Bring It On, Ghost: Episode 6

by LollyPip

We get some focus on the main characters in this episode, and a chance to see them drop the ghost-hunting and just be college kids having fun. But while the living are enjoying themselves, Hyun-ji is in an emotional crisis, coming to terms with feelings that have been sneaking up on her. But at the same time she’s also reminded that she’s a ghost, with no place in the living world, which may be the hardest thing Hyun-ji has to accept.

EPISODE 6 RECAP

A man hikes through the forest, lost, and stumbles down a steep incline into a deep pile of leaves. Something catches his eye and he looks closer… and screams. It’s a dead body.

Back in town, Hye-sung burns the contents of a bag containing, among other things, his filthy clothing and the student Hyun-joo’s school ID.

When Bong-pal wakes the next morning, Hyun-ji is still by his bedside. She’s fallen asleep with her head on the bed, and her hand in his. He vaguely remembers waking from his nightmare last night and seeing her there, and he smiles. But Hyun-ji also wakes and they both jerk away from each other, and Hyun-ji quickly poofs away.

Bong-pal realizes that today is his mother’s memorial day, and dresses in his best suit. He tells Hyun-ji he’s not going anywhere fun, but he doesn’t object when she insists on tagging along. Hyun-ji watches as Bong-pal performs the memorial rites, while monk Myung-chul chants prayers for her spirit.

Afterward, Myung-chul asks if Bong-pal has heard from his father, but the truth is that nobody has, lately. Bong-pal is quietly thoughtful on the trip home, and Hyun-ji tells her best silly jokes to make him laugh.

With two new members and a fistful of cash, Chun-sang and In-rang attempt to convince the school to reinstate their ghost-hunting club. It’s too late to re-establish the old club, but Chun-sang thought ahead and applied to start a new club, Soondae Soup, and already has approval.

They even get their old club room back, and enter the room with awe and reverence and even a few tears, ha. They snuggle happily on the couch, hand in hand, just so happy to be home and together.

It’s a lovely day, so Hyun-ji proposes a picnic, which of course Bong-pal turns down because they both need to study. He leans in very close to pluck a cherry blossom from Hyun-ji’s hair, and the contact makes her heart speed up and her cheeks go all pink. Embarrassed, she poofs away again to collect her emotions.

Kyung-ja finds her, and says that she’s determined to stay on campus until she finds her newest man again. Hyun-ji asks if ghosts can get fluttery feelings and Kyung-ja says they can, same as when they were alive. Hyun-ji admits that whenever she sees Bong-pal her heart flutters and she gets nervous, and Kyung-ja theorizes that Hyun-ji is in love. Well that, or she died of a heart attack.

Appreciating the nice weather, Chun-sang and In-rang cook up an idea to take the whole club on a camping trip. They know Bong-pal won’t want to go, so the way to get him on board is to get Seo-yeon on board. They lay a heavy sob story on her about how they’ve never been on a school trip, batting their eyelashes at her and convincing her to go.

Distracted by Kyung-ja’s theory that she’s in love, Hyun-ji doesn’t notice a baseball coming right at her face. Luckily Bong-pal arrives in time to catch it, and Hyun-ji swoons hard when she sees him again.

Of course, as soon as he opens his mouth he breaks the spell, fussing at Hyun-ji for not paying attention. He asks why she keeps disappearing today, but when Hyun-ji flirts that he must have missed her, he just snarks that it was nice to be able to focus on his classes for once. Ha.

Chun-sang and In-rang approach Bong-pal, all smiles, and tell him about the trip they’ve planned. Bong-pal isn’t so sure, but everything is paid for (Hyun-ji: “You love free things!”), and when the boys drop Seo-yeon’s name, it’s all over. Heh, suddenly Hyun-ji doesn’t want to go anymore.

Hyun-joo’s body is finally identified, and it’s determined that she was strangled to death by hand. But her neck was broken, which would indicate that someone uncommonly strong killed her, but the only other suspicious detail is that she was absent from Hye-sung’s class the day before she died.

Seo-yeon brings the little stray puppy back to Hye-sung’s clinic to ask if he can stay there while she’s out of town. Hye-sung shows a worrying interest when Seo-yeon mentions that Bong-pal will also be on the trip. Seo-yeon also brings Hye-sung a new pen to thank him for everything, and leaves the dog with him.

When Hyun-ji tries to whine Bong-pal into staying home and skipping the trip, he tells her that she can stay home if she wants, and use the time to study. Yeah, that’ll happen. She goes along anyway, and he just warns her not to call attention to herself since there will be so many others around.

On the drive down to the cottage, Chun-sang teases that Bong-pal and Seo-yeon look like a couple, since they’re wearing the same color shirt. Bong-pal and Seo-yeon just smile, but Hyun-ji yells that it’s not even the same shade of light blue, hee.

The boys take them to a really nice little cottage, which just happens to belong to In-rang’s family. I’m gonna laugh if he turns out to be a chaebol. But then they can’t even get in the house because In-rang’s grandmother doesn’t know they’re here, and has changed the passcode.

