Payback: Episodes 9-10

12 February 6, 2023February 6, 2023

by SugarSnow

After a huge sacrifice is made, the tide turns heavily in our protagonists’ favor. Burned bridges on one end lead to new allies on the other, bringing swift advances with them. Although, as morality comes into play for some of our characters, established relationships are tested.

EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

Starting our second-to-last week off, we’re thrown into a flashback where we witness the beginning of a very one-sided relationship between Myung and Su-dong. After a night of drinking – a lot of drinking – Su-dong managed to run his car head-first into a police station. Out of all the places…

Losing his job as a prosecutor and all he’s worth, he packs his belongings from his office and begins to make his way out when Myung and his fancy fedora walk through the door, cutting off Su-dong. Having piled up a hefty debt to pay Myung, Su-dong begs on his knees to work for him as his lawyer rather than pay back the money, as that’s his only option.

In the present, we resume the tense conversation between Yong and Ki-seok at the prison. Yong manages to completely take the heat off Tae-choon’s back by handing him a mouth-watering case. The case, involving an American company, was too good to resist considering how it could skyrocket Ki-seok’s reputation. Yong also asks Ki-seok to put Tae-choon on the investigation team.

Yong, casually taking a stroll around the the courtyard, is stopped by his guard friend who notifies him that his thug bodyguards are being sent to another prison and that he will be moved to the women’s section of the prison so he won’t be able to help Yong much longer. Myung, pulling his strings from the outside, has set it all up, ready for the walls to come falling down on Yong.

Jun-kyung, able to pull Jin-ho over to their side, persuades him to steal the ledgers holding the information about the guards and other people in power Myung bribed. Jin-ho – in true gangster fashion – rushes straight into the gang hideout and tortures one of them for the location of the ledgers. After opening the safe, he notifies Jun-kyung that he has it and successfully fights off all the thugs – in a fantastic fight sequence. However, he doesn’t make it out unscathed. After taking several stabs to his body, Jin-ho falls to the ground taking his last breaths.

I am honestly a bit disappointed with how Payback handled Jin-ho’s character. He had so much potential, and they kill him off as soon as he decides to make a change in his life! He was backseated until his final moments. His arc made sense and is complete, but I feel it was rushed and neglected at times, especially given his strong relationship with Yong. It’s too bad he won’t be a part of the team, but his sacrifice has a huge impact moving forward.

Tae-choon meets with Yong and notifies him of Jin-ho’s passing. He also plays him a message that Jin-ho recorded for Yong moments before his tragic death. Due to Jin-ho’s act of courage, the ledgers were enough evidence to drop the murder charges on Yong and release him from prison. We also find out that Su-dong, who was tied up at the hideout, was able to escape amid all of the chaos with Jin-ho.

A picture of Ki-seok and Su-dong together is leaked, and with Su-dong on the run, Ki-seok is framed for leaking insider information to him. Ki-seok is relieved of duty. Seong-tae, at the prison, is hanged by other inmates who he thought were his men. They lie, saying he killed himself due to the harsh coersion of his investigator – Prosecutor Ham. Myung is running the whole show behind the scenes taking all of these people down in the process, even his own son-in-law and daughter.

Yong seems to be confident with his plan to take down Myung for good, so he makes his move. Meeting with Myung, he agrees to buy Jun-kyung’s thumb drive from him this time with a clean deal – and although it seems like a straightforward deal, this is Yong’s bait for Myung, and Myung takes it. With the thumb drive in Yong’s hands and whatever else he has cooking up for his plan, he seems extra confident that he’s got the upper hand.

Yong, in his deal, was able to detach Myung’s teeth from Prosecutor Ham’s neck, getting her out of the tight situation she was in regarding Seong-tae. With all of her stress and the underhanded methods used to beat Myung, Prosecutor Ham’s guilt sets in and she tells Tae-choon that she doesn’t want to work with them anymore. Tae-choon lets this thought simmer as well and after spending time with his mom, he comes to the same conclusion, telling Yong that he wants out and wishes to do things the right way according to the law.

Ki-seok, beginning to feel the pain from the strength of Myung’s attack, meets with him and is persuaded to work for him as his lawyer – just as Su-dong did. Myung has a knack for taking everything away from people and uses their hopelessness in his favor. I never thought the great Ki-seok would be facing the barrel, however. Ki-seok, with everything swept from under him, has nowhere to go and nothing left, so he agrees to work for Myung.

