[Drama 2020] Forest of Secrets Season 2, 비밀의 숲 2

[chickfactor]

Wow. Every week feels soooo intense, but they manage to ramp up the tension each week! Amazing. My heart was really pumping this weekend.

 

Few random thoughts:

 

DONG-JAE IS ALIVE!!!!  He probably won't be restored to full weasel shape this season, but may he slick his hair back and weasel again in Season 3! (please?)

 

(His wife crying broke my heart. )

 

It was rather hilarious how Choi Bit and Woo Tae-Ha cower in front of pretty, delicate Yeon-Jae like she's a gangster boss. I mean, it's sad to see high-ranking officials of the police and prosecution on their knees in front of the indefatigable Chaebol power. But still, you have to laugh to keep from crying.

 

Woo Tae-Ha's flop sweat when they found Dong-Jae alive was quite a sight.

 

Hurray for Shi-Mok and Yeo-Jin. These two should not get married and set up their own law-firm-private-detective agency. (although that would be awesome, too) These two should rule the world.

 

Now that Dong-Jae has been found... there's nothing left for the final week... oh, except a LOT of institutional corruption to uncover. HAHA.

 

Oh, and it looks like the Tongyeong case was perhaps closed early not because of Oh Joo-Seon but because Hu-Jeong's father turned out to be a very influential former prosecutor. Innnnteresting.  After all, Oh Joo-Seon, despite being a former judge, is pretty bad at his job.

[ilovenico]

Now that it’s coming to an end, I find myself wishing for more of CSW dramas as well as more from the same writer! Anyone knows if season 3 is in the cards? 
 

While I am enjoying the drama very much, I can’t help but feel there were just too many red herrings! Now that we know who orchestrated the drowning case, I am kinda disappointed the obnoxious Chaebol couple won’t be indicted for any nefarious part! And the cop’s suicide  ‘Cheapened’ his death when otherwise he was the best of them all- willing to stand up for injustice. What about Yoon Se Ah’s mentally afflicted father and brother? And that newspaper guy(Like this actor a lot too and can’t believe it’s just a cameo role)  How are they going to tie everything up in just two episodes? Feel that writer was really stringing us along and leading us to too many dead ends.  But it also shows how CLEVER she is at spinning a story and throwing so many curve balls and tying them all together without batting an eyelid. 
 

This is how I feel : 

 

As for KSH, who may seem the biggest culprit right now, esp when he also is linked to Lee Chang Jun, I feel that there is just not enough airtime given to him to beef him with any depth of conniving. At least in Stranger 1, there were so many scenes of LCJ that the final unveil was very convincing.  
 

But I do appreciate the theme of bullying. I can imagine how stressful it can be if u r at the end of incessant harassment. Recently, there have been many similar cases of this in our local papers and one ended in an accidental killing of the man who harassed that family for many  years.  Even after various police reports, it didn’t stop the man away from the family and that led to a final confrontation. It’s such a tragedy.  The man turned out to be mental.  But in Stranger 2, it was deliberate bullying.  
 

I still like the actors who plays WTH and KWC alot so I hope they won’t be the ultimate baddie.  I would love to see them again in season 3.  

[bedifferent]

Review of episodes 13-14 over at Dramas Over Flowers  

 

https://dramasoverflowers.net/2020/09/27/stranger-2-episodes-13-14/

 

[Naver TV] 'Stranger' Season 2 - Episode 14 Comments and Reaction

[Shocking Twist] Fake witness, caught in Cho Seungwoo's trap!! 

 

1. [+469][0] Wow... Hwang Simok's detective skills are insane... he purposely pretended that he was a prosecutor who didn't care about the truth, as long as he didn't lose anything.... 

2. [+460][-1] The scene asking if they'd phoned, seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ insane, it means it's the same office 

3. [+431][-1] Hey, it's not a show, it's a musical 

4. [+356][0] Wow... asking if they really had to do it over the phone... this shows that it's not the Central Branch but the Supreme Prosecutor's office in one hit.... he either accidentally spilled or thought Hwang Simok was a prosecutor on his side. Anyways... it's clear that Simok's interrogation skills are insane,,,

5. [+270][0] Simok threw in the bait and the witness caught onto the bait...  

