Remember—Son’s War: Episode 16

by odilettante

Good things happen to our heroes and bad things happen to Gyu-man? Somebody pinch me because I must be dreaming. Of course, with every ray of sunshine, there’s a bittersweet thundercloud just lurking around the corner. But it’s enough to know we can actually hope there will be a situation that Il-ho Group won’t be able to buy their way out of, and Gyu-man might not be pulling as many puppet strings as he thinks. That karma Dong-ho keeps talking about seems to finally be kicking in.

EPISODE 16 RECAP

As Gyu-man is taken away in handcuffs (finally!), Dong-ho visits Chairman Nam to hand over the tape recording of the chairman orderings ordering the Seo-kwang Group explosion. It’s useless to him now that the witness has been swayed by the Nam power. But he’s also there to gloat: he hopes that raising Gyu-man like he has will now pay off.

That’s a confusing statement for the chairman until Attorney Hong tells him that Gyu-man has just been arrested. Hah! Of course, he’s using all his power to stop all media coverage, promising that he’ll get Gyu-man released.

Meanwhile, Jin-woo and his team are trying to figure out their next step. They’ve already realized that Nam money is stopping the arrest being publicized, but Jin-woo knows that if they can get someone to report on the case and make it a sensation, then there’s no way Il-ho Group can continue to bury it.

Gyu-man lounges in jail, but there’s no dreary cell for this chaebol since he’s sequestered in a fancy meeting room. He starts to whine about the quality of his surroundings to Attorney Hong until he sees his father enter, then he suddenly stands at attention. Chairman Nam is furious as he warns his contrite son that he’s single-handedly about to bring down the company, so he better watch his step. Papa Nam might not be so forgiving next time.

Jin-woo and Dong-ho working together again? Yes, please! But Jin-woo warns Dong-ho not to assume he’s started trusting him again — he can change his mind just as easily as Dong-ho. Oh, burn. But Dong-ho just smiles, telling him that if, by chance, Jin-woo will ever forgive him, he’ll spend the rest of his life making amends.

He slaps the old 50,000 won contract on the table, showing Jin-woo that he hasn’t forgotten about it. But Jin-woo has, bewildered that this bank note is apparently a contract. That lapse in memory both surprises and worries Dong-ho.

Per Chairman Nam’s instructions, Attorney Hong visits Prosecutor Chae to subtly threaten her to shut down the case, just like she did previously for Jin-woo’s father’s appeal. But she points out that if she were just going to let Gyu-man off, she wouldn’t have started prosecuting him in the first place. Besides, she’s no longer choosing a side — this time she’s following her own convictions.

At the jail medical center, Gyu-man lounges on the hospital bed, ordering the doctor to get him some supplements. The doctor just rolls his eyes as he asks “the inmate” what the hell he thinks he’s doing. As he orders “this punk” to get out, Gyu-man gives him the “don’t you know who I am?” But Doc is having none of it. No special privileges here!

Dong-ho visits In-ah to ask her about Jin-woo’s memory problem, wondering if it could be Alzheimer’s, but she stubbornly insists that Jin-woo is just overworking himself. He has no memory disorder. Nope. No sirree.

But if Dong-ho can vividly remember the day they signed the 50,000 won contract, then Jin-woo should, too, and he asks Sang-ho to investigate if Jin-woo has been to any doctors. When In-ah tells Jin-woo about Dong-ho’s visit, he’s adamant that she not tell anyone about his failing memory until the trial is over.

As they stake out Kim Chan’s agency building, Jin-woo finds out from Chul-soo’s drug dealer that Kim Chan’s entertainment agency is really a front for chaebols to have fun with pretty young things. Believing it’s a real agency, the girls sign on and get a huge bonus upfront — that they then have to pay off, usually by attending the parties where they provide sexual favors which are sometimes are even filmed. Jin-woo realizes that means there could be video evidence of Ha-young’s rape.

