The highly awaited K-drama Crash premiered episode 1 on Monday, May 13, 2024, at 10 p.m. KST on ENA. Viewers can also stream the episode on Disney Plus. The series, led by Lee Min-Ki and Kwak Sun-Young, follows a group of unique individuals who form the Traffic Crime Investigation Team (TCI) and solve traffic-related crimes.
Episode 1 of Crash gave viewers a glimpse of the Traffic Crime Investigation team, including Jung Chae-Man (Heo Sung-Tae), Min So-Hee (Kwak Sun-Young), Woo Dong-Ki (Lee Ho-Cheol), and Eo Hyun-Kyung (Moon-Hee). So-Hee crossed paths with insurance investigative officer Cha Yeon-Ho (Lee Min-Ki). They suspected a man of killing old people and making it seem like an accident so that he could make money with insurance claims. While investigating, new problems arose that could only hamper the case ahead. Will they crack the case? Only time will tell.
Crash K-drama Episode 1 recap: Lee Min-Ki introduces Kwak Sun-Young to a case
The premier episode of ENA K-drama Crash saw an introduction to the Traffic Crime Investigation unit’s team members Jung Chae-Man, Min So-Hee, Woo Dong-Ki, and Eo Hyun-Kyung. Together, they managed to capture a used car dealership shop that sold cheap and low-quality cars at higher prices. While fighting the men involved in the scam, Min-Hee mistook insurance investigative officer Cha Yeon-Ho as one of the men and hit him.
After they resolved their misunderstanding at the police station, Yeon-Ho asked Min-Hee to look into a case that other police officers declined to take action on. She kept the files aside and went to have dinner with her colleagues. She further argued with her senior and wondered why she had ever joined TCI, which no one cared about. Soon, she received a call from her father informing her of Grandma Bongsoon’s passing away.
Mourning over Grandma Bongsoon’s death, Min-Hee found out more about how she passed away. A man hit her while she was pulling a handcart to collect waste paper. Her father revealed that the perpetrator didn’t have a stable job. Moreover, the culprit also deeply apologized to the victim’s grandson, Jin-Young, and promised to pay settlement money. Min-Hee then found Yeon-Ho inside the hall. The latter revealed that this death was related to the case file he gave her at the police station.
The perpetrator, Jung Hok-Yu, has had five driver’s insurance until now. He caused four accidents in the past year and a half, including Grandma Bongsoon. Among those, three died, and one was seriously injured. However, they were all old grandmothers with no close family members. After he settled with the three families, the court ruled them as accidents and put him on probation. While he settled close to three to five million KRW, he received 120 million won from his driver’s insurance policies.
The team realized that Hok-Yu targeted old people without any close family members so he could reduce the settlement money and keep the rest to himself. The team decided to find proof of Hok-Yu potentially murdering old people so that they could overturn the court’s decision and punish him. Meanwhile, as the team spoke to the victims’ acquaintances, they saw Yeon-Ho also investigating the case. He looked at the same from an insurance fraud angle.
Later, Min-Hee and Chae-Man visited Hok-Yu, who kept apologizing for his mistakes. Yeon-Ho heard their conversation from afar. Upon returning to the station, the rest of the team noted that they found no CCTV cameras nearby where all four accidents occurred. Min-Hee then left to run a simulation exercise at the accident side. She almost hit Yeon-Ho before they collaborated to crack the details of how the accident might have taken place. They realized that the likelihood of Hok-Yu committing a murder was high.
Yeon-Ho further revealed that Hok-Yu would buy another used car a month after causing an accident. This meant the perpetrator might soon book another used car to plot his next target. Min-Hee informed the team, who decided to create a trap. Fortunately, the car dealer turned out to be the same man whom they’d arrested before. After much thought, they decided to use the car dealer and tracked Hok-Yu’s movements when he bought another car.
Meanwhile, Yeon-Ho confronted his colleague, who deliberately closed the insurance fraud case. He took it up with the company director, who didn’t bother. On the other hand, the TCI team realized that Hok-Yu had found his next target, an 81-year-old woman, Yoon Sung-Ja. They decided to follow Hok-Yu and also keep an eye on the old woman.
By the end of the episode, Hok-Yu linked the relationship between the TCI and how they’d caught the car dealers. He realized he was being set on a trap. The following day, Min-Hee and Dong-Ki tracked what they thought to be Hok-Yu’s car. After realising their cover was blown, she asked her team to keep an eye on the old woman.
Hok-Yu, however, decided to attack the car dealer who tried to trap him by collaborating with the TCI. But just as he was about to hit him with his other car, Yeon-Ho came in between. Hok-Yu hit Yeon-Ho, leaving him injured.
To watch what happens next, don’t forget to tune in to Crash on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 10 p.m. KST on ENA and later on Disney Plus.
