Bad and Crazy: Episode 7

by mistyisles

Our team learns of a new enemy, and goes on a hunt to find and link him to the bigger picture they’re just starting to understand. But doing so will require them to confront an older enemy who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

 
EPISODE 7 RECAP

Working together, Soo-yeol, K, and Hee-gyeom manage to kick open the doors of the truck they’re trapped inside. The doors swing outward with Soo-yeol and Hee-gyeom holding on for dear life. The driver spots them in the mirror, and when he gets out to investigate, Soo-yeol and K strong arm him into telling them where he was taking them.

Then they lock him in the back and drive to where Boss Yong’s minions are waiting beside a giant, freshly dug grave. Soo-yeol – egged on by both K and Hee-gyeom – drives kamikaze around the site, wrecking the men’s supplies and chasing them into the ditch. Jae-sun and Kyung-tae aren’t far behind with backup, and gape at the spectacle, certain that Soo-yeol had lost his mind.

Later, at Dong-yeol’s pizza place, Jae-sun takes Soo-yeol to task for leaving him and Kyung-tae out of the loop, even if it was for their own safety. Once he finally stops yelling, Hee-gyeom shares what she learned about Boss Yong’s Russia connection. Kyung-tae recognizes her driver (who finally has a name: Andrei Kang) from when they arrested Assemblyman Do. Hee-gyeom sighs that all they have so far is speculation, but Soo-yeol knows of one person who can confirm their suspicions: Il-soo.

He and Hee-gyeom visit Il-soo to probe for answers. They rile him up by pointing out that Gye-shik was only using him as a scapegoat, and offer him a chance at revenge: they need to identify the manufacturer of the drugs marked with the eye symbol. As they’d hoped, Il-soo points to Andrei.

Speaking of, Andrei wonders whether they can trust Gye-shik, noting that he didn’t hesitate to kill his own accomplices. But Boss Yong never trusted Gye-shik, and only plans to “partner” with him as long as he’s useful to her.

The team hunts for clues to Andrei’s whereabouts. While Soo-yeol drives to the next potential location, K entertains himself by singing, pleased that he’s getting to see Hee-gyeom so much these days. That annoys Soo-yeol, prompting K to ask if he’s jealous. He definitely is, though he strongly protests – so strongly that he nearly crashes into a truck. As luck would have it, he recognizes the truck driver as one of Andrei’s men. He quickly makes a U-turn and follows the truck to a warehouse, where Andrei himself is also present.

K suggests hiding in one of the other delivery trucks, and though Soo-yeol doesn’t like the idea, one of Andrei’s men approaches, leaving him with no better options. Naturally, that truck’s driver immediately finishes loading, shuts the door, and drives off with them trapped inside. Again.

Hee-gyeom drops by a candy shop to ask for security footage of the area, but the shop’s cameras only record inside the shop itself. She shows the worker a picture of Andrei, and eek – Boss Yong herself is sitting in the corner. The worker declines to answer any more questions.

Squished between boxes, Soo-yeol and K try to figure out what to do. With the temperature rising rapidly, K insists on stripping off his outer layers and gulping down an entire bottle of water despite Soo-yeol’s already full bladder.

Finally, the truck arrives at its destination. Soo-yeol jumps out, but K stays behind, having found a box of Boss Yong’s drugs. The truck driver returns before they can do anything else, so Soo-yeol jumps back in with K and together they search through the boxes, grinning in triumph.

That night, the whole team raids the warehouse. Andrei smashes his computer before heading outside, and slips away while everyone else is fighting. Jae-sun follows, and they trade blows until Jae-sun gets Andrei to the ground. But that’s when Andrei pulls out a knife and stabs Jae-sun in the gut.

Soo-yeol arrives just in time to stop him from finishing Jae-sun off, but when he and Andrei come face to face, Andrei spreads his hands and drops the knife. “Long time no see,” he whispers in Russian, holding out his wrists to be cuffed. Soo-yeol goes to punch him, but something stops him.

