Remember : Son’s War Ep 17 Recap (and from past to present)

(Apologies for missing the ep 16 recap last week, I was swamped with coursework 😦 )
We begin with Donghogoing through paperwork in his office when he gets a call. Sangho informs him of Seok Joo Il’s critical condition.

He drops everything and rushes out. A second after his door swings shut, Joo Il’s would-be killer slinks in with the murder weapon and plants it in Dongho’s office (oh shit). At the hospital, Dongho weeps over Joo Il’s comatose form and tells Sangho that he’s going to have to spill some blood now, seeing how far Nam Il Ho’s gone. He can’t back down now. The next day, Jinwoo’s about to leave when Lawyer Song rushes in and informs him of what happened to Joo Il. Events proceed as they did the previous episode, with Jinwoo going to Dongho and witnessing him being arrested by Bae Joonshik for Joo Il’s attempted murder.  Jinwoo stares at the tableau in disbelief, especially when the detectives Joonshik has brought with him search Dongho’s office and ‘find’ the murder weapon.

Dongho orders them to get their hands of him but is dragged away, leaving Jinwoo alone in his office. Back at the Byundoori law firm, In Ah, Jae Ik and Lawyer Yeon can’t believe that Dongho would actually do such a thing. Jinwoo sighs that Dongho fell into a trap. Gyuman, however, is completely in the dark about what his father has orchestrated and tut-tuts to Lawyer Hong at the feeble loyalty of ‘these ganster-types’. Moosuk agrees and notes that with Dongho gone, Jinwoo and the other’s have lost a wing, so to speak, and he plans to attack that weak point. Cut to Dongho in a prison uniform with Sangho on the other side of the glass, in a fashion very reminiscent of his own conversations with Joo Il. He asks Sangho how Joo Il’s doing but there’s no progress. Even worse, the ‘boys’ that joined Joo Il upon his entering Il Ho Group had nearly all left. Only 10 remain to watch over Joo Il. Dongho and Sangho realize that Joo Il was trying to protect him in his own way and that Il Ho was definitely behind it all. Sangho quietly asks what Dongho’s going to do without a lawyer for his trial but Dongho tells him to take care of Joo Il, that’s all he cares about. Meanwhile, Tak Youngjin informs Nam Il Ho that the director of the national tax office has changed meaning that there’s high probability of them being investigated for tax fraud. He plans on stirring up other issues for them to focus on instead and make Il Ho Group look good. Nam Il Ho commends him for his good work just as Hong Moosuk arrives. Youngjin smirks while Moosuk does his best to ignore him. He tells Nam Il Ho that the 10 remaining gangsters under Joo Il are furious and plan on taking revenge, but he plans on ‘taking care’ of them all. Il Ho asks after Dongho’s case and Moosuk assures him that there’ll be no problem with getting him behind bars. The prosecutor, he says, is one he knows.

(Perhaps…Yeokyung?) Sangho charges into the Byundoori law firm and begs Jinwoo to represent Dongho in court. Jinwoo’s not interested. This was the man who ruined his father, and his life.

Lawyer Yeon scornfully asks if Dongho put Sangho up to this which Sangho denies, looking like he’s going to cry. Jae Ik asks him to leave, as there’s no way Jinwoo would represent Dongho. In Ah gently tells Sangho that even he knows how difficult it would be. Sangho gives Jinwoo another pleading look.

Dongho ruminates in jail, looking as gorgeous as usual. 

He recalls sharing a drink with Joo Il in his new office upon newly having joined Il Ho Group. Joo Il merrily noted that they really were nothing more than underlings. Yet, he now has a title as president of a company and Dongho’s the most expensive lawyer in Korea. Present Dongho throws the blanket he’s sitting on across the room in anger. The nesst day, Moosuk asks Bae Joonshik how his father’s health his and the latter hurriedly asserts that he’s doing much better thanks to Nam Il Ho’s aid (so that’s Joonshik’s pressure point) He tells Moosuk that he cleaned up everything with regards to Dongho’s case. Moosuk notes how useful he’s become and says that if he keeps this up, he might even make something of his life. Joonshik vows eternal loyalty to Nam Il Ho. Meanwhile, Yeokyung runs into Kang Seokgyu at the National Forensics Services.

At a cafe, he tells her that Jinwoo’s present case against Gyuman isn’t the only thing Gyuman’ll have to handle. Yeokyung hesitantly asks if he’s talking about Oh Jungah’s case. Seokgyu sighs that says that he wants to hear Gyuman’s side (dude, there isn’t one) a little more. Yeokyung goes home and plucks the case file in front of her father. She ignored the drug incident, she said, but she can’t cover up a murder. She knows that Gyuman killed Jungah. Nam Il Ho tries to interject but she yells at him to stop.

