Black Out: Episodes 10-11

by mistyisles

Just when you think these people can’t possibly sink any lower, they find a way to prove you wrong. Seriously, it would be impressive if it weren’t so horrifying. We finally get the full picture of that fateful night in the warehouse, and while some of it plays out exactly like we’d guessed, there are still some devastating surprises in store.

 
EPISODE 10-11

Now that Jung-woo and Sang-cheol (plus Seol) are working as a team, they begin investigating who crashed Jung-woo’s car while moving Bo-young’s body. See, during Jung-woo’s interrogation eleven years ago, Hee-do let slip that someone witnessed the crash. So if they can find the car, they may find additional clues inside, and if they can find the witness, they may get a description of the driver.

The problem, of course, is that Chief Hyun and Hee-do are also scrambling to find the car and witness so they can shut the investigation down. Chief Hyun was under the impression that the car was scrapped immediately following Jung-woo’s conviction, but thanks to a bit of miscommunication, Hee-do returned it to Jung-woo’s father, who put it in a storage container instead. Aww, no matter how hard Chief Hyun tried to convince him Jung-woo was guilty, Dad never quite believed it. It’s a touching discovery for Jung-woo; doubly so because he finds the storage container documents in a box full of letters his mom wrote to him but never sent while he was in prison.

Jung-woo and Sang-cheol find the car first, and Hee-do can’t do much more than sputter and fume about it, because Sang-cheol came prepared. He may not have permission to reinvestigate the murder charges against Jung-woo, but he is in charge of the sexual assault case against Byung-mu and Min-soo, and the car was in fact present at the scene of that crime. Plus, he’s already called in forensics teams (local AND national), so not even Chief Hyun can interfere without a valid reason. (Chief Hyun does, however, ask a friend in forensics to report all findings to him first.)

Interestingly, Hee-do starts to waver the more Sang-cheol and Jung-woo keep digging. He wins the race to find the car crash witness and tries to convince the guy that helping Jung-woo out will be a hassle at best. But the witness has already been silenced once, and only wants to get the truth off his chest: he couldn’t see the driver’s face because of the rain, but he knows it wasn’t Jung-woo — it was two middle-aged men. Last week I was convinced Hee-do was in on the conspiracy to scapegoat Jung-woo, but now it looks like Chief Hyun just did that good a job of lying to him. Although Hee-do doubles down on his mantra — “Jung-woo was the murderer, Chief Hyun said so!” — doubt is slowly creeping in.

And for good reason. Over the course of these two episodes, we finally get the full story of what happened in the warehouse that night. Na-kyeom was the first to arrive on the scene just after Bo-young fell to her death. We’ll come back to Na-kyeom in a bit, but while she ran for cleaning supplies and the other two tried to figure out how to move Bo-young’s body, Geon-oh seized his chance to call his father for help. Chief Hyun brought Byung-mu and Min-soo’s fathers with him and sent the three boys home. But since he had an urgent meeting with Assemblywoman Ye, Chief Hyun made the two dads finish hiding the body.

But the story gets even worse from there. When they pulled over at the abandoned school and opened the trunk, the men realized that Bo-young was still alive. Rather than risk her exposing their sons’ crimes, Min-soo’s dad killed her with a shovel. And let me tell you, friends, I did NOT see this coming. My jaw is still on the floor.

Even Chief Hyun is appalled when Byung-mu’s dad confesses it to him. And since he’s already twisted the whole situation around in his mind such that he blames Byung-mu and Min-soo — and not himself — for Geon-oh’s death, he decides this is good enough reason to get rid of one of those pesky thorns in his side. He sends Byung-mu’s father to tell Dong-min the truth, knowing full well that Dong-min 1) has a gun and 2) is already emotionally compromised because Jae-hee finally worked up the courage to leave him. Like clockwork, Dong-min grabs his gun and goes straight over to avenge Bo-young. Jung-woo tries to talk him down, but he shoots Min-soo’s father anyway.

That’s where the episode ends, but now let’s go back to Na-kyeom and her role in the murder cover-ups. In private, she says she helped Byung-mu and Min-soo out of pity. But now that Byung-mu is pointing fingers at her, she turns on him. In a frightening display of manipulation (even if it is aimed at someone as awful as Byung-mu) she visits him at the police station so she can taunt him into yelling at her and then cry and shrink away as though he’s the one manipulating her.

But that’s not all. Rewinding once again to the night of the murders, Na-kyeom was still there cleaning when Hyung-shik and Da-eun arrived looking for somewhere to be alone. As a result, Na-kyeom was watching when Hyung-shik killed Da-eun for the simple offense of throwing his wedding ring away. All those threatening messages Hyung-shik has received? Those were Na-kyeom’s doing. When Assemblywoman Ye eventually puts two and two together and asks what she wants, Na-kyeom’s answer is also simple: “Jung-woo.”

There’s been a growing theme about how various people respond when presented with things they’ve done or believed that are wrong, and it’s especially prominent this week. Chief Hyun doubles down on blaming everyone other than himself, even when his son’s suicide note throws his wrongdoings in his face. Hee-do starts to question (but also doubles down, at least for now) his blind belief in his superior. Byung-mu and Min-soo, in their own ways, claim they’re being treated unfairly and don’t deserve the consequences of their actions. But Sang-cheol? Sang-cheol surprises me.

While investigating the car crash, Sang-cheol and Jung-woo have a conversation about Sang-cheol’s late wife, who was murdered on their wedding day. Somewhere along the way, Sang-cheol has gained some self-awareness and now understands that he was blaming every criminal (and alleged criminal) for what happened instead of facing his own feelings of guilt over putting her in harm’s way and dismissing her concerns. I do wish this had been a more pronounced part of his story all along so we could see his attitude changing. But I’m glad we at least got it now, because it makes him a much more understandable and sympathetic character.

Another thing I appreciated even more this week is the nuance with which both the writing and the cast depict abusers. Byung-mu appears every bit the handsome, friendly, good-natured public servant… until he drops the façade and you realize he’s rotten to the core. Dong-min has his moments of clarity and even, dare I say, tenderness towards his family… but he also beats them within an inch of their lives.

It goes to show that, as Sang-cheol is finally learning, people are much more than one personality trait. And while sometimes that means you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the person the entire town shuns, other times it means the person you thought was your best friend secretly resented you all along and won’t hesitate to ruin your son’s life to “protect” his.

 
RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Black Out
• Byun Yo-han searches for his missing memory in Black Out
• Byun Yo-han tries to remember the truth in Black Out
• News bites: June 6, 2024
• News bites: March 16, 2024
• Uncle Samsik: Episode 1 (First Impressions)
• Cheat on Me If You Can: Episode 1
• Like Flowers in Sand: Episode 1 (First Impressions)