Flower of Evil: Eps 9 & 10 Open Thread

The thread is open for spoilers, analysis, rants and raves. Let’s enjoy the show!

Things I want to know:

1. Why was the village chief killed?

Did noona really kill him in an altercation re the shaman exorcism for Hyunsoo or did she kill him because he tried to molest her? Or was the Mystery Accomplice correct that he was killed because he was snooping around?

2. Why did Baek Heesung die his hair blond?

I don’t think his father would have appreciated that hair color on him.

3. Who was Dr. Heesung trying to call on the phone?

After watching the news, he reached for his secret phone. He was interrupted by a text from their housekeeper that Mrs. Baek was with their son.

4. “The Case of the Cheating Husband” forced Jiwon to reconsider their daughter Eunha’s future should she reveal Hyunsoo’s real identity. (Deus ex machina at work there, hmmph!) How will “The Case of the Social Worker” affect her decision-making process?

5. What new secrets will the village detective reveal to MooJin?

Gifs from winar’s tumblr.

This was one of the saddest moments in last week’s episodes. He was asking her to sleep facing him.

source: winar’s tumblr

28 Comments On “Flower of Evil: Eps 9 & 10 Open Thread”

  1. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    Thanks @pkml3 I had those questions too, especially about that hidden burner phone. Only guys up to nefarious deeds which they are instructing some minion or other to carry out, will need burner phones. 😉

    Other questions:
    Was Jung Mi Sook’s murder really part of the serial killings or just made to look like one of them. If not, then why was she killed.

    Was the fish keychain given to Do Hae Su to implicate her/her family in the killing of Jung Mi Sook… if so, why?

    If the killer is Baek Man Woo, and it looks like he’s the most likely candidate, then again we have the great kdrama coincidence … keychain given by killer to the Do family, falls into the hands of Do Hyun Soo who then ends up in the family home of the killer who is forced to hide the identity of the one meant to take the fall.

    Now that Baek Hee Sung has woken up, and DHS will soon be expendable, will Baek Man Woo throw him under the bus/to the police?

    Why does the spectre of Do Min Seok carry the dog leash. There must have been a an event in Hyun Soo’s life where his father had used that leash in a way that stuck with HS.

    Was HS traumatised by his childhood of being forced to become more like a person with ASPD or did something else happen to him (as well).

    Why did the killer take those trophies of thumbnails from his victims and damage the tendon of one foot and put a log leash around their necks?

  2. I agree with all your questions, @GB.

    My problem with this drama is that I don’t trust the director to show us the accurate event or complete flashback. I still remember what he did in Episode 2 with the “Case of the Social Worker.” He filmed the social worker looking mystified then shocked at the crime scene. But he later reversed what he showed us and filmed what really happened to the social worker…in a flashback!

    I don’t like that.

    The camera is supposed to be an omniscient, third-person point-of-view. If this drama was a court case, that director perjured himself with a false testimony. It’s hard to rule anybody out. Even poor Do Hyunsoo. lol.

  3. I don’t know where the writer is going with this. Now we have gangsters and a bartender involved. (Please lord! No clowns!!)

    And how can Hyunsoo be a psychopath when he’s this clueless about his wife? He’s been de-fanged.

  4. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    @pkml3 I found Ep 9 to be so full of sub-text it’s going to take time to interpret what was really being said.

    Having In Seo meet those gangsters and then to have them turn up again as procurers of raw materials linked to the accomplice and Do Min Seok, somehow makes the writing seem clumsily calculated, a bit too pat.

    I’m trying to figure out how the police made the jump from Jung Mi Sook looking for a job to concluding that the employment agency being shady must mean that it was the place where the trap was set for victims.

    The other arc with Hyun Soo figuring out that the bartender and his dad and the accomplice must have been ‘close’ was more believable, but even then, I rolled my eyes at the coincidence of that designer pen cropping up nicely for DHS to recognise it.

    @pkml3 yes, I remember you mentioned how the director may not be trusted because of the ‘deceitful’ filming of the social worker. That gives me pause about trusting anything I see.

    What do you mean by

    “And how can Hyunsoo be a psychopath when he’s this clueless about his wife”?

