Possessed: Episode 10

by LollyPip

Before our otherworldy detective can go after his nemesis, he has to figure out who his nemesis is, and that’s not easy when Dae-doo could literally be in any body in the world. As time grows short, Detective Kim and Seo-jung begin to bring in others to help their cause, and one lead yields a discovery they never saw coming.

 
EPISODE 10

Ji-hang, Detective Kim’s daughter, gets a temporary transfer at work, which seem like a good chance to get away from her handsy boss. She finds herself in Oh Soo-hyuk’s office, unaware that she’s actually talking to the soul of the killer who haunted her father for decades.

She asks why a company as big as TF Holdings would want her small company to build a server, but Dae-doo says that he didn’t choose the company — he chose her. Ji-hang moves her things into her temporary desk space, taking special care with a small portrait of her as a child with both of her parents.

Chun-seob, Dae-doo’s pet drug dealer, tells Dae-doo that he’s quitting, and demands a billion won as his “pension” payment. Dae-doo chuckles that he’s not a bank, but Chun-seob knows that there’s a vault in the basement full of cash. Dae-doo says that killing him will be a waste, so Chun-seob pulls his gun in fear.

But Dae-doo just says that soon, Chun-seob will end up even more loyal to him and will shoot all of his minions with that gun. He asks if Chun-seob has ever killed someone, and he stares at Chun-seob strangely. Chun-seob’s hand moves on its own, turning until the gun is pointing at his own head.

His finger tightens on the trigger… then Dae-doo turns away and Chun-seob can move again. He points the gun back at Dae-doo just as Dae-doo swings a liquor bottle at him.

Chun-seob wakes up in an empty room tied to a chair, with Dae-doo looming over him. He begs for his life, but Dae-doo says he’s not going to kill him — he’s going to make him stronger. He says he has an interesting friend who has nowhere to live, so he’s going to let the friend use Chun-seob’s house for a while.

Dae-doo goes inside his own psyche and finds the tree where he’s imprisoned his victims. We briefly see a man in a prison suit, then black smoke begins to pour from Dae-doo’s mouth. The smoke slithers into Dae-doo’s hand, and he throws it at Chun-seob, where it slams into Chun-seob’s body… and when he opens his eyes, there’s someone else behind them.

Chun-seob (well, his body) picks up his minions where they’re waiting to split the money he’s supposedly extorting from Dae-doo. Chun-seob’s body says that Dae-doo asked him to bury something, so they need to make a stop. They go out to the woods where the minions dig a huge hole.

When the spirit inhabiting Chun-seob’s body determines that the hole is finished, he casually shoots the minions. It’s kind of hilarious in a gruesome way, how he belatedly realizes that now he has to finish burying them all by himself, ha.

Do-ryung secures some limestone and sulfur powder for Seo-jung to make a protective talisman for warding off evil spirits. He asks her to let him help catch Dae-doo, saying that he was also born with a heavenly calling. But Seo-jung says that Do-ryung has become too corrupt and that his heavenly energy is gone, so he wouldn’t survive a confrontation with Dae-doo.

He says that he made something — then comes back wearing what looks like a low-budget Ghostbusters rig. He’s got a tank strapped to his back filled with an anti-ghost herbal concoction to spray on Dae-doo, and how Seo-jung keeps from laughing in his face is beyond me.

She hides her dismay and simply says that Do-ryung has helped her enough already, then changes the subject. She asks what he said to SK (who saw them together and thought they were having an affair), and he says sadly that he told her he has to do something very important, so not to look for him.

SK is not taking the breakup well, at all. She stabs an apple with a sharp knife, cursing Seo-jung for stealing her man, then dances the Solo Tango of Revenge. Well, okay then.

The team stays late at the station, trying to get a confession from a suspect who beat his five-year-old daughter to death. Frustrated, Chief Yoo tells Detective Choi to relieve him for a while or he might kill the guy himself. Detective Kim tells Chief Yoo to go home and rest, but the arrest warrant expires tomorrow so they have to get a confession or he’ll be released.

