Before I get into my review, I would like to note something I read on discussing discrimination, and it's why I titled this episode as I did. Dr. Gwendolyn Keita, former Executive Director of American Psychological Association's Public Interest Directorate, noted that sometimes discrimination stems from unconscious beliefs or “implicit biases” that people aren’t aware they have ... exposure and context really matter for changing attitudes that people often perceive as inborn and immutable. I say let's get to know each other, learn from each other, and we will soon see that our features may differ, but our reliability doesn't -- together, we can do it, let's eliminate discrimination.
I knew Oh In Bum should’ve told Ji Ah who he was before she found out on her own. One thing is for sure Secretary Joo is smack dab in the middle of both her mother and his uncle’s deaths. This drama’s charm lies in its vividly and artistically created storylines that are expertly acted, edited, and directed, with Jang Nara at the helm of it all. Who would have thought there would be such variance in unrested spirits. But here we are with yet another variation – egg ghosts which come about through the entanglement of spirits who’ve died at the same time of unnatural events such as wars, epidemics, and huge fires.
And based on the encyclopedia of unrested spirits (good touch), they’re featureless. Lacking eyes, nose, and a mouth; if one was to witness such a ghost, many people will either become very ill or die —and here I thought the reason young In Bum’s face wasn’t clear to Ji Ah was because she couldn’t remember it. It all makes sense now; the unrested spirits that died from the fire the Chairman set turned into egg ghosts and possessed young In Bum.
And if Ji Ah’s mom knew a needle couldn’t draw the egg ghost out, did she try to use herself as medium and young Ji Ah as the exorcist to drive it out of her, but Ji Ah was too young and too scared to do it. It explains why she blames herself for her mother’s death, but could it be that simple; I doubt it. I’m starting to think the only person who can help Ji Ah’s mother peacefully travel to the next world is her. I’m trying very hard not to dislike Secretary Joo, but it’s getting harder by the minute.
I didn’t expect Ji Ah to know Joo's past, which worsens her to see how much she trusts her. To the extent that she easily believed, not that he didn’t give her reason to that In Bum was the one that stole her missing records from 1979. But why would those records be of interest to Secretary Joo; I’m struggling with that. And, if what the detective from Secretary Joo’s past said is true, she might’ve had a hand in Oh Sung Sik’s death. She was working for Golden Property at the time, which is now Dohak Construction, too much of a coincidence, I’d say.
I swear the cases keep getting deeper as the episodes get further along. I like that the drama tackled this new case, shining a light on the foulness of social class discrimination and its effect on society as much as I liked the idea of a diverse, socially mixed apartment complex. I, however, think whoever placed two different social class groups without addressing the deep-seated, destructive, and disparaging social class discriminatory practices shows a lack of understanding and disregard of the issues at hand.
That said, though, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Ji Ah running all over, trying to recognize Byeol’s unrested spirit and In Bum’s perplexed as much as my heart hurt for the little one. And for the mother to know it was her own discriminatory beliefs that killed her child is a tough lesson to learn, but out of adversity comes opportunity. It's like Dr. Gwendolyn Keita said
a lack of diversity, perpetuated by discrimination, makes society weaker. Another great episode. Watch Episode 8 here.