Post by ajk on Apr 28, 2009 15:09:06 GMT -5
Chiyang orders Sa Illa to go and stop her brother; she leaves on horseback, after a suspicious Gang Jo questions her. Then Suri (Trumpet fanfare, they finally identified her!) shows up and tells Gang that Seo Hui and Yi Jibaek are here.
Seo Hui and Yi Jibaek have come to Myeongbok Palace to discuss the prince's situation with Hunae. They tell her they doubt Lady Yunheung's involvement in the attack, and remind her about the difficulty of her keeping her son at the palace.
Seogyeong Market: Sa Gamun meets a fur trader, an old friend of his. Nice guy; they used to do business. Sa Gamun mentions the new trading business he's connected with that will be conducted through Myeongbok Palace. This gets the trader very interested; he thinks it's big money and would love to be in on it. Then Sa Gamun starts asking him about what the king's activities are while he's here in town.
Yi Gyeoumi and the governor of Seogyeong are discussing security for the upcoming citizens' forum with the king.
Hunae asks Hyangbi to go to the capital at Gang Gamchan's request. (This was that odd request from Gamchan in the previous episode.) Hunae suspects this is about her sister Seol (Note: I'll go back to calling her Seol from now on).
Prince Gyeongjuwon and Seol are out on a boat, enjoying each other's company. Then some smoochies.
Hunae brings her son to the palace's archery ground. She tries to give the boy a demonstration, but her shoulder is still injured and her accuracy suffers for it. Then she and the boy take the bow together and with her help (it's mainly her), he shoots a bullseye. The kid has never shot arrows before but seems to enjoy trying it, and shoots a few arrows on his own. Not well, but he tries. Then mom takes him on his first horse-ride. He doesn't like it at first, but she talks him through it and he warms up to it as they gallop through the countryside (Is that wise, considering that unidentified people were just trying to kill him?). Then they visit the ancestral shrine and she tells him about the empress dowager and about his father the late king. The kid had heard unfavorable things about his father, but Hunae explains about the difficult life that King Gyeongjong led and about how he was a benevolent ruler and good husband at times. (And she did a nice job of it.)
Choe Ryang tells a frustrated Lady Yunheung that the attackers have not been captured. He also tells her that he doesn't believe the attackers are Jurchens, and most likely are people from right here in the capital.
The Shillans are meeting, still worried....
Hunae asks Seo and Yi for her advice about the king's offer. Take the long-term view; Seo encourages her; "prepare for the future. You can resume your work (here in the north) when Prince Gaeryong rises to the throne." Yi ads that maybe the king will back off all of this hardball stuff when he sees the suffering of the people in Seogyeong.
Gyeongjuwon admires some embroidery that Seol has been doing on a long two-person pillow. She’s good at it, and tells him, I can do it to help support us, as though they plan to live as commoners. We hear them call each other "husband" and "wife"! (So did they get married after all?) And then they lie down in the same bed together, their heads on the embroidered pillow. They talk and hold hands, and promise to stay together forever. Then more smoochies....
A public street in Hwangju: Hunae is leading her son around, her palace entourage in tow. it's the boy's first time out in public. Reading and studying are important, she tells him, but it's also important to learn about the people. The people are very fond of her and show it, and they're excited to meet her son the bigshot prince, too. Then she takes him to the edge of the wilderness and explains why the northern territory is so meaningful and important. King Taejo wanted all future kings to visit the north regularly, she tells him; our king isn’t doing so but when you rise to the throne, you remember to do so.
Gamchan runs into Hyangbi, who's arrived and is looking for him. Where can I find Seol?, she asks. He only groans a bit.
On the shore of a frozen lake: Gyeongjuwon and Seol run around on the ice surface, playing like two little kids (gotta admit, it's nice to see two people so happy together in one of these series amid all the tension and difficulty). They frolic around for a while; then Hyangbi shows up.
Inside: "I'm not going back," Seol tells Hyangbi--and she means it. Hyangbi tells her that Hunae is going to be leaving Myeongbok and you need to go back to be the mistress of the palace. All the more reason for her not to go back: "I don't have what it takes to be the mistress of the palace," Seol says. She and Gyeongjuwon explain that they'll talk with Hunae about all this together, soon, but for now they just want to live quietly alone. No servants, no nothing.
