The Guest: Episode 2

by odilettante

If anyone thought the second episode would be less scary or gory, well, think again. Evil spirits continue to destroy everyone’s lives and happiness thanks to Park Il-do’s vengeful bloodlust. The simple solution would be exorcism — but nothing is ever that simple, is it? At least there’s now a big, scary reason for our trio of protagonists to come together again as adults.

 
EPISODE 2 RECAP

Kil-young and Hwa-pyung stare at the flickering lights outside the apartment, then notice the wheelchair man, Kim Young-soo, on the street below. He’s no longer in a wheelchair, and he grins at them before speeidly running away.

Hwa-pyung and Kil-young sprint after him, and soon they’re chasing him across rooftops, leaping from building to building. Young-soo crashes through a window and races up the stairwell, leaving Hwa-pyung and Kil-young to split as they figure out how to get into the building.

Hwa-pyung runs to the rooftop first and grabs the man just as he’s about to climb over the side of the building. Young-soo pulls out a knife to stab Hwa-pyung, but Kil-young suddenly runs up and tackles him.

Even though Young-soo has supernatural strength on his side, Kil-young has some pretty swift and skillful moves herself, and with Hwa-pyung’s help, they manage to pin Young-soo to the ground. It takes all their combined effort to hold him.

Hwa-pyung demands to know where Young-soo’s daughter is. Young-soo starts to gasp out something, then his eyes roll back and his body relaxes.

Exhausted, Hwa-pyung and Kil-young let go of Young-soo, since he no longer seems like a threat. But suddenly the demon voice begins to speak, and the Young-soo says that he stabbed the girl. He also says he killed his wife, and suffocated the CEO of the cleaning company.

Kil-young starts punching Young-soo repeatedly in the face and Hwa-pyung has to drag her off him. She arrests him since he confessed to murder, and orders him to stand up.

But Hwa-pyung realizes that spirits aren’t helping him anymore, and he tells Kil-young that the man’s legs no longer work, so he’ll carry him to Kil-young’s car. Except Hwa-pyung locks the door behind him, purposefully leaving Kil-young on the roof so that he can take Young-soo to the shaman.

Yook Kwang desperately orders Hwa-pyung to get out — he doesn’t want a possessed spirit in his home, especially one as powerful as Park Il-do. The last time he tried to exorcise a powerful spirit like that, he nearly died. But Hwa-pyung’s on a mission and insists on an exorcism.

So it’s a good thing Yook Kang called for backup in the form of a couple of Catholic priests — one of whom is Yoon. Hwa-pyung doesn’t have much faith in these priests’ supposed ability to exorcise, but if they can help him find Park Il-do, that’s all that matters.

The elder priest, Priest Han, asks about Young-soo’s wounds, and Hwa-pyung says those were courtesy of the “crazy detective.” Since Young-soo is unconscious, they can’t be sure he’s possessed. Hwa-pyung retorts that the man was in a wheelchair and could barely speak, but Hwa-pyung just chased him across rooftops. Young-soo’s clearly possessed!

When Hwa-pyung demands they hurry and get the exorcism over with, Yoon asks if he’s a shaman. Hwa-pyung mutters that he’s just a taxi driver, so Yoon tells him to wait outside so he doesn’t interfere with the ritual. Hwa-pyung snarks that he’s probably more experienced than Yoon, anyway.

As the two men bicker — Hwa-pyung passionately and Yoon in a cold, rational manner — Young-soo slowly rises up from his bed. He grabs the older priest and in his demon voice, says that the priest smells “dirty.”

That’s enough proof for the priests, and they quickly tie Young-soo to the bed and prepare their holy items. Young-soo starts screaming and flailing in his demon voice. Priest Han worries about starting so quickly while Hwa-pyung and Yoon continue to bicker. Yook Kwang finally has to drag Hwa-pyung outside.

Priest Han starts to pray and rub holy water on the possessed man. Young-soo’s skin burns where the water is placed and his inner demons scream in pain. Young-soo starts to unnerve Priest Han by babbling about a daughter, a lecherous father, and an abusive step-father.

