Possessed: Episode 11

by Sunny

As the game of supernatural cat and mouse continues, our heroes are forced to form an uneasy alliance in order to gain an upper hand. Unfortunately, the villainous Dae-doo has plans of his own and he’s growing more cunning and sinister by the day.

 
EPISODE 11

In Dae-doo’s old murder building, Seo-jung stares up at the swirling gate of Hell opening in the sky. She warns Detective Kim they’re running out of time. He asks what will happen when the gates open — imagining fire and brimstone and natural disasters — but Seo-jung says it’s already started.

She cites the recent slew of senseless violent murders, saying Detective Kim didn’t have that problem in his time on the force. “The world doesn’t turn into hell because the Heavens are punishing us,” she says somberly, “People are driving themselves toward destruction.” Seo-jung fears it might already be too late to save the world. Detective Kim points out their only advantage right now is Dae-doo doesn’t know they’ve identified his host body.

Dae-doo’s lackey Chun-seob finally awakens after his exorcism and is horrified by the deluge of memories from his possession. Detective Kim holds no sympathy for the criminal, but Chun-seob is eager to help them since it means getting revenge on Dae-doo. Seo-jung sees no other alternative and they agree to fill him in on Dae-doo’s true identity.

The next morning, Chief Yoo and rookie Joon-hyung listen to Detective Choi’s theory that Pil-sung changed after joining a cult. Chief Yoo starts agreeing it’s possible after Detective Choi reveals Pil-sung recently got a girlfriend.

Only Joon-hyung stands up for Pil-sung, pointing out Detective Choi’s cynical view of women and love is odd since he’s never been in love himself. “Must you go to the States to know the White House is in New York?” Detective Choi snaps. Oh dear…

Chief Yoo corrects that the White House is in Washington D.C. and then tells Joon-hyung to make sure Detective Choi is ostracized in order to reflect on his crazy actions. They leave him in the room alone to repent with his arms up. Hee.

Phony fortuneteller Do-ryung eavesdrops on Seo-jung and Detective Kim as they plan out how to deal with Dae-doo. Seo-jung says this time they have to go to the temple, since it’s the only location with enough spiritual power to give them a chance of success.

Chun-seob is the only one who can lure Dae-doo there, but Detective Kim still doesn’t trust him. He worries they’re setting themselves up for a bigger problem with Chun-seob’s involvement and Seo-jung points out they have no other options.

Chun-seob arrives at the company Dae-doo’s host body, Oh Soo-hyuk, runs. Seo-jung had warned him Dae-doo will know immediately that he’s no longer possessed and simply instructed him to bring Dae-doo to the temple. He watches Dae-doo enter the building and then calls him.

Assuming the same speech pattern of the evil spirit he’d hosted, Chun-seob says he’s been behaving as Dae-doo ordered and wonders when he’ll be back to the vacation home to go over the future plans. Dae-doo says soon and reminds him not to call unless it’s important.

Chun-seob eagerly agrees, but his face hardens as soon as he hangs up. Meanwhile, Dae-doo smirks and turns to look directly at Chun-seob’s car outside, muttering darkly that he’s gotten cheeky. Does he know???

Chun-seob storms into a massage parlor and sends the masseuse out of a room with his gun. The man on the bed turns and Chun-seob sets down the gun and greets him politely. He’s weapons dealer, Hwang Yeong-gil, and though he treats Chun-seob with disdain, Chun-seob merely pulls out a stack of cash.

Yeong-gil listens while Chun-seob begins piling more cash on a table. Fury burns in his eyes as he requests better guns and some men. Yeong-gil is surprised at his fervor over one person, but Chun-seob warns that if they aren’t careful, they’ll all die. Guessing it’s a big target, Yeong-gil sighs that Chun-seob didn’t bring nearly enough money.

Sneering, Chun-seob says this is only a down payment and there’s a room full of cash in the target’s basement he can keep. That’s good enough for Yeong-gil and they agree to do it tomorrow.

