Nine: Time Travel – Episode 7 Recap

Recap by EE

This show is really taking the drudgery out of Mondays.  There is not a lot of our couple in this one, but we do get some big reveals and a couple of added twists.  Assumed facts are disputed, loyalties are shifted, and there’s lots of pensive deep looks from Lee Jin Wook.  Mmmm Jin Wookie Looks . . .

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The episode opens in Daddy Park’s office.  It is 10:30 PM on 12/30/1992.  The Nurse/Noona comes in and says a few words to Daddy Park before shutting off the lights at the main desk and locking the front doors.

Back in 2012, Sun Woo is setting his timer and lighting his incense just as Min Young is knocking at his door.  By the second knock, he is already in 1992.  Sun Woo wakes his younger self, covering 1992 Sun Woo’s mouth to keep him from screaming.

He explains how he is Park Sun Woo from the future, and uses his ID as proof.  He tells his younger self the phone is about to ring, and that it will be Young-Hoon saying he cannot make it to the double date/train ride tomorrow.  2012 Sun Woo tells his younger self to offer to spot him the money and make him come, it’s what he did the first time around.

2012 Sun Woo tells 1992 Sun Woo he has one option for getting the money with mom is out of town: Dad.  Since Dad is still at work, Sun Woo explains how he went to the clinic to talk to him and then saw the smoke.  He ran to Dad’s office just as the explosion occurred. He was injured but too late to rescue Dad.  2012 Sun Woo says he is here to save Dad and himself.  He tells 1992 Sun Woo call his Dad at work and tell him that Mom had collapsed, that way he would come back for sure.  1992 Sun Woo repeats the story but stops midway, throwing his comforter over 2012 Sun Woo saying into the phone that it is all lies and there is a stranger in the house.

The two Sun Woos brawl it out a bit and 1992 Sun Woo loses his footing and takes a header against his dresser and the model car on top of it.  He is passed out and bleeding, but I guess 2012 Sun Woo feels okay about it because it still got Daddy Park out of the clinic.  He leaves 1992 Sun Woo with the cordless phone in his hand and goes for the family keys.  Dad hears the scuffle but does not understand what is going on and runs out to check on Sun Woo, hailing a cab. 2012 Sun Woo hops into the family car.  En route to the clinic, he sees Daddy Park headed home in the taxi.

Saving Dad isn’t enough, he needs proof that Choi was involved.  He uses the keys to get into the clinic and Dad’s office where he sets up cameras all around the room.  He’s more than just the pretty face reciting the news, he is an investigative reporter.

Time ticks down as Sun Woo monitors Dad’s office from another room; he phones 1992 Sun Woo.  1992 Sun Woo is still not convinced that this weird ahjussi is his future self so he rattles off a bunch of questions: Where do I go to school? Who do I marry? And why didn’t the world end in 1999? Elder Sun Woo ignores these questions, but tells 1992 Sun Woo it would be pointless to arrest him.  He is only worried about catching Dad’s killer.  He also needs 1992 Sun Woo’s help saving another life, but he promises he will tell him in person.  He gave 1992 Sun Woo back his pager, he will use that to contact him tomorrow.

2012 Sun Woo spots someone crossing the street into the clinic, so he hangs up.  Meanwhile, Daddy Park gets home and tends to his boy’s wound.

Two minutes left in his journey and Sun Woo sees a figure enter Dad’s office . . . . it’s HYUNG!

Meanwhile, Young-Hoon has the story about the unexplained fire at the clinic up on his computer in 2012.  Sun Woo’s travel countdown clicks down to 0 and mystically the online article rolls off the computer screen in a curl of black smoke.  Similarly, in the mausoleum, the month and day on Daddy Park’s urn floats away . . . only to be replaced with 12/31.  The news article floats back on to the computer screen, the same except for the date (12/31) and the time (2AM).  Looks like Sun Woo’s effort only pushed back the events by a few hours.

Sun Woo returns to his 2012 room to a drilling noise and his own addled memories.  Outside the door, Min Young has recruited a locksmith to bust it open.

The locksmith is none too pleased to discover Sun Woo is the owner, and that Min Young doesn’t live there.  He is also not buying her claim that Sun Woo is her uncle.  Sun Woo pays him, and Min Young chases the locksmith as he leaves, trying to explain.  She is about to head back in the front gate when Sun Woo comes out.  She says she will go with him to work, she just needs to go back for her bag.  Once she steps away from the car, he takes off and suggests she take a taxi.

