Kairos – K-Drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Truth Will Out

We begin episode 5 of Kairos in August 2008 with Hyun-Chae turning up at a restaurant with her violin. After her meeting, Do-Kyung kindly gives her an umbrella and watches her play from behind the bar.

As he keeps watching, a drunk patron tries to pay her off before touching her instrument. Eventually Do-Kyun interjects but because of this, winds up getting her fired. She decides to stay at his place that evening and asks him to get her coffee in the morning.

He hurries out and comes back with two trays full, stunned when he sees her blow-drying her hair. As she spies him, Hyun-Chae smiles and tells him she couldn’t find any other clothes. Even this early, you can see the seeds of seduction and manipulation being sown here.

This catches us up to where we left off last episode, as Ae-Ri shows up at the motel while Do-Kyun and Hyun-Chae are getting intimate. Ae-Ri wisely thinks twice about staying and heads home. As our cheating pair do the same, Hyun-Chae and Do-Kyun both take it in turns to answer Seo-Jin’s calls – although it’s clear that Hyun-Chae is not happy.

She turns up the music in his car and the faint glimmer of classical music spills over to Seo-Jin’s future, rewriting what’s happened.

In September, Do-Kyun confronts Seo-Jin over the illegal materials being used as Yujung Construction. Both of them go blow to blow, with Seo-Jin believing he’s to blame. Suddenly though, ripples of the past bleed through and files from Korea Testing Laboratory materialize at the police station.

This bit of deus-ex-machina gets Seo-Jin off the hook and he’s allowed to go. On the way out, Do-Kyun follows and tells him he’s thankful his boss is okay. Do-Kyun tentatively apologizes, just as Seo-Jin vows to investigate this further and figure out exactly who’s to blame. In his car, he rings the Detective and learns that Ae-Ri has survived too.

With Manager Seo working outside the office, Seo-Jin purposefully marches into the office . He’s determined to investigate this further until the Chairman rings and tells him to come into his office. The chairman tells Seo-Jin to lay low for the time being, especially with the heat on him.

Seo-Jin refuses to take this lying down though and remains determined to try and fight this. Eventually realizing arguing is in vain, Seo-Jin heads home.

He’s driven back by Taek-Kyu but flashes from the past – specifically revolving around his scar – show that he was the one following Ae-Ri that night. As Seo-Jin heads back in his apartment, he deliberates over everything he’s learned so far.

Back in August, Ae-Ri remains determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening and finding her Mother. She heads straight for the hospital and speaks to Jin-Ho. He asks just why he showed up in Song Ja’s room and what their connection is.

Only, that connection is not with her Mother but actually her Father. Jin-Ho claims that he’s just as much to blame as the construction company. After mentioning Taejung Town, he limps away without revealing too much more.

As we cut across to Song-Ja, we see her using a payphone. She promises to disappear but implores them to keep Ae-Ri out of this. When she hangs up, Song-Ja vows retribution if they lay a finger on her daughter. Who could be on the phone?

While Taek-Kyu starts investigating who Ae-Ri is and her connections to this case, Ae-Ri gets on a bus heading for Taejung Town, determined to do some investigating of her own.

It’s been 19 years since she was in her childhood home and as we see from flashbacks, an accident surrounding the construction company is what started her Mother’s heart problems. She was devastated and has never been the same since.

Ae-Ri heads to the memorial park where flowers are still up in memory of those lives lost. It turns out, all of this is surrounding a collapsed building and Tae-Gil was one of those victims caught in the collapse. This seems to point back to the opening scene of the first episode.

Banyoung and Yujung Constructions signed a co-contract here – could it be that the illegal materials were used and that’s why it collapsed? As the camera pans down the wall, it’s worth mentioning that among the dead, 3 people went missing.

This number 3 – as you may remember – is also symbolic for our current time period given Da-Bin, Hyun-Chae and Song-Ja have all gone missing. While this is debunked later on by a bit plot twist, it’s worth pointing out nonetheless.

In September, Seo-Jin arrives at Unit 609 but finds no one home. He does manage to uncover the phone number for the occupant and it’s here he realizes it’s Taek-Kyu.

In August, Ae-Ri also finds the registration number and sends that along with the CCTV footage to Seo-Jin. Their 1 minute phone call takes place as scheduled, with messages and videos shared. Seo-Jin checks out the video of Taek-Kyu while Ae-Ri learns that the man is Seo-Jin’s assistant at work.

Ae-Ri even goes on to reveal the building collapse 19 years ago and how Yujung were connected in that tragedy. Before they can discuss more, the 1 minute window runs out.

And now we cut back 19 years ago and see the moment this building collapsed. The massive skyscraper topples, with the entire building crumbling to the ground. It’s a shocking moment and one that’s just as visually stunning, as clouds of dust cough and sputter into the air.

In September, Seo-Jin tries to rattle Taek-Kyu, telling him he wants to see Jin-Ho. Only, when he gets there he makes Taek-Kyu go in alone and plants a bug under his car to keep tabs on where he’s going.

When Taek-Kyu leaves – oblivious that he’s being tracked – Seo-Jin heads inside and tries to get answers from Jin-Ho. He remains stoic in the wake of these questions, failing to disclose what his agreement with Taek-Kyu is.

Instead, Seo-Jin is forced to rely on Taek-Kyu’s car for any possible suspicions. As he does, news breaks online about how Seo-Jin is cleared of any wrong-doing with the illegal materials. Taek-Kyu sees this too, realizing that Ae-Ri is connected in some way but unable to piece together exactly how for now.

Taek-Kyu has plenty of time to think this over, heading up to a big house where both Da-Bin and Hyun-Cha happen to be alive and well. It seems like all of this is a ploy to get back at Seo-Jin. But why? For what end goal?

Seo-Jin tracks Taek-Kyu’s car out on the expressway and heads out to try and track him down. Parking up at the last known location for him, Seo-Jin starts looking around… until he finds Song-Ja strung up and hanging by the rafters in an abandoned house nearby.

As he sees this, we cut back in time with Song-Ja apologizing to Jin-Ho for not being more helpful. Watching him leave, Taek-Kyu shows up in the adjacent elevator and asks if they can talk.

The Episode Review

With Da-Bin and Hyun-Chae alive and well, a lot of the mystery elements and intrigue with this drama seem to have completely vanished. We now know who’s taken Da-Bin and it seems Hyun-Chae, Do-Kyun and Taek-Kyu are all working against Seo-Jin.

Now the series has turned into more of a cat and mouse game to catch the killers rather than adding that element that Da-Bin could be dead. Only, if that’s the case then what of the severed finger? Are the police working against Ae-Ri too? Or is this more of an elaborate ploy to plant evidence?

Of course, there could be more to this story than meets the eye -especially the whys surrounding just what Seo-Jin has done so wrong to deserve his world turned upside down.

I mentioned it earlier in the recap about the 3 missing people and I still think this could bear some significance on the future. We’ll have to wait and see to be sure though.

I’m reserving my judgment for a few more episodes to see how this plays out but revealing who the kidnapper is and what’s going on so early could well fizzle out a lot of the intrigue surrounding this one.