Suspicious Partner: Episodes 35-36

by LollyPip

I just love how this show plays with the idea of memory, and how it can affect people in different ways. We’ve seen how memories can affect even someone like Hyun-soo, for better or for worse. As all of our characters prove, a person’s memory shapes who they are, and those memories are capable of turning them into a fighter for justice or a cold-blooded killer.

 
EPISODE 35 RECAP

After losing Hyun-soo at the hospital, Ji-wook tries to call Yoo-jung, only to learn that Hyun-soo injured her during his escape. He calls Eun-hyuk, who’s driving Bong-hee to the office, and both of them head back to see Yoo-jung.

Yoo-jung is fine with just a mild concussion, but Eun-hyuk is beyond frantic and he begs her loudly and dramatically to wake up. Heh, Yoo-jung is embarrassed by his histrionics and hisses at him to shut up as Ji-wook and Bong-hee slink away.

Ji-wook says that he feels guilty for not anticipating that Hyun-soo would make a run for it, and Bong-hee wonders if Hyun-soo regained his memory. Ji-wook thinks he did, but he says there’s no way to know exactly how much he remembers. In light of the danger, he asks Bong-hee to come back to his house for the time being, but she declines and promises to be careful.

Eun-hyuk is still fussing over Yoo-jung like a mother hen as he takes her home from the hospital. Ji-hae sees them with their arms draped over each other, and from her perspective, they look like a very close couple.

Eun-hyuk doesn’t intend to go into Yoo-jung’s apartment, but she steps inside without her purse, so he follows her nervously. She collapses on the couch and says wearily that she hopes she goes to sleep and never wakes up, embarrassed about losing Hyun-soo. Eun-hyuk ends up staying until she falls asleep, then leaves after covering her with a blanket.

Ji-wook paces, trying to figure out just how much Hyun-soo probably remembers. He lists the people Hyun-soo has met since waking up: Ji-wook, Yoo-jung, and Bong-hee. It’s torture to Ji-wook, not knowing how far back Hyun-soo’s current memory extends.

He asks himself if Hyun-soo recalls the murders he committed and his purpose for committing them. One thing he does know is that Hyun-soo remembers someone he went to school with, since he stole their photo from his old yearbook.

It’s Bong-hee’s true identity in particular that’s bothering Hyun-soo, because she feels familiar to him, but he still can’t recall exactly who she is. He caresses his lost girl So-young’s yearbook photo, wondering why he killed those people and what he was trying to finish.

Two days after Hyun-soo’s escape, Yoo-jung’s boss is furious about the public’s opinion that by not watching the suspect properly, the district attorney’s office is now expending a lot of manpower trying to capture him again. He orders Yoo-jung to take a leave of absence, telling Ji-hae to do the same.

Frustrated by Ji-wook and Bong-hee’s mopey moods, the guys all bravely promise to catch Hyun-soo themselves if he shows up around them. Ji-wook suddenly remembers Hyun-soo saying on the bridge that he wants Ji-wook to feel how he feels before he tossed out a casual comment that he’ll just have to “kill them all” to make Ji-wook understand.

He barks at them to stop making jokes, directing them to keep themselves safe no matter what.

Hyun-soo takes another flower to his old school, and as he looks at So-young’s photo, a flash of memory returns. He sees So-young running from someone through a field of tall grass, glancing behind her in terror. The memory shakes him deeply.

Ji-wook and Bong-hee visit the school, since Ji-wook is certain that Hyun-soo will come here in an attempt to recover more of his memory. He tells Bong-hee that he’ll probably visit the places where he killed his victims next. They leave the campus, and behind them, Hyun-soo watches them go.

He has another quick flash of memory, this time of seeing Bong-hee standing on her balcony the night that he first saw her. He stares after her now, whispering, “Who are you?”

Bong-hee stays at Ji-wook’s late that night to finish up some work. Growing sleepy, she makes a cup of coffee, but on her way back to her desk, she senses something that makes her blood run cold. She turns slowly to see Hyun-soo sitting in a chair just a few feet away.

