God’s Gift – 14 Days: Episode 10

by dramallama

We’re at the halfway mark for time travel, and the search is narrowing down. Amidst the misunderstandings and confusions, the evidence is pointing to one direction, and hopefully it’s the right one. Our characters are taking major steps forward in the case, and their web of connections is almost complete. So close… but who knows? With this show’s track record, we could be just as far.

 
EPISODE 10 RECAP

Soo-hyun looks back at the group picture and thinks over the information she’s collected. The couple at the Moojin real estate office recognized one of the guys in the photo. He’s apparently a genius art student and used to frequent the docks to fish with his father, who was the mayor of Moojin ten years ago.

Next stop for Soo-hyun is the mayor’s house. She’s told by the former mayor that his son immigrated to the United States, but he’s cut all contact from him for over ten years. She follows up with questions on his other friends in the picture, but he shuts her down.

The mayor’s wife continues to water her plants with occasional nervous glances, and Soo-hyun notices a painting of the same landscape as the one in the picture, dated 2008. There’s definitely something he’s hiding.

Night falls, and Soo-hyun notes that Saet-byul was kidnapped today in the first timeline, but at this moment she’s still by her side. Dong-chan assures her that they’ve changed Saet-byul’s fate, and now all they need to do is find the killer.

At the small convenience store, Soo-hyun asks the owner to turn the channel to her criminal investigation program, but the program has been replaced with a special announcement from the president. He announces that due to public outcry and recent crimes, his administration will reevaluate the necessity of capital punishment. Uh-oh… time is ticking.

Our trio has settled at the shopkeeper’s house for the night, and Saet-byul reads her book, which just happens to be The Story of a Mother by Hans Christian Andersen (the same story as our intro in Episode 1). Clearly shaken, Soo-hyun takes the book away and gives it to Dong-chan to throw out.

Dong-chan reads the book on his own and takes a pen to edit the text. A metaphor for changing fate? I hope so.

When the shopkeeper stops by the room, Saet-byul is still upset at Mom for snatching away her book and leaves to play with Dong-chan.

The group photo slips from Soo-hyun’s wallet, and the shopkeeper immediately recognizes Soo-jung, who was a regular customer. Soo-hyun asks about Soo-jung’s home.

Meanwhile, dispirited Saet-byul plays games with Dong-chan, but her mind is still on the book. She predicts that the little girl must have died in the story. Dong-chan pulls out the book and offers to read it, to which Saet-byul cheerfully agrees.

Dong-chan’s storytelling transitions into a voiceover by the shopkeeper, who speaks regretfully of Soo-jung’s mother. After her daughter’s death, she went insane and disappeared – her mortality unknown. Soo-hyun goes out to find the abandoned home, and inside it finds a framed mother-daughter photo. It’s Soo-jung and Café Destiny lady.

Soo-hyun recognizes Café Destiny lady, and the shopkeeper’s voiceover explains that Soo-jung’s mother was a shaman and could accurately foretell the future, but she couldn’t foresee her own daughter’s death. With that revelation, another day has passed. Seven days remain.

Soo-hyun returns with the photo, and Dong-chan takes it to see what’s causing her nighttime brooding. When he sees the two women, he’s startled and at a loss for words. Soo-hyun doesn’t notice and decides they need to head back to Seoul.

During the morning drive back, Dong-chan is clearly still shaken, so much so that Saet-byul whispers to Mom asking if they got in a fight. He’s so distracted that he almost hits the biker crossing the road, and the man comes up to the car window with some angry words.

Dong-chan pulls up his hood, but that doesn’t stop the man from recognizing who he is – the photo studio’s younger son. Dong-chan denies it awkwardly and swiftly drives away.

The act doesn’t get past Soo-hyun, however, who connects the photo studio reference to the information she got at the real estate office about Ki Dong-ho. After Dong-chan drops off the two, Soo-hyun calls Woo-jin to confirm her suspicion that Dong-chan is indeed Ki Dong-ho’s brother.

With that information, Soo-hyun heads back to her job, where she has more accessibility to case files. Apparently, she just quit with a simple phone call, but now she’s back on the job. Going through files on Ki Dong-ho, she notices Ji-hoon’s name listed as the prosecutor. News to her, but not to us.

Grandpa Byung-ho comes back home to find Dong-chan pacing and not knowing what to do. Dong-chan asks for advice on what he should do about a presumably revealed secret: do I tell the person or wait until she asks about it? He demands some wise words from Grandpa’s long life experience and he delivers.

By telling someone your secret, you are leaving them with your freedom, and since Dong-chan’s heart is caged up, he should ask that person to unlock that freedom. So basically, spill the beans. Perfect advice and just what he needed. High-five, gramps!

