Summary
Episode 9 finally finds some consistency, and the story is starting to come together; reunions occur, and the conspiracy is becoming clearer.
This recap of Netflix K-drama series Privates Lives episode 9 contains significant spoilers.
We will be recapping this weekly — check out the archive.
The opening
Episode 14 begins 14 years ago with Bok-gi — she appears to be on a farm with her father. In the present day, she visits the same place. She wonders what to do with the place and then takes out President Choi’s ledger. Bok-gi is not present throughout this chapter, but she remains ever-important.
Woo Seok-ho’s boss is not happy
Woo Seok-ho asks Chief Jeong Dae-sang if he was involved in his restaurant situation the day before when he was drugged. Director Kim then speaks to him and kicks the character in the face. Woo Seok-ho explains how the police are too interested in him. Director Kim tells him to stop fooling around with Cha Joo-eun.
A question for the chief regarding coercion
Detective Kim Myung-hyun asks Chief Jeong Dae-sang if they have been coerced to closing the Lee Jeong-hwan case. The chief agrees with his observation, and they are dealing with a powerful entity — the GK Technology vision room.
Episode 9 shows how we can’t really trust any character at the moment. There are too many variables.
Lee Jeong-hwan saves the day again
Kim Jae-wook sends a woman to the spy agency. When Cha Joo-eun confronts her, she’s arrested by police for breaking the law within the technology industry. Kim Jun-beom crashes into the car she’s in, and Cha Joo-eun is knocked unconscious. Cha Joo-eun is helped out of the car by Lee Jeong-hwan — he carries her. There’s a real sense that she knows who “Helmet man” is now. Kim Jae-wook, director Kim and Woo Seok-ho are alarmed they escaped the police. Kim asks what happens if the shadows are exposed and Kim Jae-wook states that they could start the elimination program.
Locating the motorbike
Lee Jeong-hwan removes the cuffs from Cha Joo-eun, and she slaps him. Meanwhile, Woo Seok-ho tells Kim Jae-wook and director Kim that they have Lee Jeong-hwan’s location. But it’s a ploy; Lee Jeong-hwan has given his motorbike away.
Reunited, at last
Episode 9 provides the moment that the story has teased since episode 3 — a reunion.
Cha Joo-eun asks Lee Jeong-hwan if he ever loved her. She’s restless and frustrated with the man as she presses him. Lee Jeong-hwan asks her the same question, knowing now that she is a fraudster. He admits he loved her, but she was living a lie. Cha Joo-eun tells him she hasn’t been able to sleep without drinking and that he should of at least told her he was alive. This is a conversation where both characters want to tell each other more than what they are saying before Cha Joo-eun walks off.
Eventually, Cha Joo-eun breaks down in tears and punches Lee Jeong-hwan’s chest over and over again as he says sorry. She touches his face after they have been apart for so long, and they kiss.
This is a complicated relationship that we expect to carry on until the very end of the series.
The chief gives out instructions
Chief Jeong Dae-sang berates detective Kim Myung-hyun for his attack on another employee. Kim Myung-hyun wants to look into Cha Joo-eun, and the closed case — the chief tells him it’s a bad idea and asks him to bring Cha Joo-eun in.
Kim Jae-wook knows Lee Jeong-hwan is kind-hearted
Chief Jeong Dae-sang asks Kim Jae-wook what aspirations he has for GK Technology. He tells him he wants to make the world a little cleaner. The chief then asks what Kim Jae-wook wants him to do with Cha Joo-eun and asks if Lee Jeong-hwan is alive. Kim Jae-wook knows that Lee Jeong-hwan came to save Cha Joo-eun because he’s kind-hearted. A flashback shows Lee Jeong-hwan telling Kim Jae-wook that they should put out a fire. Lee Jeong-hwan was drinking and fuming after, but Kim Jae-wook puts him in his place.
The ending
There’s then narration on Ko Hye-won, 28 years old — “She wakes up at 6 a.m. She spends three hours getting ready to go to work // Jang Min-jeong, 31 years old. As a former hostess, she ran a gambling house for other hostesses and was caught by the police.” It talks about how Ming-jeon was in prison with Cha Joo-eun. The narration continues breaking down the other characters. These narrations are demonstrating how GK Technology has breached privacy.
Cha Joo-eun’s father has left prison, and he’s eating in a restaurant food that he hasn’t eaten in years. The GK Technology board room is watching him.
Lee Jeong-hwan is tearing himself apart over his reunion with Cha Joo-eun and her words, “It’s really over”. Meanwhile, in the middle of the night, Cha Joo-eun uses a kid’s phone to ring her mother — what she doesn’t know is that a man has a knife to her mother’s neck. Cha Joo-eun is about to enter the office. Suddenly, Cha Joo-eun is surrounded.
Privates Lives episode 9 finally finds some consistency, and the story is starting to come together; reunions are made, and the conspiracy is becoming clearer.