The DNA tests from the real corkscrew used to kill Jung-ah reveal that Gyu-man’s finger prints were on it, proving that the one originally submitted in court was indeed a fake. Seok-gyu visits Gyu-man in jail to inform him that he knows Gyu-man killed Jung-ah, and he encourages Gyu-man to turn himself in, knowing it’s probably been eating him up inside.

Instead, Gyu-man is incredulous. What point is there in mentioning that old case — it’s not like it’ll bring Jung-ah back from the dead. Shocked, Seok-gyu tells him that he came here as a friend to support Gyu-man, but apparently he was too naive. Now that he knows the truth, he’ll see this case through.

As if Gyu-man’s walls weren’t cracking enough, Attorney Hong tells Chairman Nam that it won’t be easy getting Gyu-man released from jail. But Chairman Nam isn’t done trying yet. Of course not.

They gather some high court judges, as well as Prosecutor Tak, for a little private conversation regarding Gyu-man. Chairman Nam explains the stress of his son being put in jail just to satisfy the selfish whims of the prosecution who simply want to ruin his image for some money. Pfft, whatever.

But even Prosecutor Tak agrees, asking the judges to consider carefully when Gyu-man goes up before the prisoner review board. As in, hint-hint, get him out of jail. Attorney Hong isn’t completely sold on Prosecutor Tak’s sudden support for Il-ho Group, although it could be just jealousy since Prosecutor Tak is now more important to Chairman Nam.

At the review board, it’s Attorney Hong versus Seok-gyu. Attorney Hong insists that Gyu-man is imprisoned unfairly, since there’s no sufficient evidence to back up the claim of sexual assault against Ha-young. But Seok-gyu’s gone through the files very carefully so he’s aware of some evidence that was omitted, and because he thinks that evidence was destroyed, they should keep Gyu-man in jail.

But the review board judge is in Chairman Nam’s pocket and doesn’t think that Gyu-man is a flight risk. So he’s free until the final results of the trial.

Out of his prisoner jumpsuit and back in his fancy duds, Gyu-man swaggers down the jail hallway. He encounters the doctor and forces him to bow a full ninety-degrees, just as one should bow before a superior. Doc does it, but the look on his face as he watches Gyu-man leave makes me really hope that he’ll get to order that snot-nosed punk of an inmate around again.

Now a free man, Gyu-man wonders why Assistant Ahn didn’t come visit him in jail more often. Assistant Ahn excuses it by saying he was busier than ever while Gyu-man was in jail. He’s going to get even busier, as Gyu-man orders him to clean up Kim Chan’s mess. But first, there’s an important stop he needs to make: Jin-woo’s office.

He’s clearly there to brag that they couldn’t keep him in jail, but Jin-woo doesn’t seem surprised — he expected as much, knowing Chairman Nam’s clout. Instead, he pleasantly warns Gyu-man that he should enjoy as much fresh air as he can right now, because after the trial, he won’t be getting as much of it (’cause he’ll be in jail, y’know). He’ll make sure that Gyu-man loses everything, but the unfazed Gyu-man says that he’ll do the same for Jin-woo.

Except that Jin-woo has nothing to lose, and his face hardens as he takes a step forward, promising that he’ll make sure Gyu-man’s life is over. Nonchalantly, Gyu-man agrees — at any rate, one of them ought to die, and then this whole thing will be finally over.

Ha-young arrives at her apartment complex, but as she’s waiting for the elevator, Kim Chan suddenly appears. He creepily warns her that there’s no point in going through with the trial, and she should have stayed quiet like he told her to. Besides, if the truth is revealed at the trial, then her lifelong dream to become an actress will be destroyed. Don’t forget — he has a sex tape of her, and if she testifies, he’ll make it go viral.

Terrified and near tears, Ha-young collapses as Kim Chan walks away. Outside, another figure watches as she sits distraught on the floor of the lobby.

Chairman Nam hands over a fancy box to Joo-il as a “congrats on getting out of jail” gift. But inside the box isn’t just an expensive bottle of whiskey — there’s also an envelope with a sizable amount of money. By taking it, Joo-il is firmly siding with Chairman Nam and his promises to increase Joo-il’s wealth and power, which means actively going against Dong-ho.

