This was probably the weakest episode of Two Weeks to date, coming across more like a spinning in circles hour of set up, though it did end on a humdinger of a cliffhanger so that makes for an interesting wait until next week. I think it’s safe to say that I am enjoying and appreciating the heck out of Two Weeks but something visceral is missing from this drama that prevents the activation of my all-encompassing love button. Is it just too linear, so that we know there will be equal parts good guy gains an advantage followed by bad guys get the leg up? Is the predictable ending that little Soo Jin will surely be saved though Tae San’s fate isn’t so clear cut make for a lack of tension? Is the lack of a presently developing romantic developments lowering the buzz and engagement factor for this drama? I’m not quite sure, but sometimes a good quality show can also be one that just doesn’t have the sticky factor. Episode 12 more or less centered around the “let’s get the camera!” goal once again, a goal that I was glad was tabled in episode 11 because I’m getting tired of hearing about that damn camera in every other scene.

There were some notable developments, namely that Seung Woo probably flushed his future with In Hye down the toilet by making a very idiotic decision that will surely come back to bit him in the ass. I liked the dude but he alternates between being a moron and being a pretty capable detective. It’s like there is no middle ground with him. Jae Kyung continues to be the steady and solid rock of this drama, with her personality and goal so clearly laid out and her trajectory a very understandable one. While Tae San continues to toggle between his past pain and future fear, the dream that Soo Jin will learn her daddy is a murderer a really haunting one, he also has taken leaps in bounds in ability that really requires a giant leap of faith to swallow. I felt like the tension and danger-level was dialed down way low for this episode, so it felt like an hour just watching lots of things happen but not much forward progression. A few interrogations that go nowhere, some CCTV footage watched here and there, is the drama really running out of big chases and grand reveals that it needs to subsist in tiny steps all of a sudden? We’re four days (and four episodes) away from the giant cluckerfuck coming up – Soo Jin’s surgery and the big bad action. Let’s hope the drama picks up the pace significantly in the next two weeks and end with a huge satisfying bang.

Episode 12 recap:

Tae San and Jae Kyung stage a fake hand off to lure Killer Kim out. He bites and hides away at the hand off site and pumps Tae San with a bullet to the head and chest to take him out. He manages to dispose of his rifle but then is captured and taken down with four tranquilizers. What is he, a bull elephant? This scene would be so much better if Song Jae Rim did a parody of the Will Ferrell tranquilizer scene from Old School.

Tae San has come prepared with a bullet proof helmet and vest so he survives the assassination. He gets up and runs off while Seung Woo’s goal is to get him alive so he can do Soo Jin’s surgery, his exoneration less of a priority for him.

The cops and prosecutors stand over the inert Killer Kim and search him to find no identification and only a cell phone. The weapon is nowhere to be found as well.

Killer Kim’s phone rings and Jae Kyung picks it up to hear Moon Il Suk’s voice asking if its all over? Jae Kyung is waiting for him to mention Jang Tae San, but Moon Il Suk is too wily for that, sensing something is off and stops talking. Jae Kyung asks if he’s surprised to hear her voice before hanging up.

Seung Woo runs up and tells Jae Kyung that they need to find Tae San since he’s injured. Jae Kyung says he’s not hurt, it was all fake. Jae Kyung goes to transport Killer Kim back for interrogation. Why do I have this niggling thought that he’s going to Hulk out in the back of that police car and bust right out of there.

Seung Woo searches the vicinity for Tae San but can’t find him. He’s hiding in a warehouse full of heavy machinery and can see Seung Woo asking him to come out. Seung Woo knows he’s been framed and apologizes for not believing him before. He promises not to arrest him because of Soo Jin’s sake.

Tae San still doesn’t come out but thinks to himself that Seung Woo is a good guy, but he can’t risk getting arrested right now. He remembers Jae Kyung telling him to go back to her place afterwards and wait for her.

Jae Kyung reads Killer Kim the charges of attempted murder of Jang Tae San and the kidnapping of a prosecutor, and asks for him name. He refuses to give it and asks for his lawyer. They take his fingerprints and Sang Hoon runs it through the database and can’t find a match, confirming he’s not a South Korean citizen. Jae Kyung asks where he’s from and he invokes his right to silence.

Moon Il Suk is fretting about the capture of Killer Kim and realizes Tae San and Jae Kyung are in contact and working together and this hand off was all a set up.

Seung Woo barges in and Moon Il Suk asks everyone to step outside. Seung Woo grabs Moon Il Suk and screams at him for being a lying bastard – didn’t he promise not to kill Tae San! Oh shit, don’t tell me Seung Woo is working with the devil to save Soo Jin. Aish.

Flashback to when Moon Il Suk made an offer to Seung Woo – the camera for Tae San’s life to save Soo Jin. Seung Woo initially said hell no but Il Suk warns that he’ll get the camera no matter what, and when he does he’ll make sure Tae San can’t donate his marrow. Seung Woo wants to punch him out and Il Suk warns that he’ll get suspended for six months for hitting him. All he wants is the camera, if Seung Woo gets him the camera that will save Soo Jin’s life. Seung Woo says no way in hell, he’s a cop.

