Flower of Evil: Episode 6
by TeriYaki
Thanks to our anti-hero’s latest brush with death, his wife is finding it difficult to reconcile the man that she knows with the stranger before her. As both a wife and a cop, she must choose which path to follow while her unsuspecting husband welcomes the opportunity to resume his seemingly normal life.
EPISODE 6 RECAP
In a flashback, the real Baek Hee-sung drove in a nighttime storm as he confided over the phone, “No matter how difficult it is, I need to face this by myself,” asking, “So how did she seem to you?”
Slamming on his brakes, Baek Hee-sung hit something and when he got out, he found a badly injured Do Hyun-soo in the street. When Baek Hee-sung pulled out his phone to call for an ambulance, Hyun-soo begged, “No hospitals,” before passing out.
Ji-won watches as doctors do their best to resuscitate Hee-sung in the hospital. As they shock Hee-sung’s heart, young Hyun-soo calls out to his sister to come see his latest sculpture. Hee-sung remembers how Hae-soo examined the delicate figure (wearing the necklace Moo-jin gave her) as Ji-won weeps by his side.
Hee-sung next sees Hae-soo with blood on her face and tells her, “Live a normal life. Never look for me.” As memories of the shaman, the dead foreman and his father’s black eyes swirl in his mind, Hee-sung vows, “I won’t live as Do Hyun-soo anymore.” When Hee-sung recalls raising Nam Soon-kil’s knife and being hit by a car, he wakes up with a gasp.
With great effort, Hee-sung sits up and pulls out his IV. After getting out of bed, Hee-sung makes it as far at the hallway before running into a patrolman.
The patrolman calls out, “Do Hyun-soo,” and cuffs Hee-sung, but the exchange is only imagined. In reality, the patrolman offers to help Hee-sung back to his room but he runs past him.
Hee-sung stops at the sight of Ji-won, unsure about her feelings. He’s surprised when Ji-won hugs him and as she cries, Hee-sung pats her on the back, “It’s all right. I’m all right.”
Moo-jin is on the phone with the woman who witnessed Jung Mi-sook’s abduction but she refuses to meet with him. When he asks her to confirm that she’s the witness in Jung Mi-sook’s case, she hangs up. Just then, Moo-jin hears Park Kyung-choon’s name announced on a jumbotron overhead.
In her car, Hee-sung’s mom hears that the investigation into Kyung-choon’s crimes has led to questions about his victims, Nam Soon-kil and Baek Hee-sung.
Ji-won, her mother and Eun-ha are present when Hee-sung is visited by a panel of doctors. An intern summarizes that Hee-sung was brought in ten days earlier in cardiac arrest and given hypothermic treatment (lowering a patient’s body temperature to prevent cell damage).
When tested for memory loss, Hee-sung easily recalls his name, birthdate and Ji-won, but he doesn’t remember a daughter. After a tearful Eun-ha runs to his side, Hee-sung can’t keep from laughing and picks her up, telling everyone, “Baek Eun-ha. She’s six years old…And she goes to Small Bird Kindergarten.”
Dr. Baek walks in and learns that his son is much improved. After the doctors leave, he exchanges pleasantries with Ji-won’s mother until his wife barges in and shouts, “What in the world have you been up to?”
When Hee-sung’s dad points to Ji-won’s mother, Mom asks to be alone with her family. Ji-won tries to take Eun-ha from Hee-sung’s arms but the girl shouts, “No, I don’t want to go! Mom, I hate you.” Hee-sung asks Eun-ha to listen to Ji-won and as soon as they leave, his mom complains, “That little rat…It’s so hard to like her.” Hee-sung reminds her, “She’s not a little rat. Her name is Baek Eun-ha.”
In the hallway, Jin-won lingers to witness the reunion before joining her mother and Eun-ha. Inside, Hee-sung’s mom asks about Kyung-choon and Dr. Baek explains that he’s conscious but unresponsive. We see proof of that when Woo-chul tries to speak to Kyung-choon and gets no reaction.
At the elevator, Ji-won suddenly doesn’t want her mother to leave. Mom hugs her daughter and promises that everything will be fine once Hee-sung can go home. As soon as the elevator doors close, Ji-won gets a call from Ho-joon.
Hee-sung promises his parents that he’ll handle Ji-won but his mother has concerns about Moo-jin. Hee-sung knows the reporter’s weakness but he won’t share the details and Mom asks, “Do you not trust us?” Dr. Baek urges her to focus on Kyung-choon and she shouts, “How do you plan to shut him up?”
Dr. Baek shouts back, “…did you forget what happened to us 15 years ago because of your agitation?” Suggesting that Mom should go home, she snaps, “I know how useless I am. I know that very well,” and storms out.
When Ho-joon meets Ji-won, he admits that he was seriously worried about her. A flashback shows that Ji-won chased down Hee-sung’s doctor with Ho-joon close behind. She begged him to reexamine Hee-sung, who’d been unconscious for 5 days but the doctor had warned that it could be some time before he woke up. After he walked away, Ji-won started to cry and asked, “How is a day so long?”
Ho-joon notes, “You’re calmer than I expected,” and Ji-won claims that she was more excited earlier. She asks about Kyung-choon’s case and learns his hearing is scheduled for the next day. Kyung-choon’s head dressing is changed as Ho-joon shares his suspicion that he’s pretending to be unresponsive, but his advanced cancer complicates things.
Alone with Hee-sung, Dr. Baek reports that Kyung-choon’s hearing is the next day and Hee-sung realizes, “That means we must do something tonight.” Dr. Baek explains that because Kyung-choon is already addicted to pain killers, it would be easy to make his death look like heart attack. Hee-sung promises to think it over and is reminded, “Tonight is your only chance.”
Ho-joon asks Ji-won if he can get Hee-sung’s statement to use at Kyung-choon’s hearing. At the same time, Hee-sung calls Moo-jin, who’s posted outside of a women’s bathroom. Hee-sung heard that he hasn’t spoken to the police yet and Moo-jin explains that’s because he wanted to get their stories straight first. After listening to what Hee-sung wants him to say, Moo-jin hangs up when a cleaning woman walks out.
Moo-jin follows Ms. Jang Young-hee into the men’s room but she doesn’t want to talk to him. Showing Moo-jin a photo of her daughter, Ms. Jang asks, “What if that monster hurts my daughter for talking?” When Moo-jin reminds her, “Do Min-seok died years ago,” she blurts out, “Not him.”
As Ho-joon sets up his phone to record the interview, Hee-sung reaches for some lint in Ji-won’s hair and when she flinches, he asks why she’s so jumpy. Gazing at Ji-won, Hee-sung remembers her cries for help after she pulled him from the water and confides, “I keep remembering how you looked.”
Ho-joon is ready to start when Jae-sub walks in, pulling along his IV. Jae-sub greets them, “…I’m fine. So don’t visit me going forward as you haven’t been until now,” and Ho-joon whispers, “He’s mad.”
Seeing Ho-joon’s list of questions, Jae-sub scolds, “Since when does a cop hand out questionnaires?” Sitting down, Jae-sub asks Hee-sung why he was tortured instead of killed because torture is used to extract information. When Ji-won advises Hee-sung not to answer if he can’t remember, Jae-sub tells her to decide if she’s going to act like a cop or a wife.
After Ji-won steps outside, the interview resumes. Hee-sung answers that when he told Kyung-choon that he had a cop in his family, it must have triggered the attack. Hee-sung passed out after he was stabbed and woke up to find himself submerged up to his chest.
Ho-joon helpfully suggests that Kyung-choon wanted the team to feel guilty over not saving Hee-sung in time and Jae-sub snaps, “What are you? Park Kyung-choon’s lawyer? How would you know what he was thinking?” Jae-sub admits that he’s bothered by the many coincidences that led Hee-sung to cross paths with Kyung-choon.
As Jae-sub stares at him, Hee-sung asks, “…don’t you like me?” Reminded that he advised Ji-won to break up with Hee-sung when they started dating, Jae-sub explains, “…only three types of people try to get on my good side. A liar, a potential liar, or one in the middle of lying.” When Hee-sung suggests that the unbiased Ho-joon should question him, Jae-sub warns that Kyung-choon will talk.
Still at the hospital, Ji-won gets a call from Nam Soon-kil’s widow, who stares at a black duffle bag as she reports that she has information about Do Hyun-soo. Ji-won promises to meet her soon and asks her not to share the information with anyone else.
After hanging up, Ji-won overhears a news report on a nearby television. The reporter, one of the journalists who confronted Hae-soo, visits the basement workshop of Do Min-seok where his victims were held captive. The reporter crawls into a large cage and finds a zip tie used to restrain the victims.
In his hospital room, Hee-sung remembers Jae-sub’s warning. When Ji-won walks in, Hee-sung senses that something’s wrong but she denies it, even though she’s crying.
