Bad Prosecutor: Episodes 7-8

by meryl

Our bad prosecutor successfully puts one bad guy behind the bars, but just how many more does he need to take down to expose the truth? Following his leads and (literally) fighting his way through, he’s able to uncover more of the web of corruption at the prosecution.

 
EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP

As Ah-ra confronts Tae-ho about his corrupt schemes, a stoic Jung listens in on the conversation, obviously feeling the betrayal cut deep. But he’s quick to brush it off so he can face Tae-ho and grab the recording.

Looking surprised at first, Tae-ho confidently says that Jung can’t use the recording against him, because it was acquired illegally. He demands the recording, but Jung simply smirks. When Tae-ho suddenly gets a call, we learn why: the recording has been uploaded in their company notice board. Jung plans to use the public opinion against Tae-ho. Oof!

The next day, Jung swaggers back into the prosecution office. Meeting him at the entrance, Do-hwan is ready to arrest Jung. But after calling Tae-ho, he gets the order to leave Jung alone. In a private meeting, Do-hwan gets a severe dressing-down from Tae-ho — and even a teacup thrown at him. Ouch. His new master blows up at him, claiming that while Jung’s actions might hurt Tae-ho, it will kill Do-hwan. But just before he leaves, Do-hwan sees Chairman Seo calling Tae-ho.

Elsewhere, Jung and Ah-ra are looking for a solid piece of evidence that can get Tae-ho indicted. They’re tracking the medical examiner who fabricated the autopsy report of the late Deputy Chief Lee. The medical examiner is a frequent visitor of a gambling den, so they need to play a few hands while keeping a lookout.

While Jung has bad luck at poker, an inexperienced yet lucky Ah-ra plays winning hand after winning hand. Unfortunately, just as she’s about to win the biggest pot prize, Jung spots the guy they need to catch. So he flips the table and the game is lost. Oops, sorry, Ah-ra! And she was just about to win for an all-in play!

It’s not all for naught, because at least Jung is able to catch the medical examiner. They interrogate him and even promise plea bargaining just to get him to stand witness. But the bad guys’ hold on the medical examiner is strong. He says he did it all alone, and no one made him do it.

While Jung and Ah-ra rethink their strategy outside the interrogation room, Tae-ho arrives with Do-hwan, claiming he just allegedly found out that the medical examiner fabricated the autopsy report, so he insists that Do-hwan take the case. Smart move there for Tae-ho.

As the medical examiner is taken away to the detention center, Jung runs up to them to plead that he confess, warning him they might kill him for what he knows. This move seems so obvious and desperate that it might make you question why Jung even tried to do it. But that obvious and desperate move is done to give the three siblings time to set up an interception, where they pretend to assassinate the medical examiner so Jung can come in to save him. A very Jung plan.

After arriving at a safehouse, Jung and Ah-ra are able to tease out the truth from the medical examiner. Someone already visited him: it’s Do-hwan, threatening him with his family’s lives if he doesn’t take the fall for the fabricated autopsy report. “Don’t underestimate governmental authority. We can make anyone look guilty,” Do-hwan told the medical examiner, and isn’t that what this show is all boils down to? (And D.O. parkouring and getting a lot of action scenes, of course.)

Jung and Ah-ra promise to keep the medical examiner’s family safe so long as he stands witness against Tae-ho. Their all-important witness finally agrees. Hooray!

Once he learns that the medical examiner got away, Tae-ho begs for help from Chairman Seo. While the chairman lets Tae-ho know just how displeased he is with him, he does provide help by ordering his men to get the medical examiner killed. Oh no.

With Chairman Seo’s assistance, Tae-ho is able to confidently meet Jung in person to demand his resignation. If Jung resigns, he can ensure the safety of Ah-ra and the medical examiner.

Meanwhile, just as Ah-ra is about to get the confession recorded on cam, Chairman Seo’s minions arrive at the safe house. Ah-ra fights back, but the medical examiner is caught, so she’s forced to leave him behind. Wait, what??? They need him, so why would she leave him behind? She later reveals that she did leave her phone in his pocket, so they can track him again. The show made it seem like it was a smart move, but it’s not. Because what if they just killed him on the spot? What would Jung and crew have done?

