Abyss: Episode 15

by LollyPip

This episode contains a lot of couple cuteness, and not just between our leads, either. But it feels like the calm before the storm, as we only have one episode left and there are still a lot of questions to answer. Can they catch Se-yeon’s killer, uncover the last of Abyss’s secrets, and find a way to get their lives back?

 
EPISODE 15: “Wanted”

After putting their drunk parents to bed at the vacation house, Min tucks Se-yeon into the last empty bed and leaves to sleep on the couch. Se-yeon grumbles that they’ve been sleeping together for a while now, but Min comes back, looking determined. He kisses Se-yeon and says he can’t help himself, and asks her to let him stay.

Some time later, Se-yeon wakes up in Min’s arms when she hears a noise in the house. She finds her father retching in the bathroom, so she offers to make him tea. He grabs her wrist and calls her “Se-yeon-ah,” offering to give her some pocket money like she’s a child again.

Se-yeon knows him well enough to know that he’s still very drunk. He passes out again, and she tells him softly that she used to hate it when he gave her money, but today she likes it because it makes her feel like his daughter again. After her mother takes him to bed, Se-yeon picks up his wallet where he has a picture of the three of them, and tells him she’ll come back to him soon.

She goes back to bed, finding Min awake and contemplating the now-purple Abyss. As they snuggle, she tells Min that her dad mistook her for Se-yeon, then corrects herself that she is Se-yeon. She says she keeps forgetting her old face and asks Min cutely if he’s okay with how she looks now.

He says that he’ll still know her even if her face changes a thousand times. Awww. Se-yeon jokes that he’s only saying that because she’ll look the same even if she’s revived again, but the way the camera pans over to focus on Abyss has me worried.

In the morning, Min wakes first and tucks in the sleepy Se-yeon to get some more rest. But she bounces out to the living room as he’s greeting her father, and it gets very awkward as Dad realizes that they slept together. He leaves without a word, but both Min and Se-yeon look like they’d love to sink through the floor.

Dad declines to eat breakfast with the group, and Se-yeon’s mom says that they’re leaving today. Min’s mom says she’s leaving too, giving Se-yeon a knowing look as she admits that she feels like she’s intruding. Min escapes to look for Dad, who he finds fishing in the lake.

He asks Dad if he did something to offend him. Dad admits that he has no right to tell Min how to run his love life, but that it’s difficult to see him with someone other than Se-yeon. He tells Min that he knows life goes on, and his new girl seems sweet.

He tells Min that he always thought he was the best man for his daughter, surprising Min, since Dad always told him to stop chasing Se-yeon. Dad says he only said that because Min’s mother didn’t seem to like Se-yeon, but that he’s always liked Min. Dad says that Min’s only fault was that he wasn’t handsome, then realizes that Min is recording him to preserve his compliments, hee.

Back in the city, Dong-chul finds out that the statement from the courier who delivered all the blue boxes to Ji-wook from Young-chul isn’t enough to get a warrant against Ji-wook. Detective Lee guesses that it’s because nobody wants to go against a prosecutor, and Dong-chul kicks him in frustration.

He calls Se-yeon to tell her the bad news, and she sighs that she wishes they could just raid Ji-wook’s house or office. Min says they knew this wouldn’t be easy, which is why he has a plan to break into Ji-wook’s home. HAHA, his big plan is to just buy the apartment next door and get into Ji-wook’s place through the adjoining firewall.

Inside Ji-wook’s home, Se-yeon finds something that looks familiar — her own sewing kit.

Meanwhile, Ji-wook shocks Detective Lee by walking into the police station, covered in bandages and using a neck brace to hide the new soul-scar on his neck, and offering himself up for questioning regarding Young-chul’s supposed accomplice. Later he leaves the station, his bandages and brace gone, and luckily Dong-chul spots him as he’s playing lookout for Se-yeon and Min.

Min and Se-yeon scramble to get back to their own apartment when they hear Ji-wook letting himself int, but Min accidentally bumps into a picture on the wall. Ji-wook comes to investigate, and he seems to notice that they put the sewing kit back wrong (his place is ridiculously orderly), but he’s distracted by the doorbell.

