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Arang and the Magistrate: Episode 6

What I love about Arang and the Magistrate — aside from the obvious, that is, of a rich fantasy world with pretty visuals and funny leads and an intriguing score — is how deep its mythology goes. Already the initial premise is high-concept, but where most shows would stop and work with that single conceit, Arang goes on to twist its mythology further with every episode.

You think it’s about ghosts… until she comes back to life. So then you think she’ll remain human for the rest of the show… until she’s killed. The gods seem nice enough… but are they working their own agenda? Then there’s a missing mom… who’s alive… and evil. The baddie seems to collect women… because he’s a minion for Madam Evil.

Twist upon twist keeps you guessing; you can try to predict what’s coming, but chances are the show will outmaneuver you and leave you puzzling it out, in the best of ways.

SONG OF THE DAY

Arang and the Magistrate OST – “놀라요” (It’s surprising) by Kim Bo-kyung
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EPISODE 6 RECAP

Chez Choi, Joo-wal’s still stunned at recent events, namely losing his corpse at a crucial moment. His father’s voice cuts in to rub his nose in his failure; at least now we understand why these two men always seem to be sniping at each other.

Lord Choi says that the “wife” must be hungry since she didn’t get her soul — so he does know the whole story. He chuckles that she must be mighty angry, since now she’ll have to wait till the next leap month. (Fyi, a leap month occurs every three to four years; it’s an extra month inserted to offset the difference between the lunar and solar calendars.)

Even MORE interestingly, Dad offers up a bit of wisdom “as your sunbae who traveled this road before you.” OH OH OH. Has Mom been around for generations, then? What about her family’s “memorial” day — is it actually from a different lifetime? Is Eun-oh even her son? Now I have visions of Mom luring in scores of men and piling their decrepit bodies in a creepy warehouse somewhere, The Hunger-style.

Dad asks, “Do you know what the wife does when the hunter fails to bring in prey? It’s simple. She changes hunters.” Lord Choi laughs that Joo-wal probably thinks he’s different from old dad, but he’ll see soon enough. And then, Lord Choi is hit with a sudden, painful headache. Hm.

Joo-wal makes his way to the isolated cottage and kneels before the front door. Inside, behind her red veil, sits Worst Mom of the Year (also possibly ever).

Back to Eun-oh, who finds Mom’s hairpin in the serial killer hut on Abandoned Mountain and wonders why it’s here. Dol-swe alerts him to a strange discovery outside: a large trapdoor sits in the ground, fading into the earth around it. They get to work uncovering the door.

Up in heaven, Jade Emperor’s back at his gayageum. Hades is feeling smug, telling Jadey he seems to have lost his touch; he’s sure those humans will fail and therefore urges Jade Emperor to take good care of that body. He offers to rest up his own, in preparation for the switch. Aw. As much as I would love to see the confident Jade Emperor lose a bet for once, I’m pretty sure Hades would be insufferable were his personality to be paired with those hottie looks. Though it’s always possible he’d age Jade’s body too, and then they’d look like real twins. And that’s we’d call a Pyrrhic victory.

Back on earth, the men struggle to lift the trapdoor, not seeing the talismans laid across the entrance keeping it sealed. Eun-oh just about gives himself a hernia but manages to lift the wood, talisman be damned, and sends it crashing open.

It causes a supernatural disturbance, which is felt by Mom. As well as Jade, who decides he’ll have to call in Mu-young. Why, is somebody dying?

With the covering removed, the men look down into the hole below. Dol-swe calls it a well, but Eun-oh spots something strange at the dry bottom. Are those… bones?

Eun-oh leaps into the hole and begins frantically digging through the rocks. Eep! I know you’re worried it’s Mom, but gahhh. He pulls out what looks like a bony hand, and that spurs him to dig even more madly… until he uncovers a skull. Shivers.

And then another. Double shivers.

Eun-oh tells himself it can’t be his mother, and tamps down his fear to keep digging. Up comes a woman’s shoe, a bracelet, a ribcage.

Mom bursts out of her house and tells Joo-wal, who’s still dutifully kneeling at her front stoop, to go to “that place” immediately. It’s a race to get there first, because Dol-swe speeds to the village to call in police officers to the crime scene.

Joo-wal arrives to find a crew of men excavating the pit, led by Eun-oh. Jumping to the conclusion that Eun-oh must know more than he actually does, Joo-wal wonders if he also stole Arang’s corpse. “How did he know?!” The sheer volume of bones unearthed is enough to skeeve everyone out.

Arang finally wakes. Her eyes land on the dark silhouette looming above in the window — eep! Phew, it’s just clothing hung there, but the sight sends a shiver down my spine nonetheless. Such a simple thing, made so eerie.

She wonders what happened– who would stab her? “Why would someone kill me—” And that word stops her short, kill. Because she was dead, for sure, yet she woke up in that crypt gasping in pain: “Did I come back to life?! How could I?” Good questions all.

Stranger still is the fact that her stab wound appears totally healed. She grabs a long stick and contemplates it. Oh no, please don’t tell me you’re about to test this theory out yourself.

She digs a cut into her arm with the stick, and wipes away the blood… to reveal intact skin. She shouts up at the sky, “What the hell, old fogey!? You send me here to find the truth, then leave me to die. Then I thought I died but then I’m back to life. What do you want from me?!” Most importantly, she wants to know if she’s a person or not.

Mu-young arrives to see Jade Emperor, who remarks that it’s been 400 years since the last time there was a death that wasn’t “on the list.” What a headache, he sighs, dealing with a death where the body and soul simply just… disappeared. Innnteresting. So somebody (or -thing) managed to slip past heaven’s notice and get rid of a soul without a trace? What are you, Mom?

Mu-young blames it on his own failing. Jade Emperor tells him that bodies will soon come to light, and Mu-young will have work to do: “The time has come for things to be solved.”

Mu-young asks Jade Emperor if he was the one who freed Arang from her red ropes. Aha! Things are starting to come together…. Jade Emperor doesn’t confirm it, but his smile is enough of a tacit yes.

That evening, Arang ventures over to the room she’d been sleeping in when she was killed, and sees the bloodstained bedding still there. It’s enough to make her panic, and she turns away in distress.

Eun-oh orders all the personal items from the mass grave collected, and roots through the stash. He doesn’t find what he’s looking for, anything belonging to his mother, and calms himself with that thought. But that doesn’t answer the question of what the hairpin was doing in the hut, or what could have happened to her.

The Bang Trio is struck with new worries. This horrific case will put Miryang at the center of attention, and that means they’ll find their own interests in danger. ‘Cause they’ve been lining their own pockets on the sly, and if the world finds out, they’re dead. They curse Eun-oh for stirring up all this trouble.

Eun-oh drags Arang along, needing her to return to the serial killer mountain, showing her the hairpin he found there. Since she woke up as a ghost with the hairpin already in her possession, and the hairpin was in the shack, this means… Seo-rim died there.

Returning there might stir her memory, and he impatiently pulls her along. Dude, did you trade in your sensitivity chip when you got those supernatural powers? ‘Cause that seems the height of trauma-inducing.

