Lookout: Episodes 15-16

by CandidClown

I’m starting to think that the name Lookout is not just a catchy title, but also serves as a warning. In every episode, this show manages to solve one mystery, put someone in danger, make my heart flutter, and end with a new reason for me to tune in again next time. It’s quite the ride, and maybe I should have heeded the warning before boarding… Too late now, I wants moooore!

 
EPISODE 15 RECAP

Flashing back to Suji’s collapse after being shot, we see Do-han run up to her prone form. He lifts her in his arms and urges her, “Wake up. You can’t die here.” In the present, Suji gasps awake in a hospital bed. (Wait, so, does she know?!)

Suji tries to sit up, and her movements rouse Bomi, who had fallen asleep next to the bed. Bomi immediately worries that she shouldn’t be moving since she just had surgery, but Suji just wants to know what happened. Proudly, Bomi says that she rescued her.

Shocked but happy to hear that Bomi was able to go out on her own, Suji asks if she’s doing all right in the outside world. Bomi says that Kyung-soo helped her, add that she followed his voice. (Aww.) Bomi admits that they lost her family’s killer, Kang Jin-gu, and Suji starts to blame herself. But Bomi cuts in to say that because of her, she was able to leave her house, giving her a sweet smile.

Kyung-soo arrives at the hospital, and Bomi directs him to meet her on their floor. She finds him by the elevators and waits as he heads towards her, makes eye contact, and then walks right past to enthusiastically greet another woman (who’s a bit plumper and homely), assuming that she is Bomi. Pffft!

Kyung-soo happily congratulates “Bomi” for getting here all by herself, but the startled woman is confused, and he rapidly backpedals. He goes back to the elevators, passing the real Bomi again, and walks up to an ajumma, cheerfully calling her Bomi. This is amazing. Can he just keep doing this forever?

Bomi watches incredulously as Kyung-soo strikes out with his second “Bomi” attempt. She finally has to give him literal step-by-step directions until he’s standing right in front of her. Even then, he keeps looking around as she stares directly at him. Oh, you adorable dummy, you.

Eventually it clicks, and Kyung-soo smiles the cutest little grin, marveling that she’s not at all how he imagined. Bomi snaps at that, but he sweetly adds, “You’re beautiful beyond imagination.” He then eagerly reaches out for a handshake, chirping that it’s nice to meet her, while Bomi just stares mutely in shock.

Suji is up and fully dressed when the priest comes in to visit, bringing medicine. Apparently he works at this hospital and he assures her she’s safe here, but Suji is more curious about how he knew to come help her. Ah, it looks like the priest was the one who picked up Suji and Bomi, and he sticks to the story that he was just passing by at the right time.

Scoffing at his obvious fib, Suji guesses that it was the boss who asked the priest to help and grits out, “He put us in danger, then saved us.” She admits that she has no idea what the master plan is, but she knows for certain that the boss is using them to do something dangerous.

The priest’s voice takes on a darker tone as he admits, “We aren’t that different from you. We, like you, went through something. To overcome those restraints, we took action.” Then he wishes her a speedy recovery and heads out. Suji calls out to ask if the boss is someone she knows, and he answers with a cryptic, “I doubt it,” adding that it’s best that she never meet him.

Lawyer Oh gets tricked into a dinner meeting with Assemblywoman Chae. She offers to help him get into the National Assembly in return for his testifying at Yoon’s upcoming attorney general election hearing, but Lawyer Oh refuses the bait. He smoothly lies that he’s not interested in politics, and beats a hasty retreat.

Disappointed, Assemblywoman Chae calls Do-han to tell him that his information is wrong, and that Lawyer Oh has not turned against the chief prosecutor. Do-han, who is on a nearby rooftop with a camera, replies, “I didn’t say he had. I said he would soon.” He says that they have a relationship based on mutual leverage, but if there’s a break in their trust, they’ll each kill the other to save themselves.

