Korean horror drama "Possessed": Episode two recap

 Air Dates: August 5th to September 3, 2009  Wednesday and Thursday nights at 10:00 pm on MBC

Also goes by the titles 'Hon' and 'Soul'.... Ten one hour episodes, subs done by HaruHaru
Ratings: Nationwide 12.0%, 14.2% Seoul.... the two highest ratings

Main Cast:

Lim Ju-Eun as Yun Ha-Na.... High school student who is 'possessed' by spirits

Lee Seo-Jin as Shin Ryu.... Expert criminal psychologist and profiler

Keon Ii as Jeong Si-Woo.... High student who is bullied and befriended by Ha-Na

Yoo Yeon-Seok as Baek Jong-Chan.... Ruthless high school bully

Lee Jin as Lee Hye-Won.... Psychologist and part time girl friend of Ryu

Park Ji-Yeon as Yun Doo-Na..... Ha-Na's twin sister who died early on, member of T-ara

Kim Sung-Ryoung as Mrs. Yun.... Mother of Ha-Na and Doo-Na

 First episode had a trailer but that may have been the only show to have one. That's okay as a one minute trailer may not do this episode justice as it was another solid how which lasted 63 minutes. On to the action which began from where the previous episode left off. That was with Ha-Na finding
Si-Woo trapped in a locker, he had been left there by Baek and his two henchmen after getting beaten up by the crew. Si-Woo's clothes were nowhere to be found so Ha-Na lent him her sweat pants and the two ditched school. We and Si-Woo had noticed for the first time when Ha-Na took off those pants that she had some burn marks on her legs. For now where they came from is a mystery but it's why she always wears long pants.
 It should also be noted that Ha-Na still has Park's cellphone which she had found on the school's roof before finding Si-Woo in the locker. Park was the girl who had jumped to her death in the first episode and somehow the school's biggest bully Baek is tied up in her death. The pair made it to
Si-Woo's house and what a posh residence it is as his family definitely must be extremely wealthy. In the first show Si-Woo had said both his parents were dead but in this scene he told Ha-Na he lived with his father, will have to take his word on that for now. The two hung out in Si-Woo's room for a spell while getting to know each other better and surprised it hadn't happened earlier as both are considered 'outcasts' at their high school.
 When Si-Woo began dozing off Ha-Na took her leave and about to take place is an event which will throw her world completely upside down. On her trip home Ha-Na had received a call but it was on.... the dead Park's cellphone! It was a male voice and though none of us could be sure odds are it was Baek. Ha-Na could hear her twin sister Doo-Na screaming in the background, the voice said to head for the school's warehouse or Ha-Na's sister would die. Doo-Na had been captured after she went back to Ha-Na's classroom to pick up her belongings, she had been trailed going home by some thugs whose faces were never revealed. However they were probably Baek's two cronies as he still wants revenge on Ha-Na for what she did to him in the first episode, also think he may have discovered she has Park's phone which has some damning evidence against Baek.

 Ha-Na rode her bicycle like the devil to school but even though she arrived quickly she was helpless to save Doo-Na. As you can see in some of the above screenshots Doo-Na was trapped in the warehouse with a fire burning out of control with seemingly no way out. Ha-Na tried breaking the padlock on the door to no avail and there was no way she could remove the steel bars on the window. Sadly, as Ha-Na watched in horror her sister stood no chance against the blazing fire and succumbed to her death, Ha-Na had ended up passing out on the ground outside.
 Soon the emergency vehicles arrived but by then it was too late as Doo-Na was dead and Ha-Na had been brought to the local police station. There was a detective who she met with and it was a person we saw often in this episode but his real name was never mentioned, I'll call him Lee. Though she wasn't a suspect Lee began interrogating Ha-Na about the incident and how she ended up at the warehouse. She told Lee about the phone call and how it came through on Park's phone, she lied and said that Park had given it to her before she jumped from the roof.
 That fire scene was one which Ha-Na had lived over and over in her nightmares. However all of them had been with Ha-Na trying to save a group of children trapped in a similar warehouse and never once was her sister in a nightmare. While she was being questioned Ha-Na began seeing the children from her dreams in the room and went into a state of panic. Detective Lee couldn't see anyone else in the room as it was just another of Ha-Na's 'awake nightmares', the small children were seemingly about to kill Ha-Na but before that happened she passed out. The next time she woke up Ha-Na was in a hospital room as Lee and his comrades had brought her to. They all thought that
Ha-Na must be crazy but was it because of witnessing her sister's death?

