Thanks for the recap!

I'm just skimming a little because I want to watch this unspoiled, but a part of me hopes that Lee Da Hae's character will ultimately end up with Jang Hyuk because I still see them as a couple from Robber :)

(And how sweet would it be if this was their past lives! Heehee)...

thanks for the recap samsooki. lol @ general choi.

i'm just glad that 2 people are out of the way so we can move on with other characters. and constable kwok is a surprise treat, i thought i wasn't going to care for him at all.

i felt sorry for eop-bok when majority of the slaves disregarded his concern regarding the con-man. i guess they're so desperate that reasoning is out of the question. but cho-bok is one smart woman...she was able to make him put aside his personal grudge for the greater good :)

Nice recap!

Ep 9 is where I lost the flush of first love for Chuno. The sexy gimmicks were starting to get a bit old for me. But you have revived it with a perfect mix of narrative, exposition and opinion.

One thing that really impressed me was that they killed off Baek Ho and the assassin lady. Wow! They sure are not sentimental and have no compunction killing off interesting characters like so much plot fodder. Seems like it's going to be no-holds-barred. Eeeks. *Hides behind sofa and braces for more Tragedy*

Indeed, how would UN react to a tragically shaggy Dae-Gil? I mean, we loves the feral swordsman (yum), but will the gentle, fastidious, genteel-ised UN be able to cope with this scary mass of muscle and emotion? Well, this is likely the least of our worries. Onward and upward with the angst-o-meter!

Great recap: Cho Bok is definitely my favourite right now – she’s brilliant. Whatever she says, I believe it. I want her to succeed.

Big shock at finding out that Constable Kwok is not a turncoat after all. Subtle.

Dae-Gil is behaving more and more like a typical slave-owner or the son-of. He feels entitled to his ex-slave; his property. I’m finding it next to impossible to romanticise this pairing.

I am watching this series until the end. I get goose-bumps during the fight scenes and its stunningly gorgeous photography, its striking soundtrack and complex heroes with modern sensibilities.

Chuno’s fatal flaw remains intact in this episode: its head-writer’s incapacity to imagine a heroine as compelling as the men (bye-bye Lady Assassin Yoon-Ji, we hardly knew you).

Unless it is revealed in the next episode that Un-Nyun is a closeted werewolf; I just don’t believe in this character as a woman born into slavery, who escaped from it and also abandoned her position as a noblewoman to flee an unwanted marriage.
Un-Nyun’s appearances illicit groans and moans in my home from all its inhabitants: from an 11 year-old niece to a 74- year-old grandma.

p.s.: I’d like to be like Tae-Ha when I grow up

@ momosan Yeah, I was totally heart-broken when Baek-ho died, but I think that there are too many characters in here anyway so it was almost a given that Baek-ho was going to get the axe.

I have to agree that the side characters are definitely standing out a lot more than the main characters. Dae-gil is always brooding and the scenes with Tae-ha and Un-nyeon aren't uninteresting, but I do find them somewhat dull because they tend to be very stoic characters most of the time. The upside of these scenes is that I'm rooting more for them to end up together than for Dae-gil and Un-nyeon to end up together, but I guess that's because we've seen zero interaction between the two in the present time.

I'm glad Constable Kwok turned out to be a good guy, I was worried in the previews when I saw him running around killing people, but it was all for a good cause so its cool.

I am not enjoying this drama as much as i had hoped I think they are dragging the story a bit and I too hope that Lee Da Hae character ends up with JH They do have chemistry or is it that I do not like the boring OJH.

Great recap!
This episode proved the helplessness of Un-Nyun that everyone complained about. When the assassin lady was about to um... yes, KILL her... Un-Nyun just gazed and stared off into space. Shouldn't slaves have more survival skills than the average person? Wasn't the slave experience partly what had made Harriet Tubman so strong?

I'll have to disagree about Cho-Bok, the slave partner to the tiger shooter. Her character is very disturbing to me b/c she completely holds no morals or a conscience whatsoever. "Oh, sure, shoot another noble. No biggy. Let's do it again." (And said with a cheerfulness, at that.) Such a stoic outlook on human life makes her resemble a sociopath to me.

