The Killing Vote – K-Drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

Twists and Turns

Episode 8 of The Killing Vote starts with Ju Hyun and Jo-dan going through online comments about the Killing Vote, describing how one person seems to be posting multiple comments through various accounts. Through Hyun’s research on keywords used in Number One Fan’s letters, she surmises that the next target is going to be a prisoner on death row.

Elsewhere, one of the detectives tails Min-soo and later puts a tracker on his car. Jo-dan is able to track both him and Seok-joo. Mu-chan then receives footage from Bae Gi-chul’s funeral where his wife was murdered. It shows a masked man spraying a CCTV camera with black paint. Mu-chan tries to find out if Elena’s murder could have been committed using a jump rope.

Worried about Min-soo’s involvement in the case, Hyun tries to dissuade Min from going to school but the latter adamantly goes anyway. Meanwhile, parts of the public have taken to protesting the government to reinstate the death penalty. Their chant is, “Our justice is rational”.

Chae Do-hee meets with Min Ji-young at her office where the latter gives her an offer to start her Killing Vote special segment once again. Do-hee asks how Ji-young knows there is going to be another vote but the latter keeps things vague.

The investigation team has set up in Seok-joo’s old house since it’s right across from Min-soo’s home. Jo-dan notices that Min-soo’s house uses up a suspiciously large amount of electricity. We then see that Jo-dan gets a text from a contact named Gaetal No 1. The message gives him a time and place for a meeting. He moves away to respond just as Mu-chan enters. Hyun tells Mu-chan she still doesn’t think Min-soo is Gaetal. Seok-joo and Chul-min arrive there as well.

At school, Min keeps texting Ji-hoon, who has been absent for two days. Min-soo turns up along with a police official who is looking for Ji-hoon for his mandated counselling. Turns out, his official address is empty and nobody lives there.

While driving around, Min-soo sees a lot of the public wearing Gaetal masks. He notices the truck following him but the detective, Sang-jae, passes it off as if he’s making deliveries.

As  Sang-jae returns to the stakeout at Seok-joo’s house, the team discusses why the next target should be a death row inmate. Jin-soo reveals that most death row prisoners do not actually get their sentence. Citizen’s taxes are then used to keep them fed and watered which could be the reason Gaetal is targeting them. They try to narrow down the death row inmates to people connected to Min-soo or Ji-young.

Someone wearing a Gaetal mask drives into a building and takes an elevator to an underground section. He enters a room where we see there are two more people in Gaetal masks. Then, a fourth Gaetal joins in on the large screen in the room. They discuss how all the death row inmates will be killed, one of whom is Gaetal No. 2’s mortal enemy. The inmates will receive bottled water and vitamin supplements as part of their medical check-up which takes place every six months. The ‘supplements’, given by none other than Ji-hoon’s grandmother, will react with chemicals in the water and kill the inmates.

Gaetal No. 1, who is on the screen, logs off. One of the other Gaetal’s wonders who he is but the others make it clear that identities are not to be revealed. In the end, one of the Gaetal’s removes his mask and we see that it is the taxi driver from Bae Gi-chul’s murder case, Ko Dong-gyu. He tries running after one of the other Gaetal’s cars but doesn’t make it very far.

Water bottles are distributed at the prison and Chul-min, who has been called back on duty there for some time, takes one of them and drinks from it. Yang Hye-jin, Ji-hoon’s grandmother, watches him.

Elsewhere, we see a young girl log onto an app on her phone where Gateal himself messages her. She is given the name of Gaetal 434. He tells her that everybody can be Gaetal and she will receive further instructions as and when needed. Other people also sign up on the app.

Ji-young and Min-soo are lounging at home when Mu-chan turns up. She initially ignores him but when Mu-chan pulls out a loudspeaker she is forced to let him in. Mu-chan and his team arrest Min-soo for the murder of Elena, despite Ji-young’s protests.

Min can’t get in touch with Ji-hoon but we see that he is at a library doing something on his laptop.

Seok-joo enters the interrogation room and speaks with Min-soo, while Mu-chan and Hyun watch. Seok-joo makes the claim that Min-soo is Number One Fan, who used to write him letters. Min-soo doesn’t deny it and even refers to Seok-joo’s replies as love letters. When asked if he is Gaetal, Min-soo bursts out laughing. When he implies who he would make his target, Seok-joo gets riled up and attacks him.

