Two Cops: Episodes 29-30

by LollyPip

If you thought that the surprises were over after last week’s shocking reveal, you would be dead wrong. The worst is yet to come as the unlikely team of detective and con man grow closer to the full truth of that day sixteen years ago. Two Cops isn’t finished surprising us, as it continues to prove that wishful thinking can make anyone see what they want to see, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

 
EPISODE 29 RECAP

Dong-tak gets the news that Jae-hee isn’t the Angel, just as Jae-hee receives a fax confirming the Angel to be his father’s deaf assistant. Su-chang is at the the orphanage when she drives up on her motorcycle, and he stares in shock to recognize her as the girl that Doo-shik had a crush on when they were all in the orphanage together.

He guesses that Doo-shik knew all along that she was the Angel, explaining why he took the blame for her. He says that it was all because of her — Hang-joon, Kim Jong-doo, and even the attempt on his own life — and he screams in fury, “Why did you do it?!”

Jae-hee explains to Dong-tak that his father’s assistant was caught on camera leaving the hospital, and that she’s the one who attacked Su-chang’s body. Detective Lee is still on the phone, and he confirms that the DNA found under Superintendent Ma’s fingernails belongs to a woman.

Watch the video

The killer Angel is found

Dong-tak is stunned to realize that every encounter he’s had with the Angel, was with the woman he met in the club. Rushing out, he calls Detective Yoo to request backup.

Unaware of Su-chang’s emotional crisis, the nun approaches the Angel as she’s looking at the angel wings mural. She remembers telling the Angel when she first came to the orphanage that her parents were watching her while wearing wings like the ones in the mural.

She asks the Angel if she’s heard from Doo-shik, and behind them, Su-chang snarls, “He died. He took the blame for your murder, and died in prison like an idiot.” The Angel gets ready to leave, and Su-chang holds out his arms, prepared to do his best to stop her. But his hand suddenly flickers out again, weakening him and allowing the Angel to drive right through him.

Dong-tak and a team of examiners scour the Angel’s club for samples of her DNA. He finds a closet, and behind the clothes is a wall full of articles, photos, and notes regarding the accident of sixteen years ago.

There’s even a picture of a younger Su-chang labeled “The only survivor, the perpetrator’s son.” And in a keepsake box, Dong-tak finds photos of a little girl with her parents.

A call comes in from Detective Yoo informing them that the Angel’s name is Jin Soo-ah. He adds that Soo-ah was in Japan until coming back to Korea a year ago, and that she grew up in an orphanage.

Dong-tak puts the clues together and says that he knows where to find her. He rushes out, reeling at how wrong he and Superintendent Ma were about the Angel’s identity. He realizes that the orphanage is the connection, and he wonders why Soo-ah is killing people.

He finds Su-chang still at the orphanage, and he tells the nun that Jin Soo-ah, the person who comes to see the angel wings mural, has killed two people and plans to kill more. She claims not to know where Soo-ah is, but Su-chang tells Dong-tak that she’s lying.

When Dong-tak pleads for information, she tells him that Soo-ah lost both of her parents at a young age, and that the shock caused her to lose her hearing and power of speech. She calls Soo-ah a weak person who would blindly follow anyone who gave her any affection.

She confirms that Soo-ah was the recipient of Chief Prosecutor Tak’s extended sponsorship, which solidifies his suspicion that Chief Prosecutor Tak made her the way she is. He tells the nun that she’ll kill again if she isn’t stopped.

As they leave, Dong-tak tells Su-chang that Jae-hee didn’t seem to know anything. He concludes that Chief Prosecutor Tak has been using Soo-ah to kill in order to cover his tracks, but Su-chang can’t figure out why she’d try to kill him. Dong-tak reveals that her parents were the ones killed in the accident, meaning that Su-chang wasn’t the only one orphaned that day.

Another call from Detective Yoo alerts Dong-tak that the police are worried that Soo-ah may try to leave the country. But Dong-tak says that she’s killing for a reason, and that she has unfinished business, looking pointedly at Su-chang. He learns from Detective Lee that the DNA on Soo-ah’s belongings matches the DNA sample from the Angel, so he and Su-chang head back to the station.

