Tunnel: Episode 3

by TeriYaki

Kwang-ho is convinced that a case from the past holds the key to his return to Yeon-sook’s side. As he works to solve a case in the present timeline, Kwang-ho’s investigative methods somehow complement those of his taciturn partner and the rest of the quirky team. While Kwang-ho learns more about the modern world, sometimes with amusing results, one thing is certain — murder is serious business, no matter the decade.

 
EPISODE 3 RECAP

In 1986, a hooded figure crouches beside a young woman’s body and blows cigarette smoke into her face. After he walks away, she opens her eyes and sits up, her heel marked with five dots. In 2016, that woman exits a taxi and says, “Everything has changed so much.”

At the scene where the dismembered body parts were found, Kwang-ho sits nearby and considers that the Park Kwang-ho born in 1988 might know something useful, but he hasn’t appeared. Maknae Min-ha asks if it’s Kwang-ho’s first time seeing a case like this, but he scoffs in reply.

Detective Tae-hee breathes in deeply and announces that the victim has been dead for at least a month. Min-ha utters, “He really is the undertaker’s son,” and Tae-hee recognizes that running errands for his father turned out to be helpful.

Kwang-ho catches sight of five dots on the victim’s heel and remembers Dr. Kim’s insistence that there was a missing victim. Kwang-ho double checks that the body has been there for a month, not thirty years, and he thinks that his jump to the future could be tied to this case. He can’t help but hope that solving it will allow him to return home.

Our resident criminal profiler Jae-yi walks to class with a roll of duct tape. During class, she tosses it to a student and orders her to tie the wrists of the girl next to her. Once she obliges, Jae-yi asks what a murderer would do with the leftover tape.

The class offers various suggestions, but Jae-yi asks the murderer/student directly. Her answer, that she would keep the tape to use again, makes her sound like a real murderer. She laughs that she wasn’t serious, but Jae-yi leans close to add that the tape can be a way for the killer to remember the murder before announcing that this semester, they will focus on a murderer’s memories.

Kwang-ho tries to explain the 1986 case to Sun-jae, because he thinks that their victim is a survivor from that time. Sun-jae counters that they will use the database of missing persons and DNA to identify the victim, but Kwang-ho has no idea what he’s talking about.

Dr. Mok confirms that the victim is a woman who has been dead for 25-30 days. Sun-jae thinks that the tool used to cut the leg could be linked to the murderer’s occupation, possibly in landscaping, carpentry or construction.

Kwang-ho is amazed to learn from the doctor that DNA can actually be tested. He asks if the dots are thirty years old, and Dr. Mok explains that they can be analyzed, curious about his interest. But Sun-jae stops Kwang-ho before he can explain further.

Jae-yi walks out to the busy crime scene and takes a call from the dean. Jae-yi explains that she decided to follow this case from the beginning, but the dean cautions her, “Don’t get too close.” Jae-yi forgets about the call when she arrives at the crime scene and realizes that the shallow burial means that the killer didn’t care if the body parts were found.

Back at the police station, Sun-jae ignores all of Kwang-ho’s suggestions and insists that he address him properly. Tae-hee and Min-ha report that they found CCTV footage at a restaurant across from the motel.

Tae-hee is convinced that the victim was killed in Seoul and disposed of in the remote area where she was found. Kwang-ho proposes that the victim is from the area, in her late 40’s to mid-50’s and recently returned after a long time away. Tae-hee declares that watching dramas turns everyone into a crime scene investigator, and even though Kwang-ho pushes his theory, the team ignores him.

As the search party works into the night, Sun-jae presents the team with a short list of potential victims. Tae-hee and Min-ha are impressed, but Kwang-ho calls it a waste of time and takes it upon himself to eliminate women who don’t meet his criteria. Sung-shik cautions Sun-jae to teach Kwang-ho properly before sending everyone home.

Jae-yi calls Sun-jae to explain that the killer treated the victim like garbage because he wanted to disrespect her, even in death. She hangs up before he can ask any questions.

The next day, Sun-jae rushes into Dr. Mok’s office, surprised that the victim didn’t match anyone on his list. The doctor suggests that perhaps she lived alone and wasn’t reported missing.

