Remember : Son’s War Ep 15 Recap (and the root of evil)

We flashback a bit to when Gyuman unintentionally managed to evade Lawyer Song’s recording pen and place a call to Soobum. He waits in the kitchen until Soobum arrives and exchanges jackets with him upon receiving reassurance that his getaway car is parked by a side door.

Soobum knows where this is going but resignedly goes ahead anyway. Events proceed as they did at the end of the previous episode and Jinwoo and co. find Soobum instead of Gyuman in the car. They arrest him on the spot for leaving the drug-party but know they’ve no real charge to keep him because he’s sober. Meanwhile, Gyuman heads home and comes face to face with Dongho who’s just handed in his resignation. He doesn’t know that and asks him to go to the police station, clean up his mess, and get Secretary Ahn out. Dongho, free of his reins, roars at him instead.

Dongho tells him that he’s going to be paying for what he’s done. Stoned Gyuman couldn’t care less and flashes his trademark smirk.

JInwoo watches Soobum leave the police station and follow him to a nearby bar where he wearily has a drink. He sits down and says that Gyuman probably called Soobum the day he killed Jungah too, and left him to clear up that mess. Soobum’s resignation says it all though he tells Jinwoo that he’s a secretary for Il Ho Group as a whole and doesn’t come and go at Gyuman’s beck and call. Jinwoo muses that because of him, Gyuman’s been free to lead a comfortable life. That gives Soobum pause; he doesn’t seem to ever have thought of it that way. Jinwoo tells him to beware the future.

Back at the office, Lawyer Song is elated at having procured footage of Gyuman going mental in the club. He wonders if they should post it online but is shot down by Lawyer Yeon whos says that Il Ho Group will just say that they fabricated the whole thing and they’ll end up being sued. Jinwoo plans on handing it over to Prosecutor Tak.

Why does that sound ominous? Yeokyung arrives home to find her stoned brother half-passed out on the sofa. She slams the door, making Gyuman jump. He whines about his head and comments on how nice it is to have a prosecutor for a sister. Yeokyung asks how many more of his crimes she has to cover up.

She asks him if he really killed Jungah. Perhaps it’s because he’s stoned, but drugs appear to work like truth serum on Gyuman because he feigns innocence for only a few seconds before confessing (in an incredibly eerie bit of acting on Nam Goongmin’s part)

WHOA. Yeokyung’s left frozen until he orders her to leave before he’s feeling dizzy. A new day dawns at Il Ho Group and Hong Moosuk arrives to gloat as Dongho clears out his office. He comments that Dongho’s departure is for the best; his heart is no longer and that would problematic for Il Ho Group. Dongho laughs that Moosuk;s going to be really busy from now on. He’ll be inundated with lawsuits from various firms that Il Ho Group’s cheated, and most of all, have to clear up after Gyuman’s messes. Even 24 hours a day won’t be enough. Moosuk retorts that he wouldn’t be in such a position if he couldn’t manage that and Dongho laughs that he’s precisely the sort of lackey that Il Ho prefers, before leaving.

Song Jae Ik informs Jinwoo that Dongho left Il Ho, which means that he could be on their side. Jinwoo looks pensive. Meanwhile, Soobum reports at work. Gyuman comments on how soon he was released to which Soobum mutters that it was because he didn’t commit any crimes. Gyuman notes that it sounds like Soobum’s trying to get a dig at him. He asks Soobum if he wants more money for having gone to the police station. Soobum quietly says that he didn’t do it for the money but Gyuman’s on a roll to put him in his ‘place’. He asks Soobum if talking back to him makes him feel like he has any pride. Soobum, after all, is just a dog after money.

He stuffs in the money in Soobum’s pocket and tells him to go get the car ready. he has to pay Chul Joo a visit. Soobum turns and sees the gold horse-head sculpture on the shelf. He stares at it until Gyuman has to tell him to get moving, and leaves to fetch the car. Tak Youngjin, his detective friend and Dongho meet up to discuss Nam Il Ho’s case. Youngjin notes that they still lack definitive evidence to indict him, but Dongho happily pulls out the cassette tape his witness gave him, saying it’s more than enough to get Il Ho in jail. Youngjin says he’ll need a witness as well, and Dongho’s got that ready too.  President Ha is being taken to a safe place by Sangho as they speak and is constantly reassured by him that he’ll get out of this alive. Only that may not be the case because the camera pans to show a masked figure watching both of them. Gyuman cuts a fashionable figure in jail, as he comes to visit Chul Joo.

