Phantom Lawyer: Episodes 5-6
by lovepark
Unlike his previous clients, our phantom lawyer’s newest ghost is not here for revenge. In fact, he wants his killer to go free, but what happens when the murderer is not who he thinks it is? As our attorney discovers a twist to this mystery, he will need the help of others to catch the culprit and reveal the truth.
EPISODES 5-6
This week’s ghost is Dr. JEON SANG-HO (Yoon Na-moo), a three time “scientist of the year” recipient with a low tolerance for pseudoscience. Like every other client that visits Yi-rang’s office, he initially comes with no clue of his identity and goes into a tirade about the implausibility of ghosts. Despite possessing Yi-rang, floating in the air, and phasing through objects, he has a hard time accepting his current reality until his memories return to him along with a harrowing truth: his wife killed him.
On the opposite side of this mystery is the wife, KIM SU-JEONG (Jung Ga-hee), represented by Na-hyun. Contrary to Sang-ho’s testimony, Su-jeong says that she did not murder her husband. Their recollection of the night follows a similar path — they fought about his research, then she went upstairs to sleep while he washed up in the bathroom — but neither can say for certain what happened afterwards. Though the first trial ended with her release due to a lack of evidence, the prosecution has appealed, meaning they found something new.
While Sang-ho is convinced that Su-jeong killed him, he actually asks Yi-rang to not punish her. He recalls his failures as a husband and blames himself for pushing her to that point. They spend all night talking (poor sleep-deprived Yi-rang), and our attorney is even more determined to help out his ghostly client. Unfortunately, the case gets complicated when Yi-rang learns during the trial that Su-jeong did not directly kill her husband. Instead, the prosecution found evidence suggesting an accomplice, most likely a male, and all of a sudden, Su-jeong admits to the crime.
Deeming this latest development too triggering, Yi-rang keeps it a secret from Sang-ho and changes tactics. Rather than use the available evidence, he wants to find new information and looks for the missing body. With Sang-ho’s guidance, they discover it buried in the mountains near their laboratory, but as Yi-rang digs, Sang-ho realizes that Su-jeong would not have been physically able to drag his body up the mountain by herself. It dawns on him that his wife had an accomplice, and the onslaught of emotions causes another possession.
Sang-ho knows that the only person who Su-jeong would protect is her father, or more accurately, her mother’s sole caretaker. Seventeen years ago, Su-jeong’s mother fell ill, and though her father used his knowledge and wealth to cure her, none of the treatments worked. He needed someone smarter than him to do the research which is where Sang-ho came in. However, even the genius scientist could not find a cure, and when he learned that Su-jeong may have married him only to help her mother, he threatened to quit. Now, the pieces are falling into place, and Sang-ho pilots Yi-rang’s body to face his killer.
Meanwhile, Na-hyun is skeptical of Yi-rang’s claims of seeing ghosts and accused him of using people’s suffering to turn a profit. Alas, she still cannot explain how he knows details only privy to the deceased and ends up back at his office, trying to make sense of his ridiculous explanation. She happens to be there when our supportive trio arrives looking for Yi-rang, and three become four as they head out in search of our missing attorney.
Sang-ho arrives at his father-in-law’s home to ask why he killed him and sees his son for the first time since his death. He tries to break into the house, demanding his child back, and to the outside world, it looks like Yi-rang has fully lost his mind. As Sang-ho grabs a rock to destroy the lock, Yi-rang’s mom stops him and begs her son to come back. Right then, it starts to rain, and Yi-rang returns to his senses. However, the night turns from bad to worse as prosecutors swarm the yard and arrest Yi-rang for the murder of Sang-ho.
Thanks to modern forensics, the prosecutors learn that Yi-rang is not the killer but the one to first discover the body. They release him in the morning where our loyal trio waited all night (they even prepared variations of tofu), but Mom takes Yi-rang aside to talk in private. She tells him that she knew about his condition from the beginning and threatens to burn all the talismans in his office. She won’t sit idly by as he hurts himself or others, but Yi-rang stops her. He admits that seeing ghosts felt like a punishment in the beginning, but now, he views it as a gift and a responsibility. He promises to never let something like last night happen again, and if it does, he will personally burn all the talismans.
