The Action So Far

[TheBo]

In case anyone is hesitating to join in because they don't want to "spoil," I'm opening up this thread just to list what's happened. This post will concern episodes 1 through 8, and later ones will elaborate. No commentary here (I'll try to contain myself). I will lock the thread, and you can discuss stuff in the episode threads.

Ep 1:
0) At Dohwaseo, the Royal Painting Academy
1) Field trip of young painters. They see gisaeng passing by on bridge
2) A royal lady meets her lover secretly
3) Painter Yun-bok hides behind a wall and paints that lady who then spies him; it turns out to be the dowager queen (king's grandmother), who is worried the king will find out she was frolicking while he was praying for rain. She finds the painting, she and everyone else decide it is obscene and the search begins for the culprit who painted it
3a) While being chased by Queen's minions, Yun-bok runs into a fabric shop and is helped by Jung-hyang, one of the gisaeng he saw earlier
4) Yun-bok tries to confess, but his father thinks he could not possibly have done it so does not listen and tells Yun-bok the person who did it will get into big trouble; Yun-bok is scared silent
5) To keep the Queen from going on a rampage, the king takes the opportunity to bring painter Danwon (whom he likes) back from exile to find the errant young painter; the queen and her cohorts mutter about something that "happened 10 years ago" and preventing Danwon from finding out about that incident
6) Danwon meets Yun-bok in the marketplace, and Y tears one of D's paintings that is for sale.
(Yun-bok is revealed as a girl, binding her chest, in this episode)

Ep.2:
1) Danwon teaches the students in an effort to find the culprit
2) He figures out it's Yun-bok, but is upset by this as Yun-bok is very talented
3) Danwon tells Yun-bok his fate
4) Yun-bok goes to Jung-hyang and asks her to play for his last night as a painter

Ep.3:
1) Jung-hyang and Yun-bok spend evening (JH) playing music and (Y) painting her; JH wonders why Danwon warned Yun-bok and tells him Danwon is his last hope
2) Danwon sends Yun-bok away
3) At Dowahseo, Danwon prepares to take Yun-bok's punishment because, he says, he does not know who did the painting. His hand is about to be smashed when Yun-bok breaks in, screaming he did it. Yun-bok's brother also says "I did it." The king, who has identified the lady in the painting, comes to talk with Queen who is waiting like a vampire for the blood to spurt
4) The judge conducting the "trial" tries to sort it out who did it. Yun-bok's father breaks down and begs for mercy when he's going to smash everyone's hand, tells them Young-bok (older son) did it, not Yun-bok. Earlier, Young-bok begged Danwon to say he did it, too. Young-bok is sentenced to work as colorist and never paint again, but queen forgoes smashing anyone's hand because king lets her know he is on to her
5) Everyone pleased with outcome except Yun-bok, who runs off and smashes own hand with a rock; then, when Danwon finds him, tries to drown his good self

Ep.4:
1) Yun-bok refuses to paint; going to be kicked out of Dohwaseo
2) Danwon takes Yun to a doctor and brings Young-bok, who lies that he's working as a color developer; really, he's being beat up a lot by jealous jerks and mostly hauls stuff around but he's happy for Yun-bok's sake
3) Dean Jang (head of Dohwaseo) tries to get Danwon to leave, but D refuses
4) King wants Danwon to make a great painting for the Chinese ambassador to take back with him; Danwon gets Yun-bok to paint again; king likes what they come up with; Yun-bok gets to be in the painting exam after all
5) Exam is either: (a) paint this scene; or (b) paint this poem. Everyone paints scene except Yun-bok, who goes out to paint the poem, which is about Dano Day (?) where women go down to the river and bathe out in the open together and swing on a giant swing. Yun-bok dresses like a girl and gets in; Jung-hyang recognizes "him" and they frolic together. Y does his drawing, but he is caught when the girl whose clothes he stole gets help. Danwon, who has gotten in too dressed as a woman, comes to help him escape