The meeting is far from pleasant with Gyuman dangling promises of release over Chul Joo’s head. Chul Joo snorts that Gyuman’s lucky to have a sister as a prosecutor but he could have just as lucrative a deal. All he has ot do is rat out that Gyuman was there and his prison sentence gets reduced. Gyuman scornfully tells him that one word out of his mouth will result in his company turning into nothing more than a slip of paper. Chul Joo yells in frustration while Gyuman sweetly reminds him that this was what he meant by not all golden spoons being the same. Yeokyung’ watching the video of Chul Joo’s arrest, and nursing a headache when Jinwoo comes in. He sees the drug-party case’s paper work on her table and looks through, before informing her that he was behind it. She incredulously asks if it was him this time too and he says it’s part of his civic duty. She, on the other hand, isn’t performing hers. Yeokyung stammers that she has no idea what he’s talking about when he whips out the recording pen and asks her what she thinks is inside. 1) Her brother having a good time at the drug-party 2) Yeokyung not arresting him at said party 3) All of the above. He informs her that she’s no good as a prosecutor, so he’ll be handing the videos to her boss.

In Ah and Jinwoo watch the videos with said boss. Youngjin sighs upon seeing Yeokyung there, telling Jinwoo that he told her to leave the drug bust to the narcotics team. Jinwoo reveals that he plans on digging into Gyuman through Chul Joo, given the new rift between them.

Youngjin smiles but levels a strange glance towards the recording pen. Uh oh. Seriously. Please don’t betray them.

Yeokyung and Gyuman stand in front of their father who’s been informed of the whole thing. He commend Yeokyung on having protected her brother and tells her to continue to do so in the future, overriding her protests. He tells her to leave and delivers what sounds like a really painful slap to Gyuman. He asks whether he’s supposed to watch as his empire collapses just because Gyuman can’t control himself. Gyuman places the blame on Chul Joo saying that he didn’t want to go to the party but Chul Joo insisted. His father mutters that he shouldn’t even have associated with someone without a family tree (like father, like son). Gyuman promises that it won’t ever happen again and leaves. Yeokyung then tells him that Jinwoo was behind the tip-off that night. Gyuman looks mildly surprised before something dangerous flares to life in his eyes.
In Ah stands outside the office, clearly freezing, but waiting for Jinwoo to arrive. He sees her before she does him, and wonders what she’s doing out in the cold. In Ah plays it off as getting some fresh air but steps in the same direction Jinwoo does when he goes the wrong way (he did this in an earlier episode, so she guessed that he’d do it again). He closes his eyes and sighs, realizing that she knows he has Alzheimer’s, while she tears up at seeing his disease in action. She grabs him arm and leads him away, pretending she hasn’t noticed a thing but he stops.

In Ah tries to act positive.

At the office, they sit together. In Ah tells him it’s been a while since she knew. Jinwoo sighs that he was always able to remember everything. So even painful memories would replay with precision, like his mother and brother’s deaths. He wanted nothing more than to forget than but now that he’s losing that part of himself…In Ah breaking in at that point. She takes his hand, telling him that he’s a bit unique compared to others but that’s alright. His sickness is a part of him, but that’s alright too.

He holds her hand tighter.

Jinwoo hugs her first. They cry in each other’s arms.

