블러드 Blood - Episode 5 (A FakeCap)

Shuk: Since everyone is busy, I'm going to take the bull(sh$) by the horns, and recap / gif this episode. Call it my Lenten penance or something.
kakashi: So I might have felt a bit, a tiny, atomic bit interested while watching this. I'm glad the atrocious acting (his, mainly) cured me immediately of any sentiments I might be starting to develop. That's what I wrote a week ago and then, RL sucked me in. And Blood was forgotten. Or rather, put on a loooooooong To-Do list, where it started to rot, until Shuk kindly unrotted it. I'm not doing this one. The floor is yours, JoAnne and Shuk! 

Shuk: How I feel about even trying to recap this thing.  

Episode 5

Ji Jin Hee:  Shoot...was I not supposed to be on set?

So we have two high-frequency not-quite-humans who end up with their signals crossed, both expecting to do this surgery. Older guy goes 'harrumph!" and leaves the operating theater. The younger one is prepare to create scalpel-based miracles.
JoAnne: He told Ri Ta he'd be there, and it's very very important that she understand that no matter how often it looks like he's leaving her in the lurch, at the last second he WILL always show up to save the day.

Except during the time Pampire was kicking the snot out of the cops, and Leader Vamp was kicking back with coffee, the patient has deteriorated until his portal vein is completely useless. Never fear though! They go through the offal tray and find an extra donor vein dangling around, Perfect bypass material!
Um, ew.

Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Mo, catch a human by the toe..

Chick Vamp injects one of the Indigents with an experimental drug. I think he was chosen because he snored too loudly.

The VampVitaChew is wearing off, and Pampire is starting to perspire from the iron in the air. Oh no, how will he pop more gum? Pita notices his DT's and offers to finish, but nope, Pampire will finish! Success. Dr Vamp Leader Grumpypants gives a reluctant thumbs up, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the finger he wanted to use.
What's Korean for 'Rats! Foiled again!' Also: did you notice how sedately and professionally she asked that question? I detected actual concern.

Jae Wook ponders his career choices, as the new surgical residents get younger and younger

Kid is happy that his mom is safe. Pampire gives him advice: endure pain, and don't fear anything. Made sense to the kid at least.
Sounds like good advice to me: Be brave, don't give up.

Vamp Leader give Pampire a backhanded compliment that got me scratching my head: he values results more than the process. Um, what? My disbelief at his flat-out BS I didn't listen to the rest of the lecture.
Sort of. He said usually he values results more than process, but you do still have to pay SOME attention to process, and followed that with basically: 'You got lucky this time, kid, but I'm not gonna put up with a lot of that kind of crap.' Which pissed ME off since he's the one who created the crap.

After he leaves, Pampire rests for a tiny tiny bit before it's time for Lecture v2.0 with Pita. Patient's life on the line, I'm so perfect and you aren't, blah blah blah. She storms out. Sidekick calls him, all wriggly like a puppy that needs to pee. He's found something extraordinary, so hurry home! Palli palli!
Dammit, Ri Ta was not out of line here. I hate that she's getting more bearable, sort of.  Am I just worn down by the onslaught or is her character subtly shifting into someone I won't need to stab with pins?

Vamp Leader tells his useless VampThugs to lay low for a bit. One of them says the look in Pampire's eyes reminds him of his father. I'm happy because that means no birth secrets in this mess. But I guess that look spells danger for our young surgeon, since that's what got his dad stabbed with a needle. Vamp Leader gets all inscrutable and Confucian. I'm just confused.
I believe here is where we begin to see glimmers of not-evil in Jae Wook, and you're right, it's a little confusing.

And the reason Sidekick is so excited? Is it because he's wearing the same clothes from the previous episode? No! After Pampire's meetup with the Needle Of VampDoom, his blood chemistry is back to normal (whatever it normally is), except he is now generating an increased antigen response to the drug. So he is essentially vaccinated against it. In fact, his body apparently has generated antigens against all known poisons: snake venoms, blood thinners, derivatives of deadly nightshade and jimson weed, and specific death-to-vamps creations.
In my best Transylvanian Bampire accent: I am now...inwincible!

Oh great, I'll live forever...as the thing I hate

Pampire almost smiles. He's the strongest of all The Infected Ones. He almost cries. It will make him harder to become fully human. He walks away. Sidekick does a Shane The Walking Dead headrub.
Ah, the vulnerability of the invulnerable, so touching.

He stares out the window for a moment, then heads to the computer to watch an immune response video and have a nice long flashback of his childhood when he drank Bambi. He yells at his mom how much he hates being himself, and rebuffs a hug. Yep, typical teenager.
I dunno about that...no one I know ever snacked on raw Bambi.

