Red Moon Blue Sun: Episodes 29-30

by odilettante

Even though we now know the identity of the little girl in the green dress, the more important question to ask is why the little girl in the green dress is so important. In order to find those answers, Woo-kyung must go deep into her memories — and in doing so, she begins to discover the disturbing truth about her childhood.

 
EPISODES 29-30 RECAP

As Woo-kyung waits to hear about her stepmother’s condition, she receives an anonymous message from Red Cry, asking if she wants to know the truth about her sister. Woo-kyung accepts the message and downloads the anonymous chat app. She aks Red Cry if he was the one who had sent her the message a while ago via the forum, where he said he knew her.

Red Cry admits that he did indeed send that message. She asks who Red Cry is, but Red Cry gives her a choice: either she can know his identity, or she can learn the truth about the little girl in the green dress. It almost seems like, in the distraction of seeing her stepmother being transferred to another hospital room, Woo-kyung is missing Red Cry’s messages, where he assures her he’s only doing this to reveal the truth and heal broken souls.

But suddenly she messages back that she wants to know the truth about her sister and the little girl in the green dress. Red Cry makes her promise not to tell the police, or else she won’t learn the secret. He also warns Woo-kyung not to trust her stepmother.

Ji-heon and his team are busy going through the evidence from the robbery-turned-murder at Shi-wan’s home. Or, at least, what looks to be a robbery-turned-murder. When the culprit broke into the house, Shi-wan’s father went downstairs to see what was going on, and was immediately stabbed.

Shi-wan’s mother was knocked unconscious, and then the culprit opened the safe and stole the 200,000,000 won that was always kept there. Ji-heon finds it odd that the culprit would know the code to the safe, and that the alarm system would be turned off, especially in a house that has so much cash.

It becomes even more suspicious when Chan-wook digs up records revealing the victim was accused of domestic violence, but the report was never investigated. Based on this information, Ji-heon decides that this case is not a robbery-turned-murder after all.

At the hospital, the doctor informs Woo-kyung that her stepmother has aplastic anemia, a condition where the body stops producing new blood cells. That’s the illness Mom has been hiding from Woo-kyung, and when Woo-kyung asks her about it, Mom defensively says that it’s not like talking about it would have solved anything. The only treatment is through a stem cell transplant, and she doesn’t have any blood relatives to be a donor.

Woo-kyung suggests they can try to find another donor, but Mom wearily says it’s pointless — she’s lived a long enough life, and doesn’t want to be a bother to anyone. But Woo-kyung can’t stop thinking about Red Cry’s warning to not trust her stepmother.

When Woo-kyung visits Se-kyung to update her on Mom’s condition, Se-kyung muses that this must be the reason Mom has been so considerate to her — people change when they realize they are going to die.

Se-kyung explains that she always hated Mom because Mom acted so uncomfortable with her. She blames it on the fact that it would have been awkward to have been sent away for so long and then come back to the family after their birth mother died.

She even remembers the first day she returned home, and Woo-kyung telling her that she looked different. Woo-kyung says it was probably just a reaction to the way Se-kyung grew up during her time with their grandmother, then hesitantly asks if Se-kyung remembers anything specific about her time at Grandma’s.

Thinking back, Se-kyung only has one concrete memory from that time — watching a department store burn down. It gave her nightmares as a kid. When she returns home, Woo-kyung searches for a department store that burned down almost thirty years ago, which gives her a clue the town where Se-kyung lived at that time. She’s surprised that it’s the same place as Mom’s hometown.

During her therapy session with Dr. Yoon, Woo-kyung tells him about figuring out what town Se-kyung lived in when she was a child. He asks what she’s really looking for, but she stares at him in blank confusion. Dr. Yoon tells her that he can’t help her if she’s not honest with him.

He begins to rhythmically tap his pen against the table, lulling Woo-kyung into a light trance as he asks her to tell him what she’s truly curious about. Woo-kyung suddenly blurts out that she wants to know if Se-kyung is really her sister.

