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Psychopath Diary: Episodes 5-6 Open Thread

Our hero continues to rely on movie quotes and channeling his inner psycho to get through the day — but that’s becoming increasingly complicated for him, since his self-talk says one thing, and his actions the opposite. While our hero is getting no closer to the truth, the real psycho is closing in fast.

  
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP

Last week we left Dong-shik and In-woo grappling for the murder diary. Dong-shik swiftly deals with this disaster by yanking it away and stuffing it safely back in his bag. Dong-shik thinks he is protecting his own secret, while In-woo now knows that Dong-shik is not a killer after all. But what In-woo doesn’t know is that Dong-shik doesn’t know, and since no one in this drama seems to know the same thing at the same time, things get crazy.

As if a switch was flipped, In-woo goes from having a strange affinity for the likeminded Dong-shik, to full-on murder mode where all he wants to do is finish him — first, with what looks like a cheese knife (OMG), and later, with a fully-planned axe murder.

The episodes this week were rather violent — violent to the point where I stopped enjoying the drama during those scenes. The first rough one was the gang beating scene where Dong-shik tries to help out his little step-brother who’s continually tormented by a group of truly nasty high school thugs. Even though he uses his best psycho eyes and movie line recitations, he can’t trick these iljin punks, and pretty soon he’s getting beaten to a pulp. It goes on forever and it’s painful to watch.

There are two things to glean from this scene, though. One is that Bo-kyung is testing to see if Dong-shik really is a psycho, and the second is that we get to see Dong-shik once again relying on his misconceptions of himself for strength. (Secret bonus/highlight of this scene: Dong-shik’s thug neighbor flying to his rescue hanging half out of the cop car. It’s brilliant.)

Bo-kyung might temporarily believe that Dong-shik is the serial killer she’s chasing, but that doesn’t last long after the gang fight — and especially after her main bit of evidence falls apart. The jerky guy from the club (who first hit on her and was later terrorized by Dong-shik) tells her he realized Dong-shik was only quoting movie lines at him, and is not a real psycho after all. This leaves Bo-kyung to rethink her entire case, and the jerky guy is left humiliated and furious.

This poor guy, though. Just when I was wondering where they might go with his character, he pushes too many of In-woo’s psycho buttons. In-woo brutally beats him to death without hesitation. It’s violent and disgusting, and so is the token brooding shower scene, herein transformed into an insane killer in bloody post-homicide euphoria. Stop the drama, I wanna go home!

Dong-shik still thinks he’s just tired of killing, so he decides to help Bo-kyung solve her case. It turns out he’s rather good at it, nailing a connection between kills and stock price peaks — until he realizes it’s his case, and each murder she’s investigating is detailed in the diary.

Then it’s time for some turncoat investigation of his own, trying to protect himself from her sleuthing skills. As is becoming standard, Dong-shik is pulled between the pretense of being a psycho killer, and the drive of his completely innocent heart. So, he uncovers but then burns crucial evidence. He hopes for a person’s murder but then risks everything to save him and winds up winning a police award. He’s all over the place, and if there’s one thing for sure it’s that Yoon Shi-yoon is having a blast doing it, and it’s fun to see him in a role that lets him go all out.

What’s most troubling this week is In-woo. I was hoping he would be a character that we could sympathize with at least a hair, or at least continue to enjoy the bromance aspect of In-woo/Dong-shik, but that seems over. In-woo is flat-out evil aggressor. Despite the fact that his creepy black raincoat “disguise” is about as obvious as it gets, he’s the smartest and most well-connected dude in the drama so far.

As In-woo starts to sniff out what Bo-kyung is up to (not realizing that Dong-shik is also trying to thwart her), we find out a horrifying connection: Bo-kyung’s father and his accident are closely related to In-woo. Okay, I kind of expected this, but I’m still a little wary of what it means as our story starts to connect its characters even more tightly. And I’m thinking that will come sooner rather than later, what with a new task force established to solve the serial murders.

