Here’s a review for the faint-hearted!

TL;DR: (if you are like me and are reading reviews JUST to find the answers to some burning questions, here goes. Highlight for answers!) Did they escape? Yes, with the help of Eun Hye. Did Jeong Woo get to meet Ha Yeon? No. Who has Ha Yeon? Min Ho, presumably.

Here’s a quick recap on what went on in this episode – Tae Soo didn’t get into trouble as we all feared because the other officer demands that he hides the evidence, knowing that if the warden knew the inmates escaped under his watch, he and Tae Soo would be dead.

After some heart-stopping moments, Mong Chi and Cheol Shik make it to the abandoned school and successfully run away from the incoming officers. By the time Jeong Woo meets them, Eun Hye is there to save the day and drives them back to Seoul. Out of fear of losing his job, the warden doesn’t report the escape. In the meantime, Prosecutor Choi hands huge volumes of information on Chamyung’s fraud and embezzlement to his prosecutor friend, who promises to bring him good news. Finally we have another righteous one. With that amount of information, the legal counsel advises Min Ho’s dad to let Seon Ho take the rap. There’s no way they can escape with that amount of evidence. Oh and fun fact, Yeon Hee is the one who turned all the evidence in secretly to Choi. Thus, Min Ho gets called in for an investigation, but since he honestly doesn’t know anything, he insists on a polygraph to prove that he isn’t lying. Things go well for him when the prosecutors put forth questions like “You created a slush fund right?” and he replies, “I don’t know.” But a twist comes along in the form of “Mr Cha Seon Ho” and the detector suddenly indicates that he’s lying when he said “Yes?” HAH. Serve you right for trying to be smart.

We then have another heart-stopping ‘chase’ for Ha Yeon – Jeong Woo and Eun Hye manage to trace Seong Kyu and Ha Yeon to a shopping mall, which converges with Min Ho’s men who have also managed to trace Seung Kyu down. Just when the men are bearing down on Seong Kyu, Jeong Woo notices from the opposite building and presses the fire alarm to help create crowd between them and the men, allowing them to flee successfully.

Wanting to let Seong Kyu know that he has escaped, Jeong Woo leaks the news himself to the press. Joon Hyuk gets called back before he can fly to the UN (hah!) and meets with Min Ho, who informs him that Jeong Woo is out to find two things – (1) Ha Yeon and (2) the knife. Eeks, he knows the knife exists?? Joon Hyuk’s facial expression changes a little when Min Ho explains that his blood is on the knife which he used to stab Ji Soo…but in the next breath, he promises to find the knife and dispose of it. Fake or Real?

Mong Chi successfully claims his lottery money and cries in happiness haha. Seung Kyu calls Eun Hye after escaping to a safe place, and Jeong Woo heads there immediately with a relieved, “It’s over now.” While heading there, Jeon Woo even speaks to Ha Yeon on the phone. However, by the time he reaches, Min Ho’s men have snatched Ha Yeon away and stabbed Seung Kyu. OMGG.

After some urging from Seung Kyu and because the police is swarming the area, Jeong Woo has no choice but to leave him and find Ha Yeon, since she was just taken. He escapes to the roof and Min Ho calls to declare gleefully that he has won the race. Jeong Woo promises to kill him if he touches his daughter, and someone appears behind Jeong Woo. Friend or Foe?

-the end-

Thankfully this is the first episode of the week, so we will find out the answers pretty soon. There’s been a 2-episode extension to Defendants, so the total now sits at 18 episodes instead of the 16 previously. I do hope they fill it up with real content instead of dragging it out!

This episode is kind of pure-adrenaline, thriller sort rather than an attempt to further the plot. It’s like a condensed version-ish of Prison Break and I really like that there were heart-stopping moments across the entire episode, my favourite being the shopping mall bit. However, for someone with a weak-heart like me, I prefer to watch an episode with some form of plot, or something that is not just focused on an intangible chase. I find myself skipping parts of the episode just to find the answer to the end results – did they escape? Did Jeong Woo get to meet his daughter? While I do like this episode, I wasn’t as engaged as I was before. Probably of no fault of the drama, but just my own preference. Hopefully, the next episode will be more gripping, especially now that the chase involves the crucial evidence of the knife!

<3thoughtsramble