Hyena – K-Drama Episode 7 Recap & Review

As we approach the midway point of this courtroom Korean drama one thing’s for sure – Ju Ji-Hoon and Kim Hye-Soo are the best on-screen couple of the year so far. Their confidence and charisma oozes through every scene they share and as is the case this week, they don’t even need to say anything to exude this. Much like the first case, this episode sees the conclusive chapter to the D&T case as our two lawyers are forced to work together in a surprisingly effective showcase of talent.

Episode 7 of Hyena sees us return to the moments after the police arrive and arrest Jin-Su. It turns out Geum-Ja left the phone on and is currently recording the entire conversation she’s having with Jeung-Yun. With Hee-Jae listening in, he threatens her and bids his farewells, declaring that he’ll see her in court.

Believing they have conclusive evidence, the duo curse their luck before she tells Hee-Jae to head to the Attorney’s Office. All together, they sit and try to formulate a new tactic to take after piecing together what clues they have. It turns out their request to check the legality request was declined and it’s yet another obstacle thrown at them to try and overcome.

As they watch the news, Prosecutor Park takes to the stand and addresses the media, prompting Geum-Ja to turn off the TV and give orders for everyone – including Hee-Jae whom she tells to visit Mr Song with her. Her bossing him around doesn’t sit well with Hee-Jae but they suck it up and face the music together. In his office, Mr Song tells them to make sure Jin-Su isn’t prosecuted and to get acquitted no matter what. With the battle lines drawn, Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja head off to their separate offices and try to work out what to do next.

Geum-Ja looks over a list of employees who have resigned and realizes that document is very long – perhaps too long even for new employees. With the team together, they visit all the different people who quit and realize a lot have something in common – gas-lighting. With 100 people quitting, the duo deduce that a lot of them may well have quit because of the way Jin-Su mistreated them.

The team do manage to stumble upon a copy of Yeoung-Jun’s diary though and within it, it lists exactly what evidence the prosecution have against their client. Hee-Jae heads off to meet Mr Son, presenting the copy of his diary to him and seeing firsthand the issues he’s going through ,using the rookie lawyer by his side as a guinea pig to see the psychological tactic first-hand.

Realizing that gas-lighting is the evidence th police have been using to get the arrest in place, Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja propose using Yeong-Jun’s hatred against him as a way of trying to make him seem uncredible and out to get Jin-Su no matter what.

Even more evidence comes to light as Geum-Ja visits Seo-Yeong’s parents – the ones who suffered from their daughter committing suicide – and she learns Jin-Su paid them off. They hand over her belongings and implore Geum-Ja to try and get to the bottom of why their daughter committed suicide. Within those possessions is a mobile phone, which may hold the clues they need.

The court trial gets underway and both sides present their evidence. Hee-Jae attacks his hatred, just like before, and it’s here that Yeong-Jun mentions that he would kill Jin-Su if he had the chance. After presenting his evidence, he turns the field over to Geum-Ja… who presents her own evidence, including the voice recording she extracted back from Seo-Yeong on the 15th march.

Ironically this is the one date that Jin-Su’s diary is missing crucial information about meeting Seo-Yeong. This throws the entire diary into question and she proposes to the court that his entries were completely fabricated to fit this narrative. With the case seemingly settled in their favour, Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja shake on their great work done and adjourn for the night.

As we soon see, Geum-Ja secretly visited Jin-Su and told him to hold a press conference when he gets out, and to apologize for what he’s done. She goes on to implore him not to go after Yeong-Jun when he gets out. All of this was Geum-Ja’s doing and he’s true to his word – holding a press conference and getting down on his knees to apologize to the world.

With D&T’s image changed and restructured, a montage shows the company rise up and get back on the stock market as the group receive a bonus for their great work in keeping Jin-Su out of prison. As Mr Na sees that D&T have gone public, he greets Ms Kim at the airport and brings her back to the company as she looks over the picture of Geum-Ja and clearly has something up her sleeve for them.

It’s great when a plan comes together. The very satisfying court case at the end is a big moment for the show and not just because of the corrupt and ingenious way these lawyers play the field helps them to one-up their opponents every step of the way. Seeing Hee-Jae and Geum-Ja now on the same side and fighting cases together is surprisingly satisfying and from the extravagant wink to shaking hands on their presumed victory, there’s some real stand-out moments for the duo through this episode.

It certainly sets the scene nicely for the drama to follow but quite what will happen next between these two lawyers remains to be seen.