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Shorthand (Character Chart)
Yu Seol-ok – SO | Ha Wan-seon – WS | Woo Sung-ha – SH | Jeong Hee-yeon – HY | Kim Kyung-mi – KM | Bo-kook – BK | Ha Ji-seong – JS | Cho In-ho – IH | Gae Sung-woo – SW | Wuk Seong-hwa (sergeant)- WSH | Shin Jang-gu – JG | Shin Na-ra – NR | Hwang Jae-min – JM | Gong Han-min HM | Kim Moon-ki – MK | MC J (Duty Police rapper) – MCJ | Lee Sun-ho – SH
How To Watch: On Demand Korea, Viki
Airing Time: March 8th, 22:00 Seoul
Countdown: KKEUT
QUEEN OF MYSTERY 2 LIVE RECAP: EPISODE 4
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#1
OPENING
The young arsonists mom goes to his room and looks at him. She says he is playing games with her cell phone, but he is sleeping. However, we see his eyes open and then we cut to him planing his crime after looking at the dark web. He has to light a fire on the truck.
MORNING
SO and WS scope out the pharmacy and see the mother coming out with the son. The boy has the yellow umbrella and SO and WS go up to him. They ask him some questions, like why do his shoes look worn out, did you spill acetone on it? The appa yells from the car and comes to them. They tell the police that their son doesn’t have time to light fires. He is still young. But the son is in the car looking creepy.
The father is in a lawyer and tells them, if they bother his son again then he will see them in court. Appa drops his son off and tells his son to go to their home right after school. He looks a bit concerned as he watches him walk to school.
Meanwhile SO and WS are driving. SO thinks the kid did it, his fingers were a little burnt by the aceton and his front hairs where singed. WS thinks he is strange, why would he use a cigarrette? SO says it is because he is just a little kid, he followed all the unnecessaryt things becasue he was just following instructions.
School lets out and we see that the little girl and the boy are best friends. The mother who got burnt in the last episode laughs happily as she watches them play. At the same time, WS and SO want to know why a normal kid would want to be an arsonist. They go to investigate more in the police station.
While inside the station, they ask about teh arson case to a policewoman, but she tells them to be careful becasue everyone is angry. Cut to the section chief and team leader arguing about WS and SO. The section chief, IH wants SW to figure out where SO is and seperate her and WS becasue they are trouble makers.
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#2
WS and SO decide to follow the boy around to make sure he can’t light anymore fires. But then we cut to the school, the fire alarm went off and everyone runs out. But the little boy just calmly walks in the opposite direction of everyone else and puts all his things together. WS and SO go to the school and are shocked to see that school is out. They run to the mom and tell her that their son is an arsonist and thei school finished 2 hours agao due to an alarm. If he isn’t home yet, then he will go light a fire somewhere.
They think he is a copycat so maybe he copies everything, even unneccessary things. Perhaps he will do the truck. It looks like he is doing everything in oppossite order because that is how he is watching the videos.
We cut to the boy going to the top of the building. WS and SO say he is following the popularity order of the videos. Then they see the mother yelling at someone on the phone. She hops in her car so they follow her. The mother asks which apartment her kid went to, 103, that is his friends apartment. (previously the mom complained about him going to this poor apartment).
We cut to the friend and the mom going to get some strawberries. The ajusshi in the truck sells them the strawberries, meanwhile the little devil kid prepares all the fire starting things on the roof. But then the ajusshi drives off and the kid gets an even eviler plan. The mom gets a call about Wang-jae (the little boy), she says she will let her know if she ses him. But then we see the bottle falling toward her and setting her on fire.
WS runs to her and SO runs to the girl. The girl starts crying and yelling Umma, Umma, while SO tries to cover her eyes. Then we cut to the kid going down the elevator. He thinks that he should say he came to see Yoon-ah, he should be okay. But WS grabs him and walks him out. He tells the mother that he will have to investigate this boy. This boy ruined this child and womans life.