Hunae tells Chiyang that if she does leave the palace, he can and should continue his trading business through the palace. Kim offers to donate some of the business's profits to the Balhaean refugees as a gesture of goodwill. He tells her, someday when you have more power (I guess meaning when her son becomes king), remember and embrace the Jurchens because the former Goguryeo included Jurchen people. She's surprised and impressed (but is he being sincere? We still don't know about that big plot of his).
Seogyeong Market: The fur trader tells Sa Gamun that he's going to the citizens' forum as a merchant representative. And he shows him the special emblem required for entry into the event. Can you get me a few of those?, Sa Gamun asks; I want to see the king too. The trader smiles and laughs; It's going to cost you, he says. He asks for a cut of the Myeongbok Palace business.
Later, we see Sa Gamun and the mysterious group of four from the previous episode. They're plotting what sounds like an assassination attempt on the king! Then a fuming Sa Illa walks in, takes Sa Gamun outside and tells him of Chiyang's order. No, he tells her; just this once I won't obey him; he'll understand when it's over. So just look the other way, he says. "You're going to have to kill me to stop me."
Back at Myeongbok Palace: The young prince confesses reluctantly to his mother that he had been misled by other people and always used to mistrust her. "I thought you were a bad person." Now he understands, he tearfully says, and he wants to stay here at Myeongbok Palace with her. I'll stay with you, she says, and tells him, When you become king, "you must continue the work that I'm forced to give up now." So apparently she'll stay with him in Sungdeok Palace, not here.
The king is meeting with his group of ministers in Seogyeong, in preparation for the citizens' forum. But we see that Choe Sum and Kim Wonsoong have arrived; they're telling him about the attack and about the prince being with his mother, and are feeding him their blather about how they suspect Hunae staged the attack. And we can see how incensed the king is. Kim and Choe urge him to take troops and get the prince back from Hwangju. But Park Yangyu reminds him that this isn't the time for that; the citizens are waiting to meet you.
Two of Sa Gamun's group of four men are on a balcony overlooking a public square, rabble-rousing. They're trying to agitate the commoners, complaining loudly that the king is meeting with "a handful of rich folks" and ignoring us regular people. This is part of the assassination plot, apparently, and it's working. They work the crowd into a lather and exhort them to march to the palace and demand to be heard.
The Seogyeong north gate: the fur trader is presenting his emblem for admission. Helping him haul in some chests of gifts for the king are Sa Gamun and two of the group of four. An unintenionally funny scene as the guard orders the chests opened and inspected: "Anything that can be used as weapons?", he asks. (Any liquid bottles bigger than three ounces? Take your shoes off, please. Sheesh.)
Still out and about in town, Hunae and her party see the riled-up citizens heading for the north gate. Then Chiyang excuses himself and leaves, and goes to meet Sa Illa who is NOT with her brother, uh-oh.
Inside the city, Sa Gamun and the other two have ditched the trader and, suddenly now dressed in black and masked, are scurrying around like assassins, (They’re wearing black in broad daylight. Seriously.) They prepare for an assassination attempt, dipping an arrow in some sort of sticky liquid that looks like poison.
Outside, the citizens led by the two men start raising a ruckus, demanding entry. Then Hunae shows up! The crowd hails her appearance. She and her son and Seo and Yi and Gang Jo enter. She's come to see the king and tell him about the attack. The people think she'll speak on their behalf and are thrilled.
Inside, the king is still with his ministers. He's silent, tense and pacing. The news about the attack, and apparently the Shillans’ spin on it, have gotten to him. He decides he'll go to Hwangju as soon as the forum ends. "Ready the troops," he orders. Wonsoong and Choe Sum can barely conceal their glee; this is what they want.
The king comes outside and hears the clamor from the citizens outside the gate, and then is stunned to see Hunae and the prince inside the grounds and approaching him. Mother and son go to the king; it's a tense moment. He glares at the boy and then orders him to come to his side. But the boy doesn't move, at least not right away. Then, suddenly, from off to the side: "Fire!" One of the nearby buildings is blazing furiously. The scene is becoming chaotic and it’s best to get the king out of there. "Didn't you hear me? I said come here!" Still the prince won't leave his mother's side, so he takes the boy physically by the hand to lead him away. Hunae tries to tell the king that someone in Gaeryong wants the boy dead. But he only accuses her of inciting the citizens and creating chaos here, as some sort of conspiracy. Then, from a nearby rooftop, we see Sa Gamun, aiming, aiming...and he fires an arrow! The arrow strikes the king and goes clean through him, also striking a retainer behind him, but the aim was a bit off and it looks to be a non-lethal wound to the king’s shoulder. Still, the king is wildly agitated, and now bleeding heavily....
