The Guest: Episode 14

by odilettante

Now that they know where Park Il-do is hiding, the trio try to track him down. Unfortunately, the trio’s partnership continues to falter as the seeds of doubt and mistrust flourish. As he tries to hide the effects of his curse, Yoon must also deal with the consequences of performing exorcisms without the church’s permission.

 
EPISODE 14 RECAP

Yoon arrives at the church in the middle of Mass, which is led by Priest Yang. Yoon quietly finds a seat in one of the pews, his eyes never leaving Priest Yang’s face, which is bowed in prayer.

As Priest Yang begins the homily, he quotes Psalm 139:

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

At least, that’s how it ought to go, as Yoon murmurs the Psalm along with the older priest. Except Priest Yang goes off-script on the last few lines, saying “even the light will be dark to you; the night will swallow the day, for darkness is as a dark night to you.”

Realizing the subtle way Priest Yang has twisted the scripture to mean the complete opposite, Yoon watches intently as the priest prepares the sacrament of Holy Communion. Priest Yang blesses the Eucharist and takes a bite of the host wafer — or at least he seems to, but instead he carefully hides the fact that he doesn’t consume it, nor does he actually drink the wine.

As the congregation lines up to receive the Eucharist, Yoon barges forward and shoves them out of the way. Intently staring Priest Yang in the eyes, he steps forward to the altar and dumps out the wine Priest Yang supposedly drank — which is just water.

He also confronts Priest Yang about reciting the Psalms incorrectly and not consuming the host wafer. Two other men rush forward to drag Yoon out (since he’s just disrupted a serious Holy Sacrament) as he screams that Priest Yang is Park Il-do.

Yoon faces a disciplinary committee, who demand to know why he disrupted Mass. Yoon bluntly says it was a “Black Mass” (that is, a parody of the Holy Sacrament) and that Priest Yang is possessed by an evil spirit named Park Il-do.

He offers Priest Yang’s Bible as evidence, and the elder priest flips through the scribbled book, shocked by the blacked out pages. But Priest Yang plays dumb and turns the fault back on Yoon, “innocently” asking if Yoon is now as crazy as Priest Han was after performing so many exorcisms.

Priest Yang looks at Yoon in pity, telling him he’s obsessed with evil spirits and if he continues this path, will only end up like Priest Han, committing suicide. Yoon pulls out his rosary and starts his exorcism prayer over Priest Yang, who seems placidly unaffected, although his hands grip the chair a little tighter.

His actions seem to confirm to the rest of the disciplinary committee that Yoon isn’t right in the head, and Yoon collapses due to the stabbing pain in his chest. He once more gasps out that Priest Yang is Park Il-do, but Priest Yang just stares at him, looking unconcerned.

Meanwhile, Hwa-pyung’s desperately searching for Yook Kwang. Thanks to Kil-young tracking Yook Kwang’s last phone call, Hwa-pyung knows that Yook Kwang went to Hwa-pyung’s hometown. Hwa-pyung searches all over, unable to find any sign of his friend.

Kil-young agrees to help, knowing that Priest Yang is somehow connected. She starts with Sharing Hand, which is currently presenting an appreciation award to Hong-joo. Kil-young watches the congresswoman receive her accolades, and when Hong-joo notices the detective, Kil-young says she was hoping to see Priest Yang at the ceremony.

Hong-joo says he couldn’t make it because he wasn’t feeling well, then pointedly asks about Kil-young’s boss and the police chief. The women’s words are polite as they smile at each other, but both are fully aware that Hong-joo still has the power to ruin Kil-young’s career if she keeps bothering Hong-joo.

A woman enters the auditorium, screaming that Hong-joo uses other people’s lives for her own personal gain and should be kicked out of office. Kil-young follows the woman as she’s dragged out of the auditorium.

The woman, Sister Kim, thinks that Hong-joo must be bribing yet another detective to try and arrest her, but she stops in her tracks when Kil-young says that actually she wants to arrest Hong-joo.

Sister Kim invites Kil-young to her home, and reveals that Sharing Hand was a genuinely good charity until Hong-joo joined and started manipulating the volunteers, using them in order to gain political power. She even has proof, and plays a recording for Kil-young, revealing that she always tapes her encounters with Hong-joo.

If arresting Hong-joo doesn’t work, she’ll take it to the media — along with an envelope of evidence that proves Hong-joo embezzled from Sharing Hand. Sister Kim blames Hong-joo for ruining Priest Yang, who she thinks can do no wrong.

