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Showtime Begins: Episodes 7-8

As the killer moves ever closer to our leads, the past starts to bleed into the present. But in murder, as in magic, things aren’t always as they seem…

 
EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP

In the wake of their newly established partnership, both Seul-hae and Cha-woong firmly deny they have any romantic feelings for each other. But they deny it a bit too firmly, if you ask me.

Case in point: Cha-woong cancels an advertisement shoot so he can attend a civil police unit activity. Then he agonizes over what to wear, eventually opting for an expensive Italian suit. Not optimal for lugging rice bags up a hill. But Cha-woong does try, even if he’s rather lacking in the brawn category.

Afterwards, they all gather at the shop owned by the civil police unit head, YOON MIN-SOOK (Jung Young-joo), and Cha-woong slowly lets down his inhibitions. It starts with the makgeolli Seul-hae convinces him to try – of which he downs bottle after bottle like it’s the best thing he’s tasted in his life.

That gets him wildly drunk, and he actually has fun entertaining everyone with simple magic tricks, and then shares a heart-to-heart with Seul-hae and Min-sook about their respective family tragedies. Watching him, the ladies agree that while he may be rough around the edges, he’s a good guy at heart.

As Seul-hae walks him home, she realizes this is the first time she’s seen him so smiley. But when she repeats Min-sook’s words about him having difficulty showing love, he denies it, looking into her eyes with supercharged seriousness.

We aren’t told everything that happens between that moment and her carrying him home on her back, but the way she gets flustered the next day when he claims not to remember anything is certainly suspicious.

Meanwhile, the General has figured out who Cha-woong and Seul-hae were in their past lives 2,000 years ago. We get flashes of it throughout this week’s episodes: they were lovers, tragically parted. Cha-woong’s past-self appears to have had supernatural powers, and Seul-hae’s past-self died in front of him – allegedly because of him – though the details are still kept unclear.

The realization changes everything for the General. All this time, he’s believed his task was to pay for his misdeeds by catching evil spirits, but now he realizes he’s supposed to right the wrong that separated Cha-wong and Seul-hae – which he also believes to be his fault.

So the General enlists the ghosts to help him convince Cha-woong to pursue Seul-hae romantically. Their advice on how to do so ranges from getting plastic surgery (so he’ll look pathetically ugly and she’ll feel so sorry for him, she’ll just have to take care of him) to taking her on virtual reality dates.

Cha-woong decides to try the easiest suggestion: taking a page from Hee-soo’s book by repeating the last line of Seul-hae’s sentences to show he’s listening. That’s the theory of it, anyway, but in practice, Cha-woong just comes off sounding annoyed and vaguely threatening.

Amidst all this, we also get a little more insight into the Full Moon Killer. He was once an ordinary human, but was possessed by an evil spirit after mugging someone. And surprise! That evil spirit was also once a human – and another major player in the conflict that got our leads killed 2,000 years ago.

Every so often, the man who became the Full Moon Killer comes back to himself and is horrified by what the spirit has caused him to do. But those moments of clarity never last long, and he continues on a murder spree, literally sucking the life out of people who have the same kind of channel to heaven that Seul-hae does.

And let me just say, Ahn Chang-hwan is doing a phenomenal job of being horrifically creepy, even just through the freakish ways he moves and contorts his body. *shudder*

No pair of Showtime Begins! episodes are complete without a murder case, and this one hits close to home: it’s Min-sook, head of the civil police unit. She also has one of those special channels to heaven, which the Full Moon Killer spots when he ventures into her shop.

Contrary to Cha-woong’s cynical belief that most people are only out to satisfy their own greed, Min-sook is a genuinely awesome lady. She runs an orphanage, and truly loves each child as if they were her own, and she heads up the civil police unit with warmth, authority, and fairness.

She even I want to speak to your managers the grim reaper himself when he comes to collect her soul, not ready to give up her life’s work just yet.

As Cha-woong and Seul-hae hunt for evidence to bring Min-sook’s attacker to justice, they realize that the culprit used the classic magician technique of misdirection to make himself look innocent and put all the focus on someone else…

…And that’s exactly what the show does to us, because the Full Moon Killer didn’t kill her. It was actually her seemingly heart-of-gold husband. Who giggles about it.

