Bad and Crazy: Episode 3

by mistyisles

As our hero comes to terms with the truth about the mysterious person wreaking havoc on his life, he also finds himself facing a powerful enemy he never intended to anger. But, now that he has, he’ll have to come up with compelling evidence against said enemy before he loses everything he holds dear.

 
EPISODE 3 RECAP

Soo-yeol watches in horror as K leaps towards Assemblyman Do, but now we see what everyone else does – the person flying through the air is Soo-yeol. He kicks Assemblyman Do square in the head, and proceeds to call him a murderer while slapping him over and over. As the others pull Soo-yeol off, he slowly and painfully comes to himself. But instead of realizing what’s actually happened, he spots K in the distance and gives chase, causing the other officers to chase him.

Just when Soo-yeol thinks he’s lost K, K pops up from behind him and asks again if he’s figured out who he is. In response, Soo-yeol slaps a pair of handcuffs on him. K rolls his eyes, then laughs and raises his hands, revealing that the handcuffs have vanished from his wrists and appeared on Soo-yeol’s instead. Poor Soo-yeol just stares at his own wrists in shock. As the other officers close in, he has no choice but to run away again.

While Jae-sun tries in vain to call Soo-yeol’s phone, Assemblyman Do stews in the commissioner’s office with an ice pack pressed to his temple. Shaken by Soo-yeol calling him a murderer, he cautiously asks whether the commissioner knows why Soo-yeol attacked him. To his relief, the commissioner has no clue, so Assemblyman Do requests they keep the incident quiet.

Meanwhile, Soo-yeol calls Hee-gyeom to meet him and help him remove the handcuffs. As she does, she peppers him with questions, until he explains that he found Yoo-na’s necklace, and that its camera recorded her murder at the hands of Assemblyman Do. Of course, Hee-gyeom wants to see the footage, and Soo-yeol tries to explain that K jumped off a bridge with it. He offers the handcuffs as proof of K’s troublemaking, but Hee-gyeom clearly thinks he’s either lying or crazy, or both.

But then Soo-yeol has a new thought. “Let’s say I were that jerk…” He cuts himself off mid-sentence, and makes her drive him home. At his apartment building, however, they’re forced to hide from Dae-won, who was sent to check if Soo-yeol had gone home after fleeing.

The two finally make it into his apartment (where she has to remind him not to turn the light on) and search for the necklace. But they shine their flashlights around enough that Dae-won spots them from the street.

Hee-gyeom finds a safe in Soo-yeol’s closet. He excitedly opens it, only to gape at the sight of K’s helmet, gloves, and motorcycle keys. And a box of mementos from his and Hee-gyeom’s prior relationship. Just as Hee-gyeom is getting fed up with Soo-yeol’s shocked response to everything that comes out of the safe, Dae-won and his posse return, and the two scramble to hide. Naturally, that means they end up squished together in the wardrobe, and Soo-yeol doesn’t realize he’s holding her hand until the officers leave.

Next, Soo-yeol and Hee-gyeom head to the bridge where K jumped off with the necklace. When Hee-gyeom blames the whole mess on Soo-yeol not caring about Yoo-na’s case, he angrily affirms that he cared more about advancing his own career. That’s more like the Soo-yeol Hee-gyeom knows, but she can’t understand why that same Soo-yeol attacked Assemblyman Do.

Soo-yeol marches down to the riverbank, takes off his shirt (but not his shoes) and wades in. He’s completely out of his element, though, and wobbles around aimlessly. Finally, dripping and shivering, he gives up, and Hee-gyeom drives off without a word. Soo-yeol sinks to the ground and cries that his life is over.

Aw, he goes straight to Mom for comfort. Between bites of porridge, he asks her not to be too shocked by any incidents in the near future. As she leans down to ask what the problem is this time, he sees Yoo-na’s necklace dangling from her neck and quickly asks where she got it. When she says it was a gift from his brother (whose name, by the way, is Dong-yeol), he grabs her in a hug, so relieved he can hardly speak.

