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Disney Plus Hotstar released the first four episodes of its latest K-drama, The Tyrant. The spy thriller starring Kim Seon-ho, Cha Seung-won, Kim Kang-woo, and Jo Yoon-su, was dropped on August 14, 2024. The Tyrant is a four-part series, however, the release date of the second part hasn't been announced yet.
The Tyrant episode 1 opens with Head One Japan being hired by the NIS to invade Dr. Jonas' lab in search of an unapproved serum program. Although Jonas' crew makes every effort to destroy everything, they manage to leave one final sample, which ends up in the NIS' possession.
Director Choi (Kim Seon-ho) is notified by Jonas's personnel, and he chooses to handle it after meeting his spymaster—this project was called "The Tyrant Program". Throughout the four episodes of the first part, it is evident that Director Choi would go to any length to secure the program from falling into the wrong hands.
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Meanwhile, Lim Sang (Cha Seung-won) is a former secret agent turned into a mercenary, who is asked to kill everyone associated with the project. Paul ( Kim Kang-woo), an agent from the US intelligence agency, is hellbent on securing "The Tyrant Program" at any cost. However, Chae Ja-gyeong (Jo Yoon-su), known as Mr. Chae's daughter, is an assassin, who is on her own hunt amidst all chaos.
However, part 1 ends as Director Choi shoots himself in the head and dies with all the secrets about the superhuman serum, "The Tyrant." However, it is yet to be confirmed if Kim Seon-ho will return in part 2 as Director Choi or if his character was permanently closed.
The Tyrant delivers a stellar show of grit, thrill, action, and bone-chilling torture scenes
Episode 1 establishes the main characters as they hunt "The Tyrant Program." Paul is seen torturing a man at a warehouse when his US Intelligence colleagues inform him to retrieve the superhuman serum from Korea. They tell Paul that, unlike the US variant, the serum created by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) can infect the subject after coming in physical contact.
Once injected into a human's body or coming in touch with human skin, the serum works like a virus and takes control of the human, turning him into a powerful monster. Paul sets out to get his hands on the serum. Meanwhile, episode 2 shows that a humanoid monster attacks a villager in a forest.
The villager tries to run and while the monster is about the attack, it explodes as soon as the sun's rays hit its body. The villager then gets infected by the virus as the blood of the humanoid monster splashes on the villager's face. Here, Lim Sang (Cha Seung-won) enters and assassinates the infected villager and his wife.
The episode then shows how Mr. Chae's daughter is hunted by goons after she gets betrayed by her own group. The Tyrant is about betrayal over betrayal. Director Choi orders his men to hunt Mr. Chae's daughter and kill her as she broke the safe that had the "Tyrant" serum hidden in it.
Meanwhile, episode 2 reveals that Lim Sang was hired by Director Choi's men to execute any loose ends. Paul and Director Sa, the NIS representative, are seen planning to bring Choi down as only he knows where the serum is hidden.
In the opening scene of The Tyrant episode 3, Lim Sang is torturing Mo-yong's right-hand guy and kills him once Lim Sang learns Mo-yong's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Director Choi's men discover that the code has been manually altered when they attempt to unlock the vault that was supposed to have the serum.
Chae Ja-gyeong aka Mr. Chae's daughter is seen sparring with Hangom and his goons as she asks for Mo-yong's whereabouts. After killing his men, she attacks Hangom and tortures him to reveal the location. Hangom tells her that Mo-yong is in Busan before dying at the hands of Ja-gyeong.
Director Choi and Paul face off beside a river where Paul detains the former. Later, Director Sa from NIS tells Paul that Director Choi (Kim Seon-ho) is a dangerous and shrewd man who wouldn't stop at anything to achieve his goals. He tells Paul how Director Choi got his professor and Doctor Jonas, who helped set up the team to create the serum.
Episode 3 of The Tyrant ends with Mo-yong eating at the NIS cafeteria as a stunned Director Sa looks at the CCTV footage. They plan to bring Mo-yong in to interrogate Director Choi as he is the key to Choi's plans.
The Tyrant episode 4 and ending explained
The Tyrant episode 4 recap opens with Ja-gyeong showing up at Song's headquarters. After a decade of knowing her, he says the bounty was not personal and that he was also requested to place one on Mo-yong.
Lim Sang appears out of nowhere, killing everyone apart from Ja-gyeong, whom he threatens with a gun. She tells Lim Sang that she only wants to kill Mo-yong and no one else. Lim Sang gets a message from Director Choi's men that Mo-yong was found at the NIS cafeteria and he heads there with Ja-gyeong.
Meanwhile, while fighting with Paul and his superhuman agents, the serum vial accidentally breaks, infecting Ja-gyeong. Lim Sang manages to kill Paul's superhuman agents and the NIS director decides to take Ja-gyeong to the safe house since she has been infected. But they get stopped by Paul's superhuman agents since they couldn't get killed so easily.
Meanwhile, Lim Sang kills Paul while the Tyrant virus takes control of Ja-gyeong's body. She matches the speed and skills of Paul's superhuman agents and manages to kill them. Lim Sang decides to shoot Ja-gyeong as the virus is dangerous, however, the bullet doesn't affect her.
Director Choi turns on the lights, causing her to writhe in agony just like the humanoid monster in episode 2. He explains to Lim Sang that the longer the Tyrant virus remains inside of the host, the more unpredictable and powerful it gets. The virus takes control of the host once it enters the brain, however, it can be killed with sunlight or any strong light.
Meanwhile, Ja-gyeong seems to retain her human consciousness despite the virus taking control of her body. It becomes her third personality which shocks Director Choi and Lim Sang. In the end, we see Director Sa trying to arrest Director Choi and threaten him with torture to get all the details about the superhuman serum. However, Director Choi shoots himself in the head.
The end credits show a little Ja-gyeong from 15 years back, who shows up at Mr. Chae's shop at night. As he tries to find her some food, her eyes turn back, hinting that she has always been infected by the serum. This further explains how she survived the bullet to her head and multiple physical injuries even before the serum infected her at the NIS. But, this will be revealed and confirmed in part 2.
The Tyrant part 1 is available on Disney Plus for global streaming.
