Suspicious Partner: Episodes 37-38

by LollyPip

I thought this show had no more surprises in store for us, but I was so wrong! Everyone is shocked when the full truth comes out, and it’s so much worse than they ever imagined. It’s not easy to outsmart a brilliant but sick mind, but if they can put aside their personal feelings and work together, Bong-hee and Ji-wook might just be able to figure out a way.

 
EPISODE 37 RECAP

Knowing that District Attorney Jang is watching, Hyun-soo taunts him by confessing to Yoo-jung that he killed Hee-joon for no good reason. Soon after, he finds himself in a car with District Attorney Jang, and he smirks to himself.

Ji-wook is informed that he’s being reinstated as a prosecutor, but before he can even enjoy the moment, Yoo-jung calls to tell him that Hyun-soo confessed to killing Hee-joon and the two bodies in the water tank. Ji-wook asks if District Attorney Jang was there for the confession, and Yoo-jung confirms it.

Sensing something off, Ji-wook asks where District Attorney Jang and Hyun-soo are now. He runs into Bong-hee on his way out, who tells him that District Attorney Jang apologized to her. They agree that it’s strange, so they leave together.

Yoo-jung discovers that District Attorney Jang took Hyun-soo, which she reports to Ji-wook. He and Bong-hee assume that District Attorney Jang is out for revenge, and Bong-hee bangs her head on the car window, claiming that it helps her think. Ji-wook isn’t so sure, and he asks if it doesn’t actually make it worse, hee.

But she gets an idea that District Attorney Jang may have gone to her old apartment where Hyun-soo killed Hee-joon, which is empty for redevelopment. Another call from Yoo-jung confirms that she’s correct, having tracked District Attorney Jang’s phone.

Sure enough, District Attorney Jang takes Hyun-soo to the very spot where he killed his son and begins beating him to a pulp. Still handcuffed, Hyun-soo can’t fight back, but he laughs when District Attorney Jang yells at him for killing his innocent son. He says that Hee-joon may have been innocent, but District Attorney Jang certainly isn’t.

His voice falters as he says that the girl So-young died, and Hyun-soo himself turned out this way because he (Jang) acquitted the scum who assaulted So-young. Hyun-soo says that killing Hee-joon really was unintentional, but that when he learned later who Hee-joon’s father was, he realized that it was only fair.

District Attorney Jang whips out a knife and stabs it at Hyun-soo, who manages to grab his hand at the last second. Crying now, Hyun-soo begs District Attorney Jang to remember what happened thirteen years ago.

He reminds him that he was the prosecutor in the case of a girl who was brutalized by a gang of boys, and that he sided with the boys, acquitting them and burying the case. District Attorney Jang roars and tries to stab Hyun-soo again, but Hyun-soo pushes Jang to the floor.

Ji-wook and Bong-hee arrive and rush up to her old apartment, but they find District Attorney Jang alone and Hyun-soo gone. Ji-wook runs back out in time to find Hyun-soo still on the stairs, and he chases him down to the parking lot.

They both stop, exhausted, and Hyun-soo asks why Ji-wook is so intent on catching him. Snapping back that it’s all his fault that Hyun-soo was acquitted in the first place, Ji-wook says that he’s trying to correct his mistake. Hyun-soo feigns concern about Ji-wook’s still-healing stab wound, but Ji-wook just laughs and asks if Hyun-soo will be okay with those cuffs still on.

Hyun-soo suddenly lunges at Ji-wook, swinging his cuffed fists wildly, but Ji-wook easily evades him and slams him against a car. Hyun-soo wrenches himself out of Ji-wook’s grip, but suddenly, Bong-hee flies at him like a valkyrie, kicking him square in the chest and knocking the wind out of him.

He falls to the ground, gasping for breath, and Bong-hee runs to Ji-wook. He starts to warn her about Hyun-soo, but then he sees him lying there unable to move, and he’s adorably embarrassed that it was Bong-hee who nailed him.

