The Midnight Studio: Episodes 6-7

by mistyisles

Another day, another ghost (or twenty) for our hero to help gain closure and move onto the afterlife. But some ghosts’ loose ends don’t tie up as nicely as others, and to make matters even more complicated, sparks are starting to fly between our ghost photographer and his persistent, ghost-seeing landlord. With a curse on his heels, however, he’s not exactly eager to admit his budding feelings.

 
EPISODE 6-7

A wider perspective on the car wreck that ended last week’s episode reveals that the evil spirit who hijacked the deliveryman’s truck was actually aiming for Ki-joo. Looks like the curse is slowly but surely catching up to him. After the Safe Zone activates and the ghosts vanish (temporarily), Ki-joo collapses in Bom’s arms. He’s feverish from phantom energy because he forcefully opened the Gate of the Dead to try fixing Bom’s ghost vision with a second photo. Bom lugs him home on her back, but there’s no time for him to rest: the wreck claimed upwards of 25 lives, which means he has a long line of patrons waiting to have their final memories photographed.

Our poor deliveryman, So-myung, trudges in after the others have departed, uncertain if he has a right to be there. His story is heartbreaking (even without Seo Ji-hoon’s soulful eyes) — after being abandoned as a baby, he grew up in an orphanage and was bullied into dropping out of high school. Eventually, he decided to take another stab at education, hoping that a university diploma would give him some sense of validation at last. Now, having died days before graduation, he fears no one will know or care that he ever existed. Plus, he’s convinced the wreck was entirely his own fault, and the weight of guilt is crushing him.

Ki-joo bribes convinces the university president to award So-myung a posthumous honorary degree, but then news breaks about the car wreck, naming So-myung as the sole responsible party. Just like that, the honorary degree is withdrawn, and So-myung’s guilt floods back in. But Ki-joo and his friends refuse to give up. They track down So-myung’s co-workers, who are being pressured into silence, and Bom opens a lawsuit against the delivery company for overworking its contracted drivers. With the drivers’ support, she negotiates both the clearing of So-myung’s name and improved conditions for all the company’s workers moving forward. Best of all, So-myung’s co-workers get to see him off at the Midnight Studio, giving him tangible proof that he has, in fact, left his mark on the world — one that’s even more meaningful and enduring than a diploma.

In between getting justice for So-myung, Ki-joo finally figures out that the Safe Zone only activates when he and Bom are close together (within 40 centimeters, to be exact). Bom also figures out that she’s catching feelings, but Ki-joo rebuffs her advances, knowing he has less than 90 days left.

Embarrassed and insulted that he won’t even give her a chance (she doesn’t know about the curse), Bom keeps trying. While having him pinky swear to always say “see you tomorrow” instead of “goodbye,” she plants a kiss on him. It doesn’t change his mind, but it does make it harder for him to ignore his feelings for her — especially when the next Midnight Studio guest turns out to be handsome, charming, and a local hero.

His name is CHOI HOON (cameo by Choi Tae-joon), and in life he volunteered at a suicide prevention center. When a longtime client called him from a bridge, he raced over to stop her from jumping… and she intentionally pushed him to his death. He explains how he had talked this woman down countless times over the past few years, as well as cheered her on through highs and lows as she slowly found new sources of joy in life. Most recently, he comforted her when her boyfriend dumped her, assuring her that she still had him to talk to and that was all she needed.

If that last part sounds a bit off, that’s because it is. When Ki-joo meets the woman in question, she reveals that Hoon had been stalking her. When he saved her at the bridge, she saw his shoes — the same ones he sent her over and over because she kept throwing them out — and realized that her stalker and her friendly call center volunteer were one and the same. She didn’t mean to kill him, per se; she just wanted him away from her.

When it’s time to take Hoon’s photo, Ki-joo confronts him. He won’t be granting Hoon’s wish for a final conversation with his victim, and he advises Hoon to get this photo over with and leave quietly. In response, Hoon turns full-on evil spirit. He attacks Ki-joo and fights his way past Nam-gu to escape the studio. Ki-joo frantically calls Bom to warn her, but when he finally reaches her, it isn’t her he’s talking to. Hoon has possessed her and walked her up to the very top of a bridge, and threatens to throw her off.

As for our side characters, Ji-won perseveres at her new job, despite petty sabotage from Sung-ho and being assigned to do her boss’s son’s homework on top of her actual duties. (The latter earns Sung-ho’s sympathy at last, since the boss did the same thing to him.) Then Sung-ho follows her to a doctor’s appointment and realizes the ordeal she’s been undergoing alone. Her cancer is still receding, but her doctor cautions that miracles don’t happen twice. We also learn that Nam-gu was killed on his wedding anniversary, and that the criminal who killed him is still at large. Also, there was something important his wife never got to tell him.

At the beginning of each episode, we also learn more about the little girl ghost who broke the rules and disappeared. She and her parents were involved in a car accident (much like the one that killed Bom’s parents), and when she turned up on Ki-joo’s doorstep, she was carrying the Midnight Studio camera.

Curiously, it seems everyone who is chosen to man the studio is marked by a distinctive scar. Ki-joo’s is on the back of his shoulder, and to his surprise, the little girl also had one on her left wrist. The same place, you’ll remember, that Bom has a large, unexplained scar. True, Bom’s is faded and looks more like a burn than a talisman, but this can’t just be a coincidence, can it?

I’ll be honest, I have mixed feelings about some of the romantic beats this week. I understand where both Ki-joo and Bom are coming from, and I love their chemistry together, but it rubbed me the wrong way that she pressured him into drinking despite his discomfort and then refused to take his gentle but firm “no” for an answer. She acts like he’s stringing her along and not giving a clear response, but really she just didn’t like the response he gave and seems to be trying to wear down his boundaries until he says yes.

I did, however, appreciate the inclusion of a ghost who wasn’t as innocent as he first appeared and a survivor who needs to be protected from said ghost’s final wish. Ki-joo’s duty may be to serve and honor the dearly departed, but not at the expense of harming the living.

 
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