Tempest Season 1 Episodes 6 and 7 Review: The Tension Ramps Up

Tempest Season 1 Episodes 6 and 7 ramp up the tension with a slate of shocking reveals, bringing out impressive performances from both its leads, Jun Ji-hyun and Gang Dong-won.

Episode 6 opens with a new stage in Munju (Jun Ji-hyun) and Sanho’s (Gang Dong-won) relationship. They finally open up to each other and are at their most vulnerable, allowing both Ji-hyun and Dong-won to explore new aspects of their characters.

Episode 6 works especially well in focusing specifically on Munju and Sanho, as their relationship devolves very quickly after the beginning. Munju has learned not to trust anyone completely after learning about her husband’s other family.

Meanwhile, Sanho has learned to let down his guard around her. All the other plots tie back to both, and it makes for a much more cohesive narrative than previous episodes.

Jun Ji-hyun is finally given more to do than be calm and composed, and while her subtle expressions were convincing enough before, both Episodes 6 and 7 afford her a chance to really pull viewers into the chaos that is her emotional world right now.

The same is true for Gang Dong-won, as Sanho is allowed more feelings than just protectiveness over Munju, and instead has to deal with the much more complex betrayal from her planting a listening device on him. It’s an interesting turn in roles as both Munju and Sanho realize that they are lying to each other.

The series finally seems to find a quicker pace that works for it, and does not feel like it is switching between two different shows between all the family melodrama and the political turmoil.

Episode 7 finally brings all the various secrets together around another central character: the infamous Stella Young.

In a not-so-unexpected twist, Stella Young was an alias of Kang Hanna, Junik’s other wife, who has cunning written all over her. Her clear hatred for Munju and penchant for chaos makes her for an unfortunately one-note character, although Wong Ji-an seems to be a capable actress.

But in a much more unexpected twist, there is another Stella Young, none other than the also cunning Lim Oksun, Junik’s mother. 

Although both Episode 6 and 7 are nail-biting episodes, with well-choreographed action and a tense score, the plot has reached levels of intricacy that can lose viewers at certain points. There is potential to tie it all up with a nice bow in the final two episodes next week, but it might be difficult to stick the landing.

With all the shocking reveals, some of the interiority of the characters gets lost, especially in Episode 7, which does not give much room for the characters to breathe. Munju and Sanho’s tension that drove so much of the plot in the earlier episodes takes a backseat for this one, to the show’s detriment.

Despite being a Korean television veteran, Lee Mi-sook is not given nearly enough to do in these latest episodes, until the very end of Episode 7. It would also be interesting to see more of Junik’s brother, Junsang, who was foreshadowed as a potential threat to Munju’s campaign early in the show. 

Hopefully, having covered so much ground on the family front, the last two episodes will make room for the answers about the nuclear submarine and who will benefit from war in the Korean Peninsula. It would also be good to have resolution of Munju’s presidential campaign, but all this is a tall order for just two more episodes.

Tempest Season 1 Episodes 6 and 7 turn up the tension and strip down protagonist Munju to her most vulnerable, making for the most compelling performance from Jun Hi-jyun so far.

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Tempest airs new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+ and Hulu.

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