Archive | May 2021

Mouse: Episode 20 (Spoilers)

May28

With God, all things are possible, especially, and most importantly, forgiveness of sins. That was the ending message of this crazy horror story. And it fits. The horror genre often goes hand in hand with religious themes, probably because the horror or horrible things are often sins or things based on sins.

In episode 20 we and Ba Reum find out that the Secretary Chief in the government, Choi Young Shin, is behind the shady organization OZ. She chose to fund this organization through the National Intelligence Service without consent. This all comes out in public due to Ba Reum, who officially turns himself in, causing great stress to Detective Go, who finally–finally!–fully concludes that Ba Reum is the cross killer. Once again, Go is foiled in his plans by Ba Reum. The first was when he wanted to go to prison to kill the Headhunter, and this time when he wishes to kill Ba Reum.

The face offs between Bong Yi and Ba Reum and Go and Ba Reum are short but great. Ba Reum really does not want to see these people he love become killers, yet he feels their pain and anguish and knows that he does deserve to die for what he’s done.

Choi Young Shin is painted as the real monster here, as her goal in having OZ watch both Ba Reum and Yo Han was to make sure one of both of them did become psychopathic murderers, all so that she could get her abortion bill passed, a bill condemning babies to death before they have committed any crime. We, and Ba Reum, find out that although he clearly had problems as a kid and was harming animals, he didn’t actually kill any humans back then and wouldn’t have except the secretary and OZ set him on that path. It doesn’t excuse the murders he did commit, but it definitely puts them in a different light. Nearly all those who want to create a utopia or their version of a heaven on earth end up harming humanity in the process. Nearly all. And because most of these people end up in government to further their plans, it’s a very, very good reason to limit all powers of government.

PD Choi gets her wish, and the very good Yo Han is declared innocent in the public eye. She, however, too, manipulated Ba Reum, along with Dr. Lee, to get him to kill other serial killers. We also learn that she was the girl who helped the Headhunter lure at least one young woman to her death. PD Choi turns herself in for this and is arrested, though I’m not sure how that works in S. Korea, since she was a child and was clearly frightened and manipulated by the Headhunter. She is also properly reunited with her father, Detective Park, who lovingly puts the handcuffs on her. With Dr. Lee, we learn Ba Reum was the one who tried to kill him and Yo Han, the doctor, saved his life.

Ba Reum ends up going to prison, to death row, and there enacts a kind of justice, for himself, and for others harmed by the Headhunter. Ba Reum fakes going back to a coldblooded killer well enough that he gets close enough to his father, the Headhunter, and kills him. The clever Headhunter doesn’t even expect this, but then he’s been stuck in prison a long time and has probably lost some of his edge.

Like the mice in his biological father’s brain surgery experiments, Ba Reum is dying and doesn’t have much time left. He does his best to make amends with Go and Bong Yi, before dying in perhaps one of the most important scenes in the entire show.

I’ll get back to that in a second, but first want to say that this episode had a plethora of great scenes and acting, especially from Kwon Hwa Woon, who plays Yo Han, and Lee Seung Gi, who plays Ba Reum. They make us really feel for these characters who got a raw deal all due to Dr. Lee’s study of the psychopath/genius gene. Much food for thought about treating children as marked bad from the day they are born. Yes, we all have original sin, but it is true that if we treat people always expecting the worst from them, not only is that psychological abuse, it often can and does bring out the worst in them. (On a side note, this brings to mind the sudden persecution of those who choose to not vaccinate, treating healthy people as if they have a disease. Again, psychological abuse and so, so wrong. Our society should be ashamed of itself).

Other great scenes were Ba Reum meeting his real mother, the Headhunter’s wife, but even better was a scene between her and Detective Go. Go is plagued with guilt now, realizing he shot an innocent Yo Han, but she tells him that he didn’t really kill Yo Han. Yo Han would have lived, but the Headhunter finished him off in order to use his brain for his experimental brain surgery to save his son, Ba Reum. And the neurosurgeon didn’t save Ba Reum because he loved him, but because he thought the psychopath gene he carried was superior to regular people, and wanted his line to survive. Ugh. Ick. And also makes madam secretary’s wish to get rid of all these psychokiller people who think other people are ants or mice sound suddenly reasonable.

