The Whirlwind – K-drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

The Hearing 

The Whirlwind episode 9 begins with Su-jin calling Sang-woon a few minutes before the hearing and informing him everything is ready. They have the evidence and civil organisations on standby. She tells him word for word everything to say at the stand. 

She orders him to say that on the fateful night of November 17th, Dong-ho came to him, distraught over his upcoming arrest the next day. Sang-woon gives a passionate statement about how Dong-ho came to seek his help to see President Jang II Jun and beg for mercy.

However, according to Sang-woon, President Jang II Jun refused to give him an audience. Forced into a corner, Dong-ho then switched his plans and confessed to Sang-woon that he would make  President Jang II Jun and make sure South Korea had a new president by the next day.

Yeon-suk tries to use her influence to prevent the National Assembly members from being swayed by Sang-woon’s false testimony, but unfortunately, Su-jin has already sunk her claws into them. Dong-ho holds a press conference challenging Sang-woon’s testimony, but it only serves to incriminate himself further.

Sang-woon brings up evidence that Dong-ho went to the Blue House on the night of November 18th. He also makes it clear that he was not at the Blue House when the President collapsed. As for his relationship with Su-jin, he says they have always been friends, and she was the one who convinced him to come forward with the ‘truth.’  The more Donh-ho denies Sang-woon’s statement, the deeper the hole he digs for himself.

Su-jin watches the drama with interest and decides it is time to contact Sang-cheon and have him request Dong-ho’s impeachment. Meanwhile, she also organises protesters to call for Dong-ho’s impeachment outside the Blue House. She also threatens Chairman Park and has him call Jung-gwon to release Jang-seok. 

After his release, Jang-seok visits Dong-ho at the Blue House and promises him to go all the way. Even though Jang-seok is torn between his duty as a prosecutor and his friendship with Dong-ho, he understands what should happen. At the same time, Dong-ho expects Jang-seok to remain honorable and his only request is that he must take Su-jin down with him.

During the hearing, Jang-seok admits he has doubts about what happened on the night of November 18th. He basically puts a nail in Dong-ho’s coffin, just as Su-jin had expected. She revels at Dong-ho being taken down by his only friend. As things get hotter, Dong-ho meets with Yeong-ik and records the meeting.

In the meeting, he promises Yeong-ik half of his power if he gets Su-jin to back down. As they discuss, the National Assembly passes the motion to impeach Dong-ho, and Su-jin starts counting her eggs as the Acting President.

Yeong-ik is hesitant, but Dong-ho threatens him with the possibility of Su-jin teaming up with Sang-woon and coming for them. Upon hearing and getting the recording of Dong-ho promising to give him half his power, Yeong-ik gets motivated enough to help Dong-ho and dismiss his impeachment. 

On the other hand, Su-jin publicly comes for Yeong-ik after Sang-woon asks her to. In a press interview, she promises to deal with corrupt chaebols, sending a message of warning to Yeong-ik. She then sets a meeting behind Yeon-suk back at the Blue House with the Former First Lady and the cabinet members. However, Yeong-ik gets to Hyeon-su and he convinces his mother to lie and protect Dong-ho to save himself. 

The Former First Lady switches sides and publicly announces that Dong-ho came to see him and not  President Jang II Jun on the fateful night of November 18th.

She effectively clears him of any suspicion and asks President Jang II Jun’s supporters to give Dong-ho a chance. Su-jin is hocked given this happens at the event she planned to gain  President Jang II Jun’s approval from the grave. 

However, all hope is not lost, as the third impeaching hearing is yet to happen. This time, the Constitutional Court of Korea justices will have to vote, but just like the public, most of them are on the fence, unsure about what to believe. Dong-ho believes there is time to persuade them, and so does Su-jin.

She already knows that four out of the nine Justices are on their side, but they need two more to win. She, Mang-il and Pil-gyu quickly find dirt on the justices and use it to threaten them to vote against Dong-ho.

In the meantime, Yeong-ik also uses the bullets in his gun to coerce the Justices to vote for Dong-ho. Even Yeon-suk does her best to threaten the leader of the Justices with his alleged affair with the Former First Lady.

However, Don-ho meets with Yeong-ik before the voting and expresses his disappointment in Su-jin always being ahead of them. He records Yeong-ik talking about how Su-jin is younger and got the dirt on the Justices. Yeong-ik also self-incriminates himself in the recording. 

The next day, Su-jin sits ready to enjoy her tea, confident she will have her way. However, she is given another shock when the Justices deny the motion to impeach Dong-ho.

To add salt to the injury, Dong-ho summons her to perform her duty as the Prime Minister and orders her around. She tells him that he is becoming the very thing he hates by getting in bed with the Daejin group. However, Dong-ho tells her that he is one step ahead and is taking things further. 

The scene cuts to Jeong-yeon giving Jang-seok the video Dong-ho took of Yeong-ik talking about their manipulation of the Constitutional Court of Korea. Jang-seok is surprised by Dong-ho’s determination to go under with the sinking ship.

Right on cue, we see Dong-ho holding a press conference and admitting that he went to teh Blue House on November 18th with the intention to kill President Jang II Jun.

The Episode Review

Dong-ho decided that when they go low, he will go lower, even if it means he has to dance with the devil on his deathbed. He is taking it all the way and incriminating himself, too. I don’t understand why he got rid of all copies of Su-jin admitting to killing President Jang II Jun.

That recording could have proved useful in this fight, but let us see if he has no other copy. What if he is keeping it as the last card up his sleeve. I think it is only fair that Su-jin pays for her part in  President Jang II Jun’s death as well. 

With three chapters left, the show is getting juicer as we wait to see how this epic battle ends. This is not a battle between good and evil but one between the lesser of two evils. What will be the cost of the battle when all is said, and done and the scores settled?