The Uncanny Counter 2: Episodes 5-6

by Unit

As we arrive at our midpoint this week, we are finally beginning to take baby steps into uncovering the truth about the real estate scam. And though we get a reprieve from the usual good guys versus baddies face off, the pesky evil spirits remain as persistent as ever in their attempt to drag everyone down with them to the dark side.

 
EPISODES 5-6

We resume this week with Joo-seok’s unremorseful appearance in court, and though his lawyer tries to suppress his confession, it’s of no use. Joo-seok won’t get a reduced sentence if he doesn’t un-admit to wanting to kill Mr. Park (his wife’s supposed killer), and despite Moon’s pleas, Joo-seok remains resolute in his unforgiving quest for revenge.

Consequently, the counters migrate to denial-land in an attempt to rationalize Joo-seok’s behavior in court — but to Mo-tak and his detective senses, this version of Joo-seok seems dangerous. “You know what kind of a person he is,” Ms. Chu interjects, not wanting to believe that dangerous and Joo-seok can exist in the same sentence. Unfortunately, none of them have a clue yet as to what kind of a person Joo-seok is right now.

The evil duo, on the other hand, are pleased with this new development, and they cannot wait for Joo-seok to fully embrace the evil spirit hovering around him. Pil-gwang is curious as to how Moon will react when he sees that his savior (Joo-seok) has become the devil, and I’m curious as well. Because while Joo-seok has history with the other counters, it’s Moon whom he has a closer dynamic with.

And this is why despite Joo-seok ignoring him earlier in the court, Moon’s words that Min-ji won’t want this type of revenge still linger on his mind. But the unrelenting evil spirit will be damned if it allows its prey to escape because of mere words, and the spirit rebukes Joo-seok for having second thoughts. Words are the only thing that’ll get to you, right? Fine, I’ll send you an orator. Enter: Pil-gwang on a field trip to the prison.

In the evil spirit version of showing off new sneakers to friends, Pil-gwang kills a guard and bursts the CCTV camera in the visiting room using psychokinesis. But if he was expecting a “wow, that’s so cool!” reaction from Joo-seok, he’s sorely disappointed. “Who the hell are you?” Joo-seok demands. “I’m here to tell you the truth,” Pil-gwang replies. But here’s the thing about evil spirits: they lie! Pil-gwang isn’t here to reveal the truth about Min-ji’s death, he’s just here to rile Joo-seok up with rage. Pshh.

Joo-seok’s increasing rage thrusts him further into the darkness, and the counters realize that if they want him to know the truth about Min-ji’s death before it’s too late, they need to hurry up with Operation Capture The Evil Duo. Kelly is the first one to come within the vicinity of Jeok-bong’s nose, and the counters track her to a cold storage warehouse where she’s gone to pick up the proceeds from the real estate scam. But since honor doesn’t exist among thieves, a yet-to-be-named third party is now in possession of the money, and his thugs flex their weapons at the helpless woman who dared to walk into their turf without backup. Pfft. Rookie mistake, guys.

It’s a mistake the counters nearly make as well, but Hana reminds them not to lower their guard because even if Kelly is alone, “She’s still fast and insane.” And honestly, Kelly has never been described better. While the counters take on the rest of the thugs, Jeok-bong goes after Kelly, and to impede visibility as she escapes, she bursts open several gas pipes on the wall. Unfortunately, the gas clogs his nose rather than his eyes, and as Jeok-bong yells in pain, he successfully announces his superpower to her. Why you little—!

Kelly might have escaped, but the counters learn a few things from this warehouse visit: 1) “Kelly’s weakness is her blonde hair that makes it easy to spot her in the dark.” Sigh. The sky is blue and fishes can swim, Jeok-bong. Your information is totally unhelpful. 2) The evil duo were active participants in the real estate scam, and their yet-to-be-named partner has betrayed them. Thank you, Moon. Now this is useful information because if they can find evidence of the duo’s participation, they can summon the evil spirits in them to Yung, and put them behind bars on earth.

Detective Mo-tak pulls Kelly’s criminal record, and we get an insight into her colorful life. She’s a dual Korean and U.S. citizen, a murder convict, and an asylum escapee (I’m not even surprised about this one) who entered China two years ago, exactly around the time of the scam. Unfortunately, there’s no official record on Pil-gwang yet. But a case is only over when the victims say so, and as more victims demand reinvestigation into the real estate scam, Mo-tak is compelled to keep looking into it — off the record, of course, since the case is officially closed.

Mo-tak tracks the GPS of the thugs at the cold storage warehouse, and they all have one location in common: a laundromat. Ah! I see our mysterious partner is involved in the old-fashioned way of money laundering. Tsk. Without a search warrant, Mo-tak and Moon engage in a little breaking and entering, but they lose the henchman stationed in the laundromat during a chase. Thankfully, they spot his tattoo and match it to the Red Roses gang which is headed by… *drum rolls* LEE CHUNG-JAE (Kim Hyun-joon) — our mysterious partner himself.

According to official records, Chung-jae died in a car fire, but as we can see, he’s very much alive and operating under the radar. He’s not an evil spirit, but he’s the mastermind behind the real estate scam — which is why now that his partnership with Pil-gwang has soured, the counters need to find him first before Pil-gwang does (and kills him) — because Chung-jae is the only one who can provide a backstory on Pil-gwang. *Snaps fingers in Ms. Chu’s face* Do you hear that ma’am? This is not the time to get distracted!