Hong-joo calls Priest Yang, who’s packing up to leave on a sudden health-related sabbatical. Mmm-hmmm, sure. Hong-joo’s worried about Kil-young meeting with Sister Kim. Priest Yang is confident Sister Kim won’t say anything against him or Sharing Hand, but he tells Hong-joo to find a way to persuade Sister Kim to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, Yoon is struggling to reconcile the fact that the father figure he knew as Priest Yang is also Park Il-do. After a long night of contemplation, he calls Kil-young, asking to meet.

Hwa-pyung sits by his still-unconscious grandfather, telling him about Yook Kwang. He knows Grandpa didn’t like Yook Kwang because he didn’t like Hwa-pyung spending time with a shaman, but he was Hwa-pyung’s only other family, and Hwa-pyung’s worried that something terrible has happened to him.

After visiting the hospital, Hwa-pyung drives along the country road, suddenly stopping when he sees Yook Kwang standing in front of him. Yook Kwang silently beckons Hwa-pyung, who follows his friend.

Yook Kwang points to a spot in the field, and Hwa-pyung has a vision of how his friend died — but there’s no body in the field.

Hwa-pyung relays his suspicion about Yook Kwang’s death to Kil-young, who urges him to return to the city. He’s reluctant since he wants to find his friend’s body first, but Yoon is also on the line — and says that Hwa-pyung was right: Priest Yang is Park Il-do.

That’s enough to get Hwa-pyung to speed back to the city, and the trio are united once more. Hwa-pyung is furious when Yoon quietly confesses that he’s the reason Yook Kwang went to the hometown, since he noticed that the shaman seemed to focus on the phrase “still at the house” when Yoon told him Priest Choi’s last words. It looks like this reunion will be short-lived thanks to Hwa-pyung blaming Yoon for whatever happened to Yook Kwang.

In the morning, Yoon faces the disciplinary committee. With all his actions added up (performing exorcisms without permission; working alongside a shaman; someone not possessed getting hurt due an exorcism attempt; interrupting Mass), they decide that Yoon should be sent to a disciplinary facility.

It’s basically priest prison, but without any locks, and Yoon is left to sit in his small room and reflect on his actions.

Kil-young and Hwa-pyung search for the suddenly-missing Priest Yang, but with no luck. Kil-young asks if Hwa-pyung’s had a vision that might help him, but he hasn’t. It’s made even more difficult since they don’t know when Yoon will be free to leave the facility, and they can’t perform an exorcism without him.

Hwa-pyung stubbornly says he’ll take care of it himself, still blaming Yoon for what happened to Yook Kwang. He decides to get Priest Yang’s location from Hong-joo. Kil-young reminds him that he’ll be arrested if he bothers the congresswoman again, but Hwa-pyung says that he’ll stay hidden.

Kil-young gets a call from Sister Kim, who’s decided to sue Hong-joo. But as Sister Kim starts to gather the evidence to take to the police station, Hong-joo knocks on her door.

Hong-joo puts on a pleasant face as she says that she’s here because Priest Yang said they should talk out their differences. Sister Kim scoffs at Hong-joo’s attempt to appear innocent of the embezzlement charges, and tells her to leave.

Instead, Hong-joo offers her a bag of cash, calling it a bonus for all the support Sister Kim has given Sharing Hand. But Sister Kim angrily shoves the money aside, accusing Hong-joo of being a thief, adding that she even has proof.

Hong-joo starts to scratch at her neck as Sister Kim says she remembers what happened the night the high school student died twenty years ago, that Hong-joo went to Priest Yang for help. Hong-joo grabs Sister Kim’s volunteer award and bashes in the woman’s head, furiously screaming that she’s not a thief.

But once the initial anger wears off, Hong-joo looks around at the bloody room and realizes what she’s done.

Priest Yang is at Grandpa’s hospital room. He tells the unconscious man that he doesn’t want to do this, but Hwa-pyung just won’t leave him alone. He reaches forward as if to strangle Grandpa, but stops when his phone starts to ring.

It’s Hong-joo, and Priest Yang goes to Sister Kim’s home, where Hong-joo wearily sits, staring at the dead body. She explains it was out of defense, since Sister Kim dared to call her a thief, but Priest Yang slaps Hong-joo so hard she topples to the ground.

He tells her she should be more careful, like he warned her after what she did twenty years ago. Hong-joo cowers as Priest Yang calmly says that he’ll clean up her mess, ordering Hong-joo to go home.

Dressed in a rain coat that’s suspiciously similar to the one the mysterious person was wearing that night Hyun-joo’s body was buried twenty years ago, Priest Yang cleans up the room. He wraps Sister Kim’s body in a large duffel bag and drags her away.

Kil-young’s worried because Sister Kim never showed up to the police station and isn’t answering her phone. She and Detective Go stop by the house, but there’s no one there.

