'Stranger 2' aka 'Forest of Secrets 2' Episode 3: Shi-mok smells conspiracy all over, does Yeo-jin agree?
The 'Stranger 2' aka 'Forest of Secrets 2' Episode 3 promo released at the end of episode 2 sees Assistant Chief Prosecutor Woo Tae-ha (Choi Moo-sung), Hwang Shi-mok (Cho Seung-won) and Seo Dong-jae (Bae Doo-na) discuss a case during a dinner meeting. At this time, Tae-ha asked Shi-mok what he has to say if he were to be informed of a case where a police officer was killed by his colleague? We do not hear Shi-mok's response, but as usual, Shi-mok doesn't take anything at face value, especially when it deals with powers that be -- police and prosecution -- trying to bring each other down.
So this time too, he investigates the case but with caution. Not surprisingly, Yeo-jin is also investigating the same case after she is told that one of the police officers who worked with the dead officer is still on-field and could be implicated in the case. Turns out, this case is not fresh, but something that was closed in the past. We see a witness, a fellow officer, announce that he witnessed the murder. The fact that all of this is being dug up now is suspicious and Shi-mok at the end of the promo wonders the same. He wonders why the case has gained attention after all this time -- years that have passed -- before being investigated.
It is clear that the prosecution is trying to use this case as an example to further stress why the police department shouldn't be independent of the prosecution when it comes to investigating a case. This is not the only case that will be used and from Dong-jae and Tae-ha's association, it has become clear that there will be more cases that will be brought up to serve as an example to prove that the police department without the prosecution's interference is incompetent.
Meanwhile, Choi Bit, who is spearheading the police department's argument that prosecution is corrupt with bribery involved and a lot of cases not getting the right time and attention, is trusting Yeo-jin to solve this new conflict for her. However, what she is not aware of is that Yeo-jin has a set of beliefs that she stands for despite being pressurized by her bosses to change her ways. Similarly, Shi-mok lives by his belief system, and a reference to this is also made in the promo by his former boss. So what we expect from this season is for the two of them to team up again, and this time, to out all the corruption that is prevalent in both the prosecution and police departments.
'Stranger 2' premiered on August 15 and originally airs on tvN on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 pm KST in South Korea and can be streamed on Netflix.