The ninth episode of the drama series "Good Things and Bad Things" (NTV, Saturdays at 9pm), starring actors Mamiya Shotaro and Araki Yuko, aired on December 13th. In the episode, the culprit behind a series of murders targeting Takagi Masaru (Mamiya) and his classmates was revealed. Towards the end of the episode, the culprit was apprehended by the police, but the preview for the final episode raised the possibility that there may be a "real culprit," sparking a flurry of speculation on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
Episode 9 tells the story of a serial murder case that begins with the digging up of a time capsule for the first time in 22 years, and the remaining targets are Takagi and Koyama (Shintaro Morimoto).
At the snack bar "Imakuni," Mori (Furudate Yutaro) watches a DVD of his elementary school days with Takagi and others. He learns that Seto Shion, the forgotten "Do-ko," was a classmate in 5th grade class 1, and that he transferred schools after being bullied by Takagi and his friends shortly after class changes. During a recorder test, Seto misses the note "Do" due to Takagi and his friends' interference. Takagi laughs at Seto, saying, "You're 'Do-ko' because you can't hit the note Do!" and this is what started the bullying.
Afterwards, Takagi and his friends go to the home of Seto (Ohgo Suzuka), who runs a piano school. When Takagi sees the house, he remembers visiting this place with his daughter Kanon (Miyazaki Ririsa), who wanted to learn piano. Furthermore, when Sonoko (Araki) searches the mailbox, she finds mail addressed to "Seto Shion" and "Utsumi Kei." Then, from Imakuni (Junki Tozuka), it becomes clear that detective Utsumi (Subaru Kimura) is Seto's fiance, and that Seto died a year ago.
At the same time, Utsumi, who was visiting Koyama's company, strangles Koyama to death. Utsumi then visits Takagi's house and reveals that he killed Koyama and the others, and that Seto committed suicide after being unable to play the piano due to the trauma of past bullying. Meanwhile, Sonoko learns that Seto has transferred to Takuto Academy, a school for students who have stopped attending school, and visits the school. There, Sonoko learns that a memorial concert for Seto will be held... and so the story unfolds.
Later in the episode, Utsumi plays the piano at a memorial concert. Takagi, who has been watching from the audience, grabs a cutter and tries to approach Utsumi after he finishes his performance, but at that moment, the police, who have been waiting, rush in and arrest Utsumi. The screen then switches to the final scene, showing Seto as an elementary school student, looking left and right while playing the piano and smiling.
The perpetrator and motive for the series of crimes have been revealed, but the preview for the final episode asks, "Who is the real culprit?", sparking heated speculation on social media. Comments included, "No matter how you look at it, this crime couldn't have happened without the involvement of someone who knew the class back then," "Couldn't the real culprit be King, who started the crimes?", "Do-chan was looking left and right, so there must be two other people involved, and we'll find out who they are in the final episode," "Is it his wife after all? Shion's favorite song is Kanon, and his daughter's name is Kanon, so it can't be a coincidence," "At the end, didn't Utsumi say, 'I'll leave the rest to you'? Is there an accomplice in the audience?'," "Shinonome and Imakuni are the most likely candidates, since they both have backgrounds in the yearbook and are from Takuto Academy," and "If all goes as planned, they were friends at Takuto Academy, so it's probably Imakuni and Shinonome."