She thinks it strange that the house is much cleaner than when she visited Sister Kim earlier, and goes to investigate the piles of garbage outside. She finds the award, covered in blood.

Priest Yang is back in the forest, digging a grave for Sister Kim’s body. As he drags the duffel bag to the hole, a coughing noise stops him. Sister Kim is still alive!

Priest Yang unzips the bag and Sister Kim weakly gasps for help. Priest Yang’s idea of help, though, is remove Sister Kim’s pain by strangling her.

Hong-joo washes off the blood on her hands and face. She gets a call from Priest Yang, warning her that detectives are at Sister Kim’s home, and asks if there’s anyone else who knows that Hong-joo was there that night.

The only other person is Hong-joo’s driver, and Priest Yang says he’ll take care of it. Uh-oh.

Hwa-pyung has been staking out the congresswoman’s office, and when he sees the driver get in the car, Hwa-pyung follows him at a safe distance.

The driver thinks it’s odd that he was called out to the middle of the forest to meet Priest Yang, but his eyes suddenly bug out in fear and he clutches at his throat as though he’s being strangled. Priest Yang simply stares at the driver as darkness starts to surround the priest.

Hwa-pyung finds the driver’s car in the forest, but when he ventures closer, the driver is nowhere to be seen. Hwa-pyung notices someone standing in the forest and assumes it’s the driver, but when he gets closer, he realizes it’s Priest Yang.

Hwa-pyung says he’s been wondering for the past twenty years how he’ll kill Park Il-do. He punches Priest Yang in the face, knocking the priest down as Hwa-pyung demands to know why his family, as well as Yoon’s and Kil-young’s families, were targeted.

In his priest prison, Yoon tries to sleep, but a strange noise wakes him up. He sees someone sitting at the small desk, whispering the curse. The person turns around and it’s Yoon! But a creepy, leering Yoon, who reminds the frightened Yoon that the third time they meet, he’ll surely die.

The strange noise he heard is the creepy, manically laughing other-Yoon using a piece of glass to rip off the flesh on his arm. Yoon screams at the other Yoon to stop, then wakes up in a panic. It was just a nightmare! Or was it? Yoon’s surprised to see a piece of glass in his hand and marks on his arm.

Sister Kim’s disappearance is now an official police case and her home a crime scene, but there’s still no proof that she was killed. Nor is there the envelope of evidence that reveals Hong-joo embezzled from Sharing Hand. Kil-young remembers that Sister Kim records everything when she sees Hong-joo, and finds the hidden tape recorder.

The detectives play the tape for their boss, which recorded everything that happened when Hong-joo attacked Sister Kim — including Hong-joo’s phone call, asking for help. But the detectives are shocked when their boss says it’s not enough proof — they can’t accuse the congressman of murder when they don’t even have a body. It sounds more like the boss is worried about keeping his job than actually doing his job, and Kil-young leaves in a huff.

Detective Go warns her not to go after Hong-joo, but Kil-young is determined. Hong-joo already got away with murder twenty years ago — Kil-young won’t let it happen again. Detective Go pleads with his partner, reminding her that they don’t have any hard evidence. They need to find the body first.

In the forest, Hwa-pyung ties Priest Yang to a tree, vowing to get rid of Park Il-do soon enough. Priest Yang wearily says that it’s impossible for him to be possessed — he’s a priest, after all. But Hwa-pyung is convinced Park Il-do moved to Priest Yang’s body when the priest came to exorcise him.

Priest Yang says that Park Il-do didn’t move to anyone’s body, pointing out that Hwa-pyung can’t prove he isn’t Park Il-do, either. Hwa-pyung gets a call from Kil-young, letting him know that Hong-joo killed someone and they assume she asked for Priest Yang’s help to hide the body. Kil-young’s furious to learn that Hwa-pyung is with Priest Yang right now and didn’t tell her.

She demands to know where he is, but Hwa-pyung says it’s too dangerous. However, he keeps her on the line as he asks Priest Yang where Sister Kim’s body is. Priest Yang plays dumb, merely musing that a lost sheep will eventually return home.

Kil-young isn’t sure what that means, but she does have the ability to have her phone call to Hwa-pyung traced in order to figure out his location. She then calls Yoon, letting him know that Hwa-pyung found Priest Yang, asking what they should do since he’s under probation but they don’t know any other exorcist priests.

Without hesitation, Yoon says he’ll do it. Kil-young’s worried that he’ll get into even more trouble with the church council, but Yoon doesn’t care — he needs to exorcise Priest Yang himself, because it’s now personal.

Yoon sneaks out of his priest prison and resolutely heads towards the forest — not forgetting that the the third time he meets the spirits, he’ll die. I guess that’s one way to avoid the disciplinary committee.