The next morning, Bong-pil opens his garage door to find Soo-yeol kneeling in front of it. Soo-yeol shows him the footage from the necklace, but while Bong-pil admits it seems clear Assemblyman Do killed Yoo-na, the video doesn’t actually show him doing it. Plus, the footage is blurry, which means Assemblyman Do could claim the man in the video isn’t him.

Soo-yeol reasons they just need to supplement it with more solid evidence. Not to mention, Hee-gyeom’s team is also on the case, and he’d hate to watch someone else steal the fish right off his hook. Bong-pil warns that catching a shark instead could sink their boat, but Soo-yeol is certain he can find the evidence they need. Bong-pil reports their conversation to the commissioner, assuring him it’s a win-win: either they succeed and the commissioner gets the credit, or they fail and Soo-yeol takes the blame.

Upon hearing that Soo-yeol will only be suspended, Assemblyman Do takes out his anger on In-bum. He flips so rapidly from laughing to screaming that In-bum barely has time to react before Assemblyman Do’s fists start flying. After kicking In-bum to the floor, he repeatedly shoves his head in the fish tank, vowing more murder under his breath.

After Soo-yeol confirms that his car’s black box footage shows only him and not K, he takes the footage to therapist Geun-soo, desperate to find a way to stop K from ruining his life. Geun-soo starts to ask if he has a history of trauma, but Soo-yeol isn’t interested in sharing his life story, so they try hypnosis instead. Soo-yeol sinks into a haze, wherein he sees kaleidoscopic images of one boy that splits into two. When he wakes up, he has to wake Geun-soo, who’s fallen asleep next to him.

They’re equally frustrated with each other by now, and Geun-soo suggests he find out his alter’s name the next time he appears. Soo-yeol has no intention of appeasing K, and he and Geun-soo end up shouting at each other again, so Geun-soo tosses another pill bottle at him as advises he take one to start and see what happens. He also shows him an odd little “mind control” ritual to remind himself that K isn’t real. Soo-yeol is just desperate enough to try it.

He gets his first chance when K appears next to his car while he’s sitting in traffic. Soo-yeol quickly pops one of the pills (but you’re driving!) and does the mind control ritual, and K actually disappears. Soo-yeol does exactly the same thing when K shows up at the gas station later, and then that night when K snuggles up next to him in bed. But this time K doesn’t vanish. Instead, he wrestles the pills away from Soo-yeol and dumps them all in his mouth. Fortunately, Soo-yeol has enough sense to spit them out.

Starting to feel a bit woozy (I wonder why?), Soo-yeol asks for K’s name, which makes K delightfully giddy. He officially identifies himself as “K” (“As in H-I-J-K!”), and that’s all Soo-yeol can take in before he falls unconscious on the bed.

The next morning, Hee-gyeom pounds and kicks on Soo-yeol’s door. When that doesn’t work, she tries to guess his passcode, and gets it on her first try. Once inside, she slaps Soo-yeol awake, and it takes him a moment to realize it’s her and not K.

She’s figured out he must have found the necklace since he’s not wanted anymore, so he shows her the footage, too. She can’t hide her anger, but though she’s ready to go after Assemblyman Do right now, Soo-yeol stops her by asking what exactly she plans to do. She turns the question back on him. He doesn’t want to share information with a different team, but caves when she threatens to smash a bottle of wine from his kitchen.

In-bum calls the cremation gang to make sure they’re vacating the country, but their leader hangs up on him, determined to get the necklace back before they leave. Soo-yeol, meanwhile, returns to their old hideout, where new memories of the fight rush into his head. Jae-sun startles him out of it, and while he fills Soo-yeol in on the gang’s activities, Soo-yeol stuns him by walking straight to the secret upstairs storage closet (which is of course empty by now).

In-bum visits Kyung-tae’s hospital room again, but he’s not there long before Soo-yeol also arrives. He advises In-bum to turn himself in, revealing that he knows about the cremation gang and warning that if In-bum doesn’t jump ship, Assemblyman Do will let him drown to save his own skin.

