Bad Guys - Episode 9 (A Recap)

Is he or is he not (a killer), Part II! Things are mighty fishy, I'd say. Prosecutor "The Creepy Smiler" Oh for example? I'd rather not meet this guy at night. Squadleader "I Don't Care About Rules" Oh looks very suspicious too. Missy "Not Sure What I'm Doing in This Drama" Yoo better get her act together. And the two Bad Guys I like most (Tae-soo and Tae-soo) should appear a bit more often, please. It's not like Jo Dong-hyuk gets a ton of roles per year. That said, Kim Sang Joong is such a goddamn good actor. And the cinematography of this drama? Just wow.
JoAnne: I am preeeetty certain Hot Prosecutor is a bad bad man. I am THOROUGHLY disappointed in one Mr. Oh Goo Tak right now, but I can't say enough good about Kim Sang Joong. My first thought about the unholy marriage of Hot Prosecutor and Wet Blanket Mi Young is: oh shit, THAT'S why she's here. My second thought was: I hope you regret it, bitch. As for my boys, my beloved, beloved boys: Tae Soo isn't around enough; Woong Chul's heart will break, and Jung Moon, I know I'm right about you. You are not a bad boy. You are a good boy, you are. And I want to hug you. Oh and PS: Please let Nam be good.
bcook: Is it weird that the sound and logo for the OCN opening credits makes me happy? (A bit, yes)

Episode 9: Tropical Night

At the church-office, Mi-young confronts Goo-tak with what she has learned through Prosecutor Oh: that Lee Jung-moon is his daughter's killer. And she knows Goo-tak orchestrated everything and everyone just to get this guy in his vicinity. What she isn't sure about: Was he also the one that ordered Du-kwang to order Woong-chul to kill Jung-moon? And Do-shik to commission Tae-soo with it? And for both Woong-chul and Tae-soo to also be killed if they failed to kill Jung-moon? Goo-tak lifts his face, slowly... and smiles. He fucking smiles!!!! And then, he says: "That's right. I gave the order for all of it".
No. This HAS to be a misdirect. I COMMAND that it be a misdirect.
bcook: He's clearly being sarcastic. I think she's concentrating so hard on whispering that she can't recognize it.
But he follows it up with a "is that the answer you wanted?". So it's not sure! Damn, drama ... you're not giving us much, are you? Still, we can be sure he got those three guys out for a particular reason. For a reason that is connected to what happened two years ago.
Saved! If only for a moment. But tell us something we don't already know, though, Drama.
It's like writer-nim heard your request because long long ago (2 years), in a younger brighter Seoul ....

