Cafe Minamdang: Episodes 17-18 (Final)
by meryl
Our shaman and his crew finally uncover the killer’s identity, and they plan one last grand scheme to capture him. While it doesn’t go exactly as planned, they’re still able to find closure — and even a happy ending.
EPISODES 17-18 WEECAP
We finally see what happened right before Do-won set up Han-jun as a murderer. Worried about Han-jun, Su-cheol and Hye-jun barge into the temple, only finding Jae-hui inside. They call Do-won for help. But the psychopath just points them in the wrong direction, because he has already dragged Han-jun back to Cafe Minamdang. Unbeknown to him, Seung-won has been tailing him.
Elsewhere, we also see how Assistant Gu has escaped. After Detective Jang tries to encourage the arsonist to confess, a Van of Doom slams onto the police transport car, allowing Assistant Gu to escape and reunite with Do-won.
Much later, Do-won, now donning his prosecutor persona, waits for Jae-hui and co. at the cafe. But of course, what they find is the murder scene he has set up: Han-jun holding a bloody knife in front of Auntie Im’s cold, dead body.
Do-won has flipped the story around: “You got caught trying to fool us all,” says the one who is actually fooling everyone. Jae-hui attempts to dissuade the prosecutor from arresting Han-jun, but she only gets removed from the case, with Do-won citing her close relationship with the suspect. And so our beloved shaman is brought in as a suspect.
But Han-jun being Han-jun, he doesn’t let this faze him too much. He leaves a series of case numbers with Su-cheol and Hye-jun to investigate.
At the station, Han-jun combines his expert profiling skills, memories, and all the knowledge he now has about Gopuri to figure out the real culprit’s identity. He comes to a startling conclusion that makes him shout and scoff in frustration… Or not? He tells Jae-hui he wouldn’t be in a cell if he knew who Gopuri really is.
But he does take this chance to apologize for deceiving her before, and Jae-hui reiterates that she still trusts him and she’ll do whatever it takes to prove his innocence.
The next day, just before being transferred to the prosecution, Han-jun is having digestion problems. He needs to go to the bathroom! One with a bidet, to be specific! The one by the chief’s office! He’s making a fuss, because Su-cheol is actually waiting there to break him out. (Are the police just incompetent or are they in on his plan? Hmm.)
Han-jun calls Jae-hui to inform her of his suspicions that there’s a spy in their midst. Oof. A fidgety Do-won is literally right there, listening. Please don’t spill the beans there.
When Jae-hui agrees with Han-jun’s assessment about a spy, Do-won looks even more nervous. But attention isn’t on him as the police team starts pointing fingers at each other, with Detective Jang even walking out in indignation.
Do-won answers a call from Seung-won, who is angry about getting the blame for murders he didn’t even do. The older brother blackmails him with an incriminating video of a bloody Do-won exiting Minamdang. But the younger brother offers a tempting deal: the Choekang chairmanship in exchange for Seung-won doing Do-won’s dirty work.
The next day, Jae-hui heads to Seung-won’s office to ask him questions. But she never actually makes it there as she’s pulled into a black van. From afar, the Minamdang crew sees her getting kidnapped. They try to follow in a car chase, but end up losing the van. So they call for backup… who else but the trusty Do-won?
Han-jun begs for Do-won’s help, sounding desperate. The prosecutor smirks in his office, promising to “help” find Jae-hui. (Ugh, I can’t believe I was cheering him on as second lead a couple of weeks ago.)
You might be getting frustrated with how much trust they still have in Do-won, but all of these, as it turns out, are just part of Han-jun’s masterplan. Because he did figure out Gopuri’s identity. Yay, let’s go, Minamdang scheme! Even if there’s less shaman elements now.
Now, we rewind all the way back to the holding cell: Han-jun has actually called a meeting with everyone in the team to reveal Gopuri’s real identity. Gopuri isn’t just one person — it’s three, all with different murder motives: greed (Auntie Im cleaning up after her clients), hindrance (Assistant Gu removing obstacles in his master’s path), and execution (Do-won enacting his own justice).
Seeing all of her interactions with Do-won through a fresh yet heartbreaking perspective, a distraught Jae-hui breaks down in tears. A friend she trusted for so long (and who allegedly liked her!) was her brother’s killer all along. Poor Jae-hui. At least she has Han-jun’s shoulder to cry on.
But she quickly collects herself to catch the real killer. So the team gets to work with our resident shaman in the lead, of course! Everything was all part of Han-jun’s plan — the escape, Jae-hui’s “kidnapping” (despite the protests of a pouting Han-jun), and even the police team’s internal conflict. Hooray for a Minamdang scheme! Really!
Back to the present day, Seung-won promises he’ll get back at his younger brother, but that can’t happen after the Minamdang crew traps him and his secretary. He’s staying mum, but after the threat of getting trapped in “cement” (it’s just mud, according to Hye-jun), his secretary spills the tea. Seung-won out!
At the meeting location, Do-won waits for his brother. Unfortunately for him, Han-jun is one step ahead of him. Or is he? Seems like everything’s going well, but not really…
First, Detective Na, drunk on relaxant, nearly blows their cover. Then, Detective Jang gets too immersed in his role as a villainous secretary after being hit by an actual metal pole (Ouch!). Then, as opposed to Han-jun’s stellar acting, Su-cheol acting as Seung-won is so nervous that he needs to read his lines from his hand, LOL. The plan sounded so airtight when Han-jun was explaining it, but now he’s got a lot of variables that may just expose the ruse.
No matter, Do-won heads down to confront him, and he doesn’t notice anything, because he just wants to mock Han-jun for figuring out his identity “too late.” How does he not notice that it’s not his brother lying right there…?
