Mrs. Cop: Episode 17

by LollyPip

Finally, all the action and suspense I’ve been waiting for! Things are heating up between Young-jin and her nemesis President Kang, as new evidence comes to light and emotions run high. Both sides are under pressure as they head towards the final confrontation, and mistakes are made that could affect the outcome — though whether that’s a good or a bad thing is yet to be seen.

EPISODE 17 RECAP

As Young-jin walks home alone, she’s grabbed from behind and dragged into a nearby alley. Her mysterious attacker throttles her with a rope, but she manages to pull her taser and shoot him with it, loosening his grip.

At home, Ha-eun worries that her mother upset Aunt Nam-jin by yelling at her for being out late and not answering her phone. Nam-jin claims to be fine, but Ha-eun tells her that Mom was wrong anyway — it’s okay to be angry. She figures Young-jin went out to buy her sister’s favorite beer as an apology… so cute.

They’re blissfully unaware that Young-jin is, at this very moment, fighting for her life. She gets free and fights back against her attacker, finally grabbing a brick and using it to take him down.

Nam-jin goes looking for her sister, and Young-jin’s dropped bag of snacks leads her to Young-jin nearby handcuffing her attacker. She tells Nam-jin to take Ha-eun to stay with a friend, while she takes her attacker for a little drive.

On the way she calls in a favor, asking someone to meet her, then pulls over and demands to know who hired the man to kill her. He’s Chinese and refuses to speak in Korean, and who arrives to help but Mabbaki the gangster. Young-jin tells Mabbaki (with a little wink) to either find out who hired this guy or bury him.

While Mabbaki’s men dig a nice deep hole, Young-jin calls her team to tell them about this latest situation. The attacker is stripped and kicked into the hole, and Mabbaki tells his minion to just bury the guy — it’s too much bother to interrogate him, so they’ll just tell Young-jin he’s not talking.

As dirt rains down on him, the attacker suddenly calls out in Korean, “Wait!” Mabbaki isn’t interested, and orders his men to keep shoveling. He prays as the attacker begs to tell them everything, which is a lot funnier than it sounds, hee.

Eventually Mabbaki relents, and the attacker kneels by Young-jin’s car with his hands in the air like a naughty schoolboy. Mabbaki tells Young-jin that he speaks excellent Korean all of a sudden, and the man swears to behave and tell them anything they want to know.

Young-jin takes the attacker back to the station, but it’s not any safer for him as he faces her entire murderous team. Jong-ho freaks out completely over Young-jin’s neck wounds, ready to go kill the guy with his bare hands. He orders 24-hour surveillance on her house as well as appointing Jae-duk and Se-won her bodyguards, but even though freaked-out Jong-ho is entirely adorable, Young-jin overrides his orders.

She tells everyone calmly that this was a contract killing, and the killers are connected to a gang. Unfortunately that’s all they know, since the person who hires and the person doing the job don’t know each other, so they have no way to find out how to contact them. The only contact they know of is someone who goes by Doctor Hwang.

Young-jin visits President Kang at his office, noting that her appearance here no longer surprises him. She tells him that when she was young she went to a fortune teller with her father (getting in a little “you know, the one you killed” dig), who said that she had a forceful destiny. She’s not fated to die at anyone’s hands but her own.

She invites President Kang to keep trying if he likes, and in turn he compares her to a scared dog who barks loudly. She holds up a USB and says that he’d want it badly if he knew what it was. She tells Kang that Seung-woo gave it to her in return for a promise that she would kill someone, and Secretary Yoon looks nervous.

Kang seems to understand that the “someone” she promised to kill is him, and they silently challenge each other to do their worst. But he’s more shaken than he showed, and once Young-jin is gone he demands to see Congressman Kim immediately.

The attacker gives a written statement, and Do-young and Jin-woo head to the streets looking for leads. Jong-ho discovers where to find Doctor Hwang through an old school contact who works at the NIS, and takes Jae-duk and Jin-woo with him.

Jong-ho sends a message with the little boy, and Jae-duk and Jin-woo follow him to Doctor Hwang’s laundromat. But on the way, they’re surrounded by several thugs, and the three cops bemoan their lack of guns today before taking on the thugs with their bare hands (and feet).