Upset, he asks, “Who are you?” Bong-hee says that she should be asking why he’s here, but Hyun-soo just moans that his head hurts, sounding like he’s in agony as he explains that she’s the first person he saw when he woke up but his head keeps telling him to get rid of her.

He asks Bong-hee if she knows why, but then he suddenly remembers seeing her on her balcony more clearly. He hears his own voice growling, “I must make sure she can’t talk.”

Frustrated and confused, Hyun-soo lurches towards Bong-hee, telling her to answer his question. He grows more agitated as he repeats over and over, “Who are you? What are you? What am I? Tell me who I am. Why am I like this??”

Bong-hee calmly tells him that it’s because she witnessed his killing. While Hyun-soo tries to process this, she throws a stack of papers at him, then knocks him down with a taekwondo kick. She lands a few punches before he throws her into the desk and raises a heavy box to smash down on her head.

But someone crashes into Hyun-soo, tossing him across the room — it’s Ji-wook. He checks to see if Bong-hee is okay as Hyun-soo pulls out a knife. Ji-wook evades Hyun-soo’s wild slashes with the weapon, then he flips Hyun-soo over his head and slams him to the floor.

While Hyun-soo is stunned, Ji-wook and Bong-hee work together to hold his arms behind his back. Bong-hee suddenly freezes, eyes wide, gasping that Ji-wook is bleeding. It’s only then that he realizes that he’s been stabbed.

Ji-wook drifts in and out of consciousness in the ambulance, with Bong-hee crying over him. While he’s out, he relives his memory of the fire, but this time, he remembers what truly happened.

He’d been in his bedroom, and he’d opened the door to find his father lying among the flames, reaching out to him. A man, Bong-hee’s father, had fought his way to Ji-wook’s father, but Ji-wook’s dad had weakly begged him to save his son instead.

Bong-hee’s father had grabbed little Ji-wook and carried him out of the house. With a kind smile, he’d reassured Ji-wook that he would save his mom and dad, then he went back into the flames. He never came back out.

Sometime later, Ji-wook wakes in a hospital bed to see Bong-hee, CEO Byun, Eun-hyuk, and Chief Bang all hovering over him nervously. He peers at them with a frown, then asks, “Who are you?” Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

Then Ji-wook starts laughing, the evil little troll. Everyone laughs with him except Bong-hee, and he grows serious again when he sees her distraught expression. Chief Bang and Eun-hyuk quickly catch on, and they hustle CEO Byun out of the room.

Ji-wook tells Bong-hee that he’s sorry, and she assumes that he’s sorry for getting hurt and worrying her. She threatens to really get mad if he does something like that again, feeling guilty that everything bad that happens to him is because of her.

With Hyun-soo in custody again, Yoo-jung has a chance to question him about whether his memory has returned, but he refuses to acknowledge her. She continues asking questions and showing him photos of his victims, but Hyun-soo just silently stares at her.

Still in the hospital, Ji-wook wakes later to find Bong-hee sleeping with her head on his bed. He’s utterly charmed, and he reaches out to smooth her tousled hair. She wakes up, startled to see him watching her, and he doesn’t tell her that her head looks like a rat’s nest.

She wants to check his stitches, but he primly refuses, too shy to let her see something so ugly. Bong-hee assures him that his wound is probably very cute and sexy, then she realizes what she just said. She apologizes for not being good at keeping her personal feelings to herself.

Ji-wook chuckles, admitting that he likes it. He says that he needs to tell Bong-hee something very important, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of all the guys, including Jae-hong. The little rascal also wants to see Ji-wook’s wound, but Ji-wook fends him off.

He tries to distract Jae-hong by saying that Chief Bang also has a cool scar. But Jae-hong quips that he has no interest in that ajusshi, and Chief Bang snaps back, “I have no interest in you, either!” HAHA, as if he wasn’t all excited to show off his scar just ten seconds ago.