Back at home, Soo-yeol finds Dong-yeol has invaded his kitchen again, this time with a cake and seaweed soup to celebrate their shared birthday. Ahh, they aren’t blood brothers – Soo-yeol was found abandoned, and the family just decided to celebrate both birthdays on the same day. Although Soo-yeol acts annoyed, the party brings back happy memories of his first birthday with the family, when he’d been given both a gift and – even better – permission to call their mother “Mom.” After Dong-yeol falls asleep, Soo-yeol whispers his thanks.

A woman known as BOSS YONG (Kim Hieora) studies English while her driver informs her that Assemblyman Do used the drugs they sold him and caused some trouble. They also learn that certain items have gone missing again, and decide to set some traps to catch those responsible.

The next morning, Soo-yeol is getting dressed when Dong-yeol surprises him with a robot toy. He claims Soo-yeol spammed him with texts last night demanding the gift, and Soo-yeol’s eyes bug out. Mortified to read the messages with his own eyes, Soo-yeol wonders just how much of his life K knows, but Dong-yeol has another question: what does he want done with the “other stuff” stashed at the pizza place – the stuff that was with the necklace.

Sure enough, he has a whole chest of contraband from the cremation gang’s hideout, and Soo-yeol only now remembers carrying it off with him after beating them up. He calls Jae-sun for a list of black market dealers, but it’s not ready yet. That’s when Soo-yeol notices Dong-yeol’s giant grin. Turns out, he’s a bit of a black market expert, and proudly shows off his skills as he sets up the stolen goods on the dark web as bait.

Just then, Soo-yeol is summoned to meet a prosecutor, who’s extremely young and meticulous, and barely lets Soo-yeol get a word in edgewise. He’s convinced Soo-yeol has been taking bribes and laundering money, and warns Soo-yeol that he’ll see him convicted.

Boss Yong and Assemblyman Do meet over lunch. He complains about the cops getting wind of what happened to Yoo-na, but she wryly reminds him he’d said he could manage his own affairs and ordered her to do the same. Taking out a packet of cash, he asks her to kill someone for him, trying to intimidate her with threats of deportation if she gets caught. But she intimidates him right back, requesting use of a delivery service since her stuff keeps getting stolen from supposedly secure locations.

The cremation gang find the listings Dong-yeol set up for the stolen goods – and in one of the photos, they can just make out the name of the pizza place. They kidnap Dong-yeol and hang him upside-down from a forklift while they call Soo-yeol from his phone. Recognizing one of their voices, Soo-yeol rushes to find them, calling Jae-sun for backup. But Jae-sun gets held up, and the gang spot Soo-yeol before he can figure out a new plan.

They chase him around the block and into a supermarket, where Soo-yeol cowers behind a shelf and begs K to come out and save him. In the meantime, he does his best to fight them off, but they soon corner him, undeterred when he reveals he was the guy in the helmet who beat them up last time. In fact, that makes them want revenge, and they pull a shelf over on top of him, knocking him unconscious.

He wakes to the sound of K snacking on chips beside him. As soon as K hears that Soo-yeol is after this gang so he can take down Assemblyman Do, he kicks the shelf off and rises up like a superhero. Using various items from the store shelves, he starts taking down the gang members, until one of them pulls a knife on him. K grabs the blade with his bare hand, and the two stand there yelling in each other’s faces until Hee-gyeom comes out of nowhere and finishes the fight, cuffing the gang leader herself.

Only after she asks if he’s okay does Soo-yeol seem to come back to himself, and he freaks out when he notices his sliced-up hand. As Hee-gyeom wraps a cloth around it, K peeks up over his shoulder, entranced. “Is that her?” he asks.

The police take the gang away. Hee-gyeom finally thinks to ask about poor Dong-yeol, who’s still strung up by his ankles. She and Soo-yeol run to rescue him, but first Soo-yeol has to figure out how to work the forklift so it lets him down instead lifting of up even higher. Meanwhile, a nurse checks on Kyung-tae. After she leaves, his fingers twitch.

Soo-yeol interrogates the gang leader, certain that once the guy names In-bum, he can get In-bum to implicate Assemblyman Do, too. The leader plays dumb at first, but quickly changes his tune when Soo-yeol threatens to add murder to his already extensive charges.