Seo Hui and Yi Jibaek have come to Myeongbok Palace to discuss the prince's situation with Hunae. They tell her they doubt Lady Yunheung's involvement in the attack, and remind her about the difficulty of her keeping her son at the palace.
Seogyeong Market: Sa Gamun meets a fur trader, an old friend of his. Nice guy; they used to do business. Sa Gamun mentions the new trading business he's connected with that will be conducted through Myeongbok Palace. This gets the trader very interested; he thinks it's big money and would love to be in on it. Then Sa Gamun starts asking him about what the king's activities are while he's here in town.
Yi Gyeoumi and the governor of Seogyeong are discussing security for the upcoming citizens' forum with the king.
Hunae asks Hyangbi to go to the capital at Gang Gamchan's request. (This was that odd request from Gamchan in the previous episode.) Hunae suspects this is about her sister Seol (Note: I'll go back to calling her Seol from now on).
Prince Gyeongjuwon and Seol are out on a boat, enjoying each other's company. Then some smoochies.
Hunae brings her son to the palace's archery ground. She tries to give the boy a demonstration, but her shoulder is still injured and her accuracy suffers for it. Then she and the boy take the bow together and with her help (it's mainly her), he shoots a bullseye. The kid has never shot arrows before but seems to enjoy trying it, and shoots a few arrows on his own. Not well, but he tries. Then mom takes him on his first horse-ride. He doesn't like it at first, but she talks him through it and he warms up to it as they gallop through the countryside (Is that wise, considering that unidentified people were just trying to kill him?). Then they visit the ancestral shrine and she tells him about the empress dowager and about his father the late king. The kid had heard unfavorable things about his father, but Hunae explains about the difficult life that King Gyeongjong led and about how he was a benevolent ruler and good husband at times. (And she did a nice job of it.)
Choe Ryang tells a frustrated Lady Yunheung that the attackers have not been captured. He also tells her that he doesn't believe the attackers are Jurchens, and most likely are people from right here in the capital.
The Shillans are meeting, still worried....
Hunae asks Seo and Yi for her advice about the king's offer. Take the long-term view; Seo encourages her; "prepare for the future. You can resume your work (here in the north) when Prince Gaeryong rises to the throne." Yi ads that maybe the king will back off all of this hardball stuff when he sees the suffering of the people in Seogyeong.
Gyeongjuwon admires some embroidery that Seol has been doing on a long two-person pillow. She’s good at it, and tells him, I can do it to help support us, as though they plan to live as commoners. We hear them call each other "husband" and "wife"! (So did they get married after all?) And then they lie down in the same bed together, their heads on the embroidered pillow. They talk and hold hands, and promise to stay together forever. Then more smoochies....
A public street in Hwangju: Hunae is leading her son around, her palace entourage in tow. it's the boy's first time out in public. Reading and studying are important, she tells him, but it's also important to learn about the people. The people are very fond of her and show it, and they're excited to meet her son the bigshot prince, too. Then she takes him to the edge of the wilderness and explains why the northern territory is so meaningful and important. King Taejo wanted all future kings to visit the north regularly, she tells him; our king isn’t doing so but when you rise to the throne, you remember to do so.
Gamchan runs into Hyangbi, who's arrived and is looking for him. Where can I find Seol?, she asks. He only groans a bit.
On the shore of a frozen lake: Gyeongjuwon and Seol run around on the ice surface, playing like two little kids (gotta admit, it's nice to see two people so happy together in one of these series amid all the tension and difficulty). They frolic around for a while; then Hyangbi shows up.
Inside: "I'm not going back," Seol tells Hyangbi--and she means it. Hyangbi tells her that Hunae is going to be leaving Myeongbok and you need to go back to be the mistress of the palace. All the more reason for her not to go back: "I don't have what it takes to be the mistress of the palace," Seol says. She and Gyeongjuwon explain that they'll talk with Hunae about all this together, soon, but for now they just want to live quietly alone. No servants, no nothing.
Hunae tells Chiyang that if she does leave the palace, he can and should continue his trading business through the palace. Kim offers to donate some of the business's profits to the Balhaean refugees as a gesture of goodwill. He tells her, someday when you have more power (I guess meaning when her son becomes king), remember and embrace the Jurchens because the former Goguryeo included Jurchen people. She's surprised and impressed (but is he being sincere? We still don't know about that big plot of his).
