A moment of silence for everyone who was watching the series as it came out because I don’t know how they did it, I am fighting the temptation to finish it all in one go and this is my second rewatch.
I got it. Don’t worry and go work.
Today on “this series really has great writing” : Kim Soo Jin is so good at not wasting even one second of screentime, here we already get introduced to more secondary characters, do some exposition and keep building up the small town feeling and atmosphere.
Crazies. Is the testimony recording room your living room?
I really like the small detail of Oh Ji Hwa taking a deep breath before entering and Lee Dong Sik immediately lighting up when he sees her. Everyone is trying really hard to pretend that they aren't all holding their breath while they watch history repeat while also acting accordingly behind the scenes - Nam Sang Bae rushing to the interrogation room, Lee Dong Sik getting interrogated and now presumably Oh Ji Hwa doing the interrogation so Lee Dong Sik now has been officially cleared by the Lead Detective of Team One of Violent Crimes so everything is perfectly fine, thank you. Still a bit heartbreaking because Lee Dong Sik has clearly been reliving his memories of the arrest of twenty years ago when he wasn't an expert policeman capable to defend himself AND with allies on his side.
Don't you see that he's using his head right now?
I think this is the only time that we see Nam Sang Bae really out of sorts? Like on one hand we know he is worried about Lee Dong Sik and immediately rushed over ready for a fight if necessary, but he still berates Han Joo Woon for letting a murder suspect play him like a fiddle EVEN IF he's also mad that Lee Dong Sik isn't taking this seriously ALTHOUGHT HE IS, BECAUSE HE JUST GOT INSURANCE THAT THEY HAVE TO COME BACK WITH A WARRANT.
Ah, young Han Joo Woon... one day you’ll do anything to have a meal with this man.
LDS: Are you enjoying yourself? [...] I'm wondering if you're having a good time watching.
HJW: I was told that partners stick together 24/7.
LDS: Ha.
I just really like this exchange, okay.
It's not because of them. You lived diligently.
I can never fully put my fingers on what tickles so much about this scene, especially once Lee Dong Sik says this - right now I am focusing on the frustration that Kang Jin Mook is letting himself stagnate and be trapped by the past, just like Lee Dong Sik and pretty much everyone else in this town, when he doesn't have to be, especially because of Kang Min Jeong. At the same time, Kang Jin Mook is a disabled man who relies on the good will of his community, so his situation is different from the others - although almost everyone in their immediate group is actually either suffering from serious trauma or mental health issues so really, no one can leave this fucking town because it eats you alive.
That said I do also like this conversation because here Lee Dong Sik still considers Kang Jin Mook a member of his family, so we can see in his desire that Kang Jin Mook would just live for himself the same desire he probably had for Lee Yoo Yeon and Kang Min Jeong, who unlike Lee Dong Sik had the talent and opportunities to make something of themselves and leave it all behind.
(..and then Kang Jin Mook was the reason why all their lives instead were cut short, but let's pretend we don't know for a second).
Sergent Lee happens to be known as an icon of bad luck...
it’s her, my favourite problematic woman on this show <3
Also another interesting layer that I think was lost in the Netflix subtitles - he's not just a murder suspect, he's an icon of bad luck.
You told me to live a relaxed life while smiling, Mother.
I spend way too much time thinking of how fucked up Park Jeong Je's situation is, because he might have forgotten the night Lee Yoo Yeon died thanks to a mix of drugs, alcohol and trauma, but he for sure did not forgot that his mother locked him up in a mental hospital for fucking years. When did she let him out? Was it for him or because she couldn’t pretend he was in the USA forever? Did he use any of that to force her to accept that the first thing he did was run back to Lee Dong Sik? Do they still live together out of fear or also because Park Jeong Je wants to punish her with his presence?
Also interesting in light of the other parent-child confrontation that we see later - Park Jeong Je is way more passive than Han Joo Woon when it comes to confronting his abusive parent for various reasons, but also he IS using that passivity as a weapon. She told him to not worry and he's not worrying to the max partially out of spite.
That is possible, but the feet impressions in the soles of these shoes match what they estimate from the skeleton analysis.
This is probably a stupid thing to be charmed by, but as someone who has seen what feels like billions of “the police women recognise a piece of clothing/a pair of shoes/an expensive bag because women be shopping” scenes, I really liked how they did this here, just a quick throwaway line like all throwaway lines in this investigation that validates fashion knowledge as a useful thing to know and off we go.
