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Bad and Crazy: Episode 5

Our hero may be a coward, but he has plenty of motivation to get involved when someone close to him falls under accusation. And, as it turns out, he and his counterpart make a pretty good team when they’re working toward a common goal.

 
EPISODE 5 RECAP

Soo-yeol heads up Hee-gyeom’s questioning following the brutal murder of Assemblyman Do and the other transport passengers. He points to her family’s debt – something even he hadn’t known about – as a potential motive. Angrily, Hee-gyeom requests for someone else to question her, but Soo-yeol clarifies that it’s other people, not him, who believe she could have orchestrated the murders. He asks her to trust him and follow his lead to clear her name.

Hee-gyeom trudges back to her station, where conversations turn to whispers upon her entry. Some of her teammates jump to her defense, while others believe she’s guilty, and Gye-shik yells at them all to stop fighting. He urges her to take some time off, but she refuses.

Boss Yong’s people are busy producing their drugs. But more items have gone missing from right under their noses, and her driver figures it must have to do with Assemblyman Do’s death – which it seems they weren’t behind, after all. Boss Yong orders him to pull their products off the market immediately, and to kill anyone still selling them after that.

Soo-yeol and Jae-sun pore over the files from Hee-gyeom’s case. Heh, K keeps making snide comments, and Soo-yeol keeps forgetting that Jae-sun can’t see or hear K. They decide Hee-gyeom’s team must have a mole who leaked the transport time and route, the top suspect being officer Jong-gu who’s been accused of taking bribes in the past. (And, incidentally, has been one of the loudest in Hee-gyeom’s defense.) As Soo-yeol resolves to comb through all available footage, Jae-sun can’t help grinning at his partner’s newfound passion.

Meanwhile, Hee-gyeom sits at home, pondering Soo-yeol’s question of why the killer deliberately left her alive.

Soo-yeol studies the photo of the guy who was almost run over by the transport truck – their only witness – but his face is obscured. Suddenly, K has an idea. Seizing Soo-yeol’s phone, he snaps a picture of the photo and rushes out of the room.

K takes Soo-yeol to a club and shows him that the witness was wearing the club’s wristband. Soo-yeol is excited until he realizes it’s the same club whose ledgers K stole before returning the bribe money Soo-yeol had accepted. Although Soo-yeol returned the ledgers, the club owner isn’t interested in helping him out unless he gets to give back the punch Soo-yeol (well, K) gave him. K asks Soo-yeol’s permission to hit the club owner over the head with a bottle, and Soo-yeol tells him to go ahead… but the club owner strikes and K doesn’t. Still, that does at least earn Soo-yeol the club patron records he needs to start hunting for their witness.

Outside, they’re met by Hee-gyeom, who also recognized the club’s wristband from the photo. While K hides behind Soo-yeol, Soo-yeol nags that personally hunting for the witness only makes her look more suspicious. K raps him on the head, warning him to watch his tone, and while Soo-yeol is distracted, Hee-gyeom snatches the records from his hands.

They relocate to Soo-yeol’s car, where Hee-gyeom thanks him for helping, but reminds him this is her case. When she leaves, she takes the records with her. K watches her go with much longing, and Soo-yeol sighs at the both of them.

The next day, the three head out to start investigating people on the club’s list who fit the witness’s age and description. When they meet the first potential suspect, K grabs his hand and holds it in front of his face for comparison, much to Soo-yeol’s embarrassment and Hee-gyeom’s annoyance. But that doesn’t stop K. Next, he lines up several guys in a row and has them cover their own faces as he goes down the line with the photo. Hee-gyeom facepalms, but reluctantly joins in.

At dinner, as soon as Hee-gyeom drains her water cup, K runs to fill it for her. But of course all she sees is Soo-yeol sending her huge, cheesy grins. Rolling her eyes, she asks if he has a split personality or if he’s terminally ill – or if he still likes her. K murmurs that he likes her, but she doesn’t seem to hear that. She does, however, see Soo-yeol elbowing the air and glaring at no one.

Eventually, Soo-yeol and Hee-gyeom find the witness. But he claims he didn’t see anything, even when Hee-gyeom pleads that she wants justice for her hoobae. Enraged, K grabs him by the collar, and as soon as Hee-gyeom pulls Soo-yeol off him, the witness flees.

