The Fiery Priest 2: Episodes 5-6

by solstices

Our priest hones in on the drug ring, while our prosecutor finds herself the apple of an unexpected suitor’s eye. In the midst of all the wacky comedy, a tragedy sobers our hero up; the drugs will keep claiming more victims until he puts a stop to it once and for all.

 
EPISODES 5-6

Despite being outnumbered four to one, Hae-il holds his own until police sirens ring out. The underlings make a swift escape, but Hae-il’s recognized their fighting style — they’re professional killers trained in the Muay Lao martial arts.

Alas, no amount of internet searching turns up the lizard tattoo Hae-il noticed on one underling’s arm. Hae-il ends up calling Ssongsak — whose mom coincidentally turns out to be Laotian — and that’s how both Ssongsak and Yo-han get invited over to Busan. The squad is complete at last!

Realizing they need to cut off as many tails as they can, Hae-il, Dae-young, and Ja-young spy on Du-heon’s corrupt police underlings as they collude with small fry smugglers. After a clumsy tumble down a dirt hill, Hae-il easily immobilizes the smugglers by jabbing their pressure points, while our Gu duo subdue the detectives with a taser. A while later, the corrupt officers wake up to camera flashes — they’ve been rolled in straw mats for a good ol’ public shaming, LOL.

With Du-heon’s men forced into hiding, it’s time for the next order of business. Having run the amusement park’s CCTV footage through the National Intelligence Service’s facial recognition system (courtesy of Hae-il), our trio track down one fishy thug to his drug packing warehouse. After a solid whooping, Hae-il confiscates all their kasanin drugs.

Our heroes may be on a roll, but someone else isn’t as lucky. Over at Hong-shik’s drug factory, the thugs distribute a “health supplement” pill to each of the workers, even claiming that it’ll help with Grandma Song’s coughing. After taking the pill, Grandma Song ends up giggling uncontrollably all night, and when morning dawns, Do-woo finds her burning up with a fever.

She insists on heading to work anyway, but that doesn’t last long. Overtaken by a severe coughing fit, Grandma Song collapses — and breathes her last. The incorrigible thugs bring her back home to make it look like she passed in her sleep, while Hong-shik barely bats an eye at the news.

When Hae-il checks on Grandma Song that night, he discovers her cold corpse. Oof, Do-woo’s grief-stricken sobs are heartbreaking to hear. Du-heon calls upon yet another corrupt police connection to brush over Grandma Song’s death as a natural one, but Hae-il isn’t fooled. Earlier, he’d noticed foam at her mouth, gray residue under her fingernails, and a strong gasoline smell.

Back to square one, our squad realizes their best bet is to sneak into the factory. Coincidentally, Hae-il saw a wanted poster for a professional killer that looks exactly like Dae-young, just with an extra mole and red patch on his face. A quick punch from Ssongsak settles that, and with him, Yo-han, and Ja-young as sidekicks, our infiltration quartet is ready to go. (We don’t see their mission just yet, though.)

Determined to find more clues, Hae-il rushes to the wharf factory just in time to witness the Seoul drug task force storm the compound. Unfortunately, Hong-shik is fully prepared with a quick item swap and a special chemical to throw off the sniffer dogs. All the officers find are low-grade medicinal ingredients that strongly resemble kasanin — and it turns out the same applies to the boxes Hae-il previously confiscated, for Hong-shik had predicted their raid.

In the end, the corrupt system has Grandma Song forcibly cremated without an autopsy. Do-woo laments the callous indifference of the bystanders involved, to which Hae-il offers a wise word of advice: devils are not as black as they’re made out to be, for people often don’t realize the cruelty they’re inflicting.

The injustice of it all sets Do-woo’s righteous spirit alight, and he asks to join Hae-il’s cause. Since Do-woo faces disciplinary action for constantly getting into trouble outside the seminary, Hae-il attends the meeting in his stead, striking a deal with Dean Lee. In exchange for Do-woo being pardoned, Hae-il’s not allowed to lose his temper for one month. Do-woo: “You? For a month?” LOL. We’ll see how that goes…

Meanwhile, our wily prosecutor has managed to slide into Du-heon’s good graces with her competence and her (falsified) history of taking the fall for her superior’s bribery. While dining at a fancy restaurant with Hong-shik, Du-heon invites Kyung-seon to join them — and it’s love at first sight for Hong-shik. HAHAHA.

The smitten Hong-shik’s imagination runs wild, and we see Kyung-seon through his eyes: backlit like a goddess and strolling through a flower field. In a matter of seconds, she’s opening the doors of his heart and waltzing in (quite literally, through a hilarious CG). Hong-shik’s boyish crush strokes Kyung-seon’s ever-inflating ego, but she has no patience for his incessant advances. Too bad he’s not her type.

Back in the seminary, Hae-il’s tinnitus returns with a vengeance, causing him to pass out in his room. When he regains consciousness, the courtyard statue of the Virgin Mary is alight in flames — of course, it’s Hong-shik’s doing. He’s also proposed a fundraising event at the Uma church, specifically asking for Hae-il to be invited. Having deemed Hae-il a worthy enemy, Hong-shik is clearly deriving amusement from going toe-to-toe with him.

This week, the comedy started to veer a little too far on the ridiculous, to the detriment of narrative cohesion. It seems like nearly every scene is played for laughs, which is really starting to wear thin. Some gags are starting to feel shoehorned in — genie Hae-il came out of the blue, and the gangster scenes tend to be drawn out a tad too long. Hopefully the show strikes a better balance in the coming weeks.

There is one running joke I don’t mind seeing more of, though: the increasingly absurd locations Hae-il and Kyung-seon meet up at in the name of secrecy. I mean, the trick-eye museum? The photobooth with silly props and fluffy hats? Hilariously adorable.

 
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