Post by TheBo on Dec 27, 2011 14:14:43 GMT -5
Ep.55:
Hong tries to convince San to trust Tebi Mamah (the old dowager) and let her “come in.” Hong believes this will preserve San’s authority and keep Lord Jang in line. Hong tells Dae-su he sees himself as the instrument of beneficial change for Chosun.
Dowager Hye invites some ministers’ wives to celebrate Wong Bin’s pregnancy. They suck up to Wong Bin, and she takes the opportunity to insult Hyeoui’s lack of fertility in her hearing. However, it turns out Wong Bin’s pregnancy is false. She begs her brother (Hong) to help her cover this up and she lies to Dowager Hye about the baby.
Wong Bin has continued her campaign of rude treatment against Song. Song and Chobi are present when the doctor first broaches the subject of the false pregnancy but they don’t understand the conversation.
When San announces abolishment of (a) the slave tax and (b) pursuit of runaway slaves, Lord Jang—previously threatened by Sec’y Hong—has all the Norons walk out because San “won’t listen to them anyway.” Even a reluctant Sir Choi goes. San will be blamed, says Jang. Hong runs after him, and Jang says publish and be damned, but I don’t think the king will be happy you did this.
Hong decides to keep the letter against Lord Jang as a last-ditch expediency, as once he uses it, San will cut him off forever. He tells Tebi Mamah she has to find another way to get San’s favor.
DS+2 report to San that incidents of official slave harassment are on the rise since San’s initial antislavery edicts. San, furious, holds his daily cabinet meeting “even if only one official attends.” To his surprise Sir Choi has brought other officials with him. Privately, Choi asks San to back off universal emancipation, and the Norons will return and agree to end governmental slavery and runaway slave pursuit. He tells San his cause is just, but he’s moving too fast to get anyone on his side. Also that the other Norons returned because Tebi M. cajoled them.
Sir Choi tries to talk Lord Jang out of being so rigid. He wants him to be more political so the Norons can survive.
Later, San calls Tebi Mamah back into the palace. San’s mother is afraid she’s misjudged Sec’y Hong because of this. Tebi M. then asks Sir Choi to surreptitiously purchase some property for her, against a later time when “the winds change.”
The day the prisoner is executed, San visits him with porridge from his mother, promises she’ll never be abused or have to pay slave taxes and that San will stop slavery itself, so the man should rest easy. The man is overwhelmed with gratitude.
The master artist manipulates Artists Lee and Tak to get some alone time with Song. (He tells her his house has two rats—one fat, one thin—so they have to study elsewhere.) He tries to ply her with wine, but she only wants to learn to paint. He’s pretty disrespectful of her desire to be a painter and tells her painting isn’t enough when your heart is empty like hers is.
Lord Jang’s sidekick minister is arrested for the murder/attack on the half-nobles, as he’s packing to flee. The policemen however are shot with knockout darts and the minister taken away by mysterious masked men…
Queen H stops by the pharmacy to inquire as to the health of Wong Bin and if the herbs she sent will be good for her. Sec’y Wong steps in, saying one of the herbs won’t be good, and Queen H questions the puzzled doctor. Flummoxed, the doctor agrees with Hong and later is told by him to keep up the wheeze and Hong will “take care of everything.”
But San hears him say that, and asks what he’s talking about. Lots of heavy breathing and looking at the ground.
***
I found it interesting that San told the slave in his “next life” he wouldn’t be abused. As if, in his next life, he could only hope to be reborn as a slave. Rather fatalistic. ;D
Also, Hong and Wong Bin are using the doctor to fake a miscarriage, but that doctor will get all the blame and could possibly lose his life over anything that happens to the baby. I’m surprised he’d go along with it.
Hong tries to convince San to trust Tebi Mamah (the old dowager) and let her “come in.” Hong believes this will preserve San’s authority and keep Lord Jang in line. Hong tells Dae-su he sees himself as the instrument of beneficial change for Chosun.
Dowager Hye invites some ministers’ wives to celebrate Wong Bin’s pregnancy. They suck up to Wong Bin, and she takes the opportunity to insult Hyeoui’s lack of fertility in her hearing. However, it turns out Wong Bin’s pregnancy is false. She begs her brother (Hong) to help her cover this up and she lies to Dowager Hye about the baby.
Wong Bin has continued her campaign of rude treatment against Song. Song and Chobi are present when the doctor first broaches the subject of the false pregnancy but they don’t understand the conversation.
When San announces abolishment of (a) the slave tax and (b) pursuit of runaway slaves, Lord Jang—previously threatened by Sec’y Hong—has all the Norons walk out because San “won’t listen to them anyway.” Even a reluctant Sir Choi goes. San will be blamed, says Jang. Hong runs after him, and Jang says publish and be damned, but I don’t think the king will be happy you did this.
Hong decides to keep the letter against Lord Jang as a last-ditch expediency, as once he uses it, San will cut him off forever. He tells Tebi Mamah she has to find another way to get San’s favor.
DS+2 report to San that incidents of official slave harassment are on the rise since San’s initial antislavery edicts. San, furious, holds his daily cabinet meeting “even if only one official attends.” To his surprise Sir Choi has brought other officials with him. Privately, Choi asks San to back off universal emancipation, and the Norons will return and agree to end governmental slavery and runaway slave pursuit. He tells San his cause is just, but he’s moving too fast to get anyone on his side. Also that the other Norons returned because Tebi M. cajoled them.
Sir Choi tries to talk Lord Jang out of being so rigid. He wants him to be more political so the Norons can survive.
Later, San calls Tebi Mamah back into the palace. San’s mother is afraid she’s misjudged Sec’y Hong because of this. Tebi M. then asks Sir Choi to surreptitiously purchase some property for her, against a later time when “the winds change.”
The day the prisoner is executed, San visits him with porridge from his mother, promises she’ll never be abused or have to pay slave taxes and that San will stop slavery itself, so the man should rest easy. The man is overwhelmed with gratitude.
The master artist manipulates Artists Lee and Tak to get some alone time with Song. (He tells her his house has two rats—one fat, one thin—so they have to study elsewhere.) He tries to ply her with wine, but she only wants to learn to paint. He’s pretty disrespectful of her desire to be a painter and tells her painting isn’t enough when your heart is empty like hers is.
Lord Jang’s sidekick minister is arrested for the murder/attack on the half-nobles, as he’s packing to flee. The policemen however are shot with knockout darts and the minister taken away by mysterious masked men…
Queen H stops by the pharmacy to inquire as to the health of Wong Bin and if the herbs she sent will be good for her. Sec’y Wong steps in, saying one of the herbs won’t be good, and Queen H questions the puzzled doctor. Flummoxed, the doctor agrees with Hong and later is told by him to keep up the wheeze and Hong will “take care of everything.”
But San hears him say that, and asks what he’s talking about. Lots of heavy breathing and looking at the ground.
***
I found it interesting that San told the slave in his “next life” he wouldn’t be abused. As if, in his next life, he could only hope to be reborn as a slave. Rather fatalistic. ;D
Also, Hong and Wong Bin are using the doctor to fake a miscarriage, but that doctor will get all the blame and could possibly lose his life over anything that happens to the baby. I’m surprised he’d go along with it.