RECAP: Nine ep 4
The Virus Ep. 2 Recap
We begin with a quick recap of the first episode, which can be summed up by one pithy line from Myung-Hyun:
"There's a walking disaster out there." In-Chul (our virus carrier) is running loose in Gangnam station, as the team desperately tries to track him before he raises the infection to an epidemic level.
It's still the seventh day of infection. In-Chul is on the subway. We can almost see the infection spreading, as a man next to him grabs onto the same loop In-Chul was previously holding onto with his germ-covered hands. Cut to a scene of the man in a bar with his friends, sharing food and drinks... I think we can all see where this is going, and it's not going to be pretty.
Myung-Hyun keeps getting (and ignoring) an unknown call. He does however respond to a call from his boss, Department Head Sim Tae-Jin. Tae-Jin berates Myung-Hyun for not doing anything to stop the spread of the disease; Myung-Hyun counters with their new lead, that they've found someone who potentially has antibodies which can help make vaccines to combat this deadly virus.
Meanwhile, ReporterJung is still working on the Hwasang case. We find out that the mysterious email he received actually contained reports of several other fires at medical centers, very similar to the fire at Hwasang Medical Center. It's very possible that all of these cases may be linked somehow .
Ji-won investigates hospitals to see if their mysterious virus carrier has been admitted to a hospital yet. The search doesn't go anywhere, but she does remember the super vaccine research that was terminated two years ago, led by Dr. Yun Il-Jung. She realizes the mutated virus that was used for the experiments should still exist (!!), and might have been leaked to the outside world. Following this theory, Ji-won and Myung-Hyun visit Nasan Hospital (the designated hospital for all the virus cases).
There, Myung-Hyun gets into an altercation with an angry man demanding to see his mother, who is potentially infected. Ji Won tries to intervene, demanding that Myung-Hyun show some empathy as this might be the mother and son's last time together. She is so adamant and emotional, which makes me wonder if she has some personal experience in this front as well. Myung-Hyun simply glares at her (it's a touchy subject for him) and continues blocking the man until security guards arrive and grab him. He snaps at Ji-won: "Are you going to put everyone at risk because you feel sorry for him?" Dr. Kim Se-Jin interrupts, however, notifying them that the mother's test results came back negative for the infection, so she's safe for now.
Myung-Hyun and Ji-Won follow Dr. Kim into his office. Ji-won stares at the lab mice, which Dr. Kim says were used in the failed super-vaccine experiments and managed to survive. The chief doctor, Dr. Yun, comes out, and when questioned about In-Chul and the failed vaccine research, immediately catches on, realizing that Myung-Hyun suspects his lab may have had something to do with the virus outbreak. He becomes defensive about his super-vaccine research. There's a "but" about the project that he won't reveal, and he is only willing to say that the research was suspended for "some reason". As always, Dr. Kim becomes irritated by mention of the project he was left out of, and curtly excuses himself from the room. Ji-won follows. Dr. Kim tells Ji-won that he was the one who prepared the mutated versions of the virus for the project, and offers to give Ji-won information about the research.
Myung-Hyun gives up on getting any information out of Dr. Yun and leaves. As he enters the elevator, he is nearly run over by doctors rushing in an infected victim, already in the late stages of the virus. Her guardian cannot be contacted. As they pass by, we get a good look at her face. Damn. We know who this is.
And the next moment confirms it, as Myung-Hyun hears the doctors shouting out the patient's name: "Lee Soo In-ssi". It's his ex-wife. He slams the doors wide open in shock, running after his wife and calling out her name over and over. She sees him and whispers his name, "Myung Hyun-ssi", before her head slumps. He is torn away by the doctors, screaming and sobbing. He runs to his car and drives like a madman. He goes to another hospital, then returns to Nasan Hospital with a package of his wife's T-lymphocyte cells. He demands that they be injected into her, to kick-start her immune system against the virus. The doctor warns him that it might not work, and that it might wreck her immune system instead. Myung-Hyun crumples.
A while later, Myung-Hyun, who has calmed down and freshened up in the restroom, receives a call from his team about a new case: a dead infected victim in the Daerim-dong neighbourhood, who had a housemate who cannot be located. This is definitely In-Chul's roomie!Myung-Hyun does not go, but instead visits his wife in quarantine. She has been injected with the T-lymphocyte cells and is a little more stable. She asks him for the truth. He tells her everything, but swears that he will find a way to save her. She cries, one bloody tear. Myung-Hyun presses her for more information, asking for anything that might have happened within the past three days to cause this. At first all she can remember is visiting their daughter, but then another memory hits her. The day before, she was at a convenience store near her home when a young man coughed on her. Her home is in Daerim-dong, and this strikes a chord for Myung-Hyun. The new case his team was contacting him about was in Daerim-dong!
His team calls again to report their findings. The housemate's death was discovered and reported by his girlfriend, who tells the team all about his roommate In-Chul. She knows that In-Chul is sick and makes the connection that it was he who infected the housemate. She tells the team that apparently, X was sold by loan sharks to Hwayoung Medical Center (um, holy crap), but escaped and came to hide. She tells them his current whereabouts, that he's at Gangnam station because he was supposed to meet with the housemate and his hyung.
Myung-Hyun tells them he's coming, and contacts Ji-won, telling her to call in the support team. With Joo-young as his eyes, watching the CCTV footage back at CDC Headquarters, Myung-Hyun heads to Gangnam station.