Arang says she’s scared and refuses to go — it feels like she’d die again if she returned. He barks, “If you die, you’ll just come back to life, so what are you afraid of?” Gahhh, I want to smack him. She tells him he hasn’t died, so he wouldn’t know how frightening the moment of death is.

Arang: “Memory? Yeah, there’s one thing I do remember. That terrifying horror in the moment of Lee Seo-rim’s death — I remembered that! Even if the truth of my death lies there, right now I’m so scared I can’t go. When I want to know, I’ll go. Not you! When I want to know! That’s when I’ll go! But that’s not now.”

Joo-wal trembles before Mom and reports the grave’s discovery. She asks if the magistrate saw everything Joo-wal did: “Kill him.” Then he is to bring the body here, to prevent it being found as evidence. Then she’ll decide what to do with him afterward, keeping him scared and on the hook.

Lord Choi mocks Joo-wal’s predicament, beyond tickled that he’s mucked things up so badly. He says their connection will end here, and they can stop the fake father-son act. He repeats Mom’s pointed words, calling him useless.

Lord Choi enters Mom’s inner sanctum laughing, only to be struck with crushing pain. He falls to the ground and gasps a plea to the wife, who just stares coldly.

Arang runs off from the argument and stops in a meadow, where she talks aloud as though Seo-rim is another person, asking why she had to die in such a terrible place. And if she had to remember something, why did that have to be Seo-rim’s death and not, say, her murderer’s face?

But that starts the wheels turning in her head. If this is her first memory, does it mean she’s started on the path of discovering the truth? With renewed energy, she races off vowing to get to the bottom of things.

Mustering her nerve, Arang goes to the murder shack after all. She approaches the altar where she’d been lying in her death, trembling in fear but forcing herself onward.

Then she actually lies down on it, in the same position that her corpse had been. Yeeeek! It’s official, Arang has bigger balls than you or I.

She lies down and closes her eyes, waiting for…? A sign, a flash of memory, something.

Nothing happens. She yells up at Jade Emperor in frustration and gets up huffily — only to trip and fall. And that stirs a flashback, of standing behind a woman and pulling out the pin from her hair.

Joo-wal pulls out his killin’ dagger that night, in preparation for magistrate-hunting. He ninjas out and skulks off to Eun-oh’s home.

Eun-oh is still up, waiting for Arang. After spending the day brooding in regret, he paces the front yard and sighs, “Amnesia, I understand what you’re saying. So come back now.”

Eun-oh heads out to look for her, and Joo-wal follows. Eun-oh senses a presence lurking (oh thank god), but doesn’t see anybody since Joo-wol’s hidden up in a tree.

Joo-wal steels himself and tells himself this is the moment to strike… just as a voice calls out, “Magistrate!”

It’s Arang, running toward Eun-oh excitedly, which has Joo-wal reeling — didn’t he kill her?

Eun-oh does the faux-gruff thing of grumbling about her late hours, trying to hide his relief, though it’s patently apparent. Unprompted, he offers that he totally wasn’t waiting or looking for her, saying that it’s natural to be curious about the dog that hasn’t come home. Suuuure. Protest some more.

He brushes aside her attempts to tell him her big news, telling her to go home and sleep. She bursts out that she remembered why the hairpin was in her hand, and suddenly he’s all ears.

Arang tells him of taking it from “some woman’s” hair, and mimes the gesture. But she doesn’t know what the woman looked like, having only seen her from behind. And she can’t tell him why she took the pin, either. Or her emotional state at the time.

Exasperated, he’s all, Then what did you remember? She retorts, “Taking the pin out of someone’s hair!” Ha. They’re so cute when they bicker nonsensically.

He says she should’ve taken him with her since she was so scared, and she says he wouldn’t have been any help. He would’ve just pestered her the whole time, being the pesky Mama’s Boy and all.

On the road home, they run into Joo-wal, now dressed in his nobleman’s clothing. What, did you take costume changing lessons from Gaksital? He’s here to confirm she really is the same girl, and stares slack-jawed.

Arang greets Joo-wal cheerily (a fact that has Eun-oh frowning, hee), remembering him from the wall incident. Eun-oh pulls her along, leaving Joo-wal even more confused than ever. If Arang didn’t die, that means Joo-wal messed up… and messing up means Mom won’t keep him around anymore.

Joo-wal heads for Mom’s house, seeing Lord Choi’s shoes still outside. She tells him his father is ill, and dismisses him.

Lord Choi sits in a stupor, looking half-catatonic in this unnervingly empty way. She tells him she’s been thinking it over, deciding between saving either him or Joo-wal. Because there’s no need to keep them both around when they’re not useful, of course. She says Joo-wal is grown now and can fill Dad’s shoes… but there are still things Lord Choi must do for her.

Lord Choi pleads, saying he’ll do whatever she wants if she’ll cure his illness. Mom smiles. She should never do that again. It’s creepy as hell.

Joo-wal carries his father home. And even in this weakened state, Dad’s not above a little goading, telling Joo-wal not to let his guard down because he’ll have to face the same thing soon enough.

Arang sleeps in that morning, and in her sleep she sasses imaginary foes; I love that she uses “you peaches” as an epithet. It makes sense given the context, but it’s just so adorably silly.

Dol-swe sulks in bed, thinking of a recent conversation with Eun-oh, where he’d clung to him like a sobbing, slobbering puppy and had to be forcibly shoved away by an embarrassed master. Dol-swe had declared Eun-oh “like a brother, and lover, and friend,” haha. He’d vowed from the moment Eun-oh saved him from starving that he would protect this household, “Even if you are a son of a slave.” Eun-oh had given him the side-eye for that, and Dol-swe added, “Well, half of you is aristocratic so you’re not the same as me.” Heh.

Now Dol-swe gives Eun-oh the cold shoulder, pouting and turning away. Eun-oh wants company to the mountain gravesite but gives up when Dol-swe doesn’t answer — and the moment he leaves, Dol-swe leaps up, ready to follow his master after all. Then he stops himself. Then starts again. And stops. And starts.

Finally he decides he’s not going, and huffily climbs back in bed.

The Bang Trio brainstorm over what to do with the magistrate (admittedly, they’re not much of a brain trust), and bloodthirsty Hyung-bang proposes, “Bury him.” The other two stutter in fear, but he says that this’ll be what Lord Choi wants anyway. The more timid Ye-bang suggests they check in with Choi just in case, making Lee-bang the swing vote.

To Lord Choi’s it is, only to find that he’s ill and not taking visitors. Lee-bang runs into Joo-wal at the gate, who asks about the woman staying with the magistrate. He’s told she’s Eun-oh’s teacher’s daughter.

Arang counts off the days, tallying how much time she has left of the “three moons” allotment. She does some finger-math, which doesn’t work out so well, and is irritated that the gods sent her back just before a full moon (technically giving her just two months’ time).

