Down the stretch, heartbreaks and concluding revelations surged in the ensuing chapters of Jirisan.
Absolving Goo-young to be the mountain killer, Hyun-jo’s delving of the past connects to Yi-gang’s present mission. Yi-gang and Hyun-jo also poignantly reunite, but might be the last time they could do so.
abbyinhallyuland watched Jirisan on iQiyi
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 | 04 | 05| 06 | 07 | 08| 09| 10| 11 | 12 | 13 & 14 | Finale Week + Review |
Jirisan Episodes 13 & 14 Key Moments *Spoilers Alert
*Summer 2019
“She was all I had.”
Just when Team Haedong thought their mission is done, they realize Yang-sun is still out rescuing the girl who finally found her lottery ticket. In the process of saving the injured stranded hiker, Yang-sun fell on the water and was swept away by the rapidly streaming current.
Asking the team to withdraw, Hyun-jo gets hold of Goo-Young. Unknown to them the mountain murderer proceeded with his evil intentions targeting the bus that drove Yi-gang’s grandmother to go to the exact direction where an avalanche of water hit the vehicle.
Devastating immensely, the aftermath of the unforeseen torrential downpour caused agonizing deaths. The search for Yang-sun’s body hits a dead-end and gets halted. Meanwhile, Yi-gang wallows in pain alone refusing any help for her grandmother’s funeral. Hyun-jo tries to approach Yi-gang, but she blames him for letting him ride the bus that caused her demise.
Crying her heart out she asked him to leave. Alone, she reminisces while turning the pages of an old photo album while repeatedly apologizing to her grandmother.
Accompanying Goo-young, Il-hae goes on a camping trip to watch out for his grieving friend. He reassures Goo-young of how remarkable Yang-sun’s life is. That she was an amazing ranger for the efforts she had given.
“The sign was on the ground by the road like the bus crashed on it.”
Stuck on writing the flood report, Hyun-jo receives Corporal Kim who relays the police needs the daily log of that unfateful day. He hints how the bus was strangely led to a road that was prohibited to pass on.
Hyun-jo realizes the culprit caused the accident further strengthening his drive to investigate. Disregarding his vision, Hyun-jo blamed himself for not being able to stop the accident that caused the lives of many.
At the station, Chief Jo sees Yi-gang diligently cleaning the place and checks on her. He asks if she wants to move to a different spot but she responds how she already tried leaving the town. However, she realized she does not have anywhere to go.
Determined to catch the mountain killer, Hyun-jo volunteers to man Bidam shelter. His investigations trace to the events of 1991 at Black Bridge village. Chief Jo shares what he knows about unfortunate events that befell the village. He also tells of a record of Black Bridge village residents he can look into for his probing.
Affirming his deductions, Hyun-jo concludes that people involved in the tragic incidents of Black Bridge valley in 1991 were targeted by the culprit. From the list, he also discovers the woman they previously rescued to be a Black Bridge village resident. He also gets a vision of the killer’s movement.
“You finally came.”
Back to the present timeline, Goo-young questions how his friends would assess the murderer they are looking for. Il-hae pushes for Goo-young’s answer on why he was on the mountain the day Da-won died. So he answers truthfully that he visited a spot where he shared a fond memory with Yang-sun.
He reminds Il-hae of the advice he gave on remembering Yang-sun always. So, he visits that special place to remember her. Just then, an emergency call from the station alerts the rangers. Goo-young and Il-hae rush to the location and leave Yi-gang temporarily.
From afar, a man watches her back as spirit Hyun-jo learns his seniors left Yi-gang alone. Sensing some movements nearby, Yi-gang holds on a taser as Hyun-jo rushes to look for her.
Il-hae realizes they were lured away for Yi-gang to be alone so they head back to where they left her. Falling on the ground, Yi-gang meets the eyes of the person she yearns for the most. Overwhelmed with emotions at their strange reunion, she listens to Hyun-jo’s worried check about her.
