Swept Under The Rug
Episode 3 of The Journalist begins with Murakami in the past. He has connections to Kohei, Matsuda’s elder brother, and that stems from work they were doing together. Kohei makes Murakami promise that he’ll stay the same no matter how high up the ladder he climbs. Back then, Murakami didn’t understand what he meant but now, while he’s in the middle of this scandal, it hits home. Meanwhile, Mayumi is in mourning following Suzuki’s suicide. A letter on the table apologizes for the trouble he caused. The thing is, Suzuki’s suicide causes ripples across the political spectrum, including to Matsuda who’s shocked to hear the news. She grabs her belongings and hurries out the door. The Prime Minister’s administration jump all over this, and give orders to the Public Prosecutors to cancel questioning for everyone else involved. Not only that, Murakami and his department are forced to press on and diligently track down anyone who’s going to be trouble. They’re going to bury this – and fast. The Chief and Mr Kurosaki show up to see Muyami. Their home visit is disguised as empathy but there’s a sinister undertone to this. The Director wants to know if Suzuki left any evidence behind, including a suicide note or documents. Muyami lies though and eventually tells the pair to leave. Suzuki’s funeral goes ahead and his nephew, Ryo, struggles to hold back tears. He’s grief-stricken but even worse than that, not a single person from the Financial Bureau shows up. It’s really disrespectful and speaks volumes about what’s happening. After, Matsuda shows up to talk to Mayumi. She confirms a day before his death Suzuki rang her phone, wanting to tell her something urgent. In the morning, Matsuda is shocked to find the Eishin Case has been relegated from the front page. Given Suzuki’s death, this should be front and center of Japanese broadsheets but instead, it’s quite clear that it’s being buried. Matsuda refuses to bow to authority though, as her editor implores her to find more evidence to keep this pressure going. At the same time, the Chief refuses to see Mayumi, who even shows up at the office to collect Suzuki’s things. It’s incredibly disrespectful, and Mr Kurosaki does his best to cover for him. Even he knows this is morally wrong. Mayumi is encouraged to take legal action and press for criminal charges by those around her when she heads home. She’s not in the right headspace but Mayumi is encouraged to file this as a civic organization, meaning she’ll not have to appear in public. Another member of the family looking to take action is Ryo. He’s starting to look a lot more closely at what’s happening, and refusing to take it lying down. After Suzuki’s death, he starts to question the established order of things. Meanwhile, Murakami continues to investigate Kohei’s history. Specifically, how he’s currently in hospital receiving treatment. Finding out where he’s being held, Murakami heads in to see him. Kohei is a shell of the man he once was, Some good news does come our way though, as prosecutor Yagawa is told to reopen the case. Specifically investigations are examining this as a criminal case now and that means investigating the Financial Bureau. That is, of course, partly thanks to Mayumi pressing charges. The police raid the place, determined to find any evidence. All of this has been tampered with though and filed appropriately to make sure no evidence can be traced back to the Prime Minister. For Kurosaki he holds the key to blow this case wide open but will be give up the USB stick and unlock the corruption? Before we find out the answer to this, we cut forward 5 months later. The Prosecution have worked tirelessly to try and find evidence against the Prime Minister and blow the Eishin Academy case wide open. The prosecution have come to a decision… and decide not to incriminate any of them. Given how early this is in the investigation, Yagawa soon learns that the corruption goes all the way up the chain of command, including the Ministry of Justice. This explains why everything has been closed quite so abruptly. The investigation is over. All of our characters are left reeling after this shock decision.
The Episode Review
It was perhaps inevitable that it would come down to this but it seems there’s no justice for Suzuki’s death and the corruption is just ignored and swept under the rug. It’s a startling revelation, one that sees all of our characters reeling and struggling to comprehend what this means for them, It’s particularly damning for Mayumi too, who – despite trying to avenge her husband – is left with nothing. So far Thee Journalist has been a really solid watch and despite the first half of this episode feeling a little slow, the second half has roared into action with some tense and thrilling drama. Hopefully this continues through the second half of this series, which promises to be quite the dramatic affair.
