Jake (Ansel Elgort) knew what Tozawa's (Ayumi Tanida) threat could mean if he didn't stop writing his article. Now viewers know too what Tozawa is capable of in Tokyo Vice season 2 episode 9, "Consequences."
But Jake, Katagiri (Ken Watanabe) and Sato (Sho Kasamatsu) aren't just going to stop, as they work toward gathering what they need to bring Tozawa down. Meanwhile, Samantha (Rachel Keller) and Eimi's (Rinko Kikuchi) personal relationships are shattered.
Here's everything you need to know about Tokyo Vice season 2 episode 9, the season's penultimate episode.
Regrouping
Katagiri visits Ngata (Miki Maya) before she is transferred to Misawa. She says there's no point fighting their bosses, as she's done everything they'll let her do in Tokyo. But she wants to spend the little time she has left finishing what they started, including dealing with the dirty cop Funaki (Masaki Miura).
Over at Chihara-kai, while Sato is now in charge in the position of Daiko, there is still unrest within the gang over the murder of Ishida, the war in the streets and Tozawa absorbing or killing all the other gangs. Sato won't sit back, as he goes to visit the heads of Ichikawa, hoping to form an alliance. However, Ichikawa has already sided with Tozawa. But since Sato has shown to be honorable, they offer to help make a deal as well, saying it is better to make peace than see everyone in Chihara-kai be killed.
Meanwhile, Jake, Eimi, Trendy (Takaki Uda) and Tin Tin (Kosuke Tanaka) are in scramble mode now that Tozawa has the likely prime minister in his pocket. They need to crack the story and find ways to prove it. They theorize Tozawa could be an FBI informant, giving them info on yakuza operations in the US like the Hawai'i raid in exchange for help getting a liver transplant. To prove this, Trendy goes to talk to Jason (Aoi Takeya) and Tin Tin goes to speak with Tozawa's Japanese doctor to see if he was in contact with the US surgeon. Eimi, meanwhile, wants Jake to be extra careful, taking his phone off him so Tozawa has no way to track him.
Even Mrs. Tozawa (Makiko Watanabe) needs to reposition herself amid her husband's growing power. She compliments him and says they should start fresh as partners, but Tozawa isn't moved. He calls her a means to an end, and that end is in sight. She warns him that it's unwise to make her an enemy.
Rats
Jake discusses the possibility of Tozawa being an FBI informant with Katagiri. The detective mentions there were rumors of another yakuza being an informant, that he even had a signed agreement with the agency, meaning Tozawa may have one as well.
Trendy tells Jason what they believe, wanting him to use his DC contacts to try and confirm it. Jason isn't thrilled by this, worried Trendy is only interested in him now as a source, but Trendy emphasizes what's at stake, so Jason agrees to find out what he can. Jason does confirm Tozawa is an informant, but he won't go on the record and can't get the signed document. They need someone on the record to make it stick, so Jake suggests he get a comment from Lynn Oberfeld (Geraldine Hughes).
Talking with Lynn, Jake quickly moves to disprove her previous claim about who received the liver transplant and bluffs they have the signed agreements for Tozawa and other yakuza, which they'll publish unless the FBI provides a quote to help their story. Lynn wants something else in return, the name of Jake's source (Jason). He refuses, but Lynn holds fast. We don't know what Jake said, but he calls Eimi and lets her know that he got a quote and will work to write up the story as quickly as possible.
Katagiri does his own bit of negotiating when he confronts Funaki. He shows Funaki an internal affairs investigation of him cheating with a minor, which ultimately was a setup by Tozawa to use as blackmail. Funaki admits to giving Tozawa info so they could kill the witness, but he says Tozawa also wanted the address for the hotel that Katagiri just moved his family to, but he refused. However, Katagiri surprisingly tells Funaki to give that info to Tozawa.
