Things I disliked:

1. Jin Ki Koo

Terrible, terrible actress. To me, her acting sucks more than Shin Se Kyung’s (“Run On” and “Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung”) and that’s saying something. I’m not even requiring MICRO expressions from her. All I’m asking is that she learn to convey emotions with basic facial expressions. Currently, she only has one face for fear, anger, astonishment, shock, hesitation, and disgust.

She has dead eyes.

If it weren’t for the sympathetic male lead, I would’ve dumped this drama by now.

2. The director’s close-up of her face

This camera shot accomplishes nothing. Typically, a director uses the close-up shot to capture an “emotional leakage.” Even if the actor’s face appears frozen in time, the director wants us to catch a glimpse of the subtle tightening of the muscles around the actor’s eyebrows, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, or neck. These barely noticeable facial movements supposedly a) demonstrate the emotions of the actor in a most compelling way, and b) indicate that the actor has wholly internalized his role.

But Jin Ki Koo can’t act. So, for a good five seconds while the camera does a close up on her face, I’m staring at a deer caught in the headlights. Ugh.

3. The director’s predilection for slowing down the camera speed

I get it. He uses slow motion to create a dramatic effect during a great revelation. This technique gives the feel of time stopping for the characters at the precise moment when reality hits them.

Just rewatch that scene when HaeJoon learned that the teacher he tried so hard to save turned up dead to see what I mean.

To me, however, he’s over-hyping the suspense. There’s more impact had he slowed down the speed AFTER the great reveal, rather than during the lead-in. That way, he would be allowing the news of the murder to sink in the consciousness of the viewers.

Also, I don’t mind if he uses this technique occasionally. But if every time there’s a major discovery, he slows down the camera roll for dramatic effect, it would seem like he ran out of ideas.

4. Plothole or direct effect of messing around with the past?

We saw temporal displacements in previous episodes.

a. The headline on the newspaper conveniently changed from the girls dying because of glue-sniffing to Woojeong being hailed for its safe record.
b. The headline on mass media changed from the convicted killer Go Minsoo hanging himself in prison on the eve of his release to Go Minsoo being released from jail.
c. And in Episode 6, before HJ’s very eyes, the calendar changed the date of the first murder from May 14 to May 16, and the file on the murder case was erased.

Those aren’t plotholes, obviously. But let’s consider this scene in Episode 8. HJ and YY rushed to the reservoir to meet BumRyeong at the crime scene in the middle of the night.

They heard the siren and assumed that the police had found out about the teacher’s murder. They expected to be discovered at the crime site at any second. But to their consternation, the police passed them by. After a sloooow moment, it dawned on HJ that the police had discovered another murder elsewhere. So he took off.

With HJ exiting out of the screen, the camera zoomed in on the flow of water in the background.

I thought it was a metaphor. The camera shot of the water current is a visual metaphor of the HaeJoon interfering with past events. He – and that annoyingly impulsive YY – meddled once too often with the past that they altered the flow of time for good. :Like there was no stopping the rushing water, they were bound to be swept away with the coming events.

To me, this camera shot presents one explanation of this episode’s title, “The turning point.” Literally, it’s a watershed moment. The teacher’s death made them realize that they couldn’t stop the inevitable. As HJ pointed out, “Whatever is meant to happen will happen whatever we do.”

In the next scene, HJ was sprinting up at a mountain in broad daylight.

Huh?

How did that happen? When did night turn into day?

Many viewers believe that this is a plothole. I don’t blame them because the visual transition from night to day was abrupt. But I’ll cut the director some slack.

I didn’t find it strange that night turned into day while HJ was running because I took it for granted that time was shifting on him, just like when the calendar date changed, and the news clippings disappeared before his very eyes.

5. Last but not the least, the red herrings

Let us recap what we know.

a. In Eps 1, 3 and 4, the viewers were immediately suspicious of Go MinSook (GMS) and her brother Go MinSoo because of the epilogues.

In Ep 1 epilogue, GMS returned home with mud on her hem. Her husband asked where she’d been.

Husband: Where are you coming from at this late hour?
GMS: Woojeong Village.
Husband: (interest piqued) Woojeong Village? Did you say Woojeong Village was your hometown? Why did you go there all of a sudden?
GMS: There was something I needed to finish off.