Sung-shik sends Tae-hee and Min-ha back to the crime scene to wait for the discovery of the rest of the body. He wants Sun-jae and Kwang-ho to check employment offices for missing employees and pass out leaflets. Desperate to solve the case, Kwang-ho proposes checking on people who moved to Hwayang recently, but Sun-jae just walks away.

Out on the street, Kwang-ho is surprised that the leaflets don’t mention the five dots, but Sun-jae just hands him a list of missing employees and tells him to verify their whereabouts. Kwang-ho points to Sun-jae’s phone and admits that he doesn’t have one, so Sun-jae takes the list back and drives off. Left behind, Kwang-ho vows to investigate on his own.

Sung-shik checks on the crime scene, but even with the addition of drones, the search has been unsuccessful. Kwang-ho follows his hunch and searches a year’s worth of resident registrations for a woman who lived alone, in her late 40’s to mid-50’s.

Kwang-ho has summoned Driver Oh to help him with his list of potential victims. When he refuses to help, Kwang-ho reveals that he saw a police science book in the glove compartment and wonders how Driver Oh can hope to become a policeman with his attitude.

Kwang-ho promises to help Driver Oh pass his interview in exchange for his assistance. When Driver Oh insists on getting the promise in writing, Kwang-ho tells him that he should learn to trust people a little more.

Kwang-ho conducts a door-to-door search to find the missing fifth victim. Meanwhile, Driver Oh proves to be useful when he rescues Kwang-ho, who ends up on the run from a jealous husband wielding a baseball bat.

The dean looks for Jae-yi in her office, startled to discover her standing silently right behind her. They discuss her class, and Jae-yi worries that she’s too intimidating for her students. She glances at the crime scene photos and comments, “They’re taking longer than expected.”

Tae-hee and Min-ha try to look busy while they sleep at their desks. When Sun-jae returns alone, Sung-shik asks about Kwang-ho, but Sun-jae answers that he’s too busy to worry about him.

Driver Oh sleeps in his car while Kwang-ho checks a motel for the last woman on his list. The manager is annoyed by his questions, busy because the cleaning lady didn’t show up for work. She tries to recall her name before dismissing Kwang-ho.

Driver Oh suggests that the victim may have changed her appearance with plastic surgery, which is much harder than changing her name. Kwang-ho never considered that the missing victim changed her name. A check the next day discloses one woman who changed her name — KIM JUNG-HYE, originally named KIM YOUNG-JA.

Kwang-ho inspects her room and discovers from the motel manager that Kim Jung-hye disappeared a month earlier. Her personal effects include a photo of her from 1985, taken near Hwayang Women’s University.

After Kwang-ho removes a jar of face cream from her room for analysis, Dr. Mok calls Sung-shik to report that he successfully retrieved some DNA. Sung-shik stares at Kwang-ho as he informs the team that the DNA matched the victim.

After Kwang-ho delivers a well deserved “I told you so,” Min-ha checks on Kim Jung-hye’s background and realizes that she matches Kwang-ho’s criteria: she was forty-nine years old, a graduate of a local high school, and she returned from Seoul a year ago. Tae-hee admits that Kwang-ho’s dots theory could be true as well, and he uses a crime scene photo to show Sung-shik the victim’s heel tattoo.

Sung-shik asks how Kwang-ho knew about the tattoos. He rejects Kwang-ho’s explanation that he only heard about it, because after the case files were destroyed by a fire, only the people who worked the cases had any knowledge of them.

Sun-jae calls Kwang-ho’s theory about the victim a lucky guess. Before he can join Sun-jae to continue their investigation, Sung-shik grabs Kwang-ho’s arm to ask, “Who are you?”

In Sun-jae’s car, Kwang-ho thinks to himself that Sung-shik may have figured out that he’s not the Park Kwang-ho born in 1988. Then he wonders how Sung-shik knew about the old murder cases.

Kwang-ho urges Sun-jae to believe in him and wonders how he can be a detective if he doesn’t trust people. The car’s navigation system speaks up then, and Kwang-ho looks around for the source of the voice. He yells when it speaks again and startles Sun-jae, who looks at Kwang-ho as if he’s crazy.

