Missing 9: Episode 10

by LollyPip

Chairwoman Jo is determined to close the crash investigation, truth and justice be damned. Her unholy alliance with CEO Jang leads to a situation that seems impossible to change, and Bong-hee begins to despair that the truth will never come to light. But she’s not ready to give up quite yet, and fate still has a few more surprises in store for all our survivors, living or dead.

 
EPISODE 10 RECAP

At Ki-joon’s prompting, Bong-hee finally remembers that Tae-ho stabbed Joon-oh in the back as they traveled on the boat off the island. Her knees give out and she cries, recalling how a rogue wave had washed over the boat, and that she hasn’t seen Joon-oh since.

Bong-hee is taken to a hospital bed to sleep, with Ki-joon and Ji-ah watching over her. Ki-joon tells Tae-young how Bong-hee ended up on the island and how she’d saved So-hee’s life several times over, and Tae-young is surprised, since Bong-hee never told him.

He steps out to take a call from Chairwoman Jo, who isn’t pleased that he took Bong-hee to China to see the survivors without telling her. He counters that they wouldn’t have been able to see Ki-joon and Ji-ah once she got her hands on them, and wonders out loud why they would refuse her protection and only trust Bong-hee.

Chairwoman Jo gets angry and says that Bong-hee will be facing murder conspiracy charges soon, but Tae-young is unconcerned (now that they have Ki-joon and Ji-ah to vouch for her). He says that it was never Bong-hee who was hiding anything, but “someone else.”

He admits that he came here hoping to hear Joon-oh’s story, and Chairwoman Jo scoffs. She tells him to just bring Bong-hee back soon so they can keep her quiet until the investigation is over.

She hangs up on him without finding out who the survivors are, and takes her frustration out on Investigator Oh when he asks about them. Cranky now, she orders him to just get the survivors here, no matter what it takes.

Tae-young gets another call, this time from an anonymous person who says he has evidence as to the identity of So-hee’s true killer.

As Bong-hee sleeps, she thinks about a time on the island when she’d been watching Joon-oh play hopscotch. Remembering that he said his family was gone, she’d asked him to let him into his circle of friends. She’d said she could feed him, find him a place to sleep, be on his side when nobody else would, and always believe in him.

Joon-oh had asked why Bong-hee trusted him so much, and she’d said that believing in the invisible is true belief. Joon-oh had been excited and made her promise not to stop believing in him when they got back to Seoul.

She finally wakes, and Ji-ah and Ki-joon tell her that they’ve heard about what’s happening in Korea, with Tae-ho accusing Joon-oh of the murders. She tells them that Ho-hang is also back, and that he sided with Tae-ho.

Ji-ah grows agitated, angry that Tae-ho is getting away with everything. Ki-joon tells Bong-hee that they haven’t been back to Korea yet because they suspect that CEO Hwang’s “accident” wasn’t much of an accident. They decide that it’s time to return now so that they can support Bong-hee and make sure that Tae-ho is punished.

Tae-young interrupts to say that he needs to go meet the person who says he has evidence regarding So-hee’s death. Bong-hee wants to go with him, and won’t take no for an answer.

CEO Jang and Tae-ho are there though, meeting with the director of the hospital. A suitcase full of cash convinces him to look the other way while CEO Jang and Tae-ho do… something not good. CEO Jang leaves and Tae-ho stays behind to supervise.

Tae-young convinces Bong-hee to remain at the hospital and heads out with Prosecutor Jo to his meeting. An ambulance pulls up at the other end of the hospital, and a whole crew of men dressed in patient’s pajamas jump out carrying dangerous-looking weapons.

Their leader reminds them they aren’t here to kill anyone, and one man pulls out photos of Ki-joon and Ji-ah. Bong-hee watches from behind a tree as the leader says they can kill them if they have to, and she runs into the hospital to warn them.

The thugs enter the hospital and chain all the exit doors shut. They’re menacing as they comb the hospital looking for people who match Ki-joon’s and Ji-ah’s photos. They walk right past Bong-hee, but when she spots Tae-ho approaching, she rushes to Ki-joon’s room to tell them to make a run for it.

Tae-ho leads the men to Ki-joon’s room, where they’re greeted by Bong-hee’s sunny smile. She uses a cabinet to keep them away and escapes the room, only to find herself face-to-face with Tae-ho. She keeps on running, and he looks amused to see her here.

The thugs somehow run right past Ji-ah and Ki-joon, but they bump into the man with the photos. He decides Ji-ah doesn’t look like her glamorous photo and shoves her aside, which pisses her off.

While he’s recognizing Ki-joon, Ji-ah sucker-punches him and snaps, “It’s me, you bastard.” HA, I love her. And I love that Ki-joon assures her that the guy didn’t recognize her because she’s much prettier in person.

