Just when you think you’ve got this show figured out, bam! It hits you with plot twists you do not expect. This week, we learn new things about our OTP and the villains. And as for our couples in the matchmaking equation, well, why stick to being match-made when you can find love on your own?
EPISODES 10-11
Last week, we wrapped up with Jung-woo and Soon-deok’s search for the author of the novel detailing how Lord Jo’s eldest son died. According to the novel, the son fell in love with Lord Min’s crossdressing daughter and they both committed suicide because they couldn’t be together. But our OTP gets a different version of the story when they eventually meet the author.
In a series of plot twists, we learn that: 1) the “crossdressing daughter” Lord Jo’s son fell in love with was in fact, Lord Min’s son; and 2) there was no joint suicide because Lord Min’s son is still alive. In fact, he is the author of the novel! So how did Lord Jo’s son actually die? The answer is in the third — and the biggest — plot twist. Apparently, Lord Jo walked in on the couple locked in an embrace, and next thing you know, he’s executing them for dishonoring their families by being gay. Thankfully, Lord Min’s son managed to survive the attack — which is why he now lives in hiding as a monk. Whoa! I need a minute to process this.
I knew Lord Jo was a despicable person, but I didn’t think he was this terrible. To his own flesh and blood, no less! By the way, remember that rumor about his eldest daughter-in-law’s murder being disguised as a suicide to get the Virtuous Woman title? Yeah, it’s true. But it wasn’t Lady Park behind it as the rumor suggested, it was all Lord Jo’s doing because his daughter-in-law witnessed the murder of her husband. Sigh. That crazy Lord Jo did not mind making his grandson grow up without parents! Thank goodness for Soon-deok who was there to adopt the boy.
Of course, Minister Park was also at the forefront of covering up Lord Jo’s filicide because his nephew was in possession of evidence of his corruption and planned treason. Tsk. This entire revelation makes Soon-deok conflicted because she didn’t think that exonerating the real Lady Yeo-ju would mean exposing her father-in-law’s crimes. It’s hard to believe that the honor of the family was more important to Lord Jo than his son’s life.
Meanwhile Lord Jo and Minister Park are antsy about the upcoming nuptials of the Maeng sisters and Jung-woo’s role in it. Because if the sisters get married, the faction’s excuse to stop the crown prince from marrying will no longer be valid. The evil duo have someone tail Jung-woo, and now they’ve got their sights on the monk he visited as well as “Lady Yeo-ju.”
Minister Park suggests that they use the chance to kill Jung-woo, but Lady Park rebukes him. “Why do you blurt out things without thinking?” Excellent question! Lady Park isn’t as worried about the nuptials as the evil duo. “Even if all the spinsters and bachelors in Joseon get married, the crown prince will never marry,” she says. And using her intel that the crown prince is in correspondence with Ha-na, Lady Park sends a letter to him in Ha-na’s name inviting him to the May Festival. Man, I’d have been a stronger supporter of her genius if I wasn’t rooting for the good guys.
In reality, Jung-woo played backup to the slave hunter searching for the real Lady Yeo-ju (whose real name is TAE-RAN. Aigoo! All these names). Thanks to Slave Hunter’s fighting skills, the kidnapping goons are subdued and the crown prince is saved — and sent back to the palace. Slave Hunter is actually not a bad person, he just wants to make sure Tae-ran is alive and well. Apparently, he was the one who allowed her escape from prison eight years ago, and it seems he has a little something for her. Well, that’s a relief. But now Jung-woo has questions. If Tae-ran is the real Lady Yeo-ju, who is Soon-deok?
Backing up a bit, Jung-woo proposed to Soon-deok. Yunno, since the king promised to allow him to remarry after the Maeng sisters have been married off. But here’s the thing: Soon-deok loved her late husband to the point where she was willing to marry him even though she knew he was terminally ill, and she feels like falling for someone else is a betrayal of the love she had for her husband.
Interestingly enough, Jung-woo wasn’t forced to marry the princess like everyone thought. He really did love his wife — which is why he gets where Soon-deok is coming from. But the fact that they both have feelings for each other doesn’t negate the love they had for their late spouses. And as Jung-woo tells Soon-deok, she doesn’t need to forget about her late husband because he also won’t be able to forget about the princess.
Soon-deok confirms that she also wants to spend the rest of her life with Jung-woo. However, she turns down his proposal because she’s not Lady Yeo-ju the commoner peddler, she is a noblewoman who has a son. Jung-woo hasn’t even recovered from this reveal when she tells him that they need not see each other again now that their feelings are out in the open. But Operation Let’s Not See Each Other Again doesn’t last because Soon-deok is too professional to leave Ha-na and Du-ri groom-less — yunno, since neither of them ended up with their chosen bachelor matches.
Soon-deok’s plan is to match Ha-na with the “young nobleman from earlier” a.k.a the crown prince. (She doesn’t know his real identity, but Ha-na seems to already know who he is.) I’m glad Soon-deok brought up the age difference between Ha-na and the crown prince because even though she doesn’t think it’s a big deal, it is for me! I know this is set in historical times, but a ten-year gap where one of the parties is a 14-year-old? Come on!
An observant Soon-deok makes the connection between Jung-woo’s chest pain around well-suited couples, and Mrs. Maeng’s description of Agents of Love, and she concludes that Jung-woo is the Agent of Love. As a result, Soon-deok is a bit bummed because if she was really the agent, it would have given her a legitimate “it’s my destiny” reason to justify her need to be a matchmaker (aside from the fact that she enjoys matchmaking(. Speaking of which, Jung-woo likens their feelings for each other to destiny. But to Soon-deok, the feelings are fleeting. And this is where we draw the curtains for this week.
What a week! We’re slowly approaching the final stretch, and I’m impressed that the show is still going strong. But I’m kinda miffed that the weekly rhythm has become a bit unbalanced since that preemption. This is one show where the odd and even episodes have been crafted to complement each other, and now that things have been jumbled up, the flow just doesn’t feel right anymore.
But I know a surefire way to make things feel right for me once more… and that is for Lady Park to exact her pound of flesh from her murderous husband. I know it won’t be long because she already overheard his conversation with Minister Park where they all but admitted to being behind the eldest son’s death. Nothing annoys me more than Lord Jo trying to act intellectually superior to his wife with that three-storey gat to cover his empty skull. And it will give me the greatest satisfaction to see Lady Park go off with his head and that of her brother’s!
Side note: I like that none of the minor characters in this show feel wasted. Jung-woo’s servant was me this week throwing up his hands in despair and resignation at the love cycle. He’s such a fun character and no matter how short his scenes are, they’re sure to be impactful. It was also nice to see the chosen bachelors find better suited matches for them than the Maeng sisters. Now all that’s left is for our OTP to become official, and for the love cycle to sort themselves out and form canon pairs so they can all catch up with the bachelors and Sam-soon-gu.