The Uncanny Counter Season 2: Counter Punch (2023) Episode 4

Episode 4 of The Uncanny Counter season 2 starts with So Mun and Pil-gwang face to face. Mun manages to knock the Evil Spirit down with his punch but the pair are evenly matched as they trade blows. Mae-ok and Jang-mul try to leave, only to be stopped by Wong. Thankfully, Mo-tak shows up to help out, turning the battle in their favour. The choreography is great with this hallway fight, eventually ending with Wong bested.

While this is going on, Jeok-bong and Ha-na head into the reeds together looking for the Level 1 Spirit. The thing is, the guy is already dead but they’re quickly approached by Gelly, the other member of the Evil Spirit team. After she takes out Jeok-bong’s sense of smell, Gelly slashes at Ha-na several times, taking her out. 

Ha-na remembers her lessons with Mun and closes her eyes, feeling the direction of the wind changing and where Gelly is coming from. It works beautifully and Ha-na manages to stop her foe and take her out. Gelly’s spiked knuckles end up being her own undoing, as Ha-na smashes the girl’s fist into her own eye. Blood oozing from her face, Gelly rushes away, leaving Ha-na and Jeok-bong alone.

Back in the art gallery, Pil-gwang tortures Mun after getting the upper-hand. Holding him up in the air against the wall, as if he’s crucified, Mun remembers why he’s doing this and uses a shockwave of power to blast the leader back. In fact, Mun turns the tables and does the same to Pil-gwang, taunting him. He tells the Evil Spirit that he’ll always be stronger, promising to end him forever.

While Pil-gwang is held up, he manages to grab a gun and shoot at Jang-mul who staggers into the gallery. Mun takes his attention away from his foe and stands in the way of the bullet meant for his elder. Pil-gwang rushes away while Mun falls.

In the aftermath of all this, Mae-ok uses her powers to exorcise the demon inside Wong. Mae-ok sees her fellow Counter in the Spirit Realm world and promises that she’s going to save the others no matter what so they’ll all be reunited.

Back at HQ, Jang-mul is not happy with Mun’s actions. After all, he’s the main chain in the defense against Evil Spirits and if he died there, it would have been all over. He reprimands the junior and tells him not to do this again. Mun though promises to do both in the future; take out the spirits and also protect his team.

That night, Mo-tak decides to change the atmosphere and the group watch in awe as Mae-ok rips her dress and begins dancing with Jang-mul, showing her incredible athletic ability. Everyone is loving it… except the newest member of the team. Jeok-bong is still reliving the memories of the time in the reeds, and worries that he may not be so useful to the team going forward. He decides to leave that next day, admitting that he’s scared after narrowly avoiding death in the reeds.

On the way, the gang discuss their tactic to try and bring Jeok-bong back, deciding that maybe they should use a good cop/bad cop strategy. It’s a rather amusing play, especially as the whole team see-saw between emotional states.

Jeok-bong is convinced that he’s lost his powers completely after being hit in the head, and doesn’t think he’ll be of any use to the team now. The thing is, even from the short amount of time he’s ben with the Counters, he’s certainly left his mark on them all.

As for Gelly, she’s lost an eye in the fight with Ha-na and back home, puts on an eyepatch to cover the damage. She also vows to kill Ha-na no matter what. Pil-gwang starts to worry that he may not be powerful enough to take out Mun. After Gelly lost her fight, he strings her up and vows to take his powers no matter what. For a second though, it looks like he’s going to take hers!

While all this is going on, Ju-seok continues to be haunted by the evil spirit that’s invaded his dreams. It wants Ju-seok to embrace his anger and gain revenge on those who would wrong him.

Mun and Ha-na decide to work together and bring back Jeok-bong, who’s going through something of a crisis as he wonders what to do with his situation. Jeok-bong though finds himself thrown right into the middle of a big crisis when a guy called Seong-sik is possessed by an evil spirit. He knows Jeok-bong and when the fight spills over to the farm, the spirit knocks out his father and then takes out Jeok-bong, hitting him constantly in the base of the spine… and once more in the face.

This strike is enough to awaken something inside him. He can not only sense the Evil Spirit, he can smell and see it too! This time he has renewed energy and grabs the Spirit, taking him out with a flurry of punches and kicks.

When Mun and Ha-na show up, they find Jeok-bong having his way with the Spirit, dropping an elbow to finish the guy off. As he’s the one to stop him, Jeok-bong is given the honor of summoning the spirit and getting rid of the demon to the Eternal Prison.

Having seen all of this and strengthening his relationship with his father, Jeok-bong decides to be part of the Counters after all. There’s also strength with our Evil Spirit team too though, who soon learn that Ju-seok knows Mun and Pil-gwang. He decides to use this to his advantage.

Ju-seok is struggling to control the demon inside him, who taunts him while he prepares for his day in court. The Counters, along with all Ju-seok’s friends and family, also show up too. Ju-seok is brought in but unfortunately Pil-gwang and Gelly also arrive and watch from the back.

Ju-seok speaks up in court, clearly controlled by an Evil Spirit, and tells the room that if he could turn back time, he’d happily kill CEO Park. The Spirit turns and stares at Mun, while Pil-gwang seemingly realizes what’s going on and sneers from the back.

The Episode Review

Uncanny Counter delivers another great episode, this time taking a slight detour to explore more of Jeok-bong’s feelings. He needed this hurdle to really come into his own and find a renewed energy and reason for fighting. It’s a simple narrative journey but a touching one, especially seeing Jeok-bong and his father trading gifts and understanding where each other’s values lie.

The fighting at the start of the episode was a great addition and some of the choreography here was excellent. The fight with Mo-tak in particular was great and although we’re one spirit down, it seems like Ju-seok is going to be part of this team, making things that much harder.

His storyline, and the way it’s starting to coincide with the Counters, is really nicely done. There’s always a danger with stories like this that our heroes get too powerful and nothing is really a struggle. Thankfully, Uncanny Counter has managed to navigate this pitfall rather well so far.

This has been a really solid season right now though and the ending leaves everything wide open for next week’s double-bill!