Family: The Unbreakable Bond – K-drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

I Thought I Knew Who You Are

Family: The Unbreakable Bond episode 9 begins with Do-Hoon and Yoo-Ra at separate locations preparing to shoot Butterfly. It would appear that Yoo-Ra was the one who shot Butterfly. Then, Do-Hoon and Yoo-Ra look through their guns’ lenses and see each other. Realizing it’s Yoo-Ra who may have shot Butterfly, Do-Hoon rushes to Yoo-Ra, but she manages to escape.

Yoo-Ra drives away with Tae-Gu, and he mentions something about Yoo-Ra not controlling her emotions. Tae-Gu also asks Yoo-Ra if she saw something, and she doesn’t answer.

The NIS senior/director calls Do-Hoon and asks if he found the sniper that killed Butterfly and where that bullet hit her. (This is the director whom Chief Oh has been reporting to via phone in the previous episodes). Do-Hoon tells the Director that the bullet hit Butterfly on the left side of her chest, killing her instantly and that he hasn’t found the sniper who did it.

Director expresses his suspicions about Chief Oh being involved in Butterfly’s murder, while at the NIS headquarters, Ma Young-Ji tells Chief Oh about Butterfly’s situation and mentions Do-Hoon was the only agent who was there when Butterfly was killed. It turns out Chief Oh didn’t know Do-Hoon was the one sent to kill Butterfly.

Elsewhere, Tae-Gu is with Yoo-Ra at another location. Tae-Gu asks Yoo-Ra to give him an excuse for her failure. Yoo-Ra then asks Tae-Gu if he was the one who shot Butterfly. It turns out, Yoo-Ra didn’t shoot Butterfly after all. Yoo-Ra warns Tae-Gu against trying to harm her family and tells him she will make up for her failure with their next target.

Tae-Gu then gives Yoo-Ra photos they took with everyone else at MGD (these are the photos Tae-Gu sent to Chief Oh, and Butterfly gave to Do-Hoon). Tae-Gu then tells Yoo-Ra that “Wind” is Chief Oh. It turns out Chief Oh was known as “Wind” while she was in MGD.

Chief Oh goes to the morgue where Butterfly is and finds Do-Hoon there. She asks Do-Hoon if he saw the sniper that killed Butterfly, and he tells her he didn’t. Chief Oh begins scolding Do-Hoon for allowing Butterfly to be killed, knowing how much Chief tried to get Butterfly to testify in Warrior’s trial.

Do-Hoon then begins recounting how Chief Oh excluded him from Wolfe’s and the MGD’s cases, how he found out Chief Oh was one of Koo In-Bo’s clients, and how she tried to save Butterfly. Do-Hoon also tells Chief Oh that he knows her story about running away from her missionary father is a lie and all Butterfly’s idea. He then asks Chief Oh who she is.

Do-Hoon calls Director in front of Chief Oh to inform him that he will tell him everything he knows about Chief Oh. It turns out the MGD was about to be dissolved by the new government then (the government was supporting MGD). Warrior suggested to Bullet (whose real name is Kang-Otak) and Butterfly to kill the kids, whom they were training to be snipers for the government, and proved to be troublesome.

Warrior mentioned that doing so would show loyalty to the new government so the MGD couldn’t be dissolved. But, Bullet refused and threatened to expel Warrior from the MGD.

Warrior then came up with a plan. He forced Butterfly to announce to the graduate MGD members (Chief Oh and the older kids) that enemies had captured the MGD, and the entire “Cycle 2” (the younger kids, including Yoo-Ra and Tae-Gu) were dead. Butterfly then instructed Chief Oh and the others to kill everyone at the MGD camp.

As Chief Oh was shooting everyone at the MGD camp, she realized the Cycle 2 kids were still there, and they had just killed several of them. Meanwhile, Bullet, who wasn’t in the camp, arrived and saved Yoo-Ra and Tae-Gu, who were the only ones who survived. Bullet then saw Warrior coming, so he gave Yoo-Ra his bag (which explains why Yoo-Ra now uses Bullet bullets) and told them to run for their lives.

Back to the present, Yoo-Ra is still with Tae-Gu, when he starts telling her how she has moved from their past lives. Yoo-Ra tells Tae-Gu that there’s no need to dwell on the past, but, Tae-Gu tells her that, that isn’t the past for him. Yoo-Ra then threatens to make Tae-Gu pay if he harms her family again.

Tae-Gu then tells Yoo-Ra that her next target to kill is Chief Oh. Tae-Gu then gives Yoo-Ra an envelope and tells her that if she wants to know who killed Butterfly, she should read what’s inside that envelope to find out who Do-Hoon is.

Chief Oh finishes telling Do-Hoon the truth, and Do-Hoon concludes that the MGD killed Ma Yeon-Rim (Butterfly). (So it wasn’t Do-Hoon who shot Butterfly either). Do-Hoon asks Chief Oh what Warrior, whose real name is Mo Taeil, wants after killing all the MGD original members, and Chief Oh tells Do-Hoon she doesn’t know yet.

