5 Times Everyone Came Through For Seo Hyun Jin In Episodes 7-8 Of "Why Her?"

After last week’s tumultuous cliffhanger, Oh Soo Jae (Seo Hyun Jin) is left to grapple with murder, accusations a plenty, and new heights of ingenuity from her enemies. But she isn’t dealing with all this alone. The past few episodes have gained Soo Jae just as many new friends as enemies, and they’re here to ensure that she doesn’t go under.

Here are five moments when people came through for Soo Jae this week!

Warning: spoilers for episodes 7-8 below.

1. The legal clinic crew rallying around Soo Jae during her arrest

Soo Jae is nearly hurt herself in the explosion that kills Hong Seok Pal (Lee Chul Min), but when she calls the police, she finds herself the No. 1 suspect in his murder. The real mastermind is, of course, Choi Tae Guk (Heo Joon Ho) who is determined to have Soo Jae either under his thumb or six feet under. But given how powerful he is, the police and the prosecutors go along with everything he says.

Soo Jae is arrested at the law school before the student body and in front of the members of the legal aid clinic she supervises who have rather grown to like her. All of them protest vociferously at her arrest including former cop Jo Kang Ja (Kim Jae Hwa), Na Se Ryun (Nam Ji Hyun), and Nam Choon Pong (Lee Jin Hyuk), but their efforts are to no avail. Soo Jae is visibly moved by their support even as she is arrested though, and the legal clinic crew vows to secure her release.

2. Gong Chan’s prison ahjusshi friends finding the real murderer

It’s no secret that Gong Chan’s (Hwang In Yeop’s) friends Goo Jo Gab (Jo Dal Hwan) and Seo Hyung Chil (Lee Gyu Sung) aren’t particularly excited by his budding romance with Soo Jae. They support him, certainly, but are mindful of the societal and age differences between the two. So it’s all the more heartwarming when they chime in to help with clearing Soo Jae’s charges.

The main bit of evidence against Soo Jae is a whopper. It’s a video of Hong Seok Pal admitting to having murdered Park So Young (Hong Ji Yoon) on Soo Jae’s supposed orders. To prove it, in the video he plays a recording of a phone call from Soo Jae where she threatens to expose his illegal room salon business to the authorities unless he kills So Young. Even Soo Jae’s longtime assistant Song Mi Rin (Lee Joo Woo) is shocked and confused by the recording. Soo Jae had enlisted Mi Rin as her lawyer for the case, and for the first time, we see Soo Jae look slightly shaken when Mi Rin says out loud that she doesn’t know what to think.

This is because the phone call is real. Soo Jae did threaten Hong Seok Pal, but the last line where she supposedly orders him to kill Park So Young is fake. The only question is how to prove it. It’s Jo Gab and Hyung Chil who figure out that Hong Seok Pal is communicating in code during his “confession” video, signaling the name of the real person who ordered him to kill So Young: Ha Il Goo (Jun Jin Gi), the secretary to Choi Tae Guk.

3. Choi Yoon Sang drugging Ha Il Goo

Choi Yoon Sang (Bae In Hyuk) has been growing steadily dislikable from the moment he ordered Soo Jae to stop relying on Gong Chan and to start relying more on him, saying his joining the legal clinic was conditional on that. He continues that overly-possessive streak this week and initially blames Gong Chan for daring to suspect his father without proof. He does quickly switch over upon realizing that Choi Tae Guk is indeed behind Soo Jae’s arrest. Yoon Sang comes up with a plan to get Ha Il Goo drunk, swipe the key to his office, and get the original faked audio painting Soo Jae as a killer.

From there on, getting the audio verified as fake by an expert is a piece of cake. Yoon Sang threatens his father using the audio to get Soo Jae out of jail. But what Choi Tae Guk does next will have ramifications, not only for Soo Jae but for the fate of the legal clinic crew as a whole.

