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Trolley: Episodes 11-12

Every time our couple faces their next hurdle, there’s just another, bigger one waiting. And this time it brings broken trust, which slowly starts to seep through their entire relationship. It’s shocking and suspenseful and tragic all at the same time, and then it’s all trumped with another huge reveal.


 
EPISODES 11-12 WEECAP
Trolley: Episodes 11-12

We pick up with Hye-joo facing a throng of reporters… but luckily it’s just a nightmare. However, as we follow her along this week, there’s a cadence of red flags around Joong-do that get a tad alarming. Do we trust him? Does his wife trust him? Should his wife trust him? Trolley has a lot of fun making us answer these questions as we go, changing our minds a hundred times per episode.

During her day, Hye-joo meets some of Joong-do’s staffers and is surprised that they said he drinks coffee; she knows that he never drinks it, but is soon proven wrong (red flag #1). Then, she learns that the staffers know all about her story, meaning Joong-do told them all already, without her knowledge (red flag #2). Next, in an unsettling moment in Joong-do’s office, Woo-jae disagrees with a coworker, saying that “a perfect secret does exist” (red flag #3).

Then, the worst of all: Hye-joo learns that there was a plan in place for Joong-do to go public with her story before that heart-wrenching scene in our last episode where she gave him her permission. To her credit, Hye-joo confronts him on this; to his credit, he admits it right away, claiming he did it to protect her. However true or logical his explanation might be, Hye-joo is deeply affected. She begins to feel like her story (read: lifelong trauma) has become a political tool for his career. We see a slow shift in their relationship, and it’s agonizing to watch it happen.

Trolley: Episodes 11-12

While Joong-do is busy apologizing to his wife for breaking the trust between them, more trouble is brewing. Oh boy, is it brewing. To start, Ki-young changes his mind about giving Joong-do the evidence against his mother-in-law and Assemblyman Kang. This effectively removes Joong-do’s bargaining chip, and he tells Hye-joo that they must get her story out there now. He’ll go on live TV, and she must be there to add the legitimacy and authenticity they need. Poor Hye-joo is broken over this, but I guess the one nice thing is that it leads to her telling her daughter her story, and they have a really nice moment of bonding. (Poor Yoon-seo is also going through all of this with her parents, though we only see her story tangentially.)

If Hye-joo thought going on live TV and having her deepest fears and traumas broadcast into every living room in the country was bad, she has no idea what’s coming next. And neither did I. Here, the drama holds back some information on us, all for the purpose of letting us navigate this shock with only the information our heroine has. And so, Hye-joo gets a sudden and shocking call from Joong-do. He is distraught. He says that Soo-bin contacted him, has medical records proving Ji-hoon assaulted her, and that she’s blackmailing him or will go public with this information.

Trolley: Episodes 11-12

Hye-joo is devasted, and I want to both pat this screenwriter on the back for such deep and interwoven story elements, and also hit them for torturing Hye-joo so much. Indeed, she is a ball of PTSD and conflicting emotions: horrified over what Ji-hoon may have done, confused because Soo-bin previously told her she was not assaulted, plagued by self-condemnation after wondering if Soo-bin is lying about the assault… and on and on it goes.

Hye-joo begs Joong-do to wait for them to process what has happened, but before you can say Jack Robinson, he’s on TV confessing Ji-hoon’s assault, and then using it to formally announce his bill (which he names the Namgoong Sol Bill after Perilla Grandma’s granddaughter).

At this point Hye-joo is in Joong-do’s office watching the TV with horror and grief. When he returns, that horror and grief continue. She says just what I’m thinking — this makes no sense — and says she would rather have paid Soo-bin off. Joong-do says honesty and transparency are best; Hye-joo wants make sure it’s true and also prevent Ji-hoon from being thrown to the wolves. I see both sides. Either way, this is just galling, especially if we compare Hye-joo’s willingness to keep the supposed assault a secret — because this is exactly what we have seen Seung-hee’s mother do. (Still, to give Hye-joo the benefit of the doubt here, she is not convinced there was an assault, and actively wants to believe Soo-bin, whom she obviously relates to.)

