Red Moon Blue Sun: Episodes 3-4

by odilettante

This show is making me totally anxious about the responsibilities of parenting, and I don’t even have children. Personal crises overwhelm our leads, distracting them from their original missions of finding the identities of either unknown children or vigilante killers who believe they’re bringing justice to the world. At least we’re introduced to a new detective who seems to be more than able to pick up the slack.

 
EPISODES 3-4 RECAP

Ji-heon yells at the woman holding the knife in Doctor Park’s stomach, ordering her to drop the knife. She does so, and he handcuffs and arrests her, despite her protests that she’s an on-duty cop. She’s detective JEON SOO-YOUNG (Nam Gyuri), who’s been recently transferred to the same Violent Crimes division as Ji-heon.

He still doesn’t believe it, even when the rest of his team arrives to investigate the crime scene and take away Doctor Park’s body. Captain Hong confirms it, though, telling him that Soo-young is their new rookie — but for now she’s carted away in a police car like the criminal Ji-heon believes she is, even though he didn’t actually see her stab Doctor Park.

Meanwhile, Woo-kyung contemplates the poem she found on the back of the boy’s drawing:

Saddened by the sun
and the blue of the sky,
the leper ate a child
at moonrise by the barley fields,
and through the night cried out
his sorrow, red as a flower.
— “Leper” by Seo Jeong-ju

Back at the police station, Soo-young is still held under suspicion. Ji-heon gives her a new outfit to change into since her clothes are now evidence, and she nonchalantly starts to change in front of him until he protests and makes her wait until he leaves the room. He returns with a fresh cup of coffee (stolen from his enthusiastic hoobae), and begins his questioning.

Soo-young matter-of-factly responds to his questions, although she scoffs at his assumption that she — a police officer — was the one who killed Doctor Park. She reveals that today is her first day as part of the Violent Crimes team, and Captain Hong had told her to report to Ji-heon.

When she went looking for Ji-heon, she found his hoobae, Chan-wook, who was tracking down Doctor Park’s location. Realizing that they were in the middle of a case, she decided to hop on her motorcycle and go to the location Chan-wook had pinpointed.

Soo-young was planning to wait for Ji-heon to arrive at Doctor Park’s location, but when she heard someone screaming inside, she broke the window to open the door and hurried to help. She saw Doctor Park stabbing himself, and she instinctively reached for the knife to prevent him from doing more harm. Then he lunged at her, purposefully stabbing himself on the knife she held — and that’s when Ji-heon found her.

Skeptical, Ji-heon says that people don’t try to stab themselves in their torso to kill themselves, but Soo-young points out being a police officer means she’s learned that a lot of deaths don’t make sense. She wasn’t trying to kill the doctor — she was only trying to perform her duties and save someone’s life.

Woo-kyung’s busy searching through photos of missing children when Eun-seo and Min-seok return home. Eun-seo’s been staying with her grandmother the past few days due to Woo-kyung’s sensitive mental state after the accident, and mother and daughter are delighted to be reunited.

As Woo-kyung tends to Eun-seo, the little girl points out that her unborn baby brother is moving around in Woo-kyung’s womb. She then wonders if “Aunt Se-kyung” used to move in Woo-kyung’s mother’s womb just like that, since Se-kyung is currently comatose. Woo-kyung worries that her mother talked about Se-kyung while Eun-seo was staying with her, but Mom says she didn’t. As the two women talk on the phone, Mom looks at photos of her daughters, back when they were younger and Se-kyung wasn’t in a coma.

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Did your little sister move around too?

Min-seok hides his phone when Woo-kyung walks into the bedroom. As she settles into bed, she asks if Min-seok has heard of the “Leper” poem. She muses that she thought it was just a sad poem, but when she thinks about it from a child’s perspective, she realized that it’s actually quite scary.

Ji-heon visits his medical examiner friend, who confirms that Doctor Park did, indeed, attempt to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the chest. As Ji-heon reports his findings to the rest of the team, Soo-young joins them — there’s no longer any doubt about her now, although Ji-heon seems reluctant to have her on the team even as he officially clears of all charges.

The detectives also found Doctor Park’s suicide note, where he confessed to killing Ji-hye, calling her a “devil” because she killed her own child. Doctor Park said that he “fulfilled his destiny” by killing Ji-hye, and evidence backs up the doctor’s statement, proving he was the one who killed her.

While it’s unclear how exactly he convinced Ji-hye to drive to the amusement park that night, once they met, he injected her with the fentanyl. Then, once the drug took affect, he doused Ji-hye and the vehicle in gasoline and set fire to it all.

