I think neither the father nor the uncle are involved in the murders. The uncle might be involved in something - maybe the student protests or maybe something to do with the voice in Hee-seob's head - but the father is definitely simply covering for his brother. At this point the girls in the town are clearly the most suspicious - Ko Mi-sook, the bully, and the owner/waitress at Bong Bong Teahouse. But a female murderer would need to either be inordinately strong or have an accomplice to accomplish all these killings.

This week brought up a lot of things that don't really make sense:
1. Why didn't the leads keep checking the case documents and the manuscript? If the documents changed once, wouldn't they change again?
2. If Hae-jun can only choose the year in the time machine, did he just coincidentally reach 1987 exactly one month before the murder? And how was he able to travel continuously back-and-forth between his day job in 2021 and his job in 1987, to the exact right dates, before the car broke down?
3. Didn't understand the despair over the father's arrest either. If Hae-jun knew about it, that means he was arrested in the original timeline too but obviously wasn't convicted/ was exonerated.

What I don't understand is why didn't Have Jun go to the future instead of past?
For one, he wouldn't have to care so much about not disturbing too many variables and changing futures. Secondly, it would've been much easier. He could've just done a stake out for his death, figured out the culprit, came back to 1987 and framed them while saving everybody.

Thanks, @quirkycase for the useful warning at the end of your clear recap. I'll take it under advisement and change my weekend time-travel plans. Or maybe I already did?

In any case, while the time-travel inconsistencies of this show are definitely there as @miso2019 points out, unlike Blue I am a fan of whodunnits, and so far this show has done nice job in throwing up red herrings and then partly dismissing them, although I agree the tag-team serial murderer hypothesis is a good one; also I have a feeling the murderer is also a time traveler, but then why would s/he/they choose 1987? But then, why did the time-traveling car appear to Hae-joon in the first place? Maybe there is a whole fleet of time traveling cars, and the killer abandoned an old model on the side of the street, not wanting to pay to have it towed away?

So far, though, I'm willing to suspend my time traveling judgement and enjoy the mystery aspect of the show, which I actually find pretty engaging. Its rare that we get a serial killer detective show these days; most of the serial killers have taken up residence in romances, where they help heighten the comic misunderstandings of love.

My Perfect Stranger went straight for my heart this week with the murders. Just when I was rejoicing that they were making headways, not one but two murders that were supposedly averted took place. It begs to ask just as Hae-joon did : "What's the essence of them trying to save the victims?"

I found it especially touching that Hae-joon isn't singly actively trying to save his own skin for now. I don't know...is it that he adopted the philosophy that his meritorious acts of good will appease the gods of fate and make his death pass away from him? I sure know that he hasn't simply resigned to fate. I know he'll fight for himself.
With the two murders, at this point I don't think his knowledge of his death in 2022 will stop it from happening. It might postpone it but it might still happen. So even if he waits for 10 months or finds a loophole around the time machine, history will repeat itself.
His selfless acts in this timeline has to count.

Was it that I was happy? It was with mixed feelings to see them save a life the very day they lost 2. Was both happy and sad cause I was still reeling from Kyung-ae's demise.

About Kyung-ae, just when I warmed up to her character completely, MPS said " Okay! That's all for Kyung-ae". Hong Na-hyun did wonders with her character. Yes, she was bratty. But she also really cared for her sister beyond the superficial. To see her fight back for the money so her sister can attend college after she saw how her sister viewed her - that she doesn't see her as a directionless person, and the scene with her mom. It really hit a soft spot.

My money will always be on Mi-sook and now Baek Yu-sub. I must add though that I found Hee-seob very unpalatable with his behavior post-murders. I get the plan. He's not the real culprit so there's the chance that he'll be set free if the case gets to court or during police investigations. It was really unpleasant to watch. I don't even understand how he had the nerve to marry Soon-ae after having verified information on the details of her sister's death. It's a very unhinged action that heavily borders on creepy and psycho.

Hae-joon opening up a bit this week was nice, especially after the tragedies. I was thinking he'd push Yoon-young away again like last week so I'm really impressed with the journey and wishfully hope he keeps us this record.

I'm dying to know more about Hae-Joon's father. Quite a character! What caused the rift between the generations of Yoon men?

