Two Cases

Won-Jung and Eun-Seok are in the office discussing their son’s discovery when Won-Jung’s phone rings. It’s his son, who is asking him how he is doing. Won-Jung is relieved to hear his son is okay and tells him he will talk to him soon.

The next day, Eun-Seok is determined to find out the truth about Won-Jung. However, she’s interrupted by the court schedule being changed. ..

Eun-Seok is already in her robes, ready to go to court. She also hasn’t bothered telling the Chief Judge what’s happened either. Instead, Kang berates Eun-Seok for crossing the line at the hospital and suggests she put her robes on ready to join him in court.

With the evidence skewed in favour of the defendants, and Kang refusing to allow prosecution witnesses to go forward, he immediately dismisses the idea of this being challenged. However, Eun-Seok undermines Kang’s compromised position and calls a recess for an hour.

Eun-Seok challenges Won-Jung’s decision to rush through the trial, and calls him out for not taking the time to speak to the Chief Judge. She demands he do something, but he reminds her that she has no evidence to back up her claims. ..

Eun-Seok is shocked to find out that her superior is compromised and tries to make sense of what’s happening.

Tae-Ju decides to stop prosecuting cases based on hunches, echoing what Won-Jung said about evidence being the best way to go about things. This is a recurring theme throughout this show and this episode brings that conflict to center stage. ..

The school has allowed students to drop out and retake their tests, which has compromised the entire system.

The ones who will suffer the most are those left to pick up the pieces, while the kids who have dropped out get a leg up on the competition.

Eun-Seok is determined to find evidence or a witness to use against Won-Jung. So naturally, Eun-Seok gets the Chief Judge involved and confirms that Sin-U actually confessed himself. So there is proof – right from the source. The Chief decides to deliberate over this for a day, while Won-Jung demands an explanation.

Eun-Seok calls out how hard he’s been working on the juvenile reform law. Five years he’s been working on it, believing that he could be good at it but Sin-U’s confession has crushed that. ..

Eun-Seok holds her own against her opponent, pointing out the proverb “Don’t steal a candle to read a Bible.” In essence, if the purpose is good but the means to get there is corrupt, then it’s all for nothing. ..

Won-Jung’s confessions in the 22 years since his cases have had regrets he’s carried with him. He walks away from the room after reading Eun-Seok’s confession, which is met with a teary-eyed Won-Jung.

Won-Jung decides to admit to what he’s done, remorseful over his actions following the chat with Eun-Seok. News of this obviously leaks to the press too, who catch wind of what’s happened. ..

The Assemblyman predicted that Won-Jung would be kicked out of the by-election, and he was right. Won-Jung has had to attend a serious disciplinary hearing after being kicked out of the race.

Sin-U is given 120 hours of community service and 2 years of probation. This resolves the issue between Won-Jung and Sin-U, which led to their conflict in the first place.

Tae-Ju follows through with his promise to bring the old case up with the judge from the past. It turns out, it was actually Won-Jung who helped him out.

Won-Jung recognized him right away and was incredibly proud of Tae-Ju, who obviously came all the way from juvenile prison to becoming a leading ju-dge. And just like WonJung did all those years ago, he bends down and helps tie Won-Jung’s shoelace, thanking him for being in his corner.

Won-Jung leaves a note for Eun-Seok, telling her that he doesn’t resent her for what happened, given she was speaking the truth. He thanks her for her hard work. ..

With the new head judge running late, Eun-Seok is left to take on a particularly nasty traffic incident case.

The Tae-Ju case has been making the rounds on social media, with many people wondering who Kwak Do-Seok is. It seems like he may have something to do with the death of the boy.

The four kids on trial, led by Nam-Gyeong, claim that they didn’t know that Do-Seok didn’t have a licence. Do-Seok is in a critical condition in hospital though and according to his mum, the kids were harassing him. ..

The group of people investigating the reckless driving that injured a man critically will need more time to get an answer. Mrs. O, the wife of the man who was injured, needs to wait until they have more information. ..

Mrs. O gives birth to her baby while Do-Seok is in a coma at the hospital. Na Geun-Hee, the new head judge, confronts Eun-Seok about their past relationship.

The Episode Review

Eun-Seok, the new head judge of “Produce 101 Season 2,” has a history with the previous head judge that is still being kept under wraps. This series has shown snippets of Eun-Seok’s past but most of it has been kept hidden from view. ..

The cases themselves are interesting and varied, although the sudden shift to a new case midway through this episode feels like a bit of a tonal misstep. ..

We’re learning about a hit and run incident that happened on Monday night, in which a student was run over by another student. We’re still trying to piece together what happened and who was responsible.

The two cases in this episode are interesting, but it’s questionable that they’re both included in the same episode. It feels like haphazard editing in truth, almost as if there should have been two 30 minute episodes rather than an hour long chapter stitched together.

Despite its flaws, Juvenile Justice delivers a decent drama with strong acting and thought-provoking ideas. ..