Gangnam B-Side – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of Gangnam B-Side begins with a cleaning crew arriving at the hotel room. Jung-hwa’s body is missing and they panic. Her thuggish dealer, Psyche informs her client and killer – Noh Joon-seo who is more focused on finding Jenny. Joon-seo also happens to be Jjuni Boy, a beloved and coked-up K-pop idol.

Meanwhile, Gil-ho drops Jung-hwa’s body at a subway station to alert the cops. Dong-woo joins the Gangnam squad but they ice him out, forcing him to stay on the sidelines. Of course, this doesn’t stop Dong-woo as he investigates on his own by contacting Jang-ho who has become a low-level gangster.

Jang-ho doesn’t want anything to do with him but they are ex-colleagues and Dong-woo covers for him so he can help find Gil-ho. He learns that Gil-ho has become a pimp and out of all his girls, Jenny and Jung-hwa are his aces. 

As for Gil-ho, he plans to hide Jenny and take out the men responsible for Jung-hwa’s murder. Fortunately, Psyche contacts him and makes a deal – he wants Jenny and in exchange, Joon-seo will give Gil-ho whatever he wants. Wanting to meet and kill Joon-seo, Gil-ho pretends to agree but when he heads back to the arcade, Jenny is gone after reading the news of Jung-hwa’s murder.

Prosecutor Min finds CCTV footage of Gil-ho dumping Jung-hwa’s body and the chief prosecutor, Tak claims Gil-ho is their culprit. She is to work with Major Crimes to arrest him. Min is surprised by the hastiness.

She is even more surprised when the captain of Major Crimes shows up – it is none other than the former Chief Yun who Dong-woo had arrested in Episode 1. However, Min is not too deterred by their need to wrap up the case as she tells Tak to compensate her for the risks. Chief Prosecutor Tak indulges her but warns her that he is in charge.

Meanwhile, Joon-seo’s boss, CEO Lee beats him up for letting the Jenny matter get out of hand. Psyche texts Gil-ho that he has set up a meeting with Joon-seo at Yeoksam but it is a trap. Joon-seo bribes Yun to look the other way so that he can kill Gil-ho and Jenny.

At the same time, Dong-woo too learns of the Yeoksam showdown via Jang-ho’s gang as all of Gil-ho’s enemies are alerted of the trap. Captain Yun tells Prosecutor Min to arrive with a warrant as they are going to arrest Gil-ho in Yeoksam.

Gil-ho shows up and Psyche is annoyed to see that he has not brought up Jenny. Psyche stalls by telling him about the tape Jenny and Jung-hwa recorded of their clients which surprises Gil-ho. Some of the thugs finally show up and a fight ensues as Gil-ho beats them all. Psyche streams the fight for Joon-seo who enjoys it. Gil-ho notices and tries to attack Joon-seo but two bodyguards ambush and stab him.

More thugs show up but Dong-woo arrives in time and rescues Gil-ho. Psyche picks up Gil-ho’s knife while Joon-seo visits CEO Lee. The boy is nostalgic and sappy about their dreams of conquering the world together which confuses Lee. Joon-seo’s minion shows up, disguised as a fan and stabs Lee to death. Joon-seo calls a Mr. Choi from Lee’s phone and shares that it is time for Gangnam Trading Company to have a new CEO.

Meanwhile, Captain Yun’s squad spots Dong-woo’s car and follows it while he informs Prosecutor Min that they have to rework their story which frustrates her. In the car, Dong-woo demands to know whether Gil-ho killed Jung-hwa and Jenny but the injured man doesn’t answer. Instead, he is amused that Dong-woo believes that the Gangnam Trading Company is gone after his small 3-year-old drug bust.

They are interrupted by Yun’s squad who corner them on a bridge. It’s a stand-off as Yun can’t kill Dong-woo who refuses to let his men take Gil-ho. Prosecutor Min finally arrives and demands an answer but the distraction is enough. Gil-ho jumps into the river at the end of Gangnam B-Side Episode 2.

The Episode Review

Gangnam B-Side Episode 2 peppers more clues as it establishes the overarching mystery and now we have a name – the Gangnam Trading Company. It is linked to the club drug dealers, Gil-ho, Captain Yun, Chief Prosecutor Tak and Joon-seo who is the new CEO after killing the old one. Since it is a legal, above-board trading company, Jenny’s video of its players possibly using drugs and hooking up with escorts is massive blackmail material. 

Apart from the mystery, the K-drama focuses on furthering the action, having introduced all of its players in the first two episodes. Our hunch of Dong-woo working with Gil-ho was sorta right while it makes sense why Joon-seo isn’t scared of being caught. He literally has the Major Crimes captain in his pocket. 

The only loose cannon happens to be Prosecutor Min who has no problem playing along with the corrupt cops and lawyers. So, this just makes us wonder why she is upset about Tak and Yun pinning the whole thing on Gil-ho. Either she does have a sliver of righteousness or she knows him. Looks like we will have to wait till next week for answers. But so far, a strong start for this gritty Disney+ drama.