Private Lives – K-Drama Episode 13 Recap & Review

The Driver

We begin episode 13 of Private Lives with Mr Jeong eating noodles in the bathroom. Only, he happens to be watched by GK from their office. Jeong Hyeon-Cheol happens to be the former driver for President Choi and our amateur detectives try to get to the bottom of exactly why he died and who wanted him dead.

As Jeong-Hwan and Joo-Eun mull over the different possibilities, they race up to find out what Bok-Gi’s plan is.

Bok-Gi, as we know, is in a meeting with Jae-Wook and the pair pretend that they don’t know each other. Byung-Jun listens intently as they verbally spar before introducing his partner into the fray. He hands over a business card for them both confirming where they work.

As we cut back in time, we see Bok-Gi and Byung-Jun made a deal. It turns out Bok-Gi (going under the alias of Sophia Chung again) is in charge of Byung-Jun’s social media campaign. Given Jae-Wook is also there, it appears the pair are now going to be working together for Byung-Jun.

Outside in the parking lot, Jeong-Hwan manages to help Joo-Eun infiltrate a golf team as an excuse to make it inside the building. She’s briefed along with the other golfers over how they’ve been watching to make sure no one infiltrates their ranks. Joo-Eun thankfully manages to evade suspicion and peels away from the group to find Jae-Wook and Bok-Gi.

These two finally come face to face alone in the bathroom with Bok-Gi telling Jae-Wook nonchalantly that she intends to get her revenge on him.

Given he has intelligence and the ledger, she’s determined to get back at him for what’s transpired in the past. Getting right up in her face, he threatens her and tells Bok-Gi to head home. Instead, she bites back and promises to hurt him if he continues this way.

Eventually the two return to their dinner table and discuss President Choi’s ledger. Byung-Jun suspects the ledger is at GK and he wants to take a look at it. Joo-Eun meanwhile sees enough and winds up caught by the woman in charge of the golf team and, accompanied by two officers, taken down the hallway to a locked room.

She outright calls her Joo-Eun and they realize that the jig is up. Jeong-Hwan hears this from his earpiece and races inside to try and save her. Only, everything comes undone and he’s quickly caught too and bundled in the same room as Joo-Eun.

Hyun-Kyung soon shows up and greets them both, with regards from her Father given to Jeong-Hwan, especially given he used to work at GK. She wants to find out exactly what Bok-Gi is up to and claims they’re in the same boat and should work together.

Before he can be sure to trust them both, Jeong-Hwan wants to know if Director Oh is alone or working for someone else. Given what happened with Kim, he’s not taking any chances.

This time though, an enticing offer comes in the form of being reinstated and made a white collar at GK. Wghile he thinks this over, we find out Hyun-Kyung has even recorded the entire conversation we’ve seen between Bok-Gi and Byung-Jun.

When the worker in charge of the golf club heads outside, it’s revealed that she’s  working for Jae-Wook and receives a lucrative sum of money for her troubles.

Meanwhile, Jae-Wook feigns ignorance and tells Bok-Gi that he doesn’t have the ledger and that his sources are incorrect. She doesn’t take this lying down though and reveals that her source is very close to President Choi. Either they’re lying or he is.

Liking what he hears, Byung-Jun tasks them both with trying to track down the ledger as quickly as possible.

When Bo-Gi leaves, Jae-Wook watches from afar after she refuses a ca ride back home from Byung-Jun. He, however, picks up his estranged daughter from school and tells her to stat listening to classical music rather than boy bands.

After their earlier meeting, Jeong-Hwan admits to Joo-Eun that he was working with Director Oh all this time, in particular to try and get her out of jail. Unable to hear any more, Joo-Eun walks away after hearing this. Just before he follows, Jeong-Hwan receives a call from Detective Kim and leaves Joo-Eun alone back home.

Jae-Wook meets Byung-Jun and tells him he’ll show the ledger. Only, he’ll only show Assemblyman Kwon’s, not any others. Afterward, he heads in to meet General Manager Kim at Joo-Eun’s usual hang-out spot. They sit and eat together, just as Joo-Eun’s parents sit at the table nearby.

On the roof, Joo-Eun drowns her sorrows in alcohol with Han Son who happens to be there too. He mentions President Choi’s previous driver and how Jeong-Hwan actually knew who he was all this time. It also turns out this driver was in charge of the Church back when Joo-Eun’s Father was duped.

With this new information, Joo-Eun heads back to the detective agency and realizes that Jeong-Hwan may well have been spying on the driver all this time and holding back crucial intel.

She comes to the same conclusion the detectives inside the station do too, as Kim takes pictures of the case files and realizes the driver set himself on fire. Only… why would he do that? As he races off, Soo-Jin speaks to the Chief and tells him she’s not able to do this anymore and walks out the room.

Kim meanwhile meets Jeong-Hwan who confirms that the case may be closed but it’s definitely not settled. As they get downs to brass tacks, Jeong-hwan confirms, in no uncertain terms, that the driver is still alive. Alas, the plot thickens!

Jae-Wook shows up at Wook’s Gukbap and sneaks inside. There, he finds Bok-Gi sitting and drinking soju. She mentions the past and finally they open up and talk about what happened between them.

Specifically, she brings up how Byung-Jun met the President 3 times in the past. This led to Jae-Wook’s parents killing themselves and Byung-Jun coming out victorious in the wake of all this bloodshed.

As Bok-Gi walks over, the pair say their goodbyes after she kisses him tentatively. They obviously have a lot of history but time has passed for them both and they’re not the same people they once were.

Meanwhile, Joo-Eun heads out to pick up some drinks but when she returns to the agency, finds a masked figure there waiting for her. Cornering the assailant, she’s overpowered and knocked out. She manages to ring Jeong-Hwan though, who heads over to help her.

As we cut to the assailant outside, it turns out the culprit is Soo-Jin. She phones GK and confirms that she’s “got it.” It turns out GK have another mole inside the station. Given this is someone working closely with Detective Kim, it doesn’t look good for him.

Just as the episode ends, Joo-Eun asks Jeong-Hwan if he was the one who killed President Choi’s driver.

The Episode Review

For a spy thriller, Joo-Eun and Jeong-Hwan really are pretty lousy at their jobs! The former in particular just seems to get dressed up and then breaks her disguise – and cover  more often than not.

Meanwhile, Jeong-Hwan’s affection for Joo-Eun sees him marching head-first into trouble, like we saw earlier in this episode.

That’s to say nothing of the complicated web of political drama encapsulating this one, with everything revolving around President Choi’s ledger and our characters working to stop – or encourage – everything spiraling out of control.

This wrestle for power works quite well but Bok-Gi and Jae-Wook continue to be the most endearing characters. Thanks to their struggles and issues in the past, this helps build them both up as really interesting players.

For now though, the show leaves the door wide open for the future episodes to come.