Well, the plot armor is too strong here, because Jung and crew do arrive just in time. The mysterious masked man who stabbed Jung is already there, setting up the scene to make it look like the medical examiner took his own life. A fight ensues, with Jung, Chul-gi, and Eun-ji beating up the minions and Ah-ra and Joong-do hiding in the car. This particular fight made me realize the camera work is pretty cool during the action scenes.

Amid the scuffle, the masked man gets to the medical examiner, stabbing him and nearly throwing him over the ledge. Scrambling to get the medical examiner to safety, Jung and crew allow the bad guys to get away. But it’s all part of their plan, because the medical examiner has been wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his clothes — and a pack of meat to make the stab seem real. Another very Jung move, LOL. So barging into the prosecution office with the witness, Jung arrests Tae-ho, who is unable to do anything but go along with it.

Meanwhile, poor Do-hwan loses another master. He gets investigated by the internal inspection division of the prosecution, and his office is even ransacked for evidence. But he denies any involvement in all allegations against him.

Getting desperate, Do-hwan turns to a new potential master: Chairman Seo. (He just keeps on jumping ships, no?) Earlier, after having Tae-ho followed to his meeting with Chairman Seo, Do-hwan gets caught, but is simply given Chairman Seo’s business card.

But he isn’t able to meet the chairman directly. He doesn’t have enough leverage for that yet, says the chairman’s son and heir Ji-han. Do-hwan needs to be vetted first before a meeting can happen, and that’s Ji-han’s job. But that quick meeting gives Do-hwan the exact leverage he needs: he notices Ji-han playing with a fidget spinner — which triggers something in Do-hwan’s memories.

Upon returning to his office, he reviews old footage he acquired during the very first murder case he took over from Jung. There, he sees a man walking away from the murder scene, playing with the same fidget spinner. It’s Ji-han! Do-hwan has his much-needed leverage, and he sends it to Chairman Seo to set up a meeting with him directly.

Meanwhile, Jung and Ah-ra continue to follow their leads. The next one on their list is the buyer of the drug used on the late Deputy Chief Lee: Chairman Seo’s chief secretary TAE HYUNG-WOOK (Kim Hieora), who Jung believes is the murderer. They barge into Kangsan Law Firm to meet her, and they get welcomed by Ji-han instead. In his usual brusque manner, Jung demands to meet the chief secretary, and Ji-han calls him rude, though he is forced to call Secretary Tae after Jung implies they can open an investigation if they continue hiding her due to reasonable doubt.

As they finally face each other, Jung asks her what she was doing on the day of Deputy Chief Lee’s death, and Secretary Tae says she was in the gym and she can even provide proof. Jung is forced to let her go — but not before he tests her reflexes. She doesn’t flinch even with a sharp object right on her eye, which tells Jung that she has experience in combat. Normal people don’t stand still like that; they flinch, Jung tells Ah-ra.

Jung is all ready to continue investigating, but they’re forced to take a break because Mom is calling. So Jung and Ah-ra head to his mom’s BBQ restaurant, where Mom lays out a generous spread of food, looking happy Jung finally brought home a girl.

After Ah-ra insists she join them out of politeness, Mom sits down and asks her questions. The two women flatter each other, so much so that Jung isn’t even able to eat anything. And he’s the one who does the dishes in the end. Poor guy, lol.

On Mom’s instructions, Jung gets a cab for Ah-ra, and on the way, Jung opens up to Ah-ra about his dad and how he witnessed his car accident. Suffering from trauma and guilt, Jung says if only he could’ve held on just a few seconds longer, his mom wouldn’t have to cry so much. Because of that, he promised that he wouldn’t let his loved ones cry anymore, which is why he works so hard for justice and righteousness. Ah-ra tells him his father would’ve been proud of him.

The next day, Jae-kyung is confused why there are so many people at the Civil Affairs Division office. Because aside from Chul-gi, Eun-ji and Joong-do are already hanging out there.

After Jae-kyung demands to know who they are, Chul-gi powers up a presentation to introduce Eun-ji (the daughter of an infamous gang leader, who is well-known in her own right) and Joong-do (a self-proclaimed genius hacker, but just a mediocre one that does the job well apparently). And all together, they are Jin Jung and Friends, LOL.

Getting right back to work, Jin Jung and Friends review the footage showing Secretary Tae in the gym, but Ah-ra notices there’s a discrepancy with the time. Ah-ra also hands over the plate number of the masked man’s car, which she noted down while hiding during the fight before. Impressed, Jung smirks at her: “Can I like you?” to which Ah-ra only says she’ll think about it. They ignore Eun-ji and Joong-do’s protest. LOL.