  5. In response to pm3 questions, I’m guessing: Q1. The mystery accomplice was correct, village chief was killed for being nosy. Noona did stabbed the village chief but actually was being setup as the scapegoat. Q2. Bae Heesung is two-faced, split-personality. Dying his hair blonde is a rebellious strike. Q3. The doctor was trying to call the gangster. Q4. Not sure how I shd interpreted this. But love n comfort will prolly win over the case of a cheating husband. And once he confess his side of story, all will be forgiven, maybe-likely. Q5. Ah, can’t imagine.

    I imagine Baek Heesung has an alter ego, like Hyde. Dr. Baek is a client to the Gangster who trade humans. Dr Baek buys people for their organs or as test experiments. Heesung found out his father dealings, and contact the gangster to sell him with victims too. Eventually, the Heesung parents discovered their son’s doing but still protective over him. lol.

  6. Q1. Noona = manipulated = scapegoat
    Q2. Rebellious act after years of studies and academic achievement. He wanna a taste at real life.
    Q3. The accomplice. Dr. Old Guy is the manipulator/ the mastermind.
    Q4. Jiwon has already abused her power by burning that evidence linking to her hubby. She is planning to divorce him. Plan B – no divorce but she will quit her job.
    Q5. The death of Hyun soo’s father is suspicious/ other undisclosed info on the murder of village foreman

    I am curious as to why a supposedly serial killer went for a suicide. Did he does everything because he was threatened? Hence, to safe his kids, he kills himself so that the mastermind won’t be able to manipulate him anymore? 🤷‍♀️ Did he even care about his kids?

    Why the real heesung in coma? Miscalculation by Team Dad? Son got involve, mission went awry, son became the unintended casualty?

    Btw that guy, that coma guy is ehem 🔥🔥🔥 in his pictorials.

    Ok the end.

  7. @packmule3,

    Nah…. Do Hyun Soo is not a killer from day one. 😏 He made himself look like one due to the stigma he had since his father’s deeds were exposed and he became the designated accomplice. Getting a new identity is his desperation to live a normal life, not as the accomplice DHS and/or becoming like his father.

    After all these years living with his new family, I no longer buying him not realising that he cares and has feelings for them. He did what he did not only to protect himself but his family too. He had sex with her for years! And right after getting out of hospital too 🤪🤪🤪 No feelings there? Okayyyyy 🤣🤣🤣

  8. A while back, I wrote to @GB elsewhere about what I thought may pan out. These thoughts were based on the opening sequence and couple of last minutes of EP 5. I didn’t share them here because who shares “thoughts” after watching exactly 10 minutes of a series? But GB is kind and nice so she bares with me. Anyway, now that we’re at ep 10, these “thoughts” seem okay enough to be shared here:

    The sequence of the future shots in EP 5 end in her giving him air under water. He’s tied up and unconscious. He doesn’t have any opportunity of deception. She repeatedly breathes for him, saving him by her own concious choice and not led by his deception.

    Interesting since

    –> this is the show’s opening sequence. He’s tied up and underwater with no chance of rescuing himself. She, his savior appears before him.

    –> He can’t breathe (as if underwater) due to panic when faced with certain situations – all involving her leaving him eventually.

    –> there is emphasis on the ropes tying him in ep 5. I wonder if it’s a metaphor for his nurture and his experiences falsely keeping him from being alive in the true sense. She frees him from those but not without difficulty.

    –> Though she successfully frees him, there is always the indication that she’s too late. She fails to revive him. The sequence of future scenes finally close in her administering CPR. She’s crying and he’s unresponsive. But he’s sorry. Genuinely. Not to mislead her or to fake an emotion.

    If the end involves any type of near death scenes, I’m almost sure he’ll be dying in her arms with declarations of his love.
    “salanghae. manh-i.”

  9. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    I’m so stressed by Ep 10. So many diverse sections are coming together and some unpredictably.

    LOLed over HS being upfront about manipulating KMJ. Nice cut to police accusing JW of manipulating them.

    I really dislike the underhanded way Det Choi goes about getting info and evidence.

    To all the other questions, now I add on … what is this mention of a woman by Baek Hee Sung … a woman who’d make a difference in the lives of the Baeks? And does the disappearance of Hyun Soo’s mother have any bearing on the present. There are so few women in this show, so we are left with just 2 or 3 or a ghost.

    I’d usually expect that the kind of tension we have in this episode is reserved for Episode 13 or 14. Coming on so early means that matters are going to go south for a bit.

