Flower of Evil 악의 꽃 - Episode 6 (Recap)
kakashi: We continue down the rabbit hole of ugly reveals and new twists, near-hits and not-quite misses. I'm still impressed by the quality of this script AND the acting of our two leads.
JoAnne: I'm with you - it gets better every week and with a story this twisty usually it we'd be seeing some WTF moments but nope - this story and the people telling it are terrific!
Flashback. Excuse me while I do a little fangirl dance: *********KIM JI-HOOOOOOON!********* (aka the real Hee-Sung) Driving in the heavy rain, talking on the phone. He seems to be in some kind of trouble...? He's asking his phone partner about a woman and how "she seemed to him". His mom?
Could be? While I like the blonde on Fake Hee Sung I don't much care for it on the original...
I jumped. Did you jump?
I jumped.
After his initial shock, Hee-sung gets out of the car, finding Hyun-su heavily injured. But when Hee-Sung attempts to call an ambulance, Hyun-Su slaps his phone away. "No hospitals," he moans and passes out.
So now half the mystery is solved. We know how they met.
In the here and now, Hyun-Su is in a hospital, in critical condition. With his wife standing to the side crying, the doctors seek to revive him. We see what I guess is a memory, of brother and sister, happy together. "Live a normal life, noona," they dying Hyun-Su thinks. "Never look for me." And we see the little sister crying in what seems to be a hospital too, partially covered in blood. ... with a gasp, Hyun-Su wakes up.
See? He can feel things. He loved his sister.
He can barely walk but he leaves his room - and bumps into a police officer right away who informs someone that "he is awake". He freezes up, wants to hurry back into his room... when the police officer says: "Do Hyun-Su! It's all over now!" and puts handcuffs on him. But that's all in his head. The police officer actually wants to help him, only Hyun-Su still isn't quite himself and runs away... bumping into his wife next. The poor boy... he's terrified because he thinks he's been found out, right?
That's what I think, yes.
But he hasn't. Eventually, he hugs the shaken Ji-won back and he even comforts her, though visibly struggling to read her emotions. Once back in his room, we hear from the doctors that he's been in a coma for ten days. They put him on hypothermic treatment which can result in memory loss. He teases his kid, pretending he doesn't know her (mean!!) but it seems he's okay? No amnesia trope, drama?
Yet another example of excellent writing - no need to rely on a lazy escape route.
He is at his father's hospital and his "mother" comes and has another near-nervous breakdown. She kicks out Ji-won, her mother and little cutie pie Eun-ha. Fie! But the Baeks have a problem: Park Kyung-choon may be in a bad state (a coma currently), but he's still alive! And he knows that Hyun-Su is living under a fake identity. So what... is this mother to blame for the entire mess they're in? Dr. Baek makes it sound that way.
It certainly seems that way, and would explain a few things said in the past.
Park may be faking it to escape prison and they know he has terminal cancer but the risk of him babbling is too high. Once they have sent the hysterical mother away, the two men plot Park's demise. Since he is likely to be sent to prison the next day, Hyun-su has to act tonight, his father suggests.
So you do it, Dad. This guy's been in a coma for 10 days!
Meanwhile, Moo-jin is hunting down the witness from back then. Tenacious, isn't he! She's a cleaning lady. She's says she made a mistake, just wants to live a quiet life, provide for her daughter. "What if that monster hurts my daughter for talking?" she asks. Moo-jin informs her that Do Min-suk has died years ago. "Not him!" she blurts out. Oh. Hmmmmmm.
Hmmmm is right. She can't possibly mean our sweet boy with the difficulty of reading emotions.
I like this guy except I can't like him because he doesn't like Hyun Su.
That's bullshit. Hyun Su had a valid reason for trying to get his wife's co-workers to like him - because it would make her happy.
Well, he's also a lying liar who lies about his identity... kudos to Detective Choi. It's true that he's not likable, I don't like him at all!
Since he's clearly biased and doesn't even hide that he doesn't like Hyun-su, Hyun-su requests little sidekick Im to take over, which happens.
That little cutie pie is smarter than he looks, I think.
News stations are beginning to dig into the old serial killer case. While waiting outside the hospital room,
Ji-won sees footage on TV about the metal craft workshop and about the
basement underneath it where Do Min-suk held his victims. There is a
cage... so gruesome. Even someone as challenged reading human emotions as Hyun-su can see she is grossly upset afterwards. She claims she is still traumatized about almost losing him. "How could you do that to me!" she yells at him.
It's so rare to get what we are getting here - true equals both as actors and as characters. Even if the story ends up with holes I will remember this drama as a stand out because of this.
Oh shit. When Ji-won flees Hyun-su's hospital room, leaving him confused and chagrined, we see what's really wrong. When he was waking up, he called her Noona! He told her to live a normal life, to never come looking for him. And... "I won't live as Do Hyun-su anymore." Of course, she can't sit still after that. Reading the crime report from back when the village foreman was killed (the guardian of Hyun-su and Hae-su after their father's death) gives her the creeps. With a forensic investigation bag, she goes to her husband's workshop.
She knows of the basement. She breaks the lock with a hammer. She goes
down.
