Beanies, we are BACK in Daeho — and I, for one, could not be more delighted! It’s been three years since our heroine delivered a fatal stab to the heart of our hero, and, by extension, every single viewer. (He got better.) (We didn’t.) Now, our resurrected protagonist is shunned by society, still despairing over his lost love. However, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger might just reignite the embers of old feelings…
EPISODES 1-2 WEECAP
It’s been a long time since the assassin Naksu murdered the husband of the Jin matriarch. However, Jinyowon has not recovered, instead remaining sealed for three whole years. A huddle of ill-fated alcohol merchants are lectured by Cho-yeon, whose longstanding familial trauma has — understandably — done nothing for her patience. When one seller is brought inside the grounds, he encounters a strange figure amid the flowers. It’s an eerily beautiful woman (Go Yoon-jung), who approaches with wide eyes… and demands the alcohol flask at his belt. Pressing a finger to her lips, this odd, liquor-swigging fairy darts away.
The merchants’ luck fails again when they enter a street positively brimming with fresh corpses. And, emerging from the mists… Jang Wook. The merchants cower as he draws Naksu’s sword, and — launches into battle with the soul-shifter lurking behind them. Fueled by terrifying magic, Wook’s leveled up tremendously: his swordplay renders the merchants dizzy, and the soul-shifter very, very dead. Still, beneath our hero’s formidable exterior beats a heart that split long ago. Alone by the funeral stones memorializing the forest massacre, all he can do is sit, drink, and think of Naksu.
Daeho’s peace is soon rudely shattered by another soul-shifter. She’s pursued by Dang-gu, whose nifty new haircut is complimented by a nifty new title: Leader of Songrim. When the soul-shifter flees to Jinyowon, we learn that it’s been years since Dang-gu’s traded two words with Cho-yeon. Of course, of all the reasons to end an engagement, “you failed to save my father from a brutal assassin” is fairly… irresolvable. While Cho-yeon struggles to stay icy before Dang-gu’s puppydog eyes, Wook deploys his new ability: light speed dash! In an instant, he enters the forbidden Jinyowon.
Here, Wook is drawn to a hidden chamber. He encounters the woman from before — in attack mode! Resolute, she brandishes a fire poker at Wook, the same way someone once brandished a crab stick… Wook, unimpressed by the parallel, flings the poker into the wall. Cue the woman’s delight. He can throw more stuff, if he likes! She can use them as a stepladder — make her escape! Wook, convinced he’s met a sub-par priestess, is resolutely un-charmed by this tomfoolery. Still, he’s struck to the quick when she spies that his powers are fueled by the ice stone. Not so sub-par after all…
Why has she been shut up? For the crime, she claims, of being alive. This strikes a chord with Wook. His crime is identical, after all. And that’s the story of how our hero spends the rest of his evening chucking random household items at a wall, making one not-especially-tall priestess deliriously happy.
If there’s one thing we learned from last season, it’s that the ice stone’s powers come at a cost. Wook spends most nights downing endless cups of liquor to drown out the wraiths who plague him. Others too paid the price of his resurrection. Do-joo and Jin’s courtship, already glacial at best, has frozen almost to a halt: with Wook to care for, Do-joo won’t marry. Jin, meanwhile, was forced to step down as Head of Songrim, in exchange for Wook’s freedom. He now staves off the boredom of retirement by making horrible homemade kimchi with which he torments his loved ones. Wook, now an ominous figure in Daeho society, lurks like a shade in the empty Jeongjingak, emerging only to a) kill soul-shifters, and b) poke fun at the crown prince who rewards him for killing soul-shifters. Neither Won nor his ever-animated eyebrows are amused. Falsely hailed as the King’s Star, he got everything he wanted from Wook — and damned if Won will ever forgive him.
We return to our priestess. For argument’s sake, let’s call her Jin Bu-yeon; it’s certainly what Cho-yeon and Ho-gyeong have been calling her. Ho-gyeong has plans for the captive she hails as daughter. Bu-yeon is to be married! Her husband-to-be is of the Seo family, newly arrived from Seoho Fortress. (Yul fans, I can almost hear your squeals!) But Ho-gyeong is clear about one thing: this is no ticket out of Jinyowon. No — whatever made Bu-yeon think that? Instead, her husband will come here. Bu-yeon will live a long, productive life in this very room, popping out heirs to Jinyowon.
Unreconciled to this grisly fate, Bu-yeon seeks a solution in Wook’s makeshift staircase. If she can just find her fiancé and persuade him to free her…! Time’s running short; the tracking bracelet bound to her wrist will soon broadcast her whereabouts. From what she can glean from gossip, her fiancé is likely to be Seo Yul, one of Daeho’s most eligible bachelors. But, oh, how I have missed being trolled by the Hong sisters! At the docks, she walks smack past a returning Yul, taking refuge in a random boat. She’s not the only one seeking Yul, though — also lurking at the docks is So-yi! I’m delighted that endearing little scoundrel smuggled her way into this season.
