Who could resist that face?
…and I just realized that that applies to either one in this case. But Rang's unexpected bond with Jung-hwan is turning into one of those heart-tugging gems that never fails to make me smile. There's something to be said about the sincerity of a child's pure heart, and it turns Jung-hwan into putty in her hands, I swear. He may growl like a bear, but in her eyes he's strictly of the teddy variety.
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EPISODE 8 RECAP
Da-in spots Jung-hwan just as she's about to make contact with Won and reverses course: She signals Won away, and runs in the opposite direction. Jung-hwan starts to run afater her, but is stopped by the sound of a scream.
It's Woo-young, whom he'd left in the street to chase Da-in. Spotted by a gang of lecherous men, she makes easy prey. As they circle and leer, she shrinks back and blusters that she's already got a man, which they ignore.
Then she spots Jung-hwan standing there and points at him: "It's him!" She runs straight for him and half-hides by his side, grabbing his arm and insisting that this is her man. Jung-hwan shoots her a look saying, Huh? HA.
Won runs the other way but Da-in finds him anyway, having predicted he'd be going from the apothecary to the palace. She points out his feeble plan to go there dressed in a disguise that won't fool anyone; his desperation is outpacing his caution.
He entreats her to allow him to help in the treatment of Deok-pal, because the faster he recovers, the faster he can cure Rang. He's just itching to do something, because he can't just do nothing. Da-in insists he do it anyway; everything will be pointless if Won gets himself caught. I'm glad there's a sensible soul around to stonewall Won's hotheadedness when he needs it, because he hardly ever listens to anyone else.
Just as she hears that tomorrow's meeting will be debating her ejection from the palace, Da-in is called in to see Vice Premier Kim, who is ready to collect on his favor. Da-in understands this, and is ready to negotiate: If he spares her from being kicked out of her position, she'll do anything he asks.
This is playing right into his hands, and he's very pleased with himself. I find some comfort in the knowledge that Da-in is aware of all these political implications and has some sense of making this deal work without selling anyone out. I just wonder how that'll happen.
While helping Jang-geum treat Deok-pal, Da-in informs her of the deal she made. Jang-geum is shocked, but Da-in says she did it because she understands the gravity of the situation.
Lee Ho checks on Deok-pal's condition, which is not looking great. Da-in startles Jang-geum by speaking out of turn, albeit to voice agreement with the prince. He doesn't take offense and offers any additional needed medicines or doctors they may need, which leads to a request for access to the banned books library for medical literature.
Lee Ho asks after Rang's health, and Da-in replies that she has been banned from the police headquarters and can't get to her. The prince offers to lift that ban, and hands over a book that'll help her with Rang's care, telling her she can keep it.
That night, Won runs into his old friend Pil-du, the royal astrologer who was tortured for information on Won's whereabouts. Aw, when Won asks if he was hurt because of him, Pil-du assures him that it wasn't very bad.
Pil-du is shocked at Won's request to find a way inside the palace, calling him insane. But curiously, Pil-du reverses tack almost immediately and agrees to find a way, instructing Won to stay put. Oh no, they got to you too, didn't they?
Sure enough, a flashback clues us in: Minister Yoon threatens him with the lives of his family and orders him to do as he bids. Which includes best friend betrayal.
In no time, Gon is leading a contingent of officers to the house. Thankfully for us, Won's perennial impatience means he has already left, so all they find is an empty room. Sadly, he has left intending to spare his friend additional pain, but this earns Pil-du another beating. But he's not a bad friend—even as he's being kicked bloody, he thanks Won for running away. It's one crime that won't weigh on his conscience, at least.
That night, Woo-young lies in bed reliving the moment when she called Jung-hwan her honey, mortified at the memory. Rang giggles next to her, just tickled at the prospect of her father being cleared and getting to live with him again. Oh honey.
