Ghosts From The Past
Hyena returns for episode 10 today and with it, a deeper understanding surrounding the case involving Gnosis and Kevin. While the legal drama does well to keep things ticking by, as I’ve said before it’s the characters that keep this one feeling as engaging as it is. Both Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja are a great on-screen couple and they really ignite the scenes they show up together. Whether they actually will end up at the end or not though, remains to be seen. Episode 10 of Hyena begins with Kevin leaving Geum-Ja flowers at her desk but she bemoans the attention and tells Ji-Eun to get rid of them as it’s a distraction. As we soon see,the night didn’t go to plan as we cut back to the restaurant and find out what happened where we left off last time out. Hee-Jae interrupting the dinner causes the night to go awry and Geum-Ja takes him to “the coldest place” which happens to be a cable car. After convincing him to give up his coat, she dupes him into going up to the heights of the tower without her as he’s forced to freeze and watch her helplessly. As Hee-Jae speaks to Song, his words about him acting childish like his Father brings back memories of the conversation Geum-Ja had with him at the cable car. He shakes it off though and speaks to Gi-Hyeok, telling him they can work on both projects at once. However, he warns him not to tell Yu-Mi otherwise there will be trouble. Detective Park stops by the office and tells him Geum-Ja’s Father arrived some time before. Angry, he takes the envelope and after bowing to Hee-Jae on the way out, takes his leave. Hee-Jae gets his coat back from Ji-Eun and tells her he doesn’t watch dramas because misunderstandings like this (referring to her cheeky, knowing expression plastered on her face) can cause a lot of drama. Instead, he brushes it off but stops when he reads the card from Kevin. When Geum-Ja returns, the group reconvene their meeting and discuss the case including the CFO and a possible connection this has to a religious group. Hee-Jae challenges Geum-Ja though and tells her to run a background check on the ones involved at the top. He and Gi-Hyeok soon leave, with Hee-Jae shooting one final comment about how he’s going to pursue legal work, insinuating that Geum-Ja isn’t doing things above the law. Ms Kim phones Geum-Ja and requests a meeting and as she shows up to a lavish meal. She comments how Kevin is interested in her and contemplates whether it’s because Geum-Ja is unusual. She laughs it off, calling Kim cute and as they finally settle on the real issue at hand. Geum-Ja touches a nerve by mentioning Issume Pharmaceuticals. As she does, Kim propositions her with joining forces rather than sticking with Song, a tactic to turn the firm back to how it used to be. Meanwhile, Hee-Jae runs into Kevin while out for a meal and as they discuss Geum-Ja, he tells Kevin he doesn’t like her as she’s not his type. It’s something Hee-Jae regrets saying later on too in his office, as he sighs and eventually goes on to phone her. When she fails to answer, Hee-Jae heads over to confront Ji-Eun, who’s just about to be asked out by Yi-Joon when he interrupts. Hee-Jae feeds back the information about the case to Song – mentioning how Gnosis wasn’t the target, it was actually the pharmaceutical company. Geum-Ja heads out for food with Joo-Ho and they discuss her Father arriving at the law firm. Clearly rattled by Ji-Eun spilling the truth to him, Geum-Ja drives off to the church in an irritable mood, intent on find out more about the religious ties to the company in the case she’s working on. Geum-Ja certainly gets under the religious leader’s skin, as she rises up and asks whether Song&Kim are threatening her. Geum-Ja smiles and with Boo by her side, tells the woman that under the right circumstances they certainly do. This case has serious deep-running issues and as the episode progresses, Joo-Ho sneaks in to the church to look for clues while Boo speaks to Baek Un-Mi regarding her link to this situation. Joo-Ho runs into Geum-Ja’s Father and he antagonizes the detective, talking about the irony of him and Geum-Ja both going on to become law-abiding citizens while he was left to rot, especially given what they did to him back in the day. Joo-Ho walks out on him though, leaving Geum-Ja’s father to laugh at Joo-Ho. Back at the office, Kevin stops by and talks to Geum-Ja. They sit and drink soju together but as they do, Hee-Jae shows up and Geum-Ja takes this opportunity to mention sex with Kevin as Hee-Jae storms out. In the parking lot, and with the thoughts of the previous evening still lingering on his mind, Joo-Ho interrupts his thoughts by greeting him and asking for legal advice. The legal advice involves Geum-Ja’s father and as they talk, he probes about his close relationship with Geum-Ja and whether she’s a victim. As he steps forward, he promises Joo-Ho that anything he says about Geum-Ja will remain a secret and implores him to spill the truth about her past. With the truth now revealed, the group reconvene at Song&Kim until Un-Mi shows up, and it prompts Geum-Ja to take control and clear the room. She controls the conversation and notices scars on Un-Mi’s wrists. As they talk, Geum-Ja promises to stand by her side and build a criminal case surrounding the child abuse she suffered. After the meeting, Hee-Jae takes Geum-Ja to the roof and implores her not to make money off someone else’s pain. He tells her not to be so selfish and stuck up, and begs her to be empathetic. As she walks away, Hee-Jae calls her by her real name and tells her he does know about her. With another cliffhanger ending and plenty of drama to chew through here, Hyena delivers another good episode. The legal case is pretty good too, building up layers of intrigue as the minutes tick by, while the characters do well to blend romance, office politics and drama in the midst of these issues. The child abuse is certainly something that Geum-Ja knows all too well and seeing her confronting this in a frosty manner is a reminder of how tall her mental walls are surrounding her pain. Can Hee-Jae be the one that thaw this ice? There’s plenty of questions left hanging over this one when the final credits roll and quite what the rest of the series still has in store for us, remains to be seen. For now though, Hyena bows out with another strong episode and plenty to chew through ready for next week.
