365: Repeat the Year: Episodes 5-6

by LollyPip

This drama truly embodies the concept of “Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it.” Our travelers all got the second chances they wanted, but those chances just might come with a very heavy price. If they don’t figure out why they’re dying and how to stop it, and soon, it’s going to be too late for all of them.

  
EPISODE 5 RECAP

The morning after Ga-hyun confronted Yeon-soo about her involvement in the car accidents in both timelines, a jogger finds Yeon-soo’s body in the park, dead from a terrible head wound. When Hyung-jo arrives on the scene, he’s horrified to see that the deceased is another traveler.

Yeon-soo is identified and CCTV cameras are checked, and they find video of Yeon-soo and Ga-hyun fighting viciously in another part of the park. At first the police assumed that Yeon-soo had a fall since she was found at the base of a steep set of steps, but now they question whether she may have been murdered.

Hyung-jo recalls that he’d waiting outside Ga-hyun’s home last night to talk to her, and when she showed up, she’d been bedraggled and exhausted. He tells the team that the other woman on the video is Shin Ga-hyun, making them wonder if he’s clairvoyant.

He goes to the cafe, where Ga-hyun is telling the others that Yeon-soo caused the accidents. Hyung-jo says that Yeon-soo is dead and takes Ga-hyun back to the station to question her. On the way, he fusses at Ga-hyun for confronting Yeon-soo last night and informs her that because of it, she’s now a primary murder suspect.

The other travelers are worried about the deaths, though they admit that they wouldn’t blame Ga-hyun if she had killed Yeon-soo. Jae-young announces that he’s finally figured out the “rule” — the reason the travelers are dying — and he shows Se-rin something on his phone that makes her eyes go wide in horror.

At the station, Hyung-jo fibs to his team that he only knows Ga-hyun because she’s the writer of the webtoon Hidden Killer. He watches as Sun-ho questions her, and since she can’t tell the whole truth, Ga-hyun says that she met Yeon-soo when she found her lost dog.

Sun-ho shows her the CCTV footage of their fight, which got pretty physical. Even though Hyung-jo warned her not to because Sun-ho hates it, Ga-hyun exercises her right not to answer personal questions.

She does consent to answer questions about facts, and tells Sun-ho that after parting from Yeon-soo, she stayed at the park for a while. The CCTV cameras show that she didn’t leave the park until an hour after the fight, but there’s no footage of that time, so there’s no way to prove that she didn’t go back and kill Yeon-soo.

On a map of the park, Sun-ho shows that the path where Ga-hyun and Yeon-soo parted is a circle, and that if they’d both kept walking, they would have met again right where Ga-hyun could have pushed Yeon-soo down the stairs. Ga-hyun insists that she just sat on a bench then left the park, and Hyung-jo looks like he badly wants to believe her, but he can’t help remembering her pounding on Yeon-soo’s door and screaming that she’d kill her.

A reporter somehow got wind of this and has already posted an article about a popular webtoon artist “S” under investigation for murder. It didn’t take long for commenters to guess that the artist is Ga-hyun. Meanwhile, Hyung-jo leaves to get Dae-sung, Yeon-soo’s fiance, to bring him in for questioning.

The preliminary forensic results are in, confirming Yeon-soo’s time of death as between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. last night. Sun-ho switches to questioning Ga-hyun as a possible witness, but she says that she was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn’t see or hear anything.

She remembers Yeon-soo saying that Dae-sung threatened to kill her if she turned herself in, so she tells this to Sun-ho. He finds that awfully personal information to be told by someone she only knows because she found her dog, and he suggests that Ga-hyun may have been caught having an affair with Dae-sung.

Hyung-jo checks the camera footage at Dae-sung’s office building, but apparently he never left work yesterday. Hyung-jo goes up to his office and finds him lying unresponsive, but he’s not dead — drug paraphernalia nearby shows exactly what he’s been doing all night.

When he gets Dae-sung sober and back to the station, Hyung-jo asks if he killed Yeon-soo, but Dae-sung insists that he’s innocent. Dae-sung’s phone records show that he called Yeon-soo right before her death last night from a location near the park, and Dae-sung says he only called her to cancel plans to see her.

Hyung-jo points out that the records also show him calling the junkyard employee who destroyed his car. Dae-sung admits that the employee is blackmailing him, so he met him to give him money. Hyung-jo takes this as a confession to the hit-and-run that killed Joo-young, and when Dae-sung nods dejectedly, Hyung-jo arrests him.

His teammates find him leading Dae-sung in handcuffs, then Sa-kyung whines that this isn’t the first time he’s met Ga-hyun, getting him in trouble all over again for investigating a case alone. They all want to know how Ga-hyun knew who the hit-and-run driver was, and although Sa-kyung backs him up and says that what’s important is that they caught Dae-sung, Captain Heo takes him off the case.