The father shows up and honks at WS, but WS just tells him to get out. They will investigate his son.
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#3
But SW shows up and lets the father and son leave. All the while, SO is trying to comfort the girl who is still crying histerically on the ground.
HOSPITAL
Her mother is wheelied into the hospital with burns all over her. She has no other guardians, if the treatment takes a long time then the girl will need to go to foster care. The girl is crying in the hallway and So is still with her. But then we cut to SO sitting alone and cleaning the girls shoes. She thinks back to the fire and the girl stepping on all the strawberries. She also sees her own shoes and starts to clean them, but she starts to cry as the days events weigh on her.
The doctor tells SO and WS that the mother is alive and will recieve treatment and face reconstruction. But this will take a very long time. SO thinks the girl doesn’t have anyone to take care of her. But then WS gets a call, his father is getting released from jail today, did he know that? We cut to the father leaving jail coughing. But the father says he needs to show everyone that he is strong, if they know he is weak then they will pounce on him like hyenas.
Back to the hospital, WS is a little burnt, but he thinks it is nothing compared to Yoona’s mother. Then we cut to the little kid talking to his parents, they want to know if he threw the bottle. he can protect him. The boy says he did it. The boy asks him if he did it before and he says he did it 2 times before. The mother starts yelling at the mother and the mother starts yelling at the father.
Meanwhile WS and SO start yelling at each other in the hospital. They can’t prosecute this little boy, it is a losing case. But WS doesn’t want to give up, the police shouldn’t give up. SO starts remembering her father and mothers death, she thinks about it for a moment until WS extends his hand to her and tells her, let’s leave.
Back at the littleboys house, his father starts coaching him in what to say. He never lit a fire before, ever. And the fire from today was a science experiment. But he wants to know why he should lie, he can’t go to jail if he is younger than 10, his father is a lawyer and doesn’t know that? Cut to the father and mother talking aobut the case, the parents will have to pay for it all so they are trying to make the case into an accident.
At the same time, WS and SO are talking about how bad the boys parents are, why can’t they even apologize to the mother and daughter. They are really bad. But SO and WS are a little playful with each other as they eat together. WS wants to cut her food for her so the have a playful back and forth about that.
Then we see SO studying the law. Under 14 won’t be punished and under 10 years then the boy isn’t punishable at all. The parents are responsible, but that will take time. They wonder about the school, but they think it won’t work because the boys mom is a board member. IT looks like a hard case to win, but they tell each other that they won’t give up. If the law doesn’t work then they will use the schools law.
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#4
CAKE LADY AND SO
SO tells the cake lady, HY that she did se the arsonist that night. HY is stunned and worried about it. She was worried that she was saying someone else was the arsonist who wasn’t and is stunned that it was the arsonist.
Meanwhile we find out that the chief wants to give this case to WS possibly? (Missed this part). IH tells SW that they need to investigate this, but the kids father is a lawyer so they probably won’t remember it. This case is difficult, so they want to give it to Wang-seong.
Elsewhere in the station, one of the cops tells the section chiefs daughter that she is spending too much money on things. But he lets it slide. Then he gets a call, he needs to go to the recording room so he says he will go there with officer Shin (the daughter). They leave to go there, but then they see WS in a scuffle with Sergeant Wuk. The officer decides it is better to leave and pretend like they are busy.
WS has a feeling that this case is a dirty case, why are they giving this case to him? But then we cut to WS interrogating the child with his guardian. We also see SO and HY talking to the teacher. The teacher should help them. But the teacher thinks she is the teacher for both children. We cut back and forth between the teacher and the interrogation. Both arent going well. HY tells the teacher that this teacher is insane, how is the pain from the girl who saw her mother get burned is the same as the boy who caused it? But SO tells them that they should leave, the teacher just wants to keep her job.
Back in the interrogation, WS keeps asking questions. Why did this boy go to the friends house bit the girl never went to the pharmacy ever?