Technically, Min-sook isn’t dead yet, just in a coma, but her soul is able to move around outside her body and explain everything to Cha-woong. Her husband schemes to sell off her orphanage land for profit as soon as she draws her last breath, and Seul-hae and Cha-woong will have to move fast to apprehend him before the impatient grim reaper takes her soul away.

With a little help from the General (who was best friends with the reaper when they were both still alive) and the ghosts, they buy enough time to lure Min-sook’s husband and his accomplice into a trap.

Once again, Hee-soo bursts in and interrupts the whole plan, and in the chase that ensues, Min-sook’s husband ends up falling from the roof and plummeting to the street below.

We know what has to come next now that justice has been served, and it’s truly touching to see Min-sook make peace with what she’s accomplished and what she has to leave unfinished.

But there’s one twist left: the name on the reaper’s card is no longer hers, but her husband’s. Her fate has been changed due to countless petitions on her behalf by the people whose lives she’s impacted for the better.

I appreciated this switch-up for several reasons. First, not only did it fit with the theme of misdirection, but it also just felt so satisfying to see a good person get another chance to keep making the world a better place.

It also broke the pattern of each week introducing a beautiful soul, them dying, and them departing in peace once their death has been avenged. Letting Min-sook live creates a turning point (and halfway through the show at that), offering a ray of hope not only to us viewers, but also to our leads – especially Cha-woong.

As a result, he’s starting to see that there really are genuinely good people in the world, and they are worth getting to know – and that putting in effort to help them can actually make a difference.

 
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Shout out to Shin Hyun joon for his arc as a frazzled, worry wort Grim Reaper. I just gotta say, that really was great casting.

And Jung Young joo just nails the ahjumma roles. Without fail. She make me laugh and just broke my heart when she was speaking about her kids.

Ahn Chang hwan, agree, also great. I had a theory last week that entering his body was to easy for the Full Moon Killer to enter. Turns out, her was a robber who was beating that man within a inch of his life.

And wow Hee soo is a waste at this point. He is everything you would expect a female cop to be written like on this series. In a way, I am glad of that but in another, he really is doing more harm than good and Seul hae is gonna have a come to Jesus moment about this dude and how he is putting himself and cases in danger. He is unknowingly making this easier for his father to cover up.

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Shin Hyun-joon's cameo was so good! The way his voice petered out as his rants progressed in length 🤣

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Shin hyun-joon had sort of disappeared from dramas these last couple of years so this was a great comeback! I wonder if the carousel scene was a reference to stairway to heaven, where he was the 2nd lead.

Ahn Chang-hwan is such a chameleon! He also looks hot as the killer here.

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There was a lot of unnecessary in this episode, they could have shortened the episode for me. That being said I knew that man was the villain. I am glad he is gone.

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"And let me just say, Ahn Chang-hwan is doing a phenomenal job of being horrifically creepy, even just through the freakish ways he moves and contorts his body"

He honestly gives me the chills. I won't forget his character any time soon.

The shamam's grand-daughter needs to stop with her Cha Woong obsession. I'm not sure what Hee-soo's deal is but I'm definitely not clicking with his character. It looks like he condones his father's actions.

That makgoelli PPL was ridiculous 😂😂.
As usual, the BTS ghost trio antics are the best part of these episodes.

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😆 I was happy to see Shin Ha-Ri's mum being her usual self

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My least favorite K-drama genre is serial killer murder-of-the-week. I do wish this drama had taken a different path. I had almost been enjoying it before the murders kicked in.

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When they were lugging those bags of rice up all those steps it seemed hard to believe that anyone would build an orphanage without better access. Then a few minutes later they appeared to be AT the orphanage stacking rice bags and we could see a driveway and vehicle in the background. Huh?

Oh, well. I'm enjoying it...

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Me but when the ghosts didn't stop the two gangsters from stabbing each other or running away lol.

But like you, I too am enjoying it anyway haha.

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I love this drama! Even with the murders, there is just something so sweet about all the characters. The male lead is prickly on the outside, but also sweet on the inside and can even admit -even though he was drunk when he admitted it - that he's capable of love. With what happened with his grandfather's arrest, he probably thought he was alone in the world, but he's got his ghost family and after meeting Seul-hae, he's interacting with more people. He is more like his grandfather than he'd like to admit. With Ah-reum's GI gadget, I like how Seul-hae can now interact with the ghosts more. Advisor Choi proved more than just an opportunistic comic relief with him kicking the hacky sack 30,000 times in order to distract the grim reaper from taking away Min-sook before our crew can solve her case and give her closure.