Then Seung Woo goes to visit Soo Jin and discovers a candy delivered to her that is the same as the candy in Moon Il Suk’s office. He realizes Moon Il Suk has access to Soo Jin. This led to Seung Woo finding out from Man Seok’s girlfriend that the camera hand off was happening at the university and he then called Moon Il Suk to take him up on the offer – the camera for Tae San’s life to save Soo Jin’s life. OH NO YOU DIDN’T!!!

Seung Woo realizes now that Moon Il Suk never intended to keep his side of the bargain. He now taunts Seung Woo, asking what In Hye would think if she knew he worked with him to steak the camera. If she knew that Seung Woo shot Tae San before. How would Seung Woo’s Chief of Police dad think? Seung Woo realizes he’s been thoroughly played.

Jae Kyung keeps hammering Killer Kim with questions but he doesn’t budge. The part man-part machine is ice cold, baby. His lawyer arrives and bails him out because there is no weapon recovered and they have the alibi that he was there taking pictures, he even has a camera on him. The lawyer says that Killer Kim is a French citizen here to learn Korean.

Jae Kyung points out that his cell phone has only one number on it – Moon Il Suk, but everyone knows that is not enough to detain him. Jae Kyung and Sang Hoon discuss how prepared the bad guys were, they didn’t even suspect this was a trap but were still prepared with an alibi. Jae Kyung is upset that she wasted an opportunity and thus revealed their tactics.

Tae San is nervously waiting for Jae Kyung to come home wondering if they succeeded or not. She walks in the door and informs him that the plan failed. Killer Kim has a French citizenship so they can’t just hold him, he got rid of the gun, and they couldn’t find the special pen knife on him. Plus a lawyer was immediately retained and everything was arranged so he had an alibi.

Tae San is rightfully upset since the camera was his only hope and now this other strategy has also failed. Jae Kyung says the bigger problem is the bad guys know they have been in communication and Jae Kyung says there is someone keeping an eye on her apartment. Tae San says to keep looking for the camera, he knows Moon Il Suk won’t completely destroy it since he has to retain evidence that he can use against another.

Jae Kyung asks where he would put it and Tae San says his house, he’s been there before and just went there the night the camera was taken. Jae Kyung thinks its too dangerous and he should just wait for Soo Jin’s surgery first before trying to clear his name. Tae San says Moon Il Suk won’t let him live until then, his only hope now is to have him arrested for his crimes. He needs to save Soo Jin, and it was his own fault he was so stupid to get framed so now he has to fix it himself.

Jae Kyung agrees and Tae San switches to plan C – break into Moon Il Suk’s house to find the camera. He tells Jae Kyung to prepare the items he needs, while he has someone who knows the interior of that house, the original owner Chairman Han. Yay, grizzly old dude is coming back! Jae Kyung notes that he’s becoming very bold now and Tae San says he’s able to do more once he is determined and uses his brain. She tells him to be careful.

Jae Kyung and Tae San talk about the upcoming charity auction on the 26th and Moon Il Suk attending with Jo Seo Hee. The confirmed it when she called his office pretending to schedule an interview and found out he’s attending the auction and then flying to Japan that night. Jae Kyung says that he’s been using Seo Hee’s influence to buy up real estate over the years to expand his empire. So the reason they have never been seen at the same place in public but will both attend the auction is probably the secret captured on video in the camera.

Tae San dons an even grizzlier facial disguise and drives away from Jae Kyung’s apartment. He calls Chairman Han but there is no answer so he leaves a message begging for help. He got the camera but it was stolen by Moon Il Suk. He’s going to die unless he gets it back and the only help he needs from Chairman Han is to understand the interior of his old house.

Moon Il Suk is meeting with his team at grungy location and he remembers what Jae Kyung did today and calls her a wily fox waiting for him to fall into her trip. He sniggers that he’s not that easy to entrap. He’s told that everything has been taken care of and wonders where Jang Tae San has been hiding lately. He’s told that Jae Kyung went home alone but came out with another person, which confirms Tae San has been hiding at her place. A minion reports that someone similar to Jang Tae San was spotted near the pawn shop. Moon Il Suk tells them to hurry up and go get out the tip.

Tae San is sleeping and has a nightmare that he’s brought into Soo Jin’s hospital room in handcuffs and she’s told that he’s just a bone marrow donor who is a murderer and is not her dad. Tae San cries that he’s not a criminal and he’s being framed.

The pawn shop minions return and discover Tae San has been back. He’s left them a tape recorder and they play the recording. Tae San thanks them for letting him sleep here for a few nights now. He warns them that if he turns himself in, minion Dae Joon’s involvement in Mi Sook’s murder will come to light.

Tae San says Dae Joon killed her, right? Dae Joon insists he didn’t! Tae San asks how it feels to be accused of something one didn’t do. Since the knife was Dae Joon’s, even if Moon Il Suk killed Mi Soon, it’ll end up being pinned on Dae Joon.

The next morning, Tae San goes to his mother’s grave on the anniversary of her passing to pay his respects. It’s lightly raining and he pours her a drink. He still doesn’t understand why she said his father hated him when he asked about him. But he doesn’t want to think about it, and he doesn’t want to go where she is at anymore. He wants to live.

