Post by ajk on Nov 29, 2013 23:19:18 GMT -5
Jo Il Shin leaves the palace, giddy with laughter. Holding the official scroll proclaiming him Chief Administrator! He calls back to Gongmin inside the building, "Trust this humble servant of yours! I shall make your Majesty's dignity echo through all the world's rivers and mountains!"
...but inside, there's a sour look on Gongmin's face. And now tears! "For over a decade," he tells eunuch An, "I shared joys and sorrow with that man." But these are bitter tears of betrayal, because he knows Jo will kill him if he has to, to realize his dream of power.
Jo walks into the empty Council hall with his subordinate Jeon Cheon Gi, totally full of himself. But wait, it's not empty. Who are these four guys in red robes? "We came to carry out his majesty's orders," explains one. Wait a minute, that's Choi Young talking, and another one is Kim Cheom Su, that dagger-throwing guy we met in the previous episode. Uh-oh! Orders? "The orders to slay the treacherous subject who dared to swagger his callous blade in front of His Majesty." Jo's eyes widen. "So you are going to kill me with your bare hands?" He laughs at them, then taunts them, then scolds them for showing no regard for his actions in killing the collaborators. But they just stare. And then the dagger flies. Jo staggers and falls to the floor...
...and as it's happening, Gongmin is having second thoughts. "Don't kill Jo Il Shin! There is something left for me to ask that man!" Too late, it's already in motion...
...and in front of the king's wide throne, Jo calls out in shock and confusion, wondering if this really is the king's order. I'm the only one, he says, who can keep him from becoming "a puppet of the Yuan." But the assassins have heard enough of this, and the third and fourth guys move in with their own daggers and stab Jo directly. Jo manages to reach the front door and stagger outside, but a final sword-slash from Kim Cheon Su finishes him off right there on the front porch of the building.
Gongmin weeps disconsolately, knowing that his once-loyal ally is dying.
Evening: Another meeting of the "Tea Party" at Choseon's estate. The conspirators are ready to act, but Pyeonjo insists that they wait. "We need to consolidate our forces," he tells them. And besides, right now the people are angry at the officials and collaborators, not the royal family. But there's a lot of angry back-and-forth about all this--certainly no consensus about what to do.
Now what are all of those soldiers doing running out from the city gate? And now what's going on here--some sort of attack by the soldiers on people wearing some sort of identifying white bib. Okay, it seems like this is some sort of roundup of Jo Il Shin's followers. It isn't pretty. Everyone who resists in the least is paying the price.
Now Lee In Bok is outside the king's office, calling out to the king inside. "Issue an order condemning the remnants of Jo Il Shin's faction!" But inside, Gongmin is still crying and broken-hearted about what happened to Jo.
"Why did you join forces with me?" Choseon asks Pyeonjo point-blank. She gets a long-winded answer about how the then-prince treated him as a friend in Yanjing but the best he would ever do for him now would be as a subordinate. "The world His Majesty desires," he says, "cannot possibly coincide with mine." Strange answer, doesn't seem all that substantial...but it obviously appeals to her because she looks impressed by his viewpoint and his sincerity. Pyeonjo leaves her...
...and thinks back to his experiences in Yanjing just before the prince became king. His getting roughed up by Jo Il Shin and Kim Yong; the prince feeling slighted and bitter that Pyeonjo left for Tibet when the prince most needed his support...but now his mind snaps back to the here and now when he gets sight of Ban Ya running around the building. He's happy to see her; picks her up and smiles at her.
Next morning: the palace gate swings open and a couple of soldiers on horseback come out. One of them, he's carrying a long metal pole with something on top of it...Good heavens, it's Jo Il Shin's head!! With a sign below it that says "Guilty of High Treason." Obviously the soldiers are under orders to parade it around and display it to the public, which they're doing with vigor. Among the stunned citizens to see it is Deokun, who's come to summon Pyeonjo back to see Master Wolseon. We don't know why, not yet.
