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Black: Episode 3

Death is all in a day’s work for a Reaper, but sometimes problems arise — and the next thing you know, you’re inhabiting a human body in order to find a Reaper on the run. Too bad those pesky humans keep derailing Black’s goals with their silly need to solve murders and figure out what happened twenty years ago.

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EPISODE 3 RECAP

Black, in his true Reaper form, informs us that there are two types of Reapers: First are those who are born Reapers, pure descendants from the underworld, and then there are humans who became Reapers as punishment for committing suicide.

There’s a hierarchy between the two, with the Suicide Reapers definitely being the lower class, but Black — a born Reaper — commands respect from all the Reapers, no matter where they came from. He’s the most intimidating and competent reaper, and wears a very serious look on his face as the Reapers report for duty (in an empty amusement park, which is super creepy at night).

Black is partnered up with a Suicide Reaper, much to Black’s annoyance. (Ha, it’s the same guy that Moo-gang saw jump off the bridge.) Black calls him “Loser,” practically dragging him to the arcade game that gives them a capsule with their new soul assignment.

He orders Loser to reap the soul shown in the capsule, and to not let the soul get away just because Loser feels sorry for them. Loser protests that he can’t do it alone, but Black threateningly reminds him that if Loser lets the soul get away again, then Loser will never ascend to the upper world and instead will burn in a fiery pit.

When one of Black’s Reaper coworkers (who died in the Joseon era) points out that there’s no way Loser will be able to reap a soul by himself, Black smugly points out that after Loser fails and gets sent to the fiery pit, then Black will finally get a new partner. That’s all Black really wants.

However, after Loser heads off to his assignment, another of Black’s Reaper coworkers (a rapper who loves hip-hop) discovers that there’s another capsule with Black’s name on it — or number, to be correct. Black is Reaper #444, which is amusing since “four” also sounds like the word for “death.”

Realizing that he’s going to have to work whether he likes it or not, Black hurries after Loser and ends up in the women’s locker room. Hip-hop follows, showing him that Loser actually threw the capsule away and is likely hiding in a dead body in the human world. They decide to find Loser first, and disappear back into the lockers. And now we know what Ha-ram saw when the locker seemed to shut by itself.

Hip-hop and Black head to a hotel, hunting around for a dead body. Black poofs in and out of rooms and hallways, but doesn’t find Loser. The rules are that if a Reaper can’t find a runaway partner, then the Death Squad will turn the non-runaway partner into a terrifying three-headed dog with eyes of fire (the Cerberus of Greek mythology).

Black continues to look for Loser, and as he does, he runs across the bridge where Moo-gang is shot. As the Reapers stare at the body, Hip-hop opens up the capsule — the soul Loser was to reap was Moo-gang’s.

The trio of Reapers follow Moo-gang’s body to the hospital, and as they watch Soo-wan fail to revive Moo-gang, Black decides that the best way to find Loser (and the body he’s inhabited) is to inhabit a body himself.

That brings us to Moo-gang’s face-to-face conversation with Black. Moo-gang protests that he can’t die yet — he still needs to ask someone why “she did this to him.” Joseon and Hip-hop arrive to drag Moo-gang away, and Black just scoffs that humans always plead for their lives in exactly the same manner.

As Ha-ram hurries to Moo-gang’s house, Black walks along the bridge where Loser jumped off — and where Black reaped his soul. Black is mad at himself for letting Loser go off alone, and then yells at Joseon and Hip-hop for letting Moo-gang escape, since a wandering soul would definitely attract the attention of the Death Squad.

Ha-ram sees Black on the bridge and tells her taxi driver to stop. She thinks it’s Moo-gang with with an unusual two Shadows next to him. Really, it’s just Black arguing with his coworkers, who are powerless to do anything against him since their spirits can’t physically touch his flesh-and-blood body.

But Black’s not immune to other humans bumping into him, and as he stumbles, the second capsule falls out of his pocket and rolls into the street. He runs to get it, and as he picks it up, it shows him that Ha-ram is the soul that’s next to be reaped. Just then, Ha-ram rushes over, pushing him out of the way of oncoming traffic, thus saving his life.

Ha-ram’s unconscious from her head hitting the pavement, and the Reaper trio take her back to Moo-gang’s place, wondering why she’ll die when she seems otherwise young and healthy. Black decides to hide the capsule in one of Moo-gang’s stuffed animals, then carries Ha-ram into the bathroom, planning to teleport her back home — except that he can’t do that with a human, and has to take her home the normal human way.

Black notes the shoelaces hanging from her ceiling, and realizes that Ha-ram must be going through difficulties. He silently wills her to hang on a little longer — he can’t have her die just yet.

The detectives are looking into the murder at the mental health hospital, but so far, they don’t have any leads. They’re also in danger of having their case taken away from them, since technically they’re only there as support to the Violent Crimes Unit — and it doesn’t help that Moo-gang keeps messing up crime scenes.

But Kwang-kyun does see something odd in the footage from the mental health hospital: Moo-gang visiting the hopsital a month before the incident.

