The wedding bells ring out in our penultimate week, but instead of confetti, we get chaos! In the midst of this, we deal with noble idiocy, we learn how the princess died, and our OTP gets caught in a sticky situation.
EPISODES 14-15
Our matchmaking project has finally gotten to its concluding phase: the wedding! As planned, Lady Park is in charge of hosting the joint wedding ceremony of Ye-jin and the Maeng sisters — but just Du-ri and Sam-soon’s, because Ha-na will have a separate ceremony as the crown princess. That’s right, the crown prince and Ha-na’s marriage has been arranged. This match remains quite icky for me, but let’s just go with it.
Ye-jin is not enthusiastic about her upcoming wedding — and even more so when she hears about the joint wedding. It’s one thing to marry a man she doesn’t love for family’s sake, but it’s another thing to watch the man she loves get married to someone else in her presence. Soon-deok informs Ye-jin that Boo-gyeom already turned down the marriage with Du-ri, and she also advises Ye-jin to put her happiness above her duty to the family.
With Boo-gyeom out of the running, Du-ri doesn’t know — and doesn’t even care to know — who her replacement groom is. The only bride who is fully invested in the upcoming nuptials is Sam-soon, and her excitement is so contagious that I almost feel like throwing her a bridal shower. Heh.
The reason Du-ri doesn’t care for marriage is because the elders of their family were ashamed that her mother was a matchmaker. You’d think the fact that Mrs. Maeng supported the family with what she earned would make the elders overlook the “vulgarity” — in their words — of the trade. But nah. As soon as Du-ri grew old enough to make money for the family with needlework skills, the grandmother poisoned the mother and made her go blind to stop her from working as a matchmaker. Oh wow!
Poisoning? Harming a family member to stop them from “bringing disrepute” to the rest of the family? I see Grandma Maeng had a lot in common with Lord Jo and Lady Park. Anyway, Du-ri felt responsible for her mother going blind, so she decided not to get married. Now look who has something in common with her soon-to-be brother-in-law. Before meeting Sam-soon, Soon-gu was also anti-marriage because he erroneously believed that their father forced Soon-deok into marriage with Lord Jo’s household to give him (Soon-gu) a better standing in society.
Jung-woo also submits his application to the self-blame association when he learns that the spouses of Agents of Love are fated to die young. But Soon-deok assures him that the princess didn’t die because he’s an agent. “The years of human life are up to fate,” she says, and the blame solely rests at the feet of the people who poisoned the princess.
The conversation with Jung-woo gives Soon-deok an answer to a question plaguing her: what would she have done differently if she were in Lady Park’s shoes? Her answer: she would not have made the “foolish decision” to take the crown prince’s life. She would rather have let nature take its course as regards the enthronement of prince Jin-sung. THANK YOU! But proving to be no different from her husband, Lady Park insists that the course of nature is created by those in power. Tsk.
Soon-deok puts it to her mother-in-law that Lord Jo and Minister Park died because she messed with the course of nature. But I bet Lady Park just thinks of Dumb and Dumber as collateral damage rather than victims of the family’s collective foolishness. Soon-deok strikes Lady Park off her role model list as she comes to the realization that she will never be the person Lady Park wants her to be. Thus, the line between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is drawn. Lady Park’s next course of action is to convince the queen to send prince Jin-sung and Jung-woo along with the envoys to fetch the crown prince’s investiture letter. I wonder what she’s scheming with this.
Anyway, Lady Park’s proposal leads the queen and the king to agree to annul Jung-woo’s marriage so that he can officially assist the crown prince in court. It’s not an easy decision because an annulment means that the princess will be a lonely unwed soul. But I love how they decided to respect their daughter’s last wishes, and put Jung-woo’s happiness above their feelings as parents. This is the power couple that Lord Jo and Lady Park could never be.
Finally, there’s a legitimate reason for Jung-woo’s annulment. But like he mentioned last week, he’s no longer team annulment because “through the matchmaking project, I learned I don’t need a government position to help the country.” Yeah, right. Just say the annulment is no longer alluring because you broke up with Soon-deok. Lol. The king praises Jung-woo for his character growth, but insists that he would be able to do more for the country with an official position. “I’m not saying this as your father-in-law, this is my order as the king.” *Bangs gavel* Man, I can’t wait to skip to the official annulment part already.
Before the joint wedding and annulment, Soon-deok persuades Jung-woo to match the slave hunter with Tae-ran. Jung-woo is reluctant because his chest didn’t hurt when he saw them together. But even if they’re not “fated” to be with each other, Soon-deok is sure they will have a good life because they truly love each other. Hmmm. Sounds to me like the loophole we need to match Jung-woo and Soon-deok.
Soon-deok shares my opinion, so she confronts Jung-woo on his noble idiocy again. “What am I supposed to do?” Jung-woo asks. Kiss and make up! Lool. Soon-deok says she made up her mind to be with Jung-woo when he climbed over the wall at Lord Jo’s residence to break up with her. (This sounds like a reverse scene from Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Lol.) But Jung-woo worries that Lady Park is more fearsome than Soon-deok thinks. Soon-deok assures him that she’s more courageous than he thinks, and Jung-woo has no more arguments to make. On this note, our OTP gets back together. Yes!!
