The Frog – K-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

I’m Just “It” In This Game Of Tag

Episode 5 of The Frog starts with Bo-min hearing news of Hyang-cheol’s ghost-writer, Mr Kim, having committed suicide. Apparently this is not the handiwork of Hyang-cheol, who’s still behind bars. Bo-min gets the itch to investigate this further, given it ties into Lake View, and dives head-first into this.

In the past, Bo-min finds Dong-chan determined to figure out more of this case, and questions her about a separate incident she managed to solve. He promises not to tell a soul, and as she utters the words “The water bill” we learn more later in the chapter after a hard cut.

Now, it turns out Bo-min solved this difficult case by reminding herself that the way to the truth is not to see what’s there, but to check what’s missing. “Looking for what should be there, but for some reason, isn’t.” This can also link back to people too; subtle changes in their mannerisms or behaviour that could cause them to behave differently. As for Bo-min, she’s suspicious of absolutely everyone and this explains why she’s so thorough in her job.

Back in the present, Sung-a heads out and confronts Yeong-ha, who’s taken into hospital to get treatment. He’s rattled as she looks through the ward, but when he heads back home, he finds out that Sung-a has thrown his bag away and all evidence is gone.

Yeong-ha promises to keep his mouth shut about everything but wants her to leave. Sung-a refuses to comply and taunts him, deciding she “just wants to be friends”, despite slamming into his car. She plays with him and questions his loyalty to the Motel and unfortunately, this now turns into a turf war as the pair begin to fight one another.

Interestingly, Sung-a’s car has changed from a red jeep to a blue sports car. Not sure what significance this has but it’s a nice touch all the same. As for Sung-a, she’s surprised when a family show up at the Vacation Rental, ready to move in. Police arrive too, questioning what she’s doing there, and Sung-a finds herself in hot water. She doesn’t have a rental form or any proof of her booking, as she paid for everything with cash and Yeong-ha, as we know, doesn’t have a website either.

When the laundry guy shows the next day, Sung-a is pissed, especially as he doesn’t recognize her and refuses to converse. This is, of course, all part of Yeong-ha’s plan to try and drive her out. Yong-chae is convinced that this will work, with Sung-a heading back home eventually. Yeong-ha though, isn’t so sure but decides to continue playing up the idea of extra bookings.

While Sung-a works on her artwork, more guests arrive at the Motel. Yeong-ha sets up Sung-a as the “unni” (auntie) and it sends her over the edge. She contemplates whether to phone the police and get the place shut down. Instead, she puts on noise-cancelling headphones to drown out the noise.

In the morning, the kids wake her up by smashing the window. Yeong-ha eventually rings and decides there’s going to be lots of guests and she’ll need to pick up the slack now given the cleaner won’t show to help. Sung-a threatens to kill his daughter but it doesn’t deter him. He switches off his phone and decides to continue camping in the woods.

Gi-ho shows at the hospital and throws away flowers from an old woman, while Bo-min deliberates over this ghost-writer. Apparently only one unidentified individual was captured on CCTV but that was a month ago and they don’t have enough evidence to incriminate him. There’s nothing else here and it does look like a suicide. Bo-min is not convinced though and digs deeper.

Now, one person at the station whom he didn’t bank on was officer Kim Seon-tae. He puts on aftershave before leaving, and we’ve already seen throughout the episode that he has an infatuation with Sung-a. When Yeong-ha arrives, it turns out that he’s part of the group staying, and Seon-tae reprimands him for treating Sung-a poorly. He also warns that he could get in trouble for this.

Now, all of this stems from ownership of the Motel, of course, and Yeong-ha is as good at playing this game as Sung-a is. She doesn’t really like Seon-tae, and even suggests to Yeong-ha that night that they go halves and both stay here. Yeong-ha is incredulous and calls her a bitch. Sung-a snaps and brings up how he’s living with a murderer. He chokes her out, revealing that he won’t do anything with her and after letting go, walks away.

Seon-tae sees Yeong-ha leave her room and suspects the worst. He also sees her on the edge of her bed holding her throat. Sung-a decides to sleep with Seon-tae to stop him going after Yeong-ha, but she’s clearly just doing this as a distraction rather than actually feeling anything for him.

Yeong-ha eventually heads back home and irate, antagonizes Seon-tae so he gets arrested. At the station, he ends up talking to Bo-min. She remembers him from showing at the station that night with the nose bleed and his pent-up aggression. She knows there’s something going on, and it leads to Yeong-ha deciding he’s going to file a report. According to him, there’s nothing anymore…but Bo-min offers a chance for him to talk about his plight.

Yeong-ha refuses but on his way out, offers a full refund for Officer Kim and also the promise that he doesn’t show up at the rental again.

Seon-tae doesn’t let it go though, and out in the woods, he tries ringing Sergeant Choi while confronted by Sung-a in her car. She chases him off the property but we then hard cut to Sung-a (listed as “that crazy woman” in Yeong-ha’s contact list), ringing while spattered in mud in the middle of a cornfield. Yeong-ha agrees to sell her the Motel, but wants a couple of days to get everything sorted.

At the Motel, Bo-min shows up and finds Sung-a sitting outside on the car, which is spattered with mud. She’s also smoking too, and harking back to that earlier statement in the past, Bo-min is well and truly “it” as she intends to find and tag the murderer.

The Episode Review

So this episode does drag on a bit compared to the previous chapters. Sure, we get a good deal of drama involving Yeong-ha and Sung-a as they play their game, seeing who will blink first. However, it also drags on unnecessarily too and we really didn’t need that much time dedicated to their shenanigans to show what they’re up to.

However, that aside it’s good to see more of Bo-min’s past and also how she tackles these cases and is so exemplary at her job. This is definitely a nice touch and looks like it could be a big point leading into the next episode.

For now though, The Frog looks like it’s about to step it up a gear.