The Devil Punisher – Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Chapter 9

A drunk Chung says he doesn’t want to fight but doesn’t know what he’s done wrong as episode 9 of The Devil Punisher begins. They make up and Hsin-Yu tells him she won’t interfere in his work anymore. He needs some help getting home, so Hsin-Yu calls Cheng Huang to assist. He offers a lesson in liquor from the Tang Dynasty v that of today and snaps them home.

Half asleep, Chung asks Hsin-Yu to stay by his side and she agrees not to leave him again. Is he referring to applications for retirement?

The next morning, Chung suggests she move in and quit her job. She thinks he’s kidding but he’s serious about the moving in thing. She tells him it’s too soon but walks him to work.

Hsiao-Chi is guarding the bakery and she bickers with Hsin-Yu when she sees them sweetly arrive together. Chung sends Hsiao-Chi to work and Hsin-Yu acknowledges her dedication. She tells Chung he’s becoming warmer too.

They discuss when to talk to Mrs Wu about her son. En-Hsi arrives to complain about Hsin-Yu not coming home the previous evening. She’s angered at seeing them together and passive-aggressively tells Mrs Wu that they know her son is dead.

Chung shows Mrs Wu her son’s death and she’s distraught. They apologize for not telling her sooner. Mrs Wu believes Chung as she’s realised that he’s not an ordinary person.

As En-Hsi is thinking she’s given Chung and Hsin-Yu some trouble, she hears a malicious voice call her name but no one is around.

In the café, Hsin-Yu approaches to question her and En-Hsi gives a sarcastic reply about keeping secrets. Hsin-Yu discovers that En-Hsi angry because she hasn’t shared her reclaimed memories so she explains that it’s still confusing. En-Hsi spaces out and Hsin-Yu has to repeat her reason. Hsin-Yu suddenly feels pain at the site of her neck wound.

Chung accompanies Mrs Wu to bring Yu-Han home. He reminds the guardian to keep an eye out for Ching-Yuan. Mrs Wu explains to Yu-Han that her father is dead.

Chung asks Hsin-Yu to make a tea to help Yu-Han. On her way, her wound glows and pains her as Ching-Yuan appears. She’s frozen in place but recalls Chung teaching her how to repel angry spirits. She executes the move successfully and he’s thrown – but Chung is behind her.

At Chung’s house, Hsin-Yu tries several ideas but can’t recall the exact recipe. Chung, Cheng Huang and Fu try the concoctions, but she’s missing something. Cheng Huang suggests they need the one who sealed her memories to bring them back.

Hsin-Yu continues to test tea recipes but isn’t hitting it. En-Hsi does a tarot reading on herself and the outlook for love isn’t good. When Hsin-Yu asks about it she makes up a story about a friend. Ouyang Kai joins her so En-Hsi prepares to blame her unfortunate reading on him. But the next card says to be brave.

Hsin-Yu notices some people becoming entranced by the cursed concert video. The team gathers to consider it, thinking they need a human to resolve it.

En-Hsi arrives at Professor Lu’s house to confess her feelings. When he doesn’t react well, she bluffs that it’s a bet but then cries. He invites her in for coffee and she confesses properly. He’s sweet about it and she decides to work extra hard to make him fall for her.

Hsin-Yu is at the door so En-Hsi hides on the balcony. Professor Lu offers to help delete the video. En-Hsi is angry that Hsin-Yu went to Professor Lu rather than her boyfriend. While she’s waiting, Hsin-Yu discovers the medicinal she was missing. He offers it to her and she runs to test it. En-Hsi comes out of hiding and is disappointed that Professor Lu races after Hsin-Yu.

At the bakery, Hsin-Yu tests her remedy, adding the new plant. Professor Lu thinks she should be more cautious and samples the drink for her. Chung is upset to see Lu there but asks about the computer program. He confirms he has some skills and had previously taken care of Yu-Han’s video problem.

He gets to work on his laptop while Hsin-Yu and Chung watch. They discover the curse has a frequency on the clip and that it’s spreading like a virus. They dig further and find hidden video with scenes of Ching-Yuan at each ghost moment.

Yu-Han screams from upstairs and they help Mrs Wu. Hsin-Yu feeds her the tea which instantly calms her, snapping her out of her stupor. She’s confused to see everyone there, but back to herself.

Chung checks Yu-Han to confirm that she’s recovered. They wonder how tea could cure a mental condition.

They thank Professor Lu for helping and he gives the herb to Hsin-Yu to keep. He says he’s happy to help in future. Chung finally offers him a proper handshake.

Yu-Han is nervous around Chung and Mrs Wu notes the fear of strangers is new. She explains what happened that day, remembering seeing her Dad but no other details. Chung confirms a memory gap and they promise Mrs Wu that they’ll help Yu-Han. Mrs Wu has to tell her again that her father is gone.

Chung Kuei’s proverb: The mandate of heaven isn’t up to me. I can only obey it; I cannot change it.

The Episode Review

Now that their relationship is on slightly surer ground, Hsin-Yu and Chung begin to work together more naturally, trusting each other. It’s interesting to note, however, that Hsin-Yu has so far avoided telling Chung about her neck wound and how it reacts when Ching-Yuan is near.

En-Hsi seems to be rolling down a malevolent route, angering at everything and especially Chung and Ouyang Kai. Well, pretty much everyone except Professor Lu.

Even though her goal was to upset Chung and Hsin-Yu, it was pretty mean dropping the bomb on Mrs Wu like that. And now that she’s hearing voices… Well, I guess we’ll soon see how Ching-Yuan turns people into monsters. Hopefully, it won’t kill her first. Nah, Chung will figure it out.

Professor Lu took En-Hsi’s out-of-the-blue confession rather well. I suppose being shot down has made him extra sensitive to flights of the heart. But I wonder if it wouldn’t have been kinder to nip it? Unless he does think she has a chance.

The tea that calms the mind was cool – share, please? You never know when you’ll need that sort of thing. And the invigorating one too, when you have a moment.

As an FYI (and because I can’t stop myself!) Professor’s Lu’s herb is Rafflesia, a parasitic flowering plant that gets its nutrients from a host tree or vine rather than the sun. It smells like rotting flesh and has enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the stems of their host plants. Found mainly in Southeast Asia, one species has the largest flowers in the world.

Meanwhile, the predicted team is forming – do you see it? Chung needs Professor Lu for some human-focused solutions. And since he and Hsin-Yu seem settled, maybe that can work without driving him to jealousy. After all, every great team needs a techy on the ground.