Just as Dong-chan leaves, Grandpa gets a phone call with updates notifying him that the presidential office is leaning more towards capital punishment than they are letting off. Oof, bad news, but why to Grandpa as well?

Soo-hyun barges into Ji-hoon’s law office and demands information on the people in the group picture. Ji-hoon barely recognizes them and vaguely remembers the male Seoul students being questioned early on in Soo-jung’s case. They were the first ones off the hook because of their alibis.

Soo-hyun then confronts Ji-hoon about not disclosing all of his past files, naming Ki Dong-ho’s case. Ji-hoon strikes back with accusations that Dong-chan intentionally approached Soo-hyun with grudges about his brother’s sentence.

Ji-hoon claims that Dong-chan sent the threatening email and planted Grandma and Young-gyu to infiltrate their family. Soo-hyun starts going through all her suspicions and doubts, and they all seem to fit Ji-hoon’s theory.

She goes to Woo-jin to accuse Dong-chan, but he refuses to believe her. He sets her straight by presenting her with the photo Dong-chan found in Cha Bong-seob’s apartment – the one of Young-gyu and Grandma.

Woo-jin reveals that Mimi – Cha Bong-seob’s last victim – was Young-gyu’s birth mother, and Dong-chan followed Cha Bong-seob to the crime scene reenactment because he needed to know why he had that photo.

Woo-jin adds that the Dong-chan he knows wouldn’t commit such a crime. He also tells Soo-hyun to stick with Dong-chan because he will risk his life to protect what he values.

Soo-hyun doesn’t seem convinced, and just as she leaves, Woo-jin gets a phone call. His face grows grim and intense as he picks up. The man on the other end asks what the lady wanted and Woo-jin warns him not to touch Soo-hyun. Oh man, this killer is pulling so many strings.

Soo-hyun pays a visit to Grandma, who tells her about Dong-ho and Young-gyu. Dong-ho picked up orphan Young-gyu off the streets, fed him, and made him a part of the family. Grandma then asks how a sympathetic kind soul like Dong-ho could be a criminal.

Grandma takes Soo-hyun’s hands and begs her to persuade Ji-hoon to reconsider the case. She says that Ji-hoon knew Dong-ho was innocent and insists that if Soo-hyun met Dong-ho, she would know he was innocent too.

Of course Soo-hyun has already met Dong-ho, so she goes back through recordings of her interview with him and sees that he wasn’t actually lurching at her. She meets with the prison guard and it turns out it was his loose pet rat that caused his violent jump. He was afraid he would lose his pet if it got stepped on. Soo-hyun asks the prison guard what kind of person Dong-ho is, and he replies by saying that his imprisonment is really a mystery to him and his colleagues.

Back at Soo-hyun’s house, Dong-chan is banging on the door and yelling at Soo-hyun to come out. The security guard orders him to stop making a scene, but he brushes him off.

He gets a call from Grandma, who tells him that Soo-hyun stopped by and she told her everything. That prompts Dong-chan to somehow track down Soo-hyun on the road, cut her off, and hijack her car.

Meanwhile, Saet-byul and Ji-hoon are back home, and Ji-hoon calls the nanny seeing that Soo-hyun isn’t home. Ji-hoon makes an extra phone call to find the whereabouts of Saet-byul’s helmet (where he hid the jewelry evidence) and to locate Te-oh’s house.

Dong-chan accuses Soo-hyun of avoiding him, and she accuses him right back, saying he’s the one who sent the threatening email. He looks at her with disbelief and claims he has no reason to threaten Ji-hoon because his brother deserved his sentence – he witnessed him killing Soo-jung.

Flashback to the night of the crime. Dong-ho obnoxiously follows Soo-jung, who is meeting up with Dong-chan for a date night. Dong-chan shoos him away, and their romantic date proceeds, with guitar playing and talks of the future.

Soo-jung tells Dong-chan to go to school in Seoul because she wants to escape the country life, but he insists on staying for the sake of his mother, brother, and adopted nephew.

Dong-ho lingers around to take pictures of them, and Soo-jung gets so annoyed that she calls him an idiot and blames him for ruining Dong-chan’s life. Dong-chan is clearly offended by this comment and breaks up with her on the spot. His heart doesn’t seem fully into the break-up, but he leaves anyway with Dong-ho left behind.

Dong-chan goes to share a drink with some friends and notices the surveillance camera, which was newly installed in the neighborhood because of the recent killings. Worried about Soo-jung, he heads back to walk her home.

After taking a leak, Dong-chan turns around and notices Dong-ho carrying a limp woman in his arms and dumping her in the water. Shocked, he runs down to the scene, where his worst nightmares are confirmed: Soo-jung is dead, and Dong-ho admits to killing her.

