Started to have problems with the pacing of The School Nurse Files, with the rushed character development throwing me off a little. But somehow, I feel like episode 3 has redeemed itself a little. With the introduction of a new antagonist with a strange connection to the jellies, strap yourselves in for a wild ride as this drama gets even more kooky but stays just as entertaining.
RECAP (SPOILER ALERT)
The episode opens with Eun-young piggybacking the CPR mannequin to another lesson and we see Yoo-jin following close behind, still searching for her cushion. She enters a classroom in the midst of an English lesson and before Yoo-jin can enter, the teacher (his name is Mackenzie and he speaks amazing English by the way) literally looks right at her and tells her "no" before shutting the door in her face. Eun-young notices this and is evidently confused. Is there really another person who can see the jellies? Of course, both of them continue to steal glances out the door and we see Yoo-jin briefly peering into the classroom only to leave for another one. Eun-young pokes her head out the door but Yoo-jin's nowhere in sight. Cut to Monglyeon High at night, where we see lights flickering momentarily throughout the whole school before going back to normal. A teacher rushes Eun-young to Min-woo and Wan-soo's classroom, where a group of students staying back to study suddenly burst into tears with no explanation. She bursts into the classroom and we see the affected students (Min-woo, Wan-soo and Seung-kwon included) bawling their eyes out, while unaffected ones try and comfort them to no avail. Of course, all the crying students have the stolen Giseong Girls' chair cushions.
Eun-young chases out the unaffected students and we see Yoo-jin clinging onto her cushion (which Wan-soo is sitting on) and wow she's really crying her lungs out (I don't think it's humanly possible for a face to turn this red, then again she's not human). Eun-young chides the students for their cushion-hunting antics and what happens next disturbed the hell out of me. Yoo-jin coughs out blood and we hear bells jingling in the background, as an increasingly worried Eun-young looks on. Suddenly, her freaking skull caves in and jelly starts to seep out from the hole (I can't emphasise by this point how creeped out I was). Yoo-jin's entire body starts to swell and grow disproportionately and in the background, we hear a young Eun-young calling out for her mother (refer to episode 1). As Yoo-jin continues to expand and take up more space in the classroom, she absorbs Wan-soo and Min-woo (the closest students to her), and before the situation can get any worse, Eun-young pulls out her sword and slices Yoo-jin across the belly, causing her to explode into red heart-shaped jellies (similar to episode 2's giant monster). Her hold on the students gone, they come to their senses and stop crying. Snatching the cushion from under Wan-soo, Eun-young pulls out a talisman that has "it will come to pass quickly" written on it and a pouch from Seoul National University. She burns all three objects, getting rid of whatever evil influence is left there and we hear jingling bells for the last time.
After this ordeal, we're brought back to Min-woo and Wan-soo's tether problem and the operation to knot the ends of their armpit hair is a go. The two troublemakers are smoking on the school rooftop, the strong tether pulsating behind their heads. A-ra comes up to tell them that In-pyo is looking for them in the nurse's office and they try to get rid of the cigarette smell before they go. Upon entering the office, they're greeted by In-pyo, who closes the door behind them before Eun-young knocks them out with her sword. Dragging them onto sickbeds, the pair begin their knotting operation, fully equipped with magnifying goggles and tweezers. Failure would mean they have to either give them a bikini wax or tie their pubic hair, both raunchy suggestions that were actually raised up in their conversation. A pretty cool demonstration of how to tie a dragonfly knot is used to represent the actual knotting and once complete, we hear whistling throughout the empty school hallways, with Eun-young popping out to investigate. The whistling was coming from Mackenzie, who upon Eun-young's questioning, reveals that he's in charge of the Gardening Club, his supplies in hand (this gets very very important later on). He fires back at her, asking why the nurse's office is under construction (a sign put up by In-pyo before commencing their knotting). Eun-young states that she's in the middle of an important surgery and obviously, both of them aren't convinced with each other but Mackenzie goes off on his merry way, still whistling. Before heading back into the office, Eun-young realises that the construction sign can't be seen from the hallway and as such, Mackenzie must have stood outside the office while they were busy inside. Her suspicion of him is steadily increasing.