Ha-ram wakes up in her room and decides to head back to Moo-gang’s house. It’s exactly like she remembers when she was a young girl and came to visit, only she ran and hid as soon as she rang the doorbell. Young Ha-ram still got a glimpse of Joon, and sadly confirmed that it was the correct address as she wondered why Joon never wrote her back after all the letters she sent him.

Ha-ram sees Moo-gang’s car and confirms that he must still live there. She peers over the fence to see Black carefully taping up anything that could remotely be considered a door (at least, to a Reaper). But he ignores her phone call, which makes her angry, and she storms off — only to have her anger dissipate when she realizes that Moo-gang nearly died because of her, so she can’t blame him for not wanting to talk to her.

Black realizes that he forgot to tape up one little cabinet when Joseon and Hip-hop suddenly appear. Joseon grumps that if Black is going to try and keep them out, then they won’t help him — especially now that Black is on the Death Squad’s “wanted” list. Black has made plenty of Reaper enemies who will gladly turn him in if they find him.

Not that Black won’t be found out quickly enough, since he’s terrible at blending in with humans. Joseon warns him to be protective of Moo-gang’s body and work harder at trying to act like a detective, especially since Black chose Moo-gang’s body because it came with a gun. And a gun is the perfect instrument to put a hole in the temple of a Reaper-possessed body, forcing the Reaper to come out.

In order to learn how to act like a detective, Black spends all night watching dramas. PFffft, he even complains at how inept the detective is in Voice, which is meta-hilarious, since that’s from the same director.

By morning, though, there’s been another murder. It’s the woman from the police station, the one that Ha-ram saw frozen to death — she was found in her restaurant’s freezer, after it was dropped when gangsters were confiscating all of her husband’s assets.

The husband disappears by the time the detectives arrive, and Kwang-kyun is annoyed when he sees Black show up to the scene of the crime. Black looks mighty fine with his new hairstyle and Moo-gang’s funeral suit, which was the only suitable thing Black found in Moo-gang’s closet (since his other options were Moo-gang’s pastel cartoon-character sweatshirts, and those are not Reaper or detective worthy).

As Black inspects the body (mimicking those TV detectives), the other detectives get statements from the gangsters and other neighbors. The gangsters report that the man owed them money and that’s why they were taking his belongings, and a neighbor tells the detectives that she heard the man and his wife fighting about a month ago.

Suddenly they hear a scream from the rooftop. The husband is holding a woman hostage, a knife (hidden in newspaper) pressed against her throat. The detectives carefully approach, not wanting the woman to be harmed. Black snatches a gun from a nearby detective and expertly shoots the knife out the man’s hand, allowing the man to be captured.

Kwang-kyun is surprised to discover the “knife” was actually a banana — and he’s surprised that Black is such a good shot, since Kwang-kyun knows that his partner has never fired a gun before.

Black continues to surprise everyone as he points out that the woman was strangled, and that based on the bruising around the woman’s neck, her husband couldn’t have done it. The bruising shows someone with a missing or deformed middle finger, and her husband’s finger is normal. Black helpfully proves this by forcing the man to flip off all the detectives.

When they get back to the police station, Black can’t stop pestering the captain, begging for his gun to be returned. He reminds the captain that he helped the case and can clearly shoot just fine. But the captain refuses, since the Moo-gang they know isn’t acting normal. Black sits at his desk and pouts.

Ha-ram watches the news about the woman found in the freezer, realizing it was the same woman from the police station. But Ha-ram has more important things to think about, such as tracking down the person who sent the note about her father’s death not being an accident.

Ha-ram decides to ask Moo-gang for help, but when she hunts around for her shoelaces, realizing they’re still hanging from the ceiling, she remembers Man-soo saving her life. She decides to go to him instead, especially since she thinks that “Moo-gang” doesn’t want to talk to her.

At the police station, Black laughs at the captain’s theory that the freezer woman was killed out of revenge, and offers to tell everyone what really happened, on the condition that the captain gives him back his gun. Black points out that the doctor who was killed at the mental hospital was a “hot-blooded” murder, done out of revenge.

But the woman in the freezer was a “cold-blooded” murder, a calculated death where the murderer wanted to put the woman through as much torture as possible first. Black adds that the woman didn’t die of strangulation — she froze to death.

The captain dismisses Black’s theories, but soon has to eat his words when the autopsy results reveal that the woman’s official cause of death was due to freezing. She was still alive when she was put in the freezer.

Black arrogantly tells the other detectives that the woman’s death is a warning to someone, and the murderer specifically wanted that person to see the body and preserved it in the freezer. Black can also tell just by looking at the body that the woman has been dead for a month, although no one believes him until the autopsy reveals that Black is, once again, correct.

That means Black has earned his gun, which he happily swings around as he pretends to act like the TV detectives, even though the detectives in the station duck and yell at him to stop being so dangerously reckless.

Soo-wan is utterly terrified when she sees the viral photo of the frozen woman, who she calls Jin-sook. Soo-wan bursts into tears as she says it’s all her fault, but then wonders if Jin-sook revealed any information about her — if she did, then “that man” would be after her.