Back in the present, Dong-chan still regrets leaving Soo-jung with Dong-ho, but Soo-hyun brings up the point that he didn’t actually see his brother killing Soo-jung – leaving open the possibility that it was someone else’s doing. To this, Dong-chan gives Soo-hyun the ultimate stink eye and tells her that he’ll confirm the truth for her now.

Dong-chan takes Soo-hyun for a prison visit, and when Dong-ho sees his little brother, his face fills with joy. But the moment Dong-chan asks who killed Soo-jung, Dong-ho’s face crumbles and he admits that it was his doing. Dong-chan’s built-up anger and remorse explode, and both brothers’ outbursts force the guards to drag them out.

Having observed the intensity of the visit, Soo-hyun finds Dong-chan and silently comforts him as he lets his tears and emotions purge. Inside the prison, Dong-ho releases his emotional pain through self-harm, causing the guards to intervene.

We get an update on Ji-hoon and see that he’s failed to retrieve the jewelry pieces from Te-oh’s house. When Ji-hoon first discovered the jewelry, he recognized and confirmed them as evidence from one of his cases. It’s clearly important, but we don’t know how it’s related to everything yet.

Ji-hoon gets a call notifying him of Min-ah’s whereabouts. He finds her and drags her upstairs as she struggles to escape his firm grip. When she manages to get loose, she rolls down the stairs and falls limp on the ground while Ji-hoon looks down in shock.

Soo-hyun asks Dong-chan if he believes that Dong-ho is the serial killer responsible for the two previous deaths as well as Soo-jung’s. He doesn’t answer, suggesting that he’s had his doubts. As an officer, Dong-chan could have reinvestigated the case, but he didn’t because he wanted to escape from it.

All he knew was that his brother killed Soo-jung, and he wanted to completely erase everything else from his memory. But it hasn’t escaped his memory, Soo-hyun notes, referring to his sleeping pills and frequent nightmares.

Now that everything’s out in the open, Dong-chan takes a moment to express his feelings of betrayal to Soo-hyun, who suspected him of sending the threatening email. She apologizes and her attention then turns to big fat liar Ji-hoon, and Saet-byul, who is home with the nanny.

Once the two arrive home, Soo-hyun and Dong-chan are back at work identifying the students in the group photo. Soo-hyun is set on going back to Moojin and asks Dong-chan to look over Saet-byul, but he insists on going with her. So Saet-byul is left with Byung-tae while Soo-hyun, Dong-chan, and Jenny head to Moojin.

During the car ride, Dong-chan briefs Soo-hyun on the information he put together. Based on which wrist the watch was on and the ink stains on the shirt, Dong-chan deduced that the man in the middle is left-handed, like Tattoo guy.

Dong-chan also knows that the picture was taken around the time of Moojin’s fishing festival because he remembers the watch as one of the souvenirs. He suggests they look into the city’s promotional division for any clues. Good thing he’s coming along. But why Jenny…

And we see why as Jenny takes on the role of a golf caddy to get access to our former mayor’s phone. Once she connects the phone to the tracking software, she’s out of there like a pro.

Dong-chan and Soo-hyun find another picture of Middle Man in the group photo within the Moojin albums and take it for further investigation. Byung-tae analyzes the photo to find that the logo on the car belongs to Hankuk University. Byung-tae uploads the photos of the three men on social media to ask if anyone knows who they are.

While Saet-byul blissfully listens to “Magic Castle” while staring at her (my) crush, Jenny finally picks up on a phone conversation with our former mayor. It’s with a mental hospital, so they need to find an in…

Jenny steps in once again. She’s playing the part of a girl who has gone insane after a bad break-up. Dong-chan and Soo-hyun leave her to be examined for admittance, and they investigate the hospital.

Soo-hyun thinks that our man may be held at the closed ward, which they have no access to. No worries though because Dong-chan slips away and returns with a lab coat, mask, and the keys. Too easy.

They find the mayor’s son Yoo Jin-woo in one of the cells, and Soo-hyun approaches him with the group picture, asking him if he knows Middle Man. He’s startled by the picture and begins to freak out. He says that he didn’t do it. All he did was eat candy and sleep. Then he repeats “Hephai, hephai, hephai” and says that he’s afraid.

Back in the office, Soo-hyun looks up what this could mean and finds the Greek god, Hephaestus, who was skilled in handiwork but had a limp if he tried to run. Dong-chan remembers that Tattoo had a limp as well, confirming that Middle Man is our new suspect.

There’s finally a response on social media by a person named Heidi, who claims that Middle Man is dead. They track down Heidi, and Dong-chan and Soo-hyun head over with flowers, only to be greeted by a chubby male who recognizes Soo-hyun as the crazy lady at the Snake concert. Huh?

