Pinocchio Episode 16 “The Emperor Has No Clothes”…
The truth hurts as In Ha and Bum Jo learn their mothers worked together to change the flow of the explosion story 13 years ago. They strongly suspect history has repeated itself with the current explosion story. I’m impressed with their dogged determination to find out the truth.
Dal Po (Lee Jong Suk) tells In Ha (Park Shin Hye) that in his eyes, she is not her mother’s daughter, she’s not his niece, she is simply In Ha. He states despite the situation, her father’s disapproval, he cannot give her up. She kisses Dal Po.
LOL when Dal Po invites In Ha to his place and she overreacts thinking he wants to take their relationship physical. She tries to deny it but the hiccups confirm what she was thinking. With her chaffed and bleeding ankles he piggy backs her to his place.
He cleans and bandages her ankles. She is about to leave when a knock on the door announces In Ha’s father and Grandpa’s arrival. Dal Po wants to reveal their relationship, but In Ha does not want to get caught alone in his place, so she hides. In Ha’a father notices a long strand of hair before he and Grandpa leave. Dal Po finds In Ha asleep in the closet and can’t help but smile as he says “how can you sleep in this situation?” He puts her to bed and smiles as he watches her sleep.
The next morning In Ha feels awkward while Dal Po plays it cool. He actually is feeling awkward too but covers it well. In Ha makes breakfast in a cute cooking scene.
In Ha’s father tells Grandpa that Dal Po may have a new girlfriend mentioning the strand of hair he found. He is upset Dal Po has moved on so quickly after breaking up with In Ha. Grandpa is more accepting.
As In Ha and Dal Po walk to work, she asks him for time so she can get her mother to sincerely apologize for framing his father years ago. In Ha is burdened by her mother’s actions and wants to break the guilt by association. This couple seems to manufacture obstacles.
Captain Hwang (Gyo Dong) and Dal Po discuss the black box loudly in front of In Ha’s mother. Dal Po says the missing footage has been found. He states this should change the flow of the story. In Ha’s mother claims it will be difficult to reengage the public in a a dead story.
They run into Yoo Rae who states that Dal Po dumped her last night and she is bummed out. Captain Hwyang and Dal Po are mystified by her behavior.
At MSC, the Sochi Olympics earns more interest than the black box footage.
At YGN, the Sochi Olympics threatens to take center stage. Captain Hwang warns if they do not focus on the black box footage the explosion story will be forgotten before the slander against Chan Soo can be corrected.
Dal Po remembers as a child when the real culprits of the fire were identified. Unfortunately the public had lost interest in the story so his father’s name was never properly cleared.
In Ha asks her mother to help her turn the flow of the story. She declines stating others can do that. In Ha believes her mother purposely kept the focus on Chan Soo just like she did to Dal Po’s father. Her mother states that is only speculation. In Ha’s mother asks why In Ha will not let this go? In Ha declares that she cares for and likes Dal Po. She wants her mother to offer a sincere apology. Bum Jo and camera guy watch the interaction with interest.
Dal Po and In Ha bemoan the Sochi Olympics will eliminate coverage of the explosion story. They ruefully acknowledge they have limited power to change the situation.
At a team dinner where the YGN and MSC teams once again share a dining room, Dal Po clearly demonstrates that must see stories should come before feel good stories.
The YGN director reconsiders his stance on the covering the explosion. He reduces the number of reporters covering the Sochi Olympics and increases the number of reporters investigating the explosion.
YGN’s coverage extension links Senator Kim to the chemical dumping from the factory where the explosion took place. Bum Jo recognizes Senator Kim. Bum Jo’s mother gets a call from the unhappy Senator Kim about the YGN reports. After she ends the call with Senator Kim, Bum Jo’s mother is livid that YGN “cost her a senator”.
In a sweet scene, young Dal Po tells adult Dal Po that he is glad he is a reporter.
Chan Soo visits the reporters and thanks them for their support to clear his name.
Bum Jo visits his mother. He tells her he clearly sees the similarities between the current case and the past case. Bum Jo notes that Senator Kim is a family and personal friend of his mother. He asserts that his mother, In Ha’s mother and Senator Kim are involved in the past and present explosion cases. His mother angrily tells him to stop treating her like a reporter would and leaves. She calls In Ha’s mother and recommends they do not contact each other until things have cooled down. They do not want to incriminate each other.
Bum Jo overhears the MSC managers talk about In Ha’s mother searching for something. Bum Jo then overhears In Ha’s mother asking In Ha about her old cell phone. In Ha admits she has the cell phone. She promises to bring it to her mother the next day. Bum Jo takes her aside and tells her to return the cell phone to him. When she asks why, he says it could contain incriminating evidence that would link their mothers to the explosion 13 years ago.
In Ha takes the cell phone to a data center to have the deleted texts and phone logs restored. The worker tells her the owner of the cell phone must sign the forms requesting the data retrieval. Unable to proceed without him, In Ha calls Bum Jo. He is not happy she took this step without informing him. She tells him she knows the restored information may be painful and she wanted to spare him. He tells her he is tougher than she thinks.
Dal Po visits his brother, Jae Myeong, in prison and share the status of the investigation. His brother notes that Dal Po’s honest heart allows the truth to come out when he reports stories.
The deleted texts and phone logs are restored. Bum Jo and In Ha examine the data. The first text sequence confirms that their mothers worked together to redirect the focus of the reporting to frame Dal Po’s father. That’s gotta hurt! Tears fall from their eyes.
Comments:
* Bum Jo’s mother and In Ha’s mother are truly the emperors with no clothes. They denied their collusion and framing of innocent men despite the mounting evidence linking them. Bum Jo’s mother showed her anger clearly when Senator Kim was tied to chemical dumping of the factory byproducts. She did not like her toy (the Senator) taken away from her. In Ha’s mother was a bit more subdued while searching for the lost cell phone containing the evidence which she believed was deleted (it was but recoverable). Her repeated blank stares at In Ha and Dal Po regarding her obvious framing of his father is getting old. Will the recovered texts finally make her admit her culpability?
* Lee Jong Seok has an easy chemistry to Park Shin Hye. Dal Po and In Ha naturally fit together well. The piggyback and cooking breakfast together was darling. Dal Po’s smile when he found In Ha asleep in the closet and then watching her as he tucked him her in bed was sweet. When the Sochi Olympics started to divert attention from the explosion story I wondered if the weakening interest in pursuing the story could could be reversed. Thank goodness his words resonated with the boss at YGN.
* Park Shin Hye’s portrayed a determined In Ha, one willing to hold her mother accountable. I was not excited by her request to take a break while she got her mother to apologize so she could proceed in the relationship without guilt. But this did not surprise me. I must say that her inability to lie has yielded a likeable forthright character. Bravo writer Park Hye Ryun!
* Bum Jo earned my respect with his determined investigation of his mother. He told her directly what he suspected without apologizing for believing his mother could frame innocent men to gain leverage and favors from a powerful political friend. Bum Jo was particularly cool with In Ha sharing his suspicions and demanding she include him and not feel the need to shield him from the truth. Good episode for Bum Jo!
* Yoo Rae continues to be the weak link of our foursome of reporters.
* OST Part 8, “You Either” by Kim Bo Kyung was released January 8, 2015. Listen via the link or the embedded video below.
Recaps/Reviews:
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