Joon-hyung has the night off, and he takes Yeon-hee camping. She’s a bit scared, but Joon-hyung says he’ll be right next to her — in his own tent of course. He says that a man should have patience and protect his lady’s virginity, but the look on Yeon-hee’s face indicates that it may be a bit late for that, heh.

When Chief Yoo eventually gets home, he checks on his daughter then heads to the kitchen for coffee. In the morning when he tries to send Seung-hee back to bed while he makes breakfast, she waves him away and does it herself.

She makes him seaweed soup, remembering that it’s his birthday. Chief Yoo whines adorably for a hug before Seung-hee leaves for school, which she grudgingly grants, then shoves him away complaining that he stinks. But nothing can dampen Chief Yoo’s good mood today, and he just chirps that she’s super cute.

Detective Kim has been systematically eliminating his sticky notes, throwing them away once he determines that the information on them yields no relevant connections. He keeps searching until there are only a handful of notes left on the wall, and as he stares at them, it comes to him — Oh Sung-shik, chairman of TP Holdings and Oh Soo-hyuk’s father.

He visits the neighborhood where Oh Sung-shik owns a villa, and he nearly shoots the property manager when he sneaks up on him. The manager asks what a cop’s doing in a peaceful neighborhood, saying that he oversees and manages the vacation homes in this area, all of which belong to the chairmen of some of the biggest companies in Korea.

He confirms that Oh Sung-shik hasn’t been to his vacation home in quite some time, and his guess is that it’s because his son, Soo-hyuk, got in big trouble again and practically lives in the vacation home these days. Detective Kim asks for more information on the son, so the manager takes him to dinner to talk.

While they eat, the manager says that Soo-hyuk is a narcissistic jerk who shows up every weekend with a bunch of girls to party all weekend. But lately, he says there have been no girls, only some skeevy guys going in and out of the house.

Ji-hang stays late at the office, and Dae-doo stops by to shower her with praise for her hard work. He asks her to have dinner with him, telling her that he doesn’t mean anything by it, he just wants company. He’s on his best behavior at dinner, continuing to flatter her for her excellent work while he plies her with alcohol, declining to drink himself.

Dae-doo tells Ji-hang that he’s a bit psychic and can sense things about people just by seeing their face. To convince her, he says that her father is the stern, quiet type, probably a police officer. Ji-hang says that he died and Dae-doo pretends to be sorry, adding that he can picture what her father must have looked like as if he knew him.

He gives Ji-hang a ride home and insists that she take a box of Korean beef that a customer gave to him, that he says he won’t eat. She takes it because he’s been nothing but polite and respectful all evening, but as she turns away to go inside, Dae-doo’s friendly smile changes to the predatory one.

Detective Kim tells Seo-jung that he believes Dae-doo is in the body of Oh Soo-hyuk or one of the people who’s been frequenting his home recently. She insists on going with him to look at Soo-hyuk, explaining that she’ll know if Dae-doo is inside his body by making eye contact or touching him. Outside the room, Do-ryung listens in curiously.

Dae-doo arrives back at his family’s villa to find the spirit in Chun-seob’s body with a woman, who jumps up and leaves in a snit. Dae-doo lifts Chun-seob’s body by the throat and tells the spirit that even though his specialty was seducing then killing women, he didn’t give him this body so he could continue his hobby. He says that the man’s job is to obey and worship him, and if he fails, he’ll suffer eternally in the Hell that Dae-doo created.

Ji-hang thinks of Dae-doo while at work, and she checks her appearance in the mirror in case she runs into him. He surprises her at the bus stop after work and takes her to dinner again, this time to a fancy restaurant overlooking the city.

Detective Kim gets a message from the property manager that someone is at the villa. He follows whoever is in Chun-seob’s body to a coffee shop and watches as he chats up the waitress, then leaves again. Detective Kim calls the police to report him driving under the influence, and the killer’s breath tests just below the legal limit and he’s waved through.

Detective Kim pulls up and introduces himself to the cops, and asks for the identity of the man who just drove through. Later he tells Seo-jung about Chun-seob, who has quite a huge record, and they decide to check if he’s Dae-doo first, since Soo-hyuk is in Seoul.