Even if his mom didn’t like seeing him, he’s happy to see the scenery that she sees now. Can I just say that Lee Jun Ki’s Busan accent is adorable!!! In case folks don’t know, he’s originally from Busan. Tae San gets a call from Chairman Han to go meet him.

In Hye brings a home cooked birthday meal to Soo Jin who wonders what the occasion is? In Hye reveals that its her dad’s birthday but he doesn’t like seaweed soup so she wants Soo Jin to drink it for her dad and celebrate his birthday for him. Soo Jin is so happy to do so.

Tae San meets up with Chairman Han, who is impressed to learn that Tae San managed to borrow a car from the prosecutor. They head to a restaurant to eat and Chairman Han starts to draw the layout of his old home. He reveals there is a secret hidden basement that houses a safe deposit.

Tae San asks if he’s not angry that he got it all stolen away by Moon Il Suk, including the house he lived in for so long. Chairman Han isn’t, he has no desire for revenge because he used to live the way Moon Il Suk does. So what happened to him, he doesn’t feel like it’s unjust. He’s simply treating it like a debt he owed Moon Il Suk.

Tae San doesn’t understand and learns that when Moon Il Suk was a young man and first came to Seoul, he approached Chairman Han and the Chairman kicked him out and refused to help him. That is why Moon Il Suk is such a scary fellow, he holds a grudge like no other. If you step on him once, he’ll return it to you ten-fold. He does wonder why Moon Il Suk kept his house the same and just lives there.

They head back to the Chairman’s place to prep and the Chairman tells Tae San to hurry since his life equals his daughter’s life. He asks how Tae San plans to sneak in and Tae San explains they are looking for a way to lure Moon Il Suk out. The Chairman is impressed that Tae San has changed a lot in the last few days since they met and he admits that he went through a lot in the last few days.

Jae Kyung and the prosecutors are listening to the video that shows the pawn shop guys called Tae San to lure him away to set up the time line where he was missing and could have gone to kill Mi Sook. They wish there was CCTV footage that could show Moon Il Suk was outside Mi Sook’s house the day of the murder.

Jo Seo Hee is at the auction site finalizing the arrangements for the event. Moon Il Suk’s secretary arrives and Jo Seo Hee greets him and they head off to talk.

Seung Woo is at Mi Sook’s house to collect more evidence and when he walks out he notices the cars parked nearby. He calls the car owner and finds out its been parked here for days now and the black box has been turned on. Sang Hoon goes to the areas near Mi Sook’s house looking CCTV videos. He’s told it’s already been taken away a few days ago and a cop was just by asking about it as well. Sang Hoon walks up and the two of them go back to the precinct to review the footage.

Moon Il Suk is talking with a Japanese business man on video conference and the guy tells Il Suk he has to win the auction. Dae Joon is still worried about what Tae San said, that if he turns himself in then Dae Joon’s involvement in the murder will also come to light.

Suddenly Jae Kyung and company barge into Moon Il Suk’s office and arrests him for the murder of Oh Mi Sook. Jo Seo Hee is informed by her secretary that Moon Il Suk has been arrested.

The cops in the precinct are wondering what the heck is going on. They think Seung Woo believes in Jang Tae San’s innocence and is helping to clear his name, and also Prosecutor Jae Kyung is acting weird, too. The captain asks for all the files from Seung Woo’s desk.

Jae Kyung talks with her boss who isn’t happy with the arrest right now since she doesn’t even have the camera. Jae Kyung doesn’t want her boss to keep getting flack because of her. He figures she’s got more evidence against Moon Il Suk and warns her to make it stick otherwise he’s getting released within 48 hours.

Jae Kyung goes to interrogate Moon Il Suk and starts by asking if he knows Oh Mi Sook. He denies it and she realizes he must really hate her to even claim not to know her. He asks for evidence to hold him and thinks to himself that she’s trying to keep him here for some reason.

Jae Kyung shows him the car surveillance footage which shows him pulling up outside Mi Sook’s house right before her death and getting out of the car. He says this is not enough proof that he went into Mi Sook’s house.

Tae San is all prepared with the help of Chairman Han and gets ready to break into Moon Il Suk’s house. First he deletes In Hye’s number from his cell to protect her.

Jae Kyung continues with the interrogation, with Moon Il Suk sticking with the lame story that he went for a walk i8n her neighborhood.

Moon Il Suk’s house is surrounded by CCTV cameras. The Chairman dresses as a paper waste collecting hobo and pulls a cart past the house. He stops right before the house and because it’s a slope, he lets the cart slip backwards and all the paper boxes falls out. He goes to pick it up and Tae San slips under the radar to make his break in.

Tae San has all the equipment and manages to cut the wires to the alarm and slips into the house. The secretary is waiting at the precinct for Moon Il Suk to get released while Dae Joon is in the parking garage.

Tae San slips into the house and opens the door to Moon Il Suk’s study, He takes two steps and stops, turning around to see Moon Il Suk standing right by the window. WHAT DA FUCK JUST HAPPENED?