Council hall: The ministers are all formally congratulating Gongmin on his taking down Jo Il Shin without needless bloodshed. But Gongmin doesn't want to hear a word of it. "Jo Il Shin's blood hasn't even vanished from that floor...and you're telling me to laugh and dance all day?" He criticizes them all for their silence during the time Gi Cheol was running things to his advantage. "I can't say whether Jo Il Shin was fit or not to be a meritorious subject, but everything he said was right." Tells them all they have no right to badmouth Jo, and admonishes them to do their own jobs better. "I want you to protect this country," he says, "so that it never has to endure humiliation because of the Yuan again!"
Uh-oh, it's the queen dowager. Still unhappy with how she thinks her son handled the Jo Il Shin thing, and now sitting with Master Bou and telling him her son "has nobody to lean onto" so she wants Bo to become "Royal Monk. "Before he could open his eyes, people from the palace came, and took him away from me. Did I see him once a year, perhaps? Then he was taken to Yanjing as a hostage. It's a miracle he could remember my face." And now she admits her frustration over her lack of a good relationship with her son. "What excuse could I have, to blame everything on my daughter-in-law?" Well that's a good sign--maybe she'll back off a little?
"You made the right choice." Noguk is with her husband, reassuring him. "By killing Jo Il Shin, you reinforced your authority. Nobody will dare to defy you, from now on." And we learn that he exiled some of Jo's followers rather than killing them, which she says showed a benevolence that the people will appreciate. "But," she adds, "you need to kill Kim Yong." The statement shocks him. And hurts, because he remembers Kim's loyalty from Yanjing just like he remembered Jo's. Now he's angry and in so many words tells her to butt out. "How much more blood would you have these hands stained with?!" But she tearfully argues that if Jo had lived, the Yuan would have used it as an excuse to invade Goryeo and completely take over the country. And since Gi Cheol is probably urging the Yuan to just do that, she tells him he needs to order Gi's death too. He sees no wisdom in this: "Wouldn't Empress Gi send a million troops my way?" "The people shall protect you," she argues. "If they all put their lives at stake and decide to fight, who would be afraid of the Yuan's million troops?" Seems like she's putting an awful lot of faith in a demoralized, underfunded population. But she's absolutely confident in them.
"Stop trying to rile up Empress Gi." Princess Deoknyeong is with Noguk now, and reminds her that she needs to think about the fate of her father still in Yanjing. "Empress Gi will certainly try to harm him." Noguk doesn't like that. "Are you worrying about me? Or do you fear for your future?" As though Deoknyeong is trying to protect the empress for her own (Deoknyeong's) benefit. That may have gone a little too far...and Noguk turns away a little, like she knows it did. She starts to apologize but Deoknyeong waves her off. She can tell that Noguk is tense about her father's situation. We can see that, too.
Yanjing: Gi Cheol is at the head of a banquet table, dining with supporters of his and bad-mouthing the king. And adds, "If I go back this time, I'll snap Prince Gangneung's neck with my own hands!" Then he gets word that his sister wants to see him, which puts a smile on his face because he thinks his revenge on Gongmin is about to begin.
He thought wrong. The empress tells him to stay here while she sends envoys to Goryeo. In fact, he's officially under home confinement! He angrily argues that this is their opportunity to completely remove the Wang royal family and give the Gi family complete control over Goryeo. No sale, and he's physically dragged out of the room. After he's gone, Commissioner Park, who's been there this whole time, gently suggests that maybe Gi Cheol had a point. But the empress doesn't want to do any such thing, because she has her mind on the Han Chinese rebellion and sees bigger problems threatening to emerge from that. "Xiongnu, Jurchen, Mohe...aren't those barbarians always waiting for a chance to conquer the plains? We need Goryeo's help." The Goryeo problem, she thinks it's all Botap Shili's (Noguk's) fault and wonders how to "shut her up."
Hey, it's the King of Wei! Haven't seen him in a while. Commissioner Park is visiting him, telling him that he's headed for Gaegyeong soon and wonders if the king would like to write a note to be delivered to his daughter. "Write her just a few words" because she must be missing you, Park says. So the king starts to do just that. Hmmm, there must be some ulterior motive here. Park is no sweetie.
