The Locket
Missing: The Other Side carries on delivering a steady pace and some decent episodes each week with enough suspense and thrills to make this drama worth watching. It has the right formula to keep us hooked and the diverse characters and premise are interesting and intriguing too. Episode 5 of Missing: The Other Side starts with Kim Wook remembering a day he played with his mother. On top of that, he also remembers her locket with his picture inside. We then see him later reading a letter from her, telling him that they will be separated. After being taken to an orphanage, he came back on a regular basis to see if his mother would ever return. In the present, we see Kim Wook looking at the pendant and Hyun-Mi snatching it from him. Detective Park tells him that the locket is very important to her as it has the picture of her son in it. Thomas and the detective take Woo Il-Suk inside who still claims that Wook is the grim reaper. Thomas becomes angry and tells him that he will not see the daylight anymore. In the evening, Kim Wook spies on his mother then visits Woo Il-Suk. He asks who killed him but the murderer explains that he didn’t see his killer. Wook promises that he will make this village a better place. The next day in the police station, Jun Ho finds out that an unidentified woman’s body has been found but it turns out to be someone who died 6 months ago. Meanwhile, Yeon Na speaks to Thomas about her lanterns. He is sad for her that none are able to reach the other world. She is still convinced though that one may have crossed over to the living realm. At the same time, Kim Wook and Pan Seok don a disguise and head into town to look for Woo Il-Suk’s killer. Pretending to be a rich man, Pan Seok enters a local police station and starts asking questions about sex offenders in the area. The police man checks the status and whereabouts of them and notices that they have lost signal for one. The pair then decide to look into it while Pan-Seok gets a call from someone who claims to have found his daughter. Unfortunately, he ends up being the victim of a scam when the witness swindles money out of him. Kim Wook finds the last victim of Woo Il-Suk and tries to convince her to come forward to the police. In a flashback, we see her being attacked and saved by her husband who hit the killer with a plant pot. Kim Wook returns to the edge of the village with Pan Seok. He’s surprised though when Jong-Ah arrives too. She tells him that she has found another connection for the three orphans; none of them have any records of their birth parents. Jong-Ah stays to eat and later tries finding out who the girl is Pan-Seok happens to be looking for. She knows he has been conned and promises to catch the man who did it. Yeo-Hee visits Myeong-Soon and explains that she is looking for her grandchild. She reveals that she thought her daughter lost her child but later found out that she didn’t. Now, she is trying to find which orphanage looked after her grandchild. Pan-Seok and Jong-Ah track down the con artist and head into a gaming room to catch him. They take him outside and the police arrive just in time to arrest him. Later on, Kim Wook rings Pan Seok, telling him that his plan has worked as Woo Il-Suk’s victim has handed herself in to the police. She’s also revealed where the body is hidden. We then cut to the village where we see that the killer has now disappeared. In the evening, Baek Il-Doo finds Jun-Ho working late on the murder case. The latter tells him that Myung Gyu looked up Choiseung Construction online before he died. This makes Il-Doo remember that his colleague Detective Park was also investigating the company when he disappeared. Back in the village, Kim Wook asks Hyun-Mi when she arrived and who killed her. She replies that she doesn’t remember and laughs at his curiosity. Pan Seok meanwhile, discusses Mi-Ok’s killer with Detective Park. The latter is impressed with all the good work his friend has been doing lately and tells him that he can stop if it gets too hard. Pan Seok explains that he owes it to his daughter and that everyone in the village feels like Hyun Ji to him. The next day, Jun Ho learns that the chairwoman of Choiseung is planning to donate her shares and estates to her grandchild. This surprises the detective who decides to head to a company event. There, he intends to confront her. He arrives at the same time as Kim Wook who asks the woman if she remembers his mother, Kim Hyun Mi, as she lived in her house 27 years ago.
The Episode Review
The latest chapter of Missing: The Other side offers some big revelations as we learn that Hyun-Mi is Kim Wook’s mother. It could also potentially be that the chairwoman is his grandmother. Just what happened 27 years ago and why she abandoned her child still remains a mystery. However, I am looking forward to find out more in the upcoming episodes. The actors are doing an excellent job with their roles and I am really enjoying this drama which definitely feels like a mix between Hotel Del Luna and Mystic Pop-Up Bar (two of my favourites K dramas). That’s not to say this is a copy though as the show has its own original spin too. I do hope we also find out more about the mysterious Thomas and how long he has been in the village. On the other hand, poor Jun-Ho is still hoping that his fiancee is alive. Kim Wook is in a difficult situation here as he knows the truth. However, revealing it could spell trouble for him. Yeo-Na is also still convinced that she can return to the living world which makes this story even sadder. What will happen to those two still remains to be seen but for now, Missing: The Other Side gives us another thrilling episode.