Sun-jae reviews the motel’s CCTV footage of Kim Jung-hye on the day that she disappeared and sees that she spoke with an unseen person. Kwang-ho interviews the owner of a nearby restaurant and learns that a man from the local factory asked to meet the divorcee.

Sun-jae shows Kwang-ho a photo of Kim Jung-hye taken from the CCTV footage. Poor Kwang-ho tries to figure out how his phone can contain a picture and ends up dropping it. He apologizes to an annoyed Sun-jae and begins to speak formally in answer to his suffering sigh.

Sun-jae and Kwang-ho interview the man who was interested in Kim Jung-hye, and he admits that she rejected him because she was involved with someone else.

Sun-jae asks if he saw her with anyone. The factory worker only claims that she met a man in front of the motel and that he overheard him call her Kim Young-ja.

At the station, the team reviews CCTV footage from the night that Kim Jung-hye disappeared. At 7:02 p.m., she spoke to someone in front of the motel. At 7:37 p.m., she walked next to a man wearing a hat. She was last recorded alone at 7:45 p.m.

Kwang-ho comments that he heard that Kim Jung-hye led a lonely life. Sung-shik looks at him curiously when he asks, “Why didn’t she report it back then?” Sun-jae thinks that she was either close to the man next to her or that he knew her by her original name.

Kwang-ho and Sun-jae realize that Kim Jung-hye’s ex-husband might know the mystery man. As they leave the station, Sung-shik orders Min-ha to send the CCTV footage to Jae-yi.

Sun-jae and Kwang-ho look for JANG YOUNG-CHUL at his workplace, only to discover that he quit a month ago. Kwang-ho pauses when he realizes that the date is January 3rd.

In 1986, Yeon-sook clutches Kwang-ho’s whistle and buys two tickets for the ferry. She sits on a bench to wait, surrounded by happy couples. Kwang-ho remembers that Yeon-sook promised to wait for him and announces that the case must be solved before the day’s end.

Jang Young-chul’s apartment is empty, so Sun-jae calls Min-ha and asks him to track the man’s phone. While Kwang-ho is surprised that it’s possible to use a phone to locate a suspect, the landlady tells the detectives that Jang Young-chul was dressed in a suit when he stopped by earlier to say goodbye.

Min-ha calls with Jang Young-chul’s location: the Jang family grave site where his parents are buried. Jang Young-chul leans on a headstone, a couple of empty soju bottles behind him. He pours himself some seemingly poisonous juice, but before he can drink it, Kwang-ho kicks it away. Jang Young-chul asks, “Can’t I die if I want to?”

At the station, Jang Young-chul is shocked to learn that Kim Jung-hye is dead. He claims that he never heard the name “Kim Young-ja,” but Kwang-ho thinks it’s an act. Sun-jae knows that Jang Young-chul quit his job the day after Kim Jung-hye disappeared.

Jang Young-chul shows the detectives his hands. His left hand is missing some fingers, and he explains that they both hurt too much for work.

Investigations at Jang Young-chul’s workplace and apartment yield no evidence of foul play. Min-ha reports that there is no additional real estate that could serve as a hideout either, so Sung-shik calls Sun-jae to ask if he’s managed to get a confession.

Sun-jae sits behind the interrogation room’s mirror to study the CCTV footage from the motel. Jang Young-chul insists to Kwang-ho that he didn’t kill his ex-wife. Meanwhile, Jae-yi reviews the footage of Kim Jung-hye walking with the man in the hat and notices that he keeps his left hand in his pocket.

Jae-yi calls Sun-jae to report her observation and suggests that the man has a complex, perhaps a disfigurement or a prosthetic hand that he would want to keep hidden from a woman. Again, she hangs up before Sun-jae can ask any questions.

Sun-jae realizes that Jang Young-chul can’t be the murderer because both of his hands are damaged, not just his left hand. After a review of the CCTV footage, Sun-jae remembers that the factory worker kept his left hand in his pocket. His knowledge that Kim Jung-hye was once known as Kim Young-ja makes Sun-jae wonder aloud if their only witness lied, just as Kwang-ho walks in.