Now look who we meet: Gi Ryun, the younger brother of Gi Cheol and the late Gi Won. He's outside of the royal jail where his mother is being held. She's being released and he's there to receive her, along with her attendants. The doors are opened and she's escorted out by guards. Ryun tells her that Cheol escaped to Yanjing. "Damned brat! Why did he do that?" But she's even angrier with the king, shouting that her daughter the empress should have the king killed. She's taken away by her son and her attendants, swearing at the jail guards as she goes.
Lee Je Hyeon and Yeom Je Shin are worried about what might happen now, since Goryeo doesn't have the military strength to fight the Yuan. And Yeom is worried that the queen might prod the king to further inflame the situation. "What if she points a sword at the Yuan envoy's neck?" Lee chuckles; he has more faith in her.
Jung Se Woon is standing outside his home, and notices he has a visitor. It's Kim Yong, still wearing peasant clothes to disguise himself. "I came to see you one last time before I go to face my destiny." Jung is troubled by that, and still totally annoyed with Kim for not taking a firm stand against Jo...but he does seem to want to help him.
And he does. Now Jung is in Gongmin's office, begging the king to hear Kim out. Kim is waiting outside, wearing an official's robe that Jung just gave him earlier. Gongmin isn't inclined to let him in. "He abandoned me and ran away! I trusted him as if he shared my blood, and entrusted him the palace's protection. How can I forgive him?" But Jung tearfully argues that Jo deserved death, implying but not saying that Kim doesn't, and adds, "if you kill Kim Yong, I'll be left alone protecting you." Well that seems to get through--and Gongmin seems to have great trust in Jung. "Lock that fool in the Traitors' Prison," he shouts to attendants, "and then have him join frontier defense." That's not fun, but it's better than death, and Jung tearfully thanks Gongmin for his mercy.
At Choseon's estate: Won Hyeon has been waiting for weeks for Pyeonjo to return from Gaetae Temple and is getting impatient. Pyeonjo told him to wait here, but it wasn't supposed to be this long a wait. So he decides to head to Gaetae himself and find out what the problem is.
Uh-oh, this looks like a biggie. Is Wolseon on his deathbed? Pyeonjo is with him, and apparently he hasn't been eating. A sudden illness that came on just a few days ago. Pyeonjo tries to get him to eat...but he won't eat. And he won't talk to Pyeonjo either, which probably is a different problem entirely.
Uh-oh, here comes the Yuan delegation. Right through the Gaegyeong streets. Commissioner Park is with them...but no sign of Gi Cheol.
Now they're standing before Gongmin in the Council hall, with a full Council meeting in session and a packed house. Lee Je Hyeon is explaining to them about the trouble Jo caused and how it was snuffed out. Now the envoy, identified as Khulan Thulan Temur, has an imperial edict brought forward. Does Gongmin have to go and get it and bend down and pick it up? Fortunately, Commissioner Park steps forward as he did the last time he was here, and diplomatically says he'll tell Gongmin what the edict says. "His Imperial Majesty deeply concerned himself about your safety" and is relieved to hear you're okay. Same with the empress. What they want now is, a trial. "Sentence everyone involved in the rebellion to trial, and reveal the truth about all this." This doesn't sit well with the councilors--it implies the Yuan will step in and decide on everyone's guilt or innocence. Besides, as Lee In Bok points out, the rebels have been convicted and sentenced already. Too late, right?
The meeting over, Yeom Je Shin figures Goryeo got off very easy. So what if the Yuan want to issue their own sentences? No big deal, right? Lee In Bok doesn't see it that way. "This doesn't feel right. There must be a reason for this." And Yeom is forced to agree.
