Adamas: Episodes 3-4

by missvictrix

Both our heroes find themselves getting deeper into the mystery surrounding the murder case from 22 years ago, and interestingly, they keep their investigations from each other. One twin makes allies and enemies searching for the adamas, while the other uncovers important new clues.

 
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP

It’s official, I adore Ji Sung here. He brings such energy to this role these roles — it’s great fun to watch him encounter all the mayhem and mind games that he finds as both twins. And this week, there are loads of both, and so many twists and turns. As ever, the direction really makes everything pop and I am loving the subtlety of the suspense.

We open up this week tying off the plot cliffhangers from last week. While Hye-soo sits in an elegant bubble bath with a glass of wine pondering how crazy Woo-shin is with his whole steal-adamas-and-prove-it’s-the-murder-weapon announcement to her, Tae-sung visits Woo-shin who’s also enjoying a drink.

Just when I was wondering if it was safe for Woo-shin to drink from a random pitcher of water, he collapses to the floor in convulsions. Tae-sung rushes to save him, but when he turns around, Woo-shin is just fine. He’s sitting on the couch and says it was his turn to test Tae-sung, and the fact that he wasn’t going to let him die bodes well. But Tae-sung knows Woo-shin’s achilles heel (his twinkie Soo-hyun), so the playing field is pretty much leveled between them.

Anyway, it’s an awesome scene between the two, and it’s the first of many this week as they continue to meet and try to join forces — or at least agree they are trying to accomplish the same thing: taking down Chairman Kwon.

Before they can agree to that (and actually set up a sting operation of sorts together), they do a whole lot of meeting up, and trying not to attract the suspicion of Dragon Lady Kwon (of ever-increasing terror) or the rest of the security team. Among the tidbits that Woo-shin learns from Tae-sung is that the entire mansion and grounds are patrolled by an AI drone that literally tags and follows everyone’s location based on biometrics. Eek!

Hence, even secret meetups require viable excuses — it’s why Tae-sung is always “hunting” in the woods while digging up his sat phone, and why Woo-shin claims to interview Tae-sung for the memoir as another attempt at cover. But cutie pie and fanboy SECURITY GUARD KIM (Choi Chan-ho) might be suspicious. Is he good, bad, or indifferent?

The same can be asked of Hye-soo, whose motives and actual loyalties we still know very little about. She and Woo-shin also share several charged interludes in this week’s episodes as he tries to wheedle more information out of her, and they use any intel they have on each other to threaten blackmail, or else.

Woo-shin is convinced Hye-soo knows more than was in her original letter, rightly observing that she has thinly veiled enmity towards her father-in-law. She eventually admits that she did hear more from her husband — namely, that Chairman Kwon killed someone and Lee Chang-woo is taking the fall. Well, we know that she wants Chairman Kwon to answer for his crimes, so that makes three people in the house so far, though they’ve got a long way to go before they actually trust each other. And that’s not good, because Woo-shin is on a tight schedule: there are technically 18 days left before the statute of limitations is met.

The pressure is on for Woo-shin, which is why half of his scenes are of him literally scampering around the house trying to figure out where the adamas could be hidden. But then it all comes to a screeching halt. The memoir is canceled, as Chairman Kwon has decided to go with his daughter-in-law to Venice for an extended stay. I thought at first that this was Hye-soo’s way of emptying the house for Woo-shin’s convenience, but it does seem like she wanted him out of the way.

But that doesn’t work. Dong-rim, who is quickly turning into a trouble magnet, simultaneously discovers that his crush SECRETARY YOON (Lee Shi-won) is deaf, and then reads her Highly Secret Sign Language Communications with Chairman Kwon. It’s one of many bomb drops this week: Dong-rim and Woo-shin not only learn that Haesong is securing Hwang as the next president, but that they are working closely with the powerful arms dealers Ares (more Greek metaphors!). Their aim is to legalize firearms in Korea, and I guess, bring in money and mayhem. (This is quite interesting to observe from an American perspective!)

After Chairman Kwon’s “life mission” is exposed to his two memoir writers, we hit another favorite scene of the week. They go to his office to confess what they learned, but of course Woo-shin is using it to his advantage. But it gets creepy fast! Chairman Kwon is visibly disturbed and says this news can’t be leaked. After a loooooong moment he says that they must be killed.

But then he laughs it off a moment later, and instead confines them to the mansion until after the presidential election. He seems to trust them (and tells off his slimy son), but I really can’t read him 100%, and I’m still hanging onto the hope that the drama will pull the rug out and change up our expectations of who is truly the Big Bad.

Still, there’s something interesting about Chairman Kwon that makes him a more layered character (at least so far) than I was expecting. He makes up to Dragon Lady Kwon for assaulting her with the book, and builds up her broken ego, bonding with her over the fact that they both lost children and understand each other. That might be important information for later.

