A Sliver Of Light In The Darkness
With only a couple more weeks left of this law drama (where has the time gone?!), Hyena starts to really crank up the tension as both Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja face their toughest test yet. With the parallel narratives continuing to play out and lots of drama to digest over the hour, there’s clearly plenty left to come with only four episodes remaining. After Geum-Ja’s shocking reveal about his Father last episode, episode 13 of Hyena begins with Hee-Jae stewing over her words around his Father and how this could be used against Issume. Deciding he needs a second opinion, he heads off to speak to the Prosecutor and hands over the files relating to the case his Father was a Judge for. The Prosecutor tells him he’ll look into the case and start to investigate it further. Back at Song&Kim, Hee-Jae speaks to Song and updates him on the situation. He agrees to look into it and implores Hee-Jae to focus on his own work for now. Hee-Jae can’t let it go though and continues to dig into the issue, learning that the wrong decision was made initially. It turns out his Father was against the new Inheritance Tax too and this could have been used against him. Meanwhile, Geum-Ja continues to look into the Chan-Ho case, with Chang-Wook bringing up an important point about the alcohol spills that don’t match the trajectory of the shattered glass. The more the team look into this, the more it appears to be a set-up. Geum-Ja looks into the call logs with Jun-Ho next and uses this as a foundation to help build up a profile of what really happened that night. It turns out Jung-Hwa had a second phone she was using and Geum-Ja discusses with Hee-Jae the possibility that Chan-Ho could have been spiked and set up. However, their conversation is cut short by Hyeok-Jae who phones Hee-Jae and delivers the bad news that the secrets about his Father have been leaked to the press. This causes issues between Hee-Jae and his Father and as Hee-Jae races off, Geum-Ja phones him and suggests someone is behind this betrayal. Hee-Jae’s Father steps out into the middle of the room and straight into traffic, as his shocked son watches him hit by a car. At hospital, Hee-Jae hangs his head in despair as Geum-Ja arrives and talks to him about the situation involving his Father and Issume. With a million and one things swirling around his head, Geum-Ja tells him to focus on his Father getting better for now. That’s not how Hee-Jae works though and he bursts into Song’s office, who happens to be in the middle of a meeting with Kevin. As he tells Song what happened, the Partner doesn’t look surprised. Hee-Jae takes an accusatory tone, especially after Geum-Ja learned his Father spoke to Pil-Jung Song that evening. Hee-Jae asks him if he can put a team together but Song simply tells him the company will stay out of this and not investigate, which throws further shade on his position. Regardless of what Song says, Hee-Jae defies him and promises to look into this, believing there’s a lot being hidden from him. Gi-Hyeok tells Hee-Jae to go and be with his Father for now and as it stands, this situation remains in a precarious position. Learning that there’s a play against her to resign and leave her position as partner, Ms. Kim heads off to visit Song and confronts him over the situation. He warns her to watch what she says before continuing to push ahead with the Issume case, made all the simpler now that a Judge isn’t opposed to the Inheritance Tax Bill. As the pieces start to slot into place, Director Na gives Gi-Hyeok responsibility as the one in charge of the Chan-Ho case, as Song makes his calls to the Korean Bar and forces both Geum-Ja and Hee-Jae to face a disciplinary meeting. Geum-Ja immediately confronts Song about this and questions just why Chan-Ho needs to be found guilty so badly. She suspects all of this is a play to implode Issume by offering up Kevin as a sacrificial lamb in the wake of Chan-Ho tarnishing the reputation of the company. This way, Song can swoop in and play his hand. For now, Song remains incredulous around the idea but it doesn’t seem like too far of a stretch for this man. As the episode closes out, the Disciplinary Meeting begins and the board ask about the nature of Geum-Ja and Hee-Jae’s relationship. In separate meetings they both admit to being in love as the familiar split-screen cuts in just as they both admit this. In the darkness a thin sliver of light can always show you the way. This much is especially true here as the two lawyers go through hell throughout the episode and slip further into the jaws of despair. Hee-Jae’s Father being hit is a particularly poignant moment and the whole situation with Chan-Ho and Song certainly raises big question marks around exactly what’s been happening. The ending is ultimately what really sells the episode though and with great chemistry between Geum-Ja and Hee-Jae, hearing them both admit to being in love with each other – while unable to actually admit it face to face – is a really nice, poetic touch and it helps that the slick editing sells this so much more. Still, the door is left wide open for this one and with big question marks hanging over the case, all eyes now turn to the next episode to find out just what the verdict will be from the Disciplinary Hearing.
