Abyss: Episode 14

by Sunny

The game of cat and mouse continues and things aren’t looking good for our heroes. Multiple lives hang in the balance as our new villain proves he’s far more sinister than his predecessor and he’s not going down nearly as easy.

 
EPISODE 14:”Rabbit Sheep”

On his way to the morgue, the driver is held up by a vehicle with tinted windows pulling out in front of him. When the vehicle doesn’t move, he gets out to confront the owner and Ji-wook tazes him. Stealing the man’s cap and vehicle, Ji-wook heads over the morgue and easily kidnaps Se-yeon (again).

Leaving the office, Min gets a text from “Se-yeon” asking to meet her just as the real Se-yeon is loaded into Ji-wook’s car with Hee-jin and Hee-jin’s mother’s corpse. Meanwhile, the detective that they’d left at the morgue discovers the real driver passed out in a vehicle nearby. Dong-chul immediately calls Min and asks if he’d actually spoken to Se-yeon.

Realizing something is wrong, Min forwards the text to Dong-chul and then attempts to call Se-yeon. It doesn’t go through, but she immediately calls back and Min is horrified to hear Ji-wook’s voice on the other end of the line. Ji-wook taunts him that Se-yeon is dying as they speak and Min speeds off to meet him while Se-yeon awakens inside a refrigerated crate of a shipping yard.

Hee-jin also wakes up and looks out the car window to see Ji-wook wheeling a suitcase towards the river. Her struggles to break free draw Ji-wook’s attention. With a smirk he tells her she woke up sooner than he’d anticipated and now her death will be painful. He opens the door and lets Hee-jin fall out.

She demands to know why he’s doing this and Ji-wook shouts that Hee-jin keeps provoking him and forcing him to get blood on his hands. She spits that he’s even crazier than Young-chul and Ji-wook scoffs that they’re the crazy ones and flashes back to the morgue when he’d overheard Se-yeon talking to Min on the phone about Abyss.

Presently, Ji-wook tsks that if they hadn’t kept talking about reviving Mom, he wouldn’t have to go to such extremes now as he kicks the suitcase into the water. Hee-jin wails for her mother as Ji-wook stalks back over to her and gags her. Stuffing her back into the vehicle, Ji-wook promises to get rid of her and the others soon.

Elsewhere, Dong-chul calls in backup for the place Ji-wook had asked Min to meet. Hee-jin spots a screwdriver in the car and maneuvers around to try and remove the bonds on her wrists. Min arrives and rushes Ji-wook, demanding to know where Se-yeon is. Ji-wook smirks and asks for Abyss in exchange.

Min pulls Abyss from his pocket and holds it out, sneering for Ji-wook to take it… if he can. Ji-wook stares down at Min’s seemingly empty hand and then both men snap to attention when Ji-wook’s vehicle suddenly roars to life. The car careens towards them and while Min manages to leap out of the way, Ji-wook isn’t so lucky. The car crashes into a nearby container and Min frantically checks on the driver, but it’s Hee-jin, not Se-yeon.

Min runs back over and screams at Ji-wook to tell him where Se-yeon is, but Ji-wook only gurgles that Se-yeon will die soon before going limp. Min furiously shakes Ji-wook, but he’s gone and Min sobs. Abyss begins to glow and Min grips it tightly, letting out an anguished cry before staring coldly down at Ji-wook’s corpse.

In her container, Se-yeon weakly calls out of help, whispering Min’s name over and over. The door flies open and Min calls out to her, but Se-yeon is too weak to respond. Dong-chul arrives at the shipping yard and is disappointed when only Detective Choi and one other detective join him.

They rush in to find Hee-jin sitting in shock next to the pool of blood where Ji-wook used to be. She tells them she hit someone with the car and the men spread out to search for the victim. Meanwhile, Min anxiously waits at Se-yeon’s hospital bedside. The instant she opens her eyes, he scoops her into a hug.

Se-yeon asks where Ji-wook is and Min flashes back to the moment when Abyss glowed. Desperation won out and Min used Abyss to revive Ji-wook (with a nasty soul-scar now adorning his neck), who’d marveled that it actually worked. Min had demanded he reveal Se-yeon’s whereabouts and when Ji-wook laughed at Min’s naivety, Min had proceeded to beat him repeatedly, vowing that if Se-yeon died, he’d kill Ji-wook.

Ji-wook had sneered that he didn’t care since he wouldn’t be dying alone and Min had coldly replied, “I never said I’d only kill you once.” Ji-wook’s eyes widened as Min explained that he’d spend the rest of his life killing and reviving Ji-wook to ensure his eternal suffering. When Min grabbed a brick, Ji-wook sputtered that there wasn’t time and gave Min the key to Se-yeon’s container.

In the present Min sobs as he relays the events to Se-yeon, and admitting that he knew reviving Ji-wook was bad but he was terrified that if he hadn’t, he’d never find Se-yeon. Holding him tightly, Se-yeon assures him it’s not his fault and instead blames herself as they both cry.

