The Escape of the Seven: War for Survival (2023) Episode 8

Episode 8 of The Escape of The Seven begins with a preview of Detective Kang’s death. Cheol-woo meets with Ji-man at a bar on Jeju Island for an update on Detective Kang. He enquires about who gave the order to make Lee Hwi-so the killer. Ji-man shows Cheol-woo a video of Ju-ran telling him she is Chairman Bang’s mistress and that things might end badly for them. 

Elsewhere, Kang Ki-tak rushes to Mathew Lee’s place after learning about the death of Detective Kang. They think he was killed after provoking Cheol-woo regarding the falsified evidence. In addition, they connect the incident to Ji-man, whom they know went to the Island. Mathew Lee thinks Ji-man is not the one pulling the strings and that someone else is behind him. He vows to find the mastermind using the seven.

Mo-ne’s assistants arrive at La-hui’s house to inform her that she has been asked to park and leave the house. They beg Mo-ne to do whatever it takes to get La-hui not to terminate the contract. Mo-ne remembers why La-hui signed her. She is not afraid to lie and cheat to get what she wants. Suddenly, Ji-man calls with some news that shocks Mo-ne.

Meanwhile, La-hui arrives at her office to find Jin-mo waiting for her. Jin-mo has terrifying news: all the people who died on the Island were subscribers of the Scarlet Letter. La-hui is puzzled since they carefully managed the list of participants. Jin-mo thinks someone hacked the list and worries they messed with the wrong person. The person is looking for people involved in her death through them. Jin-mo advises La-hui to keep her head clear and stop picking fights over petty feelings. He gives La-hui a burner phone, which they will use for communications. 

Erica, Myoung-ji’s daughter, dislikes Ha-na, her classmate. Myoung-ji tries to get her kicked out of school, but Erica learns she is Jin-mo’s daughter. Erica wants to be signed to Cherry Entertainment as an actor and confronts her mother. She knows that the person who poses as their father is not, and she and Philip do not have a father. Erica wishes Jin-mo was her father. He could love her as much and also make her a star. Myoung-ji promises to get her and Philip the best dad ever. 

Mo-ne meets with La-hui and blackmails her with the information that she is Da-mi’s biological mother.

In a flashback, we are taken back to the conversation between Ji-man and Mo-ne when she snuck out of the house. Mo-ne had asked Ji-man to look into La-hui and threatened to expose Ji-man and K’s secrets if she goes down for Da-mi’s murder. Mo-ne tells La-hui she got the information from Ji-man and that he is close to K. She tells La-hui she should not try to look into the connection between K and Ji-man. 

Mo-ne tells La-hui she could help her get the CEO position at TIKITAKA Studios just as Mathew Lee arrives at the meeting. He talks about renewing the ads contract for TIKITAKA with Mo-ne and that Mo-ne added the condition that he has to give La-hui the CEO Position. Mathew agrees to the condition and apologises to La-hui for how he treated her earlier. 

Do-hyuk brings Jin-mo photos of Mo-ne meeting with Ji-man. Do-hyuk is digging into the father of Mo-ne’s baby five years ago. He speculates that Ji-man might be the father, and Jin-mo warns him not to look into the issue since he cannot handle it. Jin-mo tells Do-hyuk to only look into what he tells him to. If he knows too much, he might die. Jin-mo feels at ease since Ji-man is in the picture. He says that they are no longer at a disadvantage. 

La-hui tasks Yoo-jin and So-yeon with burying Ji-a for going against them, and they start an all-out social media smear campaign. She is called to the broadcast station to answer the director. He asks her about being a bully in high school. Myoung-ji also sent in a video saying Ji-a was a bully. Mo-ne and La-hui get her to upload the video so her daughter Erica can be in Mo-ne’s next drama. She also wants them to help Erica sign with Cherry Entertainment.

Later, Yoo-Jin and So-yeon barge into Ji-a’s apartment with Mo-ne’s fans. They harass her and smash her guitar. After they leave, Ji-a remembers how she met Mo-ne back at school. Mo-ne knew about her past and the death of her father. She blackmailed Ji-a to work for her so she could keep her secrets and not change schools. 

Mo-ne calls Ji-a. She says she can take her back if she asks for her forgiveness. No one will hire her even though she has talent. Only Mo-ne can pay for her songs.

Ji-a threatens to tell everyone that Mo-ne has a child. Mo-ne tells her to go ahead if she is confident since she still has a card she can play. She reminds Ji-a that she killed her father, murderer Song Ji-a. In retrospect, we see what happens when Ji-a’s father dies. He was assaulting Ji-a and her sister, asking for money from them. The father wants to hit Ji-a with an ashtray when the sister, Song Ji-sun, kills him with a knife. Ji-a admits to the crime in court since she is a minor to save her sister.

