Sleep got the better of me last night so I’m posting this recap a little later than I wanted to. The good news is, we’re almost all caught up!
MUSIC: Miss Hammurabi Music List.
CHARACTER CHART: Shorthand Character Chart
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KDRAMA MISS HAMMURABI RECAP EPISODE 2
OPENING
COR thinks on the subway. She looks at her badge. then we cut to her mother looking at it. Her mother is not happy, she likes seeing COR playing music instead so she starts crying. COR tells her that she is leaving and she takes her badge and starts walking away. But she turns back and looks at her mother strongly.
Cut to COR walking around a market with her grandmother. All the ajummas in the outdoor market knows her and wants to give her food. They fight over being the first person to see her judge badge and marvel at how it looks. Halmoni smiles but tells them all that it is too loud. COR says all of this is because of halmoni and ajummas feeding her. halmoni says it is because she worked hard, it has nothing to do with her.
Suddenly, another ajumma runs up and tells COR that she went to court, but the judge told her to quit the case. She tried to explain it but the judge didn’t believe her without the contract. She did her business trusting people, not paper. She needs her hard earned money.
COR tells her that she will write a witness request for her. Ajumma says that she is too scared when she is in front of the judge. He sits high up there and he doesn’t look like a human. he has a stern face. It is not her fault, but she feels like a criminal. COR tell her that she will take care of everything. Halmoni tells her granddaughter to become a good judge, she will have her back.
COURTHOUSE
COR apologizes to BR about last night. Actually, she is there because she is angry at the court. BR mutters, that is why you became a judge?
BW walks into the office happily and talks to Do-yeon. DY tells BW everything about himself and tells him that the judge is in the room, is he there to look at her or talk to him? BW says he is there to see him…okay….bye. he goes into BR’s office muttering and then asks BR why their office is the only bright place. Maybe because it faces south?
Then he notices COR and says he is BR’s best friend. COR is all like, I am not. BW tells her that there is no God because of BR. He is the youngest and the top. But you quit music school and studied by yourself and passed your test and were always top at the training center. You are more of a genius than this guy.
COR says she was just lucky. He tells her that she has good manners and then tells BR that he is done. BR tells BW to stop and tells COR that he will interfere with her work. But it has already happened because BW is all over COR’s desk talking to her. he tells her that she is his style, fighting! Don’t be too scared. If you are scared then you can sit there, SS will do everything.
COR tells him that she won’t just sit there and do nothing. BR tells BW to just leave. BW is all like, fine fine, I am leaving, where are your manners? he leaves.
Cut to COR putting on her judge clothing and making sure everything is straight. SS comes in and tells her that he always puts the robes on the judges’ first case. She tells him thank you. He puts her robes on her and tells her that these clothes signify the power and the rights that the citizens have given to judges. She says she will make sure of it. SS tells them, let’s go in.
The ride the elevator to the courthouse and go inside the small courtroom. Everyone rises as the three judges enter. Then they all sit.
A woman stands up in the sitting area and holds up a sign that says something about how the law is not punishing wrongdoings and makes judges corrupt. It is a silent protest on her part. Another woman grabs the sign and pulls it down. A hair fight breaks out among all the ladies.
Another man stands up, he is a foreigner and says that the boss is a bad guy and should give him his pay (it’s the foreigner from Misty?)
Another idol group shows up, their fans show up to the court as well.
It looks like this team is handling all the trivial cases.
Afterward, they all go ea, but COR is preoccupied with all the emotional parts of the cases. The protest woman has a hard time with the apartment, the foreigner’s son has a bad heart and needs treatment, the idol says it is okay that the agency doesn’t give them money, but they should feed them at least. He is only a senior in middle school and they only eat ramen all day. It is not human.
COR thinks her life is shortened with each case. SS just eats her food quickly and says they have to go back.
They get back to the court and hear a halmoni’s case. SS says the halmoni paid everything, so she should get the documents back. Halmoni thought just paying everything was okay and says a lot of excuses. The other woman tells her that she only paid two months worth of interest! This woman lies all the time! SS tells that lady to sit down. The other lady keeps talking and says she worked a lot to pay it all off and didn’t eat or anything, that is how she paid it off. She starts softly crying.
The judges say that they will work on the decision and it will be sent to their house, they don’t have to come to the courthouse to hear it.
Another case shows up. COR smiles and acknowledges that she knows this person which makes everyone murmur that she knows them. SS clears his throat and tells COR that she doesn’t know the meaning of her clothing. COR asks what she did wrong. BR tells her that she bowed to that lawyer. She says that was her professor. BR tells her that she needs to keep a poker face, she is not in a movie theater, she is a judge and should not express her emotions.
