Trolley (트롤리) is a thriller-mystery Korean drama series directed by Kim Mun-kyo, written by Ryu Bo-ri and stars Kim Hyun-joo and Park Hee-soon in lead roles. The series takes over SBS’ Monday-Tuesday 10 PM KST timeslot previously occupied by Cheer Up.
Trolley episode 15 has a runtime of 60 minutes.
Netflix’s description of the series reads:
A SUDDEN TRAGEDY BRINGS THE WIFE OF AN ASSEMBLYMAN OUT OF HER PRIVATE LIFE AND FORCES HER TO CONFRONT FAMILY SECRETS AND HER OWN TROUBLING PAST.
– Trolley Episode 15 Review Contains Spoilers –
Trolley episode 15 starts with Hye-joo’s interview on TV after the devastating events of the last episode. The telecast is streamed live, and Seung-hee and Yoo-sin watch with anger and fear, respectively, at the unfolding events. As the host brings up the sexual assault allegation against Ji-hoon, we see that the entire thing was discussed prior to going on air, with Joong-do telling Hye-joo what could happen in order to prepare her for the questions.
Either way, Hye-joo still seems sincere, although she says a lot of things that might feel a bit untrue considering the fight that is happening between the two of them. Afterwards, Hye-joo tells Joong-do that she will be divorcing him, but Joong-do refuses and reminds her that since they are now in the public eye, they cannot get divorced until the bill gets passed. Hye-joo calls him shameless, but there’s only so much she can do about it.
While packing up her stuff, she gets a ton of messages and calls from different people asking for an interview. All of a sudden, she gets Yeo-jin’s call, and she carefully picks up to learn about something shocking – Yeo-jin has tried to end her life, and the two of them are called to the hospital. They rush there and find out that Yeo-jin tried to overdose on sleeping pills but was discovered on time, and thus her life is not in any danger.
Hye-joo asks Joong-do to leave, and on his way out, she asks him to keep all of this a secret from Yeon-seo. Meanwhile, Soo-bin watches the interview and is shocked to learn that Hye-joo also called Ji-hoon a molestor, even though she begged her before to not go to the interview. On the other hand, Joong-do apologises to Woo-jae for doubting him and letting him down and tells him that he did watch the dashcam footage.
That night, while sitting beside Yoon-seo, Hye-joo thinks back to Ji-hoon’s graduation ceremony and how things were simple and nice back then. Just then, she gets a call from Yoon-seo, who, after watching the news, apologises for her outburst the last day and then asks her mother where Yeo-jin is. Hye-joo lies to her in order to not distress her more.
As support outpours for Joong-do and the bill, Hye-joo learns from Woo-jae that she was probably the only one who didn’t know about the affair. Either way, she declines his offer and chooses to stay with Yeo-jin. While going inside the hospital, Seung-hee spots her; as it turns out Yoo-sin is also in the same hospital. On the other hand, the lies surrounding Ji-hoon break Soo-bin’s heart, but she is unable to contact her.
Soon after, Yeo-jin wakes up, much to Hye-joo’s relief. However, she lays into her, asking her why she would take such a drastic step after doing something so horrible, even after knowing what she went through in the past. Did she want to run away after leaving her in such a state? Yeo-jin finally opens up to Hye-joo with her truth – she wasn’t having an affair with Joong-do; he raped her.
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We go back to Ji-hoon’s graduation day when the event happened – the day after, Joong-do apologised to Yeo-jin and asked her to keep it a secret. It was a horrible mistake, and he will never repeat it. That if he becomes successful, he will be a better assemblyman and make it up to her. He also tells her that Hye-joo won’t be able to take the heartbreak of knowing the truth.
Yeo-jin was about to give up on her life right then and there, but Hye-joo’s caring and loving nature helped give her the strength to forget and move on. Of course, it wasn’t easy for her, and Joong-do’s casual approach didn’t help the process, only aggravated it. Either way, Hye-joo is in for some horrible heartbreak as she finally puts two and two together and figures out the small things that she previously ignored.
After realising that Yeo-jin is telling the truth, a remorseful Hye-joo begs for her forgiveness for not realising what Yeo-jin has been going through for the past 5 years. She also implores her friend to go to the authorities, but Yeo-jin refuses to do so, stating a lack of evidence and the fact that she is not strong enough for people’s questions and disbelief.
