Bad and Crazy: Episode 11

by mistyisles

With all cards on the table, our hero ramps up to take down his nemesis once and for all. But he’ll need all the help he can get to keep the master manipulator from slipping out of his grasp yet again.

 
EPISODE 11 RECAP

With Jung-hoon’s eyewitness account of Joo-hyuk manipulating Young-joo into stabbing him, Soo-yeol at last knows that Joo-hyuk is Yoon-ho. Aw, when K asks if he’s confident he can catch Yoon-ho, he just smirks and says, “Of course. I have you.” But Jung-hoon’s testimony won’t be enough – they have to prove Joo-hyuk’s a murderer. Soo-yeol’s plan? To use himself as bait.

Boss Yong apologizes to Andrei for being late as she steals his body from the morgue. She cremates him herself, murderous revenge in her eyes.

K stares down a photo of Joo-hyuk, frustrating Soo-yeol by calling him Yoon-ho instead. Until they figure out his plan, they can’t let on that they know who he really is. K assures him he’s a good actor… and promptly falls right back into calling the man in the photo “Yoon-ho” again. (And punching at the photo for good measure.)

At Soo-yeol’s next therapy appointment, Joo-hyuk asks about the first time Soo-yeol ever saw K. Soo-yeol pointedly says it was when Yoon-ho killed his father, adding that he hadn’t technically been aware of K at the time. Joo-hyuk hesitates a moment, taking that in, then confirms that K saved Soo-yeol from both his father’s abuse and Yoon-ho.

Then Joo-hyuk asks if K is here with them, and HA – he’s sitting beside Soo-yeol with his hands balled into fists, barely restraining himself from jumping Joo-hyuk. Joo-hyuk asks to speak directly with him, and K looks more than ready.

But as soon as he’s sure he’s speaking to K, Joo-hyuk’s demeanor changes. He reveals himself as Yoon-ho with a smirk, claiming a special connection with K because they were both “protecting” Soo-yeol back then. He knows just how to push K’s buttons, too – he taunts that K had also wanted Soo-yeol’s father dead so Soo-yeol would be free. Soo-yeol has to stop K before he actually attacks Joo-hyuk, and Joo-hyuk claims he was just testing K’s reaction, because Soo-yeol has to deal with his trauma related to Yoon-ho in order for K to disappear.

Noting K’s propensity for violence, Joo-hyuk points out that Soo-yeol ran away before his father was actually dead – so how can he know if the person who killed him was Yoon-ho or K? At that, K leaps forward and grabs Joo-hyuk by the collar.

Soo-yeol gets K to leave, knowing Joo-hyuk is just trying to manipulate them again. K still wants to take Joo-hyuk down right now, and ouch, Soo-yeol throws back that violence seems to be all K can do. But he softens when K hangs his head, warning that getting so angry is just giving Joo-hyuk what he wants.

He’s right, and now K worries that Joo-hyuk will use what he caught on tape against them. But that reminds Soo-yeol that Joo-hyuk might still have recordings from previous therapy sessions…

Cut to: Soo-yeol and K sneaking into Joo-hyuk’s office after hours, clad in high school uniforms. (The uniform makes K feel like a high school superhero, here to reform delinquent students.) As they’re rifling through Joo-hyuk’s belongings, two actual high schoolers sneak in to retrieve their confiscated cigarettes, and K jumps at the chance to do some reprimanding. It doesn’t quite work, since the students think Soo-yeol is also a student, so he ends up paying them to give him the box they were making off with. And good thing, too, because inside are the tapes he needs.

Back at the police station, the team watches the tape of Joo-hyuk convincing Jung-hoon that he needs help getting rid of his father. They’re all practically shaking with anger, and Kyung-tae wonders how many other kids Joo-hyuk did this to. Reluctantly, Soo-yeol asks them to look into any people Joo-hyuk has counseled who could be connected to murder or suicide cases. But they still need more evidence that Joo-hyuk used drugs to supplement his manipulation, and that he killed Andrei. For that, they’ll need to find Boss Yong.

Joo-hyuk watches the tape from Soo-yeol’s session, wondering with a grin if Soo-yeol recognized him. Next thing we know, Bok-joon finds a new letter addressed from Yoon-ho, and quakes in fear.