The Bangs fear that Eun-oh might cause yet more trouble if they wait too long, and now Hyung-bang’s murderous tactic starts looking more appealing. He argues that they can’t even afford to wait till nightfall — they have to seize the first moment they find and off him asap.

Arang interrupts the powwow looking for Eun-oh, then darts off to ask Dol-swe. He can’t hide his rancor and has to force himself to tack on the polite jondae endings to his sentences, though she doesn’t take his pettiness personally.

She hears that he went off to the grave and grumps, “But we said we’d go together!” The word together has Dol-swe perking up in alarm, and despite voicing his very deep reluctance to go to that godforsaken place, he tags along behind her. Haha.

Arang ends up going alone, though, because the minute she asks Dol-swe if he’s going with her, he huffs that NO of course he isn’t! He storms off vowing to get rid of her somehow.

Hyung-bang declares that this is their chance — the magistrate is alone, and this’ll make it easy to just, you know, shove him in and bury him in the dirt. Lazy AND convenient!

Dol-swe finds Bang-wool in the marketplace, trying to attract customers. She grimaces — a third bad encounter bodes ill — but then he looks at her face to face and she’s smitten all over again. She tries to resist her attraction and squints extra-hard in concentration, but her lack of response just brings him even closer, getting nose to nose as he asks her for a talisman.

He gets her interest with a flash of coin, though, and clarifies that he wants the spell to get rid of a girl. Bang-wool assures him that she’s up to the task, and asks how far things got with the girl — it’ll cost 1 nyang if he’s given away his heart, but if he’s given away “other stuff,” then “that’ll get complicated and cost more.”

He’s all, Why would he give her anything? and gets offended — his young master is pure, got it?! Ha. He gets so worked up in his outrage that Bang-wool has to slam a pot lid into his head to get free of his grasp.

Eun-oh arrives at the gravesite and furrows his brow in confusion — he doesn’t feel any ghostly energy at all. If people were killed here, wouldn’t there be something?

He spies the flash of black at the edge of the pit — the talismans posted at intervals, protecting it. Eun-oh places them aside and feels the air for its energy, which leads him to uncover more.

He heads up the hill to scan the entire slope at a distance — but still, no ghostly traces. “Where did all those souls go? They won’t have all gone on to the afterlife.”

Looking around some more, he sees another talisman tied to a tree trunk. He pulls it off — and in her house, Mom senses the disturbance. Eun-oh must feel something, because he takes off at a run.

In heaven, the two gods and Mu-young gather around what appears to be a glass ball, looking intently into it. Waiting?

 
COMMENTS

The plot gets thicker and thicker. It’s exciting to have a drama so in control of a complex mythology, revealing clues at a speedy pace but spreading them out just enough to keep you tantalized. Sometimes you watch a show trying to figure out where it’s going — or, in cases of slow ones, seeing everything coming before it gets here — but it’s refreshing to have one that satisfies you to sit back and watch unfold at its own pace. Because trying to get ahead of it is a bit like trying to huff alongside a marathon runner when you can barely manage a mile.

I appreciate that all three leads have mysteries of their own, which are (seemingly) full-fledged enough to each stand on their own. They have intersecting points and getting to one secret reveals others, but we’d have three full storylines had these characters never met.

I was really pleased with where they took Joo-wal’s involvement, even if I was expecting something a lot more supernatural. Of him directly, I mean; he’s still inextricably tied to a powerful mystical being. I’m not sure we’ve seen the full backstory with him yet, but it made sense to see the way he grew up, and the way he latched on to the first person who promised to save him. I don’t think it mattered what she offered him, because I think he would have done it even without promises of riches and power.

When we see Joo-wal’s desperation and fear in front of Mom, I can’t help thinking he’s like an abused child. Heck, he IS an abused child. She’s withholding and charismatic, and she’s made him into what he is. I don’t know if he could find his way out even if he wanted, and I don’t mean because she wouldn’t just let him leave. It’s more like he both loves and hates her, and is as afraid of being without her as he is of being with her.

In fact, I wonder if we’re going to have Joo-wal confronting that later down the line — the inability to cut the strings because she has become the only mother he’s ever known. Since Lord Choi has always rubbed it in his face that they’re not really father and son, he got no semblance of a parental relationship there, either. So he’s been shaped by the Mother of All Evil, and she’s got some mighty powerful clutches.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’d justify his actions, because he still is responsible for the girls who died. Either at his hand, or by playing procurer and accomplice. After all, there’s a limit to how much you can excuse with a crappy childhood. It’s just that for being so far over into evil territory, I love the vulnerability we see from him and hope he’ll grow stronger, to at least struggle and show more conflict.

Learning Mom’s true nature makes Eun-oh’s desperate search for her sad and, at times, even funny — all things considered, he had the better fate in being left alone, his soul not corrupted. I do wonder whether Mom had a particular rationale for abandoning him (other than the “Eh, I just felt like it” that seems so prevalent in Dramaland, particularly Makjang County) — did she want to spare him? Did she pick up Joo-wal because he was an expendable street rat? Or is that giving her way, way too much credit?

But I suppose what this all really means is that it doesn’t matter if Mom is good or evil, because the love you feel is the thing that drives you. She was his mother, and therefore he needs to find her.

Arang, of course, is our key to everything, and I really like that the show isn’t letting us pin her down — we still don’t quite know what she is, aside from not-ghost and not-totally-human-either. What makes her so important? Why did the Jade Emperor pinpoint her to go free and start this whole chain of events? And why, if he’s so powerful, does he need a mere human-ghost-being to solve his mysteries?

Drama, why so full of secrets? Won’t you let me in on some of them?

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Thank you so much for the recap! :)

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Thank you JB :).

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Thank you!!!

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Yay, more Arang :). Thanks~

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The awesomeness continues!

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Man his Mom is so creepy and strange!

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whoah! amazing. even the gods got cheated on.

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You know what MY problem is, cause I know you were secretly wondering... I love to read, love it. In fact, I'd even drop a drama cause I'd much rather read it than watch it. So, you know, thanks, for keeping my reading addicted self addicted to my drama self.

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Me too! I thought I was the only one. If I read a drama's recaps first, I feel less inclined to actually watch it. That's how I ended up dropping a few dramas. Sometimes the thought comes, "Ya know, I never finished ____ drama. I should, shouldn't I? Oh well, I already know how it ends, there's no point."
That's why I steer clear of recaps of dramas I haven't watched yet (although it's very tempting).

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It's the same for me too! I try to watch an episode before I read the recap. Sometimes I find myself watching an episode in parts and reading the recap alongside if it's available. My addiction to dramabeans make's it hard to commit to watching a drama if there's no one (any dramabeans recapper) recapping it.

If I get bored with a drama or lose track of it, I replace watching an episode with reading it's recap. I think enough summary is provided to feel like I've completed it anyway.

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Thanks!

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Can somebody tell me where i can watch ep 6 with eng subs?...except for viikkii pls... ^____^
i would be really grateful... :))

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Just out of curiousity why not viki?

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Because not everyone can watch from Viki as Viki is block in some countries...

