Cried
Episode 4 of Beyond Evil begins with the police investigating this warehouse while Dong-Sik sits in the back of a police car awaiting his fate. While he does, trouble brews at the police station as news of Dong-Sik’s arrest breaks. Someone seems to have leaked this information. The Violent Crimes Department catch wind and happen to be the ones to hastily arrest the man. With reporters desperate to catch a glimpse of him, Ji-Hwa tries to bring Dong-Sik in while avoiding suspicions. Dong-Sik however, removes his blanket to show the reporters that they’ve all arrested a police officer. That same creepy smile crosses his face as Ji-Hwa scrambles to take him down to the basement. Meanwhile, Joo-Won heads up to Munju Police Station and wants to watch Dong-Sik’s interview. He simply mentions Lieutenant Han, and specifically his phone. After though, he mentions noodles in a black bag he was holding. Knowing that it’s illegal to light these up in the mountains, he matter-of-0factly claims to have eaten these raw. Joo-Won believes all of this is a big show, as Dong-Sik admits that the police will come under fire for arresting Dong-Sik without a warrant. He continue to repeat the same mantra about noodles, claiming he went hiking to clear his head – something that doesnt deviate from his usual routine. Ji-Hwa brings up the blood found in his basement and how it belongs to Min-Jung. Specifically, she mentions the bleach situation and why it was found in his basement. Dong-Sik hits back though, claiming that even using bleach like that would have left residue of blood around. The subject of the security camera is a curious thing too, especially as Dong-Sik installed it before thoroughly cleaning the basement. But yet, why leave just one drop of blood on the side? Something clearly doesn’t add up here. Joo-Won deliberates over these facts and believes Dong-Sik may have chopped off Min-Jung’s fingers elsewhere before transporting her. Specifically, at the butchers. A search warrant is issued and police swarm the area. On the back of this, Joo-Won finds himself pelted with eggs by Jae-Yi who’s obvious not happy about her shop being searched. She claims Dong-Sik is innocent and that Joo-Won is doing all of this just to put a show on. Just before he leaves, Joo-Won tells her that he’ll figure out all the secrets being held – even if that means investigating her too. At the substation, Joo-Won returns and starts washing the egg off his uniform. While he does, Chief Nam shows and confirms that he’s not approved his leave of absence and as such, needs to continue working. Outside, Ji-Hoon hoses down Joo-Won’s car for him. He claims there’s something he doesn’t know and immediately snaps. He coldly mentions how he’s messed with people in this town that are stuck here. There’s something pretty unnerving with the way he says this before snapping back to his cheery, innocent demeanor. We’ll have to wait and see if he’s actually a suspect or not. The blood sample from Dong-Sik’s workbench comes back and it turns out the DNA doesn’t match Min-Jung’s. Because of this – and Joo-Won’s hastiness to arrest him – the police force have been disgraced. Kwon Hyeok berates Joo-Won’s foolishness too, admitting that he’s going to help clean this up with the superintendent. When he walks away, a wry smile crosses his lips. Oh no, is this another possible suspect?! The list continues to grow… The blood in question happens to belong to a woman named Han Jeong-Im. This same person is on a missing person poster up at Dong-Sik’s basement and has a number correlating to the butcher shop. This, as we soon see, confirms that Jae-Yi has a personal stake in this ongoing serial case. Joo-Won heads in to see Dong-Sik at the station and deduces that he gets closer to his victims before killings them. There is, of course, no evidence of this but Joo-Won remains determined to follow this lead through. When he leaves, Jin-Mook arrives to see Dong-Sik at prison with food for him. He tells Jin-Mook not to skip his meals and to sleep well, eventually leaving to head back to his cell. On the back of this, and a petition asking for Dong-Sik to be released, Ji-Hwa leads the charge and asks the Station Chief Jung Cheol-Mun to let him go. Jung-Je suddenly shows up and claims he made a mistake. He confirms that the night