Early Access: Confession E9 (Patreon)

E9. This episode, Show continues on its upward trajectory, in ramping up towards what feels like a potential Significant Event, and it's all very tense and edge-of-your-seat stuff.

I find myself lapping it up, even as I hold my breath, both in anticipation of a breakthrough for our quartet, and also, in worry for their safety. It's all very conflicting, to be sure.

First of all, I'm so relieved that Han Jong Goo doesn't die. After where we'd left him last episode, I'd been convinced that he was a goner. I mean, after hanging from a noose like that, with Cho Ki Tak / Heo Jae Man looking on, I was so sure that we'd lost him.

Thank goodness for that other prison guard who shows up, which forces Cho Ki Tak to save Han Jong Goo - after having been the one to put him in the noose, literally.

We don't know yet whether Han Jong Goo's going to wake up, but it's just a relief to know that he's not dead. Because, as long as he's still alive, there's a chance that he could wake up, yes?

I have to say, the more Do Hyun and Chun Ho let on that they know, around Cho Ki Tak, the more nervous I become, for their safety.

I get that Do Hyun and Chun Ho are upset, and I imagine that they must be trying to test Cho Ki Tak, in a way, but the way Do Hyun asks pointedly about the scar that's supposed to be on Heo Jae Man's face, makes me worry that Cho Ki Tak will kill him, for knowing too much. 😬

And the thing is, for all of his smarts, Do Hyun's not very strong, physically. In fact, this episode, I find myself worrying about his heart quite a lot of the time. It hadn't been that long ago, that Do Hyun had been rushed to hospital because of a heart episode. All this stress surely can't be good for him?

And yet, he keeps on keeping on, and I understand why; after all, this is his life's mission, to clear his father's name. But still, I can't help feeling anxious for his wellbeing - and that's even before I take into account the possibility that he might be attacked by Cho Ki Tak. 🙈

In fact, when it comes to Cho Ki Tak, I feel nervous about leaving any character in his vicinity. Like when he asks Do Hyun and Chun Ho to leave the hospital room, I couldn't help worrying that he'd take the chance to finish off Han Jong Goo, by messing with the IV, or taking him off life support.

This concern extends to Do Hyun as well, since he's not physically strong, and Cho Ki Tak now sees him as a threat. That scene where Do Hyun and Chun Ho are outside Cho Ki Tak's house, and Cho Ki Tak essentially tries to run them down (kinda like a prank - except not quite?) really made me realize how important it is, for Do Hyun to have Chun Ho by his side.

If Chun Ho hadn't been there to drag Do Hyun out of danger's way, I'm not super sure that Do Hyun's own reflexes would have been fast or sharp enough, for him to save himself. Eep. That's such an unsettling thought, really. 🙈

Do Hyun isn't the only one who's in danger, however. With Yoo Ri and Madame Jin closing in on Park Si Yang and his dealings with Hwaye / Seol-hwa, it looks like they are in danger too. I mean, we see Big Gun give the order for Prosecutor Yang to find something on Yoo Ri, to put her away.

That's pretty worrying too.

Altogether, it's a pretty intoxicating mix of emotions, this episode. On the one hand, I am rooting hard for our quartet to dig up all the dirt on our bad guys, so that they'll have enough evidence to put them away.

At the same time, every step forward for them, also equates to the equivalent number of steps towards danger, because our bad guys are onto them, and aren't going to go down without a fight.

It's nail-biting, tenterhooky stuff.

And then, Show introduces a wild card in a new character, who looks to be a mercenary hired by our Big Bads, to clean up the entire mess.

I'm definitely curious to know more about the way Mercenary Lady works. Like, how does she actually clean up these messes? These messes aren't your ordinary messes, after all. They extend so far, both in terms of where the corruption stems, and also in terms of how far the cracks have grown.

Plus, she appears to be familiar with Do Hyun's father's case as well. Had she been hired to clean up that mess then, as well?

I do have to admit that I find myself feeling the need to suspend disbelief at various points, this episode.

For example, with Chun Ho being back on the force, he shouldn't have as much time to spend on his cold case investigation with Do Hyun. And yet, it doesn't appear that he's assigned any other work?

Rather, it seems like his rejoining of the force simply makes his investigative work with Do Hyun easier, because he now has access to all the resources that had been off limits to him before.

This doesn't make sense to me, since he'd logically need to spend his time working on other things, unless the team's somehow assigned him to this cold case - which they hadn't even been investigating before.

Another thing that niggles at me, is how Do Hyun is shown contaminating the crime scene,  later in the episode, when he's at Cho Ki Tak's house.

To be fair, this seems to be a fairly common thing in kdramas, where a protagonist explores a crime scene without being properly suited up. This happened in the early episodes of Stranger as well, to show us just how fast and badass our protagonist Shi Mok is.

Therefore, I feel like I shouldn't hold it against Show too much. However, I have to confess that I couldn't stop myself from mentally urging Do Hyun to get out of that secret basement, to get the forensics team to do their thing, INSTEAD OF CONTAMINATING THE CRIME SCENE. 😅

Putting that aside, though, I have to confess that I felt fully engaged with our story, as the stakes go up, and as the various walls start to close in, our at least several of our baddies.

For one thing, it was quite the lightbulb moment for me, to see that Cho Ki Tak had actually bugged Do Hyun's phone, when he'd broken into Do Hyun's office before, to leave the dagger warning.

Ahhh. That makes perfect sense, actually. Do Hyun's phone had been left behind, in the scramble to get him to the emergency room. And of course any villain worth his salt would see the opportunity to bug Do Hyun's phone, and take it.

After all, this would give him insight into what exactly Do Hyun knows, and whether he ought to do anything in response. And this is definitely more effective for him, than simply bugging the office itself.

Ugh. Why does Cho Ki Tak have to be so crafty, and so prepared??

The way Cho Ki Tak readies to clean up and get out is so methodical. It makes me wonder if he's had to do similar clean-ups before, when he'd had to wrap up his life and his operations, so to speak.

It's pretty mind-boggling that he'd used an official vehicle to transport the bodies of his various victims. That's so bold, seriously. And yet, it's kinda genius, isn't it, because no one's going to suspect that the official car from the Ministry of Justice is transporting a dead body?

And again it's pretty genius, that Cho Ki Tak would have that makeshift mortuary in his basement, so that he'd be able to manipulate the victims' perceives times of death. That would actually throw the investigators off enough, to send them off on the wrong trail, from pursuing the wrong timeline.

As we close out the episode, it feels like the various threads are on the cusp of being pulled tight. Our quartet might just have enough evidence to nail at least Cho Ki Tak AND Park Si Yang, particularly with the discovery of the Blue House papers in Madame Jin's house.

But at the same time, Prosecutor Yang's pieced together the fact that No Sun-hoo's mother and Ha Myung–soo's daughter are working together - which would completely clue him in to exactly what they're after.

It feels like it's going to be a matter of who's faster and sharper to get to the finish line, and right now, it honestly looks like it could be anybody's game.

Gah. I sure hope our quartet comes out of this victorious - and importantly, unscathed.

Next episode notes will be out on: Sunday, 27 Mar 2022!