Two Years Ago

Goo-tak is being filmed on the job (awww, so cute!! And just like Nam's son in episode 1, too...), he is all shy and clumsy about being on TV. He reveals that his name is Mad Dog and that he has very strong principles when it comes to being a civil servant that lives off the taxes of the people. Bribery? Just you try if you want to feel a dog's teeth.
I laugh, because he's exactly the kind of guy that would make the same little speeches over and over again, and we heard this one in an earlier episode, in the present. For the life of me I can't remember who he said it to, though. Was it World's Most Creepiest Woman?
No, it was him himself, in the very first episode, when they confronted those prison guards in the toilet. The ones that let Jung-moon get away.
Wasn't it when the commissioner was telling MissIrrelevant about him in episode 1?
Somewhere in Seoul, a group of gangsters enters a nightclub. Their leader? Woong-chul! A few hits here and there and he has taken over the nightclub for his hyungnim. That seems to have been the last piece of resistance, because now, Seoul is theirs. 25 days is all it took: One area per day. Du-kwang offers Woong-chul any district he likes, but Woong-chul seems to be unhappy... he wants time to think. Oh, we know why, right? Because his conscience is weighing heavy on him.
How much do we LOVE that Woong Chul was already on The Road to Good Guy two years ago?
Absolutely Love! I had to take a minute and squee at my teddy bear gangster.
Cut to Goo-tak and his partner Chang-jun (somebody tell me what this actor's name is!!) (sorry, can't help ya... but he IS familiar - mary told me! It's Prosectuor Ahn from Cruel City! Name: Kim Jung-hak), who have been newly assigned to the Hwayeongdong serial killer case. The guy who was in charge before resigned because he couldn't take it anymore. The trademark of the killer (as we know): absolutely no traces. The killing is done by stabbing the victim in the back, once. And then, waiting for her to bleed out. He even trimmed her fingernails 0_____0 (because there might be DNA underneath it). He also wiped down the body with alcohol. Chang-jun is a bit lazy, it seems? Goo-tak tells him that this job is all about the details. I.e.: what was used to wipe down the body might be important, so get that analyzed pronto! 
An excellent, excellent, excellent bit of foreshadowing, there. White Kerosene, thy name is That One Thing That Started This Whole Downward Spiral For Everyone.
The burning question (hehe pun intended) on everybody's mind is if there's Black Kerosene too and what is THAT used for since white kerosene seems to be the miracle fuel.
Goo-tak muses about this crazy world which is full of people - which wasn't like this when he was young. The world is changing but he is not ... and that is driving him crazy. I loved that! It was like..so deep.  At Goo-tak's home, his daughter's piano teacher tells him to send her abroad to study. She has outgrown her as her teacher, in fact, is too good for all the teachers in Korea. The daughter would like to go, of course, but is very considerate of her father, too. She knows how hard he works just to be able to pay for their normal lives.
And this is very important too, of course. Her consideration of their situation. God my heart is just breaking.
There is someone at the door. Looks like bad news to me! The guy calls Goo-tak out ... to see Du-kwang. Oh. In the hallway of the restaurant, Goo-tak and Woong-chul pass each other. A glance at each other, that's it - but Goo-tak lingers a bit afterwards. What is he thinking? Inside with Du-kwang, Goo-tak gets things straight right away: The two things he won't do with a gangster are a) speak politely and b) eat with them. And in case he wants to give him money, he'll be thrown in jail for bribery.
There goes my theory that Du Kwang was secretly working with the police and that this whooooole thing was to bring down the evil prosecutors of Korea. 
I thought that too!! Jo... does this mean we've seen every kind of drama there is to see?  
Du-kwang informs Goo-tak he has taken over all of Seoul. And he heard (from other cops!) that it's necessary to be on the good side of Squad Leader Oh if one wants to live the good life. Goo-tak just laughs at him: he wants him to look away? And still laughs when Du-kwang's underling brings in a briefcase full of 50'000$. Since he has no money, he is really tempted! He says. And punches Du-kwang in the nose. They're even now, says Goo-tak, since he really doesn't want additional paperwork and prison-visit duties. Stay out of his face, Du-kwang (and don't mention his daughter and her expensive lessons, that's just mean!!!)
I like a gangster who does his homework, though. And what then, did the other cops mean, anyway? If Goo Tak never takes bribes, they wouldn't have meant THAT by 'stay on the good side' - did they just mean 'don't get caught by him, or you'll be sorry'?
When he brought up the daughter I thought for a second that maybe He'd had the daughter killed. But yeah not really sure what that "stay on mad dog's good side" meant. I wish somebody would give me $50,000 in a black briefcase.
Goo-tak does need money though if he wants to make his daughter's dream come true ... so he goes to soon-but-not-yet Commissioner Nam to borrow some. Only, the guy has nothing but debts either. He is an honest cop too! (See, JoAnne?)(Oh I long ago relaxed about him.) It's sad though ... because Goo-tak is so proud of his talented daughter who takes care of him so well. Goo-tak also gets piss drunk in the middle of the day so that Nam has to call his son to bring him home. The now-dead son and his father have a heartwarming/sad exchange (everything is sad about this, because we know how things end up), where Commissioner Nam reminds his son of his promise to quit the police force once he would become Commissioner, but the son says: well, I meant if you're Commissioner General of the whole of South Korea, not just Seoul.
