Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Episodes 5-6

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Episodes 5-6

by Unit

This week, our heroine learns that she has a competitive side to her, and she’s prone to making mistakes. But the good thing is that she always learns from her mistakes and in reflection, strives to be better. But then, being competitive might not necessarily be a bad thing as it also shows that she cares about her clients, and she is willing to go to major lengths to ensure that they win, especially when it’s for a good cause.

 
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP

Min-woo’s bias against Young-woo carries on to this week, and until the last minute, it “slips his mind” to inform her that they have been jointly assigned to work on a case. Their client is suing a rival company for stealing their ATM technology, and it makes for a very interesting case as the lawyers assigned to it are also rivals. Min-woo and Young-woo are both on a one-year contract with Hanbada, and the race is on to see whose contract gets renewed. So although they’re both on the case, Min-woo has no intention of sharing the spotlight with Young-woo.

At the first court appearance, the opposing lawyer argues that the technology already exists and a third company was the first to use it in the Korean market – although this company has now folded. But Hanbada’s client insists that the technology is theirs, and it’s difficult to prove who is right.

Young-woo is not convinced that their client is telling the truth, just as she can’t tell if Geu-ra-mi is being truthful when she tells Young-woo that Jun-ho likes her. But it’s obviously true, considering Jun-ho’s semi-aggressive style of playing basketball with his roommate, Min-woo, when he discovers Min-woo’s dismal treatment of Young-woo on the case. Heh.

To help Young-woo spot the difference between lies and truth, Jun-ho offers to play the role of their client and says she should ask him some questions. But Young-woo’s first question is the Geu-ra-mi inspired “Does Lee Jun-ho like Woo Young-woo?” Lol. Jun-ho is taken aback, but he manages to diffuse the tension by saying the question may be a bit difficult for “the client” to answer. Aish! Hiding behind a character to avoid answering a very obvious question? That’s definitely one of the cons of roleplay!

As a plan B, Young-woo is armed with the theory of detecting lies through body language; from unstable eyebrows, to quivers of the hands and legs. But when they arrive at the client’s factory, they find out he got into an accident and now has injuries on those three body parts! Lol. All hope is not lost though, as his R&D manager visibly exhibits all the telltale signs of lying when Young-woo questions him about the technology.

To substantiate their claim, Young-woo coaches the R&D manager to become a reference witness. And as a former theater actor, the manager puts up such a spectacular show in court, that even I’m almost convinced that the technology is really theirs. Thus, the court issues an injunction against the rival company, preventing them from selling their products.

The rival company eventually finds an ATM from the defunct company which proves that the technology already existed before Hanbada’s client “developed” theirs. Unfortunately, Hanbada’s client already won supply contracts with all the banks while the injunction was on, so the eventual cancellation of the injunction doesn’t affect them. And Young-woo belatedly realizes that this was their plan all along.

In retrospect, Young-woo admits that although she knew the truth – something Min-woo also pointed out earlier – she turned a blind eye to it because she wanted to win. And as it dawns on her that she had chosen competence over her honor as an attorney, shame washes over her.

This drama keeps surprising me in the best possible ways, because it’s so easy to make Young-woo a kind of moral compass who does no wrong. But here we see her as a flawed character who also makes mistakes. I really liked that it was at the moment when Young-woo was trying to prove that Min-woo is a tactician, that she realized that she’s not so different herself. Who knew her rival could come in handy as a mirror of self reflection?

Speaking of rivalry, we learn that the Taesan CEO has become a candidate for minister of justice, but there’s a rumor about her having a child out of wedlock. CEO Tae laughs it off and says it’s probably just someone who looks like her. (Didn’t we learn last week that CEO Han thinks Young-woo looks so much like her mother?) But though CEO Tae denies the rumor, her facial expression tells a different story. Hmmmm.