 

Spoiler

(Warning: Forcefulness) Cho Seungwoo searching through the clothes recycling bin to find the crucial evidence 

1. [+515][-1] Even if his hand is bleeding... his sincere hope to find Dongjae is so touching to the point I can feel it... 

2. [+475][0] Is the teacher insane for making the student who was bullied stick around the bully for a year to make them 'friends'? That was the problem

3. [+466][-2] An admirable but also heart touching scene,, His desperation to not lose another person, especially he's already lost someone special to him,,, ㅠㅠ

4. [+327][-1] Simok is angry, please carry on being angry 

5. [+285][0] Today's episode was full of separation.... ㅠㅠ At least they found him alive but if he wasn't (shudder) 

After an intense all-night search, found in a forest unconscious... was Lee Joonhyuk

 

1. [+392][-2] Seo Dongjae is alive ㅠㅠㅠ sorry for suspecting the Mrs ㅜㅜ your husband is alive ㅠㅜ

2. [+329][-1] The actress playing the wife is so good at acting,,, I too felt emotional when she stopped the kids from seeing 

3. [+259][-1] Please keep our Dongjae alive..... He needs to live so in season 3 he can say "who do you think I am... I'm the guy who came back from the brink of death... you are seriously underestimating me...." 

4. [+233][0] Dongjae-yaaaaaarg ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Uuuuhgng ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ please keep him alive ㅠㅠ Our Dongjae needs to carry on living, honouring Changjoon's will 

5. [+216][-1] I think the reason why Hwang Simok started experiencing serious tinnitus and his emotions were more visible after Seo Dongjae went missing was because he was desperate not to lose Seo Dongjae 

 

Source

This is the screenshot of the hooded man's erased msg while watching SDJ's wife imploring the public to report info on her missing hsb.  I have doubts if KSH worked alone to kidnap Dong Jae.  I'm wondering if this is KSH trying to turn in the other person who was involved in the kidnapping.  People like you means people like SDJ - a prosecutor - who has no conscience. KSH wanted to send the tips to the police.

 

 

[pompyavi]

11 minutes ago, ilovenico said:

Now that it’s coming to an end, I find myself wishing for more of CSW dramas as well as more from the same writer! Anyone knows if season 3 is in the cards? 

As of now no. But Stranger 2 production team has officially made a fanclub called secret forester. Lee Soo Yeon, the screenwriter has moved to Ace Factory (the same agency for LYJ, SDJ, KHJ, LYH and possibly HYJ) from studio dragon. Even Korean people are asking for S3 now. I personally want another season to see how far can Shimok go without being compromised. He has pissed many people till now and in real life you could be dead because of that. I wish for a S3 to know what's the conclusion for ShiMok's character. 

[mtracy07]

I still want an answer from Ep1 of S1 where Si-mok’s mother told him that they should kill themselves. 
 

I’m still wondering what happened during HSM’s childhood. What happened that a part of his brain responsible for emotions must be removed. 

[pompyavi]

1 minute ago, mtracy07 said:

I’m still wondering what happened during HSM’s childhood. What happened that a part of his brain responsible for emotions must be removed. 

All they revealed is he was sensitive to sound. A little sound used to hurt his ears and because of that he used to hurt people. For example his classmate kim jong bun was playing a piano and that caused his ears to pain so he slammed the piano cover on his fingers. Seeing those violent tendencies within him, they might have gone to doctor and then came to know about his situation which led to his partial lobotomy 

[nrllee]

9 hours ago, bedifferent said:

Random thought:  What if KSH actually uses the false witness and bloody tie photo to stir up a bee's nest with the intention of exposing the corruption by the prosecution?  He was shown suspicious of WTH in the beginning?  What if his goal is to force a move by all the guilty parties?

 

What if he is like LCJ, his roommate? 

I like this thought.  We know he empathized with LCJ.

 

KSH missed out on getting into the National Assembly.  He still hangs around there daily (has lunch).  To build connections?  He has links high up.  Is this why he doesn’t seem to be as jumpy as WTH (not just because of the PGS case) about whether they win or lose in the Council?   He probably has a back up plan?