Shaken by these deeply personal stories, Priest Han stumbles back and puts a hand to his head, like his vision is blurry. Uh-oh. Yoon steps in as support, and Young-soo turns his attention to the younger priest. The spirits inside realize that this is Priest Choi’s younger brother.

Now it’s time for Priest Han to intervene. He orders Yoon not to look at Young-soo and to get out of the room. When Yoon steps outside, Hwa-pyung asks if it’s over, but Yoon just says that Priest Han is completing it by himself.

A knock at the gate nearly gives Yook Kwang a heart attack, but Hwa-pyung just sighs since he realizes that Kil-young finally caught up to him. She’s furious and ready to beat up anyone who stands in her way, but thankfully just then Priest Han, exhausted, tells everyone that the exorcism is over.

Kil-young takes Young-soo into custody. Since he’s back to his brain damaged state, he’s no threat anymore. Kil-young warns Hwa-pyung that she’ll be back with a warrant to arrest him, too, but Hwa-pyung says Kil-young should be thankful he helped her catch a possessed man.

Kil-young still isn’t buying the possessed story. She gets in the car to drive away, and Young-soo turns to look Hwa-pyung in the eye, echoing the words Hwa-pyung had told the daughter when he offered to buy her a snack, but the girl had refused.

Realizing that Young-soo is still possessed, Hwa-pyung pounds on the car window, yelling at Kil-young to watch out for the man’s eyes. But she just rolls her own eyes at him as she drives off.

Yoon lets Priest Han lean on him since he’s so weary after the exorcism. Priest Han says that maybe it’s time for him to quit. He’s been performing exorcisms for so long that he can feel his soul slowly being destroyed. Plus, he’s realized that he was only able to exorcise a weak spirit in the man, but that there’s a bigger, more powerful spirit out there — one that they might not be able to defeat.

The priest worries that Hwa-pyung has awakened something terrifying, and warns Yoon to stay away from him. Then his gaze changes and he looks across the busy street, wondering why his step-father is there. But there’s no one there, and when the priest suddenly steps out into the road to cross it, he’s run over by the Truck of Doom.

Kil-young’s frustrated because she’s not getting anywhere with her culprit, who can barely understand what she’s saying, much less speak. He begs for water, though, and downs a large bottle in practically one gulp, then starts scratching at his neck, deep enough to draw blood. Uh-oh.

The other cops try to intervene, and Young-soo slurs out that he’s been itchy since the day “he” came. The cops ask who he’s talking about. Suddenly Young-soo’s face changes, and in a demon voice, says that he came from the ocean. The lights start to flicker and Young-soo screams, “Park Il-do!” Then he grabs a pen and stabs his left eye.

Hwa-pyung arrives at the police station in time to see Young-soo being urgently taken to the hospital. Hwa-pyung has a sudden psychic vision of the young girl being tied up somewhere. He’s shaken out of his vision by Kil-young, who demands to know why he’s there and how he knew the man would poke out his eye.

Hwa-pyung reminds her that he’s a psychic, which she still refuses to believe. Hwa-pyung tells her about all the bodies that have been found covered in sea water with one of their eyes stabbed out. He shows her his collection of articles of people who’ve died in the same manner, then tells Kil-young that the daughter is still alive.

But Kil-young doesn’t have time to deal with Hwa-pyung since she has to hurry to the hospital to keep an eye on Young-soo. However, while she’s waiting at the hospital, she follows up on some of the cold cases from Hwa-pyung’s articles. She confirms that all the bodies had their left eye stabbed out.

Realizing that maybe Hwa-pyung might not be crazy after all, she brings him in to talk to Young-soo in order to figure out where the daughter is. The sprits possessing Youg-soo argue with each other, debating whether or not they should tell Hwa-pyung anything, or if they should just revel in their bloodlust and kill the girl.

