The Chimera Lighter
A stand-off in the future. A gunshot sounds as one of the trio are killed.
Detective Jae-Hwan is about to start his training at the Ordnance Disposal Training Ground in Seoul. He’s joined by the man who pulled the trigger in the previous scene, who is ready to learn how to dispose of explosives safely. ..
Agent Eugene Hathaway is here to update them all on what IEDs are. For those unaware, these are improvised explosive devices and often used in terrorist attacks. She warns that the same could happen in Korea, using a bus explosion in a controlled environment as evidence of how powerful this could be.
Wan-Ki returns to his car to find a strange lighter with a chimera pattern on it. When he ignites the flint, the entire car explodes as flames lick hungrily up the side of the vehicle.
In the wake of the murders, police investigators are called to the scene. One of these investigators is Joo-Seok, who notices a lighter at the scene. After looking at it in fear, he decides to keep it and doesn’t say anything yet. It’s possible that he knows more about what happened than he’s letting on. ..
Jae-Hwan is there and realizes the scene is suspicious. With no smell of gasoline and nothing there to ignite the car (thanks to Joo-Seok stuffing the lighter in his pocket), the fire evaluation report reads that there’s no root cause. So was it really the lighter? Or was it remotely detonated?
Eugene Hathaway, the retired detective who was once a close friend of the victim’s, has been asked to investigate the death of Wan-Ki. The autopsy reveals that Wan-Ki may have died from a suicide, but there is also evidence that suggests he may have been killed by someone else. There is another case that had something similar, which happened in America. So who better to ask than Eugene Hathaway?
Eugene, who was in charge of the human combustion case in the US, noticed the pictures and believed that the crime scene presented itself closer to an explosion. In order to gain a better understanding, Jae-Hwan agreed to lead her to the crime scene. ..
After seeing the wreckage of the car, she’s more convinced than ever that there’s something being hidden here. What’s not hidden is the killer’s motive; whoever did this wants it to be made public. ..
The autopsy has revealed the victim’s identity as Son Wan-Ki. Jae-Hwan realizes that he is not alone in his pursuit of information, as both Young-Sik and Ho-Dong are also after Wan-Ki, who had won back three months’ worth of interest in one go by gambling at a shady gambling den. ..
Wan-Ki is a reporter who was involved in the 1984 Chimera Case, which involved arson and car bombings. The current case involving Jae-Hwan and his friends looks strikingly similar, and Wan-Ki is concerned that the police are not taking it seriously enough. ..
The similarity between the two cases is hard to deny, but there are some key differences. For one, the killer’s signature is a chimera lighter. Additionally, Joo-Seok stole a lighter from the crime scene, which suggests that he knew what he was doing.
Joo-Seok speaks to the chief who encourages him to keep this to himself, shrugging off the concerns he poses. He even reminds Joo-Seok that he’s retiring soon so it’s in his best interest to keep this buried. As he walks away, the confident smirk disappears. Could the chief be hiding something too?
Eugene Hathaway’s theory that the killer may have snuck into the car and planted a gas canister for it to explode in the way that it did is brilliant. However, how did he transport it if that’s the case? Hathaway suggests that it may be a truck.
Jae-Hwan looks around the scene and comes to the conclusion that the arsonist would have been watching from the nearby building, which just so happens to be on a list of those ready to be demolished. The windowpanes also seem to be tinted too, which further backs up Jae-Hwan’s deductions.
A shadowy figure is seen leaving the nearby unit, and a foot chase ensues. Jae-Hwan loses his target in the scramble and weaving through the alleyways. ..
Meanwhile, Eugene speaks to one of the firefighters who was involved in the Chimera Case back in the day. He mentions the lighter and appears to know that this is linked to the root cause of the explosion. As Jae-Hwan rings her, he videocalls with her to show a picture of a chimera spray-painted on the wall of the apartment unit he’s convinced is the killer’s hideout. However, this is actually a trap. ..
Jae-Hwan is trapped in this room with gas canisters and the flammable agent oxygen. Eugene pleaded with him to leave but the door isn’t opening. With no color and no odor, the gas is revealed to be oxygen. This explains why it was so difficult to trace.
Jae-Hwan jumps out the window just as the apartment explodes, landing on Joo-Seok’s car down below. Although he survives, it’s undoubtedly one heck of a fall.
Jae-Hwan is rushed into hospital and is lucky to survive. In fact, he survives with a cut across his face and a broken arm. He has also cracked ribs, but that’s all good.
Jae-Hwan’s mother leaves the hospital and we see a man we saw at the beginning of the season asking to be shot. Could this be our killer? ..
The Episode Review
This is a great start to the story and I can’t wait to see what Chimera does with Mouse. The parallels to Mouse are definitely interesting and will be intriguing to read over the weeks.
It’s been a few weeks since Jae-Hwan and Eugene were called in to help with the Chimera case. The team is divided between trying to figure out who killed the other employees at the company, and trying to find out what caused the icicles to fall from the ceiling. Jae-Hwan and Eugene are both very capable detectives, but they’re also struggling with their own personal issues.
The visuals and plot are both good, although the idea of our protagonist jumping out a four-storey high building and surviving with a few cracked ribs and a broken arm is perhaps a little farfetched. Also, why didn’t Jae-Hwan just switch off the lights?
Chimera starts off strong, roaring like a lion and stinging with a deadly dose of venom. This could well prove to be an unmissable crime drama to end the year with.