Ep 5:
1) Yun-bok finishes his preliminary painting at Jung-hyang's room; he asks to "see" her and paints her in her underthings. As this occurs, she is spied upon by merchant Kim, who has been at a party hosted by the madam. Madam tells Kim Jung-hyang will cost a pretty penny.
2) Yun leaves the brothel and is attacked on the way by Dean Jang's flunkies. Dean Jang wants Danwon to leave and knows he will after Yun is kicked out. Yun is thrown down a well and his drawing stolen. He tries to get help, but since the well is supposed to be haunted, no one goes near it when they hear voices at night. Danwon rescues Yun, carries him to testing area on back.
3) Yun does the painting from scratch and again, it is considered obscene. Dean Jang's son wins first-place entry to the upper echelons of painting academy, but Yun gets "special mention" and gets in.

Ep.6:
1) The king chose Yun. During a party at the family home, we learn father Shin brought Yun home as a young girl, told her she'd be a boy now, presented Yun to Young-bok as younger brother and forced wife to go along
2) Wife resents Yun, but Shin thinks Yun will bring fame and money to the family; he "has a plan." Yun gives his prize to his brother.
3) Yun visits Jung-hyang, but she has to play music for Merchant Kim, whose advances she rebufs. Yun leaves JH a painting; JH is charmed
4) Yun has to meet Danwon; they go to see king who tells them to paint the everyday people so he can learn what's up with them; it'll be a contest
5) Also, we learn Danwon is looking for the daughter of a friend, and learns she is still alive. A street/disgraced painter who helped him is murdered by Merchant Kim after spilling this info to Dean Jang. Jang and Kim swear they'll never tell the girl is alive
6) Yun meets JH, who has learned she's been sold to Kim. JH asks Yun to make love to her. Yun is going to reveal that he's a girl, but Dean Jang and everyone are outside door and...

Ep.7:
1) Everyone bursts in on Yun and JH before Yun can reveal herself.
2) Yun is locked into a shed, but the King's agents release him to do the paintings required. Yun paints a civil servant/nobleman drinking at a tavern; I think Danwon does the forge workers painting here. Yun wins because some flowers tell the king the nobleman is drinking during the day and that means he's neglecting his duties, the King uses the painting to make reforms in civil service department. Ministers livid.
3) For their next paintings, Yun paints shaman women trying to help others have sons; this is illegal and Danwon tells him not to do it because the women are pitiful, but he does anyway. King uses the painting to clean up this activity and a lot of people's families are disrupted, even noblemen. Ministers livid again.
4) Ministers stage uprising among people; painters are dragged out to do menial chores so they cannot paint

Ep.8:
1) Still, Yun does paintings of people doing laundry
2) King, who is trying to make reforms and consolidate his power, decides he wants a royal portrait. The ministers don't want it because it will consolidate his power. There will be a contest to be the painter, and the queen and her ministers bring in a ringer who used to be Danwon's associate/rival: Lee Myung-ki (Im Ho! Im Ho! Yay!)
3) Yun's brother is burnt at the colorist place. He visits Yun, who is learning to draw faces, and Yun practices on him. It's plain brother adores Yun (if we didn't already know)

[kathleen34]

Bo has done such a good job here. Something we all have commented on over the years is how enjoyable it is to see 'our favorites' cast in wildly different roles. In this wonderful drama I find it very amusing that the lead male role of Kim Hong Do is the same man who was the lead male role in Lovers in Paris.

In this drama he makes his first appearance as a very VERY scruffy guy dressed in some kind of brown cloth ... his eyeglasses are held together with various thicknesses of rope. In Lovers in Paris, this same actor is impeccable in dress, manner and surroundings.

This is just a wonderful story and I hope it's being enjoyed by a good handful of us. Shin Yoon is a wonderful, lovely actress playing the part of a boy art student. She really nails it.

I'm at work today but will enjoy watching this drama later today. Get the popcorn ready!

Thanks for your posting Bo.

