Gangnam B-Side – K-drama Episode 6 Recap & Review

Episode 6

Episode 6 of Gangnam B-Side begins 3 years after Jae-hee’s death. Dong-woo has left the police force without telling anyone and has become a driver for escorts. A flashback shows Commissioner Moon trying to change his mind as he thinks it is because he blames himself for Jae-hee’s death and Ye-seo running away from home.

However, Dong-woo is still digging around as he finds a new drug on the market, Neon, in the hands of the VP’s son who has beaten an escort. Dong-woo notes it all down including taking a photo of Su-in taking the injured escort away.

At the same time, Gil-ho is still after K as he burns down a batch of Neon. He learns that the pimp has become the director of Gangnam Trading Company and is moving Neon in bulk. 

As for Prosecutor Min, she has taken Choi’s offer. She is now heading the anti-corruption department and is credited for closing the Gangnam missing people case. A YouTuber targets her for being corrupt but she is not deterred as there is no evidence. Similarly, Dong-woo shows her the Neon pill but she refuses to arrest the VP’s son and shoos him away.

Elsewhere, Choi’s trying to push Hae-il Tech’s new healthcare project, Bio Town but Tak, who is now the Presidential Secretary, keeps butting in as he has the ear of the President and the town’s mayor, Woo. Choi confronts Tak who claims he first wants his 30% cut from the Colosseum despite the event being a failure. Min wins over Mayor Woo by helping his wife. Tak is upset and threatens to take down Min but she simply arrests him for corruption.

Meanwhile, Jang-ho finds Dong-woo and is upset he went radio silent. Dong-woo gives in and tells him how he is secretly investigating the Gangnam underbelly. As for Ye-seo, she has Jae-hee’s phone and has texted him to stay away while she does something important. He has been tracking her, and every time she comes online, Neon is sighted at the same location.

That night, Dong-woo finds Su-in nursing Min-hee, the girl from the beginning of the episode and she is extremely injured. As he takes them to a doctor, Gil-ho spots them. He shows up and beats up Dong-woo for breaking his promise of looking after Jae-hee. Dong-woo feels guilty and takes it which enrages Gil-ho even more.

He lashes out at Su-in for hanging out with the former cop but she claims it was Jae-hee’s choice to do what she did. She also doesn’t care who runs Gangnam as she simply wants to survive. Neon is being launched in bulk at a party hosted at an academy, and Dong-woo and Gil-ho get invites as drivers. 

Meanwhile, Jang-ho stalks Min who heads to Hae-il Tech. Choi finally tells her his big bad plan – he is going to make the country sick and addicted to Neon and with his Bio Town, he is going to swoop in and cure them. This way, his business will be an endless, profit-filled cycle. And he needs her to find dirt on the food department so he can control them and take monopoly over the ingredients that make up Neon and the cure.

At the academy, Ye-seo is with the VP’s son and the whole group takes Neon. Dong-woo arrives outside and is shocked to see her location. He rushes in but only finds a silent disco party. In searching for her, he picks a fight and there is a commotion. K calls Su-in to move the girls they have picked and she heads to the room opposite the silent disco party. She spots Ye-seo who has puked out the drug but follows her to the new location.

Dong-woo spots them and tries to follow Ye-seo who gets into a yellow van with the rest of the chosen escorts. He chases it but runs into K’s van. The pimp knocks him out and puts him in the van. But as K is leaving, Gil-ho crashes his car into the van. At the end of Episode 6, K smirks and calls Gil-ho by his real name – Kim Min-seok.

The Episode Review

Gangnam B-Side Episode 6 tries to reel back viewers in after the previous mess of an episode but this one is just pretty lazy as it uses time-lapse as an easy way out instead of working on characterizations and motives. First of all, why is everyone so secretive? What is Ye-seo up to? What is Gil-ho up to? What is Min up to? 

Sure, the suspense is needed for the final conflict and climax, but there is no build-up to keep viewers hooked. Thankfully, Dong-woo is the only predictable guy and we will take predictability any day in this show cause he at least allows us to stay invested to a degree.

But with only 2 more episodes left, we doubt this K-drama can bounce back. Especially with all that boring corporate jargon. While it had only been hinted in the first half with the mysterious Choi, they are focusing majorly on his evil, industrial schemes now. But in doing so, we get some really pointless, digressing action to fill the run-time. Which again could have been solved by prioritizing the characters and fleshing them out to at least make them well-etched out.