Soo-yeol takes Andrei in for questioning, but Andrei remains silent and smirky. Soo-yeol, undeterred, assures him they’ll find out who’s above him with or without his help, and suddenly Andrei’s face turns dark and his whole body starts to shake. Realizing he’s straining against the handcuffs so as to cut his own wrists, Soo-yeol and Kyung-tae leap to stop him.

Just then, Gye-shik enters and announces his team will be taking over the investigation. He’s already got the commissioner’s permission, so there’s nothing Soo-yeol or Kyung-tae can do to prevent him taking Andrei off their hands (though Kyung-tae sure tries, bless him). Once everyone leaves the room, Gye-shik gloats that Soo-yeol can’t stop him now, no matter how hard he tries. He passes Hee-gyeom on his way out, and even has the gall to give her the same old shoulder bump he used to when he was her trusted mentor.

When Gye-shik returns to his office, he finds a package that contains little bags of candies labeled with the red eye. It must be a summons, because he meets with Boss Yong immediately. He praises her decision to let Andrei be captured since he’d already been identified, advising her to lay low for now. But she demands compensation for losing her right-hand man and other inventory: namely, the drugs that were seized by the police.

Gye-shik regroups with Chan-ki, who worries they may be trapped in a collapsing tunnel with no escape. Gye-shik agrees they’ve gone too far – so they can’t back out now.

Fortunately, Jae-sun’s wound isn’t too serious. He even feels good enough to tease Kyung-tae about crying, and to sneak water bottles under his blanket to exercise with. In response, Kyung-tae threatens to cry even more if Jae-sun hurts himself with overexertion. Aww.

In the hallway, Jae-sun’s wife scolds Soo-yeol for letting Jae-sun get hurt. Turns out she and Soo-yeol are old friends, and Soo-yeol even introduced her and Jae-sun. She also playfully refers to Kyung-tae as “Jae-sun’s wife,” confusing Soo-yeol until he enters the room and witnesses Kyung-tae’s nagging firsthand.

But as soon as Jae-sun sees Soo-yeol, he puts on an overexaggerated show of being in great pain. Soo-yeol softly apologizes, and Jae-sun milks the opportunity to reiterate how much it hurt to be left out of the investigation. He blows the whole act by asking for extra rent money, but then tells Soo-yeol with a wink that he’d better catch Gye-shik for both their sakes.

Hee-gyeom tails Gye-shik and Chan-ki as they head to retrieve the seized drugs. Soo-yeol and Kyung-tae rush to back her up, warning her not to move in until they arrive.

Gye-shik and Chan-ki have no trouble getting to the drugs, however, and Hee-gyeom, worried they’ll get away, steps out to face them alone. Gye-shik dares her to shoot him if she can. She can’t, and Gye-shik takes Chan-ki’s gun and points it at Chan-ki’s head, using him as a shield. Chan-ki begs her to put the gun down, and she slowly does.

Mocking her vow to arrest him herself, Gye-shik aims the gun back at Hee-gyeom, but thankfully Soo-yeol pulls up just in time to distract them. Gye-shik pushes Chan-ki out of the way, jumps into his car, and speeds away.

Soo-yeol gives chase, but Gye-shik loses him in traffic. Gye-shik calls Boss Yong to propose a new meeting place. He’s so worked up that the only place he can think of is the same abandoned building where Min-soo died. Still searching, Soo-yeol and Kyung-tae spot a mowed-down traffic barrier next to a sign for that very building.

Boss Yong’s men meet Gye-shik and conduct the handoff of drugs for money. As soon as they have the drugs secured, she orders them to kill Gye-shik, but he’d been prepared for that and guns down the first guy to approach. He pours oil on the bag of drugs and lights it on fire, just as Soo-yeol and Kyung-tae arrive.

While Kyung-tae keeps Boss Yong’s men at bay, Soo-yeol follows Gye-shik into the building and up to the top floor. Gye-shik ambushes him from behind a pillar, shooting him right in the chest. But Soo-yeol was smart enough to wear a bullet-proof vest, and waits until Gye-shik turns his back to tackle him to the ground and kick the gun away. Gye-shik fights back, but Soo-yeol eventually gets the upper hand and punches him senseless.

