Hyde, Jekyll, Me: Episode 3

by girlfriday

It’s our first full episode with our hero’s alter ego Robin, who turns out to be much more than just a guy that saves people. Maybe I’m the only one who’s surprised to find heart in a relationship between a man and his split-personality, but I find myself more invested now that we’ve met Robin. And it’s not just the dimples! …I think.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Baek Ji-young – “Because of You” for the Hyde, Jekyll, Me OST [ Download ]

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EPISODE 3 RECAP

Not knowing that Seo-jin is now Robin, Hana chases him all the way up to the top of a tower, where she finds him basking in the moonlight. He definitely seems off to her, and she asks if he got hit in the head while rescuing her.

There isn’t much time for chitchat, however, because the bodyguards have found them. Robin springs into action and fights them off, locking the door behind them. There isn’t much time, and he scrambles to set up the fire hose as a rope so he can climb down.

Hana just watches all this agape, and when she tries to ask him about it, Robin looks up at her with a disarming grin. He assumes that she wants to thank him for the rescue, and tells her not to worry about it: “It’s just my personality.”

That stops her cold—it’s exactly what her teenage knight in shining armor said to her fifteen years ago after diving off that bridge to save her. While she stands there in a daze, Robin climbs up onto the ledge as if he’s going to take a chance on the death-defying leap.

Hana sees that he’s in trouble and offers a hand to help him. By the time the guards bust through the door, they’re zip-lining from tower to tower, smiling as they take in the view. But how did you tie the rope to the other—never mind, I think I’d rather not ask.

Once they get to the other side, Robin leans in so close that Hana has to shake away the butterflies and remind herself that this is Gu Seo-jin. He thanks her sincerely and runs off, but she stops him to ask where he’s going, so he takes her along.

Secretary Kwon is alerted to Robin’s reappearance, and he reminds the guards that Hana can’t be harmed while they capture him. Chairman Dad is pissed, and tells Secretary Kwon to bring him back quietly. Apparently there’s a hidden tracker in his belt buckle that Robin doesn’t know about, and they’ve already traced him to a family villa.

Hana does breathing exercises in the bathroom and slaps herself a few times, trying to get it together. She tells her reflection that she’s not the type of person to turn to putty at a charming smile, and that this is Gu Seo-jin they’re talking about. The problem is, he’s not acting anything like the Gu Seo-jin she knows, so she lets herself off the hook, deciding that confusion is inevitable and she’ll just ask calmly what all this is about.

Meanwhile Robin heads down into a bedroom filled with toys and comic books. A childhood room perhaps? He smiles at pictures of him (as an adult, and clearly as Robin) with a man and a young woman, all wearing goofy smiles.

He checks the phone that’s still plugged in, filled with voicemails now over five years old. In them, a man calls repeatedly to ask where he went, and then sighs that Robin really did just up and vanish one day, just like he warned them he might do.

In the final voicemail that’s more recent, the man says it’s been five years, and that his webtoon is going to be made into a drama. Ah, so Robin is an artist, which explains all the manhwa art on the walls. Robin listens to all the messages with a wistful smile, and muses aloud, “Everyone vanishes when their time is up.”

Robin turns on the colorful lights that fill the yard, and Hana finds him outside, greeting him by his full title as Seo-jin. Robin: “Seo-jinnie? Did he become an executive?” He asks if she knows Seo-jin, which just confuses her all the more.

At first she tells him to stop messing with her, but Robin introduces himself with a smile and points out that he must seem different from Seo-jin. She can’t argue with that—everything from the rescue to his words, down to his general feeling… it’s all very un-Seo-jin-like.

He adds that Seo-jin doesn’t rescue people, but he does, because that’s just how he is. She starts to believe him, and asks haltingly, “Who… are you?” Robin thinks back to Seo-jin’s recorded protocols, and answers the way he’s supposed to: “I’m his twin.”

He says he’s Seo-jin’s twin hyung, which Hana believes without much protest. But then she wonders why he was being chased by bodyguards, and he instinctively takes a step back because he doesn’t have a good answer.

She calls him out on the fact that he’s running away then and now, but then they both slip on the ice and grab onto each other as they go slipping and sliding. Soon they’re laughing, and they fall clumsily, still grinning from ear to ear.

That’s when Hana looks over and notices the necklace that Robin is wearing, and she says she’s seen it before, recently and a long time ago too. She recites his familiar line about saving people because it’s his personality, and blurts, “Angel’s Bridge!”