Hyun-soo is taken back into custody, and District Attorney Jang is arrested for unlawful apprehension and attempted murder. Yoo-jung takes them in, leaving Ji-wook and Bong-hee behind, and they go to the roof to talk.

Bong-hee admits that she’s been too hard on Ji-wook in regards to her father’s case, because he was just an innocent child who was brainwashed by District Attorney Jang. She apologizes for taking her anger out on him, but he tells her not to be sorry.

He says that her father saved his life and tried to save his parents, but it just didn’t work out. Bong-hee tells Ji-wook that she’s indebted to him after he lost his prosecutor’s job because of her, met Hyun-soo and got stabbed because of her, and gave her a job and a place to live. She figures that makes them even and suggests they go back to how things were when they first met, and Ji-wook agrees.

Soon after, Ji-wook returns to his old job at the prosecutor’s office. When he finds Yoo-jung and his two nasty former colleagues waiting to welcome him back, he grumbles that there’s nobody here he wants to see, ha. One of the guys asks who he wanted to see, and he says it’s a difficult decision.

Yoo-jung has handed Hyun-soo’s case over to Ji-wook, so he meets with him in the interrogation room and has his handcuffs removed. Hyun-soo mutters that Ji-wook looks happy to be prosecuting him, but that he doesn’t like it, and Ji-wook smiles and tells him to get used to experiencing things he doesn’t like.

Just to be difficult, Hyun-soo claims not to remember confessing to the murders to Yoo-jung, so Ji-wook shows him the video. Smirking, Hyun-soo guesses that his recent accident is still affecting his memory and says that he must not be of sound mind.

Ji-wook asks how he explains the fact that he’s the only one who knew the identity of the second body in the tank, but Hyun-soo just says he heard it somewhere. Ji-wook loses his temper for a second, but he collects himself and says that he has plenty of time to make Hyun-soo remember.

Over tea with Eun-hyuk, Bong-hee notices that his awkward laugh is back and guesses that he’s not doing too well. She confesses that she’s feeling “blurry” herself, and he knows that it’s because of Ji-wook, so he tells her to follow her heart.

Bong-hee asks if he’s following his heart, and he thinks of Yoo-jung. He says that he is, which is why he keeps falling in love with the same person over and over.

The next time she’s at the prosecutor’s office, Bong-hee runs into Ji-wook, and she thinks that she also keeps falling in love with him. Ji-wook asks about her case, but she says she can’t discuss it because of privacy concerns, so he just wishes her luck.

Ji-wook calls after Bong-hee to ask her to help him with Hyun-soo’s case. He says that he needs everyone’s help, so they all get together in the meeting room to discuss the case. Chief Bang announces that he’s also returning to the prosecutor’s office, then Ji-wook throws his usual temper tantrum when CEO Byun tries to scout Chief Bang back. HAHA, that never gets old.

Ji-wook tells them all that Hyun-soo has changed his confession, but because of the knife that CEO Byun planted at Hyun-soo’s home, their evidence is now tainted. Eun-hyuk points out that even with a valid confession, additional evidence is needed for a murder conviction. Going after Hyun-soo for attempted murder of Ji-wook and Chief Bang could only result in probation, so they need some solid evidence.

Ji-wook decides that they need to dig deeper into Hyun-soo’s past, and also to find the driver who hit him. Yoo-jung says she’s already identified the driver as Min Young-hoon, and that she’s close to an arrest.

After the meeting, Yoo-jung goes to the kitchen to make tea, where she’s joined by Eun-hyuk. The atmosphere is incredibly tense between them after Yoo-jung established that they’re only friends, but when they accidentally touch hands, they share an electric moment which shakes them both deeply.

With Ji-wook back working at his desk, Bong-hee finds herself staring dreamily at him. Chief Bang gets a call and announces that he found the police officer who oversaw So-young’s assault case, so he and Bong-hee go to meet with him.

