“Pride and Prejudice” Case #5 – The dead woman in the toilet

Just kidding, it isn’t that kind of story. Anyway, you know what I love about this drama? The fact that they don’t string us along with a mystery that one or both of our main characters already know. In this case, we find out that it’s because Goo Dong Chi failed to save Yeol Moo’s little brother that he switched his studies from medical to judicial—and became an ace prosecutor instead. But, as the title of the series suggests, one is prejudiced against the other while the second is too proud to reveal the truth. Hence, Yeol Moo believes that Dong Chi’s guilty while he’s too hurt and proud to tell her exactly what happened: that he fell and knocked himself unconscious while trying to carry her brother away, and the kidnapper and Han Byul both disappeared afterward. In the meantime, more and more cases pile up for our team of prosecutors to deal with. One of them involves a woman found hung in a public restroom, the yellow scarf still tied around her neck. A signature that’s almost identical to a previous case which involved a man with a panda tattooed on his hand who’d also leave a bamboo ring with his victims. But, in this case, no ring was found…

…Or was it? What’s that thing around the wacko’s wrist?

Not only that, but Hee Man is now intent upon going after the drug ring and sends everyone out to catch a courier who, according to a snitch, is carrying one kilo of cocaine from China to S. Korea. After realizing there’s a decoy, our prosecutor team goes after the right man and stops him from leaving Incheon airport. But the man, with a bad burn on the side of his face, attacks them with a knife, calling Dong Chi by his name. Uh, do they know each other?

Kang Soo jumps in to defend his friend and, in the struggle, ends up getting their target hurt as they both fall into the sea. And, unfortunately, by the time the courier gets to the hospital, the man dies. But, on his hand, is the tattoo of a panda bear.  Dun dun duuuuun!

Favorite moments of the episode include:

1. Chang Gi trying to convince Yeol Moo’s mother to cough up two million won (roughly $2,000) to save poor iguanas that have supposedly not made it through customs at Incheon airport. (In reality, he’s trying to pay back the money Kang Soo used up to post bail for him.) 2. Kang Soo pretending to be jealous of grandma Geum Ok’s attention towards Chan. 3. Yeol Moo asking Dong Chi if she’s pathetic for working so hard to find the one who’s killed her little brother and assuming it’s him. His answer: No, it hurts. (I love how ambiguous Korean can be with the lack of subject—is she saying she hurts, so it’s understandable? Or is he saying he’s hurt that she believes him capable of such an evil act?) 4. Yeol Moo gets all up in Hee Man’s face about going to law school when she worked her butt off to get in via a scholarship. 5. Dong chi’s smug expression when Yeol Moo gets sick at the sight of the dead woman.

6. Jang Won and Gwang Mi’s handling of the crazy man who had to save the water from boiling because it hurt.

7. When Yeol Moo takes Kang Soo’s shaking hands after he’s accidentally gotten the man stabbed…and when Chang Gi consoles him later.

Case #6 – The panda bear

Kang Soo is immediately arrested for the death of the man with the panda bear tattoo (AKA Panda)—unfortunately there weren’t enough reliable eyewitnesses to get him off the hook (and apparently in this instance the use of the CCTV footage isn’t going to cut it). Since our prosecutor team botched the affair, the higher ups are now really angry at Hee Man for (1) going against orders and (2) his team’s incompetence. However, when the Deputy Chief Prosecutor says she’s going to cover up the case, Hee Man refuses—saying that even prosecutors (and those on their team) have to face the same laws as everyone else. Yeol Moo gets super angry and storms off at the others’ attitudes and unwillingness to take Kang Soo’s side, knowing full well that if he’d been a prosecutor he’d be exonerated.

But what she doesn’t know is that, once everyone is away, Hee Man and Dong Chi get together to find a way to save Kang Soo. A fact Hee Man also hides from Chang Gi when the latter says he’ll do anything if Hee Man gets Kang Soo off the hook. But we do learn that Chang Gi used to be a lawyer! Cue the short flashback, 15 years prior, when both men were evidently working together and, after (I assume) another fight, were so pissed off that they didn’t see a woman crossing the street and run over her.

