What can I say about this episode 13 of Hyde, Jekyll, Me? If the screenwriter was aiming for a “how low can I go” race to the bottom, then congrats on succeeding to one-up the drama’s stupidity level with yet another whiz bang episode of underwhelming crap. I’m basically going to treat this recap endeavor as taking one for the team, so others don’t need to watch the drama, and also to keep my Hyun Bin company as he slogs away at wasting his talents on a story so utterly devoid of a shred of intelligence. If I say that Professor Kang gets re-kidnapped by Tae Joo on her way to the hospital after being rescued at the end of episode 12, will y’all believe me now on what terrible developments the viewer is given that passes for plot.

For a DID drama, the story keeps talking about Seo Jin’s struggles and Robin’s desire to live, but nothing moves forward much in that aspect beyond cursory developments. The story is mired in Tae Joo’s vengeance and that’s taken precedence over everything, including Seo Jin-Robin’s dichotomy in sharing time and body as well as loving the same woman. I did want more Tae Joo since his second male lead is vastly more interesting than Ha Na, but it’s now gone overboard where his story bogs down the central Seo Jin-Robin conflict. The truth of what happened in the past doesn’t appear to help Seo Jin fix his DID much, but it is critical to Tae Joo getting closure. That narrative has run its course so hopefully episode 14 will put an end to it and move on to how Ha Na plans to hold onto two men at the same time.

Episode 13 recap:

Ha Na embraces Robin as he says again to her that he wants to live. He wants to live as Robin, the personality that helps others and likes Ha Na. The poor guy is holding back his tears as Ha Na silently keeps on hugging him.

Robin and Ha Na walk outside and the detectives want to bring them in to give a statement. Ha Na makes the excuse that now is not a good time. She asks about Professor Kang and is assured that she’s in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and should be fine. Robin stays silent the entire time and leaves with Ha Na. The detectives wonder why Seo Jin seems to change his style drastically from daytime to nighttime.

Robin and Ha Na return to the mansion and delve into how tonight’s situation came about. Ha Na hears that Robin got a text from her to meet there and checks her phone to find the text was sent from her phone. They run through who Ha Na was with tonight, she was with Young Chan but Robin believes it can’t be him and thinks the text was scheduled earlier to be sent at that time. Robin further believes the real Lee Soo Hyun is nearby or close to them, which is why he knows so much about what is going on and can set them up.

Ha Na takes Robin’s hand and hugs him again, telling him not to worry as she won’t leave Robin’s side from now on. In the past he protected her and now it’s her turn to protect him. Robin embraces Ha Na back but she’s not done with what she wants to say. She pulls away and adds that she also wants to protect Seo Jin. Without Seo Jin there isn’t a Robin so she plans to protect both guys. Only if Seo Jin lives will Robin exist, and only if Robin exists can Seo Jin live.

Robin asks the million dollar question “Do you mean to love both then? To hold on to one in each hand?” He points out that love can’t be shared and neither can loving a person. Robin can’t share Ha Na with Seo Jin or any other man. He storms off leaving Ha Na calling after him. I know he’s right but goodness does he comes off like a petulant little boy in his reactions.

Ha Na finds Robin brooding in the atrium and doesn’t press this issue further. She goes to wash her face, which means we need more PPL as the camera lingers on her skincare products. Robin keeps pacing back and forth for a long time.

The cops get a call from the hospital freaking out because the ambulance never arrived. AHAHAHAHAHAH, how can this drama expect us to take it seriously when it doesn’t even take itself seriously. We see it was Tae Joo in the ambulance driving Professor Kang away. I can’t even.

Tae Joo has provided re-kidnapped Professor Kang with a change of clothes and hooked her up to an IV. She’s regained consciousness and asks if Tae Joo’s life will be better if he destroys Seo Jin completely? No, but at least it gives him something to do in this drama, as opposed to everyone else running around like aimless chickens. Tae Joo claims that is what he believes but he overlooked something. People move forward with the sense of self-preservation, so people will choose the best route to stay alive. Yet Robin gave up the chance because he was scared, likely due to never being the main personality before. In the end Robin is a sad entity, just an attachment to Seo Jin’s personality, which is why Robin can’t find a way to survive and in the end will be destroyed.