Having asked his assistant to look into Soo-ah, Jae-hee also learns that his father sponsored her. At the same time, an informant at the police station calls Chief Prosecutor Tak to tell him that the police are getting close to finding Soo-ah.

Jae-hee visits his father to ask him about Soo-ah. Chief Prosecutor Tak admits that he was her sponsor, but denies being involved in the murders, and Jae-hee says fervently that he believes him. Chief Prosecutor Tak refuses to accept that Soo-ah committed the murders, but he asks Jae-hee, what he would do if it were true, and it was all for him.

Jae-hee looks stricken and says that he’ll take responsibility. But Chief Prosecutor Tak says that this time he’s the one who’s been tainted, and he tells Jae-hee to protect Soo-ah.

When Dong-tak goes to Jae-hee for a warrant to arrest Soo-ah, Jae-hee informs him that the DNA they got without a warrant can’t be used as evidence. He promises to overlook the fact that they suspected him, but refuses to break the law.

He ignores Dong-tak’s accusation that he’s being uncooperative because the evidence may lead them to his father. Dong-tak apologizes for suspecting him, but he reminds Jae-hee not to forget the cause of the accident sixteen years ago in Incheon.

While everyone is trying to track her down, Soo-ah stashes a bag in a locker at a subway station.

Jae-hee makes a call, asking for the photos from the accident in Incheon. Ji-an surprises him with dinner, confessing that she actually came to see his father, but he’s not in. She tells Jae-hee that she’s looking into her father’s case again, and that Dong-tak says his current case ties into it.

She mentions that Chief Prosecutor Tak told her that not much evidence remains in her father’s case, and that the witness is dead. But she remembered that her father’s case had no witnesses, so she wanted to ask Chief Prosecutor Tak what he meant.

In the car, Dong-tak goes over all the evidence again, but Su-chang startles him by telling him that parts of his body keep disappearing. Dong-tak is alarmed to hear that it’s happened a couple of times, so they go to see Miss Bong hoping for answers.

She reminds the guys that there are only a few days left in Su-chang’s 49 days. In a dreamy voice, she tells Dong-tak that something will happen later to make him cry. She says he shouldn’t blame himself, that it’s just destiny being cruel, and that it would have been better if he’d never met that person.

Ji-an is at the station when Dong-tak gets back, and she tells him what Chief Prosecutor Tak said about the witness to her father’s case being dead. Dong-tak seems to realize something, but he says it’s nothing. Ji-an asks about Su-chang, and he keeps Su-chang’s disappearing hands a secret.

Su-chang spends the evening in his hospital room, gazing proudly at Bong-sook as she studies the menu from her new job at the bakery. He asks her wistfully if they’ll be able to catch the culprit and if he’ll get his body back.

Jae-hee and Ji-an both spend their evenings thinking about their fathers, while Dong-tak goes over his corrected chart of events. He vows to catch Chief Prosecutor Tak, and says worriedly to himself, “Hang in there, Su-chang.”

All this time, Sung-hyuk has been working on the lighter, which his colleague told him is not just a lighter. He spends the night listening to audio recordings, while Yong-pal’s minions watch over Su-chang’s hospital room.

The detectives meet to discuss Soo-ah in the morning, having gotten nothing in a stakeout the night before. Sung-hyuk bursts in late, excited to tell them that he’s solved the mystery of the lighter. He opens it, and inside is a tiny audio recorder.

On the recorder is a conversation between Chief Prosecutor Tak and Kim Jong-doo, who says that he needs more money. He threatens to tell what he knows, and although the rest of the audio is damaged, they can hear Chief Prosecutor Tak say, “If I give you the money, you won’t tell… killing…” He promises Jong-doo that he’ll meet him in three days.

Dong-tak calls Hang-joon’s wife, who tells him that her house was broken into a few days ago, although the burglar didn’t take anything. Oddly though, she got a call that someone recently opened and searched the crypt where Hang-joon’s ashes are interred.