That entire scene - the affection between the three men, the individual exchanges between friends, colleagues, parent and child... my heart broke for all of them. These were good cops, good parents, a good son. Good men.
Very bittersweet.
Later (it's now night), Goo-tak is woken up by a phone call from his grumpy partner. The chemical on the victim's body has been analyzed! It's white kerosene. That means they have to track down everyone who bought that substance lately, which causes another lazy-fit from Chang-jun (seriously ... why did he even become a police officer?!). Right then, Goo-tak gets a phone call from another police station. This is about his daughter. My heart sinks, but it's "just" his daughter that got into trouble at a hostess bar. She's at the hospital after getting beaten up by a customer TT________TT
The fuck?
I guess they needed a strong enough prompt. What would cause Mad Dog to crack? I wonder what my weak spot is.
It takes Goo-tak a long moment to calm down enough to enter that hospital room. And another when he looks at her bashed-up face up close. He is so gentle with her ... not angry at all at her for doing something so stupid. All that guilt ... he already has it, he feels he is not doing enough for her. He will get the money, he will! But she tells him she has given up. She knows her place in the world and she would rather face the ugly truths than have these tormenting dreams. Fuck, drama. Don't make me so sad :((((
Oh Jesus. Whatever he does next, God, I totally get where he's coming from. I do.
Not gonna lie. I was bawling as I watched this but also distracted because I know I've heard the song playing in the background of that scene before. Gu Family? Faith? Or did it play some other time during the last 8 episodes?
After crying in each other's arms, Goo-tak walks to the police station and almost kills the bastard that hit his daughter. He curses the fate of the poor as he cries afterwards. Damn.
I don't see how he was able to stop before killing the guy. Yes I know he was 'able' to stop due to all the men stopping him but the minute they let me go I would be aiming for that man's face at the speed of light. You! Do! Not! Fuck! With! My! Child! And yes, I know half the reason the man would be dead would be my OWN guilt about creating a situation where my kid would even feel it necessary to consider doing some dumb shit like working as a hostess. It's good thing she's only beat up, right? Because wow, wouldn't that guilt drive you to Crazy Town if she died? Good thing she didn't die, huh?
..... *awkward silence* yeah. good thing... she didn't die *whispers to kakashi* Is Jo forgotten things now? 
:-( 
And then, it happens: he meets Du-kwang again. He is ready to whitewash him and all his deeds. Oh man, it is so HARD for Goo-tak to take that money!! He has one condition though: He wants Park Woong-chul, the guy who made Du-kwang what he is. Let's pin all the crimes on his head. Du-kwang resists, since Woong-chul is like a brother to him... but not for long. There's a limit to gangster loyalty. We see Woong-chul giving money to his dry-cleaner father (who doesn't even look at him) and right after, he is arrested. The rest? History.
You son of a bitch.
Eh. he was going to leave anyway right? At least he didn't get the blood in blood out thing that poor dongsaeng of Tae Soo's got.
Cut to the video session again; this time, we're in a car and Goo-tak tells the reporter they're after a likely suspect in the serial killings. Off camera, he tells the reporter how they got to this point. So they checked CCTV footage from all the gas stations where the killer would have bought the white kerosene. They got a list of people who bought it. They then cross-references that list with people that were seen near the crime scenes. After a month, they had it down to one guy.
He's a good boy! You're wrong! Abort! Abort! Abort!  If you make this mistake, you'll be sorry someday!
Only video editor forgot it was supposed to be off camera and left the blinking red "recording" graphic on the screen.
And damn, he really found Lee Jung-moon! Goo-tak is a police genius. But Jung-moon's face is like  HUH? WAZZUP? At the police station, Goo-tak informs him that he will be detained for 48 hours, during which they will try to collect more evidence. Which doesn't seem to be too easy, cause Jung-moon doesn't really say much. He bought the white kerosene for his girlfriend, who is a painter, he claims. When he's asked why he was always seen near the victim's houses, Jung-moon says that he doesn't remember. And even when Goo-tak gets very violent with him, he doesn't. (Stop this, Goo-tak :( ) "Keep looking until you remember", says Goo-tak before he leaves the room.
FUCK FUCK FUCK
Don't. Break. His. Nose!!!!
There's only circumstantial evidence, but they'd need a confession to keep Psycho (not diagnosed as such yet!) in. Goo-tak orders a lie detector test. Shortly after, he's on his phone with his daughter, who is leaving in two days. Suddenly, he sees that Jung-moon's girlfriend is at the police station. He quickly confirms that she is a painter who uses white kerosene. He also asks her whether Jung-moon is a killer-type, but only makes her very confused.
Because he's NOT a killer type, you dumb ass Goo Tak. Or possibly he is but not of his own volition. There is that part. Either way.. .the person who IS Jung Moon IS NOT a killer. The body might be though. But that's DIFFERENT.
I do wonder what the legal system has to say to a case like this...
Rather interesting case a while back about a woman with multiple personalities and one of them killed her abuser (or something... somebody died). I think they just found her insane.
During the lie detector session, Jung-moon admits to having killed before. But he denies having killed all the victims. All his answers come up as true. Who DID he kill then? Jung-moon turns his face to look at Goo-tak and asks what he wants to hear? That he is the killer? Fine. He is the killer. He killed all these people. The lie detector says: false. Jung-moon walks free.
Because he's a good boy.
With the creepiest smirk I've seen since Joon in GapDong.
