KIM HYUN JOON
AND
KANG KI HYEON
KANG KI HYEON
BROTHERS IN ARMS
THE FINALE
THE SHOWDOWN
BROTHERHOOD
The finale of the drama, the exciting showdown between two of
NCI’s finest and The Reaper, sets the heart pounding. The viewers are teased
with a violent fight in the darkness and one’s heart feels like it is
clutched in a vice-like grip in the closing moments.
Their final confrontation was set at night. The scene, framed in black and white, foreshadowed the violent fight between good and evil.
The Reaper had been at large. But, when Kim Hyun Joon received a call from Team Leader Kang to meet up with him for the final showdown with The Reaper, it was clear that they would have to put their life on the line.
But by that time, the two top NCI profilers had already bonded like brothers. They had drawn closer since the time Team Leader Kang helped Kim Hyun Joon solve the Nadeul River mystery. They were now true brothers and brothers in arms. Their strong male-bonding or bromance would be cemented in their final confrontation with The Reaper.
  
Kim Yong Chul AKA The Reaper had lured the two profilers, Kim Hyun Joon and Team Leader Kang to the place where a mental hospital once stood. It was the very hospital that The Reaper had set on fire when he was young - the place where all his suffering had begun.
The two NCI profilers knew it was not an issue that can be put in a back burner. They had to settle their unfinished business with The Reaper that very night. They knew that they had to face death together.
           Although the two profilers could not avoid the trap set for them, they were determined not to let their guard down. There was no safety net; there were neither snipers nor the backup of other law enforcement officers. The confrontation between Team Leader Kang and The Reaper seemed personal.
But, their priority was the safety of the NCI Chief Director, Baek San, who had been captured by The Reaper. They had to prepare for the worst. Unbeknownst to them, he was already dead. One of the earlier scenes showed The Reaper storing a round bundle in a freezer. The life of the NCI Chief Director had been brutally snuffed out.
                 
Kim Yong Chul fooled around with the profilers first before he tried to murder them.
Groaning in pain, he pretended to be NCI Director Baek San but Team Leader Kang knew instinctively that he was The Reaper.
    
‘Kim Yong Chul, stop fooling around!’
    Kim Hyun Joon demanded to know where the NCI Director Baek San was but the answer was unclear.     
Then, Kim Yong Chul demanded that they put their guns down. He, himself, unloaded his gun and even offered to be shot by Team Leader Kang.
     
‘Do you want me to kill you?’ Kang Ki Hyeon asked.
He fiddled with the older profiler's feelings. ‘I thought that was what you'd wanted,’ whispered Kim Yong Chul. ‘If you don’t shoot me now, you’ll regret it forever!’
When Kim Hyun Joon told him to shut up, he clucked provocatively, ‘He has such black eyes. Every time I kill someone with eyes like that, my heart races! If I kill the young man and rip him into pieces in front of you .....’
His ominous threat sparked a strange expression in the younger profiler’s eyes.
‘Don’t move!’ Kim Hyun Joon threatened him and the Reaper egged him on to shoot.
          
Team Leader Kang unloaded the bullets from his gun and threw them on the floor. Kim Hyun Joon followed suit. But Team Leader Kang had been smart enough not throw all the bullets away. It became clear later that he had secretly saved some bullets for Kim Hyun Joon to kill their nemesis.
‘Tell us, where is he?’ Team Leader Kang asked, referring to the NCI Chief Director. The Reaper was not forthcoming with the information.
  
Using a remote control, The Reaper suddenly locked the metal door. The escape route was blocked.
The feeling of dread mounted.
    
Kim Yong Chul threw a bag down for Kim Hyun Joon to open. The blood of the two profilers must have run cold believing the worst had happened to Baek San.
   
But to their astonishment, the bag contained a single air-purifying respirator.
When they raised their eyes, The Reaper had already worn his own life-saving gas mask.  
The room was all sealed up. The profilers heard the hissing of the poisoned gas which was already seeping out from the air vents above.
The Reaper was certainly off his rockers. He cackled that humans were evil and were like beasts. Convinced that their instinct was to survive, he expected the two profilers to fight each other for the only respirator given to them.
     
With a burst of speed, Kang Ki Hyeon flung himself at The Reaper, forcing the criminal to the floor. He was going to pummel the madman to death.
On seeing Team Leader Kang experiencing breathing difficulties, Kim Hyun Joon leapt to his rescue. He attached the respirator on the older profiler’s face while Team Leader Kang secretly handed the younger profiler some bullets.
 
'The instinct to survive is a common instinct of all animals,' The Reaper cawed.
When Kim Hyun Joon tried to retrieve his gun, The Reaper pounced on him. Hammering him, he bellowed, ‘All humans are animals, just like pigs!’
    
Team Leader Kang threw his body weight on The Reaper and both rolled on the floor.
Affected by the hazardous gas, the older profiler coughed and panted heavily. Glancing at Kim Hyun Joon who was overcome by the toxic gas, he ran over to him and placed the respirator over his face.
The Reaper had underestimated the two profilers who trusted each other implicitly, and were willing to put their life on the line for each other.
    