Seo-jung meditates and sees flashes of Dae-doo’s creepy spirit tree, with her mother’s screaming face etched into the trunk among many others. Snapping out of it, Seo-jung steps into the shop’s waiting room and is stunned to see Detective Kim awkwardly sleeping on the couch.

She’s curious why he hasn’t left and Detective Kim explains that Pil-sung is forcing him to remain with her. Aww. He’s surprised when Seo-jung asks about his family, and admits that he did check on them but it was pointless because he can’t hold them or tell them who he is. He vows not to see them again.

Detective Kim’s daughter, Ji-hang, snuggles into bed with her mother. Mom voices concern over the sudden engagement, worrying the wealthy in-laws will make Ji-hang uncomfortable. Ji-hang assures her husband-to-be is a good man and Mom says she’s happy as long as Ji-hang is.

Down at the station, Yeon-hee drops by the detective unit bearing gifts of scented candles for her boyfriend, maknae Joon-hyung, and Chief Yoo’s daughter, Seung-hee. Detective Choi pouts when he isn’t included and Joon-hyung promptly explains they figured Detective Choi would chide them for being silly.

Chief Yoo is thrilled by the gift and praises Yeon-hee and Joon-hyung, leaving Detective Choi extra bitter to be left out. Detective Kim arrives and breezes past Detective Choi without so much as a glance and Detective Choi grabs the next officer to walk by, demanding if he’s invisible. Hee.

Detective Kim’s calls to Chun-seob go unanswered as Chun-seob is busy with his own plans for dealing with Dae-doo. Sensing something is wrong, Detective Kim heads over to Dae-doo’s host body Oh Soo-hyuk’s company in order to stop Chun-seob from ruining everything.

Chun-seob arrives at the vacation home with Yeong-gil and some other thugs and settles in to wait for Dae-doo. Detective Kim walks into the company and flashes Pil-sung’s badge at the front desk, but Dae-doo has already left for the day.

Meanwhile, Dae-doo is with Ji-hang and he parks outside of an abandoned mine. Ji-hang is confused and Dae-doo explains that this used to be a shanty town full of mine workers where he grew up. After the mine collapsed, killing multiple workers, it was closed and became his playground.

Ji-hang grows uneasy as Dae-doo continues that he burned his father to a crisp and discovered taking lives brought him pleasure. He believes it to be the only way to escape “the infernal pain” and laments that he was happy until one person ruined it for him — Kim Nak-cheon.

Dae-doo coldly snaps that Detective Kim essentially sentenced him to death… so he did the same. Ji-hang stutters that his joke isn’t funny anymore and Dae-doo snarls, “The daughter who fell in love with the foe who killed her father. She slept with him and promised to marry him. The daughter who dreams of spending her life with him. Your dead father will rise from his grave out of shock.”

Ji-hang tries to storm off, but Dae-doo yanks her back. He tells her Detective Kim has already risen from the grave and Dae-doo plans to follow through with Ji-hang. “Can you imagine how Kim Nak-cheon will feel,” Dae-doo practically giggles, “when he find out his grandchild is Hwang Dae-doo’s child?” The smile fades and his eyes turn cold as Dae-doo descends upon her.

Detective Kang calls Seo-jung on his way to the temple and tells her to prepare the ceremony anyway, despite not knowing the whereabouts of either Chun-seob or Dae-doo. Meanwhile, Dae-doo arrives at the vacation house (alone… where is Ji-hang?). Inside, he finds Chun-seob lounging on the couch in the dark and tuts that he should’ve just disappeared quietly after the spirit left.

Chun-seob howls that he nearly died because of a ghost and Dae-doo vows to make him one soon just as a gun cocks at the back of his head. Chun-seob jabs another gun into his forehead and Dae-doo snickers that he must be upset.

Dae-doo remains unfazed even as he sits bound to a chair in the basement while Chun-seob fires up the kiln. Arms dealer Yeong-gil sits across from Dae-doo and muses that he seems awfully normal for someone who’s possessed, admitting he doesn’t believe in ghosts and thinks Dae-doo is just a run-of-the-mill crackhead.