Trolley: Episodes 11-12

A reporter outside accosts Hye-joo, claiming that her husband uses other people’s tragedies as a political tool — and thank goodness Hye-joo can’t speak, because I’m pretty sure those are the exact thoughts running through her own mind. Yeo-jin tries to fend off the reporters, but it’s Chairwoman Woo who does it. (Aside: We are still waiting for this long-standing reveal with Yeo-jin, who’s planning to move, and the longer they hang fire the more I’m dreading this one.)

In a stroke of random coincidence that was actually realistic, Yoon-seo’s friend’s mother is a doctor at a local OB-GYN clinic. She’s not only the one that treated Soo-bin during her miscarriage, but she’s treating her right now… so when Soo-bin — looking much more nefarious these days — pops out on the street in front of Hye-joo, it feels like it wanted to happen.

Trolley: Episodes 11-12 Trolley: Episodes 11-12

Like anyone would, Hye-joo bolts after her and they talk in an alley, although “talking” is not the correct word — Soo-bin stands there in her usual sulking manner, and Hye-joo cries and pleads for the truth. Hye-joo throws all the emotions at Soo-bin, from worrying over her, to asking whether she was really assaulted, to questioning why she’s blackmailing them now after all this.

Goodness gracious, the acting in this scene nearly killed me. We can see Soo-bin responding to Hye-joo’s genuine concern, and we can feel the full range of Hye-joo’s emotions. Finally, Soo-bin tells Hye-joo that she was not assaulted; she also says that she didn’t blackmail Joong-do. Wait, what?!

The breaking down of the Hye-joo and Joong-do trust continues that night when she tells him about her accidental meeting with Soo-bin. Joong-do is so absolutely crushed by this. He buckles under the weight of how Soo-bin’s lies have gotten right into Hye-joo and caused her to mistrust him for the first time ever. Here, I just sit back and gasp. Is that what this whole Soo-bin plot line was really about? Putting a wedge between them, all based on lies? It’s staggering to think about. But it’s not true.

Trolley: Episodes 11-12

It’s at this point that I must acknowledge the drama is getting a little cheeky with us. We only see the Soo-bin and Joong-do engagement after the fact, and each time we see flashes of it, it’s meant to validate what the character is saying in the present. So, when Joong-do says he was indeed blackmailed, we see Soo-bin in the van telling Jong-do she is blackmailing him. This was enough to convince me; I felt so bad for mistrusting Joong-do’s integrity.

And then the ball drops. We see Joong-do teary-eyed at Ji-hoon’s memorial, with Woo-jae behind him saying, “We took a lot of risks, but it seems to be working out the way we planned.” We then get an extended flashback to the scene between Joong-do and Soo-bin where she openly tells him the following: she was not assaulted, she lied about an assault to the doctor only so she could get an abortion, and the baby was not Ji-hoon’s at all but her ex-boyfriend’s.

My brain had trouble processing all this, because I was still caught on this idea of Soo-bin infiltrating their house and marriage and making mayhem. This still might be true, but the bigger betrayal is with Joong-do. He sat there, heard that there was no assault and his son had nothing to do with the pregnancy… and then he continued on with his aforementioned press conference. (I need a minute to collect myself.)

So, basically, the drama has taken us on a wild goose chase with Hye-joo. Mistrust Joong-do, feel guilty for mistrusting Joong-do and trust him again, and then repeat the cycle. But this time, it’s completely — and horribly — true. Joong-do says how guilty he feels towards his wife and his son, but that it was necessary for the greater good. We have seen him jumping at every opportunity to get this bill noticed and passed, but now we see how much he is willing to lie and manipulate to do that. If you have to lie and manipulate to accomplish “good,” is it really good?

This whole thing is such a quagmire, and so much more than a simple trolley problem of save A or save B. The trolley problem is about sacrificing one to save many; what we have here feels more like callously manipulating everything to advance a legal amendment that may or may not save people pain. Is it worth it if you’ve already destroyed your own family to get there? This is starting to feel more like Greek tragedy and less like an ethical dilemma. Not to mention, Hye-joo’s story isn’t out yet, but Joong-do is ready for a counterattack from Seung-hee, and I can only imagine what happens next.

