Recap Korean Drama "Chimera " Episode 2

Episode 2 of Chimera begins in May 1984 with a businessman sitting in his car; our first victim of the Chimera killer. Out of matches to light his cigarette, that same strange chimera lighter we saw before happens to be sitting next to him. Of course, as he lights it, the entire car explodes into an inferno.

In the present, Eugene heads back to the crime scene, specifically that of the apartment building that Jae-Hwan jumped out. Finding a Chimera up on the wall, she realizes this is all incredibly similar to the 1984 case.

Back in hospital, reporter Kim Hyo-Kyung shows up looking for answers. She’s clever and certainly knows her stuff, also bringing up how closely aligned this case is to that from 35 years back involving Wan-Ki. Between her and Eugene, we learn that Wan-Ki actually wrote another article earlier than that of the bombing, back on July 23rd to be precise.

Wan-Ki is not exactly a great reporter, and that much is true given the nature of his articles that day, showing the suspect and his wife’s faces.

As we found out last episode, Joo-Seok knows more than he’s letting on, given he stole the lighter from the crime scene. As he drowns his sorrows in alcohol, we cut back in time and see Joo-Seok witnessing a waterboarding incident. Wan-Ki is there too, giving him a couple of packs of cigarettes and telling Wan-Ki to contact if anything changes.

Back in the present, Jae-Hwan turns his attention to the dashcam footage from Ho-Dong and Young-Sik’s car. Given they were tailing Wan-Ki, it could well give some clues as to what’s going on.

Lo and behold, Jae-Hwan and his team find a lead and track this person all the way back to the hospital – and specifically to Chief Go Jae Moon’s office. While the chief is absent, stuck in a comatose state for 3 months, the shadowy Joong-Yeop is there to greet them.

He’s going to take over the department soon but Jae-Hwan has his suspicions over this guy. He gives off really eerie vibes too and as Jae-Hwan mentions Wan-Ki and how he was burnt alive, Dr Lee doesn’t even blink. He nonchalantly mentions what the chimera is but given he doesn’t press further on the matter, Jae-Hwan is convinced that this could be a possible suspect.

Thanks to some clever police work, grabbing Dr Lee’s fingerprints, Jae-Hwan learns more about the good doctor. He studied at London’s Queen’s College and was also at the gambling den with Wan-Ki that night. Jerome Edwards is his original name, and Eugene uses her American contacts to do as much digging as possible.

For Eugene this is fun, trying to figure out the unsolvable puzzle. And she may have just found something.

Remember when Jae-Hwan cracked a rib last episode from his jump? Well, apparently Wan-Ki also had cracked ribs six months prior to his death. It almost seems like the two cases are mirroring one another. Joong-Yeob is definitely painting himself as the main suspect here though, paying for Wan-Ki’s medical bills while claiming not to know him. Hmm… Joong-Seob actually transferred from England around this time too, causing quite a stir in the ER.

Meanwhile, Joo-Seok receives a call from an unknown number, promising to reveal everything that has taken place so far and engulf this case in flames. The culprit’s words are difficult to decipher over whether he means this literally or figuratively – but it certainly spooks Joo-Seok. When he hurries back home, a strange figure sneaks up behind and tasers him.

Jae-Hwan heads to Joo-Seok’s apartment, unbeknownst to him what’s happened, and begins looking around. He finds an envelope with a picture inside, featuring a much younger version of his mum. The date is listed as 11/03/1984. However, he also finds the charred remains of the chimera lighter too, immediately realizing that Joo-Seok could be a part of this.

So Jae-Hwan heads to Macheon and begins rooting through their files from 1984. As he looks through the logs he notices that this is written by Joo-Seok. The man lied, and now Jae-Hwan knows. However, he’s also missing too.

Jae-Hwan eventually does find Joo-Seok, tracking him down to a construction site in Gyeonggi-Do. He’s tied up in the middle of the room with nowhere to go. As he steps forward, Jae-Hwan triggers the water sprinklers, which in turn ignites Joo-Seok. As he goes up in flames, Jae-Hwan is shocked and beside himself with grief.

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The Episode Review

The second episode of Chimera starts to deepen the ties to the presumed killer, Joong-Yeop, while also seeing Jae-Hwan lose his senior to that awful incident at thee construction site.

Chimera has done well so far to keep things intense right the way through, and that much is especially true here as Eugene and Jae-Hwan set to work investigating the case and noticing the ties back 35 years ago.

It seems like the killer is either a copycat, mirroring what happened in 1984, or the same killer as before. Either way, this show is setting things up nicely for a very dramatic cat and mouse game to ensue. In terms of thrillers, this one does look like it’s going to get a lot more intense over the weeks and the somber ending feels like a proverbial deep breath before plunging into more dramatic waters.