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Because not everyone can watch from Viki as some of the dramas in Viki especially K-dramas are block in some countries...

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Try kimchidrama?

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try Dramacrazy, but Epi6 is not yet up subbed http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/arang-the-magistrate/

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Yes it is, Just watched it now myself.

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dramacrazy.net

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Download the raw from d-addicts or soompi link like semi-fly.
Get the subs from Dark Smurfs.

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u can watch it on epdrama.com too

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Thanks again for the recap ;)

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SO GOOD! Love these mysteries.

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Thank you for the recap!

I think Hades in the Jade Emperor's body would be pretty hot. He'd definitely be cocky. He'd be like your average kdrama hero, wouldn't he?

I love how our ladies (the good ones) manage to give their potential men as good as they've got when these guys manhandle them. Yay for Arang telling Eun-Oh off ! I don't think we can count on Eun-oh for much sensitivity anyways when he was out there rummaging through dead people's bones and belongings. Really, Eun-oh? Those bones used to be people, ya know. And yay for Bang-wool hitting Dol-swe on the head when he was shaking her. Speaking of Bang-wool, I'm really impatient for her to meet Arang in the flesh.

Arang going back to that shack and lying back on that sacrificial slab. *shiver*. I kept on yelling at her to wait a minute and bring Eun-oh with her. And then she went and CLOSED HER EYES. *double shiver*. Arang and Eun-Oh both seem to a very dulled sense of what is considered seriously freaky.

Man, I love how freaked out Joo-wal was at finding Arang alive. This is from the guy whose master is potentially hundreds of years old and feeds on the souls of dead, young women.

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I agree with you about the women not taking crap from the men. Hooray for Arang standing up for herself and telling Eun Oh why it is so difficult to go back there. And then doing it anyway! She amazed me with her incredible bravery.

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Yes I love it that she does things her way and when she wants to. Eun-oh can be a real jerk sometimes but deep inside he does care about her.
I love the mysteries but missing the romance.

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Yeah me too I love that Arang does not take crap from anybody, not from Eun Oh, not from Dol Swe, not from the bang trio, not from Mu Young, not even from the Jade Emperor lol, that's pretty awesome... and entertaining!!! If she didn't stand for herself Eun Oh would be dragging her around town relentlessly until he find his mother.

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RIGHT? I was definitely cheering when she's basically all "get your hand off my wrist, I do what I WANT!" I do love that Shin Mina somehow gets all these cheekily progressive parts.

I loved how freaked out Joo-wal was too, and how Eun-oh's indignance at Arang's cheeriness kept him from noticing. I feel like he would have noticed, otherwise. He's pretty sharp, our Magistrate.

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Thank you.

Your recaps cracks me up :)

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So quick with this re-cap. Thanks JB. This show is so puzzling. I end up with more questions then answers after each episode. Yet I still feel like they're revealing important things each time. Bravo show! You're very very twisty!

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In an earlier episode, we heard the Angel of Death say something about his sister. Is the Evil Mom his sister? Was she twisted by his and his family members' deaths. Why was she kept alive? Does she blame the Jade Emperor? Is he the one she wants to have vengeance on? Is Eun-Oh really her biological son or just some street rat whom she abandoned when she discovered that his particular ghost-seeing ability just would not do with her deadly intentions? How is Eun-Oh's father related in all of this? He had some difficulty with Lord Choi (mentioned in an earlier episode).

This is why I like this show as well. The questions keep piling on just as other questions are answered. I really don't think that Arang is needed to solve the mystery for the Jade Emperor as for him, there is no mystery. I think she is needed to help fix the problem because the talismans and other magic are hiding Evil Mom, and I think it has less to do with Arang than it has to do with Eun-Oh who seems to have the gift to find those talismans, see ghosts, etc.

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Oh wow! That would be an amazing twist!!!

I agree, I love these twists. At first I thought this show would be your typical ghost/human love story and in fact I was initially a little upset that it wasn't... but after the first episodes this show has surpassed that.

This is an amazing show :)

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I love all your questions.

I also wonder if she actually births babies. It is possible, I guess, but I agree that EO is NOT her blood son.
She prolly stole him from some poor slave woman, or even killed the mother to get him.

EO's father - a man who has power - may not always have been like that. He could have been helped by EO's creepy mother in repayment for him performing a sating duty.

We saw her untie her hanbok - drama speak for an interlude with Lord Choi. Since she didn't get her soul, LC had to sacrifice for her in that way. How is that for yerrgh?
To make it double yerrrgh, JW is the guy who will replace LC completely some day.

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MMM I don't think it means the EO is not her son, If anything the fact that she had an interlude with Lord Choi means that she had similar ones with Eo's dad as part of his payment.

The thing that me going round and round in circles, right now (later it maybe another part of the mystery) is that in EO's flashbacks we see Evil Mom throughout different stages of his life, meaning that she hasn't been all this time with Lord Choi and JW, but then we see in JW flashback that she's controlled him since he was at the very least 8-10, and that she had Lord Choi as a hunter before him. So in a timeline where do we put her time with EO, and lets remember that she was kept like at slave at his Dad's place.

She has technically been missing for 3 years only.... So was she going back and forth Were Lord Kim and Lord Choi being used by her at the same time? And who in the world was her family!?

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"So in a timeline where do we put her time with EO, and lets remember that she was kept like at slave at his Dad’s place."
OK OK OK OK OK

She was allegedly kept as a slave. It was prolly her cover for being whatever her day job is. Maybe Lord Choi has only recently lived with her since her disappearence from EO's world?

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that make sense to some extend, the slave thing being a facade but then for how long has JW impersonated lord Choi's son? I wish we knew how old EO is or more importantly how long was it since he was with her cause thinking back on it the 3 years mark we have on her its because that's the last time anyone has seen her, not necessarily EO.. i think..

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I think it makes sense that she was going back and forth between Eun-oh's dad and Joo-wal and Co. I think it makes sense that he inherited his ghostly abilities from her, although why she didn't use him is anybody's guess, because those flashbacks didn't look very loving. Her standoffishness also nicely explains Eun-oh's unwillingness to trust or put himself out there emotionally.

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Maybe evil mom's body is a recent aquisition.

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I think Eun-Ho's mom is gone... some devil evil 400 year old monster possessed Eun Ho's mom's body... Eun Ho mom disappeared 3 years ago which is about the same time Seo-Rim/Arang died... something must have happened that Seo Rim/Arang's soul avoid being eaten and her body found 3 years later and not end up as bones piled up in the magical hole..

It's just not possible for Eun Ho's mom to "raise" Joo Wal when she only disappeared 3 years ago... just thinking out loud.. it could be some demon taking over poor Eun Ho's mom human body...

