Terius Behind Me Episode 1 Recap

Episodes 1 and 2 Recap: “Witness”

MBC’s Terius Behind Me is about a former secret agent Kim Bon (So Ji Sub) also called Terius, a legendary black ops agent who goes into hiding after a failed mission costs him both the woman he loves and his career. Three years later, his neighbor Go Ae Rin ( Jung In Sun) finds herself unexpectedly caught up in a thrilling battle of espionage after the death of her husband. Drama airs: Wed-Thur Source: Soompi

---

Episode 1

Scene opens up with snippets of romance, intense action at full speed in a foreign country, espionage and death.

Turns out it is the recurring nightmare of a mysterious shirtless man (So Ji Sub) with a gunshot wound on his back. So, the dream is just his haunted past. 

The next morning, a busy mother, Ae rin (Jung In Sun) tends to her two young kids who are wrecking havoc on each other. After sending them off to school, by a near miss of the bus, she heads home to prepare for a job interview that one of the mothers helped her score.

Before leaving the apartment, she checks her horoscope, Aries. It reveals a magician card which to her reads a positive sign.

Meanwhile, her neighbor who happen to be mysterious man, Kim Bon  reads the same card, but to him, it means trouble, K (Cho Tae Kwan[Jasper]) who mysterious man calls the Magician, is already back in the country and that is not a good sign.

At the train station, the Head of National Security, Moon Sung Soo (Kim Myung-Soo) is fidgeting and nervous as he approaches a locker. He opens his purse to get the number code which is as a form of label tagged to the purse.

Ae rin is interviewing with the CEO of J International, Jin Young Tae/J (Son Ho-Jun) and talk about a first bad impression with the CEO as he literally discriminates against her since she is married with kids. However, it was a miscommunication as his now fired secretary intentionally stated on the job posting that he is looking for a married woman with kids. Hehe, a revenge plot for him firing her because she got engaged. Regardless, Ae rin stands her ground, but due to the fact that she hasn’t been in the workforce for five years, she pretty much has no experience. On her way out of the company, she bumps into NIS Sung soon.

Mysterious man apparently has a tracker on K as he follows him to Star Tower, same location as J International. He loses sight of K inside the building, however, his steps are cut short upon overhearing Ae Rin trying to cajole her mom, over the phone, to come to Seoul with a promise of buying her mojito at Namsam Tower. His memory is recollected as it seems that his former lover/agent promised the same thing to him after their mission which assumed failed.

Gathered in a coffee shop with her fellow ajhumossi (Kim Yeo-jin as Shim Eun-ha; Jung Si-ah as Bong Sun-mi; Kang Ki-young as Kim Sang-ryeol), Ae rin fills them up on the job update and as she gets chastised for failing to realize that the workforce/technology has changed regardless of her IT degree. As she somber, her twins are busy destroying merchandise by removing cake topper from cake displays. Of course, she has to pay for the damages.

On their way home, her husband, Cha Jung-il (Yang Dong-geun) calls to yell at her for incurring a high bill on pastries as he got a credit alert on high expense on the card. Before he can hear her excuse, he gets pulled over by the boss. Boss pressures him to be on his client’s neck. As an editor he needs to inspire his client on getting the book written before the deadline or his job is on the line if he doesn’t get a best-seller from the client.

At home, mystery man looks at his crime board named :Operation: Candy” and he ponders why K is in town and why he went to Star Towers.

Episode 2

Hubby gets home from work exhausted, but he is disgusted with how scattered the house is, full of toys and a dirty kitchen. He takes his irritation out on Ae rin who rims him his dose of medicine as she bitterly explains how hard it is to be back in the workforce after taking years off to raise the twins. Jung-il tells her to work as the community delivery milkman which she would be able to get an income and lose weight at the same time. Oh, snap!

Apparently, it seems she had planed this moment as she angrily storms out of the house with her ready-to-go suitcase. Upon reaching the bus stop, she realizes that she forgot her wallet and had taken the wrong suitcase out of anger, so, she has nothing from the suitcase full of toys to protect her from the rain and cold. Hilariously, mystery man, whose name is Kim Bon followed her to the bus stop since she had dropped her wallet by the elevator. She tells him that she is running away from home because she is tired, but he nonchalantly made her reconsider when he makes her think of her twins.

Still filled with pride, but a sense of trying to make a statement, Ae rin paces in front of her door, pensively and Bon still not understanding the situation tells her to go inside and he watches her like a hawk until she is in. Hehe! However, to her surprise, she sees that her husband did mean well as he had cleaned up.

