The Spies Who Loved Me: Episode 15

by TeriYaki

Even though our designer is determined to stand by her husband’s side, she can’t pretend that her faith in him hasn’t been shaken. Her husband doesn’t need his vision to sense how much she’s suffering because of his many lies. When their situation becomes more desperate after an unexpected complication, our designer’s husband is faced with a difficult choice.

 
EPISODE 15 RECAP

As she leaves her son’s room after her visit with Derek, Hera whispers into Ah-reum’s ear, “Derek killed Sophie.” Ah-reum hotly accuses her of lying but Hera just shrugs that it’s up to her to decide if she trusts Derek. Shaken, Ah-reum returns to Derek and as she stares at her husband, she tells us, “Derek’s mom planted the seeds of suspicion…to test how strongly we trust each other.”

The next day, Ah-reum guides Derek on a walk and when he trips over a rock, he admits that he may not be able to see but he can tell that she’s hiding something. Ah-reum denies it but when she takes Derek’s hand he pulls it away, “Do you even want to walk with me?”

After getting Derek settled in his room, Ah-reum leaves him alone to get some rest. In the hallway, her phone alerts her to an incoming video and a man watches as she views the footage of Derek at the amusement park the day that Sophie was killed.

In an interrogation room, Ji-hoon lists the many charges against Hera mother. She’s more concerned about lunch so Ji-hoon plays the recording of her phone call with Tinker. Hera dismisses the evidence since her voice wasn’t on the recording and blames her son for all her crimes, “Derek gave all those orders.”

Hera claims that the only thing she’s guilty of is raising a bad son, Ji-hoon pounds the table, “How can you call yourself a mother?” Hera calmly warns Ji-hoon that her attorney will prove her innocence.

While Ji-hoon questions Hera, Young-gu and Seo-ra go over her financial records and discover that her money was transferred into Ah-reum’s and Derek’s accounts. Soon, Du-rae is forced to watch investigators confiscate evidence at Areumdan Dress as Seo-ra confirms that Ah-reum’s mother-in-law gave her money.

While applying a fresh bandage to Derek’s eyes, Ah-reum pictures him confronting Sophie on the carousel and tells herself, “No. It can’t be true.” When Du-rae calls with news of the raid, Ah-reum angrily confronts Derek, “Is your mother behind this, too?” When Ah-reum runs off, Derek pulls off his bandages and tries to open his eyes.

Ah-reum returns to the store to find the staff putting things back in order while Du-rae reschedules appointments. Du-rae explains to Ah-reum that they’ve been accused of money laundering and asks, “What on earth does your mother-in-law actually do?”

When Ji-hoon meets Ah-reum at Areumdan Dress, he confirms that there’s evidence connecting her to Helmes’ funds. After hearing the news, Ah-reum suddenly realizes that no one is protecting Derek at the hospital.

Derek is in bed with his bandages back on his eyes when someone walks in to replace the eyedrops on his night stand with an identical looking bottle. When Young-gu arrives and introduces himself, Derek asks, “Did you come in and then leave just now?”

In her office, Ah-reum rips apart the jacket she was making for Hera. Du-rae helps her and suggests, “I bet it was your mother-in-law who spilled wine on your wedding dress. She wanted to ruin your marriage from the get-go.”

At Interpol headquarters, Jin-min argues by phone with the CIA director to keep Derek in Interpol’s custody. When Ji-hoon walks in, Jin-min warns that Derek and Ah-reum could end up in prison unless Tinker can prove that they knew nothing about Helmes’ money.

Young-gu is just outside of Derek’s room when he calls Ji-hoon to ask, “Do all married couples have terrible fights?” Inside, Ah-reum yells that Derek is selfish and then finally admits what’s been bothering her — his mother identified him as Sophie’s killer. While Ah-reum doesn’t believe his mother, she confesses that her confidence has been shaken and she’s not sure if their marriage can survive.

Ji-hoon finds Derek looking out from the rooftop as if he can see the view. Ji-hoon reports, “Your mother has caused a lot of problems,” and when he suggests that Tinker can clear his name, Derek asks him to save Ah-reum.

Ji-hoon has to admit, “I never imagined I’d be giving advice to my ex-wife’s husband. But…just listen.” Ji-hoon counsels Derek to be patient until things settle down but he confesses, “I can’t go through this anymore. She’s trying hard to love me…That’s hard to watch.” Derek thanks Ji-hoon for being the one to bring him the news that his mother framed him.