The meeting place Tae-young is given looks sketchy, and soon a car pulls up and several tough-looking men get out. They immediately attack, and Prosecutor Jo, while not the best fighter, still gets a few good licks in.

Tae-young takes on several thugs, and between him and his two helpers, they knock out their attackers. Tae-young figures out that this was just a ploy to get him away from the hospital, and they jump in the car to speed back.

Ji-ah and Ki-joon stop to rest in a laundry room, where Ki-joon realizes that his stab wound is open and bleeding. He tries to send Ji-ah on without him, but she refuses, even when he begs her. Instead, she spots a laundry basket and says it’s her turn to save him.

A short while later, she’s dressed as a hospital maintenance person, pushing the laundry cart with Ki-joon inside. She bops him on the head for peeking too much and rolls him up to one of the chained doors, where he begins working on picking the lock.

Most of the thugs are busy chasing Bong-hee as she creates as much of a ruckus as she can. She bobs and weaves, jumps over railings, and smacks the thugs with dinner trays — in short, she’s a total badass. Tae-ho patiently waits, saving his energy, and follows Bong-hee when she makes a run for it.

Ki-joon gets the lock open, and he and Ji-ah rush out the door, only to find another couple of thugs on the other side. Ji-ah kicks them both to the floor, and she and Ki-joon hit and kick them senseless. I am loving this so much. But the thug leader and a couple of his cronies show up, and they kick Ji-ah before punching Ki-joon right in his stab wound. The two fall to the floor, defeated.

When he can’t reach anyone at the hospital regarding the survivors, Investigator Oh orders someone to go there in person. Chairwoman Jo remembers Tae-young saying that the survivors are worried for their safety, and she tells Investigator Oh to find out if Tae-ho and CEO Jang are in China.

Tae-ho corners Bong-hee and calmly tells her that Joon-oh is gone, so there’s no need for all this fuss. She snarls that Joon-oh always trusted him, and the tiniest flicker of guilt crosses his face before his expression hardens again. He takes a swing at her, but Bong-hee dodges it easily, then goes at him with fists flying.

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She gets in several strong punches before Tae-ho kicks her away and picks up a discarded cane. Bong-hee dodges the swinging cane before stomping on his foot and kneeing him in the gut. She pulls back a fist to deliver another punch, but he shoves her against the wall and asks if she’s having fun, then punches her hard in the stomach.

She recovers and head-butts him away, then punches him three more times. The last punch knocks him to the ground, and she gives him one strong kick in the belly, then shatters the window with the cane. She escapes out the window, leaving Tae-ho chuckling that things just got interesting.

Tae-young pulls up just as Bong-hee reaches the parking lot, and she tells him what’s happening inside. He runs to Ki-joon’s room but it’s too late — Ji-ah and Ki-joon are gone.

The strangest part is that every single hospital worker says that nothing at all happened. Unfortunately there are no CCTV cameras, so although Tae-young believes Bong-hee, there’s no proof that anyone came into the hospital.

The prosecutors figure out that the hospital must have been bribed, and Bong-hee says they wouldn’t do that if they were going to just kill Ki-joon and Ji-ah. They conclude that they must have been taken by CEO Jang and Tae-ho.

Chairwoman Jo gets CEO Jang on the phone, and warns him that he’d better not lay a finger on the survivors. She says that she’s not on his side just because she’s been doing what he wants, and CEO Jang says that he thought they had the same goal. She firmly informs CEO Jang that he will nicely escort the survivors back to Korea and into her care.

CEO Jang gets off the phone and steps into the next room, where he finds Ki-joon and Ji-ah, looking terrified. He acts all friendly and sits them down in front of a lavish meal, then asks Ki-joon to speak with him privately. Ki-joon goes reluctantly, worried to leave Ji-ah alone.

Once they’re alone, CEO Jang tells Ki-joon that things have been chaotic at the company, and that Ji-ah’s mother demanded a huge sum of money from Legend as compensation for Ji-ah’s loss. He says they need to get Ji-ah back in Korea and working as soon as possible to cover the cost. Ki-joon asks what he’s getting at, and CEO Jang tells him that they have to say that Joon-oh is the murderer.

When Ki-joon rejoins Ji-ah, she’s crying around a mouth stuffed full of food. She sobs an apology for eating everything, and he gently wipes away her tears and says it’s okay. She feeds him something, but he seems to have lost his appetite.

Back at the hospital, Bong-hee searches for Ji-ah and Ki-joon, putting together what happened as she retraces their steps. She asks her memories of Joon-oh on what he would do now, knowing that he wouldn’t give up looking for them.

Tae-young arrives back in Korea to learn that he’s been reassigned to an office in Changwon, at the other end of the country. He angrily demands to know why, and his supervisor says that it’s because he made trouble looking for his sister’s killer. Tae-young insists that this won’t stop him, swearing he’ll continue to investigate until the truth is revealed.

