Heartless City (Moojung Doshi) - Episode 7 (A Squeecap)

Episode 7

kakashi: Ooookay, gals. Let's do this. This time, it's kakashi in the lead. Hehe. I like being in the lead and on top of things. So, where are we? Right. Baksa Adeul knows that Cutie-Soo was the one who ordered Lee Jin-Sook dead and Neanderthal knows that Cutie-Soo was the one who ordered Lee Jin-Sook dead (though he doesn't yet know who he is). And Baksa knows that Neanderthal knows. Baksa, who really doesn't have much of an upper lip, is very annoyed. In the meantime, Neanderthal is being mean to the crazy woman in the prison (who, ahahah, has killed her husband). But the crazy woman, in tears, denies any knowledge of who that person was.
JoAnne:  I don't believe that bish for a second.
Shuk: When I remember her purring at Cutie-soo behind the Prison Plexiglass, I get ill. Hopefully, though, her feelings for him (and the money) should keep her trap shut.

kakashi: Baksa goes to pay Cutie-Soo a visit. He is on the treadmill, deliciously sweating (I hope). Angry shower scene coming up?! Anyways, Cutie-Soo is all chatty and lovely, until he realizes that something is not quite right in Baksa-land. But Baksa is SO COOL! He doesn't shout or anything but just tells him not to do means things to Auntie again and pats his hand. But Cutie-Soo is angry (and HOT when he is). Jin-Sook is not innocent! She must have been the one that gave him away to Safari, when he was at the hotel and got stabbed. Oh-oh ... and doesn't Baksa know? Safari and Jin-sook shoot movies together. I am not sure whether I really, really want to see them --- or not ...
JoAnne:  I cannot tell you the depths of ickiness that flooded my body when I heard that phrase.  Please someone, tell me it just means they have a business that produces pornos together.  Not that they're known for filming their private moments.  PLEASE.  Baksa's cute little hand pat nothwithstanding, I just can't get over this...mmm.. hump.
Shuk: I've wondered where she got the money to start up her business. I suppose it's a step above prostitution, which was my first thought.  Still, ick. The repercussions of the falling out between our little Happy Druggie Family are still being felt on all sides.

"Ooh noo!  Not pattycake with Safari!!"

kakashi: Boys, please don't fight! :( Baksa asks Cutie-Soo again to spare Auntie and end the enmity once and for all. Cause they cannot be sure it really was Jin-sook that told on them. There is a lot of intrigue, like in a sageuk. Who told Cutie-Soo about the sex-tapes? Of course, it was the ponytailed old bastard! Cutie-Soo looks doubtful, but he is still angry and he asks his friend something I've also been wondering about: What is there between Baksa Adeul and Auntie?
JoAnne:  This is something I would also like to have cleared up. Kakashi - excellent shots below.  Excellent.
Shuk: Was she angling for Shi-hyun to be part of her boy stable, or a more malleable, studly boy-toy to replace Safari? Okay, now I'm nauseated. But that could be a reason why Safari turned.  

kakashi: The lady in question is out dining with Soo-Min. Who still totally looks like an alien. We establish that she is an orphan (knew that) and has a zoo-trauma (didn't know that). AND that she has anger management issues, i.e. wants to take revenge on the world. There is bonding ... and then, Jin-sook gets a phone-call. From Baksa. She tells Soo-Min her LOVER wants to desperately see her (and I spit my soju all over the screen - she is lying, right?) and to meet again soon. Soo-Min seems touched by the hug that she receives from this woman. I have a girl-crush and am a bit jealous. 
JoAnne:  The lover bit caught me off guard too but I think it was just an excuse Soo Min would probably  readily accept. However, there at the end, I suddenly realized just how tricky this will be for Soo Min:  here's an older woman, self-assured and successful, taking a real interest in nobody Soo Min the orphan whose adopted older sister just died.  There's not going to be any emotional connection or anything at all, is there.
Shuk: It should be harder for Soo-min and Jin-sook to bond other than "I like elephants, too!" A woman as cagy as Jin-sook should not be that easily influenced. Don't ruin her with a bad script, writer-nim!

