"While You Were Sleeping" drama: episodes 21 and 22 recap

 Air Dates: September 27th to November 16th on SBS, airs Wednesday and Thursday nights at 10:00 pm, two episodes per night

 Ratings(Nielsen) for the two episodes- 6.9% and 8.4%

Main Cast:

Bae Suzy as Nam Hong-Joo

Lee Jong-Suk as Jung Jae-Chan

Lee Sang-Yeob as Lee Yoo-Bum

Ko Sung-Hee as Shin Hee-Min

Jung Hae-In as Han Woo-Tak

Shin Jae-Ha as Jung Seung-Won
Bae Hye-Sun as Son Woo-Joo

Hwang Young-Hee as Yoon Moon-Sun

Park Jin-Joo as Moon Hyang-Mi
Kim So-Hyun as Park So-Yoon
Lee Yoo-Joon as Oh Kyung-Han

 That 6.9% rating for episode 21 was the shows's lowest since the sixth episode, at that point the drama hadn't become too popular yet. It is now though and think many viewers were turned off by the second half of the previous show as was such a yawner. That was a short recap as virtually nothing happened the last fifteen minutes, hoped that it was just a blip in this fine series and for now will call it that.
 Things got back on track as both shows were good, especially the first seven to ten minutes of episode 21. That featured everyone's fave evil lawyer Yoo-Bum, 😈 there's no doubt him having more screen time makes a show more interesting. On the flip side we didn't see as much of Hong-Joo in these two shows, we did in the previous two episodes and her scenes seemed to have the show down. Think it's just a coincidence but have noticed Suzy doesn't have many drama fans out there.

 On a rainy night Yoo-Bum is driving home after another day of probably manipulating the legal system. He receives a call from an unknown man who orders Yoo-Bum to return to his office. He takes orders from no person, on inquiring who the caller was the response was Moon Tae-Min. The man is a famous author and is also a professor at a university. Yoo-Bum must have thought there could be a big payday in it for him so he agrees to meet Moon at his office.
 That above is Hong-Joo who had interviewed Moon at the release launch of his latest novel, the incidents at the event is what made him look up Yoo-Bum. Moon has confessed to Yoo-Bum that he's killed a man, but it's later revealed that he's not officially dead yet and is just in a coma so no murder charge can be leveled against Moon.... yet!

 At the book launch party the professor's student assistant was to give a tribute speech on behalf of the students. The speech started out well with many superlatives for Moon but it quickly went downhill. The student's name is Hwan, he began telling the audience about many of the shady activities Moon had forced his students do, Hwan was whisked away by security once he began his verbal assault.
 Shortly after the pair met up in an empty hallway near the elevators, Moon thought the area was completely empty. Moon goes into a rage against Hwan for what he said in the speech nd ended up hitting his head nonstop against the elevator doors. Moon had an idea and tried to force the doors to the elevator open, don't know how it happened but he was able to do so or at least the bottom half.
 By now Hwan was unconscious, with the doors to the elevator shaft now open Moon shoved him in, and hoped that the fall would kill him. That didn't happen as Hwan is still alive but as he ended up in a coma he's almost as good as dead. Moon had told the police the incident happened because Hwan was drunk and for now Moon has escaped any charges.
 But he still needs Yoo-Bum as a lawyer, he thought what if Hwan ever awakens but mainly because of one other major event at the accident scene. Moon had been spotted shoving Hwan into the elevator shaft, he didn't see who the person was but it's a young boy of about seven as he had dropped his yellow hat near his hiding place.

 Lot happened in the first ten minutes and the pace doesn't slow down for a while. If you read the last two recaps you know that Jae-Chan had been shot in the stomach at a street corner, he was waiting there to give a possible engagement ring to Hong-Joo. The injury wasn't too serious, Jae-Chan had been whisked into surgery that was successful and was laid up in the hospital recovering. It's time for him to depart and head home, Hong-Joo and Woo-Tak were there to bring him back.
 As the trio was heading down a corridor a young boy who had slightly befriended Jae-Chan suddenly passed out in front of them. He was rushed away by the doctors and quickly recovered as the staff at the hospital were used to that happening. The boy's name is Chan-Ho and would say he's about ten years old, perhaps a year or so older. We saw him briefly two episodes ago, he's suffering from a kidney disease and is on a dialysis machine.
 Chan-Ho is so sick he can't go home and it's imperative that he receives a kidney transplant as soon as possible. What makes this young boy important will soon be revealed, he's also the son of a person who hasn't been discussed yet but you've seen in some screenshots, that's Song Woo-Joo. She's one of the three prosecutors that Jae-Chan works with and to me she's probably the best in the office. She's kept her son's condition a secret though Lee who is also one of the four prosecutors has found out about Chan-Ho but has managed to keep his trap shut.

 After leaving the hospital it's home for Jae-Chan but Hong-Joo has other ideas. After Woo-Tak had been beaten she had let him recover at her house where Hong-Joo lives with her mother. Hong-Joo thinks it's only fair that Jae-Chan should have the same privilege so he's prepared to move in for a long stay. That long stay was quickly vetoed by Hong-Joo's mother, two days was her limit.
 Through both shows Hong-Joo's mother had acted quite coldly towards Jae-Chan, at one time she really liked him and had always wanted her daughter to get closer to Jae-Chan. She finally revealed to Hong-Joo what the problem was and it had to do with Hong-Joo's dreams. She had dreamt of
Jae-Chan getting shot but was unable to prevent it from happening. Hong-Joo also had a dream when she was fifteen of her father dying, that event really shook Hong-Joo up, her mother feels if she remains close to Jae-Chan these dreams will continue dragging her life down.
 The situation eventually gets settled but Hong-Joo being so close with Jae-Chan is still making her mother quite uncomfortable. Back at the hospital Hwan is still in a coma, he's been labeled as brain dead and his father can give the doctors permission to take him off life support. His father will do that and he learned that Hwan had signed up to be an organ donor, there are seven patients he could possibly save including Chan-Ho.

