Skeleton Identified

Episode 13 of Why Her starts with Baek Jin-ki on his knees as he begs Oh Soo-jae to help him seek revenge from Choi Tae-kook for what happened with his daughter. He states that he had been involved in a scandal five years before the incident and Tae-kook had helped him come out of it by saving his reputation which is why he was obligated toward the law firm owner.  Soo-jae leaves mocking the University Chairman that he was on his knees again declining from helping him and Yoon Se-pil and blaming them for ruining Kim Dong-go’s (Gong Chan’s) life. The lawyer then goes back to the scene of the incident and recounts Jin-kids story about what went down during the night of the incident.  She envisions the three young men, Choi Joo-wan, Han Dong-o, and Lee Si-hyuk getting a hold of Jeon Na-jung. Soo-jae wonders how she fell for someone like Joo-wan when she was pregnant with his child years ago. On her way back home, Choi Yoon-sang calls Soo-jae while he is having a conversation with Gong Chan.  Yoon-sang lets Chan know that Soo-jae had abandoned him years ago because she wanted to save her family which eventually had him serve time in jail despite being innocent. Shockingly, Chan claims that Soo-jae was not wrong for putting her family first and states that she still is the only person that had faith in him.  Soo-jae is overwhelmed by Chan’s trust in her and sobs as she looks at the board in front of her with Chan’s words about her – ‘Oh Soo-jae, The one who trusted me till the end.’ Yoon-sang tells Chan that Soo-jae was hearing their conversation and leaves him on the rooftop.  Back at their house, Chan’s friends try to blame Soo-jae for abandoning him when the restaurant owner states that the lawyer’s witnesses were discredited to make her helpless and forfeit the case to no fault of her own. Meanwhile, Jun-hee visits Soo-jae and the friends talk about Soo-jae betraying Gong Chan (who was Kim Dong-goo then).  Soo-jae states how embarrassed she is of what she did. Chan and his friends are having a drink as they berate Soo-jae for what she did to their friend in the past. However, Chan gets frustrated and continues to defend Soo-jae in front of Hyung-chil and Jo-gab. Leaving Soo-jae’s house, Jun-hee asks her to let go of her regrets of betraying Chan and move on.  The next day, Mr. Ko makes a reappearance and tells Soo-jae that Ha Il-ku has been following Soo-jae’s movements. Soo-jae finds Chan standing below his building and calls him inside to stop him from causing chaos. The lawyer states that she was guilty of betraying him in the past but Chan reassures her that it was okay and confirms that he is aware who the real culprits of Na-jung’s murder are.  Chan asks Soo-jae to catch them with him but she asks him to leave her alone. The student finds a piece of paper and turns Soo-jae’s board around to find that she was adding more notes to his own. Soo-jae tries to stop him from seeing it all but he asks her about Kang Eun-seo. The lawyer explains what the three men had done to Eun-seo and how they did the same thing with Na-jung. She apologizes to Chan and the student hugs her.  After leaving her house, Chan calls Baek Jin-ki asking the Law School Director for a favor. Soo-jae and Yoon Se-pil meet up when the latter offers some documents to Soo-jae. He asks her if Soo-jae was on the same team as him and Jin-ki but Soo-jae states that their goal was the same but they would never be on the same team.  Song Mi-rim is shocked to learn about the real culprits of Na-jung’s death. At Seojung University, Baek Jin-ki has organized a mock trial with a case very similar to Gong Chan’s (Kim Dong-goo’s) case. Chan and Kang-ja play the prosecutors while Choi Yoon-sang is the defendant with Se-ryun as his lawyer.  The argument states that Yoon-sang wrongfully accused the victim and jailed him for a crime he did not commit just because his fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. The said murder weapon has a third set of fingerprints that is left unanalyzed much like the Jeon Na-jung murder case. Tae-kook is invited by Jin-ki as the special guest so the mock judges insist that he should be the main judge of the mock trial.  As the case begins to unfurl, Chan is directing the argument that the third set of fingerprints must have been analyzed. Yoon-sang and his lawyer, Se-ryun argue that even if the true culprit was later caught since the victim had already confessed to the crime and his fingerprints were found on the knife, he was rightfully convicted at the time.  