Our favorite cop may have known the truth about her husband for quite some time now, but his secret is too serious to stay under wraps forever. It’s time to realize that they’ve been living on borrowed time, confess everything to each other, and face the consequences of their decisions.
EPISODE 11 RECAP
When little Eun-ha was born, her parents had gone to see her in the hospital nursery. Ji-won had cried at the sight of their daughter, and when Hyun-soo asked her why, she’d said it was because she felt grateful Eun-ha made it, but sorry, too.
She’d asked Hyun-soo how he felt, and he’d said he was worried Eun-ha wouldn’t like him. Eun-ha had started to cry and Hyun-soo asked why. Ji-won said she probably also felt excited, worried, and scared, but that she didn’t have the words to express herself yet.
In the present, Hae-soo looks up the green silicone bracelet she saw on Do Min-seok’s accomplice’s wrist at her father’s funeral. It’s a commemorative bracelet from Ilshin University Hospital — the one where Dr. Baek works. As she scrolls through photos of the volunteer event, she sees Dr. Baek in many of them.
Meanwhile, Jae-sub pulls Ji-won out of the office and accuses her of knowing Hyun-soo’s real identity all along. Woo-chul and Ho-joon have to physically pull Jae-sub off of Ji-won, so he orders Ji-won to follow him to the roof to talk further. He tells her he’s not interested in excuses or explanations, just answers.
He asks if Hyun-soo knows that she knows, and she says truthfully that he doesn’t. Jae-sub says that he has enough evidence to prove Hyun-soo’s real identity and orders Ji-won to pretend she had no idea, saying that he considers her Hyun-soo’s greatest victim. Ji-won disagrees that she’s suffering from a sort of Stockholm Syndrome.
Jae-sub brings up the real Baek Hee-sung, who surely isn’t alive and well, but Ji-won tells him that Hee-sung’s parents are involved, too. She insists that Hyun-soo wouldn’t hurt anyone, but she has no proof other than her faith in him. She begs Jae-sub on her knees, asking for time to prove Hyun-soo’s innocence before he’s arrested and condemned by society.
Jae-sub just says she’ll thank him for this later, and that Hyun-soo will be arrested in the morning after they catch Sang-chul. He tells Ji-won to remove herself from the proceedings and lay low until it’s all over.
While this is happening, Hyun-soo is with Moo-jin, going over the plan to purchase the identity of Do Min-seok’s accomplice from Sang-chul. He will give Sang-chul the money and be given the location of the kidnap victims, at which point the police will move in. The money handover goes well, as Moo-jin listens through a transmitter Hyun-soo planted in the money bag. HAHA, he nearly has a heart attack when Hae-soo calls him to ask for a favor.
Back at the police station, Woo-chul goes over the plan with the team. Jae-sub returns and announces that Ji-won will be sitting out because Eun-ha is sick, but Ji-won follows him in and chirps that Eun-ha is fine and she’s still helping with the case (lol, Jae-sub’s face).
Sang-chul gives Hyun-soo the address where the kidnapped captives are being held, and he’s careful to say it out loud so that Moo-jin can hear. Moo-jin calls Ji-won, claiming to be Do Hyun-soo, and the cops hurry to the location. Jae-sub tells Ji-won one last time to excuse herself, but she argues that she has more reason than anyone to solve the case, and that Hyun-soo will only talk to her anyway.
Sang-chul is literally handing Hyun-soo the information on Min-seok’s accomplice when he gets a call from Dr. Baek. Dr. Baek tells Sang-chul to get rid of Hyun-soo for two reasons — because he’s working with the cops, and because he’ll pay double the money Hyun-soo promised him.
When Sang-chul hangs up, he puts away the information on the accomplice and tells his henchman to pack up all the money from the vault. He takes out his switchblade and asks where Hyun-soo wants to be buried. Dr. Baek hangs up, satisfied, but Moo-jin is still listening and he freaks out.