At the bandits' hideout, a training drill is under way in the main yard, which So-baek goes through like a robot. She quits mid-fight, telling Keok-jung that she can't continue with her head all full of thoughts of Horse Thief. I'm not even sure whether she understands that she likes him, because with her it's entirely possible that she just thinks she's suffering some kind of condition. Lol.
Vice Premier Kim has Jang-geum replaced as the prince's doctor, introducing a new one who is firmly under his thumb. Lee Ho is no dummy and says that directly to their faces, and upon getting the doctor's nervous agreement that he is in good health (good enough to withstand a poisoning, Lee Ho says, making Vice Premier stiffen), he orders him to stay away until he is called.
Vice Premier Kim shrewdly asks if there's a special reason they're being kept away from the prince's quarters. Just then, a muffled grunting sounds next door, and we see that Jang-geum and Da-in are doing their best to muffle Deok-pal's cries of pain.
The ministers take this knowledge to the queen, who puts two and two together to realize that the king is also in on the plan. So the prince is hiding Deok-pal, and the frequently absent Jang-geum must be tending to him.
Minister Yoon freaks out as per usual, while Vice Premier Kim has heard that Deok-pal is barely hanging on to life as it is, not even conscious. Queen Munjeong orders them to silence him forever before he wakes up and shares what he knows with the king.
To reiterate just what's on the line, the queen tells her ministers that if Deok-pal should talk, they'll both be giving up their necks, literally.
Chun-bong presides over a meeting of his own, this time with fellow followers of their old teacher Jo Gwang-jo. Great, so now we've got secret meetings on both sides of the political divide? Basically, this is Good Guys Secret Meeting, where the members insist on the necessity of restoring Deok-pal to health and worrying about enemies getting to him first.
The prince realizes that time is ticking now that the ministers have caught on to his plan. Da-in speaks up with a plan of her own: She'll buy them some time by whispering into their ears. Oooh, good one.
Taking on her new role as evil informant, Da-in tells the ministers that yes, Jang-geum is secretly tending to Deok-pal. She asks Vice Premier Kim for his promise not to have her expelled from the palace before informing them of the patient's status, and gets it.
Da-in reports that Deok-pal remains unconscious, but asserts that her skills are inadequate to predicting whether he will die. Da-in plays this meeting expertly, and I'm pretty impressed with both her wits and her spine: She answers their questions freely, but not with that scared servility all the other cronies display. When her answer is not to their liking, she says firmly that her job was to be his eyes and ears, not to feed him lies because that's what he wants to hear.
Minister Yoon is offended, but Vice Premier chuckles at her pluck. He says he can't quite trust her, and she's quick to get his drift: She'll earn that trust when she's proved herself as an informant.
To her extreme dismay, Woo-young finds herself thinking of Jung-hwan and his smoldering presence, not that I blame her. Still, it's gotta be pretty damn inconvenient being attracted to someone you hate.
Runaway Stepmom makes her reappearance, just when I'd totally forgotten about her. I wasn't sure she held much plot relevance, but now that she's back we bring her into the fold: She lets the shifty businessman talk her into renting an empty storefront, and the transaction lands them both in jail because the property has been seized by the government.
Once at the police yard, Stepmom catches a glimpse of someone and cowers: It's fuming Woo-young, who throws water in her face.
Deok-pal takes a turn for the worse—he contracts tetanus, for which they have no cure. It's looking increasingly likely that he won't make it, but the prince desperately looks for any hope: What about Choi Won? Could he cure him?
Da-in writes a message to Won and drops it off in their agreed location. Won reads about the tetanus and collapses in despair.
Vice Premier Kim tells Jung-hwan of his decision to take Rang to be his household slave. Jung-hwan doesn't understand why, so Vice Premier Kim tells him a twisted version of the truth, essentially letting Jung-hwan believe that they are the good guys and that the prince's faction are the criminals. Thus Choi Won is a key evildoer, and taking Rang is for bait.
