Summary
Beyond the Bar suits its more serious tone in Episode 4, delivering more illuminating character work alongside the case of the week.
If there’s anything particular that Beyond the Bar does well, it’s navigating that incredibly wispy line between right and wrong. Determining that is the legal system in a nutshell, obviously, but it’s explored in other ways too. As was hinted at in the previous episode, one of the primary conflicts that Hyo-min and Seok-hoon both face is the battle between their individual morality and the company’s expectations. Much like how Hyo-min was hesitant about hammering a woman’s mental state to get a win in court, the issue is raised again, this time more directly, of where responsibility to a client becomes morally unconscionable.
The show works well in this more severe emotional range. It’s bringing more out of its leads, and their debates over the finer points of the cases are a real highlight. It’s also cracking a window into their respective psyches. Similarly to the debate about mothers last time out, we’re really getting a sense of the issues these people hold most dear, the lines they will and won’t cross, and their most essential values. It’s a great foundation for more to come that’ll put them even further through the wringer.
Seok-hoon, for instance, makes it a general rule not to take on child abuse cases, which is awkward since he’s handed a pretty high-profile one intimately tied to Yullim’s investment. A CEO named Choi Cheol-min has been accused by his housekeeper of abusing his daughter, In-yeong, and in the classic manner of the wealthy and powerful, he doesn’t seem especially worried about it. When you have enough clout to throw money at all your problems, even serious accusations seem like small affairs.
But Cheol-min’s housekeeper, Yeong-suk, is adamant about his guilt. She describes In-yeong’s gradual deterioration and secretive treatment at home to disguise injuries. She might not have seen Cheol-min hitting In-yeong firsthand, but she’s convinced he’s the devil. Hyo-min is swayed. Seok-hoon, however, is sceptical, and perhaps he has grounds to be, since Yeong-suk has a dodgy history of theft and fraud which Cheol-min seems to have overlooked to a certain extent in exchange for her caring for his daughter. Things aren’t so simple.
This puts Hyo-min at odds with Seok-hoon in Beyond the Bar Episode 4, but the tables quickly turn in the opposite direction, since Seok-hoon can see quite clearly that In-yeong is exhibiting all the signs of abuse and that Cheol-min is short-tempered and aggressive. This tracks with Yeong-suk’s counter-claim, which is that her criminal history is a wrong-place-wrong-time kind of deal thanks to a fraudster husband. But Cheol-min has the upper hand, legally speaking, and he smugly watches on as Yeong-suk is forced to tearfully sign a covenant prohibiting her from making any further accusations about her former employer.
It’s evident that Seok-hoon isn’t okay with this, especially given Cheol-min’s gloating. He’s essentially untouchable – or at least believes himself to be – because of his value to the company, and it isn’t immediately clear what can be done about this. It seems for a while like it’ll have to be swallowed as a consequence of professional responsibility, but Seok-hoon has other ideas. After discovering that Cheol-min had been illegally skimming money for years, Seok-hoon uses his leverage to broker a deal with Tae-seong that gets In-yeong to safety and thoroughly ruins Cheol-min. He’s destroyed personally and professionally, riddled with PTSD and anxiety, imprisoned for embezzlement, and beaten to a pulp by Seok-hoon for good measure (explaining the bloodied hand in the episode’s cold open).
All’s well that ends well, then. And, wouldn’t you know it, seeing Seok-hoon stand on business has evidently stirred something in Hyo-min, who suddenly finds herself a little flustered by him. It might have taken the first two weeks to get us anywhere close to this point, but here we are. We knew it was coming, didn’t we?
And Beyond the Bar Episode 4 ends with Seok-hoon receiving yet another reason to gravitate to Hyo-min, discovering that his ex, Yeon-a, is pregnant (remember the whole debacle about this in the previous episode?) If this guy can love a dog as much as he evidently loves Hash, I’m sure he’d be a great romantic partner. Maybe catch him outside of work hours, though.
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