Possessed: Episode 5

by Sunny

Our resident evil spirit only seems to grow stronger by the day and while his amusement with our hero may keep Pil-sung safe for now, I fear that it won’t last. Especially since the name Hwang Dae-doo is already on Pil-sung’s radar. While he’s not yet on the hunt for a supernatural serial killer, his intuition has him on the right trail.

 
EPISODE 5

Dae-doo (in the hospital president’s son, Soo-hyuk’s, body) sits in his car, listening to “Silent Night” while elsewhere Pil-sung walks Seo-jung home after their bicycle date. She laughs suddenly, remembering how she’d hit him when they first met. She dubs the encounter fortuitous and Pil-sung grumbles that he’s unsure whether it’s fate… or fatal attraction. Hee.

Seo-jung coyly asks if he’s hungry, but Pil-sung totally misses her meaning and barks that they already passed the convenience store. Sighing, Seo-jung wobbles off, but her odd stride catches Pil-sung’s attention. She shouts that her butt hurts just as a couple walks by.

Embarrassed, Seo-jung and Pil-sung go their separate ways. At home, Seo-jung snipes that Pil-sung is so dense, unaware he’s just downstairs attaching padding to her bike seat as well as safety lights. Aww.

A radio host seemingly narrates as we see Pil-sung arrive home while Seo-jung has already gone to bed. Chief Yoo happily makes a snack for his studious daughter and rookie Joon-hyung grimaces as Detective Choi continues to third-wheel his date. And is that Seo-joon’s landlord making goo-goo eyes at the false fortune teller in a bar?

Dae-doo listens to the broadcast in his car as the host declares strange events on the horizon, ominously mentioning the end of the world. A tear rolls down his cheek as the host says human nature is good, and cannot be defeated by evil.

Turns out he’s been waiting outside Pil-sung’s apartment and he walks up just as the lights turn out. Dae-doo’s eyes glow red and Pil-sung’s dreams instantly turn fitful. He finds himself standing in his old apartment and his younger self bursts through the door, calling for Mom.

Unable to intervene, Pil-sung watches in horror as his younger self opens a door to reveal his mother’s hanging body. Young Pil-sung stumbles back as our Pil-sung strains to break free from invisible holds.

He succeeds and embrace the boy, sniffling out apologies for being unable to stop him. An eerie whistle puts Pil-sung on alert and he spins around to see Hwang Dae-doo. Dae-doo tuts at the boy, “In order to see your mother… you finally escaped the orphanage to come here.”

He laughs cruelly and Pil-sung lunges for him, but the invisible force holds him back. Dae-doo laughs that he’d promised to see Pil-sung again. He muses that he’d initially thought Pil-sung was like his old adversary, but now thinks PIl-sung is more similar to himself.

“Whether it’s abandoned by his society. Or whether nobody cares for us. Aren’t we so alike?” Dae-doo grins. Pil-sung demands what he wants and Dae-doo says he’ll repay all the pain the world gave him. He wants to prove all people are the same and says Pil-sung will be his last proof.

Dae-doo pats Pil-sung on the shoulder and then takes the younger versions hand, leading him out the door as Pil-sung pleads with the boy not to follow. Pil-sung jolts awake and outside, Dae-doo’s eyes return to normal. With a smirk, Dae-doo walks away.

The next morning. Seo-jung smiles when she notices the new additions to her bike. Meanwhile, Pil-sung frowns down at Dae-doo’s file. Chief Yoo questions his interest and Pil-sung admits he’s curious whether Dae-doo is truly dead. Chief Yoo tsks and reminds him to keep off the murder cases. A text arrives from Seo-jung thanking Pil-sung for the gifts and he grins.

Dae-doo arrives at the hospital and makes himself at home in the president’s son’s office. He grimaces that having affluent parents allows people to attain positions far beyond their capabilities and an endless cash flow.

His mood brightens when the secretary brings him some tea, but just as he’s ogling her she slaps him hard across the face. Apparently the president’s son had messed around with her, but she’s fed up and sneers that she’s submitting her resignation and he should watch out. Dae-doo just grins.

That night, Dae-doo stares up at a blood red moon. He then sits at an altar surrounded by candles and burns the photos of two of his fellow inmates. He slices his hand open and drips blood onto two straw dolls.

As he chants, a black smoke forms and shrouds his body before melting into his body. Dae-doo screams briefly and his eyes turn black, but quickly revert and he smirks. His hand pulses with power and he thrusts it out, sending a wave of energy that knocks out the light.

Seo-jung jolts awake and looks up at the red stained sky, muttering “Ominous things are happening.”

Our detectives are locked in a high speed pursuit with a criminal. He blasts through a light seconds before a collision blocks the intersection to the detectives. Pil-sung takes a detour while Joon-hyung and Detective Choi follow after the criminal.

