The Experiments
Episode 6 of L.U.C.A.: The Beginning begins with Ji-O being shown the secret lab hidden beneath Human Tech. Instead of heading down though, he starts fighting against Yi-Son. Ji-O uses his electric powers and causes an almighty shock-wave, knocking Yi-Son back. It’s a momentary blast, in truth, as he stand back up and eventually knocks Ji-O out. Scientists rush Ji-O downstairs on a stretcher as he’s brought in to solitary confinement. In desperate need of treatment, Cheol-Soo reminds Joong-Kwon that Ji-O has the ability to heal himself so they don’t need to do anything. In fact, Cheol-Soo goes one step further and asks the scientists there to clone Ji-O’s cells and begin mass producing in secret without telling anyone. A war is coming, and things do not look good for our characters. Joong-Kwon heads in to see Ji-O while he’s recovering and tells him he’s home now. Joong-Kwon reveals that he’s his Father as Ji-O looks on, shocked. The scientists outside comment how he seems to be doing this to unsettle him and make Ji-O question everything he knows. In fact, he reveals himself to be the Joong-Kwon from his past and admits that Ji-O is the only person he loves. It seems like Ji-O’s amnesia was caused by the electrical charges and that’s why he’s only retained the most powerful of memories. His Mother left when he was younger and his biggest threat is, according to Joong-Kwon anyway, to be Young-Jae. Or as Joong-Kwon eventually retorts – Ha Neul Ae Gu Reum. It turns out he started a fire at the lab and Ji-O followed him. Apparently he was going to sell Ji-O because he’s special and that man happens to be Goo-Reum’s father. Unfortunately his time runs out as Ji-O fully recovers. Just before he heads out the room, he tells Ji-O he needs to find the answers himself. As he puts a gas mask on, a strange, toxic gas fills the room that blinds and knocks Ji-O down to the ground. Joong-Kwon seems to be genuine though, especially when he heads out the room and watches as Ji-O is taken to surgery. Their plan involves L.U.C.A making “Angels” by cloning his cells and creating a new army. Only, it turns out Jung-A and Cheol-Soo are planning to work together and oust Joong-Kwon, making it so he doesn’t take any of the credit for what they plan to do. Back inside, Joong-Kwon continues his experiments, testing Ji-O’s resolve and seeing how many volts he can withstand. Meanwhile, Goo-Reum is interviewed by Captain Choi. He asks about Ji-O and mentions the fire at the church. Unfortunately it seems like Sister Stella has informed him that Goo-Reum was there that fateful afternoon. He threatens to handcuff her as Goo-Reum shrugs off the threat and actually handcuffs herself. Choi struggles to get any answers from her and instead instructs the officers outside to get her some beef bone soup. While they do, Captain Choi heads back to Goo-Reum’s place where he finds all the pictures up on the wall surrounding Ji-O and the pieces of the case surrounding her parents. Alongside Kim Yoo-Cheol they hurriedly take pictures of what’s there. When he returns, he shows her the pictures on the wall and asks exactly who she is. Instead, Ji-O turns things around on him and tells Choi he entered her apartment without a warrant. Still unable to answer, Choi takes her out for a drink and reveals what he knows. Choi claims he worked on her case for over 10 years but there was never any evidence they could use to try and work out what happened. It turns out Goo-Reum has been investigating for 9 of those years too, and Choi wants to know exactly who Ji-O is and what connection he has to this case. Choi asks her to stop and to let her parents go, as Goo-Reum downs her drink and struggles to hold back tears. As she begins sobbing, she remains stubborn and decides to let the officers investigate her. Determined to try and solve the case, Choi makes a deal with Goo-Reum and decides to help, telling her to report directly to him. If she can do that then he’ll delete the pictures and help her. Goo-Reum heads home and places up another post-it surrounding Professor Jong-Hwan’s death. Looking up at the billboard, she contemplates exactly where Ji-O may be. Now that Goo-Reum is working with the officers, Yoo-Cheol approaches her and admits that there’s something very strange with this case. Goo-Reum confides in him and mentions how she’s looking for Joong-Kwon. This brings her to Juan College and even a law firm as she tries to find out who he is and where he may be now. Apparently the entire nation hated him, especially when he was found guilty of embezzlement. We then inexplicably cut forward 3 weeks as it seems like Ji-O’s cells are being multiplied. Meanwhile, Goo-Reum arrives at the prison and interviews the officers about Joong-Kwon and what happened to him. According to the records, he received a large commissary deposit on a certain day, which was donated by a person called Kim Ji-Sook. This also links to Human Tech too, as the threads of the case slowly begin to come together. This brings her back online as she begins investigating the electricity bill of Human Tech which is incredibly high. At the same time, Joong-Kwon looks over Ji-O’s ravaged body, preparing to kill his own creation on this day. He’s managed to extract the LUCA cells and created embryos which they intend to breed. Ji-O vows to kill him though. No one at Human Tech bet on Goo-Reum getting involved and she begins looking around Human Tech. In fact she immediately calls the scientists out and asks to see the basement. When he refuses, she begins searching around herself. That is, until the scientist bashes her in the face with a glass jar. I have to say, it’s amazing how many head shots these characters take without batting an eye. Downstairs though Yoong-Kwon shows his true colours. Whispering to Ji-O he mentions how he used to have seven fingers as a child. He was teased and bullied a lot back then but surgery to fix his hand left him paralyzed. With a syringe in hand, he tells Ji-O to leave and run away, heading down the elevator at then end of the hallway on the right. A different syringe is injected into him, one that seems to bring his powers back. He says goodbye to Ji-O as Goo-Reum makes it to the basement. She fights off a whole swarm of guards with a metal pole. While she does, Ji-O manages to recover from his injuries and sends a shock-wave rippling through the basement. Once again Ji-O beats down Yi-Son with ease as he marches through the basement trying to find Joong-Kwon. Coming up trumps, he eventually heads into his office where he finds a picture of Joong-Kwon with a young boy – presumably that of Ji-O. The rest of the scientists all scarper, charging away, as Ji-O finds the test tubes he was presumably built in. Screaming for his creator, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
LU.C.A bows out this week’s double bill of episodes with an intriguing chapter that splits its focus in half between Goo-Reum and the police officers, and Ji-O inside the science lab. With his embryos in the grip of the slimy LUCA group, it remains to be seen exactly what will happen going forward. It appears like they may be creating a brand new army and in doing so, actually create a formidable foe to fight against Ji-O. So far everyone he’s come up against he’s managed to shrug off without really breaking much of a sweat, which diminishes the threats in this show a lot. The reveal with Joong-Kwon at the end helping Ji-O is a nice touch and one can’t help but feel there’s some similarities here between LUCA and Final Fantasy VII. A strange comparison to make I know but Sephiroth’s journey, discovering his origins with JENOVA and the scientists, feels quite similar to what’s happening here. I won’t spoil anything for those who haven’t played that classic RPG but suffice to say LUCA is just starting to deepen some of its background for the characters, which is good. The show does have a few issues though, especially with the number of head shots our characters somehow shrug off without much of a thought, while the lack of an antagonistic threat for Ji-O is disappointing too. Let’s hope that changes going forward but for now, the ending seems to hint that we’re gearing up for less of a cat and mouse chase and more of a hunt to apprehend LUCA. Goo-Reum has managed to piece together what’s happening too and all of this leads to a promising prospect for the 3 weeks ahead.
