Crisis: Special Investigation Squad - Episode 5 (Recap)

The episode where I openly route for gangsters.
Na do!!! This episode made me quite angry.

Episode 5

We open this episode with Inami being lead by two officers into a jail cell occupied by two other prisoners. The first thing I notice is his different hair and how much I like this hair. It's weekend morning snuggle bed hair. I approve. It's also the last light-hearted thought I will have for the rest of the episode, so don't judge me.

Trot, please don't eye my man. Thanksies. Omo, Inami looked scrumptious in this shot and so young! Really young! Makes me wonder if this is a flashback? Hopefully, we are able to know more about our boy's mysterious past.

One of the prisoners is lying on his side sleeping; the other strikes up a conversation with Inami, asking him why he was arrested (Inami beat up an obnoxious office worker), what he does for a living (unemployed but used to work for SDF), and where he is from (Naoetsu).
Rebel from the beginning I see Inami.

The guy is also from Naoetsu. They even went to the same middle school, so he gets excited that Inami is his kouhai. They start talking animatedly about a candy store in their neighborhood when the sleeping guy roars at them to be quiet. Inami silently stands up ready to fight but his senpei calms them down.
Is this guy a bad guy because I think I like him.

After opening credits, we see the man from Naoetsu walking into a large restaurant to meet with Inami. He’s dressed in a suit, looking sharp while Inami looks fairly scruffy if clean. Inami thanks him for taking care of him while he was in jail; Naoetsu guy asks him how long he had to stay (11 days), but really Inami is here to ask Naoetsu guy for a job. The court settlement has taken all his finances and he’s nothing left. Naoetsu guy wants to make sure that Inami understand what he does.
Wait, Inami looks older here... Is this a flashback or something else? I am beginning to think it is a set-up/trap of sorts.

I’m assuming that he’s some kind of mafia guy since we know he has a criminal record from even before this latest arrest, and he’s dressed in a suit. Inami nods. His new friends gives him money to buy better clothes after inviting him for an interview that night.
I like him, Mafia and all. Can't help feeling this won't end well. No way it can end well right? Cos if it is a flashback then I am guessing this guy is somewhat related to why Inami is a police(?) officer now, and if it is a set-up it's only going to end up in the guy being arrested or worse.

Inami goes to a store with lots of suits on sale. It isn’t fancy, more like a strip mall store or the kinds of clothing stores you see in subway stations in South Korea (do they have them in Japan, guys?). He’s looking at suits, when Tamaru shows up next him. He looks at suits as they talk to each other without looking at each other. No one watching would even think they knew each other. So, this whole thing jail bit is part of an operation! When I first watched, I thought this was before Inami joined the team.
Wow, just got confirmation as to the time period they are in. Somehow knowing it's in the present makes me more anxious though. But anyway, hello Tamaru. Nice to see your serious face. Are we going to get some smiles in this episode or are you going to be stingy?

Tamaru asks him for an update and finds out that Inami is going to headquarters that night. He asks about which suit to pick, and Tamaru put a usb in the pocket of one and tells him to pick that one. Tamaru goes back to the team van, and everyone is there. Oyama asks how Inami is doing, and Tamaru smiles saying that Inami looks great. They all joke about how the clean living—three meals a day and no alcohol—has really improved Inami’s health. (ha).
He actually looks good, so the improved diet is definitely working 😃😃

But this isn’t all a joking because Yoshinaga also confirms that Tamaru delivered the usb. Oyama has set everything up. All Inami has to do is stick the usb into some targeted computer, and they will be all set. Yoshinaga mentions that this is Inami’s first undercover job, so he hopes everything goes well.

We all know that means it won’t, right?
They just jinxed it!! Urgh.
It's like they don't know any better!

Inami and Sawada (his senpei—we find out his name in this scene, so I will start calling him that here) arrive that night at a small office building. He must stop first to be searched.
Just take it easy Inami, you have got this.

After he passes that inspection, they go through another set of doors with Inami stopping to ask to go to the bathroom. Once he is in there, he takes the usb out from under his collar and flushes it down the toilet! Good thing, too, because when he comes out Sawada checks in that spot because he notices that the guard didn’t check there. (That guy should be fired!)

They come into a good-sized office to meet two men; we know the one who remains seated is the boss. Inami introduces himself as Nakazawa and affirms that he’s from Sawada’s home town. They know that he was in SDF, so they ask what division and are a bit surprised to learn that he was in an elite unit. Boss wants to know what happened, and Inami says that he left because he stopped knowing what he was fighting for, and someone without focus is a danger to his comrades.
I think what makes him convincing in this scene is because he was describing something that actually happened to him right? Cos I do not think Inami is quite accomplished enough as an actor to be so sincere.

