Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hello and welcome back to the recaps for Crime Scene Returns, and obviously we’ll be picking up where we left off on Episode 1, now getting to the conclusion of the case for Episode 2.
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In the previous recap, I did a breakdown of the information the viewers have about the victim and the suspects, which I think is a good way to go about things. If it ain’t broke, why fix it, as they say, so let’s go.
Fanatic Joo (Joo Hyun Young)
Alright, so the case basically picks up right where it left off, as Fanatic Joo was caught on video doing some light breaking-and-entering stalker shit on the victim.
Uh yeah, about that, it went much further than that. Turns out Fanatic Joo was in their bedroom while the victim and Fiance Key were sleeping, and she additionally spoofed the victim’s phone and talked to Fiance Key while pretending to be the victim.
The cast was … well, shocked.
Needless to say, that kind of psycho-ass behavior put a target on her back, and Flight Ahn in particular went fucking nuts because she was convinced of Fanatic Joo’s guilt.
What did I say in the last recap? The sasaeng character was genius. One of the idols was sure to bite, and sure enough.
Fiance Key (SHINee’s Key)
For him, it was revealed that the mafia gave him instructions to kill the victim with Putin’s tea before agents got to her at the airport when they landed in Russia. So he admitted trying to kill her, but failed as she ate the soup that Flight Ahn tampered with before getting to drink the coffee he poisoned.
Most importantly, it was revealed that Fiance Key’s life was at stake, which provided him with motive that was missing before. The SM mafia found out the victim was keeping tabs on the organization, which led to Fiance Key being sentenced to death, and he claimed he was trying to take the victim back to Russia with hopes it would save his life. Despite me saying he was too much of a stereotype to be the culprit in the last recap, further details made him actually quite a realistic choice, as you’ll see later.
Luxury Jang (Jang Jin)
While I expected a lot about his backstory to be revealed, not much damning emerged. He put his own luggage in the cargo hold because it carried millions in cash from his scams, and the victim’s phone had him as her last call to demand more money for keeping quiet. So there’s some motive, but as you’ll see later, there’s no means.
Flight Ahn (IVE’s Yujin)
The most red herring-est red herring to ever red herring, there was more revealed about the severity of the bullying she endured. Turns out the victim recorded a prank that involved Flight Ahn’s boyfriend proposing to her. However, the victim put him up to it, promising she would date him if he did it.
Amen.
Fungmu Jang (Jang Dong Min)
Unlike Luxury Jang, in Fungmu Jang’s case, there was indeed a lot more revealed. Specifically that his daughter had a rare disease that was expensive to treat (and that Yujin got thrown under the bus for, lol).
😅 https://t.co/5av3CizMOH pic.twitter.com/rgRiG8CGfc
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) February 26, 2024
The old watch mentioned in the last episode was revealed to be a secret military AI weapon, and he was flying to Russia to leak it in exchange for $5 million. He had a day left on the deadline, which is why he requested the charter. The victim discovered this and tried to blackmail money out of him over it.
The red mark on her neck was not from strangulation, but rather from wearing a necklace with a USB storing information related to the weapon, and so Fungmu Jang ripped it off her in an argument. He claims he ended up wearing it in the end because he went back after to find it since it fell on the ground, but she was in the bathroom. So he just took it out of her bag, which also means he admits to going back there around the scene of the crime again.
Victim – Jin Yewon
Through investigation it was found that the bathroom was the murder scene, as she was killed via a throat wound while over the toilet and had her blood drained through the toilet into the septic tank.
Me after a weekend BBQ: pic.twitter.com/g5WhSsf2rS
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) February 26, 2024
The murder weapon was half a membership card to the airline spa used to puncture her neck and they found it in said septic tank. Investigation found that only the victim and Fungmu Jang had a card, though the victim wouldn’t be taking hers to Russia and the latter claims he left his at home. Of course, it’s possible that Fanatic Joo and her kleptomania may have stole it during one of her break-ins as well.