After receiving Myung-Hyun's order to alert the support team, Ji-won rushes to the CDC office, only to find out that Department Head Sim has just gotten off work. She chases after him, running in front of his car just as he starts to pull out. She begs him to send in the support team and seal off Gangnam station so that they can grab the virus carrier. Department Head Sim makes the call.
Back at the office, Ji-Won and Joo-young scan the CCTV footage of Gangnam station together. They look for In-Chul through the videos, while Team Leader Go and Myung-Hyun patrol Gangnam station by foot. Team Leader Go hands Myung-Hyun the housemate's cell phone, in case In-Chul decides to call.
Finally, Ji-Won locates In-Chul! She directs Myung-Hyun to where he's standing near the public phones. The only problem? There are tons of public phone booths in Gangnam station, and no way for the team to precisely locate the one In-Chul is at.
Meanwhile, the support team is on its way to seal off the station, when suddenly they receive a call from Department Head Sim telling them to withdraw. He made the call to the higher-ups, but Official Do-Jin (the official who kicked up all the fuss back when Myung-Hyun gave his first report on the virus), who was in a clandestine political meeting, gives the order not to send troops in, so as to not give the government a bad image. (To which I can only say: wow. I sure as heck hope that this is an unrealistic representation of the way these things actually work.) So, no back-up for Myung-Hyun and his team. Damn, Show. You're not making it easy for our heroes, are you?
Myung-Hyun doesn't know this, of course, and so he's still frantically searching for the right public phones. Finally, he sees In-Chul! The team confirms, and the fact that the phone in his hand (the roomie's phone) begins ringing is only further proof. He slowly approaches, but In-Chul is alerted by the ringing and whirls around before Myung-Hyun can get close. In-Chul bolts. Myung-Hyun runs right after him, following through the crowds with some help from his team. Team Lead Go also runs after In-Chul. At this time, Myung-Hyun is stopped by a foreigner asking for directions to city hall. Seems like a throwaway scene for now, but this Show doesn't do throwaway scenes--this is confirmed by the preview of next week's episodes, which shows the foreigner being somehow important to their case.
And, as if leaving the team out to dry wasn't bad enough, Official Do-Jin is busy arranging a cover-up of the Hwayoung fire, which is now supposed to have been caused by a gas leak. Their plan is to wait for some other country to announce a pandemic, so South Korea doesn't get labelled as the origin of some deadly virus.
Back in the car, Myung-Hyun is with Team Leader Go when he gets a call from Dr. Kim. His wife's rate of infection is slowing down. Go finds out that the wife is infected, and freaks out. He rages at In-Chul, ranting that he probably doesn't even realize that he effectively killed his friend. This throwaway line stops the pair in their tracks. Lightbulb moment! Myung-Hyun's the first to say it: if he doesn't know his friend is dead, he might decide to head back to their apartment, and so that's where they might be able to find In-Chul. They hurry off, with Ji-won leaving the office to join them at the apartment.
In an attempt to calm In-Chul down, Myung-Hyun tells him he's from CDC, and tosses his badge at the boy to prove it. He tells In-Chul that his friend is dead, and that as long as he's running, he's killing people. He begs In-Chul to let the CDC extract his antibodies. In-Chul is in tears, but nonetheless warns Myung-Hyun: "Don't waste your strength", before running off once again.
Myung-Hyun follows, but is hit by a passing taxi. In-Chul hears and turns around, horrified. Before he can move, however, Ji-Won arrives in her car. Seeing this, In-Chul escapes into a another taxi and leaves the scene. Myung-Hyun moves to run after him. Ji-Won stops him and they have a shouting match in the middle of the street. He insists on following him, while she wants him to go to the hospital and stop being a goddamned hero. He does not listen, and finally she drives away. Team Leader Go pulls up, also worrying over Myung-Hyun. At first, Myung-Hyun approaches. Then he suddenly stops in his tracks. Myung-Hyun and Go stare at each other. His lip is cut open and bleeding from where In-Chul kicked him. He has no mask. He tells Team Leader Go not to go with him. Go rapidly catches on. Could Myung-Hyun have been infected? They turn away from each other in horror.
COMMENTS
I'm fairly sure that this is a false alarm (unless Myung-Hyun, like In-Chul, somehow has antibodies to the virus) since we still have seventeen days until the infection kicks in for Myung-Hyun. Nevertheless, what a way to end the episode.
To be honest, I didn't find this episode as gripping as the first one. The repeated chase sequences got tiring after a while, and so did the political machinations. While I appreciate what the show is going for in terms of bringing realistic policy and bureaucratic issues into the mix, as a student who has studied global health and this type of policy-making, I find the way the show handles these issues heavy-handed and unrealistic. The higher government officials are basically all caricatures, and the flatness of the political conflict detracts from the main story.
However, there were some great moments in this episode as well, particularly between Myung-Hyun and his wife. The acting is in my opinion better than it was in the first episode; I thought Uhm Ki Joon was way too shout-y in the first episode, but was a lot more nuanced and complex in this one. Hopefully the acting will continue to get better as we get more story.
The best part of this show is the story, and although the pacing in this episode wasn't as crisp as in the last one, I'm still eagerly following along. Already, seven days have passed from the twenty-four we were given. Here's hoping for some breakthroughs for our poor team next week.
Episodes Recapped: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