Outside Dr. Baek’s office, Hee-sung is waiting even though it’s late at night. He says he can’t sleep because he’s scared that Hyun-soo won’t give his identity back, but his father promises he won’t let that happen. The family is surprised when their doorbell rings — it’s Hae-soo, who introduces herself and says she wants to talk to them.
The police are successful in freeing the kidnapped victims and capturing most of Sang-chul’s men (even Woo-chul kicks some serious ass in his glasses, RAWR). Jae-sub goes after one of them and Ji-won follows close behind, taking another route to cut them off. Jae-sub catches up and fights the guy, who pulls a knife, and Ji-won steps between them just as Jae-sub is about to be stabbed.
She takes the knife in the stomach but doesn’t flinch, disarms the kidnapper, and Jae-sub arrests him. Ji-won yells at Jae-sub for not wearing protective gear, saying that he got lucky with Park Kyung-choon and could have been killed today. The sting is over, but Ji-won tells Jae-sub that she still has something she needs to do.
At the moment, Sang-chul’s henchman is busily throwing Hyun-soo around his office while Sang-chul has a snack. Sang-chul asks Hyun-soo why he’s working with the cops, but Hyun-soo just demands to know who told Sang-chul. Sang-chul taunts him to think about who he told of this, then apologizes insincerely that Hyun-soo will never know since he won’t get out of here alive.
The henchman goes to the hall when the fire alarm goes off — heh, it’s Moo-jin pretending to be “testing” it. He blasts the henchman with the fire extinguisher then lures him to the parking garage. In the office, Hyun-soo tells Sang-chul to take his money and run while he can, but Sang-chul says he’ll kill Hyun-soo first.
For some reason, Hae-soo thinks it’s a good idea to reveal everything Hyun-soo told her about Hee-sung being in a coma and taking on his identity. She shows Dr. Baek the information she printed about the silicone bracelet from his hospital, and how the accomplice was wearing one at her father’s funeral.
Meanwhile, Moo-jin hides from the henchman under a car and decides this is a good time to livestream what he’s doing. In the middle of asking his viewers to call the police, the henchman drags him out from under the car and starts beating the crap out of him, but Moo-jin continues streaming.
Sang-chul finishes packing up his money and fake IDs, then starts pouring accelerant all over the room while Hyun-soo sits tied up. He barks that he doesn’t just want Hyun-soo to die, but to die a horrible, painful death for ruining his business. Hyun-soo says it would be even worse if he died knowing who betrayed him, but unfortunately, Sang-chul doesn’t fall for it.
He flicks the lighter, but just as he’s about to drop it, he feels the barrel of a gun at his head. YESYESYES, it’s Ji-won! She asks if Hyun-soo is okay, but he’s too stunned to even speak.
The police rescue the kidnapping victims, including young In-seo. Ho-joon recognizes him, and In-seo says he’s okay as long as he can go home now. Woo-chul asks Jae-sub about Ji-won, and Jae-sub lies that Eun-ha’s fever spiked so she left. Woo-chul says calmly, “I know you wouldn’t lie to me… without a good reason.” The truth is that Ji-won asked Jae-sub if she could go check on Hyun-soo, and he’d told her to prepare for Hyun-soo’s arrest in the morning.
Hyun-soo stammers, “Ji-won-ah… you knew?” Ji-won starts to handcuff Sang-chul, but he fights back. Hyun-soo screams helplessly as Sang-chul gets the upper hand and starts strangling Ji-won, then he has a sudden burst of superhuman strength and rips his bonds apart.
He knocks Sang-chul down and wraps his hands around his throat, intent on killing him, but Ji-won yells at him to stop. She tells Hyun-soo that the police are on their way here with a search warrant, and that he can’t go home because Jae-sub has proof that he’s Do Hyun-soo and will arrest him tomorrow.
She orders Hyun-soo to run away and never come back, hitting and screaming at him, but he just stands there staring at her in shock. Eventually he goes, but it looks like it takes a huge physical toll on Hyun-soo to leave Ji-won behind.
The police arrive and arrest the henchman, and Moo-jin makes his way back to the office. Hyun-soo is gone and Sang-chul is standing over a handcuffed Sang-chul. Moo-jin stammers that he’s here for the story, but his beat-up face makes a liar out of him.
