Head Trauma
Episode 7 of L.U.C.A.: The Beginning opens in the lab under Human Tech. Ji-O fights his way through a whole hallway of goons, dispatching them all with ease. As he does, Yoo-Na encourages a weakened and bloodied Yi-Son to stop and leave. He grabs her and chokes the girl out, leaving his comrade on the ground while he marches on to find Ji-O. Our protagonist meanwhile runs into Goo-Reum who encourages him to leave. Ji-O does no such thing though, instead remaining determined to find Joong-Kwon. Instead, he finds Yi-Son. Goo-Reum is knocked through a glass window where she finds numerous babies crying. She clutches each of them up and tries to save them but it’s no good. Ji-O unleashes an almighty shockwave, knocking Yi-Son out…again. Ji-O also crackles the electrics and causes a huge fire to break out. With the whole place looking set to explode, Ji-O saves all the babies and Goo-Reum before racing away. Thankfully, the place doesn’t explode. Goo-Reum seems to be suffering from a cracked skull though, as Ji-O seemingly abandons the babies….somewhere. He rushes Goo-Reum to the hospital, hoping that she’ll be okay. Yoo-Na meanwhile, finds her captain on the floor bleeding out, asking her to find Ji-O. He’s too weak to move and decides to stay in the lab. Back at L.U.C.A., Cheol-Soo and Jung-A discuss what’s happened and the money they’ve lost in the wake of the lab being destroyed. However, Cheol-Soo slaps some sense into his co-partner, deciding to rebuild the lab from scratch. After all, they have the frozen embryos and everything they need to start making clones. In private, Cheol-Soo encourages Joong-Kwon to pick a side. He wants him to sell one clone to Jung-A while keeping the rest for himself. That way he can sell them all and make lots of money for the pair. In the morning, police arrive at Human Tech and see the devastation for themselves. It turns out Human Tech have a witness, someone who survived what happened. He’s taken to the hospital where Choi and the others decide to visit and get some answers. Unfortunately this scientist has pinned the blame on Goo-Reum, claiming she’s murdered everyone. Choi is clearly doubtful, especially when he sees the researcher eating without a care in the world. When Ji-O finds out and realizes what’s happening, he races away with Ji-O on a stretcher and decides to try and save her. He smashes a car window, hot-wiring the vehicle and taking Goo-Reum away, When she finds out about the dead bodies and what happened at Human Tech, Ji-O suggests he turn himself in. Goo-Reum is not so sure and given she’s now a murder suspect, believes this may not be the best move. Instead, Ji-O takes her to Won-Yi’s place to hide out. He’s not exactly happy about it though, until he finds out that Goo-Reum is a cop. Then he starts to come around to the idea a little, as the trio sit and eat. After, they check the news and see that Goo-Reum has been framed for everything. The story claims she broke in secretly to find files on Human Tech and in doing so, murdered the workers inside. Goo-Reum heads outside silently and contemplates trying to find evidence to put down Human Tech once and for all. She’s determined to turn the light on and expose them for everything. While they talk, slimy Won-Yi deliberates over whether to phone the police and inform them what’s happening or not. Eventually the pair head inside and see what Won-Yi is doing. Well, Ji-O decides to fry his phone just to be on the safe side. Meanwhile Yi-Son is injected…again. This seems like Deja vu, as Yi-Son recovers and informs Jung-A that Yoo-Na is the one responsible for destroying the evidence in the lab and moving all the dead bodies to the ground floor. In the wake of all this, Jung-A suggests the pair work for her now. She promises to grant them one thing that they both want. That evening, Goo-Reum heads out and uses a payphone, ringing Choi to update him what’s happening. Given he’ the only one she can trust, she admits she didn’t kill anyone and mentions the secret lab. She decides they should investigate the basement lab together and tells him to meet at Human Tech on the first floor. Unfortunately Choi seems to have been compromised and rings Cheol-Soo, letting him know what’s happening. It turns out he’s blackmailing the cop given he’s hiding a death in his past. Anyway, Goo-Reum shows up as scheduled but the secret entrance is gone. Choi reminds her not to get caught as he breaks the news that it’s over for her now. While Choi walks away, numerous officers arrive to take her away. Goo-Reum does her best to fight them off but it’s no good. With things looking bleak, Ji-O shows up and turns the tables, helping her outside as they prepare to leave. Choi shows though and points a gun at the pair. Ji-O takes a bullet for Goo-Reum as she knocks him to the ground and looks set to strike him down. She thinks twice though and eventually leaves as the police Captain is left to bemoan his actions. This single act makes Goo-Reum a public enemy as her face is plastered across the news. As police close in on their location, Ji-O’s hair stands on end as he suspects something is up. He grabs Goo-Reum and they take off to the roof . Ji-O suggests they break through them all but Goo-Reum reminds him that these are their colleagues. Instead of fighting, they evade the officers and make it down to the ground floor, slipping away to safety. At L.U.C.A., Yi-Son continues to recover as the new lab is set up. At the same time, Goo-Reum and Ji-O head down to the dock and get themselves a bus to Su-Woon Ranch. This happens to be a place from Ji-O’s past. Could this unlock his missing memories?
The Episode Review
So let’s get the obvious out the way. What the heck happened to all those babies from the lab? If the murders were set up to make Goo-Reum look like a killer, how do they suddenly explain a bunch of babies showing up at either the hospital or the lab? This seems like a pretty large plot hole, especially when you consider the “puzzle pieces” all slot neatly into Goo-Reum being a killer and responsible for what happened at Human Tech. Meanwhile, Yi-Son establishes himself as the most useless henchman ever, getting his butt whooped once again. This seems to be a trend for this drama and as we cross the halfway point, it’s becoming increasingly tiring watching him recover only to get beaten up by Ji-O again and again. Despite these gripes though, LUCA continues to deliver some compelling drama. The turncoat Choi shows his true colours, which is classic territory for Kim Sang-Ho who always seems to fall into these sort of character tropes. Ji-O and Goo-Reum continue to exhibit some good chemistry together though and their scenes definitely crackle (no pun intended) when they share the screen. For the most part, LUCA continues to deliver the goods and there’s some really impressive visual effects at play too. Personally though I wish the show had a competent antagonist to go up against Ji-O because right now it feels a little one-sided. Still, this manhunt should spice things up a bit, as the next episode looks like it may be diving into Ji-O’s past.
