[Apr 1-2] “The Midnight Studio” Ep 6-7: Ratings, Recap, Review

ENA’s “The Midnight Studio” kept its audience with 2.2% of viewers in episode 6, about the same as its last episode. Episode 7 had a small drop in viewers to 1.8%.

“The Midnight Studio” Ep 6-7: Ratings, Recap, Review

It seems like someone's feeling a bit envious~

Unraveling the curse and its consequences

Last week’s show ended with a car crash caused by a bad spirit targeting Ki-joo. The curse is getting closer to him. When the Safe Zone starts and the ghosts disappear for a while, Ki-joo falls into Bom’s arms, sick because he used too much energy trying to help Bom see ghosts better. Bom carries him home, but he can’t rest because many people died in the crash, and they need him to take pictures of their last memories.

So-myung, the delivery guy, comes in feeling sad and unsure if he should be there. He had a tough life, growing up without parents and leaving school because of bullies. He tried to go back to school, hoping a diploma would make him feel good about himself. But he died just before finishing, worried that no one would remember him and thinking the crash was his fault.

Ki-joo gets the school president to give So-myung a special degree after he dies, but when the news blames So-myung for the crash, they take it back, and So-myung feels guilty again. Ki-joo and friends don’t give up. They find So-myung’s workmates, who were being kept quiet, and Bom sues the delivery company for making drivers work too hard. They clear So-myung’s name and make things better for the drivers. So-myung’s workmates say goodbye to him at the Midnight Studio, showing him he did make a difference.

The tangled paths of love and duty

While fighting for So-myung, Ki-joo learns the Safe Zone works only when he’s very close to Bom. Bom starts to like Ki-joo, but he pushes her away because he doesn’t have much time left.

Feeling hurt and rejected, Bom keeps trying. She kisses Ki-joo while making a promise, but it doesn’t change his mind, even though it’s hard for him to ignore how he feels about her. Then, a new guest at the Midnight Studio is a good-looking, nice guy who used to help people.

His name is CHOI HOON, and he helped at a place for people feeling very sad. He went to save a woman from hurting herself, but she pushed him and he died. He told Ki-joo he had helped her a lot, but when Ki-joo talks to the woman, she says Hoon was following her around, and she pushed him because she was scared, not wanting to hurt him.

When it’s time for Hoon’s picture, Ki-joo tells him no to his last request and asks him to take the photo and go away quietly. But Hoon gets angry, turns into a bad ghost, and fights to get out of the studio. Ki-joo tries to call Bom to tell her, but Hoon has taken over Bom’s body and is threatening to drop her from a bridge.

Other characters are also facing challenges. Ji-won keeps working hard at her job even though Sung-ho tries to make things difficult for her and she has to do extra work. Sung-ho feels sorry for her after seeing what she goes through alone, especially when he learns about her health problems. We also find out that Nam-gu was killed on a very special day, and the person who did it is still free. Plus, his wife had something important to tell him that she never could.

Each episode starts with more about the young ghost girl who vanished. She was in a car crash, just like the one that took Bom’s parents, and she showed up with the Midnight Studio camera.

Interestingly, everyone who runs the studio has a special mark. Ki-joo has one on his shoulder, and the little girl had one on her wrist, just like Bom has a scar. It seems too strange to be just chance.

About the love story, I get why Ki-joo and Bom act the way they do, and they’re great together, but I didn’t like how Bom pushed Ki-joo to drink and didn’t accept his “no.” It’s like she’s trying to change his mind even though he already said no.

But I liked that there was a ghost who wasn’t all good and a person who needed to be safe from the ghost’s last wish. Ki-joo’s job is to help ghosts, but not if it hurts people who are still alive.