Fly Dragon: Episode 4

by lovepark

The bad guys celebrate their win a little too early and learn that money can’t solve everything. With the fight now starting in earnest, it’s time for our leads to prove their worth as they face their strongest opponents yet. Armed with passion and a bit of recklessness, our heroes charge ahead, set on plowing down any setbacks and enemies that stand in their way.

 
EPISODE 4 RECAP

After hearing about the mediator fee from Prosecutor Jang, Sam-soo confronts Tae-yong about the money. Equally disgruntled with Sam-soo, Tae-yong chides him for keeping in touch with their enemy. Their fight boils down to Sam-soo wanting a cut of the share, and Tae-yong shouts that he won’t forget him when the time comes.

Prosecutor Jang updates Mayor Kang on the settlement, and the mayor tells Legislator Kim and Justice Jo that nothing beats money. Reflecting on the situation, Legislator Kim says that judges and prosecutors are people, too, but if society starts scrutinizing all their mistakes, then it will only bring harm to the country.

Mayor Kang enthusiastically agrees and adds the typical “back in my day…” comment about the framed men only serving six years. All the while, Prosecutor Jang grimaces as his father-in-law embarrasses himself in front of the legal big shots.

Both sides meet up at Daeseok Law Firm to finalize the settlement, and the clients freeze up at the sight of Prosecutor Jang. The prosecutor apologizes to the men, but neither his tone nor his actions show repentance. His haughty attitude clearly gets under youngest Sang-hyun’s skin as he starts to shake after given the settlement contract to sign.

When the clients hesitate, Sam-soo writes the men’s names on a piece of paper, and he pushes them to copy the words. Tae-yong warns Sam-soo to stop, but the reporter continues pressuring the men. His words mirror those of Detective Jung, and Sang-hyun recalls the day he walked into the police station and got caught up in this mess.

The others “confessed” about him being the third robber after a few thrashings, and Detective Jung forced Sang-hyun to copy down a false confession. Afterwards, Prosecutor Jang met with the young man, and accepted the written confession despite knowing that Sang-hyun didn’t know how to write.

Tae-yong offers his clients the option to back out, so the men put down their pens. The others berate them for being foolish, and Sang-hyun screams that he doesn’t like it. As they leave, Soo-chul tells Sam-soo to not boss around his friends.

While Jae-pil struggles with the door, Sang-hyun tells him to push the button, and Sam-soo realizes that he can read. After everyone else files out, Tae-yong tells Sam-soo not to disrespect his clients, but Sam-soo is frustrated with his undefined role and wonders why he’s even here.

Hearing about the huge failure, Mayor Kang yells at Prosecutor Jang for messing up this small task and putting his presidential bid in jeopardy. The mayor’s dream is to move into the Blue House, and he won’t have his son-in-law halt his career.

Sam-soo meets with his old junior and software developer KIM KWI-HYUN (Lee Soon-won) who offers to help Sam-soo with the Samjung retrial case because he was moved by Yoo-kyung’s photo of the five men. When Sam-soo only talks about money, Kwi-hyun derides him for being crass, so Sam-soo adds that he wants revenge, too. Meanwhile, Tae-yong works on the dentist’s lawsuits and sighs over the lack of news from Sam-soo and his stalled retrial.

In the den of evil, Mayor Kang apologizes to his associates while Prosecutor Jang kneels to serve them tea. The mayor asks if they have another plan, and Justice Jo suggests that they approve the retrial. Since the statute of limitations will expire in a couple of months, opening up the case sooner will guarantee them a surefire win since the real culprits will never confess. Prosecutor Jang bows in respect, and Mayor Kang marvels at the brilliant plan.

CEO Moon receives a tip from the mayor, and Yoo-kyung is the first to learn about the retrial—even before Tae-yong. After the article is published, she calls the lawyer to congratulate him on the approval. When he asks about Sam-soo, she tells him that he found a new job at a tuna factory.

With the retrial underway, Prosecutor Jang meets up with the real culprits, and they wonder why they were called to this place. He asks if they killed an old lady here, and Leader Deok-jong gets the hint and plays along to the prosecutor’s tune.

Even in the past, Deok-jong was always the quickest on the uptake and readily accepted Prosecutor Jang’s proposal to frame someone else for their crime. Now that the four men are in the same boat, the prosecutor threatens them to stay silent since they only have seven months until freedom.

CEO Moon and Chief Shin treat Mayor Kang to expensive wine as they celebrate their foolproof plan. The only thing bothering the mayor is Tae-yong and Sam-soo, so CEO Moon promises to keep tabs on them. Thus, they use Yoo-kyung as their unwitting spy and learn about the other side’s whereabouts.

Tae-yong holds a press conference for his upcoming retrial and tells the reporters that his clients are innocent. He points out that the real culprits are out there, but more importantly, he wants to send a message to all the philanthropists out in the world: please, help!

The group of evil men laugh as they watch Tae-yong’s announcement, and Mayor Kang chuckles at his enthusiasm since it reminds him of his youth. Legislator Kim comments on how those without a proper background get easily excited over small achievements, and Mayor Kang is bright enough to understand the indirect jab.

