The Girl Who Sees Smells Episodes 13-15 Review (and all hail Lieutenant Yeom)

So about those three cliffhangers of ‘Oh no! It’s Chorin and Jaehee, save her someone!” in a row. It was a rather foolish move on the writer’s part even if I do get what she’s going after. In the first cliffhanger we had Jaehee finding Chorim at the worst time possible, in the second we had him confronting whom he knew to be Choi Eunseol, in the third we have him beginning to put the whole Chorim = Eunseol equation together. Subtle differences, yet they could have been realized another way, instead of milking the same ending over and over again. Ah well, it’s not like I’m watching this show for crime procedural accuracy. The disconnect between the rom-com and crime aspects of this show are even most noticeable in these episodes though. Moogak and Chorim are adorbs as always now that we’ve gotten the obligatory angst brought on by the revelations of everyone’s pasts out of the way. Her sleeping over is cute

those faces Moogak make scream ‘pinch my cheeks’ (seriously how have I not noticed how pinchable Yoochun’s cheeks are? Must be the saeguk hats)

their dates are cute (even though that date has the express purpose of reminding us that Chorim’s ability doesn’t work on rainy days), even the kissy faces he makes at her during that smell test are cute (I sort of swooned there for a bit).

But on the other end, Jaehee’s running circles around our bumbling cops and they’re resorting to even crazier plans to try and out him. Seriously, I’d love to know what evidence they presented to the fire department to convince them that Jaehee may/may not have a secret chamber in his household and therefore poses a fire hazard to…to what? Jaehee’s home is actually pretty isolated. If it does burn down, then he’s the only one that dies. (No tragedy there.) But even more crazy – it’s actually pretty amusing – is the way Moogak just waltzes in and out of Jaehee’s house. I pity Jaehee’s front door, it’s been abused so badly over the course of this show. Even shot at, this past episode. But best of all has to be Jaehee’s reaction to Moogak’s waltzing.

Look at that face, you can honestly read the exasperation. He’s like “Really?” while Moogak’s breathing fire, all impassioned and righteous.

Speaking of which, I keep seeing glimpses of a great show here and there but this show honestly doesn’t seem like it’s going to go beyond “well that was a fun watch. The end.” whereas I was making excuses and ducking out of engagements and studying for tests weeks in advance just to make sure I’d be able to sit in front of my laptop clutch my pillow and watch Kill Me Heal Me with both eyes wide open (and teary. Very, very teary). Case in point being Moogak. He kept spouting some Harry potter-esque dialogue on how neither of them could live while the other survives and that he was going to kill him.

That’s right, Moogak-ah. He essentially goes mental whenever his sister’s killer is brought up, from confronting Dr. Chun before to his numerous meetings with Jaehee (in fact their meeting on the road had to be quietest one yet). I get this, I really do, but then  you’d expect him to maintain that driven aspect of his character in all his other dealings but he sort of turns into this adorable puppy around Chorim. I love Puppy Moogak, but Puppy Moogak is very inconsistent with I Will Get My Revenge Moogak. It’s like Yoochun is flip-flopping between his character in Three Days and his character here. Can I hope for Lee Seon Joon to make a comeback as well? (Or Geuroh, give me more of that deliciously sexy man. I demand it.)

Next up is Chorim. Sweet as can be and a delightful partner to our hero but umm…she’s not very interesting. She’s adorable and perfect, a little too perfect. Then again, this is just be being picky. Far better that her only flaw be perfection as opposed to being some sort of crazy manic utterly unlikable/unrelatable lead.

Jaehee keeps getting more and more interesting and it’s a shame that we only have three episodes to delve into what made him who he is, or whether he was born that way. I’m not sure whether the logic that he became a chef so that he could kill things without caring is sound. I mean, there are plenty of other professions where you get to cut things up for a living. How about a coroner? The owner of a funeral house? Veterinarian? I’m also rather surprised at him going after Chorim immediately. I thought he’d feel a bit conflicted at least. I mean we seemed to be seeing some sort of one-sided affection on his part for her. Regardless of how much creep factor that was rooted in, I expected a bit of hesitation not for him to go for the chloroform immediately. Ah well. Despite the obvious poor writing in certains aspects of his character, I consider him a pretty good villain. It’s a shame he can’t be placed with Kang Doyoung on my hall of fame just yet, he has the better smirk/I’m going to kill you face.

I will never be able to see this exchange between Moogak and Jaehee with a clean mind. Honestly, I tried and it just didn’t work. I love how Jaehee’s practically rolling his eyes going “get me out of here.” The real question is, Moogak, would you like to see my secret chamber? Only you’re never leaving it.

Oh and three cheers for Jaehee the sexy grandpa. Hip-hip hurrah! Hip-hip hurrah! Hip-hip. Okay I’ll stop now.

But let’s talk about Lieutenant Yeom. Because she’s awesome, and because she needs more time and words devoted to her than our cute as cotton candy lead couple. Seriously, I LOVE this woman. She’s kickass, clever, feels nothing from Moogak more than what the other officers do (yay! no love triangle!) and best of all can rattle Jaehee like no other. Jaehee’s gotten pretty darn bored of Moogak’s antics at this point so it’s pretty awesome for the show to bring Lieutenant Yeom in, in full force. I mean, her dad was murdered by Jaehee from what we know so she has a very personal stake in this as much as Moogak does. And this is where the writing for her character shines because we do see how driven she is in every aspect of her life. She’s tough, straightforward when she has to be, and she’ll conceal things when she has to. I mean, she allowed herself to get kidnapped, fully aware of the possibility that she wouldn’t open her eyes again, but willing to take the chance in order to prevent more deaths. Loved, loved, loved the scene where Jaehee casually asks what he should call Chorim, all confidence and sure of himself and Yeom Mi just shatters that completely. She’s calm and collected even though she’s T minus 6 days away from being killed.

You go girl! And we finally get to see Jaehee frozen in fear and shock.

I don’t think he’s killed her. For one thing, it doesn’t fit with how this show has been going so far. It has never veered into outright darkness just yet. I could see it happening in Missing Noir M (fantastic show) but not here. Plus there’s an odd sort of tension between Jaehee and Yeom Mi that I find just fascinating. Both of them know exactly who the other is and what they’re like despite only having had one conversation. There’s this predatory push-pull sort of awareness between them when they’re in the same room and both have the power to rattle the other quite seriously. I much prefer this to Chorim being kidnapped, mainly because the girl can’t hide her emotions to save her life and would probably cry a great deal throughout the ordeal until Moogak comes to rescue her/she pushes past Jaehee (seriously, she’s managed to pull that move off so many times. My brain has to work extra hard to suspend belief at those points.) Jaehee, though he may not understand it just yet, actually picked the best victim possible. One that will challenge him at every turn and has no intention of letting him walk away scot free. I cannot WAIT for tonight’s episode. Give me more of Lieutenant Yeom, show. I love our couple but I think we both agree that this is her time to shine.