Suddenly a man appears behind her, holding a knife against her neck. He calls Soo-wan “Seon-young,” and says that he’s not the one who killed Jin-sook. Which is true, since he only just escaped from the mental health hospital (and killed the doctor instead). As Soo-wan recoils in terror, the man says that he needs her help.

Ha-ram heads to the Royal Insurance offices. She’s surprised to see Man-soo (and his dog!) on a banner for the insurance company, wondering if he’s a model for them. She also discovers that Royal Group purchased Chunsu Insurance years ago, which was the insurance company that originally investigated her father’s case.

Ha-ram asks at the receptionist desk for Man-soo, only to be surprised when they stand at attention as their selfie-loving CEO walks in (with his dog, of course). Man-soo is delighted to see her, and tries to look up records of the man who investigated her father’s case, but the man retired and moved overseas before Royal Group took over. Nor is there any record of her father being a client of Chunsu Insurance.

Even more strange is the fact that there are no records from 1997 in the database. Man-soo cheerfully offers to track down the hard copy of the file for her.

Kwang-kyun and Black are also at Royal Insurance, questioning Jin-sook’s coworkers. Actually, Kwang-kyun is getting information about Jin-sook while Black sullenly sits in the conference room, playing with his gun. Man-soo’s dog finds him and bites Black’s leg, which causes the invisible Reaper tattoo to glow on Black’s neck.

A doctor tends to Black’s wound. Man-soo is deeply apologetic but baffled as to why his dog would suddenly bite someone when he’s never done that before.

Black is more curious about the dog, and Man-soo happily tells him that even though his “brother” looks like a bulldog, Sip-gyeong is actually descended from a St. Bernard, which means Sip-gyeong is really good at finding corpses. Black wonders if the dog could smell Moo-gang’s body.

As Black leaves the hospital, he sees a high school boy being rushed into the ER. He steps aside to avoid running into another high school boy following behind the gurney, but the other high school student turns around in surprise, wondering if Black can see him.

Black realizes his mistake, and purposefully ignores the boy (a spirit or a Reaper himself) as he walks through Black. The boy then assumes that Black can’t see him after all.

Man-soo returns to his office, only to find his older brother waiting for him with a golf club. Man-soo’s brother beats him until Man-soo apologizes, even though Man-soo doesn’t know why (although this seems like a normal procedure for when Man-soo somehow messes up).

This time it’s because Royal Insurance is getting bad press due to Jin-sook’s highly publicized murder. They’re losing lots of clients and, plus they won’t be able to sell the company if their publicity is this dismal. Man-soo promises to work harder to fix things, but his brother doesn’t need Man-soo to work harder — he just needs Man-soo to tell him what’s going on and then stay out of it.

When Man-soo looks at Jin-sook’s file, he realizes that it’s the same woman from the police station, and that Ha-ram had accurately predicted her death. Man-soo takes it as confirmation that Ha-ram must really be a fortune teller. He goes to see her at her home, but she’s trying to hide from her landlady, who’s ready to evict her since the returned security deposit means that Ha-ram should have moved out.

Ha-ram wants to know if he’s found the file from 1997, but Man-soo’s more curious about how she knew Jin-sook would die. He assumes she must channel a spirit like a shaman does, but Ha-ram, annoyed, orders Man-soo to get out.

Man-soo offers to help her pay her security deposit on her apartment if she helps him. With her abilities, she can tell him if their VIP clients are going to die soon, and if so, they can find a way to prevent it so that Royal Insurance doesn’t lose any more money on expensive payouts.

Ha-ram has no interest in his money and kicks him out of her apartment. After what happened with Moo-gang, she has no desire to try and save anyone else.

At the police station, the detectives are going through Jin-sook’s phone records, asking people if they know anything about her death. Black takes a much more direct approach, asking each person he calls if they’re the killer. He’s bewildered when they curse him and then hang up on him.

So-tae grabs the desk phone to prevent him from making more disastrous calls, but as Black dials the next number on his list using his personal cell phone, the caller ID on the phone pops up as “Darling Soo-wan.” Even though Black doesn’t understand it, Kwang-kyun realizes that Soo-wan must know Jin-sook.

They go to the hospital to confront Soo-wan, who simply says that she bought an insurance plan from Jin-sook. Their calls were strictly business related. But Soo-wan is secretly worried about the phone records being released.

Ha-ram returns home to find Man-soo waiting for her. He’s got the file she wants — or at least pieces of it, once he rescued it from Sip-gyeong. Man-soo proves that he has it by telling her that her father had a tattoo of a spider. Ha-ram dismisses him at first, since her father didn’t have a tattoo — but she recalls the spider tattoo from the vision of the man who killed her father.

Man-soo will only give her the file after she agrees to work for him, and he hands her a list of their VIP clients to investigate.

In the morning, Black goes to a high school that his missing Reaper’s sister attends. Black recognizes the boy who had just been admitted to the ER the day before. According to other students, the boy had attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the roof, but trees caught his fall, and he was only injured.