It’s the building’s security guard, who saw someone letting the air out of Ji-wook’s tire in the garage and leaving after putting some cash under the windshield wiper. We see Dong-chul escaping on foot, having created a distraction to allow Min and Se-yeon to get out of Ji-wook’s place.

The security cameras are no help identifying Dong-chul, but the one in the hallway shows Min and Se-yeon leaving their own unit. Their disguises are pretty flimsy, and Ji-wook recognizes them right away. He goes back home and checks the sewing kit, and he realizes that the scissors are missing.

Dong-chul picks them up, and Se-yeon gives him the scissors she swiped from her sewing kit as proof that Young-chul and Ji-wook killed her. Dong-chul says that since there were no sutures on Se-yeon’s body, they never connected her murder to the Eomsan-dong Murders, but Se-yeon says that’s what Ji-wook wanted them to think. She says that Young-chul did suture her, but Ji-wook removed the evidence that it was Young-chul — she remembers hearing the eerie snipping sound as she was dying.

They stop for dinner, and Dong-chul tells Se-yeon about Ji-wook’s visit to the station. He says that Ji-wook put on a big show with bandages and braces, and even brought edited dash cam footage from the car Hee-jin hit him with. He also claimed that the blue boxes were from an informant, but said that the last one with the picture was from someone else.

Min returns from the restroom and Mi-do joins them, then gets annoyed that Dong-chul only called her to be his ride home, ha. He sweet-talks her until she forgives him, but when Min tries the same thing on Se-yeon, she just gives him a death glare and starts drinking. LOL.

Soon all four of them are so drunk that everyone forgets who’s who, what with three of them wearing new faces. Dong-chul tells Se-yeon that she broke his heart, mistaking her for Mi-do. The real Mi-do cries at the tragedy of it all, but Min yelps that Se-yeon is his girl, and shoves Dong-chul to the floor.

Se-yeon asks Min flirtatiously who he is, but he says that he likes Go Se-yeon, snapping at Se-yeon not to talk to him. Se-yeon says she can be sexy, too, and Min peers at her closely, then runs off to throw up. Ouch.

Out in the alley, a man pounds on Min’s back and tells Min that he followed the sound of his destiny, and that he hopes it led him to where he wants to be. Hey, isn’t that Se-yeon’s cardboard man?

He pulls his cart of cardboard out of the alley, and Min tries to follow to tell him that there’s something strange in his cart. But Dong-chul literally falls out of the restaurant, and he grabs Min and yanks him back inside.

The four of them somehow stumble to a noraebang, where they continue drinking as they sing (horribly). Then Min gets up to sing and makes Mi-do and Se-yeon swoon hard, hee. They make it home to Mi-do’s place, where the guys fall asleep on the couch like an adorable pile of kittens, and the girls decide they’re soul mates then sob all over each other.

In the morning, Se-yeon wakes up in a strange bed next to Min, and Min says idly that this is his mom’s bedroom. Wait, what? Min’s mom is in his room, whining to the housekeeper that she got kicked out of her room, and we see what happened last night.

They’d gotten to Min’s house and stumbled into his room. But Se-yeon wandered off to the bathroom with Min right behind her, and had accidentally ended up in Min’s mom’s bed — while she was still in it. PFFT.

They look very chastised this morning as they face Min’s mom, who asks Se-yeon straight-up if she plans to marry Min. Min tries to deflect, but Se-yeon answers that she wouldn’t be with Min if she weren’t thinking about a future with him. Min’s eyes go soft as she says she’s going through something complicated, and once it’s settled, she’ll ask Min to marry her.

Dong-chul ignores Ji-wook outside the station, but Ji-wook calls out and asks what Dong-chul will do if he’s not the killer. Dong-chul just retorts, “What if you are?” Ji-wook reminds Dong-chul that illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible as evidence, and Dong-chul just walks away.

Min and Se-yeon go to Mi-do’s place to help clean up the mess they made last night. Se-yeon tells Min that he should probably show his face at work, but he says sweetly that he doesn’t want to be away from her. Se-yeon cringes at the corny line, but it only encourages him to toss out some more cheesy comments, hee.