In terms of our other traumatized family, we had a big reveal as well, and I am still banking on Ki-young to be the righteous person that Joong-do is clearly just pretending to be. Ki-young apologizes to Hye-joo for his previous request that she beg forgiveness from his mother-in-law. But guess who’s white-knuckling it through their Seoul neighborhood at that very instant? Scary mom. She’s in a rage after learning who Hye-joo actually is, gets in a car accident, and is soon unconscious in the hospital surrounded by Ki-young and Seung-hee.

Then it gets real. When she is coming to, she mistakes Ki-young for Seung-ho, and in her stupor she says aloud: “Don’t worry, Seung-ho. I will keep your secret forever.” So what we have now is Ki-young seeing that his mother-in-law is even more of a psychopath than he thought. She knows that Seung-ho did indeed commit the assault, but instead chose to make Hye-joo into a murderous villain, and elevate her son as an innocent angel.

I would like to say that’s the end of the trauma this week, but sadly, it is not. As we are closing out this week’s episodes with this crescendo of stress, we return to the scene between Hye-joo and Soo-bin in the alleyway. Before she left, Soo-bin turned to drop one final bomb: the last person to see Ji-hoon alive wasn’t her — it was Joong-do. And sure enough, we get a flashback to that night, where a grieved-looking Joong-do listens to Ji-hoon say he will make sure his father can’t stay in politics. Cut to: his body found in the river.

Present-day Hye-joo is now piecing together Joong-do’s whereabouts at that time, trying to figure out what is actually true and who is actually telling her the truth — and all the while that pesky National Assembly pin she keeps stepping on acts as a signifier. And an alibi. And it’s also a metaphor, not only because she keeps getting hurt by it, but because it stands for the burden of the political role her husband has taken on. And here we are, observing the havoc that has slowly wreaked on their family.

At this point, Hye-joo’s doubt in Joong-do is overflowing — and so is mine. His willingness to hurt his family to advance his political objectives, however noble, is too blatant to be taken back next week as a misdirect. And so, it goes on, and our heroine’s world continues to crumble. It’s a pity that Hye-joo is always forced into this reactive state. There’s so much getting shoved at her, and she’s had no reprieve. And now, it’s as if she’s lost the only place that was a safe haven for her. Way to go, Show, now I want to cry.

 
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I spent the whole of ep 11 getting mad at Hye-joo. I haven't watched 12 but the recap has me trusting and mistrusting and trusting and mistrusting Joong-do, and also reeling through it all with Hye-joo. I'm still pissed with her but that can take a backseat for now.
Sacrifices are to be made, fine. It might come at a personal cost, yes. But to what extent. My initial feelings to Joong-do moving forward and getting Hye-joo's consent afterwards is huge but what he's doing to his family is more huge. When exactly will he stop? And here I was beaming with pride as Yoon-seo helped Hye-joo see reason with Joong-do only for him to do and to have done what?

And what's with the coffee or tea? Who knows what aspect of their marriage will be affected by his taking coffee when Hye-joo has always known him for tea.

I really don't know what to look forward to - How far will he go in his quest, to the detriment of his marriage? Or how they rebuild their trust? I can see the former right ahead.

And please, give Kim Mi-kyung something to do. I've barely seen her onscreen on Trolley and her scenes are short and somewhat displaced from the main story.

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I said this in my fanwall but I’ll repeat it here again, the coffee over tea is the ultimate betrayal. Regardless of whatever shitty political manoeuvrings Joong-do pulled, I don’t see how Joong-do & Hye-joo can get back together after that. COFFEE over TEA is an absolute CRIME!

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Thanks, @missvictrix for the thoughtful recap.

I knew the marriage was not that solid from the start, but I give myself no credit for that-I was just following the cues the show laid out.

But now I’m wondering if I wasn’t fooled by the way the trolley metaphor was employed. I thought it was sincere on the part of the writers—that they meant to suggest that Joong do faced a trolley dilemma—his marriage (the one) or helping others through politics (the many.)

