Chang-ho wakes up from this dream sequence to find himself in the asylum, completely bound. The head nurse injects him with something, as a voiceover from Prosecutor Choi details how he must be kept without food, water or sleep. He and Gong Ji-hoon discuss giving him a drug called Peace, a truth serum which will put him in so much pain that he will tell the truth. When Chang-ho is completely out of it, they inject him with Peace. He hallucinates mice and begins to scream in pain. When he says he isn’t Big Mouse they assume he is lying, but he blacks out before they can inject more. A flashback shows Mi-ho and Chang-ho meeting for the first time. Chang-ho had got in trouble when some kids picked a fight with him and Mi-ho got him out of trouble as he was getting scolded by her father at a police station. She then shares her lunch box with him, something he says happened to him for the first time that day. After another hazy dream sequence, Chang-ho is woken up with a splash of water. To avoid more pain from the truth serum, he tells Ji-hoon his money is at Gudal mountain. From a flashback to when he and Mi-ho went hiking up Gudal mountain, we realise Chang-ho is just buying time. But when the VIPs dig up the ground, they find a box with a single gold bar. And Chang-ho has no idea how it got there. Meanwhile, the real Big Mouse seems to have shifted the gold bars from the underground space to a storage facility. At the prison, people seem to be coughing up blood and passing out. The room leader and Chairman Yang discuss how Dr. Han was released on bail. Elsewhere, Mayor Choi and his wife go for an underwater swim. Later, Joo-hee asks him why he hasn’t asked for her help with gaining the Elder’s favour. He says he wants a child with her. Just then, one of his men comes up to him with some news. Mi-ho gets a call from the Mayor saying he found Jang Hye-jin. He reaches Hye-jin just as she’s about to throw the necklace, but finds it empty inside. Mi-ho and the others arrive soon but Mayor Choi has to leave when he hears that the Elder has collapsed. Mi-ho tries talking to Hye-jin but she refuses to testify against her husband. As Joo-hee takes care of the Elder, he asks her to take interest in his business. But she says she wants to focus on her patients. Mayor Choi stays with him once she leaves. As the Elder sleeps, the Mayor tenses up and reaches out a hand towards his throat but then seems to restrain himself. At the asylum, Chang-ho has bought himself some time with Ji-hoon by demanding for food in exchange for the location of the gold bars. Just as he is about to take a bit of sushi, someone with a tattoo of Big Mouse’s symbol sets fire to the asylum. Firefighters enter and one of them is Jerry in disguise! He helps Chang-ho fight his guard and together they escape. Jerry drops Chang-ho off near a tunnel where a car awaits him. He says Big Mouse paid him to do this. Since they are being chased, Jerry promises to explain everything later. Chang-ho goes to the black car where he finds clothes, a phone and money. But Jerry ends up getting surrounded by cops. He crashes his car and later, Chang-ho sees him on a stretcher, covered in blood. Meanwhile, Mi-ho gives Hye-jin some papers and tells her to choose between running away or fighting. Soon-tae, Mi-ho and her father have contacted a social media channel called News Mental, saying they have an informant for this case. Mi-ho’s father asks if Hye-jin will be up for it and Mi-ho replies that they’ll just have to wait and see. They get the news about Chang-ho’s escape from the mental hospital. At the prison, Chairman Yang is impressed with Chang-ho while the warden says it isn’t his problem. The VIPs are worried about Big Mouse being on the loose. The prosecutor says that the police are looking for his family and will find them soon. On the run now, Chang-ho gets the address of a hotel on his phone. On the way there, a policeman recognises him but lets him go — he has Big Mouse’s symbol tattooed behind his ear. He gets to the hotel room and decides that he isn’t going to be used and killed the way Jerry was. As Hye-jin leaves, Mi-ho says she will be waiting for her call. She thinks she won’t refuse their offer. Mi-ho then tries to come up with a plan to get in touch with Chang-ho without the police knowing. The three of them stage a public protest, stating that Chang-ho was abducted and did not escape. They even submit their phones to the police. As they pester Prosecutor Choi to investigate, Chang-ho reads about their activities in the news. Some time later, he watches them demonstrate from a clock tower. They expected him to call Soon-tae’s burner phone, but then Mi-ho notices a digital ad for life insurance playing on a nearby billboard. The animated story plays out the scene of Chang-ho proposing to Mi-ho with the life insurance he bought. Mi-ho dials the ad’s phone number and finally speaks to Chang-ho. He tells her he was abducted but he’s okay now. She tells him Hye-jin has agreed to help them and gives him her phone number. Chang-ho says he will control things now. The VIPs are watching the News Mental teaser when Hye-jin calls Ji-hoon, claiming that she has Professor Seo’s paper but she wants a divorce from Dr. Han in exchange for it. Dr. Han refuses to do so and the VIPs get into an argument. We then see that Hye-jin is with Chang-ho. As Chang-ho gets dressed to the nines, his voiceover talks about lies and how the best place to hide them is within the truth. The VIPs arrive at court for their trial. As Ji-hoon and Mayor Choi exchange words, the Mayor finds out that he knows about Jang Hye-jin and informs Mi-ho, who is just arriving. Mi-ho opens her laptop in court as the News Mental host begins to introduce his informant. All slick and suited up, Chang-ho arrives and takes his seat as the show’s informant, to the shock of thousands of viewers. An epilogue shows Mi-ho interacting with Chang-ho as he works at a grocery store and then watching him take two bags full of milk for the other kids at his orphanage.
The Episode Review
The entire asylum segment of this episode seems out of place from the rest of the show. From the white-walled building to the patients pressing their faces up against their doors, all the way across to Chang-ho’s guard — a menacing-looking man with tattoos, gold teeth and bowl cut — the whole thing screams of stereotypes. Its execution landed somewhere between comedy and serious, and not even Lee Jong-suk’s acting could compensate for it. This episode also stretches the show’s believability, something which hasn’t been a problem so far. How did Mi-ho and the others not even know Chang-ho had been shifted to the mental hospital? The second half of the episode, however, is definitely a better watch. Getting Chang-ho out of the prison setting makes for an interesting change and it’s always a pleasure to watch Mi-ho fighting the system. The heartfelt flashbacks to Mi-ho and Chang-ho’s ordinary life definitely anchor the show, making you root for these characters. We’re now at the halfway mark and the momentum hasn’t slowed. Big Mouth continues to be a thrilling show and hopefully, the following episodes will begin to answer all our burning questions.