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I think Eun Ho's mom was in fact "eaten" when he was a kid. That's why he is so traumatized - it seems that he was very close with his real mom and the sudden change must have hurt him badly. The soul eater acquired her body and got rid of the boy. At the time, the rational behind her decision was that he is too clingy and she would not want him to destroy her perfect new-body. I guess she could have killed him. Maybe she regrets she didn't.
Then she moved on, found lord choi and found him a "son".
That's the only way the timeline makes sense. Otherwise, it could mean that Eun Ho is immortal like her, and has been around for many years, which doesn't make sense - because he has his man-servant with whom he grew together. I dunno, just thinking out loud

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maybe you are onto something cause from what we know man-servant-funny dude said something about EO saving him from starving this episode, while before he had just said that they go way back...not that they grew together... what if Lord Kim is some other mystical creature/person? at some point one of Lord Choi's dudes said that he had retired for a while know and was living somewhere in the country/ forest

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But it looked like she was soulless when Eun Ho was, like, 10, which is way before she disappeared when he was an adult.

It seemed like she came and went around Eun-ho, especially after he went to his dad's house, which would give her time to raise Joo-wal. And it seems like Joo-wal is a few years younger than Eun-oh, so it makes sense that she would have found him after she had Eun-oh.

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Ooooh, my initial thought was that Evil Mom is possibly a rogue Death Angel, and that Death Angels are a specific type of vengeance ghost, or do penance for vengeance. I think your idea about her being Mu-young's sister makes more sense, though. However, it seems like he remembers her, which makes me feel like she wouldn't be a mystery to the gods then. Unless she's not the full mystery...!...?

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If she's Mu-young's sister, that will make her a rogue fairy because at some point, some one asked if he is missing his fairy sister.....

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Did they say fairy sister? I thought he just happened to look out over the gardens and we assumed she was a fairy. Although I wonder if it's more complex, like she was fairy-like when she was alive, or that if you don't want vengeance you become a fairy, but if you do you become a Death Angel. Or something.

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So I am guessing, these number of years, his Mom has been killing people during that particular 15th when heaven cannot see any bad things happening... She eats their souls, and discards their bodies... Hence no one knows what happened to those missing...
But Seo Rim probably managed to run away 3 years ago so that her soul was not sucked away, because how else can she exist as Arang the ghost?

It seems that Jade emperor is biding his time when the necessary pieces will come together to solve this mystery. How poetic is it that Eun Oh will have to stop his beloved mother? Poetic and cruel. Sigh.

I am loving this show more and more! Thanks for the wonderful recap javabeans! =D

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I like your idea re: Arang. I did not think of that at all. :D

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Thanks EvaLee =)

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> It seems that Jade emperor is biding his time when the necessary pieces will come together to solve this mystery.

Good points! Also, in East Asian mythology, I think they say that 1 day in heaven is 1 year on Earth. So from the Jade Emperor's position, it's probably only been a few weeks that this has been happening :)

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But then the Jade Emperor says its been happening for 400 years so now I'm confused.. :(

Also, does anyone else think the villain - Choi Joo Wal just looks constipated most of the time?

He doesn't seem to bring much to the role.

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I was wondering how Arang came back as a ghost if the mom eats souls, so your theory about Arang escaping away with her soul intact must be true. Also her body wasn't in the pit with the rest of the skeletons but discovered in a different place.

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Has to do with the pin, methinks. There is something about it. She stole the pin from her - if you get the possession of a soul eater maybe the monster cannot touch you or something like that?

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Glad to know that Jo-wal has no mystical powers, just a toy boy, dispensable at will. Ahh pity pity human being.
As for Eun-Ho, I think he will experience death because of Evil Mom and evil Mom will brinh him to life using all her powers to the point of diminishing, relinquishing and pooof, gone in sacrifice for his son's life.

And I just notice, how mysterious the MOON is, being blamed for everything that goes wrong in the superstitious world, from Moon Embraces the Sun to this Arang Leap Full-Moon Kill. I hope they can also use planet Mars, now that our robot has landed there. ^^

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lol. maybe because the wolf won't howling to the mars. there's no mystical power yet.. (don't take this serious ok? lol)

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hahaha, i won't take it seriously, really seriously as in seriously, why does the wolf only howl at the moon and a full moon at that. LOL

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i heard the rating have drop by 2%...which is quite a big drop for main channel drama...

sad.....this drama such a great drama but i think it not korean favourite type of gendre...

who care..as long as i can see them every week...
14 episode more...let see what will they bring us....
it have fast paced story line but seem like never rush,following each story board carefully..

love arang...hope they will have happy love ending

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I fear their happy ending will be in the afterlife.

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Rating dropped yesterday but increased today.

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let's see about the ratings after Gaksital ends. That's a tough competitor, since many people would obviously continue watching Gaksital

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S Korea (including Seoul) was hit by strong typhoons which caused power cuts and electricity outages, damaged property, disrupted transport and flights etc. This may have affected the ratings, as people wouldn't be in the mood to watch dramas, plus no electricity = no TV.

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I also think that it's because of Gaksital. Let's see how it goes after Gaksital is finished + about what Jannie said, I guess it didn't help either.

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Thanks for the recaps! You bring up so many good points. I am really loving the mystery, and how the drama only gives us bits and pieces here and there of Arang and the other characters. The hint-dropping is so subtle but it keeps us hanging until the next episode. Loving this drama so far!

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This show is. So. Good.

I'm loving how intricate the plot is getting! Dramas that don't lose me completely but instead taunt me and make me want to scream "Drama! Please tell me what's happening! Why must I wait a week to find out!?" are the best!

Here is my current list of questions by priority:

1. What the heck IS the mother?
2. What the heck is Arang?
3. How is the magistrate going to react when he finds out his mom is eviuuuuuul with dark mystical powers to boot? (And might have even killed Arang!)

And, most importantly, the question the die-hard romcom lover is wondering:

4. How can this possibly end well so that Arang and the magistrate end up together!?

Secretly I'm hopin that she solves the mystery and wins te special prize of living again....PLEASE JADE EMPEROR

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SO many secrets this show has and it has me waiting on the edge of my seat for a week waiting for a new episode.
I just recently got into watching recent dramas and having to wait for new episodes is both painful and rewarding. Gah i wish i found this halfway in or something.
Only complaint- I want more rom in my rom-com-mystery-saeguk. They can't capitalize on the romance in the trailers and even tease the hell out of us in ep 1-2 with the romantic relationship and then have them move at a slower than snail's pace. Granted, they're adorable as detective partners and i love their bickering and we can tell they care for each other past the "i need you for my benefit" stage but i want to see more development. The show is doing really well with the other elements but i'd just like to see more romance. I NEED MOAR!
And i like the characters but I feel like I'm not super attached to them yet. That'll probably come with more character development as the series goes on. I want to LOVE them not just like them.
Show's gorgeous and i can't wait for next week :D and you're recaps and opinions make the viewing experience more fun to me. You and girlfriday are hilarious and insightful. Much love!

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ha! I also more recently stopped marathoning and got onto the "watch-as-they-come" train ... at times I wish I hadn't!! I find waiting painful and hardly ever rewarding ... --- that said, I've been wanting to comment on the not-so-great cliffhangers or no-cliffhangers-at-all in this show too (though they are still better than Faith's endings), but yesterday's ending left me rather unsatisfied, so I guess it's doing its trick ...

