This is a bomb of an episode, with feelings exploding everywhere. Our brothers are forced to confront their past, an unspoken secret that’s been eating at them for years, and they have no idea how it will affect their present. And in the midst of all this, they don’t how our fairy tale writer fits into their lives — or if she fits at all.
EPISODE 10: “The girl who cried wolf”
Sang-tae has his breakdown in the hospital lounge, announcing to everyone that his brother is trying to kill him. Moon-young looks from him to the sobbing Kang-tae, with what looks like guilt in her eyes. She seems to regret bringing up the King Donkey Ears story to Sang-tae and encouraging him to spill his secrets.
The hospital staff get Sang-tae sedated and leave him to rest in the isolation room. Director Oh and Nurse Park come out to Kang-tae waiting outside, and they urge him to go out and get some fresh air. So Kang-tae walks out, completely numb, with Moon-young following close behind.
After much wandering, Moon-young has to throw her shoe at Kang-tae to make him stop. He tells her to go home, that he needs to be with his brother, and she blurts out that he did nothing wrong that day. He started to run away, but in the end, he jumped into the water and saved Sang-tae.
“I ran away because I really wanted him to die,” Kang-tae says. “He knows that… and so do you.” So what, Moon-young asks, is he going to sacrifice his entire life for Sang-tae, to atone for his sin?
To that, Kang-tae asks why she had to save him that day. “If you hadn’t,” he says, voice shaking, “I wouldn’t have to live this way.” He sheds a tear before turning and walking away, and this time, she stays where she is, silently crying.
Back at the hospital, rumors of the brothers are already spreading. Jung-tae won’t stand to have his hyungnim badmouthed, so he blasts the patients and nearby staff with a fire extinguisher. They definitely don’t feel like gossiping after that.
Nurse Park has a counseling session with Ok-ran, wanting to find the cause to her recent mood changes. But Ok-ran is only curious about the brothers, and she asks if Kang-tae really tried to kill Sang-tae. Nurse Park says that it’s sure to be a misunderstanding, making Ok-ran smile with amusement. Ok-ran brings up a Shakespearean play: “Why do you think Othello killed his wife? Because of a misunderstanding.”
By nightfall, the apartment gang is still unable to reach Kang-tae or Moon-young. Jae-soo and Sang-in argue about who’s to blame for Sang-tae’s outburst, while in the kitchen, Joo-ri’s mom gets more aggressive with her vegetable chopping. The boys finally stop fighting when Mom comes in with her knife and deadpans, “Let’s eat.” As they scramble past, Mom hopes that Kang-tae and Moon-young are taking care of themselves and eating too.
Moon-young is sulking at home, eyeing the flowers that Kang-tae gave her. Meanwhile, Kang-tae is still at the hospital, waiting outside the isolation room. Joo-ri and Cha-yong pass by, and Cha-yong wonders why Kang-tae doesn’t just go inside.
Joo-ri says that those with autism shut the door to the world and that Kang-tae is waiting for Sang-tae to open that door. Unfortunately, even the next day, Sang-tae refuses to come out from under his covers, much less his room. It’s only when Director Oh drags Kang-tae away and the hallway is clear that Sang-tae peeks out.
Upstairs, Director Oh tries to make Kang-tae feel better. He mentions that he and his son used to do three-legged races and that he would often trip and make them lose; he thinks that Kang-tae and Sang-tae are in their own three-legged race. Kang-tae looks up at that and asks if he’s saying that they’re holding each other back.
“No,” Director Oh says. “You’re relying on each other. As long as one person stays strong when the other person falls down, you guys will never fall down together. Try your best to stay strong.” And who knows, Director Oh continues, one day, Sang-tae may be able to stay strong for Kang-tae.
Kang-tae admits that he thought Sang-tae had forgotten about the river incident, and Director Oh points out that those with autism have a good memory. In Sang-tae’s case, he probably tried to avoid his emotions, so Director Oh suggests Kang-tae confront his head-on — starting with returning to work.
In no time, Kang-tae is back in uniform and heading downstairs, where he finds Jung-tae biting Cha-yong. Kang-tae takes Cha-yong away to bandage his wound, and Cha-yong lets it slip that Jung-tae is mad because he blabbed about Kang-tae and Moon-young. Kang-tae mutters that he should’ve stitched up his mouth instead.
