God I feel like this show is going around in circles...
4 episodes left now, you'd think that by now we'd be getting some answers but I'm somehow even more confused than before.

The lack of a central plotline is really making it hard for me to engage with the season.

Can we just lock Shi-mok and Yeo-jin in a stairwell together and finish out the rest of the season like that? Those were the best few minutes of Stranger 2 so far.

"Shi-mok munches on cabbage"

Shi-Mok eats! (albeit vegetable strips) We need more Shi-Mok and Yeo-Jin not only for bonding but so the poor man doesn't starve.

"Chief Choi and Tae-ha meet for some PPL coffee"

Lol, for all things FoS does differently, expecting less or no PPL is like expecting the sun not to rise, I guess. But it did get me thinking of other cliches I dearly wish would get retired. The strict no-romance zone of this show means no wrist grabbing of females, no pulling into a clinch to avoid traffic and no accidental hand-touching but I would like to also do without sweeping off a table in anger and clenching hand into a fist.

I also find it amusing that consistent with the no-romance dictate (?) although characters comment on the closeness between the lead characters, there is no explicit comment/joking about dating which appears to be de rigueur for other shows. Intentional, ya think?

Someone on DB commented on their fan wall after ep 11 that WTH and CB both seem connected by a green lighter.. In particular, WTH doesn't seem to have a lighter of his own in the first episodes but later acquires a green one.
-In ep 11, CB reveals a green lighter when she goes up to the rooftop to smoke around the 44-45 min mark.
-In ep 12, the culprit uses a green lighter when trying to wake/check up on SDJ. There's at least 2 cuts I thought the direction intentionally tried to "drop clues" so to say, like why did the ending shot need to center around scissors, a water bottle and a green lighter? Maybe it's a coincidence, but like Shi-mok's point about the license plate, you can't miss the green even in darkness.

So woof, there is a lot to take in. For me the biggest mystery isn't the vacation house or the council, it is Don Jae. So although it has been placed on the backburner in the show, it is foremost in my mind. I think when we know what happens to him it will make everything clear. I believe as suggested in a theory by other beanies that all the things happening are not connected to each other and are part of the petty corruptions of the justice system.

Can we just have more episodes like this?! I always thought of Forest as more of a character driven show, and I feel like sometimes we're foregoing chemistry in favor of adding to the plot.

Also, it's crazy to think that there's only two weeks left until the finale. If Netflix is aiming for a season 3, I'm curious if they'll end the season on a cliffhanger.

Can I say that that scene in the stairwell was fantastic? From the anguish of ShiMok an his pain, to YeoJin's concern, to his recovery and her anxiety, to that final smile and YeoJin laughter. I loved how it made me change from being worried abut ShiMok to melting when the old camaraderie came back in the form of that back slap!

I like you mentioned the fact that ShiMok hadn't connected his attacks to stress. Well, let me tell you: that is so normal!. As someone who suffers migraines, I always dismiss that a crisis is related to stress. Every. Single. Time. Just because I also have crisis when I'm not stressed, like when I'm on vacation. As if stress is only related to work. People suffering from any chronic disease will just accept the pain and not relate to anything that actually happens in their lives as related to that pain / crisis / attack. I guess it's a way of dealing with it. At least it is to me. And so it seems, to ShiMok.

I talked last week about how much I have changed the way I thought about SaHyun. Last week I said I didn't dislike him, and this week I'm really liking him. He's a spoiled privileged man who's always had things "easy". I mean: he was a good student, but he grew up in the environment to go to an elite Law School that would make his future easier. He surely work hard in college to get the highest ranks, but also, he probably didn't have to work as studying and had the money to pay private tutorials. He earned his place as a prosecutor by passing the exam, but he probably got the best teacher money could pay. He's climbed up in the Prosecution because of his hard work... and also because of his connections. Everything in him shouts privilege. But he's not fool. He knows it. And he acknowledges both hard work and talent in ShiMok and something very grey turning black in TaeHa in this case.

Because TaeHa and Choi Bit are being totally opaque on this one. I may trust a bit more Choi Bit than WTH, but everything seems to point they did something not totally right.