Either way, Yeong-gil doesn’t care, he’s only concerned with the safe filled with cash. Dae-doo chuckles that he likes Yeong-gil. Chun-seob walks over and gives Dae-doo a breakdown of the torture menu he’s planned. After listening with a bemused expression, Dae-doo says he recently watched an action movie, but was disappointed by the lack of realism and wonders if he should try directing.

Chun-seob snarls he can do whatever he wants in Hell, and poises his knife to cut off the first of Dae-doo’s fingers. The lights suddenly go out and next we see Dae-doo is free and whistling “Silent Night” as he saunters around the paralyzed gangsters. Plucking a pair of sunglasses from Yeong-gil, he grabs a chair and a roll of newspaper and declares the movie will begin.

He cheekily apologizes to a twitching Chun-seob for forgetting the popcorn, and then breezily reveals that he figured out the plan when Chun-seob called yesterday. Twisting the newspaper like a megaphone, Dae-doo begins to direct as his abilities force the gangsters to do as he says.

Dae-doo forces the two underlings to kill each other while Chun-seob watches in horror. He then takes one of the guns and puts it in Chun-seob’s hand. Dae-doo excitedly declares his movie’s climax as Chun-seob and Yeong-gil’s arms raise to hold each other at gunpoint against their wills. Shots fire and Dae-doo declares “Cut!”

Detective Kim parks at the vacation house and curses Chun-seob when he sees his car in the garage next to Dae-doo’s. He waits and eventually a figure exits the house and begins jogging up the road. The jogger is Dae-doo and he leads Detective Kim down a dark alley where both men stop.

Dae-doo turns and Detective Kim turns on his headlights. Dae-doo wags a finger and then mimes shooting a gun at Detective Kim. Overcome with rage, Detective Kim slams his foot onto the gas pedal and Dae-doo snickers as the car charges toward him. They connect and Detective Kim breaks as Dae-doo rolls off the hood.

Leaping out of the car, Detective Kim aims his gun at Dae-doo, but he appears to be unconscious. Driving away, he calls Seo-jung to say he has Dae-doo and to be ready when they get there. She performs the necessary rituals to prepare and then goes outside. Staring up at the full moon, she begs the heavens for help.

Detective Kim arrives and brings Dae-doo inside, saying the man’s leg is probably broken. Seo-jung has him turn Dae-doo over and says first she’ll need to release the spirits Dae-doo has captured. She tells Detective Kim to wait outside but he insists on staying since Dae-doo is extremely dangerous.

Seo-jung begins attempting to free the souls, but becomes unnerved when one of her candles suddenly extinguishes. She pulls a ball of white string out and places it on his forehead with the end in her hand. She prays and sees flashes of the spirit tree, but when she opens her eyes, the thread has turned black.

Dae-doo has blocked off the gateways to his soul and Seo-jung is unable to enter. She grabs a talisman and places it on his chest with a ceremonial dagger. She prays again and the talisman glows as Seo-jung sees the tree once more and calls out for her mother.

The vines covering the hole in the tree where Dae-doo had banished Seo-jung’s mother recede and a mist begins to form, but suddenly Seo-jung and flung backwards. Detective Kim moves to help, but she holds up a hand, insisting she must do it alone.

Crawling back over to Dae-doo, Seo-jung reaches once more for the talisman, but stops when she sees a photo poking out of Dae-doo’s pocket. It’s of him and Ji-hang and on the back is the message, “If you want to save your daughter, you should come inside yourself, father-in-law.”

Detective Kim runs outside, photo in hand, desperately dialing his wife. She finally answers and he lies that he’s a coworker. He asks if he can speak to Ji-hang but Mom says she went away on a trip. Detective Kim asks if she’s with Oh Soo-hyuk and Mom confirms it, questioning if something’s happened to Ji-hang.