Meanwhile, Yong and Jun-kyung set their plans in motion as they meet with Assemblyman Son. They offer to give him money for his campaign if they can use his press conference and backing to send a bullet back at Myung and also to resurrect the “spirit” of Hye-rin’s company. Yong meets with Se-hee and offers to help them fight Myung, and then Se-hee brings up the idea of working with Yong to Ki-seok, but he dismisses it. Yong plans to turn all of Myung’s people against him, considering his wall from the outside is so strong.

Jun-kyung reaches out to the developer (surprise cameo by Seo Ji-hoon) who was specifically chosen by Hye-rin in an attempt to get him to join their side, and change the nature of GMI Bank which was previously Bluenet. Although he is hesitant at first, she leaves him her mom’s old business plans she wrote behind bars and he gains interest in them.

While Yong and Jun-kyung are moving pieces around at an alarming rate, Tae-choon is working hard with Sang-il to track down Su-dong and bring him in. Tae-choon, Sang-il, and Prosecutor Ham work diligently and almost make it to the finish line — only to be bested by Yong.

Yong was able to make contact with Su-dong and house him in a secure area before Tae-choon and company could even reach out to him. Yong is ruffling feathers like crazy, pushing his plans forward ridiculously fast and with few obstructions. Another piece that ends up falling right into place for Yong is Ki-seok’s alliance. Ki-seok, after being belittled over and over by Myung and realizing that he has lost everyone, swallows his pride and kneels before Yong.

After the scene with Su-dong and Myung, I was sure we were going to get a repeat with Ki-seok after his downward spiral but we, instead, got it with Yong. Yong asks him to do whatever he commands and he promises to get Ki-seok back everything he lost. I imagine this is the signal that the tides are turning again and this time, for good. Myung has lost a very valuable asset.

Yong has his jets fired up and ready to launch at the press conference. Jun-kyung handles the intros and then Ki-seok is brought onto the floor. He apologizes for his past actions and promises to make amends and tell the truth regarding Myung and the Bluenet incident, surprising everyone. Yong and Jun-kyung then proceed to pull out their second trump card when a live feed of Su-dong is screened for the audience. Su-dong speaks about the leaked photo and defends Ki-seok, stating that he’ll turn himself in if Ki-seok leads the case (against Myung.)

This whole scene was awesome to watch. Ki-seok seems like a different person, who has – maybe? – learned from his actions and seen the real evil in Myung while Su-dong stands with the team and Ki-seok. I hope Jun-kyung was able to gain some closure through Ki-seok coming clean to the public. Also, on a side note, Yong is a mastermind with a huge brain.

Tying the knot on this rollercoaster of a week, a frustrated Tae-choon approaches Yong after seeing the live press conference. He confronts Yong about snatching Su-dong and working with Ki-seok. Yong once again tells him that law and order won’t work to take these forces down. Tae-choon begins to see that Yong is willing to obstruct even him to win this fight.

I’m worried about their relationship going forward since Yong is so hell-bent on taking Myung down, and Tae-choon is only willing to do it the clean, by-the-book way. The dissonance between their two mindsets is getting stronger, and while Yong has closed the gap between him and Myung in this battle, the gap between him and his nephew is beginning to widen.

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1 Unaspirated

February 6, 2023 at 12:40 PM

I’ll be really sad if Yong and Tae-chun don’t end up reaching an understanding between them and about their relationship. I think that Tae-chun was right to identify his true goal of just being a good prosecutor because that is important to him and was important to his mom, but he also needs to understand that Yong seems to be right that normal methods aren’t going to work to catch Myung. I hope there is some middle ground on which they can meet again.

There is some disagreement among our team members about who they are and who they are willing to be. Joon-kyung told Tae-chun at one point that there wasn’t any difference between her and Myung, that you have to become a monster to beat a monster. But that’s not at all how Yong sees himself. He told Joon-kyung that if it wasn’t for her mom, he would have become just another Myung, which implies he sees a distinction between them. One of the reasons he split off from Myung in the first place was because he grew uncomfortable with the repercussions on the people who borrowed money from Myung and then were systematically screwed over. He also would never have tanked the fund on purpose like Myung did if it meant dooming the investments of hundreds or thousands of normal people. But he is willing to partner with almost anyone to bring his enemy down, and Joon-kyung is certainly out for blood. I’m interested to see how far they will end up going, and whether the ends will justify the means for them.