Detective Yoo checks Soo-ah’s credit card records and sees that she stopped for gas near the cemetery on the same day the crypt was tampered with. Dong-tak guesses that she was looking for this lighter, and that Hang-joon was killed for it.

A flashback shows us the conversation between Chief Prosecutor Tak and Kim Jong-doo at the club, and naturally, Soo-ah was there. Jong-doo had recorded their conversation with the lighter, then later used the recording to threaten Chief Prosecutor Tak when he failed to show up with the money.

But Dong-tak tells the team that Chief Prosecutor Tak had something that Kim Jong-doo didn’t have: Jin Soo-ah.

 
EPISODE 30 RECAP

Su-chang grows frustrated as the detectives wring their hands over the fact that they still have nothing concrete linking Chief Prosecutor Tak to the murders. He suddenly realizes that Chief Prosecutor Tak doesn’t know they have the lighter or that it’s damaged, and Dong-tak instantly gets his point. He tells the others that if Soo-ah is looking for the lighter, then arresting her will lead them to Chief Prosecutor Tak.

Unfortunately she’s gone underground, so Dong-tak suggests they use the lighter as bait. Su-chang gets an idea and calls Dong-tak out to the hall to brag that he’s a genius, and Dong-tak is all, “Let’s just worry about your body for now.”

Back in the conference room, Su-chang leads Dong-tak to tell the team that they need to get the lighter to someone who knows all of Chief Prosecutor Tak’s weaknesses, to make Chief Prosecutor Tak feel threatened. Detective Yoo asks who that might be, and Dong-tak says he knows of one person.

Meanwhile, Detective Park is back and in charge of interrogating Commissioner Noh. He brings him some food and leads him into saying that once he’s out of jail he’s going straight to Chairman Jo to team up against Chief Prosecutor Tak. He gleefully reveals that Chairman Jo is very unhappy at Chief Prosecutor Tak’s betrayal.

So Su-chang’s idea is to get the lighter to Chairman Jo and trick him into helping them. When Detective Yoo asks how they can do that, Dong-tak says he knows a guy, hee. A few minutes later, Su-chang is in Dong-tak’s body, grinning in anticipation.

He visits Chairman Jo and plays him the recording in the lighter, and Chairman Jo looks very interested. In return for the lighter, Su-chang asks Chairman Jo to tell him what happened sixteen years ago. When Chairman Jo asks why he needs to know, Su-chang says that Chief Prosecutor Tak betrayed him and he wants revenge.

It works, and soon Chairman Jo calls Chief Prosecutor Tak to tell him that he has the lighter. Chief Prosecutor Tak asks what he wants, and Chairman Jo says that he wants his son to go free, and for Chief Prosecutor Tak to bark at his feet like a dog. He admits that he’s corrupt, but he snaps angrily, “But at least I don’t kill people!”

Soo-ah is in the car with Chief Prosecutor Tak when he gets the call. He tells her that Chairman Jo has the lighter, and that he always keeps important things in his office desk. He asks her for one last favor, and she nods and drives away.

She sneaks into Chairman Jo’s office and quickly finds the lighter in the desk, just where Chief Prosecutor Tak said it would be. But Su-chang is waiting outside with Yong-pal, and he explains that this was part of his deal with Chairman Jo, who told his security to let Soo-ah break in.

Su-chang had switched lighters, giving an identical lighter fitted with a tracker to Chairman Jo. He tells Yong-pal that he plans to follow Soo-ah back to Chief Prosecutor Tak and catch them both.

When Soo-ah leaves the building, Su-chang has Yong-pal punch him again, knocking him out of Dong-tak’s body. Ha, Yong-pal enjoys that a bit too much. Dong-tak sends both Su-chang and Yong-pal to the hospital and activates the tracker in the dummy lighter.

