Murder Notice
Episode 8 of Blind begins in the past once more, with a shaman out in the woods, banging a drum and calling forth the spirits. When all the candles go out, it’s not a spirit that shows but Crazy Dog and his men, who appear with the boys, stopping them from their escape. The kids plead with her for help. She points at Moon-Kang with shaking fingers, telling him he needs to kill that kid (Sung-Joon) otherwise he’ll die. In the present, another victim shows up at the wedding, with the jury members in attendance questioning just who could be responsible. Detective Na is brought in to view the CCTV footage in the middle of questioning them. There, they see Tae-Ho limp out the room. Now, Sung-Joon was there too and tried to track Tae-Ho on the stairwell, watching as he head down to the parking lot…where he lost him. According to Sung-Joon, Sung-Hoon was also at the wedding reception too, but his brother narrows his gaze incredulously and tells him he wasn’t. As the two butt heads over the right way to investigate, Eun-Ki shows up and gives them a reality check. A woman is dead and the pair are bickering like children. Eventually the trio do work together, trying to trace the whereabouts of Tae-Ho. He’s a pretty erratic guy though, having moved across the country in the past and with a list of previous abodes. While Eun-Ki works her way down the list, Sung-Joon and Sung-Hoon head out together. There, they get talking to a lady who confirms that Tae-Ho actually hurt his leg by saving a pregnant woman from a speeding truck. Tae-Ho had actually been building a home for single mums in the neighbourhood; a shelter to help them all come together. That certainly doesn’t seem like a man who’s out killing people and as expected, he’s actually a red herring. Interestingly, Sung-Joon starts having weird flashes to the past, including images of a child falling. While the two guys continue on the road, Eun-Ki rings round but desn’t get far, beyond one of the callers claiming that he stayed at “Hope… somewhere”. She tells the others what she’s found out, including that Tae-Ho was lonely and seems like a good person. Unfortunately, this is all but confirmed when we cut to Tae-Ho himself, who happens to be under a bridge. He looks up and calls out for Yoon-Jae, as a hooded figure shows. The next day, Eun-Ki receives a tip-off that Detective Kang is on his way over. Yu-na is also there too and she catches a glimpse of Sung-Joon. She calls out Sung-Joon for being a serial murderer but promises not to report him… in exchange for a reward. When Kang does show up, he finds Eun-Ki teaching Yu-Na and Sung-Joon hiding. He’s not found, thankfully, but it’s definitely touch and go for a while. In the morning, Sung-Hoon receives a message from an unknown number. He’s encouraged to join a big survival game and has 24 hours to get to work. This is also sent to the other people from the jury, along with Sung-Joon. All of them are told to try and save Tae-Ho, where a video of him tied up and with a timer in the background shows just how desperate this is. All of them are desperate in fact, trying to work out details from this video. Sung-Hoon knows the guy can’t be tracked by his IP address (as evidenced by the police showing up at an internet cafe and finding nothing). Instead, they check the audio and notice a church bell ringing in the background. Sung-Joon thinks it’s an indication that Mr Choi is involved but Sung-Hoon is not so sure. He believes the hunch is false but we’ve seen thee two butt heads across the season about this differing style of police work. Anyway, Sung-Joon eventually shows up with Eun-Ki where they find a man hanging from the rafters. Only…it’s not a man. It’s actually a mannequin. It’s a nice try but it seems like the killer is one step ahead and knows all of Sung-Joon’s moves. Meanwhile, the police trace Tae-Ho’s phone and find it in an open grave with skeletal remains. Defeated, Sung-Joon and Eun-Ki head back to the hideout where they lament that this killer is playing with both the cops and Sung-Joon’s team. When they check the footage, Tae-Ho speaks up and admits he was the one who told Crazy Dog about the plan for leaving. He didn’t know Number 24 would die. Since then he hasn’t been able to sleep peacefully, wracked with guilt. Tae-Ho has resigned himself to his death and apologizes, sobbing into the camera. However, one of the blackout curtains drops in the background, revealing a wall. It’s familiar to both Sung-Joon and Bae Chul-Ho. The latter takes his camera into the bathroom and begins sobbing. Sung-Joon heads over to see his parents, wanting to know where they picked him up from but they refuse to answer. Thankfully, Eun-Ki finds the information needed through Manager An, with an address for the orphanage. Sung-Joon shows up alone and notices the sign for Hope Welfare Center on the front. He begins experiencing flashes to the past, but he also finds the hooded figure too as he heads in deeper. Sung-Joon follows this unknown assailant through the darkened hallways… until he’s injected with a syringe from behind. Groggy and struggling to remain conscious, he eventually collapses on the floor, just as the timer runs out and Tae-Ho is killed.
The Episode Review
The mystery continues to deepen as we see Sung-Joon and the others receive a big message about Tae-Ho’s impending doom. We’ve thought for a while that Tae-Ho would be a red herring, with the whole limp being a bluff, and it seems that is now the case. Unless, of course, there are more than one of these kids from Hope Welfare Center working together. That’s always a possibility and it could explain what’s been happening, along with the limped figure too. All the while this is going on, the police are given the run-around, which seems to indicate that someone aware of how the police operate is at least involved. However, we do find out that Tae-Ho was the one who ratted out the kids in the past, which is a nice inclusion. Ultimately though, this episode works to flesh out more of this case and keep the mystery running. Judging by that ending, it would seem that next week’s double bill is going to be an absolute must-watch!