COR asks if she should hide her human emotions with these clothes? he tells her that she needs to hide her weakness as a human. But she wants to be a judge and a person. He wants to know if she thinks all the cases are her case? You won’t be a judge for too long. Trials are all other peoples matters, you won’t be able to continue if you don’t keep your distance.
JUDGE MEAL
The judges all go out to eat meat. One of the ladies is a martial artist, she was a reserve on the national taekwondo team. DY says that she heard a lot of the female police think it is a big deal that you work for a handsome single judge. the woman laughs and tells BR that she will protect him, he has nothing to worry about. The martial artist lieutenant tells them that she also plays tennis. They can all come play together.
BR tells her that she doesn’t’ have to protect him, he plays tennis as well. They invite him to their sporting events.
One of the clerks, MSS, is a little drunk and says he is a little busy, they are busier than other courts and they have little complaints. SS wants to know what complaints they have. MSS tells them that they should work together and be equal. He holds out his cup to toast to SS. But SS tells him that he doesn’t want to remove his rank.
The clerk laughs and then clears his throat and apologizes. The moment is a little awkward but they cheer and the air clear a little bit.
DY has to leave early, MSS wants her to stay but she tells them she has work to do at night. She leaves. SS tells them al that DY is the best, just let her leave. He is just thankful for someone who does a good job. It is better than someone who doesn’t work yet talks about work while they drink.
MSS brings BR more drinks.
BR V.O. – This is the classical way of figuring out who is the highest rank among males.
COR says he will drink it for him but BR says he will drink it. He stands and drinks it all in one shot. MSS tells him he is a man. But we cut to a little while later and see BR hanging his head, drunk. Everyone ignores him. SS tells BR that he is sleeping, he is worst than a woman (or not as good as a woman). COR says he should not say those things, it makes the woman who is listening, refreshed (sarcastically). SS says he just says it because he likes her. COR tells him to say what he wants don’t try to make them believe what he is talking about.
BR starts talking drunkenly with his voice squeaking. He asks them if they have a family. After the trial, let’s just go home and rest. Why do you go out drinking? he tries to stand up but passes out. Everyone looks at him stunned and wonder how many drinks he had, one?
MORNING
BR has a hard time getting to work. He asks COR if anything happened. SHe smiles at her desk and says that nothing happened. Then she talks to the clerks, she asks JY to bring the case report earlier and calls MSS to make a more detailed report.BR tells her that they won’t like it. People don’t work for someone, they work for their own good and their own side. She tells him that he thinks about things based on himself, isn’t that right?
They have an awkward moment where they face off with glances with their different justice statues in the foreground.
The clerks bring COR what she needs. The Halmoni case bothers her. BR tells her that they judge based on evidence, not compassion. But what the halmoni wrote stands out to her. BR says not getting the proper documentation is their own fault. COR tells him that he is so cold. A lot of people don’t even know how to write a contract. Why do we need judges if we only need evidence?
BR says we need evidence to know the truth, judges are not fortune tellers. COR tells him that they need to listen to their stories and trust them, that is what judges do. BR wants to know if she wants to remove the cases without evidence?
She says yes.
He tells her that they need to have the rule that they will lose without evidence. If they have too many exceptions then people won’t change.
Much later, BW shows up and tells them that their office feels like an army prison. Don’t they remember that they have a tennis match today? COR holds up her racket, she remembers.
TENNIS MATCH
BR is horrible at tennis the lieutenant says she thought him as a statue. I don’t like losing, we have to fight, fighting!
BW is on COR’s team and DD is on BR’s team. BW and COR are a much better team than the other two. Mostly because BR is really bad a tennis. BR thinks this is crazy, how are they all good at tennis?
The ball gets hit up toward BR. He stutters steps to get it, but then he falls into COR at the fence. They hug for a moment and then stare at each other. The ball ends up hitting him on the head. BW tells him that he planned that moment, he saw everything.
They take a break. The lieutenant goes to stand by BR and stares t him in an uncomfortable moment. He tries not o look at her. Suddenly, a tennis ball gets accidentally hit toward COR! BR hops up and blocks it with his head. BW yells at the other team to be careful, then he playfully tells BR not to block things with his head.
They go back to their offices. BR looks at COR and thinks he can understand all her cases by looking at her face and her emotions. he guesses all the cases. But then she smiles so he wonders what case that is. He pretends like he is stretching and walks over to her computer. She is looking at cheesecake and says they look so lovely.