Somehow, if it’s these two, I feel like they can get through anything. However, the next scene is decidely more ominous. Tak Youngjin sits in front of a huge amount of case work titled ‘Nam Il Ho X File’ and think back to Il Ho’s proposition. He takes Jinwoo’s recording pen and leaves, to join hands with the enemy. (SHIT SHIT SHIT . this is great writing though and was in his character from the start. Remember ep 1 when he joined forces with Dongho just to climb up the ladder? He’s doing it again and it’s not out of the blue because we’ve seen him wavering. Great solid writing with his characterization.). He hands over everything in return for Nam Il Ho’s ‘support’ and even chuckles at Dongho’s naivete in giving him this much information. Proseuctor Hong Moosuk attends the meeting and is well pleased. Youngjin worthless piece of @$*(&$(#*$% promises to deliver Seok Joo Il out of prison and leaves with Moosuk challenging him to watch how high he’s going to fly from now on. Jinwoo, In Ah, Lawyers Yeon and Song are surprised the next day when an announcement is made on the drug case with no mention of Gyuman.

In Ah’s worried but says that Youngjin did help out previously though but the truth sinks in and Jinwoo closes his eyes in pain, but no one’s more devastated in Dongho who storms into Youngjin’s office.

He asks if he saw dollar signs in Dongho’s info and cashed in. Youngjin laughs, saying that Dongho’s the last person who should be saying that to him. Dongho’s furious at his poor assessment of Youngjin’s character and has no choice but to leave when Youngjin lazily kicks him out. Jinwoo meets with Chul Joo, who’s realized that Jinwoo tipped the prosecution off and is pissed as hell. He gets even more angry when Gyuman’s name is mentioned. Jinwoo offers to help him out. He’ll blow up Gyuman’s case and link it with Jungah’s murder, all Chul Joo has to do is drop Gyuman’s name so Jinwoo can order an investigation. Chul Joo’s afraid to dip in but calls out to Jinwoo before he leaves. There was once an aspiring actress whose life Gyuman ruined. Her case is eerily similar to Jungah’s too, and if Jinwoo manages to get evidence linking Gyuman to it, then he’s done for. In Ah visits the red light district where the victim, Song Hayoung, now works. But Hayoung isn’t interested in testifying against Gyuman. No one believed her back then, and she was made out to be a gold-digger. She doesn’t want to suffer due to Gyuman once more. In Ah gently tells her that someone died because of Gyuman and gives Hayoung her card, telling her to contact her if she changes her mind. She returns to the office and goes over Hayoung’s case. Jinwoo notes that in rape cases, it’s important for the person being sued (in this case Gyuman) to concoct a story anyone would believe. In Ah reads the case notes: Hayoung met Gyuman, they drank, had sex and she’s now suing him, pretending to have been raped to get some money out of it. Hong Moosuk had played prosecution, and Dongho had handled the case as Gyuman’s lawyer. Jinwoo scornfully notes that the script’s just right.

Meanwhile, Hayoung’s latest client tries to feel up her skirt and slaps her when she refuses to take it. It reminds her of when Gyuman dragged her to his bed, slapped her hard and threw her on it. Her eyes harden and she leaves the bar.

Seok Joo Il is freed thanks to Tak Youngjin’s good work. Joo Il doesn’t know of Youngjin’s betrayal and cheerily tells him to take good care of him from now on. But Hong Moosuk looks incredibly wary, and worried that his position might be usurped, especially when Youngjin levels a smile in his direction and promises to work hard. Meanwhile at the Byundoori Law Firm, Lawyer Song argues that Dongho has to be the one to help out on Song Hayoung’s case. He knows it best. In Ah sighs that it’s difficult for Jinwoo to meet with Dongho given what he did and Lawyer Yeon concurs. Lawyer Song still isn’t convinced while Jinwoo looks worried as that his options are rapidly dwindling.

At a cafe, Dongho meets with Prosecutor Jinkyung and asks for her aid with the Nam Il Ho case.

(Oooh! Tell me more!) She says it was a long time ago but Dongho presses on. All she has to do is bring down Nam Il Ho. She’ll be known as the best female prosecutor in Korea, and he’ll get revenge. Jinkyung notes that he must have his hands on something to sound so confident. Dongho assures her that he has solid evidence. (Dude, did you learn nothing despite being betrayed by Tak Youngjin?) He returns to his office to find it being trashed by Seok Joo Il’s thugs. He gets pissed as hell and yells for them to get out. Joo Il quietly orders them to leave (why did you let them trash the room to begin with then?). Dongho asks what on earth this is supposed to mean and Joo Il tells him that he was the one who decided to walk into fire. He warns Dongho that he’ll die at this rate and asks him to give up President Ha. Dongho refuses to back down.

