Glitch K-Drama – Episode 8 Recap & Review

Ji-hyo Makes A Decision

Episode 8 of Glitch begins with Ji-hyo watching the video Bo-ra took while she was under hypnosis. She watches herself describe being lifted into a white room with no walls or floor. She says the aliens told her something. Bo-ra tells her that this is the same thing Back Yoon-sun had said in her interview. At present though, Ji-hyo can’t remember any of what she saw during the session.

Bo-ra reveals that she knew aliens had taken Ji-hyo all those years ago. She had searched for Ji-hyo in the field and found her camera. At the same place, she had noticed the alien’s symbol in the field. She was going to tell Ji-hyo but when the latter slapped her, Bo-ra decided not to.

Ji-hyo suggests going to the field of reeds to try and jog her memory. Before they leave, Doctor Ma gives Ji-hyo some medicines and asks if she wants to go to a real hospital. He is concerned but she leaves anyway.

They reach the location where the field used to be but now it’s just an empty construction lot, surrounded by other buildings. Ji-hyo apologises to Bo-ra for blaming her for everything, including Ji-hyo’s hallucinations. Ji-hyo remembers her father saying that she was rambling some gibberish when she had been hospitalised. She calls her father to ask him what she was saying but he gives her a shocking piece of news instead.

At the psychiatric hospital, the staff feed Detective Kim a fake story about Ji-hyo being schizophrenic, to justify her ‘emergency hospitalisation’. Despite being shown a video of Ji-hyo being ‘violent’, he is suspicious of the hospital. After he leaves, another policeman tells the hospital staff that they will handle everything.

Ji-hyo and Bo-ra reach her house. Bo-ra thinks her father’s call was a trap but Ji-hyo goes inside anyway. Inside, she sees Lee Si-guk sitting in their living room.

Detective Kim calls the Jeonju jurisdiction’s police station for an update on the investigation. He tells his senior officer that there is something suspicious about it but his senior does not believe him.

Bo-ra returns to the café, to the boys’ relief. Soon after, Direct Kim turns up outside. He is asking Bo-ra if she can offer him a room when the horn of his car starts blowing up. It is his daughter, Young-gi, otherwise known as Abigail. He has tied her hands and legs and she is trying to escape. He takes her inside the café and asks Cap to let them stay there. Cap agrees at the price of 200,000 won per night.

At Ji-hyo’s house, her father brings Si-guk some food. He tells Ji-hyo he was told that he tried to kill himself. He woke up in Thailand and then slept again and woke up in Korea. When he sleeps, Ji-hyo checks his scalp for surgery marks but doesn’t find any.

Ji-hyo asks her father about the gibberish she was saying when she was in the hospital. He doesn’t tell her but her stepmother remembers. Ji-hyo had kept repeating the phrase, “Come back”.

Ji-hyo calls and tells Bo-ra about this but Bo-ra is distracted and hangs up the phone quickly. Si-guk leaves the house and asks Ji-hyo if she wants to come along.

After bombarding Young-gi with questions, she finally tells Bo-ra that Ji-hyo’s life is in danger. The church has already announced her death and so needs to ensure that she dies. At the funeral, ‘Father’ plans to take the Messiah’s divine power and use it for ‘ascension’.

A police officer turns up and asks Ji-hyo’s parents about her whereabouts. Her stepmother says they haven’t been in touch with her at all.

At the Holy Mother’s house, Sea Hwa-jung is being berated for her mistake with Ji-hyo. ‘Father’ takes mercy on her and says she will die with everyone else. As ‘Father’ talks on the phone, we see the old woman also has a surgery scar on her head.

As Si-guk searches for his cat, he and Ji-hyo end up arguing. Ji-hyo asks if he really believes he tried to kill himself, even though nothing adds up.

Ji-hyo then arrives at the cafe. She gets enraged at seeing Young-gi there but Bo-ra calms her down. Ji-hyo is frustrated at not having any evidence about everything that’s happened.

Detective Kim goes to the divine light church and finds it empty. He sees a calendar marking a day of memorial service.

At the cafe, the group realise that ascension means the church members will commit mass suicide. Ji-hyo is hell-bent on going there and getting back the chip they took from her head. Bo-ra stops her.

Instead, she goes to Detective Kim and gives him the religious book of the church and a hard disk.

While everyone else in the group is busy and Direct Kim is having a smoke, Ji-hyo approaches Young-gi and asks where the memorial is. When she pretends to accept her role as Messiah, the young girl helps her.

Suddenly masked men arrive. They tase Direct Kim and attack Ji-hyo but Young-gi comes to her aid. Captain Price fights off the rest and then Ji-hyo takes off with Young-gi. Before leaving, Ji-hyo thanks Cap for everything and tells him to pass the message on to the others as well.

The Episode Review

This episode of Glitch doesn’t have too much happening in terms of plot but it does hit a few emotional notes quite well. Bo-ra going against her principles and approaching the police to help protect Ji-hyo shows just how much she cares about her friend.

It was also nice to see Ji-hyo’s stepmother stand up for her as well, even as her father seemed unsure about lying to the police. It speaks volumes about how she feels. Ji-hyo feeling responsible and wanting to fix things while not putting the others in danger, along with her heartfelt message of thanks at the end, is also moving.

At this final stretch of the show, Glitch continues to be more about cults than about aliens. Which is not to say that it isn’t engaging, but the initial promise of sci-fi has faded a little. Nevertheless, Ji-hyo’s memory and her firm belief in aliens is enough to keep one going.

Si-guk’s return seems to add more questions rather than answers and I do hope we get some more insight into their relationship before the show ends.