Assemblywoman Chae is intrigued, asking who he really is, but Do-han keeps his identity secret and calls himself “a citizen who loves to report injustice.” He hangs up and smiles at the pictures he took of Chae meeting with Lawyer Oh.

Leaving the hospital, Kyung-soo helps Suji to the car. Bomi follows them out, but she freezes to hear the sirens of an arriving ambulance. Kyung-soo adorably nags at Suji for checking out early, but then he realizes that Bomi is missing and sprints back to the hospital.

He finds her crouched in a corner, her hands covering her ears. Stooping in front of her, Kyung-soo sweetly asks, “Did I walk too fast?” Bomi looks up at him and he holds out a hand, saying, “I don’t want to lose you again.” (*Melt.*) Tentatively, Bomi grasps his hand and he promises, “From now on, we can hold hands and go wherever you want.” Smiling the cutest smile, he gently pulls her with him, and they leave the hospital together.

In the car, Bomi looks a little uncomfortable when Kyung-soo announces that they’re going back to his place. Suji reasons that with Bomi’s apartment compromised, it’s safest for them all to stay together, so Bomi agrees to stay for a little while, prompting Kyung-soo to say, “You can stay there forever.” Then he grins and steps on the gas. Guh! Too cute. I can’t even handle it.

Eun-joong reviews the CCTV footage of Suji’s collapse, but it turns out that there was an error in the system, so it cuts off right after she fell. He’s interrupted when Do-han flounces in to pout at Eun-joong for doing his own investigation into Bomi’s family’s case. Eun-joong supposes that Yoon sent Do-han down to check up on him, and Do-han readily confirms it, saying that the chief prosecutor is worried that the investigation to catch Suji will take a detour to solve Bomi’s case.

Eun-joong actually smiles and tells Do-han to reassure his backer that they need to find Suji first so they can uncover the truth. Do-han pulls back, unused to the other prosecutor agreeing with him, but he brings back his grin and coos at Eun-joong that he likes working together.

Prosecutor Park calls Eun-joong with instructions to focus on Bomi’s case, adding that Assemblywoman Chae is supporting them. Eun-joong agrees after Park assures him they can continue the search for Suji without him.

Team Lookout is hitting a dead end in finding Kang Jin-gu, so Bomi decides to send out some bait. Heh, she posts the most dead-faced aegyo picture of herself on her SNS, captioning it that she’s returning home after living abroad.

Soon-ae reports to Eun-joong on the whereabouts of the three suspects for Bomi’s case, revealing that Bomi’s uncle killed himself last night. Kang Jin-gu is impossible to track since he has no social security number and disappeared after the murder, but they were able to find one report of his attending Bomi’s uncle’s funeral.

Soon-ae wonders why they’re spending time on this case when Suji is missing and injured, but Eun-joong doesn’t answer.

Kang Jin-gu is still camped out in the PC room researching Suji’s case when he sees Bomi’s message. He grins that things are getting interesting, then immediately ducks down when several detectives, led by Jin-ki, arrive to search the premises for him. Kang Jin-gu tries to sneak out, but Jin-ki catches him at the last second.

Kyung-soo, who’s been checking every PC room he can find, happens to be right outside when the police haul Kang Jin-gu out. Our hacker jumps into a taxi and follows.

Bomi brings Suji her belongings from when she was shot, and Suji pauses to see a blood-soaked handkerchief among her belongings. (Omo! Is that Do-han’s?) Bomi guesses it may be the priest’s, since it had been pressed against her wound to stem to bleeding.

As Suji goes through her things, Bomi casually pokes around the other woman’s room. She finds Suji’s gun and lifts it up, saying, “Teach me. I want to be able to protect myself.” Suji immediately takes the weapon away, pointing out that Kang Jin-gu can’t find them here, but Bomi argues that her family’s murderer is still out there and that she doesn’t want to hide anymore. Seeing the girl’s determination, Suji gives in, making her promise to only use the gun as a self-defense last resort.

