The Broken Robot
Missing : The Other Side feels like a supernatural blend of Hotel Del Luna and Mystic Pop-Up Bar. However, it has its own original premise that already has me hooked after two episodes. The drama manages to bring enough suspense and heartbreaking scenes already as we follow the story of our main and secondary characters. With a split focus between the living and after-life worlds, Missing is shaping up to be quite the promising series. Episode 2 of Missing : The Other Side starts in a highway construction site as the workers find a skeleton buried underground. Back at Duon village, Byeong-Un disappears in front of Kim Wook and Pan-Seok. Kim is in shock and asks Ha-Neul and the other villagers if they are all really dead. Hyun-Mi berates him for all the trouble he has been causing and tells him that every death comes with a story. Meanwhile at the police station, the detectives listen to the call from Kim Wook. He claims to having found the missing boy, Ha-Neul. He mentions a scar on his wrist which surprises the detective as no one knew about it. Back in the village, Pan-Seok confirms to Kim Wook that the residents of the village are indeed dead. As fate would have it, no one knows where their bodies are. Kim Wook is having a hard time believing him though, especially when he mentions that the living are not able to see the village. Joon-Ho’s investigation leads him and his team to a suspect in the murder case and an arrest is made. In the station, he gets asked by his boss to go and help the Missing Persons Squad as they have a suspect in Ha-Neul’s missing case. He quickly reports to Lim Wan-Sik and Baek Il-Do with whom he studies the CCTV footage of the bus with Kim Wook calling the police. Joon-Ho of course recognizes him and is surprised to find the man waiting in the reception of the station. Joon-Ho and Baek Il-Do interrogate him on the whereabouts of Ha-Neul. Unfortunately they don’t get very far as they learn there’s no known village at the place he points out. He then takes the detectives into the forest and shows them the village on the horizon. Of course, they are not able to see anything. They head to Pan-Seok’s house next but the man tells Baek that Kim is out of his mind and needs to check himself into a hospital. Back in the station, the detectives finds out that Kim Wook’s alibi checks out. Joon-Ho lets him go and Kim Sook returns to his business partners, Jong-Ah and Nam Kook, who are relieved to see him. During the night, the same thugs breaks in and come looking for Kim Wook. He calls the police soon after who promise to investigate. Feeling like his work is done, he heads out with Nam Kook for drinks and the two reminisce over their times in the orphanage. On their way home, they see the thugs again so Kim Wook decides to leave his friend and pay Pan-Seok another visit. At the edge of the village, the two men discuss their ability to see the missing people. Pan-Seok comes to the conclusion that they must hold some important grudges to allow them to have this vision. The next day, Kim heads out to the village. When he tries to take a picture of the inn, he can only see trees and bushes on his screen. He walks inside and speaks to Cha who confirms that the people stay there until their bodies are found. Once they are, they disappear in silence. Meanwhile the body of school girl Eun-Ji is found in the forest by Pan-Seok. He performs a ritual by burning a page of his book and we see the girl disappearing from the village. Kim Wook wants to see Ha-Neul as he feels sad that his life was over so soon. Cha tells him that being in the village doesn’t mean they can’t have a life while they are there. In the police station, Joon Ho wonders why Ha-Neul’s mother didn’t report the boy’s injury. At the same time, Kim Wook learns from Ha-Neul that he ran away after his stepdad got angry over him breaking a toy. The little boy shows him his backpack which contains a plastic robot figure with blood on it. He later finds a book with all the missing people’s names amongst Pan-Seok’s things. It turns out the dead bring the items they had in their possession when they die. The next day, Kim seeks Jong-Ah’s help to find out more about the robot figure. He then finds a person claiming to have a broken one and decides to post an ad stating he’s willing to pay for toy parts. In doing so this could be the key to finding Ha-Neul’s body. This works too as he soon gets a message from the suspect, Ahn Jin Ho, to arrange a meeting. He sends Pan-Seok in his stead while he calls Joon Ho, claiming to know who killed Ha-Neul. Kim walks with the little boy towards the meeting point with Joon Ho. The detective is waiting with Ha-Neul’s mother while Pan-Seok is following Jin-Ho. They’re heading to a building where Ha-Neul’s backpack and body is hidden. As Kim Wook takes Ha-Neul towards his mother, the little boy runs happily towards his mum and slowly disappears as his body is found. Kim Wook then walks towards the mother and repeats the words the little boy left for his mother. Ha-Neul’s stepdad, Ahn Jin-Ho, is then arrested while Kim Wook goes back to spend the night in Pan-Seok’s house. In the morning, Joon Ho visits Kim Wook and talks to him about his involvement in finding Ha-Neul’s body. Kim Wook remains vague and as he walks away, a young girl from the village stops when she sees Joon Ho. Kim Wook recognizes her as the girl he saw being kidnapped. Suddenly, she runs towards Joon Ho and tries to get him to stop. Unfortunately, the man isn’t able to see her.
The Episode Review
The second episode brings another thrilling chapter as Kim Wook works hard to solve the murder of poor Ha-Neul. With enough tension, mystery and drama, Missing: The Other side has all the right ingredients to be a sure-fire hit for OCN. There are plenty more interesting stories to discover I am sure in the weeks to come as Kim Wook is set to be the man to help these missing people. The episode also ended with quite the cliffhanger too with Joon-Ho’s fiancee, who appears to be dead, running after him. What happened to her? I can imagine that this will be one of the main storylines going forward. However, there’s also the mystery surrounding Kim’s mother too. There’s lots to chew over for the week and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
