The fourth episode of the Nippon Television drama series "Punch-Drunk Woman: Only XX Days Left Until Prison Break" (Sundays at 10:30 PM), starring actress Shinohara Ryoko, aired on February 1st. The episode revealed the true identity of a prison guard who is in collusion with a cult that is plotting an escape from Hikawa Detention Center, sparking a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
In the fourth episode, Kozue Fuyuki (played by Shinohara), a prison guard at Hikawa Detention Center, is taken hostage during a hostage situation at the detention center. However, she teams up with Reiji Kusaka (played by Jesse), a suspect in the murder of her father, to capture the culprit. However, behind the scenes, Kozue's ID and password have been stolen by a prison guard who is in collusion with a cult that is plotting a prison break.
Detective Yusuke Saeki (Naohito Fujiki) of the First Investigative Division begins to look into Reiji's case once again. Unable to understand why Reiji continues to remain silent despite the evidence of murder being in full force, Saeki suspects that Reiji is hiding something.
Meanwhile, social media exchanges between Kozue and Reiji are discovered on a smartphone carried by the hostage-takers, and Kozue, who has been framed by a cult, is suspected of being an informant. Furthermore, Reiji, who wants to escape from prison, is told by Numata (Kubota Yuuki), a former leader of the cult, to betray Kozue. Kozue then interrogates Reiji directly, but when Reiji finds out that he is being compared to the former Haruomi, he declares that Kozue had orchestrated the whole thing and that he is the victim. Kozue is then stripped of her authority as ward chief and forced to return her ID card.
Saeki meets with Reiji and tells him that he suspects that Reiji's younger sister, Suzu (Kajiwara Kanagisa), was abused by their father, Haruomi (Takezai Terunosuke). He also reveals that Kozue was betrayed by Haruomi, saying, "Haruomi is Kozue's trauma."
In the detention center, Kozue is assaulted by a group of semi-criminal gang members led by Kawakita Ryuma (Karma-san). As Kozue loses consciousness due to pain and despair, she has a flashback to Haruomi's words from 28 years ago. "I'm sorry, but I just felt sorry for you. Your life is too much for me. If you want to run away, run away alone." However, just as Kozue is about to lose consciousness, Reiji appears and punches Ryuma and the others... and so the story unfolds.
The episode then depicts a scene in which Ebiwara Hidehiko (Koseki Yuta), a prison officer at Hikawa Detention Center, is checking the footage in the detention center's empty monitoring system room. The footage shows Ebiwara and cult member Saijo Naoya (Kokubo Hisato) talking in a corner of the detention center. Ebiwara then silently deletes the footage.
Social media was in an uproar when it was revealed that Ebihara was the traitorous prison guard who was in cahoots with the cult. Comments such as "It's you," "The shocking traitor," "He's an unexpected person," "He was acting like an ally so it was suspicious," and "He was a follower?" were posted.