Ha, they take the entire cowed band of thugs to kneel in Doctor Hwang’s shop, but Hwang refuses to cooperate and tells the cops to do this the hard way. Jong-ho sighs that going by the law is too hard and looks through their information on Hwang, saying that he’ll probably get the death penalty if they have to go about this lawfully. Hwang relents, in return for a promise that he’ll only get life in prison.

But Doctor Hwang doesn’t know who places the contract murder orders either, he’s just the in-between from the client to the killer. They use a dummy account to transfer the money, and the team looks into the account to see who was paying for the murders.

There are a lot of names on the list from Seung-woo, proving that President Kang had protection from all directions, and Jong-ho seems devastated to realize how many crooked people he knows. Young-jin tells him that only he and the superintendent know about these people, because she wants to find a way to round them all up and arrest them at one time.

Do-young brings the news that they know who was making the deposits into the dummy account, and CCTV footage shows that it’s Secretary Yoon. It’s good information, but they still can’t arrest President Kang, because they know that Yoon will only say he was ordering the killings on his own. Again Young-jin repeats that they can’t act impulsively — they need to figure out how to get Kang and all his underlings in one fell swoop.

She and Jong-ho go to talk to Chief Yeom again, who’s packing to leave his fishing retreat. Jong-ho expresses his disappointment and anger, demanding to know why Yeom would take bribes and help a criminal. He has proof that it was Yeom informing President Kang whenever they went after him, and Jong-ho looks like he could cry from the betrayal.

Jong-ho is screaming by the time he gets to Kang ordering Young-jin’s death, saying that the Chief Yeom he knew would protect his juniors no matter what. Yeom didn’t know about this, but Young-jin says sadly that she can no longer let him go off quietly to the US.

She shakily asks Yeom if he’s known all along that it was President Kang who killed her father. His expression is her answer, and in her shock she nearly pulls her gun on Yeom, but restrains herself. Instead she gathers her wits and starts to cuff him, but he asks to be allowed to go change clothes first.

Chief Yeom goes inside and suits up in his dress uniform, then takes a moment to gaze out the window. A strange smile crosses his face, and he pulls out his gun. Oh no, no. Young-jin and Jong-ho hear the shot and rush inside, but it’s too late. He’s gone.

But Yeom left behind the recording of his final conversation with President Kang, in which Kang had all but admitted he ordered the deaths of several people. Young-jin takes it to the superintendent along with a letter in which Yeom apologized. The superintendent grits his teeth and says to bring him President Kang, and he’ll take care of all those who support him.

Secretary Yoon reports to President Kang that it looks like the police have the real slush fund list, but Kang scoffs that the names on the list are too big for the cops to take on. He’s not worried about it affecting the company, saying that he can just handle with by making another deal.

President Kang actually has the nerve to show up at Chief Yeom’s funeral, taking the opportunity to warn Young-jin not to go around slandering him or he’ll sue. She scoffs that he’s just trash, and Jin-woo has to wrestle Secretary Yoon into submission when he gets angry. Jin-woo remembers where he’s seen Yoon — at the driving range with Congressman Kim, right before he went missing. How very coincidental.

President Kang is either crazy, confident, or both, because he flat-out admits killing Young-jin’s father just to get at her, then says that he regrets not coming to that funeral. Young-jin grabs his lapels and demands he repeat himself, but Jae-duk’s gentle hand on her shoulder stops her from doing anything regrettable. But she warns Kang that if he ever says her father’s name again, she will kill him.

And then Do-young does the most amazing thing ever for Young-jin — she repeats President Kang’s words right back at him, only regarding his son. That rattles him and wipes the smirk off his face, and he nearly attacks her, but she holds her ground and promises to come to his funeral when it’s time. Young-jin’s entire team echo her sentiments.

Speaking of Jae-won, Do-young and Jin-woo visit the doctor who kept admitting him to the hospital (to get him out of jail temporarily, and leading to his escape). They offer to go through his accounts to look for the bribes they know are there, and leak everything to the media, if he doesn’t come clean about making up Jae-won’s “illness.”

