With his best friend’s life hanging in the balance, our hero invades Cheongbugwan, setting off a fateful political crisis. Soon, he’ll be forced to reckon with his worst enemy — and our heroine, with whether or not she can rely on his loyalty. Buckle up, folks! Things are about to get brutal.
EPISODES 7-8 WEECAP
Wook proceeds to fulfill last week’s threat masterfully. RIP to Mu’s lackey-of-all-seasons, Yeom-su — you will not be missed! However, one person does leave the room alive: Yul — still clinging to this mortal coil by a thread. Prior to his well-deserved demise, Yeom-su implicated his master. When Wook marches on Cheonbugwan, felling guards like dominoes, his friends have the perfect excuse to back him.
Daeho’s establishment would scarcely have blinked at the demise of a gutter rat like So-yi, but with a nobleman’s life on the line, it’s outright crisis. Wook stands firm in Cheonbugwan’s courtyard, threatening Mu’s life and those who protect him. This includes the Crown Prince. However, Won’s only thought is to restrain Wook from doing something rash. Inadvertently, his efforts to negotiate with Mu help Wook achieve his true objective: as Mu wriggles on the hook, he strives to bring his sister down with him.
Ho-gyeong, dragged into the only atrocity this season she truly had no hand in, resentfully brokers a solution. Yul’s salvation lies in Jinyowon; the fire bird’s power can vanquish the blood worm. She’ll happily open the gates — for the price of Bu-yeon’s freedom. It’s hard to forgive Wook for what he does next. Without a flicker of hesitation… he agrees.
Bu-yeon is no fool. Her next meeting with Wook is fraught with painful subtext. She wants to help, she insists. Not for Wook’s sake. For Yul’s. Blinkered by worry, Wook ignores the opening. But for all that he tells himself it’s necessary — that it’s selfish to keep her by his side — it doesn’t change the fact that Bu-yeon knows what he did. He chose to abandon her.
Our heroes assemble to plot Yul’s rescue, Mission Impossible style. The plan is to transfer the blood worm — gorged energy and all — to Jinyowon, where the fire bird will purge the parasite. They mustn’t break the fire bird’s barrier; instead, they’ll extend it with a ring of gold. That’s easy: Wook has amassed an entirely useless fortune via widespread soul-shifter slaughter. More pertinently, Yul can’t be moved. A proxy with Jin blood must carry his energy, via Soul Lantern water wick.
The proposed carrier is Cho-yeon, which proves… problematic. Energy transferal may cause side effects if pregnant. She won’t take the risk — not after a wild night spent in secret with Dang-gu! And so it is Bu-yeon, with her tragically unconsummated marriage, who agrees to hold the water wick in her mouth. She and Wook travel to Jinyowon, where Won waits.
Much of this plan hinges on the impossible: Won and Wook’s peaceful cooperation. With Yul’s life quite literally between her teeth, Bu-yeon can’t utter a peep. It’s the perfect formula for a truly unhinged comedy of errors. Bu-yeon descends. Won’s eyebrows skyrocket in opposite directions. Turtle Shaman? Bu-yeon’s eyes widen in earnest bafflement. Eunuch Go?? Everyone takes a moment to awkwardly disentangle who everyone else is, and precisely how a turtle got involved.
Won lifts Bu-yeon into the circle, chivalrously insisting that if she still hasn’t sourced a room of her own (Bu-yeon shrugs, mournfully) — well, guess where you can find lots of rooms? Palaces! And he just happens to own one! Bu-yeon glows. Wook glowers. Miraculously, they then remember they’re here to perform a ritual. Wook makes the fire bird’s energy flare, suffusing Bu-yeon’s body. Cutting into her arm, Won extracts the parasite. Shaken but unharmed, Bu-yeon allows Wook to very pointedly lift her back to safety. (The crown prince raises his own arms, expectantly.) (He is ignored.)
Bu-yeon returns to Yul’s sickbed. At Yeom’s insistence, she leans close, pressing her lips to his. The energy travels back to its source — and Yul draws breath.
