The Runaways
Episode 5 of “Juvenile Justice” begins with Eun-Seok out with A-Reum, desperate to find the runaway girls. Seon-Ja is discharged from the hospital and returns home, shocked at the destruction before her. When she finds out A-Reum is responsible, it’s an even tougher pill to swallow. ..
Min-Gyeong, one of the girls in the group, had managed to get away from the others and get snacks. However, things were quickly going out of control. Eun-Seok, one of the boys in the group, answered Min-Gyeong’s phone and they began talking. ..
The other girls turned on her while heading for the train station, with bruises covering her face and hands. Eun-Seok and the others scramble to the hospital, learning what happened. Unfortunately with the night getting late and no clues to go on, Eun-Seok and Tae-Ju are forced to call it a night.
The South Korean military reports to Kang in the morning about what has happened. Won-Jung is furious and demands that they clean up this mess and find the children who defied a direct order. ..
Yeon-Ji, the center of the group, claims that the other girls are too intense and that she only pretended to hit Min-Gyeong. ..
Apparently, the kids are taking it in turns to do shifts and forcing the others into prostitution to try and rustle up some money. A-Reum happens to be listening to this and immediately tells her mum, who in turn tells Eun-Seok and Tae-Ju.
Eun-Seok is livid, bashing A-Reum by telling her this is what happens when they kick kids out onto the street. Prostitution is a quick and easy way to make money, but of course it’s incredibly dangerous. Eun-Seok remains dead-set on bringing the kids back no matter what. ..
Mrs. O was out checking motels when she found Hye-Rim and Eun-Ji in the streets. She urged them to come home, but they turned and ran.
Hye-Rim is eventually caught by Yeon-Ji and locked inside a motel room with a client. Yeon-Ji doesn’t want to go through with this and even threatens to kill herself to try and stop him. Unfortunately, it doesn’t dissuade him.
Detective Ko kicks the door open and saves Yeon-Ji’s life just as her attacker, who had been choking her, grabs her throat. ..
Detective Ko helps the other girls as they’re rounded up and taken away. A worried Mrs O watches on as Eun-Seok thanks him for his help, especially on his day off.
The Yeon-Ji case has led to a change in the way the police handle juvenile cases. As a result, Yeon-Ji will receive therapy at a Juvenile classification home. The rest of the kids will be interviewed by the police.
A-Reum knows where Yeong-Na is, but she is still missing. A phone call Yeon-Ji made was actually intercepted by A-Reum, who used Yeong-Na’s mother’s condition against her, threatening her and urging the girl to go home.
When Eun-Seok and Seon-A retrace their steps, they find Yeong-Na sitting on the steps outside. She found her mum but she didn’t want anything to do with her. In fact she looked away in disgust when Yeong-Na hammered on her door, bloodied knuckles staining the metal.
When her partner saw the girl in an enraged state, he beat her down to the ground.
Yeong-Na’s mother made up a story that she was terminally ill to get rid of her daughter. It’s a shocking revelation and something that catches both women off guard. Mrs. O hugs Yeong-Na, offering her comfort as the girl cries. ..
The episode sadly proves that most juvenile cases begin at home. ..
A reum is on the verge of going off the rails, typified by her rampage with the bat. She feels sidelined in favour of these girls, who actually all sickeningly toasted that night over Mrs O dying soon.
Mrs. O is encouraged by her daughter to embrace her own personality and show that she is happy and smiling.
Ms. Smith has been very adamant about helping the troubled girls at the juvenile center, as she has a miscarried child herself. ..
After this case, Kang thinks about getting rid of Pureum’s licence but decides to hold off for now. However, the circumstances surrounding the other women can’t be forgotten. ..
Eun-Seok eventually has to deliver rulings for these girls, who all get lengthy sentences despite their troubled upbringings.
The legal guardians of the children in attendance are to take up counselling sessions too. She urges them to visit their children, relaying part of the blame on the adults and their failure to give their children a good upbringing. As the girls are taken away, Seon-A stifles a cry and sighs heavily.
Won-Jung makes the decision to take up the Assemblyman’s offer and goes to the door. He finds Kang’s son, who tells him that there is someone at the door. Won-Jung decides to investigate and finds out that it’s his old friend, Choi.
Eun-Sok returns home and is met by a strange man outside.
The Episode Review
The juvenile justice system returns for another solid episode, this time finishing up the girls at Pureum Care Home. Each of them is given a tough sentence, as they all face their own challenges.
That’s perhaps unsurprising given Eun-Seok’s record in the court, but there are some nice moments here where you can tell she’s reflecting on the empathy Seon-Ja is instilling with these kids and realizing she’s not so bad after all.
This case does a great job showing the dangers inherent for young girls and just how quickly things can go wrong. There’s a great effort to humanize every single character here too though, and that’s partly why the show works as well as it does.
Eun-Seok’s past catches up to her and Kang in for quite a shock at home, so everything is left wide open for the next episode.