Now the king is meeting privately with Commissioner Park, looking at the specifics of the written edict. The edict has a lot of names listed on it--all people who the Yuan want put to death! "Their grave misdeeds call for it," Park claims. Gongmin argues that some of them took part only because Jo intimidated them, and so they don't deserve death. But Park reminds him that the empress's brother was killed during the rebellion. "You should show that much devotion, if anything, to show your respect for the Empress." And adds, don't make us have to be suspicious of you. "The idea that someone like Jo Il Shin tried to kill you is very hard to believe." Is he suggesting that Gongmin ordered Jo to kill Gi Cheol and then ordered Jo killed when Jo failed? "The evidence could drive us to think that," Park says with a coy smile, knowing darned well that it wasn't like that at all and that nobody would really believe that. "Take a step back, just this once, Your Majesty."
Nighttime in the torture yard, and we've got a full house tonight. All kinds of awful things being done to everybody there. These are all associates of Jo Il Shin. We see Jeon Cheon Gi, who obviously was captured but not executed. And we see the envoy, Commissioner Park and other Yuan delegates strolling amidst the activity with smiles on their faces. Park approaches Jeon. "Just say it. That you've seen the secret orders His Majesty issued to Jo Il Shin." Uh-oh, so they're trying to frame Gongmin to force his hand. But Jeon won't do it, to his credit...
...and now Jeon's head is displayed atop the palace walls, also marked as "Guilty of High Treason"--but this time it's for trying to kill the king and Gi Cheol! So yeah, this is all for Gi Cheol's benefit after all.
Now there are angry ministers gathered outside the king's office, urging him to take action against the envoys. As in, beheading them! Inside, Gongmin is shaking with anger and frustration, not knowing what to do.
Commissioner Park has gone to see Noguk, who's reading the letter from her father. Park tells her, "This year there were two instances of treacherous subjects trying to ask for Prince Qunluan to be made crown prince again. At the center of those nefarious acts was always your father, the King of Wei. The Empress's position is quite difficult." She folds the letter shut and glares at him. "You think I don't know what you're trying to achieve with this?" Now she's showing the same sort of anger we just saw in her husband, although more measured. "When you go back to Yanjing, tell this to Her Majesty. If she sends Gi Cheol to Gaegyeong, I shall meet him at the frontier and behead him with my own hands. Tell her his dirty feet will not set foot on this land." Yikes! Even Park is surprised and warns her, "Don't you know your father's life is in your hands?" But she sees the letter as evidence that her father is as good as dead already, and tells Park, "my father and I shall meet again in death. No matter how much Empress Gi tries to intimidate us, I shall at all costs behead Gi Cheol!"
Well! Park leaves, looks at eunuch An and shudders at him, like, that did NOT go well and that woman is nuts (very funny).
Left alone, Noguk grieves over her inability to help her father.
Won Hyeon has reached the woods near Gaetae Temple and finds Pyeonjo there, hauling firewood. "I'll have to spend this winter here," Pyeonjo tells him, "since the Master won't let me go."
Here's Wolseon. He looks physically better--sitting in the room rather than laying there in bed--but looks just as obstinate and uncommunicative. Won tries to talk to him, and has better luck than Pyeonjo did. "I let him go once to see the world, and he plots treason?" Uh-oh, so he found out about that.
Evening: "Let me go, Master." Pyeonjo kneels by Wolseon as Wolseon tries to sleep. "I don't want to bring you dishonor anymore. How many people insulted you for trying to ordain a son of a slave like me? So let me go." But Wolseon mumbles that he doesn't want to. Stuff about the journey towards enlightenment should be slow, and how the world is such a cruel place and "Buddha's warm embrace" is the only escape from it. Which is really all just an excuse to keep Pyeonjo isolated because Wolseon fears for him. But Pyeonjo begs. "I've heard the cries of sorrow of this entire world. This damned world is something I have to change before I die, Master!" He's crying, this means so much to him. And the words hit home, and change Wolseon's mind. "Die for your people, your fool. If Buddha grants you even the most meager of powers, go out and use it for the starving people." Pyeonjo falls before Wolseon in gratitude.
Gi Cheol is back with his sister, asking to go home now. "I shall fix Prince Gangneung's arrogance once and for all."
