We travel back in time for this week’s episodes to focus on the superpowered parent generation. In the 1990s, two of the agency’s elites collide during a mission with unexpected consequences. Our protagonists are then swept into political schemes when higher-ups use them as unwitting pawns in a dangerous game.
EPISODES 8-9
I love how all characters get their time to shine in this drama. This week we focus on Bong-seok’s parents Mi-hyun and Doo-shik, getting the story of how they met and what went down when they were agents. It’s a great set of episodes that gives us a sweet love story, action, and a glimpse of agency politics. This drama is so good at tone and tension which these episodes utilize particularly well.
We start in 1987 with a defining event for Doo-shik. He flies through the skies and quite literally affixes himself to a commercial plane. He tries to warn the pilots that there’s a bomb on board, but by the time he’s able to communicate this, it’s too late. The plane explodes, killing everyone on board. He’s haunted by this failure, although it wasn’t an official mission. In fact, he disobeyed orders to try to save everyone.
Mi-hyun’s defining event happens in China in 1992. She’s the agency’s most promising agent as the youngest and highest scoring in their history. In a time where women weren’t usually allowed in black ops, this mission is her chance to join their ranks. But things don’t go as planned. The mission is to eliminate spies at an event for Korean families separated along the North-South border. The agent in charge not only takes out the known spies but seems to relish in killing basically everyone and orders his agents to do the same.
Mi-hyun can’t stomach it and throws a stun grenade to create a diversion before blasting the doors open to allow people to escape. And with that, she effectively tanks her career as an agent. The mission is a failure, and she’s taken off the field to work as an analyst.
One final jump forward puts us in 1994 where the rest of our story takes place. Mi-hyun gets another shot at becoming an agent when Deputy Director Min gives her a secret mission: get close to Doo-shik and evaluate his ability to carry out a vital upcoming mission. This secret mission only further alienates Mi-hyun from her colleagues who are already resentful of how skilled and trusted she is, especially given her age. Her boss YEO WOON-KYU (Kim Shin-rok), who spends a lot of time sucking up to Deputy Director Min, gives her a particularly hard time out of jealousy.
Mi-hyun begins her mission and over the coming months, she learns Doo-shik’s habits and subtly places herself in his path at work. He takes notice of the pretty woman who’s always around, but it’s a while before he approaches her. After he introduces himself that first time, he starts coming up with excuses to spend time with her, like helping her carry those heavy file folders *wink*.
And wouldn’t you know, Doo-shik’s partner is none other than Joo-won! Joo-won gets off to a rocky start with Mi-hyun by talking to her casually rather than respectfully. She puts him in his place, though, by speaking casually right back. He sputters that he’s older than her and tries to pull rank, only to learn that she’s his sunbae; she just happens to be the agency’s youngest graduate ever. Ha.
It’s not long before Doo-shik reveals what Mi-hyun already suspected: he guessed her mission almost from the start. He just liked her enough to not be bothered by her attempts to get close to him. Since Doo-shik doesn’t want her to get in trouble with Deputy Director Min, who isn’t known for his mercy, and because Doo-shik has a crush on her, they decide to pretend like the mission is working.
Now they have a sanctioned excuse to spend time together and genuinely get to know each other. The more they interact, the clearer it is that Bong-seok gets more than his flying ability from his dad. Doo-shik is sincere and slightly awkward, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. At least, he does around Mi-hyun. Doo-shik is relaxed and playful with her, finding it a reprieve from how cold and calculating he has to be for his job.
Just like Bong-seok and Hee-soo in the future, these two are pretty adorable together. They have coffee machine dates and go out to Doo-shik’s favorite tonkatsu place, and then Mi-hyun gives fake reports to Deputy Director Min. He’s happy when she says she’s getting close to Doo-shik, but there’s a particular secret he wants her to find out.
She discovers said secret the night Doo-shik makes a flying food delivery when she’s working late. She’s stunned to see him hovering outside her high-up window, and not long after (mirroring the kids’ story) she in turn shares her secret: she has super senses. Mi-hyun can hear his crazily beating heart, and when they kiss, he floats.
Mi-hyun isn’t about to betray Doo-shik, so she lies to Deputy Director Min that she still hasn’t learned his secret. Oddly, he smiles and says she’s done well. The assignment is complete. Later, he tells Woon-kyu that his purpose with this mission was for Mi-hyun and Doo-shik to fall in love. Seeing as Mi-hyun lied for him, the mission has succeeded.
Doo-shik has no family ties, and Director Min needs to ensure he has someone to come back to and won’t run after this next mission. (That sounds ominous). He knows Mi-hyun intentionally botched that mission years ago. And so did Doo-shik. That night, Doo-shik was the backup sniper who should’ve killed everyone running from the room after she threw the grenade. Instead, he’d lowered his gun and let them leave. Director Min correctly guessed that they would connect based on their empathy and sense of mercy.
His secretary, who’s friends with Mi-hyun, overhears this conversation and warns Mi-hyun that Deputy Director Min knows she lied. Mi-hyun does some investigating and finds multiple hidden cameras around the building. When she confronts him about it, he subtly threatens her into silence by mentioning her sick father who depends on her government health care.
With the groundwork laid, Doo-shik is sent on the top-secret mission. A week and a half later, North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung is dead of heart failure, and Doo-shik hasn’t returned. Deputy Director Min is livid that Doo-shik went off-script (it was supposed to be a clear assassination, not a natural cause of death) and disappeared. His plan appears to be to pin this assassination solely on Doo-shik, making it sound like he went rogue.
Deputy Director Min orders an agency-wide manhunt. Mi-hyun is put under close watch, and sure enough, Doo-shik can’t help but go to see her. He flies to her window, and as they kiss and embrace, snipers take aim from nearby rooftops while agents bust into her apartment. We end as the agents race to pull the two apart.
Despite knowing Doo-shik has to make it out of this predicament somehow since he’s around until Bong-seok is a toddler, I still felt tense. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the start of Doo-shik and Mi-hyun’s break with the agency. I had assumed they simply retired as agents, but instead it’s looking like they went on the run. Even after only two episodes, I’m totally invested in their story and rooting for these two. Given that Doo-shik is not around for most of Bong-seok’s childhood, I know this can only end in tragedy, but I’m ready for the heartbreak.