Pleased, Dr. Yoon stops his pen-tapping. Woo-kyung, however, is distressed for even thinking that Se-kyung might not be her sister. Dr. Yoon points out that the difference between a truth and a lie is the difference between knowing and not knowing — if she really wants to know who Se-kyung is, she’ll find the truth if she just digs a little deeper.

Mom’s returned home and Woo-kyung stops by to check on her. Woo-kyung’s convinced that they can find a donor for Mom, and even says that she and Se-kyung will get tested on the off-chance they might be a match. This sends Mom in to a panic, and she insists that she doesn’t want any help. She’s lived her life with no regrets and doesn’t need to extend it any longer than necessary.

Woo-kyung’s eyes narrow as she wonders what kind of secret Mom is keeping that she would choose to die for it. Angry, Mom slaps Woo-kyung, but Woo-kyung stands up to her stepmother, telling her that she’ll take whatever small chance there is to save her stepmother. Besides, there’s still so much more that Mom needs to share with her — which sounds as ominous as Woo-kyung intends.

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What secret are you willing to die for?

Distressed, Mom sits alone in her home. Coming from the fireplace, she hears echoes of child Se-kyung and Woo-kyung laughing and playing. Staring at the fireplace in horror, Mom starts to weep — and her nose begins to bleed.

With the encouragement of Red Cry, Woo-kyung and Se-kyung get tested to see if they can be stem cell donors. Woo-kyung also hires a private investigator to look into her stepmother’s past and see if she has any living relatives — and if Mom had a child.

Ji-heon finds out that Shi-wan’s mother kept having issues with activating the “at-home” alarm setting and demanded that the alarm company replace it, which they were going to do in the next day or two. Normally the alarm was always on, except for those few days when the robbery occurred. How convenient.

Ji-heon asks Shi-wan’s mother why she would turn off the alarm when they had so much cash at home, pointedly adding that it’s odd the robber knew the code to the safe. Shi-wan’s mother insists she has no idea how that happened, but Ji-heon doesn’t believe her and confiscates her phone and computer, anyway.

Ji-heon also visits Woo-kyung, who tells him that Shi-wan actually had called her to let her know he and his family were moving to America. She also explains that Shi-wan’s parents specifically requested a different counselor because they thought Woo-kyung was taking Shi-wan’s case too seriously.

Woo-kyung anxiously checks a message on her phone, then dismisses it, telling Ji-heon it’s just spam. But Ji-heon silently notes the nervous way she fiddles with her hands.

Since Ji-heon is consulting her, she wonders if Shi-wan’s case is related to Red Cry. After all, in his confession, Eun-ho mentioned that he had guessed the case Woo-kyung wrote on the horror site was about Shi-wan.

Ji-heon points out that maybe what they thought they made up to entice Red Cry (concerning the younger sibling that mysteriously died) was actually close to the truth — and Red Cry is just doing what he does best, which is kill child abusers.

Soo-young’s found a police report that states Shi-wan’s sister apparently died because he pushed her down the stairs during an argument. Since he was ten at the time, he wasn’t charged for a crime. Chan-wook doesn’t find anything interesting in Shi-wan’s mother’s phone or computer — except for the fact she called Dr. Yoon’s office three times in the past month.

Ji-heon makes another visit to Dr. Yoon, who explains that his counseling sessions with Shi-wan were a mere formality. Ji-heon asks were Dr. Yoon was during the night of the robbery, and the doctor laughs at the ludicrous idea that Ji-heon suspects him.

Ji-heon bluntly points out that he’s investigating everyone connected to Shi-wan and his family. Then he wonders how the doctor, who grew up in America, speaks Korean well enough to be a therapist. Dr. Yoon’s normally cheerful demeanor grows hard as he asks if Ji-heon really wants to know information unrelated to the case, then he’ll have to get a warrant.

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I dare you to get a warrant

Se-kyung’s working hard at her physical therapy to eventually be able to take care of herself. She wonders where she’ll live once she’s finally released from the nursing home. Se-kyung doesn’t want to live her stepmother — or more accurately, she doesn’t want to live in their childhood home, because the fireplace creeps her out.

A flashback shows young Woo-kyung and Se-kyung playing hide-and-seek, and when Se-kyung chose to hide in the unused fireplace, Dad got angry and dragged her out, yelling at her to never play in there again.

