Flex x Cop: Episodes 7-8

by DaebakGrits

Our detective team takes on their strangest case yet, and the cast of suspects includes some people with intimate knowledge of our chaebol. The closer our detectives get to identifying the murderer, the closer our chaebol comes to learning the truth behind his mother’s death.

 
EPISODES 7-8

Called to investigate a new murder, Team One arrives on the scene full of swagger – except for Yi-soo, who’s still squeamish around dead bodies. Kang-hyun is catching on to his PTSD, remembering how he reacted when he joined her in the autopsy room for the first time, so Yi-soo musters up some bravado to prove he’s not a wimp and moves closer to the body. Once he allows himself to really look at the victim, he recognizes the dead man as an IT legend and the CEO of a security firm who was recently on the cover of Business magazine. Unfortunately, according to IT Legend’s grieving widow, his success had taken a rapid decline, and the red stickers around their home, marking items set for repossession, confirm her story.

Shortly before his death, IT Legend told his wife that he feared for his life, believing someone was out to kill him, but back in the autopsy room, there’s no immediate signs of foul play. The case has Ji-won a bit stumped because IT Legend died from — wait for it — dehydration. His cause of death is especially peculiar because he was found in an unlocked room with his cell phone and bottles of water at hand, suggesting forced imprisonment wasn’t what led to the dehydration that ultimately killed him.

As Yi-soo and Kang-hyun discuss the peculiarities of the case outside their homes, Kang-hyun realizes her mother is spying on them. She quickly shoos Yi-soo away, and with him gone, Mi-sook ambushes Kang-hyun with a knowing smile. Kang-hyun gives an annoyed sigh, and explains that Yi-soo is part of her investigation team — not that this deters Mi-soo’s matchmaking schemes. It’s actually a good thing that they’re in the same profession and work closely together.

The next morning, Mi-soo has a front row seat to watch Yi-soo and Kang-hyun simultaneously head to work — separately because Kang-hyun is all too aware of her mother’s prying eyes. Yi-soo sensed Mi-sook watching, too, and he was so unnerved by her grin and coy wave that he asks Kang-hyun about it when he arrives at work. Kang-hyun, of course, plays dumb. She was just smiling at Kang-hyun. Nothing weird about that.

Even though the matchmaking mother is a common trope in K-dramas, I like its use here. Kang-hyun may be a cat-loving softie at heart, but she’s more focused on her career than romance — however, mother has now planted a seed. The more Kang-hyun tries to prevent it from growing, the more attention she will inadvertently give to it, and I’m curious to see how her internal fight plays out once she starts seeing Yi-soo in a romantic light. (*grabs a tub of popcorn* Okay, I’m ready.)

Mi-sook may be a fan of Yi-soo, but Jun-young is finding petty ways to show he still hasn’t fully welcomed Yi-soo to the team, like angling the computer monitor so Yi-soo can’t watch the black box footage retrieved from IT Legend’s car. So when two new leads cause our team to pair off to divide and conquer, Jun-young questions why Kang-hyun would partner up with Yi-soo again. Kang-hyun counters by reminding him that if it wasn’t her chaperoning the chaebol then it would have to be him — Jun-young makes a face that says how much he loathes the idea — or Kyung-jin. (Meaningful cut to Kyung-jin, who is all too eager to get fake arrested by Yi-soo and his new gold handcuffs.) So yeah, nut up or shut up, Jun-young.

Kang-hyun and Yi-soo roll up to a posh psychiatric clinic to interview the last known person to speak with IT Legend before his death, but the famous psychiatrist refuses to divulge the details of IT Legend’s illness without a warrant. What she does offer, however, is a theory that IT Legend, who was prone to seizures, might have fallen unconscious and subsequently died of dehydration. Famous Psychiatrist also confirms that he sounded panicked on the phone when she last talked to him, and he feared someone was out to kill him, which matches the widow’s account of IT Legend’s last moments.

Meanwhile, Jun-young and Kyung-jin identified the suspicious man caught arguing with IT Legend on the black box footage from his car as a security technician who worked at IT Legend’s company. And the rumor around the company is that Security Technician was blackmailing IT Legend. Jun-young and Kyung-jin’s investigation leads them to Security Technician’s home, but they are too late to ask him any questions. He’s dead — murdered — and based on the graphic and disgusting decomposition, he was killed sometime before IT Legend went into hiding from an unknown threat.

Team One gets another lead in the case when they run a fingerprint analysis on the large duffle bags of money found in Security Technician’s apartment. And who is the new suspect? Well, it’s Yi-soo’s extremely temperamental ex-girlfriend (cameo by Ahn Bo-hyun’s See You in My 19th Life co-star Ha Yoon-Kyung). Given Yi-soo’s connection with the suspect, the rest of Team One decides that Yi-soo is the best candidate to interview her — and their devious smiles as they appoint him as their emissary has nothing (okay, everything) to do with the fact that they all just watched the humiliating viral video of Yi-soo’s break-up.

