Summary
Agent Kim Reactivated finally lets Kim get closer than ever to Min-ji, but rescuing her physically is only going to be the beginning of their issues.
I’ve been wondering for a few episodes now where Agent Kim Reactivated might go when Manager Kim is finally reunited with Min-Ji. Episode 6 brings him closer than ever, allowing him a paltry glimpse, but I think it also confirms that the happy reunion is probably pretty far away. With that close encounter only exacerbating the frustration of not quite being able to catch up, that should be enough to power at least the next couple of episodes, excusing more solid action, fun team-ups, and burgeoning tension.
If nothing else, this show seems to be able to have its cake and eat it. It’s very good at keeping everyone in the same place(-ish) and allowing for the anticipated conflicts while also not resolving the plot and keeping the whole thing moving. All roads seem to have converged, bad guys-wise, but there’s still a ways to go to the end, and given how much the story keeps being shaken up just enough, it’s likely that we’re heading in a direction we haven’t even anticipated yet.
Like the previous episode, this one begins with a flashback designed to establish the friendship, dynamic, and operational history between Kim, Jin-cheol, and Han-su. Set in 2006, it finds the trio protecting the daughter of the visiting U.S. president on Jeju Island, but the details aren’t especially important. It’s a vibes thing, showing the genesis of the lightly slapstick buddy comedy ahjussi chaos that is very central to the show’s appeal. This continues to be the thing that works about it most of all, despite Kim’s high-stakes pursuit of his daughter.
Speaking of which, Min-ji continues to make a solid case for herself as more than a damsel in distress. Now in the company of Mr. Ju, at least initially, she shows satisfying initiative by playing dumb, trying to contact her father, and just generally buying time, having intuited – pretty sensibly, I’d say – that the powerful, ruthless father of her high school bully isn’t going to turn out to be an ally. She knows when to stay quiet and listen; she knows when to deploy whatever details she has learned to her own advantage.
Min-ji’s problem is that there are just far too many elements at play here for her to stay ahead of the curve. At first it was Gold Tooth – who’s still alive and out for revenge, by the way – and now it’s Mr. Ju. Pretty soon, it’s Sang-a and his SMD laundromat accomplice. Every little escape leads to another trap; every small victory is replaced by a new battle. Some of those battles are physical, obviously. But others are more emotional.
Episode 6 is the first time, for instance, that Agent Kim Reactivated has revealed to Min-ji what her father really does. Given their relationship is already strained for myriad reasons, will this latest prolonged deception be something that she can reconcile? Will it undermine her eventual rescue? Will it prevent her playing ball with Kim and her all-action uncles? These things are very possible, and would help to keep the show ticking along even after the inevitable reunion between Min-ji and her father.
The latter parts of this episode are devoted to bringing that about in a fun action-heavy rescue mission where Jin-cheol and Han-su really come into their own. But Min-ji being physically rescued is likely only going to be the first step in a much longer process, which will hopefully add a bit more texture to the story still to be told in the remaining four episodes. Even after rescuing Min-ji, Kim and the others are going to have to keep her safe while making sure that she isn’t in any danger going forward. And with so many different competing antagonistic elements, that’s going to be easier said than done.
