Suits: Episode 13

by LollyPip

Things are looking better at Kang & Ham, despite the disruption that Director Ham’s presence causes. Kang-seok seems to have gotten his ethical values back in line, and Yeon-woo is feeling more confident both personally and professionally. But the office is thrown into a crisis when the last person they ever expect to make a mistake does something that could threaten all of their futures.

EPISODE 13: “The moment you fly up with wings called lies, you will not be landing.”

Yeon-woo finds Director Ham waiting outside his apartment and they go somewhere to talk. Director Ham tells Yeon-woo that he knows how it feels to be betrayed by someone you trusted. He claims that he returned to admit his wrongdoings and pay for them, but Kang-seok and Ha-yeon are trying to stop him.

Back at the office, Attorney Kim asks Kang-seok why he’s lying that Yeon-woo is an attorney. Kang-seok just says that a lie doesn’t exist until it’s exposed, but he looks troubled. He waits for Yeon-woo at the toast truck the following morning and admits that he was wrong not to anticipate that Director Ham would target Yeon-woo as soon as he returned.

He also warns Yeon-woo that he may have to put him to use one day, but he promises that it won’t be in an emotional dispute against Director Ham. Yeon-woo tells Kang-seok that Director Ham came to his home yesterday, and that Director Ham wonders if Yeon-woo holds one of his weaknesses. But Yeon-woo says that Kang-seok’s weakness is his weakness, so his conclusion is that they need to protect one another, and Kang-seok bristles at the idea that he needs Yeon-woo’s protection.

Later, Da-ham informs Kang-seok that the family of a deceased man whose family died in a car accident has decided to sue the manufacturer… again. Yeon-woo outlines the situation — two years ago, Kang Young-ho was driving with his wife and son when their car ran into a tree.

His wife and son died, and he sued the car manufacturer saying that the steering wheel was uncontrollable, but he lost the case. Da-ham tells Kang-seok that Young-ho killed himself recently, and his surviving daughter has filed a new lawsuit against Yuno Motors (their client) citing additional evidence regarding the original accident.

Geun-shik introduces Attorney Kim to Director Ham, who asks why she isn’t working as Kang-seok’s associate. Attorney Kim states that Kang-seok got her here, but she wants to be on Geun-shik and Director Ham’s side. Director Ham welcomes her and offers to arrange a get-together soon, and he holds Geun-shik back as Attorney Kim leaves.

He tells Geun-shik that he’s aware that Attorney Kim was a talented prosecutor, but that he had someone else in mind to be Geun-shik’s associate. He asks if Geun-shik’s goal is truly to win against Kang-seok and take what he owns as trophies.

Yeon-woo lurks outside Ji-na’s office, and when she comes out, he blurts out a “sorry” for missing their dinner date last night. Although she says she knows that he’s busy, it’s obvious to Yeon-woo that she’s pissed. She agrees that she has a quick temper, but blames him for letting her down. She says the worst part was that she couldn’t reach him, and Yeon-woo perks up a little to think that she worried about him.

He follows her around the building, asking cutely if she was worried, and she says he’s awfully shameless for someone claiming to be sorry. He says he’s sorry but also happy, because it feels like they’re dating. Ji-na huffs that he’s probably never dated anyone before, and he gets indignant, then admits sheepishly that he hasn’t.

Ji-na tells Yeon-woo to go memorize some books on dating, but he says he can only memorize things he understands, but she’s got him all confused. She says he already knows what to do and is doing a good job, confusing him even further, hee. He invites her to dinner again tonight, and when he’s gone, Ji-na grumbles affectionately, “We kissed, so we’re obviously in a relationship. I thought he was a genius, but he’s nothing but a fool.”

Geun-shik tells Attorney Kim that he’ll never abandon her as his associate, and she rolls her eyes so hard, ha. He says that Director Ham is planning to get rid of Kang-seok, and she says dutifully that he’s the only one who can truly fight against Kang-seok. He tells her his number one rule — always take cases to court, or as he calls it, “the ring.”

When Kang-seok and Yeon-woo meet with the car manufacturer’s lawyer, they’re only slightly surprised to find themselves face-to-face with David Kim again. David looks more angry than arrogant, and when Kang-seok asks why he’s still in the country, he slaps down his new business card declaring that he’s now a senior partner at Taeyang Law Firm.

