1. The Penthouse Guy
When I was listing the positives and negatives of each tenant in Apartment, I said that the Penthouse guy was an “asset” to have.
Agree, @nrllee.
I peg him as a rich kid. Probably in tech, because of his geeky outfit in Episode 2.
But he gave SaeBom a mask, didn’t he? He wanted her to obey the rules, BUT he wasn’t aggressive or overbearing about it. He handed her a mask, thinking that she didn’t have one. And the mask was individually packed, not the cheap kind sold in boxes.
After that, I noticed he was dressed up in a white haz-mat overalls when he answered the door.
If I were to psycho-analyze this dude, I’d say that he’s likely the most prepared for zombie apocalypse in that apartment. 😂 He’s a germaphobe. He complies with rules. He likes order. He isn’t greedy. He was willing to “share” the rooftop as compensation or exchange for the freebie tshirt he got.
As for the swag? The fact that he liked swag (or free tshirt) from anti-terrorist unit and the armed forces medical rescue, and owns a military blanket indicates that he sides with law enforcement. He’ll follow rules should SaeBom or YiHyun give them out since he clearly identifies himself as one with the “good guys.”
That’s why I gave him a positive score in GB’s list of apartment dwellers. 🙂
In this episode, we found out that he’s a diplomat’s son and he’s been to Africa and the Middle East. According to SaeBom, it’s because of his travels to these continents that he realized that the end of the world was near. But I must also add that, from his travels, he also learned to share the bounty he possessed with those who had less.
However, since he bought “Next” (presuming the Gym guy was telling the truth then), YiHyun was right to be cautious about him.
2. Andrew
Here’s another guy I placed as an “asset” who should be treated with caution. I should have known that he carried a weapon, a hammer, in his tool bag. Lol. Does he feel like Batman who relies on his belt for nifty gadgets?
Like LtCol Han, I found it surprising that the zompires just meekly obeyed Andrew and went down the other exit like he told them. I’m intrigued to find out how he did it.
Maybe the two zombies were simply wimpy. They were also frightened by the cross the Pastor waved in front of their faces.
Or maybe as the LtCol Han said to his aide, Lt Lee, (or was he talking to the groggy SaeBom?) the zombies were lucid enough to think in a rational way. He said, “Don’t feel too sorry for the infected. They can control their thirst. As long as their willing.”
3. LtCol Han
Yes, @GB, @nrllee, and @Cleopatra, you’re right to point out the LtCol Han could have simply asked her to donate her blood instead of letting the Guard zompire loose to attack her.
However, that would be missing the point.
LtCol Han already did this before. Back in Episode 1.
Remember?
Back in Episode 1, he staged an encounter with the recruit-zompire and Saebom. He also allowed Saebom to be attacked. After the incident, she burst into his room after the incident and accused him of setting it all up.
Saebom: You let me meet Lee Jong Tae on purpose, right? Even installing a camera.
Han: I wanted to know when he got thirsty.
There! You get it? The rooftop incident isn’t a “bizarre” or over-the-top scene because there’s a precedent for it. LtCol is using Saebom like a lab rat to determine what the virus can and cannot do. He wasn’t merely observing the Lee Jong Tae; he was actually more interested in observing SaeBom’s reaction since she’s the “aberration.” She’s defying the odds.
Saebom: Thirsty?
Han: When a person is infected, they become irrational and start to bite off another person. He experiences thirst but water doesn’t satisfy. When the person is back to normal, he gets thirsty again and is irrational again. We’re trying to find out the condition that gets him thirsty. I was curious to find out how Lee Jong Tae would have after seeing you.
Saebom: You wanted to know how he would feel if he saw the person who shot him?
Han: He recognizes his family. I wondered how he would be with others.
Saebom: That wasn’t all. His heartbeat is slower, and he seems to feel less pain too. And his wounds heal quickly.
Note two things: first, even in this tense situation, Saebom was observant enough to notice these medical details. Secondly, it’s actually a good thing that Saebom’s cuts aren’t healing fast. It meant that her antibodies were concentrated on fighting the Lytta virus, instead of healing the cuts.
Han: It would help us a lot as long as we can control it.
In other words, there are advantages to this virus that the military can use (or weaponize) for its soldiers.
Saebom: Is that why you’re investigating this in secret?
Han: It’s not highly infectious but it will scare people. We need to study its infectious nature. There’s no need to make this matter bigger than it is.
To me, however, LtCol Han staged both the hospital and rooftop encounters with the zompires to check on SaeBom’s condition. He wanted to see whether she’d become a zompire under extreme circumstances. Remember: we already theorized that anger or extreme emotions can trigger the disease.
Saebom: Why did you come here?
Han: To resolve this situation, I came to find even the slightest possibility.
Note: later on, Saebom would tell YiHyun that Han looked desperate, too. I think she realized that Han wanted her to go through this encounter – not because he was a sadistic freak – but because he was hoping that Saebom wouldn’t become a zompire herself. If she “passed” the test, then he’d bring her down with him. If she didn’t pass the test, then that’s the end of his “hope” to find a cure. To me, it was smart to administer the tranquilizer as preventative measure — just in case she turned into a zompire while he was carrying her.
Saebom: I think you came to get me, but I don’t know why.
Han: (sighing)
Saebom: Is it related to this?