They get enough evidence to justify a warrant, and Do-young requests the honor of going in person to the crooked Prosecutor Go to request it. She presents Go with the statement from the doctor that he diagnosed Jae-won with a mental illness he didn’t have just to get him out of prison, and there’s Prosecutor Go’s name listed as a co-conspirator.

That wipes the grin right off Go’s face, and the sight of his name on the slush fund list has him going positively pale. Jin-woo cheekily asks if a prosecutor can request an arrest warrant for himself, HA. Do-young asks politely if he prefers handcuffs or to come quietly, and for once the glib Prosecutor Go has absolutely nothing to say.

Secretary Yoon brings President Kang the news that Jae-won’s doctor has confessed and Prosecutor Go was arrested. Lawyer Kim can’t be reached so they call Congressman Kim, who says that he heard Kang’s arrest warrant will be issued later today. He hangs up and we see that Lawyer Kim is with him — I almost hope she’s accepted his job offer after practically being pimped out by President Kang.

Feeling his support system slipping out from under him, President Kang starts to shake, then smashes the phone in fury. He tells Secretary Yoon to prepare his car, because the cops are coming for him.

Young-jin and her team make their way to the KL Group building, warrant in hand, and bust their way into President Kang’s office. President Kang’s empty office. Damn. But with Chief Yeom dead and Prosecutor Go arrested, they have no idea who could have tipped him off in time to escape.

President Kang and Secretary Yoon head to the secret restaurant, where one of the ovens turns out to be a hidden safe full of cash. They load up and take off again.

Young-jin and her team watch the KL Group’s CCTV footage, which shows Kang and Yoon escaping in the company car. Young-jin orders a nationwide APB for them and has Kang put on the no-fly list, but has to report back to the superintendent that they lost Kang, and don’t know who tipped him off that they were coming.

Kang is busy drinking in a seedy motel and letting Yoon do all the work, but Yoon isn’t as optimistic about their chances of getting out of the country. He suggests laying low for now, which infuriates Kang, and he tells Yoon to order another hit on Young-jin. But Doctor Hwang has been arrested as well, and it looks like Kang is out of people able, or willing, to help him.

Their only real hope of escape is to make a deal with their Chinese contacts, which Kang rejects immediately. Yoon suggests a fake passport but Kang crazy-laughs that he’s too important to run away like that — is this really the time to be playing Do you know who I am?

The detectives set up a command center dedicated to locating President Kang, and Jong-ho has to nag Young-jin to take a break and eat. They go to Jae-soo’s restaurant where Jong-ho urges her to also go home and sleep — they won’t lose Kang just because she rested. And besides, Kang isn’t a normal citizen, so this could take a long time.

Young-jin relaxes and admits that she misses Ha-eun. She thanks Jong-ho for his help and he grumbles that she should show her sincerity instead of using empty words. She relents, and says that when they catch Kang, she’ll spend an intense night with him… drinking. HAHA, his face.

Nam-jin and Ha-eun are back home when Young-jin gets there, and they all mock-argue again over whether Ha-eun can have a dog. Young-jin says yes and Nam-jin says no, but it’s mostly play-fighting, and they’re all three just happy to have some time together.

Lawyer Kim is followed to Congressman Kim’s office by Jin-woo and Do-young, who report back that she spends more time with Kim’s people these days, though she still officially works for KL Group. She’s probably not a good lead to find where President Kang is hiding. But Young-jin noticed that most of the people on the slush fund list are connected to Lawyer Kim somehow, which means she was the brains of the operation, so she’s sure Kim will be in contact with Kang soon.

Sure enough, Kang soon calls Lawyer Kim to tell her to relay the news to someone (Congressman Kim maybe?) that he’ll be leaving the country soon. She promises to do so, but she’s immediately cornered by a chipper Do-young, here to take her in for questioning.

Lawyer Kim just looks tired, and submits to the questioning unwillingly. Young-jin reads her the slush fund list, rattling off Lawyer Kim’s connections to nearly everyone. She even advises Kim to claim to know nothing about the fire that killed the Union workers, because if she knew and didn’t report it, it makes her an accomplice to murder.