Yoo-kyung shares with Tae-yong her suspicions over the quick approval of his retrial, but the latter credits the change to his history-making win. He steps out for a moment since it’s his turn to watch the kids, and he anxiously waits for his sister to come home and swap places with him.

In the meantime, Yoo-kyung cleans up Tae-yong’s office and happens across his family photo. When he arrives at the office bearing snacks, she smiles awkwardly at him, but he doesn’t get the cues and sits right next to her.

Curious about how many articles were published about him, Tae-yong explains that he may skip meals but he never misses a day to look up his name. Moving to his laptop, he finds that most of the articles are about him begging for a philanthropist, which wasn’t the image he was going for.

Seeing the family photo as his background, Yoo-kyung comments on how the kids resemble their mom but not Tae-yong, and he looks at her curiously since that’s how it should be. He tells her that these are his niece and nephew, and Yoo-kyung perks up after learning that he’s single.

She hands him a letter that came to the office, and it contains information about the judge for the retrial: Heo Jae-young, the attorney for the original Samjung case. This raises even more flags for Yoo-kyung, but Tae-yong calls it a coincidence.

With her company’s full support, Yoo-kyung accompanies Tae-yong the next day to catch Sam-soo at the tuna factory where they find him hard at work. Sam-soo takes them back to his place, and he complains about the backbreaking labor at the factory. Tae-yong invites him back to Seoul and offers him a share of the compensation.

Though Sam-soo doesn’t give him an answer, as soon as they leave, he makes a call to Kwi-hyun to start the next stage of their plan. He then calls Jin-shil to tell her that he’s coming back and brags about moving forward with their wedding schedule since he’s about to get a lot of money.

Meanwhile, Chief Shin informs CEO Moon of Tae-yong and Sam-soo’s current situation, which he then shares with Mayor Kang who’s getting a head start on the campaign trial. The mayor is pleased to hear that his enemies are busy working odd jobs and clearly aren’t posing a threat.

On the ride back, Tae-yong shares a story with Yoo-kyung, retelling the happiest moment of his life. After passing the bar exam, he rode around his small island town to check on his congratulatory banners and stopped by his first love’s place to brag. He even called the banner company afterwards to complain about a few missing banners and couple of omitted catchphrases. Pfft.

Taking the first train back to Seoul, Sam-soo meets with Kwi-hyun to discuss their plans. Kwi-hyun proposes the idea of “article funding,” but to make it work, Sam-soo must capture the real culprits. The reporter argues that this is above his paygrade, but Kwi-hyun convinces him to pursue this story since it’s bound to attract attention.

Tae-yong updates Sam-soo on the retrial, including the request he put in for a change in judge which the court denied. Since their last encounter went poorly, Sam-soo waits in the car while Tae-yong meets with the clients. When they hear about their ex-attorney, they blow up since that jerk was the one who made them lie in court and apologize for the crime they didn’t commit.

The current state of the retrial makes Sam-soo uneasy, but Tae-yong tells him to have some faith in the system and him. Sam-soo agrees to believe him, and pulls out a contract since it would help build his trust. He wants half of the compensation, and Tae-yong agrees to sign after they compromise on a sixty-forty split.

On the first day of the retrial, Judge Heo notes the overlapping witnesses from both sides, and the prosecutors inform the judge that they have all the contact information. Tae-yong criticizes the prosecutors for not investigating the real culprits when they know their numbers already and accuses them of making a mess of the situation. The court dissolves into incomprehensible screaming from both sides until the judge calls for order.

In the car, Yoo-kyung praises Tae-yong for being so cool in court, but she still has her suspicions about the whole process. The others tell her not to worry since Tae-yong has it all solved. Their next plan of action involves Sam-soo calling Prosecutor Jang to gauge his reaction about being called forth as a witness, but the prosecutor seems unbothered by the news. This worries Sam-soo and Yoo-kyung more, but Tae-yong insists that it’ll be fine.

Tae-yong and Sam-soo go down to Busan to meet ex-Prosecutor Hwang, and they bump into her in the hallway. They don’t immediately recognize the slovenly woman brushing her teeth as the scary ex-prosecutor, and only belatedly realize their mistake when she properly introduces herself.

Attorney Hwang takes her guest out for dinner, and as they talk, she laughs at the two men’s carefree attitude. She asks if they really don’t see the big picture, and Sam-soo points out that they’re as dumb as they look. Breaking it down for them, she explains how their key evidence is the confession of the real culprits, but since the statute of limitations has yet to expire, there’s no way the criminals will confess. She tells them that this retrial is a lost cause, and the hope from their eyes slowly disappear.

All this time, Attorney Hwang calls them oppa, and Sam-soo corrects her since he’s a year younger than them. Sam-soo gets angry when she doesn’t believe him at first, and Tae-yong yells at the reporter for getting hung up on the wrong issue. Heh.

Sitting at the beach, they turn to Attorney Hwang for guidance. She tells them that their greatest strength is their innocence and advises them to think simply since they won’t be able to outsmart their opponents. They don’t understand what she means, so she tells them to find the culprits and persuade them to confess.