kakashi: Neanderthal is waiting in her house. My god, he is rude. I hate him! But she does really well (*patting her on back*), shouting at him and kicking him out. When he lectures her on the dangers of being an undercover agent, she uses foul language to shut him up. Well done, girl. Nevermind that she is having a bit of a weak moment after.
JoAnne:  I wish we'd had a chance to see ANY of their relationship prior to Kyung Mi dying.  There seems to be a level of disconnect here that is beyond the moment.
Shuk: We still have plenty of time for more backstory.  Shi-hyun's house has to have some significance later on.  I'm still pissed at his twisted logic regarding Soo-min, and she would have been well within her rights to kick him in the balls, instead of just out of her house.

kakashi: Jin-sook is walking into an otherwise empty bar, where Baksa is waiting. Or is this where she lives?! Ah, it's her "establishment". They hug. There is a lot of hugging lately in this show. Baksa doesn't look happy and Cutie-Soo's question rings in his ears... What is there between him and this woman? They drink together. Baksa tells her that Safari is behind this whole mess. He framed her, to get to him. They fight (he wants her to leave this business, she does not want to) and it ends with her telling him to get out.
JoAnne:  She seems genuinely surprised and hurt that Safari betrayed her.  What I don't get it is her rather angry and knee jerk reaction to Baksa's wish for her to 'retire' to safety.  I guess she has a thing about men telling her what to do, but...
Shuk: She's gonna be a casualty if she stays.  he knows this; she doesn't.  But still, why get angry at her protege?

kakashi: She looks at a picture of the three of them and cries.
JoAnne: I now believe that whatever happened, happened between Baksa and Safari and her protective instincts toward Baksa made her go with him at that time, but secretly she and Safari always continued on with their (oh God) movie-making. And that she actually has real feelings for Safari.  Interesting.
Shuk: You can see in the flashbacks that she was much more touchy-feely with Shi-hyun than Safari, so it wasn't exactly a healthy family dynamic to begin with.  Clearly they put the 'fun' in dysfunctional.

kakashi: Safari, drinking alone, thinks back to episode 6 and how he killed that cross-eyed traitor,  Deputy Commissioner Kang. He seems to feel uneasy about it. And rightly so, because he gets a phone call from "The Chairman", who is quite unhappy about this particular death and calls Safari down to Busan immediately.
JoAnne:  He does look particularly thoughtful.  I find it interesting that he went looking for Jin Sook before heading out to Busan.  One last glance?  Did he intend to visit her and change his mind?  Or did he just want to check out the situation?

kakashi: Jin-sook - who looks so good in this dress - is going to some dark place with her minions. I want minions, too. They have a man captive. Wait ... that's the security guard from the prison, right?! She yells at him because he failed to get the CCTV recording to her. She threatens him rather convincingly (wow. she is a tough cookie that one) and he spills the beans ... there is a guy who took the recording: Detective Ji Hyung-Min.
JoAnne:  So this woman has power and reach.  I had thought of her as sort of an adjunct to Baksa...but now I wonder if she is, instead, a peer of Scale's former position in the overall organization, just not in the drug business.  Safari seemed to outrank Scale, so in that case he'd outrank her, as well - but she would outrank Baksa...
Shuk:  She's a badass as well as a twisted noona.  And is it scarier to threaten people when immaculately dressed?  I think so.  I'm not sure what can be done to stop the information hemorrhage, though.

kakashi: The inept police is currently running face recognition software on Cutie-Soo. In vain (of course). Neanderthal takes the recording to Superintendent Mi. Who doesn't know Cutie-Soo either. Or ... doesn't tell on him? We will see.
JoAnne:  You need an actual face for face recognition software.
Shuk: I refuse to waste a lot of words on how bad the police are.  It's in direction proportion to the number of kisses in "A Thousand Kisses".  Which would be three: "THEY REALLY SUCK!"