Kwang-ho catches on that the factory worker may have known Kim Jung-hye when she was Kim Young-ja (which is what we’ll call her from now on). Sun-jae reviews something on his laptop and walks out. Kwang-ho sees that he researched the background for a Kim Kim Tae-soo and realizes that the man from the factory came from the same town as Kim Young-ja.

The factory worker lights a cigarette, and it’s apparent that his left hand is a prosthetic one. Sun-jae runs to the factory and finds the man standing in a nearby creek, looking suspicious. Sun-jae suspects that he threw something away, but the man acts innocent. But then Kwang-ho runs up and knocks the man down before proceeding to beat him up.

Kwang-ho’s entire team is present as the creek is searched. Sung-shik is alarmed to learn that Kwang-ho beat up the suspect and calls it unacceptable. When Sun-jae and Kwang-ho avoid his look, he takes his anger out on Tae-hee, who asks, “Why are you scolding me?” Suddenly, the search team yells out that they discovered something.

The factory worker, KIM TAE-SOO, sits in an interrogation room with Sun-jae and Kwang-ho. He’s twice divorced, lives alone, and is from the same town as Kim Young-ja, which explains how he knew her real name. Sun-jae accuses Kim Tae-soo of lying to them and confesses, “This is why I don’t trust people.”

Kim Tae-soo meekly denies the allegation. Sun-jae notes that the restaurant where Kim Tae-soo claimed to witness Kim Young-ja’s exchange with another man was too far for him to have overheard her real name. Sun-jae points to Kim Tae-soo’s left pocket and asks if he has something to hide.

Looking down, Sun-jae asks, “What kind of woman would like a guy with a hand like that?” When Kim Tae-soo angrily demands to know what gives Sun-jae so much authority, Sun-jae recalls that Jae-yi suggested that the murder could have been triggered by a breakup.

A flashback to the night that Kim Young-ja disappeared reveals that Kim Tae-soo tried to talk her into dating him and ignored her refusal. Frustrated, she glanced at his prosthetic hand and told him, “You’re just a crippled idiot.”

Kim Tae-soo reveals his prosthetic left hand in front of Sun-jae and Kwang-ho, seething with anger. Sun-jae proposes that Kim Tae-soo convinced Kim Young-ja to join him just once for tea. That’s exactly what he did, but he coerced her with a promise to look for her every night if she refused.

Kim Young-ja walked with Kim Tae-soo, who went ahead to a supposed teahouse around the corner. After a while, she turned to leave, but Kim Tae-soo pulled her into an alley.

Sun-jae stands next to Kim Tae-soo and suggests that he strangled Kim Young-ja with a rope, but he answers, “You’re wrong.” When Kwang-ho reminds him that he cut Kim Young-ja into pieces, Kim Tae-soo turns to him and denies the use of a rope. Laughing, he admits that he used his prosthetic hand.

As Kim Young-ja begged for her life, Kim Tae-soo told her, “Let me kill you with this crippled hand of mine.” Kim Tae-soo laughs maniacally and recalls taking off his hand to beat her. He then pressed it against Kim Young-ja’s throat until she choked and died.

Back at the station, Kwang-ho prepares to return home. He reads Sung-shik’s nameplate and realizes that he has the same name as his hoobae, just as Sung-shik promises to meet the team for a celebratory dinner. Kwang-ho asks Min-ha if the chief started out at Hwayang station and learns that he did.

Kwang-ho is amused that the kid who was always queasy is now a police chief. He tells himself, “I’m really coming home now, Yeon-sook,” but Tae-hee handcuffs himself to Kwang-ho to prevent him from leaving so that he can go out drinking with them.

As he leaves for the day, Sun-jae calls Jae-yi and shares that her guess about a breakup was only partially correct. Before she can question him, Sun-jae hangs up. He saves her number to his phone and continues on his way.

Tae-hee prepares soju and beer shots and promises to release Kwang-ho if he can drink more than him. The team members grimace as they down their shots, but Kwang-ho seems to enjoy the mixture. Once everyone else is drunk, Kwang-ho finds the key and unlocks the handcuffs.

Kwang-ho stands to say goodbye and admits that he’d like to punch Sun-jae before he leaves. He tells Sung-shik goodbye and adds, “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I can’t believe you really became the chief.”