Soo-yeol interviews the mortician who performed Andrei’s autopsy before Boss Yong stole his body. It’s clear that the other guy at the scene (the one Yoon-ho killed after Andrei) struck the killing blow, but also that there was a third person present.

While Hee-gyeom pursues the Boss Yong angle, Soo-yeol is called to Bok-joon’s home. But when he arrives, he finds Bok-joon has attempted suicide via a bottle of pills. In his hand is the letter from Yoon-ho, which suggests he’d be better off escaping the misery of this life.

Fortunately, Soo-yeol is able to call emergency responders in time, and Bok-joon soon wakes up in the hospital. Soo-yeol reveals that he was also one of Yoon-ho’s victims, and knows exactly how it feels to doubt your own memories. Though he understands just wanting the whole ordeal to end, he also knows this could be their only chance to bring Yoon-ho to justice.

He takes the letter straight to Joo-hyuk, both of them still acting as though Soo-yeol has no idea he’s Yoon-ho. After reading the letter, Joo-hyuk observes that Yoon-ho seems to hate having his plans thwarted. That’s why he tried to convince Bok-joon to commit suicide: so Bok-joon would continue to bear the blame for the murder. Soo-yeol asks outright if Yoon-ho will try to do the same to him, and Joo-hyuk repeats his assurance that Soo-yeol can handle it if he does.

On his way out the door, Soo-yeol stops to ask why Yoon-ho would want to know about K and when this game might end. With a small smile, Joo-hyuk murmurs that it might not ever end – in fact, it’s just beginning again.

When Soo-yeol arrives at home, Boss Yong jumps into his car and starts to strangle him. She plays the recording of her last call with Andrei, when Yoon-ho had said Young-joo was bait to catch Soo-yeol. She demands to know whose voice it was.

Dong-yeol comes outside and sees Soo-yeol’s car, but when he peeks in the window, he sees Soo-yeol and Boss Yong struggling against each other, and thinks they’re doing… something else. Until Boss Yong tumbles out of the car and grabs him as a hostage with a knife to his neck. Soo-yeol asks for her phone so he can listen to the recording again, but she won’t stand for anything less than the name of Andrei’s killer. Desperate, Soo-yeol pulls out his gun, and she shoves Dong-yeol away and runs.

She doesn’t get far before Soo-yeol stops her by shouting Andrei’s name. He knows she wants revenge, and he wants to catch that guy just as much as she does. She can’t quite believe that, asking if he’s willing to risk his life, so to prove it, he sets his gun on the ground. He promises to do whatever it takes if she’ll cooperate with him.

She does, and is brought in for questioning. Hee-gyeom assures her she’ll meet Yoon-ho in court, since she’ll be there as the chief witness, which seems to satisfy her.

Bong-pil, on the other hand, isn’t thrilled that all Soo-yeol has is the testimony of a drug dealer and some video recordings that, for all he knows, could have been manipulated. On top of that, Joo-hyuk is under contract with their department, so if this backfires, the commissioner will be a really tight spot. Soo-yeol is outraged that Bong-pil is turning a blind eye when Joo-hyuk is literally killing people, but Bong-pil blusters that he doesn’t mean they should do nothing – he wants Soo-yeol to arrest Joo-hyuk now, and then gather more evidence ASAP.

Meanwhile, Mom heads out to a doctor’s appointment, and oh nooo – it’s Joo-hyuk.

The team get their warrant to arrest Joo-hyuk, but as they’re on their way out the door, Bok-joon calls Soo-yeol again. His voice is oddly sluggish as he says he knows who Yoon-ho is. Soo-yeol finds him in a dark, empty warehouse, where Bok-joon is standing ominously alone. He tells Soo-yeol that he’s realized he shouldn’t die alone… and pulls out a huge knife.

Ack, he thinks Soo-yeol is Yoon-ho. Soo-yeol knocks the knife away, but Bok-joon throws him down and wraps his hands around his neck, crying at Soo-yeol for toying with him. He reveals that Joo-hyuk told him everything, and doesn’t listen when Soo-yeol tries to explain that Joo-hyuk is actually Yoon-ho. And that’s when Joo-hyuk himself walks in.

