Summary
Episode 9 is the same overindulgence — at this point, the writers may as well put all characters in a room and ask them to raise their grievances so we can figure all this out sooner. Or, get them to fight. Whatever is more entertaining.
This recap of the Netflix k-drama series Law School episode 9 contains spoilers.
I’m sorry, folks. I am not enjoying Law School at all, and episode 9 supported the notion that the writers got way too clever for their own good. Having every character have a related problem is overindulgent, but it’s difficult to suspend the belief that this would ever happen. Okay, so it’s fictional, but stories always have a “scope” in the plot — the scope of this k-drama series is a realistic law school in Korea. So the story is bordering on nonsense. Anyway, let’s recap episode 9.
After the shocking ending of episode 8, Ye-seul is leaning over Yeong-chang and is panicking — he looks heavily wounded. She tries to ring Kang Sol A, but Professor Yang grabs her phone and rings the hospital. Kang Sol A and Han Joon-hwi arrive. Ye-seul is unconscious from fainting, so they help her to the hospital. Assemblyman Ko is furious at what’s happened to his son — he’s not dead, but there’s going to be consequences to this. The police arrive to take her to the station, but Han Joon-hwi tells them she is not in a fit state to take questions. Professor Yang intervenes to stop the arrest and tells them that he will take her to the station when she’s ready.
It’s clear he’s buying time.
Yeong-chang’s surgery finishes
Professor Yang tells Assemblyman Ko that if Ye-seul goes to the interrogation now, his reputation will be damaged as Ye-seul was angry with Yeong-chang because of a secret spycam that shows a sexual video between Ye-seul and his son. Ye-seul speaks to Kim Eun-suk, and she is upset, claiming she was in love. Kim Eun-suk tells her that what she experienced is sexual abuse. Meanwhile, Yeong-chang’s surgery is complete, and there’s a chance that he may never wake up. Of course, we learn later that this diagnosis was speculative.
Seung-jae, the cheat
Episode 9 delves into Seung-jae — he plays as a side character at this point, but he’s clearly important. It feels flagrant that they are keeping his character-focused chapter at bay — is that a hint to what he represents in the story? Who knows.
Anyway, remember when Kim Eun-suk collapsed, and she was taken to the hospital? Her unborn baby is checked, and everything is fine. While Kim Eun-suk sleeps, Seung-jae fixes her laptop and looks at the midterm code papers, and he’s essentially deliberating on cheating.
Later on, Kim Eun-suk explains to Professor Yang that Seung-jae will have been tempted to look at the exam papers after asking him to fix her laptop — she raises how he once fixed the Vice-Dean’s as well. She raises how she intentionally put the wrong provision in one of the questions, and Seung-jae put the same answer. Kim Eun-suk believes that Seung-jae is key to Professor Yang’s alibi as well — if he was in the professor’s office that day, and hiding, then he cannot have been involved with the murder. Kim Eun-suk confronts Seung-jae with the hope that he will come clean — she tells him she hopes his empty answer sheet doesn’t mean he will give up.
Another day, another trial
Perhaps the most interesting part of the series is the trials themselves because who does not love courtroom drama?
At the trial, the prosecution states they cannot trust Ye-seul’s testimony anymore due to recent events and wants her to testify again — he’s trying to invalidate witnesses that support Professor Yang. The professor is then taken to the stand, and his attorney asks why he was going to Boston — he states he was trying to find Kang Dan. The prosecutor knows Kang Dan undermines Assemblyman Ko as she was a whistleblower in his campaign and tries to claim that this is an unrelated line of questioning. However, it looks suspicious that the prosecutor knows so much, including how Kang Dan dropped the charges against the campaign.
The prosecutor asks Professor Yang why he will not use Kang Sol B
And like all the trials, plenty of flashbacks are given to the audience on that fateful day when the “murder” happened. But it’s getting tiresome seeing this day from so many angles.
Seung-jae meets up with Kang Sol B — he tells her he was with Professor Yang when Professor Seo died. Meanwhile, in court, the prosecutor presses Professor Yang on Kang Sol B on the sugar packet, but the professor tells him they cannot use her testimony — the prosecutor questions why he hasn’t summoned her as a witness as it’s a big chance for him to prove his innocence. Flashbacks show Professor Yang trying to stop Professor Seo from taking meth and swats it out of his hand — he tells him he knows he was the criminal in the hit-and-run case, and he’s clearly disgusted. In the present, Professor Yang tells the court that he was confronting Professor Seo about (the hit-and-run). The prosecutor is trying to claim that Professor Yang got angry, which led to murder.
Blood sugar levels
And then the series gets into the weeds about diabetes, which is great and all, but it feels like anything is up for play in Law School episode 9.
The prosecutor proves Professor Seo’s blood/sugar levels in the court as new evidence. Professor Yang’s attorney is dismayed and calls it cheating — the professor tells the judge not to use the evidence in court and that it is a petty trick. The judge states they will accept it but halt questioning. Unfortunately, this does not put Professor Yang in a good situation, as he claimed that Professor Seo was hypoglycemic at the time — the sugar levels prove he was hyperglycemic.