He slaps her.

Gyuman is Il Ho group’s heir. He yells that she should be helping her brother grow more powerful instead of doing stuff like this and orders her out of the house. Gyuman hears of this and sighs to Soobum that it really is too bad, once you get on his father’s bad side there’s no going back. Too bad, he says, that he won’t be able to use his prosecutor sister. He orders Soobum to place more people watching Song Hayoung and goes to pay Dongho a visit in prison.

He compliments Dongho on how well the clothes suit him and wonders why he didn’t just talk things out with Joo Il  instead of stabbing him. Dongho snorts at his lack of knowledge at informs him that this was his father’s orchestration. Nam Il Ho uses a person for all they’ve got and throw them away. Gyuman, despite being his son, won’t be treated any differently. He asks Gyuman to convey his message to Il Ho. His arrow is on its way. Gyuman’s eyes darken. He tells Dongho to worry about himself while he rots her. He’ll regret betraying them. Dongho doesn’t think so. He tells Gyuman that their positions, literally and figuratively, will soon be reversed.

Dongho tells him to watch his downfall. He leans forward and stares at him eerily.

WHOA. He leaves, and Gyuman’s expression changes.

HAHA. Someone’s pissed at now having the last word. He gets Moosuk on the phone and order him to push Dongho’s trial forward. Meanwhile, Moosuk and Choi Jinkyung are in conference with the judge presiding over Song Hayoung’s case. After having reviewed the video evidence submitted, the judge asks for one of the other women being assaulted in the women to come forward and serve as a co-witness with Hayoung, as it would lend validity to her claims, given the score of women in the video. Jinkyung calls In Ah and asks her to ask Hayoung of anyone else can come forward. Unfortunately, Moosuk overhears this and places his own call to Gyuman. At Gyuman’s office he asks if there were other cases like Song Hayoung and Gyuman actually has to nerve to ask how he’s supposed to remember that. Moosuk impresses the urgency of getting to that other women or women before In Ah does and Gyuman starts to think of ‘cases like Song Hayoung’ (meaning that there were other women who took his assault because they got money afterwards, Hayoung was the only one who sued). Hayoung tells In Ah or a friend named Minyi with whom she lost contact after she was assaulted.

Sangho waits for Jinwoo outside Byundoori once again. Jinwoo asks him to leave, his answer remains unchanged. He’s about to leave when Sangho tells him that Dongho was on his way to the retrial with that video of Gyuman, but was stopped by Joo Il.

Tears fill Sangho’s eyes as he asks Jinwoo to help out just this once. Jinwoo looks torn but leaves. Inside his hidden room, he recalls Dongho telling him that the car accident was because of Il Ho and that he wanted nothing more than for Jinwoo to win his retrial. He stares at Dongho’s pictures on his wall looking conflicted but resigned.

At a reserved room in a swanky restaurant Gyuman tells Moosuk to do well, their futures depend on the outcome of this trial (uh, I think Moosuk gets it better than you do). He inquires about Dongho’s trial and smiles gleefully at there being no lawyer willing to take Dongho on.

He giggles that Dongho should be his own lawyer. We’ve a new face in the game as Moosuk introduces him to the prosecutor in charge of Dongho’s case, Prosecutor Go Kwang Il.

Gyuman asks him what would happen if Joo Il would die. Kwang Il says that the charge would change from attempted murder to manslaughter. Gyuman flashes an eerie smile saying that Joo Il’s reached the pinnacle of his usefulness. Song Hayoung’s on her way back home when she finds Gyuman’s thug in front of the building. She calls In Ah in a panic and they meet in a crowded cafe. In Ah gently tells her that this’ll be what she has to face until they win the trial. She asks Hayoung if she’d like to stay at her place. Her family would have no problem with it. In Ah says they’ve come this far because of her bravery. Hayoung smiles. In Ah’s parents are complete sweethearts, having heard the entire story and tell her to treat their place like it’s her home. (Aww!)

Detective Kwak’s found religion and enters the visitation room singing hymns. Moosuk says he’s heard of Kwak’s complicity in the case that’s been brought against Gyuman and Kwak speaks in religious metaphors on how all must pay for their sins (I’m seriously loving seeing the tables so strangely turned here).

HAHA. Kwak asks him what he’s doing, appearing in front of someone trying so hard to change. Moosuk warns him that no prison will keep him safe when Gyuman’s on the warpath. Just because Kwak’s behind bars doesn’t mean he can’t die.