Professor Kang counters Tae Joo’s conclusion and says it’s the opposite, Robin never gave up on his true savior identity so he hasn’t given up on staying alive. Robin has in fact gotten stronger now. She believes Tae Joo isn’t scared of either Robin or Seo Jin right now, his enemy is himself. Why hasn’t he responded to Seo Jin’s video message yet? It’s because he’s scared, he’s scared there is a new truth out there that he doesn’t know about and can’t deal with. She suggests he find out then if he’s not scared, then he can destroy Seo Jin afterwards.

Tae Joo asks Professor Kang what he should do if the events of that day turns out to be a series of inevitable steps that no one can be held accountable for? Who should Tae Joo blame then for his misery? Who will be responsible for what happened to him? Shouldn’t someone be responsible? Professor Kang reminds Tae Joo that the kidnapper has been captured and is serving his sentence already. That doesn’t change anything for Tae Joo now so Professor Kang asks if what Tae Joo is doing now will change anything for him? Tae Joo doesn’t know either way, which means he’s going to keep down this path.

Tae Joo leaves Professor Kang and goes to brood in his study while repeating what she said to him about being too scared to face a new truth out that he never knew about.

Ha Na wakes up and finds a message from Robin asking her to pass the following items to Seo Jin. She briefs Seo Jin on what happened last night and he actually asks about her wellbeing first. Awwww. Ha Na assures him that she’s fine before telling him that he needs to go to the police station now to give a statement and act like he was the one who experienced the situation last night. Seo Jin watches Robin’s message about how Lee Soo Hyun is nearby and then reads the anonymous note sent to Robin about how Seo Jin is trying to destroy Robin.

Robin wants Seo Jin to be suspicious of everyone around him, and snarks that being suspicious is exactly what Seo Jin is good at. Seo Jin suddenly gets an email from Lee Soo Hyun (email address [email protected]) asking Seo Jin to respond to this email if he really wants to discuss the real truth of what happened that day. Seo Jin responds to a waiting Tae Joo with his side of what he remembers.

Seo Jin asks why Soo Hyun took him to the Ghost House that day? It was Soo Hyun who insisted Seo Jin meet him at the Ghost House at that specific time. Later after they were kidnapped, Seo Jin heard the kidnapper on the phone with someone else asking “What are you going to do about your son? Is it okay that he dies?” Seo Jin believes “your son” was not referring to Seo Jin but to Soo Hyun. Tae Joo is rattled reading this and knocks his cup of coffee over before screaming in frustration.

Tae Joo goes to see his captive therapist Professor Kang and apologizes for scaring her with his outburst out there. He got an email from Seo Jin that points the finger at Tae Joo’s dad as an accomplice in the kidnapping. Professor Kang urges him to follow that possibility to confirm or refute it but Tae Joo can’t since only Seo Jin remembers that convo plus Tae Joo’s dad is long dead. How can he confirm it? Tae Joo believes Seo Jin is bringing this up because it can’t be confirmed, and doing it to attack Soo Hyun’s righteous indignation. Professor Kang urges Tae Joo to confirm with the still alive captured kidnapper who is currently in jail. Tae Joo searches online and finds out that the kidnapper is being held at the same jail as the fake Lee Soo Hyun.

Seo Jin and Ha Na hear that Professor Kang is missing and the cops new levels of incompetence caused her to get kidnapped again. The detective hears that Ha Na never lost her phone so that scheduled message must have been placed there by someone close to her with access to her phone. The person who reserved this theater was a 50 year old male who paid in cash so that’s a dead end as well. Seo Jin tells the detective that he’s shared his memory of what happened with the real Lee Soo Hyun via email and thinks he will try to confirm it by reaching out to the kidnapper in jail.

Tae Joo puts on an indignant act and goes to yell at the cops for losing Professor Kang again. Tae Joo wants to meet with the fake Lee Soo Hyun in jail, claiming he’s the only person who met with the real Lee Soo Hyun, so maybe Tae Joo can recover lost memories to the cops crack the case.

