The Uncanny Counter 2: Episodes 9-10

by Unit

Our penultimate week takes rule breaking to a whole new level that leaves us reeling in confusion. But the show also does what it does best by giving us just enough family moments and deserved victories to maybe make up for the head-scratching twists.

 
EPISODES 9-10

Moon losing his powers is a twist that neither the counters nor Joo-seok and Pil-gwang saw coming, but Kelly is not quite done yet. Our resident maniac intends to take everyone down with her, and a frenzy ensues. Punches are thrown, people are flung against walls, and the others are choked. And when it seems like there’s no way out for the counters, Jang-mul steps out of the elevator with a freaking submachine gun (!) to add to the chaos. LMAO! This is fantastically hilarious!

It turns out that evil spirits can’t stand a surprise rain of bullets, and Joo-seok and Pil-gwang duck for cover giving the counters (and Kelly) the chance to escape. Woosh! Best fight ever!! I wish Moon was awake to see this, but he’s gone into a coma, and up in Yung, Wi-gen gets trapped in a place called White Ground. She can only return if she finds Moon’s soul and reunites with him. Well, good luck with the search, ma’am.

Unfortunately, the search goes on for a longer time than expected, and the Yung partners begin to wonder if the reason Wi-gen hasn’t found Moon in White Ground is because he’s not in a coma. It’s possible that his soul is still inside his body, and to find out why he isn’t waking up, Hana enters into Moon’s subconscious mind. As they suspected, Moon is indeed hiding deep within himself and refusing to wake up.

When Moon meets Hana, he doesn’t recognize her. He tells her to stay away from him because everyone around him dies. It seems like he thinks the counters are all dead (because he went unconscious midway into the fight and he couldn’t see them escape the hotel), and he blames himself for failing to protect them. Yep! That sounds like a Moon thing to do, and it’s all left to his willpower to pull himself together and wake up. The counters are discouraged, but Ms. Chu firmly believes that he will return to them and she refuses to allow them wallow in despair.

Ms. Chu also finds out from Jae-yul (who has now remembered her as the woman who saved him from bullies in high school) that Chung-jae is stowing away, and the counters head to the port to stop him. As they search for him in the maze of containers, the sneaky bastard takes a shot at an unaware Ms. Chu, but Jae-yul comes out of nowhere to take the bullet for her. Tsk. You should just have gone to the police station like she said, you noble idiot! Thankfully, Ms. Chu has an abundance of healing powers to spare, and Mo-tak has a nice conversation with Chung-jae punctuated by punches, slaps, and kicks, before arresting him.

Kelly joins the Chung-jae search party at the port, and ends up in a face-off with Hana and Jeok-bong. She gets the upper hand as usual and soon, she’s inside one of the containers with a subdued Hana crouched in a corner. “Y’all are nothing without Moon… blah blah blah,” she gloats. But Hana suddenly chuckles, and as the container is slammed shut from the outside, an alarm goes off in Kelly’s head. “You’re not going anywhere, you idiot!” Hana retorts, and OMG! It was her plan all along with Jeok-bong to trap Kelly in a confined space!

I just love how the counters’ individual training with Moon has finally come into play in their fight against evil. From Mo-tak’s resistance of Joo-seok’s psychokinesis back at the hotel, to Hana’s reliance on senses other than sight to move around with ease in the dark container. It’s so beautiful to watch this pay off, and it reemphasizes the fact that the counters can achieve a level of greatness on their own without Moon’s physical presence.

“You thought darkness was your friend?” Hana taunts Kelly in the enclosed container, as she takes out Blondie’s remaining eye. Hahaha! “You guys belong to neither light nor darkness. Now go to hell!” Hana yells, and she summons the evil spirit out. You go, girl! Congratulations on summoning a level-three evil spirit without the use of the territory. Well done to you too, Jeok-bong! Keeping the girls locked in there is the most useful thing you have ever done as a counter.

With Kelly taken care of, the counters are left with the two strongest baddies — both of whom can’t be taken down without Moon. In another attempt to bring Moon back, Hana returns to his subconscious mind where she sees him wrestling with the baddies’ voices in his head. First on the mic stand is our Season 1 villain JI CHEONG-SHIN (!) (Lee Hong-nae), reminding Moon that his “cursed fate” will lead him and everyone around him to die a painful death. Pil-gwang, Joo-seok, and Kelly also have their moment with him, and Moon is on the verge of a breakdown. “None of this is real. You need to stay strong!” Hana tells him, but Moon is too exhausted to believe.

Moon travels back to his last moments with his parents, and Hana grows frantic as the Truck of Doom that killed them approaches. Moon is not listening to her pleas for him to return to the people waiting for him, and left with no other option, Hana attempts to block the truck with her body. Up in White Ground, Wi-gen prepares to disappear, but back in their hideout, Ms. Chu tells the rest of the counters (as well as Woong-min and Joo-yeon) that Moon will return no matter what. And at the last minute, Moon grabs Hana and stops the truck. Phew!

