Yi-Hun’s Decision
What happened to the Director? After his nasty fall from the high balcony, we return to Money Game to find the authorities dealing with the aftermath of this incident. All of this leads up to another dramatic face-off toward the end as the future of Korea’s economy hangs in the balance following the long-awaited deal. For the most part, the episode does well to keep things moving forward but at times the drama suffers from the same issues mentioned before, with technical terms and ideas that’ll likely appeal more to people clued up on economics and banking. Episode 6 of Money Game begins with the Director taken to hospital with Hye-Joon riding in the ambulance too. Unfortunately, he’s not in a good state and the ambulance speeds up to get to the hospital. Unfortunately the Director passes away before they can get there. Wracked with guilt, Hye-Joon questions whether his planned meeting with her is the reason he was attacked. Meanwhile, as the company reels over what happened to the Director, Joon-Pyo learns more about Hye-Joon and Yi-Hun meeting around the BIS Ratio situation. As things look set to spiral, the various figureheads try to remain calm. After being berated in a meeting with Joon-Pyo, Yi-Hun heads back to the office and winds up seeing footage of Seo being manhandled by Heo outside. While he watches this, Heo warns Eugene to stop antagonizing him as the board meet and discuss the future transaction for the bank. The stock price is discussed too, which causes n excited murmur to spread around the board as the group buy into what they’re being told. Yi-Hun meets with Heo after the meeting and outright asks him if he killed Director Seo. Given he’s already killed Byung-Hak, this really hits home for him. He denies it, of course, but afterwards he winds up in a meeting with Kyung-Min surrounding the stock holdings. Midway through, Kyung-Min asks about what he’s personally gaining from this partnership, prompting Heo to talk about the country itself and the issues it’s facing. Yi-Hun is fired from his position and leaves the office while Hye-Joon doesn’t show up for her shift, still feeling guilty over what happened with Yi-Hun, until she shows up at the office with a petition regarding Yi-Hun’s disciplinary. Unfortunately no one appears to care or give her the time of day, and she leaves defeated. Only, on her way out Park arrives and helps her collect the dropped files. Meanwhile, the sale of the bank to Bahama goes ahead while the decision around Yi-Hun is made – 6 months of disciplinary action but no jail time. Thankfully Mr Park and Hye-Joon worked together to put pressure on the board and prevent him being disciplined. As he leaves the room, he sees an entire mob of workers outside, dressed in masks, and cheering for him. Following the sale, Heo meets with Joon-Pyo and mentions Eugene’s plan of bankrupting a ship-building company. Heo remains indifferent, telling him Bahama now holds all the power and unfortunately there’s nothing they can do to stop it. As the news is made public, the board gather together, including Yi-Hun who enters the room, and together they implore Heo to tell them the true nature of what Bahama plans to do where we leave the episode for now. While Money Game isn’t necessarily a boring Korean drama by any stretch of the imagination, there are times where the story feels very lackadaisical. Large parts of this show tackle the banking and economic implications of the Bahama sale, with particular emphasis on the BIS Ratio. The sub-plot involving Soo-Ho doesn’t really seem to be building up to anything beyond showing how hard he works and what a mess he’s got his family into, while the two murders feel half-baked and lack the same intensity a show like The Game: Towards Zero has managed to conjure up in the same number of episodes. Having said that, the acting here is really good, and the blend of Korean and English speaking add an extra layer to the negotiations and really give the illusion that these are two opposing world forces coming together. Quite what will happen next in this one remains to be seen but for now, Money Game bows out with plenty of unanswered questions hanging over this one.