    I liked that the ‘break-up’ talk of Ji Won only lasted a day. Ironically it’s after that, that HS takes off his wedding ring. I believe it’s to keep her as ‘wife’, safe and separated from what he’s about to do.

  10. Haven’t seen Episode 10 yet. Episode 9 points at a bigger picture, possibly involving a ring of serial killers. I am really concerned about the boy who ran away from home…
    Loved the scenes between HS and JW, also between HS noona and MJ.

  11. Yes @GB, ep 10 is really stressful. But I like this drama. Such Good acting too. This is my first LJG. @pm3 is right, he’s indeed a gifted actor. I never felt such type of tension with CLoY or TKEM. There, I always knew it’ll be all rosy at the end. Even while the series were running, it never got this level of crazy.

    Interesting that they mention a possible misdiagnosis. It’s not uncommon at all.

    I want to write more but I’m hungry. I’ll be back later !

  12. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    LOL @Arihsi, yes, please eat and come back to chat. LJG is indeed an interesting actor. He’s always hamming it up BTS, but he’s right on target when the cameras roll. Loved him in Time Between Dog and Wolf.

    I like how this Show does bother to answer our questions… well at least some of them. So the list of questions grows shorter on one hand, but on the other, new questions emerge, like will Baek Hee Sung really do everything his dad tells him to do if it goes against what he thinks is right? Will Mum Baek dare to take a stand against her husband? Who’s the woman Hee Sung wanted to meet? Did Baek Man Woo call the same human trafficking ring or someone else on his burner phone.

    Let’s see how the pieces have moved around on the board. On the side of Hyun Soo there’s Ji Won (again), Hae Su and KMJ had better stay on his side. I wonder if Park Kyung Choon will have any more part to play.

    Against Hyun Soo are Det Choi and team, Baek Man Woo, possibly Baek Hee Sung and the human traffickers.

    Another question: Will Ji Won be able to work with Hyun Soo on clearing his name?

  13. Omg! The last two episodes were so intense and I can’t believe after next episode we will have to wait for a while. I bet they’re gonna give us a cliffhanger next week!

    Like @GB mentioned, I really like that this drama answers our questions while throwing us more question marks. I like that it only took a little coverage for Ji Won reconcile with Hyun Soo. I never paid attentions to Daddy Baek’s nails – but since the killer worn hand band from the same hospital, he remains as a suspect. Would the real Baek Hee Sung be meeting someone from the Hospital who also knows stuffs about the human selling business? Or would she be the lady that fell off the building and died already? Would Daddy Baek provide information to the Gangster boss to set Hyun Soo up so that he can free up the title for Hee Sung? Omg! There are so many question marks in my head!

    I’m still trying to digest the last 2 episodes and will come back to read all you people’s great insights later.

  14. Growing Beautifully (GB)

    @Au0101 Good questions! And you know what… I did look at Dad Baek’s nails before when he was ministering to Hee Sung before he woke up. I didn’t notice those nails being all that short. I need to go back and find those scenes *much sighs*. BUT we did see him CUTTING his nails that time when Hyun Soo was waiting to speak with him. So yeah…. with that green wrist band and those short nails… it’s looking more and more like Dad Baek is the other client or the accomplice.

    I’m really scared about the last question you have… will Dad Baek set Hyun Soo up? That’s what I meant in my other post, about things coming together, but the action that will take place will be unpredictable.

  15. It’s going to be another long week…

    I am wondering what kind of arrangement existed between Do Min Seok and his accomplice (most likely Dad Baek)? Were the gangsters aware that DMS worked with somebody else?

    @GB, yay for Time Between Dog and Wolf!

  16. @GB, actually I believe Daddy Baek is/was in business with the Gangsters. That’s why he has one of those flipped phones in his drawer and that’s also why when the Gangster boss gave one to Hyun Soo in his office, we were shown the pile of flipped phones there. Agree with you on the nail clipping scene.

    @GB, @Snow Flower, I’m a fan for Time Between Dog and Wolf, too!

  17. @GB, would it be that back then Daddy Baek was still a doctor who still needed to go in and out of operation room so he needed to keep his nails short and now he’s the Director who just needs to manage his fellow doctors and it’s not necessary to keep them short anymore?

