Recap Korean Drama "Café Minamdang" Episode 16

Cafe Minamdang episode 16 starts the night before Hye-yoon’s murder when Do-won goes to the clinic to meet his therapist. He asks her why he remembers something else about Seung-won murdering Hyeon-u when he is sure that he saw him murder his friend. He further asks her whether she messed with his memories, and she tells him that it was his father’s orders – he wanted Do-won to lead the company since Seung-won didn’t have it in him.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

 

Unfortunately, he turned out to be a psychopath, and his father thought that completely brainwashing him was the best course of action… until Do-won murdered Hyeon-u. Hye-yoon asks him how much he remembers, and he mentions that he had given him water. She asks him whether it really was water and Do-won finally remembers that he gave Hyeon-u antifreeze and then used a necktie to kill him.

Eventually, Hye-yoon manipulated his memory and implanted a distorted version of what happened that night – erasing the truth completely. As Hye-yoon uses the clicker thing, Do-won immediately realises what is going on, and she proudly tells him that she created him to be a good person who’d uphold the law, someone who is trying to arrest his brother based on fabricated evidence. She looks maniacally proud of this ‘achievement’ while Do-won is absolutely horrified.

 

She further shows him that she has a CD that proves that he was a psychopath and asks for a ‘small token of gratitude’ to keep the secret between them. With these horrible revelations out in the open, Do-won feels like his whole life has been a life created by someone else – that he has been controlled by someone unseen to uphold the law. He tries to convince himself that he was the one who made these judgements for himself and the intensity of these feelings makes him have another panic attack.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

 

As he struggles with the realisation that nothing he has done is of his own volition, he goes back to Hye-yoon the next day and assures her that he will pay her, just as Han-jun and Jae-hui get there. However, when she hears from them that ‘Seung-won’ has murdered more people, she realises that something is not right. She asks Do-won, who is sitting in her office, whether he has killed anyone recently, and unbothered, he asks her whether she feels sad that her best creation isn’t that great after all.

Hye-yoon tries to tell him that he just has to live a good life as a prosecutor and nothing else matters, but Do-won isn’t simply going to be happy with such a flimsy excuse. And thus, he incapacitates Hye-yoon and murders her before telling her that he seeks justice and does what he does out of his own free will. Meanwhile, sensing that something is amiss, Han-jun and Jae-hui go inside to find the psychiatrist dead.

 

The two immediately get into action and try to find clues, and Han-jun finds Seung-won’s chart beside the body. Jae-hui, meanwhile, finds a picture of Do-won standing over Hyeon-u’s dead body, although his face isn’t visible. Han-jun gives the picture to Hye-jun to analyse it and see how it has been manipulated.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

 

Meanwhile, Seung-won finds Auntie Im in Geumpa Mountain and rushes to catch her. On the other hand, learning of this intel, Han-jun, Su-cheol and Hye-jun rush to find her location as well so that they can catch Im before Seung-won and get the evidence that she has. Soon enough, Han-jun and Su-cheol go to Im and ask her to come with them if she doesn’t want to end up dead. When Seung-won’s men get to the temple, the elusive Auntie Im is nowhere to be found.

At Minamdang, Han-jun tells Im that the only way she can get salvation is by accepting her mistakes and getting punished for them. He further asks her what she has on Seung-won, and she tells him that Chairman Cha had hired her to clean up after one of the Cha kid’s murders, and thus, he used Tae-su to fabricate the entire thing and then hung Hyeon-u to make it look like a suicide.

As they discuss Tae-su and how she used him, Im mentions that Tae-su doesn’t trust her blindly, but he does trust someone with all of his being. Someone who murdered everyone else – it wasn’t her. Anyway, Han-jun asks her to turn herself in and tell the police everything, but Im goes one step further and assesses that there will come a time when he will destroy the police’s evidence himself.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

Thus, he should just let her go and forget that this happened – because she has the file that Jae-jeong had the night of the murder. Han-jun now has to think of his choices, not that he has many. Hye-jun and Su-cheol ask him not to fall for Im’s tactics – that there are repercussions for doing something like this. Han-jun just hopes that Jae-hui will understand the steps that he is about to take.