Now that its become clear that even if he nominally loves his wife, he has always put politics first, I’m thinking that HE is going to claim the trolley dilemma as a really shallow justification for his self-seeking and ambition, even though its clear that it never really was a trolley dilemma, as I’ve been harping on in every comment I’ve made on this show. So I think the show duped me by pretending to take the trolley dilemma seriously as a characterization of the action.

Which is fine—since I always get too emotionally involved with fictional characters I’m often fooled by the feints of a show, and I give credit to the writers cleverness in this one. But there will be one development I can’t stomach: if in the last episodes the show pulls back and tries to show that despite the lack of trust he had in his wife and his keeping of secrets from her, Joong Do is really a truly good guy after all, who remains deserving of Hye-Joo’s love, I’ll really be mad. She might decide to stay with him, and in fact given her character’s truly unfortunate trauma-influenced passivity, that might be what happens. But the show better not attempt to provide justification for his actions. After all, as @missvictrix points out the bills he's trying to pass, really do nothing to protect the victims. They are just designed to provide for a revenging justice if the perpetrator of sexual assault dies or kills himself. And even though it seems like I’m watching little but revenge dramas these days, I don’t consider this type of quest for justice an especially noble endeavor.

One final thing—though I’ve appreciated this show, and am looking forward to seeing how it concludes, a drama demonstrating how political intrigue or occupational stress exposes the pre-existing cracks in an apparently solid marriage is nothing new. It would have been nice to show something else, just for a change. Alas, love and marriage seem to be fashion in the kdrama world. I know my world view is out of step with that of the Hallyu, when even Dramabeans falls prone to deep cynicism about lasting romance--with a whole feature forecasting the breakup of all favorite kdrama couples!

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Towards the second half of Ep 12, I kept remembering you because you were the only one who never gave credits to JD for being a good husband. So, tell us about identifying red flags in real life men(dating or marriage) 😝😂

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@emsel As far as real life husbands, I'm afraid any knowledge I have comes from serious reflection on my own inadequacies in that regard.

As for single men, I don't know about the red flags. I do know if they are frequent posters on Drama Beans whose comments show admiration for strong and independent female leads, you can have faith in their reliability and respect.

The problem is that I don't know many of those with the qualities that make them an appropriate dating/matrimonial match for you and any other Dramabeans women who are interested in a male partner--that is, smart, good looking, and in their mid-twenties.

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He just had to go and be a lizard didn't he? 😭

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Also, is it too late to start shipping Ki-young and Hye-joo?

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Don't give me ideas!

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😆😂

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As much as I like it, I don't think it will sit right with Ki Young's personality because he is married and never asked for a divorce despite a crazy MIL. I also think he still very much loves his wife.

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Sigh... I thought it will be The drama and then it starts...
But I guess I can't be mad to Joong-do, because he's 'good' politician and he got what it takes to be one. And his partner ship with Woo-joo is perfect for political maneuvering (they are the true OTP in this drama ha ha). He definitely can't be both good husband and good politician, but at least he chooses something.
I think Hye-joo is just naive to be married to a politician and thinks he can't do what Joong-do has been doing. Are you still 17? And the story turns to mirror her past situation but now she becomes the perpetrator's mother who refuses to believe her son was capable of. And her daughter becomes her friend, Seung-hee. I was grinning 😅 I see what you are doing there writer-nim

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Ah, @pohonphee, your cynical equating of trusting a husband with being 17 hurts! Speaking for husbands everywhere, if you are married, I hope you are 17!

No, in all seriousness, I do appreciate your point about Hye Joo partially mirroring the response of the mother of Seung ho. But to give Hye-Joo some credit, it wasn't quite as duplicitous as the evil mom, and certainly if in the final version of her pregnancy, Soo-bin returns to that story, I think Hye-joo will accept it.

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😆 speaking about trust, is it right to trust any person, not just your spouse,100%? I means even we are ,at some point in our life, lying to... ourselves?
If somebody says to me, I trust you 100%. I will say, no, you should not, because you will end up hurt yourself. Even I don't do it intentionally. Like I will discount anyone for the probability they will lie to me at one point in their life and grand them forgiveness.