This opens up to our next case, where a North Korean defector is charged with injury resulting from robbery, and she has to leave her daughter at an orphanage pending the time she’s released from prison. An overly passionate Su-yeon is in charge of this case, and Myeong-seok tasks Young-woo to work with her, so that she can calm Su-yeon down and prevent her from getting too emotionally invested in the case. I mean, Su-yeon is already in an “unnie-dongsaeng” relationship with the defendant.

The defendant and a friend of hers had gone to collect her money from a debtor, and from the bruising on the debtor’s face, it’s obvious that she was a victim of domestic abuse. But the defendant and her friend caused such a ruckus that the landlady had to call the police. And while her friend had shown up for the trial and received a four year sentence for the victim’s injuries, the defendant had fled.

But the only reason she fled was because there was no one else to raise her three-year-old daughter who would have forgotten her if she had gone to prison at that time. But now that her daughter is eight and able to remember her face, she has turned herself in. Her maternal instincts remind Young-woo of a mother whale, and Young-woo declares that rather than a four-year sentence, they will get probation for the defendant. Welp, look who is now emotionally invested in the case herself!

Jun-ho, on the other hand, is emotionally invested in Young-woo, and he drunk-admits to Min-woo that he likes someone in the office. He even gets slightly upset when Min-woo doesn’t even consider Young-woo to be among the potential candidates of his affection. Awww. My man has fallen so hard, and I’m going to need him to never get up again lol.

Meanwhile, as Young-woo and Su-yeon continue with their case, they summon the robbery victim as a witness in the current trial to testify that her injuries at the time of the incident were from her husband’s assault and not from the defendant, but she claims to not remember.

The doctor who gave the diagnosis on her injuries in the first trial is also called in as a witness, and he maintains that the injuries were caused by the defendant. But he does nothing to hide his bias against North Koreans, and the jury’s opinion sways towards the defendant.

Unfortunately, the doctor is also an executive of a group of doctors who are clients at Hanbada, and they take their business elsewhere after lawyers from Hanbada put him on the stand. And while it’s good riddance for me, it’s bad business for the firm, and Myeong-seok gets the flak for not reeling his rookies in. Young-woo and Su-yeon are apologetic, but as the cool boss that Myeong-seok is, he tells them not to worry and to do their best on the case regardless.

But despite their best efforts to exonerate the defendant, she insists that she went to the victim’s house with the intention of getting her money back at all costs, and her case is pretty much sealed. The judge calls for a recess to give the jury time to reach a decision, and that’s when Young-woo comes up with the claim that the defendant cannot be charged with injury resulting from robbery because she didn’t get the money.

Young-woo and Su-yeon try to convince the judge to resume the hearing, but he refuses their request even after Young-woo pleads with him to take the defendant’s situation with her daughter into consideration. And outside the court, as Young-woo reflects on the maternal instincts of mother whales, she rhetorically wonders if her mother wouldn’t have abandoned her were she to be a whale.

The jury comes to a unanimous decision on a four-year sentence for the defendant, but she is sentenced to probation as per the judge’s ruling. One of his reasons for this ruling is the defendant’s confession of her crime – which is the most basic reason for mitigation, and the rookie lawyers cannot believe they forgot that! Talk about being too focused on the big picture and overlooking what is hiding in plain sight. Heh.

To celebrate their win, Young-woo and Su-yeon go shopping, and CEO Tae is a customer at one of the shops they visit. And though they don’t see each other, we see that just like Young-woo, CEO Tae also has the habit of organizing and lining things up properly…

It’s interesting how with each case we learn something new about Young-woo, just as she learns something new about herself, and it’s only a matter of time before she finds out who her mother is. I mean, at this point, the drama has all but admitted that Young-woo and CEO Tae are connected, right?

But for now, rather than worry about how Young-woo will deal with issues regarding her mother, I will just bask in the euphoria of a love-smitten Jun-ho, and eagerly wait for next week’s episodes to see how my ship will sail.

 
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Source: Buzz Pinay Daily