Bok-joon runs up to him like a lost child, and Joo-hyuk promises everything will be fine – and then slices his throat open. Soo-yeol rushes over to him, but it’s too late. Enraged, K punches Joo-hyuk to the ground and grabs up the knife. Joo-hyuk laughs, realizing who he is, as K raises the knife to strike. Soo-yeol pulls him away just in time, determined not to give Joo-hyuk what he wants. As Joo-hyuk stands, Soo-yeol addresses him as Yoon-ho: “You’re finished.”

Joo-hyuk is brought in for interrogation. Even though Soo-yeol saw him kill Bok-joon, they still need a confession to convict him. But when Soo-yeol lays out his crimes, Joo-hyuk clarifies that it was Yoon-ho who did those things, not him. He continues speaking of Yoon-ho in third person as he “speculates” that Yoon-ho might have felt relief after killing his father, and wanted to help others feel that same relief.

Then he leans forward and asks Soo-yeol if Yoon-ho really exists. After all, he disappeared for 22 years, only to reappear now… just like K. On top of that, Soo-yeol is the only person besides the other murder victims who has ever met Yoon-ho. As Hee-gyeom listens in disbelief, Joo-hyuk claims that Yoon-ho and K are one and the same, and that he (Joo-hyuk) watched Soo-yeol kill Bok-joon yesterday. Soo-yeol grabs him by the collar, but Joo-hyuk remains frighteningly calm.

Out in the stairwell, Hee-gyeom asks what’s going on, and Soo-yeol finally comes clean about K. He desperately tries to explain that what Joo-hyuk said about Yoon-ho being K isn’t true, but now Hee-gyeom is so confused she can barely think to process anything. She wants to believe him, but having no prior knowledge, it’s hard for her to sort through Soo-yeol’s and Joo-hyuk’s stories. For now, she asks him to back off the case.

Soo-yeol goes to Geun-soo for help, but he’s vanished, having been on the brink of arrest for gambling and illegal practice.

When Dong-yeol wakes the next morning, he finds Mom sitting in her room looking shaken. She had a dream last night about the day they first met Soo-yeol, wherein he’d given her a creepy, bloody smile. It seems this isn’t the first of these dreams, either.

In the interrogation room, Joo-hyuk smiles as he recalls manipulating his victims (particularly Soo-yeol’s mom and Jung-hoon) so they’d trust him over anyone else.

With no further evidence, the team is forced to let Joo-hyuk go, and Bong-pil warns Soo-yeol that he’ll be investigated now. Soo-yeol fumes that no one seems to believe him now, and Bong-pil just asks if he’s really okay.

Aww, Kyung-tae comes through. He gives Soo-yeol intel on Joo-hyuk’s work outside of the youth shelter, and also a word of confidence: “Stay strong. I trust you.” Among the papers he gives Soo-yeol is a brochure for a hospital Alzheimer’s program.

Dong-yeol and Mom watch helplessly as detectives led by Dae-won search the house. Dong-yeol does his best to keep her calm by saying that it’s just a normal part of Soo-yeol’s important job, but hearing Soo-yeol’s name just makes her more frantic.

Soo-yeol races home. When K tries to calm him down, he shouts at him to get lost and stop making him look like a crazy person.

When Soo-yeol arrives home, he comes face-to-face with Dae-won, who gleefully digs that he’s just doing his job. Before Soo-yeol can do anything about it, Mom grabs his hand and rushes him outside. Shaking, she says she remembers everything now – he killed his father, and had a knife when he showed up at their house. Despite that, she’s determined to protect him, and he seethes, knowing this is Joo-hyuk’s doing.

Inside, the detectives find a paper bag with a bloodied knife. A flashback reveals Joo-hyuk had convinced Mom that it belonged to Soo-yeol, and that she’d brought it to his office by mistake. Now, as Joo-hyuk walks free out of the police station, he smiles.

Soo-yeol arrives then and pushes him up against a pillar, demanding to know what he did to his mother. Joo-hyuk retorts that he just sent Soo-yeol back where he belongs: to misery. Soo-yeol punches him over and over until the other officers pull him off.