Lastly, I am so disappointed that the writers gave DaeGil no redeeming qualities when he is the lead. I still want him to end up with the lifeless damsel, but C'MOM, writers, give him a chance, will you? How can he compete for the hearts of the audience or his lady when you make him out to be a ruthless slave chaser/ killer with no manners and a huge anger management problem? It's not fair to him. -- Go away, Tae Ha. The writers made you too perfect but even still, I don't like you. Your ears stick out.

I don't want to sound morbid, but the two death scenes were very interesting. First, they killed off couple of two well known actor and actress. Looking ahead, i am to think they will keep bringing many more people for cameos. I also almost felt sorry for the female assassin because of her pained expression on her face when she was dying, like she had other things to her that was not finished in her life. Then, Danny Ahn, ex-G.O.D., the Baek Ho character's death was very beautiful. He loved and served Un-yun as he looked at half of her picture, as if he only got to know half of her. Then, the look on his face and himself, with a background of very deep blue sky and green mountains - as if he was going to die and fade into them. Cinematography is superb in this drama.

@10 mimi

I agree with you about Cho Bok. I can understand fighting to end slavery, but she just doesn't seem to be even slightly bothered by killing people.

On the other hand, I disagree about UN. Why on earth should a slave have more survival skills than non-slaves? Slaves are presumably illiterate, they do nothing of their own initiative, just what they are ordered to do. They don't learn martial arts, certainly. They live their whole lives as dependents on their masters. They are, in fact, far more likely to be helpless people than non-slaves.

As for Dae Gil, I"m still trying to figure him out. Obviously, the writer/director team don't want us to know all about him yet. We alreday know he does help some slaves escape---sending them to some mountain, where he tells them someone else will help them. He considers himself degraded, in being a slave hunter. He originally, wanted, as samsooki pointed out, to change the world and end the institution of slavery. He is a highly conflicted character. Something's got to give, where he's concerned.

Hi Samsooki
Very entertaining recap, thanks for the very detailed letter character expulsion of the word slave and the explicit fighting scene.

Eventhough cho bok is a smart woman but she didn't think far enough of the group, their capability to strike because they are just following someone's order it is not their just cause in the first place, they are being manipulate because of their brand, cant' live like a human being - demean them and her assignment as a look out post , and yes one bad apple won't spoil the whole bunch of girls! like the late MJ sings.

I don't think Song Tae Ha could erase the brand even he wanted too, unless he too place the hot iron rod on his forehead, another logo up there ! Un Nyun do not have to buy colorful headband to match his clothes. Although Un Nyun now has feelings for STH to fill the emptiness after 10 years but she ever mention to STH in earlier episode that her first love is locked in her heart, sorry mate you're second best but it is OK for STH because he had experienced his first love before.

Seol Hwa is trying her best to "dig" Dae gil, what a marvelous 17 year old girl.
She forget all about her first intention - to search for her mom.

How could constable kwok have the heart to kill his colleagues for the crown prince ?. Is this cause a justified action to save the prince ( very cute baby!!.)

Is dae gil going for revenge when he meet Kuonomme?

Thanks Samsooki foy your wonderful recap.
Chuno as I see it (now just finished ep 14) is totally a new approach for kdrama, so expected why some people don't like certain characters-they are new to them. To me all are doing wonderful in their job including LDH (I love this sooo ladylike, elegent character-and she is doing terrific job in ep 13 and 14.-sometime we need a break from cutesy, cheecky character, eventhough SH nailed it perfectly .

Jang Hyuk-what a charismatic actor
Oh Ji Ho-whenever u give us your stare (with ur piercing eyes), I'm lost-u are so good at it.
Lee Da Hae-wish I can have your demure, soft angelic face/character like this, eventhough offscreen you are more like Joo Yoo Rin.
Lee Jong Hyuk (Hot)-reminds me of French actor Yse Montand (u act with your eyes)
KHE (SH)-u are cute
Chuno gang-the best partnership/chemistry ever.

samsooki - Thanks for the excellent recap.