Bu-yeon is carried down a canal… where she spots Eligible Bachelor #4, the ice-cold Jang Wook, standing atop the same bridge where someone once threw him a love letter. Bu-yeon’s expression is beautifully familiar. It’s the look of our heroine hatching a scheme. Wook and Bu-yeon settle at a cafe, where Bu-yeon gets temporarily derailed by an enticing smell. Some things, according to the Hong sisters, transcend death: true love, the ice stone’s power… and the assassin Naksu’s love of chicken. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Our heroine has a pitch to make. She is Bu-yeon, heir to Jinyowon, whose beauty is unparalleled… and she wants Wook to be her husband.
To Bu-yeon’s chagrin, Wook proves unsympathetic to her logic — plus, annoyingly unmoved by her beauty. It’s only later, over dinner with his friends, that he reconsiders. Dang-gu, having heard that a daughter of Jinyowon is to be wed, embarks on the important business of getting drunk and weepy over Cho-yeon. Yul refuses to eat a single mouthful of Jin’s latest crime against home cooking, whilst serenely suggesting that his friends eat up. Meanwhile, Wook has a quiet word with Jin. Could a sufficiently powerful priestess extract the ice stone from within him? Despite what his latest take on homemade deodeok would suggest, Jin’s no fool. Removing the ice stone would mean Wook’s death — a prospect that seems not to faze Wook one whit.
On the day of Bu-yeon’s wedding, she is primped, powdered, bound up in silks, and — despairing — is steered by boat to her fate. However, halfway through her journey, the water rises up in torrents. Both she and the boat disappear. Bu-yeon emerges on a different shore, sailing towards a stone-faced Wook — who grudgingly admits she may have some use after all. Beaming at this pronouncement, she throws herself into his arms.
She pulls back and grins. Then, hugs him again. Despite these hints, he unhelpfully refuses to carry her. Rude! Has he seen how many layers she’s wearing? Wook suggests she remove some. Patiently, she informs him that a wedding night in the woods seems inappropriate. There’s a resoundingly awkward pause. All of a sudden, Wook finds himself wrongfooted in a way he presumably hasn’t felt in approximately… oh, three years?
The two return to the Jang household, although not without a dazzlingly nostalgic moment in which they stare into one another’s eyes — okay, okay, for purely practical purposes. Bu-yeon is an amnesiac; Wook was just checking to see if she’s a soul-shifter! (She isn’t.) (Apparently.) Do-joo is greeted by the second-weirdest engagement announcement she’s ever had from her master — which, considering his eight ex-fiancees (at least one of whom stabbed him), is truly saying something. Still, after a moment’s shock, she responds with the sangfroid of a woman who’s suffered Wook’s shenanigans for years, ensuring his new bride is fed, bathed, and clothed.
True to form, it’s not long before Bu-yeon’s found liquor to steal. When Wook levels her with a look that spells hands off my booze (tough talk from a man who’ll merrily down poison if left unsupervised), she offers it back to him, unrepentant. Consider it a wedding drink! Here, their (very) nascent courtship hits a snag. Wook hesitates: why rush their wedding night? Because, sputters Bu-yeon, summer nights are short! And — day-drinking is unhealthy! (Good lord, I have missed this nonsense. Judging by Wook’s surprise, so has he.)
With a flourish, Wook extinguishes the lights. Placing the last lantern before Bu-yeon, he challenges her to snuff it out using her much-vaunted divine powers. It’s a relic; it won’t go easily. Bu-yeon crumples. She cannot. She lost them years ago, alongside her memory. Remorseless, Wook tells her to get out. Bu-yeon’s anguished eyes would fell a lesser man, but all Wook does is take her hand — snapping the tracking bracelet.
Elsewhere, Ho-gyeong is on the warpath. She publicly confronts Songrim, accusing its new leader of abducting the woman he took for Cho-yeon… Jin Bu-yeon. Shock ripples through the crowd. Bu-yeon is alive? … For real, this time? Still, as Yul confirms, Dang-gu has done nothing other than drunkenly sob all night. This, Yul judges, came as a disappointment to Cho-yeon. Privately, he gives Dang-gu some highly dubious advice: next time, abduct her! After all, Yul’s own romantic woes have taught him never to walk away.
Ho-gyeong, meanwhile, confronts the only person capable of giving her answers… Master Lee. Three years ago, Ho-gyeong recovered her daughter’s petrified body. Master Lee judged that Bu-yeon’s soul was irretrievable; it was too bound up in Naksu’s. A heartbroken Ho-gyeong, faced with no other option, chose to preserve her daughter’s body — even at the expense of saving the soul of her murderer. The body’s features steadily grew to match Naksu’s. Now, Naksu retains none of her memories, believing she is Bu-yeon. However, by Master Lee’s reckoning, if Bu-yeon’s divine powers ever return, Naksu’s memory will likely follow.
