Insider – K-Drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Truth

Episode 4 of Insider starts with the card turned over. It has no side and… wait… it’s a 2 of spades?! That means Yo-Han wins! It’s a shocking turn of events, something that both Monk and Yo-han didn’t see coming. The former is livid, slamming his fists down on the table in frustration.

Yo-Han meanwhile, gets to fight another day… and for some reason Sun-o has decided to help him.

At the infirmary, Yo-an meets with Sun-o and asks him outright just why he helped. It turns out “The Professor” was all a guise from Sun-o who orchestrated the whole thing. He knows that Yo-Han is gusty and ambitious, deciding to use that to his advantage and team up with the newbie.

Sun-o wants to be at the top of the gambling world, with the whole of Korea at his fingertips… and he wants Yo-Han to be in the big leagues with him.

Given Yo-Han has been made out to be a criminal, he doesn’t have many other prospects in life and as a result, decides to take up Sun-o’s offer. He’s also moved out of Doo-Chul’s cell and into the infirmary where he’s being treated for excessive sweating. It’s a nice little nod to the previous episode and an inside joke between the two.

Compared to sharing with the gang, this is luxury and Yo-Han even gets his own fancy suit to wear too. Once there, Sun-o encourages him not to honour the promise he made to the security manager and keep the 60% share for himself.

Before that though, Yo-Han is given a present… in the form of a chat with Tae-Gwang. He’s incapacitated, with vomit staining his mouth and confined to a wheelchair. He’s wet himself, and isn’t in a great state. Someone has poisoned his food and since then, Tae-Gwang been in this horrific state. And that’s all because he has the incriminating video of the Chairman.

After brushing this off with Sun-o, claiming the guy owes him gambling debts, Yo-Han returns to his cell. However, he does learn from Sun-o that Tae-Gwang has a USB in his possession somewhere with the video. Could he get it?

Before that occurs, he’s brought before one of the prison guards… but not really. It actually happens to be Doo-Chul and the others. Doo-Chul has learned that he owes 800 million won right now and intends for him to pay his debts. Part of that comes from setting up Sun-o and stabbing him. In doing so, it would clear Yo-Han of what he owes.

When the time comes though, Yo-Han double-crosses Doo-Chul, calling his bluff. He knows the old man intended on getting rid of him and Sun-o at the same time, something that he learned from the deaf inmate, who helps him out.

The man reveals all, how a guard fed back to Doo-Chul about the electrocution and how Sun-O helped him win. Because of this, Yo-Han is wise to what’s happened.

Doo-Chul’s boys charge at the pair, weapons drawn, and immediately start trying to stab them. Only, Yo-Han and Sun-O happen to be wearing makeshift protective vests. Doo-Chul has an actual shiv though, but they’re saved at the last second by the guards appearing and breaking things up. This interjection also comes at the expense of Yo-Han giving up 90% of his earnings to make this happen.

After, Yo-Han meets Su-Yeon who feeds back details about Dal-Soo’s case, including how the detective in charge commit suicide a week after it was wrapped up, which seemed to overlook crucial bits of evidence pertaining to Yo-Han’s grandmother.

Su-yeon’s target here happens to be Byung-Wook. She has ties to him stretching back 20 years and claims he’s responsible for “killing me once before,” as Su-Yeon says. She pleads with Yo-Han to join her, and eventually he agrees. His first task here though comes from taking over the prison.

Before that happens though, Yo-Han is taught how to scam (fix the deck) and fight. Although the latter results in Yo-Han being beaten badly. All of this is practice for reaching the big leagues, which is a completely different animal.

Once there, Sun-O explains about tips, the table and how the stakes are so high that they get numerous IOUs and even take body parts too. This explains why Yo-Han’s teeth were taken before.

That pain though is nothing compared to what he finds out from Su-Yeon next. It turns out the one who moved Dal-Soo’s body out into the fields was none other than Mok Jin-Hyung. There’s also talk of him being promoted too. However, it’s unclear whether this is a smokescreen to protect his own back.

Yo-Han meets Jin-Hyung and asks him as much. Thanks to Sun-o’s help in checking tells, he works out Jin-Hyung was hired by Byung-Wook to take out Dal-Soo and put him in prison. Knowing that he’s lying, Yo-han loses control and takes a scalpel knife that he’s had stashed away and proceeds to stab Jin-Hyung in the neck.

Blood pours out, as Yo-Han watches as his mentor dies before his eyes.

The Episode Review

The ending confirms to Yo-Han exactly what Sun-O told him before. Regardless of crime, coming out of prison is a death sentence unto itself as he’ll find it impossible to work in the prosecutor’s office again. Jin-Hyung’s lying finally comes back to bite him too, coming in the form of a gnarly death at the hands of Yo-han.

It’ll be interesting to see how this is framed going forward – will Yo-Han’s sentence be extended? It would make sense in a way because then Yo-han will be able to fulfil his mission and take over the prison.

There’s lots to like in this show and there’s a lot of tension. Most notably, the moments involving Doo-Chul and his gang certainly ramped up the tension.

Either way though, Insider continues to deliver the goods, and that cliffhanger ending leaves the door wide open for where this one may go next.