Naturally, that’s when Dae-won arrives with the confiscated murder weapon to arrest Soo-yeol. Soo-yeol’s team tries to stop it, but they’re held back. Seeing K standing there sadly, Soo-yeol thinks that he was right after all – someone like Joo-hyuk is better off dead. He grabs the gun out of Dae-won’s holster, aims it at Joo-hyuk, and fires, as K lunges to try and stop him.

Four months later, Soo-yeol sits in a hospital bed, barely responding when doctors walk in and greet him. He dutifully takes the medicine they give him. It seems he’s in prison now, and Hee-gyeom visits him with lunch. He doesn’t say a word as she fills him in on what his friends and family are up to and promises they’ll clear his name.

She hesitantly asks if the doctor is right: is K really gone? Is Soo-yeol okay now? Soo-yeol finally mumbles, “K? Who’s that?” She does her best to choke back her tears. On her way out, she puts on an upbeat tone to call Soo-yeol’s mother and assure her he’s doing great and enjoyed the food, even though he barely touched it.

The guards take Soo-yeol back to his room, where he sits in silence for some time. But suddenly he stands and spits something into his hand. It’s the pill the doctors gave him, which he stashes inside the mattress with a bunch of others.

Suddenly, K appears (thank goodness!) and grabs him in a headlock. They tussle, ending with their hands at each other’s throats… but they’re just sparring. “Are we ready?” K asks.

Soo-yeol agrees they are – it’s time to finish Joo-hyuk once and for all.

 
COMMENTS

Okay, confession: until last episode, I was sure that Andrei was Yoon-ho. And honestly, I’m a little disappointed he wasn’t. Both he and Boss Yong were built up to be such formidable foes, only to be underutilized and shoved aside (or completely discarded, in Andrei’s case) in favor of Joo-hyuk, who in my opinion doesn’t bring any emotional pull on his own.

While the therapist who manipulates his patients into becoming killers is terrifying, I can’t help imagining what it would have been like if we’d had Soo-yeol and team face off against Boss Yong in the tense cat-and-mouse chase that was teased from the very beginning of the show, only to learn that Yoon-ho was behind her pulling strings all along. We could even still have Soo-yeol team up with her in the end, fueled by her anger at being manipulated and betrayed by the only person she ever really trusted. Barring that, I’d hoped we’d at least get some actual backstory for her, but it looks like that won’t happen now, either.

But let’s talk about what we do have. I did find Joo-hyuk throwing Yoon-ho’s blame on K and therefore Soo-yeol to be a brilliantly cruel blow on his part. (And, side note, I’m so glad THAT wasn’t the truth behind Yoon-ho’s identity.) I felt Soo-yeol’s desperation as he realized he had no way of proving he wasn’t Yoon-ho, even to the people who love him the most. And dragging his mother into the web of false memories was even more cruel.

I also appreciated the little comment that Dae-won made about just doing his job, because it was a callback to who Soo-yeol used to be, back when he cared more about getting the commissioner’s approval than about seeing and caring about the people he was coldly throwing the book at. Another emotional blow to add to his desperation and fear in the moment, because he couldn’t argue with that accusation, either.

More than anything, this episode showed how Joo-hyuk’s greatest strength as a manipulator is in isolating his victims and destroying trust – both their trust in other people and their own memories, and others’ trust in them. But Soo-yeol has the particular advantage of an ally who is literally part of him, and that’s a bit harder to drive a wedge between. Thankfully, he and K have already worked through the doubts they’d had about themselves and each other, so Joo-hyuk’s tactics can’t completely isolate Soo-yeol anymore.

I also really liked the reversal of Soo-yeol acting as K’s protector this time. It’s been made very clear that K was created specifically to protect Soo-yeol, but in this episode Soo-yeol was constantly placing himself between K and Joo-hyuk – holding K back from getting them both into deeper trouble, yes, but also trying to shield him from being manipulated into doing things he’d regret. They’ve become a true team at this point, each balancing the other’s weaknesses and strengths, and I have no doubt they’ll find a way to take Joo-hyuk down together. The only real question that remains is: What will happen to K after they do?

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