Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 13

by girlfriday

It’s becoming trickier and trickier for one woman to handle two men living inside one body. She’s determined to protect them both, but does that mean she’s splitting her love? Her loyalty? Robin gets a taste of what it’s like to share Hana and shows a jealous streak, while Seo-jin sees what he stands to gain and learns a little patience. It’s out of character for both of them, but then again, there’s a lot of that going around lately.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Kim Greem – “내꺼 해요” (Be Mine) [ Download ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 
EPISODE 13 RECAP

After rescuing Dr. Kang, Robin finds Hana running into the theater lobby with tears in her eyes. She runs to hug him, and he quietly admits that he wants to live as himself—as Robin—and hugs her back.

Detective Na arrives and makes sure that everyone’s okay, and wants to take them back to the station for statements. Hana knows to divert till morning so that Seo-jin can be the one to give official statements, and quickly ushers Robin home.

Robin tells her about the text from her to meet at the theater, and Hana is shocked to find that her phone did send him that text, unbeknownst to her. She runs down the list of the people she met with that day, but Robin points out that anyone could’ve scheduled that text days ago.

The one thing he’s sure of is that this person knows more about all of them than they realized—even Robin’s relationship to Seo-jin. Hana can see how nervous Robin is and reaches over to unclench his fist gently, and hugs him.

She promises that she won’t leave him, and says that Robin may have protected her until now, but she’s going to protect him from now on. That finally puts a smile on his face.

But just as quickly, his smile fades into surprise when Hana adds that she can’t just protect him alone. She says that losing Seo-jin means losing Robin: “If I lose one, I lose both. So I’m going to protect both of you.”

She takes both of his hands, but he asks hesitantly, “Are you saying that you’ll love us both?” He asks how she can just split her love like that, or split the person she loves that way. He drops her hands and declares that he can’t share her, with Seo-jin or anyone else. He storms off, leaving each of them frazzled and uncertain.

At the station, Detective Na screams into the phone when he hears that Dr. Kang’s ambulance never arrived at the hospital. I KNEW IT. Why didn’t you send her with a police escort, you dummy?

Dr. Kang is lying unconscious in the back of the ambulance, and sure enough, Tae-joo is behind the wheel. He brings her right back to his closet prison, this time with an IV drip and a blanket.

She opens her eyes and lets out a weak little scoff, and asks if doing all of this to get a reaction out of Seo-jin will make Tae-joo’s life any happier. Tae-joo admits to trying to unleash the monster inside of Robin, but says that his plan backfired because Robin doesn’t have the will to live.

Dr. Kang tells him that it’s the very opposite—Robin is growing stronger because he didn’t want to give up his identity and his sense of self. She aptly points out that Robin and Seo-jin aren’t the ones who are running scared.

Tae-joo’s eyes widen defensively at the implication that he’s the scared one, but he has no answer when she asks why he hasn’t replied to Seo-jin’s message yet. She knows that it’s because he’s afraid of learning something new, and urges him to face it.

Tae-joo stalks off towards the door, but stops to ask in a quiet voice if he does what she advised and accepts the events of his childhood kidnapping as something that couldn’t be helped, who takes responsibility for it? His eyes fill with tears as he says that someone should take the blame.

Dr. Kang reminds him that the kidnapper is already in prison, but Tae-joo argues that it doesn’t change anything. She asks what any of his actions do to change the situation, and he finally admits that he doesn’t know, but something might change.

In the morning, Hana finds a message that Robin left for Seo-jin, and fills Seo-jin in on the events of the past night to prepare him to give a statement to the police. In the video message, Robin shares the threatening note that he received, and his theory that Lee Soo-hyun is either someone very close to them, or has planted a spy in their midst. Either way, he tells Seo-jin to suspect everyone around him.

Seo-jin is further rattled when Tae-joo finally replies to his message (as Lee Soo-hyun), asking what it is that he doesn’t know about the kidnapping. Seo-jin sends an email right away, asking why Soo-hyun insisted on meeting at the haunted house that day.