Hwa-pyung demands to know why they’re bothering an innocent family, and the spirits argue that they’re only doing what Young-soo wanted. After his accident in the reservoir, the family couldn’t pay for the medical bills and were going to end up starving and penniless, so, depressed and in despair, Young-soo he could just kill himself and his family so they wouldn’t have to deal with the agony any more.

Park Il-do could sense Young-soo’s despair — and his dark side — so that’s why these spirits were sent to possess him. Hwa-pyung demands to know where Park Il-do is, and the spirits argue with themselves if they should tell him, until Young-soo suddenly sits up and yells that this is Park Il-do’s eye.

Young-soo tells Hwa-pyung he should run away like he did last time (as in, when he was a child). Hwa-pyung demands to know if Park Il-do is in Priest Choi’s body, but the spirits inside mention Priest Choi’s little brother, moaning that they should have killed him but that woman detective interfered.

Young-soo flails on the bed, writhing against his restraints, then screams that Priest Choi is looking for his younger brother. Hwa-pyung grabs the man’s throat, attempting to choke him, but the spirits inside refuse to be intimidated as they hiss at Hwa-pyung.

Kil-young’s disappointed that they weren’t able to get any information about where the daughter is being kept. If they don’t find her soon, she’ll die. Hwa-pyung calls Yook Kwang, asking if he’s been able to contact the priests. He has — but there’s been a problem.

Hwa-pyung finds Yoon in the funeral room, mourning for Priest Han. Yoon says the death was an accident, but Hwa-pyung insists that Sohn killed him — it was no accident; the exorcism failed. When Hwa-pyung brings up the possessed man, Yoon curtly tells him that he’s quit being an exorcist priest.

Hwa-pyung begs him, telling Yoon that an innocent girl might die. Yoon cooly warns Hwa-pyung that if he keeps being this hasty, Hwa-pyung might die, too. Hwa-pyung can’t argue that, but continues to insist that they have to do something.

Yoon says that since Young-soo is under total control of the spirits, there’s nothing he can do. Yoon starts to walk away and Hwa-pyung yells after him, demanding to know if he’s scared just because the other priest was killed.

Yoon suddenly turns around and, in an uncharacteristic livid outburst, yells at Hwa-pyung to stop pretending he’s the only one trying to save everyone.

Yoon adds that Hwa-pyung doesn’t understand demons — he hasn’t personally suffered because of them. Hwa-pyung scoffs: “Haven’t suffered?” Angry, Hwa-pyung says that Yoon knows nothing about him, and that choosing to run away means Yoon’s just a coward.

Hwa-pyung retreats to the shaman’s house, still irritated. He pleads with Yook Kwang to help him, but Yook Kwang reiterates that the spirit is too strong — it would kill him. He tries to persuade Hwa-pyung to talk to Yoon again, insisting Yoon is a more experienced exorcist than Hwa-pyung thinks. Plus Yoon is looking for someone, just like Hwa-pyung is.

At the police station, Kil-young asks her boss for a search party to look for the daughter, who she believes is still alive. But her boss assumes the girl is dead based on Young-soo’s confession, and doesn’t see the point in wasting manpower. So Kil-young and Detective Go take it on themselves to look for the girl, using what little knowledge they have — but to no avail.

Yoon enters the morgue to look at Priest Han’s body — and the lights start to flicker. When Yoon turns around again, Priest Han’s body is gone from the table. Yoon searches all around, but only finds a crucifix on the floor. He bends down to pick it up, and hears a voice say it shouldn’t be this way.

He sees Priest Han crouched in the corner. Startled and scared, Yoon backs up, only to turn around to see Priest Han’s bloody face screaming that he should have been the one to do it.

It’s all just a dream, though. Or more like a nightmare, as Yoon wakes up in the funeral room, gasping in fear. Another priest and nun are leaving the memorial, and they ask what Yoon will do with Priest Han’s body, since they believe Priest Han killed himself and therefore isn’t allowed to be buried in the parish graveyard.