  18. Just finished watching these ep. My take:

    1. Possible accomplice is the real BHS because of the large eyes showed during the hypnosis session. From the preview, it shows him having that psychotic (?) expression. Was he on drug?
    2. As usual, police aka Det. Choi will ruin things the common drama police trope ways.😒
    3. As expected, Ji Won’s involvement in investigating Hyun Soo will come back to haunt her position as a police officer.
    4. Hyun soo was a case of misdiagnosed. Kinda remind me of the main character in Beautiful Mind.
    5. The chubby boy most probably be one of the victims who will be sold 🥺.
    6. The mystery lady that BHS was about to meet could possibly be Hyun soo’s sister.

    To be continued… 🤭

  19. @miracle23, after watching the preview of Ep11 in which he was showing biting his nail, I have put the real BHS in my suspect list also. The lady he was going to meet could well be Hae Soo. But then there are other questions I have should he be the accomplice. Since the real BHS was born in 1982, he couldn’t possibly be the accomplice or at least not for all the cases with DMS, assuming DMS killed all those ladies over a few year period, including his wife. According to Hyun Soo in E10, his Mom was reported lost in 1997 when the real BHS was only 15? Would it be a way for the writer-nim trying to mislead us?

  20. @Au0101, yes at first I dropped him from my suspect list due to age. However, following recent development he is relisted 🤣. If he were the accomplice, their alliance may have started when they met through that human trafficking ring. His father definitely knows that his son is very sick, hence he is doing everything to cover up for him. The green sillicon band is also a clue that the accomplice is related to the Baek’s hospital. If the accomplice were not him, then it is someone who works at that hospital. A new face to be revealed, perhaps.

  21. In episode 9, it seems like Man-Woo’s plan is to give Hee-Sung Hyun-Soo’s life.

    Hee-Sung: Will I be able to walk again?

    MW: Not just walk, but you’ll be able to get the job you want, marry a good person, have a lovely and beautiful daughter, and live happily in a two-story house as in a fairytale.

    Everything MW mentioned is what Hyun-Soo has now. I could be reading too much into it, but the mention of daughter and two-story house seems quite specific.

    God complex much?

  22. … I forgot to mention after the Hee-Sung & MW’s conversation regarding being able to walk again … the scene changes directly to Ji Won looking at her 2 story home and Eun-Ha greeting her.

  23. @miracle23, right and I don’t rule out the possibility that the real BHS is the accomplice. And yes the accomplice is definitely related to the hospital and it could well be what causing Mommy Baek so mad that leading into the accident sending him into a coma?

    The real BHS said if he had met the lady, all of their destinies would have been changed – I wonder what exactly was he trying to say.

  24. Good point, @John!

    We still have to wait to see more of the real Hee Sung’s story. Both Baeks (Senior and Junior) are suspicious.

  25. @miracle23, I just re-watched Ep8. When Daddy Baek passed the booklet of real BHS’s bibliography for Hyun Soo to study, he told him BHS had just released from military service last year, which was 2004, but we are not shown when in 2004. Given the taxi driver’s wife was kidnapped in 2002, the real BHS might be already enlisted at that time.

  26. @Au0101, thanks😊

    Ok, let see… the minimum period for military conscription is 18 months. Let say the real BHS went for the 18 months. If he came back in Jan 2004, means he left for military in mid 2002. Any specific date/month of when the father killed himself and the killing stopped? If the last serial murder went beyond June 2002 then BHS possibly returned after Jan 2004.

    And this also proves that he was older than Hyun Soo who was still at school in 2002, similar with his sister.

    I will do a quick rewatch to get the thing I miss😅

  27. @miracle23, the wife of taxi driver was kidnapped on May 12, 2002 and the voice message left on the witness’ answering machine was on Aug 21, 2002. I believe taxi driver’s wife was the last victim. But did she really die since her body still hasn’t been found?

    Also before hitting Hyun Soo, the real BHS was on the phone talking to someone about meeting a person and his tone was all very gentle and polite and he told the person he was talking to he gotta see the lady he was supposed to meet and gotta face it. I also notice the man who left the voice message was speaking in a slower tempo but not sure if he wanted to make his warning more serious or it’s how he talks.

  28. Thanks @Au0101.😊 I will be watching ep 11 tonight and will join the other thread afterward 😎 Let see if our guess is correct 😈

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