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Beyond evil ep 12 eng sub2/27/2024 The literal Korean title for this drama is Monster. He pursues perfection so that he can say that he is perfect and for no other reason. And while the show never asks us to compare him and Kang Jin-mook, he is in many ways more sociopathic even than our resident late mass murderer. He used and abused even those closest to him. Every decision, every relationship, every step he took was for his own advancement. His actions were from beginning to end for his own benefit. Han Ki-hwan acted solely for his own self-preservation, for his future career. They do contrast, however, to the actions of Han Ki-hwan whose pursuit takes up the bulk of these final four episodes. They ripple out like a destructive wave drowning others in their wake. But the consequences of that act are not beyond evil. Hers was an act done out of love, done outside of a moral framework of good or evil. And the son she wanted to protect was destroyed anyway. But in doing so she provided cover for Han Ki-hwan’s crimes and for the nascent overtures of a misogynistic serial killer. Park Jung-jae’s mother thought only of protecting her own son from what she saw as a childhood mistake. When we try to cover up our own secrets, our own wrongdoings and our own crimes we unwittingly provide cover for worse sins. While the case underpinning this show might seem a bit convoluted, it’s making an important point about the way in which secrets and lie build up and spill out across the whole community. It was his own crime he was covering up after all. While Lee Chang-jin has spent the last 20 years blackmailing Congresswoman Do, Police Chief Han Ki-hwan was more than happy to shut the case quickly. She calls Lee Chang-jin who loses the body to Kang Jin-mook who is trying to cover up his own crimes. It’s some time later that a drunk and medicated Park Jung-jae runs over her body lying in the road and panics and calls his mother. However, he gets bullied into having a few drinks and we now know how this evening ends: with Dong-shik’s sister, Lee Yoo-yeon being hit by his car as she runs from the future serial killer Kang Jin-mook. It’s a personality trait his son was desperately trying to emulate when we first met him. The future Police Commissioner General of Korea clearly holds the other two in contempt, believing himself to be their superiors. At the time Chief of Munju City Police, he’s turned a blind eye to their activities in exchange for a kickback contract to his in-law’s company. They’ve acquired the land for the redevelopment through illegal means thanks to Joo-won’s father, Han Ki-hwan. The future Congresswoman Do is celebrating with the wannabe Russian gangster and CEO of Jinlee Constructions, Lee Chang-jin. This scene embodies a nexus of corruption between the law, politics and business: when everyone has a connection to corporations, their decisions are inherently corrupted by those influences. We start 20 years ago when our three antagonists gathered together to celebrate their plans to redevelop Munju City. And if an act of love can be understood only outside of a moral framework of good or evil then what of its consequences? What of them? What of those dreadful things? Are they good or evil? Or something beyond? That what is done out of love is done without consideration of good or evil. Or does it mean that acts of love are taken without reference to either good or evil. But while I do, let’s ponder this for a moment – what does ‘beyond’ mean in this quote? Is it between good and evil? Above good and evil? Does it transcend good and evil? I’m going to let Nietzsche’s quote sit for a while while I briefly recap the last few episodes of the wonderful Beyond Evil. What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil – Nietzsche
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