Recap Korean Drama "The Uncanny Counter" Season 1 Episode 5

Aug 22, 2022

Episode 5 of The Uncanny Encounter picks up right where we left off, with Mo-Tak making his call as Mun answers. The Noodle Bar residents realize who his parents are and look at Mun with affection as he heads in to greet them.

While he’s sweeping the floor outside, the group deliberate over how to tell Mun about his parents being murdered. Only, a new territory suddenly appears outside while they talk. Only, as the trio keep looking it seems like Mun has control over it.

Meanwhile, our spirit Cheong-Shin shows up at a coffee shop but takes an interest with a woman named Hyang-Hee, seemingly sensing the spirit inside her. As this woman heads home, she uncomfortably tenses when her husband, Ji Hyeong-U, comes near and grabs her round the waist. It’s clear there’s no love lost toward him and it’s made worse when she poisons his food with peanuts.

With Hyeong-U passed out on the floor, she grabs his phone and wires 1,200,000,000 won to herself. When the money comes through, she squeals in delight. Only, this act brings forth the spirit lurking inside her who start talking to the woman through the mirror. Apparently this has always been inside her since she killed her first husband.

Cheong-Shin speaks to his father and tells him he made a mistake, spilling the truth about Chairman Jeon’s death. Unfortunately this prompts him to be beaten down to the ground but as blood oozes down his face, the spirit inside him bleeds through and snarls back.

The Noodle Bar group try their best to channel Mun’s inner power but it doesn’t seem to work. Instead, they eat ice-creams and think over what to do next. Only, Mun and Ha-Na both sense a Level 3 spirit nearby which happens to be Hyang-Hee.

At the department store, Mun goes in alone with this spirit but is unfortunately dispatched pretty quickly. Ha-Na enters next and as the door closes, the two wrestle and fight. Hyang-Hee is incredibly strong and begins striking the girl with her heel. Eventually Ha-Na grabs her round the throat and seems to see Ha-Na’s past, including how her family died.

Next up is Mo-Tak, who strikes the spirit across the face once and manages to get her in handcuffs with the cops that show up. Mo-Tak comments how weak the others are before they eventually head down to the basement and take off. Unfortunately they weren’t able to summon the demon and expel it so because of that, this isn’t going to be the last we see of her.

Back at the Noodle Bar, Ha-Na takes out her frustrations on the punching bag in the basement. Mun seems to understand why she’s acting like this and tries consoling her with a barbecue. As they sit together, Mun tells her a story about Ung-Min and how he used to throw rocks. Afterward, the pair begin sparring in the basement as their friendship continues to blossom.

Meanwhile, Mo-Tak meets detective Kim and brings the photos from the Disappearance Case to her attention. He wants her help in tracking down and finding Kim Yeong-Nim. Together, they head to the abandoned building and start looking for clues. Whilst there, Mo-Tak apologizes for not remembering their relationship.

As they keep searching, Mo-Tak uses a UV scanner across the wall and finds spatters of blood. Kim deduces that the victim was probably stabbed 7 times. As they begin taking swabs, Mo-Tak looks at Jeong-Yeong in a slightly different light, with more affection this time.

Ha-Na and Mun head out together and find themselves at Ha-Na’s old family home. Memories from the past bleed through but she notices two kids hiding there from their father.

Meanwhile, Chief Choi begins rallying his troops and covering up Chairman Jeon’s case so his subordinates don’t take the blame for it. As investigators arrive at the scene, Kim shuts the door before the scene can be tampered with in order to learn the truth around what’s been happening.

Jae-Cheol and the other officers shows up at Ha-Na’s house and it leads the Noodle Crew to begin beating them down. Mo-Tak meanwhile, heads up and sees Chang-Gyu in his car with a bag of spilled coke.

When he crashes his car, Mo-Tak seems to regain his memory and remembers wrestling with him on the rooftop. It turns out Mo-Tak did throw himself off the rooftop after all but did so after Chang-Gyu stabbed him.

The Episode Review

The relationship between Mun and Ha-Na continues to grow and evolve across the episodes while Mo-Tak’s amnesia-sub-plot is just starting to get interesting now. With fragments of his past coming into view, I’d imagine we’ll start seeing him remembering a lot more about what happened and why he was involved with Mun’s parents in the first place.

For now though, the series continues to deliver decent action interspersed around the drama and there’s certainly a lot to like here. The elevator sequence was well shot and the corruption that’s starting to consume a lot of the higher authorities looks like it may well take over a large portion of the second half of this drama.