Yoo-jung catches Eun-hyuk lurking outside her office door, and he pretends that he’s all shocked to see her here, like a big awkward dork. He asks how she’s recovering from her concussion and she says that she’s depressed — but because of her life, not her injury. Eun-hyuk gives her the food he brought, reminding her not to rush her meals like she’s been doing.

 
EPISODE 36 RECAP

When Ji-wook is finally allowed to go home, Bong-hee brings him a tray of food which he runs from like she’s trying to poison him, hee. She reminds him that he’s not allowed to work, not even to go to meetings, and she vows to take care of him herself (as an employee, of course).

He tries to assure her that he doesn’t need help, but she looks so woebegone from the guilt of getting him stabbed that he accedes to her wishes. She watches him expectantly, waiting for him to eat the porridge she made, and though it looks like it’s killing him, he dutifully eats it just to see the smile on her face. That’s love, right there.

Later, she helps him clean and re-bandage his stab wound, and they continue like this for several days. Ji-wook is nearly undone by Bong-hee’s attentions, and at one point, he admits that he’s struggling to hold himself back around her. He finishes bandaging himself, just as Chief Bang arrives with the information Ji-wook requested about his parents’ deaths.

He tells Ji-wook that it’s hard to say since it’s been so long, but that there’s a good chance the fire was accidental and not arson, as he’s always been told. Ji-wook sighs, wondering how he’s supposed to tell all this to Bong-hee. He asks her to make some time to talk after work.

At first Ji-wook hesitates, unsure of how to begin. He starts by telling Bong-hee that the cause of the fire is still unknown, but that he’s certain that her father wasn’t an arsonist, and that he didn’t kill his parents. In fact, he says it’s the opposite: Her father saved his life and passed away while trying to rescue his parents.

Reeling, Bong-hee asks why her father was accused of killing his parents. Ji-wook can’t even hold his head up as he says, “Because of me.” He tells Bong-hee that it was his fault for saying in his statement that her father was the killer.

Bong-hee’s expression goes eerily blank as she asks why. Ji-wook knows that anything he says will sound like an excuse, but Bong-hee demands to hear his excuse anyway. Looking infinitely sad, Ji-wook tells her that he thinks that he lost his memory of the incident due to shock, and that District Attorney Jang needed to cover his mistake with her father’s erroneous assault charge, so he made Ji-wook believe that her father caused the fire.

He admits that whatever excuse he gives, in the end, it’s all his fault. Bong-hee walks home, still in shock at learning the truth, while Ji-wook cries out his guilt and shame.

Ji-hae is having a bad day too — after seeing Eun-hyuk and Yoo-jung together, she sighs that she must have gotten way ahead of herself (in thinking Eun-hyuk liked her). She tries to act fine when Bong-hee arrives home, but Bong-hee notices that she’s been crying.

Ji-hae can see that Bong-hee is about to cry, so she asks why. Bong-hee just flings herself at Ji-hae and hugs her, and the two sob on each other’s shoulders.

Apparently, another of Eun-hyuk’s “accidental” meetings with Yoo-jung backfired, and he complains about having to carry an armload of heavy files home for her. Yoo-jung asks if their seeing each other today, and every time she’s having a hard time, are really coincidences.

He says that they are, and she sighs that it’s a good thing she didn’t get the wrong idea. She says that they’re just good friends, and though Eun-hyuk looks as though he’d like to say more, in the end, he just agrees. Yoo-jung goes up to her apartment, telling herself that she did the right thing.

CEO Byun goes to see District Attorney Jang, and it’s obvious that there’s no love lost between the two men. CEO Byun tells District Attorney Jang that he’s wrong about Bong-hee being the one who killed Hee-joon, and that Jung Hyun-soo is the real murderer.

He adds that District Attorney Jang is stubborn and ignorant but that he’s not stupid, so if he takes the time to really look, he’ll see that it’s true. He also says that they both know that Ji-wook was born to be a prosecutor, and asks District Attorney Jang to do the right thing and reinstate him.