He recounts being the first to wake up after being taken, when he overheard the kidnapper talking to someone on the phone and asking, “What do you want me to do with your son?” He knows that that son wasn’t him, so he concludes that it must’ve been a reference to Soo-hyun. Seo-jin signs off with a loaded question, asking what it could mean.

Tae-joo is so agitated that he spills his coffee, and vents to Dr. Kang about Seo-jin replying with lies that his father was in on the kidnapping, knowing that it’s something he can’t confirm because his father is dead. Dr. Kang suggests that the one surviving kidnapper in prison could confirm either way, and urges him sympathetically to go clear his father’s name. Nice touch, doc.

Seo-jin is understandably pissed when they return to the crime scene and hear that Dr. Kang is missing all over again. Detective Na hangs his head and says that it’s driving him crazy too, and for now all he’s been able to do is narrow down the possibilities for the text message sent from Hana’s phone. It was scheduled physically from her phone, which means someone she’s come into contact with is involved.

The only witness in the theater describes seeing a man in his fifties last night, which obviously won’t be of much help. At Hana’s prodding, Seo-jin tells Detective Na about his latest exchange with Soo-hyun and his hunch that Soo-hyun’s father might’ve been an accomplice to the kidnapping.

Meanwhile, Tae-joo puts on a big show at the police station, acting appalled that the police lost Dr. Kang again. He turns his attention onto Ahn Sung-geun, aka Brainwashed Faux Soo-hyun, and offers to convince the higher-ups in the department that it’s possible to crack his hypnosis and question him further. What he’s really after is gaining access to him, because he’s in the same penitentiary as his childhood kidnapper.

For now, the kidnapper refuses to see any visitors, so Seo-jin plans to keep an eye on any attempt to contact him. He asks Secretary Kwon for the background check on Tae-joo, and Hana balks at first, but remembers Robin’s request for Seo-jin to suspect everyone around him.

They stop for a walk because she has something to say, and as two little kids pass by on bikes, she notes that Seo-jin must’ve played with Soo-hyun that way. She tells him that he didn’t abandon Soo-hyun, but that their fathers were the ones who failed to come get them. She says that to a child, a father is their entire world—not coming to get them is what shattered their worlds.

Seo-jin guesses that Hana’s world had a very different kind of father in it, and that’s why she’s the person she is today. He says it’s a relief to meet someone like her and asks, “So will you become my world?”

He heard that she wanted to protect them both: “Robin might not have accepted it, but I was so touched I almost cried a little.” He says this without a change in his dry, deadpan expression. He continues matter-of-factly that he’s had all sorts of weird “symptoms” lately—crying, laughing. I suppose it’s a feat that he doesn’t call it leakage of the eyeballs or something.

But then he adds, “I’ve always denied myself the things that my heart wants. But with you, I want to do the things my heart wants to do.” Swoon. He can see her hesitating, and says he understands that she won’t do anything while Robin isn’t onboard. He says that waiting is pretty much his life lately, and that he has no problems being patient.

Tae-joo convinces the police to get him clearance to visit Ahn Sung-geun in prison, and then uses the opportunity to brainwash him some more that he really is Lee Soo-hyun. Tae-joo tasks him with finding out the truth, and shows him a picture of the kidnapper.

Chairman Dad’s specialist arrives in country to check on Seo-jin’s condition, and cousin Seung-yeon tries to butt in, as nosy as ever.

Woo-jung is a zombie at work after learning the truth about Robin and Seo-jin, and sighs to Eun-chang that she’s only ever liked one guy in her short life, but it feels like she’s cried a hundred years’ worth of tears. He obviously likes her but remains the thoughtful friend, as he points out that she must’ve also experienced a hundred years’ worth of happiness because of that person too.

Robin arrives to see her right on cue, and she starts to ask him questions about splitting his time with Seo-jin. She says that everything makes sense now, and apologizes for doubting him from time to time. She asks about Hana, but Robin gets a text and runs out the door before answering.

He runs back to the theater to meet Hana, which seems stupid considering that it could be another trap. But this time it really is Hana who called him there, in the hopes that returning here could jog his memory about last night.