In the drive back, Seo Jin hears that the kidnapper in jail is refusing to meet with Seo Jin unless he gets paid for it. Young Chan hands Seo Jin a background report on Tae Joo and Ha Na wonders why Seo Jin suspects him? Seo Jin explains that either a hypnosis expert helped the real Lee Soo Hyun hypnotize the assailant or the real Lee Soo Hyun knows hypnosis. Young Chan thinks it’s possible that Robin was hypnotized in the theater as well, which is something that can’t happen to Seo Jin. He chuckles that Seo Jin can’t be hypnotized and Professor Kang tried for years.

Seo Jin has the car stopped and gets out to walk with Ha Na. She brings up the kidnapping incident where she’s sure that Seo Jin didn’t abandon the real Lee Soo Hyun. It was Soo Hyun’s dad who had his son bring Seo Jin to the place where he got kidnapped. To Soo Hyun his dad must’ve been everything so the kidnapping destroyed his whole world.

Seo Jin tells Ha Na that she’s the only one who doesn’t like a dad like theirs, a dad who uses or abandons their children. That’s why Ha Na can grow up into who she is now. Seo Jin is very grateful to have met Ha Na and wants her to become his whole world going forward. Didn’t she say she wanted to protect both Seo Jin and Robin? Seo Jin was so moved by that he could cry despite knowing Robin has refused to accept that.

Seo Jin has been experiencing so many new things lately, able to cry and able to laugh. Now he wants to do things with Ha Na that he’s been holding inside all these years. Ha Na looks torn and Seo Jin knows she won’t start with him unless Robin agrees so he won’t push her. Seo Jin doesn’t mind taking it slow since he’s used to waiting. Seo Jin smiles and walks ahead while Ha Na just stares after him.

The detectives on the case assemble for a meeting with Tae Joo where he explains that he has hypnotized them all via a song to cure their bad habits. The song is the trigger so he needs to find out what trigger was used by the real Lee Soo Hyun to hypnotize the assailant, that way he can undo the hypnosis so the assailant can identify the real Lee Soo Hyun.

Tae Joo gets permission to visit the assailant in jail for that purpose but instead he continues the hypnosis, telling the assailant to find out the truth about the kidnapping. He directs the assailant to the kidnapper who is also serving time in this jail.

The psychiatrist that Chairman Goo has hired from abroad arrives and cousin Seung Yun wants to participate as the doctor is being put up at Wonder Hotel. Chairman Goo has his bodyguard keep Seung Yun out of the session. Chairman Goo has Young Chan translate for the doctor on what is the current condition with Seo Jin. The doctor states the giant obvious that DID is a very rare condition and he wants to meet with Seo Jin in person.

Woo Jung and Eun Chang are behind the counter at the café, with her moping and him trying to cheer her up with a hideous gorilla stuffed animal. Woo Jung sighs about her entire life leading up to liking only one guy so far but she’s cried over a hundred year’s worth of tears for him. Eun Chang points out she’s probably also smiled a hundred year’s worth of smiles for him.

Woo Jung sees Robin walk in and is quite formal with him. Robin asks if there are new items on the menu and sits down with Woo Jung for a PPL session of the café’s new snacks. Woo Jung confirms that Robin is only out at night and the body hardly ever sleeps as the two personalities switch off. Woo Jung is relieved that so many of her questions are finally answered and apologizes for being suspicious of him in the past. Robin feels he should apologize for not trusting Woo Jung enough in the past to tell her the truth. Woo Jung asks if Ha Na is breaking up with him over this but Robin is called away abruptly before he can answer. Woo Jung wonders if Robin can’t let Ha Na go, or Ha Na can’t let Robin go?

Robin rushes to the crime scene theater and calls around inside for Ha Na. She is happy he came so quickly and thought Robin can remember new details if he came back there. She was worried since Professor Kang is missing again. Robin asks if Ha Na can only see how hard things are for Seo Jin, but what about Robin?

Ha Na reminds Robin that she can’t lose either guy so she’s trying her best. It’s very hard on her as well and she even thought about leaving before. But seeing Robin yesterday convinced her that she can’t leave him or lose him. Ha Na wants them to resolve this situation first. Robin pulls Ha Na to leave the theater when he abruptly stops and stares at the wall. He seems to be remembering something.

