Coffee With Sugar
Episode 5 of Law School begins with Sol-B coming to blows with Professor Kang, challenging him over the decision not to have laptops in class. In fact, he even outright calls her the worst student he’s ever had. As we soon come to learn, Sol-B is the one wrapped up in this plagiarism incident, responsible for copying and publishing Byung-Ju’s work. The file on the computer was actually Yang’s interpretation and views on this incident. It seems Sol B’s laptop was taken because of this document. This could well link her to Professor Seo too. Meanwhile, Sol B and her Mother come to blows. As they drive off, Sol B reflects on her moments with Byung-Ju from that day. It turns out the sugar packet was on the phone when she arrived to see him. She lied to the police claiming she didn’t see, seemingly on purpose to incriminate Professor Yang. At the same time, Sol-A notices Ye-Sul rushing down the corridor with a facemask on. She heads straight into her room and shuts the door. The next day, Sol-B heads into Kang’s office to pick up her laptop but the teachers arrive, prompting her to hide behind the door and slip out. This also explains what the book is we saw on Kang’s table last episode. Anyway, Sol B’s Mother Hye-Gyeong continues to suffocate her daughter’s education, telling her there’s no way she’ll be able to stay at the dorms. When Sol-B heads inside, Ji-Ho shows and confronts her about the paper. At the same time, Sol-B’s Mother speaks to Yang about his grading. It seems Professor Seo submitted her paper without consent, while Hye-Gyeong is adamant that Sol-B is incredibly clever on her own, having played with law books since she was little. Wanting the truth of the matter, Sol-B backs up her Mother’s claims, admitting that she wasn’t aware of Seo submitting the exam papers. Hye-Gyeong was incredibly angry when she found out, as it’s soon revealed that Kang is actually Sol-B’s Father! He was with her on the day of Professor Seo’s death. However, he didn’t tell the police that. As Sol-B confronts him, he opens a sugar sachet for his coffee. Noticing it’s the same brand as the one found that day, Sol-B grabs the sachet and stuffs it in her pocket. After a run-in with Assemblyman Ko in the hallway, Yang is approached by Joon-Hwi who shows him a screwed up sugar sachet. He asks whether this could be part of the murder. Back home, Sol-B calls her Mother’s bluff and asks her to swallow the pills she gobbles down. Hye-Gyeong can’t do it, and eventually Sol-B leaves, determined to head back to the dorms. Kang leaves with her and the pair reflect on the past while outside. After the exam paper was turned in, she wanted Seo to disappear. This gives her a motive for the murder. In Seo’s office though, during another flashback, Hye-Gyeong admits that she was the one who convinced Sol-B to copy the paper. While all this is going on, Sol-A continues to study at college. Specifically, she’s put in charge of a child support case. She works through the night, eventually welcoming Sol-B back into the dorm room with her again. In the morning, Sol-B immediately makes her presence felt in Eun-Suk’s class, as the topic turns to that of copyright infringement and plagiarism. She does a good job, impressing the other students in attendance. After class, all the students gather and discuss the big case. Yang suggests that they have the Vice Dean as the first witness, especially given he changed his statement. However, he’s interrupted by a message from Kang himself, revealing that he’s happy to hand over the laptop. When Yang shows up at Seo’s office, he finds the laptop on the table. Kang shows up and sits opposite him, confirming that he was the one who brought the sugar sachet into the room that day. He figured out Seo’s bribe and the two exchanged some pretty heated words. However, Kang also noticed the drugs on the table and was the one who seemingly put that inside Seo’s coffee. As Kang sits opposite Yang, he confirms that he was the one who killed Professor Seo.
The Episode Review
Did Kang really kill Byung-Ju? Or is this another bluff? We’ll have to wait and see of course but it could well be that he’s covering for Sol-B. However, there’s a lot of episodes still to go and undoubtedly much to unpack here too. While the story is intriguing, the editing and technicality surrounding this project does leave a lot to be desired. The cuts between scenes can sometimes be really choppy, while other frames are unnecessarily artistic. One such example here occurs late on, when Joon-Hwi is monologuing about the sugar sachet. Suddenly the scene cuts midway through an audio track. Examples like this show up a lot and it’s really distracting, taking away from the story. On top of that, the show has some pretty poor sound mixing. It may sound like I’m nitpicking but placing a vocal track over the top of two people talking distracts from what’s being said, when an instrumental would have been far more appropriate. Still, the verdict is out with Law School but as the weeks tick by, this one is turning into much more of a love/hate affair than one may be expecting.
