A Perfect Life?
As she takes the picture, a glitch appears in the sky and starts to distort the image. The girl screams and runs away, but the glitch persists and soon fills the sky with an eerie blue.
In her bedroom, a grown-up Hong Ji-hyo sits cross-legged on her bed, with her eyes closed, focused on something. She tells herself that just because she sees something, doesn’t mean that she believes it. The only thing she needs to believe in is herself.
Ji-hyo goes about her daily routine while learning English through an audio app on her phone. She goes to work in an office where a colleague hands out wedding invitations during lunch. Ji-hyo and another colleague, Oh See-hee, discuss marriage. See-hee says Ji-hyo doesn’t need to worry because she has Si-guk, her boyfriend. Ji-hyo nods.
Ji-hyo goes to a grocery store to buy an energy drink when she suddenly sees a green alien with a baseball helmet of the Unicorns. She ignores it and heads out, thinking about how it’s been three to four years since she started seeing them. She repeats to herself that everything she sees is not to be believed.
See-hee and her friend Ji-hyo go out to a pub. Ji-hyo doesn’t drink because it impairs the mind. See-hee openly says she is jealous of how easy Ji-hyo’s life is, since her dad got her a job, her stepmother’s business is going well, and she has a steady boyfriend.
Ji-hyo is working at her job when she notices that her laptop is glitchy and starts moving between different clips. One clip shows an alien, and the next it’s a baseball game. She slams the laptop shut but then all the screens around her start flickering. As suddenly as it began, it stops.
Ji-hyo can’t stop wondering why the alien is wearing a Unicorn’s helmet, even as she has sex with her boyfriend, Lee Si-guk. He is talking about his experience with a real estate agent when he reveals he bought a house for both of them. Ji-hyo doesn’t seem as excited as him but agrees to move in with him.
Ji-hyo’s father and stepmother are surprised when she doesn’t want to go to dinner with them on Saturday. Ji-hyo’s interest in aliens from her childhood is what has been driving her to stay up all night working on a project. Her stepmother tells the couple that they should move in with her so Ji-hyo can have a more normal life. Despite Si-guk’s prompting, Ji-hyo doesn’t say anything and suddenly gets up to go out.
She opens her e-cigarette and takes a drag, then looks down at her phone. All the screens on the buildings around her start glitching and she once again sees the alien. No matter where she goes, she can’t avoid it. All at once, a huge, building-sized alien is towering over her. She runs and it reaches a hand out towards her but she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a field, near a van. The voices of two girls can be heard coming from inside the van, as they discuss a UFO sighting. She opens the door and finds herself transported again, this time to the edge of a building’s rooftop. A voice asks her what she is doing there.
Ji-hyo was on the street for a while, then entered the building lobby and stood there for a while. Si-guk, who was watching the security footage, decided to let it go because he thought she was suicidal. Si-guk arrived at the police station and asked her about Doctor Ma, a friend of his who is a counsellor. Ji-hyo tells him that she is not interested in living with him because she has been waiting for four years now.
Doctor Ma is surprised to hear that Ji-hyo is seeing the aliens again. They talk about her life and he asks if she is ready to be living with Si-guk.
At home, her father asks her why she is acting like this. She tells him she doesn’t know and that she’s just frustrated. He becomes frustrated with her and leaves the house.
Si-guk and his friend, Seung-keun, go to a pub for drinks. Si-guk asks Seung-keun if he can live with her even if she is crazy. Seung-keun says she isn’t crazy so it doesn’t matter. Si-guk tells him they should break up.
Later, Si-guk sits alone on a bench looking at his watch which has the initials “L-heart-H” engraved on it. All of a sudden, mysterious lights wash overhead and Si-guk tries to take a picture. The lights vanish and all that’s left is Si-guk’s watch on the ground. ..
Ji-hyo is fast asleep at home.
Mystery Battery ended its season on Moonhole TV this past week. The show was a hit with viewers and we wanted to thank everyone who watched it.
The Episode Review
Ji-hyo’s life seems perfect on the surface, until you catch a glimpse of her seemingly perfect world. Ji-hyo’s deadpan way of talking and general indifference make a nice contrast to the normalcy of her life. It will be interesting to see how her character develops in the coming episodes.
As the world discovers more about the strange and unexplainable, a new series is being released that follows one character’s journey to understand the aliens who live among us. This show is unique in that it shows us the aliens from the very beginning, through their thoughts and experiences. This makes for an interesting and compelling story.
What is the real story of “Stranger Things”? That’s the big question on everyone’s mind as the show returns for its second season. Hopefully, this journey will be an intriguing one. ..