That’s the last straw. Soo-yeol goes straight to Geun-soo for more help. Geun-soo is on his way to another appointment, but Soo-yeol and K start arguing right in front of him, and he hastily cancels his appointment. Inside, they continue their argument, with Soo-yeol fearful K will get him fired (or worse) and K frustrated that Soo-yeol isn’t doing enough to save Hee-gyeom. K reminds Soo-yeol that he promised to leave as soon as they succeed, but Geun-soo cuts in that K leaving on his own won’t be easy. Still, he’s thrilled that Soo-yeol is ready to start treatment, and convinces them both to sit down.

He asks again about Soo-yeol’s childhood, and K shuts down. “I won’t do it,” he mumbles, and saunters out the door. Soo-yeol sees that as a good sign, and tells Geun-soo to hypnotize him again at once.

Geun-soo does, and Soo-yeol finds himself in a long hallway of doors. He tries a couple of the doors, which lead to outdoor scenes, and suddenly the lights start flickering. He’s bombarded with the same kaleidoscopic images from before – a boy and a bicycle – and wakes up. Geun-soo quietly asks if he suffered amnesia as a child.

Jae-sun calls Soo-yeol to report that Jong-gu is present at Kyung-joon’s funeral. Just as he’s voicing skepticism that Jong-gu is guilty, Jong-gu startles him by knocking on his window to say hello. After paying respects to Kyung-joon’s father, Jong-gu, Gye-shik, and their fellow team member Chan-ki, sit down at a table together. Jong-gu complains that he’s being tailed, but Gye-shik tells him to lay low and not cause trouble. Hee-gyeom stops by their table with food, but soon spots Jae-sun and excuses herself.

Soo-yeol, dozing at his desk, is startled awake by Kyung-tae, who’s been transferred to his team. Aww, he’s so happy to be here! It takes Soo-yeol’s sleepy brain several minutes to connect the dots, but Jae-sun jumps to welcome him and put him straight to work. K shows up to grin at Kyung-tae, too, and Soo-yeol just sighs.

Hee-gyeom calls Soo-yeol on her way home from the funeral. She sounds exhausted, but intends to shower and turn right back around to investigate more. But when she arrives home, her place is swarmed with cops. Soo-yeol rushes over there, only to learn that the cops were tipped off to a stash of drugs in her house – and they found it.

Soo-yeol kneels next to Hee-gyeom as she cries that she’s being framed. He believes her, but the police have a warrant, so he can’t stop them from arresting her. Very gently, he personally handcuffs her.

As both Soo-yeol and Jae-sun question her, Hee-gyeom wonders aloud if she was the true target all along. Soo-yeol agrees that it makes sense the cartel would choose to frame her over Kyung-joon, who’d only just joined the force. Jae-sun asks if there’s anyone one her team who could be the mole, but Hee-gyeom can’t bring herself to suspect any of them. She has complete confidence in Gye-shik, though Soo-yeol points out Gye-shik has yet to do anything to help her.

Speaking of, Gye-shik again berates Jong-gu for not laying low. In a flashback, we see that Gye-shik had convinced Assemblyman Do to tell him about the location of Boss Yong’s stash, and had raided it while Assemblyman Do was being transferred. Together, he and Jong-gu had orchestrated the murders with specific instructions that Hee-gyeom be left alive to take the fall.

Later, Gye-shik passes Soo-yeol in a hallway and asks how Hee-gyeom is. Soo-yeol bites back that she’s been framed for two ridiculous crimes in a row, and that the evidence adds up so perfectly, he can’t help suspecting someone on the team is setting her up. Gye-shik promises to take care of any issues, but Soo-yeol corrects him – he’ll handle everything.

The murder witness tries to study, but he’s jittery and can’t stop thinking about the incident. He runs straight into Soo-yeol, who asks if he’s been threatened. In response, he takes off, and Soo-yeol nods to K to give chase. K catches up just in time to pull the witness out from the path of a car, but he still insists he didn’t see anything that night.

Just then, Kyung-tae calls – he’s found the killer’s escape route on the security cameras. Soo-yeol urges the witness to tell him what he saw so they can catch the culprit, and finally he breaks down. After climbing out of the wrecked truck, the killer had grabbed him and stated that they’d both seen each other’s face. He’d been terrified to say anything, lest the killer come looking for him.

