With the big supervisor’s illness worsening, our little supervisor steps up, determined to do his part at the hospice. He takes on more responsibility and even makes some new friends. But of course, no one will let him just live his best Team Genie life. Right when he puts one toxic past relationship behind him, another threatens to rear its head.
EPISODES 11-12 WEECAP
This week’s episodes give us some more insight into Tae-shik’s past and how he got mixed up with Yoon Ki-joon (a.k.a. Gyeo-re’s father) in the first place. In fact, rather than leading with whether Tae-shik is okay after his collapse, we start off by launching into a flashback.
On the night his wife and son died, Tae-shik had left them on the side of the road after getting a call from Ki-joon. While he drank the night away, his wife and son were struck and killed by the Truck of Doom. A distraught Tae-shik later confronted Ki-joon, which is the flashback we saw earlier of Ki-joon strangling Tae-shik in front of little Gyeo-re.
After the flashback, we get to see that Tae-shik is okay for now. And thanks to Gyeo-re’s adorably awkward heartfelt pleas, Tae-shik finally agrees to get chemo. He just can never say no to Gyeo-re.
Tae-shik tasks Gyeo-re with helping get Deok-ja admitted to the utopia-like dementia village in the Netherlands, something he promised her husband Cha-yong. It seems that now is the time since Deok-ja is getting noticeably worse, losing her way in the hospice and even failing to recognize Cook Yeom. Everyone is heartbroken but trying to smile in front of her.
But before Tae-shik leaves for treatment, they’ve got some wish granting to do. This time, things don’t go quite according to plan and even cause a tiff within our team. A dying patient is determined to meet with a man he wronged decades ago. Finding the man’s house was no picnic and neither is getting there, but they’re too late – the man has already passed away, so instead they visit his grave.
It’s only then that our trio gets the full story. Decades ago, the patient had been a witness against the powerless orphan the cops wanted to pin a murder on. Thanks to the patient’s (violently coerced) testimony, the man spent the next 22 years in prison before being declared innocent.
Given his background, Gyeo-re can’t help but empathize with powerless children and orphans, so he’s angry that he helped the lying witness make amends while the orphan suffered and died. Of course, Gyeo-re is too good-natured to stay angry for long, and soon after he gets the chance to pour his energy into helping a couple of orphaned kids.
The fate of two siblings hangs in the balance as the grandmother who raised them fights for her life in the hospice. Without any other relatives, they’ll likely be sent to the orphanage. Gyeo-re can’t help but look after them – he cooks for them, helps them draw pictures of their grandmother’s flowers to cheer her up, and even makes them honorary Team Genie members by giving them busy work. It’s very sweet.
Soon enough, the scared, sad children are smiling and following Gyeo-re everywhere. It’s then that a supposed relative shows up with a sketchy looking dude, and they’re clearly bad news. She wants to take the kids, but Gyeo-re puts a stop to it with help from Yeon-joo; he’s determined not to let those kids get abused like he was.
While all this is going on, we’ve still got Ki-joon lurking around by night with sharp implements and pretending to be unconscious by day. With everyone so busy and stressed after Tae-shik leaves for chemo – especially Yeon-joo who’s having a really hard time with the idea of her “father” Tae-shik being in pain – Gyeo-re steps up and offers to help take care of the mysterious patient. Oh no.
Oddly, Ki-joon doesn’t pretend to be asleep with Gyeo-re and even talks to him. It seems Gyeo-re really did forget his father’s face because he doesn’t recognize him at all. That or all the coma hair is in the way. Frustratingly, Gyeo-re decides to handle this on his own and doesn’t tell anyone else Ki-joon has woken up, despite Yeon-joo’s multiple reminders to tell her if the dangerous man wakes up.
After knowing what he did to Tae-shik, Gyeo-re doesn’t trust Ki-joon and wants him to leave as soon as possible. The catch? Ki-joon claims he’s lost much of his memory, which he’s slowly regaining.
He does remember having a son, though, and tells Gyeo-re that he was so happy at his son’s birth he cried. He then shares that, when his son disappeared, he looked at every nearby orphanage but never found him. Ki-joon claims he still misses him, so Gyeo-re suggests his son should be first on Ki-joon’s apology tour.
Meanwhile, Tae-shik struggles through chemo at the hospital and spots Joon-kyung there recovering. I may be over her, but the drama isn’t, so we’re treated to more of her storyline. She’s as cruel as ever, and this time, Seok-joon is her target since he likes her for whatever reason. She goes so far as to ask him to kill her and Gyeo-re. Oh my goooosh, can she let this go already? Let’s hope he isn’t entertaining her ridiculous notions.
Back at the hospice, Gyeo-re realizes his money is missing. He immediately suspects Ki-joon and snoops around his room when he’s gone. He doesn’t find the money, but he does find a photo of a smiling Ki-joon with little Gyeo-re. In case there was any doubt, there’s a note on the back saying it’s a photo his “first date” with his son Gyeo-re. We end on a shaken, crying Gyeo-re as he realizes the mysterious patient is his father.
Poor Gyeo-re cannot catch a break. Now that he knows the truth, I wonder what he plans to do. Will he reveal who he is and confront his father? I wish he’d expose Ki-joon and get support from the team, but I have a sinking feeling he’ll keep trying to handle this himself.
It’s hard to know how much of a danger Ki-joon poses right now. I can’t tell if he’s pretending to have amnesia or if it’s for real. He does seem almost like a different person, but he might just be scheming. And then, why is he so chatty with Gyeo-re? He hides from everyone else, which makes me wonder if he already knows who Gyeo-re is.
If only Team Genie hadn’t handled this situation so poorly, Gyeo-re wouldn’t be put in this awful position. How did they think it was a good idea to hide Ki-joon all this time without a real plan? With everything coming to a head, Tae-shik is going to be walking back into a mess.