 

Spoiler

 

WTH has been head of the Criminal Legislative Division for a while?  If it dissolves, where will he go?  He doesn’t have the links like KSH does in the National Assembly?  It was only ever meant to be temporary in nature?

 

Spoiler

 

Was the Female Junior Prosecutor close to DJ?  YJ seemed to doubt SM when he said he thought they were close?   In that elevator conversation flashback with DJ, DJ revealed that he was investigated by a junior prosecutor before (I assume he meant EunSoo)?  And JMH revealed that she was told by a friend that she would learn nothing from DJ (when she was assigned to him)?  So she wouldn’t be particularly chummy with DJ?  What was she doing having lunch with him that day though?  If she was that chummy with DJ, wouldn’t she be more concerned about his whereabouts?  Who is the veteran prosecutor that she shared the information about linking TongYeong and the bullying case with?  Before she brought it up with SM?

 

EDIT - @ilovenico this writer doesn’t paint rosy endings.  That’s what I’ve discovered anyway.  She paints realistic ones.  So the SeGok Police case may well just end with Capt Baek wishing he acted differently.  And Song would not get his justice from the bullying.  And the rich couple get away scot free.  It’s not fair and it’s frustrating from a viewer’s standpoint.  But that’s what we see in the world at large.  It’s not fair.  And it’s frustrating when we see injustices perpetuated and no retribution forthcoming.  And with time, many end up just bitter and resigned.  Is the fight worth it even if we don’t get the results we desire?  Or is the fight worthwhile just because it’s the right thing to do?  I think the writer is saying the latter.

[ilovenico]

Another thing nagging me : how in the world did the boy knocked Seo out in the first place??!!  Is that plausible? Seo is so much taller! 

[pompyavi]

My replay button is stuck in these scenes:

 

 

 

 

edit:  it was just a small scene but i really can't get it out of my head. the little little ways they show just how deep corruption runs in the prosecution is brilliant. oh an ex-prosecutor is using his connections to let the culprit run free? no problem, we'll just use our own connections to make sure we secure the culprit. i love that in this scene it's corruption used for the 'moral right', but just think what would have happened if he was actually innocent? they would have framed a college kid, ruined his entire future, just because they were sure he was the culprit.

[larus]

 

5 hours ago, bedifferent said:

We have normal people committing crimes that are just as hideous; people who needed help and interventions yet unable to or was not recognized by authorities and families until they could no longer stop themselves from making things worse. 

 I loved your whole commnet. That`s why i love this drama and this writer`s style. We don`t need a villain who makes all sort of bad thing just to keep the audience hooked, to hate him and want to see his demise. And we know how unrealistic and uninteresting that is. The are genre that rely on this kind of characters.

 

Real life is more tragic sometimes. It said that reality/life always beats fiction. Watching the people who did something wrong/ illegal is much more interesting and engaging than any piece of fiction. It is tragic. Sgt Song posible ending his life, being bullied at work, not able to find help in the organization, Kim Hu Jeong who resort of murder to get out from a circle of abuse, even Choi Bit or Woo Tae Ha who are good professionally but did not do everything by the book. Even a good man can fall into temptation or make a wrong decision who will changed his life. It can happen to all of us. It is all about choices and responsability. It is good when we can draw a line where to stop but it is so easy to not be able to stop even knowing we take the wrong path. It is human nature.

 

When Kang Won Cheol left left the meeting with Oh Joo Sun I cheer for him to not change his mind. He called eventually. The temptation was huge. But when Shi Mok asked about it, he recognized it , but we could see that he was ashamed. It is not late for him. I also liked that he called Shi Mok to ask about Dong Jae.

 

[pompyavi]

8 minutes ago, larus said:

Even a good man can fall into temptation or make a wrong decision who will changed his life. It can happen to all of us. It is all about choices and responsability. It is good when we can draw a line where to stop but it is so easy to not be able to stop even knowing we take the wrong path. It is human nature.

I may be in the minority here. But now I feel the importance of the first 6 episodes. In that rooftop scene, SM telling HYJ how he drove past knowing that something was wrong. How they need to draw the restriction line. CB visiting the victim's parents only for publicity. Being a IB chief, all she cared was for to defame the prosecution. She couldn't even think rationally that how could the kid have got an expensive shoe when he did not had a job.