They find him that evening at the same coffee shop, flirting with the same waitress, and Seo-jung wears a mask to approach him since Dae-doo would recognize her. She enters the restaurant and talks to the waitress, but she calls Detective Kim from the restroom to say that the man’s face was turned away so she couldn’t sense him.

Her plan is to get a better look as she’s leaving the restroom, but the killer gets up and heads for the restrooms himself. So when Seo-jung exits, they pass within inches of each other in the hallway.

Seeing the danger, Detective Kim runs inside the restaurant, but Seo-jung comes flying out, grabs him, and yanks him to the car. She tells Detective Kim that that man is definitely possessed by an evil spirit filled with lust and bloodthirst, but it’s not Dae-doo’s spirit. That means that Dae-doo is in Soo-hyuk’s body, and Detective Kim wants to go to Seoul immediately, but Seo-jung says that this man is planning to kill someone tonight and they have to stop him.

He stays at the coffee shop until closing, then takes the waitress to a hotel. Pil-sung reports to the concierge that his car’s lights are on, and the killer’s seduction is interrupted by a call from the front desk. While he goes downstairs, Seo-jung slips up to his room to warn the waitress that she’s in danger.

But the waitress is in the shower and doesn’t hear Seo-jung at the door. She finally answers and Seo-jung yells to follow her and she’ll explain. She takes up precious time getting dressed as the killer is on his way back up, but after a near-miss, they finally get in the elevator. Seo-jung gets the waitress to a taxi and tells her to stay home and keep the coffee shop closed for the time being.

Waiting in the car, Detective Kim gets nervous and eventually decides to go in and see what’s taking so long. But a voice calls out and stops him. It’s the killer, who calls him by Pil-sung’s name. Then he says, “Oh, I mean Kim Nak-jeon. No wonder I got a chill down my spine.” Eek!

He explains that he saw a lot while locked inside Dae-doo’s soul, and asks why Detective Kim came for him instead. Detective Kim just points his gun at him, then tosses it away and invites the killer to fight. The killer pulls a knife and swings, but Detective Kim quickly grabs his arm and makes him drop the weapon. The killer is a good bare-handed fighter, but Detective Kim is better, and he manages to knock the killer loopy for a minute.

But the killer rouses and grabs the knife he dropped, just as Detective Kim is picking up his gun. The killer lunges to stab Detective Kim in the back — but at the last second, something slams into him from behind, and he goes down.

It’s Seo-jung to the rescue! Detective Kim growls that this feels familiar, and Seo-jung says there’s good reason for that, ha. Detective Kim informs her that Dae-doo knows he’s in Pil-sung’s body.

They get the killer handcuffed and bundled into the car, and Seo-jung wants to take him to Mother Shaman’s home and purge the spirit from him. Detective Kim says it’s too far and he may wake up and cause trouble before they get there, but he says he knows a closer place where they can dispose of him.

After dinner, Dae-doo drives Ji-hang home and introduces himself to her mother like a suitor, even bringing gifts. He’s impressively kind and respectful, and he offers to schedule the surgery her mother needs for her leg at his hospital with the best surgeon in Korea. He announces that he wants to marry Ji-hang, shocking both Ji-hang and her mother.

Detective Kim drives to the place where Dae-doo used to practice his interests like necromancy, and Seo-jung recognizes the spiritual power there. The killer wakes inside Dae-doo’s lair, and he offers to make a deal – his freedom for helping them catch Dae-doo.

Seo-jung tells him to get out of Chun-seob’s body, and she asks Detective Kim to hold him while she puts a hand on his head and reads his soul. She sees him attacking a woman, and he giggles that he won’t leave voluntarily. But having seen what he’s capable of, Seo-jung now says she’d rather he hold out until he’s begging her to kill him.

She places a talisman on his chest and says it will heat him up until the warmth burns him, and that that’s only the beginning — the next lesson is even more thrilling. The talisman begins to burn, and the killer screams in agony. Seo-jung says sweetly that it’s not even that hot yet, but she removes the talisman and asks if he’s ready to leave.

