Again My Life: Episodes 9-10

by DaebakGrits

There’s a saying that even the best laid plans will fall apart, and as we build up for the potential takedown of not one — but many — politicians and corrupt individuals, the ease with which our time traveling lawyer is forming alliances and building his case is far too disconcerting.

 
EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

Although Seok-hoon tells Hee-woo to go after Il-hyun, he doesn’t really mean it. He just wants to scare Seok-hoon a little bit, but of course Hee-woo, who has his own secret agenda, takes Seok-hoon’s request literally and finishes the investigation quickly. He even holds a press conference and delivers an eloquent speech about the failures of the prosecution office and promises that they will restore the public’s faith.

At first, Seok-hoon is upset, especially since Hee-woo dropped his name during the press conference, but Seok-hoon changes his tune when it appears that Hee-woo’s skillful manipulation of the press caused Seok-hoon’s approval rating to climb. People even begin speculating that he will be the next attorney general.

While Hee-woo builds up Seok-hoon’s public image, he drives a wedge between best buds Il-hyun and Kang-jin, whose own ambitions — and crimes — make him want to keep Il-hyun behind bars. With his sunbae out of the way, Kang-jin can move up in rank at the prosecutors’ office.

Pfft! As if Hee-woo would allow that to happen! Nope, he’s also got a plan to bring Kang-jin down, too. While Il-hyun and his pianist girlfriend were embezzling money, Kang-jin was introducing the actresses at his father’s entertainment company to politicians and — this is just gross — sexual favors were exchanged. So essentially, Daddy Choi was acting like a pimp and using his son Kang-jin as the broker. (Excuse me while I go take a shower. This is just so icky.)

Hee-woo decides the best way to take down Kang-jin is to go after Daddy Choi, and with Gyu-ri’s help, they begin to build a case against him. Min-soo, who suspiciously always knows what Hee-woo is up to, gives him more evidence against Daddy Choi, who was not only pimping out his actresses and forcing them to get plastic surgery, but also forging false military exemptions for his male actors. (I can’t help but feel like that last crime has to hit Hee-woo personally since, you know, he had to serve twice.)

While Hee-woo escorts his buddy Min-soo home, another act of seemingly divine intervention occurs. Hee-woo notices a man with rope wrapped around his hand walk past them, and Hee-woo’s spidey sense begins tingling. He correctly guessed that the man was stalking a woman with the intention of killing her.

And who is that woman? Well, she’s the daughter of Assemblyman HWANG JIN-YONG (Yoo Dong-geun), who is apparently the only decent human being working in South Korean politics. Oh, and he also happens to be Han-mi’s drinking buddy because she used to tutor his daughter. Talk about a small world. Not one to question the fortuitous opportunity, Hee-woo gets Han-mi to make an introduction. He wants to form an alliance with Jin-yong and take down Tae-sub together, but Jin-yong doesn’t trust prosecutors. (I wonder why?)

He coolly rejects Hee-woo’s offer, but Hee-woo warns that there is a leak among Jin-yong’s followers, and, sure enough, his people all turn against him and join hands with Tae-sub. The incident predictably makes him more open to trusting Hee-woo, and the two meet in secret, where Hee-woo gives him a file containing a list of politicians who have committed various crimes.

Jin-yong takes the information and opens the proverbial Pandora’s box on live television during a general assembly. As Hee-woo predicted, this move increased the public’s opinion of Jin-yong, but it had the unfortunate side effect of building and strengthening Tae-sub’s political alliances as well.

All the corrupt politicians on the list turn to Tae-sub for help, and while he can’t promise to save them all — he’s got to give the public some names or else it will be an obvious cover up — he assures those who are to be sacrificed that they will also be taken care of in other ways. This moment was very reminiscent of scenes typically seen in sageuks, where a political faction bows and pledges their allegiance to some non-crown prince before attempting to overthrow the royal family. The modern setting makes it all the more creepy, though.

From then on, things just keep going downhill for Hee-woo. Seok-hoon tells Hee-woo to investigate the names on Jin-yong’s list, but the list of politicians he gives to Hee-woo has been heavily edited at Tae-sub’s request. The actress that was going to be Gyu-ri’s witness against Daddy Choi recanted her statement, and the doctor who forged all the military exemptions fled the country. (*facepalm* Hee-woo, did you not learn anything from your past life?! How many witnesses have you lost now?)

Oh, and perhaps the biggest insult of all, Kang-jin’s case is dismissed because of insufficient evidence. He then turns around arrests his own father, which goes over extremely well with the public; they now sees him as a justice-upholding saint. The only person who actually gets his just desserts is Il-hyun, who is sentenced to seven years in prison. One down, and only a billion corrupt individuals to go!

While all of this politicking was going on, Hee-ah was doing her best to remain neutral while her brothers fought over company dominance. Unfortunately, the peaceful family life she aspires to have cannot be maintained. Her father’s declining health, Tae-sub’s not-so-subtle attempts to interfere with the company, and her brothers’ poor business ethics and scandals cause her to begrudgingly agree to her father’s wishes. She becomes the company’s director of management and planning.

She meets up with Hee-woo, and she tells him she’s bidding him — and the simple life she so desperately wanted — goodbye. He takes her hand, buys her doll from a street vendor, and gives her one final bittersweet moment of normalcy before she heads off to battle and the life she’d desperately avoided.

Unfortunately, her new position in the company immediately sows seeds of discontent, and her quibbling brothers KIM YONG-JOON (Jeon Seung-bin) and KIM SUNG-JOON (Moon Jung-ki) cease fire long enough to express their mutual betrayal at her sudden interest in running the company.

Yong-joon feels threatened enough that he seeks out Tae-sub to try and make a deal, but Tae-sub’s condition — that Yong-joon cease his plan to restructure the company — suspiciously aligns with Hee-ah’s ideals. After Yong-joon leaves, Tae-sub ominously talks about a “great star” that’s about to fall. Is he talking about the dying Geong-young… or Hee-ah?

 
RELATED POSTS

• Again My Life: Episode 1 (First Impressions)
• Premiere Watch: Again My Life, My Liberation Notes, Our Blues
• Lee Jun-ki has a second go at Lee Kyung-young in Again My Life
• Lee Jun-ki to be reincarnated in SBS’s Again My Life