As for Wook? He never saw Naksu’s original face. Now, he lets her leave without a word. However, there’s one power Bu-yeon still possesses: the ability to see energy. There’s a fisherman possessed by something from a lake — something moving inexorably towards the Jang residence. Fearless as ever, Bu-yeon follows it into the house, reaching the bathtub for which she once drew water for Wook. Now, she sees the monster hiding within its depths. It yanks her under. Like so many times before, she breathes in water — only for Wook to catch her before she drowns.
Strange monsters are a semi-regular occurrence in the Jang household. The survivors must be kept warm. And so, just as Bu-yeon once held a freezing Wook close, Wook stays by her bedside all night. Turns out, there’s one more thing that transcends death. The love between Wook and Naksu? Absolutely! But also, Wook’s instinct to drink whatever beverage is put in front of him. Absentmindedly, he downs the “wedding drink” Bu-yeon offered him earlier.
The next day, Bu-yeon is informed that Wook ordered three days’ worth of medicine for her. It’s practically an invitation to move in! However, there’s more important news: posters of Bu-yeon’s face are plastered over Daeho. Bu-yeon is thrilled — it must be her fiancé’s doing. Why bet on Wook’s wavering feelings when there’s a man out there who clearly loves her? Scorning the medicine, she waltzes out in search of Yul. But, she’s stopped short by a flashback to the night before, of Wook drinking from the wedding cup.
As such, when she meets Yul, it is to convey her deepest regrets. Yul is very handsome — it’s only natural to waver when meeting a handsome man. (And ding goes the callback-o-meter!) However, her heart belongs elsewhere. Yul nods. This makes sense. Sort of. Actually, he’s a little unclear on… why she’s telling him this? Bu-yeon was betrothed to his uncle. Bu-yeon laughs in relief. Now she has no regrets! Alas, no sooner than she announces this, she walks right into the Jin security guards.
Bu-yeon’s recapture sets several events into motion. SEO YOON-OH (Do Sang-woo), Yul’s uncle, ends the betrothal on the basis of the queen’s disapproval. There’s a more urgent reason behind their return to Daeho: Yul requires treatment for the side effects of the blood worm squatting in his veins.
Meanwhile, Ho-gyeong folds Bu-yeon into her loving, maternal arms… then, lovingly and maternally, installs a new tracking device under her skin. With a needle. Following the advice of Mu — who’s stuck to Prince Won like political Teflon — she has a plan to bolster the Jin family’s flagging reputation. Namely: to announce the stunningly powerful Jin Bu-yeon as official heir. The ceremony will be a thing of grandeur, and Won is determined to miss it. Last time he saw Bu-yeon, he got trapped in a barrier, don’t you know? It was foggy! There was rain! Eunuch Oh, with the air of a man who has heard this story countless times, shudders sympathetically.
Wook, meanwhile, is disdainful. Jin’s latest innovation in cooking has been to make meju with red beans — an impossible task. It seems Ho-gyeong is doing the same with her daughter. But then, he happens to glance at the lantern by his window. It’s dark.
As the Unanimous Assembly gather, Bu-yeon steps before them. All of a sudden, the lights flicker out. Wook comes striding into the room, newly-lit lantern burning. The mages murmur; he ignores them, eyes fixed on Bu-yeon. She left, he says, without taking her medicine. Now, he’s here to check something. If she can extinguish the lantern, he’ll take her with him. At Bu-yeon’s hesitation, he turns to leave. She catches him by the hand — and the lantern falls dark. Wook turns to the Unanimous Assembly. Jin Bu-yeon cannot become heir of Jinyowon, he announces. She is already married to Wook.
Chills. Absolute chills. They’ve done it again — and I am a sucker for this love story no matter what form it takes. I was apprehensive when I learned about the amnesia plotline, because those so often feel pointless. This one has been done so deftly that I’m in awe. Go Yoon-jung accomplished the impossible; down to every last cadence and narrowing of the eyes, she feels so authentically Naksu it leaves me breathless. It’s a recognizably new take on an existing character: an exploration of who our heroine could have become if she didn’t have an assassin’s training — or an assassin’s trauma. We saw flickers of it in Jung So-min’s character when she considered becoming someone different. Now, we’re seeing the possibilities play out beautifully.
And the role reversal of it all! Instead of an untrained Wook determined to reach his potential to help Naksu, we see an untrained Naksu obliged to do the same for Wook. And as for Wook — wow! He’s become a different kind of romantic hero — the brooding, dangerous, seemingly indifferent one that Naksu embodied previously — and I adore it, because we know exactly where it comes from. This season is gorgeously colored by a kind of Beauty and the Beast aesthetic: even the Jang household, which we know of old, has the misty, shadowed feel of an enchanted palace. And speaking of reversals, it’s no coincidence that while the byword of last season was poison, this season’s overriding metaphor is medicine. I can’t wait to see our protagonists learn to help each other heal.