Concerned, Hee-sung urges Ji-won to go home and rest and she explodes, “You almost died in front of my eyes…You were touch and go for 10 whole days. Do you have any idea how devastated I was?” Ji-won explains that she couldn’t bear to go home to their empty house because she feared she might be alone forever.
In tears, Ji-won shouts, “How could you do that to me?” When she decides to go home after all, Hee-sung grabs Ji-won’s wrist and begs to talk about anything she wants. Ji-won pulls away, claiming that she’s tired and when she walks out, Hee-sung suddenly looks lost.
On her way out, Ji-won stops halfway down the stairs as she remembers when Hee-sung briefly regained consciousness. Instead of seeing Ji-won, Hee-sung saw the blood splattered face of his sister and muttered, “Hae-soo…Live a normal life. Never look for me. I won’t live as Do Hyun-soo anymore.” Oh no. Leaning against a wall, Ji-won starts to cry.
At the film set, the director informs Hae-soo that the reporters are interfering with the shoot. Hae-soo agrees to quit and is thankful that the director is sorry instead of blaming her for ruining his life. Hae-soo remembers a teenaged Moo-jin telling her, “You should’ve broken up with me…You remind me of your dad. It gives me the creeps.”
Moo-jin rings a doorbell and when Ms. Jang runs out, he argues that she can’t expect him to ignore her news that Min-seok had an accomplice. Ms. Jang demands to know if Moo-jin can protect her and her daughter if she agrees to an interview. Moo-jin leaves when Ms. Jang’s daughter walks out and threatens to call the police.
Hee-sung calls his father to tell him, “I’ll do it.” At the same time, Ji-won picks up a forensics kit from the police station and sits down to review the foreman’s murder case. Her family photo on her desk, Ji-won reads that Hyun-soo exhibited violent tendencies towards animals and lacked empathy and guilt. Hyun-soo was also diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder and psychiatric medication was recommended. Ji-won reads a witness statement that the foreman offered to take in Hyun-soo and Hae-soo after their father’s death, “But look what happened.”
Later, when Ji-won lets herself into Hee-sung’s workshop, she stops in front of the locked door leading to the basement.
Hee-sung throws on a doctor’s coat as Ji-won uses a heavy hammer to break the lock. She carries the forensic kit downstairs at the same time that Dr. Baek hands Hee-sung a vial and syringe, warning, “Don’t leave an injection mark on his body.”
Ji-won sprays the basement with luminol as Hee-sung pushes a cart to Kyung-choon’s room, remembering Dr. Baek’s instructions to tell the night detective that Kyung-choon’s dressing needs to be changed.
The detective falls for the ruse and when Hee-sung looks down at Kyung-choon, he opens his eyes and breathes, “I’ve been waiting.” When Hee-sung pulls out the vial, Kyung-choon wants to know where his wife is buried before he dies. Hee-sung confides that he learned that his father was a serial killer like everyone else, from television.
Kyung-choon admits, “I realized after lying here…that all I know about you are rumors. And that I may be wrong.” As Hee-sung fills the syringe, Ji-won turns off the basement light. Patches of blue glow on the floor, signaling the presence of blood, and a flashback to the fight between Hee-sung and Moo-jin reminds us how it got there. The luminol alerts Ji-won to the presence of a zip tie on the floor, used to bind Moo-jin’s wrists, just like the one found in Min-seok’s basement.
Hee-sung is about to empty the syringe into Kyung-choon’s IV but he stops to ask a question — how did Kyung-choon feel when he learned that his wife was dead. Kyung-choon rages, “Why do you want to know that,” and remembering Ji-won’s distress, Hee-sung simply answers, “I want to know.”
Kyung-choon whispers, “I wanted to die,” but he couldn’t because he needed to lay Mi-sook to rest properly. Hee-sung doesn’t see the point but Kyung-choon insists that people will remember her differently once that’s done. Satisfied, Hee-sung empties the syringe into the IV line.
The detective overhears a female doctor thanking her male colleague for changing Kyung-choon’s dressing that day. When he confirms that the dressing is only changed during the day shift, the detective runs back to Kyung-choon’s room, passing Hee-sung in the hallway dressed as a patient. The detective finds Kyung-choon very much alive.
As Hee-sung pocketed the syringe, he told Kyung-choon that the wooden keychain with the fish must have been given to his sister at their father’s funeral, because that’s when she gave it to him. When Kyung-choon asked why he didn’t say anything sooner, Hee-sung reasons, “You probably would’ve abducted my sister to drown her too.”
Hee-sung suggested that the witness’ claim that Mi-sook was abducted and his statement that he was with Do Min-seok that day were both true. Hee-sung urges Kyung-choon to use what time he has left to find his wife’s real killer.
Realizing that Min-seok had an accomplice, Kyung-choon begged, “Please let me live.” Hee-sung explained that he stopped the IV drip and told Kyung-choon why, “Because you told no one about me even though you could.” Before leaving, Hee-sung instructed Kyung-choon what to tell the police.
Sitting in the dark basement, Ji-won sees Eun-ha’s baby walker in a corner and remembers walking out of her bedroom to find Hee-sung bouncing a fussy Eun-ha in his arms. With a smile, Hee-sung told Ji-won, “Get some more sleep.” The happy memory causes Ji-won to weep as the luminol glows before her.
Back in his workshop, Hee-sung listens to a radio report that Kang-choon confessed to his crimes and asked the police to reopen the Yeonju City serial murder case. When he tries to check his watch, Hee-sung remembers losing it during the struggle with Ji-won in the warehouse.
With Ms. Kang by his side, Moo-jin thanks Ms. Jang for agreeing to an interview and she explains that after meeting him, she kept seeing Mi-sook. In a flashback, Mi-sook made eye contact with Ms. Jang as she was led away by a man (or a woman in disguise), and Ms. Jang tells Moo-jin, “She wants me to talk to you.”
Recalling the events of 2002, Moo-jin asks Ms. Jang why she changed her statement. In answer, Ms. Jang produces an answering machine tape.
After school, Eun-ha happily runs into Hee-sung’s arms. On the walk home, Eun-ha points to a cloud that looks like an egg tart but Hee-sung disagrees, “It looks like your mom’s face.”
At Nam Soon-kil’s Chinese restaurant, his wife passes Hyun-soo’s duffle bag to Ji-won. Inside, Ji-won sees the cassette player with the wooden fish keychain and promises the worried widow, “I’ll catch him for sure.”
Setting a tape player on the table, Moo-jin and Ms. Kang listen as a deep voice warns, “You’re not the only one who saw me. I saw you too.” The caller cautioned that the Gakyeongri Village foreman was killed because he was nosy and didn’t know his place.
After everything that Nam Soon-kil told her about Hyun-soo, his wife is afraid but Ji-won reminds her that no one witnessed him committing any crimes. Ji-won thinks of Hee-sung holding their baby daughter as she argues that psychopaths aren’t capable of caring for weaker beings.
When the widow insists, “He’s a murderer. That’s a fact,” Ji-won agrees, but people can only be punished for the crimes they commit. Ji-won needs more facts before Do Hyun-soo can receive the punishment he deserves and she tells the widow, “I only believe what I see.”
Holding Eun-ha’s hand, Hee-sung smiles up at the sun shining through the trees, happy to be alive.
COMMENTS
There were so many powerful confrontations to get through this hour. There was the first encounter between Hee-sung and Ji-won after she learned that he’s really Do Hyun-soo, the son of a serial killer. There was Jae-sub’s interview with Hee-sung, his gut telling him that Hee-sung is lying about Kyung-choon’s reason for kidnapping and torturing him. And of course, there’s Hee-sung’s alleged attempt to eliminate Park Kyung-choon to protect not only his secret, but his parents’ as well. But the most touching one for me was after Ji-won shouted at Hee-sung and left, because he’s beginning to act like a man who’s hopelessly in love with his wife just as she’s turning away from him.
Without Ji-won’s ever present love and support, there’s no hope for a happy life, only a disturbing family legacy that Hee-sung has done his best to escape. While Ji-won is still reeling from the fact that Hee-sung is Do Hyun-soo, all she knows about his early life is based on fear and rumors. Because of the luminol evidence, Ji-won seems convinced that her husband is a murderer but it’s looking more and more as if Hee-sung has never killed anyone. If he was a real psychopath, Hee-sung would welcome any opportunity to kill but instead, he does his utmost to avoid killing. While Hee-sung certainly terrorized both Moo-jin and Kyung-choon, it was only after they targeted him first, and in the end, he spared their lives.
In fact, I’m beginning to think that Hee-sung/Hyun-soo has never killed at all. With clues pointing to Hae-soo as her father’s accomplice, is it possible that she made it look as if Hyun-soo killed the foreman? Hae-soo certainly gave Hyun-soo the fish keychain to set him up for Jung Mi-sook’s murder but Hyun-soo innocently thinks it was a kind gift from his sister. Who started all of the rumors about Hyun-soo in the first place, convincing others that he’s a psychopath and his father’s accomplice? The innocent looking sister who became a talented special effects makeup artist? Dressing up as Hyun-soo wouldn’t be that hard for someone with that kind of talent. Hee-sung has never suspected his sister and neither has anyone else, because early on, it was Hyun-soo who was the subject of rumors.
