The two duck behind hedges, trapped mere feet away from the police party until another group of detectives call out. The cops and prosecutor race off, and Do-han and Suji resume their creeping.

Oh no! Bomi and Kyung-soo are holding hands and sprinting away when they’re caught by a group of detectives. In a heart-wrenching struggle, Kyung-soo and Bomi desperately try to hold on to each other, but the detectives rip them apart.

Kyung-soo manages to break free and shouts for Bomi, but she yells at him to run, grabbing on to a detective to keep him from giving chase. Left with no option, Kyung-soo runs away, and Soon-ae arrives to arrest Bomi for harboring a fugitive (Suji). As the detectives walk Bomi back, she spies a surveillance camera and immediately fakes a panic attack, crouching down and gasping while staring right at the camera.

Hiding in a bathroom, Kyung-soo watches Bomi through the hacked surveillance camera and gets an idea. Using the church’s speakers, he broadcasts the sound of gunshots. The cops run after the sound, leaving only one detective to hold the “asthmatic” Bomi.

The other group of detectives have located Do-han’s car and catch Do-han and Suji just as they are running to it. Thinking fast, Suji turns her gun on Do-han and he immediately follows her lead by slipping into the role of hostage.

Eun-joong asks what Suji is doing, though when she hesitates to answer, Do-han cuts in that she threatened him out of anger for Yoo-na’s case and made him lie to Eun-joong about his whereabouts. Suji “forces” Do-han into the car, and the two drive off.

Meanwhile, Kyung-soo sneaks up on Bomi’s lone guard and knocks him out. Heh, he apologizes politely to the unconscious detective before grabbing the keys to Bomi’s handcuffs so the two can make a break for it.

Do-han and Suji race off in his car while Kyung-soo and Bomi drive away in theirs. However, both pairs have cops chasing them. Suji warns Do-han of their police tail (Do-han: “I have eyes, too.”) and tells him to switch with her if he’s not a good driver. In response, Do-han smirks and steps on the gas.

Both cars and their pursuers weave through traffic until Do-han and Suji pull even with Kyung-soo and Bomi. Suji motions at them to keep going, then Do-han spins the car around, blocking the cops and allowing the younger pair to drive away.

Suji snaps up the gun to maintain the hostage charade, and Do-han even raises his hands for effect as Detective Nam, Soon-ae, and Eun-joong all stare at the pair. Suji gives the order to drive, so Do-han whips the car into reverse and peels off backwards through oncoming cars, leaving the cops tangled in traffic. Yup, he’s a good driver.

Free of their pursuers, Suji backhandedly congratulates Do-han on his driving, but when he suggests that they part ways since the hostage sham won’t last, she brings the gun back up to his head. Suji tells him that once they solve Kyung-soo’s mother’s case, Do-han is to turn himself in and reveal the truth of how he tampered with Yoo-na’s case on Yoon’s orders.

Do-han just sighs and says that it won’t work, warning her that she has no idea what Yoon Seung-ro is really like. Turning introspective, Do-han says that Yoon is someone who can turn an innocent man into a spy, and then not only refuse to admit it, but completely forget that it happened.

We flashback to see Do-han’s father and stepmother in their rural home. Do-han narrates that after spending six years in jail for espionage, his father had finally started to readjust to living again. But one day, Yoon and his wife (who were hiking) showed up at their house looking for lodging. Do-han’s father had come face to face with the man responsible for his torture and wrongful imprisonment, and Yoon hadn’t even recognized him.

Unable to cope with the knowledge that Yoon was living a carefree life after ruining his own, Do-han’s father descended into drinking. His wife (the priest’s mother) tried to stop him, and when the teenaged priest and Do-han came home, they found Do-han’s father sitting in a stupor as his wife lay dead beside him.

Returning to the present, Do-han recounts how he tried to make a case that his father suffered from PTSD due to torture, but in the eyes of the law, his father was a spy. In a dead voice, Do-han says that his dad was sent back to prison – this time as a murderer – and now, Yoon is about to become the attorney general.

Do-han laughs manically at the irony, then his face fades back into a blank stare and says, “He’s like that, Yoon Seung-ro.” Suji lowers her gun and asks how Do-han plans to catch such a man.

At the police station, the team hasn’t been able to find any trace of Do-han and Suji. Eun-joong is noticeably silent, and Soon-ae asks how he knew that Do-han was being held hostage. Lost to his own thoughts, Eun-joong walks out, Soon-ae hot on his heels.

She confronts him in the hallway, asking if there is some connection between Do-han and Suji. Instead of answering, Eun-joong brings up how Soon-ae once said she wasn’t sure if she could arrest her friend. Looking conflicted, Eun-joong asks, “Then how does that make us different from the chief prosecutor?” He argues that if they start to bend the law because of personal issues, then they’re doing the same thing as Yoon.