Though it’s a futile fight, she still praises the guys for coming this far since only the reckless are able to act fearless. They accept her backwards compliment, but that night, Tae-yong can’t sleep as her words weigh on him. Meanwhile, Attorney Hwang walks the shore alone, and she thinks back to her past failure, remembering her higherups scolding her for acting out of place.

The next morning, Tae-yong sends Sam-soo to Ms. Choi to find one of the men while he looks for the others. Taking Attorney Hwang’s advice, the two men use their brawns rather than brains, and Tae-yong is a sweaty mess by the time he reaches a dead end. As for Sam-soo, the culprit near Ms. Choi already fled, which leaves them with no leads.

In the den of evil, Mayor Kang informs his co-conspirators that their opponents are wasting their energy looking for the criminals, and Prosecutor Jang assures them that he took care of things. Mayor Kang mentions that now may be the time, and Justice Jo gets up to thank Legislator Kim.

Once the story drops, Sam-soo calls Yoo-kyung angrily for keeping them in the dark, but she’s just as much a pawn as they are. Meanwhile, Attorney Hwang calls Tae-yong about the news, and he looks up the announcement of Justice Jo’s promotion to chief justice. Now that the real player has finally shown his face, Tae-yong declares his challenge into the sky. If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get.

 
COMMENTS

The Samjung case may have started off as a simple mistake, but clearly, it evolved into a tangled mess of deceit as one lie begot another. Multiple occasions arose during the original case for someone to step up and right these wrongs, but everyone was too busy saving their own hide. Detective Jung needed easy targets to quickly wrap up this case, and Prosecutor Jang went along with the shoddy investigation instead of doing his job. The only competent person was then-Prosecutor Hwang, but she didn’t have the power to fight against the system nor the courage (and foolishness) to just push through with it. Even the three culprits had a chance to confess, but they all watched as innocent people took the blame for their crimes. Legislator Kim may call it a “human error,” but in reality, it’s willful blindness. Our evil villain’s twisted logic believes the law and its upholders should be seen as infallible for the greater good, but any power left uncheck leads to corruption and greed. It’s true that the people’s trust in the judicial system may shake if too many faults are found, but the aftereffects of these changes may be more detrimental to people like Legislator Kim and Justice Jo than for the majority of citizens.

Up until this point, Tae-yong and Sam-soo have been coasting on luck for most of their run. The clients and Ms. Choi were the ones who gathered all the evidence and handed it over to our heroes, so in actuality, they haven’t done much on the Samjung case. However, now that their key weapon is no longer viable, it’s time for Tae-yong and Sam-soo to prove their worth. If they can’t outsmart the other side, then they’ll have to work twice if not thrice as hard to put up a fighting chance. Tae-yong has proven that he has the skills to win before, and Sam-soo knows how to sniff out a good story. Hopefully, their combined skills will be enough to win, but first, both men need to get their priorities straight if they are going to take on a chief justice and the whole legal system. While being fueled by money isn’t bad, it’s becoming painfully clear that Tae-yong and Sam-soo are in over their heads.

When Attorney Hwang told them that they were going to lose, I was surprised by how dense the two leads were. They should have already known that their defense relied heavily on the real criminals’ confessions, so it seemed like a poor narrative choice to have our heroes clueless about the evil people’s “master plan” until it was spelt out for them. If Tae-yong was aware of the fact that he needed their confessions, it should have naturally occurred to him to find the witnesses and persuade them. However, it takes an outsider’s advice for Tae-yong to set up the next part of his plan, and overall, the show sacrificed a bit of the character’s credibility for plot.

The other part, though, that made me scratch my head was Attorney Hwang. For the most part, I loved the introduction to this no holds barred woman who’s grown cynical over the ages, but why does the retrial hinge on a confession? Didn’t the ex-prosecutor capture the three men in the past based on evidence, or did the murderers just waltz into her office and confess their crimes? Did all the proof she had about the real culprits just disappear, and what about Ms. Choi’s testimony? While the criminals’ confessions would be a dealbreaker, it seems odd to me that Tae-yong’s only defense was based on the murderers suddenly experiencing a change of heart and admitting their crimes. While I’m sure one of the murderers will eventually confess and/or repent (my money is on crybaby Chul-kyu to break first), is that all they need to win? I know Tae-yong might not be the brightest lawyer around, but if he won the first retrial in South Korean history, then I think he deserves more credit than the show is giving him.

RELATED POSTS

• Fighting the odds, Bae Sung-woo and Kwon Sang-woo pair up in legal comedy Fly Dragon
• Premiere Watch: Kairos, Penthouse, Fly Dragon
• Kwon Sang-woo, Bae Sung-woo fight corruption in Fly From Rags to Riches
• Script Reading for SBS’s Fly From Rags to Riches with Kwon Sang-woo, Bae Sung-woo, and Jung Woong-in
• Kwon Sang-woo, Bae Sung-woo form partnership for Fly From Rags to Riches