Thanks, @Growing_Beautifully, for recommending this one. I’ll read your spoilers tonight and add to this.

My comments:

1. Each criminal investigation frames JiWon growing self-awareness.

And I don’t mean simply her suspicions about her husband Heesung. Becoming distrustful is to be expected in this suspense thriller since she’s the detective tasked to investigate the unsolved serial murder case. As HeeSung reassures his fake parents in Episode 1, Jiwon only believes in what she sees, and he’s someone that shows her only what she wants to see.  So it’s natural to assume that as the story progresses, she’ll begin to doubt the very things she sees, and to question if he’s hiding something more from her.

Prophetic doom: whenever a kdrama shows a guy saying something definitive like this, he ends up regretting it.

When I say her growing self-awareness, I mean that her decisions during the criminal cases foreshadow her course of action. Her involvement in the investigations robs her of objectivity and influences her own perception of Heesung’s innocence/guilt. It’s important then to scrutinize her mindset during the investigations because it’s the bellwether for her loyalty for Heesung.

Take for instance her first case about the cheating husband in Episode 1. He was wrongfully accused of attempting to kill his son when all along, he wanted to get custody of his child in the event of a divorce. He was drugging his wife to make it look like she was incompetent to take care of their child.

Jiwon’s takeaway from this case is that “some truths can ruin a life in a single moment. Although you know that the moment that truth is revealed will come someday, if you push it back just one more day…. I think I would have taken the medicine.”  In other words, Jiwon can relate to the pain of the wife. She thinks that, given the same situation, she’ll also delude herself that her husband is innocent of wrongdoing because that’s the only way their marriage can be preserved. Hypothetically then, should she spot a bloodstain on Heesung’s shirt, she would shrug it off as paint splatter (just like the wife dismissed the lipstick stain on her husband’s shirt as paint). She would be in denial because her love and her marriage were worth fighting for.

Later that day, when she walks home, she looks subdued. My impression here is that something is weighing down on her — perhaps her fight with her mother-in-law. She walks up the stairs and stops at the door. She then puts on a smile before opening the door. She has a happy face on when she sees her husband Heesung playing with their child.

To me, her smile resembles the scene in Episode 2 when HeeSung practices his smile in the bathroom mirror.

But Jiwon’s smile is more significant to me because it makes me wonder how often she feels the need to rehearse this. This isn’t the first time she tried to put on a happy face. There was the confrontation from her mother-in-law. She tearfully requested Heesung’s fake mother not to reveal their phone conversation so as not to worry him.

It’s interesting that she’s a tough cookie at work, but she cries easily with her mother-in-law.

Also, the scratch on her face. She lied and said it was paper cut so he wouldn’t worry.

She’s actually no different from Heesung. Like him, she only shows what he wants to see. She’s good at keeping up the appearance and projecting that simple and sweet girl,

when she’s a hardened detective. That’s why she was sent to confront a suspected killer one-on-one, and her junior colleague didn’t worry when he heard sounds of a brawl inside the restroom.  He knew that she had it under control.

JW: Who’s going to believe you, a person that killed someone because she didn’t want to go up the stairs?
Murderer: What are you going to do?
JW: Police could even get in a fight with the suspect and end up killing them. Right?
Murderer: Are you crazy?
JW: Did you think you were a big deal because you preyed on the people that were weaker than you?
Murderer: I turned myself in. I’m going to report you!
JW: (threatening her) I’ll mark with my own two eyes and always remember how pathetic and worthless your end is. (placing the blade on the murderer’s throat) Carotid artery, 12 seconds. (placing it under the neck) Subclavian artery, 3.5 seconds. Either way, you’ll be gone within a minute. Choose where I should do it.
Murderer: (frightened) Let me live. Please let me live. Please let me live.
JW: (pause for a second then smiles) I’m just kidding. How can a police officer kill a person? You confessed to the crime earlier, and because you are human too in a way, you have the right to appoint a lawyer, and a chance to defend yourself. You also have the right to appeal your case.

From her confrontation with the murderer in Episode 2, we can infer the following things about her mindset.

One, JW is a fierce woman who knows how to kill. This intrigues me because her husband doesn’t appear to know how to kill.

Look: if Heesung wanted to kill the MooJin, he could have done it several times over by Episode 2. He could have poisoned Moojin while they were drinking hot tea, stabbed him with one of his stilettos in the workshop, strangled him to death with a rope, or bashed his head in with the hammer. There were many instruments of torture in then cellar, but he didn’t use them on Moojin.