They all go serious when Min gets a call from Dong-chul — Ji-wook’s prints and Se-yeon’s blood were found on the scissors, but Ji-wook is right that they can’t use the evidence. They also have the autopsy report on Se-yeon’s body, which says she died of blood loss and doesn’t mention any wounds on her neck, but she remembers that Ji-wook ultimately killed her by strangulation.

She says there must have been evidence of the sutures that Ji-wook removed, all proof that Ji-wook altered the autopsy report. She noticed that the same medical examiner did the autopsies on the body that was supposed to be Min’s, as well as Hee-jin’s mother. We see that he’s even the one who distracted the detective and allowed Ji-wook to drive off with Se-yeon.

Unfortunately, he’s taken a leave of absence, so Dong-chul and his team hurry to the airport to catch him before he leaves the country. They find him, but he flees and gets into an elevator, where Min and Se-yeon get on with him and politely say hello.

Dong-chul is waiting patiently to arrest the doctor when the elevator doors open again. The doctor quickly confesses that Ji-wook paid him to falsify autopsy reports, which is enough to get a warrant to search Ji-wook’s home.

Ji-wook thinks about Young-chul’s last moments, when he’d whispered a word to Ji-wook: “sookyung.” Ji-wook wonders if it was a coincidence and what Young-chul was trying to say. He answers the door to find Dong-chul, who walks right in with his warrant and directs his men to start looking around.

Ji-wook quips that they already took the only evidence he had, but seconds later, Se-yeon’s scissors are found in the kitchen cabinet, of all places. We’re shown that Min snuck in again and placed them there, and Dong-chul chuckles that they have legally acquired evidence of Ji-wook’s connection to Se-yeon’s murder.

Min goes back to Se-yeon and reports that everything went as planned. Se-yeon says she was worried, but Min assures her that he’s safe as long as he has Abyss. Se-yeon asks him not to use it again, noting that it’s cycled through the colors of the rainbow each time it was used, and now it’s purple, which means there’s one use left.

She wonders what will happen when Abyss is used up — will everyone it revived all drop dead? Min says it could also get recharged, and when Se-yeon isn’t so sure, Min hugs her and reassures her that she’s worrying for nothing.

Ji-wook tries to call Judge Seo, but his adoptive father deliberately ignores his call. Ji-wook screams in frustration, then sneers, “So, you’ll abandon me?”

Disguised as a delivery guy, Ji-wook visits an informant and buys a burner phone. He says he needs something else, too, and though we don’t hear what it is, it’s worth an entire briefcase full of cash.

Another DNA test on a bandage found at Ji-wook’s house proves that he’s Young-chul’s biological son, which is enough for an arrest warrant. Min and Se-yeon snuggle in his secret room, confident that Ji-wook will be put behind bars. Min asks Se-yeon what she wants to do first when everything is over, and she says she wants to tell her parents she’s alive.

Min admits that he regrets not letting Se-yeon tell them the truth sooner, since it will be harder for them to accept now. But Se-yeon says that there would have been no murder to investigate if people knew she was alive. She hugs Min, saying that she fears nothing as long as she has him and her parents.

Min says there’s something she needs to do with him first, then finds an old bucket list he wrote back in school and tucked into a book. Se-yeon had given him a wish coupon, and he’d said that his wish was to do everything on the list with her, tricking her into granting several wishes.

She’d objected, since they were all things you do with a girlfriend and she wasn’t his girlfriend, so Min had taken the list back. Now he says that Se-yeon has to do the things on the list, because she’s his girlfriend now.

Ji-wook eventually figures out what Young-chul was saying to him, and visits Sookyung Nursing home. He sends Judge Seo a text message with a picture of his son, the real Seo Ji-wook, who’s been in a coma all these years. Judge Seo picks up when Ji-wook calls again, and when Judge Seo tells him not to lay a finger on Ji-wook, he screams that he is Ji-wook.

He orders Judge Seo to make an announcement that Ji-wook is his biological son, saying that it’s Judge Seo’s only way to save himself. As soon as they hang up, Judge Seo calls in the reporters, then makes another call to ask someone a favor. Meanwhile, Ji-wook wheels the real Ji-wook out of the nursing home and drives away with him.

