Chang-ho wakes up in the hospital and immediately asks for his phone, since he was on his way to meet the prosecutor. While he does so, someone takes the flash drive and phone from his car and the car itself is crushed. ..
Chang-ho is taken into custody for drug use, and his blood tests reveal the presence of drugs in his system. Mi-ho tells him to hold out and trust her and her father to get him out.
Mayor Choi is angry with Chang-ho for meeting with Ji-hoon and won’t help.
The Regional Investigation Unit turns up at Chang-ho and Go Gi-kwang’s law office and conducts a thorough search. To his father-in-law’s surprise, they find a suitcase with gold bars, a gun, and massive amounts of cash hidden in the walls and ceiling. It also seems, they knew exactly where to look. ..
Chang-ho is taken to Gucheon Penitentiary for the worst human trash, filled with corruption and tantamount to hell. It certainly seems so, as Chang-ho is first taken to face the three suspects of the Gucheon hospital murder. He realizes they are the ones who drugged him in retaliation for his role as a double agent. Their lackeys then begin to beat him up.
At a black tie party, Mayor Choi and Gong Ji-hoon are present along with their wives and some others. Ji-hoon clearly believes the mayor is beneath him and claims to have donated to his campaign only because of his wife, Hyun Joo-hee. Joo-hee reminds him it was the mayor who got him out of a murder case. We also learn that Big Mouse stole 100 billion won from Ji-hoon. Tensions are running high when a news report breaks out that Big Mouse has been apprehended and his identity is revealed to be Park Chang-ho.
At the prison, Chang-ho has been hung up by a rope with a rickety stool beneath him. He apologises and begs for his life but the three men don’t budge. Someone knocks out the stool from under him. He flails and seems to die, but right at that moment, the warden gets a frantic call from Ji-hoon telling him to let Chang-ho live since he is Big Mouse. The warden brings along doctors, who resuscitate Chang-ho.
On the outside, Mi-ho and Chang-ho’s lawyer friend Kim Soon-tae try to meet him but are told that he has refused to see visitors. Soon, they find out about the claim that he is Big Mouse. Mi-ho takes a stand in front of reporters and defends Chang-ho, saying he has been framed. She also sends him a direct message reminding him he has a family and saying she is going to fight to prove his innocence.
Chang-ho, in his new cell, is surrounded by new inmates who watch this on TV and break down. Later, he gets interrogated by a prosecutor and denies all knowledge about the things found in his office. They make him take a lie detector test and it goes fine until he is asked if he is Big Mouse. His heart rate spikes (seemingly because his nickname is Big Mouth, but this is not established).
Jerry, the inmate who claims to be Big Mouse, tells Chang-ho that he knows who he is. He says that he was once a big star in the entertainment industry and that he has been in prison for years because of a case involving him and another entertainer. The other inmates in the cell believe Jerry and start to make fun of Chang-ho.
The three men from the hospital murder case are trying to convince Gong Ji-hoon to do something about Chang-ho since his testimony could get them in trouble. But Ji-hoon is more concerned about getting his money back from Big Mouse.
Ji-hoon meets with the prosecutor who was questioning Chang-ho. The prosecutor lets him know about the investigation and promises to get his money back. It looks like Ji-hoon has the prosecutor in the palm of his hand. But the tables turn as we see Mayor Choi enter a car with none other than the prosecutor! They talk about having leverage over powerful people like Gong Ji-hoon. Mayor Choi warns the prosecutor to not betray him. ..
Meanwhile, Mi-ho, her father, and Soon-tae discuss how to move forward with proving Chang-ho’s innocence. They decide on finding the research paper written by the dead doctor, the one he was killed for. Despite being dissuaded by the other two, Mi-ho remains actively involved. ..
In prison, people theorise about who Big Mouse really is. One says it’s Park Chang-ho, another says he has a tattoo of a mouse on his back, and another says he’s a woman. The fact remains that he is terrifying.
Mi-ho is back in the flashback and she is angry with the gang leaders for leaving her behind. She tells them that they are not going to get away with this and that she will take care of them. She then takes a knife and starts fighting with the leaders, but they are too strong for her. They start to beat her up, but she manages to get away and runs into the house to tell Mi-ho what has happened. Mi-ho is so sad that she doesn’t want to fight anymore, but she knows that it is better for her if she does. The gang leaders are arrested and Mi-ho is taken into protective custody.
Mi-ho looks at a photograph from the same night and wonders what the doctor was working on. She applies for the position of a nurse at Gucheon University Hospital in order to find out. ..
Soon-tae relays this news to Chang-ho, who worries for her and wants her to stop. He asks his friend to draw up divorce papers on his behalf since this is the last thing he can do for Mi-ho to live a normal life.
Chang-ho remembers how Mi-ho always took care of him when he was struggling. He thought she would be the one to help him pass his exam, but it turns out she was just as determined as he was. She even offered to marry him if he passed. ..
Chang-ho finally opens his law firm and presents Mi-ho with the life insurance he bought. He tells her they should get married. ..
Chang-ho, now at his lowest, has decided suicide is the best way out. In the prison courtyard the next day, he has his suicide note ready but his room leader tells him that trying to kill himself could land him with a disability for life. The room leader counsels him on living as he was meant to live. Chang-ho instead realises that he is surrounded by murderers of all kinds and doesn’t need to do the deed himself. ..
Chang-ho tries to get the gang leader who picked on him earlier to kill him. But in the process of instigating him, he throws a punch that incapacitates the man! Chang-ho never having punched anybody before in his life, he is surprised by his own strength. He then gets into a fight with a psychopath who killed nine women, but the man’s taunts about the man’s mother make him break down into sobs. His last resort is the warden himself. At night, he pretends to escape prison and ends up in the courtyard. Surrounded by guards holding batons and with snipers aiming at him, the episode ends as Chang-ho screams at the guards to shoot him.
The Episode Review
Episode 2 of Big Mouse takes things up a notch, with high stakes and power dynamics taking a deeper dive. The person and reason behind Park Chang-ho’s framing are still shrouded in mystery, adding to the show’s excitement. Meanwhile, flashbacks with his family balance out the darker tones of the show. ..
There are a few plot points that leave one wanting more. Like how Chang-ho seems healthy even after undergoing a car accident and being hung in prison. How does he get out of his cell during his escape attempt? How was Soon-tae able to see him but Mi-ho doesn’t? But these are small details in an overall thrilling episode. ..
This episode seems to be about Chang-ho’s perpetual run of unluckiness, as mentioned by him at several points. It’s heartbreaking to watch him go through such hardships but at the same time, we can already see the transformative effect of these events. We’ve seen him go from righteous lawyer to groveling for his life, across to taunting people and picking fights in order to instigate his own death. It’s a hell of a ride but Lee Jong-suk’s incredible acting makes it all believable.
As the episode closes, it’s clear that he is at his absolute lowest. But the show promises that this is not the end, but a turning point.