Sitting alone in Dong-ho’s office, Joo-il studies the picture of teenage Dong-ho with his father. He wonders what he should do, since Chairman Nam is out to kill Dong-ho. Apologizing to Dong-ho’s father, Joo-il wonders if it wouldn’t be best for him to do it instead of one of Chairman Nam’s goons. Noooooooo!

Dong-ho arrives just then, not at all pleased to find Joo-il in his seat. Joo-il pleads with him to give up the trial, but Dong-ho interrupts him, ordering him to stop referring to him so casually by his name. They’ve cut all ties from each other, remember?

But Joo-il has a confession: the reason he had Dong-ho join Il-ho Group four years ago was because he was afraid he’d lose Dong-ho, just like he lost Dong-ho’s father. Angry, Dong-ho yells at him to get out of his office.

Ha-young is on the run as she orders a taxi to take her to the bus terminal. Attorney Song pops out of his hiding place to flag down a taxi so he can follow her.

Prosecutor Chae is working her connections to make sure the higher ups don’t feel the urge to suddenly be swayed by Il-ho Group’s power when she runs into Prosecutor Tak. Hmmm, he seems pleasantly supportive.

At Jin-woo’s office, In-ah is busy working in the secret room when she hears someone break in. It’s Joo-il and his men who ransack the place, looking for anything related to Il-ho Group and Gyu-man. Just when it seems Joo-il might discover the hidden door, one of his men tells him that there’s nothing of interest here. Whew. In-ah still hides in the corner, worried about the intruders as she waits for Jin-woo to hurry back.

Attorney Ahn meets with Seok-gyu, wondering what he’ll do with the bottle opener. Seok-gyu is fully aware that Chairman Nam is capable of getting it dismissed as evidence, so they’ll have to make sure it gets into the right hands.

Thanks to In-ah’s eavesdropping as Joo-il and his men destroyed Jin-woo’s office, they’re able to warn Kim Chan that he’s next on the list of things to be destroyed. He finds it hard to believe that his buddy Gyu-man would get rid of him like that, but Jin-woo’s warning is enough to have him hide out in his car while he watches Joo-il and his men swarm the building.

Gyu-man is meditating to help with his anger issues when Prosecutor Tak arrives. He asks the prosecutor if he can replace Prosecutor Chae for his trial, but that’s not something Prosecutor Tak can do. Besides, he’s confident in Attorney Hong’s abilities. Gyu-man asks if he’ll betray them like Dong-ho did, and Prosecutor Tak just smiles, promising he’s putting his life on the line for this trial.

Gyu-man dismisses the prosecutor, and then complains to Assistant Ahn that this prosecutor doesn’t look like he has enough authority to make changes. If only Gyu-man could destroy the whole legal system so it would better suit his purposes. Ah, yes, poor little rich boy.

As payback for Jin-woo essentially saving his life, Kim Chan hands over the video of Ha-young’s rape. It’s not the only video on the USB drive, actually, and Jin-woo calls Gyu-man to tell him that he has a copy of all the videos of Gyu-man raping the young women at the so-called entertainment agency. Ugh. He warns Gyu-man that it won’t be long before those videos are revealed.

Just as Gyu-man is about to make his own little snarky comment, Jin-woo hangs up, much to Gyu-man’s surprise. Who dares to hang up on the almighty Gyu-man? Furious, he picks up a glass to throw it, and Assistant Ahn automatically cowers and covers his face, assuming it’s aimed at him. But instead Gyu-man chucks it against the wall, causing the glass to shatter as he laughs at his assistant’s fear.

It’s the morning of the trial, and In-ah is worried because she can’t get in contact with Ha-young. Attorney Song just smiles, amazed at Jin-woo’s foresight. Apparently Jin-woo knew days ago they’d have to keep a close eye on her, which is why he ordered Attorney Song to follow Ha-young. That means they can go and pick her up at her hiding place to get her ready to testify in court.

