Ron Does Stuff

I’ll be honest with all of you — by all of you I mean the two readers looking forward to this — the moment I saw the preview of this episode showing Naksu and Jang Wook kissing I was a little discouraged from continuing on. The fact that I also had a busy week involving my actual job also made it easier for me to just not do this because I really am just doing this to unwind and not make it into a chore.

But now that I’ve gathered my wits and am feeling a little generous, I am diving back into this. I’ve got some catching up to do!

The last time I watched, the cliffhanger waiting to be resolved was the impending match between Seo Yool and Jang Wook. Of course, Jang Wook is going to prevail over Seo Yool because he’s the lead, but I do wonder how the show is going to make that defeat believable.

At the start of this episode, we get to see Jang Wook working to master Chisu through the fishing training that Master Lee introduced in the previous episode. While he’s working on that, the crown prince is reporting to Jin Mu about the impossibility of Jang Wook learning any new spells at the moment, as Naksu has assured him that there is no one teaching him.

The talk with Jin Mu does lead the crown prince to think about how close Jang Wook and Naksu are despite being master and servant and, I assume, too far apart in social station to be an acceptable match in this place and time. Don’t worry crown prince, their chemistry really isn’t that strong so you can’t be blamed if you didn’t catch on immediately.

Seo Yool is also figuring things out by talking with Dang-gu, and being the noble person that he is he is thinking of how best he can help Jang Wook and Naksu find their happy ending. The tragic fate of the second lead.

Here, watch a video of Hwang Minhyun training for his role as Seo Yool. Some other cast members make an appearance as well!

We then turn to what is frankly a frustrating discussion between Master Lee and Park Jin about how Jang Wook learning about him being the rightful king might “broaden his horizons and desire to achieve greatness.” Is that necessarily a bad thing? Also, if everything you’ve done to keep him ~ordinary~ has failed so far, wouldn’t if be better to equip him with the proper tools so he becomes a righteous king instead? Fuck this boomer.

The crown prince, having wised up to Naksu’s antics, straight up asks her if she’s been using him to train Jang Wook, the person she really has feelings for. The crown prince says that he’s going to destroy the jade that she’s bet if Jang Wook loses again, and Naksu tries to turn this around by saying that the jade really isn’t all that important when the feelings between her and Jang Wook are strong enough to bet their lives on. Which, fair. Incensed, the crown prince throws the jade into a pool of dirty water. He goes even further and says if the jade isn’t that important, then you are up for grabs if Jang Wook loses. She will have to serve whomever Jang Wook loses to, which is how Seo Yool steps up to challenge him. Well, this show can still surprise me, it seems!

And yet another surprise! After a really exciting fight sequence, Seo Yool wins! I really thought Jang Wook would pull out some last-minute magic trick, which he actually did, but Seo Yool was prepared and still ended up defeating him. This show does have its moments!

Seo Yool is now Naksu’s owner — cringy, I know but it’s because of the time period — but he tells her that he really doesn’t want anything from her and that she can go to Jang Wook anytime she wants. The only thing he needs from her is her help in finding a person that he will take with him back to his home, which I assume is Naksu — as in the Naksu of the past and not the one residing in Mu-deok’s body now. Let’s see how the writers write their way out of this one.

Then follows an actually delightful sequence where Park Jin thinks that Jang Wook has found out he’s the rightful heir to the throne and is being trained by Master Lee, but what Jang Wook tells him instead is that Master Lee has been treating him well because he’s trying to win head maidservant Kim over, so what is Park Jin going to do about that? The actors really do well here! Actually, a lot of them are funny on the show and I sometimes wish the show either really went full-on fantasy or went action comedy instead.

We then head on over to the young ones and there’s this absolutely kilig scene between Seo Yool and Naksu where Naksu blows on Seo Yool’s whistle and girl if you don’t want him, give him to me then.

Now we head on over to the palace, where Heo Yun-ok, the lady Jang Wook had better chemistry with, is giving the king herbal medicine that has helped him sleep better. But that takes a step back as the king voices his worries about having soul shifters inside the palace unaware that the queen is a soul shifter herself. BUT! There may be some developments in that regard as Heo Yun-ok suggests that the king invite over Master Lee to the palace, ostensibly to help calm his anxiety. What she doesn’t know is that Master Lee has the Gwisu with him, which can literally sniff out soul shifter. However, I do wonder if the writers themselves remember this because that plot device has practically disappeared.

Over at the Jin household, the matriarch is getting more and more tense as the constant string of blind girls being brought to their household end up bot being Bu-yeon, since Bu-yeon is Mu-deok, whose body Naksu is in right now. But I stop worrying about that for a bit because the Jin patriarch jabs Cho-yeon with a hairpin and draws out some red string from her neck???? What the fuck???

I am assuming it has something to do with Seo-i and her planned infiltration, because Jin Mu has just threatened her with death if she ever blows her cover, now that he is close to bringing her over for the matriarch to inspect. He asks her if there’s anyone who can recognize her out there, to which she says yes, and I am assuming she is going to say it’s Naksu, who she knows as Mu-deok.

And where’s Naksu, you may ask? Bantering with the crown prince! Have to say, they’ve toned down the chemistry between the two over the past few episodes, and they’re giving off a more brother and sister vibe. Still great chemistry though, even if not a romantic type of chemistry.

After the banter, Naksu zooms off to find Jang Wook, and chances upon him talking with Heo Yun-ok and I can feel the setup for the kiss coming and I am frankly not excited. Sorry ’bout it!

You know the drill. Female lead misunderstands a situation wherein the male lead is just being nice to another female character, is being sulky and jealous, blah blah blah, they kiss. This isn’t necessarily bad if the two leads had stronger chemistry.

Elsewhere in Daeho, Naksu’s gisaeng companion early on in the series is talking to the merchant that brought Mu-deok — when she was still Mu-deok/Bu-yeon and not whatever she is now — over to the capital because Park Jin is asking around about Naksu’s past. The merchant lets slip that Mu-deok is supposed to be blind, which I’m guessing will result in the mages of Songrim inspecting and finding out the blue spot in the eyes that betrays her as a soul shifter. BUT! The merchant lies! Turns out, Jang Wook paid for this way in advance in a flashback by bribing Naksu’s gisaeng friend and instructing her what to say should somebody come looking for Mu-deok. She also gets a warning about Seo-i and boy does she need it because she’ll probably show up at the Jin household pretty soon.

Meanwhile, Dang-gu and Seo Yool are tasked to go to the royal palace with Jang Wook and Master Lee. I am guessing that Master Lee fully expects to encounter soul shifters there, and the three boys are going to be involved in some fights.

BUT BITCH. Before anything of the sort happens, Master Lee drops a bombshell and explains why he looks the way he does, even if he should be centuries old. He’s a soul shifter!

And then elsewhere in Daeho another cliffhanger happens! Naksu goes to the inn where the merchant is staying, looking to ask for more information about Seo-i since Mudeok is the one who knows her and not her. But when she arrives somebody has already killed him, and Park Jin finds her over the body and accuses her of killing him.