Summary
The pace and intrigue remain high in a solid follow-up episode with a significant last-minute twist.
This recap of the Prime Video K-Drama The Killing Vote Season 1 Episode 2 contains spoilers.
After a very solid opening, the second episode of The Killing Vote seamlessly carries the pace and mystery of Episode 1 into the follow-up.
Some minor concerns about episode length notwithstanding – the energy is high for now, but if it starts to sag, these runtimes will hurt – the Prime Video K-Drama is a highly engaging thriller, well worth the investment, especially with its more manageable one-episode-a-week distribution.
The Killing Vote Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
The second episode starts by validating Joo-hyun’s theory that Kim Seok-joo is involved in the Killing Vote. During his trial, Seok-joo accepted responsibility for his crime but justified it on the failings of the justice system that deemed the guilty to be innocent.
The repetition of that line, despite details of the crime never having been released to the public, can only imply that Seok-joo is personally involved.
As we know, though, Seok-joo is currently in prison, and while he seems to have a firm grasp of his rights that implies he’s much cleverer than the average killer – he refuses to see Mu-chan when he tries to visit – he definitely can’t nip in and out whenever he wants.
Does Joo-hyun join Mu-chan’s team?
As predicted, Mu-chan invites Joo Hyun to join the task force, despite having initially rejected her after their earlier conversation. She and Jo-dan, who seems happy for her to be there, work together, while Mu-chan and Jin-soo follow a lead to a waiter who complained about Gi-chul before his death.
The waiter had a hidden camera in the women’s bathroom and took videos of them without their consent. With some persuasion, the waiter hands over the card of the cab driver who picked Gi-chul up. He turns out to have been a replacement driver hired via text, and told, rather cryptically, just to pick Gi-chul up and subsequently leave him in the car.
After tracing the car’s number plate, the team discovers the vehicle has already been crushed.
Meanwhile, Joo-hyun and Jo-dan trace the origin of the video they found on Min’s laptop to a cyber cafe and an IP address leading to Gi-chul’s hideout, where he was found dead. After collecting data, Joo-hyun discovers the video was sent a month before Gi-chul’s news-worthy release from prison.
Why does Seok-joo agree to speak with Joo-hyun?
Hyun discovers that while Gi-chul was in prison he was beaten up by fellow inmates and moved to solitary confinement, so she goes to speak to some of the prison’s other residents – including Seok-joo, who is only willing to speak to her after she asks who’s familiar with the “devils deemed innocent” phrase which links him to The Killing Vote.
Seok-joo is predictably vague but advises Joo-hyun to look for the next victim instead of the killer, which is good advice since the clock is ticking and the vote remains a very hot topic of discussion – with a fair number of supporters who seem to agree with the particular brand of justice.
Who is the next victim?
The next victim of Gaetal, which is what everyone has taken to calling the killer now, is Uhm Eun-gyeong, a woman using children to commit insurance fraud by pushing them in front of oncoming cars. According to Gaetal, she has gotten away with this three times.
Joo-hyun, who has been collecting data on potential victims subsequent to Seok-joo’s advice, sends the woman’s address over Mu-chan after she’s kidnapped by Gaetal.
The team doesn’t find her in the house, but they do find her in a car, strapped to an explosive device. Through a Bluetooth earpiece, Gaetal is listening in.
Mu-chan instructs Joo-hyun to find a safe, empty place to relocate the vehicle so that if the bomb detonates nobody else will be hurt. He moves the car to the schoolyard at Joo-hyun’s sister’s school, which is evacuated with help from Joo-hyun.
The Killing Vote Season 1 Episode 2 Ending Explained
After the school is evacuated, Mu-chan, still in the car with Eun-gyeong, tells Gaetal over the earpiece that he won’t be leaving the vehicle.
Mu-chan’s logic is that Gaetal is trying to prove a point about justice. Mu-chan is a policeman, not a criminal, so if he is caught in the crossfire, Gaetal will lose public favor. That’s the idea, anyway, though one supposes his extracurricular vigilantism makes the stance a bit questionable. Nevertheless, he’s resolute.
But so too, it seems, is Gaetal. As Joo-hyun runs toward the car, it explodes and the episode comes to an end.
You can stream the K-Drama The Killing Vote Season 1 Episode 2 exclusively on Prime Video.