But then she looks over Robin’s shoulder to see the team of bodyguards with guns aimed right at him, and tries to move him out of the way. The team leader (named Seok-won) shoots… right at her, landing a tranquilizer dart in her chest.

Robin catches her fall and picks her up, refusing to let the security team lay a hand on her. He agrees to go peacefully, and his threats are scary enough to make them back off and step aside.

In the car, Robin stares at Hana while she sleeps, and asks Bodyguard Seok-won where they’re headed—Chairman Dad, or Dr. Kang? Seok-won says he’ll find out once they get there, and Robin silently balls up his fists. Hana falls onto his shoulder, still asleep, and he doesn’t seem to mind in the least.

Seo-jin’s cousin Seung-yeon is shocked to hear from his girlfriend (and Seo-jin spy) that he saved someone tonight. Seung-yeon knows how out of character that is, though he does recall a time five years ago when he saw Seo-jin pulling people out of a broken elevator. He wonders to himself now, “It couldn’t be…” Hm, how much do you know about his condition?

The cops arrive to investigate the attempt on Hana’s life at Wonderland, and Detective Na is more than a little freaked out at the circus troupe’s clown getups staring back at him. Secretary Kwon nervously tells him that both Seo-jin and Hana are at the hospital, uninjured but shaken up.

Seung-yeon comes by to confirm that Seo-jin really did risk his own safety to rescue someone, and is intrigued to hear that it might’ve been a crime and not an accident. At the same time, we see our hitman/kidnapper Glasses Strangler leave Wonderland and arrive at the hospital… where he’s greeted warmly by the doctors because he works there. Huh.

Hypnosis expert Dr. Tae-joo gives a lecture on his specialty to a classroom full of skeptics, but a swift demonstration in front of the room proves his skills. He calls himself a scientist, not a magician, and once he has their rapt attention, he begins his class.

When he returns to his office, Glasses Strangler is standing outside waiting for him. He turns out to be a lab technician at the hospital, and he tells Tae-joo that Dr. Kang had a CT scan scheduled, and when she never showed up, he found out that she was missing.

He’s also a patient of hers, and says nervously that all of his insomnia and rapid heart-rate symptoms are back. Tae-joo offers to renew a prescription, but Glasses asks for a consultation instead, and Tae-joo tells him to return tomorrow. Glasses seems grateful, but turns around with a frightening evil gleam in his eye.

Seo-jin’s mom rushes over when she hears the news about Robin’s return, and begs Chairman Dad to let her keep him close so they can keep Robin hidden until this passes. But Chairman Dad reminds her that once Robin appears, he comes and goes without any connection to Seo-jin’s heart rate.

He’s terrified of what happens if they can’t keep a lid on this, because the future of his company is at stake. Of course that’s what you’re worried about. Dad wants to send Seo-jin away for good, and when Mom pleads, he reminds her of “that incident” five years ago.

Robin gets dropped off at home, and he lingers to watch the car door close on Hana, who’s still sleeping. He lights up when he sees Mom, but she heartbreakingly takes a step backward when he approaches, like he’s some sort of monster. His face falls and he just bows before walking past her.

He knows to expect an angry chairman when he goes inside, and Chairman Dad yells at him immediately, asking why he crawled out again. Robin says he never knows, just that he exists, has his own life and identity, parents and memories. Chairman Dad screams back at him, “You’re fake!”

Robin takes it in stride and says that even still, he’s happy with his life, unconventional as it is. He points out that he seems happier than Chairman Dad, or Seo-jin for that matter, and that people seem to like Robin better too. Ha.

He asks to be left alone to just live his life quietly, but Chairman Dad scoffs that his life isn’t real: “You’re just a delusion, created by Seo-jin!” He tosses a bottle of pills at Robin’s feet and tells him to go to sleep, because his very existence is a threat to Seo-jin.

Dad tells him how hard Seo-jin has worked for the last five years to keep him from surfacing, but Robin asks, “So then why have I returned?” Dad wonders the same thing when no one welcomes him, and Robin sighs that he really is unwelcome, even after five years away. Dad tells him baldly that he’s not his son, his son’s twin, or anything: “You’re just a parasite.” Ouch.

Secretary Kwon gets strict instructions to make sure Robin takes his pills before bedtime, and once they’re alone at the house, Robin breaks into a giant smile and greets him as “Hyung,” all friendly and sweet. Secretary Kwon remains rigid and emotionless, and Robin looks at him strangely, and tries to wrestle a smile out of him.