[TheBo]

Ep.9:
1) Everyone places bets (ministers, marketplace peasants, aristocracy with Kim) on who will win the competition to paint the royal portrait. The contest is to paint someone's portrait from a written description, at which we already know Yun excels.
2) Despite Lee Myung-ki's stepping on Danwon's glasses and later claiming the contest was unfairly judged and/or won, Danwon and Yun win when the subject of the portrait, who has odd eyes, comes to judge the contest and sees D & Y were the only ones to pay attention to that ("sees heaven and earth at once").
3) Lee Myung-ki, in an interesting side note, remembers Danwon making exactly the same explanation of a dot puzzle as we saw Yun make early in Danwon's residency.
4) Painter Lee refuses to sit around waiting for Danwon to screw up, tells Merchant Kim keep your stupid money, and later on his way out of town, warns D & Y (who are buying new glasses) to watch out, that everyone is out to get them.

Ep.10:
1) Yun and Danwon go to the palace. Yun's dad warns him that he'll be sharing a room with Danwon and to be extra careful; this turns out to be good advice when Danwon, all stupid, accidentally walks in on Y in the bath and also takes her (his) binding ribbons (her "flattening bra").
2) Yun and Danwon are drilled in proper portraiture, but the king, having sent everyone away (ministers, servants), strikes a pose directly opposite to the approved manner. They make preliminary drawings and the black outline ink drawing onto the silk that has been prepared for the portrait. No errors can be made; if this silk is ruined, so is everything.
3) Dean Jang, acting for the ministers and at Merchant Kim's suggestion, puts iron filings into the precious cinnabar pigment, which turns it black. Fortunately, Yun's brother has discovered a native dye he can make to replace it; unfortunately, as Master Baek-baek tells his niece, creating this dye in the quantity they need will poison him.
4) During the portrait work, the king reveals he has a secret from his grandfather. He remembers being told about the secret portrait. The painters, too, have secrets, and they think about them. Everybody's secret (had they but known!) seems to have something to do with this missing portrait. DANT DANT DAAAAHN!

[TheBo]

Ep 11:
1) As the painting progresses, Danwon mulls aloud over whether Yun is really a girl, but eventually dismisses the idea after they parry and flirt over this matter.
2) They discover the bad pigment and panic. Yun remembers his brother's discovery.
3) So, the brother makes all the color they need, but he's obviously getting very sick. He's making pigment too rapidly for his system to clear, but he gets it to the painters in time.
4) It is established that Young-bok knows very well his brother is a sister, and feels very strongly about her. He walks off a scaffolding while having visions of Yun (dressed as a girl). When he falls, Yun faints (immediately upon finishing the royal portrait) and she has a vision of herself (as a girl) seeing her brother off somewhere she cannot go to.

Ep 12:
1) As Master Shin mourns his son's death, he warns Danwon not to let Yun know about it. S/he finds out anyway from the other painters and tries to return home, but father Shin rejects this because he wants to recoup family fortunes with the painting.
2) This is harder than it seems, as the ministers line up to fire once, twice, innumerable times at the painters. (The king cannot participate in the critique.) Danwon has answers to all questions. Then, Jang brings up the pigment. Yun loses it and rips the painting, saying the ministers never intended to accept it.
3) The king is furious. This constitutes an attack on his person, so the painters are arrested. The ministers are delirious with joy; it seems if Yun had not done this, the painting would have had to be accepted.
4) Master Shin disowns Yun. Danwon is partially pardoned with a disbarment from Dowahseo, but Yun must die (beheading). Jung-hyang visits Yun in jail; Yun assures her everything will be fine.
5) Danwon begs for mercy for Yun, but the king is adamant after seeing his plans for a reform totally destroyed. After the ministers taunt Danwon outside the royal courtyard gates, he plunges his hand into a burning brazier. Everyone is shocked; Danwon screams "forgive him! forgive him!" Pretty gruesome.

[TheBo]

Ep.13:
1) And they show the burning of the hand and the screaming and the oh cripes, ickickick! all over again.
2) Jung-hyang manipulates Merchant Kim into taking an interest in Yun, and Kim recognizes Yun's style as the painter he tried to find out about earlier ("Mountain Man").
3) The king tricks all the ministers into saying the portrait is not a true royal portrait by forcing them to walk on it; this gives him the excuse to stop Yun's execution (naturally, at the last possible second) as he did not attack the king.
4) Danwon is reinstated to Dohwaseo for the same reason; Yun is still kicked out for his actions.
5) Yun's father sells him to Merchant Kim as an indentured painter.
6) Danwon gives Yun the "pen name" Orchid Hill (Hyewon) and a seal.
7) The king calls in Yun and Danwon to find the royal portrait of his father.