For once, District Attorney Jang listens to advice and looks over the files on Hee-joon’s murder and the bodies dumped in the water tower nearby. I don’t care how awful he is, looking at those photos of his son’s corpse must be devastating.

Later, Bong-hee finds District Attorney Jang in the hallway and confronts him, holding her head up and looking him right in the eyes. She informs him proudly that she’s the daughter of Eun Man-soo, the man he made a scapegoat to cover up his mistake. She tells District Attorney Jang firmly that her father was not an arsonist, and that she did not murder Hee-joon.

She accuses District Attorney Jang of being incapable of admitting when he’s wrong, and of fabricating evidence against her father, asking, “Have you thought about how the family you ruined had to live? How my mother lived? Do you know how hard my life was because of what you did to me?”

But she answers her own question, saying that he did know and just didn’t care. She says again that her father was an innocent man, and that it was District Attorney Jang who made the mistake.

She heads back to Ji-wook’s, but although he looks at her hopefully, she doesn’t say a word to him. He goes upstairs and is surprised when she comes up with his bandage kit, and though he says there’s no need for her to help, she tells him to just listen.

She asks if he’s truly sorry, and when he nods, she admits that she doesn’t know how to act around him. She says that District Attorney Jang’s mistake was bigger than his, but it’s true that Ji-wook made a false statement against her father. She tells Ji-wook to wait, and she’ll decide whether to forgive him or to let things stay as they are.

She turns to go, and Ji-wook reflexively reaches out to stop her and thanks her for coming back to work. Bong-hee says that she’s not back for good, she’s only trying to give herself time to think things through. Ji-wook says that it’s enough for him.

At the meeting the next morning (HA, Jae-hong is there, like he’s just one of them now), CEO Byun is up to his old antics and stirring the pot. Jae-hong records the bickering on his tablet, including Ji-wook’s regularly scheduled irritated outburst, hee.

Later, Bong-hee watches the video, grinning at the unintentional hilarity. She crops the film to just Ji-wook’s few seconds and lets it play over and over again.

Ji-wook visits Hyun-soo in jail, guessing by the return of his superior sneer that he’s gotten his memory back. Ji-wook tells Hyun-soo that he’s being charged with two murders in addition to his attack on Ji-wook himself, and that he intends to prove that Hyun-soo killed those other people as well.

He informs Hyun-soo that the system is merciful to those who confess, though he doesn’t think Hyun-soo deserves mercy. Hyun-soo just laughs and says that he thinks there’s someone who’s still on his side.

Hyun-soo decides to talk to Yoo-jung, and he confesses to all of his murders. He tells Yoo-jung that the identity of the second body found in the water tower is Sung Jae-hyun, who went to school with Jin-woo, the person whose body they already identified. He also admits to the murder of Jang Hee-joon, and we see that District Attorney Jang is watching this confession from behind the one-way mirror.

Hyun-soo says that he didn’t intend to kill Hee-joon, but that Bong-hee saw him on the rooftop nearby, and when he went to kill her, he found Hee-joon instead. Hyun-soo seems to know that District Attorney Jang is watching, and he taunts him by saying that Hee-joon kept crying out for his father, so he killed him.

District Attorney Jang rushes back to his office and picks up the portrait of Hee-joon that he keeps on his desk. He holds the picture to his heart and sobs. When he runs into Bong-hee again a while later, he shocks her by saying that he’s sorry. She tells him that his apology is not accepted, and he nods, unsurprised.

Hyun-soo is taken from his jail cell and transported to the parking garage, where District Attorney Jang waits in his car. Hyun-soo is seated beside him, and as they drive away, Hyun-soo grins like he knows that things are about to get very interesting.

At home, Ji-wook goes to his closet and gets out his old prosecutor’s robes. In voiceover, we hear him getting a call from the Ministry of Justice, reinstating Ji-wook as a prosecutor.