The other detectives are waiting, and when they get the signal, they all follow Soo-ah back to her meeting place with Chief Prosecutor Tak. Soo-ah jumps on her motorcycle and gets away when the cops pull up, so Dong-tak chases her while the rest of the team arrest Chief Prosecutor Tak for questioning. Oh, the look on his face is so worth it.

Dong-tak follows Soo-ah until she gets away by leading him down a one-way street. But he calls Detective Yoo and says that he knows where she’ll go.

She heads straight to the hospital, where she enters Su-chang’s hospital room and pulls out her knife. But Yong-pal shows up and flicks his own knife expertly, prepared to protect Su-chang’s body. Soo-ah knocks him down and escapes, and we see that luckily, Doc and nurse Da-jung had already taken Su-chang from the room.

Soo-ah runs for her motorcycle, but Dong-tak is already there waiting for her. He says they need to talk but she brandishes her knife, and Dong-tak only has time to say that Hang-joon was family to him before she attacks.

The fight is vicious and evenly matched, as Dong-tak somehow avoids Soo-ah’s knife while trying to neutralize her. He uses every one of his fighting skills, not holding back just because she’s a woman, and soon he manages to throw her onto the hood of a car and handcuff her.

Dong-tak rips off Soo-ah’s helmet and looks Hang-joon’s killer in the face for the first time. He holds in his fury and reads her her rights, and when he gets to the part where she can refuse to say anything incriminating, he yanks her close to growl, “I hope you do that. I want you to keep quiet and think for a long, long time about the things you did. One day, you’ll realize that as much as you’ve suffered, you’ve made others suffer as well.”

The team arrives and takes Soo-ah away, but Dong-tak lingers behind. Su-chang appears, and Dong-tak confirms that Soo-ah will be charged with the murders of Kim Jong-doo and Hang-joon, as well as Su-chang’s attempted murder. He’s confident that if she testifies that Chief Prosecutor Tak instigated the murders, that he’ll go to prison for life.

A bit shy now that it’s all over, the two friends say goodbye. They go their own ways, both of them smiling in satisfaction.

Detective Park finds Ji-an at the station, trying to get a look at her father’s phone records on the day he died. He wheedles the reluctant officer into giving Ji-an the name and number of the last person to call her father.

As he’s driving back to the station, Dong-tak gets a call from Chairman Jo, who reveals that sixteen years ago, Chief Prosecutor Tak asked him to make a cop appear to be corrupt. He confirms that it was Ji-an’s father, Detective Song. Chairman Jo tells Dong-tak that he may have to back Chief Prosecutor Tak again in the future, so he hopes he and Dong-tak never meet again.

Having found someone who saw Detective Song on his last day alive, Detective Park calls Dong-tak to tell him that a cashier at Detective Song’s regular coffee shop told the cops that she saw him, but nobody ever followed up. Luckily she remembers the last person Detective Song spoke to: Chief Prosecutor Tak, who was a prosecutor at the time.

Dong-tak calls Ji-an and arranges to meet with her. While she waits, she calls the number she got from the police to ask the person some questions.

When he gets the news that his father was arrested, Jae-hee starts to head for the station. Before he goes, his assistant gives him the photos he asked for from the accident. One photo, a picture of young Dong-tak, stops him cold.

Su-chang visits his body, prepared to wake up and get his life back now that they caught the culprits. He jumps at his body but nothing happens, and no matter how hard he tries, he remains in soul form. With dismay, he wonders if there’s still a mystery left to solve.

Jae-hee waits at the station for Dong-tak to return. He asks Dong-tak if he really doesn’t remember what happened sixteen years ago, and we go back to that day, just before the accident.

Young Dong-tak, while joyriding on a pilfered motorcycle, had seen young Jae-hee behind the wheel of a car. He’d taunted Jae-hee and asked if he wanted to prove he’s a man. He’d told Jae-hee to follow him, and the enraged Jae-hee had complied.

Dong-tak led Jae-hee to swerve around a truck, the truck that Su-chang and his father were in. The truck had veered into the opposite lane while trying to avoid Jae-hee, and had plowed into an oncoming car. The couple in the car and Su-chang’s father were killed on impact, while Jae-hee fled and Dong-tak stayed to pull Su-chang from the truck.

