Copycat Killer – Episode 9 Recap & Review

Episode 9

Episode 9 of Copycat Killer opens with Cun-yi in his jail cell, writing a note in which he reveals the true identity of the serial killer. News plays on the radio and reports claim that Jia-tang was killed in a parking lot the night before. Cun-yi grows curious about the report but then opens the envelope he had received in the mail.

The inmate finds a set of Polaroids of his father in the wheelchair, similar to the Polaroids that were taken of all the female victims in the serial killer’s attack. Cun-yi is scared and is able to identify the message He-ping was trying to send. Kuo looks at the news video Ya-cih had asked her assistant to put out of the archives before her death.

The prosecutor finds Jia-wun, Jia-tang as well as He-ping in the video. Wun-kai tells Kuo that Jia-tang’s fingerprints were also found at the crime scene which makes him one of the accomplices. Da-chao claims that both Jia-tun and Jia-won had made a call to the same number before their deaths prompting that He-ping had somehow coerced them into death. He-ping has written a book on the serial killer Noh and his findings from following the case.

He is at the book launch when Kuo finds him and brings the guy in for interrogation. He-ping initially handles the interrogation pretty calmly but when Kuo refuses to talk about Noh, the broadcaster is confused. Kuo asks He-ping how he managed to write a 300-page book on the case when the cops were nowhere even close to solving it. The prosecutor claims that the knowledge of Yu-ping being the first victim in chronological order was not made public news. He also asks He-ping how he claimed Yu-ping was the first victim in his book.

He-ping goes into detail to talk about Noh but Kuo stops him stating that Noh was a nobody and someone that would be forgotten in no time. He-ping is shocked when Kuo calls Noh someone not even worth discussing. He-ping gives out public statements to the reporters, claiming that the prosecutors were not doing their jobs right, further trying to alter the truth.

At work, He-ping lies to his colleagues that he was called in for questioning pertaining to Ya-cih’s murder. He claims that Kuo wanted to know the daily routine of a broadcaster and nothing else. Their boss asks He-ping to work on his first broadcast that night and He-ping claims that he will be paying homage to Ya-cih during the broadcast.

Yan-jhen pays a visit to the police station asking Kuo and Da-chao if He-ping was involved in Ya-cih’s death. Since she also is a reporter, Kuo refrains from making any comment about the claim and sends her away. Kuo asks Da-chao to keep an eye out for Yan-jhen since shes in danger as she worked with He-ping.

Meanwhile, Da-chao gives Kuo an audio recording from when Jian-ho had called a distress helpline before his death. At the same time, Yun-huei is having a counselling session with Cun-yi. Cun-yi breaks down in front of the psychologist and claims that he was not involved in any of the murders and was only a bystander.

She tries to convince him to reveal the identity of the true killer but Cun-yi breaks down and stabs himself in the neck with Yun-huei’s pen. The psychologist is shaken by the incident and is left in shock when Kuo tells her that Cun-yi died before the ambulance could arrive. On her way home, Kuo gives Yun-huei an audio recording of Jian-ho’s call to the distress helpline.

From the call, Yun-huei learns just how much her brother loved and respected her. She also breaks down thinking about how she misunderstood him and could not save him. Yun-huei finally gets some closure after Jian-ho’s death, hearing how much her brother revered her.

He-ping makes his way into the hospital Yu-tong was admitted to and whistles outside her room. Hearing his signature sinister whistle sends her into shock and Yu-tong’s condition begins to worsen. Kuo is also at the hospital and is shocked to hear that Yu-tong has lost her speech due to the trauma.

Later that night, He-ping plays a montage of Ya-cih’s life as a broadcaster in order to honour her. He-ping ridicules Ya-cih for mocking him while using the same ashtray he killed her with.

He also uses Ya-cih’s cigarette dispenser while he smokes in her cabin celebrating his successful first broadcast. Da-chao breaks down when he sees He-ping mock the cops and the Prosecution for not doing their job well. Kuo reassures Da-chao and claims that he too was nervous about more lives being lost in the time leading to when they could catch He-ping.

He asks Kuo to never lose hope. Yan-jhen is in He-ping’s cabin and finds Ya-cih’s cigarette dispenser. She grows suspicious of He-ping but does not make it obvious to him. Later that night, Kuo picks up Yun-huei from work and they have a chat. She thanks Kuo for the audio tape and claims that it was the tape that made her change her mind about Jian-ho’s involvement with the serial killer.

Kuo wonders if he has a chance to restart his relationship with Yun-huei when all this is over and the psychologist agrees to the request. Kuo is relieved after his chat with Yun-huei, but due to his lack of sleep he hallucinates that all of He-ping’s victims are tied up in the abandoned location and that He-ping is mocking him.

Kuo wakes up on the side of the street as he hears the same videotape on the news that we saw at the beginning of the first episode. In the video, Noh poses a direct challenge to Kuo and threatens to kill someone very close to him. Kuo rushes back to his own house worried that his uncle had been murdered. He sends Da-chao to look for Yan-jhen.

However, Kuo is relieved but confused when he finds his uncle is alive, and so is Yan-jhen. Just as he realises what has happened, he rushes to Yun-huei’s house only to find her dead body outside her apartment complex. Yun-huei had allegedly fallen off the terrace of her building. Kuo breaks down because he could not save her and makes it to the TNB parking lot.

He runs into He-ping and beats up the reporter. He-ping tries to pretend that he is not Noh but eventually claims that he killed Yun-huei because he wanted to teach Kuo a lesson. Since Yun-huei was the person Kuo cared about the most, He-ping claims that killing her was fun for him.

Kuo is enraged and uses the gun he had collected from Officer Yong’s accident, firing two bullets at He-ping as the episode comes to an end.

The Episode Review

I am not sure what just happened in this episode but Kuo did not just lose his calm when things were almost going his way. The fact that there were so many cops working with him and Kuo still did not manage to get a single one to protect Yun-huei, the woman he had just confessed his feelings for minutes ago, seems absurd.

Now that she is dead and He-ping too seems to have died, I wonder what will happen in the season finale. One thing I am sure about after seeing the last nine episodes is that Copycat Killer tries to pack in a plot twist per episode and this time it is possible that He-ping too was a pawn and that there was a bigger mastermind running the game all along.

Whatever happened to the letter Cun-yi had written while in prison blatantly stating that He-ping was the serial killer? If that is what exposes the murderer now, after his death, I will be very disappointed. I hoped to see He-ping suffer and that will only be possible if he turns out to be alive in the season finale.