Her heart breaks at his current state exactly to be what Da-won described to her previously. He also escorts them back to Haedong station when Il-hae and Goo-young arrive at where they left Yi-gang.
“The murderer was trying to kill someone today, too. I think you were the target.”
Continuing on Hyun-jo’s 2019 investigation, he stumbles on Kim Sol thinking he’s the murderer he’s looking for. But Kim Sol denies his allegations responding he was also called by Corporal Kim to go there.
yun-jo remembers details from his vision but the situation gets bleaker as he learns from Kim Sol how he often runs with Corporal Kim in Black Bridge village which is both their hometown. He also learns that Yang-sun, Hyun-soo and even Se-wook, the accomplice are hailed from Black Bridge village.
Based on Kim Sol’s story, Hyun-jo suspects the possibility of Corporal Kim being a perfect fit for a man who knows the mountain well and is close to rangers. His probing does not progress as the surviving villagers can’t be located anymore. He also asks Kim Sol to notify him in case Corporal Kim asks him to meet again.
Stalking Corporal Kim, Hyun-jo’s suspicions keep getting clearer. He looks for the items left by the victims they initially found in the cave at Black Bridge valley.
“Leave. Forget whatever happened here. Forget it all. Have a better life. Please. Don’t ever come back.”
Il-hae and Yi-gang loop in Goo-young about the murders disguised as accidents that trace back to the Black Bridge valley incident. She also asks them to urgently install CCTV at a cliff in Dowon valley to secure evidence they need to capture the killer – who turns out to be Corporal Kim.
She pleads for her friends’ trust once more to do what she discussed with Hyun-jo. True to what they have discussed, Corporate Kim marks his upcoming victim with an illegal dealing with the herb collector. Spirit Hyun-jo senses the movements on the mountain and figures the time of the crime has changed.
Unfortunately, Goo-young and Il-hae failed to protect the killer’s target. Yi-gang also discovered someone has been keeping tabs on their actions when she went with Il-hae and Goo-young to Black Bridge village. She concludes the time was changed because the culprit heard their conversation.
Seeing the targeted victim is the herb illegal collector, Hyun-jo remembered his words about everyone who saw him eventually died. Fearing for Yi-gang’s life, he mustered his strength to grab the radio left by Da-won and warns Yi-gang to leave the mountain and forget everything that happened. At the hospital, Hyun-jo’s situation seems to be no turning back.
Jirisan Episodes 13 & 14 Musings
The penultimate week of Jirisan puts viewers in emotional turmoil as another wave of downpour flowed much worse than the previous water deluge the team survived.
It also ruled out our suspicions of Goo-young. His camping trip scene with Il-hae is one of the best scenes that probably summarized the emphasis of a mountain ranger’s notable sacrifices.
After all the misleading points to confuse us on who the real culprit is, we finally uncovered who he is. However, his cruel motivation is yet to be explained. With the huge amount of grief we got in the climactic part of the series, I am really expecting a miracle for Hyun-jo.
Our journey with Jirisan started with Yi-gang’s and Hyun-jo’s mutual goal of catching the mysterious evil mercilessly killing people. It has been a slow-paced nevertheless thrilling traverse of exploring the world of mountain rangers.
The veiled serial killings on the side add emotionally-charged layers albeit honestly felt disconnected to the story. I’ve been wondering if Jirisan would have been more fascinating if it went on a healing route and not a thrilling one. I have yet to conclude that thought when the finale episodes hit this week.
This week’s episodes cemented Jirisan‘s approach in keeping its patient storytelling. For some, it could be overly unhurried. Something that does not blend well at all when using transition timelines. But the value of the series has long been aligned to the literal feel of hiking a mountain. The picture would make sense at the peak.
Don’t miss the last ascend to Jirisan on iQiyi this weekend!
Photos/Videos: iQiyi
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