The Makeshift Prison
While this week’s episode was still a little slow, the ending did finally bring the story forward a bit. This weekend’s episodes undoubtedly feel like fillers though as we still don’t know a lot about the murders and a lot of questions remain unanswered. Episode 8 of Missing: The Other Side starts with Thomas cutting the hair of his prisoner and acting very aggressively towards him. We then cut to where the last episode left off with Kim Wook and Yeo Na finding the man chained to the bed. He begs them to help and tells them that he is alive. Wook takes Yeo-Na out of there quickly, worrying about her reaction. Wook rushes over to Pan Seok to tell him about his findings and the two head over to the cafe to speak to Thomas. The latter reveals that his name is Hwang Du Cheol, an evil man and that he also has other criminals locked up there. He doesn’t wants them to roam free and explains that Cheol used his gift to con the families of the villagers. After Kim Wook and Yeo-Na leave, Pan Seok speaks to Thomas and asks him why he didn’t seek his help as he would have reported the man to the police. Thomas replies that he is alone and that everyone around him are passer-by’s. Pan Seok is disappointed as he thought they were friends. The next day, Pan Seok takes Park to the make-shift prison. When they enter Cheol’s room, Park sees red as he recognizes him. He is the one who took all his mother’s money in exchange for finding her son, which in turn caused her to die of stress. Meanwhile, Jun-Ho returns to see the chairwoman. She gives him a copy of her will and in it are the names of the three people she will leave all her assets to if she doesn’t find her grandchild. She explains that she originally thought her daughter had a miscarriage, but she recently found her diary and it looked like she may have had the child. She is also starting to believe that her death may not be accidental and asks him to get to the bottom of things. In the village, a meeting is taking place in the cafe and many are not happy about what Thomas has done. Hyun-Mi defends him though then heads to speak with Pan-Seok. The latter tells her that the police is looking for Jang-Mi so they decide to talk to her. She reveals that she hid some evidence of her abuse and killer, but also admits that she doesn’t want to be found because she likes to be around the villagers. Later in the day, Pan Seok decides to go looking for the evidence Jang-Mi hid. He seeks the help of Wook and Jong-A and the three dress up for their task. Jong-A heads into the women’s toilet of the hotel and finds the flash drive Jang-Mi hid. Within that, she sees a footage of a man beating her up and as she leaves the bathroom, finds herself face to face with that same abuser. He tried to chat her up but she pushes him away and the two others come to her rescue. In the police station, Il Doo is determined to uncover the other murders Myung-Jin has committed and looks into other missing persons cases in the area. In the village, Yeo-Na visits Cheol who proves to her he is alive by making her stab him. He tries to defend himself by saying he has only been helping people so this gives her an idea and decides to let him go free. Meanwhile, Kim Wook and Jun-Ho meet to discuss what they have learned. When Wook mentions his mother disappearing a few days after the chairwoman’s daughter, Jun-Ho reveals that she may have been murdered. After showing him a picture, he also explains the connection between the murders and the disappearance of Yeo Na. Outside, Jun-Ho receives a call from Cheol who tells him he has information on Yeo-Na but wants him to pay him 50,000 dollars first. Jun Ho doesn’t believe him though so Cheol reveals information Yeo-Na told him. The latter then rushes over to the station to relay the call he just had. In the village, Pan Seok tells Hyun Mi that he has found the evidence Jang-Mi hid but he hasn’t given it to the police yet as he can’t forget what she said. Hyun-Mi replies that she will have to go eventually then asks if he knows how Wook ended up there. Pan Seok remains vague though and quickly leaves. In the evening, Jong-A relays to Wook what she has learned about Pan Seok and his missing daughter. His wife killed herself a few years after and he spent all his money looking for her. She then leaves but when she reaches the car park, Manager Wang’s men grab her and kidnap the woman. Later on, Wook gets a call from Manager Wang who reveals that he has Jong-A. Wook quickly calls Jun-Ho to ask for his help but the latter can’t come as he is meeting someone who knows about Yeo-Na. Wook tells him he understands but that they should look for the living first. Jun-Ho asks him to explain so Wook reveals that Yeo-Na is dead. Jun-Ho is shocked by Wook’s claims and hangs up, not really believing him. He then heads back to the room where his colleagues are ready to track Cheol. The latter calls Jun-Ho and the police manage to find his whereabouts. At the same time, Wook reaches Jong-A and creates a diversion which allows him to free her. She manages to escape but Wook is cornered by Wang’s men who knock him over. In a flashback, we see a young Wook going down the stairs and finding Yeo-Soon surrounded by a pool of blood. She was looking at him with tears in her eyes and he saw a strange man, probably her killer, standing over her.
The Episode Review
The ending of the episode was definitely quite tense as Manager Wang finally makes his move towards Wook. While the latter seems in trouble, he also remembers a crucial bit of information about Soo-Young. He was there the day she got killed. Also, I couldn’t help but wonder about the look in her eyes before she died. She seems to look at Wook with a very loving and sad gaze. Is she actually his biological mother? We know that she had an accident which left her disabled, so perhaps she gave up her child and Hyun-Mi ended up raising him? I do hope we will get answers to all the questions and mysteries for this series as it has the potential to be one of the better mystery series this year. While this week delivers a slower set of episodes, hopefully the next two will pick up the pace.