4. The judge doing her job without a grudge against Soo Jae

Between Soo Jae’s own investigations prior to arrest for who could have rigged Hong Seok Pal’s car with an explosive to Yoon Sang procuring the original audio as proof that her ordering Hong Seok Pal to kill So Young was fake, Soo Jae has more than enough evidence at her initial hearing to prove that the charges and her arrest were unwarranted.

But she finds herself up against an unexpected enemy at trial: the judge Shim Min Joo (Lee Jin Hee) is the wife of the law school professor Soo Jae helped get fired because of his tendency to sexually assault women. Soo Jae fears an uphill battle when she sees Shim Min Joo, but the other woman is fair. She listens to both sides, hears the evidence, and makes a decision based on the law and not on any vendetta against Soo Jae. Considering that her last conversation with Soo Jae before the trial ended with Soo Jae threatening her, Min Joo’s definitely doing the decent thing here, and it’s good to see that Soo Jae isn’t entirely surrounded by enemies.

5. Gong Chan

Last but not least on the list of people doing everything to free Soo Jae is Gong Chan who goes all out in an effort to prevent Soo Jae from experiencing what happened to him when he was accused of murder all those years ago. He rushes to Soo Jae in the aftermath of the explosion and ensures that she isn’t alone that night. He pulls her out of her nightmares and comforts her when she breaks down in the aftermath of all the death she’s seen in the last month.

He even makes her breakfast the morning of her arrest and uses his scarf to cover the handcuffs on her as she’s taken away. Soo Jae can’t help but be moved by his obvious devotion. And really, who wouldn’t want a cheerleader like him on their team? So it’s no surprise when she’s fully exonerated that she leans on Gong Chan and seems to give into her feelings for him. Gong Chan couldn’t look more delighted. Thus, it seems that Gong Chan will be relegated to playing cheerleader to Soo Jae’s grander story. It’s an unfortunate role no matter whether it’s a male or a female lead in it because it gives the cheerleader no real character arc beyond cheering and fighting for their love interest. It’s not like he’s learning how to be an ace lawyer from her like in “A New Leaf.” He seems to be there purely to serve as her white knight. Ah well.

Next week shows Yoon Sang being set up as perhaps the stereotypical overly-pushy second male lead who tries to force his way into the female lead’s affections. Soo Jae had enough evidence going for her to get all charges dismissed, but Yoon Sang’s threats to his father resulted in Choi Tae Guk manufacturing a fall guy to take the heat off Soo Jae. It’s so wild to see him frame Soo Jae, send her to jail, and then casually send someone else to take the fall instead. This means that Yoon Sang is now in his father’s debt, and he promises to serve as a double agent between Soo Jae and his father if he can be positioned as Soo Jae’s intern.

Yoon Sang’s thought process is that he can somehow protect Soo Jae by standing between her and his father, but what he’s actually doing is stifling Soo Jae and letting everyone and everything burn so long as he can have her. Having been involved with one of Choi Tae Guk’s sons in the past, Soo Jae will definitely rebuff the other, especially given that her history with Choi Joo Wan (Ji Seung Hyun) doesn’t seem to be over yet if she’s been doing DNA tests in secret.

From Gong Chan’s past to Soo Jae’s child, the secrets everyone’s keeping are itching to burst loose. So there’s no doubt that “Why Her?” is only going to get more and more interesting. With the preview showing Yoon Sang making his move and Soo Jae seemingly getting caught living with Gong Chan, one thing’s for sure: next week promises to be a wild ride!

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Shalini_A is a long time Asian-drama addict. When not watching dramas, she works as a lawyer, fangirls over Ji Sung, and attempts to write the greatest fantasy romance of all time. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and feel free to ask her anything!

Currently Watching:  “Why Her?,” “Link,” “Doctor Lawyer,” “Alchemy of Souls,” “Insider,” and “Jinxed at First.”
Looking Forward to: “Adamas,” “Island,” “Little Women,”  “Big Mouth,” “Chaebol’s Youngest Son,” “Carter,” “Queen of the Scene,” and “Black Knight.”