The Scarred Hand
In 2020, Da-won checks the rock arrangement she made for Yi-gang and gets the memory card from the motion sensor camera. She notices the stick that Hyun-jo moved as crows flock in the sky above her and heavy clouds roll in. Hyun-jo tries to speak to her, but she is frightened and bolts, passing through his outstretched hand.
Yi-gang has gathered the daily log files from various years and studied them to see if there is a pattern. It turns out that the days on which terrible incidents and disappearances occurred corresponded with the days Dae-jin was off work. Checking Hyun-jo’s notebook, Yi-gang also confirms that Dae-jin was off work on the day that Hyun-su died. ..
Yi-gang’s room door starts to shake violently, but she can’t see anyone’s legs through the large vent. Da-won runs to Yi-gang’s room but doesn’t see anyone outside when she gets there. Da-won shows Yi-gang photos of the new stick placement along with even more starling footage of the stick moving by itself. ..
In the latest episode of “Descendants of the Sun,” a man is found seizing and foaming from the mouth, which is strikingly similar to what Hyun-jo saw in her vision in the previous episode. The rangers on duty quickly rush over and find that it’s the same hiker that was mentioned in Hyun-jo’s vision. A helicopter is called and he is taken to hospital. ..
At the hospital, Woong-soon tells Yi-gang that the survivor drank yogurt that he found by a stream. Upon hearing this, Yi-gang remembers Hyun-jo’s insistence that the gloved man placed the Common Rustgill in Granny Geum-rye’s bag to cover his tracks and poisoned Private Ahn to the same end.
Yi-gang questions the survivor on the yogurt, but he has no new information, instead ranting about seeing the ghost that marks people for death. He says that he originally thought the ghost was a ranger because it wore their insignia, and after he describes the ghost’s attire, Yi-gang gets up a photo of her and Hyun-jo in their snow suits. The survivor is completely spooked, pointing out Hyun-jo as the ghost.
He suggests they use the snake’s tracking device to find the rat snake and release it back into the wild. The team is excited to try this new method, but they quickly realize that the tracker is not working. They go back to Yi-gang’s house and he shows them how to fix it. They head back out into the forest and within minutes, find the rat snake. They release it back into its natural habitat and are happy that they were able to help save this animal. ..
After confirming her suspicions, Yi-gang and Hyun-jo stake out the health food store in Soo-jin’s car, using the antenna needed to pick up the microchip’s signal. ..
Hyun-jo and Soo-jin wait for a response from the rangers, but they don’t receive one. Hyun-jo then asks Soo-jin if he can check to see if anyone has been extracting poison from the Common Rustgill mushrooms. Soo-jin says it’s possible, but the person would need knowledge of the extraction method and their location, leaving the rangers as the only suspects.
The couple drives to a warehouse, where they find a stockpile of endangered snakes. They decide to wait for the police, but Yi-gang goes wild and storm into the warehouse herself. Inside are heaps upon heaps of snakes.
The police confiscate the snakes, and Yi-gang and Hyun-jo head out as well. The unknown person takes off their black glove to reveal five scars scratched into their hand. That night, Hyun-jo dreams of the scarred hand placing an oval object onto a mossy stone and then of blood dripping from foliage. ..
Hyun-jo and Yi-gang enter an old graveyard to investigate what they saw in their dream. They find an oval object that is absent, but the pair search for it nonetheless.
When they finally give up and leave, the health foods couple enters the area, preparing to catch more snakes to pay the fine they copped for catching snakes. While they are preoccupied, the scarred hand places the oval object onto the mossy stone. The husband comes across it, and when he picks it up it explodes, leaving his blood splattered on the surrounding foliage. Hyun-jo and Yi-gang run back at the sound of the explosion. They find the wife screaming over her husband’s mangled body.
Later, at the station, Soo-jin explains to the rangers that the oval object was an overlooked potato bomb used by poachers in the 60s and 70s. Hyun-jo interjects, telling the group that he and Yi-gang searched the area and found nothing. This fact disturbs Dae-jin, who says that the situation is worse now that a person has died because of their supposed mistake. ..
A group of people stand outside a funeral home, discussing the death of a man. The wife of the deceased is hysterical and blames the people who were with her husband when he died, as well as the rangers who were present. A journalist takes pictures of the scene. ..
At Jirisan National Park Jeonbuk Office, the Chief and some officials discuss the situation at Jirisan National Park. The Chief decides to take responsibility and resign.
Hyun-jo, the deceased’s brother, tells Yi-gang and the rest of the mourners at his funeral that he won’t rest until he finds out who inflicted this scar on his brother’s hand. ..
Hyun-jo visits Soo-jin after calling in sick to ask about the potato bombs. He finds out that the bombs were from the 60s/70s and that they are no longer available to make them. Hyun-jo finally gets a usable lead when Soo-jin tells him that some of the workers who helped with bomb removal kept bombs as souvenirs. ..
Gu-yeong is getting drinks for the townhall meeting with Lee Yang-sun, who is his long-time crush. He starts to ask her out, but she is obviously distracted. In a flashback we see her entering a shed and finding someone, whose face is obscured, grabbing a bunch of potato bombs. Just as Gu-yeong finishes his confession, she apologises and runs off.
The old man tells Hyun-jo that he and his granddaughter were the ones who left the bombs at Yang-sun’s house. He didn’t report them missing because he was worried about his granddaughter, who was then only a child.
Villagers start arriving at the townhall. Yi-gang is tasked with handing out pamphlets, which everyone rejects, until one is accepted by a scarred hand. ..
Hyun-jo is shown a family photo of herself and Yang Sun, with an old man in the background. Hyun-jo then sees Yang Sun out on a mountain, desperately searching for something. We then return to Hyun-jo, who notices a young man in the photo with Yang Sun. ..
Yi-gang enters the townhall, her eyes glued to the man with the scarred hand. He turns back to find her staring and it’s obvious he’s the man from the picture. As he gives Yi-gang a self-satisfied smirk, the episode draws to a close.
The Episode Review
After the reveal of the man-with-the-scarred-hand’s relation to Yang-sun, there is now a plausible connection between him and Dae-jin. ..
The man with the scars is a classic K-drama villain, and his smirk is one of the most iconic and recognizable features of the character. It would have been nice to see him played with more nuance, because along with his smiles from the last episode, he’s coming across more like a caricature than anything else.
Yang-sun is not doing well right now. Her presence in the picture could make things better for him, or it could just keep us interested. If Yang-sun is working with Dae-jin, we need to be very interested in what he’s up to.
It’s interesting to see that Hyun-jo’s body is impacted by his actions as a ghost. Now he has still got more to lose by staying involved.
This week’s episodes have continued the faster pacing of the 2018 timeline. 2020 is moving a bit slower, but that’s most likely so that we can catch up to Yi-gang’s knowledge of the past and prepare for what’s coming. If we stay on this path, it’s definitely going to happen. ..
