The Tyrant – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Pursuers – Episode 3 Recap

The recap of The Tyrant Episode 3 begins with Lim torturing Mo-yong’s right-hand man. He also chats about his life which reveals that he has retired but he works on the downlow for his expensive train car. Once the man reveals Mo-yong’s location, Lim kills him.

Meanwhile, Choi’s men try to open the vault and learn that the code has been manually changed. And it has been done by none other than Ja-gyeong who is searching for Mo-yong to enact her revenge. At his abandoned restaurant, she loses her stolen car as a cop patrols the area. But she finds her next vehicle instantly as she steals a car from a gullible driver. 

As for the NIS, the Vice Minister and Director Sa meet Paul who has finally arrived in Seoul. Paul acts entitled and angry as he scolds the Vice Minister for losing the sample despite providing him with resources to take over the program. We learn that there is an inner circle of the NIS for 40 years and now Choi is leading it.

The VM has always wanted to take it down but since he failed, Paul says he will take over and destroy Choi. This has the VM hesitating but Paul gives him a choice – his family or Choi.

Back to Ja-gyeong, she arrives at the hideout of Hangom, an arms dealer who runs with a Russian gang. The Russians are rude and cocky but Hangom is rightly scared of her. As they chat, she learns that her father was killed while on a job with the NIS. He almost gives her a gun and bullets for free but right when she is about to leave, two of the lackeys make a move on her.

She shoots everyone and then stabs Hangom as he knows about the bounty on her. He claims he wasn’t going to cross her and the bounty was from Mr. Song from Paradise. She doesn’t care as she insists on Mo-yong’s location. Once Hangom shares that he is in Busan, she kills the arms dealer.

Choi finally makes an appearance as Paul finds him by the riverside. It seems that they have known each other for over a decade and they have always been in rival parties. Paul gloats over killing Choi’s spymaster, Madam Gwan and claims Choi cannot do anything with the sample so might as well hand it over. Choi continues to feign ignorance and Paul is apologetic for the drastic measure he is about to take as he will be fired if he doesn’t clean up the mess.

Meanwhile, Lim arrives in Busan and enters Mo-yong’s apartment, guns blazing. But since Mo-yong is not present, Lim kills everyone and heads out.

Right then, Ja-gyeong pulls up. One of her personalities wants a cigarette and she stops in front of a couple of smoking bullies. Once she has her cigarette, she arrives on the floor. She crosses paths with Lim who is leaving and he recognises her. He is about to get his gun out but she believes he is a missionary and shoos him away. He is thrown off as he is not sure if she is the target. Downstairs, he looks at the CCTV footage and realises it is her.

On seeing that everyone is dead, Ja-gyeong walks off. Lim is about to go to her but the bullies run into him. They are all beaten up by Ja-gyeong and on not being able to find her, they take out their anger on him. But it cuts to Lim beating all of them up.

Next is a little bit of info-dumping as Director Sa doesn’t like that Paul has detained Choi. However, the VM believes he deserves it as the inner circle has been working on nuclear and bioweapons. He also points out that Choi is ruthless as he killed most of his people and reveals that the program is meant for an army of superhumans with even the Pentagon and the Chinese government being interested in it.

At that moment, Choi is busy being interrogated as Paul threatens to kill everyone in the inner circle if the sample is not handed over. He has also done a little digging into the program which is known as the Tyrant Program meant to cultivate the superhuman gene. He is amused to learn that Choi killed his own professor who set up the team and also had Dr. Jonas killed while he was transporting the last sample to the NIS.

The interrogation turns into an ego battle as Paul tells Choi that South Korea cannot handle such a program and that he is a threat to world peace. Choi counters that if countries like China are allowed to work on bioweapons, why can’t they? But just then, they are informed that Mo-yong has been found.

The VM is stunned to find Mo-yong untouched and eating in the NIS cafeteria. But Director Sa believes he is their ace as they can finally use Mo-yong to officially investigate and bring Choi into their custody. And that is the end of The Tyrant Episode 3 recap.

The Episode Review

The Tyrant Episode 3 finally has all the different groups and subplots heading towards the same climax that is about to take place in the finale. Ja-gyeong and Lim want to kill Mo-yong while Paul’s team likely believes that he has the sample as he stole it from Jonas.

As for the other half of the NIS, let’s just call them the outer circle for now, they apparently have a moral compass and regret letting Paul detain Choi. So, it seems they can now use Mo-yong to investigate Choi and his program. 

And apart from the quick pacing which makes this K-drama the perfect bite-sized thriller, it is the narrative structure which perfectly scratches that itch – by setting up a plot twist and instantly giving us the reveal. Like what’s going on with Ja-gyeong? Here you go, this segment is all about her. Oh, she is looking for Mo-yong? Well, the next segment shows him and all the drama surrounding him. 

But Paul’s character still feels slightly off. The show keeps portraying him as a “savage” but so far he has been trying to break down Choi by threatening to kill his inner circle… the same Choi who killed a couple of his own men and his professor and the lead scientist to cover up his tracks. So, what’s the game plan here, Paul?