As soon as they have the leader’s confession, Soo-yeol and Jae-sun race off with sirens blaring. But Boss Yong gets to In-bum first, and her lackey strangles him per Assemblyman Do’s request. She’s long gone by the time Soo-yeol and Jae-sun arrive, and while they try to decide what to do, they’re called back to the station, where prosecution is confiscating all their stuff for investigation. Even worse, Mom’s shop was ransacked as well.

Soo-yeol is at the end of his rope when Assemblyman Do calls and invites him to meet at a club. When Soo-yeol arrives, everyone – including Assemblyman Do – is half-naked and (probably) drunk. Visibly shaking, Soo-yeol begs for forgiveness. He hands over the necklace, which is their only evidence and isn’t admissible in court anyway, promising to do whatever Assemblyman Do wants.

Assemblyman Do pours him a drink and says everyone makes mistakes. He tells Soo-yeol he’ll have to work elsewhere – as in, leave the police force – and Soo-yeol’s face falls. Assemblyman Do’s smile fades, too. He keeps pouring until the cup overflows, then smashes the empty bottle and asks if Soo-yeol was planning on remaining a police officer. Soo-yeol stammers out a no and quickly downs the drink. Laughing again, Assemblyman Do offers to give him something in return. He has his people play the video from Yoo-na’s teddy bear on the big screen, enjoying the horror that comes over Soo-yeol’s face.

Remembering In-sun tearfully asking him not to look for her mom, Soo-yeol can’t hold back his tears of rage. Later, he vomits in the bathroom, consumed with self-loathing. But he’s pulled out of it by a phone call from someone begging for help.

It’s Kyung-tae, and he’s being chased.

 
COMMENTS

That’s more like it! This was my favorite episode yet, and honestly the one that sold me on this show. The first episode caught me off guard with just how violent it was, and how relentlessly dark. I honestly think watching Kyung-tae take such brutal beatings even messed with my head just a little bit (especially as a long-time VIXX fan!). Then episode 2 swung far more fun and comedic, but I felt like this third episode was a better mix of light and dark.

I’m pleasantly surprised we’re rid of In-bum this soon. I’m guessing Assemblyman Do won’t be as easy to take out, but it looks like the true villain will end up being Boss Yong – the final boss, if you will, for our hero to eventually face off against. And she’s certainly going to be a formidable foe.

I’m liking the reluctant but natural partnership between Soo-yeol and Hee-gyeom so far, though they definitely have a ways to go if they’re going to end up getting back together as I imagine they probably will. It’s telling that all of his passcodes are still her birthday, and that they so easily fall into working together on problems. But also, I see why they broke up.

Another reason I liked this episode best so far was because I’m finally starting to understand and even empathize with Soo-yeol. He’s cowardly, and he’s gotten really good at ignoring his conscience, but he also has a strong sense of justice (when he listens to it), he’s kind of a dork, and he’s already showing signs of potential growth. And I’m starting to suspect that, even more than a manifestation of his conscience, K is the hero he desperately wishes he were but is convinced he’ll never actually be – at least, not on his own.

Disappointed as I was that him groveling to Assemblyman Do wasn’t a bluff, I can also appreciate the honesty in that. Not every hero can strategize chess moves five steps ahead of the villain, especially this early in the game. And considering he’d only just decided to go after Assemblyman Do – and only because he thought he could win – it isn’t surprising that he’d buckle when so much pressure was applied. I also anticipate this rock-bottom moment to be a big turning point – it clearly broke Soo-yeol, and Kyung-tae’s call may well end up saving them both.

But there are moments when the hero hidden inside Soo-yeol shows through. At first, I thought that times like when he confronted In-bum might be more moments when K took over. Soo-yeol does this little thing where he touches his ear, and then suddenly he becomes more intense and unyielding, so I thought that might be a signal that he was literally switching into being K. But I don’t necessarily think that anymore.

I do, however, think we may eventually see him getting to where he can summon K at will (like he tried to do this episode) when he needs a bit more courage or fighting prowess. I expect that as Soo-yeol learns to listen to his conscience again, we’ll eventually have to say goodbye to K, but I’d love to see them working as a team of sorts – partners who share a single body – before then.

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