And she stared at the photographs, especially the class picture.

Of course, viewers wondered what she had to finish off that she drove all the way to Woojeong Village. It couldn’t be the food.

In Ep 3 epilogue, YY unknowingly crossed paths with Go MinSoo. She was walking away from the river site after an intense argument with her dad. He, on the other hand, was on his home from meeting with HJ in town.

Judging from the state of the house, it had been unoccupied for years. The director made sure we saw him smiling creepily. In this director’s POV, a creepy smile is a mark of a villain.

The epilogue in Ep 4 epilogue continued where Ep 3 epilogue left off. While Go MinSoo surveyed the living room, his sister GMS entered the room. Her muddied hem was shown again. She sat down and admonished him.

GMS: See I told you. When you look at one place and rush toward it, you fall into many traps.

Then, she smiled creepily, too. Like

Fortunately, HaeJoon (HJ) assumed that the real serial killer couldn’t have been Go MinSoo because Go MinSoo was already dead when HJ was murdered in 2022.

I don’t think it’s the brother. For one, YY’s mom was killed in WooJeong village and WooJeong village was far from their house. As dumb as YY’s mom seemed to be, I doubt she would’ve gone all the way there in the brother Go MinSoo’s company since she didn’t associate with him. She would go, however, with her old schoolmate GMS. For another, the timing is all wrong. Go MinSoo was either still traveling down to WooJeong or meeting with HJ in the cafe when the mom was killed. He wouldn’t have time to arrange a meet-up with the mom.

b. In Eps 4, the other suspects were revealed.

There’s that wannabe-Cassanova, Bum Ryeong who, back in 1987, became a suspect because he collected trophies from his victims and stashed them in the school bathroom.

But in Ep 7, the audience saw that the ribbon actually belonged to his ex-girlfriend SoonAe. SoonAe’s sister (aka the 2nd victim) coveted the ribbon but I doubt she ever wore it. Also, in ep 8, the ring was seen in Bum Ryeong’s possession but he didn’t really keep it. In fact, he wanted to get rid of it.

HJ eliminated him as a suspect because he was more scared about fraternizing with a “commie” than being accused of killing her and the 2nd victim.

The other suspect in the serial crime was Baek HeeSeop.

Two things probably tied him to the murders. One was the key that he wore on a necklace.

There must be a simple reason why he treasured the lock. It could have been given to him by his deceased parents or by his hyung. It could contain something like the bloody shirt that HJ found in his room in Ep 8.

The other incriminating item found in his possession was the bloody shirt. To me, it belonged to his older brother. I assume that the bloody shirt is connected to the scene in the previous episode when he was frantically gathering clothes, including slippers, to put into a paper bag.

I’m guessing that his hyung was involved in an accident (possibly from a student’s protest?) and was staying in the hospital. HeeSeop had to bring him a change of clothes. That’s why he was at the hospital.

He got rid of the blue baseball cap there since:

a) he was recently questioned by HJ about the hat, and he had confessed that it belonged to his brother,

b) he didn’t want to call attention to his attention to his brother, and his brother’s whereabouts and activities, and

c) he thought the hospital was distant enough from his home that he could easily dispose of the baseball cap there without anyone knowing. Unfortunately for him, GMS was lurking around the corner.

Goodness! GMS was the 1987’s version of a CCTV.

c. In Eps 5 and 6, the hyung of Baek HeeSeop was introduced as the possible suspect based on the fact that he was wearing a blue hat. I thought there was way too much fuss about the identity of the blue hat wearer.

To me, he’s the latest “variable” introduced in the plot because he didn’t figure in any of the original police reports. But I doubt he was the killer. He jumped into the fray — without any regard to his personal safety — when he thought HJ needed help fending off the scammers. A psychopath wouldn’t be a concerned citizen.

d. In Ep 8, a new red herring was introduced, the head bully, Park Yoo Ri.

In Ep 1, I already noted that something was amiss about her family. Her grandmother seemed to be raising her, and her mother was “different” from others.