[TheBo]

Ep.14:
1) Danwon is upset by Yun's new job. D goes to one of Merchant Kim's "painting parties" and re-meets the Minister of Finance (knew long ago), a stubborn old cuss Merch. Kim is trying to get a contract out of.
1a) Yun and Danwon visit the Master Painter's son, who has gone over to the Evil Side and who destroyed all his father's paintings (on the evil ministers' orders) after the Master died; there, they meet a faithful retainer who gives them a clue: a small drawing of five bamboo. They cannot interpret this.
2) Because of what the old finance minister said at the painting party, they realize he has the last painting done by Danwon's (and Yun's father's) Master--this very minister's portrait. He tells them it is "strange." They ask for this portrait, but in return they must give the minister a painting of equal value or never paint again. The other ministers and queen try to get the minister not to give up the portrait, but he rebuffs them rudely.
3) What the minister wants is a painting that will make his son, an apparently very rude young boy, laugh.
4) Yun learns the son stopped smiling when his mother died.
5) Danwon, whose hand is still injured, has Yun tie a brush to his hand; the minister stands over them.

[TheBo]

Ep.15:
1) Danwon paints the street festival the boy went to before going deaf (which is why he's so rude); the boy laughs that he "hears" the music and the minister is so grateful he gives D the painting and probably is his chingu for life. D and Yun see the painting and learn it is exactly like the minister except the eyes are wrong.
2) Similarly, D and Y obtain paintings from three other members of the 5 Bamboo painting society, whose identities are revealed by the minister who also gives them inside info on these guys. All the portraits have one main feature that is "wrong," and D&Y trace these odd features into one portrait. Only the shape of the face is missing.
3)However, Member 5 is Dean Jang, who of course will not cooperate. D&Y infiltrate a birthday gathering at Dean Jang's place, Y disguised as a gisaeng and Danwon as a circus performer. Even though they are caught in the act, they manage to escape with the painting. (Yun is not discovered at this point.)
4) For some stupid reason, they run to their studio, where Jang's guards break in. They want all the portraits, but Danwon has hidden Yun with them and now Jang is going to destroy his hand. (Right? Can't quite remember this--they're going to do something terrible to him, the hand seems to be their focus on this show.)
5) In any case, Yun bursts out (in disguise) with all the paintings in hand and says, "Here they are! Leave him alone!"

[TheBo]

Ep16:
1) Even though Dean Jang gets the portraits, Yun either has kept tracings of the pertinent features or can remember them; he makes a tracing with all the features except the shape of the chin/face. They tell the king they were unable to complete the portrait, but ask him for verbal descriptions in order to finish it and are ultimately successful.
2) To conceal his absence from Merch Kim, Yun paints a picture of Jung-hyang posing in the outfit he first saw her in (on the bridge in Ep.1). Later, Yun reveals her true self to Jung-hyang. J-H, who was expecting a romantic assignation, gets a tearful apology and a handful of boob. She is very very very very very (very) upset
3) The queen hears about Danwon and Yun’s activities and decides to take things into her own hands by questioning the king (who covers). The king can hardly look at any of the court, he is so upset with everyone regarding his father’s death and the fact that he can reveal nothing
4) Danwon has a strange portrait with no face, painted by his friend before he died; Yun sees it and remembers his/her father painting it; the king tells them to “find this man.” Noticing the paper is extra thick, they seek out papermakers that might have been frequented by Ilweodang (Suh Jing, Yun’s dad)
5) Merch Kim learns the finance minister refuses to finalize his contract and invites him to another party; at the party (which takes place the day after Yun’s revelation to JH), JH plays and Yun slowly paints a picture, obviously delaying and delaying, while Kim harangues the minister. Anxious to see the final product, he tells Kim he can have the stupid contract, just finish the painting already; Kim is pleased with Yun
6) Danwon finds a papermaker who has a press made by Ilweodang; Dean Jang (who is spying on him) can’t figure out what the heck he’s up to; Yun and Danwon visit this same paper factory; Yun has memories of visiting the factory with her dad

