The episode opens with Ran, Sonoko, and Conan at the local new hotspot for young couples. Sonoko notices an old woman sitting by herself and thinks she must be senile. Sonoko decides to talk to her, and Ran and Conan accompany her. Just as Sonoko starts talking, a man around thirty years younger than the woman comes up. Ran thinks this is her son, but the woman quickly corrects her to say that he's her boyfriend, Joji..
Even though they get this explanation, Sonoko and the others continue to stay near this couple. At one point, Sonoko approaches them and accuses Joji of being a gold digger, after seeing how nicely the woman is dressed. During the confrontation, the woman reveals her name is Haru. When Sonoko blurts out that Joji is likely using Haru to get money for his sick daughter, he gets a pained expression on his face.
The whole group goes to the hospital and meet Joji's daughter, Yuki, who has a heart condition. While they're there, though, we see Conan staring at something and looking thoughtful. After Haru and Joji leave in Haru's limo in order for her to get money for Yuki's treatment, something happens that makes Conan think about what didn't feel right to him in the hospital room. He rushes back in and finds that Yuki is gone. This starts a chain of events that leads Conan to discerning the whole truth about this case, which includes a twist. I'm sorry for not saying anything more beyond this, but going any further runs too much of a risk of providing "spoilers."
After watching this episode, I can say that while I like the idea behind this case (and the fact it's not a murder or an attempted murder mystery), I'm a little frustrated with how some of it was executed. First off, right at the beginning, Sonoko makes a big deal about the old woman being out of place at the hot new couples spot for young people. While Ran points out that they're not young couples, either, we never get an explanation for why the three of them were at this spot in the first place. Was Sonoko scouting it out as a potential place to spend time with Makoto when he returns? This setup means that once again, Conan and whoever else is with him, just happen to be at the right place at the right time. Also, we don't get an explanation as to why Sonoko and the others keep hanging around until Sonoko confronts Joji. It would've been nice if Sonoko had said something quietly to the others about being concerned for Haru and sticking around to keep an eye on her. Since there wasn't this kind of an explanation, it made Sonoko and the other two come across as simply stalking Haru and Joji.
As I said, I liked the idea behind this episode, but the relying on coincidence to get Conan and the others involved, as well as the unexplained stalking at the beginning, kind of weaken it. If it was a case of Sonoko's family already knowing Haru (since Sonoko's family is also wealthy) and being concerned about this younger man she's seeing, I could have bought that as a reason for Sonoko and the others to get involved. As its written, though, it feels forced.
The preview for next week's episode shows that it's going to be a one-episode murder mystery. Hopefully the setup and execution of the story will be stronger than it was for this one.
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