Back in 1992, Sun Woo looks at his future ID.  He also looks at the bloody bandage on his head, which apparently leaves a scar that we now see on 2012 Sun Woo.

Young-Hoon calls Sun Woo and relays what he saw on his screen, the time changed but Daddy Park still dies.  Sun Woo tells him what he now remembers . . . his father got a phone call and went back to the clinic, so Sun Woo ran down there looking for him only to have everything play out again the same way.  Young-Hoon asks if he got the evidence like he planned, didn’t he see something?  Sun Woo thinks back to seeing Hyung in Dad’s office and only says “I don’t know, it is complicated but I still have three hours to fix it.”

Meanwhile, Hyung Jung Woo and his wife are at a dinner party.  Sun Woo calls Hyung, who seems a little excited to get the call.  Sun Woo asks Hyung where he was the night Dad died, was he at the clinic? Hyung says he was with his future wife, watching over her because she was sick.  Sun Woo pushes him, “Are you sure?” Hyung wants to know why he has to know all the sudden, Sun Woo says he just does and hangs up.

As he gets ready for the evening newscast, the intern comes in and gives him a file on Choi Jin Chul’s corrupt activities.  Sun Woo thinks back to Choi insisting that he had nothing to do with his father’s death, and his brother suggesting he was too hard on Choi.  There is also a flashback to the scene of the fire as they are taking Daddy Park’s body away, with the investigators saying the youngest son was being treated for injuries and the oldest son was found at his girlfriend’s house.  Sun Woo also thinks about his sister in law telling him Hyung has had insomnia and was abusing his access to the hospital pharmaceuticals.  And again, he thinks of Hyung the last time he saw him in the original timeline, how he wanted everything to go back to the way it was.  All signs are pointing to Hyung being involved.  It’s moments before the broadcast, but Sun Woo calls Hyung again and demand some truth.

Hyung wisely steps away from the table this time, and wants to know what brings this up all the sudden.  Did Choi say something? “Does Choi have something to say?” asks Sun Woo.  Hyung insists he was with his girlfriend and that he knew nothing until he was paged the following morning.

Sun Woo begins his broadcast with a story about Choi Jin Chul refuting all of the ethics claims brought up by Sun Woo.  He turns the story over to a reporter on the scene and surreptitiously checks his phone since he is no longer on camera.

He has a text from Choi, who noticed that Sun Woo has not confronted him with any evidence linking him to Daddy Park’s murder.  Choi goes on to offer him a little tidbit: when he found Sun Woo’s father at 12:30 AM he was already dead.  It is already 12:10.

Sun Woo gestures to Min Young, who confronted him during the commercial break for making her late to work.  She told him she knows him well enough to know that behind his calm face, he is clearly working on something.  He says he is afraid he made a mistake . . . the mistake of making Joo Min Young into Park Min Young.  This means nothing to her, and he mocks her confused expression.  “You have a reporter’s intuition,” he snipes,  “but you lack the intelligence to follow through.”  Once he received the text, he waves her back over to the anchor desk and tells her to finish the broadcast.  He shouts to the control room there is a substitute anchor and hands over his earpiece.  The interns scuttle to get her camera ready as he flees the building.

He drives toward the former clinic like a madman, running lights and working the horn like he’s making the beat to a dance remix.

Meanwhile we get a flashback to 1992, with Hyung waiting in Daddy Park’s office.  It looks like he is the one who called Daddy Park back to the clinic.  Hyung asks about Sun Woo, Dad says it was nothing but a nightmare and that Sun Woo bumped his head but he will be fine. We see a shot of Dad’s office from the monitor’s point of view.  Does this mean Sun Woo’s cameras have been recording all this time?

Dad asks if Hyung was with “that woman,” which Hyung confirms.  He says he plans to marry Yoo Jin, with or without his father’s blessing.  He goes on to say he will quit the clinic, he doesn’t feel he has the skills worthy of inheriting the family business.  Dad seemed displeased about the girlfriend before, but this clearly brings him into rage country.  We see Dad throw the papers off his desk.  “Who do you think you are? How do you think this was yours to surrender? If I give this to anyone, it would be Sun Woo!”