As Hyun-soo drives away, he thinks about how Ji-won said she didn’t love him anymore, then admitted later that she lied. He recalls her saying she wants to solve this case and move their family somewhere quieter. He tries to call Ji-won, but she doesn’t answer, and Hyun-soo starts to panic at the idea that it’s really over.
He pulls over and is still trying to call her when she pulls up in a taxi. Hyun-soo staggers over to her, gasping for breath, and she sobs, “Why are you doing this to me? You can’t live as Baek Hee-sung anymore… You need to run away… What more do you want from me? What more do I need to do for you?”
Distraught, Hyun-soo asks why Ji-won stayed when she knew the truth about him. Ji-won asks if he really doesn’t know, and Hyun-soo doubles over, clutching his chest and wailing that he’s sorry for causing her so much pain. He asks her again why she stayed, and she throws her arms around him saying that it’s all she could do.
Once he stops crying, Hyun-soo says he wants to go home. Ji-won agrees, saying that they can go home and start over, no matter what happens.
While Hee-sung’s mother tries to hide her expressions, Dr. Baek tells Hae-soo that he’ll look into the people who volunteered for the event and got a green bracelet, though he makes no promises. Before Hae-soo leaves, Hee-sung’s mother asks if there was anything about the accomplice that stood out. Hae-soo recalls that the nails on his left hand were much shorter than those on his right.
She’s completely unaware that Hee-sung is in the next room, listening in and nervously biting the nails on his left hand. We also see that it was Hee-sung who made the threatening call to the witness who saw him kidnapping Park Kyung-choon’s wife.
Sang-chul is treated in the hospital for his minor wounds, but he pretends to be much more injured than he really is. The cop watching him moves closer to help him, and Sang-chul strangles him with his cuffs then steals the key and frees himself. He hides and takes the envelope from his pocket that contains the information on Do Min-seok’s accomplice, and sure enough, it’s Baek Hee-sung.
Hyun-soo is still looking stunned when Ji-won takes him home. Once inside, it’s like he can finally breathe again, and Ji-won stays right by his side. They hug and cry again together, but this time it feels like a healing cry. Then they kiss, knowing it might be the last time.
After Hae-soo is gone, Hee-sung’s mother asks what her husband plans to do about Hae-soo, but he says there’s no evidence to prove that the man she met at the funeral was Do Min-seok’s accomplice. His wife is afraid that Hyun-soo will find out Hee-sung is the accomplice, and Dr. Baek says he’ll take care of Hyun-soo.
He orders Hee-sung to stop chewing his nails, and when he doesn’t, Dr. Baek slaps him, hard. Hee-sung’s mother fights her husband and screams at him not to hit Hee-sung, and Hee-sung asks in a daze, “Mom, why did it have to be Do Hyun-soo that I ran over that day?”
In flashback we see that Hee-sung was on the phone with Sang-chul on that rainy night, saying that he would “handle it” himself. Sang-chul had said that “that person” didn’t remember Hee-sung (oh no, was he going to “handle” Hae-soo?), and that’s when Hee-sung hit Hyun-soo with his car.
Hee-sung continues in a haunted voice, “Even after passing, Do Min-seok won’t let me be. Now he’s using his son to get rid of me. All I did was as Do Min-seok said. He threatened to kill you and dad if I didn’t. I was terrified. I didn’t want to do any of it!” He wipes away his tears and asks his parents to protect him.
Another flashback shows a ten-year-old Hyun-soo running through the forest, but his father had easily caught up to him. Min-seok had warned that Hyun-soo could die if he got lost, and had pointed out a nearby cliff. Hyun-soo tells Ji-won that that’s his earliest memory, and that he doesn’t recall why he was in the forest except that he felt like he was in a dark maze and was relieved to be rescued by his father.
Ji-won sees that Hyun-soo is still wearing the bugged watch she gave him, and he says he likes the fact that she always knows where he is. Ji-won confesses that she was there when he told Hae-soo that he’d never loved her. Hyun-soo starts crying again, though he says he doesn’t know why, but Ji-won does: “It’s because you love me.”
