GABDONGI EPISODE 3

When we last left our hero, he had been clocked out cold by Tae Oh. Our villain makes a call to the paper, claiming to have information on Gap Dong. The editor frantically takes notes: "2nd Murder, Gap Dong."

While Mu Yeom recuperates, he again is joined at his bedside by the old monk and his sidekick, the spunky Ji Wool, the web comic artist. She finds the story Gap Dong called in, only it's attributed to Mu Yeom.

Mu Yeom heads to the paper and pumps the editor for details beyond those that are already in the story. The editor, operating under the assumption that he is talking to the original caller, asks Mu Yeom what he meant by a certain riddle he asked. Mu Yeom says figuring it out is half the fun.. He figures Gap Dong called in the story to screw with dumb detectives.

Chul Geon visits the profiler and tells him he always hated him, particularly because the profiler painted Il Shik, the original suspect, as harmless. Chul Geon lets him know Il Shik worked for fishermen and likely learned knots from them. In addition,�Profiler Han told Mu Yeom about the knot right before the crime, which makes our hero an ideal suspect.

Ji Wool�hits the cafe and meets up with Tae Oh there. She again tries to interest him in being a sketch model and he takes her up on it, provided he's not the only psycho in the comic.

It's now January 7th, the predicted date of the next murder; the police are out in force, and so is Mu Yeom, having figured out the answer to the riddle: straw!� He starts tearing down stacks of straw in attempt to find the next victim. Chul Geon arrives and starts burning all the stacks of straw in an attempt to clear them away faster.

Maria wears red, the color the police have identified as Gap Dong bait, and waits at a bus stop. Tae Oh approaches her, and they exchange a friendly greeting before Maria decides to give up. Tae Oh follows her home and gets invited in for coffee. He is surprised to find out she was waiting for Gap Dong. She pops the question to him: "Are you Gap Dong?"

Mu Yeom investigates further, hearing that one bale of straw was already sold, and the farmer who sold it tries to protect it from being burned. Mu Yeom inquires about the sale, and then tracks down straw craftsmen in the area as one of them bought the straw.

Mu Yeom finally finds the art studio where our artist victim from last episode worked. Chul Geon somehow finds it as well and greets our hero: "Nice to see you, Gap Dong."

This episode was quite intense. Several times they had you on the edge of your seat, shaking with anticipation. I kept expecting various characters to be sacrificed on the altar of Gap Dong's insanity. Chul Geon is almost certainly insane with his single-minded devotion to proving that Mu Yeom is indeed Gap Dong.

Maria is definitely creepy to me. She is absolutely ravishing with bangs and without the doctor's garb, but her morbid fascination with Gap Dong is unsettling, especially considering she was abducted during the original Gap Dong's reign of terror. �

I think Lee Joon's boyish smile is what actually makes it work. He can banter with the best of them, and while we know what's up, his victims do not -- until it's too late. He worms his way in, the women drop their defenses, and then he strikes. It's a perfect setup, and I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me before. The reason the rest of us are creeped out is because we know his motivation and his methods.

I'm looking forward to future episodes. Having it delayed a week was hard, but now that we're back on track I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm hoping Chul Geon gets his comeuppance, but I have to imagine that won't happen until the end.

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