Min-Jung went missing Dong-Sik was actually with him, giving an alibi to Dong-Sik’s actions. Ji-Hwa takes him aside though and asks just what he’s doing. Well, aside from being his best friend, he suspects he would have heard the front door squeak open given how loud it is. Ji-Hwa is not sure this is a good idea, claiming he’s doing the same now as he did 20 years back. Meanwhile, Councilwoman Do, Superintendent Han and Chairman Chang-Jin all discuss the case. Specifically, Chang-Jin wants Munju police to help with his upcoming development project. In doing so, this could take the attention away from the current developments with the police. That evening, Dong-Sik is released thanks to Jung-Je’s statement. Joo-Won keeps tabs on him though, as Dong-Sik shows at the restaurant and immediately finds himself berated by the restaurant owner. She throws salt on him and tells the man to leave. Nonchalantly, Dong-Sik walks away. He even chuckles too – an action that Joo-Won sees and wonders just what he’s doing. When Dong-Sik eventually arrives at the butcher’s, he notices a police report break. Well, this news regarding Min-Jung claims that she’s an escort and notorious for sleeping with clients. Various different people have statement relating to her too, prompting Dong-Sik to suddenly burst into maniacal laughter. The others are pretty surprised by this outburst, but so too is Joo-Won who follows Dong-Sik back home and listens as he starts apologizing and weeping. Dong-Sik knows Joo-Won has snuck inside though and encourages him to show his face. Honestly, how many times has Joo-Won just wandered into his house?! Anyway, Joo-Won holds a gun to Dong-Sik’s head and asks him about the murders. Dong-Sik shrugs this threat off, telling him that anything said under duress won’t hold up in court. Besides, he has a solid alibi. Dong-Sik turns the conversation around though and calls Joo-Won out for the planted burner phone and using Lee Geum-Hwa against him. Joo-Won walks out, shocked and trying to comprehend what he’s just heard. Well, Joo-Won eventually heads on TV and claims that they have a serial murderer on their hands. After, this public statement, Joo-Won heads back to see Dong-Sik and asks about his words from before. Specifically, Joo-Won centers on Dong-Sik telling him he doesn’t want to know who the killer is. This seems to hint that Dong-Sik is protecting someone…but who? Meanwhile, Ji-Hwa confronts Ji-Hoon back home with security camera footage from the internet café. It turns out he tipped off the police as he wanted Dong-Sik to be a suspect. As we see flashes from that night, we see Ji-Hoon walking toward Min-Jung with a smile on his face. Is Ji-Hoon the real killer?
The Episode Review
Beyond Evil delivers another excellent episode, one with plenty of drama and drip-fed reveals across this hour. There’s a lot to unpack and plenty of possible suspects too. We still aren’t seeing everything from the past either and it’s clear that Joo-Won has some sort of agenda against Dong-Sik. The whole charade with the basement is an interesting one, especially given the single spatter of blood. It seems like Dong-Sik planted all of this just to get some revenge on the police and possibly make them look foolish – retribution for arresting him without a warrant and making him a suspect in the past, perhaps? There’s also a lot more likely suspects coming forward this episode too. Jung-Je is clearly hiding things, with a history of lying to the police. Ji-Hwa definitely knows more than she’s letting on while Ji-Hoon has been acting very shadily this episode, crescendoing in that shocking reveal at the end. Mental health is a big aspect of this drama and Dong-Sik clearly has nervous ticks that crop up in the form of his maniacal laughter. I still think this is a trigger for his previous stress and issues he’s faced with Yu-Yeon’s disappearance. Jin-Mook is also suffering too, but you certainly can’t rule him out – especially after the comments regarding lining everything up perfectly. Cold this be to do with the fingers? Beyond Evil may have started a bit slow but these episodes are just getting better and better as time passes. This is shaping up to be one of the better Korean dramas this year and the door is left wide open for the rest of the season. Roll on the next episode!
