Hyde, Jekyll and I ep 10: Do NOT Go In There!

This week is evidence that perseverance can pay off. I don't know about you, but I was happy with where our story went this week. I finally feel as if we have a story. I love when my patience is rewarded. And what was it rewarded with? A complex and good-looking villain for one.

Bad is looking good on him actually

Growth in our male lead's character. Opportunities to mock our female lead. But more on that in a minute.

Episode 10 revolved around Seo Jin, in the form of Robin, being lured by Soo Hyun back to the scene of their abduction. First into the Ghost House and then on to the warehouse. Okay, so forgive me here, but I'm not sure what the reason behind him going into the Ghost House really was, other than to get Ha Na's attention. I mean, nothing actually happened in there. I suppose it could be that Soo Hyun was trying to recreate the moment and the fear for Seo Jin, except that it was just wasted on Robin as he wasn't the one to go through the abduction. But, like I said, it did catch our girl's attention, which of course was necessary for the rest of what happened. So, we'll go with it and say it was important to our plot and served a very purposeful purpose. 

Soo Hyun, our Hypnotic Hot Doc Turned Dr Evil, has led Seo Jin/Robin down the rabbit hole of twisted memory lane, rehashing their sordid and painful history together. Under the guise of protecting Dr Kang, SH get SJ/R to go into the haunted house and then drive to the remotely located warehouse that they had been held captive in all those years before. He has recreated the scene in an attempt to either get Seo Jin to remember the truth of what happened or admit to it, unsure of whether he actually remembers or is just plain out lying. Robin is chloroformed and tied to a chair. Ha Na has unwittingly interrupted the bad doctor's plan, but he is able to use it to his advantage. The evil plan? Seo Jin tied to a chair with gas filling the room and only one gas mask. Who is he to save? Soo Hyun is convinced of course that Seo Jin will show his "true" colors once again and save himself. It does make me wonder though as I write this, what was his original plan before Ha Na stumbled in? He had the warehouse rigged with gas. He had the gas mask. But if it were just Seo Jin in there by himself, well, then, what was the point? What would he have proved? He claims later on that he didn't intend to actually kill him, just test him in a convoluted and twisted way. So...what would he have done if she wasn't there? I guess we'll never know. Bummer.

So here we have Robin drugged and tied up. Robin who wakes up as Seo Jin and suddenly finds himself reliving literally his worst nightmare without any warning. Can you imagine that hell? Poor guy! My heart was breaking for him! He wakes and shortly after, here comes Ha Na, bumbling idiot. Oops. Sorry. That was mean. Let's try that again. Seo Jin wakes and shortly after, Ha Na arrives and rushes to his side. You know how in scary movies, it's not unusual to yell at the characters on the screen and tell them not to do (fill in the blank)? That's how I felt with Ha Na through this whole episode. Actually, to be fair, I felt that she may as well have been walking around with "IDIOT" written on her forehead.

That's the downfall to knowing something that the character doesn't know - we get frustrated when they are so stinking stupid or slow to catch on and we just want to shake them for being stupid, even though really, they don't know any better. Yeah, we'll stick with that. She was trying to be helpful, not a bumbling idiot walking into the abandoned warehouse where a psycho was waiting with a trap. Bless her heart.

Seo Jin tied up, Ha Na rescuing him, and then the room begins to fill with gas. Seo Jin finds the gas mask and has a decision to make. Save himself or save the girl? He flashes back to pivotal moments between them - moments where he was a selfish jerk and moments where she came to his rescue despite his personality deficit. And, because of this, and because he has all those growing feels for her, the decision is easily made to save her.

The look on Soo Hyun's face at this is priceless! He does "crazy" well.

He's got the whole "crazy eyes" thing down pat

And why is he so shocked? Well, because of what actually did happen all those years ago when they were kids. Yeah, we get a flashback to the full story. When we last saw them, Seo Jin was struggling to save his friend and lift him through the window, but was unable to do so. In his version, it would appear that the captor had grabbed Soo Hyun's legs and that it was a hopeless scenario where a young boy didn't stand a chance and he was unfairly blaming himself and being blamed by Soo Hyun. Except, that wasn't exactly how it happened. Yes, Seo Jin tried to pull his friend up through the window, but when the captor broke into the room and was running for the escaping boys, Seo Jin begged his friend to let go, and when the boy didn't oblige, he started hitting his hand until Soo Hyun fell.

Oh, how my heart broke for that poor little boy! Actually, for both little boys. I see why Seo Jin is overwhelmed by guilt and why Soo Hyun is riddled with resentment. Both were so young and put in a situation they were so unprepared to handle emotionally. It is heart breaking on so many levels. I see why Dr Kang wants them to get together and work it all out - it's what they really do need. But Seo Jin is two people and has blocked out the truth and Soo Hyun has lost his mind in his own broken state as the boy left behind. So much work here to do. I sure hope we can get it all sorted out in the end.