It's too bad the false version of the truth sounds so convincing, since Jung-hwan seems like a pretty upright guy who would never compromise his ideals… if only he knew they were being comprised so the real evildoers could use him as a handy tool. He is also developing quite the soft spot for Rang, whom he finds polishing his shoes. She informs him that she's impressing him ("acting pretty," which is a saying that doesn't mean physical beauty), and says that he doesn't seem so scary now.
He actually balks, saying, "You must have it wrong, because I'm incredibly scary!" Basic rule of thumb: If you have to say so, you probably aren't. Rang amends: "I thought you were incredibly scary, but I think you're really just a little scary."
He tries to protest, but when she starts coughing he asks if she's taken her medicine. Rang: "See? You're like my dad, asking if I've had my medicine." Lol. He tries to protest again, his ego taking a thorough beating. Then she hands him that shirt she laundered with her own two hands, and says, "These days if I don't see you around, I think I'd get sad."
Aww, this is so adorable. Also, this girl can wrap anybody around her little finger without even trying. She starts polishing his boots again and says, "If I act pretty to you, then please believe me. My father really isn't a bad person." She looks up at him with those big teary eyes.
Won gets to work stinging his face with bees, disfiguring himself to be less recognizable. So-baek hears that overdoing it could kill him, but he methodically persists. At least Chun-bong is on hand to offer a potion to counter the stinger poison, warning him to take it within the necessary time frame to be effective.
With his face broken out in hideous bumps and one eye swollen shut, Won heads out in his disguise as a palace slave. He arrives at the gates pulling a wagon and presents the entry pass, and gets allowed in.
Da-in takes a full moment to recognize Won, and he presses her to see Deok-pal. She mutters at him all the way there about the risk he's taking, both in coming here and in risking poisoning himself. He tells her he's got the antidote and is about to take it when they're interrupted—by the queen and her entourage.
Queen Munjeong eyes Da-in and Won closely, wondering why they're at the prince's quarters. Da-in excuses Won to go about his slave's errands, but just his luck that he drops his antidote, which the queen notes with interest. Won makes up the excuses that it's a special potion made "for men" that would help him with the ladies, which he needs given his ugly face. Ha. I don't even want to know what that so-called potion is supposed to do.
The queen finds him sufficiently pathetic and returns the potion. Won and Da-in breathe a sigh of relief as the queen moves on to visit the prince.
She is gravely offended to be barred entry by the head eunuch, who has been ordered to let nobody through. The queen commands her court lady to slap the eunuch in the face for his insolence. What, we're outsourcing slapping now? C'mon, lazy queen.
But before any slapping goes on, Lee Ho arrives to suggest that he be the slappee instead. They face off tensely, and Queen Munjeong asks if he's hiding a patient here. She asks what it is he desires to hear his patient say, and offers to say it for him.
Lee Ho rises to her challenge: "Then please do so. I must enthrone the son I birthed, so you must die, Crown Prince."
Queen Munjeong gasps in a display of offended sensibilities. Lee Ho adds with a half-smirk, "How could I dare to be so unfilial as to say such a thing to my Queen Mother?" He adds, "But I have already thrown you away in my heart. I would ask that the Queen Majesty reveal the truth with her own lips. Queen. Majesty."
He ends on a sneer, and it's significant that he switches here from the term Queen Mother to Queen Majesty. Previously he has been using the word only used by royals to their mothers, and now he switches to the word used by all, thus rejecting her as mother figure.
She falls back in shock. Lee Ho orders her escorted back to her palace, and curtly retires to his room. Bravo, Lee Ho. Well played.
Won ducks into the palace medical supply to drink his antidote, and thus is on hand to witness the two evil ministers talking about Deok-pal. Okay, this is rather convenient, but let's roll with it. One more suspicion is confirmed when Minister Yoon asks about the cut on Vice Premier Kim's hand, guessing that he got it while offing Do-saeng.
