The Murderous Dimension Hopper
Episode 14 of Alice begins with Tae-Yi reading the last pages of the prophecy: “The son will become a murderer and destroyer of all.” The only way to stop this is to kill that very time traveller. Just then, Tae-Yi is interrupted by a strange masked figure arriving, who begins choking her out. At the same time, Jin-Gyeom chokes out the younger Jin-Gyeom from 2010 who simply grins at his older counterpart. Hearing cries coming from the room above, Jin-Gyeom races up to find Tae-Yi on the floor… and receives a knife to the stomach from this masked figure for his troubles. It’s been 10 days since Tae-Yi has gone missing but she suddenly reappears back in the present again. Her family berate her for leaving but Tae-Yi is in no mood for reunions. She’s desperate to find Jin-Gyeom given he was hurt, but it’s Do-Yeom who finds him – impaled through the chest by the killer in the past. Despite the severity of the wound, the group receive good news when they find out the knife missed internal organs. When Jin-Gyeom recovers, Tae-Yi approaches with the final pages of the prophecy. She believes Sun-Young was the catalyst for time travel beginning. Only, something doesn’t add up. Jin-Gyeom remembers his mother dying of a gunshot but this version died from a knife-wound. This could mean that there’s separate dimensions and they travelled to a different one this time. Min-Hyuk heads back to Alice and feeds back what they know – not very much from the looks of it. Min-Hyuk is still sceptical over what it all means but remains determined to find exactly when and where they travelled to. Jin-Gyeom is first on the scene though and begins searching for the man or woman who bought the knife he was stabbed with. He finds the swordsmith who confirms that blade was sold 10 days prior – not 10 years. With crucial clues gained, Min-Hyuk shows up and promises to help find the one responsible. They’ve worked out it’s someone within Alice but exactly who remains a mystery. For now, Min-Hyuk encourages Jin-Gyeom to rest up while he researches. When he leaves, Min-Hyuk instead heads up to see Tae-Yi where they discuss Sun-Young and his encounters with her. Min-Hyuk doesn’t understand why Sun-Young left but from a flashback he calls her Tae-Yi so surely it means Tae-Yi herself was the one with him? Back at the apartment, time continues to seemingly unravel as Jin-Gyeom loses himself for a second. He swings wildly at Dong-Ho when he arrives and looks set to stab his friend. Only Do-Yeon is able to turn him back to his old self for now. After talking to Do-Yeon about the murderer (which Do-Yeon interprets as time itself), Tae-Yi receives a call from Jin-Gyeom but something isn’t right. Sun-Young’s words about distancing herself from Jin-Gyeom seem to hold true. Tae-Yi heads back to see Do-Yeon and gives him her theory – Sun-Young’s killer may well be Jin-Gyeom from another dimension. Sun-Young’s memories are like fractured shimmers, lingering around and presumably affecting Tae-Yi as she sits and talks. Tae-Yi wants Do-Yeon’s help to stop time but in doing so, it would mean Sun-Young and Jin-Gyeom – presumably all of them from every dimension – would disappear with it. Meanwhile, Si-young finds Jin-Gyeom and holds a gun up to his head. Only, Min-Hyuk appears not long after and tells Si-Young to put the gun down. Convincing Jin-Gyeom to leave, Min-Hyuk discusses the failings of Alice and how they’ve become greedy. He doesn’t resent her anymore though, prompting Si-Young to admit she did something unforgivable. She knows who killed Tae-Yi. Just before revealing the truth, a rogue assassin from afar shoots her in the chest and leaves her bleeding out on the floor. As the killer races away, she tells him the one responsible is Director Ki. Just before she dies, Si-Young hands over a voice recording for him in the form of an ear-implant. This message comes all the way back from 2010. Sun-Young confirms she has a son and he’s the Father. She tries to encourage him to make sure Jin-Gyeom doesn’t meet the teacher, and asks him to take care of Jin-Gyeom. After the message ends, he races off. Meanwhile, Tae-Yi figures out the truth about Jin-Gyeom and shows him the results. It’s clear there’s someone controlling him and his demeanour changes completely. “I told you, it’s your turn now.” He says, brandishing a knife. As he holds her up at knife point… the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
With the alternate dimensions coming into play, Alice delivers some good drama and explains some of what’s going on. In truth, this one is still confusing and it’s not initially clear how all the timelines and events coincide together. Did Jin-Gyeom jump through multiple dimensions to kill Sung-Eun so these events can take place? Why did Si-Young keep hold of that ear implant all this time? If Si-Young’s trying to sabotage time she did a pretty good job of it. Surely she could have prevented all this mess by handing this over to Min-Hyuk at the earliest time and stopping these events taking place. How does Shi-Young and Tae-Yi know each other from 1992 too? So are Tae-Yi and Sun-Young the same people? Min-Hyuk appears to call our lead Tae-Yi in the memories so this may explain this away. Still, I’m not 100% sure exactly how everything ties together but I’m sure some readers will have a much better grasp of this timeline than me! Still, the ending leaves the door wide open for the final two episodes and despite some initial continuity issues, this one is prepped up for an explosive couple of chapters to come!