Inside the office, Min-woo and Wan-soo are still conked out, with In-pyo and Eun-young watching over them. In-pyo subconsciously grabs Eun-young's hand and recharges her while he laments about whether they as teachers have the right to severe a connection that the two troublemakers were born with. This philosophical train of thought is quickly derailed when she shows that she really doesn't care about the students the way he does and he pulls his hand away from her, leaving them sitting awkwardly next to each other. There's some sexual tension here and I definitely see this heading for romance. Cut to the next day, where the troublemakers are headed to school, rejuvenated after the knotting procedure. Eun-young follows behind them and we see that their tether has vanished. Relieved that neither will die because of it, she heads into the school and the camera focuses on the Monglyeon High crest, which shows a braid-like pattern similar to the tether (I wonder what purpose this serves).
Cut to a school corridor swarming with tons of small cartoon jellyfish-like jellies and Eun-young trudges along to another CPR lesson. She's in a good mood and even pokes a jelly for fun before entering a classroom. We see Mackenzie standing at the end of the corridor, observing the swarming jellies before starting to capture them using some kind of seed. He stops in front of the school founder's portrait and casts his gaze down the staircase to the basement, fiddling with the seed in his hand before leaving. We also see that the ring on his finger has HSP engraved on it (this gets super important later). The camera briefly pans towards the dark hallways in the basement and focuses on the Apji Stone. Mackenzie's presence is starting to make the story interesting. Cut to the school gym, where we see some members of the basketball team led by Hoop Squid bullying Ji-hyung by forcing him to run on a treadmill without his right shoe, which is being cut up by one of the members. Irked that he doesn't have to pay school fees due to a scholarship, the bullies are trying to force him out of the team and honestly, we been knew that the team doesn't treat him right (didn't mention this in my episode 1 review but if you watch it you'll get what I mean).
As one of the bullies increases the speed of the treadmill, Hoop Squid tries to taunt a completely shagged out Ji-hyung into giving up but man doesn't crack and keeps up with the speed. Deciding to put an end to this, Hoop Squid passes a plastic bag to a bully, who throws it onto Ji-hyung's head, causing him to lose his balance and crash face first onto the treadmill, sliding off in pain. Before the bullies go any further, Mackenzie swoops in and chases them out of the gym, helping up a bleeding Ji-hyung. He offers to do a favour for Ji-hyung, and assures him there're no limits to that favour, an offer that gets rejected. Mackenzie leaves the gym with the offer still standing and an expression of indecisiveness runs across Ji-hyung's face. Cut to the TCM clinic where Eun-young's friend is doing acupuncture on her head. They have a conversation about whether Eun-young has met the one she's destined for and her friend suggests that it's In-pyo (which Eun-young finds incredulous). Oh, Eun-young, you don't even know yourself that well. Her friend then mentions that someone else "wants" In-pyo badly and of course, we're supposed to think that it's another woman who has her eyes on him but as we'll soon find out, that's not the case at all. I do wonder though, her friend seems to have some form of psychic ability...
Cut to the nurse's office, where Ji-hyung gets his injury treated. When Eun-young presses him, he writes it off as falling down the stairs but A-ra, who is once again chilling on a sickbed, reveals that he got beaten again (I guess the bullying has been going on for some time). Ji-hyung quickly leaves the office after grabbing a band-aid and prepares his bicycle to leave school. His bike chain has come loose and after trying to fix it multiple times, a frustrated Ji-hyung gives up and pushes his bike down, sitting on the floor in defeat. Cut to Eun-young and In-pyo sitting on some bleachers while watching a football game as well as the basketball team prepare for an upcoming important game, where many university and professional team coaches will be watching. They discuss Ji-hyung's situation, where In-pyo brings up that the team forcibly got Ji-hyung to quit out of toxic competition with one another. We see that Mackenzie is also playing football and the whole time he has been casting glances at the two of them. Eventually, he runs over to the bleachers and tries to physically drag In-pyo into joining their game. An annoyed Eun-young scolds Mackenzie for trying to force In-pyo into playing when man's clearly disabled and Mackenzie leaves without much fight. As In-pyo limps away, she glares at Mackenzie, finding out who the rival that her friend mentioned is.
