A man is feeding the old woman, while the others discuss why she drew a face now after all these years of drawing locations. They refer to other candidates for the Messiah, who were taken to the hospital and experimented on. The man feeding the old woman turns out to be the ‘father’. He tells the others that they should find joy in being tested. Their faith should not need any evidence. All of them agree. One by one they kiss the old woman on the cheek and leave. ‘Father’ asks Seo Hwa-jung if she has seen a photo album in the house. She says no. The old woman had been drawing faces for years, but no one knew where she was drawing them until recently when people started disappearing from their usual spots around town. The group of people discussing her drawings decide that she must be drawing faces of candidates for Messiah, who have recently gone missing or been taken to hospital for medical testing. The ‘father’ (who turns out to be her son) tells them that they should find joy in these tests because it shows how strong their faith is and there is no need for evidence - all of them agree with him before leaving one by one, kissing her on the cheek goodbye before closing her door behind them ..
Direct Kim gets a call from Hwa-jung. She says she has a gift for him and directs him to a large box in a cabinet. He opens it to find a gun and some darts. She wants him to use it to bring Ji-hyo to her, unharmed. If he does so, he will become a team leader in the NPC.
Ji-hyo, Bo-ra and the gang are on their way to Jeonju when their car breaks down. Ji-hyo gets a call from Direct Kim. She tells him they are going to the psychiatric hospital. Right then, Cap injures his hands and the responsibility for driving ends up on Ji-hyo’s shoulders.
Detective Kim and Oh Se-hee visit the house of the officer in charge of the mass suicide case. She tells them it used to be a nursing home but was closed when this happened. She was looking into the divine light church and their pastor, but suddenly the higher-ups told her to close the case.
The group gets lost in the jungle and the car’s tire gets stuck in a patch of mud. They walk the rest of the way to the hospital, to find the main gate locked. Ji-hyo and Dong-hyuk jump over it but before the others can, a new set of cars enters.
Phillip goes up to the NPC members standing by the gate and asks for help with the car. While he distracts them, Bo-ra and Cap sneak inside. The guards go with Phillip to the car, where a young girl NPC member — who has just arrived — asks who he came with. ..
While other NPC members chant the Cleansing Prayer in the parking lot, Ji-hyo and Bo-ra take a video. Phillip soon calls Cap for help, pretending that they were travelling together. Cap and Dong-hyuk head back to the car.
Ji-hyo has a theory that both Si-guk and Direct Kim’s daughter were kidnapped twice, once by aliens and once by people. They notice people loading long boxes into a truck. Ji-hyo goes to check out the truck, but Bo-ra sneaks inside the building through a window and finds a lab coat. ..
Meanwhile, Phillip is in more trouble with the young girl who has searched the car and realised he was with a group of people. Luckily, Cap and Dong-hyuk aren’t far off.
Bo-ra, a nurse in the hospital, hides from a group of NPC members who are trying to take an empty bed. When they realize she’s there, they try to push the door open, but she holds it shut. ..
Right at that moment, Cap and Dong-hyuk manage to take both cars and Phillip and escape. The girl shoots at them and then calls Code 17 on a walkie talkie. All of the hospital staff leave to attend the call, including the ones outside Bo-ra’s door.
Bo-ra, Ji-hyo, and the other nurses enter the room to find multiple patients with VR headsets on. Bo-ra quickly realizes that the men are probably inside the truck and communicates this to Ji-hyo. ..
Bo-ra finds a door to another room inside where star light is projected on everything. There are flowers on a bed and a mantel with numerous photographs. A voice startles her and she finds that the ‘father’ is in the room. He says it is his hospital. He takes her phone and stamps on it. He says they should take turns asking questions.
Bo-ra asks the alien what place this is, and the alien responds that it is where Bo-ra first met his wife. The alien then asks if she was the one who took the photo album, to which Bo-ra admits. The alien then asks Bo-ra what he wants to do with all these people who have had some form of alien contact. Bo-ra’s reply is, “Salvation.”
Bo-ra, a young girl, secretly opens a bottle of ethyl alcohol and pours it near the photographs of her deceased father. “Father” says that he is confessing all of this to Bo-ra only because he plans to kill her anyway. He calls for someone on a walkie talkie. Nonchalantly, Bo-ra lights a cigarette. In a flash, she throws the cigarette over to the photographs which burst into flame. “Father” gets distracted and Bo-ra escapes. ..
Ji-hyo notices that Bo-ra is in trouble and gets into the truck to call out to her. Bo-ra gets in and they drive but end up blocked by the gate. Bo-ra manages to climb out the window and over the gate but Ji-hyo is still in the truck. She tells Bo-ra to go ahead and herself gets out of the truck and tries fighting people off with a wrench.
Direct Kim drives through the woods, looking for the car. She calls the boys but two NPC guards suddenly find her. Just as they are tying her hands, a car turns up and the guards get shot with darts. It is Bo-ra.
Ji-hyo is running through the woods when she is surrounded by guards on all sides. The young NPC girl arrives in a car and shoots a dart at Ji-hyo, who falls to the ground unconscious. The young girl recognised Ji-hyo from the drawing and calls her the Messiah, after which all the members fall to their knees, calling her “Your Holiness”. ..
The patient, Lee Si-guk, tells the nurse why he came to Bangkok to commit suicide. He says that he is tired of his life and wants to die. The nurse asks him if he has any other options and Si-guk says no. The nurse then tells him that he may have to wait until morning before he can be taken to the hospital for further treatment.
The Episode Review
Episode 6 of “The Mentalist” has some pacing issues, with the investigation of the psychiatric hospital taking a while to really get going.
This episode is a gripping thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The hospital setting is effectively creepy and the realisation of all the people kept there, suitably horrific. The character of the ‘father’ too is equal parts fascinating and spooky, with all his twisted dialogues about salvation. Overall, the show is creating a vivid picture of cults and their blind devotion.
I wonder if the young girl we see in the NPC is Direct Kim’s daughter. She seems to be the right age, and with four episodes to go, there are still a lot of questions to be answered. Particularly, the overarching connection to aliens. I hope that the dots start to connect.