The next morning, Dong-chul reports to the station. His boss berates him for acting alone and Dong-chul snaps that he’d tried reporting it and been ignored because said boss had declared Ji-wook incapable of kidnapping. Regardless, his boss refuses to reinstate him until the blood tests from the scene positively identify Ji-wook was there.

Dong-chul refuses to leave until the results come in, but unfortunately when forensics call, they report that the samples are useless for comparing DNA. A flashback reveals that after Min had left, Ji-wook had poured gasoline over the pool of his blood, thereby rendering it useless. He’d then removed the memory chip from the vehicle’s black box and escaped.

In the interrogation room, Hee-jin repeats to Dong-chul that she killed Ji-wook. Dong-chul gently tells her that despite her claims, they have yet to find Ji-wook and asks if she remembers anything else. Recalling Min leaping out of the path of the vehicle, Hee-jin comes to the horrible conclusion that he must’ve revived Ji-wook.

Dong-chul drops by the hospital to update Min and Se-yeon on the case. Min admits he revived Ji-wook and Se-yeon quickly leaps to his defense before Dong-chul can say anything. Luckily, Abyss didn’t change Ji-wook’s appearance much, but since there’s no evidence that implicates Ji-wook as the one who abducted the women and dumped Hee-jin’s mother’s body, there won’t be a manhunt.

Se-yeon worries that they need to do something and Min suggests consulting his mother. Mom balks at Min’s suggestion to release a fake news report, pouting that he thinks so lowly of her after she put one measly tracker on Hee-jin. Min coolly cites another fake news incident that circulated around their brand and Mom denies any involvement… until Min points out that she talks on the phone with her friends and he hears everything. Hee.

Unable to argue further, Mom relents and the next day a news headline declares that a prosecutor and son of a judge is actually the biological son of a serial killer. Dong-chul marvels at Min’s methods at the station and then tells his superior that if they don’t do anything, it’s going to be a huge mess and someone is going to get fired. Heh.

Meanwhile, Judge Seo (Ji-wook’s adoptive father) is informed of the news article. He rushes out of the office, ignoring reporters, and comes face-to-face with Park Gi-man. At the prosecutor’s office, Ji-wook’s assistant is fielding phone calls from reporters. She hangs up in a fury and then takes the trash out of Ji-wook’s office… the trash that is full of blue boxes Ji-wook received from Young-chul.

Mi-do receives a call from the assistant and Se-yeon goes out to meet her. The woman sets a bag down and says in light of the rumors, she’s unsure what to do with the contents. She admits that she saw the photo Se-yeon had thrown at Ji-wook the day she confronted him at the office and pushes one of the blue boxes towards Se-yeon. A flashback shows that as she’d gone to throw them out, she’d dropped one and a cutout of a boy’s face had fallen out.

She recalls the photo had been missing a boy’s face and guesses that they’re from the same picture. The woman begs Se-yeon to deny the rumors, but Se-yeon can only thank her for bringing the box. Her phone rings and the woman heads back to the office.

Judge Seo climbs into his car and finds Ji-wook waiting in the backseat. He nervously asks what Ji-wook plans to do and Ji-wook admits it’s too late to come clean, nor does he intend to. Holding out a burner phone, Ji-wook says he’ll contact Judge Seo with it. Avoiding eye contact, Judge Seo doesn’t take it and Ji-wook warns him to answer his call… if he doesn’t want to get hurt.

Se-yeon puzzles over what the assistant told her and while the photo itself isn’t much of a clue, the gift box sparks a memory. She recalls that Ji-wook had received many boxes and they’d always teased him for not showing them the contents. An idea forming, Se-yeon asks Mi-do to text Ji-wook’s assistant. Dong-chul receives a text from Se-yeon with a photo of the box and asks him to contact the courier service to find out when those boxes were sent and from where.

That evening, Min finds Se-yeon passed out at her desk and carries her to bed. After tucking her in, he turns only for Se-yeon to grab his hand. She whispers his name in her sleep and Min’s face breaks into a huge smile.

When Se-yeon wakes up the next morning, Min isn’t beside her. She finds the housekeeper loading up a lunchbox and asks for cooking tips since that’s her “only weakness.” The housekeeper laughs that she didn’t cook anything on the table today just as Min exits the kitchen with an apron and cheerily greets Se-yeon.

As they leave the house, Min begs Se-yeon to forget about Ji-wook just for today and go somewhere with him. They’re interrupted by Mom who has also decided to take the day off. She wonders if they’re planning to spend the night out and while Se-yeon balks, Min can’t help but smirk and loads her into the car before she can protest.

Min tsks at his mother for being old-fashioned and as he drives away she wonders aloud why he doesn’t just get married already. Min drives Se-yeon out to the vacation house and just as she starts to complain that she doesn’t have time, her mother peeks out from the yard and greets them brightly.

Mom is thrilled to see Se-yeon but Dad just remembers her as the crazy woman from his daughter’s funeral and greets her with distant politeness. An employee runs over to say hello and Mom is shocked to discover the handsome man before her is actually Min. She thanks him for letting them stay at his vacation home but Dad seems inclined to go back now that Young-chul is dead.

