Blind: Episodes 7-8

by mistyisles

As our investigative team pursues a new lead, their enemies follow the same trail, each side determined to uncover the answers they need first. Everything — and everyone — seems connected by the same web, but not everyone is sharing all that they know.

 
EPISODES 7-8

Having identified the limping juror, AHN TAE-HO (Chae Dong-hyun), as the chief suspect, Sung-joon proposes searching his home for evidence. Sung-hoon, however, orders him to stay put. They argue about it until Eun-ki intervenes, and Sung-hoon leaves in a huff. On his way out, he privately advises Eun-ki not to trust anyone — not Sung-joon, and not even him.

Eun-ki decides to test Sung-joon by pretending to fall asleep. Sure enough, he starts sneaking out with an intense look on his face, checking over his shoulder to make sure she doesn’t wake up. He pauses at the top of the stairs and turns back toward her, making her cringe in fear, but all he does is drape a blanket over her shoulders before leaving.

Tae-ho’s address leads Sung-hoon to a shipping container on the edge of a construction site. Tae-ho isn’t there, but his personal belongings are. As Sung-hoon pokes around, Moon-kang’s minions arrive to kidnap Tae-ho. Either they don’t know what he looks like, however, or they just don’t get a good look at Sung-hoon’s face, because they assume he’s Tae-ho and drag him out of the container.

Just as they’re about to stuff him into their car, Sung-joon rides up on his motorcycle. He makes sure Sung-hoon knows it’s him, and together they fight off Sung-hoon’s assailants and flee. Needless to say, Moon-kang is furious at yet another failure. He does eventually capture Tae-ho and attempt to bury him alive, but the next day the intended grave is dug up and empty.

Knowing that Sung-hoon’s arm was hurt in the fight, Sung-joon stops by the Han River and drops Sung-hoon off so he can go buy some medicine. But by the time he returns, Sung-hoon is nowhere to be seen. That’s because Sung-hoon is tending to his own wound in a dark bathroom, and by the number of scars crisscrossing his arms, this wasn’t his first close call.

Soon after, our heroes get some much-needed good news: the DNA from Hye-jin’s fingernail did, in fact, belong to Soon-gil and not Sung-joon. Eun-ki is elated, but Sung-joon deflates — he found the fingernail on his own, meaning it’s contaminated evidence.

Speaking of Soon-gil, it turns out he isn’t dead. He’s in the hospital with a fractured skull. Fractured in two places, that is, from two different attacks. Sung-joon and Eun-ki discover that the recording from Soon-gil’s phone is much longer than they realized, and that a second anonymous visitor attempted to finish the murder Tae-ho started.

At that same moment, Sung-hoon is visiting Soon-gil. We don’t hear all of their conversation, but it ends with Soon-gil entering a sudden and severe state of distress and Sung-hoon standing calmly by as Soon-gil flatlines.

Sung-hoon stays quiet while Sung-joon and Eun-ki ponder the three separate attacks on Soon-gil, then casually mentions that Soon-gil identified the second attacker as #13. (That’s true, but he says it in a verrry dodgy way.) Sung-joon’s face falls, but he also keeps his thoughts to himself.

Later, Eun-ki gently prods Sung-joon for more information — she’s worked with enough teens to know when someone is hiding things. Hesitantly, he explains that he lost his memory in an accident as a child, and all he remembers is that his name was Yoon-jae and his number was 13. But he swears he’s not the killer, and Eun-ki can tell he’s sincere.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming clear that every juror is somehow linked to Hope Welfare. For example, KANG YOUNG-KI (Kim Ha-kyun) delivered food to Hope Welfare — expensive meat on paper, but potatoes in actuality — for a handsome profit.

Now, Young-ki is a successful businessman whose daughter is about to be married. On the day of the wedding, Sung-joon returns to Tae-ho’s container and finds Tae-ho’s invitation covered in bloody handprints. Since Eun-ki had mentioned all the jurors were invited, he calls to warn her and rushes over himself.

The moment Young-ki takes a sip of his champagne, he falls to the ground, unable to breathe. But it’s just a distraction: by the time someone goes to inform the bride, they find her dead, the telltale Joker smile carved into her face. Sung-joon arrives just then and spots Tae-ho… and also Sung-hoon. He loses them both, and Sung-hoon again retreats to a dark bathroom, where he sobs as he washes blood off his hands. Oh nooooo.

Since Sung-joon won’t be deterred from investigating, Sung-hoon swipes the motorcycle keys and drives him around to look for clues on Tae-ho’s whereabouts. During lunch, they bicker over memories of the extra-salty ramen Sung-hoon used to cook for Sung-joon whenever he had to clean up trouble Sung-joon had caused.

Sung-joon bashfully confesses that he only acted out because he wanted Sung-hoon’s attention. Those were the only times Sung-hoon cooked for him, and it made him feel like they were a real family. Next thing we know, they’re facing each other and eating cup ramen in silence. And I’m a puddle on the floor.

Their investigation doesn’t yield much, except that Tae-ho was injured while saving a pregnant woman from a Truck of Doom (so not during the Hope Welfare escape). But a few days later, everyone — Sung-joon, Sung-hoon, and the jurors — receive a text that looks like spam with a link labeled “saveantaeho.” That link pulls up a live feed of Tae-ho, beaten and bound, with a noose around his neck that lifts a little higher every hour.

Now it’s a race against the clock, and they don’t have much to go on. Only after Tae-ho confesses to betraying the other kids does a curtain fall in the video background, revealing a clue that leads the team to the now-abandoned Hope Welfare. Sung-joon rushes over there alone and is ambushed by a mysterious, black-clad figure who sticks a needle in his neck. As he sinks to the ground, Tae-ho’s time runs out.

Last week I said Sung-hoon wasn’t off my suspect list yet, and now he’s definitely on it. But I’m still holding out hope for another explanation, if only because him being the Joker killer would crush Sung-joon. Regardless, learning the truth about Hope Welfare — including not only his own lost memories, but also his mother’s involvement — is going to be devastating for him. But I’d love for him to prove himself to the hyung he idolizes, get the affection he’s craved for so long, and for them to take down the killer together.

On the other hand, a lot of Sung-joon’s insecurities and negative self-talk come directly from the way Sung-hoon talks to and about him. Like when he parroted Sung-hoon’s term “contaminated evidence,” looking as though he interpreted the contaminant to be himself rather than the (false) accusations against him.

Maybe in the end, it’ll be Sung-hoon who’ll need to prove himself to a disillusioned younger brother, and Sung-joon who’ll learn he’s far smarter and more capable than certain people in his life would have him believe.

 
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