Lawyer Kim snarls that they have no evidence against her, but Young-jin warns her to think carefully about whose side she wants to be on. If she’s on the side of the police, it won’t be hard to get her off the hook. Lawyer Kim leaves, but she does say that if she finds out where Kang is, she’ll let them know.

Do-young checks Lawyer Kim’s phone records and thinks she’s discovered President Kang’s burner phone number, and they track down the general area where the calls are originating. In his dark motel room, Kang pens a letter, then takes a drive alone at night. He goes out to a secluded area and douses the car in gasoline, cackling the whole time, because he’s batcrap crazy.

The team convene at a location near the area of the burner phone calls, and call for backup while they try to pinpoint possible locations. Just as they split up to search the area they hear a loud explosion, and they follow the sound to find President Kang’s car engulfed in flames.

Secretary Yoon kneels by the car in grief, covered in soot and screaming Kang’s name. Back in the motel room, the letter Kang wrote is actually a will, saying that he takes the blame for everything. When Young-jin arrives at the burning car she draws her gun on Yoon, and he pulls his knife.

Jong-ho takes on Secretary Yoon and knocks him down several times, finally pinning him to the ground. Yoon growls into the dirt, “It’s all done now.” Young-jin demands to know where Kang is, but Yoon only says that he’s gone. Young-jin and Jong-ho can only watch as the car burns, presumably with Kang inside.

COMMENTS

With one episode left, and the way President Kang was giggling evilly as he poured gasoline on his car, I don’t believe for one second that he died in the explosion. This is all a distraction planned by him and Secretary Yoon to put Young-jin and her team off his scent while he flees. Luckily, I don’t expect Young-jin to fall or this for long — especially when they put the fire out and discover there’s no body. We’re still due an epic confrontation between Young-jin and President Kang, and Young-jin deserves to kill President Kang herself, so I’ll be very angry if the show doesn’t allow her that satisfaction.

While a large part of me wishes the show had been this good and action-packed all along, instead of only in patches between stretches of not-much happening, I’m glad to see it’s at least planning on going out with a bang. I definitely feel that eighteen episodes was too many, because too much time was spent on filler cases that could have been streamlined and still gotten the point across (how many episodes wasted on a boring stolen SUV ring?). But at least we’re here now, and I find myself riveted in the way I’ve been wanting to be for the last eight weeks. If I had to sit through a show that was fifty percent borderline boring filler, at least it’s paying off with an exciting ending.

I do have to say, I’m impressed with how fully-concieved the plot has been, as it laid down clues and details early-on that are only now coming to fruition. I’m always pleased when a show proves that it knows where it’s going and where it’s been, and even small things turn out to be important. The bit with the puzzle connecting to the photo of President Kang with his mouth crossed out was a good example, as well as in this episode when the plotline with Seung-woo and his USB with the crucial evidence finally came to fruition. Even seemingly throwaway scenes such as President Kang urging Lawyer Kim to spend some “quality time” with Congressman Kim turn out to be pivotal, now that Kang needs her support and she’s jumped ship to the very man he was trying to butter up. Don’t you hate it when karma so neatly bites you in the ass?

It’s incredible to see Young-jin’s team acting as one now, finally, fully respecting and supporting each other. At Chief Yeom’s funeral when they all spoke as one, I got all choked up. They aren’t just a team, they’re true friends, and Young-jin is their respected leader that they would do anything to support. I especially love seeing Jin-woo and Do-young work together, hardly even needing to speak anymore, but just knowing what the other is thinking and giving the needed assistance. As much as I’d love to see them end up together romantically (mostly to heal poor Jin-woo’s broken heart), I’m fully satisfied watching them be true partners, in the best sense of the word.

I’ll keep this short today because I plan to have a lot to say once the show is over, so for now I’ll just say — Good job, Show. Just keep this up for one more episode and you’ll have a solid positive score from me, despite your weaknesses. Let’s take president Kang out in a blaze of glory, and let Young-jin finally spend some time with her poor neglected family.

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