Maybe the cops need IPhones?

kakashi: Baksa is sitting in the dark, being all sexy and doubtful. We get a flashback and more of Cutie-Soo & Baksa. Cutie-Soo assures him that he did not leave any traces behind besides the CCTV footage. Sigh of relief. He is safe, right? They are friends again ... but there is trouble in drug-paradise: there is dealers that are restless due to the problems in supply and are turning away from them. Cutie-Soo wants to take care of it, but Baksa stops him and says he'll do it himself.
JoAnne:  The women are cozy, asleep in their beds, while visions of hallways (and Baksa) dance in their heads...
Shuk:  I just want to gif every time those two touch each other. Do they make sandwiches?  Hmmm.

kakashi: And ... haha, WHAT? He gets the funniest text from Superintendent Mi. Way to secretly communicate, guys! Baksa tells Mi about the defecting wholesaler and that he needs to take action. Yes HE needs to take action, to keep the guys in check. When Baksa wants to hang up, Mi tells him to come meet him. Oh. This is about Cutie-Soo.
Shuk: Well, you have to admit, nobody would ever guess it was his handler.  Or maybe they would, but not in the same way...

kakashi: Baksa gets angry and says it is his job to get Pusan and Safari and that's it. Mi just chuckles: So he is protecting his friend? Baksa looks taken aback, but oh yes ... Mi knows everything. And he warns Baksa not to get too attached. Cutie-Soo is one of the bad guys after all. And who will Neanderthal turn to next? Well, Scale of course. Fuuuuuuuuuck!
JoAnne: I wondered why Mi mentioned that, but not for long.  By the way, I really love Baksa in his little baseball cap disguise.
Shuk:  Poor thing, as if there wasn't enough pressure on him.  Is that pat on his shoulder sympathy for his plight, or condescension that he is in too deep to get out without the results you want, Mi?? I'm starting to think you are just as bad as Herman [narrowed eyes].

kakashi: And look who Neanderthal goes to visit! Scale. This visitor's room looks exactly like the one at the female prison but never mind. Of course Neanderthal wants to know who Cutie-Soo is. But Scale has had another visitor, earlier ... uri Baksa Adeul! He promises Scale money and the right to see his son. But ... oh no!!! Scale turns on him and gives Cutie-Soo away! But Neanderthal (who does show signs of an active brain from time to time) doesn't believe that Doctor's Son right hand man would try to kill Lee Jin-sook.
JoAnne:  Next time we see Scale, he's going to be dead. That actually surprised me, though.  I assumed he'd go along.
Shuk:  I don't think Scale is smart enough to figure out that Herman wouldn't believe him, which makes him a sellout in my book.  On a positive note, it might be nice to have Soo make it out of this alive, and he is under the police radar for now.  Win for Baksa! Well, anybody with aluminum foil hats, or, really, a stray paper clip in their pocket would hide them from the police radar.

kakashi: Soo-min goes to meet Jin-sook. She wants a job! Lee Jin-sook is quite cute and refuses to let her work there. She seems to want to protect her. But as Soo-min walks out, she is mistaken for a new escort by the woman in charge and is hustled into a room immediately. Oh wow, that's how fast lives can change, right? Not long after, one of the customers drags her out by the hair, bitterly complaining about the lack of services she provides, when she knees him in the groin. But not hard enough, because he grabs an empty bottle next, threatening to smash it over her head ... when Jin-sook appears behind him and smashes one over HIS head.

JoAnne: Honestly, what did she think she would accomplish there? Side note:  I'd wondered why she had on such a nice outfit - a real upgrade from her normal sweatshirts and jeans, and now I know.  It was so they only had to swap out the skirt, which was really cute.
Shuk:  Should the Madam be more suspicious that she just suddenly pretended to be one of her girls?  I think it would do her well to perform a little background check, especially when a little innocent is insisting on entering a criminal fringe life.

