Missing 9: Episode 11

by LollyPip

Just because most of the surviving castaways are home now doesn’t mean that their ordeal is over. In fact, new mysteries are still cropping up, regarding both events on the island and things that happened much earlier than that. Joon-oh and Bong-hee have a long way to go to prove both Joon-oh’s innocence and the identity of the real killer, but luckily, it looks as if they may be getting some help very soon.

 
EPISODE 11 RECAP

After receiving a call from someone claiming to be Joon-oh, Bong-hee travels to China to look for him. She finds him on a beach, and after he scares the daylights out of her pretending to have amnesia, he hugs her and says he’s ready to go home.

Joon-oh takes Bong-hee to the little room he’s been staying in and leaves her to fetch some food. She takes a call from Tae-young, who congratulates her on finally finding Joon-oh. He tells her that he has more information on Jae-hyun’s supposed suicide, and will fill her in when she’s back in Korea.

Bong-hee notices that the walls are papered with photos and articles about the crash and the victims’ return home, and there are even maps noting where each survivor was found. It’s clear that Joon-oh has kept himself well informed and knows everything, including that everyone except Bong-hee is calling him the murderer.

When Joon-oh returns, he seems a bit too cool when Bong-hee mentions how much Tae-young has helped her. (Interesting, is he jealous?) She asks about his stab wound and he whines that he’s overextending himself on her behalf, which makes Bong-hee smile — he’s still the same old Joon-oh.

He asks if she thought he was dead, but Bong-hee says that if she’d thought he was dead, she wouldn’t have kept looking for him. She asks who rescued him, and he says it was the older man she just met outside his door — he was out fishing, and found Joon-oh unconscious on the beach. Luckily he’s the town doctor, and he nursed Joon-oh back to health.

Bong-hee says that explains why she couldn’t find Joon-oh, because he wasn’t at a hospital, but he says he’s kept up with everything she was doing. She asks how he got her number when she never gave it to him, and he sniffs loftily that true artists memorize the numbers of all their staff. Then we see that he actually called his old manager to ask for Bong-hee’s number, pfft.

Bong-hee admits that she’s been lonely without him, and that she almost couldn’t recognize the others when they were rescued. She pouts at him for telling her to stay by his side before leaving her alone, and Joon-oh looks moved by her words. He grows serious and says he’s sorry, reaching out to gently touch her hair.

Back in Seoul, CEO Jang is nominated to become the permanent, official CEO of Legend Entertainment, since CEO Hwang is still in a coma. He’s voted in, and Ho-hang has to nudge Ki-joon to look happy about it. Ki-joon refuses to smile, and grumbles that Ho-hang looks a little too happy.

After the meeting, CEO Jang orders Ki-joon to bring Ji-ah to his office the next day. He declines to go to the hospital to see CEO Hwang, but tells Ho-hang to report back if he wakes up.

Joon-oh tells Bong-hee about reporter Ki-won’s last words, when he’d said that So-hee was his informant. She had tipped him off that Tae-ho set Joon-oh up for drunk driving, and she also knew who killed Jae-hyun, but kept changing her mind about telling.

He points out a photo of CEO Jang on the wall, and says that if Tae-ho killed Jae-hyun, he had to have had help covering it up, since Tae-ho was with the rest of them when Jae-hyun fell. That means it must have been CEO Jang who pushed Jae-hyun’s body off the roof. The police had even said the CCTV cameras were out of service that night, when clearly they weren’t because Ki-won somehow had photos, but it also points to CEO Jang’s involvement.

Bong-hee tells Joon-oh that CEO Jang bribed the hospital in China in an attempt to kill Ki-joon and Ji-ah. She asks how they can fight against CEO Jang and Tae-ho when they have nobody on their side, and Joon-oh cracks, “What do you mean? You’re on my side!” Awww.

He says that they can go back and change the minds of Ki-joon, Ji-ah, and Ho-hang. He tells Bong-hee to leave everything to him, adding that she’s already done enough for him.

Getting back to Seoul will be tricky, since Joon-oh is a wanted man. But he already has a plan, which involves getting the doctor who saved him to draw them a map. They wander the streets looking for… something, and spend more time bickering than they do making any headway, ha.

Eventually a man finds them and leads them to the roof of a dangerously rundown building, where another man waits. Joon-oh is made to squeeze into a locker and when he fits, he’s told he passes the physical exam, hee. They’re arranging to have him shipped to Korea, and when the guy keeps asking for Joon-oh’s payment when he’s already been paid, Bong-hee gets nervous.

Joon-oh doesn’t seem concerned about being smuggled into the country, and he easily signs the documents, gives his fingerprints, and hands over a fingernail clipping and some hair. I dunno, seems a teeny bit sketchy to me.