“Is everyone really waiting for me?” he asks, finally recognising who Hana is, and she nods. “You should tell us if you’re struggling or exhausted. We can protect you too, you idiot. We are family!” Aww. They hug it out, and Hana leaves his subconscious for him to go find Wi-gen in White Ground. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” Moon says, as he reaches out to his Yung partner. And ladies and gentlemen, Curly Hair Moon is back! I’ll be right back after I wipe my tears. Now this is what I’m talking about. All the emotional beats hit effortlessly when the stakes are centered around the family we have come to know and love. The show doesn’t even need to try so hard because we are already invested in these people.

Back to the evil spirits, Pil-gwang and Joo-seok have been in a contemplative mood since Moon lost his powers. For Joo-seok, it’s almost like he feels sorry that Moon is unconscious. As for Pil-gwang, well, his plans to consume Moon’s powers have come to naught, and he can’t have Kelly’s powers either because all that’s left of her is an empty shell after her summoning. So he switches over to Plan B and makes a move on Joo-seok’s powers! Oh well, in the end, the stage is set for the fight that the counters so desperately wanted to prevent.

The evil spirits battle it out as the counters celebrate Moon’s recovery — which is accompanied by the summoning of the territory. And as the waves shoot up into the night, Joo-seok becomes even stronger. Wait, don’t tell me… Dammit! Joo-seok can absorb the territory’s powers too! I thought the guys at Yung said this can’t happen unless the two evil spirits become one? Sigh. It’s even more worrisome how the evil spirit in Joo-seok takes more control over him with the absorption of the territory’s powers.

Joo-seok’s next agenda is to hijack the prison transporting van with Chung-jae, drive to Min-ji’s columbarium, and commit a murder-suicide. Coincidentally, his mother was visiting Min-ji, and when she sees her son in action she begs him to stop, but the evil spirit controls him to strangle her. Thankfully, the counters arrive, and a furious Moon pushes him off. Unfortunately, Moon summons the territory as he fights Joo-seok, and it’s game on for the evil spirit. Joo-seok realizes that something has gone wrong with his control over the evil spirit, and to prevent himself from hurting Moon, he stabs himself and runs away.

The counters are taken aback by Joo-seok’s use of the territory, and they head to Yung for an explanation. But to be fair, I think the guys at Yung are also tired of the writers and the loopholes in their rules. Lol. Mo-tak is equally tired of Moon’s hesitation because Moon had a chance to take Joo-seok down when he stabbed himself, but he didn’t. According to Moon, Joo-seok was not an evil spirit at that moment, and he goes on to suggest that they should try to persuade Joo-seok to submit himself for a summoning since his human side is already being swayed.

Moon came about the persuasion idea when he learned from Joo-seok’s mom that Joo-seok and Min-ji grew up in the same orphanage, and Min-ji was the one who helped him get over the pain of abandonment from his birth mom. Now that Min-ji is gone, Moon reasons that Joo-seok needs someone to help him get over Min-ji’s loss. But does he really think that holding hands and singing kumbaya will work at this point? Pfft. The other counters are onboard with the plan except Mo-tak who actually looks disgusted with the whole thing, and I’m right beside him with the bombastic side eyes.

Moon video calls Joo-seok with the territory and tells him that his mom is okay. He sprinkles some “I know this isn’t what you wanted,” and “It’s not too late to return to your old self and see Min-ji again.” And that gets Joo-seok to think about his wife. He wonders if he’ll truly be able to see her again, and Moon says it’s possible. He won’t give up on his ahjussi, and ahjussi shouldn’t give up either. Moon’s plan actually works, and Joo-seok’s rage slowly dissipates. Wow! Was it always this easy? Then again, anything is possible in this story world.

While the counters wait for Joo-seok to come to them for summoning, Pil-gwang visits Chung-jae in prison, and then it’s straight to a media house with Chung-jae’s severed head. WTF! Over a live broadcast, Pil-gwang admits to killing Chung-jae, masterminding the real estate scam, and killing Joo-seok’s wife. A shellshocked Joo-seok watches the broadcast, and all the progress Moon made with him earlier disappears. His rage is back and stronger than ever, and that’s exactly what Pil-gwang wanted.

Pil-gwang is led out by the cops, and dozens of reporters flash their cameras in his face. “Why the sudden confession?” they ask. “I had to find you,” Pil-gwang replies, with a pointed stare at Joo-seok who has made his way to the media house. There’s no time for pleasantries, and Joo-seok goes straight for the kill. He snaps Pil-gwang like a twig, and Pil-gwang drops dead. Finally, it’s the glorious fusion of the two evil spirits, but there’s a twist! Pil-gwang’s spirit emerges winner and he becomes alive in Joo-seok. Basically, Joo-seok as we know him is no more. Ha!

This merger was a question of when, not if, so I’m not surprised it has finally happened — it’s almost like how Cheong-shin borrowed the mayor’s body in Season 1. Speaking of which, seeing Cheong-shin again reminded me of just how well developed he was as a villain in comparison to Pil-gwang, who has no back story and no personality apart from his malevolence. Now he’s going to be even more insufferable with this merger. Ugh! Thankfully, the drama concludes next week and I don’t know about you guys, but I am so ready to cross the finish line.

 
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