HJ: Is life difficult because your mom is different from others?
Bully: What? What the hell do you know?
HJ: Even if you’re different like this, your mom only lives for you. So don’t ever do this with other kids. Got it? (standing up) I’m am tired of this, too. Even without you, I have a lot of people to save in this town.

Then, in Episode 8, GMS warned Park Yoo Ri about remaining calm.

GMS: Why do you look so serious?
Park Yoori: (sighing, then feigning ignorance) What?
GMS: If anyone sees you, they’d think you killed her.
Park Yoori: (biting her lip)
GMS: Relax your face. It looks so obvious.
Park Yoori: (blinking)
GMS: Let’s go. It’ll be fun.
Park Yoori: (looks away)

Then, the two of them observed the police inspecting the body of the teacher. Park Yoo Ri smiled at the sight before them, like she was proud of it.

Then, she turned to look at GMS, as if looking for approval.

To me, she assisted in the murders. She probably lured the teacher on GMS’ instigation or command.

I bet she’s the third victim.

In Ep 5, HJ told YY that people believed that the third female simply disappeared, and her body was never found. YY filled him in on the truth. She said, that according to the draft of GMS’ crime thriller, the third individual was presumed to have run away because she left a note, when in fact, she was the third victim. She was killed by GMS.

Things I like:

1. Quotation from GMS

They give us valuable insight on the mind of the killer.

GMS: In your opinion, when do you think people become the most dangerous? The hope of correcting all wrongs. The illusion that all mistakes can be covered up as if nothing happened. They fall into that pitiful sweet dream frantically, and then they realize at one point, “Oh! There’s no such thing as a reversible sin in the world.” But by the time they realize that they’ve already been crushed under the wheel of fate. The importance is the direction.

True. Many people filled with remorse will do just about anything to correct or reverse their mistakes. Isn’t that the reason HJ and YY were back in 1987? And it’s true as well that if people can’t undo the mistake, then they can redirect their perspective, and see the mistake and setback as an opportunity for something better.

HeeSeop: What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? Stop taking nonsense and just get to the point.
GMS: I think I can take care of your weakness.
HeeSeop: What weakness?
GMS: (taking out the blue cap) If you were going to throw it out, you should have done it right. What is this, like an idiot? You want to protect someone, and I want to throw out someone. We can help each other out if we work well together?
HeeSeop: What are you trying to suggest?
GMS: I’m talking about what your hyung did.

Two points here:

One, that GMS is evil doesn’t mean she’s irrational. On the contrary, she’s very rational…in a twisted sort of way.

Two, GMS’ and HS’ relationship with their older brothers were poles apart. GMS wanted her brother gone. When HJ witnessed Go MinSoo beating her up, she didn’t want to report it to the police because it would only delay create a bigger fuss with her mother and delay her brother’s departure. She was willing to lie as long as she could get rid of her abusive brother.

In contrast, HS waited expectantly for his hyung to arrive on the weekends. He looked up to his brother. He was willing to lie and take the fall for his hyung because he wanted to protect him. His loyalty to his brother was unquestionable.

2. HJ finally realizes that GMS is a baddie.

As I said, I’m quite surprised that he never suspected GMS of involvement in the serial murders.

HJ: Now, there’s one more person. The person who told the biggest lie. Go Min Sook.
YY: She liked how things turned out for Go MinSoo. Considering what he did to me, I’m sure he couldn’t have been a good brother to her.
HJ: The important thing is how much does she know? How much did she know that she could frame Go MinSoo? And how did she know? The circumstances are important. She knew enough to at least detail the events in her novel.
YY: It seems so.

3. Saving SoonAe’s mother from attempting suicide

Self-explanatory.

4. The arrival of HJ’s father from the US

Like father, like son.

Back in Ep 2, he bragged that he was good at fixing machines. Now, we know where he got his skills.

And now, we know who he was waiting for when he was talking about his car.

The subs here are incorrect. HJ was talking about his father. He could only get his car fixed when his dad returned from the US. He was confident his dad knew how to fix a time machine. lol.

I wouldn’t be shocked if he and his dad were the inventors of the time machine in a different timeline.

I hope his dad’s arrival is a gamechanger. For me, he’s the other meaning of the episode’s title, “The turning point.”

That’s it for me. Moving on to the next dramas needing my review. 🙂