At the courthouse, it’s a stand-off between the plaintiff and defense as they arrive prior to the trial. Both sides are full of confidence that they will win, and Gyu-man smiles as he warns Dong-ho that an “interesting event” will happen soon.

In-ah finds Ha-young, who says that she’s going to drop the case. She shouldn’t have started it in the first place. Ha-young is terrified about her sex tape being released as evidence and played for everyone to see.

Such a video will follow her the rest of her life, ruining her chances of becoming a real actress. But In-ah gently asks her to trust her — they’ll make sure it doesn’t get released to the public, and they’ll make Gyu-man and Kim Chan pay.

Gyu-man is awfully happy as he sits in the defense seat — the same seat where Jin-woo’s father once sat. Jin-woo inwardly promises to use this trial as the starting point to vindicate his father.

The trial begins, and In-ah arrives with Ha-young. Gyu-man actually looks a little uncomfortable, but poor Ha-young still looks terrified. Prosecutor Chae calls her to the witness stand, and Ha-young details how Kim Chan introduced her to Gyu-man. She only had a couple of drinks that night, but even so she couldn’t stay awake. When she woke up, she was in a secret room at the entertainment agency. Prosecutor Chae then turns to the judge to submit evidence that an unconscious Ha-young was moved to the hidden room by Gyu-man and Kim Chan. Oooh, actual evidence?

Yep, it turns out that Jin-woo and Attorney Song spotted a few CCTVs outside of Kim Chan’s building, and they combed through hours of footage until they were able to get the video proof that Kim Chan carried the unconscious Ha-young into the building — with Gyu-man by his side.

She also submits Ha-young’s medical report as proof of rape, but Attorney Hong springs up, explaining that it was a consensual relationship, and they had to piggy-back Ha-young because she was too drunk. But thanks to Jin-woo and In-ah’s preparation and information earlier, she retorts that it’s suspicious that two men piggy-backed a drunk unconscious woman to an empty building at that hour.

It’s also suspicious how much money Gyu-man has been pumping into a failing agency, and she hands over documents showing that after Ha-young’s rape, Il-ho Group wired Kim Chan’s company a hefty amount of money. She declares that Kim Chan’s company was just a front for providing women to use a sexual favors for rich chaebols like Gyu-man.

Attorney Song still insists that Prosecutor Chae has no real evidence, but she reveals that they’ve done a search-and-seizure of the company just this morning and found proof of the secret room. She also has definitive evidence that she can’t divulge to the public.

The judge asks her and Attorney Hong to approach the bench, and she reveals the USB stick with the sex videos. Attorney Hong insists that it can’t be submitted as evidence since it’s not verified, but In-ah and Jin-woo were expecting that, and told Prosecutor Chae to tell the judge it was taken during this morning’s search-and-seizure so they couldn’t give prior notice.

The judge accepts it as evidence, and Prosecutor Chae smirks as the judge ends the trial for the day so he can review the evidence in private. If looks could kill, Gyu-man would have another murder on his hands. But if ever there was a time for Jin-woo to look smug, it’s definitely now.

Aw, as Ha-young silently thanks In-ah, it feels like a real victory has been achieved — not just for her, but for our entire little team that has been fighting so hard and for so long against the Il-ho Group.

Later that evening, as they continue to prepare for the trial, Jin-woo looks up to see that In-ah has fallen asleep on the sofa. He gently covers her with a blanket and smiles, internally telling her that she did a great job. He then goes to his secret room, sets up a tablet, and hits record as he begins to leave her a video message. Oh no. This can’t be good.

That night, Joo-il sits in his car as he waits for Dong-ho. He studies a large chef’s knife, remembering Chairman Nam’s directive to get rid of Dong-ho. But when Dong-ho arrives at the car, he hurriedly hides it in his jacket. He’s there to warn Dong-ho to watch himself, because Chairman Nam is more evil than you’d think.