Hyung-jo eavesdrops from the hall as the others listen to the testimony of someone who says they witnessed Yeon-soo and Ga-hyun’s fight. He corroborates Ga-hyun’s story that she sat on a bench afterward, but it’s not enough to take Ga-hyun off the suspect list.

In the lobby, Hyung-jo runs into Reporter Hwang, who leaked the story online. He accuses Reporter Hwang of being no more than a gossipmonger and making the situation look worse than it is.

He’s about to storm out of the station when a pair of teenage boys run in, claiming they saw the Hidden Killer writer sitting in the park last night. Unbeknownst to Ga-hyun, they’d taken picture of her and posted them online, and the timestamps provide an alibi that prove she didn’t kill Yeon-soo.

In addition, the forensic examination of Yeon-soo’s body comes back with the conclusion that she most likely fell down the stairs. Hyung-jo lights up at the idea of telling Ga-hyun the good news, but then he pulls back and tries to play it cool for the team, and they just laugh at him.

Ga-hyun is miffed that her fans (the teens) betrayed her in the hopes of getting a reward (they didn’t), though she pretends she doesn’t care. Hyung-jo tells her that one good thing came of this — that Dae-sung was arrested for killing Joo-young.

They don’t realize that someone is very near, watching and listening to their conversation. And in her office, Shin gets an update from someone on the phone and tells them to keep up the good work. When she hangs up, her lips quirk in a wicked little smile.

EPISODE 6 RECAP”

Sun-ho is glad that Hyung-jo’s “future wife” (LOL) turned out to be innocent and suggests they invite her out to a meal sometime, but Hyung-jo is preoccupied and hurries away. Ga-hyun heads home, where she tells Maru sadly that Dae-sung was caught, but that she still wishes she could go back.

In the morning Jung-seok, the investor, comes to the station to ask Hyung-jo how things went with Ga-hyun. He’s relieved that she was exonerated, and he asks Hyung-jo to speak with him privately. He shows Hyung-jo the same picture that Jae-young showed to Se-rin, of the group of them sitting in the round room at Jian Clinic.

Starting from the deliveryman, the travelers are dying in the clockwise order in which they sat. Next is the mysterious man that none of them has seen since they traveled, so they have no way of knowing if he’s still alive. Jung-seok is freaking out because he’s next, and he pleads with Hyung-jo to find the missing traveler.

Worried about Ga-hyun’s murder accusation, Se-rin goes to No-seob’s cafe to vent. She asks if he believes they’re dying in the order they were seated, and he says laughingly that it’s just a coincidence. He tells her not to worry and steps away, and she sees a flyer he left behind for a facility that specializes in dementia and strokes.

As soon as Hyung-jo returns to the station, Sa-kyung corners him and asks how he knew who committed the hit-and-run, but he refuses to tell her. He notices some photos on her desk of Dae-sung meeting with the junkyard employee… and it’s the missing traveler. He takes the pictures to Dae-sung, who confirms that this is the same man who helped him get rid of the car. Hyung-jo asks if Yeon-soo ever met him, but Dae-sung doesn’t think so.

Ga-hyun shakes off her (off-puttingly eager) new manager to take flowers to the spot where Yeon-soo died. She runs into Shin there, and notes that she already knows where Yeon-soo died. Shin says that No-seob visited and told her that the travelers are anxious about the deaths, but Ga-hyun wants to know how Shin feels.

Shin confesses that Yeon-soo was special to her — before the reset, she had a client who called her one night and threatened to commit suicide. Shin had been able to stop her, but it hadn’t been her client trying to jump off the bridge, it had been Yeon-soo. Shin had offered the reset, promising that Yeon-soo could go back and fix things.

Ga-hyun asks why, then, Yeon-soo told her not to trust Shin, and Shin says that it’s because Yeon-soo also believed that Shin knew about her connection to Ga-hyun. Shin believes that Ga-hyun and Yeon-soo were simply fated to be in each other’s lives in this way, but Ga-hyun snaps that that explanation is too easy and too cruel.

She goes home and occupies herself drawing the scenes that happened today, from Yeon-soo’s death to her conversation with Shin. She’s interrupted by Hyung-jo, who came to show her the photos of Dae-sung with their missing traveler.

Hyung-jo also went to see Shin, who’d asked if he believes there’s a “rule” about their deaths, but he hadn’t answered. Instead, he’d asked if she’s been in contact with the missing traveler, but had Shin claimed that she hasn’t been able to reach him either.

Hyung-jo tells Ga-hyun that it’s strange how she knew he’s a detective, and about Jae-young’s rule theory. Ga-hyun guesses that Yeon-soo told her, but Hyung-jo reminds her that Yeon-soo wasn’t at the funeral when they all talked about it, and No-seob told Hyung-jo that he didn’t mention the rule theory to Shin, either.

Shin had asked Hyung-jo for a favor — to help her gather information on the other travelers. She says it’s because she feels responsible for them, but Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun both believe she has a hidden agenda.