Soon-ae leads the interrogation of Kang Jin-gu, but he claims to not remember anything about the murders since it was so long ago. However, he does identify the U.S. soldier as a frequent customer and adds that he saw Uncle giving him Bomi’s address and house password.

Eun-joong wants to know why Kang Jin-gu never came forward with this information and disappeared after the murders. Kang Jin-gu get emotional as he admits that he never knew his parents and doesn’t even have a residence registration number. He insists that someone like him has no choice but to hide before they are painted as a suspect.

Hi sob story doesn’t faze Eun-joong, who asks how Kang Jin-gu knew about Uncle’s death when he claims to have lost contact with him. The question stumps him, and Kang Jin-gu starts to look nervous when Do-han suddenly swoops in. He asserts that Kang Jin-gu needs protection since the fugitive Suji could be after him, then hustles him out of the room as Soon-ae and Eun-joong do an interesting combination of glaring and gaping.

Kyung-soo has followed Kang Jin-gu to the police station and reports back to Bomi that they have him in custody. Kyung-soo muses that this might be for the best, as a thorough interrogation is bound to reveal the truth, so they’ll never let him go. Unfortunately, the moment he says that, Kyung-soo spies Detective Nam escorting Kang Jin-gu outside. Bomi can’t believe that the police just let the murderer of four people go, but Kyung-soo tells her to leave it to him, promising to handle it.

As Soon-ae and Eun-joong gripe at having their lead suspect snatched from them, Soon-ae starts to wonder at the convenience of Uncle dying right as they started investigating the case. They immediately dispatch the loyal Jin-ki to inspect Uncle’s apartment.

Bomi fixes Suji’s post-surgery medication, but we see her empty an extra pill into the cup of water. Hiding the pill bottle behind her, Bomi lies to Suji that Kyung-soo wasn’t able to find Jin-gu yet. Suji, none-the-wiser, takes her meds with the drugged water.

As soon as she swallows, Bomi starts to thank Suji for all her help, sounding suspiciously like she’s saying goodbye. Suji reassures her that they’re all in this together, but she suddenly grows dizzy and starts swaying.

Suji asks Bomi what she gave her, and Bomi readily confesses she slipped her sleeping pills, revealing that the police let Kang Jin-gu go. Suji half-falls to the ground, and Bomi calmly states that she’ll finish this on her own, for her family. She walks out, leaving Suji desperately reaching towards her before she passes out.

Meanwhile, Kang Jin-gu proves to be too much for Detective Nam when he sets the bathroom in the safe house on fire, which distracts the detective enough for him to sneak out.

Chief Prosecutor Yoon was able to locate the hideout where Suji conducted surveillance on his family, and Do-han arrives to report that the apartment was rented a year ago using false ID. Yoon comments that Suji used this place to spy on his family, chuckling creepily.

Kang Jin-gu sneaks into Bomi’s apartment, where she’s sitting on the couch waiting for him. She stands and points Suji’s gun at him. Crap.

Kang Jin-gu just smiles, musing that he tried so hard to find her, when she was here the whole time. He starts to walk toward her, but Bomi snaps at him to stay back.

In response, he quietly shushes at her, almost whispering, “It would be better to stay quiet, for you, and for Jo Suji.” Aw, double crap.

 
EPISODE 16 RECAP

At Suji’s old safe house, Do-han gets the call from detective Nam that Kang Jin-gu has escaped. Do-han informs Yoon, and guesses that Kang Jin-gu will head to Bomi’s apartment to kill the last witness of his previous crime. Remembering that Bomi might be Suji’s accomplice, Yoon thinks this is the perfect opportunity to draw Suji out, as she’ll want to save her partner.