Han-jun finally gets the chance to know why his best friend died, but Do-won simply pins the blame on him, claiming he wouldn’t have killed them if Han-jun didn’t chase him around.
Do-won says he enjoys the feeling of control over a life, of enacting justice on others. But he’s flustered when the shaman just laughs. Han-jun reveals he captured Do-won’s confession on camera. And finally, Do-won realizes he got trapped.
But the crew forgot one variable: Assistant Gu, who points a hunting rifle at them. Jae-hui comes to the rescue just in time, but she still takes a bullet to the shoulder, allowing Do-won to escape.
Still, the team doesn’t waste time to catch the serial killer, utilizing the media to hunt Do-won down. But it only ignites debates about his actions. Some people see Do-won as a heartless murderer who should be behind bars, while others paint him as a vigilante who delivers justice for those who escape the law. Oof.
The next day, after raiding Do-won’s office, Jae-hui finds the psychiatrist’s records on how she manipulated Do-won’s behavior. After watching the logs, Han-jun figures Do-won will set out to kill again, and soon — either because he can’t help his murderous urges or because he wants to justify his previous kills as principled acts.
Finding matches among the data on Do-won’s computer, Assistant Gu’s files, and Auntie Im’s gopuri knots, the crew is able to figure out who Do-won’s next targets are. Each name has a criminal record, so it seems Do-won is still set on enacting justice in his own twisted way.
To cover more ground, the team splits up: Han-jun and Su-cheol, Hye-jun and Na-dan, Jae-hui and Detective Jang, and Detectives Na and Kim. And despite losing his accomplices, Do-won proves just why he’s a psycho, using the classic divide and conquer method.
After Hye-jun gets frustrated with the slow internet connection, she and Na-dan infiltrate a security office. But Do-won has really lured her to incapacitate her. After getting no response from Hye-jun, Na-dan goes to check on her, but Do-won also ambushes him. He even traps Su-cheol in a closed-up store, so he can finally get Han-jun on his own. Because Han-jun has always been his target.
Oh my, this is literally Han-jun’s worst nightmare! After Jae-jeong’s untimely death, he has always been so scared about his found family getting in danger because of Gopuri. Nooooo, please let everyone be okay!
The shaman tries to call the other units, but everyone else is preoccupied: Jae-hui is dealing with an impromptu drug bust, while Detectives Kim and Na are stuck on a boat. And Su-cheol is heading to Hye-jun and Na-dan. (Grateful they’re okay, but I wish they explored Han-jun’s fears more. What a development that would’ve been.)
The shaman finally faces off against his mortal enemy. In an intense 1v1, Han-jun tells him to “stop pretending to be a freaking victim” because he is a murderer. “You’re just a crazy psychopath… You’re not some righteous grand judge that you think you are.”
Still, Do-won firmly believes he’s a man of principle and justice that society wants and needs. (Some people did think he was a vigilante…) So he continues his attempts to provoke Han-jun, but Han-jun just rebuts him, affirming their difference. “Unlike you, I don’t think I embody justice.” And so he leaves the murderer to the police.
As Jae-hui arrests Do-won, Han-jun hogs the media’s attention to show off his awesome profiling skills. But his crew takes this chance instead to advertise Cafe Minamdang and its amazing shaman services. They still have a loan to pay off, after all. LOL.
A week later, Do-won and Jae-hui get one last face-to-face meeting. Even in handcuffs and prison clothes, Do-won believes his murders are acts of justice, even claiming he was sincere about liking her. (Urgh.) Jae-hui curses him to the end of the world, promising to catch killers like him.
Meanwhile, Cafe Minamdang is filled with posts of Han-jun and fans visiting just to see him. But the shaman leaves to take some time off, much to his crew’s consternation. He’s able to pull Jae-hui away from her work for a bit, but while Jae-hui does enjoy their date, she says she’s happiest working on cases with Han-jun and the rest of their team.
So of course, what else do they find on their holiday but a new murder case? So we say goodbye to the beloved Minamdang crew just as they continue to solve cases and take down criminals together. Because you can pull the shaman away from Minamdang, but you can’t take Minamdang out of Han-jun. (Did that make sense? The show didn’t make much sense either, so eh.)
Phew. It’s finally over! I’m sorry to say, but this show gave me more reasons to drop than to stay. For one, I needed to completely ignore wacky age gaps to continue the drama. The timeline has always been weird from the beginning (e.g. the leads’ age gap, Auntie Im’s seeming immortality, and more), but I had to use suspension of disbelief to be able to (try to) enjoy each episode.
It was also disappointing how the supposed second lead was sidelined so much in the first half. Do-won seemed to be a bad guy in disguise (and he was), but because he was barely in the first half, the build-up to his identity reveal wasn’t enough to be satisfying (even if we all suspected him already). We only really got to see Do-won more involved in the latter half, and by then, it’s like the show forgot how they described him in the first few episodes. What became of Chatterbox Prosecutor? I feel like that would’ve been a funny gag if they continued with that; it could’ve been better cover for him as the bad guy, instead of being a lovelorn second lead. Unfortunately, it seems this drama was trying to do too many things at once.
At least they got scene-stealer Min-gyeong right. I’m glad she was a recurring character, instead of a one-time thing, and I’m glad to see her at the end of the series, too, happy with her new love Director Park.
If I weren’t covering this show, I probably would’ve skipped every scene that didn’t have Han-jun and the rest of the Minamdang crew. And I don’t really see myself rewatching this series. If ever, I might just watch edits of the Minamdang crew, because they were truly the highlight here, and definitely hard-carried this show — especially Seo In-gook. Hopefully, he stars in a better written show next time. Fingers crossed! And *shaman dance* too, just in case.
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Cafe Minamdang: Episodes 17-18 (Final)
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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