Under these new terms, Yi-rang resumes his ghostly business and clears the air with Sang-ho. Agreeing to work together, they visit Su-jeong to get her side of the story, but unbeknownst to our hero, Do-kyeong has been spying on him since the first case. Though he hasn’t quite made the preposterous leap of ghost-seeing yet, Do-kyeong does recognize the strange coincidences and testimonies that insinuate such an odd hypothesis. Thus, he uses a contact at the detention center to record Yi-rang’s conversation, which leads to Sang-ho jumping in to warn his attorney of the listening device.
Unsurprisingly, Sang-ho enters at the worst moment, triggering another possession, and Su-jeong stops mid-cry to ask why Yi-rang is sobbing (this made me guffaw). Sang-ho tells her that it’s him and uses their secret code to convince her. Su-jeong says that she looked for him, but Sang-ho refuses to believe her since she lied to protect her father who killed him. This last part makes her pause since the reason she took the blame was because her father does not have an alibi, not because he is the culprit.
This revelation throws a wrench in their theory that Su-jeong colluded with her father, and when Na-hyun drops by to discuss the case, she comes to the same conclusion. After touring the laboratory, she found the senior researcher suspicious because he offered too much information too willingly and his physique matched the forensic report. In addition, the autopsy recorded that the murderer missed the victim’s vital spots multiple times, and Na-hyun believes the researcher’s glasses must have fogged up during the attack, hence the repeated swings. Along with these coincidences, the most damning reason against the researcher is that Su-jeong’s dad just resigned and now he is in charge of the research facility. Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
Though all arrows point towards the animal-abusing stalker (they made him cartoonishly evil at this point), our heroes do not have concrete evidence to prove his guilt, so they split up. Na-hyun takes the legal route, albeit with poor results, while Yi-rang sneaks into the laboratory with Bong-su and finds the possible murder weapon. The thing they really need, though, is a confession, which they can only get by combining forces. In other words, Na-hyun lures the target with some bait, then Yi-rang swoops in with the trap.
The trap turns out to be Scooby-Doo levels of theatrics thanks to Bong-su’s penchant for spectacles, and somehow they trick the killer into believing Sang-ho has come back from the dead. The researcher apologizes for “accidentally” killing him, and personally, I don’t blame Sang-ho for losing his cool and possessing Yi-rang. Nevertheless, this little hiccup derails their entire plan, and in his attempts to help, Bong-su sets the room on fire (you might be the best brother-in-law ever, but you’re also the worst assistant).
Luckily, the fire sets off the sprinklers, and Yi-rang regains consciousness right as the killer attempts to silence him next. Then, like his knight in shining armor, Na-hyun comes to the rescue and releases the hounds. It sounds absurd, but this is a show about an attorney who sees ghosts — logic was never in the cards.
Once the villain is arrested, Sang-ho continues his research (the real reason for his inability to move on) and finds a cure for his mother-in-law. Everything is resolved in a neat bow, and Yi-rang sends off his client without any regrets. In fact, he recalls all the lessons he learned through this latest case and finds a new appreciation for those around him. He even sends a hilarious recording to his stalker (a.k.a., Do-kyeong), but then the laughs subside as Yi-rang feels a chill pass through him.
At this point, it feels safe to say that the cases are predictable and middling. Yi-rang does more detective work than lawyer stuff and the villains have all been one-dimensional. I also find some of the messages questionable, and the show’s very loose definition of a “good parent” seems to be an ongoing issue. With all that being said, I think the show works best as a comedy, and through that lens, a lot of the clunky pieces don’t stick out as much. The Scooby-Doo comparisons are abundant (the wacky van, the ghosts, the elaborate traps, the gang), and like the cartoon, the draw of the show comes from its colorful characters and their relationships.
I love the trio who go out of their way to help Yi-rang, and while I don’t understand why Bong-su and the priest, in particular, devote so much of their time to assist him, I appreciate their loyalty and their presence. They add a warmth to the show that keeps it from veering too dark, and I’m glad that Yi-rang is surrounded by loving people who match his energy. Besides the trio, I also enjoy Na-hyun’s role in the story as the skeptic and reluctant partner because she acts as an interesting foil to the rest of the cast. I also think Esom’s acting really elevates the character and her portrayal of Na-hyun’s conflicting emotions makes her feel complex when she could have easily fallen into the stereotypical cold and aloof counterpart. Instead, Na-hyun is expressive in her own way, and the contrast highlights not only her nuanced performance but her scene partner’s as well. All that to say, I hope we get more Yi-rang and Na-hyun moments as well as scenes with the best brother-in-law in the world (fires notwithstanding).
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