And even yesterday when the search was going on she came in full uniform. 

[exolxin]

@farawayland I agree.  I also think it's about what are our morals and ethics.  What is our sense of justice, and how do we go about it.  What do we consider right or wrong, and do we care?  All of this is shaped by how we were raised, and our experiences.  And personality, which I think is ~30% biology, ~70% environment (more or so).  It's ambiguous, and it varies from person to person.  For example, LCJ's and DJ's sense of justice is to make people pay for what they did, but he went about it in corrupt ways.  While SM's sense of justice is to make people pay for their wrongdoings, but he does it in an upright way.  They want the same thing, yet they go about it in different ways.  That's shaped about how ethical they are, and what their moral compass is.  Season 2 is about the questions that, in the end, WE have to answer.  It's questioning us, and what we stand by, even when we're lost in a forest of secrets (get what I did there?  I'll see myself out ).

[Sleepy Owl]

First things first, I am glad to see SDJ alive. Even though I had voted for him to be dead, I really hoped he would not be. So I think everyone was relieved to see him alive. Also to good to see both Police force and Prosecution trying their best to get the arrest warrant issued after KHJ's dad pulled some serious strings for his son. I don't really remember whether I had chosen KHJ as the one who kidnapped SDJ or the Segok Police Officers, I think it was the later, but I was still somewhat suspicious of him, like many of us were.

 

Someone had theorized thinking that kidnapping is done by a different person, while those evidence, witness and note were sent by a different person. Kudos to that person, her/his theory was totally right. Although we knew it about the witness. Now the question is who sent him? The top suspect for it is KSH. But Why? Did he really want to use that opportunity in winning the investigative rights fight with Police. Being an experienced prosecutor, I think he knew that even with all those evidence and witness it would be tough to prove an officer was culprit as long as they don't find SDJ. So why? Did he want to temporarily tarnish Police image? Or did he want to use that to get Sergent Song's death case solved? which also not really seems so. KSH is like the future version of SDJ. So pulling this reckless move seems like has got something more to it, he is trying to achieve something else using this and not just tarnish Police image just to get investigative rights, and we all know he was LCJ's room mate back in his younger days. 

 

Really loved how SM was keeping his cool all the time only to suddenly lose it in front of KHJ. He literally started shivering in fear and remorse after that. Well I was suspicious of SDJ's wife most of the time and also JMH, but well I guess I was wrong here too. I found it really touching how SM still remembers Eun Soo, and thinks about her when he sees JMH. As for SDJ's wife, the part where she was crying while watching TV and also telling her mom on phone to not let her son watch the TV. Anyway, so for now SDJ is alive, might not fully recover, but still better than being dead. Things will get clearer when he'll wake up. 

 

I do think there is an accomplice involved, I guess some are suspecting Jang Gun to be the one, well even I noticed his rather suspicious behavior in last episode and also the bruise on his face which I don't think was shown when it happened. I would be really sad if he actually is the accomplice. But surely we must be having an accomplice as even SM had theorized that it would be very tough to overpower SDJ alone, and given KHJ's physique it would be tougher for him to overpower SDJ. Chances are he could have hit him back of the head, which actually seems to be the case, but still we'll have to see. 

 

Now that SDJ's case has been somewhat solved, we'll be seeing SM and YJ solving the PGS's case. Which as shown in the preview will not really be well received by Choi Bit and WTH. 2 more episodes left, let us see what we'll be seeing and how the drama will end. So far so good for me. 

 

1 hour ago, pompyavi said:

As of now no. But Stranger 2 production team has officially made a fanclub called secret forester. Lee Soo Yeon, the screenwriter has moved to Ace Factory (the same agency for LYJ, SDJ, KHJ, LYH and possibly HYJ) from studio dragon. Even Korean people are asking for S3 now. I personally want another season to see how far can Shimok go without being compromised. He has pissed many people till now and in real life you could be dead because of that. I wish for a S3 to know what's the conclusion for ShiMok's character. 