Focusing on the case, Kang-seok informs David that Kang Young-ho was disabled, so it took him thirty-three tries to get his driver’s license. He says that the accident was caused by Young-ho’s poor driving skills, not the steering wheel. David produces the new evidence — a report from Yuno Motors’ own quality management team that was written three months’ prior to the accident, proving that they knew about the problem with the wheel.

Kang-seok says he never saw this report during the original case, but David just presents the new suit demanding the equivalent of two million U.S. dollars. He drawls that Kang-seok will be the one humiliated this time and gives them another suit, this time against Kang-seok and Kang & Ham for committing illegal acts. He vows to prove that Kang-seok knew about the quality report during the original trial, and put him in prison.

Kang-seok takes the quality report to Ha-yeon, showing her that it’s a memo, not an official report. She says it’s still enough to overturn the original ruling and asks if he’s completely sure he never received it. Kang-seok swears he never got it and has nothing to hide.

She’s worried that Director Ham will find out about this and react badly. Kang-seok sighs that he’ll find out anyway since he’s friends with the CEO of Yuma Motors, so Ha-yeon orders him to find whoever dropped the ball and fire them immediately.

Kang-seok goes to Da-ham, who says sarcastically that of course she received the report and hid it from him. She continues that the NIS has sent her several documents that she’s hidden about a robot living in Jamsil Baseball Stadium, HA. Kang-seok feels bad that Ha-yeon mistrusts him, and he sighs that if he doesn’t find the person who made this mistake, he’ll have to resign himself.

Da-ham excuses herself to scour the archives, and Kang-seok says that if Yeon-woo really wants to help, he’ll do nothing and stay away from Director Ham. Yeon-woo goes to the archives to help Da-ham anyway, and when Geun-shik wanders in, Da-ham throws herself at Yeon-woo as if they were having a lovers’ tryst. Geun-shik leaves, but he’s convinced that something’s up.

Kang-seok meets with CEO Seo of Yuno Motors, where he’s told that there’s a new lead attorney. Attorney Lee mentions that David seems out to get Kang-seok, having told them that Kang-seok’s previous oversight is the reason this case is being revisited. He tells Kang-seok that he’s still on the case, just as an adviser.

Ignoring the smug attorney, Kang-seok reminds CEO Seo that he’s the one who stood beside him in court before. He snaps at CEO Seo for ignoring him after he helped his small company grow rich. When Attorney Lee warns CEO Seo not to respond, Kang-seok accuses CEO Seo of being unable to make his own decisions, and says that the problem isn’t the wheel, but CEO Seo’s cowardice.

He practically dares CEO Seo to fire him, and CEO Seo gives him the ax. Kang-seok leaves looking satisfied, and he seems pretty happy to tell Ha-yeon that he goaded Yuno Motors into dismissing him, because now he doesn’t have to maintain confidentiality.

After a while, Yeon-woo tells Da-ham to stop looking for the memo, trusting her that she didn’t receive it. He says he found something else and takes it to show Kang-seok, calling Kang-seok on his way up to says that if that memo exists, then the person who wrote it also exists.

Director Ham lets himself into Kang-seok’s office to admit that he made a mistake with the hospital negotiations (or so he says). He offers to share his case with Kang-seok, but Kang-seok says that he’s working on eight special cases. Director Ham persists, so Kang-seok agrees to meet next week.

Director Ham runs into Yeon-woo on his way out and invites him to tea in his office sometime, and Kang-seok grumbles that they seem close. Yeon-woo says they’re not as close as Kang-seok and Attorney Kim, but he denies being jealous since he doesn’t feel inferior. He shows Kang-seok that he found the writer of the memo, the quality control manager at Yuno Motors, Han Yoo-seok.

Oddly, although he used to write several such memos a week, after the one about the steering wheel, he was put on an indefinite paid leave of absence. Yeon-woo says that Yuno Motors couldn’t fire him without risking him leaking information about the faulty parts. Kang-seok mutters, “Smart…” but when Yeon-woo waves away the praise, Kang-seok says he meant CEO Seo, lol.

But Yeon-woo insists that Kang-seok acknowledge his brain, sticking the address to his forehead and pouting when Kang-seok reaches for it. He brags that he’s the only one who can solve Kang-seok’s problems, only for Kang-seok to snatch the address and snap that he’ll solve his own problems. Undaunted, Yeon-woo trills that he’s been solving Kang-seok’s problem so far.

He stops to pick up Ji-na for their date, telling her that they’re going to eat somewhere that the food is delicious, and that there’s someone he wants her to meet — aww, he’s introducing her to Grandma, isn’t he?