 

kakashi: Jin-sook isn't very angry with Soo-min, but puts the facts on the table. She will never feel good about this. No woman ever does; it does not get better. She tells her to drink up, forget all that happened, and leave. But Soo-min, crying, says that her world is no better than this world and never was. She has nothing. Jin-sook tries again to dissuade her by saying that once you enter this world, there is no leaving it. But she can think about it ... and if she has thought about it for a while and still thinks this is what she wants, they can talk again. And of course ... Soo-min calls Jin-sook later to tell her that she wants in. No more good girls ...
JoAnne:  Freak Eyes is convincing.  I'm not finding her performance at all disappointing yet, and her tinyness and cuteness combine to aaaalmost overcome her weird, scary eyes.
Shuk:  I'm channeling a bit of IRIS, since so much of the first season was showing what happens when strong and good law officers get sucked into the underground, and never ever return to anything resembling a normal existence. If Soo-min gets too deep, she'll never come back. And I still think her almost-brother-in-law is an SOB for setting this in motion.

kakashi: The female reporter (her name is Cha-something) is back! She chats up Neanderthal, who is brooding in his car. She gets him to eat with her and is overall pretty funny. I am sorry show for doubting that you would come up with good female characters. They talk about Donghae Construction (that's the company the drug ring uses the launder money) and how it will bankrupt soon deliberately, to white wash itself. She tells him to look closely at the people that will buy Donghae after - because that's who the big fish are behind this whole operation. Reporter Cha gets quite drunk ... and we find out that she is the daughter of an influential politician. Neanderthal catches her in his big, big arms as she stumbles, but there is no time for romance because Jin-sook calls.

JoAnne: I like her.  I like her a lot.  He looks better in profile or three-quarter view, I have decided.  Although the rest of him looks fine at any angle.  And this might be my last chance to mention something that made me giggle in the very beginning:  Daesung Financing, Donghae Construction.  What's next?  Jonghyun Deliveries? Yonghwa Convenience Store? TOP Noodle Shop?  Actually...I like that one.
Shuk:  My trope spidey-sense wonders if she is The Chairman's daughter, trying a life outside the crime syndicate.  Or they are brother and sister.  Or she's Cutie-soo's sister. Or Cho chang-hi's sister.  Do her eyes go green? Argh, really WHO IS SHE?

kakashi: The defective wholesaler meets with "the Thais". They exchange the goods (drugs and money) and all seems good, when suddenly ... one of the guys is attacked from behind! By ... Baksa! Baksa in disguise! Wow, he totally looks like my brother-in-law like this. Haha. A knife-fight ensues. Slash-slash-slash and splatter ... and no more wholesale guys will defect again, I'm guessing? Baksa is scary-hot-awesome.

JoAnne:  I replayed this and laughed out loud at how cartoonish he looks once you realize he's there, and then I wondered a couple of things: how'd he get the Thais to agree to that?  Because there's no way he could just show up and join in. Also:  did you notice how he confined his slashing to wrists, to disable but not kill?  Such a cop. And finally:  nice arms, with the glowy skin and definition and all that.
Shuk: And nobody thought to bring guns to a knife fight?

kakashi: For whatever reason, Baksa goes into THAT store again ... looking for band aids. (which he suddenly forgets the location of) Soo-min is thinking about going in at the exact same moment (it's unmyeong!) but hesitates ... when he comes back out and she recognizes him. And goes after him. He just gives her a blank stare when she starts chatterboxing him ... and turns away. After she tries to TOUCH HIM to see whether his wound is healed. But then, he turns around - and puts the band aids into her hand. "I've paid you back now", he says. Oh, goosebumps.
JoAnne:  I giggle uncontrollably at the look on his face.
Shuk: He never got band aids, just a sewing kit and some fireworks. But this is a total SqueeScene!!