While Ji-won prepares to uncover the truth about Hyun-soo, he’s sure to learn that he was duped not only by his father, but the sister who seemed as devoted to him as he was to her. And he’s not the only one who remembers Hae-soo. What about Moo-jin? As he listened to that recording made by Mi-sook’s killer, is it possible that it’s the distorted voice of his then-girlfriend? If that recording can be undistorted, will Moo-jin recognize Hae-soo’s voice, or is there someone else in the picture? While Hyun-soo certainly has mental issues, they’re nothing like the ones that Min-seok’s real accomplice possesses. As Ji-won tackles Hyun-soo’s troubled past, what kind of danger is she placing her family in, including Hee-sung? And Ji-won must have plenty of questions about the Baek parents, who are proving to be a treacherous pair.
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Tags: Flower of Evil, Lee Jun-ki, Moon Chae-won
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1 Ammu
August 17, 2020 at 7:16 PM
What a powerful episode. I thought (again) how intense and powerful the acting between Lee Junki and Moon Chaewon were... especially that scene in his hospital room where she lets out the emotional toll she has gone through to him. She really conveyed the emotional trauma she went through (in multiple ways) in both her words and facial expressed. And seeing Heesung ask Kyungchoon how he felt to lose his wife... it was a genuine curiosity he showed and I found that interesting (while also nerve-wracking) and true to his character.
There are so many layers here, but I am really enjoying the subtle changes or shifts in our characters (how Jiwon acts around Heesung, Heesung's lost expression in front of her) - while they are still staying consistent to their personalities as well. I still feel like there is so much more to learn but the drama does a great job of keeping things flowing while also moving the story. I also really like Jiwon's character and like that we have been able to spend more time with her these past two episodes. Again, just so impressed with the acting here!
What's interesting is some of what was written in this recap was translated differently to the subtitles I saw in the episode! I need to go back and re-watch some of those sections to get better clarification -thank you for this recap!
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:06 PM
re: her emotional outburst. Yes!! I totally agree, that was such a powerful moment in that episode. They didn't mention this in the recap (one of the differences) but I loved how she asked him "what on earth he was for all of that time". I felt like her real emotions and questions were so close to the surface then, wondering if his entire life with her was really something he could even feel.
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2 dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 7:36 PM
The scene is now set for Ji-won to put Hee-sung under the white hot light of suspicion as she balances the evidence of the blood in the basement against the knowledge she has of a man who protects his daughter. Suddenly it seems that her ability to only believe what she sees could just work towards exonerating Hee-sung from a lifetime of suspicion, but probably only after they both suffer a great deal as a result of her investigations.
Hee-sung has been suspected and misunderstood by others all his life because he does not show his emotions like others. She has been the only one who has given him the semblance of a normal life.
I'm not sure @TeriYaki that he is actually mentally ill. Isn't his condition about the ability to show affect - a function of the brain that is just not there in his case. It may instead be a disability. I don't know if it should be classified as an "illness", as such. So little is known about how the brain works.
In Hee-sung, we see someone who is judged by those around him as deficient and subsequently untrustworthy in a frightening way. Interestingly, the reporters respond to his sister as "pretty", so if she is a killer (and we don't know that for sure), people certainly don't treat her in the same way as they do Hee-sung. They don't see her as any different to them. Is this then about the judgments we make about who is good and who is bad based on their physical appearance?
Having said that I don't think he is mentally ill, this doesn't account for the visions Hee-sung saw of his father before he met Ji-won. But it always seemed to me that he feared his father and feared becoming his father, and with Ji-won by his side, loving in and believing in him as a husband and a father, he was safe from the threat of becoming his father. It remains to be seen what sort of person he becomes if this support is no longer there.
I'm loving this so much. It's gripping at every point, and it moves so fast. When Hee-sung went to the hospital room to kill Kyung-choon, I was sick because I didn't want him to do it and deep down I hoped he wouldn't. I could see that he didn't want to, but would he? They kept us guessing right up until the end.
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Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 8:49 PM
I hadn't thought before about how he may've had the visions because he's afraid of becoming his father, but it does make sense particularly given his appearance during the forest confrontation with Nam-kil. Would be really interested to see if the visions return at some point in our present timeline as he's forced to fully confront the past.
Also at this point, I'm not sure where she falls between working to exonerate him and working to find answers whether or not that means her husband goes to jail, but I'd imagine she really just needs to reconcile these two drastically different versions of her husband that she's now 'seen'
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dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 10:41 PM
She won't be able to let it go until she finds the truth. That's what drives her. I think in the end she will exonerate him. Reconciling those two views is a good way of putting it.
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K To
August 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM
I agree! It seems like he doesn’t get emotions but it could be because of his upbringing (IOTNBO vibes here).
No one knows if he understands love but he does seem to get that Ji-won is a lifeline though.
1st time was when she taught him (unintentionally) to move on from the ghost of his father which is why he cling onto her.
Then she literally saved him from drowning, and I think when she cried for help, it seems in in this ep it made a profound impression. Almost like he’s surprised that someone wants him to live this desperately when so many others have cursed his existence.
... maybe this show is a love story where Hee-Sung is the damsel in distress pretending to be a murder-thriller..???
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K To
August 18, 2020 at 5:01 AM
*clung* onto her.
Darn- no edit button?
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peachietime
August 19, 2020 at 2:11 PM
I think she is in the middle right now - she wants him to get justified punishments. Nothing more than what he did, but also nothing less. She wants fairness, which is why I love her character.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:13 PM
I love your take on why he wanted to be by Ji-Won's side so much... not just that it banished the presence of the fahter-ghost, but it freed him from the possibility of becoming like him. I'd much rather root for a character who's working to become something different, something better than they recognize themselves to currently be, than someone who's simply lying to protect themselves.
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:16 PM
I definitely think the hallucinations are induced by some kind of internal dissonance between the type of person he is and the type of person he has been raised to be/the personality which others have imputed to him. However, I still think that would mean mental illness! Anyway I look at it, the presence of visual hallucinations is a sign of something awry (regardless of whether the cause is something more fixed or something environmental). I recall, as well, the police report which Ji-won read suggested that he had symptoms of schizoid personality disorder.
As for the lack of affect, a significant deficit of this is typically associated with antisocial personality disorder (or so I'm told). The police officers through around this diagnosis as well.
Anyway, I'm so hoping he turns out to be a good guy and that whatever rupture has occurred within his relationship with Ji-won can be mended (and, indeed, made stronger). I really like them together.
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Eazal
August 18, 2020 at 12:16 AM
I also think he has mental issues. Another ASPD, maybe?
As you pointed out, Police also considered this.
DMS was a special person (whether he's the real killer or not), and his kids were also special and lonely. They clearly were raised with not much love.
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Nathalie Connor
August 20, 2020 at 7:30 PM
Yes he is mentally ill! He suffers from Schizoid Personality Disorder.
What is that? It is characterized by psychosocial deficits. They exhibit a marked lack of emotion, lack of motivation, and almost no desire to form relationships with others. Healthy people may experience short periods a couple of times in their lives where they feel no emotion, motivation, or desire to engage with others. But individuals with schizoid personality disorder have a long-term and persistent pattern of cold indifference, detachment from society, and a very limited range of emotions. This can make schizoid personality disorder treatment very difficult.
Most experts agree that schizoid personality disorder, like many mental health disorders, is caused by a combination of genetics and social environment during early development. Studies have shown that psychological temperment, shaped by upbringing and learned coping skills, along with biological (genetic) predisposition play a critical role in development of the disorder.
They do not experience delusions or any breaks from reality. They often form close emotional ties with animals and are often seen as eccentric by others. They experience an unstable sense of self. They struggle with the application of ethical behaviour.
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3 cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 7:47 PM
Oh my gosh. This episode. It was so intense!! I have to say Hyun-Soo ACTUALLY putting the poison into the IV ran juuuuust a little bit too close for comfort. In the best way possible, of course, but watching him actually inject poison and thinking he'd ACTUALLY just crossed the uncrossable line... it was kind of hard for my brain to allow him to cross back over into "I'll support you no matter how sketchy you come off" territory. Agh. But, rewatching the episode, I ended up letting him back over to the good side because from his reasoning, he really didn't seem to ever intend to kill him-- becaue the man hadn't said anything, when he'd had plenty of chances to. So. Cautiously still rooting for him, but MAN what a scare.
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Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 8:05 PM
I was also almost sure he wouldn't go through with it, but I also couldn't think of how the show would get around it (my mistake lol). Still, I thought he didn't actually inject the poison but injected a different vial instead? Maybe I assumed incorrectly
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dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 8:30 PM
I thought he did, but closed the drip. I was wondering what would happen if was opened by a nurse???
