Tempest Season 1 Episodes 1-3 Review: Conspiracies Abound in this Gripping Introduction

Tempest Season 1 Episodes 1-3 introduce a gripping political drama complete with a cast of veteran Korean actors and an enticing central conspiracy. 

Tempest stars Jun Ji-hyun as Seo Munju, a career diplomat thrown into her native country’s political arena, and Gang Dong-won as Baek San-ho, a former mercenary who has made it his mission to protect Munju from whatever threats she may face.

In the first three episodes alone, these threats are numerous, including but not limited to: an assassin who nearly kills her along with her husband Jang Junik (played by Park Hae-joon), a potential nuclear arsenal and war waged by North Korea, American intervention, and Junik’s family who are fighting for his inherited wealth.

Although the connections between each of these threats that swirl around Munju’s presidential campaign are not quite clear yet, the show has managed to set each one up at a brisk pace, while still keeping Munju’s grief and inner turmoil at the center of it all. 

Jun keeps her emotions understated as Munju, who refuses to let anyone see her weakness, which makes the audience watch her ever so carefully. Both her quiet demeanor and unpredictable political chess moves makes Munju a very interesting protagonist, supported by a cast of equally intriguing characters. 

Sparks fly between Munju and Sanho as he swoops in to save her just in time and they piece together the plot that resulted in the assassination of her husband. Sanho is an intriguing character, but in the first three episodes, he does not amount to much more than the bodyguard archetype with a past that he is not proud of.

There will hopefully be more time to flesh out his background and his work as a mercenary, but the series does well to focus on Munju’s story first before it moves beyond. The visuals follow what most political/spy dramas have done before with a primarily blue and grey palette.

However, when the action comes in, the camera tracks it closely, especially whenever Gang is on screen, giving us a better sense of Sanho’s deadly capabilities. 

The more interesting character who needs a lot more time on screen in future episodes is Munju’s cutthroat mother-in-law Lim Oksun (Lee Mi-sook), with whom Munju makes a deal to launch her campaign. Oksun is a kingmaker and cunning advisor to the honest and earnest Munju, and their battle of wits is riveting.

The rest of the cast, including Junik’s scheming brother Junsang (played by Oh Jung-se), and Munju’s staff members Miji (Lee Sang-hee) and Changhee (Joo Jong-hyuk), all are given their time to shine, but for how important he is to the story, Junik seems to get the short end of the stick.

Junik’s assassination is the inciting event of the show, but apart from some brief moments in Episode 1 of fear and an otherwise nervous demeanor, we don’t really get to know him or about his relationship with Munju. There is one scene where Munju is pregnant in a flashback.

Unfortunately, it happens quickly, and feels shoved in along with the rest of the story. Despite this, Munju’s miscarriage is clearly an experience that traumatized her, as she hints to it in Episode 3.

At the heart of the show’s political drama is rising tensions between North and South Korea. North Korea is reported to have nuclear capabilities far beyond what anyone could have predicted, causing alarm to both their neighbor, as well as the United States (who seems to be led by a brash Bush-like president). 

Along with these rising tensions is the campaign for the reunification of both North and South Korea, a longstanding goal of both governments, which is now under threat of nuclear war. Munju is running for president to uncover the connection between Junik and Deputy Secretary of State Anderson Miller (John Cho) in exposing the nuclear threat.

Episodes 1-3 of Tempest set up quite a few exciting plots, especially as Episode 3 ends with a huge cliffhanger. It remains to be seen if the show can stick the landing while balancing Munju and Sanho’s character development.

 

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Tempest airs new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+ and Hulu.

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