GABDONGI EPISODE 16

Recap:
Mu Yeom hands Section Chief Cha his discarded copy of Crime & Punishment, urging him metaphorically to stop being Gab Dong. Tae Oh is shocked to find that his psych eval comes back completely normal. Section Chief Cha is arrested, but convicting him is hard. The statute of limitations is up and a DNA sample is taken so the cops can match it with any unsolved cases. Mu Yeom interrogates the section chief, and later discusses the case with Chul Geon. Tae Oh looks defeated, tells Maria he can't trust her anymore, and tears up his evaluation. He asks to see Ji Wool�and begs her to "teach me how to feel like you do." Maria interrogates Chief Cha next, speaking to him contemptuously in banmal (informal speech). Maria eventually breaks down and rushes at him, hands around his throat. The section chief knows they can't legally hold him much longer and the 48 hours is almost up. Tae Oh has a new diagnosis and is happy about it: "affective disorder." And, just when Cha is about to be let go, the district attorney and the prosecutor show up; the statute has been suspended...

My take:�
Section Chief Cha is one eerie guy�as Gab Dong. He delights in enraging his staff, and seems entirely nonchalant about being caught. His performance in this episode was outstanding as the ominous, menacing Gab Dong. The disturbing grin, his weird manner, occasionally being rattled by something that was said or done. The interplay between him and Maria was a particularly well-done scene.


Maria lunging at Section Chief Cha

Ji Wool seems drawn to serial killers as well. Section Chief Cha is her neighbor, and she simply thinks he's a nice ahjussi instead of a cold serial killer. Tae Oh is another psycho that she seems to be involved with and the relationship between them is an odd one to be sure. It seems as if she finally sees him as creepy business. When she first faces him in the cell she seems almost mad at him and treats him disdainfully. Later in the scene, she seems almost moved by his words, but truly, she is simply shaken up. Every time she wants to find the good in someone, it turns out they are a stark raving psycho. If that's the case, what does this say about her crush on Mu Yeom?

Tae Oh seems particularly annoyed that his initial psychological evaluation came back as normal. I think he's afraid that if he's found sane, then he's in control of his actions, a court of law would simply find him guilty, and he would likely get the death penalty. Although, there could be another reason... that he simply cannot accept that he's not insane, that he needs to believe there is something wrong with him because he would otherwise have to accept responsibility for all those murders. That may be something he cannot do. He certainly did seem angry that he could not stop. �


Confronting Tae Oh

One thing that bugs me is... why is there a statute of limitations on murder at all? You'd think that a murder that happened 20 years ago is, well, still murder. It's still as serious as when it first happened. You'd still want to catch the culprit, you'd still want this guy put away. I can totally understand a legal system in which theft and the like go unpunished after a certain number of years, but not murder. Taking a human life is pretty drastic and this has been punishable by death since the Joseon period.

'Gabdongi'�is entirely not the way I'd think you tell a tale about a serial killer, but I'm not a writer on the show, so I'm not sure where they are going with this. If the statute of limitations has been suspended and Section Chief Cha is in custody, then where's the rest of the show? Is there another Gab Dong that's going to show up? Or does Cha somehow get out from under their thumb in time to commit at least one more? One of the things I love about this show is the whammies and strange revelations, so I can't wait to see where they're going with this.

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