 The main storylines for so long were about the dreams that Hong-Joo, Jae-Chan and Woo-Tak were having. All would have a similar dream about an incident but all from different angles or times, putting all of the details together helped them to solve some crimes and a few lives. But for the last five or more episodes the trio haven't been having dreams except for Hong-Joo, perhaps if Woo-Tak had a dream then Jae-Chan wouldn't have been shot.
 But now two have had a dream of a future event, the pair is Hong-Joo and Woo-Tak as both see something dismal happening to Jae-Chan again. They discussed it one morning, Jae-Chan had noticed their conversation and was quite curious about what they could be talking about, he really is the jealous type. Inching a bit closer he overhears them talking about him and how first he'll be making a decision on whether to save the lives of seven people, after that event he'll end quitting his job.
 Wonder why Jae-Chan hasn't been having dreams lately, don't think it was because of him getting shot as he wasn't having many before that tragedy. Jae-Chan's thirty days of leave from his office are now up, it's time to head back to work. But after hearing the conversation about him he's hesitant to return and talks Hong-Joo into taking that day off with him to travel to the beach. The pair never make it there as Jae-Chan asked her about the dreams she and Woo-Tak had. She didn't tell him every detail but enough so that a fire was lit under him and Jae-Chan decides it's best to go back to work.

 For the time being what Yoo-Bum says is true, if Hwan donates his organs an autopsy won't be done and Moon literally will get away with murder. Jae-Chan finally makes it back to the office and guess what the first case he's assigned to is? If your answer is the one involving Hwan then you win a date with Suzy, if she's not available then someone else with that name will take her place. It appears the case should be an easy one, all Jae-Chan has to do is sign papers that an autopsy isn't needed and the organ transplant operation can go on as scheduled, it's supposed to take place the following day.
 As usual Jae-Chan never takes the easy way out and there are a few things which arouse his curiosity. Moon had told the hospital that Hwan was drunk when he fell down the elevator shaft, that's a lie as videos of Hwan at the book release event showed that he hadn't partaken in any spirits. An autopsy should also be able to tell if any alcohol was in his system if it aleady hadn't been checked. Jae-Chan and his assistant Choi head to the hospital to do more investigating, there they notice a few odd marks on Hwan's neck.
 To the pair it appears someone had tried to strangle Hwan before he fell down the shaft, there's too many things about the death that don't add up so Jae-Chan won't sign the form for the operation. That left many people irate and one was his co-worker Woo-Joo as her son desperately needs a liver transplant. Jae-Chan had no idea that Chan-Ho was her son, Jae-Chan was just so torn as should he let a murderer go free or attempt to save seven people?

 Think we're getting close to the end as this has been a longer recap than usual as so much happened in these two episodes. That middle screenshot above shows Moon getting arrested, that was thanks to a dream that Woo-Tak had as he and his partner arrived in time to save a little boy. That little boy was the one who witnessed Moon shoving Hwan down the elevator shaft, Moon finally discovered who he was. The boy ran away but was caught by Moon who was planning to do something cruel to him.
 What that was we don't know as Woo-Tak and his partner arrived on the scene to arrest Moon.
Yoo-Bum wasn't too concerned about the arrest, the way Yoo-Bum can operate in court he knows Moon will eventually be acquitted. But it may not go that far because as of now Moon still hasn't been charged with any crime against Hwan. That cool demeanor of Yoo-Bum's will soon melt as he's heard some news about the case and he's absolutely furious.
 Jae-Chan has decided that an autopsy needs to be done, if that happens there's no doubt it'll be proved that Moon was the person who shoved Hwan down the shaft. Then again Yoo-Bum does relish these kinds of cases, what he's really looking forward to is going head to head against his rival Jae-Chan as it'll be a nice chance to destroy his reputation.

 Actually we've arrived at the final scene quicker than I thought and it's a longish one. Jae-Chan wants to do the autopsy but per office regulations needs to have a meeting with his chief and the other three prosecutors. It's a difficult choice as mentioned above, if there's no autopsy Moon will not be charged with any crime but if there is one then seven patients won't be able to get an organ transplant. No one really had a convincing argument either way though Lee was 100% adamant that no autopsy should be done, that's because he's the only person who knows Chan-Ho is Woo-Joo's son.
 No decision was made by the group of five so the meeting ended with them leaving it up to
Jae-Chan. He stays to go over a few ideas with his supervisor and has come up with a plan that has happened only a few times in history. Jae-Chan feels that they can do both an autopsy and still donate Hwan's organs, both procedures have to be done at the same time. Jae-Chan's supervisor is a bit leery about the plan but he's come to have a lot of confidence in Jae-Chan and agrees to the plan.
 The places on Hwan's body where the autopsy needs to be performed are aren't in the vicinity of any organs which was a big reason Jae-Chan's idea was approved, now it's on to the actual event. What happens at the dual procedure is unknown as this scene brought us to the conclusion and you can read all about it in the following post.

 Nice comeback from the previous episode which really was such a downer, guess when a series is as long as this one is there's usually going to be a dud in the bunch. Had to be the longest recap to date for this drama, more happened in these two shows than in any other pair. Haven't viewed the next two episodes yet but am about to, you can read what happens in those in the next post and hopefully those shows are as intense as this pair.