Tempest Episode 8-9 Review
Director: Heo Myung-haeng and Kim Hee-won
Date Created: 2025-10-01 23:22
5
Tempest Episode 8-9 Review: After seven episodes of build-up with political intrigue, international conspiracy and personal drama is brought to a head in 북극성. Starring Jun Ji-hyun as Seo Mun-ju and Gang Dong-won as San-ho, the drama has been a roller coaster of treason, aspiration and tentative hope. John Cho, Lee Mi-sook, Park Hae-joon, Kim Hae-sook and Yoo Jae-myung head up an impressive supporting cast, the direction is zippy and tense-making, and the screenplay by Jeong Seo-kyeong has kept it all sharp and twisty.
Now, as the story was about to end, I became less concerned with the fate of nations than about whether Mun-ju and San-ho are going to make it in a world hellbent on tearing them apart.
Tempest Episode 8 Recap
Episode 8 of Tempest starts with Mun-ju and San-ho barely escaping when Yu tries to frame and arrest them. Their flight sends ripples through the political set, with Chae plagued by disillusionment and suspicion after Mun-ju is implicated in not only espionage but also Jun-ik’s murder. The accusations to penetrate most deeply, however, also happen to involve a secret affair she has been carrying on with San-ho and that her enemies try to distort into “evidence” of her disloyalty.
Im Dujin’s death comes quickly after, as he is summarily disposed of now that his work is done. Silence, he is silenced with poison, the same stuff slinging beyond within the necktie, and then murder curses the finger pointing conveniently to Mun-ju. Yu’s mania to take her down only grows, fueled by his belief that the sins of her father cast a shadow over her present.
In the midst of the madness, San-ho takes Mun-ju into his confidence. He remembers seeing her for the first time, years ago, in Iraq: delivering remarks about peace while his life revolved around war. Her words sparked hope in him, and he now admits she has been his guiding light ever since. In turn, Mun-ju confesses how their clandestine relationship went to ruin when her mother-in-law discovered his and her intimate letters.
Saddened by the memory of her deceased husband, Mun-ju remembers his promise – that they would come to see the peaches together. Now all she has is sorrow, from the ruins of their lost child. Inside the urn, she finds a letter and a pen drive from Jun-ik. He wrote them a letter where he tells them their marriage had been breaking down for a long time and that he has a son from another woman, Eun-seong. But the USB pen drive contains more than his own secrets, it’s loaded with personal Redding financial ledgers and evidence that could bring down his mother’s empire.
As Mun-ju struggles to keep Hanna and Eun-seong out of danger, Ok-seon then dishes up a pedal-to-the-metal, no-holds-barred hit-and-run on Mi-ji. Even the ambulance that arrives to save her becomes a hostage, a means of blackmail, as Ok-seon demands Eun-seong in exchange for Mi-ji’s legs and life. Mun-ju will not bow, and as the children run for their lives, she slams on the gas, heading straight for Ok-seon.
San-ho, in the meantime, is chasing after Yu even as he learns more about the role of the U.S. ambassador in illegal arms deals that siphon cash among Idisha, America and North Korea. Meanwhile, Jun-sang learns the call to Pyongyang was not from Jun-ik but his own mother, and is left chafing at her betrayal.
The episode climaxes when the King of Idisha threatens war, bragging that if one of his people is killed, ten Americans will die. His new nuclear submarine is the weapon of choice as the world edges closer to destruction.
Tempest Episode 9 Recap
In episode 9 of Tempest, we get to know more about Ok-seon’s past. Left behind as a child in wartime, her hunger for power was born of years of deprivation and bitterness at being deprived. Elevated to privilege by her mother-in-law, she turned tragedy into opportunity, leveraging the death of her husband to enlarge her dominion and, in due time, position herself at the centre of the North Korean submarine gambit. Her dream is chilly in its clarity, overturn America using Idisha as bait and reconfigure the world’s power balance.
Meanwhile, President Chae decides to believe and entrust Mun-ju and San-ho, and removes Yu from his office on the pretext of fraud. But their troubles escalate when Anderson, frantic to head off calamity, learns that Idisha’s payments never arrived in North Korea. He thinks there is still a possibility of stopping the missile launch.
Mun-ju accuses Ok-seon, citing the evidence Jun-ik had found proving her mastermind role in everything. The confrontation becomes physical when Jun-sang shows up with a warrant for his mother’s arrest. His effort to bring her to justice proves costly, however, Ok-seon erupts, and Harlan ends up fatally injured. San-ho has to race to Mun-ju’s side and make sure she is under his protection, even though things are escalating into a terrible war.
In a nail-biting climax, a bomb is set to explode on the boat transporting them. San-ho seals himself in to curb the explosion, preferring to die instead of Mun-ju. She looks on in despair as the explosion happens around him, but through subtle hints, it’s suggested he might just have survived.
Afterwards, Mun-ju stands trial before her party’s ethics committee. They deride her on account of her blood and sleep with San-ho, but she attacks back with a speech that she could not help it with San-ho hothe loyalty rather than the self-serving politicians who govern. But despite heartbreak, Mun-ju has great resilience. President Chae gives her his hope for the future, telling her to jump into politics with both feet.
The last scenes show Mun-ju stepping in to run for the 22nd President of Korea, taking San-ho’s hope as her strength. The drama ends with a final shot of San-ho burying a necklace in the sand, and his relationship with Jung-joo is still an uncertain entity, but it’s out there, and it’s may be growing.
Tempest Episode 8-9 Review
Episodes 8 and 9 truly impressed me, and I’m safely able to give this finale a very strong score. For me, the most memorable part was when San-ho finally confides his first impressions of Mun-ju in Iraq. It was also more than just a sweet confession, it totally recast their dynamic for me. His words showed that their love hadn’t originated in secrecy or rebellion, but admiration and hope. Despite everything crashing down around them, they still were able to find meaning in each other, and I was really rooting for them even more.
An episode 8 bright spot was when Mun-ju went to the peach blossoms. That sequence hit me hard. The sense of the way she held her dead husband in memory, then found that letter and the buried truth about his son, felt like a double blow: grief along with betrayal. It was heartbreaking and yet necessary, as it gave Mun-ju a sense of clarity that propels her forward. I also found the subplot with Mi-ji’s accident to be cruel, but effective. Ok-seon’s brutality especially hit home here, and I couldn’t help but think about how much Mun-ju had suffered in one single episode.
Episode 9, however, is when the show finally peaked for me. Ok-seon’s back story didn’t make me pity her — it made me hate her even more. Yes, her pain accounted for her power-hunger, but it did not excuse her choices. Seeing Jun-sang attempt to arrest his own mother and then pay with his life was gut-wrenching. I remember that moment long after the episode was over; it’s just raw and tragic. It showed that in Tempest, no one is immune to the deadly effects of ambition and treachery.
And then there’s San-ho’s sacrifice. That bomb scene broke me. The way in which he unhesitatingly barricaded himself into that studio was both heroic and heartbreaking. I did think that we had lost him, really, and Mun-ju’s despair at the time echoed my own.
The ending made me hopeful that he might still be alive, but even if he’s not, it felt like this was the right note on which to end his character: a soldier who had always stepped up and put others before himself.” The speech Mun-ju made against the committee as he was dying gave me goose bumps. Watching her stand up straight there, refusing to be ashamed of what she loved or where she’d come from, was the perfect closure arc for her.
It was a really good time overall watching the final two episodes of Tempest. The highs and lows of emotions, the timing of reveals, the performances, all added up to one unforgettable finale.