Mouse is the name of the show and we find Ba Reum a figurative mouse, literal experiment, sending himself into the snake or serial killer’s lair, all in order to kill him. Everything comes full circle from the beginning shot to that scene.

Ba Reum’s death scene is the best part, though. He dies in the church he once visited as a kid, angry with God and begging God to stop him from being a monster. Ba Reum appears to see his younger self in the pew there and gives him a hug, comforting him. Ba Reum tells the boy that God did answer his prayer: He now has feelings, especially of remorse and is full of repentance. He no longer has the will or desire to kill. Ba Reum dies at peace with himself and with God. I am not sure if he just goes to the church in his mind or actually gets to go there. Think the former.

Although I am so glad that Ba Reum came to repentance and that he does say sorry to both Go and Bong Yi, I wish the writers would have found a way to indicate that Jesus is really the reason why he would be forgiven. We are called by God to repent of our sins, yes, but the real reason we are forgiven is because Jesus Christ lived a perfect life in our place and also suffered and died for us, taking the punishment for all of our sins upon himself, and the defeated death by rising from the dead in the resurrection. Christ atoned for us, something we can never do, no matter how much we may repent. It’s a sobering thought.

Detective Go does give a nod to the Gospel message, though, by asking himself if God gave Ba Reum punishment or salvation? With a wistful smile on his face, we can guess he hopes it’s the latter, and perhaps it’s a bit much to expect a mainstream TV show to really dig into the person of Jesus. It’s rarely done; sometimes Christian movies don’t even directly talk about Him or explain how it is that He is our Savior. Anyway, I give the show ten out of ten just for all that, and coming so close to sharing the Gospel message, and it is a tough message for us to swallow sometimes, that anyone, anyone who repents and has faith in Jesus can be saved. We think certain sins should be unforgivable, but we easily forget that God is holy and sees any sin, no matter how small or insignificant to us, as enough to damn a person to hell eternally. Jesus Christ is the only way any of us can be saved, from a bubblegum thief to a rapist, to a literal headhunter.

Be Free: Conspiracies are Real

May22

Happy Saturday afternoon all! Just in case you’re finally starting to question the C-word pandemic and the illogicalness of it all, here’s some links to Amazing Polly videos. It’s ok to realize the conspiracy theorists are right. We will try not to say “I told you so” … well, not too often. Stepping away from the MSM narrative, and even much of the alternate narratives is freeing. Rarely do I watch or even follow the news anymore. When encountering people hysterical about this cold virus, I have pity for them, real pity, because they’ve been brainwashed to live in fear. Sadly, one can only be reached until one starts to question, so I’m sharing this for you, the questioners, who will of course be very skeptical of what Polly is saying–as you should be! But the real question is, why are or weren’t you skeptical of all the experts and non-conspiracy theorists? Why do they have your trust? That question is what led me on my own journey of realizing that we have and are being lied to on so many levels, especially when it comes to health. Not all of it is malicious, much is stupidity, for we are surely far dumber than our ancestors, but some is malicious, and conspiracies are real.

The best thing Polly talks about is people returning to churches and faith, despite concerted efforts to keep people from worshipping. God is working! His truth is shining in a time when everyone else is speaking lies. God is using these people’s nefarious plans against them. And I have no doubt He will continue to do so.

Mouse: Episode 19

May20

Spoilers, as usual.

Have to say that so far I am not digging the whole OZ secret organization plot line, even though it was integrated into the show from the beginning. It’s sounding like the government is basically continuing Dr. Daniel Lee’s experiment, and trying to determine if Nature or Nurture is the cause of psychopathic murders. Of course they don’t see the irony in allowing and even encouraging test subject Ba Reum to kill people. This is likely at the end of the episode why Ba Reum declares to the government official that Dr. Lee asked him to kill her. From a certain perspective, what she is doing could be considered worse than being a psychokiller.