Dong-ho is pretty much “No kidding — did you just now figure that out?” but Joo-il insists that he’s going to stop being the chairman’s dog to be ordered around. He then quickly switches the subject, wondering if Dong-ho is dating anyone — he should get married, have kids, and live happily ever after. Joo-il wants to sit in the father’s spot at the wedding, and he asks Dong-ho to call him “hyung-nim” just once more.

Grumbling, Dong-ho refuses, and gets out of the car. But the icy wall that was once between them has finally thawed as Dong-ho pauses a moment to glance back, smiling. Joo-il smiles, too, as he watches Dong-ho walk away.

Just then a masked figure in black slips into the car and grabs the knife that Joo-il had set down on the console, using it to stab him in the chest. Now it’s Dong-ho’s turn to run through the long hallways of the hospital, rushing to his father-figure’s bed side.

With tears in his eyes, he apologizes, and aw, he calls Joo-il “hyung-nim.” As he stares down at Joo-il hooked up to life-support, he remembers when he was a teenager and Joo-il told him the strongest fist is the one who handles the law. Steeling himself, he tells Sang-ho that now he’s out for blood.

In the morning, Jin-woo is waiting for Dong-ho at his office. He knows that Joo-il’s attack was ordered by Chairman Nam, but Dong-ho tells him to stay out of it. Just then a group of men led by Officer Bae arrive with a warrant — Dong-ho is under arrest for the attempted murder of Joo-il. Officer Bae slap the cuffs on Dong-ho, who gruffly orders them to be removed.

COMMENTS

I want to be sad about Joo-il, but he felt like a lost cause — plus I’m wayyyyyy more excited about the fact our little team is finally one-upping the Il-ho Group. Not only do I want see Gyu-man taken down, but I want the pleasure of watching him stew in jail where people don’t care about who he is. Don’t save that for the very last minute, show! Let me revel in the sweet justice of Gyu-man finally getting the karma he deserves for at least one entire episode.

I’ve given up trying to understand the legality of just about anything on this show, so I’m not at all bothered by the courtroom dramatics because it’s about damn time. Of course, the flip-flop of Prosecutor Tak and Prosecutor Chae’s devotions is still mildly confusing, but I’m not giving up on Prosecutor Tak. He was too passionate about what it means to be a worthy prosecutor to suddenly support the evil Il-ho Group like he’s been doing. Just like Attorney Hong, I sense there’s more to his loyalty than him deciding to selfishly side with the powerful Chairman Nam. Which is why I’m hoping he’s trying to play the long game and get intel to make the company implode. It’s one thing to get rid of Gyu-man, but we all know that Chairman Nam is the true evil at the center of Il-ho Group. (He’s just not as entertaining to watch.)

There’s no doubt more that I could pick through in this episode, such as Dong-ho discovering Jin-woo’s memory problems and imagining what kind of video message Jin-woo left for In-ah and wondering why the show gives Jung Hye-sung fifth billing when her character Yeo-kyung only gets thirty seconds of screen-time each week (none of those seconds were in this episode, btw — I guess she didn’t bother visiting her brother in jail), but I’m just satisfied that we’re actually moving forward. I’m not even bothered by Dong-ho being arrested. After everything our little team of heroes have gone through so far, it’s just another lawsuit on top of the rest of the things they have to deal with.

Sure, it will hinder them in as much as they’ve lost another ally to help them through their trial, but Jin-woo and In-ah seem to be doing just fine gathering evidence on their own and anticipating Attorney Hong’s actions. Not to mention I would love to see what would happen if Dong-ho and Gyu-man met in jail as fellow inmates. Daddy’s protection can only extend so far — when you’re face-to-face with all the people you’ve thrown under the bus all your life, there’s not much you can do to save yourself.

RELATED POSTS

• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 15
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 14
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 13
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 12
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 11
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 10
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 9
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 8
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 7
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 6
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 5
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 4
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 3
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 2
• Remember—Son’s War: Episode 1