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:07 PM
I think they left the content of the vial ambiguous. I reached the same conclusion as you and thought he did inject the vial but blocked the drip, which led me to wonder about what would happen if he didn't tell his kidnapper that he had blocked the vial. However, after re-watching the episode, it became clear that the content of the vial was not clarified. I also think, though, that he intended to tell the kidnapper that he blocked the vial at some point before leaving. In the end, the charade of injecting the vial was meant to make a point, I think - "I could've killed you but I didn't because you didn't screw me over; if you want to ensure that I never do anything to you, make sure you don't mess with me or my family".
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:16 PM
Seriously. What if it had been opened by someone??!
@smaltwalt oh my gosh I would love it if the contents of the vial ALSO turned out to not be anything harmful, and he'd even gone so far as to switch out what the fake dad had given him. That would make me feel better about the highly sketchy decisions he made in that roome (I mean, it wasn't murder... but it could probably definitely be attempted murder...)
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:36 PM
Well, attempted murder requires intent to murder. If he planned on telling him that the drip was off before leaving and his whole thing was about making a show to send a message, then I think there's a strong argument to be made that he wouldn't have the mental requirement needed for attempted murder. On the other hand, I think the message he sent with that little piece of acting would count as criminal threatening.
loveblossom🌸
August 17, 2020 at 10:09 PM
That scene was intense and also unsettling. I was waiting (and preparing myself) for him to go through with it.
I'm relieved, but I'm not sure if I want the writer to go darker with his character.
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:10 PM
Yes, I 100% agree with this. The entire time I kept hoping - praying! - that he would not go through with it, that he would show himself to be a better person than we had thought. When entered the room disguised, I got really nervous; when he injected the vial, I was just about ready to take a break from watching and re-evaluate whether I wanted to stick with the show (I was already so invested in his character and wanting him to be good, that I didn't think I could root for a killer). I'm glad he didn't do it, but this got way too close for me to be comfortable and we're still only on episode 6. I'm hoping my faith in this character is not misplaced.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:17 PM
YES!! I didn't actually stop the scene/the show, but I was totally reevaluating in my head whether I could keep watching the show if he actually killed a man.
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haze
August 18, 2020 at 8:59 AM
I am pretty sure, he will face the same conflict in the episodes to come. He had made his resolve not to kill over and over in this drama and it is a continuing theme. He will have to choose whether to kill or not, to save himself or his family. I am guessing that he'd kill someone out of self-defense or defending his family but, depending on the Korean laws and dramaland, he will get acquitted.
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peachietime
August 19, 2020 at 2:14 PM
He is not purely innocent. His methods of solving problems are violence and he doesn't feel guilty of what he did if he were to repay what they did to him. He goes through extreme measures to revenge but he always is on the reactive side, not proactively hurting others. He would have been okay too if the taxi driver indeed died.
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4 Jushi
August 17, 2020 at 8:01 PM
The unexpectedly funny scene for me in this episode was Ji Won investigating their basement. I was like, "bruh, that's Moo Jin's. They're bros now." 😂
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 8:17 PM
Lol seriously. I also had that thought-- if she gets the blood investigated further and finds out it's Moo-Jin's, she's going to be very confused, and have a whooole different set of questions for her husband.
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Eazal
August 18, 2020 at 12:19 AM
I want her to run DNA test on that piece of bridle and find out it's MoonJin and then she going nuts because they are besties now.
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 12:57 PM
She would go nuts but also suspicious on why they are suddenly besties after finding Moo Jin's blood in their basement. It still would not look good for Hee Sung/ Hyun Soo
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5 Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 8:04 PM
There are relatively few times dramas can make me audibly shout, but the revelation that Ji-won already *knows* that Hee-sung = Hyun-soo really got me. As much as this was clearly coming, I really didn't expect it to happen so soon. (I also love how since we'd already seen that 'hallucination' earlier in the episode we languished in the tension to hear him say he would no longer live as DHS.) It also explained her reactions and the conflicted gazes she kept giving him. I really admired Ji-won's reaction, because as much as she clearly didn't want to confront these possibilities she directly went to do forensics in the workshop basement. I also appreciate how she sticks with 'only believing what she sees,' because as much as she's faaaaaaar from objective in this investigation, it can help her push back against the myriad of voices that have persistently criminalized Hyun-soo just by association with his father and his limited understanding of emotions/supposed schizoid personality disorder. In this way, HS's initial statement about how they're meant for each other can be realized more accurately than his explanation of lying to her.
I'm also super fascinated by how Hyun-soo was reacting to Ji-won in this episode. From the part where he was just staring at her face remembering her expression when she was trying to save him to the way he tried to grasp onto her when she was leaving the hospital room, we can sense that as he's getting a new appreciation of just how powerful her love is, he can tell there's clearly something putting it at risk. He even asked Kyung-choon about what it felt like to lose his wife in an attempt to try and understand his wife's reaction. I want him to fight for his relationship, but clearly transparency is never his go-to strategy--he gets people to go with his will by backing them into a corner (both Moojin and his torturer) so he can be sure they'll go his way. Is it too much to ask that he might be able to learn how to communicate his thoughts, feelings, and perspectives and trust someone for once? (to answer myself, for the time being, probably.)
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 8:21 PM
Good thoughts about how Hyun-Soo tends to negotiate and handle situations, I hadn't thought of that before.
What I really want to see, now, is Ji-Won in danger, a situation where Hyun-Soo can actually be put face to face with the emotions behind potentially losing someone you love. I'm just curious--would he still really not understand, or would he react like someone who loves his wife? Bring it on, show!!
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Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 8:54 PM
I think across the board his reactions to all things Ji-Won tend to reflect that he loves her (though his more or less pragmatic 'protect' mode isn't often overtly emotional), but his confused/shocked reaction her outburst almost seemed to me as surprise that she felt so strongly about him that she would react like that. As if, it hadn't occurred to him that the period of time he spent unconscious would've made her so distraught.
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:20 PM
My thought about this is that he feels the emotion and acts according to it, but has difficulty identifying it and has difficulty understanding how other people feel. As a result, he doesn't realize what he feels is love and he doesn't really comprehend Ji-won's feelings for him (not completely, anyway; it seems like he's had some moments where he's picked up on things - like, for instance, after the school meeting - but this does not seem to come naturally to him as it does for most of us and he seems to have to work much harder to decipher the meaning of the things he picks up).
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Junie Bug
August 17, 2020 at 8:22 PM
I was both dreading and anticipating that moment when she examined the basement lair. I knew it was coming but having her affirm her suspicions and learn this side of Hyunsoo was heartbreaking to watch especially since she only has this perfect husband/dad image ingrained in her mind.
That entire sequence was very well done and I loved how it was meshed with the scenes in the hospital. Jiwon learns of all the evidence of blood being in Hyunsoo's room which can easily incriminate him if she brings to light the connection that Heesung is Hyunsoo but at the same time, Hyunsoo is in the hospital and although twisted, ends up not murdering Kyungchoon.
I thought the whole talk about how everything Kyungchoon knows about Hyunsoo being rumors very interesting too because at this point, that's all Jiwon knows too and I feel like her whole motto of "beliving when seeing" is also acting as sort of a defense mechanism since she doesn't want to incriminate the love of her life.
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dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 8:34 PM
I like how that's her limitation and her strength.
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Junie Bug
August 17, 2020 at 8:44 PM
Same! It's a double-edged sword and I love how the writers/Chaewon are portraying this dilemma.
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Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 8:58 PM
Yeah it's a good point that at this point she doesn't know anything about 'Do Hyun Soo' but she knows a lot (or at least she thought she did) about Baek Hee Sung. So in terms of evidence she's seen about her husband she knows about both how he acts as a husband and father and the material evidence of blood in his creepy padlocked basement (tangent: we gotta love how every TV in dramaland is always playing the exact breaking news it needs to be), but as for the crimes of DHS it's just the bloody weapon in the backpack
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6 Junie Bug
August 17, 2020 at 8:11 PM
I love how this drama plays with the internal struggles of each of the characters. This episode especially played around with Jiwon and Hyunsoo's and that's what kept it thrilling throughout.
Jiwon's struggle between loving Heesung and being a detective was thoroughly indicated and examined in this episode. There are soooo many layers to her character and I love that we're going through them all and at the height of is in this struggle. We saw her first facing it during the interrogation when her colleague told her to choose between being a wife and a detective, but the true test came when she looked at everything in that basement room.
It's obvious that she loves Hyunsoo with her entire being. She fell in love at first sight and spent so many years chasing after him to eventually start a family. And, now she's realizing that he's not everything she made him out to be and (she believes and the luminol does support it) he is a serial killer and Do Minseok's accomplice. That scene when she remembered Hyunsoo taking care of Eunha really broke my heart and Chaewon's acting in that scene was amazing.
