My Secret Terrius: Episodes 17-18

by abirdword

Our heroine might have the makings of a true spy, even if she isn’t the most confident driver. She does her best to protect her sitter, all while exceeding the expectations of those around her. But as the bad guys escalate their plans, and with Chief Kwon closing in, our master spy-turned-babysitter has to decide whether to focus on the mission, or on being with those he loves.

EPISODE 17 RECAP

Bon and the King’s Bag team set off to catch Yong-tae, recover his hourglass, and rescue Ae-rin. Do-woo traces the cell tower where Yong-tae’s call came from, and after reviewing the photo Yong-tae sent them, Do-woo and Ji-yeon determine that he’s holding Ae-rin at a construction site. Ji-yeon decides to go in alone for the rescue.

Ae-rin tries to scream for help through the tape that covers her mouth, and continues yelling after Yong-tae rips the tape off. Yong-tae congratulates Ae-rin on being such a great actress, since he now assumes that Ae-rin had been working for the NIS all along. Yong-tae spits that he was generous for the first time in his life, and now that’s the reason he’s in danger.

Ae-rin spots Ji-yeon, so she holds back any arguments. Ji-yeon announces her presence, gun out, and Yong-tae attempts to run. But Ji-yeon is better at her job than K is, so she drops Yong-tae with a kick to the back.

With Yong-tae handcuffed in the backseat, Ji-yeon and Ae-rin catch up with Do-woo by phone about Chief Kwon’s move against Bon (and Yong-tae learns that Bon is NIS). They find themselves stuck in traffic on the way to the bridge, and that backup is of course caused by Bon’s showdown with Chief Kwon and her blockade.

Ae-rin and Ji-yeon watch as Bon takes his flying leap off the bridge; K’s bullet hitting him in the shoulder on the way down. They rush back to the car and Ae-rin jumps in the driver’s seat, completes her best u-turn, and drives off to the bank of the river.

She barely takes time to park the car before she’s out and diving into the water after Bon. Somehow, she swims all the way out to Bon and hauls his unconscious body to shore.

While Ji-yeon is distracted by Ae-rin’s rescue mission, Yong-tae manages to release himself from the handcuffs with his lapel pin and darts off. Classic Yong-tae run away strategy.

Ae-rin takes Bon back to her apartment and lets him rest in Joon-soo’s bed, while Ji-yeon’s doctor brother (cameo Yoon Sang-hyun) ensures that Bon is okay.

As Ae-rin, Ji-yeon, and Do-woo watch Bon sleep, Ji-yeon and Do-woo have to ask about Ae-rin’s surprising and kind of unbelievable swimming strength. Ae-rin chuckles that her mother and grandmother were both divers (race car drivers and divers, I’m starting to wonder if Ae-rin is from a long line of spies herself).

While they lament that Yong-tae escaped, they do have his hourglass (currently in the hands of the Joon-Joon twins). Ji-yeon tells Ae-rin that her current mission is to nurse Bon back to health.

Chief Kwon discovers the trashed J International office as well as the King’s Bag bags littered everywhere. She starts making all the connections. Bon was at J International, Ji-yeon is running King’s Bag, and the link between the two companies is Ae-rin.

The twins watch over Bon while Ae-rin cooks dinner, but she’s run out of sesame oil, so she leaves them alone with the unconscious Bon while she goes to the store.

Joon-Joon take note of all of the cuts Bon acquired in his jump, and decide to play doctor. Soon, Bon’s entire face and arms are completely covered in bandages of all shapes and colors. Their procedure is interrupted by the doorbell, and Joon-hee goes to see who’s there while Joon-soo remains with Bon.

On the other side of the door waits Chief Kwon, who is completely thrown off when a child’s voice answers from inside. The chief slips into a soothing sing-song voice as she asks where Ae-rin is, while also asking to be let in.

Joon-hee reaches for the door handle, but Bon is there just in time to stop her. Speaking of just in time, Ae-rin returns from the store just then to find Chief Kwon and her lackey in the hallway.