At Areumdan Dress, Ji-hoon finds Ah-reum struggling to cut fabric. Gently taking the scissors from her, Ji-hoon tells Ah-reum that Derek is doing his best to protect her. Ah-reum pulls out her phone to show Ji-hoon the footage from the amusement park and learns that his team has already seen it. In fact, they determined that Derek didn’t kill Sophie which is the same conclusion that Ah-reum reached. But that doesn’t change the fact there her confidence in Derek has been shaken.

Suddenly sorry for taking her anger out on Derek, Ah-reum asks Ji-hoon to find out who helped Hera frame them. Ji-hoon recalls Derek’s suggestion to contact Double Holdings for proof that would clear Ah-reum of any wrongdoing.

When Ah-reum meets the boss of Double Holdings, he hands her the finacial reports that will clear her name. Ji-hoon walks up flashing his badge and asks about Tinker. The Double Holdings boss promises to call Ji-hoon if Tinker ever contacts him.

While reviewing the reports with Ji-hoon, Ah-reum confirms her suspicion that they’ll cause more trouble for Derek. Ah-reum insists that they need to find a way to save Derek too and seeing how much she cares for her husband, Ji-hoon urges her to call her husband, “He probably feels all alone in this world.” Ah-reum picks up her phone but sets it down without calling Derek.

After getting something to eat, Young-gu returns to Derek’s room to find his clothes and bandages neatly folded on the bed.

When Tinker returns to Classic Car, he finds Derek waiting for him in the dark. Derek holds up a USB, “Is this what you’re looking for,” aware that Tinker needs it to claim some money before midnight.

Curious, Derek asks, “Since when were you planning to betray me?” Tinker answers that it was after he’d changed and Derek chuckles, “So that’s why I had to die?” Tinker picks up a large wrench just when Derek asks, “Did you kill Sophie?”

In a flashback, Tinker followed Ah-reum’s taxi as it left for the amusement park just as Derek was pulling into the hotel. At the amusement park, Tinker intercepted Sophie after she spotted Ji-hoon’s sheriff’s badge.

When Sophie took refuge on the carousel, Tinker sat beside her. She sensed that he was scared and told him, “…you’re making me look like the only bad person when we’re all evil.”

Grabbing Sophie, Tinker emptied a syringe into her neck and then walked away. When people began to scream, Derek was stuck behind a minor accident and when he got out to investigate, he was caught on a dash cam and Tinker saw him.

In the present, Tinker confesses, “I handled a situation that you were supposed to take care of. Aren’t you grateful?” Derek thanks him but not for killing Sophie, “When you turned to killing assets, I decided to clean up my act.”

Tinker claims to know everything about Derek but he protests that he doesn’t even know himself. Tinker mocks Derek for acting like a normal person after he married Ah-reum, “What a joke. You’re…selfish.”

The USB slips from Derek’s hand and when feels around for it, Tinker raises the wrench. Derek skillfully rolls away and then tosses the eyedrops at Tinker, “You thought you could kill me with this?” A flashback confirms that it was Tinker who made the switch in the hospital.

When Tinker grabs a crowbar and attacks Derek, he realizes that he can see. After a vicious fight, Derek points a gun at Tinker’s head and demands, “You know me well? What do you think I’ll do to you now?”

In the end, Derek can’t bring himself to shoot Tinker. Removing the gun’s clip, Derek tells him, “I’ll leave my mother in your hands. Stay with her.” Derek then tosses the USB to Tinker and sends him away.

Ah-reum and Ji-hoon are on the way to the hospital when Young-gu calls with the news that Derek has disappeared and Ji-hoon suggests checking out Classic Car.

Alone in the garage, Derek moves Peter’s body to a large bag and then sits down. When he gazes at his wedding ring, a flashback shows Derek weeping in the hospital as he attempted to write a text to Ah-reum. In voiceover, Derek confesses, “Yeobo. Why did I like this word so much…I even wanted to forget my name whenever you called me that because I liked it so much.” In the garage, Derek breaks down as we hear his thoughts, “Yeobo. This is my last time calling you that. I know you hate it when I say sorry. Yeobo, I love you.”

When they enter the garage, Ah-reum and Ji-hoon can see that there’s been a fight but there’s no trace of Derek. Seeing that the door of the Areum K is open, Ah-reum finds the card that Derek left for her.

After reading it, Ah-reum drops the card and her head falls onto the steering wheel. Hearing the car horn, Ji-hoon comes running and finds Derek’s confession, “I committed all the sins and I have to pay for them. Please forgive me.”

Days later, Young-gu is sent the traffic footage with the final sighting of Derek’s car. By the time Ji-hoon reaches the reservoir where Derek was headed, the local cops have located Derek’s car.