I especially loved Lee Joongi's acting in the scene after Jiwon left him in the hospital room after she blew up at him. He looked so crushed and as if he truly cares for Jiwon and her opinion of him. He has worked so hard to create a life for himself to get away from his past and it all has the potential to deteriorate because of what Jiwon learned. I am so scared for him because at this point it's basically been confirmed that he's done nothing wrong and his surroundings turned his life into a living hell.
Moon Chaewon and Lee Joongi's acting has to be the best in this drama. They're able to portray such deep emotions in a way that makes them palpable. The nuances in the way they say their lines, change their facial expressions, and just in general when they act out their scenes is mindblowing and so much fun to watch.
Also, am I the only one who is just creeped out by the father? The way he easily decided that killing Kyungchoon was the right (and only) decision and his entire demeanor when interacting with Hyunsoo makes me feel so uneasy. The mother is a whole other end of the spectrum but between the two of them, the father feels like he's hiding so much and I'm both interested and scared to learn what those things are.
As a final thought, I also agree that Haesoo is the true accomplice and her position as a makeup artist definitely helped her blame it all on Hyunsoo.
I think this drama is very well done and each week has me yearning for more!! I love it so far!!
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Hugepuffball
August 17, 2020 at 9:09 PM
I'm more conflicted about Hae-Soo! I think so far that's the most prominent possibility (I mean really, there's no way Hyun-soo thinks she just got it at the funeral and decided to pass it along as a gift, right?) but I just wonder if they'd make it 'clear' this early. Plus, would the real accomplice spend all these years just dealing with the media coming after her/the discrimination from association with her brother and dad?
Also what would the implications of this be for the village foreman murder where she looks on as Hyun-Soo seems to tell her it felt good to kill him?
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Junie Bug
August 18, 2020 at 11:54 AM
Haesoo's character is such a mystery and I love it. I could see Hyunsoo actually believing it because of how much he cares for her and he probably doesn't see any way for her to be the true accomplice.
In comparison to Hyunsoo, we've seen Haesoo being treated differently by the media/people in the town, so I think that there's part of her that just feels like she could get away with it and with Hyunsoo being the #1 culprit, it's easier for her. But, at the same time, it does seem like is also sincerely cares for Hyunsoo and regrets letting him do something, so now I'm unsure too LOL
I think that line might be a red herring. He's been close to killing Moojin and Kyungchoon and has had the capability, but each time he hasn't and he's figured out a way to have them both help him in the long run. If Haesoo was a victim of harassment by the foreman and he died as a result of Hyunsoo/Haesoo's backlash, then it could be him pretending and taking on the persona of the true killer/maybe even his father's mentality?
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dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 10:44 PM
The fake father is sooo wrong, and the mother is frightening.
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Maq
August 17, 2020 at 11:31 PM
My thought here, though, is that they are symptomatic of something broader. These are ostensibly normal people, yet they are casually willing to embrace cruelty without batting an eyelash. Moreover, they do this without feeling guilt and while traducing Hee-sung.
In this respect, they're like Park Kyung-choon and the Nam Ki-soon (that's the Chinese restaurant owner, right?). Park Kyung-choon killed an innocent man to get answers and was willing to drown a man on the basis of non-existent evidence of wrong-doing, even though it seemed like Kyung-choon himself was doubtful about whether Hyun-soo was guilty. Similarly, the Chinese restaurant owner was willing to kill a man for some $$$. Not only that, he had the gall to turn himself into a victim ("Hyun-soo's going to get me" + his begging when Hyun-soo turned the tables on him in the forest) and to tar Hyun-soo as a psychopath, while simultaneously rationalizing his attempted murder during that phone call ("I made a foolish mistake").
And what about Moo-jin? He seems to have helped kill somebody, yet he's lived his life just fine. He's also been the one sitting around thinking Hyun-soo is a psycho.
All of these "normal" people have been willing to or have done some pretty horrible things, while the guy who's apparently a psycho (indeed, who they accuse of being a psycho) seems like an okay guy (well, he's not perfect, but overall his actions seem way less reprehensible).
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dramalover4ever
August 18, 2020 at 1:29 AM
Exactly. They are all horrible people with no self awareness who shift their guilt onto Hyun-soo.
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Maq
August 18, 2020 at 2:29 AM
The very picture of a scapegoat IMO. They all do horrible shit, but only Hyun-soo (who seems like he did nothing wrong) will be punished as an expression of the community's moralism, with the "pleasant" side-effect that they will also eliminate the "strange" person in their midst.
dramalover4ever
August 18, 2020 at 1:32 AM
It also makes me aware that so-called normal people are not necessarily good people.
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Maq
August 18, 2020 at 2:23 AM
I agree with this. There is no necessary connection between psychological or behavioural normality and morality. But, at the risk of over-reaching, I think the message may be even more radical. The show may be trying to impress upon us two things:
(I) We are quick to find fault in others, even where our attributions of fault are baseless or thinly support; and
(II) Although we all likely to pretend the lurid immorality that we read in the papers or watch on the news is far detached from our own lives, it may in fact be much closer than we think and the only difference may be a discrepancy in standards (we don't hold ourselves to the same precepts which we expect others to abide by), we may simply be blind to our failings, and/or we may simply become habituated and thus unresponsive to our own failings.
dramalover4ever
August 18, 2020 at 3:07 AM
I agree re 1. how quick we are to find fault/assign guilt 2. we all think we are good people, not matter how terrible we may be (evil is mundane) It's all starting to remind me of The Crucible
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Jushi
August 18, 2020 at 5:24 AM
I wouldn't be too quick to say that the Baeks are too casual to commit a crime. They too are in the self-preservation mode. Their first instinct is to protect their name and innocence. If Hyun Su himself had no other option, he will kill Kyun Choo. He can and will kill if only to protect what he has right now. Also, I don't think they can keep the pretense for 15 years if there was no semblance of atleast respect on both ends.
However, the Baeks know that with their good reputation it'll be a lot easier for them to weather any possible backlash from the public, on the occasion that their ruse finally gets exposed. They can easily pull another lie and put the blame on a guy with bad reputation.
It kind of made me wonder, however, how they decided to let someone who is potentially a murderer to be their partner in crime. Unless they believe that he is somewhat innocent, and incapable of killing them. Because, serial killing is not your average murder but something committed by those who has cumpulsion to kill for no particular reason.
On a related note, I see Daddy Baek more as stoic than plain cold. He's the more rational, level-headed of the couple because Mommy Baek is too anxious, too emotional to think straight.
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7 cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 8:23 PM
Ah! Two more thoughts--I also totally think Hae-Soo could be our killer. That'd be refreshing in a way, actually, just because we don't often see female murderess serial killers.
Also, did anyone else pick up on the fact that Hyun-Soo's fake "mom" might have had a role in why they're all in this fake family today? Does anyone else think her violent tendencies might have been what placed the real Hee-Sung in a coma?
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Jushi
August 17, 2020 at 8:39 PM
I feel like Hee Sung's backstory has some kind of Sky Castle kind of vibe to it—a math genius child with obsessive, demanding parents who're more concerned about the prestige than the wellbeing of their child. It's so weird to have all his awards hanging in that secret closet room where he's lying one foot in the grave.
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laladaisical
August 17, 2020 at 9:11 PM
Yeah, it's definitely being hinted at that Mom's violent tendencies most likely led to the current Baek family situation. In episode 5, when she slapped Hee-sung, she alluded to how her violence put them in this predicament.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:20 PM
That's what I was thinking about too--that, along with the dad's insinuation that it was somehow here fault they ended up like this. I can't wait to find out more!!
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8 Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
August 17, 2020 at 8:47 PM
So what happens when the hospital staff sees that it's off and turns it back on?
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Anon
August 17, 2020 at 9:28 PM
I thought about that too, lol. It seems like an oversight. However, as we know he was later arrested and was able to request the reopening of his wife's case, so he's still alive and kicking.
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Jushi
August 17, 2020 at 11:39 PM
I'm wondering if they'll use this "oversight" in the next episode. I have a feeling that Jae Seob won't let this particular case go so easily. The attendant police knew that someone pretended to be a nurse. Ho Joon was also suspicious of the watch. Ji Won has to outsmart both her husband and her teammates while she tries to get to the bottom of the whole thing while protecting her husband from being incriminated.
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 5:19 AM
i want to see this happen. Ji Won has shown that she can outsmart Jae Seob. Now for her husband, i would love to see them outsmart each other and eventually work together
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axis3
August 17, 2020 at 9:31 PM
Well probably the the drugs was flushed out off-cam by Hee-sung since Kyung-choon did live to tell his story to the police hahaha :P
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:22 PM
Ooooh that's also a good explanation! We don't really have an accurate sense of the timeline between when he injected the drugs and started telling him "listen carefully" to when the police detective talked with the nurses. He might have been able to flush out the drugs... and replace his IV? Is he that skilled?
