Mystery Queen 2 Episode 3

Mystery Queen 2 Episode 3

Detective Ha Wan Seung (Kwon Sang Woo) tries to beat the massive flames in his apartment. Realizing the futility, he escapes by jumping out the bedroom window. Yoo Seol Ok (Choi Gang Hee) gets a call from Inspector Lee that Detective Ha hurt his ankle and it in the hospital. She rushes from her bed and arrives at the hospital. Looking around the emergency room she spies IL. Detective Ha comes up behind her and jokes that he likes her bear slipper. Seol Ok declares she wants to solve an arson case.

Cue intro title sequence…

Chief Shin arrives at the police station and Manager Jo greets him assuring him the arsonist has been captured. Team Lead Gye briefs the case to Chief Shin.

Detective Ha and Seol Ok arrive at his burned apartment. Walking around Seol Ok finds framed photos of Seo Hyun Soo.

Profiler Woo views a charred female body at the coroner’s office. Exiting, Profiler Woo reveals a charred pen wrapped in a handkerchief. It isn’t a pen, it is a recorder. Profiler Woo listens Seo Hyun Soo’s phone call to Mr. Kim.

Flashback…Profiler Woo views the burned car. He finds the charred pen in the glove compartment and removes it wrapping it a handkerchief. The officer on duty asks why he’s there. Profiler Woo states he was in the area.

Detective Ha notices Seol Ok’s wet slipper and puts her into a pair of his shoes. Seol Ok vows to catch the arsonist.

Chief Shin tells Team Lead Gye to wrap the arsonist case without incident. Manager Jo and Team Lead Gye leave Chief Shin’s office.

Seol Ok asks Detective Ha if he has any enemies. He shines the flashlight up his face and states he does.

Manager Jo tells Team Lead Gye that sometimes accidents that lead to death are necessary.

Is Manager Jo referencing the story he is writing?

Detective Ha and Seol Ok find Inspector Lee outside the apartment questioning onlookers. Detective Ha sends him home.

Manager Jo and Team Lead Gye discuss plot options. Team Lead Gye is relieved to get back to work. Detective Ha’s partner Sargent Yuk informs Team Lead Gye they have the arson suspect in interrogation. Team Lead Gye charges him to get a confession.

Seol Ok finds quicklime outside Detective Ha’s apartment. Detective Ha recalls finding quicklime at a previous arson site. They imagine the flames licking up the building and into Detective Ha’s apartment. Detective Ha declares Na Jin Tae (the arson suspect) is behind the fire.

Team Lead Gye interrogates the arsonist. He denies setting the fires.

Seol Ok notices tattle tale police officer taking pictures of them. Detective Ha grabs the young officer and looks at the photos on his phone.

Detective Ha’s partner shakes his head at Seol Ok’s presence at Detective Ha’s burned apartment.

Tattle tale police officer explains Team Lead Gye and Detective Ha’s partner allow him to use his cell phone during work hours if he tracks Detective Ha’s whereabouts and activities.

Seol Ok tells Detective Ha there is more than one arsonist are in play. The young officer is excited.

The coffee shop owner could care less about the latest fires.

Seol Ok tells Detective Ha that the arsonist did not set a fire at the fourth coffee shop franchise.

Team Lead Gye tells the arsonist certain procedures must be observed. He steps on the arsonist’s foot and covers his mouth silence his yell. Detective Ha’s partner enters to the room looking menacingly at the arsonist. Team Lead Gye exits the room.

Seol Ok tells Detective Ha a copycat arsonist is in play. The young officer is excited. Detective Ha wants to track the arson video. The young officer reports the video is on the dark web and cannot be traced.

Seol Ok and Detective Ha head to the police station. The young officer follows.

The arsonist confesses to starting the fire to teach the rude children a lesson.

Detective Ha and Seol Ok arrive at the police station. She’s impressed with the hustle and bustle. They spy the fire video. Team Lead Gye tries to send Detective Ha home. Seol Ok informs him a copycat arsonist is in play. Detective Ha pushes Seol Ok towards the fire video while he talks to Team Lead Gye. He stops Seol Ok from taking the video. Team Lead Gye declares the arsonist has confessed. Seol Ok declares they won’t be able to link the arsonist to last coffee franchise fire.

The coffee shop owner stares at Detective Ha’s burned out apartment.

Seol Ok details the differences between the fires indicating two different arsonists. She turns Team Lead Gye towards her leaving Detective Ha to pilfer the fire videos. Team Lead Gye won’t listen to Seol Ok. She points out the fingerprint at the third franchise fire will not match the arsonist in custody.  The tone changes when Manager Jo enters the conversation and is solicitous to Seol Ok.  Manager Jo scolds Team Lead Gye for not bringing Seol Ok to his office. Seol Ok has no choice but follow Manager Jo to his office.

Flashback…Manager Jo recalls demanding Team Lead Gye separate Seol Ok and Detective Ha. Team Lead Gye pointed out he cannot stop a civilian that hasn’t broken the law. Manager Jo has an idea and tells Team Lead Gye he’ll take care of the matter.

Manager Jo tells Seol Ok she must attend a special class to keep her status as honorary police officer. He doesn’t care when she tells him there is a second arsonist. He reiterates she needs to take the class.

Team Lead Gye stops Detective Ha from interrogating the arsonist. From the special class, Seol Ok calls Detective Ha urging him to view the video before the next fire is set. Detective Ha asks Team Lead Gye if he can several days off. Relieved to get rid of Detective Ha, Team Lead Gye agrees to the time off.

Detective Ha intercepts the tattle tale police officer as he exits the police station for a multiday break. He lures him to help him with a promise of porn. But Detective Ha tells the young officer view the fire video to find the arsonist. He suggests the young officer owes him for spying on him.