I enjoyed Psychopath Diary a little less this week, because (at least for me) the humor wasn’t enough to outweigh the violence. In-woo is rather horrifying… and what the heck with his father? If you see your young child attempting to murder his baby brother, that might be a good thing to address early on, right? I guess not though, if you’re as evil as this guy appears to be.

I am ever thankful for Bo-kyung’s hilarious partner, and for Dong-shik’s gangster neighbor — his newfound dying devotion to his “hyungnim” is super amusing, and I sure need amusing after all the blunt force trauma this week.

 
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As a general rule of thumb, any series with the word 'psychopath' in the title is probably not for the faint of heart. You can get angry at 'Oh My Ghost' or 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon' for unexpectedly sneaking in a psycho killer storyline into the series but 'Psychopath Diary' was up front about its psycho proclivities.

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Well I for expect a comedy and didn't expect too much gore. But I did expect the voilence. I mostly skip such scenes anyway. Which is exactly what I did here.

Until the fact that Bo Kyung didn't stop Dong Shik from getting hit far too long than was necessary just to confirm that he was a psychopath, I actually liked her in last week's episodes. She isn't bad at investigating.

Also I knew In Woo wasn't someone I was going to sympathize with. I knew the bromance aspect would last that long either. Again not surprised about the guy from the club either. But I still didn't expect In Woo to find out so soon about Dong Shik having his diary. How will they fill the rest of the episodes I wonder.

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I quite enjoy even the violent scenes in this one. What I am really disappointed by is that In Woo wants to kill Dong Shik now. I guessed we would come to this point but not this fast. Them working together or just In Woo finding someone who he thinks is similar to him and trying to become friends in crime is something I wish I could see. And more dark!Dong Shik please :DD

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Exactly all that. Dark!Dong shik, but with him winning instead of getting beaten x'D

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The show is about psychopaths, yeah, it is gonna be violent.

In woo's Dad is sociopath who pits his sons against each other for his enjoyment. He knows something is off with In woo but he just figured out what it was because of the stock market spikes. He could have figured it out sooner but more than likely did not care.

And Bo kyung and her partner should have their badges taken. They literally watched a civilian get attacked to prove a point. Her promotion irked the hell out of me and I hope that comes back to bite her.

Dong shik and his neighbor would have a great duo if they weren't written to be so moronic.

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I thought he figured it out because IW must have given him other clues, the stock thing didn't mean much.
I get why BK did that, she was sure he was a psycho and would defend himself, she was wrong but I like that she is stubborn, she is just not as smart as she thinks she is.
The ML has turned into a full moron and he shouldn't have, it's not that interesting to have him get by on luck and not even question the morals of trying to destroy evidence of crimes.

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There's a K-drama podcast I listen to that regularly mention how the Korean police in these drama are always depicted as TERRIBLE. If they're not corrupt they're inept and if they're not inept they're corrupt. Let's remember Bo kying literally ran over the hero in her squad car, caused him brain damage, then hushed everything up to hide it from her superiors.

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what is the podcast called? I've looking for new kdrama podcast

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stupid question but is the podcast in korean?

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I know I have been completely desensitized to violence because those scenes didn't bother me at all. Guess it must have been all those episodes of Dexter, Hannibal, Luther and Narcos that I've watched. Yoon Shi Yoon is a cutie and I wish he would do more rom-coms or melos.

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I used to be desensitized to voilence before and then I got resensitized. Honestly I actually like that. Cause before I felt nothing by the death of characters at all.

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I was so dissappointed with these two episodes. They took out the good things; dong shik being psycho and things somehow working out which gets him to be respected. In woo and dong shiks bromance. And in woo thinking dong shik is a psychopath like him.

These things made it fun to watch and had the positive message of that its all about how you think of yourself. But now its more of 'no matter what you think of yourself you will fail miserably in your life if that is what happened so far'.

I felt like they thought it was too difficult to keep portraying the misunderstandings somehow working out, and they went for the easy road instead.