They chase him down back roads until he’s boxed in by the appearance of Pil-sung’s vehicle. Everyone leaps out of their cars and the criminal swings a knife, barking at them to let him go. Pil-sung aims a taser but the criminal twists just in time for the darts to fly past him and into Detective Choi’s leg. Oof.

The distraction is enough for the criminal to slip past Pil-sung and he charges after him while Joon-hyung deals with the convulsing Detective Choi. Pil-sung follows the man, but loses him in the emergency room of a nearby hospital.

An attending nurse eyes Pil-sung suspiciously as he peeks behind curtains, but the criminal has already disguised himself as a doctor. Unfortunately, Pil-sung glances over, but notices nothing strange and the criminal manages to get away.

Pil-sung rejoins the others empty-handed. As Joon-hyung searches the vehicle the criminal was driving, Detective Choi accuses Pil-sung of tasing him on purpose, and vows revenge. Joon-hyung finds a bag of drugs and Pil-sung shoots down his guess at cocaine, saying the consistency is wrong.

The criminal anxiously watches nearby as Joon-hyung also finds his wallet. The man’s name is Kim Tae-shik and something clicks for Pil-sung and he orders an immediate wanted person bulletin.

Back at the station, Cheif Yoo explains the strange powder is a “zombie” drug — so named because users try to bite people. Bottom line, the drug is powerful and they fear how much may have already been circulated or is still in Tae-shik’s possession. Chief Yoo orders a stakeout of Tae-shik’s home.

Joon-hyung’s girlfriend drops off a report to Chief Yoo . His sharp eyes catch the silly grins between the two younger officers and next thing he’s dragging Pil-sung into a bathroom stall. He huffs that Pil-sung looks down on his perception skills, but Chief Yoo drops the bomb that he’s deduced Joon-hyung is dating.

He proudly announces that the other party is patrol office Choi Yeon-hee… but his gloating comes to a screeching halt when he notices Pil-sung isn’t floored by this revelation. Pil-sung sighs that everyone in the office knows except Chief Yoo. Awww…

Pil-sung stalks out of the bathroom and Chief Yoo snickers that he’s just lying to cover up his embarrassment.

While arranging merchandise in the shop, Seo-jung’s partner, Ji-hang, asks her if they should close early and get drinks. Seo-jung shoots her down, guessing Ji-hang broke up with her boyfriend. Ji-hang wants to see a movie and her boast that the movie is said enough to bring anyone to tears gives Seo-jung an idea.

Pil-sung and Joon-hyung are on stakeout duty that evening. Pil-sung wonders why someone would be so foolish to return home… and apparently Tae-shik is no fool because morning comes and still no sign of him. Detective Choi arrives late to relive them and chuckles at his petty revenge against Pil-sung for the taser.

Stumbling into his apartment, no sooner does Pil-sung fall into bed than his phone buzzes. He immediately snaps up as he reads Seo-jung’s text asking him to see a movie together. He only pauses to grab a jacket (taking care to pick a different one from his stakeout) and shuffles out again.

Seo-jung is already waiting when he arrives at the theater and she wonders about the dark circles under his eyes. Pil-sung brushes it off but he struggles to keep his eyes open as he asks about the movie. Seo-jung says it’s a tearjerker and is shocked when Pil-sung says he likes those.

“I’m more emotional than I seem,” Pil-sung retorts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Pil-sung to pass out. While everyone is sniffling, Pil-sung’s snores soon draw negative attention. When Seo-jung’s elbow fails to awaken him, she slinks out of the theater.

The movie ends and Pil-sung stumbles out, grumbling how rude Seo-jung is for ditching him. She didn’t go far, though, and he quickly spots her waiting a few feet away. He tells her the movie was no good — seemingly oblivious to her tight smile — and suggests they eat.

Seo-jung takes him to a fancy restaurant and Pil-sung wheezes it looks expensive. She tuts that he won’t have to pay and Pil-sung agrees he couldn’t even afford taxi fare. Pil-sung is nervous when Seo-jung sits next to him at the table, but she says someone is joining them.

She say it’s someone Pil-sung knows and sure enough, Pil-sung has previously met Seo-jung’s landlord and dance instructor, Soon-kyung. Her distaste at seeing Pil-sung there is mutual and they bicker until Seo-jung changes the subject to the man Soon-kyung is seeing.

Soon-kyung gushes she’s found her soulmate, a younger man with a profession in philosophy. Pil-sung snorts that the guy must be a fortuneteller and Soon-kyung bristles. She’d asked Seo-jung to verify whether their spirits are in tune and grimaces that Pil-sung tagged along.

When asked if her man has a business, Soon-kyung snaps that he does. “What is this ominous premonition?” Pil-sung sighs just as fake fortuneteller Ba Do-ryung (from episode 1) strides into the restaurant. Do-ryung falters when he sees PIl-sung, who erupts in a fit of giggles at the odds.