They also call Priest Han crazy, accusing him for acting so high-and-mighty as an exorcist priest when demons no longer exist — it’s just people suffering from mental illness. But Yoon defends his mentor, calling him a better man and a better priest than the one standing before him right now.

Kil-young returns the hospital and demands Young-soo tell her where his daughter is. He starts to whisper something, so she leans in, and barely avoids getting her face bitten, thanks to Hwa-pyung yanking her out of the way just in time. Young-soo writhes and growls as he tells them that the daughter will die soon.

Yook Kwang is there, too, having been convinced to help out. He starts the exorcism ritural, but even though Young-soo shakes and gasps, his spirits are too strong for Yook Kwang, who suddenly has a vision of himself, dead in a pool of blood.

Yook Kwang suddenly spits up a torrent of blood, just like the shamen did back when she tried to exorcise Hwa-pyung twenty years ago. Yoon walks in just then, calmly reassuring everyone that he’ll take over now. He tells them to leave the room. Hwa-pyung says it’s dangerous for Yoon to be alone with Young-soo alone, but Yoon is determined.

In the waiting room, Yook Kwang is shaken down to his core after dealing with such a powerful spirit, and pleads with Hwa-pyung to leave it alone. But Hwa-pyung hurries out and Kil-young chases after him, yelling out orders to a bewildered Detective Go that no one is to enter Young-soo’s room under any circumstances.

Hwa-pyung and Kil-young return to Young-soo’s apartment, where Hwa-pyung searches for something that would connect Young-soo to Priest Choi. Kil-young warns him to not touch anything since it’s still a crime scene, but Hwa-pyung carelessly rifles through the man’s belongings. Ha!

Kil-young finds a brochure for a place call “Sharing Hand.” Pictured in the brochure is Priest Yang — the priest that had been called to exorcise Hwa-pyung twenty years ago, back when Sohn possessed Priest Choi.

At the hospital, Yoon closes the curtain over the window so no one can see in. He begins his preparation for the exorcism by setting out the holy items and beginning his prayer. Young-soo, in his demon voice, whispers that he killed the girl, but Yoon continues praying, unmoved, as Young-soo wonders if he should kill Yoon, too.

As Yoon pulls out his vial of holy water, the demon yells that he should kill himself, just like Priest Han killed himself. Yoon suddenly straddles Young-soo and makes a sign of the cross on the man’s forehead, which burns his skin and causes the demons inside to writhe in agony. Eventually his body relaxes and the spirits seem to have given way, because Young-soo now sadly calls for his daughter.

Back at the apartment, Hwa-pyung sees the faucet from his vision, when the possessed Young-soo washed his hands right before his daughter came home. Kil-young yells at him for disturbing the crime scene, but Hwa-pyung seems to be in a trance.

At the hospital, the possessed man starts to slowly rise from his bed, pointing as best he can in his handcuffed state to a corner of the room. Yoon looks at the corner, but there’s nothing there. When he turns back around, Young-soo is out of the bed and standing in front of him.

Young-soo grabs Yoon by the neck and lifts him off the ground, choking him. The demon inside asks if he should kill Yoon. It doesn’t sound like a rhetorical question, either, since the spirit seems to be waiting for an answer — but not from Yoon.

At the apartment, Hwa-pyung, still in his trance, lifts up Kil-young by her neck, choking her — just like the possessed Young-soo had choked his daughter.

Yoon presses a crucifex against Young-soo’s head, which causes him to recoil and drop Yoon, falling back onto the bed. Gasping for breath, Yoon quickly handcuffs Young-soo back to the bed rails.

Meanwhile, Hwa-pyung continues to fight Kil-young, using his supernatural strength to overpower her. She manages to get him in a choke hold, and he comes out of his trance. She’s in the middle of handcuffing when he wakes up, wondering what kind of bizarre actions he was doing.

Kil-young demands to know if he’s possessed, too, but Hwa-pyung says that he was only having a vision. The important thing is that he saw where the daughter is being held. He begs Kil-young to believe him.

Hwa-pyung suddenly sees something, and pleads with her to look in the oven range. She does, and a dead crow falls out. Oooh, that’s not a good omen.

