Agent Kim Reactivated: Episodes 5-6
by mistyisles
It’s a tight and tense set of episodes this week as the search for our reactivated agent’s daughter narrows and all his enemies converge. But between shootouts, knife fights, and rounds of pass-the-hostage, there’s also room for seeds of doubt to be sown, old friends to come through for each other, and one brave girl to keep fighting for her own life.
EPISODES 5-6
This week’s opening flashback takes us back to an earlier Min-ji disappearance. While Kim and his buddies unloaded a moving truck, she’d slipped away to join the neighborhood kids’ game of hide-and-seek and gotten herself locked inside a building. Even back then, little Min-ji was sharp and resourceful, and facilitated her own rescue and safe return.
Now, that same levelheadedness shows itself again. As soon as Min-ji locks eyes with Gold Teeth, she slams the door and barricades herself inside the freezer. When Gold Teeth tries to lure her out with false promises, she sees right through him. But she also knows time isn’t on her side, so she makes use of what she has: a dark, cluttered storage container and a crowbar. Although Gold Teeth suspects she’s setting a trap, she still manages to knock him out and flee. Don’t worry, he’ll live — but now he owes Chairman Joo’s assistant, DIRECTOR NAM (Lee Dong-ha), for yet another tooth extraction. Gold Teeth isn’t someone to root for, but I do hope he gets to kill this guy.
Meanwhile, Kim kills one of Gold Teeth’s minions and puts the other through hell until he agrees to lead Kim to the cold storage container. He has to stow the minion for a minute and fight his way through some of Chairman Joo’s henchmen, but then he’s back on his way to Min-ji… when a car plows right into him. The driver is Agent 66, who’s just as dumbfounded as anyone to see that it’s Kim he’s hit. Fortunately, the minion bore the brunt of the impact, so Kim remains in excellent shape for the showdown that follows. And what a showdown it is! When Kim gets the upper hand at last, Agent 66 refuses to surrender to his brother’s killer. And that’s when Kim finally realizes this is the little brother who was left behind when he and the original 66 were recruited from the orphanage.
Okay, since all three of these people have used the code name 66, I’m going to switch to real names instead. Besides, an important bit of backstory here is that Kim and PARK YOUNG-GWANG — the elder brother — remembered each other’s names even when they forgot their own. When their unit was betrayed and the bomb went off, Young-gwang’s leg was severed and he knew he was too far gone to make it out. Kim wanted to die right there with him, but Young-gwang made him promise to survive, no matter what.
Only later, in South Korean custody, did Kim learn that Director General Ri sent their unit on a suicide mission to get the previous Director General fired and himself promoted. Younger brother PARK KANG-SEONG doesn’t want to believe a word Kim says, but Kim’s account rings too true for Kang-seong to ignore. Kim leaves him reeling and resumes the search for Min-ji. She’s gone by the time he finds the freezer, but our clever girl scrawled a note in the frost. It’s not much to go on, but it tells him she’s alive and close.
The night is dark and stormy, which makes for excellent dramatic atmosphere but is terrible for two people trying to find each other in a container port. Kim climbs to a higher vantage point and finally catches sight of her — right as she climbs over a fence to escape. He follows her to the road, but she’s already gotten a ride from a passing car. Kim is so desperate that he calls Sang-ah and Mr. Lim for help. They, of course, need Mole Cricket’s permission to check CCTV footage. Mole Cricket isn’t interested in helping Kim, but he is very interested in getting his hands on Kim’s “weakness.”
The good news is they do identify the car that picked her up. The bad news is the car belongs to Chairman Joo. Poor Min-ji has escaped the frying pan and fallen right into the fire, and she knows it. She tries her best to convince Chairman Joo she doesn’t remember anything, but she’s scared and trapped and not a very good liar. Chairman Joo prepares to finish what Hye-ri started, but he’s interrupted by the doorbell. Mole Cricket and his agents have arrived.
There’s a bit of posturing between the two men, and a lot of fighting outside, which is mostly just Director Nam wiping the floor with Mole Cricket’s agents. Then Chairman Joo plays his trump card — a call to the Vice Minister of National Security — and the agents are forced to clear out. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Sang-ah and Mr. Lim have slipped in through the back and whisked Min-ji away. They feel a bit conflicted, but they hand her over to Mole Cricket.
But what they don’t know is that our ajusshi trio have been busy. Han-soo pulled himself (and Mole Cricket, not that he got any thanks for it) out of the river. Jin-chul escaped from custody by talking the agents’ ears off so they were too annoyed to realize he was picking the lock on his handcuffs. Now, Han-soo hitches a ride on the underside of Mole Cricket’s car while Jin-chul raids his own weapons stockpile — after explaining the situation to his very intimidating, very irked, very loving wife (cameo by Kim Ji-young). As for Kim, he promises to bring Mole Cricket an unforgettable gift.
Back at SMB headquarters, Mole Cricket interrogates Min-ji about how all of this started. The look on his face when he realizes the events that sparked this international incident weren’t some master conspiracy after all is pretty priceless. But he’s interrupted by the Vice Minister again, which gives Han-soo time to sneak in, trigger a blackout using mop strings and a water bottle, and get Min-ji out through the air ducts.
But of course it can’t be that easy, and they’re caught by Mole Cricket and a few dozen armed agents. Just when it seems Han-soo will sacrifice himself so Min-ji can get away, Jin-chul barrels onto the scene, rock music blaring and guns blazing. It almost works, until Mole Cricket realizes Jin-chul is shooting blanks. Oops. He and his agents aren’t so kind, and before long the ajusshis raise a white flag (er, sock) in surrender.
That’s when the Vice Minister orders everyone to drop their weapons. He acts like he’s being held hostage, but no one is behind him. And then his neck starts to split open. No, we haven’t suddenly jumped genres — Kim is standing above him, holding him with razor wire like a macabre puppeteer. “Min-ji,” he says tenderly, despite all the guns and blood, “let’s go home.”
Well, I’m not sure home will be safe anymore, but thank goodness Min-ji finally gets a break from being passed around from one kidnapper to the next (right, Show? She does get a break now, doesn’t she??). And on top of that reunion, she also gets to know the truth about her dad’s past and his awesome friends. I was worried for half a second that, after everything she’s been through, she wouldn’t trust Han-soo to help her. But she’s a smart girl, and I’m glad she knows she has at least three adults who won’t lock her away for their own purposes.
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