"What are you going to do?" Noguk issues a challenge to her husband. "If you say you can't kill Gi Cheol, I shall slay him with my own hands." Gongmin looks at her with amazement. "You're really scary, Queen."
...but inside, there's a sour look on Gongmin's face. And now tears! "For over a decade," he tells eunuch An, "I shared joys and sorrow with that man." But these are bitter tears of betrayal, because he knows Jo will kill him if he has to, to realize his dream of power.
Jo walks into the empty Council hall with his subordinate Jeon Cheon Gi, totally full of himself. But wait, it's not empty. Who are these four guys in red robes? "We came to carry out his majesty's orders," explains one. Wait a minute, that's Choi Young talking, and another one is Kim Cheom Su, that dagger-throwing guy we met in the previous episode. Uh-oh! Orders? "The orders to slay the treacherous subject who dared to swagger his callous blade in front of His Majesty." Jo's eyes widen. "So you are going to kill me with your bare hands?" He laughs at them, then taunts them, then scolds them for showing no regard for his actions in killing the collaborators. But they just stare. And then the dagger flies. Jo staggers and falls to the floor...
...and as it's happening, Gongmin is having second thoughts. "Don't kill Jo Il Shin! There is something left for me to ask that man!" Too late, it's already in motion...
...and in front of the king's wide throne, Jo calls out in shock and confusion, wondering if this really is the king's order. I'm the only one, he says, who can keep him from becoming "a puppet of the Yuan." But the assassins have heard enough of this, and the third and fourth guys move in with their own daggers and stab Jo directly. Jo manages to reach the front door and stagger outside, but a final sword-slash from Kim Cheon Su finishes him off right there on the front porch of the building.
Gongmin weeps disconsolately, knowing that his once-loyal ally is dying.
Evening: Another meeting of the "Tea Party" at Choseon's estate. The conspirators are ready to act, but Pyeonjo insists that they wait. "We need to consolidate our forces," he tells them. And besides, right now the people are angry at the officials and collaborators, not the royal family. But there's a lot of angry back-and-forth about all this--certainly no consensus about what to do.
Now what are all of those soldiers doing running out from the city gate? And now what's going on here--some sort of attack by the soldiers on people wearing some sort of identifying white bib. Okay, it seems like this is some sort of roundup of Jo Il Shin's followers. It isn't pretty. Everyone who resists in the least is paying the price.
Now Lee In Bok is outside the king's office, calling out to the king inside. "Issue an order condemning the remnants of Jo Il Shin's faction!" But inside, Gongmin is still crying and broken-hearted about what happened to Jo.
"Why did you join forces with me?" Choseon asks Pyeonjo point-blank. She gets a long-winded answer about how the then-prince treated him as a friend in Yanjing but the best he would ever do for him now would be as a subordinate. "The world His Majesty desires," he says, "cannot possibly coincide with mine." Strange answer, doesn't seem all that substantial...but it obviously appeals to her because she looks impressed by his viewpoint and his sincerity. Pyeonjo leaves her...
...and thinks back to his experiences in Yanjing just before the prince became king. His getting roughed up by Jo Il Shin and Kim Yong; the prince feeling slighted and bitter that Pyeonjo left for Tibet when the prince most needed his support...but now his mind snaps back to the here and now when he gets sight of Ban Ya running around the building. He's happy to see her; picks her up and smiles at her.
Next morning: the palace gate swings open and a couple of soldiers on horseback come out. One of them, he's carrying a long metal pole with something on top of it...Good heavens, it's Jo Il Shin's head!! With a sign below it that says "Guilty of High Treason." Obviously the soldiers are under orders to parade it around and display it to the public, which they're doing with vigor. Among the stunned citizens to see it is Deokun, who's come to summon Pyeonjo back to see Master Wolseon. We don't know why, not yet.