Mom walks in the room.  She came because she thought they would fight and she had warned Hyung/Jung Woo that it was not the right time to his father.  But then Daddy Park said “Whose father? You brought in someone else’s child!”  This is clearly news to Hyung.

Sun Woo enters the clinic and hears mom scream “Stop it!”.  He runs to Dad’s office, but it is too late.  Dad is on the floor in a pool of blood and Hyung has blood running down the side of his face and literal blood on his hands. Hyung barrels over Sun Woo and runs out of the clinic.   Mom sputters that it wasn’t his fault, he tripped (and I am relying on subs here, it is unclear if she means Jung Woo tripped or Dad tripped.)  Sun Woo is checking for a pulse as she says this and he takes off after Hyung.

Hyung is scrambling through the clinic parking lot and barely avoids being hit by Choi Jin Chul’s car.  Choi can see the blood in the headlights and Hyung goes running off while Choi runs inside.  He finds Mom about to call 911.  She tells Choi it was an accident, and that her husband just needs surgery.  Choi removes his hand from Daddy Park’s neck, he knows he is gone.  He gets mom to hang up and an evil little smirk spreads across his face.

Down the street, Hyung is making a run for it with Sun Woo right behind him.  He is ducking down alley ways but still can’t shake Sun Woo, who kinda looks like one of the Men in Black chasing down alien bad guys wearing his anchorman dark suit.  Hyung takes a wrong turn and ends up at a dead end.  Sun Woo has him by the collar, Hyung’s head is down but then the incense time runs out: Park Sun Woo vanishes.  He is back in his car, with a pile of ash on his console.

EE’s Sum up

It looks like Sun Woo has a few things going for him if he can still get to those cameras/any footage they recorded.  And he has 5 more sticks left to make adjustments. And heeey, if Jung Woo is only kinda sorta half way his brother, that makes Min Young only kinda sorta a quarter of the way his niece, right? I mean, he isn’t fully absolved from hanging with branches from the family tree but he is chipping away at it.  Now we know that Choi knows the family secret, it makes more sense that Hyung fled the country.  And as far as holding Hyung accountable for what might have been an accident (Sun Woo certainly doesn’t have the facts . . .yet) Sun Woo might need to be told that the kettle called,  and she said “Guess what? You’re black!” Sun Woo practically did the same thing TO HIMSELF by tossing his face into that dresser with the big heavy metal model car on it.  And he really should be worried about his face, it’s his money maker.  And on a totally unrelated subject, does anyone else wish Lee Jin Wook was time traveling sans accoutrements like The Terminator? Just landing places all crouching and in the buff? It’s just me? Alright then.

Jomo’s Comments

Notes while watching: Hurry up!  Awesome!    OMG!     Holy sh^!    What?!  Really?!    Holy holy holy! OMG!   (Closes eyes.)  *Wincing*     Holy sh^t!       Hurry up!     OMG!  What a great freaking show!

I think it is interesting the alleged evil Choi stays true to his alleged evil nature. OK, so we know now he didn’t kill Director Dad, but he certainly wasn’t all that broke up about it as a BFF would be, or a brother, as he claimed to Sun-woo.

It doesn’t appear that our hero is in control, or actually “thinking” or “reasoning,” just reacting.  He almost killed himself at least three times!   (Speaking of which, did anyone notice if LJW had that scar on his forehead already, and it was kept covered? I guess I’ll have to go back and study more photos of him…Geez, the things I do for you.)

This episode gave me a very film noir vibe, and I love film noir vibes. Ticking clocks, shadows, dun-dun-duuuun reveals, alleyway chases, handsome men who wear dark suits to go out and buy beer – all that is missing for LJW is the fedora. It always exhausted me, the reader or viewer, imagining the hero slugging it out, running everywhere, tending to wounds while never sleeping. I can’t imagine how it feels to do this with a brain tumor.

I laughed when he told Young-hoon he found out something “unexpected.” Really? Just one thing?  I keep expecting to see this character’s confidence crumble, but so far he just keeps going and going and going no matter what. Hmmm…maybe I am misinterpreting his actions. Could it be that he feels he has nothing to lose?  Still, if he wants to save everyone, he will need to hit the pause button.

I have no idea how this mess is going to get cleared up before the rest of his sticks are gone, but I am strapped in for the very bumpy ride ahead.