Robin goes to the lair and records a vide message for Seo Jin. Robin doesn’t care what Seo Jin told Ha Na but Robin refuses to accept the two men sharing her. He knows Seo Jin wants to believe they are the same person, if Ha Na likes Robin then it means she likes Seo Jin. Robin doesn’t believe that and has no plans to be Seo Jin.

The assailant is marched off to the prison barbershop for a haircut and who else is assigned to cut his hair than the kidnapper.

Tae Joo lets Professor Kang out of the hidden room to eat with him in the kitchen. He explains that the assailant is in the same prison as the kidnapper and he’s directed him to find out the truth from the kidnapper. Professor Kang is upset that Tae Joo hypnotized the assailant again and worries about the guys mental state. She warns him that hypnosis is not a tool to be repeated used and it will cause a strain on the mind.

True to her worries, the assailant freaks out when the kidnapper does confirm that Lee Soo Hyun’s dad was an accomplice to the kidnapping. He beats the kidnapper to a pulp and vows to kill him soon for defaming his dead dad.

Tae Joo watches on the news that a fight broke out at the prison between the assailant and the kidnapper. Tae Joo wonders what caused the assailant to snap, was it what the kidnapper told him or a strain on his mental state? The detective calls Tae Joo to tell him about the beat down at the prison. Tae Joo acts like he didn’t know the kidnapper was at the same prison and chides the cops for putting them in the same facility. He hears that the assailant has been placed in solitary and the cops want to stop the hypnosis therapy on him to recover his memories.

Ha Na tells Young Chan that Seo Jin hasn’t woken up again. Robin sits down across from the visiting psychiatrist for a one-on-one session and later the doctor provides his medical conclusions to Chairman Goo. He believes Robin has a strong desire to survive but he was willing to save someone who could destroy him because he was validating his personality to be a savior.

This means Robin’s personality has gotten stronger. Chairman Goo wonders if this means Seo Jin will disappear? The doctor doesn’t know but believes that Robin’s presence will become longer and longer. If this keeps happening that Seo Jin doesn’t appear then eventually Seo Jin might disappear forever. Seung Yun has bugged Chairman Goo’s office and has listened in on this entire conversation.

Robin calls Tae Joo to tell him that Seo Jin has disappeared again. He also sat down for a session with the doctor but he didn’t tell him everything. Robin has actually remembered all his memories from the kidnapping which means his personality is consuming Seo Jin’s personality and taking his memories. Tae Joo has Robin come over and plans to hypnotize Robin so he can confirm the truth of that day.

Chairman Goo orders Young Chan and the bodyguard to keep Robin under house arrest for now and observe if his personality really is coming out more often and for a longer duration. The bodyguard currently at the mansion gets the call to keep Robin home but can’t find either Robin or Ha Na. Seung Yun is driving to the mansion to see Robin when he spots Robin in a cab driving past so turns his car around to follow.

Robin calls Tae Joo as he arrives in the lobby. A boy with a balloon runs into him and Robin’s smile disappears as he pushes the balloon away. OOOOOHHHH, it’s Seo Jin! I love my sangmunim~

Flashback to the rest of Robin’s message to Seo Jin. He doesn’t want to be Seo Jin but he knows Ha Na is worried about them both. He asks that they work together to capture the Lee Soo Hyun first. Ha Na wakes Seo Jin up and they head to the lair to watch the video message. Robin claims to know who the real Lee Soo Hyun is, all signs point to Soo Hyun being Professor Yoon Tae Joo. Seo Jin knows the only way to confirm is for Tae Joo to try and hypnotize Robin again, but that can only work if Seo Jin goes in his stead since Seo Jin can’t be hypnotized.

Turns out it was Seo Jin pretending to be Robin calling Tae Joo earlier, while Ha Na coaches him to sound more like Robin. Her pointers include speaking with a slower softer drawl, like a child. Seo Jin grimaces and slows his voice down to lure Tae Joo in.

Seo Jin heads up to Tae Joo’s apartment while Ha Na has been sent to bring the cops to Tae Joo’s apartment building. Seo Jin is bugged and tells the cops to storm in when Tae Joo says Lee Soo Hyun’s name personally. Ha Na is worried about Seo Jin going in but he is certain they need to do this to strike Tae Joo off the suspect list if he’s not involved.