Speaking of the chairman’s second son, we do learn more about him as well, as Woo-shin pokes holes in the helicopter accident (if it was truly an accident, how could his father continue to ride in one daily?), and convinces Hye-soo to show him what’s behind the locked door on the third floor. Turns out it’s not a murder lair — it’s the old quarters of the deceased son, all covered up and untouched.

To confirm for us that Chairman Kwon really did treasure his younger son and intend to make him heir instead of the crappy Hyun-jo, we are treated to a flashback. Here we meet KWON MIN-JO (super surprise cameo by Ahn Bo-hyun!) talking to his father and telling him he’s not interested in Haesong. He’s seen the things his father has done, and he doesn’t want any part of it.

I am actually enjoying the mystery around Min-jo more than I am the Lee Chang-woo case, because it’s so wrought with emotion — the love of the father, yes, but now I’m wondering about some possibly ill-fated jealousy (Dragon Lady, are you the killer?). Then there’s the possibility that Hye-soo loved Min-jo, and not Hyun-jo — just a hunch, but I sensed something when she was in Min-jo’s room with Woo-shin.

Before we get to the fantastic sequence that ended our episodes this week, let’s leave Haesong mansion briefly and visit Soo-hyun and his investigations. Much like his twin, he spends a lot of his time trying to convince the person around him (Seo-hee) to investigate with him.

The tables have turned, but for a good reason: in another great set of reveals, we learn that the false witness from Lee Chang-woo’s case who just “committed suicide” with his wife… were Seo-hee’s parents. UGH! We also confirm that her father wasn’t a witness at all; at the time (she was 7-years-old) she saw the murderer from her father’s truck and he later took her place to protect her. (Loving the theme of fatherly love we are getting here, by the way.)

Seo-hee is understandably unsure of herself, but Soo-hyun is just so damn charismatic and convincing, it’s hard not to team up with him, so even with her apprehension the two of them start digging.

It’s also worth noting that their every move — literally — is being watched by Team A and its dangerously hot-headed Team Leader Lee. But at least to some extent, they know it, and Soo-hyun tells Seo-hee if they wanted them dead, they would have killed them already. However, that’s looking ever more possible, because Seo-hee and Soo-hyun have a composite sketch of the real murderer from that night 22 years ago… and it’s clearly Team Leader Lee. He knows they have it, and, well, that’s not good.

For our final bomb drop (I think?) we visit Lee Chang-woo in prison – first with Soo-hyun, who tries to break the resolve of his false confession, and then with Seo-hee, who tries to do the same. The man is rock solid in his confession, though, and one wonders why… but there was surely something in his eyes when he looked at Soo-hyun in the visitation room.

Sure enough, we see later — but through Woo-shin’s eyes — that when their mother was dying, her last gasps were about Lee Chang-woo’s innocence. And the important fact that Lee Chang-woo is actually their biological father. I think this was supposed to be a shocker, but since it was already a part of the plot synopsis, I’m a little disappointed. Still, it adds some nice fatherly complication to things.

Back at Haesong, Woo-shin hatches a plan involving the mansion’s sophisticated fire alarm system, which is replete with firewalls, a timed three-minute escape window, and a fire suppression gas that is deadly to anyone locked inside. Sounds like fun!

After convincing Tae-sung to help, the two start their operation and I have to say, they’re dang good at it. Woo-shin’s request to the chef for a special wok-fried dish trips the smoke detector that’s been tinkered with by Tae-sung and in short, the entire mansion is soon in red alert, with three minutes to get outside.

It’s a fast-paced scene with so many ups and downs, because first, Woo-shin’s journey to the study (and the possibly-maybe-mysterious red carpet) is fruitless. Just when everyone is taking a headcount and he’s notably missing, Woo-shin turns up, claiming to have been looking for Dong-rim. But Dong-rim is looking for Secretary Yoon, and Dragon Lady says worriedly that she’s on the third floor. So hero that he is, Woo-shin runs back inside to save her.

But Dragon Lady is Dragon Lady for a reason, and Hye-soo is as observant as ever. She sees a smirk on Dragon Lady’s face, and knows that Woo-shin is in danger. Sure enough, Secretary Yoon is safely at the helicopter pad, and it’s Woo-shin who is alone in the house, firewalls down, trapped in the chairman’s study. The gas is released and the windows are, well, unbreakable. As Woo-shin collapses to the floor about to pass out, he looks up at the ceiling with a smile. “I found it,” he says, as the title treatment comes onscreen and the episode closes. I have really been enjoying the editing on the episode intros and outros, but this one takes the cake.

Thanks to Hye-soo, he’ll be saved just in time (with the fire system disabled), but there is still a lot of trouble brewing — for now, mostly in the shape of Dragon Lady Kwon, who’s not above killing Dong-rim’s ailing father to make him her informant. Maybe she’s the bigger bad here after all, especially with her guard up around Min-jo’s death? My wishes for more great twists aside, I’m happy to see the show continuing just as strong in week two, with great performances and masterful direction that keeps. things. interesting.

 
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