Good Casting: Episode 4

by Sunny

Our lady spies dig deeper into the suspicious men around them and uncover more of what is turning out to be a complicated web of players. Unfortunately, the intrepid trio may have bitten off more than they can chew, because the answers they seek come with a price.

 
EPISODE 4 RECAP

Now knowing Chan-mi’s identity, Chief Tak snickers when she introduces herself with her undercover name. Upstairs, Mi-soon manages to pick the lock in Chief Tak’s desk… only to find it overflowing with red ginseng packets. Shutting the drawer in annoyance, Mi-soon accidentally breaks her hairpin in the lock as Chan-mi’s warning texts they’re on their way go unnoticed. Chief Tak continues to pepper Chan-mi with questions until Seok-ho questions his sudden interest.

Chief Tak says he’s merely curious of their seemingly close relationship and Seok-ho wonders if he should be equally curious about Chief Tak and Director Myeong’s relationship. The tension breaks when elevator stops, and Chan-mi and Seok-ho depart as Chief Tak snickers a crow has landed on the puppet CEO. Meanwhile, Mi-soon dislodges the hairpin and finally sees Chan-mi’s text. Grabbing the trash, she scurries out, passing Chief Tak in the hall.

He eyes her curiously, and then notices a note ripped from his notepad and the emptied trash in his office. He then proceeds to count the packets in his drawer. Heh. Mi-soon digs through the trash she’d nabbed and finds the note. Showing it to Chan-mi, they realize he had a meeting at a private bar. Chan-mi reveals she suspects Chief Tak to be Michael and they agree to infiltrate the bar after work and check the security footage.

In her office, Chan-mi researches the bar and her eyes fall on the keychain Seok-ho had given her as a “bribe” to stay with the company. She clips it to her purse and smiles. Seok-ho catches sight of this through his office blinds and flashes back to his first meeting with Chan-mi. It plays out like a silent film as she falls asleep on his shoulder on the bus and he smiles. The bus comes to a screeching halt and Chan-mi springs up, grabbing Seok-ho’s backpack by mistake.

He frantically grabs for the bag, knocking them both off-balance. They fall and Seok-ho’s eyes widen as he finds himself holding Chan-mi up by her chest. As expected, she punches him… only for them to meet again when Mom introduces Chan-mi as his new tutor. His budding crush dampened by the punch, he dismisses her when she tries to hand him ointment. Undeterred, Chan-mi applies it for him. When she accidentally presses her stuffed rabbit, it chirps “I love you! I love you!” and Seok-ho’s crush is sealed.

In the present, he chuckles and jumps as he looks up to see his chief secretary, Woo-seok, staring blankly back at him. Seok-ho turns away in alarm as Chan-mi’s alarm beeps, signifying the end of her shift. When he turns back, Seok-ho is dismayed to see her gone but fibs to Woo-seok that he was only inspecting his faulty blinds. Expressionlessly, Woo-seok flicks the blinds up and down repeatedly, noting they work fine.

Letting Seok-ho’s weirdness slide, Woo-seok hands him papers to sign off on Woo-won’s autograph event in Taipei. Seok-ho comments he only signs things to spend money, while Woo-won earns money with his signature. Woo-seok points out Woo-won is the most popular star in China and Taiwan, and Seok-ho understands why he’d ask for triple his pay.

Meanwhile, the star in question berates manager, Pi Chul-woong, over how he’s packing his bags. When Woo-won storms off in frustration, Chul-woong’s burner phone rings. He decides against answering, grumbling he’s done with this job. Removing the data card from the watch, Chul-woong thinks it must cost more than his delivery fee. He swaps the dummy watch with an identical one belonging to Woo-won, slipping the real watch and data card into his pouch.

Over at the club, Gwan-soo and Moo-hyuk wait in the van while Chan-mi and Mi-soon squeal over their sexy disguises in the bathroom, excited to work together again. At the same time, Secretary Goo tells Chief Tak she can’t contact Chul-woong. Thinking he’s running, they initiate a tracker, which of course pinpoints Woo-won’s house. Woo-won thinks he sees the watch flash but shakes it off and slips the dummy watch on his wrist.

Ye-eun arrives outside, on a mission to get Woo-won to sign the contract with Hitech. She’s too nervous to ring the bell and tries pumping herself up, unaware Woo-won can see everything she does. He opens the gate and inside, Ye-eun kneels as he flips through the contract. He seems agreeable, his only condition to put Ye-eun in charge of his company events. As soon as she agrees, however, he demands the photos he’s convinced she took when he was naked.

Confused, Ye-eun is too slow to stop him from snatching her phone. All he finds are pictures of Ye-eun’s daughter, however, and she takes the phone back with tears in her eyes. Although he looks briefly chided, having confirmed there’s no risk of blackmail, Woo-won shreds the contract and kicks Ye-eun out. She walks out in a daze, knowing she’ll be fired for failing again.