When Secretary Kwon persists in keeping his distance, Robin pouts at his use of jondae. But when asked about his kid, Secretary Kwon is caught off-guard and falls back into old familiar rhythms, speaking comfortably to Robin. He rolls his eyes when he catches himself, but it’s too late, and super cute.

Secretary Kwon reminds Robin of Rule No.7—that he has to sleep at least once in a twelve-hour period—but Robin says it’s only been five hours. He says he’ll follow the rules so long as they don’t go see Dr. Kang, and Secretary Kwon says that they can’t anyway because she’s missing.

He catches Robin up to speed on Dr. Kang’s case, and the fact that Seo-jin is protecting Hana because she’s an eyewitness. When Secretary Kwon prods him about rescuing her at the hospital, Robin finally remembers leaping off the building and into the lake with her.

He wonders if Seo-jin called him forth because Dr. Kang is missing and he’s scared. But Secretary Kwon tells him solemnly that Seo-jin has changed: “He won’t be looking for you anymore.” Robin seems skeptical, but when Secretary Kwon mentions Rule No. 19, Robin falls silent.

He gets this vulnerable little crack in his voice as he asks who called him forth if not for Seo-jin? He hates to admit it, but he has no control over whether he comes or goes, and if Seo-jin doesn’t want him here, he can’t come. But Secretary Kwon argues that that’s just what he wants to believe—that Seo-jin needs him and wants him, and that he shows up to save him like a hero. Awwww, I suddenly feel so sad for Robin.

Robin argues that he doesn’t have the power to come forth on his own, so someone must’ve triggered him—if not Seo-jin, then someone else. Secretary Kwon knows how implausible that is, and seems genuinely sad to say it: “Nobody needs you anymore.” Augh, don’t Christopher Robin me! It’s only the third episode!

Robin looks around the office, taking in Seo-jin’s surroundings like a brother who’s just come home after a long trip. He chides Seo-jin’s insistence on decorating with impersonal photographs, or owning an expensive set of golf clubs when he’s not even that good.

He goes to their secret surveillance room and checks for messages from Seo-jin, and finds the latest one in which he reminds Robin of Rule No. 19: that he isn’t needed anymore, so there’s no more reason for his existence. Robin hears it for the umpteenth time today: “I don’t want you anymore.”

Robin buries his head in his hands, and wonders why he’s even here then, if all of this is true. He has a thought and scans the security footage of Wonderland, and finds the moment that Seo-jin saw Hana in trouble and changed into Robin.

He rewinds the tape to read what Seo-jin says in that exact moment: “Jang… Hana?” He’s pretty quick on the uptake and puts all the pieces together, and guesses that Hana is the one who called him forth.

Hana wakes up in a strange bed, and finds that Seo-jin/Robin’s Big Dipper necklace is around her neck. We see that while she was unconscious, Robin took it off and put it on her, thanking her for saving him when that’s really more his thing.

She’s sure now that her Angel Bridge hero was Robin, and at the same time that she declares, “It was Robin,” Robin is saying, “It was Jang Hana.” He’s figured out that she’s the one who woke him up, and remembers the girl on the bridge fifteen years ago.

Hana finds her door being guarded, so she opens a window, which happens to look over the greenhouse as Robin paces down below. All that hullabaloo and she’s just at his house? Whatever. He’s calling to find out where Hana is, and she leans out to wave at him, which triggers an alarm.

He runs over and tells her to jump, so she does, right into his arms. They take off running with guards on their tail, but Robin leads her back up the stairs. Either he’s just looking to lock them in for a chat, or he’s terrible at this fleeing business.

They run out to the balcony and lock the guards behind the door, buying a moment to talk. Hana lifts the necklace up and asks if it’s been him all this time, and long ago on Angel’s Bridge too. He nods. She thanks him for saving her, and he thanks her too. “For everything,” is all the explanation he gives, and then they argue back and forth about who’s indebted to whom.

The guards bust through the door and break up the moment, tranquilizer guns drawn. Robin just calmly tells them he’ll go without a fight, taking a beat to smile back at Hana before walking away. She’s escorted off the estate, while Robin goes back to his batcave to record a new message for Seo-jin.

Hana runs into the circus office, ecstatic that she finally found “him,” and begins to draw Angel’s Bridge as we go back fifteen years. She narrates that there was a boy and a girl who came to that bridge every night. The girl came to practice her acrobatics; the boy came to commit suicide.

The first night, she watches in terror as Little Seo-jin steps up onto the railing. But he loses his nerve and comes back down. She watches as he does this repeatedly, night after night, and she keeps watch over him.

