Hide (2024) K Drama Episode 1

Episode 1 of Hide begins in 1998 as Na Moon-young’s father burns promissory notes and runs away with his daughter. A friend finds them but that night the father tells a sleeping Moon-young that he needs to die for her to survive.

It cuts to 2023. Moon-young and her husband, Cha Sung-jae have their own law firm, Chawoong Law Firm. They have a loving daughter, Bom and a helpful neighbour, Ha Yeon-joo. Moon-young is a former prosecutor and meets with a classmate, Prosecutor Joo Shin-hwa for dinner. She gets super drunk and two men hit on them.

The next morning, Moon-young wakes up naked in her own bed with no memories of the previous night. She runs down to find Sung-jae feeding Bom breakfast. His hand is injured and he wears his wedding ring when she reaches them. When she asks about last night, he gets distracted and rushes off with Bom albeit giving her a loving goodbye. As they head out, Yeon-joo offers to make a dish for Bom and Moon-young is grateful.

Moon-young falls asleep only to wake up to calls that Sung-jae has not arrived at work. He has an important trial and Moon-young needs to fill in. She rushes to court while being briefed – Sung-jae works with Geumshin Corporation closely and one of their female employees, Kim Yoon-sun accidentally ran over a local who refused to sell his land to them for a new resort.

There is a witness who can testify for her, an arrogant guard – Do Jin-woo. The trial is a mess as the defence is shocked that Sung-jae is not representing them, Kim goes missing and the judge postpones the trial to a month later. Moon-young is confused by the events and her assistant reveals that Sung-jae didn’t even want the case.

While heading home, Moon-young spots a driver with the same bandaid on his hand as Sung-jae. There is a female passenger and she races after the car. The target speeds up and eventually escapes but not before Moon-young notes the license plate.

Manager Go files a missing police report but the car is not linked to Sung-jae. Moon-young’s mother-in-law, Park Myung-hee picks up Bom from school when Sung-jae fails to but she doesn’t find anything amiss. She, in fact, doesn’t want a missing persons report, believing her son will show up soon.

Elsewhere, Kim is packing when CEO Ma Kang of Geumshin calls her. She refuses to show up at court if Sung-jae isn’t representing her. Ma is furious and tells his assistant, Yoon to look into his disappearance.

Moon-young gets in touch with Shin-hwa who reveals that when the two men tried to pick them up, Sung-jae showed up and caused a scene before taking her home. They wonder how he knew their location. Moon-young checks her dashcam and it only shows him taking her home. She suddenly spots Kim who runs off when Yoon arrives. He simply warns her and leaves.

Sung-jae still hasn’t shown up the next day and Moon-young gets worried. Ma calls to say that Sung-jae worked on several of their cases as well and they need to find him soon. She tells him about Kim showing up and he tells Yoon to look into it.

Unfortunately, the law firm gets broken into but nothing goes missing. Detective Baek is assigned and there is some tension between him and Moon-young. She gets a call about a loan payment and turns out Sung-jae needs to repay over 3 billion won. He hasn’t paid the employees for 3 months and Moon-young is shocked. It is revealed that he comes from a rich family and it is only his father’s reputation that has the cases flooding in.

Moon-young tries to get Shin-hwa’s help who laughs off the disappearance as nothing serious. But her assistant overhears and shows her the revenue papers of the law firm. Meanwhile, Moon-young isn’t able to pick up Bom and she asks for Yoon-joo’s help who readily agrees. Jin-woo is about to go to Bom when Yoon-joo picks her up.

At that moment, Kim calls Moon-young and they meet under a bridge. She reveals that she is innocent and Sung-jae told her to take the fall. Before she can say anything, Jin-woo shows up and a scared Kim drives off. He is about to follow her when Moon-young stops him. He laughs at her bravado and tells her to ask her husband what is going on. Just then, police and an ambulance rush in the direction Kim drove off.

Baek calls Moon-young as Sung-jae’s ID card has been found at an accident site. The car has driven off a cliff. The body is completely charred but when she arrives, she can see a wedding ring on the corpse. She is in shock as she uncovers the body at the end of Hide Episode 1.

The Episode Review

The mysterious K-drama is off to a great start with Hide Episode 1. We get tons of pieces that keep our interest hooked. Along with it, each movement can be a clue or a red herring. Does the mysterious bandaid driver mean something? Or is there nothing more to Jin-woo watching Bom? It keeps the show engaging as it gives us just enough information to have us make up theories without being able to guess all the answers.

However, we do get a hint at the biggest mystery of all. The dead body Moon-young finds is most likely assumed to be Sung-jae so it is now a case of whether he has faked it or is he really dead. At the same time, we can assume that there is a second accident as well – the second set of cop cars that drive in Kim’s direction suggests that something may have happened to her as well (if you see the preview, you know). At least we just have a day of waiting before we get more answers and with it, more questions.