Team Lead Gye assigns Corporal Kong Han Min the mundane job of organizing the fire videos. Detective Ha offers to carry the box of fire videos. Corporal Kong doesn’t want to hand over the box but when Chief Shin requests to speak with him, Corporal Kong lets Detective Ha take the box.

Chief Shin asks Corporal Kong how his daughter is doing as a young officer.  Corporal Kong promises to look after her.

Detective Ha dumps the box of fire videos on the young officer and orders him to find the culprit.

Seol Ok and Chief Shin’s daughter speak at an elementary school under Manager Jo’s supervision. The children want to know about the arsonist.

A man buys brand cigarettes the arsonist uses. As he exits, Detective Ha enters and asks the clerk about customers that buy this brand. The clerk points out the man that just left, bought a pack. Detective Ha rushes out but misses the man. He gets a call from the young officer that he’s found what they need. He calls Seol Ok. Manager Jo tells Seol Ok she can’t leave the school, but she slips away.

Seol Ok tells Detective Ha the arsonist lives near him.

The man that bought the cigarettes the arsonist uses reports to work at the pharmacy. His coworker tells him it is his turn to work late. She finds the cigarettes in his coat pocket.

The young officer shows Seol Ok and Detective Ha a woman that appeared at the scene of multiple fires. It is the coworker. Seol Ok declares the woman is a pharmacist. Detective Ha sees a pharmacy in the background of the video.

Seol Ok and Detective Ha visit the pharmacy. Seol Ok spies the cigarettes the arsonist uses on the table. She asks if the pharmacist was at the fire. The pharmacist confirms she was there because she had to pick up her son from school.

Flashback…The pharmacist sees her coworker running from the scene of the fire.

The pharmacist’s son returns from school. He recognizes Seol Ok from her school visit that afternoon. His mother sends him upstairs to study. Detective Ha recognizes the pharmacist from the time he pulled her son away from the burnt truck.

As Seol Ok and Detective Ha exit the pharmacy, the young police officer asks if the pharmacist is the arsonist.  Detective Ha doesn’t believe it. Seol Ok believes it is possible. The young police officer states the pharmacist did not exit the pharmacy during the window the arson set the fire. The coffee shop owner calls Detective Ha and asks to meet.

The coffee shop owner tells Seol Ok and Detective Ha she witnessed the fire at his apartment and reported it.

Flashback…the coffee shop owner calls in the fire and learns someone has already reported the fire.

The coffee shop owner tells Detective Ha and Seol Ok she saw the arsonist watching the fire outside of Detective Ha’s apartment.

She takes Detective Ha and Seol Ok to her vantage point of the fire. Flashbacks from the fire shown. The coffee shop owner saw a man with a yellow umbrella walking away from the fire.

Detective Ha remember seeing a yellow umbrella at the pharmacy. The coffee shop owner spies Detective Ha’s bleeding foot. Seol Ok is concerned. The coffee shop owner drives them to the nearest hospital. She wants to go into the hospital with them, but they tell her to go home.

Seol Ok offers herself to steady Detective Ha after the doctor sees him. Detective Ha flings his arm around Seol Ok and allows her to help him. Detective Ha says he’ll sleep at the sauna. Seol Ok offers a place to stay. Detective Ha wonders why she’s being kind when she previously fled at the sight of his ring. He teases Seol Ok that he won’t be taken advantage of. She offers to make him dinner at her place. Detective Ha is forced to agree.

At Seol Ok’s house, Detective Ha helps cook. He appears to be the better cook. Seol Ok is forced to admit the soup is delicious. They are all smiles. Seol Ok has a hard time sleeping in her bed. Detective Ha has a hard time sleeping on the couch. He hears her come down the stairs. She calls to him. He wonders if she wants to jump his bones. Detective Ha tells her he’s not ready. Seol Ok declares she knows who the arsonist. She asks what Detective Ha was thinking. He asks who the arsonist is.

The female pharmacist makes sure her son is asleep. When she leaves her son’s eyes open. He recalls the fascination when his school had a fire bomb thrown in the window. He recalls the arsonist smiling at him. The boy watches the arsonists video on how to set fires.

The boy drags a yellow umbrella down the street. He goes to the roof of the apartment.  He prepares the fire bomb. He’s disappointed when the target truck leaves the parking lot. He stares at his creation.

The female pharmacist calls her neighbor. Her son lights the fire bomb. He throws it off the rooftop. The pharmacist, Detective Ha and Seol Ok arrive at the building. Seol Ok spots the fire bomb first. It hit the ground and fire spreads and engulfs the neighbor.

My Thoughts

Each episode is stitched together with short scenes. They fly by and interweave the story. If you have a short attention span, this show never lingers on anything.

Yoo Seol Ok (Choi Gang Hee) was determined to find the arsonist.  Seol Ok seems to have fabulous detail recall but her deduction capability (her strength in season 1 (I’m told)) seems to be lessened. That’s a bummer. I thought she was would be a female Sherlock Holmes which intrigued me.

Detective Ha Wan Seung (Kwon Sang Woo) survived the apartment fire. He injured his ankle jumping out the window. He was focused on finding the arsonist too. He pressed the tattle tale young officer to help him view the fire videos. Surprisingly the young officer had excellent recall and pointed out the female pharmacist. It was amusing to watch puzzle of Seol Ok’s caring ways and if she wanted to heat up their relationship.

Ranking the episode (on a scale from 1-10) had me rank this episode as good. My episode ranking chart is below.

The second song of the OST has been released. Check out Kei’s “Lovelyz”:

About KJT (aka kjtamuser)

Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.

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Tagged with: episode 3, Mystery Queen 2, recap
Posted in Mystery Queen 2, Recaps