The plastic surgery mash-up image was just WHOA! So terrible! LOL!

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Adviser Choi is really nice when he isn't bullying Cha Woong into stacking virtual power.

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There were so many LOL moments in these two episodes which I thoroughly enjoyed. Adviser Choi and the Grim Reaper's friendship, the ghosts' plan to woo Seul Hae, the baddies outing each other by dancing🤣🤣🤣 This show with all its funny moments still manages to tug at our heartstrings. Truely magical!

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Magical is the perfect word!! I forgot for a second about the baddies dancing - equally funny was the fact that when they pulled knives on each other just a bit earlier, one of them had a massive kitchen knife which was comical in comparison to Evil Husbands' tiny knife 😂

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This is an enjoyable show. On the other hand, there's a fair amount of filler each episode, especially the last one. Its still watchable, but I wouldn't call it the most memorable magic, ghost, romantic comedy after-life fantasy, evil spirit killer movie I've ever seen.
Still, I'm going to watch it to the end!

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What would you rank as best? I love this genre, so would appreciate more recommendations to add to my watch list.

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Watching this for the main couple, not the creepy aspect. CCW is so sweet, I loved the drinking scenes, where we saw the 'drink in, truth out' side of him. He's a lot softer than he likes to show. KSH will take a while before she admits she like ML too. Both are definitely in the 'denial phase' as Ah reum mentioned (and who thought that only referred to death). The date with HS next week should crystallise things for CCW. I'm interested in how all the threads of the past are being pulled together gradually, it's building really well. I wonder when Advisor Choi will start letting our couple in to what he knows?

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It's fun. Nothing fantastic but the characters are fun to watch.

I really like Jun Ki-Joo's style in this drama. It looks so comfy.

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This episode was probably one of my favourites because of the sheer amount of EVERYTHING that was going on. Ep 7 with its drunken antics and love coaching (‘why sad males appeal more than hot ones’ - idk Chief Nam, I reckon most SLs in dreamland exist to prove that theory wrong) was hilarious, but ep 8 somehow topped it. From Ahreum’s infomercial style presentation of how she faked the Auntie’s death, Choi Geum and the Grim Reaper’s rekindled bromance, Sulky Detective asking out Seulhae (kind of? dude either commit or don't) and standing up to his dad - all in the middle of a chase to find the murder before time was up. The emotional whiplash was like anything else, and I enjoyed every single second of it. Not to mention the fact that the Real Bad Serial Killer dude on the loose being creepy in the midst of all of this all too. Idk though, for me at least, they’re still perfectly striking every tone they’re going for.

BRING ON THE LOVE TRIANGLE CHAOS OF NEXT WEEK, I CAN’T WAIT.

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LOVE TRIANGLE CHAOS...music to my ears...

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If there's one improvement this writer has made from Mystic it's that I think she's got better at her villains.
Mystic's was serviceable for the drama it was but here he feels a lot more integrated into the story, more thought out and quite the right amount of gosh darn creepy and evil. A genuine threat rather than a bit contrived.
Overall actually, one of this show's strong points, other being chaotic and funny, is that all the key parts of the bigger story are indeed woven together, across all three timelines that exist- and that there are multiple connected moving parts that have already been established.
It's just more satisfying worldbuilding than uhm... some other airing show I could name.

This show does continue to be a bit too long per episode for optimal telling of its story however, an ailment it's suffered from the beginning, and if I had to summarise it's technical difficulties under one banner, I'd say its directing is clunky. The execution is a bit weird at times and there sometimes seems to be a lack of chemistry between script and screen, as it were.
Nonetheless I am still enjoying myself and I'm rooting for it.
^-^

(P.S. Park Hae Jin looks TERRIBLE in that wig from his past life, but I'd take Jin Ki Joo in an Early or Pre- 3K sageuk any day of the week, thank you~)

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Look, for a show where someone gets murdered every episode I am strangely having the time of my life watching it.

Such silly magical goodness, the cast are really making their characters shine and in turn, so does the show <3

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Park Hae Jin in hanbok😊
Is this the first time that happened?
One of the rare kdramas where it's not damsel in distress.....
I'm enjoying it!

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