Pita sees grainy video of a familiar sweater beating up some useless cops. Pampire thinks about his almost-lapse in the operating theater, but chooses not to tell the one person who can help him with it. He does tell him that he's out of gum.
Pretty soon, Ri Ta's loins will emit a high pitched squeal of excitement whenever Pampire is in range.

Cardboard doctors griping about the irresponsible young surgeon while quaffing coffee. Of course Pita is there to stir the pot; the rest are happy that the Director was angry yesterday. Pampire shows right before Lady Admin shows up. The are all getting Indigent Patients on their watch list, even the cardboard doctors. Pampire is first to arrive and first to leave, closely pursued by Pita.
Even if he wasn't mysterious I can't really blame her.  Those other doctors are not exactly date material.

Pita compares a screenshot of the sweater-fighter to the young surgeon talking to the staff. She's not even trying to be subtle about it when even Sleepy Intern notices.
These types of scenes (they should do more of them) actually work with the haughtiness that GHS is trying to display. I keep thinking about her voice and wondering if it doesn't sound funny to us because we're not Korean. As in - would a Korean pick up on the humor of a Valley Girl accent?

The new Samsung Galaxy 15 with built-in Criminal Detector!

Cardboard docs go to Jae-wook and ask not to be responsible for any IP's because their workload is soooo heavy with coffee breaks and stuff. He is willing, but then sings the praises of Pampire, who volunteered in Chechnya and who is willing to help the little people too, cute little altruistic swan-necked surgeon that he is. The Chairman at the hospital intends to been at the opening ceremony of the IP ward too. It would have been easier to tell them "No".
Oh but I liked what he did, actually.

Pita tells her buddy about her suspicions regarding Pampire, but she doesn't care. Pita stomps off, and ignores Pampire when she walks past him. I'm pretty sure she is wearing my grandmother's shoes.
I haaaate her shoes!
But my grandma loved them!

Vamp Leader Jae-wook thinks back when he was young and idealistic. He wanted to save every patient, even if he has to be a god to do it. His mentor thought he's an out-of-control power-hungry freak, so he killed his mentor by crushing his throat. Yeah, I kind of think Dr Mentor was right, In the present, he is at the ward opening ceremony, ready to do what he has to do for the good of mankind.
This was interesting because of the different ways they saw this virus - one as a benefit, the other as a curse. We know in the present that Jae Wook sees it as an 'us against them' world now - but initially - despite his murderous tendencies - he thought of this as something that would help mankind.

Pita is schmoozing with Lady Admin like the Pissy Princess she is. She didn't even notice that Pampire wasn't at the ceremony, nope, not at all. Blech.
I like her relationship with Lady Admin - they have a genuine affection for each other.

He is wandering the hallowed halls when he sees the terminal cancer guy spending time with his daughter. TC Guy tells him that he doesn't cling to life for himself, but just to spend one more day with his daughter. He hopes to live long enough to celebrate her birthday soon. The little girl taps Pampire on the shoulder with a juice drink.
Pssst, kid - offer him a Bloody Mary.

Dr Scruff is looking over a series of photocopied notes. It seems Lady Admin asked him to review everything. Inside the notebook, is a pic of Pampire Mom and son, and Dead Dr Mentor. Lady Admin stops by and promises to support his pet project if he supports hers. But he's not interested in playing reindeer games and wants to stay out of office politics.
I feel quite certain that Scruff is Dead Mentor's son.

Pita is with the nun and won't tell her the grave situation, but Nun knows she's lying. Pampire stops by and tells her the truth: she's unwell. But that doesn't mean she's dying. Nun smiles at the handsome doctor; dying doesn't scare her when she knows she will be with God. He asks her to tell the Man Upstairs to wait a little longer.
Is that...a bedside manner peeking out?  Could it be?

Please give her a chance, Pampire.  She doesn't mean to be annoying.

Outside the room, Pita, yet again, chases him down, convinced his behavior with her old friend was his way of sucking up to her. Seriously, is there a shoehorn big enough to get her head through a doorway? He asks her why she lied for him the day he staggered into the ER. She gets bitchy; she pitied him for being unable to help his sorry butt. She knows he is sick, but not what the illness is.
Yeah, right. She wants his skinny little butt. She just won't admit it yet.

