Gyeongseong Creature K-Drama 2023 Episode 8 with Park Seo Joon and Han So Hee

Episode 8 of Gyeongseong Creature begins a bloodied woman walking through the streets. A flashback shows that it was Lady Maeda who told Akiko to go to Director Ichiro at the hospital. She told her that her child is special not just to Ishikawa but to her as well. At present, the woman attacks a man on the street.

At the hospital, the creature we now know is Seishin, has awakened but isn’t moving. Lady Maeda visits the creature along with Director Ichiro. Maeda calls her Teacher Seishin, and gets an aggressive response from Seishin.

Back home, Jun-taek still suffers from the trauma of his capture. Jun-taek’s father discusses how all of Tae-sang’s employees and collaborators have been arrested, including Ga-pyeong and Young-chun. Mrs. Nawol sits by the telephone in anticipation.

Sergeant Haneda is found injured but alive in the hospital’s basement. Tae-sang is also injured but has made his way to a laundry room where he dons a new uniform. He finds his way to Maeda and tells her to help him leave. They manage to get to Maeda’s car but once inside, Tae-sang passes out. Still, Maeda takes him out.

Meanwhile, Chae-ok hangs around the pawnshop, waiting. Her father tells her they should leave and Chae-ok finally reveals what happened to her mother. He’s distraught by the news as he recalls the necklace he saw on the creature.

Elsewhere, Ga-pyeong is tortured and questioned about the Korean prisoners they helped escape. Tae-sang wakes up in Maeda’s house, having been nursed back to health. He’s told that it’s been four days since they left the hospital. When questioned by Maeda, he says he couldn’t stand seeing the injustice in the hospital.

At the police station, Ishikawa learns of serial murders taking place where the corpses have been found with no brains. Lieutenant Kato arrives to meet him.

Tae-sang finally comes home and has a heartrending reunion with Mrs. Nawol. He then storms into the police station and demands to speak with Ishikawa. Ishikawa says the arrested merchants violated several laws during their celebrations on the night the prisoners escaped. When Ishikawa refuses to let them go, Tae-sang threatens to close all the stores in Bonjeong which would adversely affect the army’s fundraising party occurring in the next two days.

A flashback shows that Kato implicated Tae-sang, Chae-ok and even Akiko in the case of the serial murders. Another flashback shows that Ishikawa found one of the handmaidens in his house dead, in the same way. At present, he asks Tae-sang what’s really happening at Onseong Hospital. Tae-sang agrees to divulge the information if all the merchants are let go.

Ishikawa agrees and Tae-sang has another tearful reunion with Ga-pyeong. We see that Tae-sang left Ishikawa with a note that mentions human experiments and Lady Maeda’s involvement. At home, Ga-pyeong is given proper treatment and Mrs. Nawoltells Tae-sang that Chae-ok had been waiting for him.

Chae-ok steps outside to get some food for her and her father when she realises she’s being followed. She pulls a knife out but it’s none other than Tae-sang. She drops the knife and embraces him.  

Ishikawa questions Maeda about what she did to Akiko. Maeda refuses to reveal anything. They’d agreed to not interfere in each others’ personal lives but Maeda says that Ishikawa having a child was a different thing. In order to get back at her, Ishikawa tells her about Chae-ok and Tae-sang.

Mori, Ishikawa’s subordinate, is sent to spy on Tae-sang yet again. He’s watching him and Chae-ok when Akiko comes up behind him. Tae-sang and Chae-ok get dumplings and are walking away when they hear a gunshot. It’s Mori shooting Akiko but the bullets don’t hurt her. She attacks him but is stopped by Tae-sang and Chae-ok.

Maeda visits Lieutenant Kato who shows her the Najin, three of which remain. Kato explains that the Najin alone doesn’t turn humans into the creature, it makes them violent and hungry for human brains. Their wounds heal on their own too. Seishin was injected with an anthrax serum which is what turned her into the creature. Nitrogen and fire are the creature’s only weaknesses.

Tae-sang brandishes a burning stick in front of Akiko. He calls out her name and it seems to pull her out of her trance. Akiko realises what she’s done and runs away.

 Kato also tells Maeda about Chae-ok being Seishin’s daughter. Chae-ok, meanwhile, is insistent on catching up to Akiko so she doesn’t meet Seishin’s fate. She and Tae-sang run after her in the woods but the police are also catching up at the end of Gyeongseong Creature Episode 8.

The Episode Review

Gyeongseong Creature Episode 8 returns after a short break with a slow but interesting episode. The change in pace is significant after the soaring tensions of the prison break. And the shift of the setting, from the confines of the hospital to the broad, open city, is a bit jarring.

This leads to the episode’s script not being as neat and crisp as before. Nevertheless, the story does well to establish how all the characters are faring in the aftermath of the incident. Tae-sang patriotic side, or rather his upstanding morals and ability to empathise, is more evident than ever before. His reunions with the ones he loves are heartwarming to watch.  

The political vein of the show really stands out in this episode, with the scenes of torture making a strong statement about Korea under Japanese rule. The series continues to use fantastical elements like the Najin to emphasize the treatment of Koreans as sub-human and their pain at the hands of the colonisers.