That means Ji-hye’s murder case is now closed, much to Captain Hong’s relief, since it’s such a newsworthy case and now he doesn’t need to deal with reporters. Except Ji-heon finds it strange that Doctor Park — a man with a strong sense of duty — would have felt his life’s mission was complete by just killing Ji-hye when there are so many other parents out there who abuse and neglect their children. Ji-hye isn’t the only “devil” to kill a child.

Ji-heon believes something’s out of balance, but Captain Hong placidly reminds him that it’s not their job to make the conclusion fit the story — it’s their job to catch the criminals. Irritated, Ji-heon rails against having to work with Soo-young, who continues to unsettle him. But Captain Hong seems delighted to have found Ji-heon an assistant who will drive him crazy, and tells Ji-heon he’ll just have to learn how to deal with it.

When he returns to his desk, Soo-young is sitting at hers, musing that it’s odd how Doctor Park could have lured Ji-hye to the amusement park that night. Ji-heon literally quotes Captain Hong as he retorts that they’re police officers, not novelists, and they don’t have to read the criminal’s mind to know that he’s a criminal. Ha!

But on the comments of a news story about Doctor Park killing Ji-hye, an anonymous poster by the name of “Red Cry” congratulates Doctor Park’s noble mission.

Woo-kyung takes the boy’s drawing to a child psychologist, who analyzes it, revealing that because the details in the drawing are so intricate except for the drawing of the boy himself, it means the boy feels like he doesn’t matter to the world. The psychologist agrees that this could be a sign the boy is neglected, and muses that they should remove him from his family — along with his younger sibling.

Woo-kyung is surprised, since the picture shows only three figures (a mother, father, and the boy), but the psychologist points out that there’s a smaller figure hiding in the trees in the background. Another neglected child — and Woo-kyung remembers the little girl in the green dress, deciding that this girl must be the boy’s younger sister.

Woo-kyung convinces the police to add the little girl to their search for the boy’s guardians. She also begs her husband, who works for a large internet company, to help her post the emblem online to get some leads, but he’s annoyed that Woo-kyung is spending all this time and energy doing the police’s job.

She blurts out that she saw the little girl in the green dress at the columbarium, and Min-seok looks at his wife in worry when she insists the little girl is asking for her help. He pleads with her to see a doctor, reminding her that she was bed-ridden due to anxiety and guilt for months after her sister’s accident. He doesn’t want her falling into that state again, and begs her to leave this case alone so she doesn’t neglect her own family.

Eun-seo gets out of school and looks around, but no one’s there to pick her up. Then she smiles at an unknown figure.

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You can’t break down on us twice

Woo-kyung’s at the care facility with her sister when Mom calls, worried because she’s at the school to pick up Eun-seo, but Eun-seo has disappeared. Woo-kyung stands up in surprise, then immediately doubles over in pain, clutching her pregnant belly.

Despite the pain, she hurries to the school, and she — along with Min-seok and her mother — run around the neighborhood, calling for Eun-seo, but the little girl is nowhere to be found. They even check the CCTV footage at the school, but the person she left with is off-camera. Min-seok can barely look at Woo-kyung, undoubtedly blaming her for not being attentive to Eun-seo due to her obsession with the unknown dead boy.

But Woo-kyung hears a child laughing in the distance, and tracks it down to a greenhouse on the school grounds. She opens the door to reveal a man (Cha Hak-yeon) throwing a delighted Eun-seo up in the air in a playful manner.

As Woo-kyung worries whether or not her daughter is okay, Eun-seo happily chatters about the fun she’s had with the man. The school teacher yells at him, and he apologizes, unaware that people thought Eun-seo was missing.

Woo-kyung slaps the man hard across the face, and then collapses in pain, clutching her stomach. She sees the little girl in the green dress, sitting in the greenhouse, watching her.

Six months later, a baby plays with toys in a bassinet while Woo-kyung watches. But it’s someone else’s baby, and she’s staring at the bassinet in a shop. The shop assistant asks if Woo-kyung needs any help, but Woo-kyung — no longer pregnant — simply tells the woman that she’s fine.

Woo-kyung prepares dinner for Min-seok and Eun-seo, informing them that, after taking a break for the past six months, she’ll start work again tomorrow. Min-seok is happy to report that the accident case has been officially dropped — the boy’s guardians were never found, and Woo-kyung was declared to be not at fault for the boy’s death. He’s delighted, but Woo-kyung seems conflicted.