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Meanwhile, Yoo-sin is left reeling after seeing on the news that Joong-do has all the proof necessary to go against Yoo-sin for the land development case. Outside, Seung-hee threatens Hye-joo with making Joong-do’s rape public if she doesn’t hold another interview and tell the world that she lied about Seung-ho.
Hye-joo later asks Joong-do about the allegations, and he tells her that he “made a mistake”. Hye-joo is distraught at the answer and constantly asks him how he could do such a heinous thing. On top of that, he is constantly preaching about Namgoong Sol’s Law as if he does not have an ounce of guilt. Joong-do tells her a bunch of crap about how he has tried to live righteously for the past few years because of his guilt and has tried to repent.
Hye-joo isn’t having any of it and tells him to tell the authorities or else she will do so. He tries to reason with her, saying that the law won’t pass if he goes to jail, but Hye-joo has had enough of the bill as well. Joong-do next brings up another strategy – what will happen to Yoon-seo? Hye-joo asks him to not take their daughter’s name after doing something so utterly horrible.
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Either way, she explains to him why both she and Ji-hoon thought that Joong-do was having an affair and never thought that he would turn out to be a rapist – they both trusted him and never thought that he would be capable of something this bad. Joong-do is later left shocked when Woo-jae tells him that he has known the entire truth for a while and Yeo-jin was the one who told him. Of course, Woo-jae subtly threatened her to keep quiet and asked her to forget it, just like Joong-do.
Either way, Woo-jae asks him whether he thinks Hye-joo will remain quiet about everything, and he replies that they will have to believe that she will. Hye-joo, meanwhile, meets Jin-seok to tell her everything, and the news reaches Joong-do and Woo-jae in no time. Jin-seok, much to her heartbreak, also advices Hye-joo to keep quiet about the entire thing since it won’t help the general public if the bill is not passed.
Jin-seok explains why it is better for Joong-do to continue to be in politics and help the general public than it is for Hye-joo to destroy everything. In that case, the good that he is trying to do won’t happen either, and the world won’t become a better place. She, however, leaves the choice up to her. On the other hand, Soo-bin spots Joong-do going to Yeo-jin’s hospital room and secretly records everything from outside.
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Unfortunately, she fails to spot Woo-jae, who deletes the video. But Soo-bin isn’t going to back off just yet. She promises to make it public even when Woo-jae mentions that no one will believe her, wondering whether they want to try the route. She later meets Yeo-jin while sobbing and begs her to make the incident public. Hye-joo comes in just in time to stop her from pressuring Yeo-jin since it is not her place to make this decision.
Trolley Episode 15 Ending
Soo-bin asks her why she told everyone that Ji-hoon was a sex offender and is now defending someone who actually is one. Hye-joo recounts her encounter on the lift wherein another woman came forward with a similar story to Hye-joo’s and mentioned that a lot of people want the bill to be passed, and she doesn’t want more people to suffer the same fate as them.
Soo-bin is inconsolable at this point and asks her whether she is truly ok with hiding one truth for another. In the end, she decides to go to the media and finally lets the world know that Ji-hoon wasn’t a sexual offender; rather, it was Joong-do.
Trolley Episode 15 Review
That was a rather complex episode. With these new truths coming out in the open and the emotions behind some very difficult decisions, it is interesting to watch what decisions people would take when in the middle of a rock and a hard place. It is also interesting to note how the men all call rape a mistake as if Joong-do slipped and fell into a woman without any prior knowledge.
That being said, although, sure, people can be horrible, it seems rather forced to bring this storyline forward and still have Seung-hee in between all of it. Right now, her storyline is as good as over, yet she pops up here and there looking annoyed and barking orders. She knows these don’t work, yet she expects different results for doing the same action. I wonder when she will stop being a thing now that we are one episode away from the season finale.
Either way, I thought the episode was ok. It’s not like we didn’t know that this was going to happen, but it still felt a bit cringy. Acting from all corners was great, though, and Seo Jung-yeon really broke my heart with her honest portrayal of Yeo-jin.
Trolley is streaming on Netflix.
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