Early Access: Flower Of Evil E2 (Patreon)

E2. Lee Jun Ki is absolutely showing us a different side to himself that I don't think he's shown us before. Hee Seong can look absolutely soulless at times, and it's quite disconcerting. The fact that he has to practice smiling in the mirror while watching a lecture on it, indicates that he has trouble understanding human emotion. Is this the year of sociopaths or something? Between It's Okay and this show, particularly this episode, I feel like Dramaland is running over with sociopaths.

Given that Hee Seong has to actually learn how to express - and recognize - emotions like happiness, it occurs to me that, 1, he's doing a very impressive job of keeping up his facade, with him being married, and to a detective, no less, and 2, he comes across as almost being a bit of a computer or robot, sometimes. There's a moment this episode where he clocks Ji Won's reaction, and when her level of upset hits a certain point, it seems to trigger a fixed group of behaviors in him, designed - and probably tried and tested - to calm her down and improve her mood.

The casting for younger Hee Seong is really good, particularly when younger Hee Seong smiles. His smile looks just like older Hee Seong's smile, and I can actually believe they are the same person. Great job by the casting director.

We definitely see more of Hee Seong's double life this episode, with him playing the perfect husband and father upstairs, then taking time to taunt his hostage in the basement, when both mother and daughter are out for the day. At this point, though, despite Hee Seong's problematic actions, I want to believe that he's not evil. Based on his conversation with Moo Jin, we learn that Moo Jin had bound, taunted and hurt Hee Seong in the past, and Hee Seong had promised that one day the tables would be turned. A lot of what Hee Seong says and does turn out to be echoes of Moo Jin's words and actions in the past. So, I'm not sure how much to believe what Hee Seong says to Moo Jin, since most of it could be empty threats made as payback.

Also, I wonder how much to trust the flashback of Hee Seong holding the weapon that had killed the village head. Did Hee Seong really have anything to do with it? Or, did he come upon the scene after the murder had taken place? Or, is this a case of faulty memory where events are twisted in the mind?

It's quite disturbing, how Hee Seong teaches Eun Ha the benefits of being viewed as a nice kid; that others won't suspect you when things go wrong. Yikes. Is Eun Ha going to grow up to be some kind of amoral genius, with this kind of guidance? :P

Mostly, it seems that Hee Seong is willing to live quietly under his new identity, unless he's provoked. Moo Jin coming to his workshop basically meant his cover was in danger, which is, I think, why he's kidnapped Moo Jin and is holding him captive. Hee Seong had seemed ready to let his ex-roommate Nam Soon Gil go after their faked telephone interview, until Nam Soon Gil had stated that he was relieved to hear that Do Hyun Soo was dead, because some people are better off dead. That sentence seems to trigger Hee Seong, and it isn't long before we see Nam Soon Gil murdered, with suspicion squarely thrown on Hee Seong, with Show serving up Hee Seong wearing a rain jacket just like the one worn by Nam Soon Gil's attacker. But, this might be a red herring, so let's see.

Who's the person who'd been threatening Nam Soon Gil, though? Nam Soon Gil had thought it was Hyun Soo, but it clearly wasn't. Who's this other dark presence?

So far, I rather like Show's treatment of the case of the day. It functions as an episodic case, and wraps up quite quickly, but there is a link to our main story - and that link, so far, has been handled with quite a light touch. In episode 1, the link was about whether Ji Won would take medicine from her husband, so as not to destroy their life together. This episode, the murderer turns out to be a sociopath with little ability or interest to feel empathy or compassion for others, and she tosses out a line about the possibility of Ji Won having someone like her nearby as well.

Ji Won also shows surprising rogue tendencies, when faced with the sociopathic killer, who tries to poke Ji Won's eyes out with a razor. She takes over the razor and beats the killer up, and then casually instructs the killer to choose how she'd like to die, coz she'll cut the chosen artery accordingly. That's quite unexpected, to me, because Ji Won's been more the by-the-books goody-two-shoes type so far. Perhaps she and Hee Seong both have vigilante justice in common..?

It will definitely be interesting to see Ji Won cross paths with Hee Seong's darker activities. I'm curious to see how that battle of wits would shake out.