This was a fantastic episode of You’re All Surrounded, within the context of its quality-level of course, but nevertheless fast and full of important information. I found the first half of the drama always taking one step forward two steps back, but now it’s switched to being two steps forward one step back. That reinforces the conclusion that this drama had enough story for a 16-episode arc but the planning decided to milk it with 20-episodes so it was initially littered with odds-and-ends cases that were neither here nor there. In the last few episodes, Team 3 hasn’t done anything other than focus on re-investigating the Masan murder and one wonders how a team of six cops are allowed to just handle one case rather than each juggle multiple cases like in real life. Chief Kang goes from being all over Team 3 and keeping a close eye on Dae Gu to being caught totally unawares with the recovery of the necklace and her involvement getting outed. It’s time she’s finally called to explain herself and I liked the backstory given to her even if it doesn’t absolve her one whit of her own involvement in a series of misdeeds all excused by a greater goal.

Pan Seok has settled into full blown detective mode and his story with Sa Kyung is stuck so far on the backburner Earth might freeze over first before those two work through their child-loss and quickie-divorce issues. Soo Sun and Dae Gu continue to linger on the sidelines of their budding romance, with some unexpected but adorable forward movement, but still subsumed within the more pressing murder mystery getting thisclose to being solved. It works to have Dae Gu’s great memory helping him out while Pan Seok’s hard work over the last eleven years finally yields tons of payoff with the big break coming with the eyewitness ID of Madam Yoo as having paid a visit to Dae Gu’s mom. I wish the drama would also reveal Dae Gu’s birth secret since it’s clear with all the hints, and little bro Ki Jae inexplicably having a fondness for his hyung, that Dae Gu is the illegitimate son of Madam Yoo’s put upon husband. Dae Gu is already hurting so bad with what happens to Tae Il in this episode, his angst meter is surely going to bust through the ceiling once the rest of the dirty truth comes tumbling out. I’m just glad that he completely has Soo Sun by his side as a partner, friend, and something more.

Episode 16 recap:

Pan Seok and Dae Gu pay a visit to Madam Yoo to confront her about her one-of-a-kind necklace that was found at the scene of the Masan murder eleven years ago. Madam Yoo’s composure slips for a second before she coldly denies that this necklace is hers. Pan Seok points out that this necklace is a limited edition and they already confirmed with the designer that he made it for her. Pan Seok wants her to just tell them why she was at the house that day?

Madam Yoo brings out a red box containing the exact same necklace and she sneers confidently to have the evidence to counter their accusations. Madam Yoo in turns asks where the detectives found the fake necklace? Pan Seok says it’s not clear which one is the real article and which one is fake and the designer will need to authenticate it. Madam Yoo finds no reason for her to participate in the authentication and dismisses them to leave.

Outside the Yoo residence, Pan Seok can’t believe there is another exactly the same necklace but Dae Gu’s sight memory immediately compares the two necklaces he just saw and realizes it’s not identical. There are three areas slightly different in the two necklaces which will allow the authentication to confirm which is the genuine one made by the designer.

Madam Yoo calls her clean up service (i.e. dear old dad) and is frustrated when he doesn’t pick up the phone. Her husband happens by and asks why she’s so agitated? Madam Yoo wonders when he cared so much about her so her husband just walks away.

The rest of Team 3 is shocked when they hear that the necklace belongs to Bag Lady aka Madam Yoo, with the added twist that she has one almost identical to it so it’s not clear which one is the real deal. Soo Sun confirms that the one in her possession was recovered at school eleven years ago. Dae Gu says deduction indicates the one Soo Sun found is real and Madam Yoo simply had another made as evidence she never lost it.

Pan Seok offers up two approaches, one is to put the two necklaces side-by-side to authenticate it but they don’t have an evidence warrant, and the other is to find out why Madam Yoo would have visited Dae Gu’s mom that day. Eun Do likes the latter approach because even if they prove her necklace was the one dropped in the yard, it’s not enough to prove that she killed Dae Gu’s mom. Pan Seok and Dae Gu head back to Masan to interview more witnesses, Tae Il heads to find who could have made the other necklace, while Eun Do takes Soo Sun and Ji Gook to Dae Gu’s mom’s college to find out more about her past. Pan Seok assures his team that his detective intuition tells him that this necklace will be the key to cracking the case so they need to work hard.