Ha-ram is also at the school, diligently working through her VIP list, which include a chaebol’s daughter who is also a teacher. The teacher doesn’t have any Shadows, but in her classroom is the suicide student that Black is curious about.

Both Ha-ram and Black are surprised to find each other staring into the same classroom, and Ha-ram is shocked when she sees a Shadow coming from inside the student.

Black is confused by what she can see, and Ha-ram grumpily reminds him that she can see the Death Shadows, just like she told him (or she told Moo-gang) and which he should know full well. Black realizes that Loser must be in the boy, and he takes the student back to the rooftop where the boy had originally committed suicide.

Black threatens to shoot the boy to force Loser out, and the Reaper in the boy leaps out of the body — it’s the high school Reaper from the hospital, not Loser. The student Reaper pleads with Black to let him have a second chance at life through the boy’s body, then realizes that it’s not like Black can stop him, anyway, since Black isn’t exactly in a position to call the Death Squad (unless Black wants to turn himself in).

Black allows the student Reaper to return to the boy’s body, but it’s only a trick. He reminds the boy that when the body a Reaper possesses dies again, then the Reaper forgets all the memories they had while in that body — which means the boy will forget all about Black.

Black pushes the boy off the roof, and once the boy dies (again), the student Reaper is eventually captured by the Death Squad.

That night, Ha-ram finds Black standing outside her apartment. He says that Joon/Moo-gang was her first love, so therefore she must like him, and that she should stick close to him and be his eyes.

 
COMMENTS

Ohhhhhh, things are beginning to actually make sense! All those details in the first few episodes really do matter, and even though there are still a ton of questions remaining (for example, what is this big mystery that happened twenty years ago? How is Soo-wan related to it all? Why would someone want to kill Jin-sook as a warning? How is Royal Insurance culpable since they destroyed their records from back then? And is this dude with the spider tattoo the same as the guy with the scar? I feel like I have a firmer grasp of things than I did during the first week.

I wish there was more of the Reaper mythology in the first few episodes, since it almost felt like we were walking into a completely different show that just happened to have characters from we met the previous week. But now that the groundwork has been laid, we can finally start to move forward and focus on the real issues at hand — such as the fact that Black knows that Ha-ram will have to die, and that he’ll have to reap her soul, which I’m anticipating will cause some serious angst once he learns how to actually care about others. Although his arrogant disdain for humans delights me in that fish-out-of-water way, I think I also enjoy it because I assume he’ll eventually get his comeuppance and realize why all those other Reapers were so desperate to give their assigned souls another chance. Especially when I now have the suspicion that Black might actually be her father, but he doesn’t remember since her father’s body died twice and therefore his memory was erased. Although if the show decides to hint at romance between them (hey, never underestimate the power of a first love!), I’m going to eat my (squicked out) words.

Speaking of squicked out, even though I know that the boy was technically dead and I know it was just a Reaper — I was still shocked when Black pushed him off the building. That’s just another example of Black being unmerciful, right? And not something that’s going to continue forever? Like purposefully assuming Loser would fail to reap and thus get sent to the fiery pits just so Black wouldn’t have to deal with him as a partner anymore. Then again, there is a reason why he’ll have to be careful not to be caught by any other Reaper, since he’s made enough Reaper enemies that they’d delight in reporting him to the Death Squad.

At least he has a couple of friends, if they can be considered as much. Whatever they are, I totally love Hip-hop and Joseon! And not just because I will forever have an affinity towards supernatural beings that are addicted to dramas. But they add much needed levity to the underworld and give a fun glimpse into Reaper life — especially Joseon telling Black how to act more human. I’m hoping we get more of their stories, since they’ve both obviously committed suicide but don’t seem to feel much regret about it despite having been reaping for years (at least based on their outfits — pure-born Reapers seem to have a uniform, whereas Reapers who have committed suicide seem to always been in the clothes they died in — but I could be wrong!).

I’m still waiting for Soo-wan and Man-soo to become more important to the story, though. I adore Lee El and trust her to take on projects that allow her to shine in those odd, quirky characters she seems to prefer, but so far Soo-wan is a vague mystery. There’s definitely more to her than just being Moo-gang’s (ex)girlfriend and I’m impatient to find out what it is. Man-soo is also a mystery, although I’m not exactly dying (heh) to figure out what his deal is. So far it just seems like the standard “chaebol trying to prove himself to his family,” and even though his goofy blind-faith in fortune tellers is amusing and connection to Chunsu Insurance useful, I’m not sure yet why I should care about his character.

But considering the show is finally convincing me that the gazillion plot threads in the previous two episodes are actually leading to something, I have faith it will all come together. Somehow. Maybe.

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I was going to skip this one but it turned up unannounced on UK Netflix as a weekly series. Although I'll maybe wait a couple of weeks to try it in one go given the comments about slightly confusing lines!

