"The Contradictory Corpse" is another "Furuhata Ninzaburô" episode trying to stretch the confines of the show's seemingly rather strict formula. I am continually impressed by screenwriter Koki Mitani's willingness to do this. This episode is nowhere near as experimental as the previous one but "The Contradictory Corpse" is the most successful of Mitani's experiments yet.
The twist in the tale here is that the murder victim survives! The rest of the episode plays out in the hospital waiting room where Furuhata subjects the killer to the cruellest and most nerve-wracking mind games we've ever seen him play. The killer, already a tightly-wound, nerdy man, sweats bullets throughout the episode and at one point appears as if he is going to be physically ill right on Furuhata's shoes. But the wily old inspector doesn't seem to be bothered at all as he puts on his friendliest smile and continues to push his suspect's buttons.
The killer is played by Kazuki Kosakai who gives one of the best antagonist performances on the show yet. He plays a highly efficient man whose calm and collected facade continually crumbles away throughout the episode until the nervous, bumbling, neurotic wreck underneath is fully exposed. Watching Kosakai break apart from the inside in real-time is absolutely fascinating and if you can get over just how cruel Furuhata comes across in this episode you'll have a whale of a time with it.
In fact, I'd say "The Contradictory Corpse" is one of the very best episodes of the show so far. It is a really tense, cleverly plotted, and occasionally quite hilarious 45-minute two-hander in which both Tamura Masakazu and Kazuki Kosakai get to shine. Another unexpected star of the show is director Keita Kono whose work so far has been mostly middling and blandly televisual. Here, however, the work of his colleagues Hidetomo Matsuda and Mamoru Hoshi seems to have rubbed off on him. The episode is shot almost entirely in moody shadows. Clinical high-angle shots are juxtaposed with nervous, sweaty close-ups of Kosakai's expressive face. Kono's direction is less flashy than that of his colleagues but here he manages something they never have. He makes us sympathise with the killer and feel like we're in his shoes and the experience is as nerve-wracking and suspenseful just like a good thriller should be.