Gye-shik feebly crawls away, groaning in defeat. But, unbeknownst to Soo-yeol, he still has a gun. Turning quickly, he strikes Soo-yeol in the face and levels the gun at him. “You think I’d let you catch me in a place like this?” he asks.

A gun fires, but it’s not Gye-shik’s – it’s Hee-gyeom’s. She’s hit Gye-shik square in the shoulder. Gye-shik stumbles back toward the ledge. Soo-yeol lunges forward and saves him by grabbing hold of the money bag. The bag rips, sending bills fluttering like confetti, and Gye-shik tries in vain to catch them. Just when it seems he’ll fall grasping at empty air, Hee-gyeom seizes his wrist and handcuffs him to herself.

While the police take Gye-shik away, K appears at Soo-yeol’s side. Soo-yeol complains that he had to face Gye-shik alone, but K says with a proud smile that he was there with Soo-yeol the entire time, and Soo-yeol has grown enough to handle things like this without his help.

Nearby, a devastated Hee-gyeom watches Gye-shik go. Soo-yeol steps in to comfort her, holding her gently as she sobs into his shoulder.

Then he walks her home. At the door, she hesitantly asks if he wants to come in, using his scratched forehead as an excuse, which he awkwardly accepts. Inside, he immediately falls to nagging her about the mess and helping her clean up a little.

When they sit down with the first aid kit, they realize simultaneously that she hasn’t opened it since their breakup, as each box still sports a little post-it note from him. She tries to brush it off, but when she stands, he takes her hand. He stares at her for a charged moment, and then pulls her in for a kiss.

She returns the kiss, and when they pull away, they both have tears in their eyes. He stammers, “Don’t hit me, that was mutual,” and she quietly says, “I know,” before going back in for another. And another. And another.

Chan-ki confesses to everything, and can finally sleep peacefully. Soo-yeol questions Gye-shik one more time, though it seems like a mere formality at this point. Gye-shik reminds him that the first time they were in this space, Soo-yeol hadn’t cared about the truth, but only about getting the result he wanted. Soo-yeol fully admits he used to be a lot like Gye-shik, but adds that he’s recently come to a halt and is working on turning his life around. Gye-shik also had similar chances to change, but he ignored them all.

Jae-sun is ready to celebrate, but Soo-yeol says they still have one person left to catch. He goes straight to Bong-pil and turns himself in for perjury and concealing evidence. Bong-pil can’t wrap his mind around Soo-yeol asking to be disciplined, but Soo-yeol is adamant he should face the consequences of his actions, even if they were coerced.

As their team prepares to head out for a celebratory dinner, Kyung-tae presents Jae-sun with a new wallet, since they never found the one that disappeared at the junkyard. Aw, he even added a single 1000-won bill (a little less than $1), and Jae-sun tears up.

At home that night, Soo-yeol’s mother worries over his health. But when he asks if he should quit his job and help Dong-yeol run the pizza place, she prods at him to hurry up and move back out already.

Somehow, a faucet is left running at the pizza place all night, causing the building to flood. The landlord demands an exorbitant price for the damages, and just like that, Soo-yeol tucks tail and begs Bong-pil for his job back. Bong-pil isn’t surprised – in fact, he’s overjoyed, and has already taken care of getting Soo-yeol’s punishments waived on one condition: Soo-yeol has to undergo therapy and prove that he’s still mentally fit to hold his position.

Surprise, surprise, one of Boss Yong’s men got away. Though he apologizes for what happened, she stabs him to death with the plastic stick from her lollipop. Next thing we know, another prison transport crashes, and Andrei finishes off the guards before climbing from the wreckage.

Soo-yeol arrives at his new therapist’s office and does his best to act normal, though he’s clearly uncomfortable. He gives vague, noncommittal answers to the therapist’s questions about recent stressful events and his quality of sleep. Soo-yeol keeps glancing at K for reassurance, which does not escape the therapist’s notice. He asks if Soo-yeol felt ashamed or depressed about having drugs forcibly injected into him and having to take part in concealing Gye-shik’s crimes. Again, Soo-yeol breezily waves the question aside, along with the suggestion that he might feel out of control of his own life.

