It’s time to wrap up our parent generation’s stories as we move into the present by way of the 2000s. When an incident threatens to rip his family from him, a sweet superpowered father puts himself on our least favorite deputy director’s radar. And as we’ve all learned, that is not a safe place to be.
EPISODES 14-15
This week, we jump forward to 2003 and meet another of the parent generation, Gang-hoon’s father LEE JAE-MAN (Kim Sung-kyun). We’ve only gotten glimpses of him in the present, so I wondered when we’d get his story. As we’ve come to expect with this drama, it’s a mixture of heartwarming moments, violence, and tragedy.
Jae-man is a loving husband and father who is often looked down upon by his neighbors due to his cognitive disability. He may be the supernaturally strong one, but it’s his fierce wife who inspires fear and keeps others from taking advantage of her kind and vulnerable husband. He’s had some trouble with the law – a fight landed him in prison for a few years – so now his primary goal is reconnecting with little Gang-hoon who is awkward around the father he doesn’t remember.
It’s Jae-man who takes Gang-hoon to and from school daily, dropping whatever he’s doing the second the timer on his watch goes off for pick-up time. Every second of the day, he wonders how Gang-hoon is doing, whether he ate, and is relieved he’s doing well in school. It takes a while, but he wins quiet Gang-hoon over with his sincerity and adoration. When Gang-hoon starts holding Jae-man’s hand and smiling at him, Jae-man looks like he’s won the lottery.
Meanwhile, Joo-won has settled into his role as a single parent. He picks himself back up after Jin-hee’s death and convinces Deputy Director Min to let him work a regular desk job that will allow him to look after Hee-soo. Deputy Director Min reluctantly agrees, but he stipulates that Joo-won must participate in a mission when he’s called or he’ll lose his job.
Our two superpowered parents collide when a labor movement leads to a protest by local shop owners, including Jae-man’s wife. She, along with many other protesters, are rounded up and those who don’t come quietly are beaten into submission. When Jae-man sees his wife being led into a cop van, he loses it. He takes out some of the cops and tries to rip the side of the van off before his wife gets through to him. Gang-hoon needs him, so he can’t get arrested again. Gang-hoon is the magic word that gets Jae-man to reluctantly flee into the sewers to evade capture.
And because Deputy Director Min seems capable of sniffing powers from miles away, he gets wind of the situation and dispatches Joo-won to subdue Jae-man. Down into the sewers Joo-won goes, but subduing Jae-man is no easy feat. Not when his capture would leave Gang-hoon alone, and Jae-man would move heaven and earth to protect him. Still, how do you beat someone who can endlessly regenerate? (almost deaths this time = drowning and impaling)
Joo-won’s persistence wins, and he cuffs the unconscious Jae-man to him. As he starts heading up, he hears the cries of a young child who got swept into the sewer through an open manhole. Jae-man wakes up, and the men exchange a look before immediately working together to save the child. Then, like the softie he is, Joo-won lets Jae-man go home to his son.
Deputy Director Min is horribly derisive toward Jae-man, calling him too “stupid” to be useful in any way to him. He blasély says the cops can take him. But when they try to pry Jae-man away from Gang-hoon, it’s Gang-hoon who goes berserk and tosses grown men. Deputy Director Min’s evil eyes light up with exploitative possibilities as he realizes powers can be passed on. Then, his head swivels in Joo-won’s direction. From that moment on, Joo-won realizes Hee-soo isn’t safe. He packs that night, and they start their life on the run, leaving everything behind.
This is the start of the NTDP training program for the kids. It was Principal Jo – the only person more cold-hearted than Deputy Director Min – who came up with the whole thing. Every kid has to go to school, making it the perfect place to run the program. Gang-hoon has already been brought onboard, so they just need to track down Joo-won and Dong-shik’s kids. And just like that, they have a diabolical plan a decade in the making.
And with that, we’re back in the present. While I’ve enjoyed the parents’ backstories, I am glad to see the kids again. We pick up shortly after the incident in the gym. Gang-hoon basks in being the hero and having Hee-soo finally pay attention to him for something. He shares that he plans to work for the government after graduation.
Principal Jo convinced him years ago, dangling the possibility of helping his family and erasing his father’s criminal record. After the police arrested Jae-man that second time, he went away for ten years and still wears an ankle monitor. Gang-hoon is reticent around his father, which is understandable, but he still cares about him.
Theirs isn’t the only rocky parental relationship these days. Bong-seok is distracted at school after his emotional fight with Mi-hyun where she asked if he wanted to end up like his dad. As usual, though, Hee-soo is able to pull him out of it. She drags him along with her to training at a new gym. While they chat and have fun – and Bong-seok gets adorably overexcited talking about how hard it’s been pretending not to recognize Gye-do as Lightning Man, his childhood hero – an intense, scarred man tails them on the bus.
Meanwhile, Mi-hyun and Joo-won prepare for war, knowing it can’t be a coincidence multiple kids with powers are at the school. They both call their kids, telling them to go straight home (they don’t) before they each secretly visit the school. Being famous agents has its downfall, though, because both the security guard and sketchy teacher Sung-wook recognize them. The security guard calls and reports them to someone, while Sung-wook watches them both on the security camera.
Mi-hyun meets with Il-hwan, feeling him out regarding the recent video incident. Never one to mince words, she comes right out and asks if Gang-hoon has superpowers. Il-hwan laughs it off and tries to smooth things over but struggles under Mi-hyun’s unwavering stare.
Then, he slips up when he mentions Bong-seok – she never told him who’s mom she was. During this intense meeting, Joo-won roams around the school looking for clues. Because everyone has decided today is a school visit day, North Korean soldier Chan-il is heading there as well on a mission to steal the files on the superpowered kids.
On the bus, Gye-do watches the scary man step right behind the kids like he’s going to follow them out. Gye-do switches on his out-of-service sign and zooms by the next stop, driving like a maniac through the busy streets. Hopefully, he has a plan besides possibly getting everyone on the bus killed. As everyone struggles to stay upright, the man floats a few inches off the ground. We’ve got another flyer! This week’s episodes end as the man and Gye-do have a stare-off in the rearview mirror.
Gye-do better have a plan to protect our precious Bong-seok and Hee-soo. Well, I guess she’ll be fine no matter what, but still. While I’m glad the parents are taking action, I do wish both Joo-won and Mi-hyun would clue the kids into everything. They’re old enough to handle the truth, and keeping them in the dark might get them killed. They’d probably be a bit more cautious and vigilant if they knew they were being hunted. It’s time to communicate, people.
I had an inkling Bong-seok was already on the evil administrative duo’s radar, but it’s so disheartening to know all that effort Mi-hyun took to keep Bong-seok hidden was moot. Principal Jo was onto them from the start. It looks like he followed Mi-hyun and Bong-seok when they ran the night the agents took Doo-shik, and he caught little Bong-seok floating. Talk about biding your time.
We’ve seen exactly how badass Joo-won, Mi-hyun, and Jae-man are, particularly when it comes to protecting their children. I can’t wait to see what they can do when they work together. Because it’s past time for Deputy Director Min and Principal Jo to be taken down from their ivory towers while they exploit everyone around them for their own purposes.