But then one night, he lifts both feet up to the top, and begins to lean precariously over the edge. Hana shouts, “No!” and leaps up, pushing him back to safety, but falling over in the process. He peers over the edge and finds Little Hana dangling over the edge, barely holding on. He falls backward, terrified.

But then a moment later, he returns and grabs her hand, and when she falls, he dives into the water after her. Hana narrates, “The girl thought, ‘I was going to protect you, but you protected me.'”

In the morning, it’s Seo-jin who wakes up in bed, feeling sore and disoriented. All he finds on his nightstand is a cartoon drawing that says, “Hi,” seemingly taunting him.

He races to the batcave and opens up a new message, and there’s Robin, waving back at him. Seo-jin seethes as Robin apologizes for seeing Seo-jin’s last farewell message, since he clearly hadn’t expected Robin to ever return.

He apologizes again and says that as of now, Rule No. 19 is no longer valid: “Because now there’s a way for me to exist even if you don’t want me to.” Robin confirms what Seo-jin suspected—that Hana is his trigger.

Seo-jin’s knuckles turn white and he wonders why her. Robin answers, as if they’re siting across from each other having a conversation: “Angel’s Bridge, fifteen years ago. Do you remember? The day you were going to die, and the day I was born. The girl who saved you, and awakened me—that girl was Jang Hana.”

Robin continues with the reminder that keeping Hana safe is important to Seo-jin too, because of her connection to Dr. Kang’s case. In light of that, he’s decided to institute a new rule. Rule No. 20: Protect Jang Hana.

Seo-jin flips through the security feed and freezes when he sees Hana and Robin talking and smiling together just last night. Closing caption: The most difficult thing in the world: the reconciliation and symbiosis of the two hearts within my heart.

 
COMMENTS

I’m pretty sure this show will always remain in the light and fluffy category, but I’m happy for a little depth from Robin’s side of things, because his perspective makes his and Seo-jin’s relationship seem much more symbiotic than Seo-jin will ever admit to. I was wondering if Robin had a dangerous side or a hidden agenda, but so far he appears to simply be hated for existing, for making his parents’ perfect son something to be ashamed of. Chairman Dad’s reaction, I expected; Mom’s reaction was harsh. But given the circumstances, Robin is the nicest second persona a guy could have. He doesn’t even want to be in charge or take over Seo-jin’s life—he just wants to be there and help Seo-jin, and defines his entire existence on feeling needed by him.

Given that the inciting incident was Seo-jin wanting to end his own life, it makes perfect sense that the alter ego he created was a version of himself who rescues people. He’s meant to rescue Seo-jin, but letting your split-personality save you from yourself is probably easier said than done. That’s why Hana is crucial—she’ll be the bridge between them, and the one who saves Seo-jin in Robin’s place. Now that the backstory has been set up, I’m looking forward to some forward momentum and romantic development, especially with the twin lie in place. It’s a plausible explanation and a good way for her to keep hating Seo-jin while falling for Robin, none the wiser that they’re sharing a body.

I’m surprised that Robin and Seo-jin’s attitudes towards their identities are pretty in sync—they seem to be in agreement that Robin was created out of self-preservation, and that he exists as long as Seo-jin needs him. The only thing they disagree on are the particulars. In this view, Robin is more like an imaginary friend, and Seo-jin’s childlike need for him is his lifeline. That’s why my mind automatically jumped to Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh (I don’t know if Robin’s name has anything to do with it—it’s just my go-to sad imaginary friend reference, and anyway he’d be Pooh).

It seems like what we ought to be rooting for is Seo-jin’s maturity and healthy development so that he outgrows his need for Robin, but it’s so pitiful when you think about it from Robin’s point of view. He only exists because Seo-jin conjured him up, and he’s seen as a weakness, a freak show, a crutch. And the truth is, he is an emotional crutch. But it doesn’t change the fact that he feels like his own person. It makes me think that the moment when Seo-jin truly does outgrow him, I’ll be terribly sad about it, even if that’s what’s best for both of them.

Clearly Robin has his own goals and relationships, like his adorable friendship with Secretary Kwon, his friends from his webtoon artist life, and he even shared a little moment with the otherwise stony-faced head bodyguard. But he’s being portrayed as an extension of Seo-jin from the start, rather than a rogue agent, like he’s acting on Seo-jin’s subconscious thoughts and desires. It’s cute to think that this is how Seo-jin might want to act around his staff. And now that Robin is needed by someone else, it gives him new purpose and a new reason to exist—perhaps that’s dangerous in Seo-jin’s eyes, but then again, isn’t this all just his desire deep down to save Hana, again and again?

 
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