Cut to Eun-young's home, where our tilted heroine pounds out her balsam dye while complaining to her friend over the phone about Mackenzie making moves on In-pyo and she suspects that he can see his aura. Her friend reveals that Mackenzie is part of Safe Happiness, which looks like some sort of Christian organisation and turns out, the pamphlet that was slid under Eun-young's door in episode 2 was from them. Guess what their logo is? HSP, just like the engraving on Mackenzie's ring. As Eun-young surfs their website, it seems that there's some history here as she says that even after all this time, it still gives her the creeps. For some reason I feel like Safe Happiness is the hospital that Eun-young used to work for and where her friend was warded. Cut back to Monglyeon High, where we see Mackenzie doing some gardening work as Ji-hyung approaches him, having decided to take him up on his offer. He wants to be back on the basketball team and Mackenzie reminisces about how he used to get bullied in school much like Ji-hyung but his mother didn't care. He then gives Ji-hyung four seeds (the same kind he used to trap the jellies) and tells him to put one in each of the bullies' belongings/clothing. A skeptical Ji-hyung asks if this will really get him back on the team and Mackenzie gives a cryptic answer with a mysterious smirk plastered on his face. We see the basketball team enter their locker room after one of their practice sessions and once they leave to get food, Ji-hyung does the deed and places one seed into each of the bullies' belongings (interesting tidbit, noticed that Hoop Squid the simp still has A-ra's photo stuck on his locker door).
Cut to Eun-young rearranging her talisman cupboard before she hears a knock on her door. As it opens, two ducks waddle in (which holds no meaning apart from ducks just being everywhere in the drama) and the life sciences teacher pokes her head in. She introduces herself as Han A-reum (jeez finally I know her name it was so painful to refer to her without one) and invites Eun-young to a staff dinner that evening, which she didn't know about prior. Something seems off about A-reum, especially with her strange smile and I think Eun-young senses this too. Cut to In-pyo teaching a Hanja class, fully decked out in traditional garb. Ji-hyung zones out at the back, and we cut to the important basketball game and zoom in on a particular player wearing a white headband and gold-and-black shoes, anxiously tapping a basketball in his hands. Cut back to the Hanja class, which gets interrupted by the basketball team coach, who asks for Ji-hyung to get into the game as four players were injured the previous night. Of course, those four players are the bullies and their injuries are severe enough to leave them out the whole season. We don't know the specifics but it's definitely a result of Mackenzie's jelly seeds. We see that Ji-hyung was the player with the white headband from earlier and while on the bench, he makes eye contact with a smug Mackenzie, who has a knowing look on his face. Cut to the locker room, where Ji-hyung opens his vandalised locker to find the same pair of gold-and-black shoes shown earlier inside with a congratulatory note from Mackenzie, and whistling is heard in the background.
Among the game's spectators are In-pyo and Eun-young, the latter of whom eyes Mackenzie suspiciously. He notices and smirks back, merely focusing his attention on the game. Starting out nicely, Ji-hyung's shot enters the hoop but it gets declared a foul by the referee, voiding the point. The game seemingly starts to go downhill as Ji-hyung's attempts are constantly blocked and the whole time Mackenzie just looks on, expressionless. With less than 40 seconds on the clock, Ji-hyung finally gets the ball and dribbles towards the hoop. As he gets closer, we see something green growing out of Ji-hyung's shoes and Eun-young's eyes widen as she notices this. Mackenzie gives a sharp whistle and flicks his finger at Ji-hyung, causing the jellies on his left shoe sole to compact and burst as he jumps, giving him a boost that lets him do a backboard-breaking 3-pointer slam dunk. The audience, none the wiser, celebrate the amazing feat and Monglyeon's victory, while Eun-young sits stunned by what she just saw. Ji-hyung casts his gaze at Mackenzie, who smiles knowingly at his plan's success and he leaves, glancing at Eun-young a final time. Cut to Ji-hyung removing his shoes in the locker room and a broken seed falls out, since the jelly that was inside has already been used. The whole time, we hear Mackenzie's ominous whistling in the background.
