Gangnam B-Side – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Gangnam B-Side begins with a drug raid at a club in Gangnam. Captain Kang Dong-woo and his team sneak in even when the Chief tries to stop him. After everyone is arrested, the Chief tries to lure Dong-woo away but he runs to the basement and finds Detective Jang-ho packing up a bag full of drugs.

During interrogation, Jang-ho claims he is just the delivery boy and almost everyone in Major Crimes is involved. Soon after, the Chief is arrested and he threatens to take down Dong-woo.

3 years later, a low-level drug dealer, Lemon is selling drugs to some VIPs at a club. One of the escorts, Jenny spots a text from a Jjuni Boy telling a VIP not to lose her or they will all die. Terrified, Jenny sobers up and calls her friend, Jung-hwa to run. She takes a phone she has hidden in the club toilet and escapes.

Elsewhere, another thug is beating up Jung-hwa and sees that she doesn’t have the video they are looking for, but Jenny does. He alerts the club and the bouncers search for Jenny. At another club, Yoon Gil-ho helps a drugged-up escort and beats up her dealer. He warns the dealer never to sell to his girls. Jenny is one of his as well as he tries to contact her and Jung-hwa.

Jenny is hiding in an old arcade and refuses to pick up Gil-ho’s call as she desperately tries to contact Jung-hwa. However, he finds her anyway. He wonders if she is involved with Noh Joon-seo but she refuses to answer. She fears for Jung-hwa and he promises to find her.

As for Dong-woo, he has gone to the countryside. His latest case is a DUI involving the mayor’s nephew. The boy tries to bribe Dong-woo when he finds drugs in the car. He punches Dong-woo but the cop takes him down and arrests him.

Commissioner Moon arrives and it seems he is Dong-woo’s mentor. Several people in Gangnam have gone missing including Jenny aka Jae-hee and he wants Dong-woo on the case. Dong-woo wants to refuse and we learn why he has isolated himself – he doesn’t trust cops anymore after the drug bust. Moon tells Dong-woo not to waste his talents and gives him the file. 

While Dong-woo looks into it, he sees club-goers’ social media videos of Jenny running away from the bouncers. He gets a text from the hospital and he rushes to it. His daughter, Kang Ye-seo is on suicide watch and is mentally unstable due to school bullying. Dong-woo rushes to her side and sees a needle mark and a crying woman’s tattoo on her wrist.

His estranged wife arrives as well and calls him out for never being there for their daughter. She too is a busy anchorwoman and hasn’t had time for Ye-seo. She blames Dong-woo for Ye-seo’s bullying and an accidental death on a rooftop

The next day, Ye-seo texts Dong-woo to pick her up after her discharge and he tries to bond with her. She is distant but needs his help in finding Jae-hee who is a friend. Dong-woo is not worried about her missing and Ye-seo calls him out for being judgmental and only pretending to care for her. He wonders why she is worried and she shares that she cannot live without Jae-hee. She sends a photo and he sees that Jae-hee has the same wrist tattoo.

A flashback to a year ago shows Jae-hee needing some help. Ye-seo calls Dong-woo but the meeting goes wrong almost immediately. He judges Jae-hee for being a delinquent and she calls him out for being an estranged father. He snaps as he believes she is responsible for the accidental rooftop death. 

At present, Dong-woo meets up with an old colleague – Ji-su and asks him about Jae-hee. The girl has only one charge of larceny. Ji-su also recognises her tattoo from a video posted by an illegal spycam circle. A girl with the tattoo is passed out in a club bathroom. Gil-ho picks her up and takes her to a car with Jae-hee.

The cops recognise him from 3 years ago. During the drug raid, one of the customers abuses an escort who has to be taken to the hospital. Gil-ho is furious and beats him up. The cops arrest him for it but Dong-woo lets him go as he is just the pimps’ driver, warning him not to show up on his radar again. 

At present, Ji-su cannot run the plates of Gil-ho’s car as the prosecution has blocked access. They claim it is for their case and have assigned it to a mysterious prosecutor. Prosecutor Min Seo-jin arrives in Gangnam and refuses all help, insisting that she will handle the Gangnam Missing Persons case alone.

That night, Gil-ho ambushes Lemon and tortures him. He finally learns that Jung-hwa has been taken to an “event.” The thug with Jung-hwa takes her to a hotel room with the VIPs. A man with white snake leather shoes arrives and she is terrified. At the end of Gangnam B-Side Episode 1, Gil-ho finds a dead Jung-hwa and the room empty.

The Episode Review

Looks like Ji Chang-wook, BIBI, Im Sung-jae and Jeong Jae-kwang loved The Worst of Evil aesthetic as they all reunite once again for this gritty Disney+ K-drama. And Gangnam B-Side Episode 1 has all the works with the drugs and gore, torture and corrupt cops. Set almost at night, we once again get a glimpse of Gangnam’s neon-filled nightlife and its underbelly.

But this time, even the mafia has its good guys and bad guys. Gil-ho and his friend seem to be looking out for the call girls while Jenny aka Jae-hee has some kind of video that acts as collateral. But it seems that she has bargained for more than what she expected as the drug dealers have no problem in killing innocent bystanders to get their hands on the video.

As for Dong-woo, looks like he is going to be teaming up with Gil-ho to find Jenny once she goes missing for good. There also seems to be more to Ye-seo than what meets the eye as it looks like she cares for Jenny and even has her tattoo. The tattooed girl from the spycam could be Jung-hwa which means the three were friends. Guess we have to tune into the next episode to find out how they are all linked.