At the school, HY and SO go outside, HY thinks she can ask a higher education official. She made a special cake for him once.
Meanwhile WS is making headway with the interrogation the boy slips and says he went there to see the truck. He was supposed to throw it at the truck, but the truck left so he threw it at the person instead. Everyone is silent. The daughter of the superintendent is so impressed, their site won. But actually the police are on the side of the arsonist. WS tells the father to go home and prepare for trial, he confessed so the money will be big. But whatever happens, his son still destroyed a family.
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#5
SCHOOL MEETING
The school thinks the father has to go to social service at the hospital for several hours. A lot of people are talking about this case and they have to think about the honor of the school. But the parents want to know why the principal changed his mind. Outside they tell SO that this already happened, why are they hurting this boy? These parents are crazy.
SO says, what if this happened to them. But the parents just walk away. WS says these parents think this kind of thing will never happen to them and SO says Yoona’s mom didn’t think this would happen to them as well. WS and SO go outside and talk about the case. If the boy didn’t aim the bottle then it would have just hit the flowers. Why did he aim it? They hope it was a mistake because they feel bad about punishing a little boy. They think people look like ants from that high up, so maybe he didn’t look at them as people. SO thinks the most horrible thing is that no one wants to be responsible.
HOSPITAL
The father drops the mom and child off to do their service to the hospital. The mother and father yell about it some more. The mother and son go inside and the mother tells him that she will do all the service for the woman and the son can just wait outside and do his homework. The mother goes inside and stands there as the woman is getting taken care of.
Then we see the boy outside, he runs into Yoona and starts talking to her. he wants to play with her. She is outside because she is scared to see her mothers face. He says his mother prepared something for them and opens up his lunch. He has strawberries inside, then Yoona sees a man lighting a cigarret. Yoona starts freaking out and crying histerically. The little boy looks at her and just stares at her. It looks like he might feel this pain of Yoona now. It looks like he didn’t know it was Yoona’s mother. Yoona said she wants to become an adult quickly and take her revenge on the arsonist. The boy starts crying and says he wants Yoona to still be his friend, he doesn’t want her to hate him, he is so scared.
Then we see Yoona walking the hall with SO. SO tells Yoona that her mom might not be able to hug her becasue she isn’t well. They look inside the room and see the bad mother and father helping the burnt patient. All three of them are taking care of the patient. Yoona runs in and the mother sits up and gives her a big hug even though she is in a lot of pain.
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#6
CAKE SHOP
HY directs her employee in setting the table well. Perhaps they are preparing something for a bride? Then we see SO running in, she brought a flower for the opening of the store. WS also came to celebrate tomorrows opening of the store. They tell her that Yoona’s mom will get help from a law firm association. They wanted to let HY know. But SO thinks someone look suspicious. She thinks the waitress looks familiar.
COMPANY
The brother will be the CEO of the law firm now. The newly released father and the son walk thorugh the building and see someone deliver a lot of flowers. The father says it is their biggest rival. They go inside the room which is an event to introduce the brother as the new CEO. In the corner, a suspicious person watches and reports on this.
CAKE SHOP
HY asks So if she is dating WS. SO tells her she will never date him. HY wonders where WS is staying now and SO says she doenst’ know becasue they aren’t close…I’ll leave now. But then SO says she quit the honor police because she has no power. She left the lunchbox shop alone toolong, so she will just clean.
Then we see the cake shop woman using gormet icing on a cake. The mood is eery as she says she expects an important guest. Then we see her meeting with someone. She says this superintendent wasn’t used to their cakes, he was surprised. Flashback of her meeting with the principal of the school and being presented the special cake. She tells the principal and this other man she is talking to that she hopes he likes the cake. The cake box opens and we see that there is a lot of money under the cake. The cake shop owner smiles.
