'Queen Mantis' Episodes 3-4 Recap: Who Died?

In the first two episodes of Queen Mantis, we were introduced to Gu-wan, a mentally unstable man who was claiming to be the titular serial killer’s copycat. In order to solve the mystery around the murders that he was committing, Jung-ho was compelled to get the help of the OG Mantis, which was I-shin. But I-shin said that she’d only help the police catch this copycat if her estranged son, Su-yeol, was brought into the mix. After some initial hesitation, Su-yeol became the head of a task force that comprised Kim, Sung-gyu, Hyuk, and Ji-an. They make a couple of revelations, they hit a few dead ends, but at the end of the day, they come together to nab Gu-wan. When Gu-wan was arrested, the biggest crime that he had committed was holding Tae-seok’s family hostage and keeping Tae-seok in an undisclosed location. However, as per I-shin’s analysis, Gu-wan wasn’t the copycat killer; it was someone else. He was jealous of his half-brother because he didn’t get to live the kind of life that Tae-seok was living. He was “inspired” by the Mantis, but he wasn’t the real deal. When this fact was exposed, Gu-wan tried to kill himself but only got seriously injured in the process, thereby leaving Su-yeol to figure out themselves where Tae-seok was. While they did find the poor man in a washing machine in the hospital where Gu-wan and Tae-seok’s lives went in two very different directions, the show didn’t reveal either of their fates. Let’s talk about the third and fourth episodes of Queen Mantis to find out.

Spoiler Alert

Episode 3 confirms the fact that Su-yeol did save Tae-seok, and the first thing that Su-yeol does is thank I-shin for helping the task force with this discovery. Su-yeol thinks that this is the first step towards mending whatever ties she had with I-shin as a child, but I-shin brushes all that aside to focus on killing Gu-wan because he knows everything about both of them. Of course, Su-yeol doesn’t do anything that drastic, especially since Gu-wan is unconscious at this point. But he and Kim use Gu-wan’s research on I-shin’s work to figure out that she didn’t kill five people back then; there’s another individual she murdered before going on her crime spree. Which means that maybe I-shin is using the risk that Gu-wan poses in terms of exposing Su-yeol’s true backstory as an excuse to have him killed before he exposes her “patient zero.” Fortunately or unfortunately, yet another serial killer (who is the real copycat killer) enters the picture—who is keeping tabs on Su-yeol, Jung-yeon, and Jung-yeon’s coworker, Ah-ra, by the way—and exposes the spot where I-shin made her first kill. He essentially leads Su-yeol, as well as the rest of the task force, to the house in Yeonpo that he grew up in and then straight to his father’s skeletons. There, Su-yeol actually finds I-shin’s discarded wedding ring, and he throws it in I-shin’s face and forces her to confess to her first crime. Since Su-yeol has fond memories of his father, he is devastated that his father didn’t abandon him but was killed by his own mother. However, I-shin points out that Su-yeol is suffering from a severe case of selective memory. She reminds him that her husband was actually a drunkard and incredibly abusive. 

One day, the man took things way too far, and after accusing I-shin of sleeping with the local miners, he began beating up Su-yeol for not respecting him. That’s when I-shin took matters into her own hands, stabbed him with a pair of scissors, and threw him into the well in the backyard. Su-yeol assumes that I-shin must have developed a taste for blood after that, and hence, she became the infamous serial killer of Woongsan. While that’s basically the case, I-shin explains her crime spree in a way that just makes sense. She says that her husband’s death happened too swiftly. After years of suffering so much violence, she felt that the man’s lights were switched off way too easily. That left her low-key dissatisfied. Therefore, she sought out abusive men, and when she hacked off a specific part, she imagined she was doing it to her own husband. Yes, she was avenging or liberating the women those abusers had hurt. At the same time, she felt like she was filling the well that she couldn’t fill by swiftly killing her own husband. This confession actually infuriates Su-yeol, and I-shin tries to use that rage to get her own son to kill her. I guess she wanted to be the Mantis’ seventh kill and maybe pass on the mantle to her son in the process. Thankfully, Su-yeol isn’t that cruel, and he resists the urge to murder her diabolical mom by letting out a primal scream.

Episode 4 has a flashback sequence that shows that the town of Woongsan was plagued with cases of domestic abuse. As a police officer, Jung-ho tried his best to help the women there, but he wasn’t of much use. I-shin, though, observed all of this from afar, and, after killing her husband, she chose these abusive men and killed them in the same way that they harmed their respective wives. Yes, it’s a good thing that I-shin did that, but in the eyes of the law, that was a crime that should have been prevented. In fact, it could have been prevented by none other than I-shin’s father, Hyeon-nam. During a confession to Su-yeol, Hyeon-nam admits that he was aware of the fact that her daughter’s husband was the scum of the earth and that he witnessed that man’s murder. But he was on two minds about reporting his daughter for basically doing the right thing. By the time he realized the damage that had been done because of his silence, it was too late. Hence, he has been atoning for that sin by giving Su-yeol a proper upbringing, whilst telling him that his mother died in a car accident, and by taking care of kids like Eun-ae. But since that past has come back to haunt Su-yeol, he asks his grandpa if he has confessed all of this to anyone else, thereby prompting them to follow in I-shin’s footsteps. Hyeon-nam says he hasn’t, and he wants Su-yeol to take his hands off the case as well. Since he can’t do that, Su-yeol goes to his mom and starts interrogating her about her neighbors in Yeonpo. 

