Scams Season 1 Episode 5 Recap

The men bring Makoto to an abandoned house. When they remove the cover on his head, Makoto sees Yamada sitting on the floor waiting for him. Yamada says he wants information about Kanbe’s movements. He says they haven’t found Kanbe’s weakness. “You’re going to fail. Mark my words,” Makoto says. “You and Kanbe aren’t even in the same universe,” Makoto adds. Yamada gets angry and electrocutes Makoto. They laugh while Makoto screams in pain. “I’m going to barbecue you!” Yamada says. “Until you agree to help, I’m going to roast every last piece of your body to the bone,” Yamada adds. When they’re about to electrocute Makoto once more, a voice calls out to them. “Is this the Yamada residence?” the man asks. He holds what looks like food delivery. When they tell the man he got the wrong address, the man just walks away.

Yamada’s men follow the man outside. They hear loud noises of breaking things, but Yamada ignores it and returns to taunting Makoto. The next voices they hear are of Yamada’s men asking for forgiveness and begging for help. When the last of Yamada’s men get beaten up, Yamada runs for the door. But the man looking for him blocks his way. “So, you are Yamada,” the man says. The man puts Yamada in the back of the van. He begs for Makoto to help him, but Makoto does nothing. Later, he meets with Dokugawa, Kanbe, and Seimiya. It turns out Seimiya immediately calls Dokugawa and asks for help after seeing Makoto getting kidnapped. The man they sent is called Onuma. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades of sorts,” Kanbe says. 

“You’ve passed the point of no return,” Kanbe says to Makoto. He says Makoto needs to do whatever it takes to make money since he can no longer return to his normal life. That night, Makoto is visited by Yamada as a nightmare. Yamada laughs as blood flows down his face. He keeps telling Makoto he can’t go back anymore. The next day, Makoto tells his team it’s time to change their strategy. He asks Goriki to use the rager act to get more money from the previous targets. “Even if it’s a bluff, as long as we scare them, we win. We have to get them to pay as much as they can,” Makoto says. Then he turns to Seimiya and tells him to use the dead person scam. He tells him to use the new register to make things work. Kurusu suggests they should just lure the targets out of the house and rob the place while they’re out. “Our job is to scam people,” Makoto says. “Scamming is also a crime,” Goriki says. “It’s a business,” Makoto snaps. Kurusu says he knows some people who can help them as long as they get paid. But Makoto says they’re not going to use any means outside of scamming.

Meanwhile, Sachiko is at the house of one of her clients, Takezo, an old man. The entire house is a mess, so much so that she can’t move around without stepping on trash. While cleaning up, she sees the bundle of money Takezo is hiding. Later, Misaki tells Sachiko that Makoto is involved with the Yakuza. She heard the news from Himeka. As soon as she gets home, Sachiko goes into Makoto’s room. She checks his things and finds the box he hides under the bed. Makoto tells Seimiya that their profit is already 80 million yen in only two weeks. Despite the large amount of money, Makoto worries they’re not going to reach their target amount because there are only 30 names left on their new register. “I feel like we can do anything as long as we have you,” Seimiya says. Seimiya asks Makoto why he keeps working even after paying off his father’s hospital bills. “I can’t go back to normal,” Makoto replies. When Makoto gets home, he sees his mom in his room and all his money on the bed. “Makoto. Explain this,” Sachiko says. 

Our Thoughts

Makoto has so much respect for Kanbe. Even Makoto himself starts believing that he’s not doing anything wrong. He thinks what they are doing is “business.” When Kurusu suggested they should just rob people’s houses, Makoto was so against the idea. Did he really think what they’re doing is better than stealing? It’s still a crime. Scamming is still a crime. He also accepted that there is no turning back for him now. That’s why he’s doing his best to achieve their target amount. Is this kind of work addicting because of the thrill of getting caught?

Since the show’s beginning, we have been looking forward to seeing how Makoto’s family will handle the truth. Will they get mad at Makoto because of what he did? Or will they just let it slide since they used the money to pay for hospital bills? Makoto is already of legal age, so even if Sachiko tells him to stop, we doubt he will. It seems like it’s not about money for him anymore. He just wants to prove to Kanbe and his team that he can do the job.