Two Episodes of Poor Defense

I’m officially frustrated with Eonii’s gang. Like officially.

Episodes 5 and 6 of The Uncanny Counter focus on building Mr. Ma’s rage so that he accepts the demon that has entered his body and makes a kill. So let’s just cut to the chase:

Mr. Ma accepts the demon, makes a kill, and becomes evil.

For all episode 5, The Evil Duo, consisting of Gelly and Pil-Gwang, spends the entire episode goading Mr. Ma to accept the evil spirit inside of him. I think Mr. Ma is resisting the spirit mainly because he thinks he has lost his mind and is just hearing voices. 

When Pil-Gwang shows up at the courthouse, he has no plan for Mr. Ma. He is just trying to figure out how to use Mr. Ma, knowing that Mr. Ma is connected to his number one op, So Mun. But once he realizes that an evil spirit possesses Mr. Ma, the wheels immediately begin turning. Using Mr. Ma is actually going to be a lot more fun than he initially realized.

Now, here is where my irritation immediately started to ratchet up with the Counters. How is it that Counters cannot sense evil in a better way? But I guess the show follows the old saying, “It takes one to know one.” Since the Counters are not evil, they can’t just see a person and call out the evil. 

After telling the court he wishes he could have killed Seong Uk, Mun and Mo-Tak are distraught. This is just not the Mr. Ma they know, despair and all. Except, they’ve actually never seen Mr. Ma in true despair, so they really have no litmus on how Mr. Ma would react. Nonetheless, no one has figured out that he is possessed. 

On the other side of town,  Pil-Gwang has decided to pull out all the stops. Gelly can’t sense it, but Pil-Gwang realizes Mr. Ma is extremely powerful. Without even fully accepting the evil spirit, Mr. Ma is giving off level three evil spirit vibes. Once he fully taps into that power, he could be unstoppable, and that is just the level of power Pil-Gwang needs to eat So Mun’s soul.

Pil-Gwang visits Mr. Ma after the courthouse debacle and tells Mr. Ma that he should accept whatever is in him to find the truth about his wife’s murder. Pil-Gwang even offers that he knows the truth, but it is best for Mr. Ma to accept the evil spirit and find out on his own.

Mr. Ma is unconvinced, so Pil-Gwang and crazy Gelly, break into the prison and beat Mr. Ma up to show him what access to that physical power can do, that he could be on Pil-Gwang’s level if he just gives into that rage and desire for revenge inside of him. He is not doing right by his wife, and “Treasure” not following through with revenge. Pil-Gwang knocks Mr. Ma out. In his comatose state, he accepts the evil spirit.

 When Mr. Ma wakes up, he is taunted by three men in the prison hospital ward. It should be noted here that these three men have been bullying Mr. Ma since he walked into the prison. And apparently are doing Gelly’s bidding to push Mr. Ma over the edge. They do. Mr. Ma gets tired of the despicable things these men are saying about his dead wife, and he knocks them all out and breaks out of prison.

And I will say this is a well-written scene here. As Mun is dropping off a care package that Mr. Ma’s mother made for him and is leaving the prison, he hears the sirens go off, and just in time to see Mr. Ma jump over the prison wall. 

Now episode 6 is the battle of good vs. evil through the soul of Mr. Ma. The Counters want to prevent him from killing. Despite his escape from prison and even after an attack on several police officers looking for him, Mr. Ma has not killed anyone yet, even Seong Uk, his target. 

And this tantalizes Pil-Gwang and confuses the Counters. The strength he showed in his prison break and attack on police officers is the strength of a Level Three evil spirit, which is usually a spirit that has killed and eaten the souls of many victims. Neither side knows what will happen if Mr. Ma does kill.

But, as I said in the beginning, Mr. Ma does kill Seong Uk and eats his soul.

I have complaints.

It’s like the Counters are all brand new and not a force with 2-10 years of kicking evil’s butt experience. I am not seeing expertise. 

First, let’s start with Jeok-Bong. I get that Jeok-Bong is supposed to be a comic relief character, but his over-the-top panicky, klutzy personality is putting everyone at risk. In Episode 5, the gang decides, for once, to be proactive and seek out the Duo using Jeok-Bong’s nose. They’ve figured out he can smell evil up to a 3-mile radius. Great. They find Gelly alone, trying to figure out where she and Pil-Gwang’s stolen money is. While chasing her, Jeok-Bong inhales gas that injures his nose, and he freaks out, yelling, oh my nose, my nose. And so what does Gelly learn, that the Counters can smell them out, but they also have learned that their range is limited. So now the Evil Duo knows even more about this crew, and the Counters still seem to know nothing. Jeok-Bong panics and doesn’t know how to figure out solutions. Granted, this is a learned skill, and he is new to the job, but his incompetence is frustrating in the show. Why? Because now, it seems that we are keeping characters stagnant so that you have a reason to advance the plot. The plot isn’t advancing because the characters are making logical decisions. It is just advancing because we are going to have this one dumb character remain dumb and unaware.

Second, I am deciding to blame this on editing and the desire to turn a show that should be 16 episodes into 12, but the Counters never meet with each other or with Yung. 

When homboy Pil-Gwang rolled up on the Counters at the noodle restaurant, there should have been a meeting right there and then to discuss how they were going to battle evil spirits who were already top-tier evil who now had Counter’s powers and Counter’s memories.

But now they know that Mr. Ma is possessed and an escaped convict, you would think they would have a meeting to lay out what they know and what they can do to neutralize Mr. Ma.

But at every turn in this show so far, Eonii’s gang is just shocked and confused and playing defense, really bad defense at that. 

There are more of these nonsensical comedic relief moments in this season that seem like they are just placeholders in the show, and you wonder why. Those scenes could have been scenes of the Counters or the Counters and Yung planning and figuring out the next course of action. And remember I said I was suspicious of what the show could do in 12 episodes. We are halfway through, I need to see some growth and knowledge between the Counters and Yung. I need to see some offense. And perhaps, since Mr. Ma has turned, we will see more of this. I’m staying at this point because I have a great feeling that Mr. Ma will have one heck of a redemption story at some point in these last 6 episodes. If not I’m going to be really upset.

Tell me how you are liking the show so far.