Ae-rin does her best to play the concerned citizen offended that this woman offered her a fake job and is now harassing her at home. Chief Kwon asks if Ae-rin knows Bon, but of course Ae-rin denies it and the chief has to leave empty-handed.

As soon as the elevator closes, Ae-rin drops to the floor in relief. Once inside, she gasps in surprise at Bon’s bandages, though he hasn’t seen just how cutely hideous he currently is.

At King’s Bag, Do-woo and Ji-yeon discover the hidden compartment on the bottom of the hourglass, perfectly sized for a USB, but there’s nothing inside. They guess that it must have been emptied before Bon arrived, perhaps by whoever trashed the office, or maybe Driver Park. They’re certain they need to apprehend Yong-tae to learn the truth.

Fugitive Yong-tae tries to check into a motel, but his paranoia drives him back out into the night and eventually to a jjimjilbang.

He thinks back to how he stashed the USB drive in the bottom of his hourglass after saving the footage of K killing Chief Moon in the car. He also recalls Bon’s dive into the river, with that hourglass, and wonders if Bon is alive or dead.

Bon calls Ji-yeon to check in on the mission and thanks her for saving him. But Ji-yeon says that it wasn’t her doing, but rather Ae-rin who saved him.

After the call, Bon finds dinner already prepared at the table, with Ae-rin and the twins all there ready to support him. When he thanks Ae-rin for everything that shes done, she says that helping each other is what people do. The twins reinforce her sentiments by handing Bon water and seaweed to go with his porridge.

Bon plans to head back to his own apartment to recuperate on his own, but Ae-rin takes Ji-yeon’s charge to take care of him seriously. So if Bon won’t stay at her apartment, she and the twins will go to his.

Bags packed, Ae-rin tucks Bon into his bed with a tambourine to shake if he needs anything. Bon drifts off to sleep, and in his dreams he sees Ae-rin swimming towards him in the water at the bridge.

Bon wakes suddenly and stops the hand at his head. It’s just Ae-rin, wiping sweat from his brow. He swears that he won’t ever forget what she’s done for him. He also admonishes her for working too hard, but Ae-rin says that this is nothing.

While Bon rests, the boss of the operation, whom Yong-tae called The Voice, meets with the High Priestess, who prefers to speak English with him. The Voice refers her to their NIS mole, and she mentions that she likes how he cleaned up the Candy investigation previously.

At the NIS offices, Director Shim instructs her agents to watch Ae-rin in addition to King’s Bag. Director Shim confronts Chief Kwon about her move against Terrius, especially since he asked her to bring him in alive until they determine that he was actually a spy. Chief Kwon lets slip that she’s certain that Ji-yeon is working with Terrius, and the director staggers away in shock at the revelation.

EPISODE 18

Director Shim doesn’t waste a moment and calls Ji-yeon to ask if she’s been in contact with Bon without telling him about it. Ji-yeon wants to know why he’s suddenly asking this, and he tells her that Chief Kwon is suspicious.

Bon wakes up and finds Ae-rin and the kids sleeping together in his living room. He tucks the covers up around Joon-soo. But when he heads to the window with his trusty telescope, he spots Chief Kwon’s agents lurking on the streets outside the building.

As the morning continues, Bon allows Joon-hee to take care of his ailments with her toy stethoscope and syringes while Joon-soo feeds the fish and Ae-rin cooks them all breakfast.

As Ae-rin and the twins head out the door, Bon asks if he can give them nose nuzzles, just like their mother does. Nuzzles for Joon-hee, Joon-soo, and Bon turns up to Ae-rin, his hands outstretched to her face for a moment, before they both awkwardly duck away.

Yong-tae’s morning at the jjimjilbang starts off badly when he spots K stalking through the sauna. Yong-tae runs, as per usual, not even stopping for his clothes or wallet. He’s reduced to looking through the clothes donation bin, and finds himself a hoodie and hat.