But why is she distracted? It turns out that on her first countering assignment nine years ago, she met Chung-jae’s henchman as a bullied high school kid. He got stabbed in an attempt to protect her as she fought off his bullies, and she discovered her healing powers while trying to compress his wound. The experience strengthened her resolve to do her best as a counter so that good people won’t get hurt. Unfortunately, her first heal has now switched to the bad side. But that’s life for you, right?

Speaking of switching to the bad side, Joo-seok’s rage reaches a climax after a follow up visit from Pil-gwang and Kelly who taunt him with the “truth.” Dangling it in his face like a water bottle to a man in the desert, they goad him to accept the power within him because only after he gets his revenge (viz., commits murder) will the truth he seeks be revealed to him. “Have you decided to accept me?” The evil spirit asks a defeated Joo-seok. “We will be together forever. All the way to the fiery pits of hell.” The spirit promises, and he finally surrenders.

What’s the first thing a man in prison will do after being possessed by an evil spirit? Pull a prison break, of course. I mean, who’s to stop him? Certainly not the guards who can be tossed around like confetti in the wind. Daebak! It took Moon and the villain in the first season until the final episode to properly activate this power. And up till now, the other counters are barely at intermediate level in its use, but the show is just handing it out like candy to the newcomers. You get psychokinesis, you get psychokinesis, everyone gets psychokinesis! Pfft. If that’s the case, I’d like mine, too.

Going a step further than the evil duo, not only can Joo-seok see the counters’ territory, he can also communicate with them through it! *Falls to my knees in collective shock with the CEOs of all video conferencing apps worldwide* At this point, I feel like there are no rules to the story world anymore, and we’re just running on vibes.

Confused at the turnout of events, the counters consult with Yung. Sure, Joo-seok’s blind rage attracted the evil spirit that possessed him, but evil spirits gain their power based on how many kills they have under their belt. How could Joo-seok be so powerful when he hasn’t killed anyone yet? But as Wi-gen tells them, sometimes, there are exceptions to these rules. After all, unlike the other counters, Moon wasn’t in a coma when his body accepted her spirit, and now his powers surpasses the others. Wait, does this mean that Joo-seok is the evil version of Moon? Ha!

Wi-gen warns that the uncanny Joo-seok may become unstoppable the moment he commits murder. Hence the counters need to summon the spirit in him ASAP. For now, there’s still hope since Joo-seok retains a bit of humanity in him — he could have easily killed the prison guards and the police, but he chose to just knock them out. He still hasn’t killed Mr. Park even though he knows where the man is, and he hesitated when Hana told him to consider his mom’s health before giving into his evil desires.

Unfortunately, Joo-seok’s humanity is precisely the problem the evil duo have with him. Kelly pushes his buttons by mentioning Min-ji and their child, but that’s not enough to get him to kill Mr. Park. They also try to kill his mom in the hospital, but they have to abort the mission when the counters arrive. As a last resort, the evil duo step into the counters’ territory with a kidnapped Mr. Park — knowing that Joo-seok will definitely come for him. And as for the counters, they have to choose between going to prevent Joo-seok from committing murder, or going to fight the evil duo.

At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised that Joo-seok can read memories as well, and when he reads Mr. Park’s distorted memory, he sees what the evil duo want him to see: Park killing Min-ji. When Moon and Hana arrive, they tell him that Pil-gwang is behind the whole thing, but he doesn’t buy it. He flings them to opposite sides of the room, and Hana is impaled by an iron rod in the process. Ouch! Joo-seok then proceeds to strangle Mr. Park, and the plot thickens. *Sips the salty broth*

It seemed like the drama was trying to lean in into an emotional angle this week, but this didn’t work for me, because I think the emotions generated were not organic enough. I was indifferent about Ms. Chu and the henchman — although it was nice to see how she discovered her healing powers. And while I’m a sucker for romance and think Hana and her piano instructor crush are cute, “I only started playing after falling for Do (Hana) re mi fa sol…” this love story makes me wonder if the crush character was introduced to become Hana’s kryptonite later on.

Inorganic emotions and possible kryptonite aside, I think another reason I’m not really feeling the plot is because I haven’t connected with any of the new characters yet — I mean, how can I when the villains have no backstory and Joo-seok only began to interest me this week? And the only reason I’m still giving Jeok-bong a pass is due to counter privileges and the Yoo In-soo grace. Because let’s be realistic, he adds little value to the team. He’s like extra weight and half the time I just want to smack him. But hey, maybe the problem is me.

I did enjoy watching a restrained Moon this week, and I think he shines better in the quiet and emotional scenes like the ones with Joo-seok, rather than the adrenaline fueled ones with Pil-gwang. I always thought Pil-gwang was going to be Moon’s ultimate challenge, but now I think his true test will come from Joo-seok.

Both guys started off on the same path of losing their loved ones to evil spirits and wanting revenge, but the difference is in the choices they made. Moon had the counters to rein him in before he went overboard, and now it’s time for him to pay it forward with Joo-seok. But seeing how Joo-seok now has one kill under his belt, it’s going to take a lot of convincing for the drama to give him a redemptive arc.

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