Let's cut away from our moment of doom building in the warehouse and talk about Dad for a minute here.

His character is getting more complex. We see glimmers of him actually caring for his son...finally. Seo Jin, rightfully so, has these residual feelings of abandonment. It would seem as if Dad feels some of the guilt for his past inaction. My thinking at this point is that his feelings of guilt for not yielding to the kidnappers in order to save his son is why he hates Robin's existence so much. It's like a constant reminder of his own failings. He literally broke his kid into split personalities by his non-action. As a parent, that has to be hard. And having that reminder back after 5 years of pretending all was well has to be hard for him to accept. There is so much going on here and so much that needs fixing with so many people. 

Okay, now back to the warehouse and our gassy situation there. After Seo Jin puts the mask on Ha Na, he calls to Robin to help save him. Robin then appears and quickly jumps in to action, breaking out the window. Soo Hyun turns off the gas and flees the scene, having gotten what he was looking for, even though it wasn't exactly what he had been expecting. The authorities show up and Ha Na is in and out of awareness as she recognizes that Robin is there and saving her/them. The man literally changes personalities with her in his arms and she still doesn't catch on. Really? How dense is this chick?

Okay, sure, she was gassed, that didn't help, but really? Sure enough, after she is saved and safely back in bed, she wakes and can't figure out the confusion with the Seo Jin/Robin thing. She is assured by everyone that only Seo Jin was there with her, but she knows Robin was there too. She knows Robin broke the window. That's when she sees Seo Jin's bandaged arm and it all finally starts clicking. YES! Finally! Took her long enough, but she finally got there. Or so we hope. The episode did end at that very moment, so who knows with this one what exactly she is thinking. Or not thinking. Is she supposed to be this dense or am I just being mean? Guess we'll find out in episode 11.

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I love how he doesn't say anything through this whole scene - just let's her slowly figure it all out for herself.

One we know for sure knows about the Seo Jin/Robin thing now though is Soo Hyun. That was one of the things he wanted to confirm with his little "experiment". Let's look at what the bad guy has sussed out for himself now at this point - 1) Seo Jin has D.I.D. b) Seo Jin has a soft spot for Ha Na 3) Soo Hyun also has a soft spot for Ha Na and, not only that, but in true crazy man fashion, thinks that his love rival is "undeserving" of her. Ooooohhh! This could get interesting! 

I love how complex our bad guy is growing.

Episode by episode he is morphing from sweet hypno doctor into twisted-through-no-real-fault-of-his-own-so-it's-kind-of-hard-to-actually-hate-him bad guy. Even the kidnapping of Dr Kang looks like it was accidental. At least the part where she ended up bleeding on the ground. I love my bad guys all complex and multi-layered. I love when I can't hate them. I love feeling sympathy for them and hoping for their eventual rehabilitation. Makes things a lot more interesting than one-dimensional and boring naughty characters. It would seem at this point that our most simplistic and one-dimensional characters would be Robin and Ha Na. Funny how they are our current "it" item. Makes for kind of a dull love triangle. It'll get lots more interesting when it comes down to Seo Jin vs Hypnotic Hot Doctor Evil, don't you think?

While we are talking about character development, how about a quick shout-out for some of our unsung heroes? There are a couple of supporting cast members that I am absolutely loving and who I think deserve more attention and mention than I've previously given them. Number one of course being Seo Jin's secretary.

I heart you!

That man rocks socks. I love when he stands up to Seo Jin's dad. He is quiet and timid at times, yet still manages to pull through when it counts. Speaking of secretaries and Seo Jin's dad, uhm, HELLOOOO Daddy's secretary!

His scenes are too short! Hard to capture them without a blur :( Give him more screentime plz!

He's a looker that one is, and he actually had a line or two and got to have some action scenes in this episode as he rushes to save Seo Jin. No longer just content to stand there and look pretty, our boy spends some time in the limelight and we can only hope that it is not a single-tary event.

Team Secretary! Who's with m

Another cutie pie is Ha Na's circus buddy - the one in love with the cheerleader Robin fan club girl who's name I honestly haven't bothered to learn out of sheer stubbornness.

The detective with all his "cue"ing is funny too (you know how he says "cue" anytime he changes a slide while doing a presentation at the precinct). I'm enjoying his character as well with all his little quirks and comedic relief that he brings to the party.

It's nice to see our supportive cast developing right along with our leads. Could we do with more of it? Always. Are we better than we were even a few episodes ago though? Definitely. Like I said before, it was great to grow our story more this week and I think we're finally there. I'm pleased with the direction we're going here and am actually looking forward to the next episodes. How's that for growth? Yay!

That's where I'm going to leave it for now. I eagerly anticipate the upcoming new episodes and am curious to see where we go from here. Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to drop me a line anytime and let me know what your thoughts are on this drama, Binnie, or just life in general ;) Until next time, back hugs and fish kisses to you all!

~dongsaeng