Blind: Episodes 13-14

by mistyisles

The killer’s cover may have been blown, but catching and securing evidence against said killer proves to be another matter entirely. He’s built his web well, and it’s hard to tell just how many people he’s already drawn into it.

 
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP

In-sung looms over Sung-hoon’s hospital bed. Before he can attempt the murder a second time, someone else enters the room, and In-sung slips out. That isn’t much improvement for Sung-hoon, however, because his new visitor is Moon-kang (who feigned insanity to get out of police custody).

Now aware that Sung-hoon is #11, Moon-kang demands information about Yoon-jae, again resorting to strangulation when Sung-hoon refuses to answer. The only thing that saves Sung-hoon is that Moon-kang belatedly pieces together who he just saw leaving the room. He rushes out to the hallway, but of course In-sung is long gone.

Sung-joon is relieved that Sung-hoon is awake, but though his suspicions are cleared, he would like an answer for Sung-hoon’s secret-keeping. Sung-hoon explains that he had to keep his cards hidden so he could catch the killer, and confirms that In-sung — A.K.A. Yoon-jae — is the one they’re after.

Meanwhile, the restaurant ajumma cooks breakfast for In-sung. Though the cracks start to show in In-sung’s act (perhaps on purpose), the ajumma wants to believe he’s her son so badly that she ignores the red flags. Even when Sung-joon tries to convince her that In-sung is dangerous, she insists that she knows her child and a DNA test isn’t necessary.

Sung-joon has the test done anyway. As expected, In-sung’s DNA doesn’t match the ajumma’s, but it is similar enough to a recently unearthed skeleton to conclude that the deceased girl was Yoon-jae’s sister, Yoon-jung.

Not long after, In-sung vanishes — and along with him, the ajumma, Eun-ki, Eun-ki’s mom, Sung-joon’s mom, shaman juror Kyung-ja, and Police Chief Ki-nam. That makes eight people including Moon-kang and PD Bae Chul-ho, who were already considered missing.

Eun-ki, as we see, was lured by a photo of her mother in captivity. In-sung instructed her to take a taxi (driven by Charles, who seems to have a deep, personal attachment to In-sung) and not to let the police know. But she still left a clue, which leads Sung-joon and Sung-hoon to the house where Ki-nam assaulted Yoon-jung.

A bomb is clearly visible through a window, and In-sung gleefully tells Sung-joon over the phone that the moment he opens the door, the house will explode, killing the prisoners. But it doesn’t take Sung-joon long to deduce that no one is actually here — In-sung is just keeping the police busy.

Sure enough, the missing people are in the Hope Welfare dungeon. Once all eight wake up and take in the scene, In-sung announces that a (real) bomb will kill them all in ten minutes if they don’t choose one of their number to die instead. Oh, and by the way, someone among them has to do the killing, too.

Eun-ki tries to reason with the others to work together, but she’s outvoted. Instead, they devolve into a savage argument over who’s committed the most, and worst, sins. Horrible secrets tumble out left, right, and center, and when they all — Eun-ki included — ultimately turn on Moon-kang, he decides Eun-ki has gotten in his way enough. Just as he raises his knife, Eun-ki’s mother blurts out that Eun-ki is Moon-kang’s daughter.

That stuns everyone to silence, especially Moon-kang. Even In-sung seems shocked that no one else knew. But they’re interrupted by a blaring horn from outside: Sung-joon is here! In-sung runs away to watch via cameras, elated that he can kill Sung-joon alongside the others. He presses the button to detonate the bomb… but nothing happens.

Back in the dungeon, he finds the prisoners gone and both Sung-joon and Sung-hoon waiting to arrest him. Sung-hoon stands impassively as Sung-joon handcuffs In-sung and In-sung begs Sung-hoon to help him.

Now that they’ve got In-sung in custody, the challenge becomes proving that he’s the Joker Killer. They don’t have hard evidence, and In-sung knows it. But one thing does seem to get to him: hearing Sung-joon call Sung-hoon “hyung.” In every ensuing conversation, Sung-joon and In-sung toss the phrase “my hyung” back and forth in a subtle but pointed claim of ownership.

Sung-joon brings Sung-hoon in to help, but that complicates things in worrisome ways. In-sung appears to strike some kind of whispered agreement with Sung-hoon, and hints at fears of betrayal. When Sung-hoon shares enough of In-sung’s hints for Sung-joon to find video evidence of In-sung’s killings, In-sung retaliates by triggering memories from Sung-joon’s forgotten childhood.

In-sung (well, Yoon-jae) intentionally caused Sung-joon’s memory-wiping accident and then made him believe he was Yoon-jae. When Sung-joon confronts Sung-hoon about letting it happen, Sung-hoon says he was scared and wanted to protect Yoon-jae, but that he’s always seen Sung-joon as his real brother. And Taecyeon kills me with his puppy eyes.

But In-sung laughs at that notion. As he’s marched through the police station, he breaks free long enough to shove Sung-joon down a long flight of stairs, triggering more memories: both Yoon-jae and Sung-hoon planted Yoon-jae’s memories in Sung-joon, telling him he’d be abandoned if he told anyone.

I both love and hate that we still can’t be sure of Sung-hoon’s motivations or the level of his involvement in In-sung’s revenge. Like Sung-joon, I was tearing up at their brother-to-brother talk, and realizing that at least some of those words were lies really stings. Perhaps it’s just as naïve as the ajumma ignoring warnings about In-sung, but I still want to believe there’s more to the story and that the real lie is what In-sung wants Sung-joon to think — that Sung-hoon doesn’t and never cared about him as anything other than a convenient pawn to use.

At first, I was surprised that In-sung was caught so quickly. But with so much else to wrap up — the full truth about Sung-hoon, bringing everyone involved with Hope Welfare to justice, etc. — I’m glad the show didn’t try to cram everything into the final two episodes.

Like many aspects of Blind’s storytelling, the dungeon hostage sequence wasn’t a new concept by any means, but that didn’t detract from its effectiveness. These kinds of scenes typically end in rescue and/or a fakeout, but Blind managed to pack this one with so much intensity (and so many volatile characters) that there were moments I genuinely believed one or more hostages might actually end up dead. Which only made the release of tension that much more satisfying when In-sung’s big sadistic moment fell flat.

I also appreciated that we followed that uber intense episode with a relatively quieter, less action-packed one so the characters could attempt to process all the new information they were bombarded with. In particular, I loved the moment between Eun-ki and her mother, where her mom made sure she knew that, though the circumstances of her birth were horrific, she was always loved and wanted. It’s a far cry from the messages Sung-joon has received from his family literally all his life, but hopefully it’s a signal that, with time, some of these horribly scarred people can eventually find healing.

 
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