As Shiba operated on Itokawa without permission, he is brought away from Okubo Memorial Hospital by the police before he can question Kasugai further on Mie's death. Even though Shiba is expecting to be officially arrested or charged for what he did, he is surprised that Toshio got him out of the police station. However, this gesture comes with an obvious threat to Shiba who is told to stop meddling in this matter and not to appear in front of interested parties anymore. Although Shiba is obviously keen on pursuing the matter further, I think his near brush with the law made him consider for a brief second if he should give up his career and continue fighting those who are in the surrogate pregnancy scam. However, when he is asked by Honma to get the latter's son back, Shiba thinks of a way to help Honma.
On the other hand, Kasugai reveals to Keiko how she came to find out about Mie's lies and that she had killed Mie intentionally. Keiko is obviously shaken by this revelation but I think her obsession with having a child, securing her position in the Hyuga family with a heir and not wanting to lose what she's gained makes her lose her senses. Not only does she try to get Kasugai to stop associating with her (for fear of being implicated), she also hatches a plan to go overseas with the baby so that nobody can do anything to her or take the baby away from her. Kasugai is of course aghast to see how much Keiko has changed and blames herself for being part of the reason why this has happened.
Then comes the big "climax" scene when Shiba makes use of an uncanny coincidence to try to bring the baby to Honma. Well, it's very cliche in a sense because all of a sudden, the masterminds behind this whole scam come to their senses after what happened. I won't go into details on what exactly happened but frankly speaking, it's very predictable. At the ending, we have people going about their lives as if nothing really happened.
Well, this is where I think the story wasn't done too satisfactorily. I know surrogate pregnancies may be a taboo and sensational topic to do a drama on but since you've already started it, why not go all the way? True, Mie's betrayal may have spiced things up in the sense that everyone realises that they were taken on a ride to nowhere but this also works against the drama in the sense because it's extremly difficult to wrap up something which is a hoax after all. There wasn't any surrogate pregnancy to begin with, the child didn't belong to the couple who hatched the scheme, the murderer wasn't punished in any way and there were many questions waiting to be answered. What's up with Yoko and her brother? Did they suddenly decide to start blackmailing or cheating people one fine day? Why would she do his bidding anyway? How did she manage to get all that money? What did Shiba gain at the end after going through so much? He was treated to a rollercoaster ride of betrayal and lies and in actual fact, doing so much for nothing. That's why I think if the whole scam was built upon a non-existent crime, the ending really should have a stronger way of conveying the message of how the parties involved were affected rather than show them as if nothing has happened before.
Other than my grouses with the ending, I think the acting was generally of a high standard. Okada Masaki did feel overshadowed by most of his cast members but that's to be expected because he's lacking in experience comparatively and Shiba is not such an easy role to play after all. Moreover, it would take really strong acting skills in order for him to hold his own across Nakatani Miki who really shows how obsessed Kasugai can be and the two different faces she has. Talking about obsession, the key characters all have their own reasons to be obsessed e.g. Keiko over status, standing and the need to be a mother. In fact, obsession over what they desire or aim to achieve is the reason why the whole fiasco came about in the first place. Kato Ai was credible as the half-crazy Keiko who turned rather obnoxious later while Hasegawa Hiroki seemed a bit under-utilised in this drama. Kohinata Fumio was pretty much his usual self i.e. the reliable supporting actor while Oomasa Aya came across as a bit boring at times. Too bad her character wasn't developed further. Watanabe Ikkei was interesting as the inquisitive Itokawa but once he gave the information about how Kasugai was involved in Mie's death, he somehow slipped into oblivion after that. Suzuki An was actually quite good in showing the various faces of Mie e.g. pure and innocent as a kindergarten teacher, scheming when she tries to pass off her own child as Keiko and Toshio's, irritating when she tried to emphasize to Keiko how the child was hers because she was the one carrying it and of course, the flashback scenes of her and Honma where she showed the gentleness of a woman in love. Too bad her involvement in the drama was limited and ended right when Mie died.
As for the BGM and theme song, I think the BGM fitted nicely with the story's developments and helped a lot in making the whole atmosphere more tense when the important scenes took place. As for the theme song, the mood coincided with the drama's theme that we were looking at a bunch of "holy monsters" abusing their sacred positions to fulfill their personal desires. On its own, the music might not leave a strong impression on me but on the whole, I think the drama and music go hand in hand to complement each other.
And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 7.5 out of 10 (This would have been higher if not for the half-baked ending which was in a hurry to round things up)
Acting: 8.5 out of 10 (Like I said above, Nakatani Miki and Suzuki An are the ones to look out for. Okada Masaki just needs more practice and experience to do better in future)
Theme song: 8 out of 10 (Fr the reason that it's suitable for the drama and complements it well)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out of 10 (Much of the action was indoors but there were a few location shoots which looked quite nice)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 8 out of 10 (The intensity between Kasugai and Shiba was a bit lacking because Nakatani overpowered Okada in many ways but the rest of the cast had some interesting sparks e.g. Nakatani vs. Hasegawa Hiroki, Nakatani vs. Suzuki An and Nakatani vs. Kato Ai. Any wonder why Nakatani is included in all three pairs I mentioned? :-P)
Total: 39 out of 50
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