Precarious Alliances

Yeong-ro holds up the detonator as evidence against Soo-ho’s assurances that he plans to leave quietly. Yeong-ro doesn’t buy the remorse in Soo-ho’s words or expression and makes a break for the chapel.

Yeong-ro is held captive by Soo-ho, who tells her that he doesn’t want to hurt her and that he only wants to help. He also confesses that he can’t protect her from the pain she’s going through, which is driving him crazy.

Neither of them sees Chung-ya, who had been scouting the chapel’s secret passageway with Comrade Joo, watching from the doorway.

Gang-mu rallies the girls to help him ask the matron if she’s also a spy plant. It earns him the full force of her anger. ..

Soo-ho drags Gang-mu to another dorm room before punching him square in the face. Gang-mu explains that he didn’t instigate Yeong-ro’s antics.

Gang-mu’s theory that the North will value the lives of their spies more than the money the South is likely dangling before them has been a topic of discussion between the two sides for some time now. Soo-ho, barely placated, broaches Gang-mu’s theory again. Gang-mu rules out the chance that the ANSP will accept Soo-ho’s surrender when even the lives of their own citizens are forfeit in their power grabs. He asks if Soo-ho thinks that the North will value their spies’ lives more than the money the South is likely dangling before them.

Soo-ho tells Gang-mu that he is willing to cooperate with the police now, in order to get indisputable proof through Han-na.

Chief Ahn addresses the press, informing them of a new development in the hostage situation. He reveals that supplies are being sent in with the hope that hostages will be released in return.

The spies are using the hostages to prolong the situation, but ANSP is doing everything it can to get them released. The truth is more clear than ever at the ANSP base. Tae-il instructs Soo-ho to make it look like the spies are prolonging the situation despite our best efforts. The gist: no hostages are to be released.

Chung-ya confiscates the detonator and threatens to kill Soo-ho herself if he doesn’t reacquire some revolutionary spirit. She also orders the release of 30 hostages in order to spite Tae-il’s treatment of their spies. ..

Han-na is sent in with the supplies and Soo-ho takes her to Gang-mu under the pretext of anger at how they last parted. Han-na is a messenger who is sent to Gang-mu with supplies. Soo-ho takes her there under the guise of being angry at how they last parted. ..

Meanwhile, a reporter disguised as a food delivery driver secretly records the inside of the ANSP base. ..

Han-na is caught up on the situation and Soo-ho tells her to bring him proof by the next day when he will demand more supplies.

The gang-mu requests a minute alone with Han-na, calling Soo-ho “comrade” and Han-na his fiancé in the same breath to gain some sympathy. Soo-ho is shaken enough by his use of the term to kick them both out of the room almost immediately.

At Mi-hye’s boutique, Seong-sim counts the number of virgins in the dorm. Mi-hye balks at her inclusion of Chung-ya, prompting Seong-sim to recount the story of a man that saved Chung-ya when she fell while hiking through snowy mountains. According to Seong-sim, they spent the night in a cave together before parting ways and Chung-ya has been pining for him ever since. A flashback to the incident shows us what appears to be the same night Chung-ya asked Soo-ho to sell her his necklace. Seong-sim: At Mi-hye’s boutique, I counted the number of virgins in our dormitory. Mi-hye objected when I mentioned Chung‐ya; so I recounted her story: A man saved Chung‐ya when she fell while hiking through snowy mountains. They spent the night in a cave together before parting ways and Chung‐ya has been pining for him ever since. A flashback shows us what appears to be the same night she asked Soo‐ho to sell her his necklace. ..

As Han-na guides 30 students out of the dorm, Comrade Joo escorts Bun-ok to the bathroom. She pokes her head back out to observe him rustling through the dead drop goods, which are now hidden in the opposite room.

Soo-ho is going to leave in nine days, and Yeong-ro wants to know why. Gang-mu tells her that Soo-ho is going to leave because she’s in love with him. Yeong-ro is surprised, but he agrees to keep it a secret.

Sang-beom sneaks into the bathroom and accosts Bun-ok, trying to get her to reveal the location of the dead drop goods. She screams and he hits her, but the sound gets Comrade Joo’s attention. Coming to investigate, Comrade Joo hears Bun-ok explain her family situation while condemning Sang-beom.

Sang-beom was raging and Comrade Joo stepped in, pulling him off Bun-ok and beating him. Only stopping when he saw the distress on Bun-ok’s face, Comrade Joo dragged Sang-beom away while Bun-ok cleaned herself up and found the matron’s radio. ..

Chief Ahn orders the release of the hostages to be taken to the ANSP’s interrogation rooms. Reporter Gal spots the cars full of girls and tails them. Han-na gets to work on securing evidence, bugging the ANSP base. ..

Yeong-ro and Gang-mu are in a restaurant when Yeong-ro slides up to her and asks her to use him as a way out. Yeong-ro tells her that Chung-ya is a spy.

Aemin Party’s president called Tae-il at the ANSP base. Tae-il pretended that the hostages were released on his order to maintain an illusion of control. Tae-il made his own call to Soo-ho to vent his anger, mentioning the money Gang-mu theorized. ..

Chang-su returns to the base after hearing that Gang-mu was shot at by their own team. Tae-il doesn’t share Chang-su’s concern that Gang-mu will have figured out their scheme and won’t be easily silenced. Why? Tae-il gives a voice to Gang-mu’s fears and suggests rescuing Yeong-ro before killing everyone else in the dorm.

Han-na listens to Tae-il’s nefarious plan from her car while Reporter Gal videos the students, now blindfolded, being filed into the ANSP headquarters. Chief Ahn wants his agents to make them sign NDAs and then scare them to ensure their silence.