[TheBo]

Ep.17:
1) Using Ilweodong's paper press, Yun and Danwon soak the faceless portrait and peel off the layers of paper until a sinister face is revealed. Viewers know this is the face of Merch Kim's henchwoman, but Yun does not; she DOES remember it as the face of the assassin who killed her parents; he/she faints
2) So, D takes Yun to his doctor friend. After Yun wakes & leaves, D learns from the doctor (who knew all along and thought it was a lovers’ game) that he’s a she. “I may be a quack, but I can tell a man from a woman.”
3) Yun visits her childhood home, sees the ghosts of her family (including her young self) and communes with them. D finally realizes who Yun is and they have a “reunion;” also, Yun tells D about the "bad" paintings that are in storage at Dowahseo, that her father told her they were very important.
4) Through a series of events, Merch Kim figures out that Yun disappears every night; he also finds the painting Yun made of the moonlight meeting
5) Danwon confronts Yun’s foster father over the charade; tells him to butt out of her life
6) Because J-H has fallen sick and she fears for her mistress’s life, the servant girl (who has completely misread Kim’s personality) tells him that J-H is pining for Yun; he reacts with predictable fury. Predictable for everyone except that poor little stupid servant girl. Kim realizes he's taken his own enemy to his bosom.
7) At Dowahseo, D and Y study the "bad" archived paintings and discover a secret message ("Jo-nyun killed....")

[TheBo]

Ep.18:
1) Danwon & Yun realize that “Jo-nyun” is Merch Kim, and that he is the killer they are looking for. Y wants to assault him, but D says, don’t act precipitately.
2) When Y returns to Kim’s house, after being confronted by Kim about the Moonlight Lovers painting, he meets the female assassin/bodyguard for the first time and is told, “This child has no emotions.” Yun paints another picture to provoke Kim on purpose (the one with a woman and man meeting, a second woman spying). Later, Jung-hyang decides to pile on by showing Kim a painting in which she is “widowed” but happy.
3) Danwon and the King, having discussed all aspects of the case, decide there must be higher-ups involved and that D needs more evidence. To get it, D publicly insults Merch Kim and interferes with his business. He also provokes Dean Jang. Kim and Jang meet in a tavern. When Jang tells K about Y’s gisaeng masquerade, Kim is merely amused. Danwon listens next door.
3A) The king later learns Kim’s history and that he is protected and sponsored by the dowager queen’s relatives.
4) Kim reconsiders all the info he has about Yun. He forces Yun to challenge Danwon to a duel (the loser will never get to paint again); if he refuses, then J-H will be sold into sexual slavery. He also lets Y know that he knows he’s a she. Later, Kim threatens Y to D in order to get D to participate. Eventually, both D and Y are tricked into participating; D tells K he wants (a) half the wagers and (b) Yun; Yun tells K he wants J-H (as the winnings)
5) Kim, Jang and the ministers plot to make the competition into a losing proposition for both artists by publicizing the event. There are several charming scenes of bets being placed on various levels of society. In Kim’s betting consortium, the Finance Minister (who is the holdout) tells Kim that he wants to place a “different” bet than expected.
6) J-H learns from Kim that he knows Yun is female and that he knows J-H knows, too. Also, that Yun “cannot win without you in the painting” (so he’ll lose). Kim does not tell J-H about the threat he made against her person to Yun.
7) Danwon and Yun learn they were tricked; D tells Y, “You must win.”