Joon-oh walks Bong-hee downstairs, assuring her that everything will be just fine. He bristles again when she suggests asking Tae-young for help, and insists that he should handle his problems on his own. She complains that he can’t even debone his own fish, but he says this is the least he can do if he plans to go home, face everyone, and set the record straight.

He puts Bong-hee in a taxi and says he’ll see her tomorrow, reminding her to keep her eye on the end goal: stopping Tae-ho. She agrees to go after promising to pick him up when he arrives in Incheon.

Joon-oh isn’t so optimistic when he finds himself inside a chilly shipping container with a whole crowd of guys, so he decides to introduce himself. They don’t seem interested, so he settles for introducing himself to the man beside him. He gets firmly rebuffed, and the guy even flashes a knife to ward him away.

Later, one of the men breaks out a deck of cards and starts doing card tricks. When Joon-oh shows interest, he does some other sleight of hand, and every time Joon-oh asks how he did something, Knife Guy says, “You don’t need to know.”

When the tricky dude is finished, he asks Joon-oh for payment for his show. Down at the end of the container, a couple of other guys start juggling fire, then demand payment from everyone. Soon it’s like a full-on carnival in there, with several games and shows going on.

Joon-oh sees one man looking at a child’s drawing, and he tells Joon-oh that his daughter did it. The man asks if there’s anyone Joon-oh misses, and Knife Guy taps Joon-oh and says, “You don’t need to know.” Knife Guy is funny.

Joon-oh sits back to get some sleep, and he wakes to the sound of someone crying. Awww, it’s Knife Guy, and when Joon-oh asks what’s wrong, he says he doesn’t need to know. Joon-oh notices that the man who was running the cup game has the knife now, and figures out that Knife Guy gambled it away.

And it gets sadder — the card trick guy has lost his cards, and the father has lost his daughter’s drawing. Even the fire jugglers have lost their torches. Joon-oh decides to win everything back for everyone, thinking that after surviving a plane crash, a landmine, and two storms, he’s the luckiest man in the world.

In the morning, the storage unit is delivered to the dock, and Bong-hee shows up to pick up Joon-oh. He doesn’t come out with the rest, and she asks Knife Guy (who’s still crying) about him, but he just says she doesn’t need to know.

She finds Joon-oh huddling in the shadows, and he steps out to reveal that he’s dressed entirely in trash bags. PWAHAHA. He smells terrible and tells her that he gambled everything away, and begs Bong-hee pitifully for her scarf. She tosses it around his neck while trying not to touch him or breathe, and she cheekily tries to peek up his trash bag as they head for home.

Ji-ah meets with CEO Jang, who offers her a part in Tae-ho’s next movie. Ji-ah emphatically refuses, partly because she doesn’t want to be in a romantic movie with Tae-ho, and partly because the role was originally So-hee’s. She says she doesn’t want to be thought of as benefiting from So-hee’s death.

CEO Jang argues, but Tae-ho says to let Ji-ah be. He says that she should take time and think about it, but then passive aggressively reminds her of the fact that her mother keeps asking the company for money. Ji-ah still refuses, but CEO Jang tells her to be sure and read a tabloid article about herself before she goes.

He stops Ki-joon from following Ji-ah out and asks if he and Ji-ah are on bad terms these days. He knows there’s something between them and says he doesn’t care, and Ki-joon suddenly realizes that the tabloid article must be about them.

Sure enough, Ji-ah is horrified to read the speculations that she’s four months pregnant with Ki-joon’s child. Ki-joon confronts CEO Jang with his promise to let Ji-ah out of her contract, but Jang sneers that Ki-joon hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain (keeping Ji-ah under control). His tone is very threatening, and Ki-joon gets the message.

Chinese police are scouring the island for any articles the survivors may have left behind, and CEO Jang gets word that a cell phone was recovered. He remembers So-hee’s phone having a distinctive rhinestone case, and he calls Ji-ah to ask whose phone they used to signal the others on the island. She confirms that it was So-hee’s, but the officials don’t have it anymore — it’s been sent to Korea, but they don’t know where.

Chairwoman Jo is now using her success in the investigation to campaign for public office. She visits a traditional market, and Investigator Oh takes a lot of glee in taking photos of the ajummas shoving food down Chairwoman Jo’s throat.

Bong-hee gets Joon-oh some clothes, and he complains that she always brings him turtlenecks, ha. She slaps a face mask over his mouth to hide his face (and stop the whining), reminding him not to let anyone see him. Tae-young is with them and says they need to talk, but Joon-oh insists on taking care of something more important first.

In her van, Ji-ah asks Ki-joon when he’ll tell her about CEO Jang’s threats to change his testimony about the murderer. She’s a smart cookie and knows that CEO Jang used her to make Ki-joon say that Joon-oh killed So-hee, and she says that no matter what the tabloids say, he should tell the truth.