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2 Kafiyah Bello

February 6, 2023 at 1:13 PM

So Uncle and nephew at odds. My bet is on uncle. He is right, you can't win through the law playing fair and square because no one else is.

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3 zitless

February 6, 2023 at 3:07 PM

I think Yong and Tae-choon at odds was orchestrated by Yong. His nephew is his weakness and the best thing to do was get him out of the game entirely.
As he said, Tae-choon is moving exactly as a pawn, which means Yong is still in control. I'm sure it's the path he wants for his nephew.
I am actually happy with this outcome because the boy has been relying on his uncle from the beginning. It's time he grew on his own.
And Jin-ho dying like that was really sad, but he might not have long to live anyway, with being slowly poisoned through his addiction.

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Firewife5

February 6, 2023 at 3:37 PM

You bring up an interesting point about the distance between Yong and his nephew being purposely manipulated by Yong. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I can totally see him doing this in order to protect his nephew from any fallout from his no-holds-barred takedown of Myung.

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tabong is ironing the crosswalk

February 6, 2023 at 4:06 PM

I agree.
Their enemies were trying to use Tae Chun to control Yong.
And at the end of the game, TC could've ended in the same position Joon Keong is now.

TC would've got his hands dirty trying to help his uncle and that would've ruined his career.

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miso

February 6, 2023 at 4:14 PM

I agree. I felt extremely wary of Lee Su-dong when he asked about Tae-chun and Yong immediately and clearly drew a line between himself and Tae-chun by saying they were not on the same side. If Su-dong tries to double-cross Yong later, this is the information he (and Myung) will have, which would hopefully protect Tae-chun.

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zitless

February 6, 2023 at 4:31 PM

Bingo! That's the same thing I thought. And I clocked how pointedly Su-dong looked at Yong when he said that.
In my head, I totally got Yong's game plan.

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SugarSnow

February 9, 2023 at 10:58 AM

This is an interesting theory! Hmmm

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4 Firewife5

February 6, 2023 at 3:49 PM

I had mixed emotions watching the team split up and the distance between Yong and Tae-choon grow. On the one hand, I wanted to see them working together to bring down Myung. On the other hand, I love that they introduced this new dynamic, where the conflict is not brought on through differing goals, but through philosophical differences regarding how that goal should be reached. The show is full of characters who’ve crossed ethical boundaries out of self interest, but now we have two, Tae-choon and Prosecutor Ham, who’ve made the decision to hold on to their professional integrity. It means taking the harder road, and maybe not always winning every battle, but I can’t help admiring their choice. It’s the age old dilemma - does the end justify the means?

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5 hacja

February 6, 2023 at 6:50 PM

I've learned a fair amount from this show, such as how to claim land in Mongolia (ride a horse around in a fast gallop planting flags) and that if I'd ever had the misfortune to be stuck in juvie, I would have at least acquired fighting skills which, even with no practice, would have served me well into my 40s, and finally, it might be time, at age 64, to get rid of my mullet.

But the real lessons were distilled in these last two episodes:

1. It takes a short seller to beat a short seller.

2. If you become a short seller to beat a short seller, you end up short.

3. Justice without intellect is dumb justice. (That's as I always used to say--acting without thinking results in thoughtless action)

Hoping that the last two episodes end with a successful return to claiming more land in Mongolia, this time as a couple planting flags with two horses!

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6 Bunny Sonaki

February 7, 2023 at 4:32 AM

I didn't except them to show Ki-seok's fall down but I want him on the same side as Yong. In different circumstances, they could have made powerful allies and for me, the show is only about them.

So far, they have been sidelining Tae-chun but I like how they pulled him back in. We can talk all night about whether the goal justifies the means or not and we won't get a result. But it is a food thing that the show tackled this point.

Is it only me or does Moon Chae-yoon show no feelings whatsoever? I understand she is practically a living corpse but I sense nothing from her which makes her role fall bland to me.

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Firewife5

February 7, 2023 at 8:47 AM

I love that the show is tackling the end vs means dilemma in a way that lets us see both sides of the argument with no clearcut answer, at least for me. I want to see Myung and his cronies brought down by any means, but I also want Tae-choon to keep his professional integrity. I think it means a lot to him to be a clean prosecutor, so I hope he gets to stay that way.

It's not just you...I find her character really hard to warm up to, or to feel anything for actually. I really like her as an actress, she's usually one of my favorites, but ...can't lie, I'm disappointed by this performance.