He asks her if she would like to eat lunch. She is unable to because has work to do. Cut to BR coming back from his lunch, he sees COR eating with the halmoni whose son died during surgery.
Back in their office, COR starts working on halmoni’s case. Halmoni lost the retrial because the son of the landlord signed the delivery for the retrial and they didn’t tell her. That is why she lost. BR tells her that lawyers should write the retrial, not her. COR says there is something that lawyers will need her for.
BR asks her if she is done with all of her work. She should take care of her own cases first. After getting holes in all her cases, their won’t be any mercy in court. COR just smiles and says, yes, yes, mother-in-law.
CHARITY EVENT
COR calls her hyung who is at a charity event for older people. She hears that he is famous as a bad lawyer (joke?). He says she is the most famous rookie judge. She tells him that the election is not that far away, she heard that he does things he didn’t do before. He tells her that he just wants to get a position now.
COR tells him that a lot of old people are having trouble. I also saw a poor woman in front of the court. I think it is a good case for publicity. She hangs up and goes back into her office with a pep in her step.
MSS comes into their office and tells them that he can’t work for her if she does this all the time, JY is working overtime every day. It is good to sort all these things out, but why should the clerks work overtime? Calling doctors for the chart sounds easy, but when you call them, you can’t connect with them right away. We have to do all this work. You are the graceful high official, but for us, we can’t do all this work. if you do not change then I am going to bring it to the union.
COR tells him that they have to do it, they are gongwon (government employees). MSS tells her that JY does everything she asks, but she is a single mother. She needs to breathe a little bit. Please. He leaves.
SS comes storming in afterward yelling at everyone. he yells at COR and tells her that judges don’t just help one side, they help both sides! COR thinks that lady is an experienced loan shark so the other woman might be at a disadvantage. SS yells at her and basically says that is none of her business. But this lady is not experienced, she gave that lady money, if she was experienced then she would have given it to her in a different way. Do you know what that lady said?
The old woman called the other woman and told her that the young judge is her distant relative. She even called her. If you don’t cancel this case then I won’t give you any money. The loan shark woman complained to the government about it. This is so disgraceful! He storms out with COR apologizing.
COR sits at her desk with teary eyes and then goes out for some fresh air.
BW shows up to their office later (not sure if this is the same day or not) and tells them that he will treat them to dinner. he knows BR is super smart and can finish his work early, but look at her, she looks so skinny now. COR tells him that she is okay.
DELIVERY DINNER
Cut to the three of them eating their delivery. BW says a lot of old people joke then apologizes for them and says he hangs out with all the old people. But he does say that COR probably got made fun of a lot because of her name. BR is the same! You two are great as judges. Sae-sang – word, Ba-rum – right, Oreum – correct. It is like a super avengers team!
This makes COR smile a little it. he tells her that she works too hard recently. But she says she is okay working hard. However, her nose starts bleeding just at that moment. BR gets upset at her and asks her how long she has been working so long at work. This is a marathon, not a sprint. If you get sick and leave then it affects the entire team. He tells her to go home so she won’t affect tomorrows work.
BW and BR go to the bathroom to wash out their food. But BW looks at BR as if he knows his secret. BR tries to shoo him away.
He goes back to his office and sees COR still working. He wants her to go home but she says she needs to finish up this one report. She is not a little kid that needs protection. She will do her work. He tells her that they are a team, don’t be childish, just be healthy again so you won’t affect the team. She tells him that she understands and she will see him tomorrow.
TRADITIONAL MARKET
COR goes to the ajumma stand and talks to her halmae. She says she was too ambitious. Halmae tells her that working with a good heart is good. But COR says she thought about working hard, not about the people that she worked with. Halmoni says they people who are there work for her because they know that she is on their side. She is really on their side.
The ajumma’s give COR more food and tells her to eat and gain strength. You can make mistakes but learn from them. They start to try and cheer her up and joke back and forth with each other. COR starts speaking saturi to them since they are all speaking saturi to her.
MORNING
COR goes to work early and thanks BR for last night. She asks him if he will do the foot volleyball? BR says that the judges don’t attend that event, it is only for employees. She says she wants to go to it.
Cut to JY working hard as she puts piles and piles of paperwork in the cabinet. her back hurts as she sits at her desk. Then we see COR putting a little car on her desk. She just came here to talk to her. MSS tells her that judges never come there. COR tells them that she just wanted to come. Then she tells JY that she can help sort out the cases. She also wrote a letter to the doctors so they don’t have to call them anymore, they can just send the letter formally.