Council hall: The ministers are all formally congratulating Gongmin on his taking down Jo Il Shin without needless bloodshed. But Gongmin doesn't want to hear a word of it. "Jo Il Shin's blood hasn't even vanished from that floor...and you're telling me to laugh and dance all day?" He criticizes them all for their silence during the time Gi Cheol was running things to his advantage. "I can't say whether Jo Il Shin was fit or not to be a meritorious subject, but everything he said was right." Tells them all they have no right to badmouth Jo, and admonishes them to do their own jobs better. "I want you to protect this country," he says, "so that it never has to endure humiliation because of the Yuan again!"
Uh-oh, it's the queen dowager. Still unhappy with how she thinks her son handled the Jo Il Shin thing, and now sitting with Master Bou and telling him her son "has nobody to lean onto" so she wants Bo to become "Royal Monk. "Before he could open his eyes, people from the palace came, and took him away from me. Did I see him once a year, perhaps? Then he was taken to Yanjing as a hostage. It's a miracle he could remember my face." And now she admits her frustration over her lack of a good relationship with her son. "What excuse could I have, to blame everything on my daughter-in-law?" Well that's a good sign--maybe she'll back off a little?
"You made the right choice." Noguk is with her husband, reassuring him. "By killing Jo Il Shin, you reinforced your authority. Nobody will dare to defy you, from now on." And we learn that he exiled some of Jo's followers rather than killing them, which she says showed a benevolence that the people will appreciate. "But," she adds, "you need to kill Kim Yong." The statement shocks him. And hurts, because he remembers Kim's loyalty from Yanjing just like he remembered Jo's. Now he's angry and in so many words tells her to butt out. "How much more blood would you have these hands stained with?!" But she tearfully argues that if Jo had lived, the Yuan would have used it as an excuse to invade Goryeo and completely take over the country. And since Gi Cheol is probably urging the Yuan to just do that, she tells him he needs to order Gi's death too. He sees no wisdom in this: "Wouldn't Empress Gi send a million troops my way?" "The people shall protect you," she argues. "If they all put their lives at stake and decide to fight, who would be afraid of the Yuan's million troops?" Seems like she's putting an awful lot of faith in a demoralized, underfunded population. But she's absolutely confident in them.
"Stop trying to rile up Empress Gi." Princess Deoknyeong is with Noguk now, and reminds her that she needs to think about the fate of her father still in Yanjing. "Empress Gi will certainly try to harm him." Noguk doesn't like that. "Are you worrying about me? Or do you fear for your future?" As though Deoknyeong is trying to protect the empress for her own (Deoknyeong's) benefit. That may have gone a little too far...and Noguk turns away a little, like she knows it did. She starts to apologize but Deoknyeong waves her off. She can tell that Noguk is tense about her father's situation. We can see that, too.
Yanjing: Gi Cheol is at the head of a banquet table, dining with supporters of his and bad-mouthing the king. And adds, "If I go back this time, I'll snap Prince Gangneung's neck with my own hands!" Then he gets word that his sister wants to see him, which puts a smile on his face because he thinks his revenge on Gongmin is about to begin.
He thought wrong. The empress tells him to stay here while she sends envoys to Goryeo. In fact, he's officially under home confinement! He angrily argues that this is their opportunity to completely remove the Wang royal family and give the Gi family complete control over Goryeo. No sale, and he's physically dragged out of the room. After he's gone, Commissioner Park, who's been there this whole time, gently suggests that maybe Gi Cheol had a point. But the empress doesn't want to do any such thing, because she has her mind on the Han Chinese rebellion and sees bigger problems threatening to emerge from that. "Xiongnu, Jurchen, Mohe...aren't those barbarians always waiting for a chance to conquer the plains? We need Goryeo's help." The Goryeo problem, she thinks it's all Botap Shili's (Noguk's) fault and wonders how to "shut her up."
Hey, it's the King of Wei! Haven't seen him in a while. Commissioner Park is visiting him, telling him that he's headed for Gaegyeong soon and wonders if the king would like to write a note to be delivered to his daughter. "Write her just a few words" because she must be missing you, Park says. So the king starts to do just that. Hmmm, there must be some ulterior motive here. Park is no sweetie.
