Crash – K-Drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Yeon-ho Joins The Team

Episode 2 of Crash begins with Hok-yu attacking Seok-tae. But Yeon-ho drives his cycle in between and takes the hit. While he’s recovering from the fall, Yeon-ho suddenly sees a woman’s corpse surrounded by hustling policemen. Hok-yu slaps him out of the dream. As Hok-yu is attacking him, So-hee and her colleague arrive and take him down.

Later, So-hee questions Hok-yu but he doesn’t admit anything. Alone with her colleagues, So-hee says that Yeon-ho informed her about Hok-yu’s whereabouts. Yeonho enters the room and they discuss how they’ll have to let Hok-yu go in 48 hours if they can’t find proof.

Back at work, Yeon-ho’s boss tells him to wrap up Hok-yu’s case quietly. So-hee and her colleague visit the man Hok-yu sold the car to. The man tells them that Hok-yu borrowed his phone for a call but deleted the number. Later, So-hee gets a call telling her that the police chief — Chief Gu — has called Chae-man for the case mishap. At the police station, Chae-man offers to resign if they don’t find proof against Hok-yu. He manages to convince Chief Gu anyway.

Meanwhile, So-hee and her team continue to tail Hok-yu. He went to a gas station and they suspect it was for more than just gas. At the station, the staff woman tells them Hok-yu borrowed her phone to make a call.

Back at the police station, they listen to Hok-yu’s phone call with the insurance company and figure that he has an accomplice. Yeon-ho calls So-hee and tells her that his boss, Park Hyun-jung, could be in on Hok-yu’s case.

Yeon-ho then meets one of the victim’s family members named Song Ji-man. He tells the man that he and Hok-yu had actually crossed paths before in a car accident. Yeon-ho accuses Ji-man of having his mother killed for the insurance benefit and for paying Park Hyun-jung off. Ji-man’s behaviour makes it clear that he’s Hok-yu’s accomplice.

Meanwhile, So-hee and her team track the mysterious phone number to Song Ji-man as well. They rush to the man’s workplace, where Ji-man admits he needs the money to open his own business. When Yeon-ho insists on reporting him, Ji-man gets ready to set Yeon-ho and the entire shop on fire. They fight and Ji-man ends up setting himself on fire. So-hee and the others arrive in time to save him.

Afterwards, Yeon-ho gives So-hee a pen that records Ji-man’s confession. At the hospital, Ji-man realises he’s in trouble. Thanks to Ji-man’s confession, they even get a warrant for Hok-yu and Park Hyun-jung.

Later, Chief Gu visits the team and tells them to do things better next time. Elsewhere, Yeon-ho visits the resting place of a woman named Lee Hyun-soo. An old man sits next to him after some time and they discuss how it’s been ten years since Hyun-soo passed. Yeon-ho says he’s changing careers and is going to enrol into the profession the man used to be in.

After this, there is a one-year time skip. So-hee and her team visit their usual restaurant where they see Yeon-ho eating. Chae-man arrives and announces that Yeon-ho is their new team member. So-hee’s colleagues are impressed by his graduation from KAIST. So-hee herself seems annoyed about it but Chae-man thinks he’s promising.

Not much later, Yeon-ho gets into a small scrape with Chief Gu. The latter insists it’s not his fault but Yeon-ho makes sure he knows it is. Apparently, the Chief’s revenge has the team working on random alcohol checks on the highway. Suddenly, they’re called in for a car accident nearby. The car has rammed into the side of a tunnel and the driver insists he saw a ghost.

Meanwhile, Chief Gu learns that Cha Yeon-ho is the son of Cha Gyu-min, the Director of Investigation who will be up for the position of commissioner general soon. Chief Gu’s friend convinces him to treat Yeon-ho well. Elsewhere, Yeon-ho tells the team that he thinks the Chief and other executives’ parking spots should be changed because they are obstructing spots for civilian petitioners.

The Chief then takes the team out for a meal. They have a few drinks and Chief Gu brings up an incident from the past, when Chae-man had given Gu’s son a DUI. Now, the chief tells Chae-man that he did the right thing. He tries to bond with Yeon-ho but it doesn’t work.

After the dinner, So-hee, Yeon-ho and another colleague head back in a car. As they enter a tunnel, a person in white suddenly comes out and the car swerves. They manage to stop without getting hurt though. They realise it’s Kanghee Junction, the same spot the car from earlier had crashed in.

An epilogue shows Yeon-ho walking away from the old man at Hyun-soo’s resting place. When he leaves, Chae-man meets the old man. The man tells Chae-man that Yeon-ho wants to become a policeman and tells Chae-man not to have any bias against him at the end of Crash Episode 2.

The Episode Review

Episode 2 of Crash is suitably interesting. It’s fast-paced and keeps one engaged throughout. It is pretty satisfying to watch this team work together and successfully solve the insurance fraud case, with the sinister Hok-yu finally going behind bars. The case is wrapped up quite well even with an intriguing twist of an accomplice at the end.

Once again, I appreciate that the show kicked off with something as attention-grabbing as a serial killer case and then used that to set up the introduction for the show. By the end of the case, we know who these people are, their roles, their dynamics and even how Yeon-ho joined them. And all without the need for long, rambling expositions where it is all tell and no show.

The second half of the episode has also set up a new case with the extremely curious case of a ghost causing cars to swerve and crash. The vast difference this has from the previous case is promising for the drama and its ability to offer up a variety of cases.

On the other hand, there seems to be a larger story going on about Yeon-ho, the dead woman named Hyun-soo and even some prior connection with Chae-man. The existing premise of Crash seems exciting enough so I’m hoping they don’t go overboard with the long-term storyline.