Thursday, March 12, 2015

Nine: Episode 6, The most common disease



Nine: Episode 6

While Sun-woo and Min-young are eating, young Dr. Boyfriend shows up with a fruit basket. He is so cheerful and cute I can't hate him. He just isn't Sun-woo, and he makes Sun-woo jealous. Ah well, I guess we have to have a love triangle. Sun-woo sends them out to dinner and when Min-young returns we get the famous conversation where she gives him the innocent kitten look and he admits that he had a girlfriend but she has amnesia and can't remember him. She objects and he says it's in dramas all the time and is the most common disease in the world. Hahaha.

December 30, 2012. Dr. and Mrs. Han sit outside and argue about whether he is acting weird or not. (He is.) He asks about the girlfriend Sun-woo had as a teenager. She says that girl has been married three times and the second divorce was because of alcoholism. She doesn't say who was doing the drinking, but maybe Old Girlfriend was not such a bargain.

December 30, 1992. Teen Sun-woo plans a train trip with said Old Girlfriend. He drags Dr. Han along and she talks her friend, the future Mrs. Han into coming, even though she thinks Dr. Han is smart but dull. Teen Dr. Han queries Sun-woo about the mysterious Christmas card, but he can't explain it. He can't explain his mother thinking he gave her a necklace either. She had asked him about his injured friend (which was his excuse for standing her up to see a movie with Old Girlfriend) and thanked him for the necklace. It was adult Sun-woo who had done those things.

Dec 30. 2012. The family visits Mom at the care center and she still wears that necklace. Sun-woo feels strange because it's his first time to see his brother alive again. When hyung pulls up a sleeve to wipe a spill he exposes needle marks. He claims they are vitamin shots but Sun-woo is suspicious, especially when he finds a drug bottle in the car. They visit Dad at the charnel house and we see the urn labeled with the death date, December 30, 1992. Sun-woo gets his sister-in-law to admit that hyung has a drug problem; she tells him that he's bipolar and has insomnia. She also tells him that Dad had not liked her and told her to break up.

Still December 30, 2012. Dr. Choi holds a press conference to refute the allegations against his research facility. Then he calls Sun-woo and out of nowhere says that he is not the person who killed his father; it was someone else. He admits he had misused funds and forged documents and was suspected of the murder, but was found innocent. Sun-woo floors Choi by saying his father died at 11pm on that day twenty years ago, and there are two hours to go. He will find out for himself and call Choi back. He borrows some camcorders from the studio.

10:00 pm, December 30, 1992. Dr. Choi argues with some investors over the phone and then with Dad to try to get him to invest in his research. Dad is as harsh with Choi as with his son.

10:10 pm, December 30, 2012. Dr. Han going over paperwork recalls Sun-woo saying he couldn't resist time travel. We see Sun-woo throwing up and then calling Dr. Han. “You told me I had three months,” he says, “but it's gotten a lot worse over the last week.” He feels like the incense shortens his life. 10:20 pm. Dr. Han pacing his office recalls Sun-woo telling him that Hyung is addicted to Propofol and is still unhappy because their father died. He wants to go save their father. Young Dr. Boyfriend walks in with something for him to sign and scares him half to death. He asks Y. Dr. B. who his girlfriend is and when he affirms, “Min-young,” Dr. Han says, “It hasn't changed yet.” Hahaha. Poor guy.

10:40 pm. Secret agent Park Sun-woo, in his black trench coat with the collar turned up, interfaces the mini-cams with his laptop and packs them up. He sets the timer on his watch for thirty minutes and lights the incense. Then he hears the doorbell. It's Min-young. She sees the light on in his room and lets herself in, but his door is locked. [ninth time travel: 46:25] He's still in his room, but he's shifted twenty years back. He turns on the light and looks calculatingly at his younger self sleeping peacefully. Not for long. He taps him gently on the cheek. Young Self wakes with a start and tries to shout. Old Self sits down on the bed beside him and claps his hand on his mouth. He says, “It's been a long time,” and lowers his hand as he registers a friendly look and decides not to yell. You getting all these pronouns? “Nice to meet you,” he says with a smile, “my name is Park Sun-woo.”

Running count – time travels: 9; remaining incense sticks: 4; Timeline: Past4, Present2