Queenmaker – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Campaign Begins

Episode 4 of Queenmaker begins with Do-hee being hit on the road. Dong-joo races off and manages to corner one of the cars, holding a whole bunch of men inside. Unfortunately, Dong-joo is hit from behind and knocked out, but he does manage to grab a lanyard belonging to one of the men from Eunsung.

When he regains consciousness, and Do-hee is taken to hospital, Dong-joo tells Kyung-sook that this is an order that clearly came from the top of Eunsung Group. This makes Kyung-sook’s mind up and she decides to run for Mayor. This isn’t a decision that’s favoured by her son and husband, who clearly express disappointment in this.

Kyung-sook’s husband is more worried than anything else but Kyung-sook is adamant that she’s going to win this election and stick it to Jae-min. It’s enough to convince her husband, who tells her to “stick it to those beasts”.

When she heads back to the hospital, Do-hee is awake and the pair decide to team up and force Jae-min out. Do-hee is going to serve as her campaign manager, and from all her years at Eunsung, she knows a thing or two about public image.

The pair shake hands and the campaign gets underway, as Kyung-sook officially declares her entry to the campaign. The people are no longer mad and rioting, but instead cheering for Kyung-sook. All of this takes place right outside Eunsung HQ too, with Chairperson Son watching from above and realizing that this means war now.

To try and settle the score and move things in their direction, Jae-min suggests that they organize a one on one debate to oust Kyung-sook’s inexperience in this field. However, there are other candidates to consider here too, including popular Assemblywoman Seo Min-jung, who has the lead in the polls and is easily the favourite. Kyung-sook is in dead last.

Do-hee’s campaign strategy is to basically turn all these men and women against one another, starting with the most popular candidate. She wants Seo to engage in a debate with Kyung-sook. In doing this, the aim is to get eyeballs on their campaign and secure funds to help with building up a viable plan to knock down the rest of the dominoes.

The smear campaign bgins and the opposition use a sweaty photo of Kyung-sook to try and diminish her reputation. Despite all of this, the debate is scheduled to go ahead and Do-hee is all for it. Carl Yoon is a gift from Chairwoman Seo, and shows up to help Jae-min’s campaign. He tells him not to go ahead with the debate and leaves.

The guy is a legend in these parts, and certainly knows what he’s talking about. He’s been instrumental in helping Chairwoman Seo build up a plan for the company, given her husband passed away when she was younger. Yoon is given free reign to mold Jae-min how he sees fit.

With Jae-min pulling out, the debate is set up for Assemblywoman Seo and Kyung-sook going one on one against each other on TV. This absence means that Yoon can work on bringing Jae-min up to being an absolute beast, knowing all his dirty secrets and then shielding that from the public to protect him. Jae-min still doesn’t fully trust the guy but Yoon is clever, and figures out that Jae-min is having an affair with Ji-yeon. He tells them not to get caught but doesn’t really say anything beyond that.

As for Chae-ryoung, she has her managerial duties at the store taken away from her by Chairwoman Son, who tells her to focus on the election instead. She needs to play the part of loving wife, as Son gives a scathing assessment of how she’s never done anything herself and this is for the best. Chae-ryoung is not happy and next time she sees her husband, she stabs him through the hand as she realizes that Jae-min slept with I-seul.

As for the Seo and Kyung-sook debate, the latter is helped out by Do-hee who gets her all dressed up in vibrant colours and with the emphasis on her smiling and projecting confidence through her eyes.

Do-hee next goes after a woman who has been funding Assemblywoman Seo’s campaign for a while. She brings up Seo’s plans to destroy the factory that she’s had, threatening her campaign money, and in turn forcing her hand as she decides to dig up as much dirt on Kyung-sook as possible and destroy her in a live debate. And as that live debate is about to get underway, the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

So Queenmaker doubles down on the political drama at the heart of this one as it seems like the rest of this show is going to be tackling the campaign trail and seeing Do-hee work her magic to make Kyung-sook an unstoppable candidate that will eventually take out Jae-min.

This episode, perhaps more so than the others, drags a bit and there’s a 10-15 minute lull in the middle of this that doesn’t really do much to push the narrative forward.

However, the acting and the drama are both decent and there’s plenty in the pipeline for the rest of the show to step it up a gear.