The Spies Who Loved Me: Episode 13

by TeriYaki

In spite of the fact that our designer’s marriage has been tested by her husband’s many lies, she’s still determined to stay by his side if he can give up his life of espionage. Unfortunately, his connection to his team is even deeper than she ever imagined and she’s faced with a difficult decision. What she can count on is the help and support of her ex-husband but having him in her life is definitely causing problems.

 
EPISODE 13 RECAP

As Ah-reum sobs through her apology for leaving Ji-hoon, he hugs her and insists that she did nothing wrong. When Ji-hoon looks up, Derek is staring at them.

Ji-hoon walks over to Derek, “You wouldn’t believe me whatever I say. So go ahead and punch me.” Seeing Ah-reum grab Ji-hoon’s wrist when she urges him to go, Derek shouts, “Whatever this is. I want it to stop.” When Ji-hoon tries to take responsibility for what happened, Derek punches him and then hisses at Ah-reum, “I told you not to lie to me.”

Derek threatens to call Jin-min to tell him where to find Ji-hoon. Ji-hoon does his best to reason with Derek but he’s too angry and their argument escalates. After Ji-hoon hits Derek, Du-rae finds them rolling around on the floor tangled up in some wedding dresses.

After the fight, Du-rae raids Ah-reum’s soju cabinet and Ah-reum confesses that she’s never seen Derek that angry. Du-rae believes that Derek is finally showing his true colors and asks about Ah-reum’s feelings for Ji-hoon.

Ah-reum insists that she just feels very sorry towards Ji-hoon but Du-rae criticizes her decision to reveal her deepest emotions to him. She reminds Ah-reum that life is only peaceful when those kinds of feelings are kept a secret.

On her way home, Ah-reum stops to buy some apples. When Derek walks in his front door, he finds his mother hanging up the anniversary picture and he angrily tells her to leave it to him.

After she steps down from a chair, Derek instructs his mother to leave Ah-reum alone. Searching her son’s face, Mom wonders, “Does she not know about your other work,” and Derek pretends that Ah-reum is clueless.

Ah-reum drives up in time to see Derek’s mother getting into a taxi. Inside, Derek sits on the stairs with broken glass at his feet. When Ah-reum enters, he thinks his mother returned and confesses, “Mother. I want to quit doing this.”

Derek is surprised to see that it’s Ah-reum and when she asks why his mother left, he makes the excuse that she has a meeting in Incheon in the morning. Seeing the glass, Ah-reum is worried that Derek was hurt but when she takes a step forward, he shouts, “Don’t move!”

Ah-reum has to apologize from afar because of the broken glass, “I’m sorry for what happened earlier. It obviously looked suspicious.” Derek suggests, “Someone must have died, right? Wasn’t that why you were both crying?”

Derek stops Ah-reum when she tries to explain what happened because he intends to forget all about it. Seeing the basket in Ah-reum’s hand, Derek sadly observes, “Those apples look pretty.”

Derek begins to pick up the glass and warns Ah-reum, “Don’t take a step forward. You’ll get hurt.” In voiceover, Ah-reum confesses, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget those words. If I had given him a hug that night, would that have changed things for us?”

An apple falls from the basket and rolls over to Derek while Ah-reum continues, “If I had cried in his arms, would that have made a difference for him? If I had seen the pain on his face, would that have changed how I felt?” With Derek’s head down, Ah-reum can’t see the tears falling from his eyes.

Seo-ra brings Young-gu his favorite canned peaches when she visits him in the hospital (He’s alive!). Jin-min rushes in and after fussing over the young agent, he sees the open can in Seo-ra’s hand.

Jin-min is about to take the can but he stops to grab Ji-hoon by the collar when he walks in. Seo-ra and Young-gu have to break the bad news to Jin-min that Tae-ryong is the mole. After Seo-ra asks Jin-min to reinstate Ji-hoon, they leave for Gulliver Publishers.

Jin-min stares forlornly at Tae-ryong’s empty desk before sitting down with Seo-ra and Ji-hoon. Jin-min is told that Tae-ryong was in the vicinity of Double Holdings when they were expecting the new Helmes agent. When asked about Doo-bong, Seo-ra reports that he’s now a Helmes agent too.

Jin-min asks how Tae-ryong could betray them and Ji-hoon explains that the name of the new Helmes agent’s file, “Purple Field” is the name of Tae-ryong’s son’s golf academy. Seo-ra adds that a private eye friend in L.A. found out that Tae-ryong’s wife was cheating on him.

While Jin-min reminds his team that Tae-ryong’s family meant everything to him, Ji-hoon remembers what Derek told him about traitors, “The reason that kept them around is the same reason that compels them to leave.”

