Over the course of episodes 3 and 4 of Queen Mantis, we got a massive revelation that I-shin hadn’t killed 5 men, but 6, and this 6th victim was none other than her own husband. The man was an abusive and insecure individual. He used to constantly suspect that I-shin was having affairs with miners and harass Su-yeol for not being respectful enough towards his own dad. One day, I-shin’s husband took things too far, and she was left with no option but to kill him. Her father, Hyeon-nam, was witness to that incident, but he didn’t report it to the police, thereby allowing I-shin to become the Mantis, the serial killer of Woongsan. Then we were introduced to Min-jae, the attention-seeking son of Eon-bae, who saw I-shin as his mother. Due to his obsession with Su-yeol and his desperation to meet I-shin, Su-yeol assumed that he was the copycat killer, which he wasn’t. While all this was going on, due to Kim’s mistake, Gu-wan managed to break out of the hospital. However, he was run over by a car, and he breathed his last in Su-yeol’s arms. Last but not least, I-shin gave Woo-tae the slip and ran away from the containment residence for a little chat with Jung-yeon. How were these plot threads furthered in episodes 5 and 6 of the show? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
I-Shin Meets Jung-yeon
After a flashback to Jung-ho’s post-arrest interrogation with I-shin at the Woongsan police station, where I-shin confessed to her crimes and requested Jung-ho to look after Su-yeol, we get to see the Mantis sitting in front of Jung-yeon conversing about the fact that her son had claimed that she was dead. It takes a lot of time for Su-yeol to realize that, after escaping from the containment residence, I-shin must’ve gone to his house, although it’s not really explained how I-shin knows where Su-yeol and Jung-yeon live. By the time Su-yeol gets home, he finds out that I-shin and Jung-yeon have already had a pretty lengthy conversation about his past and his association with I-shin. Barring the fact that she is the serial killer called the Mantis, I-shin has unveiled everything about the fake death, the sham tomb, and this detachment being one of the reasons behind Su-yeol refusing to acknowledge that her mother is alive. Su-yeol asks I-shin why she wanted to meet Jung-yeon in the first place, and I-shin says that she needed to see the person her son wants to spend the rest of his life with. Somewhat satisfied with her answer, Su-yeol then arrests I-shin and takes her back to the containment residence. Once behind bars, Su-yeol asks I-shin if she is the one behind Gu-wan’s death, but she rejects the allegation. Min-jae’s detention at the police station comes to an end, which is something that doesn’t sit right with Kim and Sung-gyu. Hence Sung-gyu asks Ji-an to continue digging into Min-jae until they are absolutely sure that there’s nothing shady about him.
Su-yeol and Jung-ho Perform a Heist
After dropping Min-jae at his shop-plus-residence in Gwangju, Su-yeol advises him to forget about I-shin and just focus on living a normal life. Instead of doing so, Min-jae continues to remain on the periphery of Su-yeol’s life by dating Jung-yeon’s co-worker, Ah-ra. Meanwhile, Su-yeol goes back to trying to find the true copycat killer by figuring out how they know about the first murder committed by I-shin, especially since it’s a crime that has no records anywhere. Jung-ho hypothesizes that I-shin might’ve confessed to Choi Mi-gyeong, the psychiatrist who conversed with her right after she was arrested, and a recording of that confession might’ve been leaked or stolen. They don’t have the time or luxury to acquire a warrant and go through Mi-gyeong’s system—especially since the commissioner is putting a lot of pressure on Jung-ho to solve the case as soon as possible—the duo decides to simply wing it. After getting to the doctor’s chambers, Jung-ho creates a massive distraction while Su-yeol steals I-shin’s files from Mi-gyeong’s computer. After doing cursory research of the transcripts of I-shin and Mi-gyeong’s conversations, Jung-ho points out that she used to talk a lot about her mother. Su-yeol asks Hyeon-nam if he can shed some light on that, and he says that I-shin’s mother died in a fire, and Hyeon-nam feels that that fundamentally changed her as a person. I-shin’s husband’s abusive nature was probably just the catalyst to turn her into a serial killer. Hyeon-nam blames himself for not taking care of her properly, but Su-yeol points out that if Hyeon-nam’s parenting skills were so bad, his grandson would have become a serial killer too. Since that’s not the case, Hyeon-nam should avoid beating himself up over it.
Min-jae Is Dead
Ji-an and Sung-gyu’s investigation into Min-jae’s activities leads them to Jo-i, an AI-generated user of a dating app who is a mutual virtual friend of the Mantis enthusiast. Furthermore, this Jo-i also follows all the victims of the copycat killer, which leads Sung-gyu to think that the person behind this account is the true copycat Mantis. At the same time, Su-yeol receives an anonymous courier package, which has a cellphone in it filled with videos of the copycat Mantis’s latest kills. While Jung-ho’s task force is looking through the footage on it, they get a call from the perpetrator, but the conversation between the killer and Su-yeol doesn’t last long enough for the call to be traced. But the damage is done because the killer tells Su-yeol to deliver the phone to “the woman,” thereby leaving Su-yeol with no other option but to reveal to his team that he has been working with I-shin all this while. This leads to a bit of a tiff between Su-yeol and the team, but once he promises that he isn’t holding onto any more secrets—which is a lie because he hasn’t told them that he is I-shin’s son—the task force decides to continue working under his leadership. They set up a virtual meeting between I-shin and the copycat Mantis at the containment residence, and their conversation turns out to be pretty short as well. All they get is a hint about a “final scene,” and the task force assumes that the killer is going to target an artist. Since Sung-gyu has deduced that Jo-i is the virtual avatar of the killer, they go through the account’s followers and zero in on Kim Seo-jun, an opera singer. So, the task force rushes to the Gwangju Arts Center to get to Seo-jun before he is killed. I-shin warns Su-yeol that he and his team are going in the wrong direction, but since Su-yeol thinks that they don’t have a lot of time to do an in-depth analysis of this killer’s hints, he jets off to the aforementioned location with his team. I-shin’s warning turns out to be correct, because Seo-jun wasn’t the target; Min-jae was, and he is attacked by “Jo-i” at his garage. The footage of Min-jae’s dying moments is sent to the phone that’s being used by I-shin to communicate with the killer right when she is reminiscing about how she used to take care of Min-jae when he was just a child.
