Miraculous Brothers: Episodes 13-14

by quirkycase

Our focus is on our revenge-seeker this week as he barrels ahead with his plot, but an unexpected wrench is thrown in the works when he gets a surprise visitor. Meanwhile, our writer steels himself to do what he needs to in the name of justice, even if that means he could lose all he’s worked for. But our murderous antagonists aren’t about to sit back and let anyone make them take responsibility for their actions.

 
EPISODES 13-14

Like any good kidnapper, Kai monologues what he knows about Jong-il’s crimes at him to get him to fess up. It’s not going well until he brings violence into the equation and starts swinging a mallet around. Then, in a delightful show of pettiness when Jong-il asks for water, Kai opens the bottle and takes a big ol’ swing himself instead and pours the rest on the ground.

Before Kai even lays a finger on him, the coward coughs up the names of his accomplices. What he won’t do is take responsibility for the murders he committed directly. When Kai has had enough of Jong-Il’s fake regrets and justifications, he (lightly) slashes Jong-il’s face with the knife. That gets the assemblyman to fold and admit to everything on camera.

Since Hyun-soo is now freely sharing confidential information with Dong-joo and trusting her investigation to a time-traveling minor, she immediately lets Dong-joo know that Jong-il is missing. He’s worried Kai is the culprit and acts all shifty around Kang-san who pieces together that something is going on related to his brother.

And what do you know, they’ve finally learned to communicate! Rather than getting angry, Kang-san says he understands Dong-joo’s intentions, but he needs to know what’s going on. He promises he can handle it, so Dong-joo spills the final secret and lets Kang-san in on what Kai has been up to. Hoping to stop him from committing a second murder, Dong-joo sends another poetically worded post to Kai.

Kai, however, is a bit busy at the moment given the kidnapping and all. Now that he’s gotten what he needs from Jong-il, he leaves the man’s survival up to chance. Kai sends his location both to Byung-man and Tae-man (along with the confession video where Jong-il rats everyone out). He walks out, leaving the confession tape behind for whoever arrives first to find.

Tae-man isn’t about to go to some random address Kai sent him. Instead, he goes to Fortuna to discuss the situation and share the video with his remaining “friends.” That leaves the cops to find Jong-il and the tape, although a forced confession isn’t exactly admissible evidence. So Jong-il goes free, but he’s then summoned by Tae-man, which could signal a worse fate.

Kai, who might be the only competent one here, bugged Jong-il and listens in as Tae-man thanks Jong-il for his murderous service. He pours him a drink and sends him on his way with a smile that suggests death is nigh.

But Jong-il gets in one more attempted murder before he’s put out to pasture – once he gets word his detective mole has been made, he orders his lackey to kill him. Jong-il barely has time to hang up before he’s promptly murdered by Tae-man’s lackey. Thanks to how murder-happy everyone in this group is, Kai got exactly what he wanted without having to get his hands dirty. The baddies (and cops) could learn a thing or two from his problem-solving skills.

The mole manages to turn the tables and capture his would-be murderer, bringing him into the station. He confesses everything he knows about Jong-il, which would’ve been super helpful had he done this before the man was strangled to death.

Meanwhile, Myung-seok grapples with his family troubles, namely how his father helped Tae-man commit murder with impunity. He’s full of resentment toward their currently comatose father for his favoritism. His father would never go to such lengths for Myung-seok who’s done nothing but try to please him. Well, that’s over now. If his father won’t see his value, he’ll have to prove that he’s more worthy than Tae-man ever was. And that, my friends, seems like a classic villain origin story.

While Myung-seok may be a villain in the making, he could be an asset to Dong-joo since their interests appear to align. For now, like many a spoiled rich kid before him, Myung-seok is content sit by and reap the benefits of Dong-joo’s labor. Because Dong-joo has finally located that 27-year-old tape hidden in a wooden horse his dad built for him. So Myung-seok hears as Dong-joo and Yong-dae watch the incriminating tape, and he gets bonus intel when Dong-joo chooses that moment to fess up to his own novel-stealing crime to Yong-dae (who, by the way, is a stellar friend whose support knows no bounds).