I-shin zeroes in on Park Eon-bae and his son, Park Min-jae, who used to hurt himself in order to prove that his single father was a child abuser. She assumes that Min-jae is the copycat killer because he appreciated the fact that she bought her lies and was willing to kill his dad. Of course, I-shin didn’t kill Eon-bae, but that gesture has supposedly stayed with the kid, and now he is trying to become like his “mother” (that’s I-shin) and rekindle his relationship with his “brother” (that’s Su-yeol). So, now, along with Gu-wan, there’s another person out there who knows everything about I-shin and Su-yeol’s past. Therefore, Jung-ho advises Su-yeol to tread carefully regarding this matter. As if things aren’t complicated enough already, Jung-yeon and Ah-ra reach Yeonpo and run into Eon-bae and Min-jae. Posing as an old friend of Su-yeol’s, Min-jae manages to weasel his way into his life in Nambu and woos both Jung-yeon and Ah-ra with tales about their hometown, the Mantis, and essentially stuff that Su-yeol has avoided talking about so far. In the meantime, Jung-ho looks into Min-jae’s business and finds some shady stuff. It’s not all that substantial, but since Su-yeol is frustrated by Min-jae’s attitude and the fact that he has been stalking him and Jung-yeon for quite a while, he decides to confront Min-jae at his shady workshop in Gwangju. No, he isn’t the copycat killer, but he is certainly obsessed with I-shin and idolizes her to a sickening degree. He even wants to meet the Mantis and thank her for all the amazing work that she has done over the years. Unfortunately, even if Su-yeol wants to set up a meeting between his “brother from another mother” and I-shin, it’s going to be difficult.

Two catastrophic events happen at the end of Queen Mantis episode 4: Gu-wan and I-shin both escape. Let’s talk about Gu-wan first. From the very beginning of the fourth episode, Kim and Sung-gyu can be seen casting doubt on Su-yeol and his ability to find the dead bodies in that hospital and that well. They don’t say it clearly, but it’s apparent that they are starting to think that Su-yeol is the copycat killer. Just to be clear, since we know how much South Korean storytellers love a mind-bending twist, those two may be right, and it’s possible that Su-yeol has some kind of split-personality disorder. By night, he recreates his mother’s murder, and by day, he tries to solve it. However, instead of jumping to that particular conclusion, Kim goes and interrogates Gu-wan. Surprisingly enough, after spending quite some time in an unconscious state, Gu-wan finally wakes up and starts freaking out. In order to calm him down, Kim loosens his restraints, and, of course, Gu-wan gets the better of Kim and runs off into the streets. For assistance, Kim calls up Su-yeol, and he does join the chase. Unfortunately, Gu-wan runs into the traffic, cracks open his already half-cracked head, suffers several other injuries, and bleeds to death. Su-yeol does call for an ambulance, but it’s of no use. While taking his last breaths, Gu-wan draws some non-existent parallels between I-shin and Su-yeol and then passes away. I say “non-existent parallels” because we are four episodes in and Su-yeol keeps proving that he is doing everything he can to be nothing like his mother and his father. In fact, Jung-yeon might be onto something with her accusation that Su-yeol doesn’t want to have a child with her because he is afraid of his family. Maybe he is scared that, while he has somehow managed to stay sane all this while, his offspring will be too much like his parents, and he won’t be able to do anything about it. 

Speaking of I-shin, I suppose she gives Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. At the end of episode 2, we saw I-shin feeding leaves to bugs. Apparently, those bugs secreted some kind of oil by eating said leaves. And then I-shin mixed that oil with the meds she had been prescribed to eat, thereby creating a sort of nerve agent. After that she acted like she had passed out. When Woo-tae tried to give her CPR, she blew that DIY nerve agent into the officer’s mouth, incapacitated him, took his shoes, and walked out of the containment residence. This understandably angers Jung-ho, and when he passes this information to Su-yeol, who has already blown a gasket because of Kim’s criminal negligence, he truly loses his cool and runs off to recapture I-shin. Where is I-shin, though? She is at Su-yeol and Jung-yeon’s residence. Why? Well, she has questioned the strength of Jung-yeon and Su-yeol’s relationship several times; maybe she wants to put it to the test herself. Jung-yeon has a pretty good idea about Su-yeol’s backstory; all that I-shin needs to do is give her a little nudge and watch all the pieces fall into place in Jung-yeon’s mind. The mid-credits scene shows that I-shin will be recaptured. It’s unclear if she is arrested by Kim, who is out there looking for the car driver who killed Gu-wan and ran away (which may or may not have been I-shin), or by Su-yeol. Either way, it’s evident that I-shin will be integral to the capture of the real copycat killer, who is allegedly a woman named Jo-i. That might be yet another red herring or the real deal. To know more, we’ll have to wait till next week. What are your thoughts on Queen Mantis so far? Let me know in the comments section below.