The breakup video was just a teaser for the epic verbal sparring between Yi-soo and Temperamental Ex, and these two together are comedic gold. When Yi-soo greets her, Temperamental Ex smugly informs Yi-soo that she’s getting married, and Yi-soo deadpans — in what is perhaps my favorite line of dialogue in this drama thus far — that he’d like to send the unfortunate groom some condolence flowers.

Not the best opening for an interview, but when Yi-soo flashes his police badge and asks about the bag of money with her fingerprints all over it, Temperamental Ex admits that she was being blackmailed by Security Technician. She, too, was a patient at the posh psychiatric clinic, and she paid him off because she’d prefer it if her future husband and in-laws never find out about her mental health.

So, should Team One add Temperament Ex to their list of suspects? Well, despite her penchant for grabbing scissors when angered, Yi-soo doesn’t think his ex is a murderer. Kang-hyun is curious to know why Yi-soo is so quick to rule out his ex as a suspect, but instead of answering her question, Yi-soo takes pleasure in asking why she’s so interested.

Because their case notes exchange (and flirtation, eee!) occurs outside their homes, that’s the cue for Mi-sook to pop up and invite Yi-soo to dinner. Yi-soo intended to reject the offer, but when he realizes that’s the last thing Kang-hyun wants, he jumps at the invitation, not realizing she was trying to save him from her mother’s overly salty galbitang. Mi-sook’s poor cooking aside, the dinner with Kang-hyun’s family was a warm contrast to the coldness of Yi-soo’s stepmother, who had blocked him from joining his own family’s dinner earlier that night.

Team One discovers that security at the psychiatric clinic was managed by IT Legend’s company. Security Technician was in charge of the clinic’s account, and he collected illegal videos, which he then used to blackmail the patients. Team One’s running theory is that Security Technician tried to blackmail IT Legend, but when he found out that his boss was broke due to his poor investments, the two teamed up to blackmail other patients at the clinic. One of those patients then killed Security Technician, at which point IT Legend went into hiding.

And so the hunt for the USB containing their blackmail files — and list of potential suspects — begins. Kang-hyun and Yi-soo team up to search Security Technician’s apartment, but because the building security guard takes issue with where Kang-hyun parked (uh, she’s a cop, can’t she park anywhere?), Yi-soo enters the apartment alone and is ambushed by a man in black. There’s a scuffle in which Man in Black gets the upper hand and handcuffs Yi-soo — with his own golden handcuffs! — to some gym equipment.

Yi-soo frees himself, but the Man in Black has already made it down to the street below. So Yi-soo does what any thrill-seeking chaebol would do: use the emergency escape rope to bust through the window and repel down the side of the building. Although Yi-soo manages to apprehend Man in Black, he earns Kang-hyun’s displeasure. His actions were extremely reckless and resulted in the damage of a bystander’s private property. Kang-hyun adds his recent actions to the report she’s been working on — the one requesting his dismissal.

Turns out, Man in Black is a “problem solver” for the rich, and the VIP who hired him to search Security Technician’s apartment calls Man in Black’s cell in the middle of interrogation. When no one moves to answer the phone, Yi-soo, who had been watching from the other side of the two-way mirror, rushes into the interrogation room and answers the call using his best Man in Black impersonation. Yi-soo arranges a meet-up, and with no better options, Team One lets Yi-soo go undercover as the man in black.

The man who hired Man in Black turns out to be — much to Yi-soo’s delight — WANG JONG-TAE (Jang Hyuk-jin), Chairman Jin’s opponent in the mayoral race. While Jong-tae has a strong motive for keeping his transvestism buried, he claims he wouldn’t stoop to murder, especially since his blackmailers warned him that the USB would be leaked to the public if they died. Instead, Jong-tae hired Man in Black to find the missing USB after hearing about his blackmailers’ deaths. In the end, both he and Man in Black have alibis for the day Security Technician was murdered, and so the hunt for the USB continues.

On the day of his mother’s death anniversary, Yi-soo visits the columbarium where his mother’s funerary urn is kept, and while he’s there, he has an epiphany. In the text history between IT Legend and Security Technician, Yi-soo recalls Security Technician said that the USB was hidden where only he could access it — somewhere like the columbarium where his father’s ashes were kept. Sure enough, Yi-soo and Kang-hyun find the USB, but the potential list of suspects is long. Who among them has the most to lose?

Famous Psychiatrist, of course! If word gets out that the privacy of her rich and powerful clients has been violated, then she’s done for, but she told the detectives that she had no knowledge of Security Technician’s blackmailing schemes. But that was a lie. Yi-soo confirms with Temperamental Ex that she complained to Famous Psychiatrist after she was blackmailed, which confirms that the doctor had a motive. But did she have the means? You betcha! As a doctor she could cut Security Technician’s neck with expert precision, but here’s the kicker: she specializes in hypnotherapy, meaning she could hypnotize IT Legend into not drinking water for four days.