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That's cool!!! I wish US Netflix would too! Curious, did Netflix change the name of the drama? They are terrible with that and it makes finding the shows very difficult. Case in point: Mirror of the Witch = Secret Healer on Netflix

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I checked the US Netflix list of Korean dramas...not there. :( but....one can hope it will show up. Man to Man took forever. Argon, a drama a prayed would be subbed but it never was, is coming to Netflix TOMORROW!

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That's great news!! You should share it on the beanie wall. There is still hope then for AoY2 to be released soon then...

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I nearly missed it. I follow a twitter account that updates all new netflix entries but somehow it missed this. Netflix included it in my 'you might be interested in' e-mail though - curiously they thought I might be interested in new Kdrama!

It's still called Black and it'll be showing 2 epis a week, running a few days in arrears of original transmission.

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Yes, I keep waiting for AoY to have a 'season 2'.

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Question: you in the US? I am not finding anything on Argon or Black coming out on Netflix here...

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I mentioned up top it was UK Netflix.

I've checked Unogs and it's not showing for the US - it is showing for Canada though?

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And their new names are often awful. 'This week my wife is having an affair' is called 'Listen to Love'. Seriously? The only way I can make sense of that is by imagining that the person who came up with it didn't actually watch the show. Or that they've got a Random Title Generator.

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It's on Aus Netflix too. Sorry! It is behind though. We only have up to episode 4 available so far. I'm trying not to cheat and go to Kissasian.

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YAS!! It's coming to Netflix Australia too.. right in time for when I finish my prac!!!

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It's also not out for Netflix Germany yet (we only got a handful of Korean dramas compared to other countries), but since this and Argon are under "Netflix Original" they should be released everywhere sometime.

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YES! It is available on Netflix Canada!

Thank you for your post. I wouldn’t have known to check there. Now I can finally watch this series ☠️🎃🙂

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Netflix in Canada has it has well. Title is Black. I think they start it today or tomorrow.

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Not sure I like the change in tone of this. The first episode almost seemed like it was written by a different person. I'm not a fan of all the haha hoho stuff, 'cause frankly it's not that funny. Goblin was able to meld its comedy in a natural and unforced way. This...not so much. Still going to hang on...but I am also hoping we are done with Ha Ram's meltdowns. Time for the team to start work.

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I agree with you... Based on Episode 1 I was expecting a serious detective/paranormal/mystery drama but Episode 2 takes a sudden turn into black comedy especially with 444/Moo-gang's character.

His character is absolutely hilarious though, especially with his interactions with his old team of detectives who can't comprehend what has gotten into their colleague. It's just quite jarring and unexpected. :D

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The dog biting Black's leg was unfortunate timing, considering the news about Shiwon's family's dog. I guess they had already filmed it before the news broke (?)

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There have been dog-bites since there have been dogs in this world. There's many different factors playing into the lady's death. Unfortunately the cruel truth is that even after her death there will be more dog bites the world over. I see no point making a connection with that dog bite and this one.

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It's just a weird coincidence and the situations are different. More unfortunate timing for Choi Si Won and his family than unfortunate for this drama.

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This is not just any dog. It has a name and the second male lead says this dog is descended from corpse-eating creatures/humans. I wonder if any spirit is inhabiting in this dog as well, as he could smell death (the Reaper here, also when Haram tried to hang herself).

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I am most curious about Moo-gang. Why he didn’t remember Ha-ram, didn’t respond to the childhood letters, yet still wore the bracelet she gave him as an adult. He seemed child-like in some ways with his clothing choices and room decor as well as his ineptitude as a cop. He was bad at physical fighting, gun skills, drinking and had a weak stomach. Almost as if he wasn’t an adult or a trained police officer. He was secretly investigating events that happened when he was a child. But seemed to be piecing together even events he was present at. Why was someone trying repeatedly to kill Moo-gang in very elaborate ways? A staged sniper and a hospital poisoning.
Who was the younger boy outside his house in Ha-ram’s memory? Was it the same little boy Joon was trying to protect in the warehouse from scarface?
I think others are suspecting Moo-gang was dead soul inhabited, but when? By whom? And for what purpose?

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yeah, I have a lot of question regarding Moo Gang too and I think that's what 444 and Ha ram would be investigating,
also does anyone know who is the actor that plays as 444?
I remember I saw him before but I can't make up the name

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That's Kim Tae-woo! He's been in quite a few other things, but most notably played the husband in this writer's previous work, God's Gift - 14 Days.

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Joon may have dead in childhood, very likely to save the little brother. The present Moogang may well be that little brother, who is traumatised from Joon's death, vomits when he sees blood or bodies, but vows to avenge Joon and find out the truth. That is why he does not remember Haram.

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have been dead

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There's also the scene that the drama opens with in episode 1. Of Black jumping off a cliff into the sea, swimming to the bottom and forcing open a car door. He finds a decomposed body and cries - 'Is this my body?'. This can't be 444 - he was born in Reaperland. Could it be Joon? But then Moo Gang wouldn't have Joon's memory of the girl and woman hitting her in that big warehouse-type place.

So confused.

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I concur that Joon-oppa and Moo-gang seems like two different persons, I mean, they even have two names..?

