Kokdu: Season of Deity (2023) Recap Episode 11-12

It’s only after she sees Kokdu in the interrogation room that she thinks of the patient’s wellbeing and hesitates, which suggests that there is a seed of doubt within her. Oh, she’s still a gold medalist at lying to herself — even when Cheol shows her the CCTV video of Kokdu teleporting — but Cheol’s voice does linger in her mind. She can’t completely ignore the fact that strange things have happened around Kokdu. And there has been a time or two when he seemingly appeared or disappeared into thin air.

So when the police summon Kokdu to the station to return the gold goblin mobile that was confiscated as part of the (now) closed serial killings case, Gye-jeol worries that her brother found another way to lure him to the station. But her fears were for nothing because the detectives have identified the “real” killer. Yeah, it turns out that, while Kokdu went on his murder spree at the docks, he spoke the witness’s name three times. Kokdu’s magic glamor kicked in, and the witness saw someone else — a former member of the gang — in Kokdu’s place.

Gye-jeol’s relief is so evident that Kokdu realizes that she doubted him. Considering they’d just had a moral debate over whether murder is justifiable if it’s done in the name of divine justice and found themselves on opposing sides of the argument, Kokdu is feeling all sorts of, well, bummed. Kokdu would be the first to admit he doesn’t like his side hustle of killing bad guys, but a part of him had been able to rationalize his actions with the knowledge that his victims were very deserving of Kokdu’s punishment.

What ensues is our first — yeah, that’s right, there’s more to come — lovers’ quarrel of the week that totally ruins the surprise birthday party Kokdu had originally planned for Gye-jeol. (Poor awkward Ok Shin and Gak Shin.) Although Kokdu’s mood stems mostly from his own self-loathing and fear that Gye-jeol will consider him a monster if she ever finds out the truth, Gye-jeol assumes he’s upset with her because she had her suspicions that he might have been a serial killer. So while Kokdu goes off to sulk in self-pity, Gye-jeol spends her time apart trying to think of ways to apologize for being rightfully wrongfully suspicious.

Meanwhile, Yi-deun is being blackmailed by Chairman Kim. It turns out, Yi-deun was part of the clinical trial for Chairman Kim’s new drug, and Chairman Kim plans on using him for their marketing campaign. The gig also comes with a shady 24/7 “bodyguard,” but Yi-deun still manages to meet with Gye-jeol in private. Although there’s no explanation of how Yi-deun gives his guard the slip, one can infer that he was allowed to leave so that Chairman Kim could find out how much Yi-deun knows via the wiretapping app Joong-shik installed on Yi-deun’s phone.

Because one of the rules in Gye-jeol’s cohabitation contract stipulates that she can’t meet with Yi-deun without Kokdu present, she’s able to coerce Kokdu out of hiding. This is both how they reconcile and find out from Yi-deun that Jin-woon’s mother JANG MI-SOON (Jung Ah-mi) was also part of the drug trial. And it seems very likely that the other names on the list were participants, too.

As the (supposed) chaebol heir of Pilseong’s rival, Kokdu is theoretically the only one with the power to go up against Chairman Kim, but Kokdu refuses to assist Yi-deun, assuming he’s safer as long as he’s useful to Chairman Kim. Ehhhh… about that…

But first, Chairman Kim decides to kidnap Gye-jeol because — I don’t know, bad guy logic. Seems like a pretty dumb idea to piss off a god, but for some reason he thinks Kokdu won’t harm him if Gye-jeol is locked in his villainous grasp. And so, Joong-shik drugs Gye-jeol’s coffee and whisks her away after she passes out.

Thankfully, Gye-jeol isn’t a complete idiot. She recognized Joong-shik as the guy who installed the security camera at her clinic — which totally didn’t match up with the doctor disguise he used during their Seoul encounter — and mentioned the inconsistency to Cheol. Not so luckily, however, Cheol also drank from Gye-jeol’s coffee cup. So right after he and Kokdu corner Joong-shik and rescue Gye-jeol, Cheol passes out. And because Kokdu has already teleported Gye-jeol to the ER, Joong-shik runs away before the police show up to apprehend him.

It’s during Cheol’s hospital stay that Kokdu realizes how short-sighted he’s been about his curse and impending doomsday. Although Gak Shin tried to tell him that his disappearance would crush Gye-jeol, he didn’t understand Gak Shin’s warning until he witnessed how affected Gye-jeol was by Cheol’s delayed recovery. With only twenty-something days remaining, he’s not sure how he should prepare Gye-jeol for his departure, and he also finds himself longing for a future with her.