Ki-joon and Ji-ah go back to Seoul, and he goes back to being her manager. She doesn’t understand what she’s been told to do, and Ki-joon reminds her that she said she wanted to save him this time. She asks what that has to do with anything, but he tells her to just trust him, not ask questions and do as she’s told, and she’ll save him that way.

While they were talking in the car, Bong-hee was nearby speaking with Joon-oh’s old manager. He’d told her that they came back a few days ago, but she still hasn’t seen or heard from them. She goes to visit CEO Hwang in the hospital where he’s still in a coma, and tearfully begs him to please wake up and help her.

Masking her face with a scarf, Bong-hee slips into the press conference that’s being held for Ki-joon and Ji-ah to tell their sides of the story. Ji-ah is nervous in the green room, and when they step out to enter the conference room, Bong-hee stops her to ask why she hasn’t contacted her.

Ji-ah just apologizes vaguely and leaves, and when Bong-hee tries to talk to Ki-joon, he does the same thing. She asks why they keep apologizing, but he doesn’t answer. Sensing that something is wrong, Bong-hee says that he’ll regret it if he doesn’t tell the truth, but Ki-joon just gives her a sad look and walks away. Ji-ah and Ki-joon take the stage with Tae-ho, and Ki-joon petulantly trips Tae-ho and makes him fall. HA.

We see the second half of Ki-joon’s conversation with CEO Jang in the Chinese hotel, when CEO Jang told him to testify that Joon-oh was the killer. Ki-joon angrily accused him of using Joon-oh and Ji-ah for money, and CEO Jang had pulled a gun on him. He’d laughed and said he wouldn’t kill Ki-joon — but he would kill Ji-ah.

With the survivors (except Bong-hee) standing behind her, Chairwoman Jo recites the events of the crash and its aftermath for the press. She says that they’ve found the bodies of the pilot (that Tae-ho killed for his food), the first mate (who died when they tried to escape on the life raft), and reporter Ki-won. With So-hee’s body washing up in China, that makes four confirmed dead.

She introduces the four survivors onstage — Ji-ah, Ki-joon, Tae-ho and Ho-hang — and mentions the absent Bong-hee. She talks about CEO Hwang’s accident and says that Yeol is considered to be missing, then tells the press that Joon-oh, who is either missing or dead, is presumed to be So-hee’s killer.

The reporters erupt with questions, and Chairwoman Jo tells them that Tae-ho and Ho-hang have testified that Joon-oh was the killer. As Bong-hee listens in shock, she adds that both Ji-ah and Ki-joon have testified, and that they also point to Joon-oh as the murderer. The two stand onstage, silent and shamefaced.

A reporter asks for a final statement, and Chairwoman Jo says that they believe Joon-oh killed So-hee, then attacked the others on the fishing boat. Their official statement is that he died from injuries sustained on the boat. With that, she declares the investigation closed.

The survivors bow and file offstage amid a flurry of questions. On their way out, Ki-joon whaps Tae-ho hard upside the head. HAHA, I adore his aggressive passive-aggressive attacks, made right in front of everyone so that Tae-ho can’t retaliate.

Ki-joon finds Bong-hee later, still in the back of the conference hall. He apologizes and says there was no other way, and she shoots daggers at him before storming off. With tears in his eyes, he recalls a time after Jae-hyun’s death and Joon-oh’s drunk driving scandal when he and Joon-oh had gotten drunk together at Joon-oh’s place.

They’d woken in the morning, hung over and miserable, and Joon-oh had downed a few herbal tonics so he could drink some more. Ki-joon had stopped him, asking if he thought this would bring Jae-hyun back.

Joon-oh had been consumed with guilt, believing he killed Jae-hyun, but Ki-joon had loyally told him it wasn’t his fault. He’d assured Joon-oh that he wouldn’t be knocked out by this, and that he believed Joon-oh had done nothing wrong.

That evening, Bong-hee’s neighbor calls her out, saying that a famous singer is here to see her. She rushes outside, but finds Tae-ho waiting for her, not Joon-oh. He sneers that her place reminds her of their camp on the island, saying that she lives no better here. Jerkface.

Bong-hee tells him to get lost, and he has the audacity to sigh that those were hard times. He says that he learned a lot on the island, and can get through anything now. Bong-hee tells him again to buzz off, and he says in this freakishly casual voice that it would be just as easy to kill her as it was the others. He advises her to move on and stay silent.

Bong-hee sits outside long after Tae-ho leaves, and her mother eventually comes to check on her. She tells her daughter to just let everything go now, and live like they used to do, as if nothing ever happened. Bong-hee cries, but she nods agreement. Later, she calls Tae-young to tell him that she needs to return something to him.

