Summary
An all-action penultimate episode is plenty enjoyable on its own terms, but a last-minute cliffhanger sets up the season finale rather nicely.
While there clearly isn’t much more story to tell in Agent Kim Reactivated, the K-Drama is obviously intending to cap off Season 1 with a bang. Sure, Min-ji’s importance might have shifted to become only one facet of a wider espionage plot, and by the end of Episode 9, she’s far from the only kid with a special agent dad whose life is on the line. But this is a real showstopper of a penultimate chapter whatever way you look at it, boasting action aplenty, an extended extraction sequence, and stake-raising developments to set up the finale. What more could you want?
Fans are worried, of course, especially based on the next episode’s sneak peek implying that perhaps Manager Kim won’t make it out of this predicament alive. It’s a valid concern, but in a show so obviously built around catharsis and payoff, I think – or perhaps “hope” is the better term – that we’re heading for a happy ending.
You’ll recall that things weren’t going well the last time we checked. Thanks to Mr Ju’s meddling, the inter-Korean peace talks have halted, Manager Kim’s mission has failed, and he, along with General Ri, from whom the SMD wants ballistic missile information, are going back to the North Korean authorities. The former, though, is handed off as a personal favour to Mr Ju as a reward for mucking the whole thing up in the first place. Meanwhile, in an uncharacteristic change of pace for this show, Min-ji is safe and mostly bored, which kind of emphasises how much the narrative objectives have changed in the last few episodes.
Naturally, with an assist from Han-su and Jin-cheol, Kim is able to fight back against Mr Ju and figure out where Ri has been taken. Through force, Mr Ju has to become a part of an extraction operation. With General Ri being tortured and interrogated by the North Koreans, the South needs to go in and get him. It’s a useful way to keep Mr Ju tethered to the plot, at least, since I did lament the fact that Min-ji being safe and sound kind of nullifies his continued involvement. I’m happy to be wrong here, since Ju functions both as a way to keep the main plot moving but also as a useful wildcard – along with Codename 66 – that complicates an already risky extraction mission.
That mission is the centrepiece of Agent Kim Reactivated Episode 9. It’s a ten-minute effort by Kim to snatch General Ri from captivity while a distraction gives him a short window of approach. The idea is to smuggle him out in a laundry truck. It’s a satisfying frame for the episode since it naturally ropes in everyone, with Han-su, Jin-cheol, and Sang-a all actively involved in the mission while Kim tries to spring Ri within a tight timeframe and while Mr. Ju tries to facilitate his own escape. And, naturally, it all goes enjoyably wrong, excusing more of the great action that this show has become known for throughout Season 1.
What this means functionally, though, is that there isn’t a great deal of plot or character development or anything that you’d typically associate with a penultimate episode setting up a finale. It’s all action, more or less, but it’s so tightly orchestrated and staged that it really is impossible to mind. You can still lament the fact that the very human stakes of Min-ji’s kidnapping have long since fallen by the wayside, but the quality of the action and excitement is a mostly adequate replacement, and besides… the show has an alternative idea.
While everyone is busying themselves fighting off everyone else, Mr Ju manages to free himself from captivity, and in the episode’s obligatory cliffhanger, it’s revealed that he had his put-upon assistant kidnap the kids of both Han-su and Jin-cheol. Despite all the progress we’ve made, on some level, we’re back to where we started just in time for the ending. And I, for one, am not mad at it.
