Summary
Stranger (Secret Forest) season 2, episode 4 is intriguing and it has a way of building the plot slowly but without boring the viewer.
This recap of K-drama Netflix series Stranger season 2, episode 4 (Secret Forest) contains spoilers.
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The opening
The first Police-Prosecution Council meeting is here — something that feels like it has been an eternity to get to. Chief Choi finally meets Si-mok. Photos are taken of the council, making it all official but awkward.
The first debate
The meeting doesn’t start well as the prosecutors raise that the government haven’t made any proposals regarding warrants. Both sides then debate the constitution and talk about unjust laws. Yeo-jin mentions that in certain scenarios, potential criminals who have arrived at settlements have sued the police due to investigative laws. To help prop the police’s argument, Detective Jang gives a recent example of how the law hasn’t worked well in the police’s favour:
He iterates a case about a landlord scamming a woman. While out on the case, Jang finds this man and they chase after him. Halfway through the case, the prosecution requests the police team to transport an assailant but they don’t have time. They managed to catch the scammer and apprehend him but the warrant still hasn’t been issued. Many victims have suffered due to this scammer. If they don’t get a warrant, they’ll have to release the suspect at midnight. Chief Choi highlights nothing has changed in 15 years. This was a compelling argument by Jang but there’s too much stubbornness in the room which is what Stranger season 2, episode 4 presents.
The meeting is adjourned early
The Council ends up in an argument between both sides. The prosecution talks about how an overissue of warrants could breach human rights but Jang raises how not having the power to issue warrants could also cause more victims. The meeting ends in frustration and zero progress made.
Complex governance
Ms. Lee Yeon-jae learns that her place under the board will be under risk after Mr. Lee’s proposed changes. The chairperson will keep an eye on her to try to push her out. Ms. Lee and her team need to find out what Mr. Lee has in mind. Ms. Lee states that Lee Sung-jae will bring Honorary Chairman Lee Yun-beom back and make him the chairperson again — it will be a war and Ms. Lee needs to make sure that the Honorary Chairman stays out of it. Afterward, Ms. Lee learns she’s been ousted by her family. When she returns to the office, she learns that lawyer Dong-jae has tried contacting her. She has a fight on her hands which makes for compelling viewing for the second season.
Meanwhile, during a meal, Chief Choi gets a call and learns that a prosecutor has enquired about the former officer that was bribed. She wants to know who the prosecutor is.
A meeting with Ms Lee
Dong-jae meets Ms. Lee and he’s very complimentary that she became chairwoman. Dong-jae brings up Chief Choi and lawyer Park Gwang-su which alarms her a little. He talks about how the lawyer left his post as a Chief Prosecutor and moved to a law firm; he heard that Hanno Group tried to recruit him. He implies about the ethics of it all but quickly U-turns when Ms. Lee questions his direction of the conversation. Ms. Lee asks if Mr. Park died mysteriously — Dong-jae talks about his death and how the Chief of Namyangju Police Station potentially covered it up. Ms. Lee’s assistant claims Mr. Park was a drinker and ends the meeting early. Dong-jae vows he can help Ms. Lee so if she needs anything, just ask.
Ms. Lee’s request
Stranger season 2, episode 4 sees Ms. Lee give Dong-jae a strange request…
Ms. Lee’s assistant leaves the room and Ms. Lee raises the subject of Chairman Lee Yun-beom — Dong-jae has done work for him a few times. Ms. Lee asks if Dong-jae would like to pay him a visit. Dong-jae agrees to visit him but asks why she hasn’t seen him, considering her relationship. She states she hasn’t seen him since he has been released from prison and apparently he’s changed. Ms. Lee gives Dong-jae a present and asks him to give it to Lee Yun-beom. After Dong-jae leaves, Ms. Lee frets about Dong-jae’s story about Mr. Park’s death. The plot is thickening with each scene.
Who is sick?
Dong-jae visits Lee Yun-beom’s place with the present, however, apparently, he’s not at home. Dong-jae updates Ms. Lee and asks if there’s someone ill in the house. He saw medicine bottles thrown into the bin and he checks out the trash — he wonders if the person sick is Lee Yun–beom. Ms. Lee thanks him for his dedication. Dong-jae tells Chairwoman Ms. Lee to prove what she can do while everyone doubts her. What an asslicker.
Find out why
Chief Choi talks to Yeo-jin about Prosector Dong-jae looking into the case of the seven officers at Segok Police Station and the colleague who apparently committed suicide — she’s not sure why Dong-jae is looking into it now years later. Chief Choi asks Yeo-jin to meet Officer Kim (who has just been released) and find out why Dong-jae is looking into it. As she leaves the office, she remembers Si-mok asking about Segok Police Station.
The ending
Yeo-jin meets Ko Chang-yong from Segok station. She asks why Sergeant Baek Jung-gi is suddenly on vacation but he claims he has no idea. Ko Chang-yong states he wasn’t part of the bribery case but Yeo-jin says that Sergeant Song Gi-hyeon was on his team. The officer claims he was off duty the day Song died.
Yeo-jin asks if Song Gi-hyeon got along with the team and more specifically Kim Su-hang. Ko Chang-yong remembers a time someone purposefully poured boiling hot water on Song’s hand. Captain Baek Jung-gi asked him to mop the water up and Song is clearly upset that no-one has defended him. Officer Kim calls Song ridiculous in the changing room. He was clearly bullied by his colleagues.
Yeo-jin asks who found Song’s body and then updates Chief Choi on the phone and states that former officer Kim Su-hang was the first one to find the body and no-one else was there at the time — “It was suicide, but it’s homicide”.
Stranger season 2, episode 4 is intriguing and it has a way of building the plot slowly but without boring the viewer.