HAHAHA (This is seriously wonderful). Onto Judge Kang, who’s still just looking over Oh Jungah’s case. He stares at Dongho’s name as Jaehyuk’s lawyer. The next thing you know, Soobum nervously tells Gyuman that Seokgyu’s the judge for Dongho’s case. Gyuman sighs that the number of people he wants to get rid of keeps increasing, plus they’re all on one side for some reason. Soobum makes the mistake of saying it’s probably because he’s famous for being impartial and irritates Gyuman even further.  In Ah informs Jinwoo of the same development. She’s pleased, knowing that he’ll judge the case properly but Jinwoo looks pensive.

She tells him that she comes here when she can’t think. Having guessed his decision, In Ah asks him not to worry. She’ll handle Gyuman’s case with Lawyer Yeon. Jinwoo sighs, unable to understand how his and Dongho’s fates are so intertwined.

In Ah notes that he spent all day worrying about this case and Dongho.

She reminds him that he wanted to protect those who’d been wronged like his father. So she trusts that he’ll make the right decision.

Soobum and Sangho drink in his office. Sangho says there’s no use living if Dongho’s judged as guilty. Soobum tells him that life isn’t hard, the world’s just uncaring. He’s just dug himself deep though and the world’s about to explode. Soobum wonders if Gyuman’s done something wrong again but Soobum says that he’ll kill someone again. A horrified Sangho ask who, and Soobum indicates himself, Gyuman won’t let him live after what he’s done. He plays it off as a joke but looks worried. Dongho sits in jail once more, remembering his refusal to call Joo Il hyungnim, the final time he saw him. His face crumples. We’re introduced to Minyi, whom Gyuman finds before In Ah.

He asks if she’s going to testify as a witness against him. Minyi swears she won’t, but Gyuman tells her to do so. He asks if she remembers how much she got from him the last time they ‘played around’ and hands her a huge wad of bills, yelling in her face to accept them when she doesn’t take them. He orders her to buy some new clothes and fix up her face a little. He plucks a rose from a nearby bouquet before leaving (asshole). As such, once In Ah arrives to convince her, the terrified girl tells her to leave. She has nothing to say to In Ah or the court. In Ah gets really worried. Meanwhile, Jinwoo visits Dongho, who sobers at the sight of him.

Jinwoo asks him if he killed Joo Il. Dongho hangs his head unable to believe Jinwoo would ask that. Jinwoo reminds him of what he told his father at their first meeting, on how he’d seen people kill someone and feign amnesia dozens of times. Dongho sighs asks JInwoo if he remembers what his father said in return. Jaehyuk had vowed he never touched Jungah and that it was alright for Dongho to not represent him if he didn’t believe him. He repeats those words to Jinwoo.

Jinwoo asks Dongho if he remembers once telling him that what is or isn’t the truth is for the judge to decide. A lawyer presents the facts and his client’s side of the case. But, Jinwoo says, he isn’t like that. He asks Dongho to tell him the truth now.

Jinwoo heaves a sigh and leans forward.
Dongho just gives him an incredibly trusting smile. 
Back at the law firm, Jae Ik and Lawyer Yeon worry over Jinwoo taking the case, asking if he’ll be okay. Jinwoo says he’ll treat it like he would any other case and exchanges smiles with In Ah.

He speaks to Joonshik, the head officer of Dongho’s case, who tells him that Dongho was captured on Joo Il’s blackbox as coming towards the car. Jinwoo wonders at Joonshik now condemning Dongho when they seemed pretty tight before but Joonshik sputters that he’d no idea that Dongho was this kind of person. Jinwoo cordially says his goodbyes and leaves. Joonshik reaches for his phone and the next thing you know, Moosuk informs Gyuman that Jinwoo took Dongho’s case. Gyuman wonders how on earth Jinwoo could do that when Dongho was responsible for Jaehyuk’s imprisonment but seethes at the thought of the two planning something. Jinkyung runs into Moosuk and Youngjin and sardonically notes that she never thought the two would match so well.

HAHA (They’re like “who? US?”) Moosuk warns her that she’s in Il Ho’s bad books but Jinkyung couldn’t care less. Meanwhile, Gyuman’s having his morning schedule read to him by Soobum and cancels all of it because he’s too damn lazy. Soobum then get a text from Seokgyu who says he’s going to hand over the evidence to ‘someone who needs it most’. (Hm… who could it be? 😀 ) Gyuman peers over his shoulder and manages to read the first two syllables. Soobum freezes.

(That’s what I call an ‘oh shit’ face) He passes it off as being from his girlfriend and thankfully Gyuman falls straight for it. Seokgyu hands the real weapon over to a frozen Jinwoo and In Ah.

Jinwoo’s informed that the one used in his father’s trial was a fake. That’s why his father’s fingerprints weren’t on it. This one, though, has Gyuman’s fingerprints and Oh Jungah’s blood all over it. Jinwoo gets very close to tears.

