Episode 6 of Money Heist: Korea starts with a closer look at our Professor. It turns out he actually used to be a teacher, whose main topic was researching the economic impacts of reunification. During one of his big talks, he’s given a proposition from a National Assembly member by the name of Kim Sangman. This is, of course, Woojin’s husband.
Anyway, Sangman drives the Professor out to someone “who can make his dreams a reality.” That person happens to be called Jaehyun, who encourages the Professor to join his group as part of the reunification process. The pair shake hands.
Fast forward to the present and the Professor tries to escape the police, leading to a big car chase. It’s touch and go for a while, as the chase spills out into the fields. The Professor eventually manages to get away, burning his car and slipping into the river, swimming downstream and evading the officers.
Meanwhile, inside of the Mint we cut to the moments where Chulwoo was about to fire on Tokyo. It turns out neither he nor Tokyo fired. It was Berlin, who shoots the man dead, having earlier choked out Rio and broken free. The others are shocked, especially when they show up and see what’s happened.
After all this chaos, Woojin heads back inside to confront Cha about what’s happened while she’s been off searching for this car. Cha admits that he suspected her until he noticed how angry and frustrated she is. He tells Woojin that the criminals could well have originally targeted her, which we know to be true.
Woojin now also knows The Professor isn’t in the Mint too, and that the group care about public opinion – something she intends to exploit.
Woojin decides they should enact three briefings a day to keep up pretences and try to and swing public opinion away from scrutiny on the police and hostility for those inside the Mint instead.
Woojin speaks to the Professor and decides she should go into the Mint with a camera herself, broadcasting everything there and making sure all the hostages are still alive. Without much of a choice, the Professor succumbs to her offer and allows her to go in. As the others claim, this is her way of “stabbing them with the knife of public opinion”.
The professor updates the team ahead of time, telling them to prepare for a hostage inspection. Given the gunshots inside, and Chulwoo’s death, it’s certainly a precarious situation.
Speaking of precarious, the Mint Director corners Misun but it’s Denver who shows up and saves her, making sure Youngmin can’t hurt her anymore. Just to symbolize this further, she throws the necklace he gave her on the floor.
Inside the Mint, the hostages are briefed and prepare for the next stage of this operation. Anne attempts to test those in charge, but when Berlin shows up, admitting that he has nothing to lose right now, he means business.
Youngmin senses an opportunity with Anne and decides they should try and write a message to hand to Woojin when she comes in for the inspection. That message is actually written on one of the bank notes, which Anne scribbles in the bathroom.
The hour arrives and Woojin heads inside the Mint, meeting Berlin who happens to have his mask removed. He even shakes her hand too. Each of the hostages are brought out one by one.
When Anne is brought out, she begins crying and tries to pass the note to the officer… but is stopped before she can. Tokyo immediately susses out what she’s doing, and confronts her in the hallway.
Eventually all the hostages are sent out together when Woojin loses patience. Woojin checks everyone off… and then brings up Chulwoo.
This was all part of Woojin’s plan to catch them off-guard, intending to do this on camera and out of the Professor’s grasp so he can’t control traffic. Anne senses an opportunity and immediately mentions how she’s seen Chulwoo. Youngmin also speaks up, because of course he does!
Berlin eventually brings up how the police broke their promise, but Woojin swings the public opinion by pleading with them to free all the students as a compromise.
This is a crucial part of the operation, and something that sees Berlin forced into making a big decision… or does he? It turns out Chulwoo is actually still alive and he’s brought out before shocked reactions from everyone. What the group have actually been hiding is not his death, but that he’s still alive. It turns out he was wearing a bulletproof vest this whole time!
The Professor was aware of Woojin’s plan this whole time and used this whole operation to his advantage. With the CCTV footage gained and given as an anonymous tip, they oust Chulwoo as a rogue agent acting with hostility and messing up the carefully constructed plan in place.
As Berlin vows to the cameras he won’t let anyone die on his watch, the reporters immediately spin this in his favour.
With a headline reading “Police use of hostage as human shields revealed”, the public outside is in uproar over the botched operation. Not only that, but the group manage to reach soil too, meaning they’re going to be out in 3 days.
Not everyone is full of optimism and hope though, as Denver realizes this may be the last time he sees Misun. Denver encourages her to date a good guy in the future… but Misun turns the tables and decides she’s going to quit the Mint and kisses him, as the pair end up making love.
As a result of what’s happened with the Mint, Captain Cha is fired from his role. Despite being taken off the case, he’s going to continue investigating – and starting with Park Sunho. This is, of course, the Professor’s real name. Cha admits he’s been suspicious of the guy ever since he burst into the task force and intends to try and track him down on his own volition.
The Professor heads out and meets Woojin, where the pair share a drink and unwind after a tense few days. With soju bombs aplenty, the pair end up getting blind drunk and walk home together. The Professor encourages her to rest up, which is completely off-script for him. At this moment, the Professor realizes that he’s falling in love.
As for Woojin, she checks her coat pocket and notices a piece of the bank note from inside the Mint. It turns out Anne actually managed to stash it there before she was taken away. Realizing this could be a really important clue, she hurries back to the taskforce.
The Professor heads back home but notices Captain Cha is waiting for him outside.
What’s interesting about this series is that the longer it’s gone on, the more this is deviating from the main script of the original Spanish series. There are a few meta references in this that confirm as much, and the show is all the stronger for that.
Although there’s been less focus on making the money and smuggling it out, everything else is ticking along nicely.
Most of this show has stuck pretty closely to the source material, with the idea of a unified Korea a good one and something that works surprisingly well in the context of this remake. Berlin has been fantastic and easily the stand-out of this whole show, something that Park Hae-Soo has delivered with charisma and flair.
In fact, most of Money Heist: Korea has managed to keep that same visual flair and tension the original had in abundance, although it was always going to be tough to compete or surpass the original.
While this isn’t at the same lofty heights as that one, this is an enjoyable thrill-ride all the same, with the ending hinting that this second part is going to go in a very different direction moving forward.