Episodes 4 and 5 of Tokyo Vice see Jake Adelstein making some major headway in his investigations while trouble brews within the Yakuza.
Episode 4 recap: I Want It That Way
Jake is taken to a well-guarded house where Ishida asks him for a favour. He says that someone is spreading false rumours and he wants to find out who.
Jake agrees to help and takes this information to Katagiri. He then gets working on the evidence he was given about the loan shark business with the help of Emi-san.
They visit yet another victim of this terrible trend and follow the clues until they find an address and get a physical copy of the agreement.
The agreement shows that these businesses are convincing people to take out life insurance policies with them as the beneficiary and then driving them to commit suicide.
Samantha is having dinner with Matso, whom she met at Onyx. He turns out to be an investigator who has been searching for her because of some past crime that she committed.
She gets spooked and leaves immediately. Jake and Sato meet at Onyx and decide to go out and about town, bonding with each other.
Samantha looks to be in deeper trouble because her plans of opening her club have gotten out and the Yakuza is now watching her closely.
While Jake is having dinner with Sato, he has a run-in with Tozawa, the leader of the Yakuza family that’s causing trouble in the city right now.
Episode 5 recap: Everybody Pays
A glimpse into Samantha’s past is shown. She came to Japan as a religious missionary, teaching the locals English and spreading the word of the Lord. She later stole 4 million yen from the mission fund which is why Matso was hired to find her.
Back in the present, Jake spends time with Miyamoto, who tells him to be wary of Katagiri. He says that Katagiri ignores rules and has made a lot of enemies.
Jake meets Katagiri after that, who gives him the information that Ishida had asked for. He also gives him useful guidance before leaving.
Jake hands the information to Ishida, and when asked for something in return he respectfully denies it. He then asks Ishida about the loan shark company.
Ishida’s insights lead him to a high profile financial institution where he meets Sugita-san. He remembers that saw Sugita with Tozawa earlier and immediately makes the connection.
He tries to convince him to flip on Tozawa and sets up a meeting for later. Emo tells him that he shouldn’t have let Sugita out of his sight.
Kume had asked Sato to strike some fear into Samantha about starting her club. When he doesn’t go through with it, Kume says that he needs to be punished.
They go up to the roof thinking Sato has to face a reckoning but in reality, Ishida called Kume there to reveal that he’s the traitor under Tozawa’s thumb.
Ishida orders Sato to kill Kume, but when Sato cannot Kume jumps off the roof himself. Katagiri visits Ishida and Tozawa to make sure that after this incident the peace is maintained.
Jake goes to Sugita’s house and finds that he has committed suicide and taken full responsibility for the loan shark scam. Jake feels disappointed that he couldn’t implicate Tozawa.
He shares a drink with Katagiri who once again is a voice of reason to him. He goes to Onyx to spend time with Samantha but she ends up leaving with Sato.
She and Sato make love to each other while Polina takes Jake to her favourite site in Japan and tries to make him feel better for missing out on Samantha.
Sato gets back to Ishida’s house to find that the men have been slaughtered. He runs up and sees two men fighting with Ishida and he fights back.
Together, they managed to repel this act of war.
Review
- The budding friendship between Jake and Sato looks promising. They get along well and might learn from each other.
- To that effect, the character of Sato seems to be one to focus on. He is a well-written character with many layers to him.
- The scenes of investigative journalism are great to watch. Seeing Jake and the others follows the clues to its conclusion is great for the episode
Rating: 3/5
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