Vagabond
We begin episode 10 of Vagabond with the President delivering his speech. While applause rings out, we jump back to Cha and Hae-Ri who manage to slip away thanks to the lights going out completely. As bullets rain down and the soldiers head out the building in hot pursuit, the NIS agents rally together to thwart the threat they face. Managing to scramble inside the safe room, the soldiers outside plan to blast their way in while Tae-Ung and the others jump for cover as the door blasts open. Guns cocked, the agents hold their positions while the assassins creep closer to them. Cha then suddenly takes a chance and tells them about the timer and the bomb. As they stare one another down, the time reaches zero and the bomb blows in the basement. The explosive happens to be C4, thanks to Lilly’s remarks courtesy of her expert eyes and ears, and the surviving NIS agents in the basement manage to make it to safety with Kim Woo-Ki. Tae-Ung, meanwhile, stays behind after admitting to Hae-Ri that he also was given the order to kill her. He decides to stay behind and buy them some time for now. Before he leaves, he gives Hae-Ri a number and the code-name “Vagabond” before she catches up with Cha and Kim. They make it to safety and are immediately escorted away by a mysterious figure while the President ends his speech. News of the escape gets back to the NIS too with Min immediately going after Joo-Cheol following what happened. However, Joo-Cheol gains the upper-hand and manages to hit Min several times before another guard interjects. Unable to kill him there and then, Min instead decides to have his food poisoned. Despite rushing him into hospital, Joo-Cheol dies in the ward. With checkpoints set up around the perimeter of Morocco, Jessica gives the orders to take out the suspects when they’re found. On the border, the lady shows him her forearm which prompts the guard to think twice and let them go. It turns out this is all the handy work of Edward Park who kills Ibrahim, the man in charge of the police in Morocco. This causes Jessica to reel and take drastic measures. Tae-Ung is held up at gunpoint in the shooting range by Han-Ki who asks him where Kim is. Getting nowhere, he fires, grazing the man’s cheek and leaving a trickle of blood to ooze down his face. Han-Ki forces Tae-Ung to call a press conference, with the intention of giving Tae-Ung his job back under the pretense that he leave a trail for them to follow. Meanwhile Cha and Hae-Ri sail to safety on a freighter ship. After quietening Kim Woo-Ki down, Hae-Ri and Cha share a tender moment together while Tae-Ung takes to the stage and lies his way into framing Cha and Edward Park as the culprits of the plane crash. Kwang-Deok is having none of it though and shouts incredulously at the room to see reason and figure out what he has – the NIS have been bought out by John & Mark. This inevitably sends shock waves across to Edward Park who is arrested. As Hae-Ri and Cha catch wind of what’s happened, they phone through to the number given and Hae-Ri gives the code-name Vagabond. As they’re given further instructions, Jessica meets up with Edward Park and asks for privacy from those working for her. Jessica’s plan was always to take over Dynamic Systems and with Edward Park in position of CEO. The only terms she has is to hand over the co-pilot. Instead, he has some choice words for her, backed up by Cha who takes to the screens of the watching crooked NIS agents where he tells them there’s hell to pay. With more drama and a tense dose of action early on, Vagabond continues to deliver the goods in its latest episode. With plenty to digest and many questions left hanging over this one, this exciting Korean drama looks set for a dramatic set of episodes to follow. While the series is pretty illogical at times and the shaky camera work continues to hold this back from being a more polished and robust title, there’s enough here to make for a thoroughly enjoyable action thriller nonetheless. Quite what will happen next remains to be seen but right now, Vagabond continues to offer up high-octane action with a decent burst of drama for good measure. Roll on next week’s set of episodes!