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... I mean unsatisfied because I now need to wait again to know why he's running, where he's running and what will happen with the talismans!!

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I'm just happy they're not ending in odd spots like Faith(which i'm still iffy on. It's not horrible but not on my top list of shows to watch). It's not a "tear my hair out waiting" cliff-hanger it leaves off on but arang usually leaves off in a good spot and leaves you wondering what the hell is going on. Like this ending, like you said, I really want to know why he's running, but it's not as bad as it leaving off when someone could die or something.

If i was binge-watching like i usually do then I wouldn't appreciate it as much, but I have to wait so i like the endings. Cliffhangers just make me frustrated when i have to wait XP We'll get through the pain!

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the actress who plays mom has SUCH a creepy face. i saw her briefly in another drama last year as i was channel surfing, and thought she looked scary (way-hay too much botox in my opinion) enough. but the effect is tripled here, where she's actually trying to be scary. the eyelinered eyes and too-seamless visage, the pillow lips... shivers.

so it was the jade emperor who set arang free. presumably he did so with a personal agenda in mind- i don't think even he knows the truth behind arang's death either, but only has suspicions. he must have suspected that arang's death had something to do with mom/the figure behind the mysterious 400-year-old case, and set her free in hopes of using her to solve it... but if that was the purpose, why did it take him 3 years to strike a deal with her?

i actually went back and rewatched the conversation between jade emperor and reaper. the first time, i thought they were referring to multiple "listless" deaths that had begun 400 years ago... now i'm not sure. would one "listless" death frustrate the jade emperor as much as it seemed to, in the episode? multiple deaths would make sense if girls have been disappearing due to mom for hundreds of years, and she was eating their souls (hence why they vanished?). i'm a native korean speaker but this bit was seemed rather ambiguous for me!

thank you as always for the recap!

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I watched this episode with the same amusement as yesterday's epi...i just cant figure out whats gonna happen next...i really cant...
Oooh the evil mum is creeping me out so much!! Dunno how many poor girl's souls she has eaten...or perhaps literally eaten the girls *shivers*
And Sato is being an ass to Araang! I wanna kick his cute little behind! :p
And Joo Wol...ughh i dunno if i should sympathise with him for his crappy luck or hate his guts for causing the death of so many young girls! :/ i think i will chose the latter!

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This show is so interesting. And confusing. And awesome! I am enjoying it more than any other drama, even Faith. Now, what I want to know is: what is Arang? What is the Jade Emperor's ultimate bit plan? And what has Mu-young's relationship with Eun-oh's mom, if there is one?

So many questions!

Thanks for the recap, Javabeans!

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IKR? Just when I thought I found the answer I got more questions lol.

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Thanks JB!

So many mysteries to be answered in this series. Love it.

DS and BW are hilarious together. His concern over his master and Arang has me stitches.

Yes, EO's mom gets a vote for worst mom in kland ever.

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Thanks for recap!!!!

Okay this is all coming together? Mommy Dearest feeds on trapped souls of pure hearted girls? Remember the twins talking about the imbalance, someone who died that was not on the list, and the lost souls, the wrong to be righted over the past episodes? Is Mommy really really old? Like what happened 400 years ago? Was this when Soul Chawing Mom lost her family and went wacko demony delightful and she's all soul eating vampiro Mom? Or is Mommy possessed by a vengeance seeking soul because she had vengeance in her own heart?

Coming together, but with questions questions!

We know that the souls of the sacrificial girls are bound because of the symbol that Joo-Wal put on Arang to hold her soul in the body. So with Eun-oh finding the mass grave, Scary Big Hair Drac Mom gets worried, so it appears Eun-oh is going to unleash the souls of the girls for the reaper to collect?

Eun-oh, you so pretty, wish you could take your hat off more and stop squishing the pretty. Why can you see ghosts? Is your Mom an evil witch or has she been possessed even before you were born to give you your ghost mojo? I have a hard time with this actor trying to act all grandpa harrumphing serious. A lot of his charm is all tied up to the imp that is behind his eyes. We need imp boy cheeky grin stat!

Jade Emperor-Do you think maybe if people knew you were so pretty the reapers might not have to chase so many ghosts?

I have no sympathy for rags to riches kill the girls Joo-wal. . I'm pretty sure he knows that ganking girls that have sweet souls has a big don't go there sign. But this is kdrama, will we get the big redemption of the horrible repulsive characters in the last hour?

Random Thought-The hanbok color combinations make me think of ribbon candy colors. Ribbon candy is often seen in the USA at Christmas time. That stuff is so festive and pretty but will cut the heck out of your tongue. Appearances can be deceiving. Just saying lol.

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All mysteries are leading to our magistrate now! Since Arang is a human who can't dead for 2 months, Eun-oh is the only supernatural human to find out all the intersecting secrets~!! Poor Eun-oh... have to encounter so much difficulties between his girl & evil mom. Go go Eun-oh, our best genius & handsome magistrate!! ^^

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SPOILER ALERT!! Just kidding. Its more of a theory.

Eun-oh's mom needs a pure soul so that she can cast a curse to the man who murdered their clan.

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thanks so much for the recappp :D

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After watching Evil Mom I just couldn't sleep that well, I was alone in the house and I could see her creepy face everywhere.

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Don't watch it at night, even when you are not alone in the house! These 2 eps have been creepy, and it's not just Mom's face.

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OMG Same here. I am so glad you said that!

My husband is out of town so I have been considering sleeping with the light on. I woke up at 2am this morning and had to talk myself back to sleep, thinking about Orguri Shun...

I considered dropping the drama. It's one thing to watch people shoot each other in gangster films, or cut each other down with swords. When you go into the supernatural soul stuff, my imagination runs wild, and I can't reel it in.

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Watch Faith before you go to sleep and Arang during the day :).

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Hahahaha That's what I was going to say! I've been doing that since last week when Arang got its spokky level way up.

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spooky levels*

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I definitely got creepy vibes from this week's episodes, but I thought it was in more of an interesting fantasy way. I like that it's presented as a bit creepy, but still focuses on the mystery aspect of things.

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So many questions, so little time. I keep wondering how it is that if the magistrate's daughter was a sacrifice- how did her soul escape the first time around, rather than being eaten? I know she was being taken by the Angel of Death at the start of her memories, but it sounds like the other sacrifices/souls never made it to that point, that they were... eaten, or something before being caught by the Angel. And how did her body end up elsewhere? It seems like she was definitely stabbed and taken to the shack as a sacrifice, but something must have gone wrong the first time around too.

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maybe she's able to escaped and fall from the high and JE burry her dead body so JW and evil mom won't find it. that's why her soul may wander and not vanished like the other victim. haha just maybe...

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Right, her body was hidden under the waterfall. Knowing Arang she would not just die without a fight. She may have escaped or chased and fell off the waterfall.

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Maybe he never stuck that little soul stealing amulet on her because she got away..
But then, how did she get away the last time if she had been stabbed and remembers dying?