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axis3
August 17, 2020 at 11:53 PM
On second thoughts he might just have replaced the IV solution bag (off-cam hahaha) as the liquid didn't really flow through the tube since he blocked it. This is probable as I don't think he is that skilled :P
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Maq
August 18, 2020 at 2:36 AM
Tbh, we don't even know what he injected into the solution bag. It could've just been saline.
drabea
January 18, 2021 at 8:00 PM
1. axis3, " probably the the drugs was flushed out " and cozybooks, " He might have been able to flush out the drugs..."
<- I'm not sure what you could be meaning by that.
At 56:07, it shows Hyun Su injecting the "substance" into a port, right into a large IV bag (probably normal saline to KVO, "keep vein open"?). What and where could he "flush out"?
At 58:59, HS stopped the drip from that large bag, but any nurse coming in would have restarted it because it was in the doctor's orders and the smaller bag seemed to be almost empty, especially if he was sleeping.
Unless KC decided to come out of his "lethargy", pulled out his needle, and refused another, since he was being transferred the next day?
I did wonder if HS actually used something "safe" but it didn't seem like that was what the father was supplying, and it seemed to me that his shutting off the flow was a spontaneous decision.
2. cozybooks, "flush out the drugs... and replace his IV?".
For one thing, I always get frustrated by how slowly Kdrama scenes play out, like in this case, when the guard just went out for a smoke.
In my American experience, it's not that easy to obtain supplies from the pharmacy or the probably locked unit med storage that is often through the nurses' station, not just off any hallway.
They don't just leave meds and treatments laying around. Every little thing has ID codes and has to be signed out and charged to the patient.
What would we do without our Kdrama writers? This injection scene was one of the things I had to make an effort to overlook, along with the timing of how long it seemed to take to drive to the village (bright daylight to very dark), and yet they seemed to zip back like it was the next neighborhood over.
Also, isn't there a thing about police jurisdiction?
I wonder, psychologically, if the plot questions we so often have, though frustrating/maddening, kind of connect us to interact more with these dramas?
Moving on, because my extensive To Watch List isn't getting any shorter while reading/replying to all these comments.
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panshel
August 17, 2020 at 10:03 PM
Then Kyung-choon would rip out the IV from his arm K-drama-style.
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9 laladaisical
August 17, 2020 at 9:08 PM
"If he was a real psychopath, Hee-sung would welcome any opportunity to kill..."
Murder is not a prerequisite for being a "real" psychopath. It is possible to have ASPD and not kill people. Hee-sung has opportunities to kill, but refrains from doing so because he is a strategic thinker. He's curious as to other people's motives and behaviors, and he can blend in well-enough so I think, to use a layman's term, he is more of a sociopath.
It is interesting to me how the "normal" people who think Hee-sung is a murderous psychopath are the ones who are quick to conspire to and commit murder. The irony threaded through Flower of Evil, and the intensity of the writing and characterization of Ji-won and the rest of the detective team, makes this a highly intriguing, unusually good mystery drama. Here's hoping it continues.
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dramalover4ever
August 17, 2020 at 10:48 PM
That is what has intrigued me too. So many people who have been so quick to point the finger have turned out to be unprincipled and murderous. As I write this it occurs to be it's a witch hunt.
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Anon
August 17, 2020 at 11:00 PM
I think Hyunsoo's unwillingness to kill goes far beyond his just being a strategic thinker. He can be quite emotional at the mere prospect of committing violence.
Because there always seems to be that fear he carries of becoming like his father, as that scene with Nam Soon-gil in the forest indicated. He was terrified to the point of trembling at the hallucination of his father telling him to kill, and he was extremely emotional in that moment, even before he saw his father. Not choosing to kill Soon-gil was hardly calculated or strategic, but a pure instinctual and very emotional reaction to the prospect of becoming what he fears most.
Also, in the two instances where it seemed like he avoided killing someone because it would work to his tactical advantage, in context it's difficult to take his words at face value. He rationalizes to both Moo-jin and Kyung-choon why it's tactically wise for him to spare their lives, but based on how genuinely afraid he seems to be of going down his father's dark path, those moments could be read as him posturing. In both cases, his getting what he wanted depended on Moo-jin and Kyung-choon genuinely fearing that he's capable of cold blooded murder. So as he does often, he put up a front to get what he needed out of the situation. However we can reason from context that what he's actually capable of, and what he pretends to be capable of in order to frighten others into compliance, are two entirely different things.
I don't think any of this negates the presence of some sociopathic or schizoid traits, but Hyunsoo is being presented as extremely nuanced, and complex, and never as easy to figure as he appears to be on the surface.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:31 PM
I can totally see that. From the limited evidence we've seen so far, the only times he's really been able to let loose and BE a bit more violent is when he's kind of predetermined he's not going to actually kill someone.
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Anon
August 18, 2020 at 12:07 AM
So true. And even then, his bark is much worse than his bite. When I rewatched ep 2, where Moo-jin was tied up in the basement, I found it kind of hilarious how much Hyunsoo was playing up the whole "I'm totally a terrifying murderer. Like, really I am. " The way he claimed he was feeding Moo-jin just to fill his body with trace forensics that would indicate he was near home when he died. And the way he taunted him with that hammer and never actually used it. Because the thing that really got me was the fact that Moo-jin had straight up tied him to a tree and stoned him when the were kids (which I still find more horrific than any act of violence Hyunsoo has committed. Such an action would usually indicate, at the very least, sadism and an extreme lack of empathy).
Hyunsoo had promised when they were kids that one day the roles would be reversed, but when the opportunity came to exact his revenge, he chose to scare Moo-jin instead of actually physically hurting him. Because despite what everyone has said about him, (and again, despite his claim that he enjoyed fighting) there has been no indication that he actually enjoys commiting acts of violence.
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laladaisical
August 18, 2020 at 6:42 AM
There is an emotional component to some of his decisions, as you have pointed out. However, it is a stretch to characterize his responses as posturing. It casts him as more emotional than logical, more reckless than purposeful.
He has his life to protect, therefore he must be deliberate and consider the fallout from a particular action. If compliance is more beneficial than a dead body, then, as we have seen, it is the preferred choice. If he has to leverage the stereotypes against people with ASPD to make that choice, then so be it.
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Anon
August 18, 2020 at 1:59 PM
But the evidence we've been presented thus far casts him as both emotional and logical; reckless and purposeful.
Although he is extremely capable of logical patterns of thought and action, many of his most important decisions have been objectively illogical. As his counterfeit parents have pointed out, marrying a police officer and starting a family were very reckless decisions. And his reasoning was a clear example of emotion over logic. He felt safe with Jiwon, and feels like when he's around her, he's protected from whatever the mental image of his father represents to him; whether that's the trauma he's been left with as a result of his father's actions, or the fear that his father's darkness will eventually emerge within him. And that feeling of mental and emotional safety outweighed the logic of being unentangled, unencumbered, and safely distanced from people who could discover his secrets (i.e. the police). As he said to Moo-jin, he believes he needs Jiwon, because "his father is afraid of her." Even with his somewhat limited self awareness, he recognizes his desire for marriage as coming from an emotional/mental need, as opposed to a practical consideration (although he may very well consider that emotional need to be a practical consideration, which would further indicate a lack of objectivity).
If logic had outweighed emotion in this instance, he would have reasoned that the terrifying spectre of his father was only a figment of his psyche likely formed as a result of trauma. He would have understood that it would have been wiser to attempt to cope with that burden alone. But the reason he's in his current predicament is because he chose forgo the logical route, and to walk a very precarious life path. Marrying a police officer lead to his currently being investigated. Becoming a father lead to increased vulnerability, as his child can easily be leveraged against him. Therefore, his purposefulness and his recklessness are not mutually exclusive. For the purpose of banishing that spectre of trauma from his life, he made the relatively reckless decision to marry a cop and start a family with her, despite the danger such a choice would place him in.
And the fact that many of Hyunsoo's foundational choices are emotionally based, (in particular fear based) indicates that he does posture in order to have as much control over threatening situations as he can. His leveraging of perceptions is the epitome of posturing (i.e. engaging in intentionally misleading behavior), because in order for his ploys to work, the subjects of his manipulation would have to believe him capable of not only murder, but of cold blooded, remorseless murder. And the fact that the one actual murder he's wanted for seems to have been committed by his sister (or by Hyunsoo in defense of his sister) casts serious doubt over Hyunsoo's ability to commit such a callous, premeditated act.
In fact, the only concrete evidence we do have about his...
