I’ll write Ep 5 Highlights later…

A. The opening scene

1. I was wrong. In one of my comments, I theorized that the Pharma Boss lusted after LtCol Han’s wife. As it turned out, he showed symptoms of the disease because he took the medicine Next. He was gulping down fluids before Han was called away to take a phone call. Had Han stayed in the room, he could have prevented the Pharma Boss from attacking his wife.

2. The Pharma Boss did stand to lose a lot of his investment since he manufactured “Next” for pneumonia, but it was recalled. He had them warehoused while Han found another use for it. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved it for adults with ADHD. According to the Pharma Boss, he took it whenever he was feeling tired because it made him feel invigorated. The drug functions like a stimulant, improving energy, focus, alertness, and concentration.

It’s noteworthy how much of the epidemic is Han’s fault. He stole the drug and brought it into the country. When he was informed of the drug inducing people to bite, his first impulse was to pay off people in exchange for nondisclosure.

3. Regarding the refrigerator trucks, @GB wrote this:

I did hear HTS say landfill. It sure sounded like the not yet dead zombies were being carted off to be killed or buried (hidden without any recourse to treatment or supplies). If buried, I don’t know if they’d be killed first then buried.
Lee Ji Soo to HTS : “Where are they headed?”
HTS : “To a landfill. There’s not enough room to house mild cases.” (So it’s the mild cases who are being carted off to be buried and not the severe ones? In the task of triage, it’s always the hopeless cases who are given the lowest priority ie left to die. But it sounds like the opposite here, because they are concerned about not having enough money and space!)

Thanks, @GB.

I think the people in the trucks are the severe cases. They’re sent to the landfills because landfills are enclosed spaces, and the severe cases can be contained there. I don’t think LtCol Han will order the military to shoot the zompires dead unless the zompires mutiny and try to escape. For all intents and purposes, though, he’s sending these zompires to die in the landfills.

I also think that he’s doing this measure because he needs the refrigerator trucks for the milder cases. They’re running out of space (i.e., the nursing homes) for the milder cases so they’re going to start using the refrigerator trucks where they used to house the severe cases. (Too bad they don’t have military hospital ships to contain the infected people like we do here in the US.)

@GB continued:

HTS : “Do you still not get what I’m doing?”
Lee Ji Soo : “I do, sir.”
HTS : “I made a choice on how many losses we can stand to take. The time will come when you must decide how much blood you should shed.”

(So he’s decided on a figure… but is he referring to losses in terms of number of lives or amount of money? If too much $$$ needs to be spent then the rest who come/get infected later die?

If in terms of lives … how does one determine the number who should die? Isn’t it the other way around, to triage on who should live? He’s deciding on the number who should die … at what rate? 10 persons a day?)

To be fair, @GB, I don’t think money entered in Han’s risk assessment. I think he was referring only to casualties. I wrote before that his worldview wasn’t particularly nuanced; it was black-and-white for him. For instance, he let the 50 Next dealers barricade themselves in the party room because, in his assessment, they were asking for trouble and don’t deserve to be rescued.

When he talked about “loses” he was referring to “acceptable casualties” or the maximum number of casualties that could be sustained, withstood, and tolerated by the public in order to eradicate zompires and the disease.

To do hypothetical zompire math again…

The group of 50 “Next” dealers is acceptable casualty. Like LtCol Han, the public would bid them all “Good riddance!” (How many of us thought Han did the right thing?)

A group of 60 casualties, with 10 good people mixed in, is acceptable. The public would probably blame the good people because they placed themselves in that situation, whether accidentally or deliberately.

75 casualties with 25 good people thrown in with the bad dealers would still be tolerable, especially if the authorities (i.e., the government or the military) declare the deaths necessary to combat the spread.

But what about 100 casualties, with 50/50 split between dealers and good/innocent people? This would be unacceptable to others, but Han might consider this acceptable loss because the benefits would still outweigh the negatives.

Why would it be acceptable?

Because 100 casualties would only be 0.0001 percent of a million people.

When you look at BIG numbers, 1000 casualties would only be 0.1 percent of a million people. South Korea’s population is 50 million. If Han decides than 0.1 percent is acceptable loss, then 50,000 dead is a staggering — and unconscionable — number. However, relative to the population size, what is 50,000 dead compared to 49,950,000 million saved?