In-rang ends up setting off the alarm, and In-rang convinces his grandmother to let them use the house. He has a bad fall on the stairs once they’re inside, hitting his head and ringing his bell pretty good, and for a second he sees Hyun-ji when she comes to check on him. Chun-sang slaps him sober and Hyun-ji disappears, but In-rang is convinced he saw an angel.

Chun-sang decides to play Cupid and sends Bong-pal and Seo-yeon to get ramyun, not that either of them object. After they leave he hauls two huge bags of ramyun from the bottom of the food box, and Hyun-ji figures out what he’s doing and smacks his water bottle while he’s taking a drink, ha.

Hyun-ji runs out to tell Bong-pal that they don’t need ramyun after all, but he wants to go with Seo-yeon since she said she needed to get something else. Hyun-ji argues that she can go alone, but he leaves with Seo-yeon anyway.

Seo-yeon is confused when Bong-pal buys an extra ice cream at the store, but he just claims he really likes ice cream. On the walk back, Seo-yeon admits that she only came on the trip because the boys begged, but now she’s glad she came.

She adds that she feels closer to Bong-pal now, which makes him shy. As they get closer to the cottage Bong-pal notices Hyun-ji sitting alone on a pier over the lake, but he doesn’t stop.

In-rang is still nursing his bonked head when they get back, and Chun-sang tosses his ice cream to him, whacking him on the head again. Bong-pal has to grab the extra ice cream away from greedy Chun-sang, and he takes it down to Hyun-ji who’s still brooding on the pier, unaware that below, a water ghost waits.

Bong-pal gives Hyun-ji the stink-eye at dinner when she gets excited to see alcohol, hee, but he does surreptitiously set aside a little plate of meat for her. When Seo-yeon passes Bong-pal a bite of sausage, Hyun-ji demands it too, but Bong-pal has to eat it or draw suspicion.

Chun-sang starts talking about what a good couple Bong-pal and Seo-yeon would make, so Hyun-ji gets jealous again and blows the smoke from the grill into Seo-yeon’s face. Bong-pal glares at Hyun-ji and switches places with Seo-yeon, leaving Hyun-ji feeling left out again.

Back in the city, the police approach Hye-sung regarding Hyun-joo’s death, since she missed his class the day before she disappeared. Hye-sung plays innocent, feigning surprise to hear she’s dead, claiming not to really know much about her. He gives nothing away, but something about him seems to bother one of the cops.

Chun-sang and In-rang gleefully splash in the lake after dinner, and they end up pushing in the reluctant Bong-pal and Seo-yeon. The four have fun playing in the water, while Hyun-ji watches from a nearby hill. They take a break for selcas, and Hyun-ji inserts herself between Bong-pal and Seo-yeon, flipping Seo-yeon’s hair in her face petulantly. Ha.

Back at the station the cops discuss Hye-sung, and we see that the suspicious one saw Hye-sung smirk at their business card. After some research they learn that Hye-sung has an opportunity to teach at a foreign veterinary college, but he canceled his acceptance at the last minute and took the position at Bong-pal’s school instead.

That night, Hye-sung breaks into Bong-pal’s apartment and skulks around, looking at his family photos. He goes into the room containing Bong-pal’s mother’s belongings and takes one of the books (diaries maybe?) labeled April of 1993.

Out at the cottage the group bring the party inside, and Seo-yeon asks why they named the club Soondae Soup. Chun-sang gives an inspiring explanation about soondae soups being a healing food, plus Bong-pal first agreed to help them at a soondae soup restaurant. They launch into some fun drinking games, and even Bong-pal gets into the silliness. But this leaves Hyun-ji feeling left out again, since she can’t participate in the games.

Myung-chul goes to Bong-pal’s place and passes Hye-sung on his way out, and something about the man seems to give Myung-chul a chill. Hye-sung also senses something, and recalls a memory of Myung-chul in stronger days, wielding a sword and looking strong and confident.

He turns to Myung-chul, murmuring, “It’s been a long time,” and continues on his way. ~shiver~

The club friends end up playing a truth game, and Chun-sang asks Seo-yeon if there’s anyone she likes. She smiles and says there is, which makes Bong-pal smile. It’s In-rang’s turn to ask a question, but something about being drunk as a skunk has him suddenly seeing Hyun-ji sitting next to the table. He starts to babble about an angel again, and Chun-sang just grabs his face to shush him.

Chun-sang continues the game, asking Seo-yeon if the person she likes is here in the room. Bong-pal watches eagerly, but he wilts when her answer is No. Awww, poor puppy. He asks if she likes that person a lot, and Seo-yeon nods that she does.

It’s Bong-pal’s turn to answer questions, and Seo-yeon asks if he likes anyone. He doesn’t answer and just gulps his drink, and Hyun-ji, who was smiling to herself at Seo-yeon’s answers, now looks upset for him.

Bong-pal and Seo-yeon both leave the table, so Chun-sang spins the bottle again, and this time it points to Hyun-ji. She recalls Kyung-ja saying that she probably fell in love with Bong-pal, and she admits the truth to herself, “Yes, I think so.”