Running over the dead toilet girl case again, the two girls—Yeol Moo and Gwang Mi—finally discover the bamboo ring hanging on the crazy man’s bracelet. But trying to get information out of that guy is like trying to keep water in a sieve… So they go back to visioning the CCTV recordings (what would we do without those nowadays?) and check the woman’s phone records. However, when they try the last number she called, Yeol Moo and Dong Chi realize she’d called none other than Panda! Soon after, they find out that the two bottles of water found inside Panda’s truck contained 150 grams of methamphetamines. Someone killed him, and it wasn’t Kang Soo. The trick, is to prove this theory of theirs. One thing leads to another, and they realize it’s a woman who’s most likely behind the murder, a woman who had previously stolen drugs from Panda. That woman is Song Ah Reum, the very girl who, in a previous case, had sold the drugs to Yeol Moo while the latter was undercover. While the real person behind Panda’s murder is none other than the snitch’s brother, Jae Shik.

In the end, after catching our two culprits, Yeol Moo admits to not knowing what to believe about Gong Chi. Gong Chi then asks her if he wants him to prove it to her that he’s not guilty. And kisses her. (Kyaaaa!)

Selected Favorite Moments:

1. Chang Gi consoling Kang Soo then praising the young investigator to Yeol Moo, calling him a mascot of the law: tall, good looking, kind. He’s number one!

2. Hee Man saying Kang Soo needs to live for him to live. It brought a tear to my eye! Our head Prosecutor isn’t as cold-hearted as he likes to portray himself.

He’s turned into a superhero!

Well, OK, it’s because it does tarnish his own reputation to have someone accused of a crime on his team, but hey. It’s the end result that counts. Right?

3. Hee Man calling over Chang Gi (you’ve got to listen to it as well!).

Note: in Korea, calling someone over like Hee Man does here is considered rude (it’s how you call over a dog)–the polite way would be to have your fingers pointed down.

4. Dong Chi falling asleep at the office then, when he wakes up to find Yeol Moo looking at him, says nonchalantly: I’m good looking, aren’t I?

5. Hee Man assigning the pile of files at the beginning of each day. At first, he’s still apologetic enough to assign Yeol Moo’s portion to poor, lazy Jang Won. But this doesn’t last long and he soon assigns her the lion’s share of the work. To be done by the end of the day, of course!

6. Gwang Mi tells Jang Won to send his girlfriend another apology sms, because he’s going to be late yet again. Ta-daaaah!

7. Hee Man gives up his moment of glory to the Deputy Chief Proseccutor in exchange for her dropping all charges against Kang Soo.

8. The tofu Chang Gi gives Kang Soo when he gets out of jail (a tradition over there). Cue in the d’awwwws.

Thoughts and Conjectures:

Seriously, this show keeps getting better and better. Granted, the lightheartedness of the first two episodes seems to have left (except for a few fun moments here and there, especially where Chang Gi is concerned), and it hasn’t been replaced by major tears (which I absolutely abhor) but by an ever deeper and darker mystery involving murders, drug rings and corruption. Frankly, I can’t wait to plunge with our prosecutor team and see how deep the hole goes.

The acting is still amazing, and I love how naturally all the crucial information is provided us. Yes, there are a few flashbacks, but they don’t happen at random moments—there’s always something that triggers them, an something relevant. We’re also no subjected to any info dumps at the beginning of the show. All in all, the show so far truly deserves its number one ranking! The only thing that bugs me, but just a little, is how easily they can zoom in on the CCTV recordings and still get a perfectly clear picture.

OK, onto predictions and hunches…

After that hot, passionate kiss, there’s no way Yeol Moo’s going to believe Dong Chi’s the one who killed her brother, right? Or is this like when Mr. Darcy kissed Elizabeth Bennett the first time and she rejected him? In any case, flashbacks have told us that the reason Yeol Moo’s brother was kidnapped and killed was because he’d witnessed something. So this doesn’t appear to be a case of child abuse or anything like that, but rather would appear he was the unfortunate witness to something entirely different. Like an important drug deal, perhaps? One that could be tied to the case our prosecutors are investigating now? And, as in Pride and Prejudice, once Yeol Moo finally discovers Dong Chi’s role in (one where he tried to help despite great risk to himself, even though he failed) will allow her to admit feelings she’s always harbored for him: love.

What do you think about this show so far? And how do you think events are going to unfold next?

[tv]If you haven’t done so yet, check out “Pride and Prejudice” on SoompiTV!