Now, I have the feeling that all this Hanjo secret will turn out to be something shady but not so significant in terms of an actual crime. Why do I have this One, two, three</b) vibes? Like everything is a big Macguffin?

Well, I can now stay awake while watching this drama. Why did they wait so long to abduct Dong Jae? That incident finally made the story really interesting.

I never dislike Sa-Hyun because if he was condescending, he always wanted to protect the prosecution rights. He doesn't want to be the one who lost them. But as a prosecutor, he looks professionnal.

I don't understand why there isn't a third neutral party in their discussions, someone who can lead them, giving time to speak, etc. A mediator would be so useful... They could come to an arrangement.

For the investigation, I'm like Shi-Mok I can't see which detail is relevant or not...

So the question I ended up posing in last week's comment section I'll pose here again: What if there's no big overarching conspiracy here to uncover? What if it's all just petty little acts by self-interested individuals and when it all comes together, the picture will be of nothing?

I said in my blog post that the cut restriction line and the drowning showcased how the system as a whole responded to the incident. It was as much (if not more) about how everyone responded to it rather than the incident itself (although if they revealed there was more to that I'd believe that to). I've also compared the way the show canvasses everyone's behaviour to an intricate game, whereby one move (like a crime) sparks off a set of responding moves from all the parties involved and all those moves are constrained by the rules of the game. Like a dance where everyone is following the rules of the dance but also navigating a dance floor of others.

At the end of the day maybe all these cases won't connect into some big picture of corruption or conspiracy but simply showcase the system in all its flaws, one that is ultimately made up of people.

I mean, Dong-jae was still kidnapped. That happened for sure. But what if everything else is just a mirage?

Shimok and Ye Jin scenes ..YAYY !!
This little Shimok and Ye Jin scenes speaks volumes of their friendship. When Shimok started getting his pains , Ye Jin looked worried and I was really hoping that she run after him and i thought she didnt which really saddened but she DID. I think although Shimok doesn't know it himself but Ye Jin is really precious to Shimok , she is the only one besides his parents who knows about his condition and she is only one who can actually genuinely make him smile. Ye Jin might be the only person Shimok considers a friend and he trusts her but sadly Ye Jin in this season seems to having some trust issues and I think it started from season 1 when her superiors turned out be really bad which shook her foundation and then something happened which made her leave field work. I think they will address it. And due to this Chief Choi, she put a guard on for Shimok as well but its breaking down which is gonna be cause for all the pain to the corrupted ones. Because one thing that makes the powerful and corrupted people scared is the presnce of righteous and intelligent people in a corrupted system coz in a corrupted system everyone is corrupted so they won't stand up for injustice as they are guilty as well but the righteous people are not scared because they know they haven't done anything wrong and they cant be stopped.
So as Shimok and Ye Jin gets more closer and starts working together , chief tae ha, chief choi, hanjo and other baddies will start to get morried.

Personally, I think the time our duo has spent apart paid off & made all their interactions in this episode so much more satisfying, especially that stairwell scene. It was so wholesome, so full of warmth and gratitude. 😭💖
I mean they're wonderful as a pair, but they also exist as individuals and I don't find it necessary for them to always be together. Plus I feel like the fact that we're watching this on a weekly basis as it airs makes their "separation" feel longer than it actually is. But I also believe it's meant to create anxiety within us as the audience to mirror their feelings, and engage more in the content. Their camaraderie really complements this show, but it's not what this show is about.

About the case, I'm starting to think that there's nothing mysterious about Park Gwangsu's death. I think he might have died because of his illness, but the shadiness comes from other parties who want to conceal wtf he was doing in Namyangju (which I think he frequented often), because it will reveal their own dirty work. But I'm at a loss of how this connects to SDJ's disappearance.

PS: I find it really funny and adorable that Shimok likes cabbage? 😂The way he was munching on it 🥰

The Yeojin and Shimok interactions in this episode give me life! The smile, the sharing of drinks, the wide-eyed look of utter betrayal on Shimok's face when Yeojin hits him...