 

After successfully destroying the evidence, Han-jun tells Jae-hui that they can’t arrest Im anymore and that he had made a deal with her to get something in return. Jae-hui is heartbroken that Han-jun would take such a drastic step without telling her first. Listening in on the conversation, Do-won and the other members of Jae-hui’s team decide to hear Han-jun out at first before making decisions.

Unfortunately, Jae-hui decides that it’s best not to work together since their methods and procedures are just too different. That the path to finding justice is just as important as finding justice. As she starts to walk away, Han-jun lets it known in front of everyone that Im has Jae-jeong’s files and that they should use her to get Gopuri which would, in turn, result in her getting arrested as well.

 

In the midst of all this, Do-won looks absolutely horrified, as if someone slapped him right across the face. He volunteers to follow Han-jun’s methods for now if only to stay as close to him as possible and calm Jae-hui down. The plan works, but Jae-hui refuses to engage with Han-jun any more than the investigation at hand. Later, Do-won asks Im why she has Han-jun’s file and then tells her that he is going to use her to get the file – she’s getting arrested either way.

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

 

Do-won then directs her to do what he tells her, another trap that she readily falls into. Meanwhile, Han-jun tries to break Tae-su’s resolve; the latter remembers all the times Do-won gave him orders to murder and manipulate – a shocking flashback that will make viewers just a little heartbroken. Eventually, Tae-su does confess, but according to Do-won’s instructions.

While taking Tae-su’s signatures, Do-won instructs him to escape after an accident that he has made happen and gives him the key to his handcuffs. Later on, Han-jun makes an elaborate plan and threatens to take away Im’s money when she refuses to hand the files to him in front of Do-won and the entire team, unaware that the culprit has been hearing and manipulating everything right among them.

As everyone goes out – Im with Su-cheol & Hye-jun meet Han-jun & Jae-hui; Seung-won rushes out to catch Im, Do-won tells him that ‘he will handle it himself this time’ and Tae-su is transported by Du-jin and the remaining crew. At the temple, Im gives the file to Han-jun and Jae-hui and gets her account back but unfortunately for our dynamic duo, they get locked inside the room, and Im tells them that her boss has them right where he needs them.

 

 

Cafe Minamdang Episode 16 Ending

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

As gas starts to fill the room and they fall unconscious, Do-won gets inside the room and takes the file from them. That night, after a rather bad failure, Han-jun finds himself awake in Minamdang with Im’s dead body in front of him and the murder weapon in his hand. Do-won, Jae-hui, Hye-jun and Su-cheol come into the room just then and are left shocked as Do-won mentions that he has a warrant to arrest him.

 

In the epilogue, Do-won puts Han-jun’s limp body on his chair in Minamdang as he, Tae-su and Im discuss what they should do now. She realises too late that she is the sacrifice this time around, and by then, the stabbing is already done. Before dying, Im mentions that he has lost his mind playing judge and will eventually die in Han-jun’s hand. At the very last minute, Do-won stabs Im and the disbelief is clear in her eyes as she takes her last breath.

Cafe Minamdang Episode 16 Review

Still From Cafe Minamdang Episode 16

 

Now that we know who Do-won really is, it is one heartbreak after another to see him do these rather despicable things on his ‘own free will.’ I will admit, I almost wanted to believe that Hye-yoon had made him be the person that he is – broken and with a distorted moral compass. But honestly, I think Do-won’s thoughts are correct; he is who he is because of his own doing. I don’t think you can brainwash psychopathy out of anyone.

Anyway, the realisation is rather sad, and now I am more interested to learn about Do-won and what will happen to him than about any romance or anyone else’s story. Like, did he ever like Jae-hui, or was that also a ploy? I guess choosing the latter would be the smarter choice.

I really enjoyed this episode – with the jig up, we are left to see Do-won play all of these smart people like fiddles and make them dance to his tune. I wonder why Han-jun isn’t getting it; I mean, he’s a criminal profiler! However, I guess Do-won really did create a place for himself in all of their lives, considering even with the power of the audience view of things, I was unable to see Do-won in any other light than ‘sweet guy’.

Cafe Minamdang episode 16 is enjoyable, especially because you already like/hate all of these characters. I am desperately hoping for some sort of a twist in the next 2 episodes!