Now look who we meet: Gi Ryun, the younger brother of Gi Cheol and the late Gi Won. He's outside of the royal jail where his mother is being held. She's being released and he's there to receive her, along with her attendants. The doors are opened and she's escorted out by guards. Ryun tells her that Cheol escaped to Yanjing. "Damned brat! Why did he do that?" But she's even angrier with the king, shouting that her daughter the empress should have the king killed. She's taken away by her son and her attendants, swearing at the jail guards as she goes.
Lee Je Hyeon and Yeom Je Shin are worried about what might happen now, since Goryeo doesn't have the military strength to fight the Yuan. And Yeom is worried that the queen might prod the king to further inflame the situation. "What if she points a sword at the Yuan envoy's neck?" Lee chuckles; he has more faith in her.
Jung Se Woon is standing outside his home, and notices he has a visitor. It's Kim Yong, still wearing peasant clothes to disguise himself. "I came to see you one last time before I go to face my destiny." Jung is troubled by that, and still totally annoyed with Kim for not taking a firm stand against Jo...but he does seem to want to help him.
And he does. Now Jung is in Gongmin's office, begging the king to hear Kim out. Kim is waiting outside, wearing an official's robe that Jung just gave him earlier. Gongmin isn't inclined to let him in. "He abandoned me and ran away! I trusted him as if he shared my blood, and entrusted him the palace's protection. How can I forgive him?" But Jung tearfully argues that Jo deserved death, implying but not saying that Kim doesn't, and adds, "if you kill Kim Yong, I'll be left alone protecting you." Well that seems to get through--and Gongmin seems to have great trust in Jung. "Lock that fool in the Traitors' Prison," he shouts to attendants, "and then have him join frontier defense." That's not fun, but it's better than death, and Jung tearfully thanks Gongmin for his mercy.
At Choseon's estate: Won Hyeon has been waiting for weeks for Pyeonjo to return from Gaetae Temple and is getting impatient. Pyeonjo told him to wait here, but it wasn't supposed to be this long a wait. So he decides to head to Gaetae himself and find out what the problem is.
Uh-oh, this looks like a biggie. Is Wolseon on his deathbed? Pyeonjo is with him, and apparently he hasn't been eating. A sudden illness that came on just a few days ago. Pyeonjo tries to get him to eat...but he won't eat. And he won't talk to Pyeonjo either, which probably is a different problem entirely.
Uh-oh, here comes the Yuan delegation. Right through the Gaegyeong streets. Commissioner Park is with them...but no sign of Gi Cheol.
Now they're standing before Gongmin in the Council hall, with a full Council meeting in session and a packed house. Lee Je Hyeon is explaining to them about the trouble Jo caused and how it was snuffed out. Now the envoy, identified as Khulan Thulan Temur, has an imperial edict brought forward. Does Gongmin have to go and get it and bend down and pick it up? Fortunately, Commissioner Park steps forward as he did the last time he was here, and diplomatically says he'll tell Gongmin what the edict says. "His Imperial Majesty deeply concerned himself about your safety" and is relieved to hear you're okay. Same with the empress. What they want now is, a trial. "Sentence everyone involved in the rebellion to trial, and reveal the truth about all this." This doesn't sit well with the councilors--it implies the Yuan will step in and decide on everyone's guilt or innocence. Besides, as Lee In Bok points out, the rebels have been convicted and sentenced already. Too late, right?
The meeting over, Yeom Je Shin figures Goryeo got off very easy. So what if the Yuan want to issue their own sentences? No big deal, right? Lee In Bok doesn't see it that way. "This doesn't feel right. There must be a reason for this." And Yeom is forced to agree.
Now the king is meeting privately with Commissioner Park, looking at the specifics of the written edict. The edict has a lot of names listed on it--all people who the Yuan want put to death! "Their grave misdeeds call for it," Park claims. Gongmin argues that some of them took part only because Jo intimidated them, and so they don't deserve death. But Park reminds him that the empress's brother was killed during the rebellion. "You should show that much devotion, if anything, to show your respect for the Empress." And adds, don't make us have to be suspicious of you. "The idea that someone like Jo Il Shin tried to kill you is very hard to believe." Is he suggesting that Gongmin ordered Jo to kill Gi Cheol and then ordered Jo killed when Jo failed? "The evidence could drive us to think that," Park says with a coy smile, knowing darned well that it wasn't like that at all and that nobody would really believe that. "Take a step back, just this once, Your Majesty."