This is LtCol Han’s risk assessment. He told his adjutant, Lt Lee, that to stay the course of action was the best option since that there was no viable solution or immediate cure for their problem. He could only do three things:

minimize the collateral damage (or collateral mortality),
hold on until a treatment was found,
and expedite the cure at all costs.

Han: How did the treatment work?
Lee: We sorted the biotherapeutics and injected it to the infected, but they all died.
Han: (sighing) Do it again. Until it works. I’ll hold out.

For me, the noteworthy part of Han’s conversation with Lee is the foreshadowing. It seemed like Han was foreshadowing either his dismissal from the zompire Task Force, or his death.

B. “Le Ciel” apartment complex

The name of the apartment complex, “Le ciel,” reminds me of a quote from French playwright, Jean-Paul Sartre. As I noted before, “ciel” means the sky or heaven. But as the story continues, the apartment is turning out to be nothing like its name. It’s fast developing into hell-on-earth because of the class division, conflicting personalities, and greedy motivations of the apartment dwellers.

And that’s what Sartre said: “L’enfer, c’est les autres” or “Hell is other people.”

Here’s an update on the residents/guests of Apartment Building 101.

1. Basement gym guy. So, he’s a zompire, after all.

Do I care about him? No.

He couldn’t be trusted because he concealed vital information. One, he lied that he didn’t sell or take the drug. Two, he told Killer Oh about the location of his stash of drugs but hid the info from YiHyun and SaeBom when they interrogated him. Three, he could also have told them, too, sooner that Resident 1501 bought a large stash.

Because he deliberately withheld critical information, he endangered the lives of others. He wanted to save his own skin instead of thinking of the whole community.

2. Unit 201: Cheerful cleaner. She’s kinda slow-witted (remember YiHyun stopped her from going outside with her cleaning cart?) but she can be useful addition later on because she’s often INVISIBLE to others. To me, that’s her prime asset: her invisibility cloak.

I think this is a social commentary by the writer. The public don’t see janitors and custodians.

3. Unit 201: Cleaner husband. He makes decision for himself. I see him as Everyman. His actions represent the typical response of an ordinary person. He took free money from Killer Oh; he shared food with the Cleaner; he strangled Representative Oh when she locked them out; he voted to kick out the Gym guy when he became a zompire.

4. Unit 201: Cleaner wife. She follows her husband’s decision. But she’s more practical, though. She took a knife from the supermarket. She also hired Andrew because he was willing to be paid less than minimum wage. She told YiHyun that Andrew was “a little autistic but a kind boy.”

It’s just fitting that the supplies taken from the supermarket were all placed in their room. Although this couple is an outsider, they’ve contributed more to the apartment community than the permanent residents.

I think this is another commentary by the writer. The meek (or deferential) women, like the Elderly wife in #302, Writer Na in #401, and the Attorney’s Wife in #602, are considerate of others.

5. Unit 201: Andrew.

Noteworthy: YiHyun noticed that he never startled at anything. Andrew answered, “I’m happy that people don’t stare at me weirdly. Be careful you, too.”

According to the Cleaner Wife, Andrew hurt his face when he was young, so he had scars. He always stayed home, unable to go out. But wearing a mask gave him the courage to start working.

To me, Andrew’s behavior and his character description from the Cleaner Wife didn’t match up. For somebody who’s supposedly too anxious to be seen by people, he wasn’t frightened nor shocked when people burst in on him, like YiHyun and SaeBom did in the rooftop.

Do you see what I mean?

Seriously, though, if I were YiHyun I’d wonder whether Andrew’s calmness was a result of medication.

6. Unit 201 (?) The Grocery Cashier. Great. She’s only been in the Apartment Building for 24 hours, and she already managed to create a havoc by letting the zompire in.

7. Unit 302: The Old Woman. I’m impressed that she hadn’t turned yet into a zompire despite her aggravation she receives from both her husband and son. Her forbearance is admirable. I’m curious to know who or what will make her snap.

