Recap Korean Drama "One Dollar Lawyer 2022" Episode 7

One Dollar Lawyer episode 7 starts with Yang Sang-gu, the finance manager of JQ Construction, trying to commit suicide in a dilapidated old building. He tells someone over the phone while sobbing to keep their promise and eventually ends his life (or so we think).

At Baek Law Firm, Joo-young and the rest of the firm’s members discuss how to handle Ji-hun’s aggressive attack against Ki-tae and how to get this whole thing over without harassing the JQ CEO too much. Joo-young later looks at Ji-hun’s interviews and thinks about his idea of justice.

The next day, Ji-hun and the deputy prosecutor general get into a heated argument when the latter asks them to do a written investigation. Ji-hun’s hard-headedness works on Min-hyeok and Ye-jin as well, and they also take his side to feed their conscience. In the end, they get Ki-tae’s attendance approved only once, and Ji-hun has to do whatever it takes to get it right that one and only time.

Still From One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7

As the day for the interrogation arrives, Ki-tae assures a doubtful Joo-young that he has nothing to hide from her after she tells him that she will not represent him if he is keeping secrets. In the interrogation room, Ki-tae assures Ji-hun that he doesn’t know anything about the embezzlement and asks Ji-hun to find Sang-gu first.

Calm and collected, Ji-hun asks him why he killed Sang-gu, or rather, why he told the manager to die. Ki-tae tries to flip it on him and even acts like him being the last person to talk to Sang-gu and then giving his wife 5 million won isn’t that big a deal. However, when Ji-hun tells him that although talking to Sang-gu wasn’t a crime, telling him to kill himself definitely was.

As realisation dawns on Ki-tae, Joo-young asks for a short break, and the two lawyers share a look of respect. Later on, Ki-tae confesses his crime to Joo-young and Ji-hun even presents the proof right then and there when Ki-tae tries to tell his lawyer that the prosecutor doesn’t have proof. Now annoyed, Joo-young tells her client that pushing someone to end their life carries a punishment which is similar to murder.

In a flashback, we see that Ji-hun had, in fact, saved Sang-gu from ending his life that fateful day.

In the present, Ki-tae gets arrested for pushing Sang-gu to suicide and fortunately for him, he hasn’t died. This absolves Ki-tae from being charged with murder, and his happiness to see Sang-gu makes the poor manager rather concerned. Either way, it is clear that the way Ji-hun solved this little problem has made Joo-young rather happy!

Still From One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7

As per the bet they had going on before the mess started, Joo-young takes Ji-hun out for a treat. At the humble establishment, they share food and share some banter, and it’s pretty clear that she has a crush on him and the feeling is also clearly very mutual. It’s cute watching the two of them share dried pollack and rib each other.

Before parting ways for the night, Ji-hun promises to figure out where the slush fund went. As the investigation continues, Ji-hun wades through files day and night, all the while drinking vending machine coffee. One day, while getting said coffee, Joo-young meets him and asks him out on a date, of course, she can make him smile a third time.

At the bar, Ma-ri is rather into what happened to the story – both with Ki-tae and with Ji-hun’s relationship with Joo-young.

As we once again jump back to Ji-hun’s story, it is clear that figuring out where the money went isn’t going to be a simple process. Regardless, Ji-hun comes up with a rather ingenious process to find the person who was driving the car and who carried out the illegal money laundering process. He gets the information out of him rather effectively – it’s a job well done for the entire team!

Later on, Ji-hun goes to meet his father for his birthday, but the meeting is cut short when he realises that his father has the same car that the guy told him about that evening. Back at the office, he goes through his father’s speech that day and thinks back to when he became a prosecutor – a rather tender moment for him.

The next day, with the names of the cars with the registration number in their hands, Min-hyeok starts to sort through the people to land on one person – Kim Yoon-sub. Ye-jin later tells Ji-hun that whatever he decides, she will be beside her. However, he must make the choice of whether he can investigate his own father or not. With a rather difficult decision in front of him, Ji-hun’s thoughts get broken when Joo-young meets him all of a sudden.

He asks her what she would do if the worst-case scenario came to be true, and she tells him that she would go forward with the investigation, regardless of what that entails. Later that night, Ji-hun goes to meet his father, and the two of them go out to eat jjajangmyeon, Ji-hun’s comfort food. It’s a rather uncomfortable situation since Yoon-sub doesn’t really know why he’s there, and Ji-hun can’t think about anything else other than his father’s involvement in it.

Still From One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7

That night, Yoon-sub asks his son to help him in becoming the Prime Minister so that he can make things right in their country. However, Ji-hun, going by what his father taught him, refuses to bow down to him and tells him that he will do that on his own. Unfortunately for him, at work the next day, Yoon-sub makes a surprise appearance at the prosecutor’s office as he heeds the summon given to him.

As the investigation starts, it’s clear that Ji-hun is having a hard time with the questions he is throwing towards his own father.  Although Yoon-sub tells the prosecutor that he doesn’t remember taking any cash from Ki-tae, he gives Yoon-sub a piece of evidence that he is sure will change his father’s mind. Meanwhile, outside the interrogation room, the other members talk about setting Yoon-sub up to take the fall for the entire dirty work without knowing that their conversation is secretly getting recorded.

Inside the interrogation room, Ji-hun and Yoon-sub wear earphones and listen in on the entire conversation. After everyone leaves, Ji-hun tells his father to let him help him so that those who took the money do not get to run away and leave him, taking the blame for everything.

One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7 Ending

The father-son duo start to discuss whom Yoon-sub delivered the money to and tries to sort out how to go with his defence. As they wind down for the night, Yoon-sub decides to go home alone, not wanting to draw attention to Ji-hun dropping him off at his car. However, Yoon-sub, instead of going home, decides to end his life in order to not get in trouble, something that poor Ji-hun figures out all too late.

As he laments the loss of his father, he picks up a strange call on his father’s phone, asking the mysterious caller who he is.

One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7 Review

Still From One Dollar Lawyer Episode 7

One Dollar Lawyer episode 7 goes forward with Ji-hun’s backstory and doesn’t shy away from telling us anything and everything. Although a large chunk of the story is still left for tomorrow, you can’t help but have an inkling regarding what happened to Ji-hun and Joo-young in the aftermath of his father’s suicide.

The episode was quite emotional, with some rather notable moments. The series has honestly picked up really well, especially the light moments between Ji-hun and Joo-young. They provide some great respite from an otherwise grim tale about corruption and the heartbreak of losing trust in those closest to you.

I am honestly waiting for the show to pick up some more pace. But that being said, Ji-hun’s past seems to be a rather grim but interesting place to be – and the question remains: who was the mysterious caller who pushed Yoon-sub to the edge?

Also, let’s hope we stop the love story with Joo-young. I think her character shares some nice chemistry with Ji-hun. It would really be awkward if Ma-ri starts romancing our protagonist as well!