kakashi: Jeez, the girl has spunk ... she just gets into the car with him and their exchange ends with her asking him to drive her to where she needs to go. He is surprised she isn't scared of him, but she doesn't get it. And I guess he is driving really fast, because she does look a bit woozy when they arrive. BUT! She puts her number INTO HIS PHONE! Then calls him ... and tells him to save her number (which he does not). But hello. This could indeed be a hot-sad-tragic romance ........... this isn't cable for nothing, right?
JoAnne:  Still giggling. And omg, a confused Baksa is too cute. 
Shuk:  He doesn't save the number, but I'm betting on eidetic memory.

kakashi: Neanderthal meets with Jin-sook. It's too flirty for my taste. She wants the CCTV recording that she knows he has - and he shows her. Because he obviously doesn't trust Scale. Jin-sook can barely hold back tears for a moment, but then ... she lies! That she has never seen this guy in the recording before. Neanderthal is surprised, and I don't like this at all. But in return for his favor, she calls in one of her women ... fuck. It's Soo-min. And we see that she got the order from Jin-sook before to make this man fall for her. She tells Neanderthal about it and wants to go tell Jin-sook that this will not work, but he says to play along ... or her cover will be blown.
JoAnne:   I'm completely surprised all of these rooms aren't bugged and full of cameras.  Or...ARE they?
Shuk:  There's no reason to think they have any privacy at all: she's a untried girl and Jin-sook knows his girlfriend was killed.  Plus, where they are. Heck, they might as well hang a sign on the wall, complete with fisheye lens, that says "NO PILLOW TALK IS PRIVATE!"  If there is no sound, at least the camera focused on the bed would show she did try and make a move on him.

kakashi: Jin-sook is meeting with Baksa - who really doesn't look happy these days. He tells her to stop the thing she's doing with Neanderthal. She tells him to butt out. Yes, JoAnne: butt. And she knows about Cutie-Soo. But Baksa knows that she is the one who set Soo up. They get angry-sad with each other. Because now, she knows that he knew that Soo tried to kill her!! That really hurts her. And she realizes that he tried to cover it up and hide it from her. But Baksa just wants the war between the two to end. Poor baby ... caught in the middle. And then, Jin-sook tells him that Neanderthal also knows who Cutie-Soo is. This is a really, really dangerous situation for Baksa Adeul.
JoAnne:  I don't mind words like butt and sex and finger and etc when they're in sentences about Baksa or Thighs or even Cutie-Soo.  But come ON.  Scale?  Tooth?  Ahn?  Ewwww.  Well actually, now I'm really sorry I strung together butt-sex-finger in particular, though.
Shuk:  I'm laughing at JoAnne, but I'm sad for Baksa.

Final Thoughts

kakashi: Oh wow, this was a really strong episode! Not a lot of stupid police stuff and a lot of very good interactions between our main characters. Baksa seems to be losing control on many fronts and I am feeling very uneasy about it all, particularly the Cutie-Soo - Auntie thing. He really cares for them both (and so do I!), but I'm guessing this war between the two will only end with one of them dead. And then, the OTP interaction. Wow, I am quite surprised that I really liked it. She gets to him right away. There already is a connection and an attraction. I dread the moment when she finds out who he is because she will most likely already be in love with him. And then, her "mission" from Jin-sook. She will have to spend a lot of time with Neanderthal too and who wants to bet there will be true attraction there, too?
JoAnne:  It's all fun and games until someone starts passing the IPad around.  Good point about Soo Min and Thighs...I hadn't considered that.  I was thinking her struggle would be focused on love for Baksa and Jin Sook versus a desire to revenge Kyung Mi.
Shuk: I wondered about Soo-min's happiness at finding Shi-hyun again, but I decided she knows that the safest place is at the side of the most dangerous individual, and she's seen him in action.  I hope she sees the good in him before the reveal.  I'm still puzzling out the hierarchy of the syndicate, but hopefully more will be revealed next week.  Can't wait!
JoAnne:  She doesn't know who he is, she just knows him as the guy who helped her, and that he's probably not your most upright citizen.  Right?

HEARTBREAK AHEAD!!