Like Flowers in Sand 2023 K Drama Episode 11

Episode 11 of Like Flowers in Sand begins with another flashback. Mi-ran’s father talking with someone in the background while she looks at the other kids playing. She joins them when her father doesn’t pay her the attention.

Baek-du animatedly tells the kids a horror story about a ghost when Du-shik counters that people are more frightening. Seok-hui comes in running with a disposable camera while Baek-du, Mi-ran, Du-sik and Jin-su pose. 

In the present time, everyone is gathered at Mi-ran’s cafe and Yu-gyeong tells Seok-hui and Jin-su about the match-fixing investigation. She tells them the culprit is still living in the town. She relays to everyone that recently choi’s burner phone caught a signal from their town.

When Mi-ran describes the phone, Seok-hui comments that he has the phone and explains that he found it when snowball dug it out near the reservoir. He further tells them about the curious case of Snowball’s frequent run-offs to the reservoir. They speculate that Snowball must have seen someone. 

Seok-hui gives the phone to Hyeon-woo who says that he will get it to digital forensics team. Seok-hui and Hyeon-woo comically become friends when Seok-hui compliments Hyeon-woo’s appearance and wit. Elsewhere, a shadow appears near Snowball and quickly retreats when her owner sees someone approaching the house.

While Baek-du keeps Yu-gyeong company till she reaches her house, they discuss about the new updates in their investigation. As Baek-du is going back home, he meets Pil-du (often the leader of the neighbourhood uncle gang) near Snowball’s house.

The next day, Yu-gyeong and Hyeon-wook discuss that the culprit might have been unleashing Snowball because they know that she has taken the burner phone since they had seen Snowball on the fateful day. The culprit must need the phone because it might have something that could become an evidence. Yu-gyeong suggests to record all the people who were in the Dano championships when coach Yeon was trying to fix Baek-du’s match. 

Elsewhere, Snowball’s owner visits Seok-hui and tells him about the shadow figure lurking near her house. She says that it looked like a Taebaek-class wrestler. Meanwhile, Yu-gyeong and Hyeon-wook  receive a call from Seok-hui relaying the development in Snowball’s case.

Baek-du is suspicious about Pil-du and meets him on his way to the arena. Yu-gyeong is in the office by now, trying to figure out possible culprits. She receives a call from the forensics that the files on the burner phone will take some time to restore. Alternatively, Seok-hui and Hyeon-wook go around the town, recording and confirming the alibi of everybody who attended the championship and were in line of sight of coach Yeon.

The entire team meets at Yu-gyeong’s that night. Seok-hui tells the gang that everybody in town had evidence of their alibi except for Pil-du. They come up with a strategy to catch the culprit. Mi-ran is to spread the rumour that she is Cheol-yong’s daughter and she has evidence about her father’s murder. 

The culprit will feel cornered and reveal their identity but at the same time, it will put Mi-ran in danger. Mi-ran declares that she wouldn’t have returned if she was scared. 

The rumour spreads like wildfire. Numerous people visit and question Mi-ran. Simultaneously, Jin-su hears that Pil-du was the last person to see Cheol-yong and conveys it to Yu-gyeong. Baek-du, later, tells Yu-gyeong about his chance meeting with Pil-du near Snowball’s house.

It is also revealed that while most people visited Mi-ran’s cafe, Pil-du did not. We also see Pil-du acting suspiciously, closing his shop temporarily and glancing at the cafe as he passes it by. 

Just when some people have started being suspicious of Pil-du, including Baek-du and his mother, Pil-du visits Tae-baek. It is revealed, as Baek-du eavesdrop on their conversation, that Pil-du isn’t the culprit. He is merely feeling guilty for whatever transpired 20 years ago as he could not answer the police satisfactorily. He kept saying “yes” to the detectives questions and feels that it is his fault for whatever followed next – with Du-shik’s father.

Tae-baek explains to Pil-du that Du-shik’s father confronted Cheol-yong about the match fixing and believed that when Cheol-yong refused to do it, the culprit killed him. 

Meanwhile, Jin-su is on Mi-ran’s protection duty and keeps her company in the cafe. However, sometime later he receives a call from the head coach and leaves her briefly, promising to be quick. Just as he leaves, an unknown figure enters the cafe.

Baek-du relays that Pil-du is not the culprit to Yu-gyeong over text. Yu-gyeong notices something odd. In the flashback scene, we see Seok-hui clicking a picture of the group which is what Yu-gyeong remembers. She is confused by Seok-hui was also in the picture that she had. 

At the same time, in another flashback, we see Du-shik asking an unknown figure to click the group’s picture. She suddenly puts two and two together. Meanwhile, a familiar figure appears in Mi-ran’s cafe and she greets him. However, she suddenly seems to realise that the man had already visited her cafe in the afternoon with the neighbourhood uncles and becomes suspicious.

The lights go out and the man replies, “Mi-ran, what is the evidence that you have?”

The Episode Review

This episode focuses on the team’s efforts to unravel the mystery that the show took 12 episodes to flesh out. The show is quite obvious in throwing the spotlight over to a specific character to lead the audience on and keep us entertained. However, plot-wise it seems too simplistic and monotonous.

So far, we have had the head coach, Tae-baek and Pil-du as scapegoats and it seems the culprit is a completely different person, somebody who didn’t have much of the screen time. A classic but an old strategy and certainly unimpressive.