Nighttime in the torture yard, and we've got a full house tonight. All kinds of awful things being done to everybody there. These are all associates of Jo Il Shin. We see Jeon Cheon Gi, who obviously was captured but not executed. And we see the envoy, Commissioner Park and other Yuan delegates strolling amidst the activity with smiles on their faces. Park approaches Jeon. "Just say it. That you've seen the secret orders His Majesty issued to Jo Il Shin." Uh-oh, so they're trying to frame Gongmin to force his hand. But Jeon won't do it, to his credit...
...and now Jeon's head is displayed atop the palace walls, also marked as "Guilty of High Treason"--but this time it's for trying to kill the king and Gi Cheol! So yeah, this is all for Gi Cheol's benefit after all.
Now there are angry ministers gathered outside the king's office, urging him to take action against the envoys. As in, beheading them! Inside, Gongmin is shaking with anger and frustration, not knowing what to do.
Commissioner Park has gone to see Noguk, who's reading the letter from her father. Park tells her, "This year there were two instances of treacherous subjects trying to ask for Prince Qunluan to be made crown prince again. At the center of those nefarious acts was always your father, the King of Wei. The Empress's position is quite difficult." She folds the letter shut and glares at him. "You think I don't know what you're trying to achieve with this?" Now she's showing the same sort of anger we just saw in her husband, although more measured. "When you go back to Yanjing, tell this to Her Majesty. If she sends Gi Cheol to Gaegyeong, I shall meet him at the frontier and behead him with my own hands. Tell her his dirty feet will not set foot on this land." Yikes! Even Park is surprised and warns her, "Don't you know your father's life is in your hands?" But she sees the letter as evidence that her father is as good as dead already, and tells Park, "my father and I shall meet again in death. No matter how much Empress Gi tries to intimidate us, I shall at all costs behead Gi Cheol!"
Well! Park leaves, looks at eunuch An and shudders at him, like, that did NOT go well and that woman is nuts (very funny).
Left alone, Noguk grieves over her inability to help her father.
Won Hyeon has reached the woods near Gaetae Temple and finds Pyeonjo there, hauling firewood. "I'll have to spend this winter here," Pyeonjo tells him, "since the Master won't let me go."
Here's Wolseon. He looks physically better--sitting in the room rather than laying there in bed--but looks just as obstinate and uncommunicative. Won tries to talk to him, and has better luck than Pyeonjo did. "I let him go once to see the world, and he plots treason?" Uh-oh, so he found out about that.
Evening: "Let me go, Master." Pyeonjo kneels by Wolseon as Wolseon tries to sleep. "I don't want to bring you dishonor anymore. How many people insulted you for trying to ordain a son of a slave like me? So let me go." But Wolseon mumbles that he doesn't want to. Stuff about the journey towards enlightenment should be slow, and how the world is such a cruel place and "Buddha's warm embrace" is the only escape from it. Which is really all just an excuse to keep Pyeonjo isolated because Wolseon fears for him. But Pyeonjo begs. "I've heard the cries of sorrow of this entire world. This damned world is something I have to change before I die, Master!" He's crying, this means so much to him. And the words hit home, and change Wolseon's mind. "Die for your people, your fool. If Buddha grants you even the most meager of powers, go out and use it for the starving people." Pyeonjo falls before Wolseon in gratitude.
Gi Cheol is back with his sister, asking to go home now. "I shall fix Prince Gangneung's arrogance once and for all."
"What are you going to do?" Noguk issues a challenge to her husband. "If you say you can't kill Gi Cheol, I shall slay him with my own hands." Gongmin looks at her with amazement. "You're really scary, Queen."