In the aftermath, a series of unfortunate realizations are made. Mu — incensed that Won likes soft, useless things like turtles, rather than proper, royal things like manipulation and revenge — attempts to sway him back to the fold. He tells Won exactly why Wook is the King’s Star. Meanwhile, Yul confronts Master Lee. Serenely, Daeho’s most inscrutable meddler reveals that the original Bu-yeon’s soul was never gone. When Naksu recovers her memories, Bu-yeon will repossess her body — destroying Naksu for good.
Elsewhere, Bu-yeon faces the fallout of Wook’s betrayal. Did he think she was stupid? She chose to go back. Maybe she is useless to Wook. Still, you can miss a brazier even in the summer. But Wook’s response is icy: perhaps, he snaps, I’ll miss you when it’s cold. Bu-yeon’s temper flares. Fine, she says. Freeze to death alone. Later — and very alone indeed — Wook regresses to an old routine. He sits. (Will Bu-yeon be all right?) He remembers. (Could he find an excuse to see her?) He mourns. (Doesn’t she belong by his side?) All the while, the Jinyowon lamp flickers.
When Bu-yeon visits Songrim, he’s there. The lantern, he explains, is out of its mind. He’s out of his mind. Does she think he abandoned her because she’s useless? He had wanted her to kill him, not keep him warm. Now? He’s sorry. He’s grateful. When the lantern is on, he’s sane, and he knows she must return. But, when it flickers out… he pines.
Bu-yeon steps closer. She breathes out a puff of air. I turned it off, she says. A second later, the two are kissing so fiercely it’s like they never intend to part.
It’s a mind-blowing kiss. It’s sizzling, and desperate, and Bu-yeon’s outer jacket is very nearly removed. But before our heroes can thoroughly scandalize any passing Songrim students, Wook recalls himself. They’ve got a promise to break. When Bu-yeon protests, he grins, lifts her onto the desk, kneels before her… and insists he’ll win over her mother.
As they leave hand in hand, giddily flirting, Bu-yeon recalls the first time they met. She knew the moment she saw him. He was her husband. The two smile — then freeze. Both remember Wook’s words to Mu-deok. I knew the moment I saw you. You are my master. For a moment, there is agonizing silence. Then, Bu-yeon says something that stops my heart. I don’t mind that you didn’t recognize me. This time, I recognized you first. The two stand on the precipice of the truth — but they refuse to fall.
Later, Yul, burdened with fresh knowledge, takes a sledgehammer to Bu-yeon’s happiness. You and Wook, he informs her bluntly, will cause each other pain. Bu-yeon flinches as fresh memories assault her. Go to Danhyanggok, Yul commands, and you’ll learn why. But Bu-yeon won’t give in. She pleads for him to let her be foolish, just a little longer. And so, Yul promises her time. True to his word, he approaches Ho-gyeong, armed with the truth: that soon, the real Bu-yeon will triumph. Knowing this, won’t she let Naksu be?
Wook faces his own unwelcome collision with reality. Won has sent his royal medallion, insisting that they must speak. As he shrugs on fresh robes, Bu-yeon enters. She spots the bright scar on his chest that, in another life, was her parting gift. Wook watches her, carefully. He doesn’t know why Naksu did it. And Bu-yeon refuses to remember. Wook pulls her into a hug, urging her to wait for him — he’ll return to her side.
Won stares at the turtle enclosure. Ever since Mu visited, it’s been suspiciously empty. Gravely, he prepares to issue Wook with an ultimatum. If Wook truly doesn’t intend to fight him for the throne, then he will retreat to the North Fortress. Still, even as Wook publicly declares his intention to leave — even as Won sits down for tea and scheming with Mu — Won glances towards the turtle’s deserted terrarium. There’s a skeptical slant to those magnificent eyebrows.
Meanwhile, it’s Yun-ok’s turn to meddle. During Yul’s illness, she stumbled upon the letter revealing Naksu’s identity, and immediately decided to make it her business. Sadly cementing her degeneration into Generic Jealous Villain #10003, Yun-ok forces Bu-yeon to face the truth. Luring her to the Forest of Brooding, Yun-ok splashes Bu-yeon with a medicine designed to reveal hidden scars — including the soul-shifter’s mark. As Bu-yeon washes her face in the stream, she watches her eyes bloom blue.