Hyun-soo says he’s not capable of love and that he pretended to want her happiness in order to deceive her, but Ji-won has many examples of how loved she’s felt by him. Hyun-soo looks her in the eye and says haltingly, “I… love you.” Awww.
Ji-won tells Hyun-soo that tomorrow, people will judge him by their own standards, but Hyun-soo says it’s okay because he doesn’t care anymore. Ji-won tells him to remember there’s warmth in him, and he replies,”You’re even weirder than I am,” ha.
He continues telling her about his real background, including his two near-death experiences before meeting her, and Ji-won acknowledges that he’s had a hard life. He says she’s the hardest thing in his life to explain because (her loving him) makes no sense.
In the morning, Hae-soo shows up at Moo-jin’s door, demanding to know what happened last night. Moo-jin admits that he doesn’t know what happened to Hyun-soo, and that Jae-sub knows everything.
Jae-sub pulls up outside Hyun-soo and Ji-won’s home and calls Ji-won. She asks him not to handcuff Hyun-soo and take him quietly, and a short while later, she and Hyun-soo step outside hand-in-hand.
COMMENTS
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised to learn that Hee-sung is the accomplice, because I’d started suspecting it as soon as he woke up, mostly due to his father’s bizarre and overly-protective behavior. What I don’t understand yet is why Dr. Baek protects Hee-sung when he knows he’s a serial killer, or why he was willing to let the son of Hee-sung’s “teacher” take on his son’s identity for so many years. My guess is that he did it to keep Hyun-soo under his thumb (“Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”), but now he’s in a bind because the real Hee-sung is awake and wants his life back.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about Hee-sung and his relationship with Do Min-seok. He’s the same age as Hyun-soo, so how did he end up helping Min-seok, and is he telling the truth that he only procured Min-seok’s victims because he was threatened? Is that why his parents are protecting him so fiercely? It makes me wonder if Hee-sung had anything to do with Min-seok’s supposed suicide, and if it was suicide at all or if Hee-sung killed him to make it all stop. And while we’re on it, how did he end up in that coma for so many years?
I feel terrible for Hyun-soo, who at first seemed in full control of the situation but is now discovering that he’s been manipulated all this time. He was given a respectable name, a good life, and good opportunities from Dr. Baek and his wife, but as soon as it mattered, they literally tossed him to the wolves to die. And how tragically ironic that Hyun-soo lived this other life for so many years in an attempt to escape the accusation of being his father’s accomplice, and now he’s about to learn that all the while, he was living the life of the actual accomplice.
But ugh, can we talk about Hae-soo? I admit that I was wrong about her being the accomplice, and I understand that she feels bad that Hyun-soo ruined his life for her, but she’s got the worst idea of what constitutes helping. She keeps going off on her own when she knows damn well Hyun-soo and Moo-jin have a plan, she nearly spilled the beans to Ji-won at the absolute worst time, and without checking to see what else is happening or what Hyun-soo actually wants, she’s gone straight to the people who just ordered Hyun-soo to be killed to tell them her suspicions. I think she’s the one Hee-sung was going to see that night, and that she wasn’t likely to come out of it alive, and now she’s put her life in danger again. Can she just… sit down and let the smart people handle things, please?
Speaking of smart people… Ji-won, amirite?? Once again she’s ahead of the game, she insists on doing what she knows is the right thing, and she saved Hyun-soo’s life for a second time (though he got to save her back this time). I can’t get over how utterly badass she is, while at the same time she’s the most loving, loyal, trusting wife and mother you could ever meet. It’s no wonder that, when faced with the thought of losing Ji-won, Hyun-soo absolutely couldn’t function and chose to be arrested rather than lose his family (and if that’s not a man who loves his wife more than anything, I don’t know what it). Ji-won is becoming one of my favorite Korean drama heroines of all time, in large part due to Moon Chae-won. I’ve been critical of her acting in the past, but she’s really given this role her everything and it shows.