She turns around and asks MSS if she can come to the soccer volleyball game. He says of course. COR smiles and then tells JY that the car is for her child and she hopes he likes it. JY holds the car to her chest.
Later on, BW comes to their office again and talks to COR about the inheritance excel file that is very difficult. COR says BR told her that she can just use a program. BW says there is no such program, you have to compare all the cases and take at least two days to do it. It looks like BR took on COR’s work and did it all manually overnight.
Flashback to BR working extra hard to fill out all that paperwork for her. COR also thinks about all the things BR said about them being a team and that she should stay healthy for the team.
SOCCER VOLLEYBALL
The court team plays soccer volleyball. COR shows up to support them but then has to play with them when the lieutenant gets injured. JY’s son is there as well. When BR shows up, COR kindly walks the son to BR and tells him to watch the son in order to let JY play a game as well.
BR is awkward at first, but he shakes the son’s hand and tells him that it is nice to see him, he is his mother’s coworker, Lim Ba-run.
They continue playing until we see all COR’s emo’s show up from the market. The emo’s are smitten with BR right away. They bring a lot of food to the now empty gym and have a picnic on the court with all the food.
Later on, BR sits on the bleachers by himself. COR runs over to him and thanks him for coming today and for helping her with her case. He says it was no big deal. She says, even so ~. Then she smiles at him. He has a bag with him and gives it to her. It is the cheesecake that she liked on the computer. He apologizes for letting her work so late, he didn’t realize it so he was not a good sunbae.
COR also apologizes since she pushed their employees too hard. She should be on their side. He tells her that she doesn’t have to be that sorry.
Flashback, At work, BW uploads a video of BR getting hit in the head with the tennis ball. COR laughs at it. COR stands up and stretches. he sees the cheesecake on her computer instead of the video.
COURT CASE
SS talks about another case where people were eating at a restaurant. The plaintiff was eating meat at a restaurant. The defendant dropped a hot plate on him and was burnt. They lost the first trial so they are retrying the case. her son is not there so she is the only plaintiff.
One of the men stands up and says they are suing them to get money, there is no doctors report and the child is not there. The woman says that she didn’t want to bring her child to the courthouse.
They go back and forth with whether the child was burned by the plate or not. There are no injuries on the child’s photo.
SS mutters that he needs to eat Omega 3 for his eyes.
The male owner says that the woman is from China so she doesn’t speak Korean that well. Even if the hot plate touched the boy, it did not leave a mark, how can they give them $500? It doesn’t make any sense!
They also sued the plaintiff because this woman threw a rock in their window which kept them from doing business and ruined their honor. So he is suing for $100k, way more than she is suing for.
SS says he has been in this business for a long time. There are no winners here, why don’t’ you take care of this with an agreement. The man says money is not the issue. BR thinks money is the issue. The man says he went to the marines so he can’t let injustice stand. SS says that is great that he went to the Marines, money is not an issue so he can easily adjust. Next case.
SS gives the case to COR. He tells her it is a simple case so she can handle it. COR wants to know if there is another truth that they are overlooking. SS says there is nothing more to see there. They are both in the wrong. Of course, the plaintiff will be angry with the hotplate, but she looks wealthy, why should she ask for 500 dollars from private citizens like that. Other peoples wounds are more painful than a sting under my own fingernail.
BR mentions that some stings really hurt.
SS looks at him and mutters about talking back.
The case ends up going to an agreement. COR asks the woman why she went to an appeal. the woman says it was her mistake, she thought if she told her the truth then she would know. She hands COR the agreement, but she looks sad about it.
COR gets the agreement but rips it up. She tells them not to have an agreement and go back to court.
SS thinks COR is crazy. But COR says they both did not accept that case. If someone is telling the truth, then it will be too much for that person. SS yells, how do you know who is right? They are the same! They are both wrong.
She thinks someone is worse than the other and the worse person should get more punishment. Only honest people can sue others. SS is angry at that, how can she talk back to her chief? COR holds her grounds and tells him that they need to know which person is the bad person. that really bad person will pretend like they are the victims if the victim has a little blemish.
BR walks in at that moment.
COR continues. She didn’t think their job was to have an agreement, their job is to punish bad people. Even primary school people know that. SS asks what kind of evidence she will bring. COR tells him that they should know the truth between them. She is not sure, but she wants to do her best until the end, no matter what the result is. She thinks it is wrong to have a decision based on the evidence.
SS tells her, so the god of righteousness will really work? So do it, but I don’t know who you will hurt.
BR thinks this is driving him crazy, this court is all anger management problem people.