The killer gets permission from Gye-shik to sell the drugs they stole. But the “buyer” he meets is actually Boss Yong’s driver, who tries to drown him in the river. He’s stopped by Gye-shik, however, who holds a gun to his head and demands a talk with Boss Yong. At her headquarters, Gye-shik offers first to sell the drugs back to her and, when that doesn’t work, to use the law to get rid of her competition. Neither of those things appeals to Boss Yong, so he asks what she does want.

Soo-yeol, Kyung-tae, and Jae-sun find the killer’s getaway ambulance abandoned at a junkyard. Though there were no security cameras in the area, Kyung-tae thinks to ask about black boxes from some of the other abandoned cars. Sure enough, they find one with a clear shot of the killer, and identify him as Jung Il-soo. Finding him, however, will be another matter.

Jae-sun and Soo-yeol have already looked into other junkyards and car dealerships, but Kyung-tae is the first to suggest checking places that have recently gone out of business. And he’s already found one whose owner attended school with Il-soo. To Jae-sun’s utter shock (and hint of jealousy, methinks), Soo-yeol cups Kyung-tae’s face in his hands and calls him his good-luck charm. Kyung-tae beams.

Soo-yeol runs to his car, but it’s completely boxed in. Just then, K rides up on his motorcycle, all, “You looking for me?” Without a word, Soo-yeol pushes him off, wrestles the helmet away, and hops on. K hitches a ride on the back.

They arrive at the abandoned junkyard, where K easily jumps the gate (and Soo-yeol struggles behind him). Inside, they find a bag of drugs, but are immediately caught by Il-soo and his gang. K seems wary, but jumps right into the fray. Before long, he and Soo-yeol are fighting side-by-side as a team, and together they take down all the men. But as the lights flicker, Il-soo comes up behind Soo-yeol and jams a needle in his neck. Soo-yeol staggers to his knees. Collapsing beside him, K asks blearily what’s happening, but Soo-yeol can’t answer.

When Soo-yeol comes to, he’s duct taped to a chair, and Hee-gyeom’s traitorous teammates have arrived. Jong-gu pulls out a gun, mockingly thanking Il-soo for his service, but Gye-shik shoots first and hits Jong-gu square in the shoulder. Another flashback reveals Boss Yong asked Gye-shik to kill whoever stole from her warehouse – and that means Jong-gu. So now, Gye-shik forces Il-soo to shoot Jong-gu.

Soo-yeol tries to surreptitiously inch his phone out of his pocket, but it clatters to the ground. Gye-shik snarls, kicks Soo-yeol to the ground, and presses the gun to his temple. When Soo-yeol begs for the chance to speak, Gye-shik rips the tape off his mouth, and Soo-yeol blubbers out praises for Gye-shik’s nearly perfect plan. But if Gye-shik kills him, his team and Hee-gyeom will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. He promises to help Gye-shik get off scot-free in exchange for his life, adding that since Il-soo injected drugs into him, Gye-shik has the perfect blackmail if he dares to cross him.

Appeased (for now), Gye-shik orders Soo-yeol to put his fingerprints on a clean syringe. Soo-yeol has no choice but to obey, at which point Gye-shik reveals he’s already transferred payoff money to Dong-yeol’s account. Meaning this was his plan all along. Then Gye-shik shoots Il-soo in the shoulder to make it look as though he tried to save Jong-gu.

Some time later, Soo-yeol makes his official report, stating that Il-soo and Jong-gu were accomplices who turned on each other, and when Gye-shik caught them, Il-soo killed Jong-gu. Soo-yeol has airtight explanations down to the last detail, so Bong-pil wraps up the investigation, congratulating Soo-yeol on a job well done. But after everyone leaves, Soo-yeol’s shoulders fall in defeat.

On his way out, he’s accosted by K, who drags him up to the rooftop to yell at him for letting Gye-shik win. Soo-yeol throws it right back: where was K when he was getting trapped in Gye-shik’s scheme? Their shouting match turns into a brawl, each taking their share of punches, and finally Soo-yeol gets the upper hand. He shouts that he’s just doing what he must to survive, and leaves K struggling to get up.

Soo-yeol visits Hee-gyeom, who’s now in prison. Il-soo has named her as an accomplice, so unless she’s proven innocent, she’s stuck. Although she finds it hard to believe Il-soo could have masterminded the whole thing, she sticks to her faith in Gye-shik to do what it takes to clear her name. Soo-yeol scoffs, but can’t explain. He does, however, apologize for everything. Just before he leaves, she asks if he thinks Jong-gu might have been the one behind Min-soo’s death, and that stops him in his tracks.