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Shivers Maybe she was weird/supernatural even before she died... remember she used to be always locked in her room and that her body didn't decompose even after 3 years...

But if she took what she had when she died with her to the afterlife , in particular the hairpin, and then EO finds said hairpin in the creepy hut, it indicates that she did die in the hut....

SO maybe she was stabbed and her supernatural powers (?) started healing her and that's when she woke up and tried to escape, she then takes hairpin and tries to attack Evil Mom with it, they fight and either JW or Evil Mom strike with another death blow. In the haste of the moment they forget to put the soul sealing talisman thingy. Arang's soul get out of her body before Evil soul-eating-mom can take it and in a bitchy fit after not being able to eat the soul she order JW to through the body away...

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I just pictured a modern day version of Creepy Soul Stealing Mom ordering through a drive-thru:

Drive thru voice: "Sorry Ma'am, we just ran out of pure souls today."
Mom: "What?! I come here once every 3 or 4 years and don't have what I NEED. Get someone out here to have sex with me pronto!"
Drive thru voice: [strangling choking noise] "Ghhhhhrrggghh---------"

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Dol Swe, of all people, was the one to discover the missing bones! I'm so proud of him~ Jade Emperor, please tell me Dol Swe is in your plans to help solve the mystery. How great would it be if Dol Swe played an active role in uncovering the truth alongside Eun Oh and Arang...

Eun Oh can be such a prick sometimes. Did it never occur to him that forcing Arang to return to the place where she was left for dead would be traumatizing for her? Eun Oh has became blinded by the search for his mom, whom I think is a witch and has a spell cast on Lord Choi.

I really feel sorry for Joo Wal. Poor guy is so unwanted. Joo Wal reminds me of an abandoned orphan desperately trying to earn a parent's love. It is painful to see him paralyzed with fear every time he is in Mom's presence. Even more painful to see Mom always belittle him by calling him "useless."

Thanks for the recap, javabeans!

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Wow.....Our Magistrate's Super Adventure is started from now on~!! Seems Arang is just needed to start this game. What a great mysterious drama, tooooo awsomeeeee~!! I love Eun-oh Satto Joon-gi oppaaaa, fly kissses^^

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I was thinking the same thing. Arang is the catalyst to get everything started especially to get Eun-oh involved. Eun-oh to me is where the real story is. He's the one whose discovering most of the pieces and slowly putting them together. It's his mom whose the big evil which means its his story that will probably be the central focus. I want to know more about him. Why did his mother force him to leave her? Did he only inherit his ability to see ghosts from her or does he have more supernatural abilities that we haven't seen yet? (he did open the trap door which had a talisman on it-which I'm sure was there so the door couldn't be opened.) How will he react when he finds his mother and finds out who she is and what she's been doing? Will he have to be the one to stop his mother? And if his mother is a non human evil being then what does that make him?

The interesting thing about this drama is that even though six episodes have already aired it still feels as if we're at the beginning. The drama is moving fast but it's still laying out the world and the story. I'm feeling the same impatience I feel when reading a book. I want to get right to the middle of the story (my favorite part). I feel like once Eun-oh finds his mother is when the story is really going to start. I can't wait. :)

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Thank you, I feel also the same as you ^^

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Yes, I've considered also that Arang is a catalyst, not the key, that Eun-oh will be the key, or the tool, to set the world back to balance.

I've also wondered if Eun-oh died and his mother did something magicky to restore his soul, and that is why he can see and touch ghosts.

All speculations, lol.

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Yep, same here. Maybe Eun-oh is the one that Jade Emperor and Old Hades have been waiting for all these years. Now all the pieces are in place.

Wonder what he learned from that quack up in the mountains. I bet those skills will come in handy later on.

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Thanks! Man seriously, what makes this lighted heart drama seems to be intense and heavy is the fact of the mother. She is very creepy omg, her eyes stare.. Anyway, looking forward for next week, cannot wait.. Can I expect more interaction between the otp, since usually love blooms around ep 7-8 eh, and often kiss by ep8.. Wawa, I'm all giddy already, I hope they cover up the lack of relationship next week, such a splendid chemistry!

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Wow. This show really is the best one on right now. I love that they aren't giving anything away. I do believe that the Jade Emperor is the enemy Mom mentioned to Eun Oh. I can't figure out why or how though. She might blame old Jadey for her family's deaths. I also would love to know why not Eun Oh? Was he too pure of heart for the role she needed filled. Is he really her child? Hopefully we get more answers next week. It did look like he was headed in her direction... or was he???

Thanks for the recaps!

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Omg, so many questions, so little answers!!! I LOVE IT. :P

I feel sorry for Joo-wal too, and I love how we get to see his vulnerable side. I think there's more to him though. Or, well, I hope there's more to him. We still don't know much about him as a character, so I really hope we get to see more later on because I like that so far, he's not the typical villain or the typical second lead. And man, I loved his WTF face when he saw Arang alive again. I don't think it was supposed to be funny, but I completely cracked up. XD

Although I'm loooving the pace, and all the mysteries and clues, I really hope they develop the romance a bit more now as well, since they seem to be neglecting it a little for all of the show's other aspects. Also, Eun-oh, seriously, your insensitivity amazes me sometimes.

And thanks for the recap, javabeans! Wouldn't know how I'd survive each week by just watching the raw eps without DB's fast and awesome recaps. :D

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The mom gives me the chills... legit looked around expecting to see her face behind me or something.

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Thanks so much for the recap! Not sure what I wait for more eagerly right now, new episodes or new recaps afterwards.

This show is far more than I expected - I was obviously looking forward to it a lot (who wouldn't! Lee Jun-Ki! Shin Min Ah! Yoo Seung-Ho!) but I wasn't expecting ... this. 'This' meaning the layers and layers of mystery, the complexity of the characters, the acting, the cinematography ... I have no idea where the story is going, and I love it, because I have grown a bit tired of being served the same tropes over and over in KDramaland.

At the same time, I feel weary about not knowing where it's going, simply because I fear getting invested too much, loving these characters too much, wanting them to have a happy ending. But such a happy ending kinda seems out of the question for any of the characters at the moment!

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I don't like the hernia part, LOL! Seriously I can't imagine my lovely Joongi gets hernia!!! Just ANDWEE!!!

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Am I the only one who thinks that evil mom is actualy Mu Yong beloved sister?

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uhmmmmm.secrets there's lots of them..Being supernatural its more complicated------ ghost-came-alive-yet-not-person; a mother once kind-now-a souleater(say)selfproclaimed evil; also a child-innocent-turned into a pure soul collecter by stabbing girls; then a ghost viewer; a ghostlistener; a ghost chaser----HeaVen king& Hades...!!!!..Waiting For twist of story revealing some strings & those small strings held together showing a way toward mysteries...

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This drama is an exercise in thwarted expectations in the best way. I'm never entirely sure what to expect, and I love it. So far I get the sense that the writer has things planned out in advance, which I certainly hope is true because man, with that complex a mythology? If this thing goes off the rails, it's gonna go *big time*.