The biggest shock this episode was that Yo Han could have lived and OZ his supposed father insisted on using his brain for the surgery. Wow. The Headhunter is truly despicable.

Everything now makes sense as far as PD Choi and her baby. The baby is not the biological grandchild of the Headhunter, but since his wife raised Yo Han as her son, she considers his child to be her grandchild. PD Choi, we find out is the missing daughter of Detective Park, who was assigned to the case of the Headhunter. With her altered mental state, his wife recognizes the baby as her biological grandchild, which is why she kidnaps him. Interestingly, PD Choi has known this whole time that she was Detective Park’s daughter and was too afraid to approach him or her mom. Again, wow.

Now everyone is suspecting Ba Reum, and with good reason. Detective Go and Bong Yi both exhibit a lot of alternate denial and anger, which is totally understandable. It may be a good thing that Ba Reum is going to die in short order from his brain surgery, as I’m not sure how the three of them will or would deal with all of this. He’s a “good” guy now, but he still wants to murder people, just those considered bad. But that’s who he killed before, those people he considered bad. Not a moral improvement, though I admit he is saving some innocents.

Great scene with the Headhunter and his wife. He is creepily charismatic and she doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who would fall for that, but maybe she was much different when she was younger.

The murder of Detective Shin was the worst! He’s only a minor character, but the kid has grown on me. A chaebol, or son of a wealthy family, who has a good heart and a good work ethic. They had to kill him when he’s on his way to see his wife and their new baby…just awful. But it did give Detective Go a chance to freakout with his emotions. He’s going to need to do that a lot in dealing with Ba Reum, OZ, and the Headhunter.

Except for the OZ stuff, looking forward to episode 20. I am not sure if this is the last episode or not. We’ll see.

Lessons from RomComs: Kate & Leopold

May18

This past weekend at Bible Study, we talked about how leadership is really responsibility, and how it’s not so much that God has chosen men to have a special status over women, but how He’s given men more and a different responsibility than women in making them the heads in the household, church, society, etc. Even at the beginning of the world, with Adam and Eve, man tried to shirk his special responsibility. That’s not that Eve wasn’t to blame, certainly she was, but Adam went along with her in doing wrong instead of leading her to follow God’s command to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. For some reason this all made me think of the 2001 romantic comedy Kate & Leopold starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.

Yes romcoms are often dumb, and many think of them as frivolous, but they are far from that. Like romance novels, many truths about the relationship between men and women and society in general can be found in them. I took two key takeaways from Kate & Leopold: First, men have a certain responsibility towards women in a relationship and second, a person has a duty to integrity. The movie incorporates these ideas with a muddling time travel plot in which a duke from the 1870s is transported to modern–er, 2001, New York City. This happens due to the actions of a goofy physicist named Stuart.

Let’s begin with the second takeaway first: Integrity. It’s a sentimental view, but generally we today think of societies in years past having much more moral excellence and care in all that they did than we do now. On some levels that is true, but every era has its faults and strengths. True or not, our view of, say, the 1800s in our stories is largely flattering. It was a time when there were very clear rules for things like courtship, which is a world of difference from today’s dating world where many are left to flounder. Leopold is appalled that Kate, who works in advertising, would advertise items which have no quality and little health benefit for people. Sometimes to live and eat we do find ourselves promoting and getting behind things of little or negative value, and Leopold’s figurative cold bucket of water here is that we don’t have to continue on that road. Like Kate, we can choose to live lives of integrity. It might mean changing a LOT in our lives, but it is possible. Here, the change is a time jump, so rather supernatural, but the lesson is still there. Kate finds that true love is worth that jump.

The first takeaway is what really struck me in thinking of our Bible Study discussion. Leopold has a great interaction with Kate’s younger brother, Charlie, played by Breckin Meyer. Charlie takes Leopold out to meet his friends and Leopold gets to witness firsthand what modern dating can be like. First of all, Leopold is struck by Charlie’s behavior, which is perhaps not quite what the young man really wants to exude. Second of all, he’s baffled by Charlie’s eagerness to get the girl he likes to lead the romance, and Leopold sets him straight, explaining that it’s not a burden, but a happy responsibility. Okay, maybe not happy. Intriguing? Exciting?