Jin-min suddenly realizes that Derek has been giving them accurate information. Seo-ra is worried that Tae-ryong may have told Helmes about Derek’s betrayal. Jin-min reasons that since nothing has happened to Derek, he must be more important than they originally thought.

While working late, Ji-hoon picks up the photo of Tae-ryong’s wife and kids and remembers how happy he was when he gave Ji-hoon that new suit. Ji-hoon finds himself thinking about being close to Ah-reum as she took off his tie just when she finds it while tidying up her shop.

They both pull out their phones to text each other but end up deleting their messages. They tell themselves that it’s time to let go of the past and Ah-reum thinks, “I needed to be completely over you. I had to bury you in my past.”

Ah-reum gets a text but it’s from Dong-ran, “Give me my two billion won.” Ah-reum meets Dong-ran on DDK’s helipad and hands over the USB with the promise that it will bring down Dong-taek. Ah-reum whispers into Dong-ran’s ear and she smiles, “So my cute brother was trying to sell this to the Japanese?”

Dong-ran and Ah-reum take the helicopter to Sophie’s research lab where they meet Park Sung-hwan. He gives Ah-reum a box with Sophie’s fingerprint and retinal image which enables her to successfully open Sophie’s office. Park Sung-hwan turns on Sophie’s computer and shows Ah-reum the slot for Sophie’s USB.

Dong-ran steps away to schedule a meeting with the Minister of Technology and isn’t aware that the USB didn’t work. Ah-reum panics, “…she’s going to kill me,” and is proven right when Dong-ran drags her away.

During a meeting over drinks, the CIA director gives Jin-min some good news. Mr. K, the Japanese informant with the tax problems, informed the CIA that the Helmes boss is in Korea.

Derek’s mother enters the garage while Derek is checking on Peter’s body. When the Helmes computer alerts him that he has a visitor, Derek is surprised to see that it’s his mother. Derek finds her beside the Areum K and asks, “What are you doing here? You usually don’t come to my workplace.”

Mom heard that Derek asked a prosecutor for a favor to get Ah-reum out of jail and he explains his decision, “…she’s family.” Mom finds his claim confusing since Ah-reum won’t accept her money but Derek explains that Ah-reum can’t be controlled that way.

Mom wants to know why Derek hasn’t told his wife that he’s a spy and warns, “You can’t keep lying to her forever.” Mom reminds her son that couples should expect to go through good times and bad times, “…that’s how you stick together.”

When Derek argues that spouses should be expected to accept everything about each other, Mom asks, “Do you want to live with a person who can’t accept you as you are?” Mom wouldn’t have allowed Derek to become a spy if it hadn’t been a good fit and advises him, “People need to follow what fits them to be happy.”

Mom explains that marriage requires sacrifices and when she admits that she doesn’t want Derek to be the one making the sacrifices, she realizes that she sounds like a typical mother-in-law and promises, “I wouldn’t torture her though.” Mom ends their conversation by telling her son that he needs to make a choice.

During another visit from Ji-hoon, a source calls Young-gu with the news that a reward for Doo-bong’s capture has been posted on the dark web. Ji-hoon guesses that Felix is making his move.

Ji-hoon calls Seo-ra to give her the news and she reports that she just found out that Doo-bong is staying at a hotel in Incheon. They all get a group call from Jin-min who announces that their team has been officially reinstated, minus Tae-ryong. After telling them that Ji-hoon is now the team leader, he orders the them to catch Tae-ryong. When he hangs up, Jin-min tears up his letter of resignation.

On her way to meet her mother-in-law in Incheon, Ah-reum tries to figure out why Sophie would risk her life for a useless device. When Ah-reum sits down with her mother-in-law they visit for a bit before she promises, “I’ll make sure to pay you back.” Mom isn’t in any hurry and suggests, “You can pay me back in other ways.”

Mom changes the subject to ask about the latest movie that Ah-reum and Derek have seen. Ah-reum can’t remember and explains that she works on weekends and that Derek isn’t into movies. Mom exclaims, “Derek loves watching movies. He changed after marrying you.”

At the hotel in Incheon, Doo-bong steps out of the room he’s sharing with Tae-ryong for a cigarette break. When he runs into Seo-ra and Ji-hoon, she tells Ji-hoon, “He’s mine.” Ji-hoon stays out of the way, even when Doo-bong grabs a knife from a room service cart, and Seo-ra eventually handcuffs him and finds his room key.

Mom says goodbye to Ah-reum but after she leaves, Ah-reum sees that she forgot to give her the gift she brought. When Mom walks past Ji-hoon, he remembers seeing her in the lobby of the Double Holdings’ building.

Ji-hoon follows Mom and ducks out of sight just as she enters a room. Mom exits a little while later and Ah-reum sees her but before she can call to her, Ji-hoon pulls her in and signals for her to stay quiet.