But as much as I enjoy all of the plot, I feel like character depth has been pushed a bit to the wayside to make room for it. Shin Min-ah and Lee Jun-ki have such lovely, sparky chemistry; I'd like to see them together more often. Hopefully we'll get that after things really crank up.

One thing I absolutely, desperately wish they'd do, though, is cut back on the voiceovers. Sometimes the internal monologues work, especially when characters are mulling things over and making connections, but it often seems more like a crutch than anything. We have competent actors here; I don't need narration to tell me what they're feeling or thinking when I can see it on their faces.

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I agree on the character depth. After trying to make romance happen (or at least hint at it) in the first 2 episodes I thought we'd get more, but after that we haven't gotten much. I love the plot, I really do, but I was promised romance! I need it! Haha.

You can't claim you're a fantasy-sageuk-romance and just focus on the first two, show. SMA and LJK have amazing chemistry, you guys should use it!

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YES!! me too. I loved the last two episodes but I was frustrated by the lack of screen time they had together.

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I really love the thwarted expectations as well. IT makes me think anything is possible. ANYTHING! For all we know, Arang was as much a baddie as Mom when she was alive. Heck, for all we know Joo Wal is the real son of Lord Kim and was switched off with Eun Oh when they were younger. Hey, a long shot...but who knows? Hey, they could be brothers! Again...who knows? I love that anything is possible feeling. LOVE these writers!

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im loving your recaps...i watch the show and return back to ur site to read the recaps.thy'r jst too much fun..:D

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Hehehe, me too, as am sure many people here do as well. The recaps always shed more light on the drama, things Ive thought of and those that didn't even cross my mind!

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I was right! The gods were ripping her off by a month! *Snoopy Dance*

Okay, as far as Arang's first death goes—somehow it's mixed in with the soul-eating thing. But THIS IS THE FIRST TIME Joo Wal majorly messed up. Which says to me that when Arang died, it wasn't necessarily because her soul was at stake. Maybe she followed him there and got caught while another victim was taken. Maybe she interfered in some other way.

But something happened, and she died after meeting Eun Oh's mother, who wasn't dressed as a gisaeng at the time. Maybe SHE was the intended victim instead (although I can't see a person so obsessed with revenge being a pure soul) and Arang got the backlash. Possibly there was a body takeover, and the old body was left for dead in the Pit of Despair.

In screenshots posted in last episode's comments, we can clearly see blood on Arang's clothes, but it's lower on her side, not over her heart. I think that's another major clue. That could also explain why her soul was still around, instead of being sucked into Evil Mom.

I wonder if the Jade Emperor can't actually see Evil Mom. It's almost like he knows what's happening, but it's because he can see the effects she has on the world around her. Maybe he can't actually touch her, figuratively speaking.

I, too, love that Dol Swe was accidentally helpful in finding the bones. Hahaha! And Bang Wool is sooo hilarious!

Also, Arang made my day when she braved the serial killer shack and investigated. On her own. At night. And then she laid down on the altar! I love that she confronted her fear so head-on. Even if Eun Oh was a complete idiot in trying to force her.

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Btw, the Snoopy Dance wasn't for Arang getting ripped off. Just for me being right. O.o

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Yeah, it almost seems like the ghosts have to be able to affect the humans around them for the reapers to be able to come in. Thus, if our Baba Yaga/Blood Countess Bathory eats souls, then heaven has no jurisdiction, so to speak.

And yeah. Arang is badass and I love her.

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Just finish ep 6. What a great show I. Storyline and characters.

Have to give the actor and actress kudos for skills as each play their role well . Especially MOM. I mean without a great evil there is no story. I actually like her character as she was sorrowful in the beginning with eun ho.

My take is Mom The great evil was normal person with mystical powers. She fell in love with Eun Ho dad so Eun Ho is her real son hence his own half mystical powers. However every year mom remember how tragic her family got wipe out and HATE the gods and blame them for their deaths. Her revenge against gods is steal soul. Will give Jadey a bad headache if souls are missing and an imbalance occur. Maybe she is collecting souls to bring back her family or for a ritual. Eat there flesh and trap their souls hence the talismans.

So joo wal is a soul stealer and Angel is a soul collector.

ARANG escape bc we see she struggles and grab the hairpin. Perhaps that saves her. Why that will be the first memory she remembers. We always see the hairpin showing up in random places bc Arang did not have it with her when she came back human.

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I have a theory that Mum once belonged to a noble family and her family (including the grim reaper brother) were killed but she somehow escaped, had to change her identity and became a lowly slave (no one really kept much information on slaves) and she became very twisted and started delving into black magic, cast a spell to help her get her revenge which backfired and trapped her into a vampric existence. What i also think is that her families death was probably a consequence of a lost badook game (Hades won) so in turn she is vengeful against them which is why she is potentially immortal.

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I think evil mom like what we see shaman girl doing occasionally, asked for a powerful spirit to possess her so that she can take revenge on either JE or KoU.

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I think the lack of romance is because both our hero & heroine are strong characters to start with. As the drama progresses, you can't have Eunho being stuck head over heel for Arang the whole time. He needs to move on into his story. On the other hand, Arang is also a strong character that she keeps ditching him to do stuff on her own. She isn't vulnerable enough to need protection from Eunho. So it's hard to create a circumstance for them to stick together, especially now there are so many things going on.

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I think it will be great when the romance blossoms (as it inevitably must), hopefully realistically, among all the suspense and chaos. One can hope.

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While I would love to have more sweeping romantic moments, I think the way the writers are handling it so far is actually going to be ultimately the most satisfying.

They have shown very clearly so far that Arang and Eunho are attracted to one another, but instead of having them declare instant love for one another, we are getting what is a very organic growth of their relationship and confusion. I think Eunho is reacting very strongly to his initial feelings for her, which is why he's so gruff and irritable with her outwardly, but constantly thinking and worry about her when she is not around.

With Arang, I don't think she knows what love is yet--no one has loved her as Arang--but she's on her way to learning. Already someone cares about her--but she's confused because he keeps saying that he's only helping her because he wants to find his mother, even when she thinks and feels that there is something more to it.

I think the payoff will be so much more exciting if we get the slow burn (it's only been 6 out of 20 after all) because we're also going to get to see how they change one another as they continue in both their journeys. I like this a lot more than them falling head over heels for one another right away without having the groundwork and basis of love and respect and friendship. We'll understand why they love each other and whatever madness/sacrifice/deal has to play out will mean that much more.

That said, I would totally not complain if there was another scene similar in tone to the measurement scene in episode 2.

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Arang and the Magistrate facebook fanpage :D

http://www.facebook.com/ArangMagistrate.MBC

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The complaints about the lack of romance is unjustified. In EP 5-6, the plot is getting underway in an excellent pace, not too fast, not too slow.

The search for the truth (for Arang) and for Mom (for Sato) is what's keeping the two of them together at this point. But I'm sure there'll be plenty of chance for romance later on (since it's going to be 20 eps total).

Possibly my favourite drama of the year!! Can't wait for the next episode!!!

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