Tae-kook agrees with the argument and rules the case in favor of the defendant, in this case against Chan. After the mock trial ends, Chan stops Tae-kook’s car and questions him about the Na-jung murder case. Chan tells the law firm owner that he should watch his back as Il-ku drives him away. Jin-ki is clearing up his office when Yoon-sang comes to meet him asking him why he set such a case up for the mock trial.  The Director tells Yoon-sang that he was a lot like his father and hands him the same photograph from the night of Na-jung’s death. Jin-ki explains that the picture has the answer to the questions he was looking for. The legal clinic members are having a conversation about the mock trial verdict when Mi-rim invites them to Soo-jae’s new building.  The team learns that their next case will be the Jeon Na-jung murder case as they plan to have Joo-wan, Dong-o, and Si-hyuk arrested for the murder of Chan’s step-sister. At the TK Law Firm, Tae-kook asks Joo-wan about the ongoing proceedings of the Hansu Bio sell-off. Joo-wan asks his father about the American buyer that purchased the house where the incident took place but Tae-kook shuts him down.  Il-ku barges into the cabin and turns on the news that is reporting the identification of the skeleton being Jeon Na-jung. Joo-wan loses his calm and raises his voice at Il-ku but Tae-kook yells at Joo-wan making him leave the office. Mi-rim and Soon-ok – Chan’s step-mother are on their way to pay bid a final farewell to Na-jung’s skeleton.  As the funeral of Na-jung takes place, the Legal Clinic members comment on the online posts about the skeleton and try to bring up Chan’s name. A flashback shows Soo-jae asking them to make Chan’s identity public in order to protect him from being killed by Tae-kook’s men. Soon-ok breaks down when she greets the skeleton of Na-jung as she envisions that her daughter has finally returned to her.  Chan looks at his stepmother and step-sister reunite from afar and breaks down into tears. Tae-kook is on a call with the police chief and directs him to make a public statement about No Byung-chul’s suicide. A new news report alleges that Chairman Han and Assemblyman Lee were involved in corrupt practices which negatively reflects the public opinion about them.  The report was made by a journalist who received a tip from Soo-jae. Soo-jae meets up with Jin-ki and Se-pil who worry that Tae-kook will catch on to her plan but the lawyer calls him a coward. She states that now that Tae-kook has learned that Chan is Dong-goo, they will need to work fast in order to protect him from danger.  Mi-rim calls Soo-jae who is driving to TK Law Firm and informs her about the funeral for Na-jung and states how he watched the service from afar. Chan is at the Na-jung’s tombstone and bids his step-sister a final tearful farewell apologizing to her for not being there sooner. He then visits Soon-ok with something to eat and she thanks Chan.  She apologizes to him and asks Chan to stop berating himself and live on with his life. She asks him to stop visiting her now that Na-jung had returned home leaving Chan in a sobbing mess. As Soo-jae arrives to TK Law Firm, she visits Tae-kook in his cabin. She lets him know that there was a second girl – Kang Eun-seo during the incident that night. Soo-jae tells him that Joo-wan and his friends raped her and eventually murdered Na-jung who witnessed Eun-seo meeting with an accident. Tae-kook admonishes Soo-jae saying she would never be able to catch the men, especially Joo-wan because Joo-wan was the father of Soo-jae’s child. Soo-jae is confused when the law firm owner clarifies that Soo-jae had not birthed a still-born child. He states that Jae-yi was her daughter leaving her in shock with maternity test reports. 

The Episode Review

The shocking plot twist from this episode does not seem like one, as we all saw this coming from a mile away. Right from the time when Jae-yi’s adoptive mother and Joo-wan’s wife pointed out that Tae-kook had put Jae-yi in her hands asking her to raise the child as her own, fans were sure that the child was Soo-jae’s.  What comes as a shock though, is that Tae-kook is adamant that Soo-jae would not go after Joo-wan just because her daughter was alive. It seems like this is going to add to Soo-jae’s purpose and drive her to destroy Tae-kook, Joo-wan, and the rest of the evil trio.  With Na-jung’s skeleton finally being found, Soon-ok has some sort of a resolution but she will only be able to rest when the true culprits – Joo-wan and his friends are jailed. It seems Chan did not plan on winning the mock trial after all.  His goal seems to be able to gauge the mindset of Tae-kook. Knowing the flaws that Tae-kook pointed out in the mock case, Chan and the legal clinic can now strengthen their argument for the actual Na-jung trial that will happen soon.