Is the show dropping crumbs of hints that those two might deviate away from the Police-Prosecutor jobs? The focus on the empty chairs felt a little damning. This episode was pretty good about building the previously noted parallels during the Taeha and Choi Bit scenes, specifically, how these two appear to have a close understanding but willingly actively work against each other whereas Yeojin and Shimok are still able to see the broader perspective but risk losing themselves to the "dark side"

lmao ok lemme come in with a probably non preferable opinion. seo dong jae can stay missing and it makes good tv for me. not because i don't want to see LJH—him being there would absolutely be a bonus but they introduce his kidnapping almost mid-story and they are in the dark still. it was a surprise to do that in the first place because of the placement of the kidnapping and on top of that the lack of answers amplifies our need to know and our impatience.

but not having an answer keeps us on the hook and keeps us wondering. and there's pretty much no expectation that he will be found...at least how i see it with the finding of the rotten food and taking care of that dude's mom(? grandma?) i wasn't expecting that bc it would be anticlimactic to expect it. but each situation was gross or strange and both signified neglect and decay.

so, for me, i love that he hasn't been found and they mimic the frustration (and/or amplify it) with pushing it to the side because he's useless in terms of time and his absence is fortuitous.

they know the meetings don't do shit which is why they schedule them when they do. they both asked why they set these up and i think there's been Hints about how choi bit and woo tae ha straight up just decided to do it (we don't know why they were so focused on the intelligence chief, right?)

on the outside is pride, that's for sure, but i believe there's honestly no point to the talks. not only in a theoretical way. they don't give a shit about human rights and prioritize their emotions first. they use the meetings to obfuscate and almost buy time. one—they don't give a fuck, really, and two they aren't interested in a conclusion or resolution because there is none because NOTHING is ever enough and neither are willing to give.

what it shows us is that they are two sides of the same coin. in-fighting is hilarious because it just lets you know that power must be absolute and people destroy each other to get it when they're virtually the same. and think about it: assemblymen that were once prosecutors or the police—so many end up in the same exact position so how can they not have the same goals. it's about who gets where first and who can do the legwork.

last season we know that the prosecution and police though at odds re: embarrassment and pride were "FRIENDS" and had the same sponsor. i mean honestly, the loyalty lies in their survival and quest for power only. it's not too hard to question.

sa-hyun is hot. idk how i feel abt him and there is sth #SUS i swear (to myself) but he cute. older but croot.

this season is sort of a downer i guess? but i don't find it any sadder than last time. i mean their jobs suck and almost everyone around them is an idiot and/or a liar. or the "good" ones have to suffer to support them too. but it still has that dry humor and charm.

I'm not sure if that short cut-to scene of Dong-jae's unconscious body means he's still alive or if this was a just a clip that shows he was still alive at some point. Feel like I can't trust it. I have trouble buying that he can live that long being injured and living on a bottle of water a day.

When Yeo-jin pointed out that Shi-mok got his headache because he was stressed about how long the council meeting was taking and he wanted to follow up on Dong-jae's case...it was such an "awww" moment. I love how he does worry about Dong-jae.

I also liked how Yeo-jin commented in the car how funny it was that not a short while ago, they were arguing at the council meeting. That broke that tension over the investigative rights issue that had been looming over them.

One thing I wanted to say about this episode too and I said this in the DoF review but I think it bears repeating. And it's about how this writer is just SO DAMN GOOD because when they suddenly cut to the meeting and everyone started arguing about the roles of the police and prosecution I got actual whiplash. The whole thing was so surreal. Like - why are we here? What is happening? Why are we arguing about procedural issues when we're supposed to be investigating SDJ's disappearance? Seriously, Writernim, what are you thinking? This is comparatively unimportant when a man's life is on the line.

But then when HSM's brain basically broke from the same feeling of dislocation I realised she'd done it again. Not just her but the PD and Director as well of course. They've put us in HSM's head space, they've made us feel what he feels. We had those same feelings of frustration and agitation that he had and so when he broke down we felt it too. She is seriously one of the best writers I've ever seen.

I love that little scene with Shimok and Yeojin in the stairwell. Their friendship is standing strong amidst the chaos of the coucil and animosity between their respective departments. More scenes between them please.