8. Unit 302: The cantankerous Old Man. He’s all bark but no bite.

9. Unit 302: The Youtuber son. Can we all vote him out?

10. Unit 401: Writer Na. (FYI. This actress played the role of EunTak’s mother in “Goblin.”) Really, now. There’s no love lost between the siblings. When her brother was attacked, she didn’t even try grab him or slug the zompire. Her reaction is vastly different from SaeBom who entered the trailer truck to rescue her colleague.

11. Unit 401: Writer Na’s brother. Buh-bye!

12. Unit 501: the child, SeoYoon. I hope her street smarts will save her in the next episode.

13. Unit 501: Jung Gook. As I said, his character is due for a major arc. I get now why YiHyun acts like the officer-in-charge although his hyung Jung Gook has been in the police force longer.

Not only is he a pushover, but he doesn’t have deductive skills. I like that YiHyun took note of the elevator. He noticed that it went from the 6th floor down to the basement, and suspected Killer Oh was up to no good.

So, what’s he good for? I say that he’ll make a good pawn. I’d want Jung Gook sacrificed like a pawn in a chess game, should SeoYoon be threatened by a zompire.

14. Unit 501: SaeBom. Dumbest move? Entering the Penthouse by herself.

Even if she’s military-trained, and physically strong enough to take on Penthouse Guy one-on-one, it’s his territory. She isn’t familiar with the layout and his resources inside of his condo.

15. Unit 501: YiHyun. Lol. He mentioned “good cop, bad cop.” We’ve known that he’s been playing this “good cop, bad cop” game with the residents. To the Apt Rep Oh, for instance, he was the good cop, and SaeBom was the bad cop. To the Killer Oh, he was the bad cop, and she was the good cop (until she kicked Killer Oh in the groin, that is).

16. Unit 601: Killer Oh. He won’t die till the end because he makes such a good villain.

17. Unit 601: Mistress

@nrllee, where you the one asking what she was looking for in the apartment unit? I was hoping that she was searching for leftover pills that the wife took. It would be karma if she turned into a zompire and bit Killer Oh.

18. Unit 602: Attorney Kook. Three strikes and he’s out.

a. For flirting with the Mistress.
b. For reckless endangerment
c. For his arrogance and contempt for everybody, most especially, his wife.

19. Unit 602: Attorney Wife.

She’s 100x better than her husband. She saved his ass big-time when she called on SaeBom to go after him.

I thought for a second that she suspected that her husband was flirting with the Mistress because she smelled his suit The Mistress might have been wearing a strong perfume that rubbed off onto his jacket.

20. Unit 1202: Apartment Rep

I don’t know why she carries that water tumbler with her everywhere, though.

21. Unit 1202: Preacher Husband

I like what @GB wrote, “he’ll need all the prayers he can manage.”

22. Unit 1501: the Penthouse Guy/Apocalypse Guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a crush on SaeBom.

C. Viva’s Question

@Viva asked:

As to what people learn from COVID? We are in transition to be out of lockdown. That makes Happiness resonates well with me.

It brings out a good question – is it someone’s fault to be infected?

Or the real faults are those complaints. Failure to acknowledge the risk. Put themselves first. Wrong priorities. Think less of someone else opinions.

Or can we choose to be like the good team? It’s another human being after all. That human being can be closer to us than we think, or can be us.

Back in Episode 3, I wrote in the comment section to @GB that I wanted to know where the writer stands on an issue. For context, I’ll repost my comment here in its entirety.

I agree @GB that Han’s main priority is “enabling himself and the majority to get by and to survive ie to contain and outlast the disease is all that he can aim for at present, because there is no cure.”

That’s why I said that the “message from LtCol Han’s decision to cordon off the apartment complex is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

However….

what I wanted to know was what the *screenwriter* himself meant by writing that Han’s comment. That is, where does the scriptwriter stand on this issue:

whether he supports LtCol Han’s worldview,
whether he agrees that survival of the majority is truly “more important than a few people biting and killing each other,” and whether he considers the problem of the monstrous few as trivial.

From the way I see it, the screenwriter is siding with YiHyun and SaeBom: that LtCol Han’s approach to this epidemic is a hard-line and uncompromising solution to a very nuanced problem and that his outlook will cause a humanitarian crisis.