What's interesting about the characters in Chuno is that they're not being defined for us as typical good-guy-heroes, bad-guy-villains. We're allowed to see both strengths and flaws and think for ourselves about who's right, who's wrong, what's justified behavior, what's not.

Look at DG, for example. As a young man he seems very idealistic and even a little naive in his dream of creating a world with no class differences. However, if he hadn't fallen in love with a beautiful slave girl would he still have had that same wish? His comment in ep 9 re: returning the slaves to where they belong, shows that the ideology of the nobles was more deeply ingrained in him than it appeared at first. So is his intention of changing the order of things, in fact, not so much noble as perhaps self-serving? Ten years later, in his slave-hunter incarnation, he's got a well-deserved reputation as someone to be feared, but we've also seen him show compassion, especially to SH. And is his desire to find UN solely motivated by love, or does he want revenge? Is he trying to reunite with his love, or return her to where he thinks she belongs, like a piece of property? Does he even know?

As for TH, he seems like the practically-perfect-in-every-way man, but what seems like a great strength, (his sense of duty), could also turn out be his biggest weakness. Blind obedience is never a good thing.

UN is helpless, yes, but considering she was born into slavery with no free will of her own, and then spent 10 years living the life of a noble lady, with all the restrictions that come along with that title, really, what can you expect? The little bit we know of her life during those 10 years seems to hint that she's a compassionate person and we are beginning to see some character development take place. (Yay!)

SH is cute, perky and livens things up for sure, but she's also shallow and immature. I mean, did she really think that was a good time to try and confess her feelings to DG? Timing is everything and the girl didn't seem too clued in to how DG was feeling right then.

Even the scary (but still hot) Commander Hwang has his vulnerable human side. The dude might be a cold-hearted killer, but he loves his mom! I know I should hate him, and I do, but yet I still find him attractive and wish the writers would throw a little love interest his way. Is something wrong with me?

@samsooki, thanks for the brief history of korea :) whenever i watch sageuk drama, the main thing that i always notice is the conspiracy.

right now, everybody is only concern of their own personal agenda. dae-gil's biggest motivation of becoming a slave hunter is to find UN, tae-ha's will to protect the last prince, slaves just trying to be freed from bondage, and even eop-bok wanting to take revenge on dae-gil. i can't wait to see the day that they all come together and fight the evil minister, especially dae-gil and tae-ha... if that day will come.

Great recap as always, Samsooki!

I have to admit that going into this I was a little prejudice in favor of the Tae-Ha/Un-Nyun pairing. (Probably thanks to these pictures: http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/11/chunos-lee-da-hae-and-oh-ji-ho-spend-first-night-together/) But I realized by the first episode that Dae-Gil/Un-Nyun was probably going to be the endgame ship.

But the problem with that pairing is stressed right in the title. Dae-Gil is a slave hunter... and Un-Nyun cannot imagine a fate worse than slavery. Dae-Gil isn't just a mercenary, who occasionally accepts a commission to find a runaway slave. All he does is send people back into bondage. There's an innate and unresolvable conflict in that.

I thought that maybe after the first episode when he rescued the runaway mother & daughter that Dae-Gil was actually part of a sort of Korean-style Underground Railroad, which would have avoided that conflict nicely. But no. He just can't tolerate sexual exploitation. (He has to have that moral code because otherwise, he would be completely irredeemable.) And now in this episode he says that slaves actually need to be returned to where they belong. Unless that's not actually what he believes and he is only speaking like that because the possibility of meeting Un-Nyun’s brother is weighing heavily on his mind, the unresolvable conflict is back full force. If Dae-Gil and Un-Nyun are the OTP, this is all going to end in tears. (And death, but I think that's a given.)

Tae-Ha and Un-Nyun, at least, I can see being able to settle down somewhere and have a happy life together, providing they both survive to the end. Yes, I realize that it's highly unlikely and I've been preparing myself for a very tragic death scene or two... or three. But it's nice to have a little hope that Tae-Ha, after all the tragedy he's seen, will be granted a some happiness in the end. And if the happiness he finds is with Un-Nyun, I'm definitely cool with that.

