The third episode of the Nippon Television drama series "Punch-Drunk Woman: XX Days Left Until Escape" (Sundays at 10:30 PM), starring actress Shinohara Ryoko, aired on January 25th. The episode depicts a hostage situation in a detention center in which female prison guard Fuyuki Kozue (Shinohara) and Kusaka Reiji (Jesse) are taken hostage, and the purpose of the incident is revealed at the end. The episode caused a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In episode 3, Kozue, a prison guard who serves as the head of the female section of Hikawa Detention Center, is disturbed by the words of Reiji, who has been detained on suspicion of murdering his father. "Let me out of here. I didn't do it," Reiji claims his innocence. If that's true, why doesn't he tell his lawyer? When pressed by Kozue, Reiji simply says, "I can't say." Reiji's fingerprints were found on the knife used in the crime, and there are reports of eyewitnesses at the scene, making the possibility of his innocence extremely low. However, Kozue can't get Reiji's words out of her head.
Meanwhile, Reiji approaches Takashi Numata (Yuki Kubota) and Naoya Saijo (Hisato Kokubo), followers of Hiroyasu Yoroizuka (Yamato Kawachi), a death row inmate who is plotting an escape. He asks them to join him in the fight.
Shortly after, a hostage situation breaks out in the detention center's supply warehouse, with Kozue, Reiji, and Saijo being taken hostage. The perpetrator, Mitsuhashi (Horiuchi Ken), is being held on suspicion of robbery and murder and has requested a retrial. Mitsuhashi, who had been lonely, had a common-law wife and a stepdaughter as his first family, and he wants to prove his innocence while his sick daughter is still alive and undergoing surgery. However, his wife and stepdaughter have already died in a traffic accident, and it turns out that Mitsuhashi is in a state of insanity where he cannot distinguish between reality and delusion. Mitsuhashi then stabs Saijo, severely injuring him, but Kozue tells Mitsuhashi, "I understand how you feel, Mitsuhashi. I was the same," revealing her own past abuse at the hands of her own mother... and so on.
In the episode, Reiji subdues Mitsuhashi after a struggle. Mitsuhashi is secured, and Kozue and Reiji safely leave the warehouse. Reiji is placed in the same room as Numata, who reveals that the hostage situation was a way for the cult to buy time to carry out part of their escape plan, that Mitsuhashi is also a member of the cult, and that the act of stabbing Saijo was entirely part of the plan. Reiji presses him, asking, "Was that all a play? I stabbed Saijo," but Numata calmly replies, "We'll do anything to get the cult leader out. That's what we're prepared to do." Numata then reveals that he eliminated Kimizuka, one of the members of the escape plan, because he became scared. In the next scene, someone dressed in a prison guard uniform attacks Kimizuka, who is hospitalized.
As the true motive behind the hostage situation became clear, many people expressed their horror on social media. Comments included, "It's scary," "What a crazy group," "Wow, that was all a play...that's amazing...," "It's too scary," "It's insane," "This drama is too scary," and "There's too much information, my head is about to explode."