SS tells COR to do the interview with the plaintiff and the defendant herself. he leaves.
Later, BR and COR work on the case. COR thinks this case is strange. BR says he saw a case where someone killed their neighbor because they were too noisy and another person killed someone because they cut in live. This society is messed up with these anger management issues. There is something going on with this hot plate, but you are doing too much, I am sorry. this about the cases that you have to solve. This hot plate case is unnoticeable and there is no evidence of treatment in the hospital.
The damage is small and they are doing too much with that little damage. COR says that is what bothers her about it! Why are they doing all this with that little damage? BR tells her that focusing on trivial cases with delay other cases, their righteousness is limited with time.
COR just tells him that it is impossible to know what is right or wrong, but it is important to pick and choose. They keep talking about this moral decision.
The conclusion is that they believe different things.
COURT CASE
BW asks if he can go to their court today? they say he can. They all robe up and go to court. But BW tells DY that she looks nice with wavy hair today. She says she didn’t wash her hair because she worked late. She asks him if he would like to smell it? He tells her no, he is on his way out.
Cut to the court case. The owner tells the story from his side. Her son is burnt and scared. The owner wants to give her a free meal, but she is upset because her son is hurt. It looks like her son might be disabled. he says they can call the police, but she just leaves right away. The man says every day is a battle as a business like his.
COR asks the plaintiff if she is Chinese-Korean? The plaintiff says she came there to work and suffered a lot from the Korean hospitality, but she doesn’t care. When she was 16 she was sold to a 50-year-old man, she worked hard in the field at day and was tortured at night. She lost two kids at her young age. Her body is all broken. It was her hell living in China, but that lady never looks like she has even washed a dish. But she made this matter so big with her son. he was all grown up but she hugged him like a little boy.
COR asks the lady why she didn’t include her son in this case. She says she just doesn’t want to do it. COR asks why they shouldn’t say what they said in front of her sick child? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. The man says the son was a big boy but he held his mother tightly. he isn’t “derogatory term” is he? SS tells him, how dare you say that! Apologize to the plaintiff!
The mom says her son is sick. If you are so interested then I will tell you. My son is sick in his mind. He is big, but his mind is that of a little boy. People call him names. When he was little he was injured when he touched a hot plate. He likes ribs but he can’t eat it because of the hot plate. So I served him. He didn’t have a scar due to Gods help, but that ajusshi never asked if he was okay, he just yelled at us. Her child peed on the floor from fear. His father (her ex-husband) yelled at him all the time when he was drunk so he fears that, it scares him. She just went home at that time because she couldn’t think about it at that moment.
Flashback of the son peeing in his pants when a fire breaks out in chemistry class in high school. All the kids pointed an laughed at him so he stayed in the classroom during lunchtime.
The mother says all the kids ignored him after that and he doesn’t have any friends to hang out with any more at school. (It seems like he is very very shy, almost clinically shy and very sensitive/emotionally-open person so he has a hard time functioning in society).
Mini flashback to the son telling his mother that he wants to eat a huge breakfast because he doesn’t eat lunch at school. But he says it with a bright smile.
She was angry when she heard all of this, that is why she sued them.
The other woman is very affected. She says she is sorry, she saw the hot plate touch the boy. She lied about it. She was scared because she is raising her daughter alone. Her daughter has asthma and they live in a basement apartment. She thought she would be in so much trouble after the accident. She was so scared. She is really sorry about that.
They both apologize. The man says he should have asked the boy if he was okay and not hurt. But he thought, if he gave them a little bit of room then they would take advantage of him. He is really sorry about that.
Everyone in the courthouse is crying or tearing up except BR and SS>
BR – When we wear these judge clothes, we should remove our facial expressions as humans but we shouldn’t remove our heart as humans. I didn’t see it. If I looked from the heart then I could have seen it. Someone kept watching it until the end. The trial ended, the plaintiff canceled the trial. The only thing the plaintiff wanted to hear was “Are you okay?” Judge Park allowed her to hear those words.
The judges all go back to their offices. SS looks at his name on his robe and remembers the first time that he put them on. Flashback to SS as a younger man. He is asked what he thinks the judges’ job is.
To decide what is right or wrong.
His mentor says that is true, but he is a 30-year judge and still doesn’t’ know what that means, so become a judge that listens well.
SS tells his mentor that it is still difficult to listen to others stories.
COR hangs her judge robes and looks at her name sewn into them. It makes her smile and tear up.
BR smiles as he looks at her from his desk. But then he clears his throat and keeps working when he sees her turn to look at him.
Fade Out
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