Kwang-ho walks out of the pojangmacha and runs off, gone by the time Sung-shik staggers out. Kwang-ho smiles as he approaches the tunnel and shouts, “Let’s go ride that ferry, Yeon-sook.” As Kwang-ho runs through the tunnel, he remembers his happy life with Yeon-sook.

Only, Kwang-ho emerges from the tunnel, eyes closed, and is completely crestfallen when he sees the lights of the modern city. He looks up and screams, “Tell me! What do you want?”

Kwang-ho walks to the darkened ferry. Back in 1986, night has fallen on Yeon-sook, who sits alone. She succumbs to tears as she clutches Kwang-ho’s whistle and two unused tickets.

As Yeon-sook’s sobs echo, Kwang-ho walks to the same bench and sits down. With tears in his eyes, he realizes that he couldn’t keep his promise, unaware that they both kept their date, separated by thirty years. Kwang-ho admits to himself, “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

The young man who almost hit Kwang-ho when he first emerged from the tunnel stumbles and falls as he runs through a wooded area. He covers his mouth and hides as someone walks calmly past him. Badly injured and bloody, he limps to another spot to hide, only to turn in alarm at the sound of someone behind him.

 
COMMENTS

We certainly learned quite a bit about the people that surround Kwang-ho in 2016. As expected, Sun-jae is a prickly partner, which explains why he has gone through so many. If he’s planning to force Kwang-ho to move on, he’s in for a surprise, because his new partner is only concerned with a prompt return to his past — he expects every day with Sun-jae to be his last. While Kwang-ho can certainly learn about modern investigative techniques from Sun-jae, the Park Kwang-ho from 1986 can teach his partner a thing or two about old fashioned footwork. Interestingly, Kwang-ho has discovered a willing student in Driver Oh, who is lucky to have an opportunity to learn from the best. However, in spite of Sun-jae’s drawbacks, he proves that he is a very capable detective as the murder case unfolds. With their vastly different styles, it turns out that Sun-jae and Kwang-ho have the potential to become a very good team.

Like Sun-jae, Jae-yi seems to have an issue with interpersonal skills. Even though she’s extremely intelligent, she has no sense of personal space and gets uncomfortably close to others. As a police consultant, Jae-yi is all about giving her opinion, period. I don’t think it even occurs to her that she should answer any questions. Perhaps getting a dose of her own medicine from Sun-jae will open her eyes, but for now, she certainly comes across as an odd duck.

At least Kwang-ho finally realized that the Sung-shik of 2016 is the older version of his young sidekick in 1986. How proud was he when he knew that Sung-shik reached his goal to become chief? It remains to be seen if Sung-shik understands that the Kwang-ho in front of him is his sunbae, since he was drunk when Kwang-ho acknowledged him. Since Kwang-ho was unable to travel back to his time, how will he interact with Sung-shik going forward? His current boss may be his only link to his past, at least until the Park Kwang-ho of 1988 returns, which is looking like it will be a while, considering his dire situation at this episode’s end. Could it be that Kwang-ho followed the serial killer into the future? If so, he may need Sung-shik’s help more than he thinks.

The survivor with the five dots had the worst of luck. She survived an attack by one crazed killer only to cross paths with another thirty years later. Kwang-ho’s belief that her murder was linked to the murders of the past was only partially true, but now he knows why Victim #5 was never discovered. I have to admit that, so far, the criminals in this drama make my skin crawl, if only because they are so frighteningly unhinged. I very much appreciate the characters’ entertaining interactions and Kwang-ho’s amusing antics as he experiences the future, since they help to keep the drama from sinking too far into darkness.

As hard as Kwang-ho is working to return to the past and Yeon-sook’s side, she is working just as hard to keep hope alive that he will appear. Her promised birthday date was truly heartbreaking, especially because both Kwang-ho and Yeon-sook kept that date, albeit years apart. They are so well matched in their love and devotion for one another. Unfortunately, Yeon-sook has a baby on the way to worry about, so how long can she endure when time waits for no one? Yeon-sook’s one request of Kwang-ho was to come home, no matter how late. Will they have to overcome a thirty year delay? The longer it takes for Kwang-ho to return to 1986, the more I wonder if he’s meant to go back at all.

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