[TheBo]

Ep.19:
1) Danwon tells Yun, “for us to survive, you must defeat me, and I must defeat you.” (Different in intent from “You must win.”)
2) The king arranges for the painters’ personal protection. Meanwhile, the queen is unnerved by the whole situation and derides her minions and advisors. Later, when placing her bet with the King, she “jokingly” suggests the loser leave the palace.
3) The subject of the competition is “battle” and they must finish by sunset the next day. Each judge is from a different painting guild. Betting continues.
4) Next day, Yun arrives first; Danwon later, panting. (Not painting. Panting.) The assessment starts. There is clearly a sharp, even division between the judges on the panel. Yun painted two women (natch) performing a symbolic dance with swords; Danwon two wrestlers in the marketplace. Y’s painting is “perfect” but D’s has an error in how a hand was portrayed—apparently, on purpose.
5) It looks like Yun wins, but then the sunset makes D’s painting “come alive”—he’s even taken into account the effect of the expected sunset on the pigments in the painting. Merch Kim, clearly a nervous wreck at the prospect of a tie and seemingly on Yun’s side, tries to get the judges to go on discussing the contest, but since it is sunset, they overrule him.

[TheBo]

Ep.20 FINAL (I went into more detail because it's the closing):
1) A tie is announced. The effect is that Merchant Kim loses his fortune, because of the bet he made with the finance minister (Lord Kim): Merch Kim would cover ALL losses if “something happened” where bets could not be paid off, and signed a paper saying he’d double everyone’s money in that case if the judges wanted--which they do. (Lord Kim had bet on a draw, so he is the only actual winner.) Lord Kim connived with Danwon to make this squirrelly bet because of D’s help with his deaf son (he first refused, with D’s apology for suggesting it, but the son came into the room and spoke joyfully with D; Lord Kim (to get biblical) “softened his heart”). D explains to Y what happened and how this is their revenge on Merch Kim.
2) Kim, bankrupt, prepares to leave with Jung-hyang. He has documents he can use to blackmail those in power and figures he can use Yun’s secret to his own benefit (“but Danwon must die”). He can’t find J-H, but instead is confronted by Yun who reveals her father’s identity. Kim tries to kill Y but she’s saved by Danwon. The police arrest Kim, who escapes with his assassin’s help.
3) Yun, after a heart-to-heart and mutual forgiveness, has tearfully sent J-H off alone (to the North?) and told her to find her happiness.
4) The king had earlier warned the queen that her position was “unstable.” He plans to root out all evil in the court. He pardons Yun, reinstates him to Dohwaseo and starts the process of arresting the miscreants and honoring his father. The queen is livid. Kim, in an effort to assure his position, tells the queen’s uncle that Yun is female.
5) The king announces to the queen that the royal portrait of his father, Prince Sado, painted by D & Y, is finished. She says, boy, that’s great, but did you know that Hyewon (Yun) is a woman? What disgrace! Disgusting! All your fault! I’m so disappointed in you! She’s really quite snippy about it, declaring it impossible to honor the portrait and his father—or even to bring it up ever again, and celebrates this victory with her family.
6) The king questions Yun and Danwon, who had been playing pattycake with each other at her old home/studio and preparing for a life together. He’s pretty angry until he learns that Yun is the daughter of the murdered painter, and decides he’ll send her away forever (never to paint again) instead of taking her life. Danwon insists on joining that exile. The king gives his blessing and then reports to the queen that he investigated and what a grand joke these rumors can be—cuz Hyewon’s a man--fer shur! The queen is angry and stymied.
7) So the queen tells her relatives to find Hyewon so she can see for herself and also to kill anyone with a connection to the Prince Sado/rice chest incident. Kim, unaware of the Queen’s contingency plan, is sneaking out of town. After being arrow-shot by her people, he gives the letter to his assassin to give to D in order to get revenge on everyone.
8) Yun and D, peaceably leaving town, are attacked by the queen’s minions. They are surprised to be saved by Kim’s assassin, who places Kim’s blackmail letter into D’s hands and then apparently dies in their service. After Yun tells Danwon he should leave her, because everyone she gets close to is killed, he tells her shut up I love you. Then he reads Kim’s letter. Excited, he sends her back to her father’s home to await him, saying they might be saved.
9) The king, furious at the attack, sends his own people to protect them on their way. D also gives the evidence letter to the king, who uses it well to reinstate his father. The queen tells her relatives, better get out of Dodge, the jig is up, you’re lucky to escape with your lives. Live quietly.
10) Danwon discovers that Y has already escaped the jurisdiction alone, after painting a goodbye self-portrait. He cries over it (op, cit. the opening scene of the entire series).