Also I wanted one screenshot of Oh Ji Hwa and she looked great here, sue me.
Then are we going to patrol forever and never return to the station?
I’m obviously biased due to my shipping preferences but the fact that after all of that Han Joo Woon and Lee Dong Sik had to be together at work for hours, patrolling even, while they can’t even talk to each other without IMMEDIATELY devolving into petty bickering that escalates into implied murder accusations is one of my favourite things about their dynamic. Even their silence was full of passive aggressiveness. Kings of never letting things go. Han Joo Woon throws around murder accusations for The Greater Justice TM and also just to be extremely annoying during a car ride and Lee Dong Sik turns around to be immediately even more annoying in return. THIS IS SERIOUS but also I am winning this irrelevant argument in the car or so help me God.
There was a shop over there. I'll go by raincoats and hot packs.
Case in point, they immediately put all of that on hold to do their jobs, so you know, they knew on some level that they were just arguing for the love of the game. The rain scene is mainly about Han Joo Woon going through his first crisis (of many) as his convictions and worldview start cracking because, at least for a moment, he doesn't believe Lee Dong Sik is actually the serial killer he imagined, but I also really like how this scene works in reverse too. Han Joo Woon has literally just finished implying again that he thinks LDS killed his own sister and he's been huffing and puffing and being clearly annoyed during this whole conversation under the rain, but also he can't help himself from bringing LDS some vinyl shoes and he's immediately going to buy raincoats and hot packs without even being told.
And Lee Dong Sik does notice that is not what he expected from the arrogant, entitled and brash young master he's been dealing with in the last days.
Copied that incident from twenty years ago that the chief of Munju Police Station closed.
Speaking of the way Lee Dong Sik and Han Joo Woon communicate, the contrast is very noticeable when we see him talk to Han Ki Hwan next - he's putting on his usual dramatic act while saying something outrageous to get a reaction and Han Ki Hwan just. Ignores it. It’s such a blatant, cold dismissal of Han Joo Woon of a person, Han Ki Hwan doesn’t even bother to tell him to cut down the antics. He’s listening, he just doesn’t care enough even to tell him that he’s being ridiculous and instead just makes a statement and leave. He talks AT Han Joo Woon, and no TO him. If I remember right we see the same communication mishap with Kwon Hyeok, whereas even in the first episode, before the mindgames truly started, Lee Dong Sik always engages with Han Joo Woon at the same level - because he's also a dramatic bitch, but also because he was actively listening to Han Joo Woon. I think we actually only see the people of Manyang actually engage with Han Joo Woon rather than dismissing him for whatever reason.
Also it's nice to see already the parallels between Han Joo woon and Park Jeong Je being established as we have similar scenes of them being defiant with their abusive parent they are momentarily forced to obey.
Looks like you, right?
Maybe on my tenth rewatch I will get over how unhinged this scene is.
This time I keep thinking about how Park Jeong Je acting like this is not weird at all means that he doesn't think it is, because he's used to love and acceptance from the people around him (who aren't his mother).
Also everyone calls Lee Dong Sik a lunatic, but all his friends are insane too.
Case number 2000-031486, line 34, row 3
Another great scene about the inneficacies of the police system, but right now I am focusing entirely on how Park Jeong Je has the case number memorised by heart but also has never opened it. His girlfriend died and he could never face it, but he never forgot.
A novice shaman can kill a man. [...] That's what I did to Dong Sik.
IT'S TOO LATE NAM SANG BAE, HE HAS ALREADY CUT SOMEONE'S HEAD.
Making Lee Dong Sik and Yoo Jae Yi narrative twins will always be one of the most brilliant decisions of this drama, but I also love how Han Joo Woon ends up having narrative parallels in Park Jeong Je and Nam Sang Bae, especially how it ties to the systemic and cyclical nature of the abuse of power (the family and the police respectively).
Han Joo Woon and Nam Sang Bae couldn't have less in common if they tried, but simply by being cops they have been handed the power to ruin a life and they both completely independently of each other and in the name of greater good, did exactly that. Nam Sang Bae offers himself as a warning and an omen and it's all pointless because Han Joo Woon has already caused someone's death and destroyed someone's family. In fact, all this speech achieves it to make him even more determined to atone for it by catching the killer while trampling all over Lee Dong Sik in the process. It's easy to forget that the only reason why Beyond Evil has a happy ending is that Lee Dong Sik was smarter, more cunning and more lucky than anyone else: it would have been easy for him to be once again scapegoated and have his life ruined by Han Joo Woon's desperate attempts to right his wrongs. And even if Han Joo Woon would have eventually noticed that Lee Dong Sik wasn't the culprit, could he have done something? Does he have the power and influence to re-open a case? Could Lee Dong Sik even manage to go through all of it a second time?
