Recap
Answering my question from last episode, yes, Yi Yong let the Shopkeeper see the Window Doll. He did it because he knew Window Doll was upset at not being seen. She denies wanting the attention.
After giving him her burnt calligraphy she is anxious about what happens after he does his writing. She tells him to look into it and vanishes from his sight. On her own, she thinks about what she overheard Chu Ying saying about jealousy and puts the hairpin in her hair.
Guang Yan realizes that Yi Yong is the one who made the comic. Of course, he’s the one who wrote the comment wanting him to continue.
Chu Ying gets a promotion! And she talks down about her previous duties, confusing Yi Yong who thinks it was good to help people. Chu Ying dismissively says the only good thing was meeting him.
Yi Yong is now angry. Chu Ying is confused. Guang Yan helpless.
Yi Yong runs off because his grandfather is flatlining again. Smoke Lady is there again too, and she revives Grandpa.
Chu Ying is confused about why Yi Yong is upset and won’t answer his phone. She gives the Baker a case of beer as thanks for his help and then asks for help with this new problem. He says her friend is very kind.
A misunderstanding leads to Guang Yan throwing Yi Yong on the ground, then worrying excessively about a minor cut on his writing hand while ignoring a huge scrape on his other.
Yi Yong tells Guang Yan he thinks the Smoke Lady handed out the burnt calligraphy as part of a test for him, but doesn’t know why. Guang Yan suggests talking to her more politely in the future. He also tells him the abandoned home where the Kidnapped Girl died is being demolished.
Yi Yong takes hairpins to the abandoned home as a memorial, and on his way out meets Smoke Lady. He doesn’t realize who she is, even when she magics them back to his place. She gives him a clue about the Kidnapped Girl’s reason for being in the abandoned home. He realizes it’s the Smoke Lady and she vanishes.
He calls Chu Ying and tells the Kidnapped Girl might have been meeting someone there, and that person killed her. Chu Ying is worried about her promotion if she looks into it. Yi Yong is done with her.
He goes to Guang Yan again, but he thinks Yi Yong should talk to Smoke Lady more. Yi Yong is annoyed because he can’t just call her. But she’s at their place, chatting with the older landlady.
Smoke Lady tells him she didn’t cause the accident, but she is keeping his grandfather alive. It’s revenge because he never helped her die. She’s seen so many bad things and not been able to do anything about them.
Yi Yong remembers his grandfather telling him powerlessness is not a shameful thing, not to put himself in danger, and that it’s okay to put himself first.
Smoke Lady thinks Yi Yong is different from his grandpa.
Guang Yan goes to talk to Chu Ying, and explains he became a doctor not to save lives, but because he wanted to be one. He thinks Yi Yong is a better cop or doctor than either of them. Looking guilty, Chu Ying decides to re-investigate.
Yi Yong dreams about two battered boys holding hands in a locker. One goes out to confront what’s hurting them, but what we see is a hand reaching out. It writes something on Yi Yong’s back.
Yi Yong has to return the scooter he’s been using so he’s out of a job. He learns from his friends that writing on a back that way is a kind of game.
That night he lays and waits on his side. He remembers what his grandfather said and lays on his back. But remembering the other apparitions, he rolls to his side again. When he feels something, he goes to write something on a pad and hears “help my brother”.
Thoughts
Another episode where the mystery of the week(s) takes a step back to allow for more character and theme development with our trio.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an investigative detective and work cases and have a sense of accomplishment. Technically, there’s really nothing wrong with doing it for reasons besides helping people. But I understand Yi Yong’s disgust with her attitude. That kind of mindset can lead to what we saw nearly happen, Chu Ying prioritizing her job over the truth and potentially letting a murderer go.
Yi Yong is the smart and mature one here. He understands that those small acts that she finds demeaning can help people and prevent things from getting worse. He sees nothing shameful in doing them.
Guang Yan is similar to Chu Ying, but I think he’s more aware of himself and definitely less thoughtless than Chu Ying. It’s interesting where the three of them overlap personality-wise.
Window Doll’s arc really illustrates Yi Yong’s personality. Yi Yong’s angry with her, thinking the apparitions caused the accident, and (seemingly) pushes her away. He even tells her that he’s only helping for the Kidnapped Girl. This feeds into Window Doll’s jealousy. But in the end, we see that Yi Yong saw her sadness and helped anyway.
It’s hard to see Guang Yan or Chu Ying doing that. Guang Yan is right, of our main cast, the surly, glaring delinquent is most interested in saving lives, in whatever form that takes.
But the show isn’t so simple as to make “be kind to others” its message. We know Yi Yong’s grandfather didn’t want to help people. Yi Yong’s mother has also advised people to let go and take care of themselves. For me, this is what the best stories do: they don’t send messages but give people something to think about.
It’s so interesting that the apparitions don’t all get freed the same way. Yi Yong wrote things out for the first two but not these recent two. This means Yi Yong can’t just do calligraphy magic to make them go away. It makes the magic of this show less of a kind of rule-bound sorcery and something more organic and strange.
And a hand reaching out in the dark to write something on someone’s back is deliciously creepy!
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Oh No! Here Comes Trouble is currently available in the US on iQIYI.