 

Well you see SM could very well be dead in the series because of his works. But he sort of gained public popularity in Season 1, which made his death much more difficult. You see harming a prosecutor in spotlight is the riskiest move anyone can make. More than that, he usually goes by the book, so not many from prosecution can also find problems in his investigations I guess. 

 

He is also not annoying like SDJ, which would compel a person to hit him on the head, and dispose his body in the mountains .

[larus]

6 minutes ago, pompyavi said:

I may be in the minority here. But now I feel the importance of the first 6 episodes. In that rooftop scene, SM telling HYJ how he drove past knowing that something was wrong. How they need to draw the restriction line. CB visiting the victim's parents only for publicity. Being a IB chief, all she cared was for to defame the prosecution. She couldn't even think rationally that how could the kid have got an expensive shoe when he did not had a job.

And even yesterday when the search was going on she came in full uniform. 

 

I know that Shi Mok saw the yellow tape and thought something is wrong. He is very observant and perhaps he should have listen to his instinct. Just like Yeo Jin or Choi Bit finding the story about shoes but ignore it because it did not seems to be important. All that happens. They are not perfect.  But they acknowledged what they did wrong and want to do the right now and posible to do the right thing next time. We do mistakes. Sometimes we cary on with our own problems and ignore others in need. People nature doesn`t chance easily. This problem will be always on this Earth. It is good that this show will remind us to be more carefully with what happends around us and not only on ourselves. It is good that this show can make people think about their own faults/the organization`s flaws and how they can change for the better, to take a stand when you see an injustice, to stop and take responsability if you did something wrong, don't perpetuate in the same mistake, so on.

 

 

[Sleepy Owl]

26 minutes ago, larus said:

 

I know that Shi Mok saw the yellow tape and thought something is wrong. He is very observant and perhaps he should have listen to his instinct. Just like Yeo Jin or Choi Bit finding the story about shoes but ignore it because it did not seems to be important. All that happens. They are not perfect.  But they acknowledged what they did wrong and want to do the right now and posible to do the right thing next time. We do mistakes. Sometimes we cary on with our own problems and ignore others in need. People nature doesn`t chance easily. This problem will be always on this Earth. It is good that this show will remind us to be more carefully with what happends around us and not only on ourselves. It is good that this show can make people think about their own faults/the organization`s flaws and how they can change for the better, to take a stand when you see an injustice, to stop and take responsability if you did something wrong, don't perpetuate in the same mistake, so on.

 

 

You see, everyone is in it, in my opinion. Like well SM should have followed his instinct, he did inform about the barrier being broken, but didn't really go to beach himself even he had feeling something was wrong. Fine, same goes with Choi Bit and YJ, who missed the smallest of the details I guess. 

 

But it shows how much connections work in Prosecution. Kang Won Cheol had signed the paper himself, which was thought to be influenced by Oh Ju Sun the lawyer of the suspect. But as someone else has also pointed, it could well be the influence of KHJ's dad. What is important here is, what if they had really investigated the case properly and not just close it. What if they had brought in the survivor as the testifier, seen the bruise marks on his hands, find some inconsistencies in his statements, check his relationship with the victims and come to certain conclusions, because of which the current situation would totally be different. 

 

And well, as Kang Won Cheol had said, even if he would not sign it then, it would be signed in 3 months (I don't exactly remember which document it was, which SM had requested and it was passed). I think it was the case review which SM had requested. If he would have taken 3 months to sign it, maybe they could also find some more evidences for it. But it was done in 1 day and case was closed completely. This shows how much easy it is to use the sources. Either Oh Ju Seon who was a former judge or KHJ's dad who was a former prosecutor could have use their connections to convince KWC that waiting for 3 months would not change things and he would have signed it in one day thinking it was not much important and as he had said, cutting the line could not be directly related to the murder. This actually is a problem with prosecution and judiciary I guess, almost same thing happened in SDJ's case. 

[mtracy07]

Random thought:

 

If we were in the protagonists’ positions, will we even take the same route as them? If we were in their shoes, can we cope with the stress of looking for our colleague and at the same time the killer? Looking how hesitant the kidnapper was before admitting his crime, can we even think properly given that we are losing time trying to find the body of our colleague, not knowing whether he is still alive or dead? If we were in their shoes, can we really follow our moral ethics or just take what is being thrown at us (KWC and Hanjo Eng’g accounting fraud)? Can we really survive the kind of environment they were in (corruption w/in the organization & connections to giant entities e.g. Hanjo group)?

