Oasis 2023 Recap Episode 4

Episode 4 of Oasis begins with Hwang and Yeo-jin attending the opening of a Paris Salon shop. He announces Yeo-jin as the CEO and everyone welcomes her. He boldly compliments her and she takes it in stride. She asks how she can repay him and he asks her for a dance to his favourite French vinyl that he finds onsite. He calls it fate, confessing his feelings for her and trying to kiss her but she evades it by saying she is tired.

As Captain Oh drops her home, she thanks him for helping her pick out the French song and bribes him. As they reach her place, Cheol-woong who has been waiting for her comes outside. The mother is happy to see him but he is suspicious as he can only see the back of Captain Oh.

As Oh leaves, Cheol-woong tells Yeo-jin that he will soon become someone with power and she is happy as she says she will always help him. Captain Oh reports to Hwang and tells him about Cheol-woong not recognizing him which has the Deputy Director relieved. Oh asks what will happen if Yeo-jin finds out that they have been blackmailing her son and Hwang says she should never know.

Elsewhere, ticket scalpers, led by Hyung-joo are busy scamming baseball fans. Du-hak approaches them and they all hug and get a drink together as we find out they are former inmates from Gwangju. They wonder what someone called Young-pil is doing and it is shown that he is one of Kwang-tak’s underlings. Turns out they all know each other as Du-hak had saved Poong-ho and Hyung-joo from Young-pil.

Meanwhile, Yang-ja visits Jung-shin at her new apartment with her belongings and she finds her unread letters to Du-hak. Jung-shin recalls their first meeting and smiles. As for Du-hak, he is busy helping Poong-ho scam someone with Namhae theatre’s title deed and as they leave, he spies Jung-shin. He follows her all day till she gets drunk and sits on the roadside.

She loudly apologises to her father for selling off the theatre and she takes out her letters to Du-hak. She wonders if he has been freed and says it’s a good thing they broke up. In a flashback, we see that Mr. Oh had visited Du-hak and told him to break up with his daughter. He says it is his dying wish and that Jung-shin will soon forget him but on seeing her drunk rambling, Du-hak realises she hasn’t. 

As he goes home, the scammers tell him that while he had left Poong-ho alone, Kwang-tak’s men had kidnapped him. Du-hak asks Hyung-joo’s group for advice and they come up with a plan. Du-hak visits Kwang-tak with a briefcase of their ticket scalping earnings and says he wants to partner up.

Kwang-tak thinks he has seen through Du-hak’s coup and tells his men to attack. But the briefcase also contains tear gas grenades and Du-hak detonates them. In the confusion, Hyung-joo and the scalpers save Poong-ho while Du-hak kidnaps Kwang-tak. 

While Kwang-tak thinks he is about to be killed, Du-hak gets down on his knees and asks to be part of his family. He says he will help Kwang-tak become even more powerful to control Seoul and in return, Du-hak wants the gang’s backing. Kwang-tak wonders if he is telling the truth but impressed, he agrees.

Elsewhere, Geum-ok asks Jung-shin about their next plan of action to get bigger. Jung-shin suggests taking down one of the distributors in Gyeonggi-do and taking over. While the Director is shocked, Geum-ok tells her that if she can do it, she will get a part of the company shares.

Meanwhile, Hyung-joo looks into Young-pil and discovers that he is pocketing some of the money by creating a fake ledger. Kwang-tak gives Du-hak’s group one of his hotels where Young-pil eats his meals and they kick him out. However, behind his back, Du-hak invites all of Young-pil’s men for a meal and bribes them. 

For his first task, Kwang-tak tells Du-hak to interrupt a movie set and escort the actress Song Yeon-ju to shoot their film first. As Du-hak and his men create a ruckus, Jung-shin (whose film set it happens to be) runs in to stop them and is shocked to see him. She slaps him and asks how he can end up as a thug. He simply says that to survive in a twisted world, they need to be twisted but he leaves without the actress.

Jung-shin gets drunk with Cheol-woong and asks how he can allow his older brother to be a thug. He is quiet and as they walk back home, she begs him to help Du-hak. Cheol-woong asks her to forget him and she asks if Du-hak is truly a murderer. He continues to lie as he portrays Du-hak as a twisted hero who was simply trying to help him. However, it just makes Jung-shin pity Du-hak even more. 

Cheol-woong visits Du-hak and tells him about Jung-shin crying over him. He calls themselves trash and they bond over it. However, Cheol-woong takes his chance and after confirming that there is nothing going on between Du-hak and Jung-shin, asks if he can date her. But Du-hak says that Cheol-woong should not date her as he is also a bad guy. Cheol-woong is furious at the reason and claims that Du-hak never thought of him as a friend or family.

As for Jung-shin, she enacts her plan to infiltrate Joongbu Distributions. The president rejects their partnership, but she threatens him with his gambling debts. Geum-ok is impressed with her strategy and tells her to handle the deal herself. 

Elsewhere, Hwang tells Yeo-jin that Cheol-woong was an informant of his own free will but was caught by the protest leader. He indirectly warns her that as long as Cheol-woong quietly focuses on his exam, there won’t be any trouble.

A year later, Du-hak has risen well while Young-pil keeps getting in trouble. Du-hak suggests switching turfs so he can help out Young-pil and Kwang-tak likes the idea. Meanwhile, Jung-shin, Yeo-jin and the Lees go to Cheol-woong’s graduation. Yeo-jin as usual is unhappy with the way her son is close to the Lees and makes them leave. While Jung-shin stands with Cheol-woong, he spies Du-hak who is watching them from afar.

Hwang meets with Yeo-jin to congratulate her and she asks him to help her make Cheol-woong a prosecutor as it is his wish. When Hwang refuses, she tells him that he has to help since Cheol-woong is his son.

Whether that’s true or not, the oblivious Cheol-woong goes after Du-hak who gives him some money for following his wish. Cheol-woong laughs and says instead his wish is to date Du-hak. The other is furious and Cheol-woong realises that Du-hak still has feelings for her. He suggests competing for Jung-shin once more.

The Episode Review

Looks like everyone is manipulating everyone in the adults’ camp. Yeo-jin’s intentions are clear as she simply wants to use Hwang and Captain Oh to keep her family in power. As for the link between Hwang, Oh and Cheol-woong, it might be a coincidence that they ended up picking her son as they could have honestly just picked up any student to be the mole. But Oh’s reason for playing both Hwang and Yeo-jin is yet to be clarified.

And while the first half of the episode chronicles the rise of Du-hak as a gangster, it seems to be going on a different tangent than the main premise of the show which is still pretty confusing. Sure, all of the thugs’ storylines are pretty hilarious and entertaining, but it could be told as a spin-off or side story. We need our trio to reconcile, especially after that totally unnecessary confrontation between Du-hak and Cheol-woong.