They show him a photo of So-young, and he says that he remembers the case, but he refuses to help them because he’s still angry that So-young’s attackers were never even prosecuted. He tells them that District Attorney Jang was the prosecutor.

Bong-hee goes to the jail to speak to him, and she tells him to apologize to her again, sincerely this time. She also says that when she thinks of all of the bad things he’s done and lives he’s ruined, she thinks his being in jail now is much too lenient. He asks if an apology will be enough, so she mentions So-young’s case and how he let her rapists go free, and orders him to tell her about it.

 
EPISODE 38 RECAP

Ji-wook is in his office when Bong-hee finishes talking to District Attorney Jang, and Ji-wook invites her to eat jjajangmyun with him. When they finish, they’re feeling pretty comfortable, and Ji-wook nearly wipes the sauce off Bong-hee’s face for her before remembering and just handing her a tissue.

She tells him why she visited District Attorney Jang, and tells him about So-young’s rape case. She’d been assaulted in a warehouse by seven boys, several of whom came from influential families, so they convinced District Attorney Jang to bury the case and even blamed So-young for trying to ruin their sons’ futures. Soon after, So-young killed herself, and Hyun-soo has been killing the men who were never punished.

Ji-wook thinks back to the rest of his interrogation of Hyun-soo, in which he’d just sat there for hours, saying that he had plenty of time to wait for a confession. Hyun-soo continued to deny the murders, though he admitted to knowing those guys and thinking that they’re scum who shouldn’t be allowed to live nice lives. He’d added that they should be grateful to whoever killed them for doing the right thing.

In the next team meeting, Ji-wook says that he has a plan to trick Hyun-soo into confessing to the murders. When he informs Hyun-soo that he’s charging him, not with murder but with rape, Hyun-soo laughs incredulously. Ji-wook tells him that they found the hit-and-run driver and that he made a statement that Hyun-soo was one of So-young’s seven rapists.

Hyun-soo plays it cool, asking if Ji-wook paid the guy off, but once he’s alone, his face begins to twitch like he’s short-circuiting.

The trial begins, charging Hyun-soo and the one remaining attacker, Young-hoon, with the assault and rape of So-young. Young-hoon pleads guilty, but Hyun-soo pleads not guilty. Ji-wook questions Young-hoon, who lists the seven attackers: himself, the murdered chef, the man who was killed the night Chief Bang was stabbed, the two men who were found in the water tank, Chan-ho (who is still missing), and Hyun-soo.

When Hyun-soo is brought for questioning, he says that he believes the evidence against him was fabricated. Ji-wook produces a report of the assault by So-young herself, which names Hyun-soo as one of her attackers, but Hyun-soo scoffs that that could be faked, too.

Ji-wook asks if that’s what Hyun-soo wants to believe, and he reminds Hyun-soo that he was close friends with the other six attackers. Hyun-soo interrupts to say that they weren’t friends, and that he despises them.

Continuing, Ji-wook reads that Yang Jin-woo (the future chef) lured So-young to the warehouse, and interestingly, Hyun-soo corrects him that it was Lee Jae-ho. Ji-wook keeps reading the report, which says that everything was fine at first, but that Chan-ho had been drinking, and he riled up the other boys. Again Hyun-soo breaks in and says that it wasn’t Chan-ho, but Young-hoon, the man accusing him now.

He adds that Young-hoon and Jin-woo chased So-young and brought her back, and Ji-wook points out that it sounds like Hyun-soo was there. Hyun-soo starts to explain, but he suddenly grows twitchy again as he says that he heard about it later.

Ji-wook asks how many assailants there were, and Hyun-soo says there were seven. Ji-wook asks him to name them, so Hyun-soo runs through the first six names… then he locks up on the seventh name. He tries again, but again the seventh name sticks in his throat.

Ji-wook pushes Hyun-soo to name the seventh attacker, but Hyun-soo just shakes, seeming terrified. Ji-wook whispers, “It’s you,” and Hyun-soo looks like he’s having a mental breakdown. Another flashback shows the faces of the six boys we already saw terrorizing So-young, but this time a seventh face comes into focus… it’s Hyun-soo.