Goo-tak finds out what we know already: that Jung-moon killed the thieves who broke into his house and murdered his parents. They also find his psychopath score in his file. Just when Goo-tak says he wants to go meet the Proescutor who handled this case, his daughter walks in. Since she's soon to leave, she wants to spend as much time with her daddy as possible. As they sit there, laughing, Jung-moon walks in ... and comments that his daughter is quite pretty. Fuck. Creepy. He smiles. And then walks out.
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, JUNG MOON?
RIGHT!!!!? Jeesh! *throws hands up*
Cut to Goo-tak nodding off at the kitchen table ... it's late. His daughter isn't home yet. The phone rings ... it's Prosecutor Oh, asking for a meeting. Goo-tak leaves his daughter a message about the army stew she is to eat. He asks Prosecutor Oh whether he knows Jung-moon and Oh looks ... uncomfortable. He is far less cynical and smiley though. Cut to Goo-tak's daughter, who got home and happily wants to taste the army stew. But then, she hears a sound. She goes and checks ... the door is ajar. Behind her, a shadow with a knife. The rest? History.
This is so not good. Seals the deal with Goo Tak for sure... that poor dad. That poor daughter with all her hopes and dreams. I have a question in my heart now, because of how Hot Prosecutor looked there. My theory had been that HE was behind the killing plot because I'm fairly certain HE took Jung Moon to that doctor YES!! , and that HE was working with the doctor to do the killings (hold that thought) What? No? . God knows why. But now I wonder if he was just being a good guy taking this poor kid to the therapist and it's the DOCTOR who came up with the plot. Again, God knows why. And that it truly is the guilt of those additional killings that has Hot Prosecutor working on the dark side against our boys now.
I'm going to throw out a theory and since I'm batting 100 (have no idea what that means but the guys in my office say it a lot) I'm betting it comes true. Ok. Here it is. Prosecutor Oh was using Jung Moon's psycho brain to try and solve crime (sort of a predictor of who is likely to be kilt), only he was hypnotized so that he'd forget because Prosecutor Oh is an ambitious snake in the grass who wants credit to himself. Only somebody in the investigation team was actually crazy and starts using his guesses as a target list. Jung Moon kinda sorta suspects so goes to the crime scenes to try and get one step ahead of the killer. *dusts of hands* yup. Story all done. Go home folks.
Her death completely breaks Oh Goo-tak. Man, I fully, fully understand his hatred and his need for revenge. I think I even approve. And I tell you, my husband will not be able to watch this episode. This breaks any parents heart, but it might be a tad bit harder even for fathers.
Shit, yeah. If he were me, I would totally think that my breaking the law by taking the money is what caused her death. Knowing that I was responsible...h ow could I live with that? Instead I would go crazy trying to pin it on ANYBODY I could. And Jung Moon said the thing! The crazy thing! WHY DID YOU SAY THE THING, JUNG MOON? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
A lesson in thinking before you speak. And not smirking in a creepy way at a man and his daughter. I don't want to victim blame but did his daughter not lock the door?
Also, there is no doubt anymore (or at least they want us to think that!): the guy who went into the apartment, the guy who cut her fingernails ... it's Jung-moon.
WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I'm pretty sure this is just Gu Tak's imagination of what happened and who it is. It doesn't mean Jung-moon did it.
Goo-tak's colleagues are in front of Jung-moon's abode when Goo-tak enters the house. Upstairs, he grabs Jung-moon's throat and throws him against the wall. Right before he can shoot him in the face, his colleagues disarm him. That leads to his suspension, of course. He goes straight to the bar Jung-moon's girlfriend works at. She has money troubles and her boss can sell her away any time he wants. Goo-tak offers to help her. Of course, this is about Jung-moon, and to her credit, she refuses to betray him at first ... just like Du-kwang did at first. So she becomes the most powerful evidence there is: a survivor. And a witness. The result? Jung-moon gets sentenced to a life in prison.   
You fucking bitch.
Yup. That's what I said. Gu Take has some issues.  
But that's not enough, of course. Goo-tak goes to see Mr. Baduk Player: he wants Jung-moon dead. His heart burns. It's too hot - every night is like a long tropical night. Even though Mr. Baduk doubts that Jung-moon's death will end the tropical nights, he has a suitable candidate: Tae-soo (cue a meager 5 seconds of Tae-soo in prison blue).
And here I call foul. Tae Soo, the finest man in prison garb anywhere, ever, went to prison because he didn't want to kill anymore. Why would he take this job? That does not make sense (well. We know he DIDN'T kill him, so it still makes sense.). Also: I would like to play prison guard/prisoner with him. I'm known to grant favors if you're good to me, Tae Soo. What do you say, huh?
Oooh. So Bad Jo. Don't worry about her uriTae Soo, why don't you step into my office for your monthly ... evaluation  
Is there anything Goo-tak wants to hear Jung-moon say before he dies? There is: "The person who killed your daughter was me". Goo-tak wants to be certain. If it wasn't him? He won't be able to continue living.
That makes sense. If he can blame it on a crazy psychopathic serial killer, then he didn't do anything to cause his daughter's death. But if it's not him... then guilt logic says 'I broke the law, so my daughter died.' And I would die. Right there, on the spot. Dead of a broken heart. I love nothing in the world anywhere near as much as I love my child. Isn't that true for most parents? Remember when we thought for a minute that this show was going to turn out not as good as we thought? We were wrong. So wrong. So very very wrong.
KARMA.