Heesung scared Moojin in the same way that JiWon instilled fear in the social worker. But she stopped at physically injuring her.  Based on this, I believe that she’ll be able to understand retaliation and psychological intimidation, and excuse Heesung’s actions as long as he doesn’t cross the line of actually murdering Moojin.

Two, like Heesung, she’s aware that credibility plays a large part in criminal punishment and justice. Heesung didn’t bother to clear up his name when he was suspected to have killed the village chief because he thought no one would believe him anyway. He told MooJin, “Even if I say it wasn’t me, what’s the point? They all think I killed him anyway. You, the villagers, and the police.”

When JW pointed out to the social worker that nobody would believe the words of a murderer over the testimony of a police detective like her, she couldn’t have possibly envisioned that Heesung faced a similar dilemma. It will be an uphill battle for her to defend for Heesung and reverse the general opinion that he’s guilty. Even if she fights tooth and nail for his innocence, nobody’s going to believe that he wasn’t complicit in the Yeonju City Serial Murders and the Gagyeong-ri Murder Case, unless new evidence and the real murderer are found.

In effect, Heesung’s get-out-of-jail card is his own wife, and, ironically enough, he must convince her of his credibility despite having deceived her all these years.

And three, she abhors people who prey on the weaker ones. I think this is a good indicator that she’ll take pity on Heesung once she discovers the ordeal inflicted on him by the local community. It’s a disturbing eye-opener that both the restaurateur Sun Kil and Moojin had personal reasons to want Do Hyun Soo put away for murder.

Moojin was the leader of high school boys who stoned Heesung in 2002.

MJ: Hey, Do HyunSoo. Did you think you would be safe after doing this to me? (he shows a broken finger)
HS: I should’ve broken your neck instead.
MJ: (slaps him) Lower your gaze!
HS: Step on me properly while you can. Because next time I’ll actually break your head open.
MJ: Be honest. You’ve seen it, right? You’ve seen your dad kill someone. Did you really not know? Or did you know but act like you didn’t? If that’s not it either, then are the rumors true? Did you do it together?
HS: You…you’re scared of me, aren’t you?
MJ: (looks away) According to the head of the village, the reason you’re so weird is that you take after your father. (picks up stone) He said if left alone, you’ll become like your father. What do you think about that?

Ah. This is the connection to the village head who was found dead shortly before HeeSung vanished from the village. The murder weapon was found in his backpack.

MJ: Hyunsoo, if it hurts, don’t hold back, and let me know. That will make it more fun for me.
HS: Kim MooJin, remember this clearly. Next time, it’ll be your turn.

Now a grown-up, MooJin would have felt remorse for his brutality. And he would want HeeSung put to jail to justify and mitigate his cruel act. That is, he stoned Heesung but Heesung “deserved” it because he was an accessory to serial murders.

However, when the junior detective said that his article on the YeonJu City serial murders was one of his better ones, he looked pensive and replied, “It was terrible. The whole neighborhood.”

Then, he stopped himself. I thought that his guilty conscience made him stop, and that he was going to say that the serial murders were bad and so was the whole community’s ostracism of Do Minseok’s surviving children.

I don’t think he realizes that writing the article on the YeonJu City murders is like stoning Heesung again. By calling attention to the case, he’s made Heesung a target again.

As for Sun Kil, he attempted to kill Do HyunSoo to cover up that he stole money from him.

SK: Starting from a month ago, I get a call every day at 4am from a public telephone.
HS: Did that person say he was Do Hyun Soo?

This tells me that somebody else was harassing Sun Kil as JiWon would have noticed if HS was leaving their bed every day at 4am.

SK: The only person that would do that to me is Do HyunSoo.
HS: Why is that?
SK: When I was younger, I was chasing money, and I did something that I shouldn’t have done to HyunSoo.

Then in flashback, they were in the woods looking for SK’s wallet. It was raining hard so HS was offering to lend him the money if he needed it. Then SK attacked and stabbed him. He wanted HS’ money.

SK: Do HyunSoo is going to get his revenge on me. I’m certain of it.
HS: Suspect someone else. Do Hyun Soo is dead.

HS was telling him that he wasn’t interested in seeking revenge. Why should he? It happened 18 years ago and he had a lot more to lose now than money.

