Tempest

Tempest is a gripping political action/thriller with an incredible cast (lots of deliciously powerful women… and John Cho!).

It is wonderful to see Jun Ji Hyun back. As compelling as ever, she has incredible chemistry with Gang Dong-Won who is brilliant as a mercenary turned bodyguard (love this trope).

Add to that, high stakes and real-world significance and you can see why Tempest became a must watch drama.

While it started far stronger than it ended, I very much enjoyed this show.

In its best moments, Tempest was breathtaking. A sequence on a train early on in the drama is truly stunning… one of the best kdrama scenes of the year.

The trouble with pulling real world issues into a story such as this is that it becomes hard to pick your “big bad” without falling into politically sensitive waters.

For the most part, Tempest navigates this issue. However, choices made in the third act rob the show of a lot of its narrative power.

Politics and corruption aside, I will remember Tempest for the chemistry between Seo Mun Ju and Baek San Ho.