Woo-kyung says that she doesn’t want to talk about that case ever again, and promises to focus on their family from now on. Min-seok’s phone keeps ringing and Woo-kyung tells him to answer, but he ignores it and says that it’s nothing.

Soo-young inspects the contents of the vehicle where a man was found dead. The most notable discovery is a hefty wad of cash wrapped up in newspaper. She shows it to Ji-heon, including the charcoal briquettes that indicate suicide. He also left a note that said, “I’m sorry.”

Woo-kyung returns to work, and her assistant happily greets her, handing over all the case files for Woo-kyung’s afternoon appointments. One of those case files is Shi-wan, which surprises Woo-kyung since the last she heard, Shi-wan’s mother didn’t want him in counseling anymore. But Shi-wan’s sessions are now mandatory since he pushed a classmate down the stairs, causing the classmate to spent a month in the hospital.

Shi-wan isn’t very talkative as Woo-kyung asks him how he’s doing, although when she mentions that his mother must not be too happy that he has to be in counseling again, Shi-wan matter-of-factly admits he did a bad thing. Woo-kyung asks if he knows why he pushed his classmate, and Shi-wan simply says he just wanted to find out if someone would die from falling down the stairs.

Then he asks if Woo-kyung had her baby yet, and as water drips from ceiling due to a pipe leak, it lands on Woo-kyung cheek as though she’s crying. Shi-wan asks if her baby is still alive, but Woo-kyung looks like this is not how she wanted to be greeted her first day back. After her counseling sessions, she calls her husband, wanting to meet with him and get some comfort.

But he blows her off, telling her he has too much work and will be home late. She’s parked outside his building, so she finds it strange when she immediately sees him in his car, leaving the office despite telling her he’d be working all night. She follows him.

Meanwhile, Ji-heon and Soo-young find the dead man’s wife and the three of them drive to the police station. Ji-heon suddenly slams on the brakes because he sees his ex-girlfriend, Yeon-joo. But then he sees her happily walk arm-in-arm with Min-seok — he’s about is about to drive away, when the sound of breaking glass gets his attention.

Woo-kyung also sees Yeon-joo with her husband, and decides to take out her rage on Min-seok’s car. She smashes in the windows with a golf club until Ji-heon rushes over to restrain her. Both of them watch as Min-seok protectively guides Yeon-joo inside — there’s no ignoring the fact that he’s cheating on Woo-kyung now.

Ji-heon worries about Woo-kyung, who’s still in a state of shock. He gently reassures her that everything is fine, and even drives her home. She dazedly asks if they’ve met before, and Ji-heon reminds her that she helped him with the investigation into Ji-hye’s death.

The dead man’s wife is taken to the morgue, where she confirms that it’s her husband. Soo-young questions the wife about her husband’s whereabouts the day he died, and the woman says that her husband had disappeared for a couple of weeks, telling her that he’d found some construction work. She didn’t question it, since they desperately need money to pay off their debt.

Soo-young asks if her husband ever talked about suicide, and the woman admits that her husband often said that he wanted to die, since they were so poor it made life unbearable. But the woman’s hands get a little fidgety when she sees the evidence bag full of money, and smiles in delight when Soo-young tells her that once the case is closed, the possessions belonging to the deceased will be given to his next of kin. Which means that stack of money will be hers.

Ji-heon waits outside Yeon-joo’s house until Min-seok has left. She’s annoyed to see Ji-heon, but she invites him inside. He notes the men’s clothes hanging up and happy photos of her her and Min-seok, asking if it’s difficult to be in a relationship with someone she works with. But Yeon-joo says she quit her job and now spends her time taking care of Min-seok.

When Ji-heon asks her how long she thinks this relationship could last, Yeon-joo muses over how long a marriage can last. Ji-heon bursts out that she should at least think of Min-seok’s wife and child, but Yeon-joo angrily says he has no right to mention a child in front of her, and orders Ji-heon out of her house.

Soo-young studies the evidence from the dead man’s car, pondering the stack of cash that the wife looked so eager to obtain. Soo-young pulls out the newspaper wrapping and finds a handwritten note, which is yet another snippet of poetry: “The beastly laughter was as sweet as crying.”

Ji-heon mopes about his encounter with Yeon-joo, remembering when they were together and she had happily revealed that she was pregnant. But Yeon-joo’s smile had faded when she saw the stunned look on Ji-heon’s face. In the present day, Ji-heon fights the urge to cry.

Woo-kyung sits in the unused nursery at home, repeatedly listening to child’s song play. Min-seok returns home, angry that she refuses to accept the fact that her baby died. He reminds her that nothing will bring their unborn child back, but Woo-kyung desperately asks if at least Min-seok will return to her.