He returns to his office to review the files from that case, and notices a detail he hadn’t before: Gye-shik had said Min-soo fell first, then the ex-drug dealer, but the positioning of a banner found wrapped around their bodies suggests the opposite might be true.

Soo-yeol pictures the scene again, but this time Gye-shik shoots the drug dealer so that he falls to his death, and when Min-soo runs to investigate, Gye-shik pushes him over the edge and then stabs himself for an alibi.

Now Soo-yeol realizes that everything he’d accused Gye-shik of in that bogus interrogation were probably true. K, still sulking, asks what he plans to do about it. He scoffs at Soo-yeol’s determination to reopen Min-soo’s case and take Gye-shik down, but Soo-yeol doesn’t intend to do it alone – he’ll do it with K’s help. K lights up, and they shake on it.

 
COMMENTS

I like that Gye-shik’s case is being revealed to have so much more significance to the overall big picture, instead of being a throwaway characterization moment. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, but this makes everything that much more cohesive, and it draws our core characters closer together within the plot.

But goodness, my heart breaks every time Hee-gyeom expresses how much she trusts that Gye-shik will come through for her. It must have been crushing enough to realize that one of the only people who spoke up in her defense was actually responsible for framing her in the first place, but it will be even more devastating when she learns that the real mastermind was her beloved mentor.

I also loved seeing Soo-yeol’s response to Hee-gyeom’s plight, because I don’t buy that he was only motivated by the promise of getting rid of K. There was genuine tenderness in his voice and eyes when he was forced to arrest her, not to mention how much Gye-shik’s apparent inaction angered him (even before he found out about Gye-shik’s betrayal). He may have buried it deep, and perhaps even convinced himself otherwise, but he definitely still cares about her in some capacity.

I will say, though, the fight scene in the abandoned junkyard was one of those times I kind of wished Soo-yeol and K were two separate people. And when it was harder to suspend disbelief and view them as two personalities in one body. I couldn’t stop wondering what it looked like to the guys they were fighting, for one thing. That said, it was satisfying to finally see them working as a true team and playing off each other, even taking turns stepping back and letting the other take the reins, so to speak.

I don’t expect Soo-yeol’s decision to leave Jae-sun and Kyung-tae out of the investigation to last long, but I am looking forward to more teamwork between Soo-yeol and K before the full team comes together. Maybe even some getting each other into and out of trouble, and willfully switching places to play on their individual strengths.

I’m also curious to find out more about Soo-yeol’s past. Clearly, there is something he’s suppressed or forgotten, and it appears K might know something about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a secret link to Boss Yong and/or her cartel, either by blood or by circumstance. Maybe he ran away from whatever happened, and his feelings of guilt caused him to create a persona that wouldn’t run away from ensuring justice is done. But, as others have pointed out, if that’s the case, then why did K only appear now, so many years later?

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

 

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I love the action and bromance on this drama! Never liked Lee Dong-Wook before but he's doing a terrific job here. Along with Wi Ha-Joon and puppy cop Cha Hak-Yeon. A fun drama...

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I knew Gye Shik was going to be a corrupt character; I'm glad the show confirmed this early. I just didn't realize that he would have a couple of bad guys on the team too. I like that the show came back to Min Soo's case, revealing the truth.

I thought Kyung-tae's youthful smile wouldn't get me, but he did. He's just a bright light. I was happy when he was happy he got praised. He was definitely helpful in the investigation. Jae Sun getting jealous of him was real cute too.

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So many things happened in this epi. Must say the pace is very fast.
First of all Kyung- Tae in Soo- youl's team yay! He was so happy to be there, the fact that KT always looks at SY for help unlike others who thinks SY is corrupt.

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Secondly that Sekkiya Gye- Sik! He turned out be the exact thing SY thought about him in the first epi. Poor HG trusts him so much even more than SY but I see SY has an ability to see people for their true nature.

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Yay so finally getting the most awaited team work from K and SY.
The junkyard fight scene was 🔥. Infact all the fight sequence in this series are perfectly choreographed.
I felt SY's outburst on K as to why he didn't came and he needed to do that in order to survive.
More magnificent acting from LDW. Swayed by his helplessness and vulnerability.

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Lastly the Boss Yong looks like Kang Sae byok from squid Game. It makes me imagine that somehow she escaped from squid game and turned all bad and dysfunctional and grew up to be boss of the drug ring 🙂

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