Leaving Soon-ae more confused than ever, Eun-joong walks off to call Prosecutor Park and inform him that he has the evidence he wanted.

Suji brings Do-han to Lookout HQ, and Do-han strolls in, plopping down on the couch while Bomi and Kyung-soo glare at him.

Meanwhile, Eun-joong turns over the black box video of Do-han saving Suji to Prosecutor Park and Assemblywoman Chae, telling them that Yoon ordered Suji to be killed. Park worries that the video won’t be enough to directly implicate Yoon, but Eun-joong emphatically insists that it’s enough to start an investigation so that they can uncover the truth.

Assemblywoman Chae notes his fervor, and Eun-joong admits, “I want to show someone that my way was right.” Chae assures him that she’ll use the evidence well, but she and Prosecutor Park trade some shifty glances.

Back in their hideout, Do-han reveals that Kyung-soo’s mother was a witness at his dad’s trial, providing the false testimony that helped convict his father. Kyung-soo doesn’t believe that his mother could do something like that, but Do-han counters that blackmailing can change people.

A brief flashback of Do-han’s father’s trial shows Kyung-soo’s then heavily pregnant mother lying on the stand to protect her unborn baby (Kyung-soo). Do-han adds that she had agreed to stand witness for his father’s retrial, this time telling the truth, but the “Viper” detective found out, and Kyung-soo’s mother disappeared soon after.

Suji asks if Do-han knows anything about the detective other than his “Viper” nickname, and Do-han shows them a picture of Detective Nam. Suji snatches the photo and asks if Do-han is sure, and he replies that that’s for them to uncover.

Elsewhere, the black box video Eun-joong gave to Assemblywoman Chae is playing on a screen. The camera pans around as we see that it’s Yoon watching it, with Prosecutor Park sitting right next to him. Park calls the video a “gift” from Assemblywoman Chae, and Yoon smiles as he watches Do-han rescuing Suji. Well, shit.

 
EPISODE 20 RECAP

Assemblywoman Chae calls Yoon to ask if he enjoyed her “gift,” and Yoon laughs that he’ll take it as a gesture of her cooperation. Afterwards, Yoon thinks back on all his suspicions regarding Do-han.

In their headquarters, Do-han instructs the Lookout group to keep a close eye on Detective Nam. Kyung-soo is eager to start looking into him, but Suji argues that, once again, Do-han is just using them for his gain. Do-han explains that his job is to make sure that the detective testifies at Yoon’s hearing, which is why they need someone like him right next to Yoon.

Except, at that moment, Yoon is calling Detective Nam to look into something – without telling Do-han.

Eun-joong broods over Do-han’s taunt about how his method of following the law will not help him catch people like Yoon when Soon-ae calls with the news that they’ve found Do-han’s car. Lights flashing and sirens wailing, everyone races to the location to find a handcuffed and sulking Do-han alone in his car.

Soon-ae asks where Suji went, and Do-han replies in a bored voice that she couldn’t threaten him anymore, so she ditched him and ran. He rants that they should have caught Suji at the church, playing the part of the pouty prosecutor to a T. Eun-joong, however, doesn’t buy the act for one minute. Do-han yells at him to catch Suji, and Eun-joong turns back to promise, “I will. And I’ll catch her accomplices, too.”

Ugh, Shi-wan the Psychopath has successfully wormed his way into Se-won’s trust, and is actually posing prettily for her while she sketches a giant portrait of him. Se-won’s mother calls her, but she ignores it as she explains to Shi-wan that her mom calls her all the time to check in.

Shi-wan comments that there are so many frustrating people in the world, and when Se-won says she wishes they would all disappear, he agrees. Se-won smiles bashfully, adding that she didn’t know they were so alike. No! Bad Se-won. Do not bond with the child killer!

Team Lookout is on a new mission and Kyung-soo, disguised as a police officer, carries an evidence box into the police station. Bomi worries about him going in alone, but Suji points out that he’s the only one who the detectives haven’t identified. Inside, the Joint Investigation Team is discussing Bomi and the as-yet-unidentified second accomplice that helped her escape last night.

Kyung-soo enters the room, and Do-han smoothly lies to the others that he requested the evidence box. Do-han directs him to put the box over on a cabinet, and as the group returns to the case, Kyung-soo sets down the box and secretly hooks up a router/gadget behind the box. Unfortunately, Jin-ki’s spidey-senses are tingling, so he follows Kyung-soo outside and stops him in the hallway.

Eun-joong — looking right at Do-han — tells the group that there’s one more accomplice that they need to find: whoever sent the suspect pictures to Bomi. He suggests that the priest might be involved, and while Do-han attempts to shut the idea down, both Soon-ae and Detective Nam agree that the priest was dodgy.