Yep, he is. He takes his ladies to a tiny restaurant, and when Grandma asks how long they’ve been dating, Yeon-woo says it’s not like that, but Grandma tattles that he said he wanted to give Ji-na a ring. She tells Ji-na that Yeon-woo is smart and kind, but also very naïve, and Ji-na agrees.

They talk about him like he’s not sitting right there dying of embarrassment, ha. Grandma advises Ji-na to pull him along, and Ji-na cheerfully promises to try. While they eat, Ji-na buys a bottle of sorghum wine. The wine relaxes everyone, and Grandma sits back to enjoy watching her beloved grandson with the lady he’s obviously head over heels for.

After dinner, Ji-na says that Yeon-woo’s grandmother seems like a great person. She asks who the person is at their firm that he likes (that Grandma mentioned), pointing hopefully to herself. But Yeon-woo just says that Grandma was asking if he’d ever meet someone to put a ring on, so he made up a lie.

That makes Ji-na grumpy, so Yeon-woo says it’s a lie that he lied. He pulls a ring from his pocket and puts it on Ji-na’s finger, but he says it’s not what she thinks… yet. Dropping to banmal and calling her by name for the first time, he says that he thinks about her and wants to know more about her.

Ji-na shuts him up with a kiss, lamenting that she has to listen to her elders and pull him forward. When they finally break apart, Yeon-woo displays his matching ring, Ji-na asks if they just established their rabbit farm. She continues on her way, and Yeon-woo dutifully follows.

Down in the archives, Da-ham stands frozen in shock. In her hand she holds the original memo regarding the faulty steering wheel, which she herself stamped as “received” two years ago.

The next day, Kang-seok visits Yuno Motors’ former quality control manager, Han Yoo-seok, who claims that he didn’t write the memo. He says that he informed CEO Seo of the problem and was instructed not to write a report because it would be fixed immediately. He says that the fault did get fixed in new cars, but there was never a recall of sold cars.

According to Yoo-seok, he and CEO Seo were the only ones who knew of the defect. He insists he never wrote a report, but he does tell Kang-seok that everything on the memo is true.

Kang-seok finds David Kim leaning on his car looking smug. Kang-seok accuses David of manipulating him into meeting Han Yoo-seok, and David doesn’t deny that his goal was to fluster Kang-seok, so that now he knows CEO Seo covered up a serious issue.

David tells Kang-seok that he’ll be called to testify and will be compelled to tell the truth, at which time he’ll become the accused. He crows that Kang-seok will end up in prison due to all the prosecutors dying to take him in.

When CEO Seo gets in his car to head home, Kang-seok lets himself into the passenger seat and tells him that he just met with Han Yoo-seok. CEO Seo suddenly looks terrified and complies when Kang-seok orders him to drive. He asks what Kang-seok expects from him, so to make a point, Kang-seok grabs the steering wheel and yanks on it, hard.

He lets go before they drive off the road and snarls that if their steering wheel had worked properly, Kang Young-ho’s family wouldn’t have died. He says CEO Seo should feel what they felt during the accident and yanks on the wheel again, and this time CEO Seo screeches to a halt in the middle of the road.

Looking at CEO Seo’s terrified expression, Kang-seok says that he took the original case because CEO Seo looked at him just like that and swore there was nothing wrong with the steering wheel. He orders him to compensate the family and threatens dire consequences if he refuses.

Da-ham snaps at Ji-na for misplacing a schedule, and Ji-na can’t understand why she’s upset. She asks what’s wrong, and Da-ham yells that nobody at this firm does their job properly before storming out.

Geun-shik wonders what Da-ham and Yeon-woo were hiding earlier, sensing that Kang-seok has caused some trouble. But Attorney Kim (who’s feeding his goldfish, ha) disagrees that Kang-seok would make waves while Director Ham is trying to oust him. Geun-shik gets up to investigate, but Attorney Kim stops him and offers to do it herself.

She tells him to focus on winning against Kang-seok, and he smiles and advises her not to focus just on winning. She asks how he can say to always take things “to the ring” but not to try to win, and he says they just need to do the opposite of Kang-seok. LOL, I love how she looks at him like he’s an idiot and he doesn’t even notice.

Returning to the office, Kang-seok tells an adorably perky Yeon-woo that he’s not sure if the memo is real or not, but CEO Seo definitely hid the flaw in the steering wheel. He says he shook up CEO Seo a bit and plans to sit back and see what he does next.