Min-seok doesn’t answer, and Woo-kyung grabs him, beating on his chest as she screams, wondering if he’ll come back to her. She releases her pent up rage by throwing around all the unused baby items in the nursery.

Meanwhile, the dead man’s wife anxiously rifles through all the paperwork at home, eager to find the copy of his life insurance. She gleefully realizes how much money she’ll get for her husband’s death. Her daughter comes out of the bedroom, wondering what her mother is doing, but the woman cackles with joy as she tells the girl that her father is dead.

As Woo-kyung heads to the kitchen, in a voiceover she wonders where her fury comes from — her husband’s betrayal? His girlfriend? As she grabs a kitchen knife, she realizes that her fury started even earlier than her husband’s affair. Something deeper and crueler exists in her. She turns around to see the little girl in the green dress in her kitchen, and Woo-kyung drops the knife.

The girl in the green dress walks towards Woo-kyung, cupping the woman’s cheeks in her hands, as Woo-kyung continues the voiceover, wondering when this unknown, deep-rooted fury began.

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Where is this fury coming from?

 
COMMENTS

Oooh, I’m so curious about this little girl in the green dress! I’m assuming she must be something directly related to Woo-kyung, since Woo-kyung seems to be the only one who can see her. But it is interesting that the little girl so far only appears when Woo-kyung is in distress — or when there’s death. She appeared the day the little boy was killed; she was running through the columbarium that’s filled with the ashes of dead people; she was there when Woo-kyung had her miscarriage in the greenhouse; and now she’s in the kitchen with Woo-kyung, whose fury in grabbing the kitchen knife makes me think that she’d be ready to kill her husband in a moment of passion. If this little girl represents death, well, it’s the cutest representation I’ve ever seen.

I’m also desperate to know who keeps leaving fragments of Seo Jeong-ju’s poetry in suspicious places. My current conspiracy theory, based the the very little information we have so far, is that some poetry-lover out there is trying to be a vigilante hero, righting the wrongs against abused and neglected children — by killing those who abuse and neglect them. Hmm, that may not be exactly the best way to go about it, but it is interesting that with this man’s death, his family will have enough money to be able to live comfortably. I still think there’s good reason to be suspicious of the wife, although I’m not convinced that there’s more to it than the fact she no longer loved her husband and is just happy to finally be free of soul-crushing poverty. The woman did mention that her daughter had been counseled by Woo-kyung previously, so clearly something unpleasant has happened with this family — or at least, with the child. (On that note, maybe all of these cases are somehow connected to the children’s counseling center where Woo-kyung works — and maybe that mysterious man in the elementary school greenhouse will be revealed to be at the heart of it all, since we already know the actor is billed as a second lead.)

While I grieve for Woo-kyung and her unborn son, I’m also super curious about what happened between Ji-heon and Yeon-joo. I’m assuming that she had an abortion and not a miscarriage. Why did he seem so disappointed to hear she’s pregnant, when in the last episode he acted like he would do anything to get her back? Argh, how can I be patient and let the show gradually reveal the truth when I want all the answers now?!?!? At least there’s plenty to speculate about each week, which means the mystery so far is successfully piquing my interest.

On a technical side, there are moments when I really love the editing (the way the voiceover reflected both Woo-kyung and the wife’s actions was really well-done), but then there are times when I’m mildly puzzled about what just happened and if I’m understanding things correctly. Sometimes the cuts between scenes are lovely (such as in the previous episodes, where the image of eggs being thrown at Ji-hye was carried over to the eggs cracking into a pan as Woo-kyung made breakfast), and then sometimes it takes me a moment to realize that it’s now a completely different scene. I’m still mildly baffled that Min-seok just walked away from his wife terrorizing his car, and that there were no repercussions (at least, not yet). But then I was pleasantly surprised by how gentle and thoughtful Ji-heon was, making sure Woo-kyung got home safely (even if it meant abandoning his partner and making her carry on the case herself).

Speaking of Ji-heon’s new partner, I’m totally loving Soo-young. Maybe she didn’t get off on the right foot with Ji-heon, but she seems to be an intelligent, no-nonsense detective who is smart and capable (and has a leather jacket that I covet). I even love the chip on her shoulder — she’s good at her job, so why shouldn’t she have a little attitude, especially when her first meeting with her sunbae was him arresting her? The friction between Ji-heon and Soo-young is going to be a fun dynamic, and I’ll have my popcorn ready for all the times she’ll annoy him with her competence.

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