The Uncanny Counter 2: Episodes 3-4

by Unit

Being a counter is an easy job, said no one ever, and this week, our newest counter gets a first-hand experience of what he signed up for. Meanwhile, our baddies go up against the good guys, and our wildcard picks a side.

 
EPISODES 3-4

We’re only in the second week and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting an all-out counters versus evil trio confrontation this early in the show. But with just 12 episodes to tell its story, I guess the drama wants to make every minute count. We pick up where we left off with Pil-gwang’s visit to the noodle shop, but he’s not here for Ms. Chu’s signature noodles. He’s here to unnerve his opponents — or more accurately, Moon. Because let’s face it, Moon is his only competition among the counters. And because fair play is an alien concept to evil spirits, Pil-gwang picks the right time for a visit: when there are kids in the shop, and the counters cannot do anything rash.

Sitting opposite Moon at a table, Pil-gwang places his order: a medium-sized bowl of psychokinesis and some villain speak on the side. But Moon matches him wit for wit and psychokinesis for psychokinesis, and soon, the whole shop is engulfed in tremors. It’s a pretty silly scene, to be honest, and it gets boring real fast. Like, exit the shop and beat each other up like real men. Flex some actual muscles and be done with it. Pfft.

But they end up exhausting each other out — nosebleeds and all — and Pil-gwang leaves with a “You have many things you want to protect” observation, which to me sounds like a threat. And though Moon won this round of whatever-it-was-they-just-did, he blames himself for not punishing Pil-gwang accordingly. You think? Evil walked on its own into your turf and you just let him go without inflicting major damage. *Rolls eyes*

Anyway, now that their hideout has been discovered, it’s time for the counters to move. Their new base is a warehouse courtesy of Jang-mul, and while I miss the warmth and familiarity of the noodle shop, this place is much fancier. It’s bling bling, it’s spacious, it comes with upgraded training facilities and new tracksuits!! As expected, the counters are excited about their new lodgings, and forever the farmer, Jeok-bong even has plans of planting vegetables in the warehouse. Smh.

But with the evil trio running amok, drill instructor Moon cannot allow the rest of his counter family to get too carried away. Jeok-bong is practically a hopeless case at the moment, and it takes zero effort for Moon to whoop his ass during training. Mo-tak and Ms. Chu can barely keep up, and soon they’re panting on the floor. But ever the relentless fighter, Hana refuses to give up and eventually beats Moon at training. Yep, that’s my girl! I’m happy she won (albeit with her last burst of energy), but at the same time I’m worried about the others. I get that Moon is extraordinarily powerful, but if they cannot collectively take him on, how will they fight the evil trio?

Hana and Jeok-bong go jogging and while he’s off to buy ice cream, she meets her high school crush who is now a piano instructor. But before they can reminisce on old times, Jeok-bong rushes over in a protective (or jealous?) stance and… trips and falls over — nose first — on the pavement. Tsk. A foul stench hits his nose and he begins to sniff around for the source of the smell with his bloody nose. The whole situation is part embarrassing, part concerning for Hana until she stumbles on an evil spirit in the piano studio. He’s the source of the smell! Thankfully, he is a low level evil spirit, and Hana wastes no time in sweeping him across a piano to Beethoven’s Symphony no 5. Lol.

Jeok-bong is mighty proud of himself and his newly acquired heightened sense of smell, and it does make sense that after inhaling cow dung all his life, his special counter power will be smell-related. Heh. Now he has the responsibility of sniffing out the evil spirits who actively avoid stepping into the counters’ territory. But a better use of the time he was prancing around and telling everyone not to over-stimulate his nose would have been to focus on training and building up his strength.

My thoughts about Jeok-bong and his new power barely get a chance to marinate before he ends up leading the counter team astray. *Rubs temples* Not that I’m blaming him, because, yunno, he’s still new to this countering lifestyle. Plus, the element of surprise heightens the watching experience for the viewers — but not for the counters who walk right into the evil trio’s trap!

Here’s what happened: Jeok-bong picks up a stench and after making the team drive around in circles, they end up at a cow farm. Dude, are you smelling dung or evil spirits? The trip is not all a bust, though, because Hana’s radar picks up the presence of evil spirits around. The problem is, the spirits are in two different locations and the team has to split — with Ms. Chu and Jang-mul heading off to the level one spirit, and the others going to take on the stronger spirit. Unfortunately, Hana reads wrong, and instead of meeting the weaklings at their location, Ms. Chu and Jang-mul end up in a face off against Pil-gwang and Wong. *Internal screaming*

This is the definition of worst case scenario, and as expected, Ms. Chu and Jang-mul stand no chance against that annoying Wong. At some point, Ms. Chu tries to stab Wong, but Pil-gwang uses psychokinesis to direct the weapon in her hands towards Jang-mul. It’s the evilest thing Pil-gwang has done yet! Jang-mul accepts this fate as Ms. Chu tries — and fails — to resist the force, and she’s this close to stabbing Jang-mul when the weapon flies out of her grip. Yep, it’s Moon, and he’s here to deliver a counter punch! Phew!!

As it turns out, the GPS in Jeok-bong’s nose was at variance with Hana’s radar, which is why to cover their bases, Moon and Mo-tak left them to join Ms. Chu and Jang-mul. Pil-gwang can’t even throw a decent punch when he’s finally up against someone his own size, and Moon beats him silly. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Wong faces the Ms. Chu and Mo-tak tag team, and to my uttermost delight, it’s game over for Wong! *Happy dance* He is summoned to Yung, and the soul of the Chinese healer counter he held hostage can finally move on to paradise.

