Agent Kim Reactivated: Episodes 7-8
by mistyisles
The story is nearing its finish line, but our reactivated agent and his beloved daughter aren’t in the clear yet. It seems there’s always one more hurdle to cross, one more enemy to face, and one more rescue to be made. And no matter how many of those enemies our hero and his friends defeat, it’s never quite clear how they’ll manage to get out of the current scrape — or if they’ve finally found a fight they can’t win.
EPISODES 7-8
We pick back up with the standoff at SMB headquarters. Mole Cricket forbids his agents to stand down, either calling Kim’s bluff or having no qualms about sacrificing the Vice Minister of Defense. But he’s overruled. The agents lower their weapons, and Min-ji’s rescue squad gets away. To discourage pursuit, Jin-chul leaves behind a noise-sensitive bomb. Maybe it’s his crazy-eyed bluster, or maybe it’s that he’s switched to live ammo by now, but not even Mole Cricket dares to test if this is a bluff. But a bluff it is, and hours later someone’s fart finally triggers… a couple flashes and a bit of smoke.
But if you thought that was the end of the kidnapping relay, think again. Chairman Joo, intrigued by vague reports of Min-ji’s rescuers, orders her and Kim brought to him and the spare ajusshis disposed of. This particular kidnapping is done with such finesse that I can’t help being impressed: the getaway car is surrounded, bolted shut by a pit crew, and forklifted into the back of a truck, all in the space of a single red light. Kim tries to keep Min-ji calm as they all succumb to knockout gas.
Director Nam awaits their delivery at a remote construction site. But he doesn’t anticipate Jin-chul’s extreme resistance to tranquilizers. Or Han-soo and Kim using plastic bags to avoid inhaling the gas at all. Or any (let alone all three) of these random dads being super soldiers. While Han-soo single-handedly takes on more than a dozen henchmen, Kim performs gravity-defying stunts to seize control of the truck, and Jin-chul gives Director Nam the beating he’s had coming for six-and-a-half episodes. Kidnapping: failed.
Enough is enough. Min-ji has been fed and is still sleeping off the knockout gas, so Kim detours to Chairman Joo’s house for a little parent-to-parent talk. And it does start out as talking — Chairman Joo offers to make all this fuss with the SMB go away if Kim will turn to the dark side work for him. After all, they’re not so different from each other, are they? They’ve both committed unspeakable acts for their daughters’ sakes. But Kim has done a lot of thinking on the way over here, and the only thing he wants to do with Chairman Joo now is end him.
Chairman Joo has spent so much of this show being unthinkably cruel and completely in control that it’s almost jarring how easily Kim overpowers and — slowly, mercilessly — beats him bloody. In the end, the only thing that saves Chairman Joo is Min-ji’s request for her father to stop. Kim relents, but makes Chairman Joo beg Min-ji for forgiveness. Min-ji, in turn, demands that Chairman Joo and Hye-ri turn themselves in.
The victory is satisfying, but short-lived, because it’s time for Kim to keep his promise. He and Min-ji are permitted one last meal together at home. And oof, they’re both trying so hard to be brave for each other. Kim doesn’t know when or if they’ll see each other again, but Min-ji insists they will. She knows he’ll find a way back to her, because he’s her dad. If her earlier bravery hadn’t already made it clear, this scene proves they really are two peas in a pod. When the meal is over, Kim surrenders to the SMB agents waiting outside. Han-soo and Jin-chul are also arrested, and the three are placed in separate cells.
From there, Kim is sedated and transferred to a North Korean torture chamber. He endures everything his gleeful tormenter does to him, and eventually breaks free… only to find Mole Cricket and SMB DIRECTOR JANG (Choi Beom-ho) on the other side of the door. They never sent him back to North Korea. It was all a vile test to see if he’d break and spill South Korean secrets to the enemy. Now that he’s passed, he’s given an offer: freedom and a new life with Min-ji on the successful completion of one final mission. A high-profile North Korean fugitive is en route to Seoul, and it’ll be Kim’s job to keep him hidden and safe while North Korean delegates visit.
Kim agrees, provided Han-soo and Jin-chul are released from custody. Because Mole Cricket is a vindictive jerk, he has them dropped in the middle of nowhere at the very southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, with no money, so they have to walk all the way back with only Jin-chul’s PPL Kopiko for sustenance. They vow not to worry about what’s become of Kim. (They worry a lot.) For now, they focus on their own families. Jin-chul’s daughter didn’t even notice he was gone, while Han-soo’s son has been going around picking fights and thinking himself invincible. Han-soo tries to discipline him, perhaps fearful he’ll turn into a bully like Hye-ri or Mole Cricket, but I’m not sure the lesson quite lands the way Han-soo wanted it to.
But back to Kim. I was hopeful the fugitive would turn out to be Kang-seong, but no — it’s (former, disgraced) Director General Ri. Which is absolutely the more interesting narrative choice, because now Kim has to protect the very person who betrayed him and got Young-gwang killed. And Ri is all too happy to rub it in Kim’s face. But, for Min-ji, Kim will do anything, even this. He delivers Ri to the safe house, and when their location is leaked (by Chairman Joo, because he’s also vindictive), Kim has Sang-ah and Mr. Lim act as decoys so he can get Ri out and safely away.
Kim rightly guesses there’s a mole in the SMB. So he doesn’t tell anyone where he’s taking Ri and goes to the only people he can trust: Jin-chul and Han-soo. But it doesn’t occur to him until it’s too late that the mole in question might be the very person who gave him the job. And that “mole” is literally his nickname. Because Mole Cricket never intended for Kim to succeed — quite the opposite, in fact. He and his agents swarm the building, and because they’ve been “protecting” Min-ji while Kim carried out this mission, they’ve got all the leverage they need to make him come quietly.
You know, Chairman Joo’s “we’re not so different” monologue may have been a tad cliché, but it was also right on theme. Mole Cricket, for instance, isn’t any better than the enemies he hates. And so many of Min-ji’s so-called protectors have turned into captors instead. Now, I don’t think this show is meant to be a profound discussion on violence begetting violence or the morality of revenge. But I do think Han-soo had the right idea when he tried to teach his son that, if he’s going to resort to violence, he needs to at least understand those are real people he’s inflicting real pain upon.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I appreciate that Agent Kim Reactived has consistently been about more than just mindless action. (Though, of course, the action has been excellent, too!) I’m sad it’s ending next week, but I look forward to one final showdown and (hopefully) watching Kim and Min-ji enjoy their hard-won happily-ever-after.
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