She tells him that Dr. Kang is missing again and that Seo-jin is taking it hard, and Robin blows up at that, acting as if she’s ignoring him and only worried about Seo-jin.

Exasperated, Hana admits that she didn’t think she could handle it at first and wanted to run away, but it was seeing Robin last night that made her realize that she could never leave him: “You’re not the only one who wants to live! I don’t want to lose you either!”

She pleads with him to focus on the case for now, so he agrees. As he turns to lead her out of the theater, the giant screen triggers a weird feeling that he can’t shake. He can’t remember much of what happened here last night, but his head starts to hurt.

At home, Robin goes to the batcave to leave a new message for Seo-jin, huffing that he’ll never agree to sharing Hana. Seo-jin might be arguing that they’re the same person, but Robin disagrees completely, and adds for emphasis that he has no intention of ever being Seo-jin.

In prison, Ahn Sung-geun gets his chance to confront the kidnapper when he goes in for a haircut, and when Tae-joo shares this with Dr. Kang (he’s notably letting her eat in the kitchen now, which seems like a step up), she’s terrified about what he’s done.

She points out that Ahn Sung-geun is already fragile, and Tae-joo can’t possibly account for all the variables just because he’s hypnotized him. And go figure—at that exact moment, Ahn Sung-geun is beating the crap out of the kidnapper, because he’s been so well convinced that he is Lee Soo-hyun.

He beats the kidnapper to a bloody pulp before enough guards intervene, and Tae-joo reels when he finds out, wondering if it was a reaction because he found out the truth, or because he just identified too strongly with the emotions. Detective Na calls to tell Tae-joo that treatment will have to be stalled for the time being.

At Seo-jin’s house, Hana comes running after Secretary Kwon with the news that Seo-jin never woke up today. He runs into the room to find Robin staring in the mirror again, and Secretary Kwon sighs when the bodyguard announces Chairman Dad’s arrival with the specialist.

It can’t be helped, so the specialist meets with Robin to hear his side of things, and later Secretary Kwon has to translate his findings to Chairman Dad.

It isn’t news they want to hear: Robin’s survival instinct is strong, and the more Seo-jin breaks pattern by not waking up, and the more frequent the incidents, the likelier it is that Robin will dominate and Seo-jin will disappear forever. Cousin Seung-yeon eavesdrops, wide-eyed.

Robin decides to call Tae-joo and shares the fact that Seo-jin didn’t wake up again. He tells him about meeting with the specialist today, but says that there’s something he left out. Robin admits that he’s been remembering things from Seo-jin’s life, and the childhood kidnapping is one of those events.

Tae-joo is practically foaming at the mouth and urges Robin to come see him so they can discuss it at length. Tae-joo decides that Robin will be a good way to confirm Seo-jin’s story, since Robin can easily be hypnotized.

Chairman Dad puts Robin on lockdown until Seo-jin returns, but Robin slips out before the guards can track him down. Seung-yeon is eager to meet Robin in person, and happens to see him leaving and follows.

Robin arrives at Tae-joo’s building, but when he bumps into a little boy carrying a balloon in the lobby, he replies with a stone-cold, “Balloons are banned.” Omo, it’s Seo-jin??

Rewind to the moment when Robin looked up at the screen in the theater the night before: He grabs his head as he feels a sharp pain, but with it also comes a memory of being hypnotized by Tae-joo.

Then later that night in his video message, Robin says that he has no intention of becoming Seo-jin, but Hana is worried about them. He decides that they have to catch Lee Soo-hyun first, and that he thinks he knows who Soo-hyun is.

The following morning, Hana wakes Seo-jin up to say that Robin remembered something, and they watch the message together as he tells them that it’s Tae-joo. They have no proof though, and Seo-jin worries about Robin making contact if he’s already been hypnotized twice. That’s when Hana gets an idea.

And back in the present, Seo-jin walks down the hall with a hint of a smirk on his face. Awww yeah. (And as a hilarious bonus, we see that during Seo-jin’s phone call with Tae-joo, Hana was standing there coaching him to speak slower and sound more childlike, while he rolled his eyes so hard.)