It was Bong-hee who discovered the truth when she got the list of assailants from the detective, and she’d confirmed it with So-young’s mother. She’d taken the information to Ji-wook that night in his office and suggested that Hyun-soo was so traumatized by what he’d done that he actually altered his own memories.

In the courtroom, Hyun-soo gets it together enough to hiss at Ji-wook, denying that it was him. At the judge’s request, Ji-wook starts to repeat his accusation out loud, but Hyun-soo suddenly screams, “I said it wasn’t me!!” He screams again when Ji-wook continues, and he has to be restrained.

Hyun-soo snarls that he’s not like those guys, that he’s their judge and executioner. He says that he killed all of them, and Ji-wook calmly asks if there’s any evidence. Hyun-soo catches onto Ji-wook’s plan, but he’s desperate to prove that he’s not a rapist. Defeated, he tells Ji-wook where to look: “The underpass in Hyunjin-dong. You’ll find all the evidence you’re after, so stop now.”

Yoo-jung and Chief Bang, who have been watching the trial, head out immediately. Ji-wook rests his case, and as he sits, he glances over to Bong-hee. She sends him a proud smile, and he ducks his head to smile shyly back at her.

A body is recovered from a culvert in Hyunjin-dong, along with a knife, a pair of muddy shoes, and an ID card. Yoo-jung checks the body then picks up the ID card, confirming that the body is that of the missing Chan-ho. With that evidence, they can finally charge Hyun-soo with murder.

In another meeting, Eun-hyuk asks if Hyun-soo was really one of the seven assailants. Bong-hee reveals that he was there that day, but that he only watched, which Ji-wook learned during Young-hoon’s confession. Young-hoon had said that Hyun-soo was a loser back then, and that they only learned later that he’d had a crush on So-young.

Chief Bang concludes that Hyun-soo was unable to protect So-young and could only watch as she was assaulted, and the trauma caused him to alter his memories and retaliate. Bong-hee says that even if he’d only killed those who participated in the assault, that would be one thing, but he also killed innocent people.

Eun-hyuk asks if they can charge Hyun-soo with Hee-joon’s murder along with the other murders. CEO Byun congratulates Bong-hee on finally being able to clear her name, and she snarls at what she thinks is sarcasm before he call her “Lawyer Eun” for the first time ever.

Eun-hyuk gets stuck with dish duty, and he complains to Bong-hee that with Ji-wook gone, he’s losing the ladder game more often lately. Bong-hee jokes that they should hire another lawyer, preferably someone young and handsome, and Eun-hyuk pouts that he should be enough, hee.

Ji-wook enters the kitchen, and Eun-hyuk quickly leans in to whisper to Bong-hee to follow her heart. Ji-wook throws Eun-hyuk some major shade, and when he turns away to reach into the fridge, Eun-hyuk urges Bong-hee to go for it. But she hesitates and loses her chance, slinking away instead, and Eun-hyuk sighs that Ji-wook is really bad at taking a hint.

Bong-hee visits the empty courtroom, and she thinks about her own wrongful murder trial and that Ji-wook nearly put her in prison. But then she remembers how he sacrificed his own career to save her by admitting that the evidence was fabricated, and that that was when she fell for him for the first time.

She turns to see Ji-wook standing behind her, and she thinks that ever since that day, she’s fallen in love with him over and over again. She thinks, “And at this moment, again…” And without any hesitation, she runs and throws herself into his arms.

Ji-wook catches her, hugging her for a moment, then he pulls back to look into Bong-hee’s eyes. She leans forward and gives him a light, questioning kiss, then she pulls back to gauge his reaction. This time, Ji-wook initiates the kiss, and Bong-hee wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him back.

Epilogue.