Its highly surprising that DongJae is being held captive but the kidnapper is not making any demands. Maybe whoever that person is, he/she just wants him out of the way for the time being. Hopefully they will not harm him any more that they have already done so.

Hanjo is now actively in the scenes. I do call them bluff. One of them must know why Lawyer Park had to die. If not, then someone else is in the game possibly. Someone out to ruin one or all of them.

I like how the show is so self-aware. This came through in two sentences.

1. Det. Jang's perfectly on point comment about the National Assembly-like debate. It is a meta-observation on what actually happens IRL. This line was the punchline of this episode, IMO.

2. Close on its heels was HSM's telling observation of HYJ "not being like this before" - everyone has "grown up", no one is guilty of naivety anymore, and the weariness of reality has finally hit home.

But from a story POV, so many new clues, which had me - argh - tearing my hair out. The Kang connection with Kwang-soo; the mysterious docs on Sa-hyun's shelf which caught HSM's eye; Yeon-Jae and the vacation home. I need that white board and a few maps and diagrams. My head is spinning....

I want to know who Secretary Park is working for.

This season feels frustratingly good, because if it was any drama, we (the audience and not necessarily the main characters) would know by now who's the culprit of each case. But noooo, the audience together with Shi-mok and Yeo-jin navigates around these cases. Which attest to how great the writing and PD are in making this a possibility.

THE SMILE! That smile was what got me to watch the 1st season after seeing it on the fan wall. It finally came TT__TT and the smack, his angry face, YJ's smile, every second of that stairwell scene was breathing space.

Can I just comment that both Cho Seung Woo and Bae Doona looked older and more tired in this season. :D I don't know if it's the haircut, or if it is purposely done to show how after working for a couple of years in a world full of corrupted people has caused them to age prematurely and burn out? LOL Don't get me wrong, I'm not nitpicking their looks, I just find that interesting and sort of amusing.

Also: in one of the promotion interviews Cho Seung Woo said that viewers should look forward to see how after three years the characters have aged and Bae Doona told him off XD ("Don't tell them to look forward to that!")

It's really hard for you to mess up as badly as "hey we met once! At your beloved, extremely powerful husband's funeral after his untimely suicide to indict corruption in the entire prosecution" and not expect to have a car dropped on you after the meeting and your corpse vanishing afterwards :P Second hand in marriage, Yeonjae-sshi ;~;

I liked the progress we made this episode, like a spring that's been tightly compressed finally being released to catalyse a domino effect.

Okay, so I just had to come back on here, because I feel like I didn't say my all on the stairwell scene and I wanted to add another observation.

You know how Shimok APOLOGIZED to Yeojin for his attack? I hate that he feels like it's something he should apologize for. We can probably easily connect it to his adverse childhood and upbringing, and that he most likely carries some guilt within him because he was literally made to feel like his life wasn't valuable because of his condition. Understandably, this also informs his relationship with his mother and him apologizing is a manifestation of how much damage her actions have done to Shimok.
All things considered, I'm really glad this show didn't use Shimok's past as an opportunity to create a bootstrap narrative!

And with all this in mind, Yeojin's friendship is so much more instrumental. I think she provides Shimok with something crucial that he lacked perhaps all his life, and even needed (not just wanted). And that's validation, companionship, love. A literal pat on the back and laughter.
The enclosed space of the stairwell really symbolized the safe space that Yeojin has offered him.
And just like how Shimok was comforted by her words in s1 when they discussed his surgery, that same gratitude and relief was present in that stairwell.
And I'm also eternally grateful of how their friendship is portrayed, and that YJ isn't presented as the substitute to his mother or the cure to his trauma--which is what so many female characters are reduced to in k-dramas.

I love these recaps. This is almost the first show we’ve watched that didn’t have something Supernatural about it(W was the BEST) and although it’s riveting, it’s also very confusing.
It’s really hard keeping the names straight, and you and your colleagues do an excellent job of filling in the gaps, showing us things we’ve missed, and helping us keep names with faces.
I have to ask, are you volunteers? Koreans who speak perfect English, or vice versa? Are you paid? I’m just curious. The Dram Beans folks have been the best since Rooftop Prince, which was our first Korean drama. Thanks and thanks again!