Soo Sun notices Dae Gu’s tense look so when they get back to their seats, she scoots over to talk to him but he reverts to the ruler for her to keep her distance. Soo Sun knows that he’s upset because the case is reopened which means his mom’s death doesn’t have justice yet, and she apologizes for not making the connection with Killer Boots in the school eleven years ago and her finding the necklace.

Madam Yoo informs her dad that the necklace has resurfaced but she took care of matters by have another one made. Her dad chews her out for making a copy of a one-of-a-kind necklace which if proved will be a sign of her guilt that she covered up the loss. Madam Yoo is certain she covered her tracks and the counterfeit is so authentic looking no one can tell the difference. She demands to know how the cops found the original necklace and Congressman Yoo remembers Killer Boots failing to kill Dae Gu eleven years ago which is probably where he also dropped the necklace. He promises to take care of it and places a call to check on Killer Boots and report back to him.

Chief Kang returns to her desk to find an envelope containing a picture of the necklace and an anonymous note for her to meet tomorrow because the item she took from the Masan evidence locker is back.

Tae Il wakes up and finds Pan Seok already at the table and pulling captain authority to demand breakfast. He doesn’t want cereal aka cookies and asks Tae il to make hot breakfast. Tae Il notices Pan Seok’s phone vibrating with a call from Sa Kyung but Pan Seok is working and doesn’t even notice. After the phone stops ringing, Tae Il asks if he can enlist the help of Sa Kyung unni on her search for the counterfeit jeweler. Pan Seok is annoyed but agrees. After the other two rookies come out, Pan Seok decides to have a little fun at their expense and refers to them collectively as EunParkJi for their last names strung together.

Pan Seok and Dae Gu head to Masan to start canvassing more witnesses and uses the time to ask Dae Gu about his life with his mom in Masan. Pan Seok did a lot of searching for Kim Ji Yong so knows he lived alone with his mom though he had an uncle in Masan. Dae Gu confirms Pan Seok’s query about whether Dae Gu’s dad died before he was born and his mom was a single mother. He can see it hurts Dae Gu to talk about it so turns on the music to Dae Gu’s style and tells him to take a nap.

Dae Gu approaches the neighbors around his old home and introduces himself as the grown up Kim Ji Yong before showing pictures of Madam Yoo around to see if anyone recognizes her. They get no hits and walks away dejected.

Tae Il accompanies Sa Kyung to various jewelers where she asks for a counterfeit of her intricately designed bracelet. Pan Seok texts Sa Kyung an apology that he will be late for their dinner date since he’s out of the city and won’t get back in time. Tae Il can see Sa Kyung’s disappointment but she just tells him to stop reading other people’s text before walking off. Soo Sun and Ji Gook are visiting a former classmate of Dae Gu’s mom but hear that the person is out of the country.

Pan Seok and Dae Gu stop at a family mart to have some ice-cream to beat the heat and when the halmoni comes back, Dae Gu recognizes her as a former halmoni who took care of him. She’s so happy to see little Ji Yong alive and all grown up. She hilariously wonders if Pan Seok is Ji Yong’s dad and gets yelled at for her assumption LOL. Pan Seok points out that he’s still young and the dark little Dae Gu can’t possibly resemble him.

Halmoni blames herself for what happened to Dae Gu and wishes she went to the police station that day to tell the cops what she saw. That day she was going to deliver kimchee to Dae Gu’s mom and saw a man staring at her house. She was so scared so just turned around and went home. She keeps asking Dae Gu for his forgiveness. Pan Seok shows her pictures of Killer Boots and the company president but neither are the man she saw that day. She then confirms the picture of the company president’s lackey who sells pig feet is the guy she saw that day.