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Anon
August 18, 2020 at 2:01 PM
(cont'd) ability to kill (which is, again, the rather pivotal scene with Nam Soon-gil in the woods) would strongly indicate that the prospect of killing taps into the paralyzing fear caused by that mental image of his father. This is not a minor emotional response. In fact, it's even more significant that the mental image of his father actually encourages him to kill, which not only frightens him further, but seems to make him double down on his determination not to kill. Therefore again, we've been shown no real, irrefutable evidence that he is capable of killing at all, yet alone in a detached or cold hearted manner. We have in fact, been given clear and intentional evidence to the contrary. Contextually (based on the Nam Soon-gil incident), not only does he fear taking a life, but he fears that doing so would cost him in a fundamental way, by turning him into the very thing he seems to fear the most (the murderous spectre of his father).
Therefore it's difficult to characterize the fact that he spared the lives of both men as purely based on a rational system of pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks, because there has been no evidence to suggest that when he's stuck between an emotional choice and a rational one, that he always takes the rational way out. The way he's lived his life has indicated that he often takes the emotion based route. So until (unless) there is a moment when he weighs the options and cynically (and emotionlessly) chooses murder over sparing someone's life, any current claim, whether verbal or implied, that Hyunsoo makes, implying that he could or would resort to cold blooded murder for the sake of self preservation or convenience, has to be weighed within the context of the fact that privately, he's shown an extreme, fear based aversion to lethal violence. And thus far, there has been no explicit evidence to suggest that he is able, or even remotely willing to overcome that aversion. This indicates that when he threatens others with death, he's knowingly and intentionally misleading them by hiding his deep fear and aversion to murder behind the pretext that he could callously kill. However, evidence suggests that such an act (murder) would not be even remotely easy for him, or devoid of emotional repercussions. And based on his personal history, it seems that he's extremely aware of that fact.
cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:29 PM
I do have to interject here, that's a mistranslation in the recap I think--she actually said "psychopaths, definitely can't care for/look after an existence that's weaker than itself." Which, I still don't know if that's true or not, but it did spark some interesting thoughts about if you're DOING all the things a nice person would do, doesn't that at some point turn you at least in part into a nice person?
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 5:16 AM
i agree. Especially since he actively chose to be a good person. Hee Sung is a good person. Ji Won knows that too. So this investigation is partly to clear DHS's name, imo.
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laladaisical
August 18, 2020 at 6:45 AM
My quote is a direct one. See under 'Comments', second paragraph, fourth sentence. The full quote is, "If he was a real psychopath, Hee-sung would welcome any opportunity to kill but instead, he does his utmost to avoid killing."
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cozybooks
August 18, 2020 at 8:26 AM
I know, I wasn't pointing that out--the recap itself mistranlated what they said in the drama. I remembered that part of the episode and went back to check it, I just wanted to clarify the episode said something a bit different than what the recap said.
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Lixie
August 18, 2020 at 9:42 AM
Not really, it depends on the reason behind the actions. If a person is only doing it for vanity or to please others or to protect a disguise, no, it would not mean the person becomes any nicer. I guess what she means is that she believes he truly cared emotionally for the daughter and if he was a real psychopath he would not be able to do so which I suspect isn't true at all but something kdramas would like to tell.
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Carol
August 19, 2020 at 11:34 AM
Thought Pyschopath are strategic. They don’t feel guilt and incapable of empathy, however they can pretend to be loving. And the illness could be genetic.
Sociopath on the other hand are erratic and impulsive. The illness is caused by sociological factors.
So Hee Sung is very clear a pyschopath
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10 sargevee
August 17, 2020 at 9:10 PM
This episode is sooo good! I love how much love Jiwon has for Heesung despite what shes uncovering about him. What an awesome woman! Cant wait for the next episode tomorrow. Hope Viki subs them quicker this time.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:33 PM
Lololol re: viki subs. Right?! I'm watching with a friend who doesn't speak any Korean, and it was SO. HARD. to wait the extra time until the subs were done. We literally watched the episode in snippets.
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sargevee
August 22, 2020 at 7:20 AM
I know right!? And whats up with them not uploading episode 8? Im still waiting :((
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cozybooks
August 23, 2020 at 10:26 AM
Whaaaat? We watched ep. 8 on Viki just fine!?
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11 sargevee
August 17, 2020 at 9:13 PM
Lee Junki is doing so well with his Hee Sung. Im currently rewatching Strangers and cant help but think it would be awesome to see Hee Sung and Si Mok have a conversation about what they've learned about "feelings" :))
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12 axis3
August 17, 2020 at 9:39 PM
This is a very intense episode. It's good that Ji-won now knows who Hee-sung really is and we can move on to see how they will try to unravel the mysteries behind the characters.
I have to agree with TeriYaki that the Beak parents are indeed a treacherous pair :P
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13 loveblossom🌸
August 17, 2020 at 9:55 PM
It's only EP 6, but I'm glad Ji Won already knows. No doubt. Her character was really impressive this past two episodes. Instead of falling apart or blurting out the truth, she steeled herself and started her own investigation. She immediately went to check out Hee Sung's basement. One small thing is that she broke the lock so won't he be curious why it was broken? Funny that she didn't bother looking for a key. She just busted out a hammer. XD
They're going to have to confide in each other eventually.
More communication and trust is needed.
I was not expecting Jae Seob to be suspicious of Hee Sung already.
I was thinking it would be good if Ji Won & her team were indirectly helping him, but the added tension from Jae Seob's wariness is way better. He's a smart cop so he makes me nervous now lol. I like that there are multiple sources of conflict and mystery - the main serial killer, Moo Jin, Hae Soo, Jae Seob. Hee Sung's parents too. And maybe I can include Do Min Seok. Seems like a lot now that I've typed them all out haha.
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cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:34 PM
re: breaking the lock: ahhhhh I also thought about this (on my second watch lol). Like, what if he wants to go down there again? Won't he wonder why there's no lock anymore? Or if she bought a new one and replaced it, he'd know since his key wouldn't work? So she'd have to find where the key was anyway to swap those out, too! Lol details.
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 5:11 AM
I actually expected that she will find that key. Its not like he hid it in a difficult place to find. Ehen she used the hammer, I am like that will work too. But Hee Sung will know that she came snooping. Then that conversation, if he confronts her, will not go well.
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14 panshel
August 17, 2020 at 9:57 PM
As soon as Hee-sung said, "Noona," I gasped because we heard this conversation at the beginning of the episode, but then groaned because Ji-won was told the truth by Hee-sung rather than finding out on her own. At least Ji-won can take solace in the fact that the blood in Hee-sung's workshop is from Moo-jin and not a serial killer victim. Hee-sung didn't go through with it, but Dr. Dad clearly has no problem killing people. I loved Jae-sub when he was questioning Hee-sung. Jae-sub is the smartest detective out of Ji-won and Ho-joon.
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Jushi
August 17, 2020 at 10:18 PM
The other star of this particular episode is the editor. S/he really did an amazing job in weaving together the present and past, and how the past is slowly catching up to the present. That opening sequence where we aren't sure in which timeline it was happening, until Ji Won came into the picture.
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15 Anon
August 17, 2020 at 11:19 PM
What an incredible episode. The emotional stakes were sky high and the confrontations throughout were fraught with so much tension.
But the part that really gutted me on the rewatch was the moment when Jiwon ran to Hyunsoo and hugged him in the hallway. The first time around it struck me how frightened Hyunsoo was at the prospect of her suspicion/rejection after what happened in the last ep.
But the second time all I could think about was the fact that she already knew her husband was Do Hyunsoo, a man wanted for murder. But despite that, her first reaction upon seeing him awake was to run to him and hold him tight and let the tears out. Oooof. That got me.
Seriously, what Jiwon is going through is incomprehensible. The fact that she's the only one who knows. That she can't tell anyone. That she wants to investigate him while at the same time, she loves him, and wants to protect him from facing punishment for anything he may not have done (like when his statement was being taken, she was still in protective mode, even though it was hard for her to be close to him, it was still instinctual).
There's so much anger and so much love and so much level headed rationality mixed together in Jiwon right now. This is seriously one of the most interesting and nuanced character dilemmas I've seen in ages.
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16 cozybooks
August 17, 2020 at 11:37 PM
Ahahha dangit I had one last thought-- I also loved that moment at the end of the episode, when Eun-ha said the cloud looked like an Egg Tart, and Hyun-Soo said it looked like Ji-Won's face... not because of the parallel in reality or the possibility of any clouds looking like either, but just because Eun-Ha LOVES egg tarts, they're her favorite... so it made my heart happy to think that maybe Ji-Won is HS's favorite, too.
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 5:03 AM
I agree. Hee Sung seeing Ji Won's face in the clouds can mean that she is topmost in his mind. Possibly love her. I can only hope he does and his actions this episode point to that.
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CL
August 18, 2020 at 12:42 PM
Yeah agree, I think the cloud represents HS and EH desire too see what they wanted/loved the most. While EH is eggtart HS is his wife JW. This says a lot about his character because it's obvious that he love JW their is no questions or doubt on this matter of fact. I think the only problem is that he doesn't know it himself that he is inlove. Which is why I'm pretty sure he will began to learn/realized that he love his family the hard way.