Jae-soo stops by the hospital to check on Kang-tae, having been worried sick. Jae-soo starts lecturing Kang-tae that he should’ve listened to him and stayed away from Moon-young, and Kang-tae just sighs.
Kang-tae remembers yesterday, all the times he smiled with Moon-young, and he says that he dreamt an impossible dream when he should’ve been focusing on his brother. Looking out at the water, he sadly states that he’s awake now. Jae-soo looks at him sympathetically, not knowing what to say.
Afterwards, Jae-soo drops off a pizza in Sang-tae’s room and leaves him alone. While Sang-tae is eating under the covers, he hears the door open and close. He gets up and sees that someone has left the book by Do Hui-jae. And tucked inside is a note that reads, “The little brother kills his big brother.”
Later, Moon-young marches into the hospital to see Kang-tae (using the excuse that she’s bringing him clean underwear, ha). He ignores all of her advances, though, and tells her to follow him outside.
Once the couple are out by the water, Moon-young says that things worked out for the best and that it’s about time Kang-tae let go of his brother. She knows that he wants to be with her, to hold her, to have fun with her.
But Kang-tae says that they were ill-fated from the start, that he never should’ve gotten involved with her. So he wants her to do him a favor and stay out of his life. She’s on the verge of tears, but she smiles and says that he’s lying.
Moon-young reminds him of the time he comforted her during her nightmare. She’d told him to get lost, but he saw through her, just like she’s seeing through him now. She takes hold of his hand and tells him not to go.
Kang-tae frees his hand and says that she was nothing but a firecracker to him, a one-time event. Now that he’s had his fun, he’s finished. With that, he starts to walk away, making her burst into tears.
Clutching her heart, she screams, “I’m not a firecracker! I’m a bomb! I don’t disappear when I explode, I blow up and kill everyone!” Even so, he keeps walking, and we see that there’s pain in his eyes, as if every step is hard.
That night, Kang-tae sneaks into the isolation room while Sang-tae is asleep. He sits by his brother’s side and takes his hand in his, bringing it up to his cheek. And as he watches him sleep, tears stream down his face.
The next day, Sang-in insists on driving Joo-ri to work. But his crappy company car dies along the way, and he has to send Joo-ri off in a taxi while he gets the car towed. He accidentally leaves his wallet in the car, though, and chases after the tow truck. Joo-ri looks out her window and, seeing this, she smiles.
At the hospital, Sang-tae gets a surprise visit from Nurse Park — with a giant stuffed dinosaur. Hee, Sang-tae is overjoyed and says that it’s his mini toy dinosaur Dooly’s mom. He tells Nurse Park that the two dinosaurs are actually different species and that the mom found Dooly’s egg and raised him.
Sang-tae doesn’t like anything fake, but he does think that all moms, even the fake ones, are good. Nurse Park asks if he also had a good mom, and he responds with, “She was a good mom to me, but a bad one to Kang-tae.”
Speaking of fake but good moms, Joo-ri’s mom is treating Kang-tae to lunch. She jokes that she hates him for rejecting her daughter but that she should be kind to those she hates. She continues that she’ll take Sang-tae home today, and he thanks her.
Rather than thanks, however, she suggests he be born as her son in his next life. And he’s near tears as he says that he doesn’t want to be born again. She just chides him for being stubborn and urges him to eat. Augh, can she adopt him, please?
At the end of the day, Kang-tae and Joo-ri watch Mom walk out with Sang-tae. Joo-ri encourages Kang-tae to come home today so the brothers can make up, reiterating what they always tell patients: “If you want to make the people around you happy, you must find your own happiness first.”
Joo-ri smiles warmly and concludes that it’s okay for him to be a little selfish sometimes. In that case, Kang-tae wonders if it’s okay to ask her a selfish favor.
We cut to Moon-young at home, texting Kang-tae various excuses to get him back. She sends pictures of Sang-tae’s cartoon tapes, threatening to trash them, and even pictures of a thermometer (after blasting her forehead with a hairdryer), saying she’s sick. But, to her frustration, he ignores every one.
There’s the sound of a car outside, and Moon-young jumps up and opens the door to see — Joo-ri. Apparently, Kang-tae asked Joo-ri to bring some of Sang-tae’s things home. And Joo-ri referring to the apartment building, rather than the mansion, as the boys’ home saddens Moon-young.