Ha Na sits with the cops outside the building in a surveillance van as Seo Jin walks up to Tae Joo’s apartment and rings the doorbell. Why is Ha Na along for surveillance? Beats the heck out of me, but at least she looks more credible as a cop wannabe than as a circus pro. The rest of the cops run up to the apartment to lay in wait for their signal. Seung Yun has pulled up to the building and peers into the van parked outside. Why is Seung Yun here? The more the merrier, I guess?

Tae Joo opens the door to Seo Jin to welcome Robin with a smile.

Thoughts of Mine:

Didn’t episode 8 end with this very scene? Is the screenwriter literally recycling her own material now? On top of shoving wholly obvious PPL scenes when this drama actually has tons of story lines it needs to spend time on, or actually developing Seo Jin and Ha Na’s love line. I don’t actually care for it but narratively the drama has to go there otherwise what’s left? Robin and Ha Na? Don’t make me laugh, that would be like playing house and then packing up every night to go home. Seo Jin continues to be the shining star of the story, showcasing both maturity and intelligence when everyone around him is either brainless or crazy. Funny that he’s supposed to be the most crazy one with his DID yet I find him sane and sweet. If we chalk up his misconduct in the first few episodes to keeping homicidal third personality Terry under control, then all is forgiven now and then some. Sadly the drama took an intense development in the end of episode 12 with the brief glimpse of Terry and then did NOTHING with it in this episode. The story is back to Tae Joo and his wah wah I was betrayed and abandoned chip on his shoulder. I do feel sorry for him since he’s as mentally ill as Seo Jin was to create Robin, but feeling sorry for him doesn’t mean I want the whole drama to make him the central focus now.

I really loved Seo Jin’s quiet walk confession to Ha Na, even if everything about Seo Jin’s “feelings” towards Ha Na stills feels devoid of proper buildup. I get that he appreciates her for being such a good person to him, and could be developing the stirrings of attraction to her. But beyond that I don’t see how Ha Na has ever behaved with him to deserve his “I want you to be my entire world” speech, however toe curling that sounds coming from straight-laced Seo Jin. Too bad Ha Na reacted like she always reacts, with a non-reaction that is a cross between consternation and dumbfounded. There were moments of cuteness in this episode, such as when Ha Na coached Seo Jin on how to sound more like Robin, or when Seo Jin brushed that kid’s balloon away in his typical brusque way. I’m beginning to think Robin-Seo Jin’s melded personality is the real deal, the original Seo Jin personality before the kidnapping. Afterwards he was so depressed he became the cold Seo Jin now, and the hidden warmth came out to become solely Robin. To get back to where things were headed before the kidnapping incident, eventually Seo Jin-Robin have to merge as the DID condition is healed. I don’t really care of Ha Na can juggle dating both personalities but that doesn’t solve Seo Jin’s underlying problem, which is that he’s currently only half of his real personality while Robin has the other half.

I’m amused my theory about Tae Joo’s dad being the kidnapping accomplice turned out to be true, it’s the most logical direction and explains everything neatly. If little Seo Jin figured it out then he clearly thought leaving little Soo Hyun behind wouldn’t put him in jeopardy. It was a moving moment when Seo Jin pointed out that both him and Soo Hyun have really shitty fathers which is the crux of why they are suffering now, whereas the opposite of that has created the Ha Na today who is willing to extend a helping hand. If Soo Hyun wants to blame anyone, he is barking up the wrong tree and needs to blame his dad, Chairman Goo for not paying a ransom he could afford, and the kidnapper who is in jail. That’s the trio that is the cause of his emotional anguish, not a kid who chose to run away rather than dive back into the clutches of a kidnapper. As much as Professor Kang getting kidnapped again by Tae Joo from right under the noses of the cops was the single most insane event in this drama so far, even more than Bing Bing the escaped gorilla, I do like Tae Joo’s counseling sessions with her. He sounds like he’s plotting but really he’s getting much needed therapy. I’m just glad she got a change of clothes and a scene showing us that Tae Joo lets her out for meals.

Click here to watch Hyde, Jekyll, Me.