Rita is mistakenly under the impression that her hiccups are endearing

Walking through the hospital, Pita spots Vamp Chick and her two cronies walking with purpose. Well, that's a nice change for this hospital. Pampire is also heading there, and notices all the added security: cameras, cipher locks, black-on-black suited guard...
You just can't take the guys in blue seriously. It's black all the way these days.

Pita checks on her IP just as the cronies leave; Vamp Chick is administering yet another syringe of something, The IP is suffering from alcohol withdrawal, it appears. Vamp Chick leaves, but is closely pursued by Pita. The younger doctor wants to know how any old random doctor can just draw blood from her patient? I rewatch; okay, I guess she's drawing blood. Frankly the hospital procedures in this show are so f**ked up, I can't even recognize what they are doing.
I think you're probably the only one who cares.
Probably so.

Vamp Chick says she was personally authorized by her uncle and Jae-wook to collect samples for the New Drug R&D Department. They hiss at each other until Lady Admin shows up, and tells the non-doctor to apologize to the doctor. She just turns and leaves.
That was a very, very interesting scene. Lady Admin says to apologize, and Mysteriosa whines that Ri Ta started it. Lady Admin repeats herself - just the one word. Mysteriosa looks like she's about to protest, and Lady Admin steps towards her and repeats the one word - apologize - very quietly. Mysteriosa immediately complies. I begin to think that Lady Admin isn't quite the glorified secretary she appeared to be.

Pampire shows up and wonders aloud at the security measures and the CDC- style quarantine doors installed for a clinic of Indigent Patients, Lady Admin is smooth; the pavilion was originally built for VVIP patients and the doors were designed to keep undesirables out. Like zombies.
I'm torn. Designed to keep undesirables out, back then? Like they might have expected a plague of vampires?  Or designed to keep undesirables in, like now they create some kind of monster that runs amok?

Princess Pita hustles her uncle to a private place to talk about the weird goings-on with the IP ward and the New Drug team. She agreed to cooperate, but she didn't agree that they could step into her boundaries and touch her patients. Uncle says its for the good of everyone, but Pita doesn't trust the director. She only trusts Lady Admin who...happens to be her Auntie! I knew she was too high up NOT to be a part of the Nepotism Network.
I think that is just a term of respect, but I'm not sure why I never considered actual family.  She can't call her Unnie, too big of a gap, and she's clearly known the girl her whole life.  But maybe not, who knows?  If she is an actual aunt, it's mother's sister.  Is Evil Uncle brother to father, or brother to mother?

Pita's Alkie-IP is drinking water and wishing it was soju; he also comments on Pampire's prettiness. Pampire's Tumor-IP comments that his life is hard but he still wants to live. Doc notices all sorts of needle tracks where there aren't veins and angry veins where there aren't needle tracks. Still, it's a cause for concern, even though they only manifested that morning.
It's a sign!

Pampire takes a pic of the arm, and compares it to his personal notes. He shows the pics to Dr. Scruff, asking if he thinks it's a reaction to the meds. It's unlikely that as it appears to be an infection of some kind. Dr Scruff promises to do a consult with the IP.
Can you get an infection in just your veins?
Yes, for heavy needle drug users, a dirty needle starts the infection at the injection site, and it can travel through your veins. It can and does spread out, though,

Before our surgeon leaves, Dr Scruff comments that he is confused by the sudden caring interest in his patients, but Pampire just shrugs it off. After all, he can't just play all day. That earns him a laugh. Pita's bestie enters the office and is wowed that Dr Scruff is on chuckling terms with Pampire. He's weird and has too many thoughts in his head, but the boy isn't a psychopath. I really like this doctor. At least, until he opens the file the woman gave him - it's the Elephant, er, Vampire Graveyard!
More and more certain this guy is Son of Mentor. I like him too.
Well, he does have the beard in common.
 

Pita's IP freaks out as his vampy senses start tingling.  He dodges the Boys in Black and makes it to Supply. Pita spots him rifling through stuff, and getting ready to drink isopropyl alcohol. She tries to stop him but he ends up grabbing it out of her hands. The guards easily subdue him and drag him away. Pita shakes her hand; hopefully she's not infected, but if she was splashed with alcohol, that should kill it anyway.
Infected with what?  If the virus could be passed person to person that way, why wouldn't they just bite everyone?
I assume the virus is bloodborne; therefore, any contact with blood is a bad thing. Unless it only activates with blood and saliva combined, which, ewww.

Pampire is making patient rounds when the sight of a negative-pressure wound drain activates his Vamp Mode. He bolts to the bathroom to splash his face until his eyes are normal. Back in his office, he counts his chewables. Only two left; he pops one.
If he can smell blood through plastic, why can't he smell it through skin?