Mo-ne tells Ji-a to stay silent for the rest of her life. Ji-a’s secret fan, who happens to be Mathew Lee, texts her. He says he believes she did not steal the song. 

Ki-tak finds Madam No’s bar, and Paeng-hee hides when she sees him enter. Ki-tak asks one of the subordinates about her whereabouts, and they lie that they have not seen her in a while. After he leaves, the subordinate suggests she tell Ki-tak the truth. She did not betray him but was forced to lie to protect them. 

Elsewhere, Mathew Lee asks La-hui out to a hotel room to apologise and to thank her for agreeing to take over TIKITAKA Studios. He says he pushed her away because he could not control his feelings. While they are getting closer, Mo-ne calls La-hui and tells her Ji-man wants to meet.

Meanwhile, Ju-ran gets a blue envelope in her mailbox with a photo of her pushing Chairman Bang off the cliff. Cheol-woo kidnaps her and shows her a similar envelope he got from Ju-ran with drugs. Only Ju-ran is seen pushing the Chairman off the bridge in the photo. Everyone among the seven receives the mysterious blue envelope. 

The seven gather at Ju-ran’s house. La-hui tells them that she knows who they are up against. She tells them that Chairman Bang is still alive. Do-hyuk has a plan to catch everyone helping Chairman Bang and Lee Hwi-so.

They drug Chairman Bang to take him to the hospital and kidnap the police officer and Secretary Hwang. However, Mathew Lee and his team already know of their plan, and they plan.

Mathew Lee gives Chairman Bang an antidote at the prison, and Kang Ki-tak’s men rescue the prison warden and Secretary Hwang. The biggest plot twist happens when Do-hyuk rescues Chairman Bang from the hospital. Do-hyuk has been working with Ki-tak and Mathew Lee to discover who killed his mother and brother. 

The next scene reveals how Do-hyuk met with Mathew. Mathew gave him a recording of Jin-mo, Yong-joo, and Man-du talking about burning down his family. He wants to kill them, but Mathew tells him they must work together to catch the mastermind. Do-hyuk has been working behind the scenes to get information for Mathew Lee and helping with their plan. 

While Do-hyuk is driving Chairman Bang to meet with Mathew, he sees an advertisement about Gagok district development. He remembers K asking him to buy land near a well. He also called him, saying he would let him see his granddaughter again, whether alive or dead.

Chairman Bang asks Do-hyuk to take him to Gagok District to see something for himself. He finds a body in the well on the land he had bought. There is a bomb that starts a countdown when he pulls up the body. 

Meanwhile, the seven know of Chairman Bang’s location since La-hui put a tracker on his body. Do-hyuk secretly texts Mathew Lee and Kang Ki-tak that they know of the location.

The seven arrive first, and they watch from afar. Mo-ne notices the skeleton and Myoung-ji the time bomb. Do-hyuk texts Ki-tak about the time bomb and the risk of exposing his identity to the seven. Mathew still insists on going to save Chairman Bang. 

Chairman Bang sees Mathew arrive and waves for him not to rescue him. Ki-tak holds back Mathew as the countdown continues with one minute to go.

Mathew is hidden from the seven by a truck. Chairman Bang resolves to die near the well as Lee Hwi-so to unburden Mathew so he can keep going.

At the end of the episode, Ji-man calls K to tell him about Chairman Bang’s death. He congratulates him since everything is going according to his plan.

At the same time, TIKITAKA is hacked, and all the servers display a masked man with the words “Welcome Lee Hwi-so.”

The Episode Review

I understand the plot of “Keep Your Enemies Close,” but watching Mathew Lee befriend La-hui and Mo-ne is frustrating. Like, is there no other way to get revenge? He not only gave La-hui the highest position in his company, but he also wanted to have a relationship. That alone made this episode the most difficult to watch.

Did he have to make Mo-ne the company’s model? However, the twist with Do-hyuk made up for all the frustrations at the beginning of the episode.

It is puzzling that Do-hyuk was among the seven because he was not involved in the Da-mi incident. He even helped Da-mi get away from an angry mob. Now, he is working with Da-mi’s father and grandfather to get revenge; that plot is more intriguing.

We still wonder who K is and why he was eager to kill Da-mi and now Chairman Bang. K is not playing around, and Mathew will have difficulty getting his revenge in the next episodes.