Gwan-soo and Moo-hyuk order delivery to the van, bickering with the driver over receipts and pickled radish. Inside, Chan-mi and Mi-soon sashay up to the bouncers. While Chan-mi struts right through, Mi-soon is held back. Forced to find another route, Mi-soon heads around back. A guard stops her, unconvinced by her claims of filling in for kitchen staff. Sighing, Mi-soon knocks him out and slips inside.

She changes into a uniform but is stopped by another staff member to fix a fruit platter. Thankfully, Mi-soon is skilled with a knife and makes quick work of a fancy platter which Chan-mi intercepts on the floor and uses to butter up the security crew. While she’s inside, they notice they can’t contact their teammate on the back door and Chan-mi quickly scans the layout of the building.

Out in the hall, she tells Mi-soon the quickest route to the servers from the kitchens and checks a host computer to find which room Chief Tak used. Mi-soon locates the servers and plugs in a USB which Moo-hyuk uses to hack the system. Ye-eun returns to Woo-won’s and follows a small dog that slips under the wall. Turns out Gwan-soo had ordered her to hack into Woo-won’s security cameras.

Ye-eun had worried about the legality of it, but Gwan-soo told her to only hack the outside cameras. In Woo-won’s garage, she quickly cracks his system, but the dog grabs a baby toy from Ye-eun’s coat pocket and scampers inside the house. Ye-eun chases after the dog, but Woo-won finds it first, sitting on his couch with the toy in its mouth. The dog, Poppy, runs when he reaches for it and he chases it to the garage…

And sees all his expensive cars have been vandalized with Chul-woong’s resignation. Outside, Ye-eun sees a figure dart past and, thinking they’re a thief, follows. The intruder finds Woo-won fighting with his coffee machine and matches his gray hoodie and watch to the photo taken of Chul-woong the night before. Ye-eun frantically waves at Woo-won through the window, but he doesn’t understand her warning.

PART 2

Ye-eun watches the intruder load Woo-won into their trunk but is too frazzled to memorize the license plate. When she looks back, the car is gone. Instead, she’s drawn the attention of the intruder, who reports to Chief Tak and is instructed to capture her as well. Ye-eun finds the car parked and seemingly abandoned on the next street. Catching movement in the window’s reflection, Ye-eun doesn’t have a chance to react before she’s tased and thrown in with Woo-won, while the intruder reveals themself as Secretary Goo.

Back in the van, Gwan-soo finds it odd he can’t reach Ye-eun. Moo-hyuk tells him to lay off her since data analysis takes time and scurries off to the bathroom. The guard Mi-soon knocked out is found and the rest of the team is alerted. They catch Chan-mi escaping in the stairwell, but she manages to knock them down and keep running.

Ye-eun wakes up and nudges Woo-won awake. He panics and as they’re screaming at each other, Ye-eun remembers the trackers Gwan-soo gave them. She starts wriggling to pull it from her pocket, her face nuzzling closer to Woo-won as she does. Feeling violated, he headbutts her just as she presses the alert button, knocking her out. Alarmed, he tries to wake her up again, but while she’s out cold, the tracker flashes.

The alert pops up on the van’s display and Gwan-soo calls Mi-soon and Chan-mi back immediately. The women are already on their way back, though. Mi-soon gives a group of guards the slip, while Chan-mi has to fight her way out. The gate starts lowering to lock her in and Chan-mi whips her shoes under before grabbing a fire extinguisher. She prays for it to work and then launches it down the hall.

A few tumbles and the extinguisher perfectly wedges the gate open, allowing Chan-mi to slide under. She grabs the pin as she passes and the extinguisher bursts back into the throng of guards, spewing smoke. Mi-soon ends up on the roof and lowers herself down a pipe. It gives way and she tumbles into a pile of trash – knocking the backdoor guard out a second time. Mi-soon leaps into the van, screaming at Gwan-soo to drive.

Seeing the mob, he doesn’t need to be told twice and as he cranks the engine, Chan-mi hops inside. The mob is hot on her tail and claws at the van but Gwan-soo peels out, leaving them in the dust. The women briefly wonder about Moo-hyeok but quickly turn their attention to checking the footage they’d nabbed. At the correct timestamp, they see Chief Tak meeting with Woo-won’s manager, Chul-woong.

Moo-hyuk returns from the toilet to find a mob of irritated gangsters where the van had been. They don’t pay him any mind as they file angrily back inside just as the delivery guy returns for the dishes. Moo-hyuk flashes his badge and hops on the bike with him. Excited to help someone in the NIS, the guy tells him to put on a helmet and speeds after the van.

The women are stunned to realize it wasn’t Woo-won, but his manager, acting as a mule. They figure Cheol-woong has the data now and finally ask Gwan-soo where they’re headed. Horrified to hear Ye-eun signaled a Code Blue, Chan-mi dives for the wheel and Mi-soon tries to restrain her as both scream directions at Gwan-soo. It does little good, as they’re soon stuck at a toll booth.

Chan-mi worries they’ll lose Ye-eun but Gwan-soo says the direction of the pings suggests they’re headed towards an abandoned factory. They start driving again and notice the delivery scooter gaining on them. Moo-hyuk screams for them to let him in and when Mi-soon flings open the door, Moo-hyuk grabs hold of her, trying to pull himself inside. Luckily, he lets go just in time to avoid splattering them both on a bus.

