Chief Detective 1958 — K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Highwaymen

Episode 3 of Chief Detective 1958 titled “Highwaymen” starts with a group of thugs robbing a local bank in the city of Suwon. Meanwhile, Chief Yu learns that Ho-jeong had to abandon his family to become a cop and Yeong-han had asked him to join the team along with Gyeong-hwan and Sang-sun. Chief Yu and his four officers make Unit 1 of Jongnam Police Station.

Superintendent Choi learns about this and sends the unit to get rid of all the beggars in the Jongnam village market. Gyeong-hwan is bummed that his first case is so petty but Yeong-han tries to lift their spirits. Yeong-han gives the trio a pep talk and the four detectives go to the village market. They capture the beggars and scold them for causing a scene in the village.

Yeong-han calls the beggars out for trying to steal from the shop owners in the market. He feels sorry for them and asks them to return all the goods they had stolen. Yeong-han’s kindness gets the beggars to start returning the items. The rest of the team tells Yeong-han that Superintendent Choi will be pissed at them but takes them out for a meal.

At the same time, Hye-ju is waiting for Yeong-han at the cinema. At Grandma’s restaurant, Yeong-han tells the other three how this kindness to the beggars will help them catch the real thugs. He adds that the beggars could now work as their informants and would help them in the future.

At lunch, Ho-jeong tells the rest of the team how he wants to be a cop after finding a prestigious badge. He talks to the group about Bonnie and Clyde and Frank Hammer but they don’t understand his references.

Ho-jeong explains how Bonnie and Clyde were lovers and partners in crime. After leaving the restaurant, Yeong-han suddenly realises that he had asked Hye-ju on a date and runs to the cinema. Meanwhile, Hye-ju finally leaves to go back home, disappointed for being stood up. Yeong-han tries to go to the bookstore but waits outside when he spots Nan-sil entering.

Inside, Nan-sil notices Hye-ju in a bad mood and asks if something is up. Hye-ju opens up to Nan-sil and tells her how Yeong-han stood her up. At the same time, Yeong-han stands outside the bookstore, waiting for Nan-sil to leave. There he learns about the bank robbery. At the same time, the group of robbers split the loot among the five of them. They decide to leave the country after completing the last robbery on their lift.

The robbers discuss that their last target will be given to them by Sergeant Kim. At the boarding house, Paju-daek and Eun-dong discuss the ongoing bank robberies with Yeong-han. He tries to reassure them and promises he will not just sit and wait if something like that was to happen in Seoul.

The next day, Unit 1 at the Jong-nam station is discussing how Seoul would be the next target of the bank thieves. Unit 1 discusses the details of the robbery as mentioned in the newspaper. Ho-jeong points out that since the robbers were dressed in boots and jackets, it could mean that they were probably from the military. The members also discuss how the robbers’ escape vehicle was modified and how they also carried firearms.

Just then, Superintendent Choi calls all the cops at Jongnam Station for a debrief. He asks every single cop at the station to be present at a meeting the following Wednesday and emphasises that attendance at the meeting was compulsory as it was a matter of Lee Jung-jae’s protection. Chief Yu tells Superintendent Choi about Unit 1’s investigation of bank robberies.

Superintendent Choi dismisses Yeong-han and the test of Unit 1’s argument claiming that the thieves were not naive enough to show up in Seoul. He gives Chief Yu and the rest of the Unit 1 members an earful, asking them to focus on their jobs and do as told. Meanwhile, the robbers receive an envelope from Seargeant Kim with information about the three banks they had to rob next.

One of the three banks is Goryeo Bank in Jongnam and it is up to the thieves to decide which bank they will be robbing. The robbers are also informed that the police won’t be surveilling the area as they will be attending a meeting. At the Jongnam station, the members of Unit 1 start discussing strategies to bring down the robber gang but keep their discussions private from the other cops.

Yeong-han goes to the tailor to get his suit and wears it on. He decides to go and apologise to Hye-ju for keeping her waiting. Hye-ju is shocked upon seeing Yeong-han in a suit but pretends that she does not care that he stood her up. Hye-ju tries to act like she does not need Yeong-han’s help but he offers to fix up a bookshelf for her.

Yeong-han ends up fixing the shelf after some minor hiccups and Hye-ju is impressed but tries to hide it. She asks Yeong-han what he is going to do now that he messed up his new shirt and tells him that she is willing to accept his apology. Later that evening, he walks Hye-ju home and the two chat about how he wanted to be a detective. He asks what Hye-ju wants to become and she hesitantly tells him that she wants to be an actress.

The two chat and bond but Yeong-han grows silent when she asks him about the wound on his wrist. Yeong-han tells Hye-ju about how he got the scar when he was a student soldier. Hye-ju gifts him a bracelet from a local shop to cover the scar and Yeong-han is touched. That night, Sang-sun, Gyeong-hwan and Ho-jeong gather at Yeong-han’s boarding house along with Eun-dong and Guk-jin.