Ki-joon snaps that as an actress, she should care what people say about her, clearly more upset about the pregnancy rumor than Ji-ah is. He tells her that taking the movie role will silence the rumors, and the association with Tae-ho will improve her reputation.

Ji-ah tells Ki-joon that he’s nuts if he thinks she’s going to foster a relationship with that killer, and asks if he doesn’t feel sorry to Joon-oh. Ki-joon tells her not to feel bad, that he’s the true traitor. Fed up, Ji-ah kicks Ki-joon out of the van and leaves him in the road.

As Ki-joon walks along the highway, he thinks that Joon-oh is gone, and he only did what he had to do to survive. He dramatically hopes for Ji-ah to forget all this and move forward with her life, then he hitches a ride on the back of a grandma’s scooter. Heh.

He eventually gets Joon-oh’s old manager Byung-ju to give him a ride home, and Byung-ju’s poor driving skills rear their ugly head again as he nearly drives over Ki-joon several times. There’s a man cleaning the street as Ki-joon nears his home, and when he gets close, the man approaches to reveal that he’s Joon-oh.

Ki-joon stares in disbelief as Joon-oh complains that something smells like traitor. Joon-oh holds out his arms, inviting Ki-joon in for a hug… and Ki-joon shoves him down and makes a run for it. LOL.

Ki-joon jumps into Byung-ju’s car again and screams for him to drive away, but he’s such a terrible driver that he can’t even manage the turn. They end up just scooting forward and back a foot at a time, while Joon-oh tries to yank Ki-joon from the car with his bare hands.

This goes on for a ridiculously long time, until eventually Joon-oh’s arm gets caught in the car window and Ki-joon sneaks out the other side. He runs around the corner and jumps into a taxi, which takes him right back where he came from. He actually pays for the taxi, ha, then runs in the other direction with Joon-oh right on his heels.

Joon-oh collides with a guy on a bike, and Ki-joon goes back to make sure he’s okay before running off again. He rounds a corner where Joon-oh is distracted by a video game outside a convenience store, and he calls Ki-joon back to play. They sit companionably, playing games and winning prizes, until Joon-oh remembers he’s mad at Ki-joon and the chase is on again. I could watch this all day.

Joon-oh is distracted again, this time by a street vendor selling ddukbokki, but he doesn’t have enough money, so Ki-joon comes back again. They share a serving and discuss the ingredients in the ddukbokki and the drawbacks of turtleneck sweaters, then they remember they’re fighting, and they’re off again.

As Tae-young drives Bong-hee home, he worries that Joon-oh’s identity might be accidentally exposed. Bong-hee is confident that everything will be fine, and that Joon-oh will be able to convince his old friends to tell the truth. She says that he’s survived the island and his return, and he’ll be able to solve this problem as well.

It’s dark and raining by the time Ki-joon stops running from Joon-oh, and the two find themselves outside a sauna. They go inside and sit together in the hot pool, and Joon-oh says that he’s decided that Ki-joon is right — the ddukbokki was made of rice. HA, these two.

Then he asks why Ki-joon lied about him being the killer, and Ki-joon tries to deflect by asking about Joon-oh’s stab wound. He apologizes and asks what Joon-oh thinks he can do when the police are looking for him, promising not to tell anyone he saw him today.

They marvel at Tae-ho’s tearful performance during his press conference, and Ki-joon mutters that he’s a much better actor than Joon-oh. Joon-oh sighs that clearing his name won’t be easy, but that he can’t let CEO Jang and Tae-ho think that having power means they can do whatever they want.

He says that someone has to avenge Jae-hyun and So-hee, and it may as well be him. Ki-joon apologizes again, saying that he’s glad his friend is alive, but he can’t help him. Joon-oh reminds him that he promised to be on his side even if everyone else was against him, and Ki-joon ducks underwater in shame.

Joon-oh drags him back up, screaming at him for giving such an insincere apology. Ki-joon softly says that he really feels terrible, and Joon-oh’s anger evaporates. He asks why Ki-joon’s passcode for his door is still Joon-oh’s birthday, and gets splashed in the face when he admits he went in his house earlier. Joon-oh grumbles that he bought the place for Ki-joon, and the two get all snuggly, their argument forgotten.

Later, Joon-oh sits with Tae-young and his cronies at Bong-hee’s place — it’s super awkward, and Joon-oh is a bit offended when Bong-hee’s mom doesn’t even know which guy he is. She gets more starstruck when Tae-young calls her “Mother,” ha.

Tae-young asks Joon-oh if he feels emotional at being back home, but Joon-oh is more interested in the food than in answering questions. Bong-hee asks if Joon-oh is in a bad mood, and he denies it, but he’s completely unwilling to talk to Tae-young. Okay, he’s totally jealous.