The next morning, she woke up to a surprise envelope Jung-il had left stating she buys new clothes. Since, he is an editor, he has to make sure that his client is producing content. He heads over to the location when he mistakenly sees the Head of National Security, Moon Sung Soo being murdered by K. In a frantic state, he enters his car and drives home, but K had followed him and killed him with the same poison he killed Sung soo with.

Ae rin, who is waiting for Jung-il with browine points meal, gets a call from the home security about Jung-il who is laying unconscious on the floor. K meets with J to report the death of Sung soo. As J gives him his getaway and lay low ticket to Macao, K tells him of an unplanned murder.

After meeting with the head of NIS Shim Woo-cheol (Um Hyo-sup), Yoo Ji-yeon (Im Se-mi), a NIS agent, runs into Kwon Yeong-sil (Seo Yi-sook), second-in-command and deputy director who is curious about Woo-cheol and Ji-yeon’s meeting. Ji yeon visits NIS hacker, Ro Da-woo (Kim Sung-joo) in his office who apparently overheard every conversation Ji yeon had. He had placed a heart sticker tracker on her cellphone. The sticker tracker is a new device the agency is testing out.

Ae rin’s ajhumossi mourn Jung-il and worry about Ae rin now that she is a widow as they watch the kids in the playground. Meanwhile, Ae rin is mourning her husband with her mom comforting her in the memorial room. The same location Sung soo’s memorial is holding. Bon notices Ae rin mourning her husband. He is puzzled as he definitely knew that the two had a lovers’ tiff the night before.

On the playground, Sang-ryeol is watching over his son, Seung-gi (Oh Han-kyul) and the twins, Joon-hee (Ok Ye-rin) and Joon-soo (Kim Gun-woo). Seung-gi tells his dad that he wants to pee and Sang-ryeol with a mind of a goldfish who knows better, tells the twins to stay put on the swing while he takes Seung-gi to the bathroom.

Unbeknownst, K is watching the twins from afar. In the memorial room, before Bon can put the two coincidental deaths together, he notices the entrances of Yi-sook and her agent goons and they all end in a chase. She calls Da-woo to hack into the security cameras and be her eyes on Bon. As he pulls up Bon’s file, a red alert notices rings out to Ji-heon’s surprise.

Crime Board

Since, this is the first episode, there is no major character murder to solve as we have seen two murders play out. However, we have an apparent bad guy, K and potentially J. So far, I love the story line as we get to know our characters. The episode is not too slow as we get pulled in immediately with the opening synopsis of what to expect.

Now, who here is for So Ji sub? I know I am. I randomly clicked on the drama poster because I was bored. I hadn’t heard anything about the drama or even see the trailer, but to my surprise, I am loving every character. I like Ae rin’s naiveté, her spunk, her wit, her brashness, yet patient and meek.

This is my first time seeing Jung In sun in a drama and I love her portrayal of Ae rin. I feel her character as a flustered mom and wife of five/six years who is still trying to get her bearings. Coming for a high-paced career setting of being an IT professional, she is still yet to fully grasp motherhood and try to balance that by finding her passion again other than being a mom. It is exhausting as you can see that she is trying her hardest of doing what is right by her kids and husband, while trying not to be a burden and disrupt the household structure. YES, I GOT ALL THESE FROM EPISODE 1. Hehe!

I love the stay-at-home moms and dad or as I call them ajhumossi (ajhumma and ajhussi) that is until I find a better name for them. Kang Ki-young as Kim Sang-ryeol is really hitting the nail on the coffin as a stay-at-home dad. A solid secondary male cast beside Ji-sub’s firm and strong demeanor. So, he is definitely going to be a hoot around Ji-sub. Who can forget Kim Yeo-jin as the slick Shim Eun-ha. I am sure we are going to see more of her sophistication as opposite Ae rin, who looks up to her as a motherly mentor.

I believe that these three characters will actually be useful in the series as the synopsis describes them as KIS agent (Kingcastle Information System–think of it as an advanced neighborhood watchgroup) as compared to being a filler. It seems that Ae rin has a great support network of stay-at-home moms/dad and they are rooting for her to succeed. Of course, they are mouthy, but they do mean well.

Jin Young Tae/J (Son Ho-Jun) might be a bad guy, but around Ae rin he loses his cool demeanor and becomes an ordinary joe who has a power-struggle complex. Therefore, he is going to be a bad guy who is bad at his job at being a bad guy. Haha!

Nam Gyu ri specials as a guest star a nuclear physicist from North Korea and Bon’s ex. She is operation Candy and I am sure her death is the cause of him being inconspicuous in order to clear his name and uncover the conspiracy.  I am excited to see her face as it has been a while since I have seen her drama.