They do have to continue investigating, so the love line is pushed aside for now. Eun-ji and Joong-do are tasked to get confirmation Secretary wasn’t at the gym during the hours of Deputy Chief Lee’s death. While Joong-do is scared of the buff gym staff member they need to interrogate, Eun-ji simply gets her gangster minions to make the staff member talk. Which he does after being threatened to be buried alive. Whew.

Meanwhile, Chul-gi finds the plate number through the CCTVs around the roads. When he gets its last location, Jung and Ah-ra are able to track it down.

When they ransack the car, Jung finds a boot with blood on its sole — one that matches the footprints when he was stabbed. So he draws some of his own blood and he asks the anatomy professor to run a test to see if his blood and the ones from the boot match. It does.

Jin Jung and Friends get together again at the Civil Affairs Division office to consolidate their new information. Looking for his wooden sword, Jung rummages around Jae-kyung’s desk, where he finds the yellow envelope, the same one with the important-looking MP3 player that Deputy Chief Lee hid and died for.

All this time, Jae-kyung has been making his own moves. After receiving the MP3 player from the late deputy chief, Jae-kyung has visited Tae-ho in prison, instructing him to send the message to Chairman Seo that he has the MP3 player. Unfortunately, the message has not made its way to Chairman Seo, because he’s been refusing Tae-ho’s calls.

Demanding an explanation, Jung asks Jae-kyung what the MP3 player contains, that so many people had to die for it. But his superior doesn’t want to answer. Instead, Jae-kyung tells Jung his family died, disguised as an accident, and that was the consequence for him trying to fight against the bad guys. He adds that this isn’t a game and he needs to do this alone, so that Jung and his friends can stay safe.

But that isn’t how Jung does things. He can’t turn a blind eye after learning about this. So when Jae-kyung returns to the office, he finds Jung and his crew gone — and the MP3 player replaced with a dummy.

Jung calls Secretary Tae, telling her he has the MP3 player they want. They meet at the place where Deputy Chief Lee was murdered, and there, Jung confirms that the masked man is actually a she: it’s Secretary Tae. They fight to get ahold of the MP3 player. Secretary Tae runs up to the rooftop, where she ambushes Jung with a depressant-filled injection, making Jung feel dizzy and lose his motor skills. Oh no. We have to wait for a week to know what happens to him?!

Things have moved much more quickly this week, and we’re seeing more parts of the entangled web of corruption at the prosecution. Tae-ho was put behind bars, and it feels like he was essentially written off towards the latter half of this week. But it’s probably to allow more time to explore the true villains of the story: Chairman Seo, who seems to even have some kind of connection to Jung, as hinted when he said he felt like he remembers our bad prosecutor from somewhere.

We’ve known since he first appeared that despite his appearance and demeanor, this super chill-looking old man has been controlling many parts of the justice system, especially in the prosecution. We also know that he has been the one ordering people killed. But we finally confirmed who exactly he’s been ordering: his quiet, aloof secretary. Whenever the chairman has a scene, Secretary Tae has always been in the background, but she’s so quiet that you can barely notice her. It turns out she has been literally in the background of many scenes as the masked woman, planting evidence and killing people on the orders of the chairman. We learned that she’s a former military operative, but I wonder how she ended up working for Chairman Seo — and so loyally, too.

We also learn a little more about the supporting characters. We saw the background stories of Eun-ji and Joong-do, though not how they met Jung and ended up helping him (we just know Eun-ji is in love with him and Jung is holding Joong-do’s cases over his head). The one we got the most insight on is Jae-kyung and how his family died after his pursuit for justice. His story seems like a warning for Jung: that if he continues on this path of righteousness, his loved ones might end up in danger — the exact thing he fears as he has confessed to Ah-ra. While Jung probably won’t end up in any danger, at the rate the show is going, it seems that Jae-kyung will take that fall instead. He might end up sacrificing himself to save Jung or someone he loves, because he’s got nothing left to live for now. Still, Jung has become close to him, and he would probably end up blaming himself if something happens to Jae-kyung. There’s still a lot of questions burning in our minds, but we do have four episodes remaining, and a lot could still happen.

 
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