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But if moo gang is a dead soul inhabited, shouldn't ha-ram see a black aura circling him(before 444 took over the body)?. I'm not sure. Perhaps there are different rules for dead human reapers and pureblood reapers. Didn't ha ram's father inhabit a dead person too. I'm guessing her father's a pureblood reaper as well, and there must be a rule where she can't perceive a black aura if the inhabitor is a pureblood reaper, else she would've seen it from her father ever since she was born. Hmm

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wait i'm really sorry but I didn't remember the show telling me that her father is a reaper??? where??? what?? why am i so lost?

not sure but here's what i think: if the dead soul isn't a reaper, she probably wouldn't be able to see it

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It wasn't clarified yet. But there're theories running around that her dad's a reaper, which explains her ability to see death. lolol

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Ok, this is interesting. The one issue I had with this episode was her being able to see the Reaper in the high school student but not in Moog-Gang. So assuming this isn't plot hole (and this show seems very well thought out so I'm happy to give it the benefit of the doubt) then something like this would explain it.

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Maybe Joon oppa is dead and was the body in the car, and Moo-gang was the other little boy. That would explain him not remembering Ha-ram, and his secret investigation (it would be about Joon's death). It would also explain why Ha-ram saw Joon oppa as a wet child in her vision, because he died in the car that fell into the sea.
Anyway, not sure about anything, but I am enjoying the drama 😊 and will keep watching, so I have decided to binge-watch the first episodes again because I was not paying enough attention and I missed many things.

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Thank you for the recap! As was said, so many things now make sense with this episode. With a lot of things now explained, I'm now ready to settle in and enjoy this drama that seems to be coming from the direction of a "creepy amusement park". 😎

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Did I miss ep 2 recap?
yes, aaaah

I really like the direction of this drama and I still stand that ep 1 is made to be confusing with the editing so it can be explained when the drama ends.

It's a drama full of curiosity and I love when they dropped the hint and you are like, "I know it now, I see".
It's like they want you to figure it out little by little but not too mysterious either,

I think Haram father is another reaper that saw her mum at the accident and she is born from a reaper father + human mum. That's why her father doesn't afraid of death and her mum keep silent about the father's death.

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Agree with you. This show demands a lot of close attention. One blink and the details are missed. I feel the writer has woven an intricate web of crime/intrigue, all written up and down to the very last detail. Hope the drama will follow this set course and not derail or change direction, as so many live dramas do.

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I really want to like this but half of it leaves me utterly baffled. I’m going to keep watching in hopes that a solid story emerges from the miasma.

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How come that there are two glass balls with the number 444 in them? Is that an intentional act by the All Mighty? Is 444's partner and his escape more than a coincidence? Is 444's decision to inhabit Moogang's body also more than coincidental? I feel everything is pre-planned by the All Mighty, for something 444 did in his previous lives. The reason that he goes into the human world just to look for his escaped partner is just too simple. There must be more to it. The reapers once joked about the All-Mighty, and looked up in mock-laughter, but I feel they will have a bitter taste of the Greater Power in the end.

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This show seems to follow the cold-boiled detective/film noir tradition. Death is treated in a way that is never sentimental, but is made to seem very random, leaving little time for a person to process or even shed tears over. Moo-gang's death in the first episode is one example. Other dramas would have sensationalised his death scene in the hospital emergency room with his girlfriend doctor trying desperately to save him. But not here. Another example is the Reaper shooting the hostage-taker in the third episode while the latter is bluffing with a banana disguised as a gun. This would have been a hero-making scene to maximise the Reaper's glamor and invincibility. But no, we are given a brief glimpse lasting two seconds, after the shot is fired and the tension is gone. The writer/director hates sensationalism, obviously.

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I agree about the noir-ish feel and how they are so matter of fact about death. Since we are getting so many dead people, it'll pretty emotionally draining if the show is sappy about them! The thing I enjoyed least in noir is the usually unhappy ending, and here it feels we are going that way too with the hero either already dead or never even alive in the first place...

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Seems like "Joon-ie Oppa" is the new "Saet-Byul-ah". Seems like the writer likes to write in constant mentions/wailings of names. It's irritating, but I can understand the characters' feelings, so I give it a pass.

The drama is still confusing and murky, but it is also so intriguing that I'm very much in for the ride and rewatching scenes. I really like how the writer and/or director toned down the gross humor in this episode. We're falling into a nice rhythm yet. The beginning of episode 3 with the amusement park was really breathtaking. And things got really interesting once we start seeing the connections or potential connections between the various characters.

I feel really bad for Moo-gang. I was expecting to cringe during that scene when Moo-gang was told he was dead, since SSH isn't that good with dramatic scenes, but the way the director filmed it, the focus was on his voice, full of despair. I would hate to be searching for some answer for like 15 years only to get killed. Then some reaper borrows my body. It is a mercy that Moo-gang doesn't know how Black had been exposing his genitals all over town and eating all sort of gross things. I'm excited for Black and Haram to solve Moo-gang's mystery.

I don't think Black is Haram's dad since they did show the reaper who was there during Haram's parents car accident.