Nam Gyuman asks Hong Moosuk to release Bae Chul Joo. He was planning on doing something with him (aka. dragging out the wait or adding torture) but his father’s reprimand’s stuck in his mind and he decides to let it go for now. Joo Il comes in at this point and promises to repay Il Ho’s kindness in letting him out. Gyuman has just the task for him: get rid of Jinwoo once and for all. He ominously tells Joo Il that there’s one another person he needs to get rid of too.

Turns out Jinwoo didn’t have to worry. Dongho comes to him on his own. Not that Jinwoo’s happy to see him. He coldly asks what Dongho’s doing here.

He plunks his briefcase on Jinwoo’s desk and opens it to reveal the dossier he has on Nam Il Ho, the Seo Kwang Group explosion case and the cassette tape he got from President Ha. Jinwoo knows that he can’t get Il Ho with this. That’s why Dongho wants to work with him and bring the Nam family down together. He’s certain they can be of use to each other. Jinwoo laughs it’s a good thing Dongho showed up them because he has questions too. He reminds Dongho of Song Hayoung’s rape case five months ago. Dongho’s more than happy to help and tells Jinwoo to make good use of him. Jinwoo sardonically asks if he’ll just be betrayed again. Dongho tells him not to trust him anymore but to trust his actions. He’ll hand over all the info he has on Hayoung’s case and introduce Jinwoo to a prosecutor willing to give out a warrant. Meanwhile, Sangho who’s standing guard over President Ha, leaves to buy some ramen (This has to be lesson #153 in Kdramaland. NEVER leave the witness alone!) The door creaks open a few moments later and the masked man we saw earlier enters, while an unsuspecting President Ha is focused on the tv. Sangho arrives to a topsy-turvy room and hurriedly calls Dongho to inform him of what happened. Joo Il toasts to a day of hard work with his minions. Dongho and Sangho stroll in with the former asking where Joo Il’s hidden President Ha. Joo Il denies all involvement but Dongho remarks that he always had a bad poker face. Joo Il says he’s read him wrong this time then. Dongho bitterly says that Joo Il won’t be hearing him say hyungnim anymore. Joo Il must not have been lying though because the next thing you know, Dongho’s punching his way into Nam Il Ho’s house and demanding where President Ha is. He takes Il Ho’s smirk as him having killed him but Il Ho says that killing someone isn’t as easy as it seems. The culprit stands behind Dongho. He turns to find Tak Youngjin’s detective friend, the cop who’d been fired for investigating his father’s case, the cop who led him to discovering the truth about his father’s case, Detective Bae.

He slams him against a wall and demands the whereabouts of President Ha, sinking upon hearing that Bae sent him overseas. Furious, he asks how long Bae was another one of Il Ho’s lapdogs. Bae tells him that he regretted digging deep into Dongho’s father’s case all his life. What good was the truth when it didn’t put money on the table? Dongho had nothing to offer him, of course he’d take the side who would. He echoes Joo Il in telling Dongho to get it together, and leaves. Hayoung hesitantly enters the Byundoori law firm.

Hayoung first asks In Ah why she’s taking her case when no one did before. In Ah tells her that she never had a fair trial for starters. She wants all Gyuman’s sins to come to light. Hayoung agrees to go ahead with it and recounts the night she was raped. Gyuman simply fixed his tie, and tossed money at her before leaving. She gives In Ah her former manager’s card citing him as the person who introduced her to Gyuman. In Ah vows to see Gyuman punished.

Dongho informs Jinkyung of President Ha no longer being in the picture. The recording isn’t enough to tie Nam Il Ho up in jail but they could just focus their attentions on Gyuman instead and hit Il Ho where it hurts. Dongho knows that Jinwoo would have a great deal of solid information and perhaps evidence for them to work with. Meanwhile, In Ah and Jinwoo meet with Kim Chan but learn nothing because the fact that he’s one of Gyuman’s goons (have played along with the gold-digger story in court). In Ah levels a cold stare at him throughout the brief meeting.