He tells her to bring on the next lesson, which is holy water. Seo-jung says that it purifies souls, but will have a different effect on evil spirits. The killer just sneers that he’s thirsty and laps at Seo-jung like a dog.

She pours the holy water on his eyes and again he screams, and this time he promises to leave if she stops. Seo-jung tells him that he’ll be in tremendous pain after he leaves the body — punishment for violating the rules of Heaven.

She tells him to put his soul into the pouch she’s holding, promising that it will hurt less, which is the only mercy she’s willing to show him. The soul obeys, leaving Chun-seob’s body in an oily black cloud and pouring itself into the pouch.

Exhausted, Seo-jung says that if he’s ever born again, she hopes he lives as a decent person before burning the pouch over a candle. Detective Kim watches the process, looking scared. Seo-jung tells him that Chun-seob will regain consciousness after a while, so they sit together to wait… and something catches their attention.

Epilogue.

Ji-hang walks Dae-doo out to his car and says she was shocked by his announcement that he wants to marry her, but that she feels like she’s walking on air. He tells her that her mother told him their family history and says that they’re both strong people. He promises Ji-hang that he’ll make sure she and her mother will never suffer again.

He asks if she’s heard the saying that there’s a fine line between pain and pleasure, then he kisses her. His eyes open while they’re kissing, and there’s absolutely nothing behind them.

 
COMMENTS

It was really cathartic to finally see Seo-jung go dark, as she did there at the end with the killer’s soul. After seeing what he’d done to several women before getting caught, she practically reveled in making him suffer, and frankly, it was pretty awesome. I’m not normally one for torture, but Seo-jung kept giving the killer chances to leave the body, so he was choosing his own punishment. But mostly I just appreciate that Seo-jung isn’t a saint, she does have faults, and she’s not above wanting to see someone suffer for the suffering he’s caused to others. Her heart is still good — she did show him mercy at the end, and wished a better existence if he’s ever allowed back into the world.

I honestly think it’s scarier to see Dae-doo targeting Detective Kim’s daughter by dating her than if he’d just grabbed her and terrorized her like he usually does with his victims. He’s not just playing with Ji-hang’s life, he’s playing with her feelings as well, and that’s going to frighten her father more than anything, I believe. I wouldn’t even put it past Dae-doo to actually marry Ji-hang just to stick it to Detective Kim and watch him lose his mind. We never did see if Dae-doo killed Yang-woo’s wife while using his body, though it was mentioned that there was blood in their home, so I have no doubt that he did. And I’m certain that he’ll do the same to Ji-hang and Detective Kim’s wife, but not before he has loads of fun torturing Detective Kim with the simple fact that he can hurt his daughter in multiple ways at any time he pleases.

I agree with Sunny — I love the character of Detective Kim and he’s definitely needed to help catch Dae-doo, because he knows more about him than anyone in the world. And seeing Song Sae-byuk doing an entirely different characterization just shows how quietly brilliant he is, because the differences between Pil-sung and Detective Kim aren’t big or obvious. Detective Kim’s voice is deeper and gruffer than Pil-sung’s, and you can feel the weight of the years he spent alone and traumatized after catching Dae-doo in the way he carries himself. Pil-sung is more scattered and yes, like his team says, he’s a little off his rocker. It’s interesting that Pil-sung’s team has noticed and have made comments that he seems like a different person, and I almost want them to learn that it’s not Pil-sung driving the bus these days. I think that they’ll be needed to catch Dae-doo, and it will be much easier if they know exactly what they’re dealing with.

But I miss Pil-sung, and Seo-jung misses him, and I’m glad that Detective Kim has promised to give his body back when he’s done with it and I hope it happens soon. I actually really loved the Pil-sung that we saw in the previous episode in Seo-jung’s dream — he was still himself, but a bit calmer, more grounded. I’d like to see him come back as that version of himself, and pursue Seo-jung until she can’t say no (only because we all know she doesn’t truly want to say no). I don’t know how they’ll solve the issue of her being God’s servant (and truthfully I don’t even understand why God’s servants aren’t allowed to love) but there’s got to be a way for Pil-sung and Seo-jung to be together. Right?

RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Big Issue, Possessed