Do-han looks shocked and suggests that the plan could have terrible consequences, especially since Bomi barely escaped Kang Jin-gu five years ago. Yoon laughs, “I thought you were capable of coolheaded judgement.” He says that they need to save as many lives as possible, rationalizing that it’s better to catch a dangerous fugitive than a single girl.

Looking like a piece of his soul is dying, Do-han makes the call to Detective Nam, instructing him to locate Kang Jin-gu and wait until Suji appears. “Whatever happens inside, you are not to engage before she comes.”

Kyung-soo frantically shakes the unconscious Suji awake, and she runs to confirm that Bomi took the gun. Poor Kyung-soo’s eyebrows nearly pop off his head.

At the station, Eun-joong and Soon-ae are pulling together evidence for a warrant on Kang Jin-gu (regarding Uncle’s murder) when Jin-ki informs them that Kang Jin-gu escaped police custody.

In Bomi’s apartment, Kang Jin-gu starts inching closer until Bomi yells that she’ll blow his head off. Kang Jin-gu just laughs at that, calling her a scary girl for being able to live in the house where her family was murdered. Low blow, dude.

Bomi demands to know why he killed them, but Kang Jin-gu shakes his head like she’s a child asking the wrong question. As though coaching her, Kang Jin-gu asks her why he had to kill her uncle. Bomi’s eyes widen and Jin-gu beams ecstatically as he says, “That’s right! Your Uncle told me to do everything.”

Kang Jin-gu says he came to Seoul to split the money, then found out that there was another daughter – another witness. He blames Uncle for not telling him to begin with, saying that it’s his fault things have to come to this.

Suji and Kyung-soo hurriedly drive to Bomi’s house, with Kyung-soo worrying that Bomi might do something terrible and berating himself that he should have paid more attention to her.

Bomi growls that Kang Jin-gu killed four people just for money, but Kang Jin-gu’s face crumples as he asks if she’s ever starved before. “If you had, you wouldn’t say ‘just for money.’” He asks if she’s looking for an apology, but Bomi yells that she just wants to avenge her family and forget what happened that night.

She snaps the gun up with new determination, but Suji’s words about it being a last resort as well as Kyung-soo’s promises as he held her hand flash through her mind. She can’t pull the trigger.

Kang Jin-gu lunges at her, knocking the gun away. He scrambles to pick it up, and Bomi whips out her tiny bottle of pepper spray. She nails him in the eyes and locks herself in her room.

Bomi starts to hyperventilate as Kang Jin-gu pounds on the door, but then she sees a vision of her sister. Unni reminds her what she’s supposed to do: call the police. Bomi darts over to the landline and calls the cops.

Suji and Kyung-soo are camped outside Bomi’s apartment when a squad car pulls up, lights flashing. They watch as Detective Nam meets the officers, shows his detective badge, and sends them on their way. Curses!

Suji realizes that they’re waiting to catch her, and Kyung-soo worries that something must have happened in the apartment for the police to come.

Over at Grandma’s restaurant, Reporter Kim Kyung-mi (the one Do-han sicced on Lawyer Oh) is snooping through the window. She leaves a note for Grandma to call her, while her cameraman gripes at her for digging into the Suji case. Kyung-mi snaps back at him that she won’t just regurgitate what the higher-ups give them.

Just then, Kyung-mi gets a text (from a blocked number) that Jo Suji is at Bomi’s apartment complex. She dives into the car, yelling at the cameraman to hurry up. At the same time, Do-han deletes the message he just sent to her.

At the Yoon family household, Mom is up in arms about her precious Shi-wan being watched, and it sounds like Suji also managed to hack his phone and computer. Shi-wan reassures Mom that he knows what they’re doing now, so they won’t surprise him twice. Yoon chuckles at that, calling his son all grown up. (Good. So he can be tried as an adult, then?)

Do-han joins the family get-together, and Mom remarks that Yoon must really like him, as this is the first protégé he’s brought home. She and Shi-wan get up to leave, and she tries to take her son’s phone, since it was bugged. Shi-wan insists he can clear the hack, and Do-han watches carefully as the boy pockets it.