At the same time, Jo-dan tells Hyun that the electricity generated at Min-soo’s house has suddenly shot up. Hyun drags Min-soo out by the collar intending to make a search of his house. At that moment, the Killing Vote begins and surprisingly the target is shown to be none other than Mu-chan. Despite the dangers, Mu-chan wants to accompany Hyun to search Min-soo’s house before the voting ends. But Gaetal then reveals a video of a person who claims to have been wrongly imprisoned by Mu-chan and other officers in the station also seem to be swayed by this.

Meanwhile, Ji-hoon seems to be furiously working on his laptop. He watches a video of Dong-gyu smashing up screens in Gateal’s hideout. All of a sudden, he leaps up and rushes out of the library. He calls his grandmother, who he refers to as Gaetal No. 2, and tells her to stop the mission. Reluctantly, she holds back from giving the vitamin supplement to the prisoner seated in front of her. Ji-hoon reaches the main server room and begins working once again.

At the station, somebody throws a bottle at Mu-chan after watching the video accusing him of police brutality. Hyun reaches the end of her patience and pulls a gun on Min-soo, demanding that he stop the vote immediately. Ji-young runs in but Hyun shoots a bullet in the air.

Ji-hoon finally succeeds in his endeavours and the screens all turn black. Hyun, shocked by the turn of events, lowers her gun.

We then see a flashback to the past when Mu-chan entered his house to find his mother murdered. The murderer runs out before he can do anything. He holds his mother in his arms but suddenly she turns into Hyun instead. Mu-chan wakes up from the dream with a gasp. He goes out on a run and speaks to Jin-soo on the phone. We learn that his bosses have put him on leave due to the incident.

Jo-dan gets Seok-joo some food and updates him on the situation. He even shows him the video Gaetal uploaded afterwards, where he calls it a special edition and tells the audience that anyone can be Gaetal. Seok-joo asks Jo-dan to convey a message to Chul-min and ask him to get his book, the Discovery of Justice, from his cell.

Hyun visits Mu-chan and rearranges all the notes and images he has tacked on a wall. She also gives him the recording of the interaction between Seok-joo and Min-soo. Hyun says there was no record of any replies from Seok-joo to his Number One Fan.

Back at work, Hyun gets Jung Jin-wook’s phone as evidence and puts it into her desk drawer. She then goes through the letters Number One Fan sent to Seok-joo.

Meanwhile, we see the water company’s truck roll up to the police station. Jung Jin-wook passes by it as he’s getting transferred. Something about it grabs his attention. At home, Mu-chan looks at all the information laid out in front of him and thinks about everything. He figures out that the replies Min-soo was referring to were the Killing Vote itself.

Hyun visits Seok-joo in his cell and confronts him about the information she found — he was sent to solitary confinement on the day he got the first letter from Number One Fan but the first letter is missing from the bunch he gave to the police. She then gets a call from Mu-chan who tells her that Gaetal has been Seok-joo all along. Right at that moment, the water truck drives straight into the cell and breaks the wall down. Seok-joo pulls Hyun to safety and then gets into the truck and escapes.

The Episode Review

Episode 8 is definitely one of the more exciting episodes of this show. We get three big twists and each one makes things more twisted and more thrilling. The first is the reveal that there are at least five people playing the role of Gaetal at the moment. Not only does this make sense but it makes the chase for Gaetal all the more exciting.

The second is the reveal of Seok-joo being involved after all. I’m not entirely sure about this one particularly because of the amount of time the show spent on showing that Seok-joo isn’t Gaetal. There needs to be a really good reason and motive for this roundabout way of revealing Seok-joo’s involvement. More so because him being Gaetal disregards his work with Hyun and Mu-chan all this time as well as the relationships he’s developed with them.

The third and more minor reveal is that of Jo-dan’s possible involvement. This one comes as a shock particularly because of Jo-dan’s nature which doesn’t liken him to murder. Overall, the story is going in interesting places although the execution of a few bits was sloppy in this episode. Ko Dong-gyu’s role in the entire thing is still a bit unclear, for example.

That said, the K-drama is maintaining its focus on the public’s view of morality. It’s fascinating to see how Min’s friend who was previously unconcerned with politics now takes an avid interest in it. Another point of interest is Gaetal’s growing army of civilian Gaetals. It is nice to see the stakes increasing as we approach the last leg of the show.