That won’t be a problem, because when Woo-kyung stops by Mom’s house to drop-off some food, the fireplace is totally boarded up. Stunned, Woo-kyung asks why, and Mom says she hated how it looked like the mouth of a monster. She also tells Woo-kyung that she can’t stand the sight of her, either, and to never come by again.

Ji-heon brings the police report of Shi-wan’s sister’s death to Woo-kyung. Neither seem to believe that Shi-wan would be the type to shove his sister down the stairs, but Ji-heon also hasn’t been able to find any hard proof that Shi-wan’s father was abusive.

Woo-kyung recalls that Shi-wan pushed his classmate down the stairs to see if someone could die that way — and even threw himself down the stairs, as well. Woo-kyung realizes that these actions reveal the doubt doubt that Shi-wan had about the way his sister died.

Kicking herself for not noticing Shi-wan’s fears earlier, Woo-kyung asks Ji-heon if she can see Shi-wan again. Ji-heon gets a court order and brings the boy to her. Woo-kyung gently apologizes to Shi-wan for not understanding what he was obliquely trying to tell her. She shows him the dollhouse he made, where he hid the drawing of his sister under the stairs.

She asks him why he hid his sister there, and Shi-wan begins to cry as he admits that his father was the one who killed his sister. His father was brutally abusive whenever he got angry, taking most of his fury out on his wife and daughter.

One night, his father frantically came to him, telling Shi-wan to do exactly as he was told or else their entire family would be destroyed. That was the night his father hit his daughter too hard and killed her, but Shi-wan took the blame. Shi-wan was bewildered that everyone, including the police, believed that he pushed his sister down the stairs, and he eventually started to doubt his own memory, too.

He started to believe that he really did kill his sister. Shi-wan blames himself, anyway, for being relieved that his father would hit his sister and not him. Woo-kyung begins to weep as she reassures Shi-wan that he’s not a bad person.

Woo-kyung updates Ji-heon with the information Shi-wan told her. She muses over the type of person who would make a child pay for their own sin. Ji-heon points out that Shi-wan’s father merely did whatever it took to survive, adding that in his line of work, he’s seen people do worse.

Plus, it gives credence to the idea that Red Cry is the culprit, because if Red Cry knew what had really happened to Shi-wan, he would have definitely intervened. However, it’s interesting that Red Cry managed to figure out a secret that neither Shi-wan’s counselor or the detectives were able to discern — just like Red Cry knew about Ha-na’s dead little sibling.

Woo-kyung refuses to let Ji-heon convince her that Dr. Yoon is Red Cry. Ji-heon asks why Woo-kyung chose Shi-wan’s case in the first place, back when they were baiting Red Cry — was it because she was secretly hoping Red Cry would investigate her suspicions? Woo-kyung shuts him down, pointing out that Ji-heon was the one who helped with most of the embellishments of the story.

Later, Ji-heon sees a guy pushing Soo-young around, who in a very out-of-character manner, just accepts the abuse. Ji-heon immediately the tackles the guy and has him arrested, then demands to know why Soo-young didn’t stand up for herself. She quietly explains that the man is her stepbrother, but refuses to say anything more — but based on her attitude, this kind of abuse must have been standard for most of her life.

Chan-wook’s been busy trying to track down Dr. Yoon’s past records. He’s still waiting from confirmation from the American adoption agency, so Ji-heon orders Chan-wook to just google Dr. Yoon’s very common English name. Pfffft. Oh, Ji-heon, it’s a good thing Chan-wook hero-worships you.

Soo-young returns to the office, only feeling slightly awkward about the encounter from earlier. She reveals that Shi-wan’s mother recently opened an international bank account and deposited the same amount of money that was missing from the safe.

Well, that explains how the thief knew the code to the safe — it’s because Shi-wan’s mother stole it herself. Ji-heon interrogates her, who defends her actions. After she woke up from being knocked unconscious, she saw that her husband was dead. In a panic, she emptied the safe since that money would be her only safety net — she knew her husband’s family would cut her off as soon as they had the chance.