In the forest, Hwa-pyung sits and stares at Priest Yang, remembering that Yook Kwang said killing Park Il-do’s vessel is the only surefire way to be rid of the evil spirit. Hwa-pyung gets a call from Yoon, who’s just arrived at the forest and wants to know where Hwa-pyung is.

The detective at Sister Kim’s house hears a noise outside and sees someone drinking from the water hose. The person turns her head and it’s Sister Kim — who’s not dead, but possessed.

Priest Yang suddenly says that “he must be here,” and Hwa-pyung recoils as a supernatural shockwave goes through the forest.

Still tied to his tree, Priest Yang stares up as the sky starts to grow blacker and blacker. Suddenly Yook Kwang’s voice rings out, “Stop! Leave him alone!” But it’s just Priest Yang telling Hwa-pyung what Yook Kwang’s last words were — that the shaman tried to protect Hwa-pyung with his final breath.

Stunned, Hwa-pyung asks what he did with Yook Kwang’s body, and Priest Yang says he threw the body into the sea. Priest Yang muses that Hwa-pyung should have paid better attention in order to protect his loved ones, but he’s always too distracted. At the hospital, the lights flicker in Grandpa’s room — but his bed is empty.

Priest Yang continues, pointing out that Hwa-pyung’s unable to see what is real and true. Hwa-pyung demands to know what he means. Priest Yang once more reiterates that Hwa-pyung shouldn’t be distracted.

Elsewhere, Sister Kim does the creepy “possessed by Park Il-do” neck-crick just as Priest Yang says, “He’s here.” The possessed Sister Kim smirks as she grabs a rod and stabs out her eye. Meanwhile, a figure approaches Hwa-pyung — he assumes it’s Yoon, but it’s most definitely not, as the now possessed driver stabs Hwa-pyung in the stomach.

 
COMMENTS

I don’t even know what to think about this. Priest Yang is definitely shady and up to his neck with evil spirits of some sort, but he bizarrely doesn’t seem to be currently possessed by Park Il-do. That would be Sister Kim (because the stabbing of the eye seems to indicate Park Il-do’s presence, at least based on what we’ve learned so far). Who is possessing Hong-joo’s driver, then? Can Park Il-do possess more than one person at a time? Did he immediately jump from Sister Kim to the driver? Or is it another lesser spirit? Was Priest Yang just a ruse to distract Hwa-pyung? Where is Yoon? He’s gonna save Hwa-pyung, right? Right????

I guess I’m just worried about how we’ll tie everything up in just two more episodes. As more questions are answered, even more questions pop up. Such as, where is Grandpa? Did he come out of his coma? Did Park Il-do steal him away? Is he actually possessed after all? I don’t know what to believe any more! Park Il-do’s attempts to divide the trio and make them distrust each other are apparently working on me, too.

I even had a fleeting suspicion that Yoon could be possessed, but then I talked myself out of it, because the spirits’ curse wouldn’t be such a threat if Yoon was already possessed. I can’t blame Yoon for deciding to do one last exorcism, essentially giving up his life to help the people he considers his friends and family, while also ridding the world of an evil demon. He’s already cursed and having nightmares about suicide — at least this way he’ll go down fighting. That’s not to say I will accept his sacrifice, but I understand it.

I want to be hopeful because we’re so close to the end, but Yook Kwang’s death, Yoon’s curse, the constant tension that our trio are always a hair’s breadth away from losing what little family and/or friends they have left in this world, and the general frustration of fighting against an evil that seems to always win is just so… depressing. But instead of wallowing in my fear about the horrors that are yet to come, I’ll follow Kil-young’s lead and dig deep into my fury over the fact that for twenty years, innocent parishioners have been taking what they believe to be Holy Communion from a man who has no right to bless anything, making a mockery of their faith.

I’ll also lean on my righteous indignation that a rich and powerful politician can literally get away with murder, thanks to her familial ties (even if that family is technically dead). I don’t believe that Hong-joo is possessed — she’s just mentally unstable; fueled by her own psychopathic rage and narcissism. I’m looking forward to her being taken down by the trio, especially once her supernatural great-uncle can no longer support her (although I have a vague suspicion that if Park Il-do is cornered with no easily accessible vessel to flee to, he’ll somehow make a home in his niece, which would make for a terrifying final battle).

On a slightly more positive note, I’m so thankful that even in his death, Yook Kwang is able to help Hwa-pyung. At least there’s some good in the restoration of Hwa-pyung’s ability to see spirits. Yes, it would be ideal if his father and Yook Kwang were still alive, but they won’t let death stand in the way of their attempts to help the trio defeat evil and save the world — or at least a small corner of it.

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