Cut to that evening's staff dinner, where most of the teachers are drunk out of their minds in a BBQ restaurant. A sober Eun-young sits next to a tipsy A-reum, who asks her whether she thinks In-pyo's weird. Eun-young questions whether she's interested in him and she laughs, stating that no one would like him because he's so boring. While this is happening, we see an uncomfortable In-pyo sandwiched between Mackenzie and another teacher, and man's clearly not in his element here. A-reum mentions that (being the chairman's grandson) In-pyo will eventually be the school's head and asks Eun-young if she'll get married to In-pyo, which she responds to by taking a shot. In-pyo tries and escapes from the dinner and Mackenzie follows him out, asking him to stay and help to take care of the drunkards. Of course, In-pyo continues to refuse and Mackenzie grabs his shirt aggressively and In-pyo instinctively grabs his wrist. Everything slows down as they exchange glances, with Mackenzie glaring menacingly at him while In-pyo looks shocked. Whistling starts again in the background and a concerned Eun-young watches from her seat. This is followed by a short flashback scene to the nurse's office, where a tired Eun-young warns In-pyo to steer clear from Mackenzie and tells him that the only person he should touch is her. We see that In-pyo is recharging her and he's treating it like a normal thing by now so that's quite cute, and she tells him that she still has to figure out how Ji-hyung and Mackenzie are involved. Cut back to the restaurant, where the standoff between the two men ends with Mackenzie releasing his hold and apologising, while a shaken In-pyo inches away and leaves.
After dinner, the rest of the staff leave while Eun-young calls Mackenzie out, warning him to stop trying to steal In-pyo's aura. He scoffs at her in English, telling her she's being manipulated, which irks Eun-young, who curses him out and asks him to speak Korean (somewhat amusing that she doesn't understand him). Mackenzie tells her to make money off of the jellies, and to capture and sell them rather than kill them. He mocks her, telling her to improve her standard of living and reveals a little too much, with Eun-young pulling out her BB gun and asking him how he knows where she lives. Mackenzie UNO reverses her and grabs her gun, shooting BBs into the air flippantly and reveals that Safe Happiness (the organisation he's part of) knows everything about her. Stunned, Eun-young realises that he's selling jellies for them and warns him against doing so. Mackenzie tries to psych her into joining his side of the playing field and switches to English, at which point Eun-young just fake smiles and nods in response to everything he says because she doesn't know any better. As he gets into a taxi and leave, a frustrated Eun-young is left behind at the restaurant, wondering what he just said. Just then, we hear whistling again and Mackenzie yeets a jelly seed out the taxi window and it flies her. The seed explodes and almost covers her in jelly but she reacts just in time and fires off a BB, destroying the jelly. She tries to shoot another BB after Mackenzie but she's all out of ammo. Realising that he played her by shooting off all her BBs, Eun-young glares at the disappearing taxi. The war is on. Cut to black.
REVIEW AND COMMENTS
Episode 3 felt a lot shorter than the previous 2 but this is where it's starting to get really really interesting. I had some gripes with rushed character development but that problem has taken a backseat after this episode. Something I've noticed about this drama is that plot points are wrapped up very fast. In episode 2, our giant monster plot line ended at the start and with this episode, both the chair cushion AND tether plot lines got wrapped up less than 15 minutes into the episode. With such a short season, this was bound to happen but it doesn't affect the watching experience. Instead, it leaves a lot of room for new plot lines which keep the story fresh and engaging.
I personally find Mackenzie to be a really intriguing character and a super charismatic villain if I've ever seen one, and I find his plot line super entertaining. There was bound to be someone else who could see the jellies apart from Eun-young and the fact that Mackenzie is using his Gardening Club cover to breed the seeds and almost weaponising the jellies in a fashion adds so much to the story. I also wonder if Ji-hyung will give into the darkness and join HSP with Mackenzie, using jellies for personal gain. Unlike the other plot points before, I hope that this Mackenzie plot line doesn't end so fast because I think they can explore so much with this, including how he's able to see the jellies in the first place.
Episode 3 didn't give us too much development in terms of In-pyo and Eun-young's relationship, but it's not a usual case of K-drama "will they, won't they". It's almost as if Eun-young deep down likes In-pyo but doesn't want to admit it and In-pyo is just clueless about the whole thing. We didn't get too much focus on their interactions this time, instead episode 3 focused more on introducing a new villain and a new plot line, which is perfectly fine. With Mackenzie trying to steal In-pyo's jelly aura and Eun-young trying to protect him, the trio are bound to have more interaction very soon. Mackenzie and Safe Happiness are definitely somehow related to Eun-young's past, and with the pace picking up halfway through the series, The School Nurse Files is on track to becoming even more entertaining and hopefully, the remaining half of the series maintains the energy that we got in episode 3 and ends well.
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