Mom admits she’s been a little worried since Ji-hang’s phone is off, but Detective Kim assures her he’d just been calling about work and apologizes for the late hour. Storming back inside, Detective Kim shakes Dae-doo violently, screaming at him to wake up and tell him where Ji-hang is.

Seo-jung begs him to stop, pointing out it’ll be even harder if Dae-doo regains consciousness. Detective Kim whimpers that Dae-doo planned everything and allowed Detective Kim to catch him and bring him here. Re-reading Dae-doo’s message, he turns to look at Seo-jung with tears in his eyes.

She shakes her head, shouting that entering Dae-doo’s soul is not only suicidal but would forever block Detective Kim’s path to heaven. He says he doesn’t care, and Seo-jung is unable to argue with his pleading expression.

Seo-jung performs the ceremony and when Detective Kim’s soul melts into Soo-hyuk’s body, she rushes to wake up Pil-sung to see if he’s okay. Pil-sung jolts awake and asks for Detective Kim, cursing when Seo-jung looks over at Soo-hyuk’s body.

Detective Kim finds himself at the spirit tree. As he stare into the swirling hole, his hand reaches out but stops just short of it as Seo-jung’s voice warns him not to enter there. She tells him to quickly find and eliminate Dae-doo so they can release the souls. Detective Kim argues that he needs to find Ji-hang but Seo-jung fears it’s too dangerous.

She points out they aren’t on level playing ground for a fight and need to take advantage while Dae-doo is unconscious and Detective Kim has control of the soul. Detective Kim says he wants to go back to Dae-doo’s childhood — it’s where his evil was born and knowing Dae-doo, the past will hold clues to where Ji-hang is now.

Seo-jung warns him to kill Dae-doo’s soul as soon as Detective Kim discovers Ji-hang’s whereabouts and Detective Kim concentrates on returning to Dae-doo’s past.

Epilogue

Earlier that evening, Dae-doo suits up for his jog and smirks at Detective Kim’s car parked outside. Looking in the mirror, he sighs it’s a shame he has to throw this host away now and heads out for his jog.

 
COMMENTS

At the risk of sounding nutty, I gotta say I loved Dae-doo this episode. As a person he’s the worst, but as a character he’s easily one of my favorite dramaland villains. A lot of that has to do with the mechanics of his character and the stellar performances of the actors that portray him, but even all of that won’t garner a top spot on my list without some really interesting writing to back it up. Dae-doo is eeeeeeevil, but not just for the sake of it. There’s a method to his madness and the key lies in his past. Something happened in that shanty town to twist his world view in such a way that he thinks killing people is the only way to be happy. So it’s a good thing that’s where Detective Kim is headed, but I’m fearful of what we’re gonna find.

And as absolutely thrilled as I am to have Pil-sung back as himself (although, I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of him in his little spiritual haven), I’m heartbroken at the cost. I’ve grown very attached to Detective Kim and although I knew he couldn’t exactly get a happy ending, the fact that he now has to give up returning to heaven (and by extension the possibility of seeing his family again when they die or perhaps even in the next life) just tears me up. Saving Ji-hang now is obviously more important but damn, that guy has had a tough lot.

I was surprised Dae-doo revealed his plan to Ji-hang and I’m unsure what the purpose of that was. As he’d said, it was a good revenge plot to torture Detective Kim with the knowledge that his daughter loved, married, and bore children to his enemy. So I’m unsure why he decided to drop the ruse early. He didn’t seem to think it changed anything so I’m very anxious to know what he did with Ji-hang. It’s unlikely she’s dead, but there might not be much time left to save her.

For a game where losing means the end of the world, you wouldn’t think the stakes could get any higher and yet each episode seems to do just that. It’s a special kind of show that can continually exceed expectations and it makes me so hopeful that despite all the odds stacked against them, our heroes will emerge not only victorious, but happy. After everything Dae-doo (and the Heavens — looking at y’all for trying to break up my OTP) have put them through, that’s the ending I’m praying for, anyway.

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