Fade Out
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COMMENTS
Okay, I really didn’t like the ending of the last episode and this entire episode. This kid was crying basically because the girlfriend will hate him. The mom is sad because the kid is sad. The police don’t care, the lawyers don’t care, the teachers don’t care. The woman is completely destroyed, the family is destroyed, no remorse anywhere and yet we are supposed to feel happy that the family is helping the woman in the end? I mean WTF. Then SO quits her honorary police job and goes back to the lunch shop. It is like everything is going backwards and nothing matters. Everything was wrong about this episode.
I feel like this drama’s writer or director are trying to pull too many tears from the viewer by adding the most sad and depressing scenes they can think of. Let’s just not have her burnt and unable to work. Lets give her 3rd degree burns all over her body and she isn’t able to work and she has no family and she is poor and the daughter has PTSD and the school/police/law/parents don’t care. I’m not left feeling happy/uplifted by these supposedly heartfelt scenes (like I am with Should We Kiss First), I am just left feeling very depressed by them and like I need to watch Waikiki or something in order to life my mood. I am actually angry at this episode. This episode alone was enough for us to drop this show. It isn’t a scheduling drop like with Cross, Cross was moving alone nicely, this is a hate drop. I don’t even want to edit it (and probably won’t).
I might give this show one more week, but that is a big might. In my mind I have already checked out. I feel like QOM2 will just continue in this heartwrenching for the sake of heartwrenching storytelling with some fluffy scenes thrown in and nothing happening to move the main story forward, but then they will show us something at the very end of each episode to bait us for the next episode. I was willing to overlook the first episode tone shift. But the tone shift with this miserable story is just too much. I you don’t see Queen of Mystery 2 here next week it is because we stopped watching it. Spoiler Alert: You won’t see it.
UPDATE: Okay, I’m going to give Queen of Mystery 2 another go. I love the characters and actors, so I will at least let it ride for a few more episodes. Maybe the pressure of season 2 got to the production and it will take a few weeks for this season to find it’s footing? I’m willing to see.
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Sorry to hear that you did not like the show. I’ve just read your recap (maybe if I see the whole episode I will change my mind), but I do not think the approach taken to solve the issue with the child is wrong.
In fact, I think it is very nuanced. Say that the child goes to jail/juvenile detention but without understanding how his friend was hurt. The child would probably never learn anything from what happened, moreover, juvenile detention will make him probably even more callous than he is now.
Sometimes strict punishments such as sending a child to detention, punish him at any cost will not have the opposite effect.
Moreover, the family wants to protect the child but also recognizes that they are at fault (the mother and father quarrel, this means that they recognize something awful happened). They just want to do anything that they can so that the child gets a second chance. It is awful to not be given a second chance, especially at such young age.
American movies and TV series almost always show that the only solution for a person to redeem her/himself is to take the punishment. But jails and detention centres are hardly the places to reform wrongdoers. so maybe staying with his family and his family recognizing the awful thing their child did and the child also understanding the extent of his wrongdoing is the right thing to happen.
I like your explanation and I’m curious to know your thoughts once you finish watching it. My problem is not with the punishment, I also don’t think the boy should get a drastic punishment. I just don’t think the story was handled well from a writer/director point of view. I have so many questions. Was it an accident or was it on purpose? Is he a psychopath or not? If he isn’t then don’t show him as one for the entire episode. Does the situation have to be the absolute worst thing ever in existence (with the injured person being the poor best friends mother who has no family or connections or hope and now doesn’t even have a face and her daughter has ptsd among other things)? How did a little kid get on the dark web? What about that scene were a fire is set at the hogwan, was that how he met the fire starter or was that just a dream? Why a little kid anyway? Was that just done for the shock factor?
There are just so many questions that I shouldn’t have in the first 4 episodes. These first 4 episodes should be their best storytelling and cinematorgraphy since they had the time to make it. If there are this many questions now, what will happen later? I also think back to everyone being upset at how the last season ended and I kind of see glimpses of that happening again. I also have a little WTF stuff left over from Hwayugi (not QOM2’s fault) so I want to get out of a story in the beginning when I see some problems surfacing, before I get super invested with the characters.