The guy turns out to be a Snake fanboy, who confirms that Middle Man is Te-oh’s older brother who died. He refuses to tell them where Te-oh’s house is, and Dong-chan immediately spots it circled in red on the map on the wall. They’re both weirded out by the fan – as seen by the deadpan reactions to the fanboy’s singing – and leave as soon as possible.

At Te-oh’s house, Dong-chan rings the shit out of the doorbell to make Te-oh answer the door and is only let in when he flashes the picture through the intercom video. Not much information is gained, but Dong-chan and Soo-hyun now know that the picture belongs to Te-oh. She gives Te-oh a picture of Saet-byul and pleads for his help to save her daughter. Before they leave, one of Te-oh’s staff hands her Saet-byul’s helmet, which has the jewelry in it.

Ji-hoon is at the hospital because of Min-ah and gets a call from a man who tells him that if he doesn’t hand over the evidence, his family’s life will be at stake. Hurry, get the helmet!

While Dong-chan and Soo-hyun attempt to put more pieces together, Grandma barges into the office and asks Dong-chan what he did to his brother, who was found repeatedly smashing his head and trying to crack it open. Soo-hyun and Saet-byul slip out of the personal situation and head back home.

In the parking garage, Soo-hyun drops Saet-byul’s helmet and conveniently discovers the missing jewelry evidence. In a rush to go to the bathroom, Saet-byul runs ahead for home. Soo-hyun’s about to scold her when she gets a call from a coworker who tells her that Woo-jin will be making an appearance on the broadcast tomorrow.

Soo-hyun asks why since the team decided to scrap the investigation on the serial killer. Turns out, our wanted criminal is back with another kill, and they have a witness this time. Soo-hyun is apprehensive to the news, which tells her that our killer is still out there in action.

Soo-hyun walks into her home and wonders why the lights aren’t on. She freezes when she realizes something is wrong. After scanning the room, she spots Saet-byul on the other side.

But she’s being held hostage, mouth covered, a knife at her throat. Our killer has made his next move.

 
COMMENTS

Oh noooo. We were doing so well with Saet-byul’s safety and changing her fate, so what could this mean? I hope we’re not back at square one because I’m feeling that we’re right on the killer’s heels. I’m realizing that while Soo-hyun and Dong-chan have the power to change fate, so does everyone else. They only have a slight upper hand because they know what they want to change, but the rest is up to how quickly they act and how much they stay ahead of the killer.

It was a relief to see the misunderstanding be resolved and an extra plus to have it be a meaningful element in our story. We got the full backstory behind Dong-chan’s witness testimony, which helps us understand the reason for his resentment. Our complex Dong-chan is starting to make more sense, as his gradual opening to Soo-hyun parallels his character growth. Soo-hyun also exhibits growth as she somewhat reclaims her sanity and gets a hold of her emotions. I think a large part of Soo-hyun’s return to sanity has to do with her returning to work. I love when she’s working. She’s in her zone and she knows how to use her resources. It’s where she thrives as badass Soo-hyun with a critical eye and less recklessness. I mean, she was still pretty paranoid with all those speculations about Dong-chan, but we can’t blame her. This show has been throwing curveballs all over the place, leaving us with only one consensus: trust Mom. But just another reason why I’m so invested in the characters and the show: we’re going through the same doubts, confusions, and realizations.

One thing that’s hard to ignore: details. So many details. And they’re all so intricately connected. The picture, the evidence in the helmet, Ji-hoon’s cases… they all connect the characters through some aspect of fate. I think we’ve got almost all the connections except for the one looming mystery connection – our killer. We’ve seen him at work pulling strings with Woo-jin and Ji-hoon, but we have yet to know who he is. Woo-jin and Ji-hoon are still on my radar – especially Ji-hoon because he’s still the master of shade – but I don’t think they’re on our baddies list. We have the main killer(s) playing their own hand in fate to make things work according to plan, and our two men seem to be victims of their workings.

On a lighter note, this episode was surprisingly quite humorous. Fanboy Heidi and Jenny gave me a few chuckles here and there, and it was a nice break from the heavy emotions to see our con-artist trio at work, doing what they do best. I think it’s great that while these were comic relief characters, they did play an important role in providing crucial information to solve our mystery. This show is so frustrating and good at the same time in how it gives us the information piece by piece, but not really. It’s like almost finishing a puzzle, only to realize you actually only finished the corner. Or being given a Tootsie pop, but only being allowed to eat it one lick at a time. It’s a gradual and painful process, and I just hope that all the pieces are put together in time.

 
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• God’s Gift – 14 Days: Episode 4
• God’s Gift – 14 Days: Episode 3
• God’s Gift – 14 Days: Episode 2
• God’s Gift – 14 Days: Episode 1