Out in the hallway, Jin-ki confronts Kyung-soo, suspicious that he hasn’t met him before. Poor Kyung-soo tries to fib that he just started working, but then Jin-ki notes that he isn’t wearing a name tag and asks for his name. Kyung-soo fumbles for answers, but thankfully, Do-han walks out and shoos Kyung-soo back to his “post” while pulling Jin-ki back into the meeting.

Kyung-soo returns to Suji in the car and cues up the device he placed in the station, allowing him to hack into Detective Nam’s laptop. The three watch as the shady detective starts researching the priest. Kyung-soo tries to hack the detective’s phone as well, but curses to realize that he has extra protection on his phone blocking a remote hack, and the only way into the phone now is to physically unlock it.

Bomi chimes in that that’s no problem – they can use the boss: “He made us sweat so much. He should at least stand up for once.” Do-han, who’s listening in, pithily points out that if he could get to the phone, he would have done so already. Suji says that they need to do this carefully, so Do-han tells them to focus on trailing Nam while he works on a way into his phone.

Do-han stops Eun-joong in the hallway, whining that the prosecutor seems especially cold towards him recently. He asks if there’s something going on, but Eun-joong says that’s what he wants to ask. Agitated, Eun-joong demands to know what Do-han has been plotting while working for Yoon.

Instead of answering, Do-han reveals something he’s learned about Eun-joong: He and Prosecutor Park are backed by Assemblywoman Chae. Eun-joong asks if this is a threat, but Do-han counters that it’s a warning and adds that he doesn’t want to see Eun-joong in danger. “You are the only prosecutor I can give any credit to,” Do-han adds.

Do-han starts to walk away when Eun-joong calls out to him, “That’s too bad. I think you are already in danger.” Before Do-han can answer, Yoon phones him.

Suji trails Detective Nam to a coffee shop, where he meets a man who appears to be a colleague. Neither she nor Bomi recognize him, so Suji snaps some pictures of the mystery guy.

Do-han is summoned to Yoon’s office, and the chief prosecutor angrily reminds him of his promise to look into the detective in charge of Bomi’s family’s case. Do-han replies that he was just about to give his report, but they’re interrupted when Detective Nam calls Yoon. It turns out that the man that Nam was meeting with was the detective from Bomi’s case. Nam reports that the detective had met with Do-han a few years ago, and Do-han had asked a lot of questions regarding Bomi’s case.

Yoon hangs up, and Do-han reports that he met with the detective, but he didn’t remember anything about the case. Yoon asks if this means that Do-han can’t find who sent the suspect information to Suji, but Do-han promises to find another way. Do-han starts to leave when Yoon asks, “How long will you deceive me?” (*Gulp.*)

Do-han turns around slowly and asks what he means. Both men stare at each other for a long moment, then Yoon brings up Do-han’s promise to catch Suji, demanding to know how much longer it will take. Do-han lets out an almost imperceptible breath and suggests setting a trap, using Suji’s mother (Grandma) as bait.

On their hideout’s rooftop, Suji joins Kyung-soo as he looks at his mother’s missing person flyer. Kyung-soo says that both his dad and brother want him to give up searching, and even Bomi doesn’t believe his mother is still alive, but he just can’t give up. “I have a feeling she’s out there waiting for me,” he adds.

Kyung-soo smiles at Suji and sniffs that he misses his mom. From around the corner, Bomi listens to their conversation.

Shi-wan’s mom brings him a study snack and gently chastises him for his slipping grades, reminding him that he can’t get into his father’s Alma Mater with his scores. Shi-wan grimaces long-sufferingly at the reminder, and Mom lets it drop.

Mom notices Se-won’s portrait of Shi-wan, and he admits that someone else drew it. Mom is excited that he’s made a friend and asks if he really likes this person. Shi-wan answers, “I think something fun will happen if we hang out.” Shi-wan smiles slightly to himself, and Mom looks worried again.

In the hideout, Suji uses Shi-wan’s hacked phone to listen in on his conversation with his mom.

Do-han joins Team Lookout at their base, bringing news that Suji needs to go home since Grandma is very sick. As Suji worries, Do-han admits that the media is planning to release Grandma’s condition tomorrow, adding that the police will use it as a trap to lure Suji in.

Kyung-soo puffs up and calls the detectives scum for using a mother against her daughter, until Do-han interrupts to say that the trap was his idea. Suji asks why he’s warning her then, and Do-han reminds her that his plans will fail if she gets caught.

Do-han continues to say that the police aren’t in place yet, so there are only two undercover cops watching Grandma’s restaurant. The others are surprised when he volunteers himself to go with her, saying that the police won’t suspect him.

Yoon calls Detective Nam and tells him that Do-han will move soon. When he hangs up, we that that the detective recorded the call to his phone.

In front of Grandma’s restaurant, Do-han successfully lures the cops away from their stakeout, allowing Suji to slip into her old home unnoticed. Suji finds Grandma lying on the bed, holding a family picture. She softly calls out to her, and at first, Grandma doesn’t believe that she’s real.