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You're a better person than I! But I do trust you 100% to write good comments on kdramas!

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🤣🤣🤣🤣 so honored but please don't

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Though I feel a bit bad for Hye Joo being fooled and on the verge of getting hurt again, I agree that I do not see JD in the bad light yet, unless he killed his own son or did some other crime that is worse than lying for passing a bill.

I wish the writer wrote Hye Joo with much more of a spine and smarts, but that would make her a female version of her husband right? Hoping she finds peace.

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I do like the way that even though he's clearly in the wrong right now, Joong-do isn't a cartoonish political villain. In fact, I think he's reflective of many modern politicians, and when I say that I'm not talking about the ones who clearly are drawn to politics because they want power, money, fame, and attention. That may be a common type right now, but historically, I think most people drawn to civil service believe they can make a difference, want to be a voice for the voiceless, and relish the idea of solving complicated social problems with compassion and wisdom. Yet many of these good-intentioned people end up like Joong-do: believing that because they have always been a moral, righteous person who really does care about others, that they now have the right and obligation to believe that they know best, and that other people need to get in line so they can follow the true and righteous path.

In other words, they develop a kind of god complex, where they trust in their own abilities and honor so completely that they can't recognize when they've started to treat other people like pawns.

Joong-do is so convinced that he can make things better for everyone if they just trust in his decision making and let him do what he wants and thinks is right that he's now on the brink of losing everything that matters to him, including his own integrity. It's tragic. I don't hate him, but I am disgusted by his myopia at the moment.

I so feel for Hye-joo! This woman has had to deal with tremendous loss and pain, and none of it is her fault. She has tried to live a purposeful life of quiet dignity, and the husband who should know and honor her best has decided to take control of her own narrative without factoring in his wife's feelings and needs. She's better off on her own; even if these two love each other, Joong-do's lack of respect for Hye-joo is glaring now.

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This is exactly what I think! Expressed beautifully, I might add! Watching with my mom, and when we chatted about the episode I said, “Joong-do is the bad guy! Wah!” I wanted him to be a good guy.

I really like this drama, and believe the trolley dilemma is, in fact, relevant. If you veer your trolley towards the one worker to save the 5, you still collect more than 1 victim. You impact every person connected to the 1 victim. While it seems simple to make the decision to choose the needs of the many vs the needs of the few (thank you Mr. Spock!), this show certainly makes me question utilitarianism!

This is also my favorite kind of villain! A good guy, with good intentions, who slowly becomes a bad guy while trying to do good things.

I really like the show for making me think. And wonder what will befall us next week!

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I’m just reading these wonderful and thought provoking recaps and comments, I have nothing to say other than I’m here for the ride. This show is seriously addictive

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Another pair of episodes done and we Still don’t know Yeojin’s secret. And no clues (that I picked up, at least) given to us in the little screentime she had.

How big can this secret possibly be? We have a possible murder and a fabricated rape, what more could the writer pile on? This is exhausting and at this stage I’m no longer curious about it.

But I do want to know whyyyy does she keep going to the GYN clinic? Has that been explained and I missed it? It wasn’t to accompany Soobin, that came later. Why was she there in the begin with when she ran into Soobin that first time. And she wasn’t there with Soobin when she took the elevator with the doctor/school mom in these eps 11 or 12.

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Repeating my comment from WWW
My theory of Yeo-Jin’s betrayal is that she put something in Soo-bin’s food that would kill her fetus. I’m thinking Joong-do or Woo-jae ordered Yeo-Jin to do this.

But now we find out that it’s not Ji-hoon’s baby, but then again I don’t believe it

I’m guessing the poison is screwing with Soo-bin’s system which is why she’s going to OBGYN clinic or she could still be pregnant?

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Yes, interesting.

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But why does Yeojin keep going to the clinic?

Re Soobin, could she still being pregnant, the miscarriage was confirmed by the doctor at the clinic.