Although Yi-soo is convinced Famous Psychiatrist is the murderer, the rest of Team One is skeptical that the doctor has the near magical ability to kill someone with the power of suggestion. I can’t say that I blame them, but Yi-soo proposes that they send Jun-young undercover to get treated. If she can hypnotize an eternal skeptic like Jun-young, then that proves she’s skilled enough to instigate IT Legend’s death.

One undercover operation later, and Jun-young is hypnotized into becoming Yi-soo’s adoring fan — something that would only ever occur under duress. (FYI, this was the most laugh-out-loud scene I’ve encountered in a long time, and the image of Jun-young bridal carrying Yi-soo around the police station will forever be etched in my memory.)

Now that Team One is convinced that Famous Psychiatrist is the killer, they need concrete evidence in order to arrest her. Cue: another far-fetched — but miraculously effective — plan in which Yi-soo and Famous Psychiatrist’s former advisor team up to hypnotize Famous Psychiatrist into confessing and revealing where she hid the murder weapon. And with that, the case is seemingly closed — but there are still a few loose ends to address.

For starters, the USB, which could ruin lives if it wound up in the wrong hands. Hands like Ki-suk, the reporter who lurks at the police station and has made it his personal mission to bring down Yi-soo and Chairman Jin. He approaches Yi-soo and offers to bury the story about Yi-soo’s mother in exchange for the USB’s contents, but Yi-soo declines. Disappointingly, Seung-joo also asks Yi-soo to turn over whatever he has on Jong-tae in order to sway the vote towards their father. Again, Yi-soo refuses to reveal the secrets he became privy to over the course of the investigation.

Instead, with Kang-hyun’s permission, he destroys the USB and writes a formal apology for “losing” it. Yi-soo thanks her for not kicking him off the team, even though she’s had ample opportunity to do so. He’s finally found a place where he feels like he belongs. (Awww, the feels.) Unbeknownst to him, though, Kang-hyun has been continuously adding to her formal request for his dismissal, but his heartfelt thanks — on top of his recent wins for the team — have her setting aside the report instead of submitting it.

And perhaps there’s a bit of pity mixed in with her decision to withhold her report, too, because during the course of their investigation, Kang-hyun discovered the truth about Yi-soo’s mother’s death. Although he may have memories of her dying at the hands — er, wheels — of a Truck of Doom, the reality is that she died, according to Hyung-joon’s police report, of an apparent suicide.

Yi-soo, who was found next to the bathtub where his mother died, was so traumatized that he could not speak, and Chairman Jin hired none other than — dun, dun, dun — Famous Psychiatrist to use hypnosis to replace his real memories with fake ones. Suffice it to say, Famous Psychiatrist is not pleased with her recent arrest, so she asks Yi-soo to visit her in jail where she hypnotizes Yi-soo and unlocks the memories she once hid away.

Wow, this drama keeps getting better and better. I mean, the whole hypnotism plot was a bit weak, but for the sake of the larger plot and Yi-soo’s suppressed memories, I’ll allow it. So the big question is: did Yi-soo’s mother really kill herself? Watching a loved one commit suicide would certainly be traumatizing — but to the extent that a false memory of seeing her get flattened by a Truck of Doom would be deemed a better alternative? Ehhhhhh… I’m not so sure about that, but either way — suicide or murder — I’m starting to believe Chairman Jin is a good guy.

This week we saw Chairman Jin’s facade crack a little bit. There was definitely a hint of a smile on his face when Yi-soo showed up for the family press junket — dramatic and fashionably late, as usual. He also went to visit the columbarium on the death anniversary of Yi-soo’s mom, which suggests he has a genuine love and affection for his deceased mistress. And finally, when Seung-joo expressed his frustration that Yi-soo would not reveal Jong-tae’s secrets, Chairman Jin supported Yi-soo’s choice and admonished Seung-joo for wanting to fight dirty.

Unfortunately, while Chairman Jin is steadily earning my appreciation, Seung-joo revealed a side of him that threatens to crack the brotherly bond I’ve been celebrating since Episode 1. I know I said a few weeks ago that I wouldn’t mind a little tension between the two brothers, but I take it back. We all know that when two brothers start fighting for daddy’s affection, it never ends well, and I don’t want Yi-soo to lose his brother. Especially now that he’s regained his memories and is extremely vulnerable.

RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Flex x Cop
• Ahn Bo-hyun joins Park Ji-hyun as Flex x Cop
• Ahn Bo-hyun flaunts his goods in SBS’s Flex x Cop
• Ahn Bo-hyun is a Flex x Cop in new promos
• News bites: December 21, 2023
• Introducing the new partners in Chaebol x Detective
• News bites: November 16, 2023
• News bites: February 11, 2023
• News bites: January 4, 2023