Ji-hoon peeks out in time to see Derek’s mom with Tae-ryong. When she turns to leave, Ji-hoon pushes Ah-reum into the room and closes the door as Mom walks by. Ji-hoon calls Seo-ra to inform her that there’s someone else of interest at the hotel, at the same time that Du-rae calls Ah-reum.

Ji-hoon overhears Ah-reum remind Du-rae that she had to visit Derek’s mother and realizes that the woman he just saw is her mother-in-law. Ah-reum asks Ji-hoon why she saw Tae-ryong with Derek’s mother and when he informs her that Tae-ryong is the mole, her eyes widen in understanding.

As Seo-ra waits with Doo-bong in her car, he offers her one last gift…the man he was supposed to be smuggled out with had a last minute change in plans, “He had to meet someone high up at Helmes.” When Seo-ra meets with Ji-hoon in his car, he tells her, “I think I saw the Helmes boss.”

Ah-reum visits the garage and remembers her conversation with Derek the day that he told her that he was a spy. In a flashback to Ah-reum’s and Derek’s wedding day, we see that his mother deliberately poured red wine onto Ah-reum’s dress.

Taking a wrench from the wall, Ah-reum runs to the Areum K and raises her hand. Derek stops her and when he asks what’s wrong, she reminds him, “I told you before. If you lied to me again, our marriage would be over.”

Derek looks confused until Ah-reum tells him, “Your boss is your mother.” Calling Derek a good liar and a good actor, Ah-reum wonders, “Is there even anything true about you?” Frightened, Derek tells Ah-reum, “She can’t know that you know.”

When Derek apologizes to Ah-reum, everything suddenly makes sense to her, “I knew it was strange that it sounded so much truer when you said you were sorry while I was in jail than when you said you loved me. Maybe because that’s the only thing you ever truly meant.”

Derek claims that he was trying to protect both his mother and Ah-reum but she angrily argues, “Now you can’t protect anyone.” Derek begs Ah-reum to keep her knowledge a secret, “My mother, she’s capable of things beyond your imagination.” A horrible thought occurs to Ah-reum, “Did she have Sophie killed,” and when Derek doesn’t deny it, she runs away.

Alone, Derek fights back tears and remembers his mother’s words when he was a boy, “…don’t let anyone know who you are.” Seeing his smile that day, she’d added, “Always smile…Around people, even when you’re alone.” A smile slowly spreads across Derek’s face but just for a few seconds.

Ji-hoon meets Jin-min at Gulliver Publishers to report that Tae-ryong met with Derek’s mother. Jin-min realizes that she’s the Boss which means that he was right to call Derek a Joker (a wild card). Jin-min reasons that Derek cooperated with them to keep his mother away while he arranged to start a new life. Unfortunately, Derek’s missions kept failing so his mother came to check on him.

Ji-hoon has to report that Ah-reum knows the truth about about her mother-in-law too, “She was at the hotel…” They realize that Ah-reum is in a difficult position because Derek can’t be expected to betray his own mother.

Jin-min has to ask Ji-hoon, “Can you arrest Ah-reum if it comes to that?” When Ji-hoon doesn’t answer, Jin-min reminds him that Ah-reum will most likely decide to protect her husband.

Ji-hoon answers, “That’s her choice. She’ll take responsibility for her actions.” A flashback to the hotel after learning that Derek’s mom was the Boss shows that Ah-reum couldn’t promise Ji-hoon to keep the truth from Derek. She’d confessed, “I’ve never felt this betrayed before,” but Ji-hoon had reminded her of Derek’s impossible situation.

Dong-ran’s assistant hasn’t been able to locate Dong-taek but he did hear that Dong-taek’s secretary recently picked up some fresh octopus from his favorite restaurant. Dong-ran realizes that Dong-taek is staying at the summer house in Incheon which is where he has his painting, the one that hides a listening device.

Dong-ran listens in on Dong-taek when Tinker calls and hears him ask why Derek is being left out of the plan. After Tinker hangs up, he finds Derek’s mother.

Mom buys a cup of coffee at a cart and tells Tinker that she met Derek’s father on that very street. He was a detective who beat up gang members and was stabbed to death. Mom tells Tinker, “Derek is like me. He fell in love with the wrong person. People like us can’t stay married.”

Remembering her husband, Mom admits, “When I had my detective husband killed, I realized…that living alone was better for me.” Mom realizes that she can’t betray Derek because he’s family but she doesn’t feel that way about Ah-reum.

Derek stops his car and rolls down his window so the Double Holdings agent can deliver an envelop, “We have set everything up in your new country. You can just board the flight.” Before he leaves, he tells Derek that Tinker must be in Seoul because he asked for Doo-bong’s whereabouts.