Min assures them they’re welcome to stay as long as they like and Mom wonders why he dropped by. Min calls to the kitchen where the employee returns with a cake. Se-yeon remembers it’s her father’s birthday and looks at Min with misty eyes as he starts to sing.

The couple go back to the kitchen to unpack the food Min prepared and Se-yeon thanks him for taking care of her parents. Min pouts, asking if that’s all and taps his cheek for a kiss. Se-yeon grumbles but gives him a smooch. When Min admits he got up early to cook, she wonders why he didn’t wake her to help and Min sighs that as much as he loves her, her cooking leaves a lot to be desired. Heh.

They bicker playfully about Se-yeon’s culinary failures until the employee rushes in and worriedly suggests Min come outside. He does and is flabbergasted to see his own mother standing in the yard, equally surprised to find Min and Se-yeon’s parents there.

Everyone sits in awkward silence over lunch until Min’s mom finally says that it’s been a long time. Without looking at her, Dad agrees that they met back when the kids where in high school. Cue a flashback of Dad excitedly waiting for Se-yeon at the school gates. Min’s mother had also been waiting for Min and she’d greeted him.

Dad had been polite and extended his hand but Min’s mother ignored it, tuttting that she’d heard Se-yeon was chasing after Min when the kids should be focusing on their studies. Dad had immediately set the record straight that Min was doing the chasing and suggested she reign her son in. Oof.

Even now, the tension between the two is strong as ever and Min breaks in by declaring today a celebration and calls for a bottle of wine, ignoring his mother’s protesting hisses. Min pours for Dad first and then tries to appease his mother by pouring for her next. She downs her glass like a shot and Dad follows suit.

Soon, both are happily drunk together and Se-yeon brings her mother inside while Min is roped into drinking with the remaining parents. He manages to escape and he and Se-yeon go for a walk while his mom and her dad continue to drink the night away.

Min reports to Se-yeon Dong-chul called and they found the courier Young-chul used to send Ji-wook packages. He hopes everything is resolved soon and admits that he wants to stay with Se-yeon forever. Pulling out a ring, Min tells her that she doesn’t have to answer now because he knows it’s not important to her at the moment, but asks her to hold on to it.

“When you eventually want to, and when you eventually have the time,” Min says, “you can wear the ring.” He pulls her into an embrace, saying “I love you so much.” Se-yeon struggles to repeat the sentiment and Min laughs that if she won’t say it, he’ll just say it more. Min vows to do whatever it takes to keep her happy and safe.

They return home hand-in-hand and Se-yeon gasps to find their parents completely smashed. Min carries Dad to his room while Se-yeon coaxes Min’s mother to retire to her’s. After tucking their parents in, Min suggests they go to bed, immediately backpedaling that he didn’t mean together.

Se-yeon asks where she should sleep and Min starts to give her a choice but realizes there’s only one available room now and offers to sleep in the living room. Se-yeon argues that she can sleep in the living room and he can have the bed since he needs his special mattress but Min insists he won’t sleep anyway.

Min tucks Se-yeon into bed and kisses her on the forehead before heading out to the living room. Se-yeon watches him go and grumbles that they’ve been sharing a bed for a while now, already. Min walks back in and kisses her for real. “I said I’d protect you, but I can’t help myself,” he says, “Let me sleep with you.”

 
COMMENTS

Rawr. A part of me wishes this had solely been a rom-com because Se-yeon and Min are so cute and all the interesting parts of the plot that made it something else… are incoherent. Every time I turn on this show I feel like we’re in Dumbass City, population: everyone. How many times is Se-yeon going to be kidnapped and thrown into a damsel in distress scenario before the show ends? It really sucks because there are things I genuinely like about the show and as LollyPip pointed out last episode, it’s getting better. Unfortunately, the biggest hiccups have also been the biggest plot points: i.e. our villain and the mechanics of Abyss. We’ve finally solved one of those by passing the reigns to Ji-wook and really, this could not have happened soon enough for me. Ji-wook is such a delightful little nutcase and it’s compelling to watch him slowly spiral into madness as this carefully manicured narrative he’s built is being dismantled and dear old daddy isn’t around to clean up the mess.

I’m kind of tired of people dying and reviving, but judging from Abyss’ color-changing properties, I’m assuming we’re almost out of uses. Which is nice, because it’s hard to really feel the weight of life and death if anyone can be revived at the drop of a hat. Not to mention, if Min revives one more killer, I’m going to scream. I can’t fault him for Ji-wook… both because the plot actually made it necessary and because I thoroughly enjoy Ji-wook as a character and would be upset to see him pulled the moment that he got the spotlight. But Min hasn’t been very prudent with his uses of Abyss from the beginning and it kills me that he never questioned the color-changes or if using it so freely could have consequences (other than the ones we’ve already faced). With only two episodes left, there’s still a lot of questions to answer and I’m betting we’re going to be left scratching our heads on some, but here’s to hoping we get enough answers that the ending will at least feel resolved, if not entirely satisfactory.

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