Leopold says this, “As I see it, Patrice has not an inkling of your affections, and it’s no wonder. You, Charles, are merry-andrew.”

“A what?” Charlie asks.

“Everything plays a farce to you. Women respond to sincerity. No one wants to be romanced by a buffoon.”

Ouch! But he’s right, women do respond to sincerity. Men do too, I think, so that’s a good lesson for both sexes. Neither sides’ goal should be to come across as a buffoon. But it’s more complicated than that, for women also respond to humor, a guy who can make a women laugh has an in, and no mistake. I’m guessing the humor becomes buffoonish if the men fail to have a point. Women actually talk a lot without a point. We just do. The reasons we talk and the reasons men talk are quite different, but let’s just say for now, that men usually have a point when they are talking, so if that’s missing or appears to be missing, a man can leave the wrong impression on a woman. In the movie, the wrong impression is that Charlie doesn’t really like Patrice in a romantic way. She doesn’t know he sincerely likes her, because he hasn’t told her that, not directly, and not in his other words and actions.

Next, Charlie gets excited because he’s left the next step in the relationship between him and Patrice “in her court.” The ball is in her court. It’s her move, her play. Okay, on the surface this doesn’t seem so bad, right? It’s not wrong for women to make the moves in a relationship…necessarily. The trouble is that it very well may be wrong for the man to leave the responsibility of leading to the women. Leopold tells him, no, no, you want the ball in your court. You want to direct how this is going to go. That rang true at the time and still rings true today, for men are usually the pursuers. They woo the women. Women are really not so good at wooing, and, I think, would rather be wooed and won, no matter how much they protest to the contrary. Anyway, what a boost of confidence it is for Charlie that Leopold helps him learn how to court and pursue a women and he finds it working! Pretty awesome.

Two things from this: One, men say women can do the pursuing, but in reality that’s the surest way to lose a man. Deep down, men likely know this, it’s just not very politically correct to say these days. Two, women prefer the men to lead–unless they are buffoons–and again, this is just not very PC to say today.

Leopold’s view of the leadership responsibility men have in their relationships refreshing and a bit magical. His insistence on integrity is, too. Sometimes following the rules actually leads to happiness, and I think that Kate & Leopold showcases that to some degree. And, in true traditional fashion, Kate leaves her ultramodern world behind and goes to live with her man in Leopold’s world. Feminists may shudder, but she happy, really happy, and in love. She knows exactly how Leopold feels about her and what his intentions are because he’s told her and shown her. He is not afraid to show his figurative hand of cards to her. That takes a lot of guts and is also an act of leadership, of responsibility. Leopold has owned his feelings and used them to produce a positive, productive outcome, not only for himself, but also for the woman he loves.

Bonus: There is a third thing I took from the movie and that has to do with Stuart, Kate’s former boyfriend. Stuart, played by a wonderful Liev Schreiber, is funny and brilliant in his way, so it’s easy to see why she was attracted to him at one time. One wonders, however, why either keep the other in their lives. And they do because, well, it’s part of the plot, but also because the purpose of Stuart’s presence in her life has yet to be fulfilled. Stuart himself says it best: “Maybe the reason I was your guy is so that I could help you find your guy.”

Basically, the lesson is this: Don’t throw away people. A person may not be a certain “one” for you, but they may be in your life for a reason you can scarcely imagine. And it may be quite a good one in the end. Stuart is genuinely happy for both Kate and Leopold, and that speaks volumes for his character.

Next up: A review of Mouse, episode 19 is coming soon. Although 20 is out this week, I may not have time to write a review until next week. Currently also watching Extra-ordinary You, which I can’t recommend highly enough, and also Doom at Your Service, which stars Seo In Guk, enough said.