One last flashback takes them to the police station, where they’re smart enough to share their suspicions about Tae-joo with Detective Na.

Seo-jin says they need proof, and fastens a hidden mic in his lapel. Hana sighs that she’ll have to rethink her stance on trusting people if Tae-joo turns out to be the bad guy, and Seo-jin tells her that he’ll do all the suspecting so that she doesn’t have to.

Hana and Detective Na set up to listen in from a van parked just outside Tae-joo’s building, and cousin Seung-yeon presses his face up against the van to snoop. Upstairs, Seo-jin rings the doorbell, and everyone tenses for the moment of truth.

Tae-joo opens the door and asks, “Robin?” Seo-jin flashes his most Robinesque smile in return. Closing caption: I’ll protect you. I’ll become your whole world.

 
COMMENTS

Aw man, we’re stopping there? This was actually one of the slower episodes, but it suddenly got very exciting at the end when Tae-joo’s secret came out. It was a good use of the fakeout, though I don’t actually see much reason for Seo-jin to lie to his father and Secretary Kwon about being Robin, other than to surprise us. I guess I’ll buy that he had to suspect everyone even if he already had his sights set on Tae-joo, just in case there were moles. I wish there were a few moles to up the tension, but pretty much everything about this show is the opposite of tense. Still, the effect of the fakeout was fun, especially because it required Robin and Seo-jin to tag-team, and to stop fighting over Hana for a minute while they went after the baddie. I could get used to that, plus any time the boys pretend to be each other, I’m happy.

The more we see of Robin’s personality, flaws and all, the more I like him (even though I’ll always love Seo-jin more). Because as much as I want them to all play nice and find a healthy way to coexist, I kind of agree with Robin’s stubborn insistence that you can’t just share your girlfriend with your alter ego. When it comes to the love triangle, I find that Robin is the only one making sense, even if what I want is for Seo-jin to be whole again and get the girl. I know that neither one of them is entirely in the wrong, but I just know I would be less than willing to timeshare my significant other. I wonder how long Seo-jin would keep his cool if he had to spend an entire day being coached by Hana to play Robin, and having to hear constantly how nice and thoughtful Robin is, and how he has better hair and can drive a car. Is it wrong that I want to see Seo-jin being as jealous as Robin is?

At least there’s finally a limit to Tae-joo’s power, and he’ll soon be caught. It seems fitting that his own god complex was his downfall, as if he could manipulate people to do his bidding, believe what he told them, or unleash inner monsters at will with no consequence. Seo-jin and Hana’s plan was brilliant on that one score—it played right into Tae-joo’s pride, to dangle an opportunity to hypnotize Robin and feel smart for tricking the truth out of him. Part of me can’t help but wonder if we’d accomplish more by leaving Dr. Kang there to keep treating him on the sly, because she’s become more of a willing houseguest than a hostage at this point, and he clearly cares a great deal about what she thinks. But I guess jail also works, and keeps him from staging more kidnapping scenarios.

I’m glad that there’s impending change in the story, because it was getting old to have Tae-joo always come out on top and get away with everything. Even if there are more setbacks, the fact that Seo-jin is proactively doing something about Tae-joo is so much better than his weeks spent reacting to bad news and more bad news. Sometimes I forget how far Seo-jin has come out of his shell, now that I’m getting used to his softer nature, but this proactive Seo-jin is even better. I’m worried that the specialist’s assessment of Robin’s dominance is right, because it matches up with Tae-joo’s diagnosis too. But I refuse to believe that he’s the only one getting stronger, since Seo-jin is coming to terms with his trauma in healthy ways. The problem is that it might set them up to become two very strong rivals to be the dominant personality. I’m not sure I want it to go that far, but maybe it’s just inevitable. For now it’s the moments of growth that make me happy, like Seo-jin letting himself want what his heart wants.

 
RELATED POSTS

• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 12
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 11
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 10
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 9
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 8
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 7
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 6
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 5
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 4
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 3
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 2
• Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 1