I am new here, found you all out once dramabeans doesn’t recap the show that I watch, I want to start by thanking you for taking the time out to do a live recap 🙂 :).
@V, I kind of disagree with your first reaction to the episode, I think it was well made and very well written and not at all for the shock value.
First, It showed that a kid less than 10 years old is not able to decide for himself what is right or wrong (which is why his actions do not have criminal responsibility, but then whose responsibility is it? As SO does in her monologue? The kid just does what he see and there may be not a deep motivation to his intention, he just sees the arsonist smile and is influenced. This also underlines that parenting is not only about providing for your kid but paying attention to what he is exposed to on internet and his neighborhood and accidents happening around should be explained and the kid should sensitize and head in sand does not work well. So, in my opinion asking the kids motive will not help much or even finding out if it was an accident or a mistake won’t help either, the best out of the situation would to be to find out what can be done to stop the kid from repeating his action.)
Second, the attitude of mother, I think she was trying not to put the blame on kid and in a way trying to protect the kid and herself from the burden of guilt but later she realized that she has to embrace the guilt for everyone in the situation to move on but the question was what made her realize that and the show showed it very beautifully and right on the point, it need not be something very big or great moral reason (like justice in world because they don’t matter to a woman who is trying to protect her child by denying it) it was the after effect of what was going on in the child’s brain which he express as that the girl does’nt smile to him anymore (making the full circle that what influenced him was the smile of the arsonist, on the other point note that the child’s mother and father never smile and his response as well to SO’s smile. )
I also want to say on the other question you asked is he a psychopath or not? I feel this is not a question to be asked and taking him to a detention is never the answer, it is like taking the responsibility away from parents (why should they not be given a chance also to learn what went wrong ?), it more like the whole family has a responsibility now which they should understand and shoulder. In the end, both the parents realized this and they will try to find it out what needs their child has.
Now about the other kid with PTSD, I think she will take a lot of time and counseling to understand and cope up with life but then since there is no point in living with what if’s, I hope she will do a lot well in her life.
(My apologizes for such a long post)
No apologies for a long post, I love all the discussion 🙂 I love how you brought in the parenting and monitoring everything your kid does online. I also love how you mentioned that the smile of the arsonist probably influenced him as well. His life was pretty chaotic with his parents arguing all the time, so that one little moment of sincerity (though from a psychopath) was appreciated by him. I would like it if this kid was in future episodes and his path is taken a lot darker (like if he actually became the arsonists apprentice) though I don’t think they are going that route?
Again: I haven’t watched the episode yet, but based on what the boy did the last episode, I think the motivation of the child for doing what he did is again kind of complex. Recall that he went up to throw the bottle on the truck, not on the woman. He decided in the last moment to throw it on the woman. Why did he do it? Maybe he was just curious about what happens; maybe he did not have ill intentions; maybe he wanted to relieve the adrenaline moment he had when the other fire broke in class.
This brings me back to an important aspect (I do not know how much this aspect is emphasized in this episode). The boy also passed through a traumatic/awakening experience: we saw him in the class with the other children when the other bottle is thrown. But he likes the situation: he feels alive and recognized: the first arsonist smiles to him.
I am wondering whether in burning things the boy tried to get some recognition because he feels neglected by his parents. Did his parents talk with him after the first fire? His mother seems not to be gentle with him; maybe the father treats him too much like an adult.
Last season I was impressed with how the show dealt with something that seems to be so insignificant–the theft of the panties. It also dealt quite a lot with how women are treated. I love that the treatment of women remains an issue. See for example the last episode, OS is so focused on solving crimes instead of love and so blunt about how the divorce liberated her.
This season also seems to show us that it matters how we treat children. Remember that WS was quite aggressive with the child, and remember how OS behaved with the child. OS smiles and engages with him when they meet in the pharmacy. The child genuinely smiles at her back.
