The number of deaths increases again this week, and our heroes are thrown for a loop. While our vet’s psychic powers were helpful at first, the game has changed, and in order to find the killer, they will need to be more creative in their approach than placing gum on people’s butts. To get to the bottom of this mystery, a little deception is needed, but as our heroes dig deeper, they seem to uncover more questions than answers.
EPISODES 9-10
The poncho killer strikes again, yet our heroes are no step closer to finding the truth. While the missing delivery lady from last week was a bust, the next victim turns out to be her coworker, and in a twist of fate (or are these coincidences calculated?), Ye-boon is nearby when the killer attacks. Using her psychic abilities to track them down, Ye-boon manages to save the coworker and hide her in a safe location before heading back to town for help.
Looking disheveled and injured, Ye-boon draws attention wherever she goes, but she brushes aside her neighbors’ concerns as Jang-yeol’s warning plays in her head: the killer is someone she knows. Alas, she crosses paths with a handful of individuals until she finally reaches the only person she can trust. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jang-yeol follows Ye-boon to where she hid the coworker, but they arrive too late.
The death shakes Ye-boon who wonders how the killer found the hiding spot, and Jang-yeol surmises that they must have used their powers on her while she was coming to him. They write down a list of possible suspects, and now all they have to do is check each one. Unfortunately, Ye-boon hurt her hand while saving the coworker, but Jang-yeol tells her not to worry since they have another psychic in town.
In order to get cow farmer Jeon Gwang-shik on his side, Jang-yeol solves his romance woes first. In order to free the coffee delivery lady from her predatory loans, Jang-yeol volunteers to pay off her debt and takes customers on her behalf. The scary detective calling people oppa and forcing them to drink their hot coffees in one gulp does the trick, and within half a day, the boss relents.
With that, Gwang-shik joins the team, and after receiving the Jang-yeol special treatment, he uses his upgraded powers to look at Ye-boon’s memories and figure out the mystery psychic’s outer appearance. Feeling replaced, Ye-boon pouts as Jang-yeol sidelines her, but her mood instantly lifts when she sees Sun-woo and gets invited to his workshop.
Ignoring Jang-yeol’s orders to stay at home, Ye-boon hangs out with her crush, but her noisy detective neighbor sees through her lies and comes busting in to “save” her. His suspicions, though, fall flat since Sun-woo was merely cutting apples and not trying to murder her like he suspected. On the drive back home, he warns her again to be wary of Sun-woo, but Ye-boon’s imagination gets out of hand as she points out that Jang-yeol could be the killer, too. Heh.
Rather than investigate the serial murders with his actual detective teammates, Jang-yeol calls his two psychics over to HQ (a.k.a., his rooftop apartment) and goes over the case with them. So far, they know that the killer is a psychic and knows that Ye-boon is one, too, which means they close their eyes when attacking people to hide their crimes. As a result, they need to come up with a new plan to find the killer, and right then, an opportunity falls into their laps: the annual prawn festival.
Despite the inauspicious atmosphere in town with the ongoing deaths, newly reelected Assemblyman Cha leads the charge for the festival in hopes of revitalizing the economy. Jang-yeol proposes using this event to their advantage to touch all the suspects, and rather than look for the attacks, they will search for who was at the farm during the meteor shower. While Gwang-shik will offer free massages at his yearly milk stall, Ye-boon partners up with Shaman Park with a “Butt of Truth” booth, courtesy of Sun-woo.
D-day arrives, and Ok-hee joins the team as well to guide their targets. With Jang-yeol overseeing everything from above, the first half of their operation goes smoothly, and the two psychics cross off names from their list of potential killers. However, as Ye-boon touches people’s butts, memories of her family catch her eye, and she gets lost in thought as she recalls her late mom.
Meanwhile, Sun-woo visits the festival with Shaman Park’s son (he is home from Australia because his parents fought), and though Gwang-shik tries to touch is leg, Sun-woo adamantly declines the offer. Losing a chance to check one of their prime suspects, Jang-yeol changes tactics and tells the others to search people’s memories for Sun-woo during the meteor shower.
Following this trail of flashbacks, they learn that Sun-woo was tailing Assemblyman Cha the entire time, and from the assemblyman’s memories, Ye-boon realizes that he was at the farm that night, as was Shaman Park. However, a more distressing image draws Ye-boon’s attention: Assemblyman Cha was with her mom the night she died.
While Ye-boon mulls over what she saw, Gwang-shik heads over to Shaman Park, and uses the excuse of a free massage to peer into his memories. He traces Shaman Park’s movements that night, and it leads him to the farm where, in the background, Sun-woo stands behind a pillar. Piecing together all this information, Jang-yeol whips his head around the crowd, and the question still remains: who among them is the killer?
Each week, this show surprises me with how well it executes its story, and what I once thought could be a weakness turns out to be the show’s strength. The mix of elements from slapstick comedy to chilling thriller blends so well because of their distinct contrast and juxtaposition. The Butt of Truth is such a great example of this clash of genres and how the show uses comedy to enhance the mystery and vice-versa. While Ye-boon is experiencing a crisis inside a Mouth of Truth parody box, Shaman Park is outside waiting for answers and making up ridiculous lies to pass the time. In essence, the show uses humor to lower the audience’s guard so the reveals have a greater impact, and moments of tension are broken with abrupt jokes and one-liners, emphasizing the absurdity of the situation. Granted, the show has also found its stride compared to the beginning, and now that we’ve passed the halfway mark, the momentum continues to build in interesting ways.
Grandpa’s storyline has finally entered the fray, and what once felt like a secondary plot point has inserted itself to the forefront, adding another mystery to the overarching story without taking away from the main focus. It appears that Ye-boon’s mom did not commit suicide, and Assemblyman Cha may be related to her death in some way. He could have been the one who killed her, or he could have been following orders from his old boss. There’s also the fact that their town was essentially used in a redevelopment scam, and it adds to the general tension the show has been building since the first death. On the surface, everyone appears friendly and close, but underneath their smiling masks, secrets and mistrust fester.
Despite a serial killer on the loose in a rom-com, the show remains funny and different partly due to its wacky leads. Though not an outright hilarious character, Jang-yeol is just as much an oddball as anyone else, and the way he investigates this case really sells the show for me. Rather than act like your average detective, Jang-yeol teams up with a vet and cow farmer, and it’s hilarious that these two individuals with absolutely no training are so enthusiastic about helping him. Even Ye-boon, who wanted nothing to do with Jang-yeol at first, tries to puff out her chest in front of Gwang-shik as the more “experienced” one, and the image of them taking notes so seriously was adorable. Right now, Jang-yeol’s focus is on who the killer is, which is why he is looking for the possible third psychic, but I get the feeling that “why” could be the more pertinent question to ask. There is no established link between the victims, so what is the killer’s motivation? Why did they start now? Everything feels random at the moment, but I get an inkling that there could be more to these murders than meets the eye.