@Good Twin said this:
I just started watching this. Wasn’t it implied in Episode 4 that his mom is the killer? Probably a red herring but she seemed to know that the girlfriend was dead and at the bottom of the ocean
I wouldn’t mind if she was just a red herring.
But her comment raised a red flag.
This is what she said. (From Ep 4)
The chair: If they at least found a body, the case would’ve been wrapped up completely.
Doha’s mom: It won’t be found. I’m sure it’s long been fish food deep in the ocean. (smiling)
This is the red flag. Why?
When a person drowns, the body will sink to the bottom, but it will float to the top in a few days. The body sinks because the lungs are filled with water. But then the body decomposes. In a decomposing body, the bacteria produce gas, like methane and carbon dioxide, which eventually fill the empty spaces or cavities in the body. The build-up of gas in the corpse makes it buoyant.
So…
1. How did she know or how could she speak with certainty that the body wouldn’t be found?
Because it hadn’t been found all these years?
2. Why did she assume that the body sank “deep in the ocean”?
Because it was weighed down with something heavy so it wouldn’t float? lol.
3. Lastly, why couldn’t she understand that her son living under a cloud of suspicion for the rest of his life was much worse than her son going through trial and being proven innocent?
That’s why Doha said this to her. (From Ep 2)
Doha’s Mom: You were photographed with your mask on. Will that be enough? Put on a hat or something. Next time, let’s get a quiet room and have a meal or something.
Doha: It’s fine. I know it’s uncomfortable for you to see me one on one.
Doha’s Mom: Uncomfortable? How is a mother and son being together uncomfortable?
Doha: You’re scared of me.
Doha’s Mom: (not answering)
Doha: Do you think I might kill you, too, Mother?
Doha’s Mom: What kind of joke is this? Watch your mouth!
Note: as this is kdrama, the screenwriter will likely show that Doha was being sacrificed for his mother’s political ambitions. Blah blah blah.
From Doha’s point of view, his mom must really doubt his innocence. Why? Because if she believed he was innocent, then she wouldn’t be scared to confront the media and the general public and fight for him.
That’s what differentiates SolHee from his mom. SolHee bravely defended him from EunJu’s brother’s accusation – even pushing the angry man off the bus — because she believed in him. Hence his question, “Do you even know what you’re talking about?” He was thunderstruck that she would fiercely defend him when she didn’t know him from Adam. She even scolded him.
SolHee: Why didn’t you fight back? If you simply take the blows, you look like you’re a cheater.
Doha: (startled) Do you even know what you’re talking about?
SolHee: If I say so, it is so.
From his perspective, she was an odd one. How could she blindly believe in him? Was she really that gullible and trusting? Or was she just a good person?
Hence, when they met again, he was curious to know whether she was really a good person. When she helped out that stranger who needed to borrow her phone, he was concerned that she was too gullible and trusting again. Later on, he determined that she was a good person.
Of course, he didn’t know that, when SolHee helped him five years ago, it was because a) she had a lie-detecting power and was capable to tell that he spoke the truth, and b) she needed to escape asap before the gangster boarded the bus. She wasn’t being 100% altruistic that time. She was also trying to save her own skin.
Moving forward, the question for SolHee is will she still stick up for him and fight to prove him not guilty of manslaughter, although her built-in lie detector tells her otherwise. Will she disbelieve her own ears?
In short, the mom may very well be a red herring. But she functions primarily as a plot device. 🙂
@packmule3, that ‘weighing down with something heavy’ reminds me of the Oliver and Hardy film “Our Relations”. They were caught by some baddies and their feet were put into tubs filled with cement with the intent of being drowned.
I wondered if Doha’s mother was trying to show what a badass she was with her statements. If she said them accidentally and so casually, I should think the other woman would think she was a loose cannon and would never support her candidacy.
Whatever the case, red herring or culprit, she seems unfit to govern.
I took her comment To Illustrate a callousness in her personality More than as a foreshadowing.
I took it as a red herring mostly because it is so early in the drama and we know there will be twists and turns and individuals that the script will make seem guilty but aren’t. But the mother very well could have disposed of the body. From the dialogue between them – she has never convinced her son that she thinks he is innocent.
The main pair are like mirror image twins of each other with their matching asymmetry. They both have trash moms one polished the other not – (@packmule3 I think you asked in the open thread who was the worst scam artist between the two); they’re both rich – he shows his wealth/ she hides/hoards hers; they are both obsessed with Premier League football – but different teams; he dislikes clingy women who won’t accept the end of a relationship and she ends relationships quickly and decisively (and perhaps prematurely); and of course the biggest matching asymmetry between them is she has a super power and he is the one person that her superpower does not work on. I’m sure there are other parallels as well.
Thinking back to this red herring post. The red herring seems to have been the scene where the CEO paused from his telephone call to smile at his toddler daughter and picked her up. I actually thought to myself while watching that scene what a clever way to signal he is a nice guy with no exchange in dialogue. Hah! What a sucker am I?
@Good Twin, I fell for him, too. I thought that if he was a good dad, he had to be a nice guy. Have you watched episode 12?
I have not watched Episode 12 yet. Does it bring anymore clarity as to what happened to the ex girlfriend? It seems like it is the CEO and/or his brother who are most likely culprits. But I am also wondering what the role of FL’s father is in this drama. Clearly he is not involved in the murder but what is he doing out in the woods?
I’m getting a bit impatient with the drama and FF a lot of Episode 11.
Getting back to the CEO picking up his young daughter – isn’t there a similar scene in every drama involving a drug lord or mobster? Charming with the children and then cold blooded in “business”. I just overloooked it and thought he was very charming. Of course at that point all we had seen was his kind regard for everyone. I think @packmule3 called it early though.
Yes, @Good Twin, in episode 12 certain people get ruled out as culprits, but another appears.
Often in K-dramas a good dad (not just one who spoils his children) is often short-hand for an altogether good person. Yes, @packmule3 called it as soon as he saw the text meant for his wife. More in episode 12 about his relationship.
@Fern – I watched 12. So three suspects – the father, the CEO and the CEO’s brother. I’m ruling out the Dad – not that filicide doesn’t happen but it seems unlikely here especially if he was waiting on insurance money – he would have made sure the body was found. So it is down to the CEO and his trash brother. I’m thinking it will be the CEO since the trash brother was in love with her. We will see – of course it could be somebody else entirely or his Mom – but I think there has been enough to establish she is not involved except for the coverup. She thought her son might be involved and I suspect the CEO manipulated her fears in that regard.
Episode 12 was much more engaging than 11. Enough to keep me watching.
@Good Twin, good point about Eom-ji’s father, who wanted money desperately. The trash brother was in love with her, but things could have turned ugly if he were rejected. I wonder if the CEO killed her unintentionally and he and his brother buried her afterwards. I think Sol-Hee’s father may have been the witness whose testimony was ignored by the police.
@packmule3 called it right about the baker, too. He is loyal to Do Ha.
Haha, I laughed at the way Sol Hee got into the club. She became the celebrity for completely different reasons and Do Ha was the person tagging along.
@Fern that was a cute touch and tied it back nicely to how the drama opened. Honor among thieves!