Hunter with A Scalpel – K-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

24-06-2025

Episode 5
Episode 5 of Hunter with A Scalpel starts with a little girl named Se-eun celebrating her birthday with her mother when a man storms into the house and drags the mother away, beating her up.
At present, Jung-hyun and his colleagues go through CCTV footage from both murders. Meanwhile, Se-hyun goes to see a new apartment. It's small and simple and she tells the realtor she wants to move in right away.
Elsewhere, Oh Min-ho's girlfriend, Da-yeon, tells the cops that Se-hyun treated him quite badly. She even mentions the Nam Seung-hyeop case.
We then see the realtor sitting and chatting with Mr Choi. She asks him to fix the lock on her apartment door because a new tenant wants to move in immediately. Mr Choi has a knowing look and agrees to do it later that night. He says it is his wife and child's death anniversary.
After going through the CCTV footage, Jung-hyun decides to investigate Min-ho's route in Seoul. He calls Se-hyun on the way and tells her that her forensic office has been confirmed at Yongcheon Hospital. He asks when she's arriving and she lies, saying she'll come the following day.
Se-hyun then goes to the spot where Min-ho's body was found in the suitcase. She sees a flyer on a pole that advertises a person-finding service. She then visualises the little girl dragging the suitcase there and sticking the flyer on.
A flashback takes us back to the scene with little Se-eun. Mr Choi comes out of the bedroom and we see the mother's bloody body inside. He walks towards Se-eun but she suddenly grabs a towel and begins to clean up his bloody footprints. He looks at her curiously.
Se-hyun then gets on a bus. On the way, she suddenly sees a vision of Min-ho and recalls the man in the bucket hat sitting at the back of the bus. At present, the man turns out to be behind her as well. He reaches out a hand and calls her Se-eun. Although, this seems to be a vision as well.
Meanwhile, Jung-hyun traces Min-ho's path in Seoul. The CCTV shows the man in the black bucket hat walking in a different direction and then reappearing sometime later. Jung-hyun walks to a tiny alley where the CCTV footage ends. He comes across Se-hyun over there.
In a snowy field somewhere else, Mr Choi waits outside his white truck until a little girl calls him inside, saying it's ready. He goes in and begins working on the body of the woman from the final scene of the previous episode.
Jung-hyun and Se-hyun go to a restaurant and discuss the case. Jung-hyun says that the suspect knows Yongcheon like the back of his hand. Se-hyun then gets a call from her colleague who says that pancuronium has been detected in both bodies. However, she lies and tells Jung-hyun that nothing was found.
On her way home, she tells herself she must find the killer first. Well, it's not going to be easy because a few seconds after this, she comes by a woman's dead body in the middle of the road. It's Mr Choi's latest victim, dressed in white, and featuring a severed foot which has been tied to the rest of her body with thread.
She gets flashes from the past of the doll she had as a kid. She recalls stitching up the doll's limbs. Se-hyun then gets a phone call from a hidden number that turns out to be none other than Mr Choi, her father. He wishes her a happy birthday and taunts her about the murders.
As he talks, Se-hyun hears a sound and follows it to find an open suitcase with some gimbap sitting neatly on top of it. Mr Choi tells her to eat and she makes it clear she's going to play his game — and win. She then eats the gimbap.
The Episode Review
Hunter with A Scalpel Episode 5 is the best episode so far! It's fast, thrilling, and incredibly sinister. The episode really taps into its horror side, particularly with Mr. Choi appearing behind her on the bus and the final scene where Se-hyun searches for her father through the maze of dark alleyways. The series also uses a nice technique where we see the past play out as Se-hyun and Jung-hyun are investigating. There are some elements here as well which add to the eeriness as a whole.
The story doesn't pull punches with its gore either. It's great to see the show leaning into its creepy side and finally establishing the link between Se-hyun and her father. She doesn't trust Jung-hyun enough to tell him the truth yet and his character doesn't have the same intrigue as Se-hyun. But Se-hyun is now ready to take Mr Choi on and the final scene promises a murderous, psychotic ride as the two go head to head.
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