Girl Who Can See Smells Episodes 9–12: Truth Leads to Many Troubles

So we’re back with episodes 9 – 12 of Girl Who Can See Smells. While there were no new victims this week, there was enough tension to last for a lifetime with more and more reveals occurring.

We can’t go any further without addressing the elephant in the room. Cho-rim and Moo-gak have finally got together! Their get together wasn’t drama laden or intense, even though they tried to make it with Cho-rim running away from Moo-gak a few times; it was natural and practically effortless. These two make all the teasing, bullying and confusion of other drama couples look ridiculous and most of their relationship is teasing! Their interactions breathe fresh air into this plot as I have said many times before. As they kiss, hug, tease and flirt across our screens, what is there not to love about these two together? It is so hard just to pick one great scene between these two because each scene is as engaging as the next. As they seemed to be right on track, things became less stable as more secrets were unearthed.

There are so many secrets in this show that have been revealed which have shocked and thrilled viewers. However, finally one of the biggest ones was revealed to the characters. In the past few episodes, detective Yeom-mi, Moo Gak and even Cho-rim found out that Cho-rim is in fact the lost witness, Choi Eun-seol. The ballets are still out on Chef Jae-hee finding out as the show left us on another nail biting cliffhanger at the end of episode 12. However, this discovery ushers in a whole new brand of conflict for our characters with it impacting relationships across the board.

Cho-rim was the hardest hit by this fact, of course. She seemed to stay levelheaded, staying true to herself when she started to regain her memories and it was revealed that her dad was not her real dad. However, when it was accidentally revealed she was the witness in the barcode killer case, her bright and confident demeanor took a hit. She instantly felt guilty that Moo-gak’s sister was killed instead of her and broke up with Moo-gak. Cue the tears, flashbacks and dramatic ballad to indicate that the scene was sad. While their breakup was a little too dramatic for my taste, the show’s lighthearted and funny tone decreased for an episode as the two were caught up in the doom and gloom of being single. Their cute interactions were surely missed, though we had nothing to worry about for too long.

Choi Moo-gak’s progression from the cold and focused detective has become more pronounced as the show continues. His brash and risky actions, we saw at the start, have decreased, even though he did have a bit of a relapse when he was kicked off the detective team. Instead, he has started to think about his actions and problems to come up with the best conclusion. For instance, when he found out Cho-rim was the witness, he took time out to figure out how he felt about it. His character has become even more interesting to watch, especially when he is messing around with Cho-rim. Yoo-chun’s expressions make this character; bright and mischievous really suits him better then stoic and closed off. While this character has developed incredibly well, some characters are still stagnate.

Cho-rim’s impulsive and stubborn character continues to get her into trouble and I am convinced she can get no more stupid than when she did in episode 11. She gets a text from her father informing her that he is drunk and needs to be picked up from a certain address — an address she has been to before like at least five times, one that is the address of the prime suspect of the serial killer investigation that she was warned not to interact with, one of a person that her father shouldn’t even know.

Nothing suspicious there, of course, so she goes without any thought to her safety and almost becomes the next victim. Though her identity is still hidden from Chef Jae-hee as he cannot recognize faces, she shows a blatant disregard for her life that I didn’t even think was possible. Unfortunately, character tropes like these seem to be a staple in the crime thriller genre and this has to be accepted. However, the sheer obviousness of the danger ahead to everyone but Cho-rim really annoyed me to no end. I have no doubt that this is going to continue in the future too, especially with her becoming the biggest pawn in the investigation at her own request.

Frustration seems to be a staple trait for me as a viewer. Even though I don’t want to get really picky with this drama as overall it is thrilling and entertaining to watch, I’ve had enough, specifically with police incompetence. For instance, they have one witness that is the main key to catching the murderer and they do what? Send her back to the house where she lives with her father while her father has to hide out somewhere else, a father whose daughter the murderer knows is the witness. There is a possibility that they hadn’t figured this out yet, but isn’t it their job as police officers to think of every possibility? This is something that has been ongoing from episode one of this drama and is frustrating to watch. It is essentially what is preventing me from liking the detective team as I am still waiting for them to develop. Though them embracing Moo-gak as a colleague and a friend is the only thing making me hold onto that hope of possibly liking them.

There is one character that has started to stand out in the past few episodes, finally, which of course is our stern detective Yeom-mi. Once the straightforward and to the book stereotype of a detective, we have gotten to see many different sides of her character this time round. She becomes friendly and warm when helping Cho-rim by profiling the person in her memory, manipulative when she refused to tell her and risky when she allowed Moo-gak to continue as part of the investigation despite having a link to one of the victims. We are starting to see her grasp the edges of a complex and intriguing character; you never know what she is going to do next. If this continues as the drama continues, she might become one of my favorite characters in this show. What can I say? I like strong female characters.

With only four more episodes to go and Cho-rim possibly being caught by Chef Jae-hee in the last cliffhanger ending, it’s the countdown to the final stand off. Moo-gak and Jae-hee have already made their chilling statements to each other so you can be sure it’s going to be thrilling. Will you be watching?

(YouTube, Images via SBS)