For his part, Kang-san does his best to support and not worry Dong-joo who is having a hard time after hearing that Jong-il confessed to his father’s murder. Despite his own worries, Kang-san puts on a smile and makes him ramyeon. Our little boy is growing up. He even leaves a note, this time, when he takes off to make sure Dong-joo doesn’t worry. And Dong-joo trusts him enough not to pester him about where he’s gone or what he’s doing. They’ve come a long way.

Kang-san, desperate for more clues, visits unconscious Myung-nam to read his memories again. This time, he hits the jackpot and sees Myung-nam’s house where Kai is staying. Kang-san uses the info he gleans to track down the place and comes face-to-face with his brother. They have a tearful reunion, but it’s bittersweet for Kai who is determined to keep Kang-san at arm’s length.

Kai tells Kang-san that they each have their own lives to live now, and his is too dangerous for Kang-san to be a part of it. Kang-san isn’t having it and downright refuses to leave his hyung alone. He can help him. It’s hard for Kai to stay the course in the face of his little brother’s tears and pleading, and he’s clearly moved when Kang-san says he’ll understand his brother no matter what he’s done or plans to do. All he asks is that Kai not disappear again. Kai can’t say no to Kang-san’s sad eyes, so he promises he won’t disappear. Kai might be running a hardcore revenge scheme, but he’s pretty soft.

When everyone learns that Jong-il is dead, the cops and Dong-joo are forced to change strategy. It’s time to focus on Tae-man. Their smoking gun is the videotape, but once it’s out there, the truth in its entirety will need to come out. That puts both Kai and Dong-joo at risk, and while they may be ready to face the consequences, Kang-san is worried.

With newfound maturity, Kang-san realizes that he and his brother can’t go back to how things were. Ha-neul is Kai now, and what’s safest for them both is to stay apart. He calls Kai and encourages him to go into hiding. Kang-san promises he’ll be fine, so Kai shouldn’t contact him anymore.

It might be a little late for hiding since Kai has been discovered both by Tae-man and Hyun-soo. (She finally pieces together that he’s the man she met at Myung-nam’s place a while ago.) Before Tae-man can act on his intel about Kai’s location, Kai beats him to the punch by showing up at Fortuna. He gloats that Tae-man played right into his hands with Jong-il and leaves Tae-man seething like the poor loser he is.

Elsewhere, adding to their troubles, Kang-san has a fainting episode after his hands start fritzing again. At the same time across the city, Kai sees his rock glow. He must’ve seen it glowing before because he looks concerned but not nearly as alarmed as he should be if a rock suddenly starts blinking blue. Maybe we’ll actually get answers next week about where the powers came from and why Kang-san has them. I don’t expect everything to be explained since this isn’t really a sci-fi drama, but it would be nice to have some idea of what’s going on.

Now that Dong-joo has evidence in hand, he’s ready to strike. The penultimate week ends as Dong-joo musters up his courage for a tell-all interview. To kick things off, they broadcast the video of the 1995 murder for all to see on live TV.

Dong-joo has certainly come a long way from when we met him – he’s more responsible, kind, and mature. I think that’s just as much a result of Kang-san as it is the overall situation forcing him to make difficult decisions. It’s hard to get a teenager to take you seriously as a guardian and hyung if you’re a hypocrite who doesn’t live what you preach.

Speaking of preaching, I thought that church was going to play a much bigger role in all this. What happened to the evil pastor? I guess he’s more of a behind the scenes figure who does cleanup. If the pastor and cult-y church were barely going to feature, why the focus on crosses, the abusive children’s home, and God references? Unless the evil pastor pops out as the final boss in the finale to shake things up. I wouldn’t complain.

 
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