Nine: Episode 5
We pick up with Sun-woo and Dr. Han
talking about the possible consequences of interfering with the past,
since Sun-woo gave his brother's phone number to child Min-young.
Neither of them detects any changed memories. But when Dr. Han goes
into surgery, we see parallel clocks as child Min-young makes the
call. Nothing happens until young hyung answers and then Dr. Han is
flooded with new memories. [4:44] He is so shocked he drops his
forceps. He pulls himself together enough to finish, and then we see
him sprinting down the hall, our view alternating with one of hyung
sprinting down other hospital halls to the ER to see his girl. Dr.
Han finds an office door with hyung's name marked Chief. And up walks
mature hyung, with his doctor's coat and a smile, alive and well.
This is the scene that made my day in the preview.
Sun-woo sits bemused at the restaurant
as alternate memories cascade in [8:01] and is so shaken that he
drops his glass. He asks the waiter if he came in alone, because in
the other time line he had been with Min-young. He collapses and
relives a memory of hyung's wedding, which is new, and one labeled December 30, 1992 of walking into his father's office and being blown
back by the explosion, which is the same as before. The 30 conflicts with the 31 we were told in episode 3. Hmm.
Min-young sits by Sun-woo's bed wiping
his brow, which might have been helpful if the towel had been wet. He
is remembering summer 2007 when she first came to work as a reporter.
She now tells him she just returned from Nepal and calls him Uncle.
It hits him that he has turned his wife into his niece, which makes
him pretty much grumpypants the rest of the series. He goes to find
Dr. Han, who is at the church praying but getting no answers. Sun-woo
quips that the incense is from the Himalayas so they need to pray in
a Hindu temple. Haha. They notice a conundrum. Hyung did not die in
the Himalayas so Sun-woo didn't go to retrieve his belongings.
Nevertheless, he still has the record and the case of incense sticks.
For whatever reason items you bring back will remain. Also, even
though both our guys remember the other timeline, Min-young does not.
Remembering alternate timelines must hinge on whether you know about time traveling or not.
Young Dr. Kang, the resident, refers to
Dr. Han as his attending physician. Since I have a daughter in med
school, I now know what that is, hehe. Dr. Han asks,“Did I set you up
with Min-young last summer?” Kang replies, “You said you wouldn't
ask!” but has to admit he still sees her. A flash-back to summer
2012 shows them being introduced. Dr. Han now hilariously whines,
“Can't you break up with her?” He is totally having a cow at the
whole situation, in contrast with Sun-woo who is somewhat
non-responsive.
Sun-woo gets a call from Min-young
which he doesn't answer. His phone still shows the picture of her
with the fur hood. It seems like he's still in shock to see her at
his house cooking for him, and even more to hear his brother's voice
on the phone. Hyung is on vacation, hears Sun-woo is not well, and
says to let Min-young help him.
Poor Dr. Han taking his wife and
daughters out to dinner is too spaced-out to function. His wife gets
after him like a shrew and we wonder how serious was the joke he made
last episode to save an incense stick for him so he can change his
wife. He skips out to the hwajangsil and calls Sun-woo to suggest
changing things back. They have time because the marriage was a year
after their father died. Dr. Han says he shouldn't have used the
incense lightly. But Sun-woo thinks it's more important that hyung is
doing well and didn't die in the Himalayas. He eats Min-young's
dinner, and her chatter and playing the Record from the Past gets him
thinking about their honeymoon. [42:48] Enjoy it, because it's your
only chance to see him happy. They go shopping and sightseeing and
ride a flatboat on the lake. These are all scenes I've seen
screencaps of, but forgotten where they belonged. The honeymoon that
we didn't see from between episodes 3 and 4 gets shown in episode 5.
We even see him taking that picture of her with the fur hood. So it
should not have been on his phone in episode 1. (Unless it indicates
multiple time loops?)
We revisit Sun-woo's conversation with
Dr. Han outside the church about memories that do not exist in this
world. The problem is that neither memories of changed events or
things you bring from the past disappear. Han asks, “How is it
possible?” and he answers, “It's pointless to ask that. None of
it is possible.” Maybe the point is that the whole story is a
fantasy and not to expect it to make any sense. Too bad. I want it to
have rules. At this stage we know that items you bring back and
injuries you sustain will remain. You move exactly 20 years (to the minute) into the past, appear in the same physical space you were in, and stay there for 30 minutes. You remember events that get
erased, and acquire memories of the new version when exactly 20 years
to the instant has rolled around.
Running count – time travels: 8 (no
new); remaining incense sticks: 5; Timelines Past3, Present2