Suji just smiles sadly back at her until Grandma reaches out and pulls her daughter into a hug. The two women embrace, crying.

Do-han chats up the reluctant detectives at a local joint, trying to pour them drinks in spite of their insistence that they’re on duty. He gets distracted when Kyung-soo sends him a message with the pictures of the guy Detective Nam met. Do-han immediately recognizes the man as the detective from Bomi’s case and realizes that his conversation earlier with Yoon was a test.

Right on cue, one of the detective gets a call, and from his cagey looks at Do-han, it’s probably Detective Nam telling him to stall. Suddenly, the once straight-laced detective is now happily pouring soju, and Do-han scoffs at the turnaround, recognizing that they’ve been had. He ducks into the restroom, then sprints out to Suji’s home.

Do-han arrives and quietly walks inside as Suji and Grandma talk. His eye catches on a picture of Suji and little Yoo-na, and he thinks back to the day the girl was pushed off the roof. Turns out, Do-han had been there watching when Shi-wan had wandered off hand-in-hand with Yoo-na. And then, Do-han had glanced up. (Wait, is he looking up at the roof? Did he know what would happen?!)

In the apartment, Do-han’s eyes fill with tears, but he quietly speaks through the door to alert Suji that they need to go. Suji promises Grandma that she’s ok, and Grandma can barely eke out that Suji should leave before she tries to stop her.

Do-han and Suji sneak back to his car, and Do-han shares his fear that this was all a trap, adding that Yoon is testing him.

Suji slides into the backseat as Do-han starts to drive away, but he’s suddenly cut off by Detective Nam. Nam peers into Do-han’s car, clearly looking around, and asks what Do-han is doing here.

The two men are all smiles with each other as Nam says that they suspect Suji to be in the area, but the undercurrent of tension breaks through when Nam starts to insist that he check Do-han’s car – you know, for Do-han’s “safety.”

Do-han grits out that Suji isn’t here, but the detective heads toward the backseat door anyways. He starts to pull the door open as Do-han glances back nervously.

 
COMMENTS

I really don’t see how Do-han’s master plan is going to work anymore, since everything he did hinged on keeping his cover and gathering evidence against Yoon for the attorney general hearing. Now, not only is Yoon on to him, but Assemblywoman Chae — who is leading the hearing — seems to be in Yoon’s pocket. I’m holding out a small hope that she hasn’t really crossed over to the dark side. She seemed far too clever and determined to let one threat send her running to Yoon’s side, so maybe she’s just trying to gain his trust and betray him later? Please?

I admit, I spent a good bit of this episode being annoyed by Suji, especially since her refusal to see the bigger picture keeps threatening Do-han’s plans. However, I did a little rethinking and remembered that she doesn’t know what we know. To her, Do-han is just the man that let her daughter’s killer go free a year ago. Since then, he’s made a special effort to be an absolute ass to her and has used her as bait for his own plans. If I look at it from her point of view, not only do I get why she doesn’t trust him, I‘d argue that she’d be an idiot to believe anything he says.

It’s sad, but there is truth to the adage that it takes a monster to catch a monster, and Do-han has willingly turned himself into a beast to catch Yoon. But I’m worried about how far gone he already is. What was he doing following Shi-wan that day? More importantly, did he know? Because if he knew what a psychopath the kid is, and he knowingly let him walk off with Suji’s daughter, then he may as well have pushed her off the roof himself.

One other worry I have is in regards to Eun-joong. To be honest, I wrote him off early on as the white knight who never gets the girl because he refuses to get his shining armor dirty. Now, I’m starting to think that I have to re-evaluate him in a major way. It seems like both Suji and Do-han’s assertions that the justice system can’t win have twisted something in his head. What started out as an encouragement to Suji to believe in her badge has turned into a downright desperate need to prove that his method – following the law – is right. At this point, he knows that Suji and Do-han are fighting against Yoon, yet, because their method of fighting doesn’t follow the law, he gives them no leeway.

What really gave me chills, however, was in Eun-joong’s conversation with Soon-ae where he refused to bend the rules. It’s a slippery slope between assuming that the law is always justified, and using the law to justify. I kept getting this strange feeling during the scene, as though I was looking at how (dare I say it) Yoon started out. We’ve seen Yoon spout out ideals regarding a perfect justice system, then conveniently forget the murder and mayhem it took to achieve. I’m worried that Eun-joong may come to a point where he’ll choose to sacrifice Suji and Do-han in the name of the law, then convince himself over and over that he did the right thing, until one day, he doesn’t even remember what really happened.

Granted, this is a rather dark path and a lot of conjecture without much fact, but just in case, we should all be ready to sprint for the hills should Eun-joong rise to his villainous potential.

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