After much hesitation, Kang-tae arrives at the apartment and announces that he’s coming in, prompting Sang-tae to hide in the zip-up closet. As is their routine, Kang-tae sits in front of the closet and says that he’s sorry. Sang-tae asks what he’s sorry for, and Kang-tae lets everything out.
Kang-tae breaks down, apologizing for running away at the river, for wishing he had a normal brother — just everything. Kang-tae apologizes over and over, until Sang-tae finally comes out. At first, Sang-tae doesn’t seem to know how to react, but then he brings Kang-tae into an embrace.
Kang-tae clutches onto Sang-tae, crying, and begs, “Don’t abandon me,” while Sang-tae says the same thing. God, they break my heart.
Later into the night, when the brothers are in bed, Sang-tae claims that he’s the hyung here and that Kang-tae belongs to him. Kang-tae agrees to this, but once Sang-tae falls asleep, Kang-tae looks through the pictures he took with Moon-young. Remembering their time on the mountain, he gets a wistful look on his face.
Back at the mansion, Moon-young convinces Joo-ri to stay for some wine. Joo-ri drinks at a concerning rate, and an amused Moon-young asks if she’s still afraid of her. Though Joo-ri is, she also says that she’s jealous of her. One bottle of wine later and Joo-ri is slurring that Moon-young is a bitch, even slapping her upside the head.
Joo-ri passes out, and Sang-in has to come by to pick her up. Moon-young can tell that Sang-in likes Joo-ri, so she asks who he likes more, her or Joo-ri. He starts to say that he likes them both, but she wants to know who comes first and second.
“Moon-young,” Sang-in says, “When you’re talking about people, you should never number them like that. You can cherish and care about people in different ways.” For instance, he says, there are many different shades of yellow, just as there are many different shades of emotions.
Sang-in guesses that Moon-young must be lonely without Kang-tae. Moon-young says that she is a little colder at night, a little hungrier than usual. And Sang-in smiles, saying those emotions point to one thing — she misses Kang-tae. She repeats the words “I miss him,” and the more she says it, the more she realizes it’s true.
The following day, Joo-ri rides the bus with Kang-tae to work. She’s taken aback, however, when he starts speaking to her in banmal. She suddenly remembers last night, when Sang-in dropped her off at the apartment and they bumped into Kang-tae outside. She lashed out at him for sending her over to Moon-young’s, most likely to make sure Moon-young was okay, and for always addressing her formally. Heh.
Once at the hospital, Kang-tae isn’t feeling so good, but he pushes through. Nurse Park tells him to keep an eye on Ok-ran, saying she’s been unstable, so he heads out to the garden to find her. There, Dae-hwan starts hearing the humming again and sets his sights on the source — Ok-ran. Dae-hwan approaches Ok-ran and asks if it’s her, and she leans in to whisper, “Why? Are you going to kill me again?”
OH SHIT.
Dae-hwan lunges at Ok-ran and begins choking her, and Ok-ran immediately shifts into the helpless victim, crying for help. Kang-tae rushes over to pull Dae-hwan off her, while he’s screaming that he has to kill her. Some other staff help Ok-ran up and guide her away, and she gives one last glance back… and smiles.
Dae-hwan is now screaming that all monsters, like his wife and daughter, must be killed, making Kang-tae shout over him: “No. Your daughter is not a monster.” Exhausted, Dae-hwan stops struggling and gasps that if Kang-tae doesn’t kill her, he’s going to die instead.
Later, inside, Ok-ran is questioned by Nurse Park and, of course, lies that Dae-hwan attacked her for no reason. And upstairs, in the office, Director Oh and Kang-tae try to figure out what happened, thinking that Dae-hwan mistook Ok-ran for his wife. Or, Director Oh, speculates, Ok-ran is his wife.
That night, Joo-ri’s mom comes home to find Moon-young on the steps. Moon-young explains that Mom gave her an open invitation to dinner, so Mom happily brings her in and whips up some seaweed soup. Since Moon-young asked for the soup (a Korean birthday tradition), Mom correctly guesses that it’s her birthday.
At first, Moon-young acts like the food is just fine, but then she stuffs her face, making Mom smile. Sang-in walks in moments later and he’s upset to see Moon-young eating here when he offered to buy her steak. He at least wants her to accept the gift he bought her, a necklace of two hearts put together.
Since Moon-young’s here, she has to go upstairs and knock on Sang-tae’s door. He refuses to open it, but when he hears the sound of a power saw, he panics and rushes out — to see that she was playing sound effects on her phone, lol.
