Not that a second season of an already hit show isn’t entertaining, but when the narrative is being expanded upon, shouldn’t the focus of Season 2 of The Uncanny Counter have been a deeper dive into the world of Counters rather than another emotional fest? Taking that route would have made this show relevant as well as entertaining, but it is faltering on both fronts at the moment. Until things are set right, here is a recap of it.
Spoiler Alert
Is Ma Ju Seok’s Mother Alive?
When we questioned so many times as to what made Ju Seok so special, we forgot that we never got the answer to why So Mun was special. He was not in a coma, yet he was able to host Wi-Gen, and in fact, he turned out to be the strongest of the rest of the Counters. Ju Seok seems to have a similar quality, and its nature becomes more clear to us in this episode. He has not accepted the spirit, but he has accepted its powers, and they are on par with So Mun and Pil Gwang’s. This sets him apart from the others because he still thinks like Ma Ju Seok, which is why he did not harm So Mun despite the spirit’s insistence to do so. When Wi Gen and So Mun discuss it later, we realize that spirits choose people like themselves, which is why the hosts can be held accountable for their actions even though they were possessed, because they were just as evil to begin with. But in Ju Seok’s case, it was his rage and not his inner nature that brought the spirit to him. This means that the equation they share will always be different from that of other spirits and hosts.
Ju Seok goes to meet his mother, probably for the last time, before he takes his revenge. The police were expecting him and were stationed outside his house. They say the same thing about the futility of revenge, but it may have been the wrong thing to say since the spirit uses those words to anger Ju Seok. However, he has still not lost control of his senses and doesn’t harm the officers. But Ju Seok has more powers than anyone imagined. He can see the territory and communicate with the Counters through them. We saw something like this in Season 1 of The Uncanny Counter, when the antagonist evil spirit could communicate with So Mun through time and territory. This is making us wonder if this current spirit in Ju Seok is someone from Season 1. Maybe they had fought it before or exorcized it, but due to some glitch, it hadn’t gone to the afterlife but was roaming the earth with all of its powers. Gelly and Pil Gwang don’t know the Counters’ history, but they witness the extent of Ju Seok’s powers. The matter is that Mun is stronger than Pil Gwang, but if the latter teamed up with Ju Seok, he would be able to take down the Counters. Therefore, he needs Ju Seok to completely succumb to the spirit, and the one way to do that is to make him lose his mind with anger or any other emotion. Their first and obvious attempt is to try and attack Ju Seok’s mother, who is currently admitted to the hospital and is awaiting surgery.
In the meantime, the Counters figure out Gelly and Pil Gwang’s interest in Ju Seok when Mo Tak checks his jail records. They understand that his mother is likely in danger, and they rush to protect her. Even Jeok Bong’s sense of smell is back ever since a cooker burst in his face, so he is able to help out. In the hospital, Pil Gwang and Gelly reach the old woman on the operating table first, but they are unable to harm her when they see that the territory is there. Ju Seok can read territories, and if he ever saw that it was these two who had harmed his mother, he would turn his anger towards them. Therefore, they simply leave her to die, but the Counters arrive in time, and Mae Ok saves the woman’s life.
Does Ju Seok Kill Mr. Park?
The investigation of Baekdu Planning and Construction is still going on, and the Counters are helping. Mo Tak spots a man in the jail with a similar tattoo to the guy they had seen at the laundromat, except that the inmate’s came with the number 28 instead of 37. No matter how much we love roses, we still find it tacky when mafia or underworld gangs are named after this flower. The members of this gang used to work for Baekdu and were directly under Lee Chung Jae, who had come to power after the fall of Cho Tae Sin in Season 1. Mo Tak finds that the tattoo parlor that makes such tacky impressions of such a graceful flower is in a hotel owned by Lee Chung Jae.
Mae Ok and Ha Na go there undercover, and as luck would have it, they find number 37 almost immediately. His real name is Lim Jae Yeol, and Mae Ok recognizes him as the boy she saved years ago when she first became a Counter. It was while trying to save him that she discovered that she had the power to heal people, and it upset her that the boy she had such a good memory of had made such a terrible future for himself. We suppose that all those years ago, Lim Jae Yeol was probably regularly harassed at school. He may have been healed, but his memory would most certainly have been erased. Jae Yeol probably never had the right guidance in his life or the right help, which is why he ended up with Lee Chung Jae, whom Ha Na sees is alive. Even Pil Gwang and Gelly know that he has not died and is hiding from them.
At the end of episode 6 of Season 2 of The Uncanny Counter, Jeok Bong senses the evil spirits in the treatment center where Mr. Park is being held. They kidnap him and tell Ju Seok to take his revenge, or they will do it for him. Ju Seok is out of time to think, and he immediately finds Mr. Park. He would have killed him, but Mun and Ha Na reached him in time and told him the truth about Pil Gwang and Gelly. But Ju Seok has finally gone too far, and he doesn’t listen and makes his first kill. Ha Na gets gravely injured, and Mun has to fight him now, as he would any other evil spirit. This is going to be a tougher match than that of Mun and Pil Gwang, and the evil spirits are waiting to watch it.
Final Thoughts
The episodes of The Uncanny Counter lacked substance this week. Episodes 5 and 6 could have been one episode, but if they had to be two, maybe the comedy could have been better than Jeok Bong just making a fool of himself. There really isn’t much to say and we hope next week is better.
