‘Trolley’ Episode 12: Recap & Ending, Explained: Did Nam Joong-Do Kill His Own Son, Nam Ji-Hoon, With Woo-Jae?

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“Trolley” Episode 11 had ended with Soo-Bin acting out against Hye-Joo and Joong-Do after her acquaintance had spoken against Hye-Joo to Soo-Bin. Joong-Do had called Hye-Joo to inform her about Soo-Bin’s move as she had accused Ji-Hoon of assaulting her. He had also informed her about Soo-Bin blackmailing him with the information while Hye-Joo was on her way out of the memorial, where she had been visiting her son Ji-Hoon. The episode ends with a glimpse of Soo-Bin signing up for abortion under the clause of being sexually assaulted. 

Spoilers Ahead


Episode 12: Recap And Ending Explained: Did Nam Joong-Do Kill His Own Son, Nam Ji-Hoon, With Woo-Jae?

“Trolley” Episode 12 begins with Hye-Joo visiting Ji-Hoon at Pooreun Eunha Memorial Park alone as she gets a distressing call from her husband, Joong-Do. Joong-Do tells her on the phone that Ji-Hoon had committed sexual assault against Soo-Bin and that she was blackmailing Joong-Do with this piece of information. He informed Hye-Joo that he had decided beforehand to hold a press conference to come forward with this information before Soo-Bin went public. Hye-Joo starts panicking as she calls both Joong-Do and Soo-Bin to no avail after Joong-Do hangs up their previous call. She rushes over to Joong-Do’s office to quickly stop him from holding a press conference; however, she reaches a little too late, with Joong-Do having already begun his speech.

In the conference, Joong-Do admitted publicly to finding out about his son’s sexual harassment and pushed for the amendment of the Criminal Act. He further named it Namgoong Sol’s Law after Gwi-Soon’s granddaughter. After the conference, he returned to his office to talk to Hye-Joo. Hye-Joo, absolutely heartbroken over Joong-Do’s actions, burst into tears and started to slowly strike her fist against his chest in sheer frustration, asking why he could not have given her time to get more information on the situation. They sit down and have a conversation while Joong-Do explains his actions to her; however, his calculated move of using Ji-Hoon to push for the bill makes him unrecognizable to Hye-Joo, as she tells him that she regrets being a politician’s wife. Woo-Jae calls Yeo-Jin later to take a heartbroken Hye-Joo back home.

Although Yeo-Jin was reluctant, she still makes sure she can be there for Hye-Joo. Yeo-Jin takes Hye-Joo to a nearby park to let her gather her strength after she was accosted by a reporter to share her views about the conference held by Joong-Do. Chairwoman Woo and Yeo-Jin had helped her out by calling out the reporter’s inhuman tactics in pursuit of getting a byte for their channel. It seemed that Hye-Joo’s worries did not end there; she was called to Yoon-Seo’s school along with Yoon-Seo and her best friend, Kwon Da-Som, the daughter of Ji-Soo, who is Hae-Joo’s friend. Da-Som had betrayed her friend at her lowest point in school by insulting her with the others after they heard the conference. The teachers, Hye-Joo and Ji-Soo, sorted out the matter while Da-Som ditched Yoon-Seo due to the news. Ji-Soo then dropped Hye-Joo off at the convenience store, and she recognized the picture of Soo-Bin that fell out of Hye-Joo’s bag while she was getting out of the car. She asked Hye-Joo about Soo-Bin, as she recalled her from the time she visited Ji-Soo’s clinic. Hye-Joo ended the conversation, and got out of the car with a heavy heart.

The plot starts to unravel itself from here, as Hye-Joo meets Soo-Bin on her way to the convenience store. Hye-Joo asks Soo-Bin if Ji-Hoon had really committed the crimes he had been accused of. As she breaks down while also simultaneously making sure if Soo-Bin was alright, Soo-Bin asks her to follow her to a more covert place to discuss the matter. She asks Soo-Bin about why she did not tell her about the incident when Hye-Joo had inquired if Soo-Bin had been assaulted by Ji-Hoon before in “Trolley” Episode 2. Soo-Bin admits to Hye-Joo that Ji-Hoon had never assaulted her, as she could not see Hye-Joo hurt anymore. She also revealed that she had never blackmailed Joong-Do, which made Hye-Joo’s trust in Joong-Do waver. She went back home to wait for Joong-Do to return as she told him about her meeting with Soo-Bin and that Soo-Bin had admitted that the news was a lie. Hye-Joo voiced out her suspicions that Joong-Do was lying to her, and he put up a rather compelling performance of being wounded by her accusations. Joong-Do yet again won his wife’s trust back after Ji-Hoon’s maternal grandfather stormed up to his house to deal with Joong-Do’s decision to drag Ji-Hoon’s name through the mud. As Ji-Hoon’s grandfather insulted Joong-Do, Joong-Do’s ready response to his wife’s peril and also kneeling in front of his in-laws to apologize made him calm down and also won Hye-Joo’s heart as Yoon-Seo witnessed the situation from the sidelines. She apologized for ever doubting him and also for the previous accusations. She also comforted him while he poured his heart out to her.

