The Uncanny Counter Season 2: Counter Punch (2023) Episode 2

Episode 2 of The Uncanny Counter Season 2 starts with Mun putting Jun-hui to bed and hoping for the best. Now that his father is out the picture, hopefully things will be settling down soon. Besides, he has school to look forward to, and Mun is obviously going to act like a guardian angel too.

That night, Mun goes out for dinner with his two friends but upon touching their hands, he has a vision of the pair kissing in the future. He’s shocked and incredulously starts asking when they started dating.

At the same time, it’s absolute pandemonium at the police station where all the gangsters captured in episode 1 are ready for interviews. Mo-tak is on top of the world though, especially as he relives his levitation abilities at the Noodle Bar that afternoon. The thing is, he may be able to get them to work, but only when needed. Normally, his nose starts bleeding at even the smallest levitation, like that of anchovies the others are peeling.

In the middle of this we meet Jeok-bong, a hard-working farmer who loves his cows. He heads out on a blind date with a girl but when he starts talking about cow dung, she understandably grows spooked and rushes away. She hurries out, leaving her phone on the table.

When she charges into the middle of the road, Jeok-bong follows with her phone. He notices the truck coming and saves her, kicking her out the way and taking the blow himself. His selfless act is watched by Mo-tak, who believes that he may have found the perfect Counter for the job.

Jeok-bong wakes up in the Spirit Realm, where Wi-gen updates him on where he is and what’s happening. She tries to encourage him to be a Counter, promising that he’ll be able to wake up from his coma if he does. Affer laying everything out on the table, including the capture of various evil spirits, Wi-gen is incredulous over Jeok-bong’s excitement surrounding days off and insurance.

The Baekdu Dynasty Scam Case goes ahead and CEO Park has his day in court. Min-ji shows up to get a look at the CEO. If you’ll remember, this couple are on the verge of having a baby but also lost 10 years worth of savings as a result of all this.

The verdict from the judge sees the CEO given 3 years on probation, which is certainly not a justified sentence for what he’s done. The stress of it all though gets to Min-ji, who clutches her stomach in pain afterwards in the hallway. 

Of all people to show, the Evil Spirit group from China rock up at the courthouse. They know exactly who Mr Park is and they surround him in the elevator. Park pleads with Pil-gwang, their leader, for more time to gather the funds he owes.

Down on his knees, Pil-gwang ignores Park’s begging and uses his powers to lift the man up off the ground, slamming him around. When the elevator doors open, Min-ji notices them all having their way with Park and she’s pulled inside too.

After a stressful day on the job, Joo-Seok receives the worst news. Still in his fireman outfit, he rushes to the hospital. Mr Park has had his throat slit but he’s still alive, and as for Min-ji, she’s unconscious due to excessive blood loss. It’s pure carnage from the aftermath of the elevator attack.

Joo-seok is absolutely crushed too when he finds out that they’ve lost the baby. Wounds on Min-ji’s hand show she was trying to cover her stomach but to no avail; these evil spirits have destroyed this family.

Min-ji goes into cardiac arrest, and both Ha-na and Mun show up to comfort Joo-seok. He sees the exact moment that his wife’s heart stops

All the Counters show up at the funeral to pay their respects, but Joo-seok is beside himself with grief. In fact, he’s dead-set on finding who did this and making them pay a heavy price. Mun does his best to try and console him but it’s no good.

Wi-gen refuses to tell Mun whether Min-ji made it to the Spirit Realm either, given the rules, but they’re both confident that this lovely couple will be reunited in the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Pil-gwang and the other Evil Spirits marvel at their newfound riches. They have a tasty 120 billion won thanks to Park’s accounts. However, Pil-gwang is not so quick to celebrate. They’re on the outskirts of Counter territory, and they notice the forcefield around, wondering just what it is. Pil-gwang grins evilly, believing they’ll find more Counters to take out.

Jong-guk speaks to Jeok-bong about his desire to be a Counter, but with his mind made up, our new guy is back in his body and has awoken from his coma. Mo-tak happens to be sitting in the hospital and he brings the newbie over to the Noodle Bar to meet the whole team.

Mo-tak promises arduous training to be a Counter. Funnily enough, Jeok-bong takes a fancy to Ha-na and takes an unconventional method of trying to befriend her. His efforts see the mop handle slammed into his foot for his troubles!

Mr Park wakes up from his injuries, which is big news. As for Joo-seok, he hears this on TV and decides it’s time for him to get revenge. The Counters cut short their training of Jeok-bong though when they get a warning about a Level 3 Spirit entering and exiting their territory.

Mae-ok notices the victim and checks his bones. She realizes with shock that he’s been breaking and then healing the bones over and over again. Ha-na is the one who finds our foe though. Sporting a yellow hoody, Wong is certainly no pushover and when Mo-tak shows, he manages to take both of them out. 

Mun turns the tables though and manages to save his fellow Counters, prompting Wong to find an opportune time to hurry off and leave. When he does, Pil-gwang and Gelly, the other two Evil Spirits, happen to be watching from the rooftop.

The other Counters show up at the hospital that night, off the back of Ha-na seeing a vision from the elevator courtesy of her fight with Wong. She uses her powers to relive exactly what went down there. Or at least tries to.

She realizes that the memory has been wiped so she teams up with Mun’s powers to figure out exactly who the three Spirits are. Here, she sees that Pil-gwang forced Ceo Park to kill Min-ji. Ha-na sees it all and she tells the other Counters as much.

Mun is absolutely livid and struggles to control his rage, shaking the table while he’s sitting there. Everyone is in agreement that they need to catch these Spirits no matter what. However, that’s easier said than done given their tremendous power.

While this is going on, the Evil Spirit group also concoct a plan too, discussing how Mun is the most powerful out of them all. In fact, Pil-gwang figures out where the Counters are and shows up at the Noodle Bar that afternoon. He swaggers in, takes a seat, and smirks at Mun, who happens to have invited in a whole kindergarten group to eat. Uh oh.

The Episode Review

The Uncanny Counter returns with another good episode, this time with more emphasis on Jeok-bong joining the team and seeing the effect that these Evil Spirits have had on Korea. Specifically, on destroying Min-ji’s family. With her now dead, Joo-seok is almost certainly going to try and seek revenge. Could it be that he’s persuaded to “turn to the dark side” and his story parallels that of Jeok-bong’s? Given we know CEO Park is still alive, he may be the one to kill him. We’ll have to wait and see.

Seeing Jeok-bong’s training is very reminiscent of Mun’s, which is a nice way of showing how far he’s come and running the two tales parallel to one another. This second episode saves the action until much later on too, but that’s perhaps to be expected, given the need to try and flesh out the characters and understand more of their motivations.

The tail end of this chapter certainly has some standout moments though, and that ending promises fireworks to come in next week’s follow-up. So far this has been a gripping watch and this rivalry is just starting to heat up now!