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17 Eazal
August 18, 2020 at 12:02 AM
I'm quite sure HaeSoo is not the killer os her dad's accomplice. First of all: in the flashback, the person pulling MiSook into the car was a clearly a man: he was taller than her and stronger, it was definitely not a 19 year old girl. And as HS said, if he's telling the truth by saying he was with his dad all day during that day, and the witness is also telling the truth it means there's another accomplice, and it couldn't be him or his sister.
Then there's the detail about the goldenfish. HaeSoo said it was given to her by someone in the funeral. Given the fact that the funeral took place when DMS was already known as a killer, not many people would have attended, so it makes sense a possible accomplice would have given it to HaeSoo.
Having said this, I do believe HaeSoo was the one who killed the Foreman, probably in self defense because he was trying to abuse her, but HS decided to take the blame.
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM
i agree with you on both counts. Hae Soo is possibly the victim and assailant of that foreman. But Hyun Su may have also attacked the foreman to protect Hae Soo due to his bloodied face in the flashbacks. Who incurred the killing blow? We can only know when the events of that day come to light in future episodes.
Regarding Jung Mi Sook, someone else did the crime. Someone close to the family and possibly from the same town. If Hae Soo knew where and how that goldfish keychain was acquired, I do not think she will give it to his brother. Unless she is setting him up for the crime. Or someone else is.
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18 Lookie
August 18, 2020 at 4:19 AM
Did I miss the connection between Hyun Soo's fake parents and his kidnapper? I did not quite get the reason why his "father" would want the kidnapper dead. How is he a thorn on their side?
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jillian
August 18, 2020 at 4:52 AM
Kyung Choon can identify Hee Sung as Do Hyun Su. When that comes out, it will be put into light Hee Sung's fake identity and their collusion to the crime. Everything can snowball when the police search the house and find coma!Hee Sung. That is the reason the parents want him dead.
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Lookie
August 19, 2020 at 5:45 AM
I got that angle thus far. Still, I am looking for a deeper connection between his "parents" and the kidnapper, especially linking with the comatose son. This is a nagging feeling which add more color to the drama.
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19 jillian
August 18, 2020 at 4:49 AM
It was heartbreaking to find out that JiWon knows and see her weep, the happy bubble of her married life disintegrating. Based on her responses to Nam Soon Kil's wife, it looks more that she is out to prove if the rumors about Do Hyun Su are true. So it was equally heart shattering when she found the blood stains in the basement from Hee Sung's scuffle with Moo Jin. That blood stained zip tie didnt help matters as well. Its good that Ji Won has a steady head. I dont think she will confront Hee Sung yet until she gets enough evidence to point to him as a murderer.
With thay snippet with real!Hee Sung and the outburst from Dr Baek. I wonder if Hee Sung's mother had anything to do with real!Hee Sung's coma status, directly or indirectly caused it. That 15 years ago incident may correlate to whatever accident real!Hee Sung got involved in.
As JiWon is turning away from Hee Sung, he may finally rralize that he loves his wife and not merely pretending to protect his secret identity. We see it but he does not realize it yet. So it will be equally devastating for him when Ji Won confronts him with his past.
How cute was Eun Ha in the hospital room when Hee Sung pretended he does not remember a daughter. And that last scene when she rushed to her father after school. 💕 that kid is adorable and one of Hee Sung's saving grace.
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20 haze
August 18, 2020 at 8:51 AM
I called it before. I knew he was showing schizoid personality disorder and not ASPD. I feel especially bad for JW having no one to share her discovery with. The burden is just too much to bear. I hope she finds someone she can confide with about her discovery of who DHS is and the blood in their basement. She might just explode and it won't be the first time, since she suddenly broke down and made an outburst in that hospital room scene with HS. I am also relieved that HS took the high road and decide not to kill the driver.This only shows that HS had thought about it, whether in the present or in the past. I am sure that he will face the same conflict in the future - whether to kill or not, whether to let out the monster or not.
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cozybooks
August 21, 2020 at 11:30 AM
Waaah that's so cool! I'll have to go back and rewatch now haha since they called it ASPD earlier in the show. Cool!!
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21 candilane
August 18, 2020 at 1:17 PM
Hate to critique but the reviews come kinda late for this show. Hopefully, they will come faster. Usually, I am excited the first 2 days after a show airs and I usually have my comments ready. LOL. I think I have forgotten half of what I wanted to say for this episode.
Main Points : Cha Ji Won is awesome. I love that she doesnt jump to conclusions and does thorough investigations. I also love how dynamic between her and Do Hyun So. He loves her so much and he doesnt even realize it. He literally asked the man a very painful questions just so he can get more insight and clarity on what his wife might be feeling when he almost died.
The sister is an interesting character and I feel sorry for her somewhat. Her brother sacrificed himself ( from what I can guess) so that she can live a normal life but she seems to live a very sad life. Also she seems hung up on the hurtful words of her exboyfriend ( the Reporter). I don't think the sister is the accomplice like everyone is surmising. I have been firm about the accomplice since episode 1 ( by playing my own method of Guess Who). I believe the accomplice is the head police detective with the glasses. He is suspicious without being suspicious. Right now he just seems like an ordinary character but I have had my eye on him for some time plus his reactions to Baek Hee Sung mother seemed off. I guess we will see but I definitely think the witness was correct and the accomplice was another man but I think its someone on the police force. Also, its possible his father isn't dead.. who knows?..
This drama is very interesting and I cant wait to know all the backstories. Plus does anyone love the shots of how they feel in love? I love watching those scenes. I loved the scene with him watching the store to protect her..
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22 Peppibow
August 18, 2020 at 4:23 PM
I have the feeling that hee sung will at some point have to run away from the polive,and maybe his wife, and that he will take his daughter with him. And Eun ha will just go with him, because she just adores her father.
They made a point to show that Ji Won and her daughter have not a very close relationship. At the beginning of episode to Ji Won wanted to dry her daughters hair and Eun-Ha pretty much said that she's not good at it and she prefers her daddy for it.
In episode 1, at the end, Ji-Won is coming home and they all three have fun with each other, and at some point Hee-sung and Eun-ha pretend to run away from Ji-Won before they end up at the couch and cuddling each other. Could be foreshadowing for something.
It would be heartbreaking for Ji-Won to not only lose her husband but also her daughter.
P.S. this episode made it pretty clear that Hee-sung has romantic feelings for his wife. He's not really able to recognize them as 'love' but it's there.
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23 Nathalie Connor
August 20, 2020 at 7:43 PM
This tale is one of redemption. And who do you think is the flower of evil? Hint : a female.
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24 cozybooks
August 20, 2020 at 11:25 PM
Just finished episode 8... literally don't know how I'm going to last the week until ep. 9-10 come out. WHAT A RIDE! It hasn't slown down yet!!
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Lily left the valley
August 20, 2020 at 11:47 PM
I'm so very, very happy this has turned out to be a good show so far. There's been so many disappointments of late. 😁
(The "so far" is a weak attempt to ward away the bad Act III Blues.⚔️ I really, really, really hope the ride continues to be this thrilling right up to the end.)
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Maq
August 21, 2020 at 12:16 AM
There's so much happening! Where to even start?
Biggest thing for me, I guess, is that thing Hyun-soo said to Hae-soo and then the thing he said to Ji-won afterwards. She must have been so devastated. How will she ever forgive him? Should she forgive him?
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Lilli
August 21, 2020 at 4:28 PM
He didn't say he didn't love her, he said he doesn't know how love feels like. And he didn't actually lie to her while answering her question with a question. I wonder when will Jiwon confront him with the truth tho. He's still not unforgivable to me
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Maq
August 21, 2020 at 4:57 PM
I don't know. I'm inclined to agree that he's not unforgivable, but I think the situation might look very different to the person to whom he's been lying for years.
Fair enough about his comment. However, I think the point isn't what we know as the audience. We all think he does love her but just doesn't realize it or know what it means to love her. The key thing is how the person in the situation will interpret that comment. He's almost certainly said, "I love you," in the past to her, so know the sincerity of those comments are called into question. Combined with everything else, this is sure to be a reason to be angry for Ji-won.
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Peppibow
August 21, 2020 at 6:42 PM
I agree with you.
On the other hand, I was glad that she decided to break up with him. She doesn't do it because she doesn't love him anymore, but she wants to be free from these lies (understandably). In the voice over, where they drink beer together, she said that he should live as Baek Hee Sung (for their daughter), but she will part ways with him. It's her "last gift" to him. It's actually so sad, it sounds like to be "free" of Ji-Won will be a gift yo him... But she has the right to do this, and I totally understand her decision. Who would want to live such a big lie?
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25 Lala
September 29, 2020 at 5:45 AM
Can someone answer my question, how did park kyung choon know do min seok MO for the killing? . I thought no one but police know about the dog lesh and achilles cut? Am I missing something?
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