Do-ryung ushers Pil-sung away from the women and demands to know his relation to Soo-kyung. Pil-sung waves him off and asks instead what’s the scheme. Do-ryung swears he’s changed his ways after meeting Soo-kyung and begs Pil-sung to keep mum.

They return to the women and Seo-jung asks how the men know each other. Pil-sung says it was before they’d met and Do-ryung announces he’s Pil-sung’s fan. They ask for Seo-jung’s read on their relationship and she declares them a natural pair. She asks Pil-sung’s opinion and he says it’s more like bacteria.

Do-ryung asks about Seo-jung’s relationship with Pil-sung. To Pil-sung’s disappointment, Seo-jung just says they’re acquaintances. Soo-kyung tells Do-ryung he and Seo-jung work in the same field. Do-ryung asks her to read him, laughing that she must have stage fright when Seo-jung tries to shift focus.

Soo-kyung pushes Seo-jung to read Do-ryung and he eagerly leans forward, clearly assuming her abilities to be as false as his. As Seo-jung levels her stare, however, Do-ryung’s face falls and he quickly excuses himself.

Afterwards, Pil-sung walks Seo-jung home and notes that he can still feel her aura is off. Seo-jung rounds on him, barking that she hates using her skills. Outside her house, Seo-jung eyes her bike and asks if Pil-sung wants to go for a ride.

Pil-sung gripes about riding at night and Seo-jung sighs that she’s upset. He asks what’s wrong and she admits she’s felt off the past few days, but quickly dismisses it and ushers him on his way. Pil-sung doesn’t move, though, and presses whether she’s really okay.

“And if I’m not okay?” Seo-jung asks. Pil-sung awkwardly brings up that Seo-jung defined their relationship as “acquaintances” earlier, his unspoken question hanging in the air. Seo-jung asks how he’d describe it, then. With a sigh, Pil-sung takes his leave.

Seo-jung calls out, asking if he’d like to eat ramyun, and Pil-sung actually looks behind him to make sure she wasn’t talking to someone else.

That night, Pil-sung sits up in bed and says that his heart is still pounding. We see that he’s actually confiding in his collection of ghostly roommates and he tells them he’s sure Seo-jung cares for him… but she sent him home after eating. He grumbles that Seo-jung says he lacks insight.

The next morning, Dae-doo is briefed on a recent layoff that resulted in one of the dismissed employees committing suicide. The incident fueled a labor strike and Dae-doo is to go meet with them while the company is at work bankrupting the labor union.

As he’s guided through the enraged workers, Dae-doo is hit with an egg. One striker screams he’s a murderer and Dae-doo breaks into a smile.

That night, Dae-doo meets up with his host body’s drug dealer. The dealer passes him a box of the newest shipment: the “zombie” drug. Dae-doo is intrigued by the bloodthirsty side-effect, but frowns that he’ll have to come to the underground when he wants more.

The dealer flicks on his headlights to reveal a bloody Tae-shik (the guy Pil-sung failed to arrest) tied to a chair in the middle of a crowd of gangsters. He declares that his business is exclusive and anyone that gets caught threatens both themselves and his operation.

“Are you threatening me now?” Dae-doo asks, amused. The dealer corrects that it’s a warning and explains that should he mess up, Dae-doo will be the one in Tae-shik’s seat. With a snicker, Dae-doo exits the car and the deal watches in mounting fear as Dae-doo makes quick work of his thugs.

Approaching Tae-shik, Dae-doo takes a peek at his memories and sees Pil-sung finding the drugs and ID. Chuckling, Dae-doo announces to the dealer that the cops already have Tae-shik’s info. Grabbing a knife, the dealer shakily approaches Dae-doo but is quickly disarmed.

Dae-doo laughs at the man’s terror, but stops short of killing him. “I said I liked you,” Dae-doo smiles, “But if you let him (Tae-shik) live, you will die.” Then, to the dealer’s horror, he plunges the knife repeatedly into Tae-shik.

As the young man chokes on blood, Dae-doo places a car mirror beside him and watches until he stops moving. Standing, Dae-doo announces that he and the dealer are now in the same boat and he’s to follow Dae-doo’s orders.

At home, Seo-jung receives flashes of the bloody chair and a marker on the wall as the breathless voice of shaman Geum-joo calls her name. Seo-jung nervously calls her aunt and asks if she knows where Seo-jung’s mother is.

A woman sits on the floor of her restaurant watching dramas. She hears the door jingle and calls out that they’re closed, but when she turns, the ragged man at the door suddenly lunges and attacks her.