Comments

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Damn. We need more explanations!!!! WHY did Jung-moon kill people after those treatments? WHAT did they give him? Why was there no Tae-soo AGAIN in this episode? Why didn't Tae-soo kill Jung-moon and end everybody's misery? Why was it necessary to get all three of them out of prison do get near Jung-moon? At least we know why Goo-tak wanted Jung-moon close: he is still not certain that Jung-moon is the murderer. He needs that certainty in his life or it will never be over. Get him out, observe him, get certainty.
That niggling doubt. I get it. But the fact is, he hires a killer to kill Jung Moon. He was all prepared to ignore that doubt two years ago. Or did he even have it then? I think not, maybe. He comes up with this elaborate plan - well, it's true he only came up with it when Nam came and said hey, get your shit straight and let's get this guy... but still, he came up with this plan...he had already asked for Tae Soo to kill Jung Moon, then he ADDS Woong Chul after he's had some time to observe both Tae Soo and Jung Moon - so he STILL is convinced that Psycho did it even during the present... but he's been WATCHING the guy, and NOW he has doubts? Makes no sense. Not when his other plan was so simple and obvious. When did he start having doubts? Did he have doubts when he started the Bad Boy Club? I think maybe not. In which case, if he had no doubt, I'm guessing it would have been easier to kill Jung Moon in prison than here.  Something's not right. There is a hole in this bag somewhere... I feel the draft. I just haven't found it yet. *picks up fairy dust and starts throwing it around in search of the draft* 
I'm just glad at least some peripheral questions are being answered. I'm not quite sure what is real or not with this show because of the ambiguous editing  but at least we know why his daughter died, and what his connection (might) be with our three musketeers/badasses.
I am not entirely clear about the timeline either. Initially, Goo-tak commissioned a killer (Tae-soo) to kill Jung-moon, to end his own suffering. We don't know how long ago that was though! But Tae-soo did not kill him. Therefore, Goo-tak needed to come up with a different plan to kill Jung-moon. Or to at least observe Jung-moon, to decide whether he needed killing or not? Nam's call provided an opportunity for that. I am pretty sure the doubt was always there (and still is). I am sure that doubt became so much stronger when he actually watched Jung-moon in his little gang of Bad Guys. That changed again completely when he heard that photo-guy say that Jung-moon went into all those places. That's the one thing he didn't know before (or was uncertain about). They saw Jung-moon near the killing places, but never inside.

Wait, I have another question. The serial killer was still killing. How could it have been imprisoned Jung Moon? Did they say at any point that this was ANOTHER serial killer, like the HwayoungDong killer? I don't think so. Didn't Nam say let's get this guy, who killed your daughter and now killed my son? ARRGH help me! Wait, no, was it that little shit who killed Nam's son, the one who was in the competition to be the best? Wait... was he competing against JUNG MOON? Hahahahah that's funny.
As for the serial killer and Nam's son's death: it's a different case. And two killers. Remember there was a guy that way caught and that guy was who the Pipewrench killer wanted to beat? It was Pipewrench who killed Nam's son. However, there was an anomaly in that case too. At least one of the victims wasn't killed by Pipewrench. Not sure it'll come up again though. 

In sum, does this whole show make sense? I'm not sure. But I'm so blown away by Kim Sang-joong's acting in this episode, I can't give a damn.
So yeah, you feel the draft too, then. And another thing! All that talk about giving people a chance to change themselves, that shit was there from the beginning. Was it BULLSHIT? Bullshit that became true? In which case... Mi Young was right to be the spoilsport she always was, because she was being fed LIES. Ah, shit. My mind is blowing up.
Goo-tak is a broken man, but we have seen in this episode how ruthlessly GOOD he was before he let himself be corrupted for his daughter. I think a lot of what he said is also directed towards himself - and it's his former self speaking to his current self.
Holly sheet! Oh Gu Tak has some serious issues to work through. But given the ambiguous editing... is everything after his Jung Moon's gf's testimony the truth or is he saying what Mi "WhisperVoice" Young wants to to hear? Is this a rememberance (deliberate misspell btw) or one of those this is what I think you did things?
Either Cannot wait! CAN.NOT.WAIT for episode 10.