Hence, we were shown the side stories of SaeBom’s colleague, and the murdered wife from Condo Unit #601. Through these side stories, the screenwriter gave a “face” to these monsters. SaeBom rescued her partner because she couldn’t leave him, and YiHyun wanted the zombie wife to know that her killer would be brought to justice. If SaeBom and YiHyun were of the same mindset as LtCol Han, then rescuing Saebom’s colleague and pursuing the killer of the zombie wife were futile and idiotic displays of courage.

If LtCol Han’s goal is to *just* hold on — or to just endure the atrocities happening to the “few” for the sake of the rest — then what does it say about our humanity? In effect, we’re NO different from the Apartment Representative. 🙂

Do you see it?

We think she’s crass because all she could think of was property values. She wanted the problems of the few (i.e., the poor renters and the couple #601) to be ignored for the sake of the many since their property values will go bust.

LtCol Han is not much different from her. He wants the problems of the few (i.e., the infected people and monsters) to be ignored for the sake of the many since their happy lives will be disturbed. He doesn’t want people to be troubled again so soon after Covid.

The “apartment” here is just a metaphor for what we hold dear in our lives, our happiness. For the Apartment Representative, happiness is material wealth. For LtCol Han, happiness is perhaps social order. We shall see…

@Viva, in Episode 6, we continue to see the screenwriter’s worldview as presented through the characters. But instead of LtCol Han, we have the Attorney Kook’s perspective pitted against SaeBom.

Here’s the scene:

Attorney: Under Article 22 of the Criminal Code, there’s a law about Emergency Evacuation. I’ll read it. “An act to avoid the current danger to one’s own or another’s legal interests shall not be punished when there is a good reason.” The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to a person who is responsible for not avoiding danger.” To put it simply, for us to survive, it’s okay to throw out the infected.

He went on and on with his presentation.

He knew that apartment residents were hesitant to kick out the Gym guy because they would be in effect consigning him to his death. The residents didn’t want murder on their conscience. So, he cited the law to cover up their moral and ethical ambivalence. He was saying that it was okay for them to act on something they know deep inside was wrong because the law granted them permission to do it.

(On a sidenote: I’m reminded of those lurkers who questioned my stance on abortion. Snort.)

On top of that, Attorney Kook incited fear by presenting the video of the Gym guy as a zompire.

Attorney: I’m sure none of you want to catch the disease and go crazy like other building people. Right. I’ll show you this once. It’s frightening. Look.
Preacher Husband: Oh my Lord.
SaeBom: Did anybody catch Coronavirus?
Attorney: Why are you suddenly bringing up Coronavirus?
SaeBom: No one?

Old Man said he did.

SaeBom: Let me ask one thing, Sir. Did you catch Coronavirus because you did something wrong?
Old Man: What are you talking about? What did I do wrong? If only those old fogies didn’t ask me out to lunch…why did I go there?
SaeBom: That’s right. The disease doesn’t select only certain people. You remember during Coronovirus, right? When someone catches it, some people would reveal his ID, point fingers, but most people worried about his sickness and wished he’d recover soon.

She meant that when an individual person caught covid, there were some people who out-ed the person’s identity and shamed him (or her). But in general, people were concerned about the wellbeing of the person and wished him well.

SaeBom: That’s not something you should get thrown out without treatment.
Attorney: Well, is this the same as Corona?
SaeBom: It’s different. It makes them attack people, biting them off. I get that everybody is afraid and anxious. I feel the same way. But what if this becomes about me or about my family?

She was attempting to personalize the problem. She was giving the problem a “face.” It’s easy for the apartment dwellers to psychologically distance themselves from the Gym guy’s plight because they have no stake or interest in his life. For one, he wasn’t a family member; he’s a stranger. And for another, there already existed a legal principle that established, and guided conduct in similar situations.

But SaeBom argued to treat the Gym guy as themselves or as beloved family member. This is essentially the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

SaeBom: (continuing) After we throw out trainer Kim Seung Beom, who would we throw out next? Oh Joo Young? Or the attorney who came in contact with Oh Joo Young? Should we play musical chairs until only one person remains?

So, to answer your question, @Viva, the way I see it, @Viva, the screenwriter sides with SaeBom and YiHyun in this drama. He’s setting up SaeBom and YiHyun as the moral compass pointing to the right principles and right conduct (although reckless at times) in a crisis.

*************

Gotta run. Have no time for pics.