[larus]

5 minutes ago, Sleepy Owl said:

But this shows how much easy it is to use the sources. Either Oh Ju Seon who was a former judge or KHJ's dad who was a former prosecutor could have use their connections to convince KWC that waiting for 3 months would not change things and he would have signed it in one day thinking it was not much important and as he had said, cutting the line could not be directly related to the murder. This actually is a problem with prosecution and judiciary I guess, almost same thing happened in SDJ's case. 

 

Of course, if they would have been more time to investigate perhaps they could find evidence for a foul play. Not only the police but the prosecutors treated it as a trivial case. They did not find a big deal that someone was convinced to end it so quickly because they thought it would have got the same results.

What is is disturbing and frustrated is how conections are working to solve an outside interest. Woo Tae Ha was called by a higher up because Kim Hu-Jeong `s father had powerful connections.  Kim Sa-Hyun had to call a higher connection to stop the abuse of power. And they were lucky because that person (an assemply man) was a senior of that minister. Meanwhile, a mere prosecutor is demoted for speaking up against an injustice, because she could not do what she was asking for.

And how @chickfactor mentioned already it is disturbing to see the high-ranking officials (prosecutors or police officers)  has to kneel down in front of chaebols with more power than they bosses.

 

[pompyavi]

7 minutes ago, larus said:

Meanwhile, a mere prosecutor is demoted for speaking up against an injustice, because she could not do what she was asking for.

Yes rightly said. It's all about the details they have put in this drama. And the fact that now HYJ and HSM would uncover the secrets behind PGS's case which would reveal more dirty deeds. The impact is so huge that Woo had to threaten possibly HYJ that he would destroy her. This reminded me again of Song ki Hyeon - "The higher up can't do anything against the powerful people but they can't stand when someone tries to bring those out". And SM would again be demoted or worse be terminated.

[Sleepy Owl]

32 minutes ago, mtracy07 said:

Random thought:

 

If we were in the protagonists’ positions, will we even take the same route as them? If we were in their shoes, can we cope with the stress of looking for our colleague and at the same time the killer? Looking how hesitant the kidnapper was before admitting his crime, can we even think properly given that we are losing time trying to find the body of our colleague, not knowing whether he is still alive or dead? If we were in their shoes, can we really follow our moral ethics or just take what is being thrown at us (KWC and Hanjo Eng’g accounting fraud)? Can we really survive the kind of environment they were in (corruption w/in the organization & connections to giant entities e.g. Hanjo group)?

You see, anyone except SM would go crazy if they were in his shoes. We know that SM also experiences stress, but he usually never feels it, not does he expresses it. The fact that he was cool about this case is what made him solve it. We see YJ and whole squad of police completely worried about the things happening, while SM thinking hard. If he was normal, not have that condition, chances are he would also not think properly in those circumstances. We see KSH a bit shocked about SM being so cool about it. And the fact that he lost his cool on the culprit and screamed at him shows how much he was frustrated with the whole process and his silence. 

 

As for Hanjo's accounting fraud, well it was a very tempting offer. KWC knew that it was a bait, and thus was reluctant, but his assistant was the one who also encouraged him in taking it, either one of the brother-sister would eventually end up leading the company. I really found it good that SM gave him some reality checks and he did feel he was wrong. So hopefully we'll see him correct himself before it is too late. But then again, as you said, we can face similar situations in future and it really takes some effort to stay on the right path as SM has done so far. 

 

But then again, as said in The Witcher, "Lesser, greater, middling... makes no difference. ... If I'm to choose between one evil and another, I'd rather not choose at all". But how many of us can follow this is the real question. 

[pompyavi]

This thread has forced me to think what if the police side has something to do with this fake witness. CB also warned YJ that she should be ready to grab him if things go wrong for them. And then YJ complimented her that she has a plan for everything. Right now all the evidence and points leading to either Sa hyun or Woo could be a red herring.