Ji-hoon is handed the dash cam’s memory card and when he watches it, we see that Derek walked into the water with resolve. The local cop interrupts Ji-hoon to report that a body has just been recovered. When Ji-hoon sees the body, he immediately recognizes Derek’s wedding ring and the ID that the officer hands him confirms that it’s Derek.

When Ah-reum leaves work for the day she finds Ji-hoon waiting for her. From the look on his face, Ah-reum knows why he’s there and Ji-hoon manages to catch her just as her legs buckle.

At Gulliver Publishers, Young-gu has to blink away tears when he sees the word “deceased” stamped across Derek’s file. Seo-ra walks in with some bottles of soju and invites Young-gu to join her.

Young-gu confesses that he’s been considering graduate school but Seo-ra wisely advises, “You can accomplish anything to avoid graduate school.” Young-gu has been struggling with the emotional toll of the job and confesses that he can’t stop crying. Seo-ra agrees, “Dealing with people is the hardest part of the mission.”

Young-gu tears up when he thinks about how he failed both Derek and Ji-hoon. We see that Ji-hoon hasn’t been able to sleep since Derek’s death, he spends his days and nights pacing and staring out the window.

Seo-ra calls Ji-hoon a dependable guy who deserves to be loved but Young-gu points out that he wasn’t dependable for Ah-reum which is why she no longer loves him. Seo-ra explains that’s why Ji-hoon is cool which makes Young-gu jealous.

Seo-ra brings up the book on Young-gu’s desk, How to Date Older Women and asks what he’s learned. When Young-gu recites, “Touching her could make her heart flutter,” Seo-ra teases that will be on his test. Young-gu surprises Seo-ra with a kiss and when she doesn’t push him away, he kisses her again.

Ji-hoon gives Du-rae some supplies for Ah-reum — a nerve tonic and her favorite instant noodles. Ji-hoon has to sniff back his tears when he reminds Du-rae to make sure that Ah-reum stays hydrated after crying so much. Du-rae sighs that Ah-reum wouldn’t be suffering if she and Ji-hoon had stayed married.

Alone at home, Ah-reum remembers the day that Derek taught her to roller-skate. When she fell, Ah-reum had complained, “You said you wouldn’t let go.” Derek promised not to let go so Ah-reum got up on her feet to try again. The next time Derek let go of her hands, Ah-reum managed to stay on her feet a little longer before falling.

When Derek carried Ah-reum home, he’d explained that he let go of her hands so she could start trusting herself. Ah-reum had explained, “It was scarier when you let go of my hand than falling,” and Derek promised, “I won’t let go of your hand again.”

Ah-reum’s memories are interrupted when her mother shows up claiming that she has no heat because of a broken boiler. Ah-reum points out that happens to be the same excuse that Du-rae’s been using.

Ah-reum’s mom suggests ordering something spicy as she pulls out her Go-Stop cards. Ah-reum isn’t interested in playing or eating but soon she’s enjoying a spirited game with her mother while eating delivery food.

Later, Ah-reum lies beside her mother and asks how she managed to work so soon after Ah-reum’s father died. Ah-reum’s mother didn’t want to ruin a bride’s wedding plus they needed the money. Ah-reum confesses that she’s not sure she can continue sewing wedding dresses after both of her marriages ended and tears fall from her eyes.

Mom suggests that the love that Ah-reum poured into her wedding dresses means that Derek will walk into heaven with his head up. By the time Ah-reum voices her wish that Derek will remember her in heaven, her mother is crying too.

When Ah-reum visits Classic Car, she sits in the Areum K and imagines Derek smiling at her. Ah-reum remembers how much fun it was to watched Derek work on his cars. Ah-reum even decorated a Christmas tree one year and playfully tied a bow around Derek’s neck.

On the day that Derek proposed, he nervously practiced several ways to ask Ah-reum to marry him. A sense of calm came over Derek when he settled on, “I love you. Let’s get married.”

When her image of Derek disappears, Ah-reum weeps with grief and tells her husband, “Yeobo. I’m sorry.”

At the National Police Agency, Ji-hoon presents his final report about Helmes and identifies Derek as the Boss. With Derek’s death, the investigation is now over.

Jin-min meets with the CIA director to transfer custody of Hera to the CIA. When the CIA director complains that he ended up with the small fry, Jin-min expresses confidence that she’ll be more useful in the U.S.

Ji-hoon arrives just as the CIA director leaves and Jin-min sighs, “Derek took the blame and minimized the risk.” When they sit down, Jin-min reminds Ji-hoon the he’s lost another informant.