I love the two other reapers. I think i can be satisfied with being a Reaper before I started watching korean dramas. But to know there are dramas airing and i can't touch any of the devices to turn them on to watch them- that would be too much torture. I'd run and possess some human body too!

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Yea that amusemen park scene was really well-written. What a medium to link the human world and the underworld, a blurring of reality/unreality/fantasy/nightmare where thrill and danger/death are so close.

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Thank you @odilettante for a great recap!
Out of the many shows I am currently watching Black has become the one I am most addicted to <3 I really enjoy 444's "I don't give a f", tell-it-as-it-is attitude, his completely unapologetic arrogance is hilarious and somehow instead of finding him offensive when he says "rude" (but entirely factual) things to the humans, I actually side with him and realize just how pretentious/pathetic a typical human workplace (and by extension society) really looks from the perspective of an "outsider".

But when 444 pushed the reaper-possessed schoolboy off the building I was yelling "nononono", because I was sympathetic with the reaper and was a little shocked by how 444 really had no mercy at all, but at the same time I was also impressed, as we don't often get a true anti-hero as the main character in Asian TV dramas.

Must also admit I'd never found Song Seung-heon so seductive as I do now haha! His low, deep voice really suits 444's character <3 Oh and I love 444's two reaper sidekicks/partners in crime too!

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Admin-nim, I think Dramabeans might have two recap links http://www.dramabeans.com/recaps & http://www.dramabeans.com/recaps/

I frequently click on "More Recaps" button from main page and it is stuck at recaps from 5th Oct17 and before.

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Woah... thanks for reporting that! I didn't see it at first but apparently it happens for logged out users. :( We'll look into a fix.

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Can you check if it's okay now?

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Nope. It's still showing previous recap list if I click on More Recaps. Perhaps linking "More Recaps" to .../recaps/ (with the slash at the end) may work?

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Ok! It's working now. Thanks.

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So any Grim Reaper can be somebody else before coz they have free amnesia card..? Err, yeah, thanks for taking up the confusion level another notch. Also, I'd like to complain to Him for making up the system where suicidal people is punished to be Grim Reaper, causing a whole bunch of them going rogue and possessing dead bodies. Duh!
That things aside, am loving how the show is letting us see the same scene unfolded from another POV, it makes the plot feel tight coz everything is preordained. Hope it's just not a feeling.
Am hoping Moo-gang is not really dead, dead. If he can escape before, maybe he can do it again? Him and Soo-wan seem to be destined together, am hoping they can get their happy ending.
And thank you so much show, for giving us the novelty that is a rapping Grim Reaper! ^^

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Have been enjoying Black as it has a different feel to it in its blend.
Hope it stays weird.

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That second lead is soo cute though i don't know him....nd yes
it's thrilling and loving this too much....

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Oooh too much info....my brain can't process so much ....information overload lol

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My question is:
1.if ha ram can see a body possessed by a reaper, why can't she see through moo gang/black???
2.if moo gang is possessed by black, wasn't he dead once before that?? Was he possessed by another soul when he was shot the first time? Bcoz he was possessed by black the second time he died, right?? Or am I missing something here????

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question 1 was answered in ep 4, but it was more of an assumption by 444, that the black clothes ( black shirt, and black jacket ) he is wearing is acting as a shield, since the black shadow camouflages with black clothes, similarly her black sunglasses do.
But she also saw him in the hospital gown,which is white, but she couldnt see the black shadow inside Moo-gang's body. So the theory of black clothes lacks logic, so i think that she is unable to see the pure descendant of grim reapers, unlike those who become reapers who are humans who committed suicide.

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I'm still quite not understand the storyline of this drama.. sometimes it's a little bit confusing me..

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Writing and editing felt so different from the first two episodes. Maybe it's because the first two episodes laid the background? I think this episode was easier to follow. But why are blood and injuries blurred? That just looks stupid. Didn't expect that kind of censorship from a cable drama... Anyway, I love the contrast between the three grim reapers who hang out together haha

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@everyone who wants to know who the actor of 444 is (since the name is not listed on asianwiki): It's Kim Tae Woo, the older brother of Kim Tae Hoon (doctor from Fantastic, lawyer from Lookout)!

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Thanks odilettante. LOL... we are amazed, are we not, that perhaps the threads are going to come together and make sense. At the moment I cannot tell if we have 1 big arc somewhere and a few sub-stories along the side or if they will feed into the arc, however I gave myself a challenge to try and figure out how many story threads there might be.

Please feel free, anyone, to add on to what I missed. 😆 There's the:
1) Moo Gang thread with the 20 year old case, Soo Wan and Jin Sook.
2) Ha Ram and Moo Gang first love? thread continuing into Black's trying to get her to be his eyes
3) Ha Ram hunting down her dad's maybe killer
4) Black hunting for Loser
5) Man Soo and maybe insurance fraud or something illicit by his hyung
6) Everyone clamouring for Ha Ram to point out death to them
7) Detectives dealing with the murders on the side, and solving them with Black's help
8) Moo Gang's spirit stuck somewhere - will he be freed to pass over or return?
9) Ha Ram's imminent death - will she end up with Moo Gang on the other side?

