Fighting In The Dark
Episode 14 of Mine begins with a series of flashes from the night of Ji-Yong’s death. Hye-Jin shoots Ji-Yong in the back with a shotgun… or does she? In this vision, Seong-Tae watches from afar while Seo-Hyun survives being choked. Hi-Soo stands on the balcony while questions remans over exactly who’s responsible and what happened. The investigator continues to look around using the search warrant he gained. Everything goes fine until Soon-Hye starts shouting and acting erratically again. His search is fruitless and he doesn’t find the hidden room under the mansion either. At Seoul Gwangju Station, the officers believe the force it took to knock Ji-Yong down must have been from a man. But the only guy there was Seong-Tae. Is he really responsible? We then jump back 4 days before the murder. The chairman encourages Ji-Yong to allow him to be his Father and to let go of his issues with the rest of the family. However, J-Yong too far into this now and refuses to budge. The only person who manages to crack that tough exterior – at least a little – is Ha-Joon. But even that is underlined with uneasiness given Ji-Yong looks at him like a possession. Mother Emma does her best to try and help turn him around but it’s no good. He rejects her help and simply walks away, leaving her to weep. 3 days before the murder, Jin-Ho receives an urgent call from the station. Cho Beom-Gu has been arrested for Su-Chang’s murder. It turns out Ji-Yong has paid him off and offered a substantial sum of money to tide him over while he’s behind bars. Although Ji-Yong gives the impression that he’s holding it all together, in reality he’s losing his grip on Hyowon. At the same time, Seong-Tae continues to feel flustered by his choice, stuck between a rock and a hard place. All this set-up then paves way for the day of the murder as we see a series of flashes for Seong-Tae. He acts incredibly suspicious but it’s hard to know if he’s just nervous or whether he’s about to plan something. 10 days after the murder and Hi-Soo is a shell of what she once was. She’s suffering from amnesia… but is she really? It’s a pretty annoying trope if it’s true but one that sees her reject Ha-Joon and claim he needs to stay with his birth Mother. The family do debate this a bit but it eventually ends with Hi-Soo leaving the dinner table. When she heads upstairs, she overhears Hye-Jin and Ha-Joon talking about Hi-Soo’s memory loss and comforting one another. She doesn’t really show much emotion though but instead visits Mother Emma. She questions her about the secret meetings with Ji-Yong and asks her to reveal the truth. It’s here she mentions how she’s been watching Ji-Yong from a distance ever since he was a child. He was abused by his Mother and clearly suffered from some serious psychological trauma. Together, he admits to being in a dark place and claims he’s even killed someone. Ge’s apparently joking but does mention how he sometimes gets the urge. Worried that he may have wanted to hurt Hi-Soo, Mother Emma made sure she got close to the family and that’s why she made an effort to meet Hi-Soo. She didn’t report Hi-Soo being at the crime scene because she remembered there was another individual there, believing Hi-Soo to be the real victim in all this. Seong-Tae gets back in the firing line again after this. Questions begin to arise regarding his sudden desire to leave Korea a day after Ji-Yong’s death. It certainly does look suspicious. Hi-Soo heads back to the mansion and talks to Hye-Jin, who claims they have a lot to talk about. Part of that comes from Ha-Joon arriving and doing his best to try and jog her memories. Alas, another twist. Given Hi-Soo’s history of acting it could well be that she’s putting on an act and pretending to have amnesia. The investigators at the station believe this could be the case and set to work trying to figure out if it’s true. The investigator continues to do the rounds and questions Seo-Hyun next, who’s hiding her arm and acting suspiciously. Just before showing off her forearm to him, he receives a call from the hospitals. His colleague has done some digging and it turns out Hi-Soo was brought in with multiple injuries the day of the murder. It seems like the person passed out on the floor next to Ji-Yong was actually Hi-Soo. But who drove her to the hospital? Well, with Seong-Tae gone and seemingly holding all the keys, it falls to dashcam footage from the hospital that could hold the clues. Seo-Hyun was the one who drove Hi-Soo to the hospital but there’s something not quite right. We’ll get to that shortly in the review portion, but the final shot shows flickers from that night, including a fire extinguisher that was moved. This happens to be tucked under Seo-Hyun’s desk. Is she really the killer?
The Episode Review
Okay so here’s my theory. I think Hi-Soo is faking her amnesia story. She’s been randomly holding her stomach on and off through this episode but not really showing much pain. This whole white truck scene could be the “jog” she needed to miraculously recover her memories and not make it seem so suspect. Now, the Hi-Soo/Seo-Hyun situation. Hi-Soo is not the one covering up her injuries, it’s Seo-Hyun. Remember the way she sported a cut hand and was very careful to hide that from the investigator? Why would she do this if it’s just a cut? The tell here though is the way she bends down when she drops her pen. As someone who’s had two cracked ribs, I can tell you this action is excruciatingly painful. Even just bending down like that can put a real strain on you, and leave you gasping for air. The injuries were severe enough for Hi-Soo to be taken into hospital but the investigator there seems to be confused and muddled by the records. Could Seo-Hyun have faked her identity and claimed to be Hi-Soo in hospital? Given the way these investigators got confused with Hye-Jin and Ja-Kyeong at the airport when they dug into that, this could be a crucial clue. Mother Emma definitely saw Hi-Soo up on the balcony. There was probably a scuffle up there and the shotgun from Ji-Yong’s study is almost certainly going to be a key part of this, especially with the way it was focused on earlier. Could it be that Ji-Yong was going to be shot by an enraged Hye-Jin but Seo-Hyun threw Ji-Yong off the balcony and fell with him? Or is the “a male must have pushed him” code for someone like Jin-Ho to be involved? Seong-Tae may well just be spooked and high-tailed it away – but he definitely looks to be the key to this case. Either way though, Mine has really turned up the heat and this episode is no exception. What are your theories guys? Who killed Ji-Yong? Let us know in the comments below!