As for your theory, O.O

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Good point, the show will hopefully reveal this soon! I’m dying to know!

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Her secret has been held back for so long, it better be good!

The gyn office is in a medical building with other specialties. I thought Yeo Jin saw a dermatologist at one point in the past, but maybe not. In EP 11, she was holding a paper from a psychiatric clinic. Maybe a prescription or report.

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Ohhh that makes sense, thanks. Now I can go back to not caring what the secret is.

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😂😂💀💀

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A mess. This loving relationship isn't what it seems. How sad for Hye Joo.

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I’m sad for her, too.

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Your recap was exactly how I saw these two episodes, and my reactions were exactly the same. I just want Hye-joo to be able to repair tattered pages and bindings of treasured books. I feel bad for their daughter, too. Joong Do(whose name I just spattered out) is a husband and father first, but has trampled those precious relationships beyond repair. How can he be sorry for what he did when, if he had it to do over, he’d do the same? That’s not being sorry. The long tentacles of politics have too far-reaching consequences. Good writing abd acting all around. What DiD happen to Joong-do’s son??

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What did happen to Ji-hoon, Joong-do's son? Joong-do killed him.

I think Joong-do is the reason Ji-hoon was a troublemaker. Ji-hoon saw that his father was a bad person, unfit to be a politician with influence over people's lives. So he began to cause trouble in order to ruin his political career. I think that is why he bought drugs.

Because Joong-do and Woo-jae are "the ends justifies the means" kind of people, they decided the best way to deal with Ji-hoon was to eliminate him.

Su-bin knows this. Perhaps she saw it happen.

I think this is Yeo-jin's big "secret." Su-bin told her about this, and Yeo-jin is horrified and doesn't know what to do with such a terrible secret.

I don't know what the fallout will be, but I know Hye-joo will be beyond devastated.

The coffee/tea thing is indication that Joong-do is a completely different person when he is with Hye-joo. There's nothing wrong with drinking coffee. So why would he pretend to never drink coffee around his wife? I feel like he's playacting a certain persona - he doesn't drink coffee and only drinks that green health juice his wife makes for him every day. He really wants her to think that.

I supported Joong-do until Ep. 12. Politicians do need to play these manipulative games in the media in order to not be destroyed by their rivals. I did believe that it was worth it, for the greater good, and that Joong-do's ultimate goal was to create a better world.

Yeah, so... I'm pretty bummed out now.

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Good assessment of what’s going on. I also held out for Joong-do, and fir that, I am bummed too. Su-bin always avoided joong-do in his house, did she see something the day his son died?

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After episode 11, I was scared of JD and couldn't trust him, but I didn't thought he was... This.
After episode 12, I have zero respect for this man.

I like your theory btw. Ji Hoon seemed to know how awful his dad is and that probably is what took him to the grave.

...I feel so bad for Hye Joo. Poor woman.

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Yeah, remember how we thought Joong-do was maybe the father of Su-bin's baby? And how that filled us with horror? Well, this is much MUCH worse.

And I wouldn't say this is about the trolley dilemma anymore. This is not a matter of sacrificing someone simply by switching the train to a new track. It's more like driving the train off the tracks and mowing down your family with it.

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Exactly.

Aigoo. We were so innocent thinking the problem they were going to face was about cheating. 🤦‍♀️ Everything we thought the first few episodes can't compare to this.

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Oohh good theory! It would be interesting to see the huge consequences and Joong Do's fall from grace.

I just don't know if the writers would go down that road, making one half of the couple an extreme villain.

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This week was horrible and amazing.
As a simple viewer I felt really good about how unpredictable these two episodes were. As Hye Joo's (self proclaimed) bestie, I felt SO bad for her.

After the first few lies in episode 11, my trust for Joong Do was completely gone. Everything he said sounded like bs. And, well I was right, it was; but I NEVER imagined that he was going to be involved in Ji Hoon's death. I'm guessing Joong Do most now about the drugs and he most know how/why JH died.
Ugh.