Returning to her office, Ah-reum sees her sewing machine and remembers how Derek would entertain himself when she was working. Derek had told her that he did the same thing when his mother was workimg.

Complimenting Derek when he’d sorted some beads for her, he shared what it was like to live with his mother, “We were a team. We hated losing. So we worked hard to succeed.” Ah-reum had decided that Derek was a lot like his mother, especially when he smiled.

Derek had admitted, “Everyone falls for her smile. My mom is a different person from who she really is.” When Ah-reum suggested that his mother was trying to hide her loneliness, Derek had insisted, “No. There are some people who don’t get lonely.” Derek brought Ah-reum a pincushion with the beads arranged in the shape of a heart and they had laughed happily.

As that laugh echoes in her head, Ah-reum angrily flings a bowl of beads into the air. When she gets a text from Derek, “I’ll end this. Sorry,” Ah-reum runs past Du-rae on her way out.

Derek arrives at Areumdan Dress and Du-rae informs him that he just missed Ah-reum. When she mentions that Ah-reum ran out to meet her husband, Derek assumes she was talking about Ji-hoon. But when he calls Ji-hoon, he hasn’t heard from Ah-reum so he checks the location of her phone and reports that she’s on her way to the garage.

Ah-reum finds the garage doors locked and heads for the back of the building while Derek and Ji-hoon race to reach her. Derek reaches the garage first and unlocks the doors but Ah-reum is nowhere to be found.

Outside, Tinker steps on the gas when he sees Ah-reum but before he can run her over, Derek pushes her out of the way and is hit. When Ji-hoon pulls up, he tells Ah-reum to call an ambulance and takes off in pursuit of the car that hit Derek.

Ah-reum accompanies Derek to the hospital and sits by his bed once he’s in a room, his eyes bandaged. When Ji-hoon arrives at the hospital, Ah-reum steps into the hallway to tell him that Derek’s crazy mother tried to kill her and almost killed her son.

Ji-hoon explains that Ah-reum must either pretend that she knows nothing or run away immediately. As Derek’s mother makes her way through the hospital, Ah-reum reasons, “You were alone. But Derek will be lonelier.” After Ji-hoon admits he wouldn’t betray family either, he promises to protect Derek and Ah-reum. When Ji-hoon sees Derek’s mother, he and Ah-reum are forced to hide in the bathroom in Derek’s room.

When his mother walks in, she takes one look at Derek and recalls, “You hated the smell of hospitals, my baby.” Mom pledges revenge as Ah-reum and Ji-hoon listen in. When Ah-reum’s elbow bumps the doorknob, Mom walks towards the bathroom.

 
COMMENTS

Everyone who guessed that the Helmes boss was a woman was right. We finally learned the identity of Derek’s boss and it turned out to be his mother and she’s a ruthless woman. I was shocked when she admitted that she had her detective husband killed but that fact makes it easier to accept that she will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, such as having Sophie killed. I wasn’t surprised when she decided to have Ah-reum killed too but what I found interesting was her reason. She’s convinced that Derek is so much like her that he’s not meant to be married and she’s ready to make that happen, with Tinker’s help of course.

Fortunately for Ah-reum, Derek saved her life but he’s lying in the hospital thanks to his mother’s order. We learned that this Mother-of-the-Year not only wore white to her son’s wedding, she deliberately spilled red wine onto Ah-reum’s dress. I can’t decide if she’s possessive or determined to see to it that Derek takes after her. I can appreciate why Derek wants to disappear with Ah-reum, it’s really the only way that they can stay alive and out of his mother’s grasp. But is Ah-reum willing to give up everything to stay married to Derek? Her mother, her business and her friends? That’s a lot for Derek to expect.

In the midst of all the mother-in-law drama, Ji-hoon and Ah-reum get some closure. It’s no secret that I think that Ji-hoon is the better man but Ah-reum is married to Derek and Spies isn’t about to break up a marriage. As soon as Derek cuts ties with Helmes, both he and Ah-reum are free, at least that’s the plan. And Ji-hoon goes back to his life as a divorced spy who’s usually on the road.

Now it’s possible that Derek’s plan was to use his marriage to convince his mother to leave him alone but that strategy didn’t work. As we saw, Derek was trained to be a spy from an early age, it’s all he knows, so how can he reasonably give that up? Ah-reum was right when she asked if there’s anything genuine about him. I don’t think he knows who he really is but I am convinced that he loves Ah-reum. But it’s Derek’s relationship with Ji-hoon that seems the most genuine because in his anger, Derek loses control and those deep feelings that Du-rae was warning about come bubbling out. Derek won’t let Ah-reum say one word about what happened between her and Ji-hoon but he gets into a fist-fight with him. There’s so much more to Derek that what we’ve seen so far so I’m preparing myself (hoping) for some shocking developments.

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