Ae-rin returns from grocery shopping, but stops short when she spots a sticky note on the fridge from Bon. He’s left, without a goodbye. He has left behind the code for his apartment, and asks her to feed the fish.

Ae-rin finds his apartment empty, except for the twins’ toys. Even his cell phone has been left behind, though a certain drawing that was posted on the fridge is no longer there.

It’s posted on the wall in Bon’s gun storage unit, where he’s now also sleeping. He’s brought with him only the essentials: the drawing from the twins, the tambourine from Ae-rin, his laptop, and the murder board notes. He reassembles the board connections, focused on the mission.

Ae-rin reports Bon’s disappearance to Ji-yeon. She asks if Bon is always like this, and Ji-yeon shares Bon’s tragic back story about the woman he loved, and suggests that Bon left because he didn’t want people he cares about, like Ae-rin and her family, getting hurt.

The news of Bon’s departure has already spread to the neighborhood parents. Now that Bon is gone, Sang-ryul feels free to share all the gossip he’s been gathering about him. His theory is that Ae-rin and Bon had a fight about money, and Bon fled to get away from the kids and all of their toys encroaching on his apartment.

Ji-yeon meets discretely with Director Shim at a cafe. He asks if Bon is Ji-yeon’s information source and tells Ji-yeon that they need to protect Bon at all costs. He also explains that Chief Kwon must have gathered intel about J International while she was scoping out King’s Bag. He wonders aloud, just where Yong-tae could be hiding.

The answer is Quiznos, where Yong-tae watches as two young girls pick at their sandwiches. Their dance instructor has demanded they lose weight, so they sigh that they’ll have to throw away the rest. Yong-tae holds their tray down, and offers to throw it away for them. As they leave, he devours the leftover sandwiches and drinks himself.

Meanwhile, Sun-mi and Sang-ryul are making jokes about Eun-ha’s supposed English skills, until Sun-mi abruptly leaves when she receives a call from a detective. Eun-ha and Sang-ryul both guess that her husband must be having an affair.

Sun-mi bangs on a hotel door, but the man who answers isn’t her husband at all. She calls the detective back to complain that with all this money she’s paying him, he can’t even track her husband. However, the detective is sure that her husband entered the hotel room. Hmmm…

Sun-mi waits for her husband at home, and grabs his phone as soon as she has the chance. But she can’t guess his lock code, and is left with no answers.

Ae-rin reads her kids a story about a butterfly seeking a golden clover, and Joon-hee asks if Bon has gone on a quest like that (if only she knew!). Once the kids are asleep, Ae-rin stays up and worries if Bon is taking care of himself.

The next morning, along with the yogurt drinks, Ae-rin also finds a candy in the delivery bag, like the one she first gave to Bon. She slips some health drinks in the bag for him and a note (codename: Pigius), and she’s rewarded with another candy the next day. Bon is still watching out for them.

Yong-tae’s driver is in contact with The Voice, and the mysterious man asks if he’s gotten a hold of Yong-tae yet. Driver Park says no, so The Voice directs him to move to Plan B.

Soon, the news is reporting that Yong-tae is wanted for killing his driver. Yong-tae sees his photo on the news and brings the hood on his jacket up.

The King’s Bag crew see the news as well. While Ji-yeon is concerned that Yong-tae is in danger, Ae-rin worries about Driver Park, and Do-woo remains optimistic that the news means that Yong-tae is still alive, at least for now.

On her way home, Ae-rin hears footsteps behind her, and of course it’s Yong-tae accosting her yet again. But before she can really yell at him, Yong-tae drops to his knees in front of Ae-rin and begs her, for both her forgiveness and her help.

Ae-rin wants to take him to Ji-yeon, but Yong-tae doesn’t trust the NIS and will only speak with Bon. He gives Ae-rin a note to pass to Bon. Yong-tae turns to leave, but Ae-rin calls him back to give him money for food. He looks both shocked and touched by the gesture and as she goes, she says to call her if he runs into trouble.

