Recap Korean Drama "Island (2022)" Episode 3

Episode 3 of Island starts with Baek-joo telling Yeom-ji a story about how weak humans started seeking a spirit named Benjulle when they needed strength. In exchange for strength, the spirit would collect what these people could afford. Yeom-ji asks if the spirit still existed and Baek-joo asserts that it was still somewhere, helping people who needed it. The episodes then move to Mi-ho who is in a chirpy mood all thanks to sleeping well because of Ban.

Butler Jang reminds her that she was going to start working at the school that day and she is bummed all of a sudden. She tells him that she had hired Ban to help her around and asks Butler Jang to clean up a room for him in the mansion. Butler Jang is sceptical about Ban initially but seems to calm down once he sees the demon hunter.

Instead of driving her to work, Ban sits in the back seat as Mi-ho is left to drive to work because Ban doesn’t know how to drive. He asks her about Butler Jang but then continues to ignore all the questions Mi-ho directs to him about his personal life. Mi-ho arrives at Tamra High School and tells the principal that Ban will be around her as a bodyguard explaining how her situation needs her to be around one.

Mi-ho leads Ban to the teacher’s room and starts firing instructions at him. The two have a small argument where Ban asks her to stop directing orders at him. Mi-ho is in class and her students start asking her questions about her personal life. She loses her calm and threatens to mark all students absent for not responding to her roll call. Yeom-ji gets up and leaves the class without being afraid of the punishment shocking Mi-ho.

On her way back, Yeom-ji goes to meet her friend Su-ryeon who is sobbing in her room. Su-ryeon is badly beaten up by her boyfriend, Gyeong-jun. Yeom-ji gets angry and scolds her for not breaking up with him. A flashback takes us through Su-ryeon’s interaction with her boyfriend the night before. The guy was someone who usually beat up people just to teach them a lesson.

When he learnt that Su-ryeon was recording the conversation to punish him, he started beating her up in the Karaoke room with the mic. Yeom-ji asks Su-ryeon if there was anything left of the recording but the guy sends Su-ryeon a ton of explicit pictures he had taken of her. The high schooler is worried about him exposing them online and ignores Yeom-ji’s pleas of reporting him to the cops.

Gyeong-jun calls Su-ryeon asking if someone was with her but she lies and eventually kicks Yeom-ji out when Gyeom-ji sends her something to further threaten her. The next day, Yeom-ji is at school and talks to Mi-ho about the incident considering she was now the school’s guidance counsellor. She tells the teacher about Su-ryeon’s situation and adds that there was no hard evidence to report him to the cops.

Yeom-ji is hopeful that Mi-ho could use her powers and help them but the teacher dismisses Yeom-ji by asking her to reach out to the cops instead. Meanwhile, Butler Jang pays Baek-joo’s diner a visit and talks to her about Mi-ho, also known as Wonjeong from years ago. Baek-joo recognises Butler Jang as the young priest from the Ancient Jeju era who had witnessed Ban in action as the demon slayer.

Butler Jang claims that he is worried that Ban might hurt Mi-ho again as he did years ago when she was Won-jeong. Baek-joo asks Butler Jang to trust Ban because he himself was guilty of hurting Mi-ho all those years ago. Butler Hang is somewhat relieved after talking to Baek-joo. Later that night, Mi-ho continues her antics and tries to compensate Ban with a suitcase full of cash in exchange for working for her.

She also gives them new clothes and gets excited when she assumes he had fallen for her tactic of luring him with money. Butler Jang tries to get Ban to settle down in a room and asks her to protect Mi-ho but the demon slayer is not someone who will be tamed as easily and disappears immediately. After the continuous threatening texts and photos from Gyeong-jun, Su-ryeon is driven to attempt suicide but she recalls Yeom-ji’s story about the Benjulle from the other day.

Yeom-ji had advised Su-ryeon to summon the spirit and take its help in order to gain strength to fight Gyeong-jun. Su-ryeon successfully performs the ritual to summon the spirit shocking Baek-joo and Ban who sense something sinister. At the same time, Mi-ho meets Fr Giovanni when she is out in the woods learning how to fight demons.

Butler Jang introduces Giovanni as Yohan (John), his nephew. The two have a chaotic conversation with Mi-ho stopping him from dressing her informally and Yohan joking about Mi-ho’s popularity online due to her scandals. Both Yohan and Mi-ho are drunk out of their minds on wine when Mi-ho starts ranting about Ban not being there to protect her from any demon that could attack her.

All of a sudden, Ban appears out of nowhere and Mi-ho continues to splutter complaints at him as Yohan watches. After Butler Jang puts Mi-ho to bed, Yohan asks him about Ban and learns more about the demon slayer. Yohan meets Ban and hokes about his age, outfit, appearance and other trivial things. Ban leaves Yohan with a warning asking him to steer clear of a demon hunter but Yohan seems excited after the interaction.

The next morning, Mi-ho wakes up with a hangover and spots Yohan praying by his bed. She is shocked to see how she had ranted about ghosts to an actual priest. Yohan continues to make fun of her as she gets dressed for work. Ban is already in the car when Mi-ho gets inside for work and this time, Yohan joins her to work as he wanted to kill time. Mi-ho is still stuck with driving duty as she takes the two man-children around to work.

All of a sudden, Ban asks to stop the car and flees inside the forest leaving her alone with Yohan. Yohan promises to help Mi-ho with his faith and hope in case they are met with danger leading to another one of their chaotic interactions. On their way to school, Mi-ho runs into Su-jin and introduces her to Yohan. As they drive by, Yeom-ji appears in front of Mi-ho’s car and asks the teacher to help her.

She tells Mi-ho and Yohan that Su-ryeon was possessed by Benjulle and explains how the spirit was known to help people in need. Yohan agrees to follow them and changes into his priest gown before Yeom-ji takes him and Mi-ho to Su-ryeon’s house. The two make it inside the house and find Su-ryeon’s mother at the door.

Meanwhile, Ban notices that the mountain structure he was making with the demon stones had collapsed and new insects were coming out of the pit below it. Su-ryeon’s mother invites them inside and Yohan asks her to stay back as he and Mi-ho try to talk to Su-ryeon.

Despite their serious situation, Yohan scares an already afraid Mi-ho before he goes inside her room. Once inside the room, Mi-ho tries to wake Su-ryeon up but the spirit starts causing her to have a seizure. Yohan starts the exorcism and asks Mi-ho to tie the girl up. Yohan starts the exorcism and the spirit does not leave Su-ryeon but instead says, “I got you”.

Both Yohan and Mi-ho are shocked as the insects can be seen under Su-ryeon’s bed. Yohan and Mi-ho are no longer in the room but in the forest, while Ban is met with a familiar face in the woods.

The Episode Review

I absolutely loved Yohan in this episode and it was really fun seeing him interact with Mi-ho. The two actors, Cha Eunwoo and Lee Da-hee are an absolute treat with how they interact and it is amazing to see how Eunwoo is growing to be different in this drama from his other tsundere roles in the past.

I am not sure I understand the Benjulle myth and how it helped Su-ryeon gain strength but I am certain we will know what it did to her in the next episode. Ban’s chemistry with Goong-tan is something that I am really looking forward to seeing and I am sure it is possible that both demon slayers were once in love with Wonjeong (Mi-ho).

The show is in a pretty interesting place at the moment and I am sure the fewer number of episodes could be a buzzkill for some fans. However, knowing the fact that there will be another season to follow this one, there could be more that fans can look forward to from this story.