They find Geun-shik in Kang-seok’s office, and when he asks if Kang-seok has a problem, Kang-seok quips that his only problem is finding Geun-shik in his office, ha. Geun-shik says that he can’t lose Kang-seok before he’s promoted, but Kang-seok insists he doesn’t need his help.

After Geun-shik leaves, Kang-seok tells Yeon-woo that he’s serious about wanting to get promoted and fight against Kang-seok. He says that even if he does get promoted, he still doesn’t want his help because he’s vastly inferior.

CEO Seo calls Kang-seok, who tells him that he’s making the right decision. Yeon-woo asks if he’s dropping the suit against Kang-seok and the firm, but Kang-seok says he hasn’t yet, they’ve only agreed to come to an agreement, though he’s determined to make that happen before Director Ham finds out.

Both men spot Da-ham at her desk looking upset and assume it’s because she can’t find the original memo. Kang-seok says she should stop looking, since it was just a red herring to make him visit Han Yoo-seok. The camera pans to his desk, and we see that Geun-shik installed a bug to listen in on his conversations.

Ji-na brings Da-ham the schedule she misplaced, snapping that there’s one person in the firm who does their job properly. Da-ham apologizes and says she was talking about herself when she said that, and Ji-na tells her to just say what’s wrong, in that case. But Da-ham can’t, so Ji-na leaves annoyed.

Da-ham takes the memo, planning to shred it. Yeon-woo follows her and says that he’s concerned, since she bit his head off this morning then fought with Ji-na. He knows that she’s found the original memo, the one that supposedly never existed.

She confesses that she found the memo with her stamp on it, but that she’s scared to tell Kang-seok for fear that people will think he concealed evidence. Yeon-woo points out that shredding it is a crime, and Da-ham barks that he can’t speak of crimes when he’s practicing law without a license, startling him.

She tells him that she’s known from the beginning, and that she’s thinking of shredding the memo to protect Kang-seok. Yeon-woo insists that destroying it will only put him in more danger, but Da-ham argues that he’s putting Kang-seok in danger daily. Yeon-woo says he can’t argue with that, but they can talk about his issues later, after she tells Kang-seok about the memo.

Geun-shik listens to Kang-seok and Yeon-woo’s conversation about the lawsuit against Kang & Ham, and how Kang-seok doesn’t think Geun-shik will ever be promoted because he plans to get rid of Director Ham. Director Ham comes in and can tell from Geun-shik’s expression that something is wrong.

Da-ham works up the nerve to tell Kang-seok about the memo, but he surprises her with vacation tickets for her birthday, then Director Ham bursts in, having heard about the lawsuit. He accuses Kang-seok and Ha-yeon of being willing to destroy the company just because they hate him, and Da-ham takes the opportunity to slink away while Kang-seok yells that he doesn’t trust Director Ham.

Ha-yeon interrupts that she was the one who hid the lawsuit from Director Ham, though what’s more important is what they do about it. Kang-seok would rather Director Ham stay out of it, but Director Ham says he’ll help them anyway, for the sake of Kang & Ham, and he leaves to meet with the CEO of Taeyang Law Firm.

Later, Ha-yeon tells Kang-seok that Director Ham and Taeyang’s CEO agreed that Yuno Motors will pay compensation to the accident victim’s family and drop the suit against Kang-seok and the firm. The condition is that Kang-seok will sign a statement swearing that he never saw the memo about the faulty steering wheel.

Accidentally overhearing them, Yeon-woo rushes into the office to stop Kang-seok from signing. He purposely trips and sprawls on the coffee table, knocking Ha-yeon’s coffee into her lap, so she excuses herself to clean up.

Yeon-woo tells Kang-seok not to sign the agreement, because Da-ham found the original memo. Kang-seok practically runs to the archives, locking the door behind him when he finds Da-ham. She knows why he’s there and says that she has no memory of signing for the memo.

She says she hid it from him to protect him, and offers to admit her mistake and resign. Kang-seok says that she should have told him if she wanted to protect him, but she just replies that if her past and future actions endanger him, then he should fire her.

She’s surprised to learn that the quality control manager claims he never wrote any memo, so Kang-seok suspects that it’s a forgery. It’s impossible for Da-ham to have signed for it two years ago, and Kang-seok is certain that Da-ham wouldn’t make such a colossal mistake.