When Yabuki (Kazuya Tanabe) gets the info, Tozawa is pleased. Further emboldened, he says to not bother giving Sato a deal, but to "handle" Chihara-kai. Tozawa does get one bit of troubling news while he buddy buddies with powerful businessmen on the golf course — one of them recalls seeing Misaki (Ayumi Ito) at the American Embassy party with Jake.
Losing friends
Samantha attempts to talk to Erika (Hyunri) after the Akira situation. She explains how he was behind Polina being on Tozawa's boat, but still apologizes for what she did. It's not enough for Erika though, who describes Samantha as feeling most alive when everything else is falling apart. That's something she can not be a part of anymore, so she says goodbye to her friend.
Samantha gets a potential new friend, however, when Misaki comes to her looking for Jake. Together they check out Jake's apartment, but he's not there. Unfortunately, Tozawa arrives and sees Misaki, confirming what he was told. Samantha and Misaki race off and are able to get away.
Elsewhere, Kei (Keita) enacts a plan to prove to Eimi that Shingo is no good. He goes to the school Shingo's son attends and tries to kidnap him. Thankfully, the boy knows to run away from a stranger and Shingo is close by, chasing after Kei and rescuing his son.
When Eimi confronts Kei about this, he says he did it to prove Shingo couldn't protect his own son, so he of course couldn't protect Eimi. Eimi doesn't know what to do with Kei, but until she figures that out, Shingo says he can't be a part of her life.
Tozawa's wrath
After patiently waiting to talk with Tozawa's doctor, Tin Tin takes a lesson from Jake and bursts into the doctor's office, telling him if he doesn't cooperate they'll publish a story about how he treats yakuza members, ruining his legitimate business. Tin Tin relays to Trendy that the doctor treated Tozawa for liver disease and contacted the US surgeon. But as he is on the phone, some Tozawa men grab him and stab him multiple times in the stomach. Thankfully, other people are there and call an ambulance.
Eimi checks on Tin Tin at the hospital, who is on a ventilator but in stable condition. Baku (Kosuke Toyohara) is also there, telling her the paper received an anonymous call that if they went forward with the story, more reporters would die. Eimi reluctantly tells Baku what they are working on and he immediately tells her to shelve it until he can assess the risk and take appropriate measures. But Eimi sees this as another step in his protection of Tozawa, revealing her suspicions of Baku. Baku admits he isn't perfect, but says he is not corrupt and is disappointed Eimi would think so.
Needing somewhere safe to hide and write his story, Jake goes to Chihara-kai and Sato agrees to protect him. However, Tozawa's men quickly arrive to wipe out Chihara-kai. They kill multiple people, but Sato and Jake manage to escape. At another Chihara-kai hideout, it's revealed only a few got away, and now Sato isn't sure anywhere is safe. They are soon joined by Samantha and Misaki, also in need of hiding from Tozawa.
Katagiri's trick
Yabuki arrives at the hotel where Katagiri's family is staying. He enters the room, knife drawn, but no one is there. Instead, there's a gun on the bed and Katagiri in the corner waiting. Yabuki grabs the gun and tries to shoot Katagiri, but it's empty.
Ngata comes in and places Yabuki under arrest for the club shootout that murdered Masa. Yabuki says that's ridiculous, but they point out his prints are now on the murder weapon (the gun). If he wants to avoid a long sentence he'll have to cut a deal and inform on Tozawa. Yabuki remains defiant, confident Tozawa will soon be in a position to get him out, at which point he'll come for Katagiri's family. But the detective says he'd kill Yabuki first.
As Yabuki is being hauled away, Katagiri is approached by Mrs. Tozawa, who tells him she knows where Katagiri can likely find Tozawa's FBI agreements (courtesy of Misaki). One is in his hotel safe, which should be easy enough to get to. The other would be more difficult, Tozawa's personal yacht, the Yoshino.
New episodes of Tokyo Vice season 2 premiere on Thursdays exclusively on Max, where you can also watch past episodes.