Ji-heon asks why Shi-wan’s mother hid her husband’s abuse, and then expertly bombards her with questions about Red Cry. He carefully watches her expression as he weaves an all-too-familiar story about Red Cry luring her in with promises to help free her from her husband, and that they planned out the perfect murder together.

Shi-wan’s mother bursts out that Red Cry never mentioned killing her husband — but that’s proof she communicated with Red Cry. Shi-wan confesses that Red Cry was only helping her move to America and start a new life there — she doesn’t know anything about the robbery.

Speaking of Red Cry, Woo-kyung messages him, asking why he told her to focus on Shi-wan. Red Cry says that her past is in Shi-wan. But, of course, he doesn’t elucidate, instead telling Woo-kyung that she needs to figure out why she chose Shi-wan as her story to originally lure Red Cry.

Woo-kyung’s private investigator reports that Mom had parents who were alive until a few years ago, and he also heard rumors that the mother took care of a young child around the time that Se-kyung remembers being with her grandmother. Then Woo-kyung gets the results of the stem cell test, which reveals that Woo-kyung isn’t a match (no surprise there) — but that Se-kyung is a half-match. Which is good news for Mom, since it means they can go forward with the treatment.

Woo-kyung meets with Dr. Yoon, where she discusses the fact that Se-kyung is Mom’s biological daughter. Dr. Yoon is surprised that Woo-kyung is taking the news so well, but Woo-kyung muses that she thinks she’s known for awhile — it was only a matter of finding proof.

Woo-kyung hesitantly asks Dr. Yoon about his sessions with Shi-wan, asking if Shi-wan’s situation somehow reminded the doctor of her. Dr. Yoon says he has no idea what she’s talking about, and Woo-kyung explains about Shi-wan taking the blame for his father’s abuse and killing Shi-wan’s sister.

Dr. Yoon agrees that Shi-wan’s father was a horrible person, but when Woo-kyung asks if that kind of situation makes him want to kill, Dr. Yoon points out that he deals with terrible people all the time — if he wanted to kill them, then he’d never be able to his job. Reassured by his answer, Woo-kyung decides to have another round of hypnotherapy.

Dr. Yoon guides her into a deep trance and Woo-kyung opens the memory of when she first met her stepmother. When child Woo-kyung called for Se-kyung to meet their new mother, the child that stepped out was the original Se-kyung, the little girl in the green dress.

Opening a door to yet another memory, Woo-kyung recalls that their stepmother was a neat-freak who always hated how messy the girls would make the house with their toys. Woo-kyung worked extra hard to keep their stepmother happy, but Se-kyung was too young to understand, and was often punished for being messy (aka being a child).

Woo-kyung blames herself for not taking better care of her sister, and opens another memory door, going back to the day when Se-kyung wore the green dress that had been Woo-kyung’s birthday gift. Child Woo-kyung had been angry with her sister for wearing the dress. Their noisy argument got the attention of their stepmother, who literally ripped the dress off Se-kyung and dragged her away.

Woo-kyung could hear her sister loudly crying as Se-kyung was thrown into the bathtub to wash up. But child Woo-kyung was mostly relieved she wasn’t the one in trouble, and drowned out her sister’s cries with the television. Later that night, when she went to bed, Se-kyung was sleeping next to her.

Or so Woo-kyung thought, until she touched Se-kyung’s cold cheek. Child Woo-kyung frantically tried to wake Se-kyung up. Seeing how distressed Woo-kyung is, reliving the memory of discovering her dead sister, Dr. Yoon brings her out of the trance.

Ji-heon’s team has found a connection with Dr. Yoon and the hospital where Shi-wan’s mother was going to work as a nurse in America, which indicates that he could be Red Cry. Chan-wook also gets his hands on Dr. Yoon’s adoption papers — and the photo of Dr. Yoon as a boy is exactly the same as Eun-ho’s brother before he was adopted. Ergo, Dr. Yoon is definitely Eun-ho’s long-lost older brother. That’s enough to get the warrant they need.