She’s sitting by the lake again when Seo-yeon unwittingly joins her, and dangles her feet off the pier. The water ghost grabs Seo-yeon by the ankle and yanks her into the lake, but before Hyun-ji can think of what to do, Bong-pal sees Seo-yeon struggling and runs to the rescue.

He shoves Hyun-ji out of the way and grabs Seo-yeon’s hand, and Chun-sang and In-rang come help pull her out of the water to safety. Seo-yeon weakly tells them that it felt like someone pulled her into the water, and as Bong-pal heads to the store for some medicine for her cut knee, he gives Hyun-ji a little “follow me” nod.

Once they’re alone, Bong-pal accuses Hyun-ji of playing tricks on Seo-yeon, and he doesn’t believe her when she says she didn’t do this. Since he’s not listening anyway, Hyun-ji takes the blame angrily, and Bong-pal yells that she should have stayed home.

Hurt, Hyun-ji agrees that she shouldn’t have followed Bong-pal. She poofs away, back down to the pier, and Bong-pal walks on with just a glare in her direction.

He asks the store owner if there’s a pharmacy nearby, and she grows alarmed when he says they were in the water behind the cottage. That water is famous for being haunted, and people drown there on an alarmingly regular basis. Hearing that, Bong-pal runs panicking back to the cottage.

At the lake, the water ghost reaches up and grabs Hyun-ji’s ankle, pulling her down into the water. As he runs, Bong-pal recalls Hyun-ji’s insistence that she didn’t hurt Seo-yeon, and his own accusation: “You were the only one around her. Who else could it be?”

As her head breaks the surface of the water, Hyun-ji has only a second to call Bong-pal’s name. He hears, and runs even faster. He dives into the lake, just in time to see Hyun-ji sinking into the depths. He swims deeper, but she’s out of reach.

COMMENTS

Oh, good cliffhanger. Normally we introduce and wrap up each ghost in one episode, but I liked the focus on the strengthening friendships in this case, with the actual ghost-hunting put on the back burner for once to let us learn more about the characters and their growing relationships. And what a beautifully-shot final scene by the way — I loved the slow motion, and the melancholy music to go along with Bong-pal’s fear that he could lose Hyun-ji.

This is what I’ve been waiting for, for Bong-pal and the ghost-hunting goobers to finally get to spend some quality time together. Having everyone stuck together on their trip really brought out a lot of fun stuff — Bong-pal’s crush, Seo-yeon’s apparent reciprocation of his feelings and ultimate rejection, and Hyun-ji’s growing jealousy and realization of her own feelings. The close proximity finally brought the ghost-hunting team together to interact in a fun way like I’ve been hoping to see, where they can become friends and not just business partners. Bong-pal especially needs a friend or two, and goodness knows Chun-sang and In-rang would be loyal for life if he’d only let them in a little. Hopefully this is the start of something great.

But on the flip side, this episode also made me start to feel a little bad for Hyun-ji — it’s good that she’s found Bong-pal, who can see and hear and touch her, and who feeds her and gives her new clothes. I even like their bickering and sniping at each other, and Bong-pal’s adorable irritation at her constant presence. But the poor girl has to beg for everything she gets, and the club trip really seemed to hammer home how truly excluded Hyun-ji is from the things that the living take for granted. She’s just a college-aged girl too, but she can’t even do simple things like go swimming with her friends or participate in silly games. She has to rely on Bong-pal’s good nature for everything, and even though Bong-pal can see her, he’s still forced to ignore her when he’s around others or risk finding himself an outcast again.

I actually think Chun-sang and In-rang would accept Hyun-ji’s presence once they got to know her, though it would help if they could see her, and hopefully In-rang seeing her when he conked his head, then again after he was drinking, is the start to them bringing her into their little group as more than a hanger-on. The show has already established that regular people can see ghosts under certain circumstances, so for Hyun-ji’s sake I hope the boys figure out a way to see her on a regular basis.

And all that is before we even get to Hyun-ji’s feelings for Bong-pal, which are more bittersweet than I expected. What more futile feeling can there be than for a ghost to love a human, when they can never be together? Yes, Hyun-ji’s feelings are way ahead of Bong-pal’s because of the torch he’s carrying for Seo-yeon, but eventually I’m sure (and maybe even soon, after this scare with the water ghost), he’ll realize that he has feelings for Hyun-ji in return. But even if Bong-pal falls in love with her, it’s not like they can ever have a life together — he’ll eventually get a career and want a family, and she’ll perpetually be 19 and, you know, dead. Not to mention his deep desire to stop seeing ghosts altogether.

For that reason I really hope the show has a solution to Hyun-ji’s past that doesn’t have her truly dead — I would be very happy if she turned out to be in a coma, for example. Normally I’d find that sort of convenient “twist” a storytelling cop-out, but I love these characters so much already, I just want them to be together and happy. If that means a predicable twist in the plot, I’m all for it in this case. There are some shows that you want to surprise and amaze you, and some shows that you just want to see the leads in love, no matter how they get there. For me, this is definitely one of the second kind, and I’m happy to accept any trope if that means Hyun-ji isn’t really dead.

 
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