With Eun-dong’s help, the detectives determine that the robbers will be attacking Goryeo Bank in Jongnam as it is flush with cash and has accounts of several affluent people as well as celebrities. Yeong-han asks Ho-jeong to use his research skills and study past reports to figure out the time of the attack. Yeong-han asks the beggars to keep an eye out for a modified jeep.

Sang-sun teams up with Eun-dong and tries to understand how the safe that is filled with cash inside the bank operates. Eun-dong tells him that the safe can only be opened with a key and a passcode that the bank’s branch managers know. Sang-sun trains Gyeong-hwan and Ho-jeong to use guns while Ho-jeong also spends the next few days trying to determine the robbers’ time of attack.

A day before the attack, one of the beggars spots the jeep outside Goryeo Bank. He tells Yeong-han and the rest of the cops about it. Yeong-han gives the beggars money to have a meal and they leave. In a very unfair game of rock paper scissors, Yeong-han decides that Sang-sun would disguise himself as the bank security guard. Sang-sun is worried as the thieves were known to kill the bank security guard after finishing the robbery.

Yeong-han takes Sang-sun to the branch managers and informs the man about their plan. Ho-jeong tells the rest of the Unit 1 members that the group of robbers is going to take advantage of the cops being preoccupied with Lee Jung-jae. Chief Yu asks Yeong-han and the other cops to skip the meeting and catch the robbers as per their plan.

Chief Yu and Yeong-han try to reason with Superintendent Choi but he calls them out for disobeying his orders. He threatens to hold the Unit 1 cops in a holding cell if they do not attend the meeting. The next day, Sang-sun is dressed as the security guard and waits inside the bank. Meanwhile, Yeong-han, Gyeong-hwan and Ho-jeong pretend to join the Jongnam cops at the meeting but try to escape from the rear exit.

The robbers also get ready for their attack. Just as Yeong-han, Gyeong-hwan and Ho-jeong are about to escape, the other cops catch them and hold them in a cell. The trio manage to let the cop guarding the cell let them escape and rush to the bank. Meanwhile, Hye-ju shows up at the bank and asks Eun-dong to help her with an international transaction.

The robbers show up at the bank and threaten to shoot the public. Hye-ju tries to flee but one of the robbers spots her and sends her back inside. Yeong-han and the two others somehow make it to the bank but as they are not able to contain the robbers outside the bank, they wait outside. Gyeong-hwan knocks the jeep driver out and Yeong-han dresses himself as the bank robber.

Inside the bank, the robbers try to wake the branch manager up but he is unconscious because of the medicinal tea that Sang-sun had Eun-dong feed him. The robbers try to collect all the cash left in the bank. They have to rush out because they hear police sirens blaring outside. One of the robbers takes Hye-ju hostage and exits the bank.

Outside, Gyeong-hwan and Ho-jeong threaten to shoot the robbers. Yeong-han who has his face covered with a mask, exits the jeep. He shows Hye-ju the bracelet she had given him some nights ago and puts her in the car. Along with the robbers in the jeep, Yeong-han stages an elaborate car chase. He keeps driving the jeep in circles around the area which infuriates one of the robbers.

The robber asks Yeong-han to take off his mask but Hye-ju pretends to be a maniac and distracts the thieves. Yeong-han eventually brings the jeep outside the meeting location where Superintendent Choi, Chief Yu and the other cops from Jongnam are standing. Yeong-han manages to save Hye-ju while the other Jongnam cops take credit for arresting the bank robbers.

The local news reports take photos of Superintendent Choi, Chief Byun and the other cops while Chief Yu and the Unit 1 cops check up on each other. The cops tease Yeong-han for having a crush on Hye-ju. Ho-jeong is shocked to learn this as he too has feelings for her. The next day, Yeong-han and the rest of the Unit 1 member get an earful from Superintendent Choi for failing to follow his orders.

They avoid being punished by asking him to share the reward for catching the thieves. Superintendent Choi kicks them out and the Unit 1 members discuss how tiring and dangerous their missions were. Yeong-han suddenly realises that he had yet again forgotten his movie date with Hye-ju.

However, upon arriving there he finds that Hye-ju had been waiting for him to show up. Yeong-han apologises for being late as he takes Hye-ju’s hand and leads her inside the cinema hall. The episode ends with a group military finding multiple infant corpses buried under the ground.

The Episode Review

This show is very fun to watch and pretty interesting. After seeing the origin of Unit 1, it is even more exciting to see the group come together as they solve crimes. While the episodes are on the longer side with a run time of 75 minutes and more, it is interesting to see the group get together and fight crime.

Hye-ju and Yeong-han’s romance is extremely cute and it will be interesting to see how this goes forward because we have a heartbroken Ho-jeong watching them fall in love. I hope Ho-jeong also finds a partner as does Sang-sun. It is clear that we will see Gyeon-hwan’s romance with the vegetable vendor girl.

With constant interruptions from Superintendent Choi, it will be interesting to see how Yeong-han and the team bring Lee Jung-jae and the crime down.