I get the feeling that this is actually true for him. We know he’s accepted when they give him a cell phone, but they are still wary.
Jinx! Exactly what I think re his actual real life experience. 

Sawada takes Inami out to eat at a small restaurant, but the food looks delicious. Inami is chowing and admits that he hasn’t had a decent meal in a while. His earnest eating clearly endears him to Sawada, who looks at him fondly already. He tells Sawada that he learned in the orphanage that when you have nothing you have to take what you want and that the family is going to be rising higher and higher and is glad that Inami/Nakazawa is joining them.
OMG, I really like Sawada! He plays the father figure so well! I mean apart from the whole being a Gangster thing, but you can tell that he truly cares about his young protege.

When they leave, Inami hails him a cab, and then after watching the cab leaves, hails one for himself. To no one’s surprise, the driver is from the SIS team, Yoshinaga (although for some reason, I remember thinking it would be Kashii). Yoshinaga wants to know if he’s seen the computer. Inami reports to him that computer was in the chairman’s office and that security is tight, so he had to get rid of the usb. He thinks it may be better just to knock everyone out and steal the computer. 

The little laugh that Inami gave when he realized it was the big boss that was the driver was so cute.

Yoshinaga notices that Inami seems worried, and he is. We find out that the mission is to bring down this organization—Jinai Enterprises is what it goes by—because it is blackmailing prominent politicians, but he just doesn’t think that is the “business” that they are in. Yoshinaga wonders how he could know that in such a short period of time, but he promises to look into the mission. I’m with Inami here. They seem more like money laundering, drugs, or stolen goods gangsters to me.
With you Trot, they don't look like more than your garden variety drug gangsters.

We next see Kaji waiting in what looks like one of those old gentlemen’s clubs. He doesn’t look like himself because he appears a bit anxious, checking his watch. Another man shows up who is Kamiya Toru, the Chief Cabinet Secretary. He’s here to get an update from Kaji.
This asswipe pedophile! I mean is he not the one who was dating those child prostitutes and almost killed them? His face annoys me so much, I want to smash it to smithereens. 
Oh my goodness! Is that him? I was wondering why he looked familiar. I'm going to go back and check.

 He also talks about how well Kaji has developed the Special Security Squad and that it’s the talk of many of his circles. None of this seems really sincere, and the conversation is nerve wracking because the usual confident Kaji is shrouded in a cloak of humility that makes me wonder how dangerous this Cabinet Secretary is. Before he leaves, he makes Kaji promise to inform him of anything no matter how small and to not make a move without checking with him first. Not a good sign.
I hate this so much. I hate him! Not Kaji, but this power drunk bastard.

The next day, we see that Jinai Enterprises chair has done a background check on Inami and found that he did not graduate from the middle school he said he went to. However, Inami has answers for that, telling them he his family had to leave town quickly and he finished ended up dropping out of high school to join the military, losing contact with his father who runs a business. 

Our chairman is no fool and has his minion look up the business online AND call the company (something I always do when I run background checks—anyone can have a website). They pretend to be a loan company checking on the man’s son, but the person on the other end tells them that he hasn’t talked to his son in ages, so he can’t help. We switch shots to see Yoshinaga on the phone from the tem van doing one of his voices as Inami’s estranged father.
Perfect father casting, Hehehehe.

When Inami leaves the office, Sawada comes out behind him telling him not to be take it personally; they have to be super careful because a big deal is happening soon. Why are they making us like Sawada so much?
Because they are going to freaking rip our hearts out!

Looks like Inami is wondering the same thing. He does one of the team’s “we are in a public place but not together so we talk not looking at each other to exchange info” meetings with Tamaru at a small baseball field watching a game. 

He tells Tamaru that Oyama’s website and Yoshinga’s acting worked. That there is some big deal going down tonight, but he doesn’t know what it is. Tamaru tells him that they are doing their best to investigate the mission, but it’s been a challenge. Then Inami asks him about his work undercover and whether he ever got confused. Tamaru seems to know exactly what he means. He talks about the difficulty of having to get so much into the role that you start feeling bad about lying to the people around you even if they are the bad guys.
It's times like this that I am reminded of how young/inexperienced Inami is compared to Tamaru. Tamaru has seen so much stuff! And while I know Inami has not exactly lived a stress and trouble-free life, Tamaru just seems to have gone through so much worse.