Anyway, her body was taken to the cargo bay via a hidden panel in the bathroom that was discovered by Flight Ahn. Individuals who knew about the panel were limited to Fungmu Jang, Flight Ahn, Fiance Key, and Fanatic Joo. The first three had a flight encyclopedia with information about it (and also were constantly around planes/airport), while Fanatic Joo had a story on it pasted to her wall.
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Opinion
Okay, so the evidence narrowed things down a bit, as it could only be the four aforementioned people who knew how to get the body to where it was found (Fungmu Jang, Flight Ahn, Fiance Key, Fanatic Joo). Furthermore, only Fungmu Jang conclusively had access to the murder weapon, though he claims to have left it at home. Flight Ahn didn’t have access, and while Fanatic Joo had a plausible way to get her hands on it since she was a known klepto who broke into the victim’s house, there’s no evidence this happened and she had no ability/reason to use that as a murder weapon. Fiance Key similarly seems to have access by living with the victim, and he would have the ability to use something innocuous to kill given his skills. However, he also didn’t have a card of his own to use, and he only got instructions to kill her while on the plane, which makes it unlikely he would be planning any murder ahead of time and thus find the need to steal her card.
As such, the best combination of motive, means, and opportunity came down to Fungmu Jang, IMO. The motive was that he was being blackmailed by the victim for millions meant to save his daughter despite supporting the victim since she was an orphan, the means due to being the only one who had obvious access to the murder weapon, and the opportunity due to knowing the plane’s layout. Fiance Key would be my second choice just because of the method of murder, but while he has arguably the strongest motive besides Flight Ahn, I still can’t find the logic in how he would know to (or why he would need to) steal her spa card ahead of time when the order only came while en route to Russia. Fanatic Joo was also a decent candidate, but her motive seemed dodgy, as there’s no real reason to kill her specifically on that flight when she had access at any time.
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Votes
- Flight Ahn: 3 (Park Ji Yoon, Fiance Key, Fanatic Joo)
- Fungmu Jang: 2 (Park Ji Yoon, Flight Ahn)
- Fanatic Joo: 1 (Fungmu Jang)
- Fiance Key: 1 (Luxury Jang)
- Luxury Jang: 0
Honestly, as soon as I saw that Jang Jin voted for Fiance Key and figured out that Fiance Key must’ve voted for Flight Ahn, I knew it was Fiance Key. Fiance Key threw that vote on Flight Ahn just cause he already knew she had one and it gave him the best chance of putting somebody else in jail. Clever boy.
And … of course the murderer turned out to be Fiance Key, and his failed murder plot with Putin’s tea seemed to be a red herring for a red herring. The reason he evaded suspicion was because he wasn’t known to have access to the murder weapon, but everybody missed that he did have a card, they just failed at searching his name in English (Jang Jin voted for Fiance Key based on a hunch that was correct). That gave him a clear connection to the means, while the motive was his life, and in retrospect he had the best opportunity as he could’ve seen anybody else going to the bathroom and he could’ve gone after her anytime. Also, in retrospect, he might’ve been the only one who realistically could’ve used such a precise method of murder.
Fuck.
Park Ji Yoon and her hag typing has foiled us. I’m blaming her searching to cope for not simplifying things to “of course the assassin was the only one who could kill somebody with a spa card, fuck the evidence”.
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Other Stuff
- TMI? TMI.
- Also pee.
- RIP Wilson, you were no match for Yujin’s goblin mode.
- It was amusing to watch Yujin being amazing at staying in character … except when she went sasaeng hunting, which drove her to madness.
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Thought this was a great start to the show. A good case (not just because I got fooled, I swear!) where the expanded budget and bigger set seemed to be used effectively by the producer.
The enthusiasm of the three newbies is palpable, and they all play their roles well, so I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season with this cast.
If you’ve seen the other available episodes, don’t spoil it in the comments.
