Summary
The third episode really ups the action with some impressive sequences and a little more detail on the overarching plot.
This recap contains spoilers for the 2023 Netflix K-Drama Black Knight Season 1 Episode 3.
The third episode of Black Knight opens with an extended and impressive action sequence in the midst of the refugee uprising against Cheonmyeong Group.
It’s a gunfight and a hallway brawl like something out of The Raid, though admittedly a bit more choppily edited. Our POV character through it all is a long-haired refugee who it’s difficult to identify behind his mask, but I guess the smart money would be on him being 5-8. He shoots and stabs his way through an entire platoon of goons before he’s eventually shot in the back.
In a grim scene, he’s tossed in a mass grave, his body to be burned along with all the others. Taking a gun from one of the corpses near him, he puts down all of the guards.
Quite the cold open.
Black Knight Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
Why does Sa-wol want 5-8’s help?
Anyway, picking back up from where we left things in Episode 2, 5-8 slams on his brakes a little too late but his truck passes harmlessly over Sa-wol, who drops flat to the ground.
Sa-wol explains that he wants to enter the upcoming Deliveryman tournament, and wants 5-8 to help him since he saved him from the kidnapping attempt and he’s the strongest of all the Deliverymen.
5-8 gives him the time and location and tells him to prove himself. In flashbacks, we get the sense that 5-8 is playing a long game to take down the Cheonmyeong Group, and sees something of himself in Sa-wol.
What is the mutation?
It’s confirmed a little later than 5-8 is indeed working with a team of fellow Deliverymen — all of whom used to be refugees — against Cheonmyeong Group, whom he knows is behind the kidnappings of children of former oxyanium miners. We also get a little more clarity on the “mutation”, which causes metal bones and extremely fast healing from injury.
The group plan to use Sa-wol to get to Cheonmyeong through the tournament, but their meeting is interrupted by Seol-ah, who is still investigating the death of Seul-ah — and now 5-7 — despite the Defense Intelligence Command having been stood down over the conflict of interest.
5-8 shows Seol-ah the logo of two overlapping triangles that Cheonmyeong’s goons all seem to have, and tips her off to 5-7 having been killed by an explosive device implanted in his head. These two are obviously on the same side in a distant way, and we can expect them to work together more directly in the future, but they’re still on separate tracks for now.
What is the first round of the tournament?
Meanwhile, with his map and 5-8’s note, Sa-wol arrives at the isolated gym where 5-8 and 4-1 begin training him Rocky-style for the first round of the Deliveryman tournament. It’s a simple premise — a whole bunch of entrants are bundled in a room, and the last one standing goes through to the next round.
It’s another excuse for a protracted hand-to-hand fight scene, but I like how Sa-wol’s training is interspersed with the actual tournament, lending a bit more credibility to his hard-fought success.
Black Knight Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained
The second round of the tournament is clearly the stand-out sequence of the series thus far. In it, contestants are tasked with delivering a package to its destination, while their vehicles are constantly beset by armed and dangerous hunters. It’s an exciting, impressive-looking chase with snatches of characterization here and there.
We also take it in from two angles, since 5-8 is watching the live footage in the same room as Ryu Seok, he keeps commenting on the potential success of the lone refugee contestant. 5-8 is trying to silently will Sa-wol on without giving himself away, but that proves difficult when Sa-wol sacrifices his own guaranteed spot in the next round to help out a fellow contestant.
You can stream Black Knight Season 1 Episode 3 exclusively on Netflix.
