Episode 13 of “Trolley” ended with Soo-Bin confronting Hye-Joo while she made her way back from her studio after setting the dehumidifier to preserve the books from being destroyed due to the humidity of the rain. Soo-Bin met with her after Hye-Joo had sent her the voicemail from the hospital where Ji-Soo had informed Hye-Joo of Soo-Bin’s miscarriage and how she’d lied about her pregnancy. Soo-Bin then proceeded to confess the truth and also told her about Joong-Do’s affair with Yeo-Jin.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 14 Recap and Ending Explained: Was Ji-Hoon’s Death An Accident Or A Murder?
“Trolley” Episode 14 begins with Soo-Bin and Hye-Joo’s conversation, where Soo-Bin recounts the happenings when Ji-Hoon brought her home to introduce her to Hye-Joo. Ji-Hoon had taken pity on Soo-Bin and told her that in order to get away from Jung-Dae, Hye-Joo would help Soo-Bin as she would understand her peril. Ji-Hoon had brought Soo-Bin to his house, where he found Joong-Do’s car parked out front. He had called for Hye-Joo but had found out that she was, in fact, not home. Soo-Bin and Ji-Hoon had taken a nap while they waited for Hye-Joo to come back, only for Ji-Hoon to discover Yeo-Jin and Joong-Do talking. They eavesdropped on their conversation, and Ji-Hoon confirmed their ongoing affair and thus told Soo-Bin about what he had witnessed the night after his graduation 5 years ago. He had found out about the affair while getting up from his nap to get a glass of water. Since then, Ji-Hoon has been carrying the burden of keeping the affair from his mother while also resisting the urge to confront Joong-Do. He told Soo-Bin everything about his situation, while Soo-Bin also told him about how she wanted to break away from her boyfriend, the pimp Jung-Dae.
As they conversed about their situation, Ji-Hoon had made up his mind to confront Joong-Do, and before doing so, he told Soo-Bin that he would meet up with Jung-Dae, as he had called him. Soo-Bin had inquired about why they had to meet; however, Ji-Hoon had no answer for that question and had instead assured her that he would ask Joong-Do about the affair. He had left shortly after that, as Soo-Bin recalled. She told Hye-Joo that after he had left, news of Ji-Hoon’s death had surfaced. She then confessed to visiting Ji-Hoon’s funeral while also making up her mind to change the details of her pregnancy and contact Hye-Joo so as to get away from Jung-Dae and also get to the bottom of Ji-Hoon’s death.
Soo-Bin also confessed to Hye-Joo that she had known about the misleading text because Joong-Do had told her about it. She told Hye-Joo that during that night, she had told Ji-Hoon about her pregnancy and that he had promised that he would come back to her to figure out their next steps. He had gotten frustrated enough to curse out Jung-Dae, and in fact, the message had been about him wanting to kill Jung-Dae and not himself. Soo-Bin then told Hye-Joo that she was suspicious that Joong-Do had, in fact, tried to kill Ji-Hoon over their confrontation about the affair, as he had met Ji-Hoon right before his death. She also told her that Joong-Do had threatened her to not speak up for Ji-Hoon when he condemned Ji-Hoon as her assaulter, and thus she had not spoken up. Hye-Joo took in everything Soo-Bin told her as her heart shattered when she realized that she had nobody to call her family. She made her way back home to confront both Joong-Do and Yeo-Jin about the affair.
Although Joong-Do had been insistent on denying everything as he tried to paint Soo-Bin as a liar, his plans were thwarted as Yeo-Jin affirmed everything. Joong-Do still tried his best to manipulate the situation; however, he failed. Hye-Joo asked both Joong-Do and Yeo-Jin to leave while she processed the situation. Joong-Do called Woo-Jae from the convenience store to inform him about the recent happenings, and he also confirmed the affair. Woo-Jae immediately rushed to Soo-Bin’s apartment; however, Soo-Bin had already left to avoid confrontation with him. Hye-Joo had absolutely broken down after handling both Joong-Do and Yeo-Jin calmly, keeping in mind Yoon-Seo’s comfort and the need not to disturb her. She then imagined what Ji-Hoon must have gone through as he tried to protect her in his own way while he went through each day with this burden.
