Big Mouth – K-Drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

Twists, Turns, and Reveals

Episode 9 of Big Mouth jumps back into the court case going on against the three VIPs. Meanwhile, Chang-ho appears on the News Mental social media channel and begins to make predictions about the case. Mi-ho poses as a commenter and gives them updates on what’s happening in court.

Chang-ho correctly predicts the prosecution’s evidence against the VIPs, which includes the late Professor’s Seo DNA and blood that was found on their bodies. But the defendants cleverly worm their way out of it with a video taken in public of the three trying (pretending) to resuscitate Professor Seo.

As more people start watching the video, Gong Ji-hoon finds out and tells his people to track the IP address but they are unable to.

When the court takes a recess, the Mayor asks Mi-ho what’s going on. In a different room, Ji-hoon and the VIPs are seated with Prosecutor Choi. They realise Chang-ho knows all of this because they gave him the trial strategy when he was first hired as their lawyer.

Ji-hoon then gets a call from Hye-jin, who demands divorce papers in exchange for Professor Seo’s paper. Ji-hoon agrees despite Han Jae-ho’s protests. He meets Hye-jin in a café and asks her for Big Mouse’s location. She gives it up and Ji-hoon sends the police there. The two then exchange the divorce papers and data card. Meanwhile, the police find only a TV playing Chang-ho’s video at the location.

In court, as predicted by Chang-ho, the VIPs are found not guilty due to insufficient evidence. Chang-ho then reveals that the real motive was the academic paper written by Professor Seo.

Outside the court, the VIPs relief is short-lived. A truck rolls up with a large screen on its side, displaying the video with Chang-ho. It then switches to a hidden camera in the café, where Ji-hoon is angry at Hye-jin for giving him the wrong research paper. As he rants at her, he admits that the VIPs killed Professor Seo. The back of the truck slowly opens to reveal none other than Chang-ho himself.

At the café, Ji-hoon begins to drag Hye-jin out but Mayor Choi arrives and warns him about reporters being on the way. Ji-hoon crosses paths with the reporters but is confident that none of this can actually touch him.

Mi-ho arrives and thanks Hye-jin for keeping her promise. The latter then heads off to the airport to start a life in the US.

Chang-ho faces the reporters outside the court and tells them he was abducted from the mental hospital by Ji-hoon and Prosecutor Choi. He says that he will bring proof that he is not Big Mouse to his trial. He shares a sweet moment with his family before officers arrive to take him back to prison.

Just before he leaves, Soon-tae tells him that Jerry is alive! Chang-ho sends a short letter with Soon-tae, who puts it under Jerry’s pillow. But someone with a tattoo of Big Mouse’s symbol takes the paper away.

Chang-ho arrives back at the prison. His voiceover reveals that his focus is now on getting Big Mouse.

In the hospital, someone gives Jerry a small piece of paper. Jerry reads it and tears it up.

Chang-ho is seated with some inmates when the room leader tells him about a ghostly disease spreading through the prison. People seem to cough up blood and later go berserk and become violent, leading to the medical staff leaving. Chairman Yang says that it happened once, years ago, but they suddenly got cured. It also seemed to happen only to model inmates.

Ji-hoon visits Chang-ho and tries to get him to invest 100 billion won into a real estate development project, as a way of paying him back. Chang-ho laughs in his face and tells him to book a room at the prison. When Chang-ho insinuates that Ji-hoon was also behind Seo’s death, Ji-hoon says that he wasn’t the person the VIPs spoke to on the phone.

Mayor Choi and his wife go swimming again. Joo-hee asks him to not get too involved in the case of Professor Seo’s death. He says he is doing it only for the Elder.

The three VIPs visit the Elder to ask for help but end up making him angry. Mayor Choi arrives and gives the Elder Professor Seo’s secret paper along with the original file. The Elder is highly impressed. The VIPs, who have been told to confess, then argue with Choi Do-ha. They say he was also an accomplice.

A flashback to the day of the crime shows that the phone call made by the VIPs was, in fact, to Mayor Choi! Not only did the mayor agree to help then but he then ordered one of his men to cause the accident that got the three men caught. Later, Mayor Choi was also the one who destroyed the dashcam footage.

Mayor Choi reminds the three of them that there is no evidence of his involvement.

We switch to a scene with the Elder burning Seo’s paper in a bonfire. Joo-hee arrives and they talk about the time when the Elder was against her marrying Choi Do-ha. Now, he hints that Do-ha has his approval.

We then see someone unlock the storage area with the gold bars. This is the same person that initially hid them in the ground in the first episode. The camera moves to reveal that this person is Mayor Choi. And he doesn’t just have the gold bars, he also has a copy of Professor Seo’s paper. What a turn of events!

Another flashback shows us a conversation between Mayor Choi and Hye-jin, before Mi-ho had gotten involved. Choi claims that Hye-jin will die if she remains in possession of Seo’s paper. With the promise of a new life in New York, Choi gets her to hand over the real data card with Seo’s paper.

Back at the prison, Chang-ho goes to the church and puts a message in the bible — he wants Big Mouse to be here by 8 PM or Chang-ho will stop helping him.

At Gucheon University Hospital, Mi-ho sees that all the patients on one floor seem to have been discharged. She also notices a blood report of an inmate from Gucheon penitentiary. Before she can check further, she is called into the director’s office. Joo-hee has found out about the blood analysis Mi-ho requested. The report seems to be normal but Joo-hee tells Mi-ho to resign or the hospital will report her.

Mi-ho meets Mayor Choi and tells him about it. He says he will speak to Joo-hee but Mi-ho says she has already resigned. He inquires if Hye-jin said anything about Seo’s paper to which Mi-ho replies in the negative, but we now know he’s only pretending.

Someone enters the church and sees Chang-ho’s message.

Due to a lack of medical staff, the nurses from the hospital are back at the prison, handing out vitamins. For some reason, the room leader seems to desperately want them. One of the inmates then suddenly coughs up blood as Chang-ho and the others look on.

In the bible, Chang-ho finds the justice Tarot card. It is ten minutes to 8 PM and Chang-ho waits.

Mi-ho goes to visit Jerry in the hospital but finds his bed empty.

Someone, we can’t see who, walks up behind Chang-ho. Chang-ho gets up and turns around, his eyes widen and the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

The entire court case and social media gimmick was a really fun ride in this episode. It felt like something different from the usual prison games and politics. Seeing Chang-ho one-up all the VIPs is truly satisfying, particularly after he was tortured by them. Seeing him in a snazzy suit, looking like a VIP himself, makes you want to cheer for him.

But this is exactly why it’s a tad disappointing to see him return to prison in this episode itself. It would have kept things a little more interesting to have him navigate the outside world in his current situation. Although, we did get a tantalizing ending with some background music that only made the anticipation stronger.

Now moving to the biggest reveal of the episode, Choi Do-ha! It’s incredible just how much the mayor seems to be behind, from destroying the dashcam footage he hired Chang-ho to find to the piles of gold bars! Could he be the real Big Mouse? It’s definitely looking that way but I can’t help but think, and hope, that there’s more to the story than this.

The episode does leave a few questions, like why Mi-ho didn’t insist on getting the paper from Hye-jin and why Hye-jin didn’t mention she gave it to Mayor Choir. But all in all, these events leave you with an itch for the next episode that can’t come soon enough!