Ji-wook is in the audience for Judge Seo’s press conference, and Judge Seo surprises everyone by saying that the rumors regarding Ji-wook not being his biological son… are true. He goes on to say that he killed his own wife twenty-five years ago during an argument, and his son suffered a serious head injury that ended with him in a coma.

He points out the real Seo Ji-wook sitting in a wheelchair in the audience, and Ji-wook is startled to see that Park Ki-man has somehow found the real Ji-wook and brought him here. A flashback shows us that Ki-man got to the nursing home at the same time as Ji-wook. He’d called Judge Seo, who told him to follow them.

Judge Seo continues that in order to hide his crimes, he “joined hands with the devil” and took in Oh Young-chul’s son as his own. He catches Ji-wook’s eye, and Ji-wook glares at him before getting up and leaving.

While all this is happening, Min and Se-yeon are blissfully oblivious. They go on a cute afternoon date, shopping and riding bikes together while wearing couple shirts. Se-yeon talks about how their life so rarely feels this normal after everything that’s happened, and Min takes out Abyss to look at it again.

In flashback, we see that the night Se-yeon found him sitting in bed with Abyss, he’d been wondering what would happen if he used it one more time. The words had appeared on its surface, saying, “If Abyss’ light disappears, the owner disappears as well.” Oh no.

Now he tells Se-yeon that he wants to just live as normally and happily as possible. Se-yeon claps a hand over her left cheek, complaining that it hurts, and Min fusses for way too long before realizing that she’s wearing the ring he gave her. Eeee!

Se-yeon says casually that well, it’s her style anyway, then presents Min with a ring and asks him, “Will you marry me?” Min has to turn away for a good internal squee before accepting her proposal.

They hug and tell each other, “I love you.” Se-yeon looks happy and contented, but as the camera pans around, the look on Min’s face is one of worry.

 
COMMENTS

Now you listen here, Show, if you take Min from us after everything he and Se-yeon have been through, after all the years they’ve waited to finally be together, and after how much they’ve risked for each other, we will be having some Very Strong Words, you and I. I don’t think that Abyss would really do that to us, but it makes me mad that Min even has to worry about this, now that he and Se-yeon have finally admitted how much they’ve always loved each other. Hopefully the whole “If Abyss’ light disappears” thing is under his control, since as Abyss’ owner, he can decide whether to use Abyss again or not, but the way it’s worded concerns me that maybe Abyss will go out on its own. My worst fear is that there will be a situation where someone else dies (and if it’s Dong-chul I’m gonna really be angry) and Min will try to sacrifice his own life for a friend.

I find it interesting that Ji-wook has dealt with oppressive fathers all his life — first Young-chul, then Judge Seo — and you could definitely see his contempt and dismissal of them both, most of the time. Yet he never hesitated to use them when he had a problem, whether it was to have Young-chul kill an inconvenient classmate or use Judge Seo to cover up a crime. Now that Young-chul is dead and Judge Seo has turned his back on him, you would think that Ji-wook would be happy to be free of the fathers he always hated and despised. But in fact, he seems to be unraveling pretty quickly with nobody to do his dirty work and cover for him. I had assumed that Ji-wook would be clever and efficient once he was on his own, so it’s interesting to see the opposite happening as he slowly crumbles without his support system, hated though they were.

I’m a little upset that Abyss has finally found its storytelling footing right here at the end, because honestly, it makes me wistful for what might have been. If only Abyss’ rules had been explained better, and certain plot points had been shown in a more cohesive way so that the first half of the episodes hadn’t left us more confused than intrigued. Ji-wook should have been revealed as the true villain much sooner rather than waste so many weeks on the only mildly concerning Young-chul, because Ji-wook is such a more menacing and unpredictable adversary. But part of me is at least glad we finally got to a place where I care about more than just whether Min and Se-yeon would ever confess their feelings, though I’ll always think that their relationship has been the best part of the show. I just have to believe, as I go to watch the final episode, that all the risk and danger and pain they’ve put themselves through will be worth it in the end, and they’ll finally get their happily ever after.

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