He eventually makes an effort for Bong-hee’s sake, saying that government officials make him nervous, but he snaps at Bong-hee when she starts nervous-laughing. Tae-young does his best to make Joon-oh feel comfortable, but Joon-oh only bristles at him again.

Prosecutor Jo explains that when he was re-investigating Jae-hyun’s supposed suicide, he found a testimony by So-hee saying that she had evidence that Jae-hyun’s death was actually a murder. The problem is that she kept changing her statement to place Joon-oh at fault, and Joon-oh assumes she was being pressured by CEO Jang.

Tae-young says that they need to catch Jae-hyun’s killer to solve the mystery of So-hee’s death and clear Joon-oh’s name. Bong-hee adds that it will be difficult, since they don’t have any evidence or witnesses on their side.

But Tae-young says that he’s been working on something — he’s expecting a shipment of items that the survivors left behind on the island, and in that shipment is something very familiar. He has photos of the items, and shows the picture of his sister’s phone to Joon-oh, which he knows because she had the same phone for years.

CEO Jang is panicking at the thought of So-hee’s phone being found, and we see that when the shipment arrives in Korea, one box is taken aside secretly and opened. Inside is So-hee’s phone, still in its rhinestone case.

CEO Jang arrives to take the shipped items, but they’ve already been sent on to their destination. Meanwhile, Investigator Oh takes a call from someone and orders the items to be delivered directly to Chairwoman Jo’s campaign headquarters.

He reports to Chairwoman Jo when the items arrive, but she’s offended that he’s bringing up old news. She barks that the investigation is over, and tells him to have the items burned. The boxes are taken to a junkyard, where the attendant has a fire ready and waiting to destroy them.

 
COMMENTS

I’m happy to see Joon-oh alive and well and taking aggressive action to clear his name and out the true killer. If he’s smart, he’ll lay low until he has all the information he needs… but we all know that Joon-oh is more heart than brains, so I suspect things won’t go as he hopes. Still, I have faith that Joon-oh and Bong-hee’s strong bond will see them through, and that with Tae-young’s help they can set things right. Hopefully CEO Hwang will wake in time to back up their story, and it seems as though Ji-ah is mightily discontent and could be coaxed back to telling the truth as well. I also have a feeling that if they can discover what So-hee knew and find the evidence, that could be the thing that brings down Tae-ho for good. I suppose it’s too much to hope for Yeol’s return so that he can testify, but I still feel like his “death” was too sudden and that we very well could see him again.

I think that one thing that will work very much in Joon-oh and Bong-hee’s favor is the fact that Chairwoman Jo seems to have washed her hands of the entire investigation — she was never interested in the truth, so while it’s shocking, it’s not surprising that she’s prepared to destroy possible new evidence. Of course, what might be on So-hee’s phone won’t be relevant to the crash survivors’ time on the island, but it could prove very enlightening in regards to Jae-hyun’s death and Joon-oh’s supposed drunk driving incident. They say the dead don’t tell tales, but I have a feeling that So-hee is about to find a way to reveal what she knows and help Joon-oh clear his name.

I just can’t say enough how much I love Bong-hee and Joon-oh’s relationship. It’s still hard to say whether there’s any romantic interest there (though I sometimes think I see some from Joon-oh’s end of things, especially with his new adorable jealous side), but I don’t really even care, because I love their friendship so much. They each lived pretty lonely lives before the accident, one with no family or friends and one with no direction in life, and through tragedy, they managed to find kindred spirits in each other. I have so enjoyed watching them go from antagonists to allies to friends, and now they’re practically family. The look on Joon-oh’s face when Bong-hee said she’s missed him the most just killed me — he’s so used to being shoved aside, blamed, and ridiculed that he doesn’t even know what to do when someone admits that they aren’t happy without him.

And while I’m discussing Joon-oh, I have to say that I just think his character arc has been so well handled and balanced. He’s still arrogant and prideful and completely unaware of social niceties, but something about being on the island and befriending Bong-hee has brought out the best in him. He became a leader, someone to be counted on, someone who would step up and take responsibility for others’ safety. Sure, he’s still a goofy and adorkable sometimes, but that’s just part of his charm. It doesn’t take away from the fact that whenever worse came to worst, Joon-oh was the one who would make things happen and never leave a friend behind. He’s going to need those qualities when it comes time to face Tae-ho and his lies, because it’s not going to be easy to accuse someone that the nation sees as a hero. But Joon-oh’s biggest fight is going to be the one he’ll wage within himself, as he has to come to terms with the fact that Tae-ho was never the friend and brother he though he was. Lucky for Joon-oh, there are plenty of others willing to back him up and loyally stand by him.

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