The next day, Tae-young goes to his now-empty office to wait for Bong-hee. He picks up a photograph that fell out of his things as he was packing up, and stares at the picture of Joon-oh looking back at him.

Bong-hee fondles So-hee’s infinity necklace as she sits at the bus stop and answers a call from an unknown number. We don’t hear what she hears, but it makes her stand up in surprise, then break into a run.

Instead of Tae-young’s office, she goes to the airport, and calls him to apologize. She says that she has to go and see the person who called her, to put her faith in him one last time. We hear what the person who called said to her: “Bong-hee-ah, it’s me, Joon-oh. Seo Joon-oh.”

Bong-hee walks along a rocky beach, and eventually comes upon a man with his back to her. He turns, and it’s Joon-oh, looking pale and tired but alive. He slowly walks towards Bong-hee… then continues on past her, without even looking at her.

Tears fill Bong-hee’s eyes, and she calls his name. Joon-oh turns back and looks at her in confusion, and asks if she knows him. Oh no, not more amnesia!

Suddenly he breaks into a smile and starts dancing around, crowing that he’s always wanted to fool someone like that. You evil little troll! He grabs Bong-hee in a big, happy hug, grinning from ear to ear, and she hugs him back gratefully.

Joon-oh leans back and looks Bong-hee in the eyes. “Bong-hee-ah,” he says. “Let’s go to Seoul.”

 
COMMENTS

He’s alive! I knew he had to be, but it’s so good to see Joon-oh and Bong-hee back together. They’ve been each other’s best friends and strongest supporters ever since they ended up on the island together, and Bong-hee always felt a little adrift back in the world without Joon-oh, as if she were only half of a whole. Even though everyone is against them now and the world thinks Joon-oh is a cold-blooded killer, he and Bong-hee have always been a team that could accomplish anything they set out to do. I have a feeling that, now that they’re back together, things are going to start turning back in their favor.

And there’s still CEO Hwang, who could wake from his coma any time now, not to mention my eternal hope that Yeol could still show up alive to help them. Yeol never lost his love for Joon-oh even after everyone else turned their backs on him, and I’m positive he would be one of Joon-oh’s biggest supporters if he makes it back (crossing my fingers!). I’m also pretty certain that Ki-joon will crack once he sees that Joon-oh is alive — if not for the threat to Ji-ah, he would have never betrayed his best friend in the first place. I do hope we get a chance to see him knock Tae-ho around a bit more first, though.

I loved getting to see Ji-ah kick some serious ass in this episode, because I was feeling like she was underutilized on the island for such a strong, sassy character. We’d been told that she was fierce and independent, but we didn’t get to see much of that on the island, probably due to her illness and injury. As it turns out, she just has skills better suited to the civilized world, and it’s great watching her use that quick mind and strong will (and when all else fails, fists and feet) to get out of scrapes.

Speaking of badass women, how awesome was Bong-hee when she was fending off the thugs and fighting Tae-ho? We’ve known she’s capable and strong, the way she nearly singlehandedly fed everyone on the island for several months, but I did’t expect her to be a brawler, too. She gave Tae-ho a serious run for his money and thoroughly kicked his ass, and I’m not ashamed to say that I was cheering her on at the top of my lungs while watching that scene.

In fact, I love how this show portrays women in general as intelligent, strong, and capable of taking care of themselves. Bong-hee and Ji-ah will just straight up take you down if you cross them, while So-hee had a mouth on her that could strike fear into the heart of even a killer like Tae-ho. Chairwoman Jo, while clearly evil and corrupt, leads her team like a general, and even Bong-hee’s mom took on a group of ajummas who dared to badmouth her baby. It’s so much fun seeing the women handling their own problems and occasionally even saving the men. Not one woman in this drama has been weak or in need of rescue, and it’s great to see the men around them treat them with a healthy dose of respect.

The only thing I think the show hasn’t been clear on, is why Tae-ho is being allowed to walk free and why everyone is so willing to go along with his lies, but to me it seems obvious. It’s been a while since the show reminded us about his status as a top star, but remember, he’s an extremely famous idol-turned-actor who’s been making Legend Entertainment a ridiculous amount of money in the past couple of years. Joon-oh, on the other hand, was disgraced and relegated to digging in mud flats for baby octopus just to get his face on television. So who would it benefit the company the most to have declared innocent — the beloved actor, or the famous screw-up? CEO Jang doesn’t care one whit about Tae-ho himself, he just wants his cash cow back and bringing in the dough again. Combine that with his own willingness to do violence, and the survivors’ abject terror after having each been threatened and nearly killed by Tae-ho themselves, and it’s no wonder that they’re all bending over backward to make sure Tae-ho is declared innocent of any wrongdoing. It’s a terrible situation for Joon-oh to return to, but I hope that now that he’s back, he has a plan to make everything right again. But if nothing else, he has one good friend that he can always count on.

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