Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hello and welcome back to the recaps for Crime Scene Returns, where we’ll be starting up a new case that certainly has a tough act to follow up … so they put a murder inside of a murder for Episode 5.
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This case starts off complicated as there’s a murder case within a murder case. Things begin by recounting the death of Son Jang, who was found dead at a construction site. A man named Jeon Minkyo was tried and convicted of the murder in his first trial, drawing the public’s outrage due to claiming he was drunk and went temporarily insane.
But on the day of his second trial, Jeon Minkyo also became a victim, found dead in the very court room where his fate would’ve been judged. On the case is Detective Jang (Jang Dong Min), who is looking as raggedy as any detective ever has.
I say this every new case now, but man, they were not joking about bigger and better sets. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
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Victim – Jeon Minkyo
- 39-year-old male who was co-CEO of Dookdak Construction
- Body found with eyes open seemingly in a state of shock, and a gavel is next to him with blood on it
- His neck has a needle mark, syringes were found in medical room, vials of painkillers were found in changing room
- Revealed to have seafood allergy and was infertile
Through investigation, the point is made that he would have to be out of it while being moved to the courtroom, otherwise he would’ve drawn attention. Thus, the murder likely happened in the defendant waiting room, which is adjacent to both the changing room and medical room.
They also weren’t lying about the bodies being realistic this season. After that fucking jumpscare of a real NPC last case, I’m living in constant fear it’s gonna be a real person one of these episodes.
Witness Park (Park Ji Yoon)
- 42-year-old female and co-CEO of Dookdak Construction
- Ex-wife of victim and witness in the case, separated due to victim being infertile
- Has diabetes and access to insulin
- Saw victim in medical room at 9:10 AM, claims left for her office
- In Son Jang’s case, she perjured herself by saying she left the victim’s office at 10:40 PM instead of 12:45 AM
The biggest reveal was a motive to kill her ex. There was an advance payment of $18 million for a construction project, which Father Jang helped get from the Fungmu Group, but there were stories that the victim embezzled that money. There’s still no indication of where that money went, and in their divorce settlement, the victim agreed to take over as CEO and would get all the shares. However, that was done secretly, so if he dies then he takes all the heat and the money can disappear (probably to Witness Park). Additionally, she purposefully got the victim drunk on the night of Son Park’s death in order to forge the victim’s thumbprint, which led to the waiver getting signed.
A prime suspect, indeed.
Lawyer Joo (Joo Hyun Young)
- 45-year-old female, lawyer for the victim
- Claims she arrived at the courthouse at 9:50 AM
- Perfectionist former prosecutor
- About to be dismissed by defendant
- Suspicious pet fish?
Her motive was related to being in charge of a famous stock manipulation case (a reference to the first case this season), which she closed suddenly due to the perp’s alleged suicide. There was a request to reinvestigate, but she denied it, and it’s revealed she wrapped things up in exchange for being offered a job leading Fungmu Group’s legal team. She was here working this case because the victim made a request from Fungmu for a waste facility, so Fungmu assigned her to his case in order to get close to the victim and make threats to shut up. They didn’t work, and she was instructed to make sure he never talks.
I don’t quite understand why Fungmu wanted him quiet. Because he wanted another contract and that would be millions more?
Regardless, if it’s found that she’s lying about her arrival time at court or she can’t prove her alibi, she has the urgency to murder him because she received a call earlier that he was dismissing her from the case, which would ruin everything for her personally.
Reporter Ahn (IVE’s Yujin)
- 32-year-old female journalist for tabloid Oh MZ News
- Had an anonymous identity to write the worst stories and make more money
- Needed money to take care of her sister
- Wrote article connecting victim to embezzling $18 million
- Provided evidence of victim’s sex tape to a cyberwrecker channel for $30k
Was revealed that she dressed as a janitor, allegedly to get more of a story, and also had access to all the keys in the building.
On the surface, not a lot damning has emerged due to a lack of motive, but it seems clear that the sister has a bigger connection to this than has been let on so far, and the veterans of the show seem to be wary that’s it’s just about needing money.
Also, making Yujin basically Sojang-connected and a tabloid-mess journalist as a celebrity who is on the other end of those things … lol.