After dismissing Ok Shin and Gak Shin’s ideas (terminal illness, studying abroad, etc.), the only advice he took to heart was Gak Shin’s suggestion that he should consult Gye-jeol. After all, they’re in a relationship together, and he shouldn’t make such an important decision unilaterally. Although it’s sound advice, one does not simply tell his girlfriend he’s going to disappear in twenty days. Kokdu tries the whole “my friend” technique, but he’s so vague and mysterious about the problem at hand that Gye-jeol misunderstands and assumes he’s trying to sneakily figure out her dream proposal. (Doh!)

Before he can ease Gye-jeol into the idea of a life without him, Chairman Kim makes his next moves. On the professional front, he spreads rumors that Ok Shin is intentionally slandering Chairman Kim’s reputation in order to lower Pilseong’s value so he can buy up Pilseong. On a not-so-professional front, Chairman Kim decides to cover up his tracks and silence Yi-deun.

Thankfully, Kokdu arrives on the scene at just the right time and saves Yi-deun from a drug-induced drowning “accident.” In trying to wake Yi-deun, though, Kokdu says his name three times, and the person Yi-deun sees is Oh-hyun — Yi-deun was Kokdu’s younger brother, Oh-young, in their past life! Cue: Cute flashback where we see their brotherly bond and find out that Oh-young loved poetry and also helped Oh-hyun pick out the azalea ring for Seol-hui. Sadly, Kokdu finds out (after doing an online search) that Oh-young met a tragic end, and Kokdu blames himself.

Kokdu is so excited that he’s been reunited with his brother that he wants to move Yi-deun into his house — much to everyone else’s annoyance. Sadly, we don’t get to see that bromance and awkward cohabitation play out because Ok Shin puts Yi-deun up at a hotel with a (real) bodyguard on duty. Instead, our couple goes through yet another separation period after Gye-jeol overhears Kokdu talking with his minions and learns just how limited his time is on earth.

She spends the night out, wandering around in sadness until she shows up at her brother’s house and — hilariously, I might add — crashes his date with Jung-won. Kokdu, of course, follows from a distance, and the longer he watches her, the more he resolves to find a way to stay on earth. Supposedly, the loophole is the fact that his time on earth is the punishment part of his course. He’s not forced to return to the afterlife after 99 days; he voluntarily opens the gate.

Of course, the unknown of what happens if he stays on earth beyond his stipulated 99 days is a mystery, but Kokdu is willing to risk it if he can stay with Gye-jeol and avoid causing her pain. Awww, what a sweet but risky gamble. And Kokdu decides to prove his sincerity and his commitment to staying around by playing out Gye-jeol’s dream proposal scene by scene — except for the part where he presents her with a simple gold band. Instead, he gives her the largest, most gaudy engagement ring ever.

With a drama like this, though, our characters can’t stay happy for long, which means Chairman Kim is about to do more dastardly villainous things. This time, he has Cheol kidnapped, and when Gye-jeol intercepts the text sent to Kokdu, she commands that Kokdu take her with him. Bound by her mother’s wish, Kokdu reluctantly brings Gye-jeol with him.

When they arrive at the sketchy abandoned warehouse, Cheol is nowhere to be found, so Gye-jeol calls his cell phone, which begins ringing inside a refrigerator. At this point, I assume they’re thinking what I’m thinking (that’s a good place to hide a body) and begin approaching apprehensively.

I admit, I breathed a sigh of relief when they opened the door and Cheol wasn’t inside. Instead, they find a bomb, which explodes and forces Kokdu to teleport them to safety. So now the cat is out of the bag. Gye-jeol knows Kokdu is, well, something not human, and as she takes a step back from him, it seems like the promise she made to Kokdu as part of their engagement — that she would not run away from him, even if she found out he was a monster — is about to be put to the test.

I’m not terribly concerned, though. Partly because there’s (*whimpers*) still four episodes and plenty of time for them to kiss and make up, but also because I’m not invested in their relationship — neither in the present nor in the past. This week our story hinted some more at their doomed historical romance, but it’s too little too late. Not to mention, they’re now trying to introduce a mysterious ajumma to the mix. Apparently, the woman who first told Gye-jeol about the Kokdu myth in Episode 1 is also some godly being invested in this tragically boring romance. (Figures.)

Instead, I’m too busy shipping Cheol and Jung-won to give a fig about the OTP. Even though Jung-won started off as a cliché, she’s developing into an interesting character — far more dynamic than Gye-jeol. She has substance, and, in my opinion, her scenes with Cheol were the best part of these episodes. I’m legitimately concerned about what will happen next week because — if we recall the ajumma’s words from Episode 1 — Seol-hui was cursed to commit suicide in each of her lives after first losing someone she cared about. Maybe Kokdu will be enough to break this pattern and save Cheol? All I know is: Cheol really is a puppy, and I will go John Wick on these writers if they harm him.