Gang-mu has finally gained a sense of urgency and takes Soo-ho to a dorm room in order to ask for the secret frequency she uses to contact Han-na. She confirms that she has collected proof but Chief Ahn, who found her bug, arrives with an entourage of agents.

Han-na kicks Reporter Gal’s video tape under her car seat before she’s dragged away. Gang-mu listens to her shouts, livid. He gets into a tussle with Soo-ho, who keeps trying to cling to his faith in the North.

That night, the matron re-approaches Gang-mu. Convinced that she isn’t a spy, Gang-mu comes to another conclusion: she works for the ANSP. She doesn’t dispute it, but she’s under no illusions either – she considers them evil tyrants and she has never ratted out her students. Gang-mu suggests that they save those students together and holds out her hidden key.

At the ANSP headquarters, Reporter Gal denies planting Han-na’s bug, and we hear his screams as his torture session begins. Han-na is locked away in a cell, isolated from the rest of the staff.

The matron and Gang-mu’s plan begins. Once the hostages have gone to sleep, Yeong-ro sneaks across the room and feigns sleep near the matron. The matron nods at Gyeong-ja, who then asks to go to the bathroom. None of the spies are inclined to allow it until Chung-ya takes pity on her and asks to go too.

As Chung-ya leaves with a group of students, the matron slips her key into Yeong-ro’s hand. Gang-mu also uses the opportunity to tell Byeong-tae that they’ll be escaping tomorrow, and he’ll be charged with handling Comrade Joo.

The next day, Soo-ho found the matron leading the hostages through an aerobics session. He forced them to cease and the matron complained about their conditions. The students joined in, pleading to be allowed to wash up. Soo-ho caved and let them go in groups of ten with the condition that they don’t go above the second floor. ..

Yeong-ro quickly slips into the first group. Bun-ok is also among them and she appeals to Comrade Joo to let her get her toothbrush from her basement-level room. He’s sympathetic enough to escort her.

Yeong-ro, a high school student in Korea, retrieves her digital watch from the basement of her home in 207 and throws it through the locked gate sealing off the mechanical room. This event is significant because it is the first time that Yeong-ro has been able to access this part of her home since she was a child. ..

While Yeong-ro hides from their view, Bun-ok thanks Comrade Joo for saving her from Sang-beom, glad to have someone take her side for once. Yeong-ro’s watch starts beeping. When he goes down to investigate, Yeong-ro sneaks upstairs and locks himself in the surveillance room. ..

With Comrade Yeong-ro missing and the girls unaccounted for, Joo and Soo-ho set out to search for her. They leave the cafeteria, but are quickly pursued by Gang-mu. Soo-ho manages to shoot Gang-mu in the shoulder before she can kill them both. Joo grabs Yeong-ro’s gun and shoots her three times, killing her. The hostages are led outside through the chapel’s secret passageway.

Chung-ya hears them shuffling past the bathroom. She knows that Gang-mu is coming for her, so she quickly grabs a knife from the kitchen and heads to the bathroom. Before she can act, Gang-mu comes in and pretends that the ANSP has come for her and Yeong-ro. He leads Chung-ya to their “rendezvous point” in the fourth-floor cabin and locks her inside. ..

The three hostages, Bun-ok, Sang-beom, and the hostage taker, took different actions to loot the dead drop goods. Bun-ok looted the most items, while Sang-beom and the hostage taker looted the same items. This suggests that there is a power struggle going on between these three hostages.

Yeong-ro is still inside the mechanical room, and byung-tae and gwang-tae are looking for him.

Soo-ho combs the matron’s office. He finds no trace of Yeong-ro until she accidentally knocks over a stack of tapes and he follows the noise to the hidden door. Unable to open it, he starts calling for her, desperate to get to her before Comrade Joo does.

Yeong-ro stays quiet. Soo-ho starts using the series of knocks Yeong-ro devised when she was hiding him, rattling her resolve. Gang-mu enters the office and brawls with Soo-ho. Soo-ho gains the upper hand, landing punch after punch, until he’s distracted by Yeong-ro coming up behind him with an ornament raised to swing at him in her shaky grip.

Gang-mu uses the distraction to pin Soo-ho down and pull out a gun. He keeps Soo-ho under his watch as they join the hostages at the main door. Byeong-tae takes over while Gang-mu disarms the boobytraps. The hostages are within reach and Soo-ho is terrified as he and Yeong-ro lock eyes. ..

Chung-ya, not so easily detained, appears with the detonator in hand. Gwang-tae doesn’t heed her instruction to stay put and pushes the door ajar. She makes good on her threat to blow up the dorm and we end with a bang. Chung-ya had threatened to blow up the dorm if Gwang-tae didn’t stay put, but he pushed open the door and she detonated the explosives. ..

The Episode Review

The water collected by Snowdrop rippled with this episode – decisions had actual consequences and the pace never dragged.

The dorm girls are back in the spotlight, this time playing a more important role than just background scenery in a political deadlock. Their banter and small-but-sneaky tactics help to balance out the uptight spies/agents who took their place at the helm of the story. ..

Tenuous alliances are forming, and new enemies are being singled out in the new ecology of the Hosu dorm. ..

Yeong-ro and Soo-ho testing the boundaries around what they’re willing to do to protect and thwart each other brought an interesting intensity to their dynamic. Mercifully, without the weird sugar-coating that we saw in Episode 7. Jung Hae-in is pulling most of the emotional weight. Blackpink’s Ji-soo is still green but, fortunately, not stiff.

We’re seeing the true colors of the ANSP on full display. It’s actually a little abrupt considering that the organization was portrayed as quite mild in the lead up to this point. If JTBC had begun the drama on this foot perhaps they could have avoided some of the controversy. Is it too little too late? That’s for domestic viewers to decide.