Detective Nam and the others all spring into action when a car goes roaring up to the apartment complex, but it’s just Reporter Kyung-mi following her tip. She and Detective Nam start bickering over police procedure versus the public’s right to know, and from a road above, Suji watches. She says that one reporter isn’t enough and instructs Kyung-soo to stir things up.

At the Yoon house, Do-han and Yoon share a drink. Yoon is curious about Do-han’s background, so Do-han hesitantly says that his mom died when he was in high school, and his father is… somewhere else.

Yoon notes that Do-han’s father must be proud of his successful son, but Do-han says that his father hated prosecutors and wanted him to have an ordinary life. Yoon smiles at that and says he sounds modest. Looking serious, Do-han answers, “My father was honest, warm, and always full of laughter.”

Yoon remarks that he hopes to meet Do-han’s father one day. Do-han’s phone rings, and as he turns to answer it, the smile slides from Yoon’s face as he looks at Do-han with his blank stare.

A plethora of reporters have now flocked to the outside of the complex, and Suji uses them as a cover to sneak past the frazzled detectives. And it’s not a moment too soon, as Kang Jin-gu has finally managed to break in the bedroom door. But before he can advance, someone grabs Kang Jin-gu’s hair from behind, yanking him out of the room.

It’s Suji! She pushes him back, but Kang Jin-gu whips out his knife, taking a swipe at her. Bomi rushes out and grabs the discarded gun, pointing it at Kang Jin-gu. Kang Jin-gu mocks that she can’t shoot anyways, but Bomi fires off two shots above his head.

The reporters outside scream, and Kang Jin-gu flinches enough that Suji can rush him, tossing him over her shoulder into a desk. It knocks him out, and Suji gently takes the gun from Bomi’s hands, telling her that they can go home now.

Bomi supports the still-wounded Suji as they hobble towards the door, but then Suji’s face hardens and she turns back and fires two shots at Kang Jin-gu. Outside, Soon-ae and Eun-joong hear the shots and rush past Detective Nam.

Kang Jin-gu regains consciousness in the apartment to find Suji’s gun in his hand. He freaks out, but the cops come rushing in, and he doesn’t hesitate to raise the gun and start shooting, except there aren’t any bullets in the gun. Eun-joong saunters forwards and officially arrests Kang Jin-gu for the murders of Bomi’s parents, sister, and uncle.

At the safe house, Suji and Bomi watch the news report that Bomi’s family’s case has been reopened, and that the prosecution has made a request for the U.S. soldier to be returned for questioning. Assemblywoman Chae even joins the bandwagon, intending to investigate if Chief Prosecutor Yoon manipulated the case five years ago.

Bomi finally gives a real smile to know that her family got justice, and Suji encourages her: “We got the killer. Let’s get those who ruined the investigation.” Bomi agrees they should catch them, promising Suji to help her. (Aww! She called her Unni!)

Kyung-soo arrives with food and immediately takes issue with Bomi speaking to him informally. He pulls out Bomi’s student ID and snaps that she’s four years younger than him. HAH! Bomi looks guilty for a moment, then yells at him for going through her things. Kyung-soo glares back, calling her “kid.”

Kyung-soo tells Suji that he washed her clothes and tried to clean the bloody handkerchief, but it’s permanently stained. He asks if he should just toss it, but Suji refuses, saying “I should return it.”

Yoon watches Assemblywoman Chae give an interview where she details the curious cases surrounding the chief prosecutor. She promises that she has evidence of his misdeeds, and if Yoon doesn’t step down, she will reveal it at the hearing.

Do-han stands by, watching Yoon’s expression with a small, satisfied smirk. Yoon worries that someone must be feeding Suji information, and with serendipitous timing, he receives a text: the photo of Lawyer Oh meeting with Assemblywoman Chae.