 After that tragic fire and her admittance to the hospital we didn't see Ha-Na again for about twenty minutes which allowed us to finally meet the drama's second biggest lead role, Shin Ryu. He's a very noted criminal psychologist and profiler, he had been at the hospital when Ha-Na had been admitted and remembered her from the previous day when he had almost run her over. Ryu had been called in by Detective Lee to help his squad solve the serial killing of three young woman. He had met with the other detectives and that's Ryu above telling them team what some of his observations were.
 But even with some tips the team had no place to begin hunting for the person when a stroke of luck hit. Lee had shown Ryu a picture of his son that was shot earlier in the day, it was taken at a hospital where his son had the pic taken with a volunteer who was helping him recover from some injury. Ryu recognized the man though not by name, he had seen the person the day before at a convenience store. At the time the man was wearing a cast on his left hand but what Ryu really noticed was fur on the man's shoulder, he said it was from his Turkish Angora cats.
 Ryu, for many reasons, quickly deduced that this man was a prime suspect in the killings and now the team had their first clue. They went out to investigate all of the pet shops and animal shelters in the area to find out if the man had bought the cats at any of them. Detective Lee had though the man's name might be Sung-Joo, he was correct with that and the team had another clue to trace.
 While that meeting was going on we saw Sung-Joo in action as he was about to add another to his list of murders. It was nighttime with the rain pouring down when he noticed the clerk from the convenience store he often visited leaving and asked if she would like a lift. At first she refused but seeing as she knew Sung-Joo from the store she agreed to get a lift to the subway. That location wasn't in Sung-Joo's plans as he sped by the station, as the woman screamed at him to stop he hit her in the face with his fake cast, the next time she arose she was tied up on an operating table.

 Not as graphic of a scene as you see in horror films but much more gruesome than most TV shows. With the woman tied to the table Sung-Joo went into an operating mode like a doctor would. What he proceeded to do was to slowly cut into the woman's stomach and chest as if he was going to remove an organ or two. Though it wasn't shown think that's what took place, before long the woman clerk was dead and had been stored in a cool unit to keep her body fresh.
 That was another clue that Ryu had discovered, the three previous bodies had been found a week after their murders so the killer must have a big refrigerated unit to keep the bodies from decomposing and smelling. Ryu was also on the hunt for the Sung-Joo and while the others on the team were checking out pet stores Ryu thought that perhaps the suspect worked at an animal hospital. Ryu had that thought when he passed by one and stopped to check the place out, he he was soon to have his second huge lucky break of the night. Before knocking on the door Ryu had found a stray cat and brought it to the hospital where he stood in the rain waiting for someone to answer the door.
 Finally someone did appear and it happened to be none other than Sung-Joo. He was very reluctant to let Ryu in as the hospital was closed but when he saw the cat he relented. While Sung-Joo was examining the cat who was actually healthy Ryu took a quick peek around and in one of the adjoining rooms he saw what he had been looking for, a refrigerated unit big enough to hold a small body. Ryu dashed into the room and opened the top compartment, to his dismay he found the chopped up body of the convenience store clerk. Ryu had only a few seconds to look at the body as looming behind him was Sung-Joo who wasn't going to be captured without a fight.
 The pair had a violent struggle and just when it appeared Ryu had the upper hand Sung-Joo was able to grab hold of a syringe and inject the potion into Ryu. It wasn't a lethal liquid but it did render Ryu incoherent enough to allow Ryu to make his escape. But in the nick of time Detective Lee and his squad entered the hospital and were able to arrest the serial killer of four young woman. While it seemed Ryu lucked out a bit in finding Sung-Joo he wouldn't have had those breaks if he hadn't been so accurate with his theories so it was his talent which led to the capture of Sung-Joo.
 That scene took longer than I thought as there were less than ten minutes to go in the show. Ryu headed back to the hospital the next day to check on Ha-Na, he's been intrigued by her claim of seeing 'ghosts' plus is aware of her nightmares. He put Ha-Na under hypnosis and was able to learn much about her thoughts and especially about the fire nightmare she's had for many years. Don't know if it worked but Ryu told her while she was under his spell she would no longer have those horrific dreams but as the episode came to it's end Ha-Na was still under his hypnosis. Haven't read any recaps for the show, there may be none, but the synopsis mentioned that the pair would become a team to capture a certain breed of criminals so that's what we have to look forward to.

 That final scene was just so-so but all in all this was another solid episode and think I'm going to enjoy watching all ten shows. Will probably have the next pair of recaps at the same time next week but before then hope to have a regular post for Ju-Eun who has quickly become a fave of mine. Did get into all of the major events that took place but as usual have plenty of screenshots to help you follow the story a bit better.