The Monster
We begin Episode 15 of Alice with Tae-Yi confronted by Jin-Gyeom, who looks like he’s about to kill her. Thankfully, Min-Hyuk arrives to save Tae-Yi before it’s too late. As Jin-Gyeom holds the knife, he hears Tae-Yi’s voice and suddenly snaps out of his trance. He calls her Mother and runs away, punching the mirror and holding a gun up to his own head. Tae-Yi races after him though and embraces the distraught man, telling him it’s not his fault and offering comfort. Having calmed down for now, Min-Hyuk tells Jin-Gyeom about the hooded man who was after him the previous night. It’s not safe for Jin-Gyeom and Tae-Yi now, and they need to keep vigilant. Back at Alice, Min-Hyuk’s search is fruitless but he remembers Si-Young’s final words about Director Ki. He’s clearly involved and Min-Hyuk is on to him now. Back at HQ, he speaks to Ki and promises that whoever is after the pair, he’ll kill them. With an alternate Jin-Gyeom running around, Dong-Ho finds numerous fingerprints matching his all over Seok’s mansion. It’s here Jin-Gyeom realizes that his doppelganger is the one who’s been making these marks. Needing to learn more, he tasks Min-Hyuk to look further into Professor Seok. Only, he doesn’t need to given evidence back at Alice seems to point toward Director Ki being there that night. At the same time, Tae-Yi visits her Mum but as they get talking about parenthood, our female lead has flashes to her child-birth. The words “marvelous creation” echoes in her mind, clearly referring to the Book of Prophecy which seems to hint at this creation being Jin-Gyeom himself. Realizing what this means, Tae-Yi rings Jin-Gyeom and tells him to protect Ms. Kim. Tae-Yi’s scar on the back of her neck appears to be exactly the same as Sun-Young’s now too, and she realizes her fate is bound. As the hooded man arrives before her, Jin-Gyeom rushes up o the university but Tae-Yi is nowhere to be found. The only remnant of her is the phone dropped on the ground. With Tae-Yi out the picture for now, Cheol-Am heads back to the present and finds Dong-Ho. After telling him to follow quietly, he shoots and seemingly kills the man. When Jin-Gyeom arrives on the scene, Min-Hyuk hurriedly rings and reveals what Alice are doing. They’re currently rounding up everyone who knows about time travel and that’s why Dong-Ho has been take care if. Only… that means Do Yeon could be targeted next. Jin-Gyeom realizes as much and scrambles up to find her before she succumbs to a terrible fate. He shows up just in time and manages to save the day. With Do-Yeon safe for now, Jin-Gyeom approaches Min-Hyuk demanding to know what Alice are planning. With the one they care about the most gone, Jin-Gyeom reluctantly asks him for help. That sees them both driving up toward Alice to try and save Tae-Yi. Inside though, Tae-Yi finds herself face to face with this alternate version of Seok. He’s very different from the Professor he killed in their time but the pair discuss traveling across years nonetheless. Specifically, they discuss alternate realities and the legend surrounding a monster and a cliché paradox. Long story short, the narrative here points at Jin-Gyeom being used as the monster in his own tale to kill the Mother. That Mother being Sun-Young. Min-Hyuk tries to save Jin-Gyeom, revealing that the pill he gave him earlier is actually a sleeping pill. “Let me be a father to you just this once,” He pleads, as he cradles Jin-Gyeom and puts his sleepy son in the car. It’s not enough though, as Jin-Gyeom awakens and starts driving up toward Alice HQ not long after. Min-Hyuk heads inside Alice and asks to speak to the teacher. Seok scoffs at the notion, asking again just where Jin-Gyeom is. Deciding to turn away from Alice, Min-Hyuk grabs a gun and confronts Seok. When Tae-Yi shows up on the scene, Min-Hyuk stands in her way and sacrifices himself to make sure she stays alive. Seok fires his gun, killing Min-Hyuk, just as Jin-Gyeom shows and watches his Father die too. Tae-Yi pleads with Jin-Gyeom to run away with her but it’s no good. The hooded man is back and now we finally see his face. Jin-Gyeom’s gun seizes up and this old man before him appears to be an older version of himself. The older Jin-Gyeom (presumably anyway) brandishes a gun just as Tae-Yi realizes what she’s learned is about to come to fruition. She tells him he can still change the prophecy and that the monster also refers to himself. As the old man mulls this over, he suddenly shoots Tae-Yi in the stomach as she starts bleeding out. Unfortunately Tae-Yi dies and Jin-Gyeom is consumed by a murderous fit of rage. Beside himself, he squares up to the old man who promises that one day he’ll thank him – he’s saved Jin-Gyeom. As he steps forward, a brilliant white light consumes them both as the pair stare one another down.
The Episode Review
What an exciting and heart-wrenching episode. There’s definite hints of Dark running throughout this drama and the idea of an older Jin-Gyeom having cycled through all of this before is certainly intriguing. It also could explain why he’s able to look young in the past as he may be using those implants we’ve seen at Alice. Could this be Jin-Gyeom’s prophesied future following the death of Tae-Yi and Sun-Young? It seems to hint at that but if so, can Jin-Gyeom change time before it’s too late? There’s a lot of intriguing ideas in this one but the interwoven romance between Tae-Yi and Jin-Gyeom has done this show no favours during the middle portion of chapters. Aside from that blemish – and the one episode that featured a whole bunch of filler karaoke – this sci-fi drama has actually been quite entertaining. Quite what the finale has in store for us though, remains to be seen.