Mouse: Ep 18

May15

Oh, this cat’s cradle of a plot! So much to keep track of, but well worth it to pay attention. The main point of this episode was that both Detective Go and Bong Yi are really considering that dead Dr. Yo Han might be innocent of the crimes. That next leads them to: Someone else must therefore be the cross killer.

Mixed up in all that is PD Choi and her poor, little baby, who at least now has his grandma watching over him. Grandma’s not such a good sitter, however, for the kid gets kidnapped by the much befuddled wife of Detective Park who was on the Headhunter’s case so many years ago and lost both his children in the process. Because Park’s daughter’s body has still not been found, he, too, is horrible to this little baby, and refuses to return it to grandma unless she asks her husband where his daughter’s body is. Former Mrs. Headhunter goes to meet with the serial killer neurosurgeon in prison.

The shadowy OZ, the cabal or organization watching both Ba Reum and Yo Han as children, is still a bit of a mystery. Dr. Daniel Lee was possibly connected to them, but now is not. PD Choi, too, knows of them and is working with Dr. Lee to maybe thwart them or, more likely, working with him in the hopes that they can show the world Yo Han is indeed innocent. What she’s going to do when she finds her baby is being held for information, I don’t know. Horribleness all around.

Finally, finally! At the end of the episode we see Detective Go and Bong Yi putting everything together. They were maybe ok thinking that Ba Reum was a psycho who killed other serial killers like the man who hurt Bong Yi. Now, they are confronted with the very real possibility that he is also the cross killer. Go processes a little more slowly, and only considers the other cases, not yet his brother. Bong Yi has probably suspected for awhile subconsciously, and now her memories are knocking at her door. She fought that killer off, she had contact with him. His fight with her in the church was personal. Maybe she didn’t pick up on that at the time, but she sure is now. And she remembers a very important scar.

On the redemption theme: Ba Reum is slowly being justified for a lot of moves his younger self made, and also revealing that he actually didn’t do a lot of killing, and if he did it wasn’t for psychopathic reasons, but more emotional ones like revenge. Is it going to end with both him and Yo Han exonerated completely? Because of OZ, which is likely run by either the Headhunter or the government or both? I would find that a bit disappointing. It’s great to see Yo Han shown as innocent, we are continuing getting details on that, and I was right, he was indeed trying to stop Ba Reum and decided to kill him if that was the only way. Not as satisfying if Ba Reum is given a pass, unless he really, really didn’t do any of it, but that seems a stretch right now. And if he really didn’t do any of it, what a let down!

One thing I don’t remember in trying to keep track of all these characters is how Bong Yi’s dad died. She says something that makes it sound like the cross killer murdered her dad, but I don’t remember that. I don’t remember how her dad died being discussed. Hopefully, that will be clarified or rehashed in the future for those of us with poor memories.

Still liking the show, but I want more Detective Go and less Ba Reum, more detective hunting the killer, rather than this mixed up possible killer psychopath trying to figure himself out. Ok, I just really like Detective Go, who acts like a bear half the time, but really is a sweet little puppy with a heart of gold. He and Bong Yi should just be together. They’ll barely notice the age gap, they’ve both been through so much, traumatized so much.

Next ep should be good, for we’re certainly to get at least one scene with the Headhunter.

RRRS: The Silent Governess and A Castaway in Cornwall

May15

For contemporary writers of Regency Romance, Julie Klassen is my favorite. Borrowed The Silent Governess from the library. Not too bad of a read, but it ended with me wishing it had been set at the girl’s school her mother runs in the end. As with many of her books, I was more into a lot of the minor characters, like Croome, than the leads, but the leads weren’t bad, either. Olivia Keene is the governess in question, and through a series of coincidences ends up working at Brightwell Manor where Lord Bradley lives. Bradley alternates between being cruel and kind, fighting a constant chip on his shoulder, a fear that people will find out a family secret. Because the story begins with Olivia’s great talent in mathematics, I expected that to be fleshed further, but that wasn’t the case. Only in parts where the plot needed it, was attention called to her skills. Lord Brightwell, Bradley’s father, really impressed me at the end and now I want a whole story about him and Bradley’s cousin Felix and how he’s made into a proper lord. Would be a good tale.