And now I am reminded of the face Han Joo Woon makes episodes later when he founds out that Lee Dong Sik was arrested because of a guitar pick.
But all of a sudden, the top ace among Police External Affaris' elites...
This is just a throwaway line in an otherwise heartwarming scene of seeing Lee Dong Sik interact with an ex-colleague, but I did make a note of it after Kwon Hyeok’s lines from the previous episode - I guess it really is a class thing, which makes more interesting the contrast between HJW being qualified and educated enough to join External Affairs so quickly and with little experience on the field while Lee Dong Sik and Nam Sang Bae had to work their way up to the RIU (someone with more knowledge of the Korean system than me can probably comment on whether there is any reason why all the elites are dealing with illegal immigration and not violent crimes).
Because he's Lee Dong Sik
Our first example of the people of Manyang dealing with outsiders! Oh Ji Hoon was voicing his own doubts to Lee Dong Sik in the previous episode, but now he immediately defends him without hesitation to Han Joo Woon, even going out of the way for their patrol to make his point better.
Also the first time Han Joo Woon falters because someone else doesn't have a mom!
The way he scoffs at the idea that Lee Dong Sik was “a mother and half a father” for Kang Min Jeong seems to be about how Lee Dong Sik is obviously a serial killer who can't be trusted as much as it is about how, in Han Joo Woon's worldview, people barely care about their own children, let alone someone elses' children. I do truly love how the show tackles the themes of family, familial abuse and found family, culminating with the show's climax where Han Joo Woon’s biological father would have had him killed, but Lee Dong Sik is willing to go to prison just to give Han Joo Woon a chance to atone.
I just really like these shots of the substation. I'm a sucker for ensemble shows and whatnot so this casual workplace scenes are very dear to me.
The way they play with our heartstrings by hinting at how tragic it is that she was killed by someone she loved and was so happy to see, only to reveal that no, she wasn't, she was killed by someone she kept running away from, someone she didn't trust and was scared of. And the people she loved - Lee Dong Sik, Oh Ji Hwa, Park Jeong Je, Oh Ji Hoon, Nam Sang Bae - they all made sure she got home safe to her father, and that's why she died.
I said last episode that I love the way the show plays with both LDS and HJW's perspectives, because it's so clever that they basically built a show that has to been seen twice to be fully understood: on a blind watch it's so easy to find oneself following mostly Han Joo Woon, the Outsider, and get entrapped in all the haunting elements of the show, but on a second watch instead it's more natural to feel closer to Lee Dong Sik since the start, as we are now also all familiar with Manyang and its people. There is a scene for instance where they talk about the possibility of the killer from twenty years ago having killed all the disappeared women so far and Yoo Jae Yi immediately fills her glass with soju, only to be stopped by Park Jeong Je - and on a blind watch we only find out when Han Joo Woon does, in Episode 4, that her mother also disappeared, but on a rewatch, you know both Lee Dong Sik and Yoo Jae Yi and are very familiar with their sorrow and you understand why they stand there while everyone talks quietly around them. You are also one of the people of Manyang and watch as one Outsider comes to threaten them.
(And of course, once you know everything there is to know about Han Joo Woon, you also understand him more).
All to say that I love how this montage works perfectly both if we imagine Lee Dong Sik looking at everyone as a suspect or, which is what they initially want you to think, or as it was actually happening, as he was looking at everyone knowing that he couldn't rely on any of them and had to do this terrible thing alone completely alone.
Park Jeong Je: You were weird since when we were eating meat.
[...]
Lee Dong Sik: Go home safely.
The cracks in the friendship between Lee Dong Sik and Park Jeong Je are just painful to witness, and this isn’t even exactly a crack in them - Park Jeong Je notices that something was off and comes over, while Lee Dong Sik doesn’t tell him anything because he can’t and doesn’t want to involve anyone else in this mess, it’s all born out of love - but knowing how it ends, it’s like. Oh.
In the meantime, Lee Dong Sik needs and wants Park Jeong Je to leave but also feels the need to tell him, please take care. Please please I can't lose anyone else.
