We finally know who the uncanny Counter of season 2 is going to be, and he has really come from the most unlikely place. We are not talking about the cow shed but the village of JouRi from The Good Bad Mother. We were not expecting to see Sam Sik here. Additionally, it is weird to see him play such a simpleton, but so is an actor’s life, we suppose, and here is the recap of it.
Spoilers Alert
Who Is The Fifth Counter?
Now that the Counters have busted the criminal gang and Mo Tak has taken the credit for it in the police station, we come to know that his chief is bald, and he has either not noticed that his wig came off or his stress levels due to his bewilderment at Mo Tak’s luck are so high that he doesn’t care anymore.
When Mo Tak is going to the police station, he stumbles upon an accident where a man, Na Jeok Bong, literally kicks a woman out of the way to save her from an incoming truck, which ends up hitting him instead. The woman was escaping from a bad date with this very man because he looked nothing like his pictures, only spoke about cow dung, and was flossing his teeth while waiting for her. He chased after her because she forgot her phone while leaving, and that ended up costing him a hefty price. However, seeing his Spirit of sacrifice, Mo Tak decides that he may be an ideal candidate for the next counter. But when Wi-Gen meets him, it is evident that he has good intentions but is too much of a simpleton.
Even the said spirit doesn’t want Jeok Bong because he is around cow dung too much. Yet, there was something so sweet about how Jeok Bong asked Wi Gen for workplace insurance and retained the perspective that being a Counter was like any other job. His spirit tries to dissuade him from accepting the job, but Jeok Bong has made up his mind, and hence, there is no other alternative but for the spirit and the host to start their new life as a counter. We knew that the Counters’ hair turns curly when they get their spirit, but having it poke out of their woolen scarf feels like a bit too much.
Anyway, Mo Tak is waiting for Jeok Bong to wake up, and he takes him to the noodle place, where everyone is sweet to him though Su Mon hazes him a little, and Ha Na hits him in the leg when his hand comes in contact with hers. They also start training him, and he is just as bad as Su Mon was when he started, except that Mon takes advantage of being a senior and twists Jeok Bong’s wrist a little too far. These are a few of the only lighthearted moments in episode 2 of season 2 of The Uncanny Counter. The other is that Su Mon’s friends are dating, and he is right when he says that it is like watching siblings kiss.
Now that we have covered the bases, let us look at some of the more serious stuff in the episode. We had speculated in the recap of episode 1 that the evil spirits from China were definitely linked to the housing scam. We also wondered why they had ended up in another country. We know the answers now.
Park Seong Uk and Chung Jae used to work for Pil Kwang, and they orchestrated this scam together. Chung Jae used to manage the money, and he passed away for reasons we will probably come to know later. Right now, Park Seong Uk is on trial, and he has been released with three years on probation. This is a gross miscarriage of justice because he swindled thousands of people out of their money, and he even caused a man to set himself on fire out of desperation and anger. The man survives because of Ju Seok’s timely intervention, but the firefighter has devastating news of his own to deal with.
Why Do The Spirits Kill Min Gi?
These evil spirits basically want their money back, and they get it by breaking a few bones. However, they step on the territory, which brings our Counters to where they are. During the fight scene, it is evident that even one of the spirits is too much for the counters until So Mun enters the scene. He is by far the most powerful of them all, and Pil Kwang notices that while also watching him summon the territory. He also figures out that one of the lights brings the counters to them while the other helps them increase their power, and Mun can summon it at will.
When the counters were fighting the spirits, Ha Na got a peek into Wong’s memories, and she came to know that they were the ones who killed Min Gi. She had gone to meet Seong Uk, probably to beg him to give her back the money she had lost on his scam, but had unfortunately run into the spirits while they were killing him. They had shown her no mercy and forced Seong Uk to kill her. Ha Na and So Mun confirm their suspicions and check on Seong Uk at the hospital, where So Mun reconstructs his memories with the help of the territory, and Ha Na is able to read them and verify the involvement of the spirits in the tragedy.
In the real world, Ji Seok is completely devastated at the loss of his wife and unborn child. Since he doesn’t know the complete facts, he undoubtedly blames Seong Uk for what has transpired. It is debatable whether Seong Uk should be punished for this because, though he did not kill Min Gi, he was abusive and has probably killed others. Right now, he is in a coma in the hospital, but it is only a matter of time before he wakes up and starts talking about things.
The end of the second episode of The Uncanny Counter was on both a positive and a scary note. Jun Hui seems to have fallen in love at first sight with the cute kindergartener from episode 1. Meanwhile, Pil Kwang makes his way to the noodle place to test out his powers against Mun’s, and we will see that happen next week.
Final Thoughts
Queer-coded characters seem are having a moment this week. Anyway, why do we think that Ji Seok is going to turn evil? All it takes is the capacity for murder for an evil spirit to find a home in a host. Also, the precap should not have revealed what Jeok Bong’s power was going to be. We could have been saved that for a week to find out for ourselves how he was going to be useful to the team. Either way, the emotional quotient for the team has been established, and it is not going to take long before it all leads to one too many fight sequences.