The trickle of memories swells to a tide. Bu-yeon finally makes her way to Danhyanggok. The tree looms before her. Her eyes well up as gold mist surges, and she finds herself facing — Bu-yeon. The original. It’s a shame, the blind girl tells her. You’ll have to leave this body soon. As she faces the soul that will soon be her destruction, Naksu finally lets a tear shed.
She finds herself sitting outside Chwiseonru, where she and Wook first met. Where Wook first proposed. And, of course, it is here that he finds her, having waited and searched. I know who I am, she tells him. And I can no longer wait for you. There was a man I cared for. I liked him more than he liked me — and I hurt him, gravely. Jang Wook, she says, in a tone that is pure Naksu, turn the light back on.
It’s Wook’s turn to be viciously jealous — of himself. To agonize, and rant, and feel useless as a brazier on a hot day. But, as ever, he is resolute in his devotion. He stands outside Jinyowon, where Naksu intends to fade in silence, waiting. And, when he spies her watching him leave — he sneaks in to see her. I’m not confused, or crazy, he insists. I just like you. If destiny has decreed that he be the brazier — then, very well! He’ll be the brazier!
As Wook prepares to retreat north, Yul demands an explanation from Master Lee. Why not tell him the truth? Because, says Master Lee, if Wook wanted, he could save Naksu — by killing Bu-yeon’s soul. He wished to spare him the agony of choice. Frankly, this is optimistic: I doubt Jang “I’d burn the world twice over for Naksu!” Wook would even hesitate. Anyway, a glimmer of hope remains… in the unlikely form of a truant turtle. In the strangest twist yet, we learn that Won’s pet is a powerful creature that guides those who’ve lost their way. This time, it has alighted on Naksu.
Meanwhile, Team Evil — of whom Won is, alarmingly, an acting member — force a confrontation with Ho-gyeong. Mu seeks to destroy her position as head of Jinyowon, on the basis of her graying hair and dwindling powers. Now that’s cheek, coming from a man whose head is entirely silver. Hearing this snaps Naksu out of her depression. She decides to act.
It’s a delicious moment. Memories recovered, dignity repaired, and turtle in hand, Naksu strides into Cheongbugwan, declaring that she will take over Jinyowon. Slimy as ever, Mu insists upon a test of her divine powers. He casts Jinyowon’s plaque into Cheonbugwan’s labyrinthine prison. If she can retrieve it, he’ll acknowledge her position.
Passing through the doorway, Naksu emerges in a forest surrounded by sea. It’s all she can do to follow her guide, the turtle… very slowly. Soon, she stumbles not on the plaque, but on a skeleton — whose ribs contain what seems to be an ice stone. Just as she reaches for it, she’s forced back. One of the prison’s resident wraiths comes careening towards her, sending her stumbling back down the path. As she’s backed against a tree, she throws up her hands — only to be met with nothing. Wook’s sword has already swept it away.
He’s here. She looks at him, stunned. He looks back. And, seeing the blue marks surface in her eyes, he asks — who are you?
This week saw the return of so many things that thrilled me in Part 1. There’s Wook’s impossible devotion, the way he will always, always return to Naksu: his ability to spit in the face of noble idiocy and say, not today! And as for Naksu — be still my heart. She’s back! Go Yoon-jung’s performance is flawless. She has the same calculating, almost hungry stare, the same unwavering tone of command — all braided together with Bu-yeon’s vulnerability and gorgeously soulful expressions.
Fate is inexorable, and our protagonists are running out the clock. The tragedy of this drama is one of time. Bu-yeon never got that room of her own — just the realization that she needed one. Our leads never got their first marriage — just the promise of one. And Alchemy of Souls had the space of another season — but ten episodes hardly feel enough for this story to explore its new vistas of character and plot. All our protagonists can do is revel in those stolen moments where the light flickers out. And, much as I’d love to wallow in the world of Daeho forever, I cannot wait for the sheer scope of what the Hong sisters will achieve next week. In this drama, one episode has always been a world of time. Whether Wook and Naksu’s story will be open-ended, or a series of intense moments snatched breathlessly from the jaws of death, it’ll have been worth it every step of the way.