Back at home, Ji-sang and Sidekick have a heated discussion, apparently regarding one of their failed experiments. It was their closest success, since it wiped out the VCells, but it also started killing off the healthy human ones, too. He still wants to restart it and try to discover why it attacked the non-VCells, even though they never found an answer to that previously. Sidekick reasonably points out that, if they use it, Pampire will be human for a few days before the autoimmune response kicks in and kills him at the cellular level. He doesn't care; at least he will dies as a human.  Sidekick is upset - then why has he been working so hard on a cure??
Well, duh. Of course he'd prefer to be cured. But if he can't be cured, he'll take a few days as a human before he dies. Get with the program, Sidekick.

Uh oh, at Palace De VampLeader, he's no longer drinking, but mainlining the stuff. Right there on his chair, in a brief moment, he bursts into vampire mode and screams.
I guess that one was pretty intense.

Sex Chair:  Results not guaranteed

And Pampire stares at a mirror and then punches it. Please don't tell me SeGi comes out of the cracks!
Good Lord, if Se Gi were a vampire TOO? Ovaries would burst into flames.

In the IP Ward, Dr Scruff is shocked to see that all Pamp-IP's bruising is completely gone on both arms. The man says it disappeared overnight, and he feels perfectly fine. The pretty woman (ie Vamp Chick) stopped by this morning and grabbed 7 or 8 tubes of blood for testing. Meanwhile, Pita-IP is curled up into a shivering ball of misery.
 
Sidekick is doing some cleanup in the house and sees the shattered mirror. In the hospital, Dr Scruff informs Pampire of the lack of discernible injury to his patient. Pita's friend walks in and promptly slips and falls, scattering blood samples she had in her hands. Several break and cause a BSI emergency on the floor.

But that's nothing compared to her picking them up with her bare hands!!  First of all, people, it's blood, and you don't know what the patients might have. Secondly, has there ever been a successful pickup of broken glass in any Asian drama that didn't involve cutting oneself?? I had to FF that one, it bothered me to the core of my being and goes against almost thirty years of training.

Back in the story, of course, Pampire is also having a horrified reaction (but for different reasons than mine). Dr Scruff notices his behavior, but he manages to get out of the office before his eyes changed. While he's catching his breath in the hallway, a guard runs by.
For a minute I thought he'd get down on the floor and lick it.

Sure enough, it's Pita-IP, swinging an IV pole to keep everyone at bay. Pita yells that she will discharge him if he doesn't behave. Um, really?  Not that it matters, because we all know he's got 'DOOMED' stamped across his forehead with that almost-invisible ultraviolet ink they use on your hands at amusement parks. 

The nurse explains he's having auditory and visual hallucinations from alcohol withdrawal. Pita says he's been dosed with anti-anxiety meds, but without effect. The patients starts some squinty-eyed babbling about needles and blankets, but focuses on Pampire when the surgeon offers to find him some soju.

He sets the IV pole down, but stupid Pita motions for one of the nurses to pick up a syringe of tranquilizer. Clearly she's never taken any CIT training. Pita-IP sees that and freaks out yet again, now throwing things off the med cart. He grabs a open scalpel and starts threatening everyone. Unfortunately, he also cuts himself, which gets Pampire all sweaty.
*singing* Blood is in the air, everywhere I look around;  Blood is in the air, every sight and every sound

Pita sees Pampire step back, clutching his head, and tries to get IP to look at her. Suddenly he lunges at her with the scalpel; Ji-sang steps in front of her to deflect the blow, and the patient ends up pinned and dogpiled on the floor.
And there it is!  He saves her again! She's a goner now. And besides, awwww.

Must...save...Pita!  No, really, you don't.

Ji-sang staggers away, a streak of blood running down his cheek. Pita goes to see if he is okay, but he just sways for a moment, his blood dripping onto his pen pocket. Her voice seems far away for a moment, before his eyes  go wide and he grabs his cheek in fear, or at least a reasonable facsimile of fear. The wound had already started to heal; glad to see they used some smidgen of vampiric lore.

Ji Sang is utterly mortified to have gotten stains on his pristine lab coat

Comments

I'll be a good girl, Mommy. Promise me I don't have to do this again. [cries]
Hey, I offered to do it last week - but at the time she was so horrified at the thought of having to watch it in order to comment that she turned me down. (Psst...I only saw about 4 episodes of Birth of a Beauty - it really didn't make a difference. You know, if this comes up again.) 
Umm...in a weird way, and certainly one that doesn't include medical technique, this show is getting pretty good in a twisty way.