Jinwoo’s next stop is former detective Kwak in jail, who’s finally had a shave. Kwak says it’s a shame that Gyuman isn’t occupying the cell next to his and asks how much Jinwoo got from Chul Joo. Jinwoo asks if he knows who Kim Chan is. Kwak does, he’s a ganster who know runs an entertainment agency, takes young starlets and pimps them out to rich men. That’s what Jinwoo was looking for. Meanwhile, Soobum paces in Gyuman’s empty office, trying to choose between taking the murder weapon to the police and suffering Gyuman’s rage and perhaps even die, or saying and doing nothing (and in doing so being complicit in Gyuman’s actions). He thinks back to all the years of abuse he’s endured. He takes the weapon.

Soobu enters Kang Seokgyu’s office in where the judge is hard at work, putting in hours overtime. He wearily sets himself down and one look is enough to confirm Seokgyu’s suspicions that this is about Gyuman. Seokgyu sits opposite him while Soobum asks if he remembers telling him that he didn’t want to see his or Gyuman’s name coming up as having been a part of Oh Jungah’s case. Well…

WHOA!!! He hands a flabbergasted Seokgyu the weapon. Seokgyu asks how Soobum has something that was submitted and court and the latter admits that the weapon used to frame Jaehyuk was a fake. One that he created himself. After Gyuman left clean up of his murder to Soobum, he ran to the kitchen and tore it apart in search of another bottle-opener. He found one and used it to frame Jaehyuk. He confirms that Gyuman committed the murder and asks for Seokgyu to take the case.

Seokgyu commends him on doing the right thing. Soobum will likely go to jail for his part in the murder but extenuating circumstances, like him turning state’s evidence at the moment, will result in a much shorter sentence than Gyuman. Jinkyung, Dongho, In Ah and Jinwoo form an awkward foursome at the Byundoori Law Firm.

Jinwoo clearly hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the role the two played in his father’s death but he hands Jinkyung the evidence he’s collected on Hayoung’s case and Gyuman’s presence at the drug party. It’ll  be enough to put him in a defendant’s seat, where the rest can come out. In Ah’s certain the opposing lawyer will be Hong Moosuk though, a formidable opponent. Yet Jinkyung appears to be paying for keeps. She storms up to the Il Ho building the next day, walks into Gyuman’s office, waves the indictment in his face and has him cuffed and escorted out much to his fury.

Jinwoo and In Ah watch the proceedings and confront him head-on with near identical smirks. Gyuman wonders if they think they can even touch a hair on his head. Jinwoo warns him that his sins will out, one by one.

Thoughts:

The tagline for this episode formed halfway through the episode as opposed to the very end (which is what usually happens). The new and broken alliances today had little to do with how good or bad these characters where but with what they valued and how strong or weak they were when it came to getting it. We had those who valued money at the expense of morals (detective Bae, Soobum), power at the expense of pride (Youngjin), and familiarity at the expense of family (Seok Joo Il) and . And then we have people like Jinkyung who values power above all and aligns herself with whatever side or sides that’ll get her to her goal.

All these people move and are moved by money and power, the root of evil. Some part of them is inherently evil because of this. They will always do whatever it takes to get more. They don’t draw lines or bother with morals. This contrasts sharply with Jinwoo’s tightly knit friend group who work for nothing more than him seeing justice done in his father’s case. They have lines they aren’t willing to cross, which is why they manage to retain their humanity and hold tight to each other despite everything. But the other camp is already breaking down. Joo Il and Dongho’s father-son relationship is dying, Hong Moosuk is already worried that his position’s going to be taken. Everyone’s prepared to backstab the other. To look at this episode very simply, this show just set up the time-old assertion that no power can beat friendship and love. But with Remember it’s always more than that, the characterization is spot on and the people feel real and complicated enough for it to be more than bad guys versus good guys or the strong versus the weak. Because the weak can be bad too, and the strong can be good.