The next morning, Hye-Joo gave Yeo-Jin an ultimatum of two days to pack her bags and leave her house. She had retired to her studio, where she was contacted by Yoon-Seo, who informed her about her getting bullied while also questioning Hye-Joo’s innocence. Joong-Do had then contacted her about the television program that they were supposed to appear on before Hye-Joo had found out about the affair. She refused to go on television and also accused Joong-Do of killing his own son. This broke Joong-Do as the series reveals the actual cause of Ji-Hoon’s death. The events of that night had been recorded on Joong-Do’s car’s dash cam as Joong-Do confronted Woo-Jae about his death.
Joong-Do led Woo-Jae away from their office to question him about that night and also asked him if he had murdered Ji-Hoon to take care of Joong-Do’s problems with him. Woo-Jae confessed that Ji-Hoon had died in a freak accident as he had slipped and drowned while retrieving the packet of meth that Woo-Jae had insisted he throw away. Ji-Hoon had swiped the meth packet from Jung-Dae as he had been on his way to make a drop, but Woo-Jae, on Joong-Do’s orders, had arrived just in time to stop it and had made Ji-Hoon throw away the packet. He then made his way to the car and asked Ji-Hoon to follow him, but he had his back turned toward him, and thus Woo-Jae did not witness Ji-Hoon walking toward the river to retrieve the packet.
The moment Woo-Jae had turned to call for Ji-Hoon, he had disappeared, and thus Woo-Jae had thought he had run off somewhere and had to leave because Yoon-Seo had been missing. Joong-Do, at that time, had left after Ji-Hoon had confronted him; he had been in the car before quickly getting out of it to make his way toward the police station because he had received a call from Hye-Joo informing him of Yoon-Seo’s disappearance. He had given Woo-Jae orders to follow Ji-Hoon and make sure he stayed out of trouble. Woo-Jae then confirmed his story by showing Joong-Do the tape from the dashcam and thus solving the mystery behind Ji-Hoon’s death.
Meanwhile, Seung-Hee made her way to Hye-Joo’s studio to tell her about the post and also accuse her of having an affair with Ki-Young. She also told her that she would not let Hye-Joo rest in peace because her life had been destroyed by her. Seung-Hee’s words made Hye-Joo realize that if she kept quiet any longer, she would be letting herself get demonized over a situation where she was the victim. Hye-Joo thus made up her mind, and she appeared on television. “Trolley” Episode 14 ended with Hye-Joo revealing her past to the entire nation and Yeo-Jin making up her mind to commit suicide after confessing to Woo-Jae that Joong-Do had raped her. Chairwoman Woo had also sided with the Nation and the People’s Party to shoot down Joong-Do’s bill and instead pass the 10 pending public welfare bills as promised by Kang. This prompted Joong-Do to take steps to pass the bill on his own.
Final Thoughts
“Trolley” Episode 14 was the epitome of an emotional rollercoaster as the series revealed how Ji-Hoon had really died. The characters were left playing the blame game as they could not make out each other’s moves. The reputations of the characters were put through the grinder for them to become relatable to the audience; however, Joong-Do’s character had already taken the fall as one of the worst characters. The plot twist of revealing that Yeo-Jin had been raped by Joong-Do during the night after Ji-Hoon’s graduation was overkill. The series is really tangling itself in a huge mess which is somehow getting further away from the Trolley Dilemma and is edging toward becoming a game of throwing each other under the bus to save themselves from the repercussions of the heinous crimes.
The trolley dilemma was used when Yoo-Shin decided to save her son and her family from getting publicly humiliated for Seung-Ho’s crime while she chose to forsake Hye-Joo. It appeared that Joong-Do had chosen his political career at first and had chosen to forsake his family; however, the recent events proved otherwise, as he chose to use his son’s death as a tool to help his political career after he had died and not before. Therefore, the trolley dilemma is not exactly applicable here. The various plot twists occurring in the series are an omen of how the series will really end. It will probably serve justice but at the cost of destroying each and every character involved in this long fight. The television appearance of Hye-Joo could give her enough courage to also broadcast her husband’s affair, although I doubt she would do that to him even after all this.