The next day, Chief Yoo’s daughter, Seung-hee leaves school and notices some bullies dragging her classmate away. Before the lead bully can slap the girl, Seung-hee arrives and calls out for them to stop. The leader scoffs and tries to persuade Seung-hee to leave but dangling a promotion for her father.

Unfazed, Seung-hee tries to leave with the bullied girl and the leader hits her in the head. Seung-hee warns her to back off and the girl hits her again. The leader sneers that Seung-hee can’t no better since she doesn’t have a mother and goes to hit her a third time. Seung-hee snatches her hand and bends her arm back but her eyes widen when there’s a sickening crack.

Chief Yoo sits with Joon-hyung and his girlfriend Yeon-hee and brags that he found them out ages ago. He praises their relationship since they’ll understand each other better being in the same field. Joon-hyung blurts that must be why Chief Yoo got divorced and he awkwardly agrees it can be hard on the family.

Joon-hyung asks if Chief Yoo has considered remarrying and Pil-sung walks up asking Detective Choi if he has any single aunts. Hee.

Chief Yoo asks about Tae-shik, but they’ve had no luck. He says the first victim of the drug was found last night and urges them to hurry before it gets out of hand. They’re interrupted by another officer calling for Chief Yoo and they all rush back to the station where Chief Yoo’s daughter is waiting with a very rich, very angry woman who can only be the bully’s mother.

She immediately barks at Chief Yoo that his daughter is a gangster. The patrol officer tells Chief Yoo that Seung-hee broke another student’s wrist. Seung-hee denies it and the mother accuses her of lying and blame it on Chief Yoo’s teaching.

Sinking to the floor, Chief Yoo begs the woman’s forgiveness. The mother vows to take legal action, adding that her husband is highly influential. Pil-sung speaks up, then. Ignoring Chief Yoo, he sends Seung-hee out of the room.

The woman descends on Pil-sung but he snaps that her daughter is the perpetrator who first lead a group of bullies to attack a student and when Seung-hee tried to intervene, attacked Seung-hee. Despite multiple warnings, the girl continued to hit her and Seung-hee finally fought back in self-defense.

When the woman continues to threaten legal action, Pil-sung urges her to do so, since the whole thing was caught on CCTV footage and her daughter will be the one in trouble. In another room, Yeon-hee praises Seung-hee for her bravery and suggests they be like sisters since Seung-hee strives to follow the same career path.

Tae-shik’s body has been discovered and the detectives head down to the scene. Seeing the mirror, Pil-sung checks Tae-shik’s hand and sees that a nail has been clipped and declares, “Hwang Dae-doo is alive.”

Epilogue

Dae-doo stands on a helicopter pad surveying the city with a wicked grin as the sky turns red.

 
COMMENTS

Yikes! So creepy… so good! If I thought doc Yang-woo was unnerving, Dae-doo in Soo-hyuk’s body is next level. Dae-doo and Yang-woo were deranged, but as he’s consumed more souls, I feel that mania has toned down just a smidge and he’s become more calculating. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still nuttier than squirrel poo, but with a goal like Armageddon, careful planning is required.

With Yang-woo, he’d planned to double-cross him early on (if not from the very start) and switch hosts, so by the time Pil-sung was on his tale, he was getting reckless. He seems to like Soo-hyuk’s body, however, and the societal power it offers. It’s going to make Pil-sung’s job that much harder because while he knows Dae-doo is involved, he has yet to suspect that it’s anything supernatural.

And presumably that’s where Seo-jung comes in. She was miffed about using her powers this episode (and I’m sure our fake fortuneteller now wishes she hadn’t), but she’s gonna have to get over that because Dae-doo is not gonna go down easy. This episode her mother’s voice accompanied the eerie visions and while I’m glad she’s finally doing something about them, I know she’s not gonna like what she finds. I can only hope she brings Pil-sung along so he can offer support for the grim discoveries awaiting her at that shrine in the woods.

Speaking of Pil-sung and Seo-jung, they are maddening! They both know they like each other, and are each pretty darned sure the other person feels the same… and yet… Neither is willing to be the first to admit it! It’s as amusing as it is frustrating and I could probably watch them dance circles around each other for days… but I won’t complain if someone wants to spit out an honest confession either. Although, I must say my favorite part of the episode was probably Pil-sung relaying his date to the ghosts so if a little more waffling is needed for cute moments like that, bring it on.

Pil-sung has seems to have fully accepted seeing ghosts (although he never seems to spot them anywhere but his apartment), and yet sleepless nights are still an issue. Be it work or evil forces throwing him into a hellscape of childhood trauma. Does it mean anything that Dae-doo walked off with young Pil-sung? Or was it just an illusion Dae-doo manipulated in Pil-sung’s mind?

Lots of questions going forward, but the show provides enough answers not to leave me feeling frustrated. I’m perfectly happy to see where things lead at the show’s pace.

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