Seokgyu also gives them the NFS report. In Ah asks how he came by this and he names Soobum. Jinwoo thanks him for having handed it over, knowing it wasn’t an easy decision to make but Seokgyu says he did for the sake of justice being done. Jinwoo plans on requesting a retrial once more.

Meanwhile, Song Hayoung’s trial is in session and Minyi is summoned as a witness by Moosuk. Minyi agrees that she was friends with Hayoung and new of her ‘relationship’ with Gyuman while Hayoung looks progressively horrified. Jinkyung interjects when Moosuk tries to lead Minyi to admit that Hayoung like Gyuman but is overruled. Hayoung prepares to give her answer.

(HELL YEAH!) The smile slides off Moosuk and Gyuman’s faces while Hayoung and In Ah proudly look on. A flashback reveals that In Ah returned with Hayoung who convinced Minyi to testify. If someone had testified before them, then perhaps they wouldn’t have been victims either.

Minyi presses on, revealing that she too, was a victim of Gyuman. Moosuk tries to interject but is overruled. She pulls out the money Gyuman gave her and yells that he can’t just buy everything with money. Jinkyung jumps in at that point to add that they will be adding bribery onto Gyuman’s charges. (There is so much girl power here, the court is on fire) After the trial sets its next date and ends, Hayoung thanks Minyi.

Aww! In the meantime, Jinwoo heads to the crime scene where Joo Il’s car is still parked. He snaps pictures of the blood-splattered interior and notes the area the blackbox covers in front of the car. Going towards the door by the passenger seat, Jinwoo sees footprints leading away from it, likely after the murder was committed. The NFS report and doctor in charge of it also confirm that the assailant had to have been sitting in the passenger seat. There were signs of struggle on Joo Il’s body, as seen in his bruised hands and broken nails.

The answer is affirmative. Jinwoo reviews the blackbox footage that night searching for clues, noting that the car started to shake violently during the fight. Il Ho watches news coverage of Gyuman’s trial and takes his anger out on Gyuman, who in turn tries to pin the blame on Moosuk, saying that he trust he’d take care of things. Il Ho says that he can no longer let Gyuman reign over his empire. He order Gyuman out. Gyuman flashes Moosuk a death glare before complying. Jinwoo records another video message that night. This time it’s to his father, not In Ah. He apologizes for having taken Dongho’s case. The day of the trial he arrives early and sits in the audience before taking his place as the defendant’s lawyer. Dongho’s eyes are vacant as he’s brought in and he looks away at the sight of Jinwoo in the seat by his.

Because, he’s Dongho’s attorney.(Sorry, just wiping away tears here) Seokgyu enters and the trial begins. Prosecutor Go Kwang Il submits the blackkbox video of Dongho approaching the car and a police report. Jinwoo retorts that Dongho being in the car doesn’t make him the killer. Kwang Il insists there was no one else at the scene only for Jinwoo to pull out the photographs he took of footprints leading away from the car. His NFS report states that there were two men who sat in that passenger seat, of two different shoe sizes. (Kwang Il didn’t even go to the crime scene but relied on everything Joonshik fixed up to make Dongho look guilty, so he comes off looking really foolish here). Kwang Il then brings up the issue of the knife found in Dongho’s office. Jinwoo asks if Dongho’s fingerprints were present but Kwang Il waves it off as him having worn a glove. Jinwoo says its circumstantial evidence and opens his mouth to elaborate when his mind goes blank (NOT AGAIN NOT AGAIN! NO!).

He flashes back to Seokgyu giving him the real weapon and OH MY GOSH. Okay, this is really hard to recap. This is terrible. I know it’s just a show but whew this is heavy stuff. All Jinwoo can think of is what Seokgyu said about the weapon in his father’s case being a fake because there was none of the victim’s blood on it. So he repeats that but it’s not applicable for this case because Joo Il’s blood was on the weapon. This is awful, seriously. Jinwoo literally flashes back to his father’s trial and starts to repeat everything Dongho said back then.

I can’t, I can’t. Seokgyu quietly asks him what he just said and Jinwoo’s mind is still in the past. He answers.
Dongho looks up in shock while In Ah’s close to tears. Jinwoo just stares at everyone, no longer in the present.

NO! Jinwoo! This show is the most painful thing ever to recap at times but it’s so good (granted yes, it does drag in areas that isn’t as tight as I’d have liked it to be, but it’s logical for the most part and nothing is ever random. The clues have always been planted. And it’s so utterly heartwrenching, I can’t even.)

The next recap will be much much shorter than my usual ones (sorry 😦 ) because coursework’s getting overwhelming. I’ll just be summarizing things very succintly and only using screencaps for Jinwoo and In Ah and their conversations with each other (or really, really great parts of the show). Looks like In Ah’s going to play double agent in tomorrow’s episode!