The Island Episode No 1 Recap And Review
The Island Episode 1 Recap
These statues are placed outside the gates to ward off demons traveling between realities. Just as a photographer sets up his camera, a bride touches the nose of one of the statues to give birth to a son. Something bad happens and the statue begins to crack and bleed.
Both of the Dol Hareubang statue turn to dust and the couple is shocked. A demon enters the two. We also see a creepy insect crawling towards the photographer who wonders where the couple is going. The photographer steps on the insect, and as soon as he turns around, the groom tries to kill it.
Now both the bride and the groom are transformed into monsters with strange horns protruding from their bodies. Before Bey kills the photographer, a man attacks him with a magic sword from a distance. This man is Ban.
Meanwhile, in the same church, Fr Giovanni excommunicated a woman with headphones. The woman gets angry and tries to provoke Giovanni with a male voice calling her Chan-hyeok.
The priest escapes the demon possessing the woman and speaks to her in Spanish, promising to set her free. He places a cross on her and sprinkles her with holy water to drive her away.
Giovanni gives his headphones to the priest and completes the exorcism on the woman as the other priest looks on. Giovanni meets the high priest who tells him about the legend in the monument. The priest informs that the blood stain is a sign that the demonic world threatens human life.
He tells Giovanni that the wolf killed the woman who was the savior of the island and that the wolf is still alive in human form. He asks Giovanni to go to the island and help his savior, who has been reincarnated as a woman another time. Giovanni agrees and leaves to return to the island in search of the woman.
Wo Min-ho is the chairman of the Daehan Group and takes the opportunity to mention the Daehan Hotels during a small argument with one of the press reporters attending his art exhibition. When the reporter asks about the money spent on buying the 100s of paintings, Min-ho says that they will be used in the hotel that the reporter himself frequents.
After Min-ho has dinner, his aunt Daehan shows up as the owner of the hotel. His aunt argues with Min-ho about the ownership of the hotels. Min-ho shuts her down by telling her that his father owns most of the shares in the hotel. He also claims that he is CEO Won Tae-han's sole heir and has the right to do whatever he wants in his father's hotel. He gets upset when his aunt leaves.
Later that night, Min-ho's car crashes, causing the thugs in the car to try to embarrass Min-ho's secretary. Min-ho asks his secretary to apologize, but they continue to argue with him. Min-ho beats up the man as his friend runs off to film the incident.
The next morning, Min-ho's video goes viral, causing various negative news about him to be published on the internet. Min-ho wonders if his aunt is behind all of this, but she insists that she wasn't the one who caused it. He asks Min-ho to speak to CEO Won, who is waiting for him.
At his father's cabin, he tries to talk to CEO Won about the incident, but the old man blames Min-ho for the company's stock drop. His uncle, Butler Jang, suggests that Min-ho should spend some time on the run down and in a shelter because of the scandal. Min-ho is against it and storms out of the room. He calls his secretary and asks her to look for the two men who caused the argument.
Butler Jang also tries to talk to Min-ho about the incident, asking him to return to Jeju Island, where he studied when he was younger. Min-ho reluctantly agrees to return to Tamra High School. Even at Jeju Airport, reporters try to take photos of the businesswoman, and Min-ho escapes using the airport's private exit while her secretary stops the reporters.
As soon as he sets foot on Jeju Island, he senses something eerily evil and a woman far away in the field. Min-ho tries to look for his car when he sees someone in a wedding dress in the parking lot. It is the bride who is captured by the demon, and it stops eating humans to start chasing Min-ho.
After a tense chase between him and the monster, Min-ho distracts the demon by unlocking his car and running in the opposite direction at full speed. The monster bride punches a hole in the tempo and tries to get in, but Ban escapes and fights the monster.
Min-ho is shocked to see her, but Ban saves her after killing the monster bride. Min-ho suddenly feels the dread again and passes out. He woke up in his bed wondering who the man in the black suit was. His secretary tells Min-ho that the pace is off, and that it doesn't catch any men in black suits. Min-ho marvels at the castle-like place where he lives.
The next day, Min-ho talks to Ban, the same woman who feels an eerie sensation upon entering Jeju Island. She asks Ban about Min-ho, claiming that he's the kid who looks like "his." Ban tells the woman that Min-ho doesn't recognize her, and she thinks that "he" hasn't woken up yet. Ban claims that the demon of lust has targeted Min-ho, and the woman asks Ban to take the next step by welcoming Min-ho.
A flashback episode takes him years ago to Ancient Jeju, when Ban Jr. was the only child to survive a demon massacre while his entire family was killed. Back then, Leader Jongryeong had taken Ban under his wing and raised him to be a demon slayer who killed the lust demon that brutally killed people.
Ban and the surviving children were taught about an evil spirit demon - the demon of lust. Leader Jongryeong stabbed the demon monster with his sword and then used the same sword to inject some of its blood into the children.
Of all the children used for this experiment, only two survived, Ban and Gong. They were no longer trained to live as humans, but as half-demons trained to be demon slayers. A young girl named Wonjeong saw Ban being tortured as a child when she was forced to become a demon slayer.
Back in the present, Min-ho visits Tamra High School and talks to the principal about helping the school financially. He asks to meet the teachers, but they stay away from him because of his public reputation. One of the professors offers Min-ho a job as the school's guidance counselor, who recently retired.
Even though Min-ho doesn't know anything about it, he's more than happy to take on the responsibility. Min-ho goes to the counseling room, and it turns out that the professor who recommended Min-ho for the job is his childhood friend Su-jin. The two friends catch up, and Min-ho leaves to go home after a while.
He is upset when he reads a news article about his aunt handing over the position of chairman of the Daehan Group. She calls her father about it, but he asks her to go with him without making a scene. Min-ho says he'll let it pass until he's in Jeju, and asks to go to a cafe to meet up with his friend Su-jin. Min-ho gets a call from his informant, who sends him some pictures of his aunt and Secretary Kang.
With Secretary Kang's help, she is shocked to learn that she has an aunt who is trying to smear her reputation. Min-ho tells her that he's really disappointed in her for treating her like family. Secretary Kang further upsets Min-ho by saying that he is always against her. He warns Min-ho that he needs to back him up because of what the future holds for him.
Min-ho drops her off and asks to use it as severance pay. As soon as she starts crying, she starts walking in another direction. It is then that the demon of lust possesses Secretary Kang. Min-ho calls Butler Jang to ask for a car to be sent in his place, but the network seems too weak to connect.
Min-ho sees Secretary Kang and is relieved at first, but suddenly realizes that he is a prisoner. The monster follows him and catches him. Min-ho screams, and Ban suddenly appears as he breaks the monster's arm with his sword.
Episode Review
We started watching this show for Cha Eunwoo, but will definitely stay for Lee Da-hee. I'm sure we'll have more Fr Giovanni (Cha Eunwoo) scenes in the future episode, and this one exorcism scene was really pleasing to the eye. However, I'm pretty sure he'll have to clash with Ban, a half-demon himself.
I love Ban's origin story and the show does an excellent job of establishing what happened to him in the first episode. We also learn that a girl named Wonjeong used to serve Ban, but it's impossible to tell if the woman is Min-ho herself or the "her" mentioned in Ban's conversation with the villager.
With only six episodes of the show airing in its first season, we can't help but look forward to a weekly dose of two horror episodes every Friday. Regardless, despite the low number of episodes, fans will always be satisfied with everything, including Eunwoo, and this looks like a delicious treat to get stuck into!
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