Guard Key (SHINee’s Key)
- 45-year-old male security officer
- Coffee stain on uniform due to somebody bumping him
- Left victim unattended at 9:45 AM to head to changing room, didn’t report to superior to help with a mess at 9:35 AM
- Was in the marines but was dishonorably discharged due to assault and anger issues
- Been actively trying for years to hunt down who reported him in the military
For now I don’t really suspect him, but I assume some kind of motive is coming. If not, I think the more important thing is who managed to get him away from the victim, either through the coffee thing, the mess, or something else, because if he isn’t the perpetrator then somebody had to get him to leave his post.
SNIFFA
Father Jang (Jang Jin)
- 55-year-old male candidate for President
- Claims he was waiting for a meeting with the judge at 9:30 AM
- Son was a political sore spot due to potential military evasion and behavior (clubbing)
- Sold his yellow car on day of his son’s murder
- Had a ledger of payments that indicated corruption
The biggest thing with him was that they contacted Kim Daeri, the witness that the victim had planned to call for his trial. They figured out he worked for a driving company and he went to the victim’s office to pick him up, but he said the victim was drunk and asleep around the time of Son Jang’s murder, which would prove the victim innocent. He also said he saw Witness Park leaving the office, which led to her confession about the waiver forgery and also perjury.
After questioning, Father Jang admits to accidentally killing his son, and also presumably covering it up since somebody else is going to prison for it. Thus, his motive for murdering the victim was gigantic. Not only does that keep the cover-up of his son’s death quiet if it dies with the victim, but it also prevents further digging into financial impropriety and makes him a sympathetic candidate.
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Timeline
- 9:15-9:55 AM – Victim murdered between this period
- 9:10 AM – Witness Park claims to last see victim
- 9:30 AM – Father Jang claims to be waiting for meeting with judge
- 9:35 AM – Reporter Ahn claims she arrived at scene
- 9:35 AM – Guard Key ignores superior’s request to help with a mess
- 9:45 AM – Guard Key claims to have left victim unattended to cleanup
- 9:50 AM – Lawyer Joo claims to have arrived
- 9:55 AM – Body found by guard
- 10:20 AM – Victim’s scheduled trial time
Not much in terms of inconsistencies with the timeline yet, so at the moment, in a way I feel like this sorta sums it up from Detective Jang.
There’s two suspects with obvious and significant motives that have been revealed … and three people who just seem to be weirdos. Lawyer Joo seems like a close third because of the directive, but I agree with Witness Park’s deduction that she had no reason to make it personal.
Votes
1 – Witness Park (Detective Jang)
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Either Father Jang or Witness Park are the logical choices here, though I’m not convinced it’s either of them.
As I think about what this case will revolve around, I think the fact that it was personal with the gavel to the head is most important. Witness Park has greed, but no real personal grudge at this point. Father Park maybe resented his son for being a pain, but he also didn’t have reason to make it personal. Same goes for Lawyer Joo, who had her job at stake, nothing more.
The problem is we don’t have much damning info yet on Reporter Ahn and Guard Key, but if Reporter Ahn’s sister has a connection to all this then that could easily get personal, and if Guard Key’s years-long quest to find who got him discharged is connected to this, then he also has reason to make it personal. Still, it would be irrational to vote for either of them at this stage, so I probably would’ve gone with Father Jang.
What’s revealed in the concluding episode of the case should be good.
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Other Stuff
- So … are all of these mentions of past characters from this season actually just references/callbacks or is this going to have bearing on the actual cases? Because the Fungmu Group and Luxury Jang stuff seems like it could be relevant … no? Like we know Luxury Jang isn’t dead. They’ve never really done that before for anything other than jokes, so it’d be interesting…
- …or not, and congrats to Mature Joo for finally passing the bar!
- Again, considering what an idol of her stature has to endure from the tabloids, this is just amazing.
Perfect. pic.twitter.com/qLxOIIt5lO
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) March 15, 2024
- A commenter made me think of this, but one thing I’ve learned as this season has gone along is that it’s important to rewatch parts of the episode in order to figure out which clues are important. So far they’ve made a habit of focusing on the entertainment stuff, not necessarily the key clues, making you figure out what stuff is important on your own. Taking advantage of streaming.
- Key finally getting into a character a bit.
- Subtle as always.
- Jang Dong Min loves police violence.
- The timing of this for subtitle watchers is just … amazing, lmao.
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I can already tell the next episode is one I’m going to have to watch multiple times and check notes to figure out, because not only do they have to figure out the mechanics behind the ongoing murder case, but so too do they have to unravel everything from the other murder case, because they’re connected.
My body is ready, but maybe not my brain.
If you’ve seen the other available episodes, don’t spoil it in the comments.