I just want Hye Joo to get a divorce ASAP. I don't think she can live with the guy that made her son a rapist on national television just to get a damn bill approved, especially if that man knows about her traumatic past.
Making the dead son of his sexually abused wife a rapist... Joong Do is trash.
I wouldn't trust the future of my city or county to someone that can destroy his family just to get what he wants. Who knows how many other families he will hurt in the future just to make "the country better". If he doesn't have the means to get things done without hurting innocent people, then I guess he isn't the right guy for the job. I wouldn't be thankful at all as a citizen if I knew what this guy did to get that project approved. I would just think "am I next?". This guy totally forgot that his wife and his son are also regular citizens. They're part of the people he needs to protect and they haven't done anything to deserve all this crap.

I feel really bad for anyone that knows Joong Do. They all are potential political tools for him. I'm pretty sure he's involved with wtv that's killing Yeo Jin inside.

Aigoo. The fact that Soo Bin is the only person in this show that tells Hye Joo the truth... That's sad. Soo Bin is the only one that's on her side no matter what. Soo Bin is the only one acting like her true family.

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I'm not sure if Joong Do necessarily is responsible for his son's death, but I do suspect he planted the drugs on him, possibly to force him to go into hiding or something so he couldn't continue to be a threat to his political career? That story he told Hye-joo about how Soo-bin was obviously a dealer seemed too pat and rehearsed, like he had previously come up with this explanation for the presence of the drugs and is now running with it to hide his own involvement.

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You're right. He was trying so hard to make Hye Joo believe the drugs story even if it didn't make that much sense.

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Trust issues are everywhere in this week's episodes. The drama is more thought-provoking than I was first led to believe. It isn't a simple politics or greed for power story. Instead, we got a dark plot where everyone might be at fault somehow in the end. The characters are grey with no pure evil or pure good.

I can't empathize with Joong-do anymore. With each lie he tells, he goes down more until he will end up in a bottomless pit with no one by his side.

I am crossing my fingers that in the last two weeks, the drama won't turn Hye-joo into someone bad or evil, giving us the shock of our lives. Looking at how the show excels in blindsiding us, it won't be farfetched if they turn everything we have believed is true so far upside down.

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Normally, I would be mad at dramas that fragments scenes when a character tells their side of the story and leaves the viewers to figure out if the said scene was a fiction or reality, but here it is totally upping the suspense and curiosity because the characters are all compelling despite the secrets they hide. I am impressed and I only wish the drama would not end on a open note, given that the story employs a trolley problem.

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Yeah, your comment reminded me of the open ending possibility. Fingers crossed they don't go with it.

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I think I just lost my comment. Good, because I blabbed on for too long anyway.

I will say this. So many beanies show such comprehensive intuition and perception into the human condition. It’s a true pleasure reading your comments.

@missvictrix can author an excellent recap week after week. That takes commitment and skill. Bravo!

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Feeling some anxiety with this show's twists and turns.

I feel bad for Hye Joo. She's constantly bombarded with shocker after shocker. Like missvictrix mentioned, Hye Joo has been reacting to everything and going through all the pain. I hope she will be proactive next week and do more of her investigating. Gather her own intel and confront Joong Do.

Kim Hyun Joo is so soft here. I continue to be mystified yet amazed at her acting. I've only seen her in one other drama (Watcher) where she was cold and badass. What a difference.

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I luv KHJ! I try to watch her dramas & stick with them till the end. She has this kind of vulnerability even if she plays hard characters like in Watcher. The scene wherein she was bargaining with the killer + the husband was gold.

Don't want to make unsolicited advice but please watch her longer format dramas, hopefully they're still available in Viki 😃

I think that's why we are so devastated by this turn of events coz HJ & JD has chemistry as a married couple.

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Thank you for the recaps missvictrix, great observations! This goes to DB community as well for their insights 😃

Although HJ is presented as a quiet character we know she's resilient. She doesn't face the problem head on but she has huge amount of empathy especially to those who she believes are honest, plus her willingness to protect the people she loves. What if in the end she's the one to expose the secrets of JD, is he really killed his son foe political gain. Then she's the one with the trolley dilemma all along & not JD 🤔

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