Did I miss out any thread? 😉

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While I liked that we have the reaper trio bromance of sorts, I felt that it was very contrived - they were necessary because we had to hear a long exposition of the rules of Reaper-hood and the consequences of breaking those rules. It was good that it was finally revealed to us, and I agree that it should have been done along the way from Ep 1.

What I did enjoy of this show were the moments of unexpected and pure hilarity. I found myself shouting with laughter at Black's straight-faced preposterous antics and the reactions of the humans around him. I both abhor and love Black's black humour, total disdain for protocol and people's feelings, and cold un-human way of doing things. So horrible, it's so funny. 😂

Maybe I should add another story thread... 10) Detectives finally putting the pieces together and realising that Moo Gang is actually Black. That should be the arc that brings Ha Ram, Man Soo and Soo Wan together ... errr... shouldn't it? 😊

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10. Moo Gang's doctor-girlfriend and her part in what happened 20 years ago, especially her role as a (maybe) child prostitute in the tape recorded by that transexual woman/man/corpse with silicone implants
11. the shooting at the hostage scene at the shopping mall bridge and who was behind all this; maybe the politician running for re-election and trying to cover up his son's rape/murder crime has a spooky part to play.

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Who ordered Moo Gang to be killed? A shadowy organization?

Ha Ram continues to be illogical. Girl, you haven't seen a guy since grade school maybe 20 years ago. Get a grip! He isn't a boyfriend who dumped you last week. How is this, given everything else that is wrong with your life, anywhere near the top of the list to manically investigate? So he doesn't recognize you, get a grip.

444's actions also become somewhat illogical. (Maybe I missed it?) A GR under your charge has gone AWOL, you're in trouble until you find him. You're borrowing a body until you find your missing protege, then presumably returning the body to its "dead" state. Let's play detective??? Ummm....priorities..."burning fiery pits" vs "fitting in temporarily with humans"...

Kudos to the writer for trying to put a mythology behind the grim reapers. But, surely it isn't too logical that GR can go AWOL so easily? Immature GR doesn't make sense given the gravity of the "work" that they perform. To have two "high school maturity" GR go AWOL in one episode makes little sense of the whole scheme.

I am hoping they pull this off. But one thing that works for this drama is probably to watch the entire series at one go because the weekly episodes probably doesn't work as well given the ratio of increasing confusion over revelation.

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Wait... when did Ha Ram's father die twice?

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I sometimes want to go and yell to the director or writer of this drama to please stop confusing us with way too many things going on, , and make the flow of this drama smoother. It gets choppier each episode, and so many things together in one episode makes it so messier. They cant seem to focus on one thing.

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This is surprisingly good, although it's a show I would've liked to binge. The loose ends are killing me, so many things to remember!

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Never thought that having Lee Jong Suk and Siwon dramas airing, the drama with Song Seung Hun and Go Ara would be the one that I look forward the most 😆 I hope it keeps being so entertaining. The start was a bit chaotic but now it is taking a nice pace where we are discovering little by little all the secrets. I like how this drama does not allow to fast-forward any side plots, everything is relevant for the story.
For now, the only thing I am sure is that Ha-ram is the daughter of the bride in the car accident and the grim reaper (not 444, another guy). My bet is that the mother knew he was not her husband but not sure what happened between them.
I can't wait to see how 444 will start caring about Ha-ram. The other grim reapers said that he received the second ball with Ha-ram's name thanks to some divine intervention, so maybe she will mean something important to him. She is not fully human either, so I wonder if there is really a possibility for romance between them, haha!!

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Thanks for the recap! The story is finally starting to make more sense.

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But is this truly only 10episodes? T-T the writer was able to make 16 ep of awesomeness in god's gift; I hope does in this one too..

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No it's 16 episodes.. it will end on Dec 3 according to the site where I am watching Black.

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Can I just raise one question, how is it that Ha Ram can see another grim reaper inside the boy's body but NOT see 444's shadow in Moo Gang's body?

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Someonee Im soo confused rn . If haram can see shadow although it was in a person's body , why she cant see moogang's shadow . Its the same right concidering moogang is possesed by black ?

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How can I download the series

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I'm not going to comment on the bazillion plot threads. I too am assuming they'll come together at some point. And I'm kind of glad a 16-ep show has so many to keep it driving forward.

The thing that confused me about this episode was the fact that Ha-ram could clearly see the high school boy was possessed by a Reaper. So why can't she see that Joon Oppa is as well? That's the one thing I didn't understand. Is this a plot hole? Or will it be explained somehow?

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How come Ha-ram doesn't see the black smoke on Moo-gang's body then?

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This may be a stupid question but what is the drama the two reapers are referring to? The one with the guy and girl being siblings, then not being siblings and then getting married and having quadruplets??? It sounded like a fun drama to watch XD

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Hello. I watch ths episode and wonder why go ah ra can see the grim reaper in the student body. But couldnt see black in moo gang body. Can you explain to me.

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