Back in the present, Dong-tak only now remembers the full events of that day. Jae-hee says angrily that Dong-tak was the one who truly caused the accident. Su-chang’s voice calls out, asking what Jae-hee means, and Dong-tak turns to see him standing nearby.

Ji-an also heads to the station after her conversation with the man whose phone was the last number to call her father. He’d told her that he didn’t use his phone that day because his nephew stole it.

But the worst part is that he’d told Ji-an that his nephew’s name is Detective Cha Dong-tak. She tells herself that Dong-tak knew her father, so he must have gotten the call from Dong-tak then gone to see him.

Dong-tak thinks to himself, “All this began with me. Even Ji-an’s misfortune. Will I ever have the nerve to say this to you?”

Su-chang approaches Dong-tak, his expression disbelieving as he asks what Jae-hee meant. Dong-tak thinks, “And to you, Gong Su-chang.”

Watch the video

It all began with me?

 
 
COMMENTS

Okay, this is very bad. It’s worse than when Su-chang found out that Dong-tak was the boy he thought betrayed him. Not only are they friends now, which means the betrayal will be that much more painful, but in this case Dong-tak really is guilty. Obviously he never intended for anyone to be killed, and I wonder if the horror of the accident — and the knowledge that the deaths were his fault — gave him selective amnesia. I’m very anxious to learn exactly what happened that day, and why Dong-tak doesn’t seem to remember anything (especially since the police seemed to know, or he wouldn’t have been in that file).

This show is so good at giving us all the clues and still managing to surprise us with the reveals. I never imagined that it was actually Dong-tak who caused the accident in the first place, though really, we should have had some suspicion that he was involved. Miss Bong has been saying from the very beginning that Dong-tak and Su-chang need to right the wrongs of the past to put things back the way they should be, so it should have been obvious that one of them had done something to the other. And we’ve never been told why Dong-tak was a the scene of the accident in the first place, only that he was there and tried to help. As an audience, we’ve been told from the very beginning that we weren’t seeing everything we needed to see.

It makes sense now why Jae-hee’s father has been protecting him all these years, because it was the car he was (most likely) illegally driving that got in the way, causing Su-chang’s father to swerve and kill that family and himself. And I’m positive that it’s Soo-ah’s parents who were killed in that crash, and that that’s why she’s been killing people — for revenge, and to cover up for Chief Prosecutor Tak. I’m still unsure whether Chief Prosecutor Tak knew for a fact that she’s been killing people who get in his way, because he has seemed confused about it, but he’s a smart man and there’s no way he didn’t at least suspect what she was doing.

I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of weeks of the show, once we finally got to the exciting part of investigating the past and present crimes. I like the way the past dovetails into the present, and how the detectives (and Yong-pal and his Avengers) team up to get things done when necessary. It’s exciting to be going into the finale still guessing at the full truth, when the show could easily have given us all the answers weeks ago and then just followed Dong-tak and Su-chang as they tried to catch the baddies. I find shows much more interesting when the audience uncovers secrets at the same time as the characters. And it was pretty clever how the show managed to give us clues that seemed to point to one thing, while in actuality meaning something completely different, which kept me on my toes as as observer and made the watching that much more exciting. So often at this point, I’m looking forward to the finale mostly so that I can see everything finally laid to rest, but in this case, it’s fun to be looking forward to it because I still don’t know how it will all end.

[geolocator_show for=”SG”]

[geolocator_show for=”SG”][/geolocator_show]

 
RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Two Cops, Doubtful Victory
• Jo Jung-seok and Hyeri bicker their way to love in Two Cops
• Two souls, one cranky detective’s body in Two Cops
• What it takes to be a female reporter in Korea according to Two Cops
• First peek at badass officer Jo Jung-seok in MBC’s Two Cops
• Jo Jung-seok gets ready to throw punches in Two Cops stills
• Two Cops gears up for premiere in November with new stills
• Cast of MBC’s Two Cops gathers for first script read