"Duel" Episode 12 recap

Laughter turns to tears and pressure as Soo-yeon joins Seong-joon and his brother in a race against time. Deuk-cheon uses his regained position to track the vaccine down and it is not an easy job when its caretaker has passed away. Jo-hye sets her plans in motion while our villains feel the same pressure to find a working cure. At the same time, Mi-rae's past starts surfacing and I have a feeling it holds some surprises.
As history proves, you cannot have a fun day at Subway without a crisis approaching and the one we get is much bigger than I expected. The science of "Duel" has gone out the window enough that a tumor-killing vaccine is just another item in the plot-convenient checklist. Despite being repetitive and designed to draw out the drama, this latest crisis works, because Soo-yeon's (Lee Na-yoon) life has been a priority from episode one.

Speaking of science, I sense another twist coming and as outrageous as it sounds, it is not a stretch in a series about clones. I find it odd that the episode lingers on Ryoo Jeong-sook (Kim Bo-jeong) missing a daughter she was living with, as she told Kim  Hye-jin (Kim Nan-hee). Could Mi-rae (Seo Eun-su) be a clone who has the cure inside her? It feels like too much for a series near its end, but "Duel" does not seem to mind piling on new characters and information.
Regardless of the new, I am glad to see the return of the old. Ahn Jeong-dong's (Joo Suk-tae) case seems more relevant than originally portrayed and this makes me curious as to how it all connects. Jo-hye (Kim Jung-eun) is very predictably eying the Chief Prosecutor's position and her freedom, making her an odd part of the good group with her new partner, Han Yoo-ra (Uhm Soo-jung). I really appreciate the greyness of her character, even if it took so long for the creators to flesh it out.

Of course greyness is rare in Dramaland and the villains of "Duel" prove it. I was starting to feel just a tad bit invested in Park Seo-jin's (Cho Soo-hyang) love for her father recently. I thought we would perhaps get a villain who is simply trying to save someone they love, much like Deuk-cheon (Jeong Jae-yeong). Sadly the series has opted for the usual evil rich people with no capacity for human bonds and relatable goals.
Even so, I appreciate the shift of the series toward the more personal with some of our characters. Assuming everyone survives, I can see Seong-joon (Yang Se-jong) sticking to mama-duck Deuk-cheon and having new friends in Mi-rae and even Kim Ik-hong (Kim Gi-doo), who I am glad to see being given dimension recently. I like these characters and so I feel an investment now that I did not feel for most of this show.
"Duel" is directed by Lee Jong-jae, written by Kim Yoon-joo and features Jeong Jae-yeong, Kim Jung-eun, Yang Se-jong and Seo Eun-su.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'