He adds that if they were trying to hide the memo, they certainly wouldn’t have stored it with the rest of the case files. He believes that someone planted it, which makes the fake memo valuable proof that someone set him up.

But instead of being relieved, Da-ham grows even more upset. She confesses that when she saw Director Ham yelling at Kang-seok for hiding things from him, she shredded the fake memo. Kang-seok is horrified and asks angrily if firing her is enough.

He goes to Ha-yeon, looking devastated after his initial anger wears off, and Ha-yeon says she’ll take care of it. She finds Da-ham at her desk and says that she stopped Kang-seok from doing this himself as a kindness to both him and Da-ham.

Da-ham asks if she’s being fired, and Ha-yeon gives her a small nod. She thanks Da-ham for everything she’s done for her and Kang-seok, and says she’s sorry this happened. She gently asks Da-ham to leave, thanking her one last time.

Da-ham cleans out her desk, but when she exits the office for the last time, she leaves behind the tickets Kang-seok gave her for her birthday. She’s crying by the time she gets down to the lobby, and she stops to look back one final time. Kang-seok is standing there, and they share one last look.

COMMENTS

I’m still loving the way that Yeon-woo and Ji-na’s relationship is progressing. They’ve finally gotten comfortable with being honest about their feelings, so it’s just cute now when Ji-na gets grouchy with Yeon-woo when he’s annoying, or when Yeon-woo keeps confessing then immediately pretending that he doesn’t really like Ji-na that much. It was great when Grandma told Ji-na that she’ll need to be the one in charge, because they both know that Yeon-woo is pretty innocent when it comes to relationships (friendly or otherwise). He’s a beta male despite his prodigious intellect, and he needs a strong woman to offset his tendency to hang back and let romantic opportunities pass him by.

And Ji-na steps into that role beautifully, now that she’s learned to express her strong opinions without being unfairly critical of Yeon-woo. She gives Yeon-woo the benefit of the doubt that he’s simply clueless, not deliberately hurtful, and she tells him exactly what she needs from him instead of expecting him to read her mind. It’s no surprise to me that Ji-na was the one to initiate a kiss both times, and I’m glad that she accepts that she’ll have to make the first moves in their relationship. I know that initially I didn’t think Yeon-woo and Ji-na would make a very good couple because they were so different, but now that they’re starting to understand one another, I actually think they fit together pretty perfectly.

I’ve been bracing myself for Da-ham to have a crisis, because she’s really the only character that so far, has escaped any negative consequences of all of these shady cases Kang-seok handles. I knew that finding that memo would send her into a tailspin she may not recover from, especially since she believed that she herself signed that she received it. Da-ham prides herself on doing an impeccable job as Kang-seok’s assistant, but losing and forgetting that memo would have been a huge mistake, if it hadn’t turned out to be a fake. So I don’t really blame Da-ham for going into panic mode and shredding it even after Yeon-woo’s warning, because as good of an employee as she is and as much as she prides herself on her work, her loyalty to Kang-seok is stronger. As much as he walks the legal tightrope, I’m only surprised that Da-ham didn’t get caught in the crossfire sooner.

I’m genuinely worried about Da-ham, because as much as she’s proven in the past that she does the right thing, in this case, her dilemma wasn’t strictly professional/legal. She’s pretty much admitted, at least to herself, that she has feelings for Kang-seok, so her instinct to protect him is both professional and personal. It’s no surprise that being forced to choose between shielding the man she respects and loves, and doing the morally and legally correct thing, nearly broke her. She was probably half out of her mind with fear for Kang-seok by the time she shredded the memo, which severely clouded her judgment. But what she did wasn’t just wrong, it was illegal, and I’m scared that losing her job is only the beginning of the repercussions she’s going to suffer for acting emotionally instead of logically.

Interestingly, I liked the softer side of Ha-yeon that we saw when she offered to fire Da-ham on Kang-seok’s behalf. So far we’ve mostly seen Ha-yeon as a cool, professional woman who’s fierce enough to play with the big boys, so I appreciated this chance to see her showing compassion for two people she obviously cares about very much. She knew that if Kang-seok had to fire Da-ham himself, after all their years together, that it would destroy both of them. I loved how Ha-yeon did the horrible but necessary deed with care and affection instead of anger and recriminations. I feel like it was thoughtful, and very deliberate, that her last words to Da-ham were not “please leave” but “thank you” — I believe that in her way, Ha-yeon was telling Da-ham that her years of loyalty are remembered and appreciated, and are not erased by the one wrong choice she made.

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