Contrary to the brave front Lee Ho presented to his stepmother, he falters in private, reeling in the shock. Jang-geum asks how he's holding up, and he admits that throwing away the woman he'd treated as mother his whole life is more painful than expected. If he'd known it would hurt like this, he would have done it sooner to spare himself some of it.
Won is brought to Deok-pal's sickbed, his disfigured appearance requiring a double take to believe. He informs the prince that they must keep all outsiders away at all costs—particularly Do-saeng's murderer, Vice Premier Kim.
Once he explains, our team is in no doubt of his guilt, but the problem remains of proving it. Lee Ho slams his desk in frustration at the indignity of not only having to face the criminal daily, but to be wary of his suspicions. He growls that he'll find a way to prove Kim's guilt and punish him accordingly.
In the police yard, Woo-young and Rang hear of the change of assignment and resist the orders, but to no avail. Rang clings to her aunt while Woo-young screams in protest, but the officers wrench the girl away and carry her off.
Woo-young yells for Jung-hwan to come deal with this himself, but he's standing right there outside the gates, trying not to look moved by the sight of Rang crying out to him to help her. Well, if anything I'm going to take it as a promising sign that he's being a coward about avoiding this confrontation, since it means he doesn't feel good about it.
In the morning, Won's face has returned to normal and he's still at the patient's bedside. Da-in balks to see him preparing poisonous materials to use on Deok-pal, but Jang-geum recognizes his risky tactic of fighting poison with poison. With the tetanus raging inside the body, Won says that this is the only way to treat him.
Woo-young chases after Jung-hwan later to plead for a transfer as well, arguing that Rang is sickly and could die without her caring for her. Jung-hwan tells her to take it up with Vice Premier Kim, but she blocks his path and says scathingly that he'll be punished by this—for turning her innocent brother into a murderer, and for being the true murderer.
He walks away steeling himself, and she sobs that Rangie was such a poor sweet thing that even with her illness she washed his clothes for him, hoping to look good in front of him. He won't show his soft underbelly to her, but we get to see it in his reaction to her words.
Rang is locked up in a room and futilely cries to be let out. Sobs trigger coughs, poor thing.
Jang-geum finds Da-in busily thinking up what to say in her next report to the evil ministers, and relieves her of the burden: Just do as Jang-geum instructs from here on out. Thus the next report is plain and empty: Da-in was unable to get close to the prince's quarters. She blames Jang-geum for it, who ordered her to stick to other duties.
Vice Premier Kim tells her of Rang's removal to his house and puts Da-in in charge of treating her from there. He explains his reasoning to his cohort: If she can't be used to kill Deok-pal, at least she can be used to get Won.
It's not like he doesn't have other lackeys available to do the killing, and he orders Eunuch Hwang to the task. With Minister Yoon distracting the guard with arguments, the eunuch slips inside the sickroom. Won has just enough time to slip behind a screen for cover, and watches in horror as the eunuch starts smothering Deok-pal in his sleep.
Won readies himself to charge, but thankfully the arrival of the prince outside means the eunuch has to skitter off before he can finish the job. And now they have proof of yet another double agent in their midst; Lee Ho hears of Eunuch Hwang's involvement and staggers in shock.
Eunuch Hwang has, however, gotten a glimpse of Won's engraved scalpel kit and reports back to his bosses about his presence in the sickroom. They figure it's a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone scenario, since they can kill both fugitives off and then use that to get rid of the prince as well, for harboring a traitor.
A young boy tiptoes across the yard and listens in as the evil ministers confer. Oh, it's Prince Gyeongwon—I'd totally forgotten that Vice Minister Kim was harboring him. He wonders at the girl they speak of, who is supposedly being kept here—just as a little voice calls out for him, "Young master!"
It's Rang, propping herself up to peer out the window of her room. She whispers for him to let her out, 'cause she has to go back to the police headquarters, 'cause that's where her daddy thinks she is. He asks if her father is that big ol' traitor who killed his hyungnim's doctor, and Rang huffs back that he's not a killer, he's a super talented doctor who even fixed the king!