I am invested in the whodunnit game of this show. I think they have more than one killer. Mi Sook and Yu Seob are definitely my top suspects. If its one of them, he/dhe may not be acting alone. Mi Sook's hold on the leader of the mean girls is highly suspicious so they may be working together.
I like that we got to see more of Hae Jun's backstory. Who would've thought that he was his grandpa with all his denials and annoyances with the elder's claim of looking like him.
I sure hope HJ really saved Soon Ae's mom and the show will not kill her later on.

I choose to ignore the plotholes in this drama because otherwise the show starts to fall apart and I like the chemistry between the Keats and the whodunit aspect of the show. There are a million ways they could find out who killed him, but we needed to be in the past because of reasons, so I am choosing to accept it and move on. I was so sad the sister died, and her poor family.

It's now the halfway point, but I'm glad the story is still mysterious and twisty. Lots of possible suspects. Even Hae Joon's father is suspicious to me despite not having any evidence lol. (Any new character.... =P)

The mystery elements combined with the emotional, family side have been great. Hae Joon and Yoon Young make a good pair. They have contrasting qualities, but they can balance each other out and have some nice teamwork.

Typical of time travel shows and in this situation where our duo failed to save the victims, they will have another chance to go back in time and save them somehow, right?! So sad about Kyung Ae. She was really sweet once we got to know her outside of her sassy exterior.

Hae Joon said the cops were already headed over to Hee Seob's place to arrest him (according to the original timeline). But based on what evidence?

I am still suspecting Soon Ae's brother even though there is nothing shown to point to him, but is the Bong Bong Teahouse lady the owner of the time travel car? So many of the victims had a signature Bong Bong Teahouse match box, so surely she must be connected.

Last week I had suspected that the teacher would not be able to leave the city alive, but I was relieved that she had apparently managed to do so, so that I no longer expected the current development. I'm very interested to know why she didn't make it, but I'm afraid I won't get an answer to that. Did she return to the city of her own accord or did some kind of higher power that doesn't allow fate to change ensure that she was suddenly back on the scene?

I had originally expected a romance to develop between the two main characters, but at the moment I don't see it. But to be honest, I don't miss anything here either, I find the search for the murderer exciting enough.

I don't really care about the rules of travel in time. I'm more invested in the murders and our main characters.

It was sad to see them fighting so much to save people who still died. For the murderer, I wonder if Mi-sook is behind them by manipulating people to kill for her. Yoon-young's father looks too naive to make this kind of planned murders and naive enough to take the fall for someone else.

I have a weakness for hug, so I loved their hug. Both of them really needed it. And they weren't awkward about it, just honest with their feeling.

The cut from the teachers death to the sisters death was confusing, I didn't know if we were in the past or present. Also it seemed like everyone forgot about the car until this episode, shouldn't that have beeen something they worked on simultaneously? They should have atleast included some scenes of him trying to fix it every once in a while
Why were they fixated on locating the brother as though he was the only suspect ? Just because he's now on the list doesn't mean you disregard the others
It was honestly naive for them to think the murders wont happen just because they saved them on the recorded night. As long as the murderer(s) are/is still loose no one's safe

Also i've been thinking why would her sister be a victim when books clearly weren't her thing then I remembered the book Soonae gave her.
The show frustrates me but i can't bring myself to drop it

I started this show for Time Travel thing but after 8 episodes, and seeing so many missing links about time travel plot as in i was okay til he said "he can only choose the year and not the date n month" then how Hae Joon can predict things so accurately like the girl he saved from suicide in 1st epi, detective to come n catch Hee Seob in 8tb episode. Hae Joon told everything as if he has witnessed it all.... and then how he could move to and fro between 1987 n 2021 so easily without hampering his daily life or raising suspicion in people around.
and then when he says i waited for 10 months to see me dead.. how he survived those 10 months having his own self in current timeline, not letting anyone catch his 2 versions and so much more.
So time travel theory is way too lose n lacking here.
but...
rest everything else in on point.
the mystery "who is the killer"
the thrill n suspense of following all the shady characters to know what they are upto
then emotional ride of YY with her Mother and her extended family. i absolutely adore soon ae and love how YY wants to protect her at all cost.
now next thing i want to see how Hae Joon behaves with his dad. we dont even know how was his relation to his dad and now we will get to know.
Hae Joon offerinf Hug to Yoo Young was so soft and heart melting.. when i carve for a kiss scene to make a moment memorable that Hug was so much more than that... memorable and powerful and emotional. Loved it.
.
now the plot points
1. I still bet on Mi Seok to be mastermind or at least the person to plan it all if not be the exact killer.
2. Hae Joon saving people in past girst from suicide, YYs granny will surely gonna play some role in future to save him from being killed (emotional string always overpowers technical aspect in time travel dramas as per my experience.
.
so i am keeping time travel disappointment aside cause Suspense Thriller n Mystery in this show so much fun and gripping to drop it.