Do-Hoon then tells Chief Oh that she’s excluded from the MGD case since Director suspects her. He also tells her to report to Director as usual and not to mention anything about her past. He then tells her to tell him everything she finds out about MGD from now on. Chief Oh then tells Do-Hoon that she only excluded him from Wolfe’s and MGD’s cases to protect his family.

Do-Hoon contemplates calling Yoo-Ra, but he doesn’t. He then remembers when he saw her at the location where Butterfly was killed. Chae-Ri then sends Do-Hoon the list of the MGD killer suspects, and he sees Tae-Gu on that list.

Back at Yoo-Ra’s café, Yoo-Ra has finally read the contents inside the envelope Tae-Gu gave her. She now knows Do-Hoon is a NIS secret service agent, and she’s devastated. Min-Seo calls Yoo-Ra, and she composes herself and answers the call. Min-Seo says something about wanting to live with Yoo-Ra her whole life, and Yoo-Ra breaks down crying and hangs up.

Tae-Gu receives texts from Min-Seo. He then remembers picking Min-Seo up from Woong-So’s house in episode 7. He then gets a call and mentions that there are two targets left and that he’ll handle them. Elsewhere a guy named Jae-Sung meets with a man who can’t be seen clearly. This man gives Jae-Sung pictures of Yoo-Ra with Tae-Gu earlier and instructs him to keep an eye on Tae-Gu.

Chief Oh arrives home, and Tae-Gu calls her via his hidden phone she took when she ransacked his hotel room.

Do-Hoon returns to the house, and it’s clear there’s a lot of tension between him and Yoo-Ra because of what they found out about each other. Later, Ji-Hoon and Mi-Rim come to their house, and they also notice the tension. Ji-Hoon thinks Do-Hoon is mad at him for lying about going to Jeju Island and spending that trip money instead. He tells Do-Hoon that he is happier with the tablet he bought using the trip money (so typical of Ji-Hoon making everything about himself).

Later that night, Min-Seo is sleeping with Do-Hoon and Yoo-Ra in their bed, and you can tell that Yoo-Ra and Do-Hoon want to talk about what happened earlier.

The following day, Do-Hoon wakes up and finds Ji-Hoon and Mi-Rim preparing Min-Seo for school. He asks where Yoo-Ra is, and they tell her about a parents’ consultation at Min-Seo’s school that Yoo-Ra went to attend.

Later, Chae-Ri texts Do-Hoon with Butterfly’s autopsy. It turns out the person who shot Butterfly was on the ground, confirming his suspicions that her killer (whom Do-Hoon thinks is Yoo-Ra) wasn’t at the building Yoo-Ra was in.

At the NIS headquarters, Director has sent people to confiscate documents in Chief Oh’s office. Chae-Ri comes to check on her, and Chief Oh asks if Director ordered Butterfly to be killed. Chae-Ri confirms it just as Yoo-Ra calls Chief Oh.

Meanwhile, Do-Hoon learns that Tae-Gu was the one who shot Butterfly. Do-Hoon remembers seeing a black SUV near where Butterfly was, and also notices a CCTV camera near that area.

Elsewhere, Chief Oh meets with Yoo-Ra at a restaurant. Tae-Gu had met Chief Oh before Yoo-Ra came. Tae-Gu starts telling Chief Oh she killed all of them (Cycle 2 kids) so she could live a better life. Chief Oh asks Tae-Gu where Mo Taeil (Warrior) is, but he doesn’t tell her. Tae-Gu then tells Chief Oh to prepare to pay for her sins as she’s the next target. He then tells her to try to remember #27 (Yoo-Ra).

Back to the present, Yoo-Ra is with Chief Oh at the restaurant when she tells her she knows her and Do-Hoon work for the NIS. Yoo-Ra then tells Chief Oh that maybe the targets/criminals they’re chasing after may be innocent. Before she leaves, Yoo-Ra tells Chief Oh that her smile hasn’t changed since then. Chief Oh puts two and two together and realizes Yoo-Ra is #27.

Do-Hoon goes to Min-Seo’s school for the parents’ consultation. Chae-Ri then texts him the whereabouts of the SUV that was near Butterfly when she was shot. Yoo-Ra arrives at the parents’ consultation and finds Do-Hoon there. Min-Seo’s class teacher, Mr Song, starts blabbering about how a certain kid’s grandparent and uncle attended the parents’ consultation sometime back. He then realizes he’s talking about Min-Seo.

Later, Do-Hoon calls Chief Oh to inform her that he had located the black SUV that was near Butterfly when she was shot. Meanwhile, at Yoo-Ra’s café, Yoo-Ra takes the bag with her gun and leaves.

The episode ends with Tae-Gu picking up Min-Seo from school and asking her not to tell Yoo-Ra that he had picked her up from school.

The Episode Review

We now know Tae-Gu was the one who shot Butterfly. Do-Hoon and Yoo-Ra know the truth about each other, which makes me sad and relieved at the same time. It’s good they finally know the truth about each other. However, you can see how badly it has affected them throughout this episode. I hope they get an opportunity to talk and settle things.

I’m also suspicious about Director because he’s too harsh on Chief Oh. Or maybe he’s just suspecting Chief Oh’s involvement with Butterfly? Now that Tae-Gu has Min-Seo, I hope he doesn’t harm her but I doubt he would because he has a soft spot for her.