Bon gets Yong-tae’s note to meet him at a phone booth at ten at night. Bon grabs a gun and weaves through traffic on his way there.

Yong-tae is early to the meeting and nervous. Since he’s at a phone booth, he uses it to call Ae-rin. He asks her to talk to him just until ten p.m. exactly. Yong-tae spots an officer in the park, and he ducks his head further into the phone booth as the officer passes.

Except that it’s not an officer, but K in disguise. He circles back to the booth and stabs Yong-tae several times in the gut. Yong-tae falls to the ground, blood pouring out between his fingers.

Moments after K flees, Bon arrives. Bon crouches down with Yong-tae, and promises to save him, for his own sake.

COMMENTS

Nooooo! Get this man to Ji-yeon’s doctor brother, stat!

The second half of this episode brewed some amazing tension and built up to this moment. When Bon jumped off the bridge last week, I was confident that he’d survive. But Yong-tae… it’s hard to tell, and that makes this cliffhanger such a big moment.

On one hand, there is so much more we still have to learn about Yong-tae. What was his life like before he was coerced into these criminal activities? What was it that led him down this path? That makes me think he’ll recover just fine, and hopefully come out a better person by the end.

On the other hand, Yong-tae is a vain, selfish coward. One that had everything stripped away in the last couple of days, until he was on his knees in used clothes, accepting money from Ae-rin–someone he looked down on from day one. It’s the perfect moment for a villain to get his comeuppance and pay for what he’s done.

Yong-tae has exactly two ways of dealing with his problems: running away, and using Ae-rin as a shield. I think that if he does survive the night, his path to redemption will have to be learning how to stand up for himself and for others who need help. I loved the moment when Ae-rin gave him money for food. These two have been circling each other, trying to help one another out, but Yong-tae is still a novice at kindness. Maybe with Ae-rin as a role model, he can figure it out eventually.

As for the missing USB, everyone thinks that it was taken before Bon got to the hourglass, but my money is on the mischievous twins as the thieves. It would be great if Bon’s two favorite sidekicks were the ones to deliver the final damning piece of evidence just in the knick of time.

I was cackling when Ae-rin dived in to save Bon (Helcat, they gave you exactly what you wanted!), but I think it’s more than just a joke about Ae-rin’s unexpected skills. They’ve been building up to this for a while. Ae-rin has always seemed like this untapped source of energy with more to give than anyone gives her credit for. I love this schtick about her family passing on all these great skills. We have enough episodes left for Ae-rin to reveal so many more secret capabilities.

I think it’s interesting that Ji-yeon is the first to really give Ae-rin the opportunity to fully explore a job up to her abilities. All it took was a bridge rescue for Ji-yeon to realize that Bon’s feelings for Ae-rin make sense and that these two are well-matched. I was so happy to see Ji-yeon’s petty jealousy evaporate in favor of supporting these two. I think she likes that someone else is out there trying to look out for Bon, and not the other way around.

I must be officially on board with the romance, because I audibly gasped when Bon almost gave Ae-rin nose nuzzles as well in goodbye. My reluctance has never been anything about the chemistry between these two, because it’s been great throughout. I think it’s been more that there’s always seemed to have been an imbalance in the relationship. Bon needed Ae-rin and her kids so much more than she needed him, which is strange, considering she was the recent widow. But I think it’s well-established that Ae-rin can handle herself just fine, and that they both have something to give to this relationship.

The brief cohabitation was perfect for the situation, neither played overly wrought nor too lightly. I’ll admit though, I was really hoping that the cohabitation we were going to get was going to be Bon and Yong-tae. Perhaps there’s still time, though Bon’s going to have to move back into his apartment before they do. I don’t think there’s room for the both of them in that storage locker.

RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: My Secret Terrius, Heart Surgeons, The Third Charm, Player
• In Poland with So Ji-sub for spy drama My Secret Terrius
• Jung In-sun joins So Ji-sub in spy rom-com drama
• So Ji-sub joins Shopping King Louis writer on new drama