Showtime Begins: Episodes 13-14

by mistyisles

With just a few episodes remaining, it’s time to start wrapping up our ghosts’ lingering desires so they can finally make the transition from this life to the next. But our heroes’ ancient foe isn’t defeated just yet…

 
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP

Evil spirit Cheon-moo, currently residing in Hee-soo’s body, is getting impatient to have Seul-hae (well, Cheon-hwa) all to himself. And the people closest to Hee-soo are starting to notice that something feels weird about him. For example, when the criminal Seul-hae chases down pulls a knife on her, Cheon-moo comes to her rescue… by brutally killing the guy with one kick to the face.

On another occasion, he invites her on a “stakeout” that’s really a pretense to be alone with her, then gets all up in her space to make her squirm and presents her with an expensive bracelet. When she declines the gift, he gets angry and forceful.

Less frightening but still overwhelming to her are Cha-woong’s unabashed gestures of affection. And once again, I’m pleasantly surprised by how they sit down and talk about it. Seul-hae explains that she feels like he’s looking at someone else, not her; Cha-woong listens, and admits he needs time to sort out his own feelings.

This week is a welcome return to form with a new case: a missing woman and a peculiar intersection where multiple cars of the same color and model have crashed. Seul-hae quickly deduces she’s got another ghost on her hands, but she’s not prepared to face it on her own, so she goes to Cha-woong’s employees for help. He overhears, however, and insists on tagging along.

It’s not hard to guess that the ghost is haunting that intersection for revenge on her killer, but what does come as a surprise is her identity. Her name is KIM MI-YOUNG (Hong Soo-hyun), and she was Dong-chul’s girlfriend when they were both alive.

She’d urged him to leave the gang life behind and start afresh with her. When he’d asked his boss for permission to quit, he’d been sent on a final mission to prove his good intentions. He’d succeeded, but was stabbed right in front of Mi-young.

But it gets worse. Since Mi-young witnessed Dong-chul’s murder, the killer murdered her, too. And the killer was none other than Dong-chul’s former gang boss – also known as “the Badger” — and secret criminal contact of Hee-soo’s father. And, through that connection, the man Cheon-moo commissions to orchestrate a fatal accident for Cha-woong.

Five years after her and Dong-chul’s deaths, Mi-young’s rage is so strong that she’s on the verge of becoming an evil spirit herself and has to be restrained whenever she starts to lose control. Still, she’s able to lead them to her corpse and evidence to prove the Badger’s guilt.

While the team heads out to get said evidence, the Badger himself follows and attempts to send their car over a cliff. But Choi Geom – who has secretly been watching over Cha-woong ever since their confrontation about his betrayal 2,000 years ago – saves them in the nick of time.

Believing Mi-young’s need for justice will only be assuaged if the Badger dies, Dong-chul volunteers to do the deed himself – meaning he’ll become the evil spirit, and her soul will be appeased. Fortunately, Cha-woong stops him, reminding Dong-chul that choosing such a dark path would mean even more suffering down the road, both for him and for his loved ones.

Cha-woong’s words about regret land on Choi Geom, too. And while this doesn’t magically put the two of them back on amazing terms, Cha-woong does take him back on as an entry level employee (much to the other ghosts’ delight, since they now outrank him).

Although Hee-soo’s father pulls strings to get the Badger off the hook, he doesn’t just let him walk free. Cheon-moo didn’t account for the Badger making a recording of the hit he’d ordered on Cha-woong, so Hee-soo’s father protects the family name by poisoning the Badger and disguising it as suicide. The police chief may be pathetic and cowardly, but he’s sure terrifying in this moment.

Now satisfied, Dong-chul and Mi-young get permission to enjoy life as ghosts just a little longer before moving on. And Cha-woong and Seul-hae get a bit of breathing room to re-address their relationship.

Showing off a cute little magic trick with the ring he bought her several episodes ago, Cha-woong confesses that he’s liked Seul-hae for a long time – even before he knew about their past lives. That clarification is enough for her, and he vows to be just as forthright as Poong Baek was hesitant, sealing the commitment with a kiss, which she happily returns. They’re official!

But there’s a new problem: with Choi Geom’s fan so close to lighting all the way up, it won’t be long before he ascends… freeing Cha-woong of his duty and his ability to see ghosts. That means Cha-woong has to 1) hurry up and help the ghosts achieve their final wishes and 2) avoid winning virtue points by giving Seul-hae things to thank him for.

Both he and Seul-hae are let in on the dilemma, so at least there are no hard feelings, but it nearly kills Cha-woong to have to look away any time she needs even the smallest amount of help. Fortunately, they don’t have to wait long before the chance to satisfy one ghost’s final wish arrives.

The wish is Ah-reum’s, and personally, I found her story even more poignant than Dong-chul’s. After a childhood bout with polio left her unable to walk, Ah-reum’s life goal was to return the help she’d received from others. But while she was still a student, she’d died in a fire, unable to save even herself.

Since Cha-woong’s next magic show is at an orphanage, the team decides to showcase Ah-reum’s favorite superhero, Lulu, with Ah-reum herself playing the titular figure. That might be closure enough, but Cheon-moo takes the show as his next opportunity to attack, inadvertently giving Ah-reum an even greater chance to prove herself.

He locks Cha-woong in the director’s office and sets the building on fire. Everyone gets out safely, including Cha-woong (Cheon-moo didn’t realize he had ghostly assistants, apparently), but Ah-reum freezes in front of the smoke and flame-filled hallway.

Spotting a terrified little girl hiding in the room, Ah-reum gathers all her courage and coaxes her out. She carries the girl to safety, jumping off a second-story balcony and landing on her feet like the superhero she is.

Obviously, the focus this week was on giving Dong-chul and Ah-reum a chance to find closure from the circumstances of their deaths, but I can’t help thinking Cheon-moo isn’t doing a very good job of being threatening right now.

He keeps making mistakes and underestimating Cha-woong’s resources, and even he admitted it was a good thing Hee-soo’s dad has enough connections to fix his blunder with the recording. Possessing Hee-soo may have put him in closer proximity to Seul-hae, but it seems to have downgraded him in terms of being a danger to the world.

Not that I’m really complaining, though! I’d be totally fine if our team took him out quickly next week, and we spent the rest of the time saying a proper goodbye to our ghosts and sending Cha-woong and Seul-hae off into the sunset of whatever they decide their future will look like.

 
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