Moon-young takes the doll Mang-tae out of her purse and says that Sang-tae can have it, so long as she can have him.
Moon-young continues that it’s her birthday and she wants to spend it with him, but he throws the doll to the ground and calls her a liar. With that, Sang-tae heads back inside and throws a crumpled up piece of paper out the window.
Moon-young picks up the paper and leans against the wall. Knowing Sang-tae is on the other side listening, she says that those who don’t believe in what people say are the bad ones. To make a point, she tells him the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
“The shepherd boy lied all the time. The boy repeatedly lied to the villagers that a real wolf showed up. Do you know why the boy tricked the villagers like that? He did that because he was so lonely, all by himself in the mountains.”
And at the hospital, we see Kang-tae looking through Moon-young’s messages, dismissing them.
Moon-young returns home, placing her now withered flower bouquet into a vase of water. She then uncrumples the paper Sang-tae threw out and reveals the drawing of her and the brothers riding in the camping car.
Kang-tae is about to clock out, when he sees Nurse Sun tending to Cha-yong’s wounds. Cha-yong explains that he took Ok-ran out to the garden and that she hit him with a rock and escaped. Before that, she mentioned that she has to meet someone because it’s an important day. Kang-tae recalls the last message Moon-young sent, about today being an important day, and suddenly all the pieces start fitting together. Without a second thought, he turns and runs out of the hospital.
Moon-young’s story narration concludes that when a wolf actually appeared, no one believed the boy. And because no one came to help, the boy died. We see Kang-tae racing towards the mansion, but it’s too late. There’s a knock on the mansion door and Moon-young opens it to Ok-ran popping a party popper. All it takes is a “Happy Birthday” and a sinister smile to make Moon-young’s blood run cold.
COMMENTS
Holy biscuits on a fire. I know the drama was hinting that the mom was alive and that Ok-ran was Mom… but I thought that was going to be a red herring! I thought Ok-ran was just a random patient who liked provoking people! Now I have about a million questions, like What the hell happened in that mansion? What made Go Dae-hwan kill Do Hui-jae? When he says that she killed someone, could that someone be Kang-tae’s mom? What has she been doing all this time? Where has she been all this time? And the big question, what does she plan to do with Moon-young now? I just don’t know what to think anymore. One thing that comes to mind — this hospital completely fails when it comes to keeping their patients in. If I’m remembering correctly, this is the third person who’s escaped. I get that they have a sort of “open door,” “wander free” policy, but this is ridiculous.
Before I get too heated (I’m really just worried for Moon-young’s safety here), let’s move on to the meat of the episode. The angst was really turned up to an eleven, and it worked so well. Sang-tae’s breakdown brought out all of Kang-tae’s guilt and regret and self-loathing, and right after Kang-tae let his guard down too. So I understand why he believes that he was dreaming an impossible dream and that this was his wakeup call. He doesn’t think he’s deserving of a happy life with Moon-young, with anyone, when he did such a terrible thing in his past. In fact, he doesn’t think he’s deserving of living at all, and that is downright crushing. Our poor, sweet Kang-tae is so, so wrong in saying that he has to give up love and happiness to focus on family. Permanently, at least. Because he did need to focus on Sang-tae now, more than ever, to finally face his inner demons.
In the same way that Moon-young’s haircut was healing for her, I think Kang-tae’s hug and reconciliation with Sang-tae was healing for him. I was surprised that he came into the apartment and apologized for the river incident right away; we all know that had to take a lot of courage. The apology that hurt the most, for me, was for wishing for a normal brother. It just goes to show that Kang-tae isn’t some perfect angel. He’s a flawed human being with real thoughts and feelings, and sometimes those thoughts can be a little dark. He’ll have moments where his wishes Sang-tae was normal, but he’s going to feel bad about it, and that’s what makes him a good person. He’s going to feel bad because he loves Sang-tae, mental disorder and all. With this reconciliation, perhaps they can find some way to run in this three-legged race in unison and stay strong for each other.
And who knows, maybe Moon-young could join the brothers in that race. I loved her in this episode, because no matter how much Kang-tae’s words hurt her, she still made an effort to get him back. When she does get him back, she’s going to get Sang-tae too. So I hope that she sees that adding Sang-tae into her life isn’t extra baggage but an extra gift. Having three people in a three(four?)-legged race could end in disaster, but with everyone putting in the effort, they’re sure to reach that finish line.