We go back to the night that Bong-hee brought Ji-wook home drunk, when he’d collapsed on his bed with Bong-hee beneath him. He’d started to lean towards Bong-hee, who braced herself for a kiss, but instead, he’d just fallen asleep and rolled off her. Bong-hee had taken advantage of the rare opporuntiy to look at him all she wanted, sighing to herself, “He’s so pretty.”

 
COMMENTS

I’m in genuine shock. It never occurred to me, not once, that Hyun-soo might have been one of the seven original attackers. As much as I hate his way of meting out justice, at least all this time I’ve been able to justify my odd love for him by telling myself that he’s doing the wrong thing for the right reason, and that if the law wouldn’t hand out justice, then at least there was Hyun-soo to make sure those evil attackers paid for their crime.

So when we were told that he was one of So-young’s assailants (and even though he didn’t actually participate, he still didn’t do anything to stop it), I didn’t even know how to feel. I’ll admit that I’ve grown to love Hyun-soo in a really twisted way that I can’t even describe, and if it weren’t for his murders of innocent witnesses, I might even be defending his actions. But the truth is that his cowardice in part allowed So-young’s violation, and that his delusion caused him to go beyond simple revenge, and what he did is unforgivable.

However, I’m impressed with the skillful way Ji-wook maneuvered Hyun-soo into confessing to the murders by accusing him of being one of the very scum he’s been killing. They knew that the only “evidence” they had was the knife that CEO Byun planted, which made everything retrieved from Hyun-soo’s home inadmissible. So Ji-wook used Hyun-soo’s strong emotional investment in his persona as So-young’s heroic avenger to push him into confessing to murder in a court of law. The way he figured out how to make Hyun-soo confess was brilliant, and just more proof that Ji-wook was meant to be a prosecutor.

Speaking of which, I was glad to see Bong-hee being an active part of the investigation again. It feels like she hasn’t done much but mope since the breakup, which is understandable, but very unlike the kick-ass Bong-hee we were introduced to at the beginning of the show. I was proud of her for being the one to pursue Hyun-soo’s past and figure out that he was there when So-young was assaulted, and also for being the one who deduced that he was suffering from a dissociative disorder. Her quick mind gave Ji-wook the idea for his plan to make Hyun-soo confess, and proves yet again that the two of them work best as a team.

I’m also proud of her for apologizing for being too hard on Ji-wook when she discovered that he was the one who accused her father of killing his parents. It’s bothered me for a week that she said she would need time to forgive him, because he was a child who was brainwashed by a unscrupulous man in power. I resented her for that, so I was happy when she admitting that her reaction was unreasonable and told Ji-wook that she was sorry. I really admire people who can admit they were wrong.

I’m still not on board with Eun-hyuk and Yoo-jung getting together, but it looks like that will be happening, so I’m trying to make peace with it. Yes, they both screwed up equally and betrayed Ji-wook — and regardless of whether they actually did the deed, it’s clear that they came pretty close, so as far as I’m concerned they did cheat. But Eun-hyuk spent years repeatedly putting himself in the path of Ji-wook’s rejection, making himself vulnerable and admitting that he was wrong, while Yoo-jung just ran off and avoided the consequences. Then when she came back, she tried to pretend that what happened didn’t matter, hurting both Ji-wook and Eun-hyuk all over again. There’s just nothing about Yoo-jung that I personally find redeeming, and she’s never even apologized to either guy. I think Eun-hyuk can do much better (cough Ji-hae cough), but I guess if he loves Yoo-jung, then that’s that.

These penultimate episodes could have served as a finale, and while I usually don’t enjoy it when the main story is over an episode early, in this case I find myself looking forward to a finale potentially full of happiness and adorable office hijinks. We’ve had so few happy moments between Ji-wook and Bong-hee, so I’d love it if the last episodes are just all about them being goofy in love, bickering with the other lawyers, or maybe even permanently taking on a certain adorable little mini Ji-wook. Just this once, I give a show permission for the entire last two episodes to be made of pure fluff and love and puppies. Bring it on!

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