Hyung-jo says they need to find the missing traveler, because if they can prove that he knew Yeon-soo before the reset, Shin won’t be able to play innocent anymore. Although he’s a detective, he tells Ga-hyun that he can’t investigate this alone, so he came to ask her to be his partner.

The missing traveler, whose name is BAE JUNG-TAE (Yang Dong-gun), runs from several thugs who eventually corner him in an alley. They knock him unconscious before dragging him off to their hideout. Jung-tae pretends to still be unconscious, so that when the thugs are off their guard, he surprises them and manages to escape.

The travelers meet at No-seob’s cafe, but when Jung-seok calls Hyung-jo, Hyung-jo says he still can’t find Jung-tae. Jae-young says that they need to come up with a “hack” now that they know the rule, and that he believes the answer is to be found within the rule.

While the rest of the team is at lunch, Sun-ho gets on Hyung-jo’s computer then makes Hyung-jo meet him on the roof. He’s seen Hyung-jo’s background check on Jung-tae, upset that Hyung-jo is still doing investigative work on his own. Hyung-jo yelps that Sun-ho is mad when he works and mad when he doesn’t work, but Sun-ho says it’s about the fact that Hyung-jo is shutting him out.

He also saw Hyung-jo and Jung-seok talking secretively, so Hyung-jo quickly makes up a story about Jung-seok helping him invest in some stocks. He gets a call from Ga-hyun and hurries off.

Ga-hyun has done some impressive work with Jung-tae’s phone records, marking a map with color-coded dots of all the spots that his several burner phones have been located. Hyung-jo hypothesizes that the area with the most pings is probably where Jung-tae lives, and they quickly find his home with the help of a neighbor.

As soon as Hyung-jo knocks on the door, someone takes off from the back of the building. While Jung-tae gives chase, Ga-hyun breaks the chain lock and lets herself in. She finds a picture of herself and Hyung-jo talking together outside the police station, then one of Kyung-man, then Yeon-soo, No-seob, and so on.

The pictures are laid out almost like a trail of breadcrumbs, leading Ga-hyun to a desk where a book full of more photos sits. She hears a phone ringing, and she finds it and answers, without speaking. She recognizes Shin’s voice as she says, “Clean it up,” but when Ga-hyun says Shin’s name, she hangs up.

Ga-hyun tries to call back, but Shin turns off the phone. Ga-hyun checks the number for Shin on Jung-tae’s phone against the one Shin gave to her, and they’re different numbers.

Hyung-jo loses Jung-tae in a dark alley, and when his phone rings with a call from Ga-hyun, someone grabs him and puts a gun to the back of his head. At the same time, someone else bursts into Jung-tae’s home and approaches Ga-hyun, and she looks terrified when she sees them.

Elsewhere, a man slumps in the driver’s seat of a car, dead.

  
COMMENTS

There’s definitely a lot more going on here than meets the eye. At this point it all feels like random bits of information, like scrambled puzzle pieces, and we haven’t found the one clue that ties all the travelers together yet. I have a feeling that Jung-tae knows what’s going on, which is why he’s kept away from the others, and why he’s been following and taking pictures of them… he’s keeping tabs on them for Shin. Shin is obviously up to no good and Jung-tae seems to be the guy she goes to for her dirty work, but why? What does she want and why does she want it from these people?

Right now, I think that Shin has a very personal vendetta, and that she’s using this reset power of hers (which, where did that come from, anyway?) to bring the people involved back — but instead of making their lives better, she wants them dead. If Jung-tae is a plant, and assuming that Jae-young’s theory is correct, then why did Shin allow him to sit so “early” in the death order? Is Jung-tae the person who just appeared to die in that car (since he is next in line) and if he dies, how will Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun learn what’s truly going on? I have so many questions, and I feel like each episode just adds more questions while leading us even further from the answers.

I don’t know where the show will take Hyung-jo and Ga-hyun’s relationship — I can see it becoming romantic, and I’d be fine if they just stayed friends — but it’s clear that for Hyung-jo at least, he’s starting to care about Ga-hyun quite a lot. He’s always been willing to jump whenever she needs him, and I’m sure that it started because he’s a fanboy who was a bit starstruck and honored that his idol sought him out, but it’s beginning to go deeper than that. Hyung-jo’s sad face when Ga-hyun was being suspected of murdering Yeon-soo just killed me… what he was feeling was definitely more than the disappointment of a fan. I like how whatever is growing between them is evolving slowly and naturally, and wherever it ends up, I just love seeing them together.

This episode was slower than the previous episodes in terms of plot movement, and to me it feels like the calm before the storm. Our travelers think they know the order that they’re dying, but they still don’t know why they’re dying. It might be fate, though as one of them pointed out, Shin has supposedly experienced this reset alone many times and nothing bad has ever happened to her. But so far their deaths have been clear accidents or natural causes, so despite my Shin theories, it appears unlikely that someone is purposely getting rid of them. I feel like I’m bracing myself for something huge, because whatever is going on, there’s no way at this point to predict or stop it, and time is quickly running out.

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