On the drive home, Tae Il texts a thank you to Pan Seok for allowing him the chance to have lunch with Sa Kyung. Dae Gu gets a text from Soo Sun asking if he found anything in Masan. She reveals Ji Gook is peeling crab meat for her diligently as they are at dinner. Ji Gook feeds Soo Sun a bite while Dae Gu gets furious about why women can’t eat alone? Pan Seok also agrees and wonders why women let other men think they have a chance with her. For once Dae Gu and Pan Seok are totally in agreement, and Pan Seok gets in a joke at Dae Gu’s expense by calling him riverside grass, specially rabbity Eo Soo Sun’s riverside grass (the one she claimed she wouldn’t eat ahahaha).

Pan Seok shows the necklace to the pig’s feet seller and he doesn’t recognize it since the company president was a man and wouldn’t be wearing a necklace. He then looks alarmed when he see a picture of Madam Yoo but insists she doesn’t look familiar to him. Dae Gu knows he was keeping watch outside his house that day and asks if he saw this woman enter? Pan Seok insists that he will call this guy as a witness and finally the guy admits he saw this woman leave the house that day. She was very distinctive which is why he remembers.

Pan Seok is impressed that he sleuthed out an eyewitness that IDs Madam Yoo as visiting the house. Dae Gu reluctantly thanks Pan Seok but then shakes off his arm around the shoulder, still not comfortable being buddy buddy with him. Eun Do gets a call that an eyewitness ID’d Madam Yoo as visiting the house that day and the rest of Team 3 are thrilled with this break in the case.

Eun Do sees Chief Kang walking past and remembers Pan Seok confiding in him that he suspects Chief Kang’s involvement because she was the one who took the witness statement but didn’t pass it along to Pan Seok. If so then she could be the “Officer Seo” that Killer Boots mentioned, and also the person who swiped the necklace from the evidence locker at the Masan precinct. Eun Do suggests it was just forgetfulness in not passing along the witness statement. Pan Seok hopes so and will know for sure in a few days.

Soo Sun is working late when Dae Gu comes back but her attempt to talk with him gets rebuffed when he just heads to his locker to get his things. Soo Sun asks if he’s mad at her and Dae Gu confirms he is but won’t tell her why. She thinks its about the necklace and he calls her an idiot until she forces him to ask why she said he’s not her type? Then what is her type? And did she kiss him back just for work? Soo Sun can’t believe Dae Gu has time to talk about this when the necklace has finally resurfaced after eleven years.

Dae Gu thinks this is also very important, when she said that he’s not her type, he suddenly feels like life is not interesting anymore. Soo Sun turns to leave and Dae Gu grabs her which is when she falls into his arms. Dae Gu holds her and quietly asks who her ideal type is? Soo Sun nervously confesses that her ideal type is his friend Kim Ji Yong. Awwwww, these two are adorable. Dae Gu’s eyes widen and he lets Soo Sun up before she runs out of the conference room. Dae Gu can’t contain his little smile afterwards.

Congressman Yoo is talking to himself about how Killer Boots dared to betray him. His lawyer arrives to report that Pan Seok went to visit Killer Boots once while Dae Gu went but didn’t get to see him. Later both men went together and once again didn’t get to see him. Congressman Yoo then remembers Chief Kang standing up to him at the shooting range. He’s furious that she didn’t inform him about the reappearance of the necklace and also doesn’t know what her subordinates are up to. He places a call to someone and tells that person to “take care of it.”

Chief Kang is fretting about the blackmail letter regarding the necklace when Director Cha barges in to deliver the good news that Congressman Yoo has finally placed the proposal before the legislature to give detectives greater investigative authority. Chief Kang is happy about that happening at long last but still worried over her misdeeds coming to light.

Chief Kang shows up late at the meeting place and time indicated in the letter and Pan Seok approaches her since he sent the letter to lure her out. It’s the proof he doesn’t want to see that she’s the mole in the precinct that day who took the necklace and also told Killer Boots that Ji Yong was hiding in school that night. Pan Seok is beyond furious and can’t believe she’s the “Officer Seo” that they have been looking for.

