Curiosity
Episode 4 of Goedam begins with two school girls discussing a clip online and wondering whether the video they’re watching is a hoax or not. Their appetite gets the better of them though and they both head inside to eat. On the way, one of the girls sprains her ankle. This prompts Min-Yeong to hurry away to get help.
Inside the classroom, she opens one of the lockers but finds a creepy doll sitting next to her books. Sensing something very wrong, she leaves to head down the hallway but hears creepy laughter following her.
As the camera pans around, the doll suddenly smiles. Min-Yeong gasps as a strange undead girl contorts and twists in place. On all fours, she charges toward Min-Yeong and follows her down the stairs. However, the stairs seem to be endless, continuously converging on the 3/2 floor that her friend fell and hurt her ankle on.
Unfortunately this creature catches up to her. With glowing yellow eyes, the pupils continuously expand until Min-Yeong screams in fear.
As the scene cuts to her friend, she heads upstairs just as Min-Yeong creeps down, stalking her.
The Episode Review
After doing quite a bit of research on this story, there doesn’t appear to be very many Korean urban legends surrounding an endless stairway and a creepy doll. The result then is something that feels like a mash-up of influences with only thin ties to previous episodes.
The doll’s sudden smile may be in reference to the poster in episode 1 while the recurring motif of eyes – in particular pupils – is something that seems to tie everything together. They say the eyes are the window to the soul so this could be literal and be referencing spiritual elements from another world.
However, a lot of this is guesswork and with a vague story, this is another segment that could have benefited from some exposition to fill in the blanks. For now though, episode 4 delivers another pretty average dose of horror.
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Episode Rating
(2.5)
The friend waiting at the bottom of the staircase who claims to have ‘sprained her ankle’ seemed to have a vendetta of some sort against Min-Yeong. She smirks after Min-Yeong heads up the steps and murmurs ‘You’re in for a surprise.’ She had to have planted the doll in Min-Yeong’s locker. The question is WHY?
Seems there’s usually some kind of past bullying from the victims who end up haunted by these vengeful ghosts. Although the young lady with the so-called sprained ankle does question what’s taking Min-Yeong so long and does eventually head up the stairs to find her(not noticing the contorted pale ghostly figure at all)it seems the spirit was not actually willing to pursue her(as it allows her walk past) although her friend had obviously been done in.
Paints a bit of mystery as to WHO actually left the doll in Min-Yeong’s locker and what the motive was behind it. Was the friend actually going up the stairs to make sure Min-Yeong found the creepy and got her just dessert? It was an excellent and entertaining vignette although it leaves many questions open about the creepy doll and why Min-Yeong was chosen to receive it along with it’s deadly curse.
3 and 2 are both benevolent numbers in Asian numerology so I don’t understand its tragic significance within Goedam, Ep. 4 and The Curse Bridge.
Folks,
I have seen a coincidence between the 3/2 ladder loop in “Goedan” and same endless scene in a Chinese film named “The Bridge Curse” you can watch on Netflix.
Is it just a coincidence or do the numbers “3” and “2” mean anything in Asian culture? Just curious.
CMax