Han River Police (2023) K Drama Episode 5

Episode 5 of Han River Police begins with Sergeant Han and Cheon-seok returning to give Eun-suk the bag she left in the car. Meanwhile, Doctor creeps inside Eun-suk’s house as she puts Han Jun to bed. Outside, Cheon-seok parks the car terribly, making it impossible for Sergeant Han to take the bag upstairs, so Cheon-seok offers to deliver it.

While he waits inside the car, Sergeant Han gets impatient just as he sees the Hitter approaching another car. A fight ensues, and Sergeant Han almost has him when the Doctor arrives and speeds away with the Hitter. Before leaving, Doctor crushes Hitter’s car into a wall with Sergeant Han in it, but he is not injured. Cheon-seok comes running back, and they see Eun-suk tied up and in the boot of Hitter’s car.

Elsewhere, Na-hee visits a detective to ask about Detective Lee. She inquires about the case he is working on. She says something about the case turning out like it did before. She says the red smoke the witness mentioned earlier hints that gold is involved. 

Detective Lee visits the hospital where Baek Chul and his men were treated before escaping. He checks the CCTV footage and then asks for the hard drive of the footage. The security personnel wants to ask for permission from the hospital director, but Detective Lee intimidates him into discreetly giving the footage and handling the issue.

Han Jun is kidnapped, and Sergeant Han gets hysterical, wanting to confront Director Go without a plan. Cheon-seok manages to calm him down just as Na-hee arrives at the scene. She notices something she had seen in her father’s car at Baek Chul’s office. Meanwhile, Cheon-seok discovers that Han Jun was kidnapped to blackmail Baek Chul.

Eun-suk tells them about the large sum of money they received recently from him. She thinks Baek Chul could not have gotten such an amount through normal means. Hence, Director Go planned to kidnap Eun-suk and Han Jun to make Baek Chul do their bidding.

Cheon-seok and Sergeant Han plan to look for Baek Chul and understand what is happening. Na-hee arrives, and Sergeant Han requests that she stay with Eun-suk. 

Baek Chul and his men are at Han River Moonlight. Na-hee tells Eun-suk about Sergeant Han visiting Han Jun when he is asleep. Eun-suk thinks that Na-hee seems to know Sergeant Han better than her. Eun-suk implores Na-hee to leave her alone and help the rest of the team find Han Jun. 

Director Go asks the Doctor to put Han Jun to sleep, and he pumps him with drugs. He then calls Baek Chul to warn him to bring the gold as soon as possible to save the kid. Elsewhere, Detective Lee arrives at a shop hidden in an ally. The shopkeeper is suspicious, especially when Detective Lee mentions Chairman Hwang trading with them. 

Na-hee arrives at Han River Moonlight. Hyo-sun tries to prevent her from entering, but she forces her way in. Baek Chul asks his men to leave but Na-hee notices Nam-gi’s bag is missing pink diving equipment. She tries asking about it, making Baek Chul attack and put her to sleep. 

Elsewhere, someone follows Detective Lee as he emerges from the shop in the alley. The detective is, however, expecting him, and he chases the man into a shop to purchase gold and silver. Meanwhile, Sergeant Han and Cheon-seok follow the tracker that leads them to Beak Chul’s hidden car and the gold. Baek Chul and his men arrive soon after, but Sergeant Han has already taken the gold, and they arrest them. 

Detective Lee meets with Madam Choi and the gold and silver shop. He tells her about Chairman Hwang’s smuggling route and how he is successfully bringing in goods through the Han River. He advises her to take advantage of Chairman Hwang’s need for money and demands that he disclose his smuggling route for Madan Choi to import her smuggled goods safely.

As Madam Choi ponders the detective’s words, Chairman Hwang arrives and is surprised to see Detective Lee. Baek Chul tells Sergeant Han what happened to his brother. Won-jin was smuggling goods, and when Han Jun got sick and needed a lot of money, he asked Baek-chul to help. In his eagerness to deliver the smuggled goods, he dived into an almost empty tank and drowned.

Baek Chul says that they all knew that Won-jin was smuggling goods and did not stop him but instead blamed Baek Chul for helping him. Sergeant Han refuses to let Baek Chul go and says he will save Han Jun. 

Cheon-seok calls Detective Lee asking for backup, but he tells him off, saying it is his case, and the Han Police are backup. He then goes back to his meeting with Chairman Hwang and Madam Choi. He refuses to get Chairman Hwang to ask him for help dealing with Director Go’s mess. Madam Choi tells Chairman Hwang not to trust politicians. She also pushes Chairman Hwang into a corner and asks that he hands over the smuggling route and Director Go. 

Cheon-seok thinks they should cover up what happened with Won-jin so people do not find out about the smuggling. Sergeant Han thinks the truth will come out someday, so his priority is saving Han Jun and not covering up for Won-jin.

Sergeant Han agrees to let Baek Chul and his team accompany them, but they have other ideas. At the end of the episode, he gets his men to attack Sergeant Han and Cheon-seok and knocks them out secretly; he says they will finish the job. 

The Episode Review

The episode builds into the story but in a rather dull way that does not capture the viewer’s interest. This episode reveals the reason for Won-jin’s death, but regardless of the suspense built around it in the previous episodes, the revelation does nothing to sustain the thrill of the viewer.

Also, finding out that the Han Police knew about his smuggling and did not try to stop him, including his brother, Sergeant Han, is disappointing. The fact that he got a medal of outstanding police award makes Han Police feel like a joke. The only thing left to look forward to in the next episode is finding out if Detective Lee is a dirty cop.