The Reaper was wrong. Big brother Ki Hyeon had younger brother, Hyun Joon’s back. They shared the mask; alternating the use of the life-saving gadget between them. The profilers had more courage and humanity than The Reaper believed. This was a lesson the evil man learnt to his dismay.
Kang Ki Hyen subsequently ran over to thrash the evil criminal but Kim Yong Chul had a knife in his hand. The frantic and violent struggle in the dark was difficult to see. The suspense rose. 
Then, there was a lull in the fight. But within the blink of an
eye, The Reaper had recovered and launched his attack again. Having the upper hand, he repeatedly pounded Team Leader Kang with
his fists.
To the profilers’ horror, Kim Yong Chul brazenly confessed that he had already killed Chief Director Baek San.  
By this time, Kim Hyun Joon had managed to retrieve his gun from
the floor and loaded the bullets. He
aimed his gun at The Reaper.
  The Reaper provoked them. He goaded Kim Hyun Joon, ‘Shoot, Shoot me!’  
But his cruellest provocation was reserved for Kang Ki Hyeon. He
was itching to punish Kang Ki Hyeon, the dogged profiler who had constantly hounded
him.
‘Out of all the people I’ve killed, touching Hae Won’s body excited me the most. It was the best!’ he crowed.    
Tension filled the air. Kang Ki Hyeon was not going to allow The
Reaper to soil his wife’s memory. He went bonkers when her murder was dredged
up by the evil man. Her death represented the lowest point in his life. Imagine
his wife, Hae Won being violated by his nemesis before her death. Flying into
a rage was an understatement. Team Leader Kang went completely berserk; he
was goaded beyond control.
The struggle between Kang Ki Hyeon and The Reaper exploded into a
violent struggle.
Kim Hyun Joon aimed his gun at The Reaper. The weapon moved erratically to stay in line with his vision. His hand wavered due to the fuzziness caused by his inhalation of the poisonous air. The blood in his head must have been pounding.
Edging closer, he fired the shot that killed their adversary. Thanks to Kim Hyun Joon’s training, he was able to put his sharpshooting skills to good use.
    
Kim Hyun Joon, who was bloodied all over, was able to smash a window with a heavy object. Fresh air flowed into the room.
 
The younger profiler must have been flooded with relief when after what seemed like an eternity, the familiar figure of Kang Ki Hyeon emerged from the shadows unscathed.
The elusive murderer, who had generated a cocktail of copycat murders was dead. Good had triumphed over evil.
   
Kim Hyun Joon’s fatal shot must have removed Team Leader Kang’s burden of killing the evil man who had snuffed out the life of Hae Won, his beautiful and innocent wife. In the eyes of the law, the shooting of Kim Yong Chul, The Reaper would not be perceived as an act of vengeance because it was Kim Hyun Joon, not Kang Ki Hyeon who had killed him.
It must be noted that Kim Hyun Joon’s older brother profiler had once helped him to achieve closure in the Nadeul River case, now he had returned the favour. Although nothing could salve his personal wounds, the death of The Reaper marked the end of Kang Gi Hyeon’s personal ordeal and brought closure to his wife’s murder case.
The long conflict with The Reaper had taken a toll on Team Leader Kang. Now, he could take the rest that he long needed for his PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
It had been a harrowing experience for the both of them.
Having brought the crimes of The Reaper to a close, Kim Hyun Joon and Kang Gi Hyeon could be considered the heroes of the NCI and the drama, Criminal Minds.
The two NCI profilers had upheld the law and there was no miscarriage of justice.  The Thousand Yard Stare. The vacant look of the traumatised NCI profiler. One may have been rooting for him all the way with emotions escalating to a high and plunging to a low but when one watches his thousand-yard stare, one is not just mesmerised, one also feels broken inside - too anguished to think. 
Having stood on the precipice of death, the super-sleuth, Kim Hyun Joon is able to give the viewers some insights into the meaning of what life is all about.
In a voice that is unmistakably firm and intense, Kim Hyun Joon delivers the final quotation of the 20-episode drama, Criminal Minds.
‘The ultimate power and the devil are fighting there. The battlefield is the heart of man.’ Dostoyevsky
   
The Thousand Yard Stare
 |
CRIMINAL MINDS QUOTATION
EPISODES 19 & 20
 
The final quotation of the
drama, the most profound in Criminal Minds Korea, which is recited by Kim
Hyun Joon at the end of Episode 20 is taken from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov.
The exact quotation is,
‘God and the devil are fighting there
and the battlefield is the heart of man.’
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky -
‘God’ has been replaced by ‘The ultimate power’.
The intensity of Dostoyevsky’s
message is unmistakable. The message is for everyone to chew on.
God and the devil are constantly
fighting a war in everybody’s heart. A war between right and wrong. It is an
alarming reminder that the devil, who probably controls one’s dark side, is a
continual threat to one’s soul. One has to continually struggle against one’s
darker impulses and prevent oneself from being overpowered by one’s demons.
The basic message is one has to do what is right.  |
CRIMINAL MINDS
VIDEO
EPISODES 19 & 20
The Thousand Yard Stare
|