Our leading lady’s antics in the palace have gone down a notch, and in replacement, we get the brewing of a forbidden romance. But not everyone in the palace is happy about the wind of love pulling our lead characters towards each other.
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP
This week’s episodes didn’t have as many laugh out loud moments as the premiere week, but it continues to be a fun watch. I didn’t expect sparks to fly this early in the drama, but who am I to complain when we get three (dead-fish) kisses in just the third episode? If the drama keeps this up, we just might have the real kiss next week, and I’m already excited — at least from my position outside the love triangle.
On the other hand, the three legs involved in this triangle remain as confused as ever, and I can’t blame them. So-rang wonders if Shin-won is nice to her because he knows that she’s Hyeon-seon, and she worries about getting closer to him as she doesn’t want him to find out who she is. But Shin-won is all, “It doesn’t matter who you are,” and boy, do I have news for him especially after he goes on with the buying of new shoes for your crush trope.
Shin-won also saves So-rang first when she goes to “catch a water ghost” and ends up inside the lake with Heon. Petty Heon gets upset that Shin-won didn’t save him first, and jealousy rears its head in Shin-won when he’s left outside the king’s room with So-rang still inside. But then it’s a good thing he’s not in the room to witness the moment Heon kisses the crown princess in his head, but in reality, it’s So-rang — who passes out from exhaustion almost immediately.
In the end, it’s not about who met the girl first or stole her first kiss (granted, it was a mouth to mouth resuscitation after he saved her from the lake, but that didn’t stop it from being real to Shin-won), it’s about the unfortunate K-drama formula, where the second leads are always destined to remain outside the love equation.
When yet another body drops in Heon’s search for the crown princess’s killers, loyal MINISTER KIM (Kim Min-sang) suggests that he goes hunting to show the resident evil association — and the rest of the country by extension — that their king is still very much alive and healthy. Heon declares a hunt, and So-rang (who isn’t completely recovered yet) begs to be taken along because what if the king gets an evil spirit on him and there’s no one around him to ward it off? Pfft.
So-rang is not fooling anyone with her seeming dedication to work. My hungry sister is just there to feast on some meat, and she gets frustrated when Heon fails to capture any game — thanks to a slight PTSD from when the crown princess fainted on seeing the carcass of an animal he hunted in the past.
So-rang soon gets her wish for meat when the association of evil sends a wild pig after the king on the hunt, and Heon’s PTSD flies away alongside his arrow to bring down the pig when it chases So-rang. And though Minister Jo’s plans have been foiled, he succeeds in identifying the maid he saw exiting the king’s quarters, who is once again beside the king on the hunt in disguise.
The ever calculating Minister Jo is left to wonder if So-rang is the reason why the king is getting softer lately. And really, all the other ministers can see that the king has changed even if they have no idea why. But Shin-won knows why all right, as once again, he is sent out of the king’s tent when So-rang’s fever returns and Heon insists on looking after her by himself.
In Heon’s defense, palace protocols prevented him from seeing the crown princess when she was unwell, and he’s not about to repeat the same mistake with So-rang. So-rang worries that the king only sees her as his late wife, and in her hazy state, she finishes off the kiss he started the other day — driving Heon into further confusion, and Shin-won into new heights of jealousy because he witnesses the kiss this time. Sigh.
But it turns out Shin-won isn’t the only jealous one, as Heon is also ticked off about Shin-won’s closeness with So-rang. He even goes on to ask So-rang about the true nature of her relationship with Shin-won during a truth or dare drinking session, and So-rang insists that they’re just friends. Never mind that they’d have been celebrating seven solid years of marriage if not for Heon’s marriage ban (which is very ridiculous the more I think about it.)
While the length of years apart hasn’t stopped Shin-won’s heart from beating for So-rang, her affections have since shifted to Heon and a part of her realizes it too. So-rang sets out to thaw the ice around Heon’s heart — at least to end the marriage ban for the people — and she pushes her agenda with the aid of erotic picture novels. Heon initially tells her off, but then he gets invested in the stories and stays up (and flushed) all night to finish reading.
Shin-won is also egged on to participate in a similar midnight study, and So-rang sleeps just fine after thrusting two hot-blooded young men into the flames of passion without an avenue for release. So-rang asks for feedback from Heon the following day, wanting to know if he’s all fired up and ready to take a wife now. But then he pulls her close with a warning to not tease him like that again, and I’m the one getting flushed now.
With the sparks flying between Heon and So-rang, his attendants renew their “Let’s Get The King A Wife” subscription, and they try — and fail — to recruit Shin-won into their plans. That doesn’t stop them from prettying So-rang up to be sent to the king, but just as Heon’s jaws begin to drop at the sight of So-rang 2.0, Shin-won whisks her away to everyone’s shock, and I kinda want to punch him a little. Lol.
I get it, though. Aside from Shin-won’s feelings for So-rang, being by the king’s side is dangerous business for any woman at the moment since the crown princess’s killers and the masterminds are still at large. And it’s worse for So-rang because her stepmother LADY SEO (Park Sun-young) has set her sights on the queenship for her own daughter YE HYUN-HEE (Song Ji-woo).
Lady Seo is quite the expert at sinking her teeth into other people’s men — from her days as a courtesan, to Shin-won’s bride swap. There’s her affair with Minister Jo right under her sick husband’s roof (she’s slowly poisoning him) and now wanting the king for Hyun-hee, who is just as ruthless as her mother. The mother-daughter duo even send assassins after So-rang when they hear that she’s still alive, and the only reason So-rang doesn’t end up dead is because of Shin-won.
Minister Jo barely manages to placate Lady Seo’s fury about the botched assassination, and he seems to have hatched another plot against Heon that involves the use of So-rang. So I don’t blame Shin-won for wanting to protect the love of his life from the sure danger waiting for her by the king’s side. But with Heon’s growing awareness of his feelings for So-rang, we’re left to wonder what Shin-won’s protective actions towards So-rang might mean for the future of his friendship with Heon.