In spite of the loss, Jin-min praises Ji-hoon’s ability to work with Ah-reum’s husband and mother-in-law, “Only you could do it. You did a fine job. You really did.” Ji-hoon asks permission to see Hera one last time and explains why he wants to see her, “It’s those eyes of hers.”

In an interrogation room, Ji-hoon offers his condolences to Hera and she reminds him, “God takes the angels sooner than the rest.” Setting a tablet in front of her, Ji-hoon explains it contains the final footage of Derek. When he leaves Hera alone to watch it, Ji-hoon ducks into the observation room. There, he sees Hera’s eyes brighten when she watches the video and she mumbles, “My baby. Of course.”

Ji-hoon goes to Derek’s garage to look around and a flashback shows Derek washing Peter’s body. When Ji-hoon notices a socket that’s out of place, he takes a closer look at the drill next to it. Ji-hoon notices some dried blood and we see that Derek used it when he embalmed Peter’s body.

At home, Ah-reum is removing Derek’s clothes from the closet when she sees his wedding ring on a nearby table. With a sad smile, Ah-reum places her ring next to Derek’s just as she gets a call from the hospital.

Ah-reum rushes over to the radiology department where a technician hands her Derek’s wedding ring, “He lost this…Sorry that it took so long to find it.” Confused, Ah-reum asks herself why Derek had two wedding rings.

In his tiny room, Ji-hoon checks Derek’s death certificate and confirms that the face was unidentifiable and the time of death couldn’t be determined. As the pieces fall into place, Ji-hoon sees the real-time feed from Ah-reum’s office and gets an idea.

In Ah-reum’s office, Ji-hoon uses chalk to write a message on the back of a tuxedo jacket and then turns it towards the hidden camera. Riding on a train, Derek sees Ji-hoon and reads his message, “Let’s meet.”

 
COMMENTS

@selena nailed it in her Episode 14 comments. Hera did indeed lie that Derek killed Sophie because we finally learned with certainty that Tinker was the killer. While deep down in her heart Ah-reum knew Derek didn’t kill Sophie, she could imagine that it was true and that realization shook her to her core and threatened her marriage. Which is what Hera wanted when she whispered that lie into Ah-reum’s ear. I echo Ji-hoon’s sentiment, how can Hera call herself a mother?

Derek could sense that shift in Ah-reum and curiously, for a man who’s traded in lies, he couldn’t bear to watch her go through the motions of loving him. Ah-reum is a lot like Ji-hoon, she can’t hide her feelings, and Derek didn’t want to live a charade after knowing her sincerity. I thought that Tinker’s accusation that Derek tried to live a normal life after his marriage gave us some insight into Derek’s interior struggle. While Derek was a very good spy and admittedly enjoyed the duplicity, when it came to Ah-reum, he wanted to be the man that she thought he was. His conflict came to a head when Sophie was killed, in fact her death was the pivot point for many of the characters.

Sophie’s death made a killer out of Tinker, who was following Hera’s orders. The decision to kill Sophie put Ah-reum on the trail of her killer and in Helmes’ crosshairs. Desperate to save Ah-reum, Derek ended up temporarily losing his sight which allowed him time for some real soul-searching. I think that Derek decided to fake his death to force a complete break from his mother and to protect Ah-reum from further retaliation. What Hera and Tinker had in common was disdain for the fact that Derek changed once he married Ah-reum. Tinker used that change to justify killing Derek while Hera targeted Ah-reum. Derek must have realized that he and Ah-reum would never be safe as long they were together and the only way to break things off with someone so loyal was through death.

When Derek escaped from the hospital to retrieve Peter’s body, I was absolutely gutted by his sorrow over leaving Ah-reum. Derek truly loved Ah-reum and the fact that he was willing to give her up to protect her proved that. The premise of a woman forced to deal with the two men that she’d married was a tricky one, but thanks to the chemistry between Eric, Im Joo-hwan and Yoo Inna, it worked. Im Joo-hwan in particular won me over by the time he was prepared to walk out of Ah-reum’s life. The grief that Ah-reum and Ji-hoon felt after Derek’s death rang true and when they individually realized that Derek might be alive, their hopefulness made sense.

Now that we know that Derek is actually alive, what does that mean for his marriage to Ah-reum? She already has so much to forgive him for, can she forgive Derek for faking his death too? While he pointed that gun at Tinker’s head, Derek confessed that he didn’t know himself. If Derek figured out who he is away from his mother and Helmes, is there hope for him and Ah-reum or is she meant to be with her long-suffering ex-husband, Ji-hoon? Believe it or not, I’m okay with either one of them because at this point, I trust Ah-reum to choose wisely, even if she chooses to be alone.

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