Chief Kang flashes back to 27 years ago when she and her partner Officer Seo was asking a prosecutor for a search warrant but he won’t give them one until they bring more evidence. A woman was raped by four men at a nightclub but he blames the victim for going to the club herself. Officer Seo accuses the prosecutor of accepting bribes to let the four assailants off because they are all sons of important and powerful men.

Officr Kang and Officer Seo report the prosecutor for assault after he slaps them both but the get yelled at by their department head to dismiss the charges so the cops can survive in the fight with the prosecutor’s office. Then Chief Yoo tells the two cops to dismiss the assault charges but Officer Seo refuses because the rape victim will never get justice. Officer Kang dismisses the charges without Officer Seo’s consent and later the mother of the rape victim tearfully confronts the two cops on how her daughter’s case won’t be investigated.

Officer Seo leaves behind a suicide note and jumps off the roof of the precinct, taking her own life rather than being part of the corrupt and useless police force. Officer Kang finds her partner dead and later visits her grave with Chief Yoo to pay their respects. She is furious about why the cops are always fighting with the prosecutor’s office to get search and arrest warrants which leads to many victims not getting justice. She begs Chief Yoo to do everything he can to get independent power to the police force so they have greater authority to arrest perps. She tells Chief Yoo to call her “Officer Seo” from now on and she will live for her dead partner.

Chief Kang confirms that she’s dreamed about getting the police force independent authority and she endured for eleven years until Congressman Yoo makes that happen. After that she will reveal all the wrongdoing of Congressman Yoo and Madam Yoo and personally bring them to justice. She threatens Pan Seok to reveal it now because she will simply stay silent and refuse to cooperate. She demands to know where the necklace is.

Dae Gu and Tae Il run into Madam Yoo’s son Ki Jae who is visiting the precinct wanting to have lunch with Dae Gu. He really likes Dae Gu and is sad that Dae Gu doesn’t want to hang out with him because he’s the son of the Bag Lady. Dae Gu doesn’t have the time or energy to hang with him. Ki Jae brings up purposely telling him about their villa that day, he didn’t fall for Dae Gu’s lure but told him anyways to keep his mom from creating an even bigger mess. He can tell Dae Gu isn’t interested and cancels the lunch invite. He thought Dae Gu was different but he’s the same. Ki Jae storms off and also cancels calling Dae Gu “super awesome man”.

Dae Gu and Tae Il take the necklace to find more counterfeit jewelers who could have made a copy for Madam Yoo. When Dae Gu runs back to grab something, two men attack Tae Il and beat him up to steal the necklace. Initially they were walking away after getting the necklace but Tae Il runs after then so they stab him before leaving.

Dae Gu comes back and finds Tae Il stabbed and laying on the ground. Tae Il manages to tell him that the assailants stole the pendant but Dae Gu doesn’t care and tries to staunch the bleeding while calling for someone to call 119. Dae Gu accompanies Tae Il to the hospital and watches him get rushed into the OR. Please god don’t let this be Myung Woo Hospital.

The rest of Team 3 rush to the hospital and Dae Gu confirms that he’s fine before explaining that Tae Il was attacked because of the necklace which was taken. Dae Gu is certain Madam Yoo is behind it and storms out of the hospital.

Soo Sun stops him outside and refuses to let an angry Dae Gu go confront Madam Yoo. He won’t get anywhere confronting her right now but he refuses to stand by while Tae Il is attacked because of him. Soo Sun hugs him and tells him that Tae Il was doing his job as a cop and won’t blame Dae Gu. He needs to remain calm until they get all the evidence needed to bring Madam Yoo to justice.

The men who attacked Tae Il deliver the necklace to Madam Yoo, who like all evil villains is parked at a desolate stretch of the Han River banks. She looks at the necklace and flashes back to eleven years ago when she paid a visit to Dae Gu’s mom. Madam Yoo storms into Dae Gu’s mom’s bedroom and later she grabs a vase and smashes Dae Gu’s mom on the back of her head. She hurries out of the house and drops her necklace in the courtyard.

Madam Yoo smiles as herself as she has the original necklace back in her possession. Soo Sun continues to embrace a crying Dae Gu to comfort him.

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