Han: (nodding) I guess you could say that. We found an antibody in you, Yoon Sae Bom. We have to check and see if that antibody is useful. Even if we have to let you get bitten by an infected, if necessary. (shooting at the door to release the zompire)
The fact that Saebom was cogent enough to hold him off without stabbing him on the neck with the scissors (which she was already pointing at his carotid artery) meant that:
a. her rational side was in complete control off her senses.
b. she refused to kill a zompire when he’s temporarily acting out of madness.
c. her antibodies were working perfectly well.
She didn’t turn into a zompire even under stress. LtCol Han’s “experiment” worked.
That’s why to me this scene made perfect sense. 🙂
******
I’ve to continue this later. Guests are waking up.
Thanks for the quick takes @PM3!!!
SY had good sense and thought HTS was weird and has a different objective and it’s related to SB and not really about her and her parents. She probably has better sense than the police officer Jung Kuk who is such a liability.
HTS did another asinine move here. He should just delegate the “convincing” work to Lt Lee and she may get better and cooperative results with SB.
A few cinematic scenes I like is when YH was running down the stairwell to catch the elevator as the camera pans away from the building. There was a sense of futility in the shot. And of course, the cool move of YH sliding on the car’s hood. He did a lot of running and stairs steps here, I’m surprised his knees held up.
I’m also curious about Andrew. There is a mention of something like infected people who can curb their thirst. I like @nrllee’s theory that maybe Next pill works differently with him. He can be a good source of antibodies if that’s the case. Same with SB’s body reacting to the virus.
@Janey,
LtCol Han doesn’t want “cooperation” with SB per se. 🙂 He wanted to test whether exposure to extreme circumstance (e.g., being attacked by the recruit in Ep 1 and the guard in Ep 7) will activate her seemingly dormant zompire virus.
By doing his “stress test,” he discovered that it didn’t activate. SB remained fully cognizant of her actions. She could have killed the zompire guard bec the scissors were pointed at his neck but she didn’t because it went against her principles to kill a person who’s temporarily insane and/or not acting normal because of a mental illness. That’s what “Next” does to the brain. It scrambles the brain so the infected person does an irrational thing as drinking blood of another person.
Her reaction proved that her brain hadn’t yet been infected since she could still rationally respond to an irrational and life-threatening moment. The virus hasn’t reached her brains yet because her antibodies were fending it off well.
(Remember what she told LtHan at the gym when he shot the Gym Guy? She said, “Do you think I’m not using a gun because I don’t have one?” Meaning, she could have shot the Gym Guy at any time but she didn’t want to kill the man because he was infected.)
If all LtCol Han wanted was “cooperation” then SB would have readily complied since SB and LtCol Han already had a prior arrangement: the apartment in exchange for biweekly blood tests. She got her apartment, right? So she wouldn’t renege on the agreement.
But that’s NOT all Han wanted. The sample would be useless if she turned zompire during his “stress test.” He wanted her blood sample only if it’s proven that her antibodies are effective in fighting off the virus from reaching the brain.
Han’s “stress test” is unethical and illegal because SB didn’t consent to this. But I’m assuming that his justification is that in times of national emergency, there’s no such thing as human rights or human freedom. Like with the killing of the Gym Guy, he shoots first, then asks questions later.
As annoying as that Old Cantakerous Man was in Ep 7 when he threatened to call a friend who’s a “one-star general,” it was interesting to me that the other residents willingly accepted martial law without demanding a statement or reassurance or public address from their duly-elected President. It’s as if there’s no president running the country. What a weird state of affairs.
Thanks @pkml3 I seem to have read this but not added a comment or to get notifications for this thread.
My feeling of dissonance with this Show is to do with public lack of outcry, to the dull, insufficient reaction to matters of such weight: to an infection so repulsive but widespread because of Next, to the horrors of the dehumanising insanity when the infection hits. Everyone is too calm.
I left the questions in the air … is it because we’ve been struggling with Covid that reactions are so muted … is Show giving us an image of the kind of reaction we’d have if we were struck afresh by an infection that turned people into blood-sucking zombies?
Yes, the lack of or slowness in centralised, governmental action to prevent the spread, to warn people, … the lack of an international response or much mention of it, is so strange. And as you say, it’s weird that martial law is taken as a given. It is treated as normal and acceptable. But it’s not.
The country seems to be run by mega corporations (mainly pharmaceutical?) and their henchmen are the national military.
The normal part? Where individuals remain self-serving is normal, unfortunately. Habits remain. The ones who are generous continue to be so, we hope, but it’s hard to expect the ones who are selfish to be able to change overnight. On the larger scale, we know that humanity does not learn from history, to apply the lessons to themselves.
Greetings!
I am really enjoying this show and all your comments makes it even more enjoyable. I just came to speak regarding the state of affairs. Maybe because of my perspective it did not strike me as weird that martial law was enacted and we don’t see the president nor do we see people question it.
Part of my childhood was lived during the Chilean dictatorship (Chile -1973-1989) and it was “normal” to see the military roaming around and not question it. During COVID martial law was enacted again and it is still being used from 10 pm to 5 am as a way to control the virus. There’s a lot more to all of what is happening there, but I only mention this because South Korea does have history of authoritarian government (military regime).
Could it be that the lack of questioning the government is part of their lived experiences?
I actually thought the fact that the Lt. came to talk to the residents about what was going to happen weird. I would not have expected someone with high visibility to come and talk to residents about what to expect. That did not seem realistic to me.
My guess (and not a very good one, cause I am still trying figure out kdramas) about what is happening outside with the government responses is that is not essential to the main story, but that’s just my take.