Pil-gwang manages to level up with Moon and almost strangles him, but Moon refuses to die — not when Min-ji’s soul is still held hostage. Moon returns the favor and draws Pil-gwang up to be quartered, but when Pil-gwang aims a gun at Jang-mul, Moon releases his hold on His Royal Malevolence in order to save Jang-mul. And thus, Pil-gwang escapes and lives to fight another day. This sucks, but it’s not like I was expecting Pil-gwang to die now. *Shrugs*

The second location has Hana and Jeok-bong going head to head with Kelly — who weaves in and out with the ease of Flash, that the counters cannot keep up with her speed. Jeok-bong is totally unhelpful, and Kelly knocks him and his sense of smell out (not that she knows the extent of damage she caused), but Hana manages to get a pound of flesh by scratching out one of Kelly’s eyes. And hello, it’s sexy eye-patch time! *Wink, wink*

With the evil trio (now duo) losing a member, an eye, and major ego points, our counters top the scoreboard. But it’s not a complete win for them either, as the other Chinese counters and Min-ji are still trapped in the evil duo. “What if we were the first ones to meet the evil spirits?” Mo-tak asks. “If we were defensless as well, we would have met the same fate [as our Chinese counterparts],” Hana replies, and this calls for some reflection — and scolding, because Jang-mul is miffed that Moon chose to save him (and take the bullet) instead of finishing Pil-gwang off.

“If anyone should die, it should have been me,” Jang-mul insists. “If you’re gone, we are as good as dead.” And with the way the show is going right now with Moon in his Captain America era, you have a point, Jang-mul. But I will stop you right there, sir, because nobody is dying! Do you hear me, Show? We are not losing anyone! If Moon sacrifices a counter to kill an evil spirit, would he forgive himself? I think not. It’s not even in his character to do that, so everyone should just chill and think positive thoughts.

Especially Mo-tak, who lately feels like he’s a hindrance to the team with his double duty as a detective and a counter, and wonders if his time as a counter is coming to an end. Pfft. Dude, you still have it in you, so stop with the foreshadowing of doom, and repeat after me, “I can do it!”

Okay, when I said “I can do it,” I was referring to fighting evil spirits, not dancing Tango. But hey, Yeom Hye-ran looked lovely doing the dance, and the counters do need to take a break every now and then. Unfortunately, Jeok-bong takes the idea of “break” too far, and he leaves a note and returns to his village to lick his wounds. Because what good is a counter who can’t fight and loses his special powers? I never thought I’d see noble idiocy in a non-romance drama, but here we are.

Anyway, Jeok-bong’s dad sends him on an errand to the village head’s house, and he arrives just in time to stop the village head’s son from committing murder. He can’t smell it, but he definitely recognizes the evil spirit in the son, and they get into a fight. They roll from the house to the cattle shed and when a punch lands on Jeok-bong’s nose, his powers return. “That lovely smell is back!” Jeok-bong exclaims, and of course, his powers returned in the dung. Lol. “I’m no longer the fool I used to be,” Jeok-bong says, as he paints the evil spirit’s face with punches and dung, and this scene is part hilarious, part repulsive.

Hana and Moon — who came to convince Jeok-bong to return to countering duties — watch the fight like the proud sunbaes they are, and for the first time in his career, Jeok-bong summons an evil spirit to Yung. And in the end, I’m glad he went through this phase because he needed it for character growth. Although I wonder if his powers are going to be an on/off thing. Yunno, breaking his nose to activate powers and breaking it again to deactivate it. Heh.

But just like Jeok-bong, our resident evil duo get their mojo back — no thanks to Kelly reading some of Hana’s memories (from a brief interaction during their fight). Kelly tells Pil-gwang that Min-ji was a friend to the counters, and this information is intriguing enough for Pil-gwang to look into Min-ji’s husband (Joo-seok) as a potential way of getting back at the counters.

Speaking of Joo-seok, he stole a fire truck to chase after the man he believes to have killed Min-ji and he almost kills the man, but for Mo-tak’s intervention. Pending his trial, Joo-seok is remanded in prison and he ends up in solitary confinement after getting into a yard fight. He attempts suicide, but his deep-seated rage summons an evil spirit that prevents him from offing himself. Technically, since Joo-seok hasn’t killed anyone yet, the evil spirit cannot possess him. But the (very ugly) spirit is persistent and keeps whispering to him, filling his head with rage and calling him over to the dark side. Oh dear!

On the day of his trial, Joo-seok is called upon to speak, and all he has to do is admit that he regrets his actions. But that’s when the evil duo enter the courtroom. Yikes! “I regret everything,” Joo-seok begins. “If I could turn back time and go back to that same moment,” he continues, “then I’d kill [the man behind Min-ji’s death] no matter what.” *Facepalm* Oh for f**k’s sakes! Joo-seok is really crossing over to the dark side, isn’t he?

For some reason, I was mostly indifferent about Joo-seok and if he wasn’t friends with the counters, I probably won’t care about him at all. But maybe now that he has picked a side, I can finally become interested in his character — although I wish he didn’t have to move to the dark side for this to happen.

And speaking of the dark side, the evil duo are starting to get boring. Unlike in the first season where the villain built up his power along the way, these ones are already powerful, so what development are we supposed to expect from them? I thought we were going to get their back stories or at least, learn their character motivations and what drives them. But so far, it seems they’re just evil for the sake of being evil.

The drama is going to become monotonous real fast if we get the counters versus evil duo fight every week. And I think the show needs to build up the tension, give us some juicy side stories (related to the plot, of course), and make us look forward to the inevitable grand fight between good and evil. And for the love of good fights, while I enjoy the psychokinesis, Moon is not the only counter. It’s no fun if the other counters can’t even get a punch in. Come on, Show, stop trying to make them look incompetent. After all, it’s supposed to be teamwork, not Moon work.

 
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