SK: Are you serious?
HS: Yes. So forget about it and live your life.
SK: That’s a relief. That’s really a relief.
HS: It’s a relief?
SK: He’s a murderer on the run. What’s the point of him living? There are people who are better off dead, don’t you think so?
HS: (smiling wryly) That’s right. There are people who are better off dead.

SK’s comment must have disgusted HS. There he was “forgiving” the man who tried to kill him for his money, and that man thought he was morally better than him. When he said that “there are people who are better off dead,” he was thinking what a scum SK really was through and through.

All in all, I thought the dialogues in the 2nd episode were effective in showing an extra layer – or twist – to the personalities of the main characters, and a counterpoint to the unfolding scene. What they’re talking about is not at all what it seems because everything is developing under the surface.

2. In his own way, Heesun is shielding his daughter, EunHa, from the childhood he had.

A side note: One thing I commend about this drama is the editing. It’s symmetrical. For instance, in the beginning of the episode we see HeeSung slaving in the kitchen for morning breakfast. The food he prepares requires a lot of slicing and dicing, so he works swiftly with his knife.

Then in he final minutes of this episode, we see the serial killer take out his serrated knife and charge at the Sun Kil.

Later, he pins the paper with MooJin’s article on the Yeongju murders on the wall with the bloodied knife. His actions lacks the same fluidity and deliberation of HeeSung’s earlier movement in the kitchen. This tells me that Sun Kil’s killer is a man with uncontrolled rage, and cannot be HeeSung who’s cool as a cucumber even though he has a hostage in his cellar.

I like that how the beginning and ending scenes used the knife to link Heesung and the murderer.

To continue…

HeeSung’s breakfast preparation tells me that he wants very much to create happy mealtimes for Eunha. These last two episodes, I saw this nurturing side during mealtimes.

He was rocking and patting Eunha to sleep at the dinner with his fake parents.

JW came home to HS and their daughter playing with their food.

For breakfast the following morning, he prepared a sumptuous seafood dish.

(lol. This gives me an idea for lunch today. Snow crab legs!!!) 

Then, he brought her egg tart for snack that day.

Judging by the way he pays attention to her, I’ve no doubt that he feels affection for his daughter.

However, his action at the parents meeting gave me pause. When the fight broke out in school between Eunha and another child, HeeSung decided to take the “high road” and apologize.

JW: (looking at Eunha’s bloodied nose) Kids can fight and get hurt while playing. Sooyoung, apologize to Eunha and Eunha say, “It’s okay. Let’s make up.”

This wasn’t really JW’s call to make. It should have left up to the teacher to decide what the remedy should be taken by both parties. The teacher should have said before the meeting what her expectations were for good behavior from both parent and child, and worked for a compromise. She could have explained the squabble as a misunderstanding between children: Sooyoung thought Eunha was stealing her doll while Eunha was just admiring the doll.

Also, if I were JW, I would have remembered that Eunha had asked whether Sooyoung was taller than her. I would have wondered whether Eunha was a little bit jealous or intimidated by Sooyoung.

Sooyoung’s mom: No. Our Sooyoung can’t apologize.
JW: Huh? I mean, Eunha’s nose started bleeding because Sooyoung hit her.
Sooyoung’s mom: Eunha touched Sooyoung’s things first. Of course, we’ll pay for her treatment. But we can’t apologize.
Eunha: I just hugged her doll once because it was so pretty.
JW: Sooyoung’s mother, let’s not make our kids’ fight a family fight. It’s most important to have the kids make up.

Meaning, let’s not escalate this children’s fight.

Sooyoung’s mom: Eunha’s mom, habits must be fixed young.
Teacher: Sooyoung’s mom, your words are a bit…
Sooyoung’s mom: You know the saying, “He who starts out stealing a needle will eventually start stealing cows.”
JW: What?!

I agree. This is too much. The other mom already projected a life of crime for young Eunha simply because the child hugged a pretty doll. Then Heesung walks in. I love Jiwon’s face here. Her face says it all: “Hmph! My handsome husband is here now. Try saying that about our daughter to his face!”

HS: (walks in and bows) I heard from the teachers outside. (bowing to Sooyoung’s mom) I’m sorry. I taught her wrong. We’ll teach her well.

Even Sooyoung’s mom was surprised.

