A Convict On The Loose
Episode 5 of Dark Hole begins at the Director’s office as Seung-Tae challenges the Director over his archaic ideas. As he fingers a gun, he points it at Seung-Tae’s face and looks set to fire. However, the group have bigger problems to deal with when a scream pierces the air. Hwa-Sun sees the parts of the tentacled creature and radios through to Tae-Han, telling him to be careful. Meanwhile, our shaman continues to pray which clears up all the smoke surrounding the high school. Hwa-Sun sees this take place and inhales deeply without her mask, realizing that they’re okay for now. However, Hwa-Sun keeps her defences up, remaining vigilant. That’s probably just as well, with the Director acting mutinously and suggesting they get rid of any weaknesses – and that includes a few students. With his gun in hand, he manages to keep the others docile and on his side. But for how long? Hwa-Sun however, is double-crossed by Jin-Seok who traps her in a classroom full of the infected. Thankfully she manages to get away but this only sees her hanging onto the ledge for dear life. Back at the hospital, a woman approaches Sunnyeo, who seems to know about her life. Sunnyeo speaks about her husband and mentions how he’s been having an affair. As she leaves the room, the others can only watch in confusion as the picture behind her shows the same blackened circle of the sinkhole. After this reveal, the other patients are hushed around Sunnyeo as they ask her for a talisman. Well, she sits them all down and places an inked circle on the back of their hand. Snake Eyes watches from afar with suspicion as all these men and women willingly allow her to exert authority. Tae-Han and the officers find themselves running away from the black smoke as it pours out the vents. They seek refuge in a ward but Tae-Han realizes it’s not actually trying to kill them. This stuff seems to be sentient and it’s hunting them like prey. Well, the group make it to the fifth floor but, of course, the nurses have already head downstairs to the fourth. As this place is connected to the emergency exit, they deduce that they’ll be able to make it down in one piece. Tae-Han reassures Hyun-Ho, telling him he has nothing to worry about. Those on the fourth floor though, most certain do. The gang creep through the hallways but unfortunately find themselves blindsided by a group of the infected. While they survive, the truth about our convict security guard is felt as Saet-Byeol does her best not to arouse suspicions. Eventually she heads into the elevator and manages to get away from him. The noise brings Tae-Han and the others to the scene, where they find the numerous bloodied bodies sprawled across the floor. As we soon find out, this convict’s name is Jin-Soo and he was originally convicted of rape and murder; he’s definitely not a nice guy. And right now, he’s stalking this nurse around the hospital. Downstairs, more revelations are brought to light when behind the circuit breaker is another of those strange black drawings from Sunnyeo. Something is clearly not right and Lee Young-Tae switches the breakers back on. As he walks away, Sunnyeo shows up and notices he doesn’t have a black mark on his hand. According to her, “he” showed her everything and will do the same for him. As she touches his hand, memories of the past come flooding back as we see Young-Tae haunted by his memories. It turns out he allowed a whole group of patients to be ripped to shreds after padlocking up the doors to the hospital. Fights break out all over the place as the latter half of this episode explodes into nail-biting tension. Hwa-Sun manages to escape the school and avoid being torn to shreds, hobbling across to the gymnasium and barricading herself in. Jin-Seok starts to turn while Seung-Tae narrowly avoids being killed. However, the janitor he’s with is not in a good state. This dramatic conclusion eventually comes to a close with a momentary respite, before the coming storm that will inevitably arrive.
The Episode Review
Dark Hole returns this week with a continuation of the drama that gripped last week’s double bill. The zombies continue to mount while Sunnyeo is becoming a very suspicious character. It’s still unclear exactly what the black markings mean and why they’re so significant, but it seems like Sunnyeo is integral to what’s happening. And what does “he” refer to? Could it be this tentacled creature we’ve been hearing so much of? We’ll have to wait and see of course, but despite the surprisingly low ratings for this series, Dark Hole continues to deliver some decent drama. The production design is strong and although it doesn’t quite match the same aesthetic and adrenaline-soaked action of something like Kingdom, there’s certainly a lot to like here nonetheless.
