Breaking The Rules
Episode 4 of The Uncanny Encounter begins with a bloodied and battered Ung-Min realizing he’s stuck in a really difficult situation at the hands of these bullies. With both him and Ju-Yeon beaten down to the ground, Hyeok-U phones Mun who shows up at the warehouse with the group surrounding him. Mun loses his temper as the territory suddenly forms around him. The spiritual apparition we saw last episode with Mo-Tak happens to be a woman named Gi-Ran. As she sits at a table with Wigen, Wigen grabs her head in pain and drops a cup when she realizes Mun is in trouble. As the rest of the Noodle crew race up to stop him, a point of view shot of Mun shows him beating down the different bullies. Mo-Tak shows up on the scene though and manages to stop him from seriously hurting or killing the boys. They are, however, badly beaten and as Mae-Ok arrives too, she comments how some of the boys have broken noses. Instead of erasing their memories of fixing their bones, when the police show up Mun decides to take whatever punishment comes his way for his actions. He refuses to accept the group’s help and takes a more courageous action. As Uncle Ben would say in Spiderman – with great power comes great responsibility. The rest of the group scramble out the building while police arrive at the scene and take Mun to the station. While all the bullies sport some pretty nasty injuries, Mun only has minor injuries. This is only made worse when the Mayor and his friends arrive and see the state of these kids. Mun admits that he was the one who did this and prepares to take the brunt of this punishment. However, Sugar Daddy Jang-Mul and Ha-Na show and take his side. They drop a whole bag full of weapons and confirm that the fingerprints on those will match Hyeok-u and his friends. When Ung-Min and Ju-Yeon appear at the stairwell, they take Mun’s side and swing the balance of power in his favour. On the back of this, Jang-Mul promises to sort this mess out while Mun heads back to his grandparents’ house, showing them firsthand how well he’s walking now. At the noodle restaurant, Mo-Tak does some seriously impressive workout moves in the morning before talking to Mae-Ok about his past. He’s mad about what happened and how his case was mishandled but doesn’t know who to direct that anger out toward. As he shows the business card to her, he mentions his amnesia and uncertainty on how everything is tied together. Meanwhile, Kim deliberates over Mo-Takl’s words in the past, specifically how Mo-Tak lost his phone and wants it returned the following day. At school, the kids turn up with more swagger than before. As they pass the hangout spot for the bullies, Ung-Min realizes that he no longer needs to deal with the beatings anymore and his luck may well be changing. Mun tells them to stop crying as they march off to class. Meanwhile, Hyeok-U remains nonchalant down at the police station as big news breaks. There’s a new world-famous park about to be built worth 80 trillion won and this will bring about plenty of jobs for people in town. However, this also overshadows Jae-Cheol being released from police custody. Kim is absolutely furious when she finds out and heads into the Chief’s office to discuss the matter further. She questions him over Jae-Cheol being let go and even goes so far as to bring up Mo-Tak’s case too. She can sense that the Chief is hiding something but for now, she remains angry and unsure how to proceed. Instead, she decides to try and exact her own act of revenge by bringing Mo-Tak’s phone out of storage and handing it back to him. As she does, Kim also hands over a number for a forensics expert to look into the phone. Mo-Tak remains confused over why she’s helping him but it turns out that actually Mo-Tak and Kim used to be a couple before he lost his memory. It completely catches Mo-Tak off-guard but as he questions her, she shrugs off his concerns and tells him that she’s over him following the 7 year gap. At Taesin Company, Chang-Gyu meets Chairman Jeon who berates him for doing drugs and tells him to return to work. The redevelopment project hasn’t been completed yet either but as they talk, he brings up Mo-Tak and how his “lookalike” is on the scene. It seems clear now that he’s involved in some way but quite how, remains to be seen. Anyway, he shows up at a sauna where the Mayor happens to be alongside a powerful wheelchair-bound man. He clearly holds a lot of influence and this man jokingly mentions the power play and how someone may have been buried in the land – explaining why the Mayor wants this project to go ahead. Given the Mayor acted impulsively and announced the redevelopment project, he’s not happy that he’s being kept out the loop. Interestingly though, the evil spirit from episode 1 – Ji Cheong-Shin – is given his next assignment which includes killing this very same old man in a wheelchair. After being given an envelope of evidence to help, Chang-Hyu thanks his father and heads off on the hunt. During the epilogue at the end of the episode we see him tying this man up at his home, who pleads for his life. It’s no use though, and as Cheong-Shin grabs a pair of scissors, he proceeds to brutally murder this man with them as blood spatters across his face. Meanwhile, the Spirit Immigration Office gather together and discuss Mun’s emotional instability and his future within the group. With Wigen listening to the arguments either side, they argue that Mun used his powers for revenge and violated the terms of his agreement. Mun is brought before the group, followed shortly afterward by the rest of the Noodle crew. While all of them elegantly walk in through the front door, Mo-Tak jumps down from the ceiling in a suitably boisterous manner. Mae-Ok gives an impassioned plea for Mun’s case, including his wish to see his parents one more time. It seems to do the trick too and the court is clearly swayed by Mae-Ok’s emotional speech. On the back of this, Wigen decides to change the rules and asks her associate to look for details surrounding Mun’s parents. Mo-Tak meanwhile begins cycling through the pictures recovered from his phone and finds some crucial clues. One of which happens to be an address – 37-2 Wolhwa-Dong. With no case file in the system, he phones Detective Kim Jeong-Yeong and tells her the name Kim Yeong-Nim may hold clues. Apparently she was declared dead after 5 years of being missing. After printing out these documents, he heads back to the Noodle shop and feeds back to the others what he’s uncovered so far. Mae-Ok tells him to hand over everything he’s found to the police but Mo-Tak is unwilling to do so. He remains determined to find those responsible and whether that means getting fired or not, he doesn’t care. Mo-Tak wants to track down those responsible and this leads him to the final call he made on his phone before losing his memory. That call was made to So Gwon. As he rings the number, he looks outside and sees Mun answer the phone himself.
The Episode Review
Alas, the plot thickens! Now it becomes apparent that Mo-Tak’s future is directly linked to Mun and his Father but quite how, remains to be seen. He was involved in something big it seems and perhaps he uncovered something involving the Chairman and who he’s working with. Mo-tak could have flown too close to the sun and ended up with a huge target on his back, prompting Chang-Gyu and the others to try and exact their revenge. Whatever happened, I’m sure we’ll find out over the remaining episodes in this Korean drama. That’s before mentioning Mun too and seeing him lose control early on and succumb to his emotions is a nice touch toward him not being fully in control of his powers yet. Seeing the council discuss Mun’s future as a Counter helps to give some emotional weight over these actions and show there are clear consequences for not following the rules. While rule 3 is still a little subjective (what constitutes as meddling in human affairs?), it’s good to see the council working and discussing Mun’s future. The decision to shoot the warehouse fight with a point of view shot though is a bit of a questionable one and it makes the entire encounter a little disorientating, especially given the shaky cam used for this segment. Still, the action is balanced out nicely against the mystery and this Korean drama has certainly been a solid watch so far. Let’s hope that continues going forward!