Ye-eun awakens with her back tied to Woo-won in a warehouse. They both whimper as a group of thugs joins them. Secretary Goo struts in and addresses Woo-won as Cheol-woong. He shakes his head in panicked denial and Ye-eun tries to back him up, but their voices are muffled by the tape and Secretary Goo doesn’t care to listen. She snatches the watch from Woo-won’s wrist and when he struggles, he accidentally elbows her in the face.

The van pulls up outside and Chan-mi and Mi-soon disembark, ready to kick ass. Gwan-soo gives a gun to Moo-hyeok keeping guard in the van and heads in as well while Chief Tak also arrives. The women sneak inside, guns drawn. Chan-mi growls that Michael is hers, but Gwan-soo warns her to focus on the mission at hand. Suddenly, a ringer goes off and everyone freezes.

With horror, Mi-soon realizes it’s hers. She fumbles to shut it off and, seeing the light from her phone and the gun in her hand, Chief Tak escapes. Pissed, Secretary Goo picks up a pipe. Woo-won and Ye-eun fumble for each other’s hands and then Secretary Goo brings the pipe down on Woo-won’s head. He immediately goes limp, a dark stain blooming on his hood. Ye-eun screams and a thug kicks over her chair.

This is the scene Mi-soon and Chan-mi stumble on and they sweep inside like avenging angels. The thugs snicker to see two women, but Chan-mi screams they’re all dead and the women take off at a run. The thugs and their weapons are nothing compared to the trained combatants and in the chaos, Secretary Goo slips out. When they’ve dispatched the lot, the women untie Ye-eun.

Secretary Goo’s escape is blocked by Gwan-soo. Approaching slowly, he says he rarely draws his gun, “But guys who hurt my team… definitely deserve the bullets.” He apologizes for the sexism in referring to her as a guy and levels his gun… only for Secretary Goo to knock his arm away. They tussle briefly, but she gets him to drop the gun and when Gwan-soo holds up his hands, shots him in the chest, the gunshot reverberating throughout the building as Gwan-soo hits the ground.

Epilogue – Arriving at Woo-won’s house with the contract, Ye-eun practices what to say, oblivious to Woo-won watching from his surveillance cameras. Her first attempt is forced and Woo-won spits her type is annoying. Ye-eun realizes it was too fake and goes for a real approach. Woo-won’s eyes widen as she accuses him of being petty, insisting the incident had been an accident that stemmed from her trying her best to make a deal.

“Only someone small-minded and spiteful would use it to leverage a higher signing bonus,” Ye-eun grumbles, “How could you be so mean.” Woo-won is furious, but Ye-eun’s bravado immediately dissolves and she sinks to the ground, lamenting her inability to speak her mind. He softens as she admits anything she says is just an excuse and she’d be mean too in his shoes, thinking she deserves his hostility.

Ye-eun worries how she can negotiate a deal with a top celebrity, knowing the task is above her paygrade. “She’ll fire me if I don’t get him to sign the deal,” Ye-eun mutters, hanging her head. Pulling out her phone, she flips through photos of her daughter and finds her resolve. Standing, Ye-eun throws back an anxiety pill and Woo-won, can’t help but smile as she does jumping-jacks outside his gate. He lifts the remote and opens the gate.

 
COMMENTS

I’m liking this show more and more. For anyone looking for a hardcore spy drama, this probably isn’t the show for you, but for me, a light romp of crazy ajummas and laughs is just what the doctor ordered. The spies manage to be both silly and badass and it fills me with joy to see them bumble their way through missions and still come out kicking butt. Some may argue that as top agents with the NIS, there shouldn’t be so many mistakes, but I think it makes them more human – and certainly more entertaining – and I like seeing them think on their feet and wiggle out of jams.

And did this episode have a doozy of a jam. Ye-eun getting captured sucks, but it’s in line with her character, who’s never been in the field. Honestly, if I were to criticize anyone this hour for being bad at their job, it would be Secretary Goo. I guess she’s never seen Cheol-woong’s face, but you’d think she’d be able to recognize the top star that allowed Cheol-woong to smuggle their info back and forth to Taiwan. Runner-up would have to be Gwan-soo, who decided to try for a cool guy line rather than just subduing the bad guy… gal. And honorable mention goes to Mi-soon for not having her phone on vibrate – rookie mistake.

They hijinks and fights were all fun this hour, but I’m finding myself really invested in the backstory between Seok-ho and Chan-mi. He fell fast and, true to his word, is still in love with her 15 years later. I was a little put off by Seok-ho’s comment last episode that scars don’t suit a pretty face… until we see it was a line he was repeating from Chan-mi. It takes what could’ve been a bit sexist down to just plain sweet and I’m glad the line served a purpose because I am very fond of Seok-ho. There may be twists ahead, but I’m hoping he stays the sweet puppy he is and not be a secret evil mastermind. He’d definitely make a more compelling victim, but I’m pulling for him to finally win the girl and he can’t do that if he’s going around shooting people.

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