The writing on this show makes use a lot of the “catch up” device. The audience is given information on many things ahead of time, but we follow the characters as they make their own discoveries of the same things. However, with the great acting and engrossing story and how everything unfolds keeps the show fresh and interesting.

Showing perhaps how kind they are, pretend brother and sister Yoo Jin Kook and Yoo Jin Kang rush Im Yoo Ri (Tattoo girl) to the hospital when she passes out after trying to kill Jin Kang. Both are baffled as to why Yoo Ri should do such a thing, and at first Officer Yoo assumes he was her original target due to his questioning her about her friend’s death. The audience knows her target was actually Jin Kang as she is jealous of Kim Moo Young’s attentions to her, but it takes a few scenes for most everyone to learn this, even Moo Young.

As for the murder mystery, Kim Moo Young is still Officer Yoo’s prime suspect and he and  junior detective Eom Cho Rong spend a lot of time hunting down CCTV or security camera footage that would show he was at the scene of the crime. They also start to center their investigation around Im Yoo Ri as she and her friend who died were in a picture holding Beer Festival glasses from Arts Brewery. In an earlier episode, Officer Yoo spotted a Beer Festival umbrella someone carried while walking on the street. They smartly gain more access to even more cameras and footage by using the excuse of a stolen scooter case. This case was not far from the apartment where the girl died (I think, the English subtitles for this part weren’t completely finished when I watched it).

As far as Moo Young goes, he’s looking guiltier and guiltier as Officer Yoo confirms he is definitely left handed and Moo Young has the trophy (not a ballet girl like I originally thought. Not sure what it’s supposed to be). He takes the trophy from the cooler and other incriminating items and places them in a flowerpot in his apartment. We are left thinking he’s either guilty and trying to decide what to do with the evidence or is puzzled as to why these items are at his place. Maybe he’s still investigating, too. The third possibility is that he was witness to an accident and helped someone, maybe Im Yoo Ri, cover it up.

Jumping back to the topic of CCTV cameras, security cameras, and black box cameras in cars: If this is modern police work in South Korea, they must have a pretty easy job. Everything everywhere is recorded, especially by cars. Why people have these boxes constantly recording everything from their cars, I don’t know, but it’s kind of creepy. We maybe have this in the US, too, I just haven’t heard a lot about it here. The value is obvious when it comes to an accident or whatnot, but it seems a major invasion of privacy. Anyway, Officer Yoo definitely places Kim Moo Young walking to the scene of the crime, as it’s caught on the black box of a passing car. He’s holding the umbrella. Officer Yoo speculates Moo Young took a specific route to get there because he knew he could avoid security cameras along that route.

We find out a lot more about Im Yoo Ri this episode. She’s more than just a one-note character and we are left wondering exactly how she knows Kim Moo Young, especially because she goes to the same psychologist who perhaps knows him from when he was a child. Moo Young sees a book this psychologist wrote and it includes Yoo Ri’s story. Although he passes the book to Yoo Jin Kang, as it’s her brother’s, we can be pretty confident he’s at least flipped through it and knows the contents. Yoo Ri is so rude and prone to suicidal tendencies because she went through some kind of trauma (likely abuse) at a young age. She was nine the first time she tried to kill herself and has been seeing the psychologist ever since. When Yoo Ri tries to get rid of the evidence she tried to run over Jin Kang, Officer Yoo is at first in an angry hurry to get it back as he decides to arrest her, but upon reading her story in the book holds off on turning in the evidence he has.

Before writing about how the relationship between our leads Kim Moo Young and Yoo Jin Kang, is going, let’s talk about the Damsel. Baek Seung Ah is living in a fantasy. She thinks Moo Young really loves her and that she can give up everything, throw caution to the wind, and run away with him to Greece or Morocco where they will live happily ever after. She persists in this thinking even though Moo Young has stopped returning her calls and texts and he finally just has to tell her that he’s not interested, and of course she deals with that by thinking it’s her fault and that she can somehow fix things. Moo Young appears to be a player and has surely been down this road before, but he still seems a little confused that she doesn’t get that this was just a fling for him.

For being so smart, Moo Young is very out of touch with his emotions–and he appears to have some, although guarded at best. Obviously, being nonemotional helps him manipulate people, but it is possible since he once encountered or was even a patient of the psychologist who keeps popping up, that he has some kind of mental illness due to a childhood trauma–the incident where he and Jin Kang got their scars. Or he’s just a sociopath. Moo Young is so not aware that it takes Yoo Ri to tell him he has a thing for Jin Kang. He seems surprised by this information and tells Jin Kang that he likes her but that he wants to spend more time together to check.

Their budding friendship comes to a halt at this. Jin Kang is a good friend and is angry at Moo Young for wanting to date her while still dating her friend. She tries to get the Damsel to stop and think that she really doesn’t know Moo Young well at all and I can’t help thinking Jin Kang would have been better off taking Moo Young’s hint and just telling the Damsel that he’s a playing, cheating scumbag. Because he is a player and likely a murderer, I’m not too thrilled that Jin Kang is attracted to him, but attraction often just happens and is difficult to end. Still, Jin Kang stays strong, calling Moo Young out on how he’s treated her friend. Moo Young explains dating a pretty girl as a way of “checking” if love might be out there, even though he doesn’t believe in love, much like an atheist will go into a beautiful church just to check if God really does exist. Jin Kang’s response to this is: A person’s heart means nothing to you, right? The expression on Moo Young’s face says it all: No, but why is that a problem?

This smart, nonemotional young man has suddenly stepped into territory out of his depth. She’s upset with him, but he’s doesn’t understand why. Jin Kang walks away from him, refusing his offer to date and saying she feels sorry for him that he doesn’t really care about people. Looking as crestfallen as is possible for him, there’s a hint that perhaps this is the first time Moo Young’s own feelings or heart have really been hurt. Or maybe he’s just ticked he can’t manipulate Jin Kang as easily as other women.

Despite their relationship being on hold, the bigger picture is already at play: Eventually Moo Young is going to bring Jin Kang completely over to his side, either by manipulating her, or by some discoveries yet to be unveiled. Officer Yoo is hotly against Jin Kang having any relationship with Moo Young. Im Yoo Ri and the Damsel are also threatened by this relationship, indicating that at least in their minds the nature of that relationship must surely be romantic.

The saddest part of the episode for me was that the Damsel’s crazy fiancee got Moo Young fired from the Arts brewery, as he just couldn’t stand the sight of the man who’s cuckolded him (okay, the two had only promised to marry, but still). Moo Young’s handsome boss kindly offers to send him to another brewery, the Eagle brewery, at least for awhile. I am sad we may not be seeing the Arts logo and truck as much anymore, because I really started to like them and Moo Young’s character had become connected to them. Oh well. People, even fictional characters, are not the stuff that surrounds them.

Outstanding things going on: The silence. It is used well, and the little music in the show is subtle yet effective. I like the guitar string part (I think it’s guitar) that is often played during the beginning recap or connection from last episode to the new one, and that is also played at the end. It kind of reminds me of the same musical motif used in AMC’s series The Killing, though that, I think, was drums. The other thing is the acting, especially from Seo In Guk. He’s definitely in tune with the series title, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes. It’s creepy how Moo Young’s eyes change when he hears something he doesn’t want to or if people aren’t acting as he wants them to. The scene where he’s trying to figure out from Im Yoo Ri why she tried to kill Jin Kang is great. He flirts with her just enough to get the information he needs, and then his eyes go dead, just as if she’s dead to him after sharing her reasons.

Until next episode. –P. Beldona