It becomes difficult to remember the difference between your real self and your undercover self. He asks Inami what he thinks is the key to such a situation. Inami parrots back what he thinks is the answer: focus on the mission. To his surprise, Tamaru says that isn’t it. He says that you need to have something in your real life that you want to go back to and use that thing like a lighthouse in the fog.
See, his painful past is flashing huge neon signs.

(I bet his backstory is painful, Panda!). Inami asks him what that was for Tamaru, but after a slight pause, Tamaru says that he’s forgotten.
Such a bad liar Mr Trot.

It looks like we are moving to scenes which develop this idea of what or rather who could be a lighthouse. The first of two is at Inami’s favorite bar. The woman he had sat next too to provide comfort and who had sat next to him is at the bar, asking the bartender/wingman about whether he’s seen Inami. She has tried to message him several times, but when he asks if she wants him to call she says no. He asks if they are dating, and she also says she doesn't know. They haven’t even been on a date yet, which signals to the bartender that she must be special to Inami.
She is so pretty.

The second scene is a meeting between Tamaru and the wife of his undercover colleague. She waits pensively in the church, and he arrives to give her her monthly allowance, but she also has information. Her husband has called her, which surprises Tamaru greatly.

With concern, he asks what the call was about. She says that her husband wants to quit; he wants to be pulled out. She asks Tamaru to help, but he says he can’t do anything himself, but he can talk to his superiors. She also wonders what she should do; she’s actually concerned about her husband getting out because she doesn’t know if she still loves him. She has spent two years in this other life where she doesn’t have a husband, and it’s clear that she had grown fond of Tamaru more than as a friend when she puts her hand on his.
The tension is so thick between them! Wow.

You can tell he is shaken, but he withdraws his hand, telling her to be strong and that she is the only light keeping her husband focused. She is a bit hurt that he only sees her as the light for her husband, but even though he tells her that isn’t true, he is focused on everyone’s safety that cannot be jeopardized.
Of course Tamaru is a noble man, no way he would put moves on someone whose husband was in such a precarious position. Especially one whose husband he PUT in such a position. His guilt would never allow it, no matter how attracted he was to the wife.

Inami is wiping down Sawada’s car in the underground garage when the older man comes to tell him that the deal is going down tonight, and he wants to bring Sawada along. Inami asks about the deal, and Sawada tells him it’s drugs. Inami looks nervous, so Sawada asks him if he’s changed his mind. He tells Inami not to worry because he’s never had a deal go bad (stop tempting fate!!) and afterwards he’ll treat him to something good to eat. We need to stop having brotherly gangsters!
Can I stop watching now? I am scared.

We immediately see Inami going into a convenience store with a shot of him looking in refrigerator section at drinks. He starts talking about the deal tonight, but before you can think “who is he talking to?,” Yoshinaga shows up behind him, looking at the groceries 90 degrees to the left. Inami explains about the deal and how he thinks it is the first meeting for these two parties because the chairman is going to be there, too. In fact, he’s supposed to be the chairman’s shield. Yoshinaga tells him to be careful, and he leaves.
My bad feeling multiplies.

That night, the cars head out, Inami driving Sawada. The team van is following them and has a tracker on Inami.

However, Yoshinaga gets a call, telling him that the higher ups don’t want to do the arrest tonight. None of them understand why when it would be so easy to take care of everything now. However, Yoshinaga isn’t about to leave Inami all by himself. (such a good boss, right, Panda? One of the very, very best bosses, Trot) They keep following the gangster cars until they are cut off by a van that slows them down—on purpose?
Van was too obstructive not to be on purpose.

Meanwhile, Inami gets a bit nervous when he no longer sees the team van in the background but denies it when Sawada asks. Sawada once again tells him not to worry and that it will be over soon.

They arrive at the meeting place, and there is this slo mo interchange between the sleezy looking drug guys and the black suited mafia guys—each going to check out the drugs and the money in their respective cars. Everyone has what they need, so they shake hands, but in the middle of this Inami notices movement and yells out to Sawada, but it’s too late.
Eff everything.

His instinct makes him throw himself behind a pillar,  but everyone else is exposed to the two young men who emotionlessly shoot everyone in front of them. Weaponless, Inami stays behind the pillar until one of them is close and then begins to fight.

He, of course, overpowers them, but it’s too late to save anyone else. He rushes to Sawada whose last words seem to really gut him. Sawada acts like a big brother to the end with his last words about taking him out for more food.
This hurts! 

Finally, the team van shows up. Everyone jumps out, but it’s Tamaru who runs up to Inami, who  looks so choked up and traumatized. 
Poor baby.

