Recap Korean Drama "Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Part 2(2022) " Episode 4

Episode 10 of Money Heist: Korea starts two months before the break-in. Here, we see Woo-Jin first meet the Professor, who bumps into the rear of her car and then offers to take her out for coffee. He invites her along to his coffee shop, which happens to be Café Ciao Bella. Of course, this is a nod to the original series. And it is, of course, a deliberate ploy to bring Inspector Seon into his plan.

However, he didn’t count on her passing out from exhaustion in the streets, sending him back to cradle her in his arms and try to get her help. She’s taken to the nearest hospital and when she regains consciousness, with her mother there too, Woo-Jin starts to get flashes of what happened, realizing the Professor saved her.

Back in the present, the various officials are fuming after Berlin and Seoul’s antics last episode. The news continue to report that all of this was done to impede the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Summit. Kim Sangman is expected to drop a lot in approval points with the public as a result, but he’s confident that those on the inside will cave at some point.

Berlin gives a big speech inside The Mint, pointing out that the officials are the real thieves and at 3pm tomorrow he’s going to release all the hostages unless they choose to stay willingly. Sangman sees through this and believes it’s a ruse to communicate with their guys on the outside and as such, they decide to double up the security for the upcoming Summit.

The Professor is concerned that plans are changing more rapidly than he’s foreseen, but inside the Mint, Berlin makes good on his promise and shows off the bags of money he has, promising them all that this is real and if they choose to stay, they’ll be able to get their hands on the money. The Director is completely shot down from his suggestion that it’s all a ruse.

The Professor was banking on this though, and flashbacks show that he wanted the hostages on their side, otherwise they easily could have rebelled and revolted against them. If a hostage does choose to go for the money, they’ll be on their side and as such, there’s no way they’d jeopardize the mission. It’s essentially a bribe disguised as liberation.

Denver catching feelings for Mi-Sun though could well change all of that. However, he’s warned against taking this path by Moscow, who drops to his knees and pleads with him not to make the same mistakes he has. He believe it’s Stockholm Syndrome, leaving Denver conflicted and unsure how to take this moving forward. Berlin isn’t much help either, prompting Denver to decide to break things off with her. Mi-Sun is shocked and heartbroken, but then so too is Denver, who struggles when she leaves the room.

Outside the Mint, Woo-Jin heads over to see the Professor, pointing out she’s off the case and knows that he saved her in the street. She admits that her feelings are real for him, catching the Professor off-guard. He follows her out into the street after her confession and hugs her tightly.

Back inside, the Professor admits that his father had dementia too, which explains why he had such trouble with harming Woo-Jin’s mum. After regaining Woo-Jin’s trust and solidifying their ties together, everything is back to how it was… or so he thought. When Woo-Jin leaves, she gets stuck on the Professor’s words “dementia too”. She speaks to her mother and realizes that the old lady actually saw the Professor outside that night with Captain Cha.

Woo-Jin manages to piece everything together and realizes that this whole charade of meeting Sungho has been connected and she knows the true identity of the Professor now.

Tokyo’s part of the plan is about to begin. The Professor heads back to HQ, where Tokyo is given a package to give to Berlin on the inside. With all the moving parts coming together, Berlin lines up all the hostages who want to leave, but the communications cut out midway through the transmission. This is all Sangman’s doing, and the big moment arrives for Tokyo to make her grand re-entry, complete with a motorcycle charging for the main entrance.

Snipers are told to make the shot regardless of the other hostages (where were they during Berlin’s death-defying leap at night?!) but they end up hitting the numerous drones around her. As a result, Tokyo is back inside, some of the hostages are gone who don’t want to be there, and Berlin gets his package too.

As for Moscow, it turns out he’s been shot in the ensuing skirmish, having been hit fatally in the side. As he heads into the toilets, clutching his wound, Denver and Mi-Sun sit and discuss what’s happened, with Mi-Sun encouraging him to apologize to his father.

Captain Cha breaks his wrist and fingers in order to free himself from the cuffs, and in doing so charges away from the Counter-terrorism group who show up to track him down. Unfortunately, he steps out in front of a car that knocks him down.

Meanwhile, Woo-Jin learns the truth about the Professor’s upbringing and, more specifically, his ties to North Korea. At the same time, Tokyo brings the group together and warns that the Summit has been pushed up and they need to get out of there by tomorrow.

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The Episode Review

Money Heist: Korea continues to deliver the same plot points as the original series, with the bike part of the heist and even the slow mo is the same too. The added addition of those drones is a nice touch but ultimately we already know where the story is going, unless the creators decide to inject this one with some new and interesting plot points of course.

The episode is okay overall, with twists and turns abound but again, the narrative is largely the same so anyone who has seen the Spanish version will already know where this one’s going.

Either way though, this is still an enjoyable watch and the final two episodes leave everything wide open for where this may go next.