Recap Korean Drama "Mouse" Episode 5

Episode 5 of Mouse begins with Mu-Chi doing his live broadcast with Hong-Ju. As they show off phots for various different people who have gone missing or become victims, Mu-Chi tries to work out what the pattern is. On live TV he deduces that the killer is right – these aren’t just random killings and there’s definitely a link.

That seems to come in the form of the trophies the killer has been collecting and leaving around the crime scenes.

Live tips start to come in, including one directed straight at Mu-Chi, claiming he takes part in illegal gambling and takes bribes from criminals. Whoever it is on the phone has his voice distorted and brings up that Mu-Chi is a victim of the Head Hunter case.

Whoever this person is, they successfully distort the channel and keep the broadcast going long enough to turn the public against this officer, questioning whether he’s of sane mind and why he swore live on-air.

After an impassioned plea to the public, including admitting that he is indeed a victim, the station is rocked by a delivery. Someone in a motorcycle helmet arrives with a USB stick; a video that shows Han Kook tied up and very much alive. Just as the Mother confirms Han-Kook’s identity, another delivery arrives. Only, Ba-Reum suddenly calls and tells Mu-Chi it’s not the right video. He is, of course, playing with the detectives at this point.

As we soon see, he actually convinced Mu-Chi and the team to plant a fake Han-Kook and video them to throw the killer off their scent. Mu-Chi and Ba-Reum team up and chase after the couriers, eventually learning that they picked up the USB from a locker at the station. Ba-Reum promises to check on this himself.

Well, Mu-Chi receives the CCTV footage which shows a young boy dropping off the burner and the envelope. On the back of this, Mu-Chi looks once again at the large pin-up board full of clippings. Eventually he figures out a link. All the people killed had their lives open to the public or were on the news in some way.

Unfortunately the fake video scandal leaks out thanks to experts checking the video. It turns out Han-Kook has a burn mark on his neck and that’s not evident on the neck of the child filmed.

This immediately puts the police under the spotlight, with the child’s Father on the line confirming his son was cast in this role. Even worse, the footage from the station shows Han-Kook and the courier both using different lockers.

With everything unraveling, the public well and truly turn on Mu-Chi. The Director pulls the plug, cutting the live broadcast, just as the killer rings Mu-Chi. He confirms that he’s going to kill Han-Kook as soon as the show ends.

As we cut back slightly to 10 minutes before the end of the show, Mu-Chi finally figures it out. All of the killings were done by acting out fairytales. Just as he mentions this, the killer rings and now we get the link – it’s all about the seven deadly sins.

This also ties in with the church and God Almighty too. Only, it seems like he’s actually killing these people for the opposite reason – because they didn’t exhibit these sins. Bong-Yi’s grandmother was an unlucky victim and not part of this grand scheme at all. Han-Kook however, seems to be targeted because of his lack of wrath.

Only, Han-Kook isn’t the real victim here – he’s just a decoy. The real victim is Mu-Won. As VCR footage is shown, Mu-Won is sat in front of the killer. Mu0Chi pleads with Mu-Won to curse in a bid to stop the killer from having his way but his brother refuses to do so.

With the world watching, hushed and glued to the screen, Mu-Chi drops to his knees and pleads with the killer to stop. It’s no good, Mu-Won is killed on live TV.

When Mu-Chi arrives at the church, he finds his brother strung up while bloodied writing on the wall reads “I Am The Almighty.”

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The Episode Review

Wow, what a great episode! This live broadcast really channeled those tense ’24’ vibes throughout the hour and boy, does Mouse do a good job packing a lot into its hour run-time. In fact, this could well be the smartest crime drama of the year so far.

From what we’ve learned up to this point, the victims have been chosen as part of the seven deadly sins but only so far as to choose the ones who don’t exhibit those specific traits. It’s clear the killer has a serious grudge against God, and from what we’ve seen last episode it seems to points toward Ba-Reum. It also seems like he could well be Jae-Hoon as well.

However, the subject of Dr Daniel Lee is an interesting one because he doesn’t show up on the list of victims. He’s the only one who isn’t part of this master plan so could it be that there are two killers? This definitely seems to be the case, especially given this is the only murder that’s been kept quiet.

So far Mouse is doing an excellent job bringing a lot of possible suspects forward. Along with Ba-Reum, there’s also Bong-Yi holding the knife at the end along with the mysterious Hong-Ju, who seemed to be in a hurry to stop the broadcasts. There’s also Seo-Joon inside prison, along with his wife and son Yo-Han. All of this can then be coupled with Du-Seok, who doesn’t seem of sane mind and could be a possible wildcard killer too. Phew, that’s a lot of suspects!