I-Shin Chats With The Copycat Killer
After Min-jae’s body has been removed from the scene of the crime, I-shin is taken to Min-jae’s garage-plus-workshop to examine the place. The entire task force is there as well. While Jung-ho informs Su-yeol that the copycat killer hasn’t left a shred of evidence behind and has stolen the hard disk from Min-jae’s computer, I-shin observes that this was an impulsive kill, probably to protect the copycat’s identity. The only thing of importance that’s been left behind is a painting of I-shin and Su-yeol. Somehow, this prompts Su-yeol to dedicate himself even more to this case and emulate I-shin’s methods, because she clearly knows more about serial killers than he does. Kim observes this from afar and is a bit weirded out by it but doesn’t make any comments about Su-yeol’s oddball behavior. The following day, the task force and I-shin sit down for yet another conversation with the copycat Mantis, and I-shin manages to not only get the killer to show up for a video chat—so far it had been a one-way video chat with I-shin being on video and the killer using just audio—but also reveal where they are going to commit their next crime: the Esto Premier Hotel. In addition to that, given how the copycat Mantis is about to replicate the real Mantis’s 4th crime, Hyuk deduces that they have to look into Kang Yeong-ho, the Mantis’s 4th victim. That’s for later though; for now, they have to focus on nabbing the killer at that hotel. In order to keep the copycat Mantis busy so that they don’t focus on the fact that the task force and the police are arriving at the location they are in, I-shin continues to chat with them. The raid turns out to be a bit of a bust, because the copycat Mantis not only manages to perform the execution—the victim eventually dies as well—but also gets away from the crime scene. Su-yeol almost catches them, but the killer’s tactics are too chaotic for him to counter. Su-yeol’s failure finally convinces Kim to give Sung-gyu the green light to gather some dirt on Su-yeol, specifically about his relationship with I-shin.
The Copycat Killer Is Probably A Trans Woman
Su-yeol and I-shin’s discussion about the latest copycat killing and its reference brings Su-yeol to the conclusion that the copycat Mantis is connected to both of their pasts, because they were heard humming the same song that I-shin sometimes hums. After racking her brain, I-shin remembers that her 4th victim, Yeong-ho, had a son named Kang Yeon-joong who he abused pretty brutally. I-shin empathized with Yeon-joong’s plight and essentially gave the kid’s father the same injuries that the father had inflicted upon the child. I guess I-shin thought that she was alone while killing Yeong-ho, but after all these years, she realizes that Yeon-joong was there at the crime scene, watching the woman he used to call his mother liberate him from his father’s clutches. Based on that, Su-yeol and Kim visit the hospital where Yeon-joong’s catatonic mother is housed, while Hyuk and Sung-gyu head over to the hotel to interrogate the acquaintances of the victim, Son Hyeon-ho, who was the general manager and a follower of Jo-i. Su-yeol and Kim learn that Yeon-joong is probably a trans woman, and Hyuk and Sung-gyu find out that the woman claiming to be Jo-i that Hyeon-ho used to get freaky with was borderline suicidal. I have to mention that Queen Mantis is treading on problematic ground with this reveal. Movies like Psycho, Sleepaway Camp, and even Silence of the Lambs have contributed heavily to making life for the transgender community a living hell by portraying trans women and men in drag as deranged serial killers. The revival of this trope in these fraught times isn’t random at all. The show has been quite nuanced in its portrayal of sexual abuse and misogyny so far. I can see that the writers are trying to be empathetic about Yeon-joong’s plight, but if they end up associating the character’s gender dysmorphia with their need to mimic a serial killer, then it’s going to further pretty dangerous stereotypes. And the last thing that the transgender community needs now is more bigotry.
Su-yeol’s Secret Is Out
At the end of Queen Mantis episode 6, Su-yeol’s “transvestigation” pretty much goes down the drain because Sung-gyu’s investigation leads him to the conclusion that I-shin is Su-yeol’s mother. After conveying this information to the task force, all of them turn against Su-yeol because he promised them he isn’t hiding anything from them. Su-yeol tries his best to convince the task force that catching the copycat Mantis is more important than chastising him for withholding information about his identity. However, they are not in the mood to listen to him, and they compel Jung-ho to fire Su-yeol from the team so that they can continue their work without his interference and lies. After returning home to Jung-yeon, Su-yeol decides to unburden himself by telling her his whole life story, including the part about I-shin being the Mantis and his mother. The episode comes to a close with Su-yeol’s personal and professional lives hanging by a thread. The post-credits teaser for next week’s episodes of Queen Mantis reveals that the task force is going to try to get I-shin to work for them in Su-yeol’s absence, and she isn’t going to cooperate. Su-yeol is going to attend Min-jae’s funeral. Jung-yeon will find out that she is pregnant with Su-yeol’s child, something that he has been against for a while now because he is afraid that she’ll give birth to a monster like his own mother. Jung-yeon is probably going to be kidnapped, and it’s possible that I-shin will be the one who will save her or die trying. At this point, I don’t really care about the mystery or the mother-son drama; I just hope that they do right by the copycat Mantis without stereotyping the transgender community. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on this week’s episodes of the show. What are your opinions on the same? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.