Meanwhile, the lie that stole Hye-Joo’s youth from her was revealed in front of Ki-Young. Yoo-Shin mistook Ki-Young for Seung-Ho at the hospital after she regained consciousness, and she admitted to taking their lie to the grave while being overjoyed that nobody believed Hye-Joo. As she came to, she recognized Ki-Young and realized what she had admitted, and thus, whenever Ki-Young tried to talk to Yoo-Shin about the matter, she pretended to be sick. The plot was finally revealing its ace cards as the masters of the entire game took to the stage. Soo-Bin was visited by Woo-Jae at the apartment she was provided by Joong-Do as compensation, who threatened her to keep away from Hye-Joo and not reveal anything else. Otherwise, she could wind up as Ji-Hoon as well. Hye-Joo, after she woke up the next day, realized that her husband might have been manipulating her and everybody else all along after Ji-Hoon’s death, as she started to track down his whereabouts and also questioned his alibi from before Ji-Hoon’s death to after the funeral as well.

Meanwhile, Joong-Do and Woo-Jae discussed how everything was going according to their plan, as they had intended to let everything play out as it had from the beginning. Joong-Do was especially able to get through with this ploy due to Hye-Joo’s unconditional trust in him. He used his wife and his son for his political gain and to push for the amendment. The final sign that points to Joong-Do being guilty of murdering his own son was Soo-Bin telling Hye-Joo that Joong-Do was the last one to meet Ji-Hoon on the day he died. It is also revealed that the father of the child was, in fact, Soo-Bin’s acquaintance, whom she later broke up with, and not Ji-Hoon. It also revealed that the situation had been a misunderstanding because Soo-Bin would not have been allowed to go forward with the abortion if she had not lied to the doctor about being assaulted. This led to the news falling into the hands of Kang, who had attempted to blackmail Joong-Do with the information. However, to push for the bill and also gain the upper hand over Kang, Joong-Do ran with the news that he had cooked up for Ji-Hoon. “Trolley” Episode 12 ends with Hye-Joo realizing Joong-Do’s lies as she recalls Joong-Do lying about denying meeting Ji-Hoon at the police station.


Final Thoughts

The plot reveal had already been an expected one, as the drama had left crumbs here and there throughout the episodes for the viewers to figure out the real perpetrator behind Ji-Hoon’s death. The biggest piece of evidence supporting the fact that Joong-Do murdered his own son was Ji-Hoon’s phone, which Hye-Joo found in Joong-Do’s study almost at the end of “Trolley,” Episode 8. As I had earlier discussed this trope in the Episode 8 recap, Joong-Do could not have swiped the phone after the police recovered the body, because water inexplicably destroys any electronic devices to the point of no repair. Therefore, he could have only gotten it if he had met Ji-Hoon prior to his death. A second hint is an incident in Episode 9, where Woo-Jae and Joong-Do decide to pin the blame for Ji-Hoon’s death on Soo-Bin. In “Trolley” Episode 12, Ji-Hoon’s last conversation with Joong-Do revealed that Ji-Hoon had, in fact, become a thorn in Joong-Do’s side as he would do anything to keep Joong-Do from achieving success in his political career. Joong-Do might have murdered Ji-Hoon to keep his own political career intact and also to use his own family to achieve political ascendance. Joong-Do proved to be a shrewd politician as he manipulated everybody from the get-go with the help of Woo-Jae. It could also be possible that Yeo-Jin knew about what Joong-Do had done, which is why her guilt grew every day, and Woo-Jae had to make sure Yeo-Jin constantly tended to Hye-Joo. The plot is really getting intense as the drama nears its end, and we can only imagine what the future holds in store for the family.


See More: ‘Trolley’ Episode 13: Recap And Ending, Explained: Will Joong-Do Get Away With His Manipulation Successfully?


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Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She has a keen interest in graphic designing, reading, and photography. Her insatiable appetite for cinema and pop culture enticed her to work as a content writer. She is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma focused in Animation & VFX to explore a new dimension in her career.

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