I hope dong shik working on the case is not what the rest of the drama is going to be about and hopefully that plot device is going to end as quickly as the bromance that lasted half an episode. I still have hope =/

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They gave us an episode 6-scale plot twist in episode 4, gave us an episode 9-scale plot twist in episode 6. I cannot guess what the next bog plot twist is going to be and we're not even halfway through yet!

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'big' not bog , of course.

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Sure that its all about how you think of yourself, but change doesn't just happen overnight. Dong Shik is already doing an amazing job standing up for himself and his brother against the gang of bullies. You can't expect him to suddenly be able to beat people up left and right and defend himself against like 5 experienced delinquents. Being a psychopath doesn't automatically mean you can fight. It's all about mindset.

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This continues to be such a fun watch,i'm seriously amazed and entertained at Dong Shik luck and misunderstandings...Also,kudos to Yoon Shi-yoon's expressions,they are sooo gold and makes the comedy even more hilarious...On the other side i must say In Woo's father is seriously twisted and no wonder he ended up like this,it is clear he was born with the gene(to name it like that) but his father truly contributed to shaping the monster he is today...I actually wonder if the father isin't a killer himself...
Also,please show,don't hurt the two cutie dogs!!!
The misunderstandings keep pilling up and it's truly funny in some scenes...I guess i inmersed myself in the twisted lines of this show going with it without much care and actually laughed when Dong Shik was telling himself when he was interviewed "You stupid fool,i truly hate you" and In Woo thinking it was directed to him...In Woo doesn't even know the fool is actually doing him a big favor erasing his tracks while beliving it's the evidence left by him doing it even more hard for the Police to catch him...I'm quite eager to see when he'll realize Dong Shik believes he did the things in the diary and how he will play it...Curious if the poor Dong Shik will actually take the fall for his fillings or will finally find his lost memories and realize the truth and help catch him...

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Spot on, @missvictrix. I was expecting some laughs again after the first 2 epis, but this time, I could hardly watch without wincing. Those highschool bullies!!! We would believe SK schools are so infested w/ such problem students with no respect for elders and authority. The redeeming factor of these epis for me, however, is the neighborhood thug. The actor, who plays mostly villain roles in kdramas, is really good . He is so good he that for now he is my fav character in this drama.

I hope the writer and the PD tone down the violence or approach eqch gory scene with humor. Let's keep this light and funny.

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It is wide enough to become a drama meme. Just as the darker elements of SK's Netizens are not universal but widespreadd enough to have brutal ramifications.

You may want to do some research on bullying in SK schools. Particularly once a student has been labeled “Wang-ta". I suggest a stiff drink before you dive into the worst of it.

SK is not alone...every country as systemic issues that are almost invisible. Sure most people don't engage in them every day...they don't need to. It is a systemic violence built into to the social hierarchy that becomes as ubiquitous as breathing. Most only engage in it or acquiesce to it being used when someone "steps out of line".

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I definitely wasn't expecting a killing this week considering how many times Dong-shik's been like "I'm a dangerous serial killer" only to not kill anyone. I'm sad that In-woo no longer crushes on Dong-shik and now wants to kill him.

The absurd edge does make this drama a fun watch and allows me to accept some pretty dumb decisions. I love how Dong-shik just becomes this heroic figure and is able to unintentionally thwart so many people! I did think the high school bullies bit slowed things down and had somewhat put a damper on the episode. It felt too much like something that could happen on a daily basis.

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More accurate Dong Shik is a PREDATOR,a Predator gone vegetarian(guess he prepares for Christmas while feasting for Santa In Woo bear gifts) ;D

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Dong-shik is an herbivore in predator's clothing, a sheep who has forgotten that he's wearing a wolf's pelt.

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Totally what u say,but i was joking jajja ... I always roll my eyes when he says he is a predator jajja

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I just really want Dong Shik to find out he isn't a psychopath. The suspense is honestly killing me.
I don't want him to kill someone before he finds out, but of course this is a kdrama so the writers won't do that to the male lead......right?

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"no one in this drama seems to know the same thing at the same time"!!!

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