by Conan Simmons – September 21, 2020 – 5:25 am
Jumping back in time a little bit to 1949 Korea just before the outbreak of the Korean War we meet a young woman, Ji-Ah (Jamie Chung), enthralled by the silver screen musicals of Judy Garland. She is a nurse, unlucky in love with a mother insisting she bring home a man. Doing her best to have a successful date she finally manages to snag one. Unfortunately for him, Ji-Ah is a kumiho, a spirit demon with many long furry tentacles, that is forced to feed on the souls of 100 men. This is the price that must be paid for Ji-Ah’s mother, Soon-Hee Meeh (Cindy Chang), to get her daughter’s mortality back.
Soon after, the Korean War breaks out and American troops arrive to add confusion to the war torn nation. Finding out her best friend at the hospital, Young-Ja (Prisca Kim), is dating a communist Ji-Ah feels she has found someone who understands how different she feels. As mobs hang communists in the street they both feel they must keep what they are secret.
American soldiers determine there is a spy in the hospital and round up the nurses. Beginning to execute them for not revealing the communist sympathizer, we find Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) among the troops and he quickly commits a war crime without hesitation.
Plotting to kill Atticus, Ji-Ah selects him for her final soul to take. To her frustration she realizes she has fallen in love with him. Reining in her powers she engages in a romantic affair with him, until she can no longer control her powers and sees what fate the future has in store for him.
The episode is very well crafted and Jamie Chung has never been better. I’ve seen her in shows, ‘Gotham’ and ‘The Gifted’, but this is the first time she’s been allowed to show off her skills as a lead. The entire episode is focused on her with even Jonathan Majors taking a supporting role.
The character development of Atticus Freeman does feel out of step with what we’ve seen of him so far. The unquestioning speed with which he executes an unarmed, helpless nurse is more fitting for a villain rather than the hero he has been since the premiere. How Ji-Ah falls in love with him could be explained by the fact she is a supernatural monster. Even so, it makes her the most sensitive monster as her love is not for the violence he carries out but for the acceptance he gives her.
Though magic still plays a major part the series does seem to be straying from the cthulu mythos of its namesake. Hopefully it will get back on track next week while keeping the quality storytelling of this episode. Now that Ji-Ah is more than a voice on the phone things should get interesting as our main characters forge magical alliances.