Seung-jae admires Ye-seul
Yeong-chang wakes up, and Ye-seul visits him — he hasn’t changed and wonders if she was sent to the hospital to settle. One side of his body is paralyzed. Seung-jae comforts Ye-seul outside as she blames herself for what happened. Seung-jae calls her admirable for bearing as a witness at the trial (that’s what you are meant to do). Ye-seul states how much weight her words could mean, and she realized how important law is.
The prosecutor overhears Kang Sol B wanting to be a witness
Kang Sol B asks Han Joon-hwi why he didn’t ask her to testify if he thought she knew about the sugar packet — he tells her it is her decision, just like Ye-seul. She asks Professor Yang to bring her in as a witness which will bring down the prosecutor’s argument and prove she hasn’t plagiarised. The prosecutor overhears and tells her that bringing down his argument will mean it will be in the news that she tried to defend a murderer to get plagiarism accusations off her.
Confronting Assemblyman Ko
By now, that drama is overindulging itself again as the characters keep swarming around the same issues like flies — everyone has a connected issue; I’m surprised there hasn’t been another murder with all the tension between them.
Ye-seul tells Han Joon-hwi and Kang Sol A that Yeong-chang will not settle, and it’s unlikely she will be able to go to school. Kang Sol A visits Assemblyman Ko in his office — he tells her she’s exactly like her sister, barging in on him. Kang Sol A shows him an essay she wrote and asks if he ever met her stepfather as it seemed he needed the money, not Kang Dan. She believes it’s “father like son” and that he and Yeong-chang frame people out of habit. She soon regrets confronting the politician, believes that this hurts Ye-seul.
Afterward, Assemblyman Ko wants an attempted murder charge against Ye-seul, but he’s warned against that, stating they need proof of intention, and because Ye-seul tried to stop his son from sending a comprising sexual video; his legal team believes they should charge her for grievous bodily harm. Assemblyman Ko wants Ye-seul punishing severely.
Assemblyman Ko wants an apology and a resignation
Nobody likes Professor Yang — maybe it’s because he’s too damn clever?
There’s an announcement by Professor Jung at the law school — he’ll only be grading them on finals and reports, leaving out Professor Yang’s midterm results. There are parents and student protests. This means Kang Sol A will suffer due to this. Meanwhile, Assemblyman Ko and his team confront Profesor Yang for suggesting to a student to examine Ye-seul for sexual assault. He wants an apology and a resignation — Professor Yang tells them they can fire him once the court finds him guilty. In the bathroom, Assemblyman Ko tells Professor Yang that Ye-seul got obsessed with his son. Professor Yang tells the assemblyman that he’s keeping his eyes on him.
The ending
Kang Sol A talks to Professor Yang about Kang Dan and asks him if he spoke to her — she got this information from Lee Man-ho. But now I am confused because she was quite clearly annoyed two episodes ago after seeing Professor Yang on the phone with Kang Dan. So she already knows that the professor is potentially in touch!
She also tells him she confronted Assemblyman Ko, and she’s worried Ye-seul will not be able to settle because of her. Professor Yang tells her to find another way and tells her, “good work.” Kang Sol A spends the night finding another way to help Ye-seul.
Kim Eun-suk gathers the students — they want to solve the problem Ye-seul has. Kang Sol A believes this is a self-defense case because uploading a sexual video is already illegal, and Ye-seul was trying to stop Yeong-chang. Han Joon-hwi agrees. They get out a similar case that may work in Ye-seul’s favor. They need an attorney to help Ye-seul. When they go to the first trial, Yeong-chang has a whole legal team; Ye-seul’s public defender resigned, and they wait to see who her new attorney will be.
Surprise, surprise! It’s revealed that Professor Yang is the new attorney, and he requests a jury trial. I mean, predictable, but whatever. I’m not even going to ask if suspects on trial are allowed to represent another person.
Law School episode 9 is the same overindulgence — at this point, the writers may as well put all characters in a room and ask them to raise their grievances so we can figure all this out sooner. Or, get them to fight. Whatever is more entertaining.
Additional points
- Kang Sol A asks her mother if Kang Dan was in Assemblyman Ko’s campaign camp, but she gets frustrated and rushes off, stating she does not want to speak about it.
- Outside court, Ji-ho confronts Prosecutor Jin and asks if he remembers his call with a journalist — in a flashback, Jin is talking to the same journalist Ji-ho confronted in the last chapter about the death of his father — he wants to know who the prosecutor is who was named in the newspaper; Prosecutor Jin grabbed the phone and claimed it was Seo Byung-ju.
- Kang Sol A tells Lee Man-ho that Kang Dan is not in Korea anymore and hasn’t been in touch. Lee Man-ho is surprised she never received a call herself from Kang Dan.
- Kang Sol B asks Ji-ho to be a witness and states that she wrote the paper that she is being accused of plagiarism for.