This is a ploy on my part to convince people to recap this series. I think the series is deeper than we give it credit for.
But I grant your point about shocking value.
I love your point of view on it! Thank you for sharing it and for letting us know that you want the series recapped (unfortunately it seems like Dramabeans isn’t going to recap it? I thought they would since they did season one). I feel like you have so much insight to share, maybe you could think about starting a site and recapping Queen of Mystery 2? I know recapping isn’t for everyone, but it is pretty fun.
As far as what I love about Queen of Mystery 2, I love all the actors in these roles, I love the will they won’t they back and forth of the main couple. The guest/side actors in all the episodes are also very good. I love the quirkiness. I’m also interested in the overall storyline. It is just the heavy-handedness and the story plot questions that give me pause. Hwayugi also had really great actors and a questionable storyline that made everyone go crazy at the end. I have a feeling that this show might do that.
But I do know it is so annoying when no one is recapping the show that you love! Maybe we jumped the gun too quickly on this one. We could give it one more week and see how it goes.
I can see the frustration with the heavy handed emotional scenes. I am just a little annoyed/frustrated with the overarching story. I want to find out the mystery right away. I wanted them to jump right into it, but it looks like we will have to wait until the season finale of this season to get the answers everyone wanted at the season finale of the last season.
I think the mystery started. we are introduced little by little to it. The cake shop owner is I think part of the overarching story. She seems to be in love with WS and I do not understand why. Ok, he is good looking but she is too much in love with him…
I like how we are presented with a scene only to get a different point of view on it in the next episode. At this moment the cake shop owner only lets us see what she wants us to see. I have the feeling that there is more to her being near WS house than she said.
Okay, I am going to assume that the drama’s Korean Plastic surgery industry will take good care of this mother’s reconstructive surgery and I will just have to move on from there. I can also see the frustration with the mystery, I need big clues right now! I am a little bit confused by the cake shop owner. Is she a good person or a bad person or an in-between person? Does she like Wan-seong or is she just pretending to like him for some other means?
The cake shop owner might be the person who took the ring from a drink WS. What I think happened that night was that WS proposed to the wrong person.
another possibility is that the cake shop owner is that girl from WS’s past, but then he should recognize her.
I do not know, do you have any suggestions?
I forgot all about the woman who took the ring. Maybe it was the shop owner which would explain her interest in him.
Yep, it might be her or perhaps it will be a new character?
Okay, after letting it sit for the rest of the day I think we’ll give QOM2 another go! It might just be taking this season a little longer to find it’s footing. I really like the characters so I’ll give the writer/director a bit more time.
To me, the cake owner is WS ex girlfriend who have a new look and identity. His ex girlfriend was believed of having passed away and somehow I think it is connected to the burnt lady that the profiler was investigating.
The way HY looks at WS is sort of longing and concern look, and perhaps that is the reason she wants to know the relationship between SO and WS.
That would be really interesting! Also creepy, but in a good way.
Thank you a lot!
There are some other strange things that have happened, but were not central:
a) the woman who died in the car; the case investigated by the Profiler. she seems to have been the girl from WS’s past.
b) returning of the father and his relation to WS. WS seems to have gone to the ceremony.
c) the cake shop worker, whom OS remembers to have seen before.
Do you remember any other strange things? maybe it is helpful to keep track of them.
The return of the father was definitely weird as well as this new (or old) enemy that the father and the company has. I think we can add them to the list.
Totally understand @*V. The reactions of the parents, school and police were all a bit too extreme, but that said, it echoes a little the kindergarten school episode from My lawyer, Mr Joe. It’s scary what people will do to protect their interests.
I agree with @liera about HY (cake shop owner) as possibly Hyun Soo back in a different appearance and determined to get back with WS. Though her motivation is questionable.
That episode…I just want to shake my head at it.
That is a really interesting idea you and @liera have! I wasn’t even thinking in those terms, but it is strange that she has this interest in WS and is willing to throw around so much money to help them.