Finally, the therapist asks why he keeps looking off to the side, and whether there’s anyone else in the room with them. When Soo-yeol laughs that off, the therapist decides that’s enough for today, adding that next time he wants to talk about Soo-yeol’s childhood. K does not look happy about that.

We’re transported back to the hallway Soo-yeol saw when Geun-soo hypnotized him. This time, Soo-yeol remembers his birth name: In Jae-hee. He also remembers that his father used to beat him until he (the father, that is) died. He watches the scene of one such incident play out, ending with his father falling to the ground and his younger self fleeing.

But there’s something he can’t remember: he has no memories of the six months leading up to his father’s death, and no idea why he can’t remember them. He races down the hallway, until pain in his chest forces him to stop. K marches toward him, a troubled look on his face.

 
COMMENTS

Two things to start:

1. Jae-sun and Kyung-tae are my favorite thing about this show.
2. Up until the last 15 minutes or so, this episode felt like a finale.

To be more specific about that second point, it feels like we wrapped up one season, where Gye-shik was the main villain, and now we’re venturing into season two, which will be all about Soo-yeol confronting his past and gearing up to face Boss Yong.

Although, now that I think about it, it’s really been organized into three sections, each with its own main villain: Assemblyman Do, Gye-shik, Boss Yong. (I’m grouping In-bum together with Assemblyman Do, since they were related.) And it’s possible they could add in a fourth villain for a few episodes before turning to Boss Yong in earnest. But the point is, this was definitely a clean turning point in that we wrapped up the entire first half of the show and are now heading into new territory on all fronts.

Gye-shik as a character was present from the very beginning, even though we didn’t realize at first what a huge role he would play. And the conclusion to his arc brought so many things full circle. We literally came back to the same locations, both the abandoned building and the interrogation room. Soo-yeol learned to accept and rely on K’s help, and then was able to do the right thing on his own, without K’s help. Not to mention the parallels between Gye-shik and Min-soo falling from that ledge, and the reigniting of the romance between Soo-yeol and Hee-gyeom.

But it makes sense too that Gye-shik needed to be dealt with and moved out of the way – along with all these other external conflicts – before Soo-yeol could really face his deepest internal struggle. And, possibly, before K would be ready to work with Soo-yeol on addressing the past. Because I’m guessing he knows exactly what happened during those missing six months.

I have to confess that if I weren’t recapping this show, I may not have continued watching it after the first episode. But I’m glad I did, because I really like a lot of what it’s grown to be over the past seven episodes. It’s not at all what I expected, but it’s a lot more fun than I expected, and I just really like the central characters. Which, for me, is really important.

Speaking of things I like, I’m so glad Hee-gyeom got to have her moment and personally arrest Gye-shik, even though it killed her to do it. He betrayed her trust on such a personal level, and for a moment I was afraid he was just going to fall to his death and she wouldn’t have the chance to follow through on her vow to bring him to justice for it. I’m glad she did.

And, disappointed as I was in Chan-ki last episode, I’m glad he finally confessed and found peace, too. There was this tiny little moment that I absolutely loved where Kyung-tae explained to Jae-sun that Chan-ki looked relieved to get it all off his chest, and you could see so much understanding and compassion on Kyung-tae’s face. That capacity for empathy is a particular strength of Kyung-tae’s – it’s what made him so dogged in his pursuit of answers about Yoo-na’s case, and I’d argue it’s what allows him to think of solutions that others don’t. It also just makes him a lovely person, and no one better hurt him ever again, or I will be glad to see them fall from the fifth floor.

RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Bad and Crazy, Snowdrop, Bulgasal: Immortal Souls
• Lee Dong-wook, Wie Ha-joon tussle in the shower for Bad and Crazy
• Lee Dong-wook and Wie Ha-joon become unlikely partners in new promos for Bad and Crazy
• New promos for tvN’s Bad and Crazy with Lee Dong-wook, Wie Ha-joon
• Lee Dong-wook, Wie Ha-joon face off in Bad and Crazy
• Cha Hak-yeon confirmed for new tvN drama from The Uncanny Counter production team