It has been a while since we have watched an episode without a single lagging moment. On the other hand, we feel a little sad that we won’t get to see the Counters’ being playful again. Things have gotten serious enough with the season coming to its last leg, and the stakes have risen to the extent that a happy ending for all is just not possible anymore. The Uncanny Counter Season 2 started on shaky legs but got better with each episode. Looking at how it is moving right now, we expect a riveting finale, even though we seem to be able to guess what will happen. Until then, here is a recap of episode 10.
Spoiler Alert
Ma Ju Seok’s changing sensibilities
Right before So Mun wakes up, Ju Seok and Pil Gwang get into a fight because the latter has made his intentions clear and wants to absorb Ju Seok’s powers. Ju Seok is almost overpowered, but when Mun wakes up, the territory is all over the city, and the spirit is able to absorb its power. This is a first, and no spirit has been able to do that before. The spirit in Ju Seok is thrilled at this, as it had felt the strength by itself without the aid of Ju Seok. The spirits of the Counters say that only a truly evil spirit will be able to absorb the territory’s power, and if that is the case, it shows just how strong Ju Seok’s willpower is that he has been able to keep the spirit’s wishes separate from his own.
The Counters know that Ju Seok and Pil Gwang have broken up, but neither is sure what to expect from that. They just know that Chung Jae is going to be a target, so they need to keep an eye on him. As expected, while taking away the man, Ju Seok tries to kill him, but Mun gets in the way. Ju Seok is ready to die with Chung Jae, as he says that this is the punishment for his own sins. However, Ju Seok’s mother comes there, allowing Chung Jae to briefly escape before the Counters nab him. But the biggest horror is that Ju Seok has lost control of his own body and comes close to harming his mother. Luckily, Mun arrives in time and protects her. He and Ju Seok get into a fight, during which Mun realizes that the territory is helping Ju Seok as much as it is helping him.
Not only that, but he suspects that Ma Ju Seok is still in there, and he doesn’t agree with what the spirit is doing. Mun had suspected this ever since he saw his grandmother’s memories of her time with Ju Seok, when he had been gentle with her, and said something along the lines of how everyone was gone. Looking at how Ju Seok was willing to die with Chung Jae, we believe that he was probably saying his goodbyes to the people he cared about. These are not the actions of a man consumed by an evil spirit, which is why Mun impulsively helps him escape. Much later, Mun summons the territory once again to communicate with Ju Seok, telling him that he still trusts him. Ju Seok’s mother is alive and well, but her memory has been erased by Mae Ok, so she doesn’t remember what Ju Seok did. He could still come back right now and make up for everything. This is enough encouragement for Ju Seok, who successfully pushes back his spirit and starts to make his way to the hospital.
Does Pil Gwang’s Spirit Take Over Ma Ju Seok’s?
Pil Gwang knows that he is not strong enough to fight against Ma Ju Seok. It also infuriates him that Ju Seok was the one to receive such powers when it was Pil Gwang who had been hungry for them this whole time. Knowing that he has no one by his side and won’t be able to beat either the Counters or Ju Seok, he takes a page out of Gelly’s book and comes up with something more ingenious. If he cannot beat them, he will join them, but on his own terms.
Now that Chung Jae has been arrested, Pil Gwang must have guessed that he would do anything to save his skin, which would mean revealing the fact that Pil Gwang was the mastermind behind the whole thing. Even if Pil Gwang had not guessed that, he would have still done what he did next because his goal was Ma Ju Seok and not Chung Jae or the money.
He finds Chung Jae in the hospital, kills him, and makes an exhibition out of the fact. In front of a room full of reporters, Pil Gwang admits that he was the one to orchestrate the housing scam, the one that caused people to lose their entire lives’ savings, and the very thing that had brought Min Ji to her knees so many times. Finally, Pil Gwang also admits that he was the one who killed Min Ji and her unborn child. Ma Ju Seok, who was going to the hospital to meet his mother, is stunned and furious when he sees Pil Gwang say this on national television. He remembers how Pil Gwang had manipulated him and led him to think that the Counters were his enemies and Chung Jae was his target when it had been him all along.
At the end of episode 10 of Season 2 of The Uncanny Counter, Ju Seok reaches where Pil Gwnag is and takes his revenge by killing him, or at least, that is what he thinks he does. When Ju Seok takes in Pil Gwang’s spirit, that ends up overpowering his own, and now this is what Ju Seok would have to fight against internally. Even the counters must have realized what had happened, so any hope they had of Ma Ju Seok coming over to the good side would be put to a serious test.
Final Thoughts
Now that Pil Gwang has taken over Ju Seok’s, the latter’s fight will be against a much stronger force than what he has been dealing with so far. So far, Ma Ju Seok has retained all of his senses, but that won’t be so easy now. Mun has the idea that he needs to be persuaded to keep his will stronger than whatever spirit has taken over him, and just maybe, Min Ji’s spirit might do the trick.
We still have the suspicion that when Pil Gwang killed her, he may have consumed her soul, which is also in Ma Ju Seok right now, along with Pil Gwang. If this isn’t the case, the combined strength of Mun, his grandma, and Ju Seok’s mother might do the trick for him to fight against Pil Gwang. Frankly, we are sad to see Kang Ki Young go. He was a delight, and it would have been amazing if he had more screen time until the very end. We just hope there are more projects with him coming up.