The joint wedding season is officially upon us, and Lady Park gives Ye-jin a copy of The Art of War because “Tactics are necessary to lead a household.” I also find it in line with her character to advise her daughter to respect and serve her husband, but not to blindly obey him. She’s such a strategist, but hey, I’m also for husband and wife being on equal footing in a marriage.
There are many things that can go wrong at a wedding. For one, the bride can eat her brother’s snack without realizing that it’s poisoned — as we come to learn was the case with the late princess and the crown prince eight years ago. So that was what happened! Lady Park was the one who provided the snack for the crown prince, but she denies it when Jung-woo confronts her. She adds that he should let go of the case since the king decided to bury it for prince Jin-sung’s sake. But Jung-woo corrects her assumption. The king buried the case — and preserved Lord Jo’s integrity — as a show of appreciation for the loyalty of their eldest son who tried to prevent the poisoning plot and died as a result.
Lady Park is shocked to hear that her son knew about the plot, but Jung-woo is not quite done. “Your greed killed the princess and also your own son,” Jung-woo says, before leaving Lady Park to spin under the weight of her self-inflicted blow. Ha! To think she threw her son under the bus when he was really the one who saved the entire family from annihilation. By the way, I totally loved this entire sequence. From the show’s effective use of its favorite Pillar of Isolation to focus on Jung-woo and Lady Park during the princess’s death reveal, to Jung-woo’s calmness as he confronted Lady Park, to her reaction to the truth that rocked her world — it was superbly shot and acted!
But of all the things that could go wrong at a wedding, the worst is a no-show of the bride or groom. It turns out that Du-ri’s replacement groom got married a few days prior, and Shi-yeol is very upset on hearing this. “How dare he do that to Lady Du-ri?” Shi-yeol fumes. On the contrary, he’s totally fine — relieved, even — when he learns that his bride ran away. That’s right, Ye-jin finally chose happiness with Boo-gyeom over familial duty.
With his Agent of Love skills and her quick wits, Jung-woo and Soon-deok deduce that Shi-yeol and Du-ri are fated for each other, and Shi-yeol couldn’t be happier with this new development. So, we’ve got Sam-soon-gu, and Shi-yeol × Du-ri. But our joint wedding has been planned for three couples, and it’s Soon-gu’s turn to fume because Sam-soon will be upset if the wedding plans don’t push through. Lol. But Soon-deok did not come this far as Lady Yeo-ju just to end up with broken matches.
Already, on learning that her daughter ran away, Lady Park planned to proceed with a stand-in for the bride — since the couples’ faces are usually covered during the ceremony. She also sent a search party to find Ye-jin before the consummation with Shi-yeol. But since Shi-yeol has now been matched with Du-ri, all Soon-deok has to do is go behind her mother-in-law’s back to get a groom stand-in in the hopes that Ye-jin will return — with Boo-gyeom — before the consummation.
Lady Park suggests that Soon-deok should be Ye-jin’s stand-in, and as luck/fate/destiny will have it, Jung-woo ends up playing the groom stand-in. Unsurprisingly, despite the face covering, our OTP recognizes each other at the altar… and they get married. Hehe. Up next is the best part of the wedding: the consummation. Ahem. (Actually, I can’t lie, my best part of any wedding is the buffet.)
Moving on, the chief magistrate personally oversaw the wedding of the replacement groom, and he attended the joint wedding with the intention of seeing it fall apart. But after witnessing three couples get married as planned, his suspicion is through the roof and he decides to visit each bridal chamber to confirm the identities of the brides and grooms.
Du-ri — who’s totally happy with her new husband — spews cuss words at the magistrate for interrupting their steamy session. And I swear, Shi-yeol just fell in love with her all over again. As for Sam-soon-gu, well, do we need any words for how utterly adorable they are? But trust Soon-gu to go from being bashful to straight up hurling a chopstick at the magistrate when he comes to interrupt them. The laugh I let out! Honestly, Soon-gu should just have blinded that suspicious magistrate’s eyes.
Our OTP gets down to business awkwardly sits in the bridal chamber waiting for Boo-gyeom and Ye-jin to arrive. Under the assumption that Shi-yeol and the stand-in are inside, Lady Park tries to prevent the chief magistrate from going in. But the door is flung open anyway, and OTP’s eyes widen at the sight of whoever it is that came in. I cannot believe this is the cliffhanger we end with. How am I supposed to wait until next week?
It better be Ye-jin and Boo-gyeom who walked into the room because I can’t imagine the reaction if it is the chief magistrate and/or Lady Park. It’s bad enough for the king’s son-in-law to play a stand-in. But to be caught in the bridal chamber with a widow? It’s the scandal of the century, and the chief magistrate won’t let it go in his quest to oust Jung-woo and become the new leader of the faction.
Lady Park is just the same. Ye-jin’s marriage to Shi-yeol is the most important thing to her at the moment, and she’s going to rain her fury on Soon-deok when she learns about the groom swap. Oh dear! Our OTP should just have eloped in peace. I’ve not been this nervous about a finale in a long time, and at this point, I will accept it if our OTP doesn’t end up together. As long as the show protects them till the end. Please, don’t let any harm come to my babies. Please.