Sooyoung’s mom: Excuse me?
HS: (addressing Eunha) Baek Eunha? Apologize to Sooyoung.
JW: (testily) Eunha’s dad…
HS: Baek Eunha. Go on.
Eunha: I’m sorry. I was wrong. (crying) Ahjumma, I’m sorry. Director, I’m sorry.

Later, HeeSung explained to Eunha why he made her apologize. It was a calculated move on HeeSung’s part. He was going to lose the battle of the doll in order to win Eunha a good reputation in the end.

HS: Why aren’t you eating? This is what you like the most, egg tart.
Eunha: What I like the most is you, Dad. But you like Sooyoung more than me.

Spoken like a jealous woman!

HS: That’s not true.
Eunha: You took Sooyoung’s side.
HS: I’m always on your side. So I want you to become a nice kid. You’re getting a better image.

Hmm…he was right when he said that he wanted her to become a nice kid. However, his end goal, that is, getting a “better image,” isn’t morally right. People don’t DO good for public perception. They choose to do good, because it’s the right thing to do.

Anyway…I do get why Heesung valued a good image. His family’s notoriety was the bane of his life.

Eunha: What does that mean?
HS: When something bad happens, people won’t suspect you. If you have a bad image, you become the first person people suspect. After today, Sooyoung family’s image will get much worse.
Eunha: I don’t care. Only I apologized, and only I got a nosebleed. I feel wronged!
HS: Don’t feel too wronged. I saw earlier that Sooyoung was crying on her way home because she lost her doll.
Eunha: Really?

Hmmm…. Technically, Sooyoung didn’t lose her doll if HeeSung TOOK it away.

In a flashback HeeSung is shown washing his hand after throwing the doll in the trashcan, and looking at himself with a serious face. Again, I can’t condone this behavior. It’s spiteful. It shouldn’t be emulated. Good thing he didn’t tell Eunha the truth that he disposed of the doll to avenge Eunha.

HS: It’s because she leaves her items anywhere. Eunha, you should never do that.
Eunha: Okay.
HS: Now let’s eat.
Eunha: (takes a bite) It’s yummy.
HS: It is? Then should we have another one today?
Eunha: Yes. Dad, I like you the most in the world.
HS: Me too.

This mealtime with Eunha revealed to me how to interpret the bloody scene with the village head at 23:22. Heesung confessed to Moojin that he was the one who killed the old man.

Then, in a flashback, Heesung was shown wearing a blood-stained uniform and holding bloodied sheers. A flashlight shone on the man’s sliced throat.

His sister: Hyunsoo. You can’t do this. You can’t do this. That…
HS: Noona.
His sister: You can’t do this, Hyunsoo-ah.
HS: I’m feeling very good.

Heesung smiled. Note: he can actually smile without needing practice.

My theory here is that his protectiveness towards Eunha is the same as his protectiveness for his sister. IF EVER his sister was accosted, abused or maltreated by the village head, he would have gladly protected and taken the fall for his sister. His sister had blood splatters, too, on her uniform, so she was present when the stabbing happened. Just like how he dumped Sooyoung’s doll in the trash can because it caused his Eunha pain, he could have killed the village head, if the man was somehow causing his sister pain and suffering.

3. Lastly, the fly in the ointment in this episode was that the director CHEATED.

He filmed the social worker climbing up the flight of stairs, entering the old lady’s house, and murmuring to herself, “She didn’t even lock the door.”

She stopped at the entrance, noticing the blood drippings on the floor. She walked gingerly across the room, and spotted the dead body. She gasped in horror, and started hyperventilating. She fell on her butt.

But all this didn’t really happen.

The director deliberately deceived the audience into believing that this was the first time the social worker entered the house when actually the social worker stabbed the old lady the night before, and then returned the following morning to call up the police. The social worker was NOT really surprised that the door was left unlocked, did NOT really walk carefully around the blood, and did NOT really fall down on her butt in horror.

That, to me, is cheating. This false scene grates on me because I was expecting the camera to be objective and to tell the story as it actually happened. The false story made the director an unreliable narrator. It tells me that he won’t stop at manipulating the scene to feed me a false impression and then, at the last minute, he’ll reveal the actual scene as a plot twist.

I didn’t like that stunt, but then I’ll be questioning every move the director makes for veracity.

So there you go @Growing_Beautifully. I’ll read your spoilers after this, and update as needed. Thanks.