Epilogue.

Ji-wook lovingly steams his prosecutor’s robes, then tries them on. He smiles at himself in the mirror, looking happier and more confident than he has in a long time.

 
COMMENTS

Just when I was beginning to think that District Attorney Jang might not be entirely horrid, he goes and does this. Is he just incapable of actually following the law in a case where his personal feelings are involved? And how has he risen to the rank of DA when he’s obviously so corrupt, and avoided being caught all these years? I’m worried about why he’s taking Hyun-soo out of jail when Hyun-soo made that comment about someone being on his side. I’m scared that District Attorney Jang plans to subvert the law again and try doing something to Hyun-soo. This is very bad either way, because District Attorney Jang will either get himself killed, or he’ll kill Hyun-soo, and I have to admit that as evil as he is, I want Hyun-soo to see his lost girl avenged.

Hyun-soo’s quest to recover his hole-filled memory is fascinating, because it’s so interesting that he remembered killing those people, but not why. It made him more unpredictable and somehow even more dangerous, because the way he acted when he went after Bong-hee was wild and erratic, unlike his usual carefully calculated moves. When he confronted her at Ji-wook’s house, Hyun-soo seemed to be fighting his confusing urges, wanting answers before he gave in to his instincts. Regardless, it seems as though he remembers everything now, and though we get the gist of his motivations, I’m morbidly eager to discover the full truth of what happened to his lost girl and why he decided to take justice into his own hands.

On a slightly lighter note, I’m sad for Eun-hyuk that he got friend-zoned so hard, but I think it’s really for the best all around. I still don’t believe that he had any intention of getting together with Yoo-jung, because he’s made it crystal clear from the very beginning that Ji-wook’s friendship means more to him. But I also think that he got swept up in the drama when Yoo-jung was in danger, and that he let his emotions waver just a bit in one last extinction burst before the true end. It’s natural that Eun-hyuk would feel sad, even though he made his decision a long time ago. Luckily, there’s someone waiting in the wings and hoping to catch his eye, and I happen to think that they would be absolutely perfect for each other.

This was practically the only time I’ve agreed with Ji-wook’s decision to withhold information from Bong-hee for a while, in no small part because she wasn’t hurt in any way by waiting to know the truth about her father. I felt so bad for Ji-wook during that time, because he was facing the fact that not only has he been devastatingly wrong about her father’s role in his parents’ deaths, but because the truth actually reversed their previous positions. Until now, Bong-hee’s father has been taking the blame for murdering Ji-wook’s parents, when in fact he died because he was trying to save them. This makes Ji-wook feel directly responsible for the fact that Bong-hee grew up without her father, when all this time, he’s been subconsciously assigning the blame to her family for his life as an orphan.

Then to make matters worse, he has to tell her that it was his own confession that led to her father being branded as a murderer after his death. Even though he was brainwashed into believing the lie, it’s in Ji-wook’s nature to still accept the blame even though he was just a scared little boy, so I completely understand why he waited to tell Bong-hee until he knew the facts for sure. He knows how it changed the way he felt about Bong-hee when he thought that her father was the murderer, so he knows exactly how she’s likely to react and how it could push her even further from him. But I respect that Ji-wook had the courage to tell the truth, putting Bong-hee’s right to know that her father was innocent over his own wishes for them to get back together.

What makes me the happiest right now is seeing both Bong-hee and Ji-wook regaining their confidence and personal strength, that they’re using their time apart to reflect and work on themselves. Even when they were together, there was still something missing in both of them. Ji-wook was never content being a defense lawyer, and when he put those robes on in the epilogue, you could just see him filling up with pride and purpose. And knowing that both her own and her father’s names will soon be cleared has given Bong-hee back that spark that she lost when she thought that Ji-wook believed her father to be guilty. Regardless of whether they find their way back to each other (and I believe they will), this time apart has been good for them. Now they can love each other fully, both with everything they are, and for everything the other is.

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