This woman. She can't live with suspicions. She can't ignore them. She's going to blow up her own life, isn't she.
At the same time, Hyun-su calls his "father" and tells him he's going to do "it". Donning a doctor's coat, gloves and a mask while his dad is watching, he makes his way to Cabbie Park's room. "Don't leave an injection mark on his body," his father consults him. Wow, so his fake father is murderous too, huh.
I don't like him. He's the only person so far I really don't like.
Hyun-su manages to send the detective on watch away - and there we go. Cabbie Park WAS faking it! He opens his eyes and says he's been waiting for Hyun-su... to come kill him. He asks again where his wife is buried but Hyun-su sticks to his story from before. He really doesn't know. He found out about his father like everybody else... through TV. Thinking he could have been wrong, Cabbie Park shows some remorse - and says he's ready.
I'm not sure I believe all of that story, Hyun Su, but if you're lying it's a lie I'd tell, too. It would be your only chance to maybe live normally somewhere.
But Hyun-su is hesitating to kill Park. He has a question: what did it feel like to find out his wife had died? Of course, that question seems like mockery, but we know that Hyun-su needs to know to understand his own wife's reaction. It's almost cruel how he makes Park recount his heartbreak, but he really doesn't understand why this man go so obsessed over his wife's grave. He puts the content of his syringe into Park's drip bag ... right when the detective comes rushing back. He realized that he was duped to leave the room. Surprise... Park is alive! Looking truly shocked.
I thought he was dead, there. Died with his eyes open. I was so upset with Hyun Su for finally killing someone after years of having to hide because of a rumor that I know is not true.
Here is why: The keychain with the fish, Hyun-su explains, someone gave it to Hyun-su's noona at the funeral and she gave it to him. Deliberately. "Use the two months you still have to live to chase the real killer," Hyun-su suggests. Park begs to live and Hyun-su informs him that the drip bag is blocked. He's not dying. And about getting their stories straight...
I do love the way he turns these enemies of his into collaborators of his.
Down in the basement, Ji-won finds traces of blood all over the floor.
And a blood-soaked part of the cable Moo-jin was bound with. She doesn't
even look super surprised, right? But how can she align what she read about Hyun-su with the man she knows as her husband and the devoted father of their child?
And thus the writer lays out the actual meat of their story. I'm confused - would you say Joon Gi is the main character or would you say Chae Won is the main character? I can't decide. We know more about him, but her reveal may just come later. Because I do believe there's a story there.
And then, we're back to "normal". Hyun-su is in his workshop. Park has been given over to the prosecution and confessed everything: He had a huge grudge towards the police. While listening to the radio, Hyun-su realizes he has lost his watch... At Moo-jin's newspaper, he gets ready for an interview with the witness who had a change of heart. Why did she change her statement? She takes the tape from an answering machine from her bag.
I like Moo Jin, despite everything. I think he's good at his job; I know he still carries a torch for Hyun Su's sister, and I think he's not that mean kid anymore.
I still think it's weird how calm this woman is so soon after her husband is murdered, especially pregnant.
On the tape of the answering machine is a threat towards the witness from the kidnapper: keep out of this business or else. And a question: does she know why the foreman had to die? For being curious.
At the restaurant, Ji-won tells Nam's pregnant wife that there is no proof that Hyun-su was involved in the more recent events. And besides, psychopaths are not capable of taking care of weaker creatures. He had a dog for ten years though and also took care of its puppy. And she knows... her own daughter adores her daddy, who seems to adore her right back. He should only get the punishment he deserves, she proclaims. And she only believes what she sees. Dun dun dun.....
She's going to fight hard to prove his innocence.
Additional stuff of importance:
Noona Hae-su loses her job because of the reporters that keep crashing into the film set. The director is really nice about it. Flashback to Kim Moo-jin being nasty with her because of her family.
I can understand the director needing to protect his movie. At least he was nice about it. I do think Moo Jin regrets his behavior from back then, though.
Comments
Remember the first or second episode, when there was a discussion about "knowing what's wrong" with someone you seem to be very close to? We were already speculating about Ji-won back then. The repetition of her "I only believe what I see" takes on a different meaning here because she refuses to believe the slander about Hyun-su the villagers kept repeating and people spread online. She already knows who her husband is - but because she actually knows him, she wants to dig up the whole truth.
Yes. She clearly suspects him but she also knows the story doesn't quite fit.
Scary that Hyun-su is that close to knowing his wife has found out about his secret. How will he react? How much is that secret worth? I think that Hyun-su's biggest fear is losing her (as seen in that hospital corridor when he actually thought he had been found out). Some very hard choices coming up!
For both of them, I think.
So that mystery person who was in cahoots with Hyun-su's dad (if he was)... who could it be? Someone we have already met? It must be someone Hyun-su and his noona knew. And Moo-jin too. We shouldn't forget that tape that Hyun-su took from Moo-jin... with evidence of some kind of transgression. I believe he might have filmed someone in that cage down in the basement...
Oh, maybe!
And finally, I'm glad Hyun-su didn't have to kill the Cabbie but turned him into a means to find the real culprit!
Me too - SO relieved about that.