At the hospital, Yoon continues the exorcism, but the spirits say it’s pointless because Young-soo is already dead. Suddenly the possessed man looks terrified as the demons inside wonder who’s also in the room with them.

Yoon asks if there’s a stronger spirit controlling the ones in Young-soo. He repeatedly throws holy water on Young-soo, which sizzles and burns on his possessed skin. Yoon demands louder and louder to know the name of the stronger spirit.

Finally Young-soo screams “Park! Il! Do!” and all the lights in the hospital flicker. Yoon hears a scary noise behind him as a tall figure looms out of the darkness. Yoon’s nose starts to violently bleed, and as he tries to stop the endless flow of blood, his hands also become covered in blood.

Hwa-pyung and Kil-young burn the crow, watching in silence as the flames consume the bird’s body.

Suddenly Yoon’s nose stops bleeding — and the blood disappears from his hands. Exhausted, sweaty, and trembling, he crawls back to Young-soo, commanding the spirits to leave the man’s body. With his last effort, Yoon completes the exorcism.

The man’s body sits up and vomits seawater. The lights stop flickering.

Yoon exits the room, wearily telling Detective Go to call Kil-young, since they now know where the daughter is.

Hwa-pyung and Kil-young race to where the girl is being kept. She’s still alive! They remove her blindfold and the ropes tying her up. The girl is terrified, but Kil-young reassures her that everything is going to be okay.

 
COMMENTS

Um, no, show. Everything is not okay, because this show is still super scary! I think it’s the sounds that get me the most, particularly the raspy way the spirits talk (or scream, or just insanely chitter). Demons discussing their own fear of Park Il-do is never a good sign. I’m also now terrified to look too closely at any dark, seemingly-empty corner, since who knows what creepy Dementor-like creature is hiding there, waiting to wreak vengeance by drawing strength from people’s despair and dark secrets.

It still feels like we’re in the “world building” stage, though. That’s not a complaint. After all, there has to be a reason to bring the trio together again, so I’m accepting Young-soo’s poor fate as that catalyst. After what they’ve been through with him, even the stubbornly pragmatic Kil-young won’t be able to deny that there’s some spooky supernatural stuff happening. Even though she seems to stubbornly stick with rational logic, I appreciate that she’s willing to let the psychic and priest do their thing if it means a chance to save the girl. Kil-young may not understand who or what the heck this “Sohn” is that Hwa-pyung is so desperate to find, but she knows that something’s fishy. Is it wrong that I eventually want her to beat up Park Il-do, or Sohn, or Priest Choi, or whatever incarnation he makes himself to be known? I think it would be so satisfying to literally punch evil in the face.

I’m curious about Hwa-pyung’s psychic abilities. He said that he can no longer see spirits like he used to as a boy — but he has visions, and can clearly sense things about people. Since he’s been possessed before, maybe that gives him a closer connection to Park Il-do, and is why he can see from the demon’s eyes (or at least the one eye Park Il-do allows his human vessel to use). I don’t know. The supernatural hows and whys are still a mystery, so I’ll be learning at the same pace as the skeptical Kil-young, apparently.

I did really enjoy the juxtaposition of the shaman’s and the priest’s rituals. This may be a surprise to everyone, but I’ve never actually experienced an exorcism, so I’m just going to trust that these are reasonable facsimiles (as reasonable as I suppose on can get, given the circumstances). I don’t expect the show to have a heavy debate about religion since this is a thriller-horror-mystery, but it’s fascinating to watch how the two men of opposing faiths tackle such a horrifying problem. They all undoubtedly realize, no matter what their background or faith is, that they’re dealing with something very, very dangerous, and very, very powerful. Considering that just trying to exorcise the smaller demons nearly killed Yook Kwang, and utterly drained Yoon, I’m worried that these spiritual fighters might not last through until the end. I want everyone to win and defeat evil — but I have a feeling there’s going to be some painful sacrifices along the way.

 
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