It hits Yoon hard, and he asks Do-han about the rumors he heard regarding Lawyer Oh meeting with the opposition. Do-hon confirms that they’ve made Oh offers in return for him to be a witness at Yoon’s hearing.

Eun-joong does some more sleuthing and gets the black box from a car parked near where Suji collapsed. His stares at the video in shock as none other than Do-han comes running up to Suji’s prone form.

Suji pays a visit to the priest and asks for a favor: to meet the boss. She says that she owes the two of them for saving her life and for helping Bomi find justice, but she can’t trust someone who could betray them at ay time.

The priest says that it’s not enough to convince the boss to meet her, so Suji asks, “Is it because he’s hiding his identity to masquerade as the prosecutor who’s after us?” Damn. The priest looks as shocked as I am, and then Suji hands him the bloody handkerchief.

Flashback to Do-han lifting the injured but not unconscious Suji into his arms. Now we see that Detective Nam had come upon the pair, but the sound of the other cops arriving nearby gave him pause.

Do-han smirks and says that if he shoots Suji now, there’s no way to cover it up as self-defense, since she’s clearly incapacitated. He adds, “Chief Prosecutor Yoon likes things to be taken care of quietly. Doesn’t he?”

Do-han convinces Detective Nam to go back and distract the other cops while he hides Suji somewhere and deals with the security cameras. Then, he says, after they send the other cops away, they can come back and deal with her – if she hasn’t bled out by then. Detective Nam runs off, and Do-han dashes away with Suji.

He lays Suji down on a back stairway and desperately applies pressure, soaking his handkerchief with blood and looking terrified as he tells her not to die. He makes a phone call (presumably to the priest), and nearly begs, “Save this woman. Please.”

 
COMMENTS

She knows! Wow. I was not expecting Suji to uncover Do-han’s identity so soon, but then, Suji does have the tenacity of a pit bull with a chew toy, so it makes sense that she followed any suspicion or hunch with dangerous determination. I’m relieved we won’t have to spend the next two episodes of her second-guessing the hazy memories, and hopefully we can get to the big confrontation between her and Do-han. It’s too bad we don’t get a big reveal with Do-han emerging from behind a curtain like the Devil of Oz, but I’m just so proud of Suji for figuring it out that I can’t be too disappointed.

I’m really excited to see how this will play out, as not only Suji, but also Eun-joong has learned the truth — or at least figured out that Do-han is more than his smarmy persona. I know that Eun-joong sees Do-han as a representation for all that is corrupt in the prosecution office, but I’m getting more of a “disappointed big brother” vibe from him than outright hatred, so I’m hoping that this reveal could lead to (dare I say it) a prosecutor bromance. It also feels like Do-han is sinking in a bit too deep right now and doesn’t see that Yoon is becoming suspicious of him, so I’m rooting for a few more people in his corner to help if it all goes south.

I’m becoming more and more convinced the Yoon is the devil, and I’m downright terrified of the way he’s looking at Do-han in those moments when the emotionless mask slips into place. It’s strange, since I’ve gone from not liking our antihero to being worried about his safety in the span of two episodes. Do-han really does care about the Lookout group, but I’m worried that he let too much show in font of Yoon, especially where Bomi was concerned. That flash of emotion, combined with his saving Suji from Detective Nam, seems to be pinging Yoon’s radar, and that is a chilling thought.

But all that terror fades away when I watch Bomi and Kyung-soo learn how to deal with each other in the physical world. I think it’s pretty obvious that Kyung-soo is head over heels in puppy love with Bomi, though I’m not sure if he’s fully aware of it yet. I think that right now he’s just so happy to have Bomi out in the real world with him, and he feels a certain pride and responsibility to serve as her guide and companion. Kyung-soo may not be the brains of the operation, but he is hands down the heart, and I can’t wait to see how the two of them progress from here.

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