He finally stands up and starts off in the opposite direction with a gun. Tamaru runs after him and grabs him, but Inami resists at first. Tamaru just stares at him and finally Inami seems to break out of the emotional cage he was in and his eyes well up.

The next scene is at a fancy restaurant in a private room. The waitstaff is prepping a dish, and in attendance is the Chief Cabinet Secretary Toru Kamiya. He gets a message that pulls him away from dinner; it’s Kaji, and he wants a word. Kamiya doesn’t understand why there is anything left to say after what has happened, but Kaji directly asks him why he used the SSS as decoys, and that stops his flippant attitude.
I truly hate this Toru guy.

They move to a different room where Kaji wonders why he would hire hit men from another gang to take out Jinai Enterprises, so Kamiya says he’s going to tell him  story. It’s a story of a large company that wanted connections to politicians to help make their business run smoothly. This required money, so they decided to develop a subsidiary to smuggling drugs in with their imported goods. Problem was that they couldn’t really sell those goods in Japan, so they hired Jinai Enterprises to do it, and it went very well making a lot of money. Kaji guesses that Jinai enterprises wanted more of the profits and threatened Toru with exposure if they didn’t get it.

However, Kamiya says that they never actually tried to blackmail him. What he couldn’t stand was the fact that they started setting up their own drug deals when they saw how lucrative the business was. This surprises Kaji and disgusts me. Kamiya says that this put them all at risk because if they got caught, it could drag everyone down. However, the moral he gives also shows that he really just didn’t like the fact that these gangsters were trying to hustle and make money without his permission. Jerk.

He gets up to leave, but Kaji isn’t done. He brings up the fact that one of his people could’ve died in this hit, and what would the Chief Secretary do about that? But Toru tells him to stop acting like a gangster and just says that he owes him one. Pfft.
OMG, I need to smash his face in.

When Kaji walks out, he is surprised to see Inami standing in the hall. Inami wants to know if the man that just left is the person who set them up. They go back to Kaji’s meeting place of windows and Inami asks him to explain.

Kaji hedges and tells him not to feel bad that the gangsters were killed since they were selling drugs that cause a scourge across the country, but Inami doesn’t think of it that simply. He wants to know if they all had to be killed and whether he is supposed to accept the role he played in those deaths.
I mean yes, they were gangsters who sold drugs! But, hmmm... So  I hate this show (not really) for making me feel so bad about a drug selling gangster! I hate people who sell drugs they destroy lives and families so completely, they truly are the scourge of the Earth. Sawada though was so nice. Urgh. Conflicted.

What’s interesting about this conversation is that Kaji seems to know about the bad dreams Inami has about his past, which he denies still having. They talk as if they have a relationship beyond the team’s hierarchy, for when Kaji tells Inami that he has to work differently if he wants to fight against a corrupt system, he asks Inami is he willing to follow him/Kaji.
Kaji knowing about Inami's dreams makes him more like a good guy to me? Sigh, I am so confused as to where to place him. He is being all pragmatic while talking to Inami, but I feel he is also pissed off about this.
It's because he can't stand that guy either. You could tell from when they first met, he didn't like him but had to bow to his will because Toru outranks him. You know this can't sit well with him that Toru basically used his people as his personal decoy parade to save his own putrid skin rather than for a genuine crisis. It wasn't even that difficult of a job to be honest. The killing was because of Toru not because the job went bad.

Inami tells him that he has to think about it, but before walking out, he asks Kaji if this means that he will need to kill those people hire up, too.

Once Inami leaves, Kaji makes a phone call. He tells the person on the phone to start something and assures him that he will take full responsibility.
Yes, I knew you had it in you Kaji!

The next thing we see is reporters outside of the Chief Secretary’s house the next day reporting on allegations that he has something to do with child prostitution and being dragged out. Inami walks into the team headquarters as they are all watching the news. They seem to know that all of this is connected, and Tamaru gives Inami’s shoulder a supportive squeeze.
They had better lock his ass in jail for a long time.

We end episode with Yoshinaga telling everyone that they have a new mission.

Comments

I'm thinking I should set up all my meetings with my direct reports as if they are clandestine. Find various, random places on campus or town where we are slightly apart not looking at each other and converse. Maybe that will keep them exciting, and I could run errands.
Hehehehe, sounds like a great idea!

I'm really liking the moments between Inami and Tamaru. Hoping that Tamaru gets the same support from Inami later because it looks like he needs it as well.
I am sure he will! Inami is a great guy *smirks*