I'm starting to wonder if present day Hee-seob's alcoholism has something to do with his past, and the events that are unfolding back in 1987. There is clearly some darkness that he hasn't been able to escape.

Maybe Hae-joon can only affect the fate of people who on a path to kill themselves (the glue-sniffing students, the mom/grandma) and not those who are killed by someone else?

Soon-ae's father (Yoon-young's grandfather) was driving the bus on which the student teacher left in ep. 6, wearing a scarf as an absurd disguise. I assumed Hae-joon recruited him to help, but we never saw that. Him sneaking onto the bus was played for laughs but I was confused because I thought he just ran the shop and sold tickets at the bus terminal. She was the only passenger, too, and Dong-shik’s remark, “the buses are already running?” indicated that it wasn’t on the normal schedule. I wonder if his special bus run will have something to do with her return to town. Now I’m mentally adding him to the suspect long-list despite his obvious grief at Kyung-ae’s death.

I’m much more interested in the mystery and kind of dreading any move toward romance between the leads. The actors are only 5 years apart in real life, but their styling and mannerisms here make them seem like completely different generations and their circumstances in the 1987 timeline are giving much more of a teacher/student feel, which would make a loveline squicky. The hug was sweet but seemed out of the blue, too, and more avuncular than romantic.

Also, what’s up with the rolls of toilet paper all around HJ’s house? I remember 1987 and we did have boxes of tissue even in those dark times.

I started this show in the weekend and binge watched the whole thing until now... I'm in love. I'm a huge fan of time travel stories in general, with back to the future being my favorite franchise, so this whole thing appeal to me a lot. I personally dont get too invested in the rules because it always get a bit confusing, but I love when a time travel story also has a big emotional stake for the traveler and this is something this drama does it so well. I love our small village, all the character, the ambient, the art directing, the nostalgia but without being too forced. our leading actors are doing an amazing job portraying their character and i also like a lot how haejun is not a stoic, cold character to yooyoung. love their chemistry and how they're slowly progressing from total strangers to action partners. I dont know if the drama will have time to develop a romantic connection as well, but I wouldn't mind either.

tldr: really invested, liking a lot. so good to have a time travel story with so much heart and an interesting mystery attached to it. cant wait for next week.

I thought HJ might get killed because he was trying to uncover who's the real culprit so he became a threat to the real culprit.

Finally, more history are revealed. This disclosure about the 2nd victim's identity answered my question about Yoon-young's non-reaction towards her aunt a few eps ago when she met her family again. Apparently our leading lady are much more entwined with this serial killing case than she realized. Which made me wonder what other shocking revelation await us in the future eps.

As for Baek Yoo-seob, I'm still reserving my opinion on him because present timeline has shown that he was incapable of murder, what with him being bound to a wheelchair. That is, unless that was an act, because his loathing for his niece's book and Yoon-young's mom comment about the killer deceiving everyone for so long was suspect enough. Still, I couldn't help but wonder about Kyung-ae being one of the victim. She doesn't seem to conform to the calling card saying "women who reads were dangerous". But maybe we are missing something still.

I'm also keeping my eyes open on Bum-ryeong and the bully girl (Hae-kyung?). I'm pretty sure they have deeper stories beyond the stereotyped characters they seemed to play. Hopefully it's nothing devastating (I'm side-eyeing the still non-existent family history of our male lead, it felt like we are heading somewhere dark because we are already halfway through, and we still knew next to nothing of his backstory), but knowing this drama, I should probably count myself lucky if it doesn't end up in brutal murder.

I should have known that the victory of eps 7 was too easy and too soon, not to mention the fact that our heroes still haven't found out the killer's real identity, which means they were free to roam the road and did their bad deed when the opportunity strike. Eps 8 was the moment I always dreaded in time travel story: that bitter realization that some things are unchangeable because there were too many disparated elements that led to that one inevitable point. Though I couldn't completely disregard another possible lesson for our leads: that changing the future meant paying its hefty and unthinkable price.

Bitter road ahead, everyone, we better brace ourselves for the oncoming onslaught of angst and tragedies.