Seogyeong Market: The fur trader tells Sa Gamun that he's going to the citizens' forum as a merchant representative. And he shows him the special emblem required for entry into the event. Can you get me a few of those?, Sa Gamun asks; I want to see the king too. The trader smiles and laughs; It's going to cost you, he says. He asks for a cut of the Myeongbok Palace business.
Later, we see Sa Gamun and the mysterious group of four from the previous episode. They're plotting what sounds like an assassination attempt on the king! Then a fuming Sa Illa walks in, takes Sa Gamun outside and tells him of Chiyang's order. No, he tells her; just this once I won't obey him; he'll understand when it's over. So just look the other way, he says. "You're going to have to kill me to stop me."
Back at Myeongbok Palace: The young prince confesses reluctantly to his mother that he had been misled by other people and always used to mistrust her. "I thought you were a bad person." Now he understands, he tearfully says, and he wants to stay here at Myeongbok Palace with her. I'll stay with you, she says, and tells him, When you become king, "you must continue the work that I'm forced to give up now." So apparently she'll stay with him in Sungdeok Palace, not here.
The king is meeting with his group of ministers in Seogyeong, in preparation for the citizens' forum. But we see that Choe Sum and Kim Wonsoong have arrived; they're telling him about the attack and about the prince being with his mother, and are feeding him their blather about how they suspect Hunae staged the attack. And we can see how incensed the king is. Kim and Choe urge him to take troops and get the prince back from Hwangju. But Park Yangyu reminds him that this isn't the time for that; the citizens are waiting to meet you.
Two of Sa Gamun's group of four men are on a balcony overlooking a public square, rabble-rousing. They're trying to agitate the commoners, complaining loudly that the king is meeting with "a handful of rich folks" and ignoring us regular people. This is part of the assassination plot, apparently, and it's working. They work the crowd into a lather and exhort them to march to the palace and demand to be heard.
The Seogyeong north gate: the fur trader is presenting his emblem for admission. Helping him haul in some chests of gifts for the king are Sa Gamun and two of the group of four. An unintenionally funny scene as the guard orders the chests opened and inspected: "Anything that can be used as weapons?", he asks. (Any liquid bottles bigger than three ounces? Take your shoes off, please. Sheesh.)
Still out and about in town, Hunae and her party see the riled-up citizens heading for the north gate. Then Chiyang excuses himself and leaves, and goes to meet Sa Illa who is NOT with her brother, uh-oh.
Inside the city, Sa Gamun and the other two have ditched the trader and, suddenly now dressed in black and masked, are scurrying around like assassins, (They’re wearing black in broad daylight. Seriously.) They prepare for an assassination attempt, dipping an arrow in some sort of sticky liquid that looks like poison.
Outside, the citizens led by the two men start raising a ruckus, demanding entry. Then Hunae shows up! The crowd hails her appearance. She and her son and Seo and Yi and Gang Jo enter. She's come to see the king and tell him about the attack. The people think she'll speak on their behalf and are thrilled.
Inside, the king is still with his ministers. He's silent, tense and pacing. The news about the attack, and apparently the Shillans’ spin on it, have gotten to him. He decides he'll go to Hwangju as soon as the forum ends. "Ready the troops," he orders. Wonsoong and Choe Sum can barely conceal their glee; this is what they want.
The king comes outside and hears the clamor from the citizens outside the gate, and then is stunned to see Hunae and the prince inside the grounds and approaching him. Mother and son go to the king; it's a tense moment. He glares at the boy and then orders him to come to his side. But the boy doesn't move, at least not right away. Then, suddenly, from off to the side: "Fire!" One of the nearby buildings is blazing furiously. The scene is becoming chaotic and it’s best to get the king out of there. "Didn't you hear me? I said come here!" Still the prince won't leave his mother's side, so he takes the boy physically by the hand to lead him away. Hunae tries to tell the king that someone in Gaeryong wants the boy dead. But he only accuses her of inciting the citizens and creating chaos here, as some sort of conspiracy. Then, from a nearby rooftop, we see Sa Gamun, aiming, aiming...and he fires an arrow! The arrow strikes the king and goes clean through him, also striking a retainer behind him, but the aim was a bit off and it looks to be a non-lethal wound to the king’s shoulder. Still, the king is wildly agitated, and now bleeding heavily....