The Whirlwind – K-drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

The New Prime Minister 

The Whirlwind episode 8 picks up where we left off, with Su-jin becoming the new Prime Minister. In her acceptance speech, she gives the equality speech, but none of us buys it. She then visits Sang-woon and demands an apology from him.

She asks him to keep quiet and wait for her to deal with Dong-ho. Of course, Sang-woon has doubts, given that Dong-ho is the current President, but it’s best to trust the devil, you know, right? 

Meanwhile, Dong-ho forges on with his plan and sets a meeting with Yeong-ik, hoping to get the father to interfere between Su-jin and Sang-woon. For this favour, Yeong-ik asks that Dong-ho give one of his men a position as the Chairman of the NPS. He also explains that he needs funds from the National Pension Fund to influence his company’s stock price.

Yeong-ik blames Dong-ho for always messing up his affairs for more than a decade. He feels it is only fair that he gets compensated for the damages caused. As Su-jin expected, the prize is too much for Dong-ho so he opts for another method.

He records Yeong-ik talking about how the funds will be used to also solve his succession issue. He wants  Sang-woon to stay in prison while Sang-jin, his other son, takes over. Young-ik is unaware that Yeon-suk is on a call with Sang-woon and can hear everything.

After Sang-woon hears his father’s plan to betray him and allow him to go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, he sings like a canary. He cries while revealing the Macao account number used by the company for fraudulent dealings.

Immediately after getting back to the Blue House, Don-ho summons Jung-gwon and promises to make him the next minister of Justice if he launches an investigation into Namsan, Min-ho’s company. The investigation is launched with immediate effect, and Min-ho rushes to his wife to save him.

However, Su-jin learns that Sang-woon spilled the beans about the Macao account. Over the years, her husband has received 15 billion won from that account. Su-jin warns Min-ho to help the people in charge of the Namson accounting books and sneak them out of the country. 

However, after learning that Su-jin and her husband are on the move, Dong-ho calls for an emergency security meeting  and mobilises the force to arrest “insurgents trying to escape the country.” The military spares no resources and arrests the two men Min-ho was helping to flee.

In the meantime, Dong-ho tries to get Su-jin to leave the country so she won’t be able to save her husband but she refuses. Dong-ho gives her the same speech  President Jang II Jun gave him about standing in a quicksand and not asking for help.

With things going from bad to worse, Min-ho visits Sang-woon and implores him to save Su-jin. He asks Sang-woon to leave out Su-jin in his testimony, but the former says it is too late. Apparently, Min-ho also received money during the last election. The money helped Daejin secure votes for their people in the government.

After the meeting, a dejected Min-ho returns home and finds Su-jin crying while drinking. They talk about the what-ifs, and Min-ho admits he made a few mistakes. He tries to reach out to Su-jin but she instinctively pulls away from him. He then asks her to head to bed, he stays back looking at old photos and finds the one of him at a protest during their university days. 

The next morning, Su-jin wakes up to find a suicide note from her husband. She asks Mang-il to call the police, but he refuses. Mang-il convinces Su-jin that Min-ho dying is what is best for everyone, including the 50 political candidates who benefited from the subsidy Min-ho’s company received from Sang-woon.

Mang-il insists that this was what Min-ho wanted and had asked of him. As they talk, Su-jin receives a call informing her of her husband’s passing. In his suicide note, Min-ho asked to be remembered as the young man who fought against corruption and not the failed politician cum corrupt businessman. Su-jin mourns her husband and promises to remember him as the young Min-ho and avenge his death. 

During Min-ho’s wake, she meets with Sang-cheon, and they make plans to go after Dong-ho. In return for his help, she promises to make Sang-cheon’s dead father a martyr and help him get his supporters back.

As her first act of revenge, she sends Jang-seok a picture of Jeong-yeon buying the lethal drug that led to President Jang II Jun’s sudden declining health. Jang-seok meets with Jeong-yeon and asks her about it, but she denies it.

She insists that she needs to avenge her brother, and she knows Jang-seok will find out the truth soon. However, she hopes to slow him down until the other things in play come into focus. On the other hand, Jang-seok reminds her that he will stop at nothing. 

While in mourning, Su-jin visits Dong-ho and warns him that his time is up. Jeong-yeon rushes in to turn on the TV. According to the news, Sang-cheon held a press asking for an investigation into President Jang II Jun’s death. Su-jin cautions Dong-ho that he started the war, but she will finish it.

Already, a team of prosecutors are looking into the case and interviewing witnesses. Jang-seok is tasked with leading the team but Don-ho calls him asking for more time.

Jang-seok tries to convince Dong-ho to give up before it is too late. He is worried that Dong-ho thinks he is the only one who can fix the nation and is turning into President Jang II Jun. After failing to convince Jang-seok, Dong-ho takes a different measure and has him arrested.

The Episode Review

 Dong-ho is more determined than ever to give Su-jin what she deserves. He has not even given her time to enjoy being a Prime Minster. He has her running helter-skelter, putting out fires. The latest strike has hurt Su-jin, where it hurt the most, but he has also freed her from her husband’s mistakes. For all we know, Su-jin can claim to be unaware of her husband’s dealings with Sang-woon. 

At the same time, she is also giving Dong-ho a hard time by implicating him in the death of  President Jang II Jun. By teaming up with Sang-cheon, Su-jin has decided to damn it all. She will not back down or surrender, and it will be interesting to see how Dong-ho navigates this latest attack.

No one is more surprised than Jang-seok by Dong-ho’s approach to this case. By having Jang-seok arrested and dismantling his team, Dong-ho is tightening his own noose. Will he choke or once again survive, thanks to his wits?