Woo-kyung goes to Mom’s house, ignoring Mom’s reminder to never return. Woo-kyung reveals that she knows that Mom’s parents were alive that was still alive until recently, even though Mom always said that she was an orphan.

Mom refuses to explain anything, but Woo-kyung reveals that Se-kyung — Mom’s birth daughter — is a donor match for the stem cell transplant. Angry and desperate for answers, Woo-kyung demands to know how it felt treating her own child like a stepchild for so long — what kind of secret is Mom hiding that she would put her child and herself through such misery?

Mom confesses that she had a child out of wedlock and left the child to be raised by her mother. Then she met Woo-kyung’s father and married him, raising his children while feeling sorry that she couldn’t raise her own daughter. Even so, she tried to be a good mom.

But then one day, they went to an amusement park, lost Se-kyung, and weren’t able to find her. Woo-kyung’s father suggested they pretend Mom’s daughter is Se-kyung, and the rest is history. Woo-kyung’s not buying her stepmother’s ridiculous story for one moment. That’s because, thanks to her new-found memories, Woo-kyung knows the truth — she knows Mom killed Se-kyung.

Watch the video

You lied for so long, you’ve become an expert

 
COMMENTS

Even though we don’t know how the original Se-kyung died, I’m assuming it had something to do with the fireplace — or that the fireplace is somehow involved. Why else would Woo-kyung’s father be so protective of it and not want the Woo-kyung and the replacement Se-kyung playing near it (other than standard safety issues)? Or that it would seem like a monster’s mouth to Woo-kyung’s stepmother? And that it would terrify Se-kyung so much? I’m not even completely convinced that Mom was the one who killed Se-kyung — it could have just as easily been Woo-kyung’s father, and Mom has been helping to cover it up for him all this time. Maybe her bargaining chip in keeping silent about what happened was allowing her birth daughter to become the new Se-kyung, which meant she would be able to raise her daughter after all — even if she wouldn’t be able to dote on her the way she would if she weren’t pretending to be a stepmother. I’m reminded of the way she defended Ji-hye back in the first episode — she suggested that Ji-hye took the blame for killing her child in order to protect her husband. Maybe that suggestion was born of personal, first-hand knowledge.

I kinda hate that Woo-kyung had to find out the truth through Dr. Yoon’s hypnotherapy, because that means the only way she regained her memories was due to Red Cry’s help. Then again, Woo-kyung has been this fascinating grey character from the beginning. Her desires and motivations so often match Red Cry that perhaps it won’t be a complete surprise for her to discover that her friend, personal therapist, and fellow counselor actually did the things she would only dream about. Woo-kyung’s often admitted that she’s wanted to kill the horrible parents, but moral decency has prevented her from following through on those acts. But maybe Dr. Yoon has no such filter, although it sends shivers down my spine to think of a psychotherapist also being a psychopath.

I wonder how many people Dr. Yoon has killed — or engineered convenient “suicides.” Was Red Cry his idea? Who was the man in the hoodie and the Good Person mask? I’m confident that it was Dr. Yoon that night when Ji-heon chased him (and consequently got beat up on the rooftop). But I’m also convinced that Eun-ho really did kill all those people — So-ra’s father, Ha-na’s father, and the senior director — by his own hand. The scraps of poetry seem to prove that it was Eun-ho, because no one else would hate those poems more than the boy who was abused through them. As for the suicides — Dr. Park and Ha-jung — well, that could be Dr. Yoon, since it’s clear he has an ability to manipulate people (and don’t think I’m not still super suspicious about the use of hypnotherapy — that ballerina music box must be some kind of a trigger, right?).

I’m glad that Ji-heon is such a good detective (with such a resourceful team), because I’m ready for answers. Not just about Dr. Yoon, but also about Soo-young and the fact that this normally hair-trigger “beat up first, ask questions later” woman was so submissive to her stepbrother. I want to know why Ji-heon always looks so panicked when a kid hugs him. I want to know how the adult Se-kyung will react to finding out that her own mother has been lying to her about who she really is for her entire life. I want everyone in this show who’s had a messed up childhood to finally get the answers and apologies they deserve. That’s not too much to ask for the final episode, is it?

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