Agency (2023) Recap Episode 11-12

A lot of focus is on Hanna this week after the circulation of the photo of her and Young-woo. Hanna is more than used to causing trouble, but this situation is different. Before, her antics were more of a nuisance than anything. This time, seeing as Geun-cheol is extremely classist, she could actually stand to lose her chance to inherit the company.

But if we’ve learned one thing about Hanna, it’s that she’s not one to back down when she wants something. Hanna is determined to win this fight both for the company and Young-woo and decides it’s time to act like an ad agency exec and “get creative.” Given his experience with doing Hanna damage control, Young-woo is understandably worried and doesn’t want her to lose everything. Hanna, being much more forward about her feelings now, argues that he’s the only one in the world on her side anyway, so she’s willing to take the risk.

 

With Hanna on shaky ground, Ah-in knows she’d be smart to rethink their partnership, but she’s sympathetic to Hanna and Young-woo’s situation and can’t bring herself to abandon them yet. So when Geun-cheol asks which sibling she’ll support, Ah-in refuses to answer. He’s further impressed by her and advises her not to take a side at all – he’d rather she put pressure on the grandkids to push them both forward.

Chang-soo, on the other hand, has definitively taken a side. Given his role in providing ammo against Hanna, Chang-soo is practically buoyant. He’s proven useful enough to avoid the Busan transfer Hanna initiated and now has Han-soo’s backing. He goes around stoking trouble and gloating, making vague comments to Young-woo about how he doesn’t seem like a quitter and can make the impossible possible.

Sharp as ever, Young-woo realizes something has leaked, and he’s now Hanna’s weakness. He immediately goes to Hanna, and they decide to feel everyone out to see who their true allies are. Young-woo straight up asks Ah-in if she knows something, which she admits. She then gives him an interesting tip: weaknesses can be used to elicit sympathy and love, so they don’t always need to be eradicated.

 

When Han-soo (who is saved as “Chairman Kang’s Son” in Hanna’s contacts, heh) invites Hanna to dinner, he pointedly tells Young-woo to join them at the table. If that weren’t clear enough evidence he knows something, his not-so-subtle comments about Young-woo being a catch and his asking Chairman Kang to promote Young-woo to Director cement their suspicions.

Unlike Geun-cheol who seems to derive joy from watching his grandchildren fight for succession, Chairman Kang is concerned when he learns of Hanna’s situation. He takes her out for a father-daughter chat, and it’s surprisingly sweet. It makes you realize how few loving chaebol families there are in dramaland.

Chairman Kang tells Hanna that all he’s ever wanted is to live a peaceful life with the people he loves, which is why he hoped she’d stay out of the business and have a carefree life with a man who can support her. But he knows she’s not ready to abandon the fight, so he’s okay with whatever she chooses – he just hopes she can be happy.

Meanwhile, Ah-in and her team gear up for their next challenge: achieving the promised 50% increase in revenue within the six-month period. Chang-soo goes around getting confirmation that Ah-in is going to stick to her word and quit if she fails, a consequence CEO Cho agrees to enforce only if Chang-soo doesn’t use others to interfere. That puts a damper on Chang-soo’s day, but since the company’s revenue is down overall, things aren’t looking great for Ah-in.

In a surprising and suspicious move, Chang-soo then visits Jung-seok, who is not happy to see him. Chang-soo starts reminiscing about their early agency days and apologizes for getting him booted from the agency. Jung-seok is struggling to keep his business afloat, so Chang-soo sends him a lump sum and says he has a proposition. Uh-oh.

 

Ah-in, for her part, starts trying to be healthier and even starts exercising. So, of course, a whole new stressor pops up in her life. The prosecutor from Chairman Kim’s case is not an Ah-in fan and pays her a visit that plays like a warning. He lost a promotion due to her strategizing, and he’s looking for payback.

He’s been digging into her past and learns that her father is AWOL, and her mother has been switching jobs and has no registered address — something common for abuse survivors on the run. Oooh. The prosecutor proves to be a total jerk and intends to use her family to drag her down. And now that Eun-ja has started working at Ah-in’s agency as a cleaner, that might not be so difficult.

Eun-ja is in charge of the executive floor, and for all her years of hiding out, she can’t even make it a day without giving herself away. She manages to hide her face when she runs into Ah-in in the elevator, but then Ah-in’s assistant Soo-jung (the one who was planted by Chang-soo and threatened into providing intel) overhears her refer to Ah-in as her daughter while she’s cleaning. Why the heck Eun-ja said that out loud to herself remains a mystery.

 

Ah-in walks in on the strange sight of Eun-ja kneeling and begging Soo-jung to keep this quiet, but since Eun-ja is wearing a mask, Ah-in doesn’t recognize her. Soo-jung can’t bring herself to tell Ah-in what’s going on, which just makes her look suspicious.

However, days later, Ah-in catches Eun-ja acting shifty in her office again. This time, she spots Eun-ja hiding something in her pocket and makes her take it out. It’s the bracelet Ah-in gave her mother on the day she left. Welp, guess the barely kept secret is out.

Ah-in is shaken to see her mother after 35 years and can barely concentrate during an ad shoot the following day. As they film a mother meeting her deceased daughter through VR for the ad, Ah-in gets emotional. Just like her own mother, the woman apologizes for being afraid and not saving her daughter.

Afterward, Ah-in visits Eun-ja at home and grows angry that her mom is living so poorly after abandoning her. She lets Eun-ja make her a meal, though, since we know you can’t have a family reunion without crying in your rice bowl. When they talk things out, Ah-in learns that her mom always planned to return for her, but she couldn’t – she had to run every time her husband found her and couldn’t earn enough to support herself and Ah-in.

Elsewhere, Hanna employs a new tactic and pretends to admit defeat by going on a blind date with a friend of her brother’s. The date does not go well, to put it mildly. The man is a total jerk she dislikes immediately, but then he calls Young-woo over and treats him like dirt (on the advice of Han-soo who wanted to stir up trouble). He makes Young-woo pour his wine and yells at him for not following ridiculous orders.

Hanna is barely holding herself back and looks ready to stab the man with her fork. Then, her date calls Young-woo impertinent and throws a glass of wine in his face. We end as an irate Hanna reciprocates, throwing her wine in her date’s face and yelling that he’s the impertinent one who doesn’t know who he’s messing with.

So much for Hanna’s strategy. She’s impulsive and not one to pretend, so I had a hard time believing she’d be able to pull this off. I kind of want her to follow her father’s advice and run off into the sunset with Young-woo, leaving her ruthless family and colleagues behind to fight it out amongst themselves. So far, it seems like Hanna wants the business more to win and prove she’s capable than because she truly likes or cares about it.

As for Ah-in, I have a bad feeling about this prosecutor. Just when she starts to get herself together, this man starts messing with her personal life. I have to say, the meeting with her mom did go better than I expected and might just help Ah-in heal. Like Ah-in, I also wondered if her mom sought her out due to a terminal illness or something, but I hope we don’t go that route. Ah-in does not need any more stress in her life.