As for A Castaway in Corwall, again my expectations just didn’t match the book. Unfortunately, I have read Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier in the past few years, which deals with Cornwall, wreckers, shipwrecks and the like, and although that story was mostly dreadful, few can beat the atmospheric writing of du Maurier, and so I was constantly comparing the two and thought it could have used more wreckers and smugglers. It was very interesting, though, to have a different perspective on the Nalopeonic wars and having characters be on the side of the new republic rather than on the side of the British or the royalists, per say. As the island of Jersey is brought up right away, I was hoping the tale would take us there, and it did, but then I just had the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in my head, so again, comparing the books. Again, more of the minor characters caught my attention, but there was something a bit reckless about both Laura and Alexander, and they had rather good kissing scenes.

Now I am learning more about Napoleon by reading The Murder of Napoleon by Ben Weider and David Hapgood.

My favorites by Klassen still are: The Innkeepers of Ivy Hill series, The Girl in the Gatehouse, and The Apothecary’s Daughter.

Mouse, eps. 16 & 17

May10

A lot of weirdness with this show, but it’s all coming together. As Ba Reum sorts everything out about himself and Yo Han, the details are all getting filled in. However, I may be wrong in Yo Han’s motivation as a genius to stop killer Ba Reum: It appears there some shadowy organization called OZ behind all of this. An organization bafflingly covering up Ba Reum’s crimes, and also keeping tabs on him. Turns out they kept tabs on Yo Han. Dr. Daniel Lee, who is still inexplicably alive, appears to not be working with OZ, but maybe once was, and the suspicious detective I had my eye on is connected with OZ. OZ is either part of or just a nickname for the Ministry of Science and Technology. Possibly. We shall see.

The good thing is, that the other main characters like Detective Go (love that man!) and the ever spunky Bong Yi are now also coming to the realization that Yo Han may be innocent and that they haven’t got the killer after all. What both will do when they discover it is Ba Reum, I have no idea.

As for PD Choi, she has a new babysitter for her child, the wife of the Headhunter serial killer, and, if Yo Han is really her son, not Ba Reum, biological grandmother to said child. PD Choi herself is trying to show her former lover innocent, mostly so that people stop treating her kid so poorly, but I think also she feels it’s the right thing to do, to set the record straight.

We learn a bit more about Ba Reum’s past. AKA Jae Hoon, he may not be quite the out-of-control killer we all thought he was. That is, he’s not and has not just killed for no reason. At least one murder has been in revenge for the man who killed his mother. Turns out, too, that Ba Reum and Yo Han crossed paths as children and Ba Reum was impressed by the latter’s smarts and kindness, wanting to be like him.

Where is all of this going? For now, it appears the big twist is that Ba Reum and Yo Han were part of an experiment. True, we know they were part of Dr. Lee’s study, but this is something bigger, probably, quite probably a grand experiment thought out and orchestrated by a person who is real dad to one of them: The Headhunter, the neurosurgeon Han Seo Joon. I really hope that’s the case, because he’s got a creepy good presence and makes a great villain.

Hoping Go and Bong Yi take all the killers down, that Go marries PD Choi already, and that Bong Yi starts a completely new and better life elsewhere. Lab rats no more, let them live their lives in freedom! And Ba Reum, he’s got remorse and I do hope he finds redemption, though it will likely come with his death, as redemptions often are wont to do.

Still really liking the show, but there’s a lot of busyness that abounds, and I almost wish they’d do away with some of procedural stuff and get more to the heart of the matter: Are we dictated by our genes, or by what we do? Or both? It’s there, the question is there, just hovering in the background. Ba Reum now is governed by both things, though perhaps he wasn’t before his brain surgery. It has to be pretty awful to become self-aware and find out oneself is a psycho serial killer. The stuff of nightmares. But that is what sin really is, a nightmare, and it’s in all of us. And only by God’s grace can we overcome it.