Summary
Considering the strong start to this k-drama series, episode 7 plays with the overarching plot too much, forcing the audience to go round in circles rather than making any progress.
This recap of the Netflix K-drama series The Uncanny Counter Season 1 Episode 7 contains significant spoilers.
We will be recapping this weekly — check out the archive.
The opening
There’s plenty of plot explanation in episode 7, but it never really progresses it. Let’s hope this isn’t a pattern like Private Lives.
Episode 7 opens with Noh Chang-yu in a diner with the two girls that Ha-na helped previously. He wants to know why they were with Ga Mo-tak. The two girls are understandably scared.
A father and son spat
And then it flits back to the scene with Sang-pil trying to kill his son Cheong-sin, but there’s a strange energy stopping him. The gun turns back on Sang-pil, a power overcoming him. Sang-pil kills himself. The next day, Cheong-sin is in a car scrap yard, crushing the car his father was in. This evil spirit is not about holding back at all. It is brutal.
Fighting in a memory
The scene flits to the memory that So Mun and Ha-na are stuck in; for some reason, Cheong-sin can see Ha-na, and she’s frightened. So Mun tries fighting him, and then they both disappear and teleport to another location in the real world.
READ: K-Drama Shows like The Uncanny Counter
So Mun then manages to return to the memory where Ha-na is, and the fighting continues. Ha-na takes herself out of the memory and tries to wake So Mun up. Eventually, they both manage to leave. Cheong-sin is now angrier than ever. The story is clearly dragging this evil spirit storyline out for a reason — maybe it is a level 4? The characters fear ever meeting one.
Ga Mo-tak has more information
So Mun and Ha-na return and tell the other Counters that the evil spirit that killed Cheol-jung has So Mun’s parents’ souls. Ms Chu is sympathetic and gives So Mun a hug; he had to relive his parents dying all over again.
So Mun tells Ga Mo-tak that before the accident, his father always talked about “seeing it until the end” when he heard an election update regarding Shin Myeong-hwi winning mayor — he turned off the radio after the announcement. Ga Mo-tak states that Kim Yeong-nim went missing during the campaign — he also raises how Jeon Gi-hwan, the President of the mayor’s campaign, has been murdered. Episode 1 coaxes itself in conspiracies, but it is just chitter-chatter at this point with no real purpose.
The drawing
Ga Mo-tak sends a drawing of Cheong-sin and asks if it is the man she saw. It’s him. They are after the same person. Kim Jeong-yeong tells Ga Mo-tak that the chief has been doing his best to cover cases. Meanwhile, So Mun remembers where he fought Cheong-sin — he recognised the place as a junkyard. The Counters head to the junkyard in question. They scope the place out. Kim Jeong-yeong arrives and tells So Mun not to tamper with the evidence.
The Counters and Kim Jeong-yeong then find Sang-pil’s dead body and Jeong-yeong has no choice but to report the murder.
Ha-na has a past with Song Man-ho
On the news, Song Man-ho is released from police custody — he was suspected for murder. Ha-na watches the news and then experiences a flashback; her uncle is Song Man-ho — she asked for financial help off her uncle when younger. Her younger self left the office with small cash, and she cried.
Turning up at the noodle cafe
Noh Chang-yu and his gang turn up at the noodle cafe all with baseball bats and metal tubes just as the Counters were talking about Taesin Group. Ms Chu embarrasses Noh Chang-yu in front of the gang with her super-strength. Afterwards, there is talk that they have to kill Ga Mo-tak because of the “reservoir”. The Counters discuss what “reservoir” could mean.
The ending
While out for a run, Ha-na stops So Mun. She warns him that Cheong-sin knows his name. So Mun says he is waiting for Cheong-sin to turn up, but Ha-na doesn’t want him to be rash. She’s noticed that So Mun is understandably emotional about the situation and will want revenge for his parents.
As the Counters are in the car, Ha-na senses her uncle — he’s now a level two evil spirit. She can see her uncle attacking someone. As they drive to his location, a truck hits them on purpose and then rams into their vehicle repeatedly. Noh Chang-yu leaves the truck, and he believes he has killed the Counters. But, all the Counters leave the vehicle and face him.
Considering the strong start to this k-drama series, The Uncanny Counter episode 7 plays with the overarching plot too much, forcing the audience to go round in circles rather than making any progress.
Additional points
- Mayor Shin Myeong-hwi is asked why he doesn’t put himself in the race for the presidential election. He’s also asked to distance himself from Taesin Group.
- Cheong-sin threatens a store clerk — he then walks passed Shin Hyeok-u and senses something.