Prince Gyeongwon says she's lying and therefore her father must really be a bad guy. Rang cries that he's not, "You bad young master!" She warns that when her dad finds out, he's gonna be in trouble.
But Gyeongwon just says that her father's at the palace right now, and he's gonna get himself beheaded. Rang whispers, "No…" and collapses with a thud.
Gyeongwon tries to climb up to check on her, but the evil conference emerges and the men pull him away.
Vice Premier Kim gives the order for an attack tonight, and Merchant Jang assures him that these assassins will not fail. Just to be sure, Do-moon will be kept out of the mission.
Da-in arrives at the estate to treat Rang just in time to hear that she has been found collapsed and coughing blood. She rushes to her side, and Rang's first words are to ask if her father is at the palace. Da-in assures her that it's not true, just before Rang falls unconscious.
Prince Gyeongwon is called back to the palace, where he reunites with his mother and then, in tears, apologizes to Lee Ho for his existence. Aw. He sees the strife as a consequence of his birth, since if he hadn't been born then his mother wouldn't be so hell-bent against the crown prince. Lee Ho tells him he's wrong, but Gyeongwon is convinced, "If only I weren't born…"
Lee Ho tells his brother it's not his fault and blames himself. Gyeongwon asks a favor—could Lee Ho visit his mother, who has taken "ill" ever since the shock of their confrontation. Yeah, ill with evil.
So the two princes make their way to the queen's quarters… just as Deok-pal finally rouses from unconsciousness. He asks to see Lee Ho, and as they wait, Deok-pal thanks Won for saving his life again, and Won thanks him in return for staying alive. He also suggests that Deok-pal name his son now, which has got to be a clear sign that this man is about to die. Aw. Tears.
But tonight's a busy night, and the hired assassins make their move. They silently strike down guards, clearing the way for Vice Premier Kim. They walk into the prince's quarters, coming face to face with Won, who's left unguarded and defenseless. Oh, crap.
COMMENTS
Some great character developments in this episode, which was thoroughly satisfying. I enjoy political intrigue to a certain extent, and this drama does a pretty good job of it, but it's the characters who make it engaging. That is to say, political intrigue in and of itself can be plenty engaging, if the power struggle is drawn in taut and suspenseful ways. When both sides are equally strong, and the pendulum swings back and forth between sides as they gain and lose little battles on the path toward the ultimate showdown, I can find court dramas plenty fascinating.
Furthermore, this director is skilled at drawing out those written moments with visual and musical touches, which makes it that much more entertaining to watch. Heck, I've we've seen one secret table meeting, we've seen 'em all, haven't we? So if we must put up with them—and we must, to a certain extent, inasmuch as exposition is a necessary evil of storytelling—then I'm thankful that at least this drama gives me something to enjoy visually while we're at it. Like the Chun-bong scene, which was as perfunctory as secret meetings go, but was shot in a gorgeously lit scene with a lovely array of rainbow colors.
Even so, I'm not watching this drama for those moments, and consider the court drama to be a mechanism for moving along Won's story, not the other way around. I love the scene of the princes feeling torn apart by politics, because it's clear they both love each other and wish they weren't swept up in this greater plot. But neither are they able to extricate themselves from it.
The Jung-hwan scenes are another example: I'm enjoying watching the policeman struggling between his sense of personal and professional honor, coming to the point where he's starting to realize that those are separate things—and that perhaps they oughtn't be. It gives me hope that he'll come around to our good guys' team sooner than later, because I'd love to see that scenario play out for longer than one measly episode or two.
Thus the relationship moments are pivotal to making this drama a fun ride, and without those glimpses of humanity the politics would just be empty machinations. Puppet strings being pulled to make wooden figures dance. I'd much rather see them dance on their own, thanks.
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