I am actually liking Kim Ha Eun as Sul Hwa more than the lead actress.
She is beautiful, cute, cheek, sweet, adorable and funny! If I was Dae Gil I would give up the hunt and turn to her instead!

Of to you, u can say anything for happing yourself. but actually is not, i think it is a empty hope. poor you

it is so important, we don't know the ending yet.
keep watching,
actually, Dae Gil n' Un Nyun are loving each other.

Wow, more insights to drool/dwell on... awesome thoughts by all, so much to ponder... am so not that articulate when it comes to deep discussion but will post anyway ;p

#8 Amg1... I must say that indeed Un-Nyun is the Central theme of this drama...

Oh wow, so it's all about HER then...how insightful is that... is that why she has the most screen time compare to her other cast members ;p Was that what LDH meant when she hinted that there is a twist to the story? Would UN be the one who will help her love ones (DG/TH) to fulfill their dream/mission to rebuild a better Joseon that they might not be able to accomplish due to possible death :( Oh... suddenly I don't care about the OTP perference anymore, I just want to see her raises above her circumstances and take charge!
~~
19 pixie ... i can’t wait to see the day that they all come together and fight the evil minister, especially dae-gil and tae-ha… if that day will come.

Yes, let it be, let it be, a new dawn has come, anything is possible!

opps... forgot to add sth earlier, just wondering has this been discussed before... how come the brother has the '奴' on his head while Un-Nyun's on her chest (ouch); I thought I saw some on people's face too... just wondering..

Good Lord Seol-Hwa is hot, hot, hot! Your pics of her in this post are also very good. People have mentioned the high quality cinematography already so I won't say too much more on it. It strikes me as interesting that many characters, almost have a colour code in a lot of the scenes - like purple for Seol-Hwa, shades of blue for Tae etc. for the women this even extends to the make up!!!

Thanks Samsooki for the recap !.

I remembered during the scriptwriter interview saying Un Nyu/Hye Won -
character will go on developing right to the very end and Jang Hyuk's interview mentioned dae gil live insanely searching for Un Nyun?, Dae gil's character is also revived all the time.

hello...

im new here... and i like korean drama.. i confuse with this part in your interpretation
"Un-Nyun thanks Tae-Ha for lending her his cloak as a blanket, and hands it back. But there is meaning in every action, and Tae-Ha looks at his jacket, which has been folded neatly with the draw ribbons also folded. Tae-Ha has been married once before, and knows a gesture like this means that Un-Nyun is offering more than just the return of his cloak."

what is the meaning of his jacket and ribbons has been folded neatly and he has been married once.. what is UN/HW offered to him?

sorry for asking..

juz curious..

thank you~~

Thanks samsooki,

Quite interesting to know they use ho-pae as identity card in the form of wooden block during the Joseon era quite creative in their thinking and also the different official badges the three hunters are keeping for their work.

Excellent recap! Both entertaining and informative! :)

Thanks for the drama recap
I am really enjoying this drama it is unlike other Korean dramas i have seen so far.
Let’s not try to fine flaws nothing is perfect. All in all it is a good drama with great led actors and acting skills.

@15 Sakura,

There was a typing error, the word should be explicit not expulsion.

@Sakura: Yes, the constable had a good reason to kill his colleagues. Prince is THE #1 priority. His colleagues may not have supported him and could have killed him off. In previous episodes where the prince was crying, no one came to attend to him. Shows how very little they think of him.

As for Seolhwa... I think that while she looks for her mom, you can't stop your emotions. When you like a person, you like 'em. She may still want to search for her mom, but I'm sure you don't want to lose another person you love.

Besides, I doubt she could easily find her mom by herself. She can't even run away from a few drunk men, and what can she do being a woman with no money in Joseon era? Might as well stick with the guy...

Man, episode 13, what a heartbreaker. Say what you will about this character or that, but this writer knows how to create drama . . .

Thankyou Samsooki for the explanation. I was wondering what the hidden meaning in it myself. It makes sense now for TH to have that gentle loving (yet a little surprised) look on his face when HW handed him his clothes back neatly folded.
Love HW/TH together!

samsooki.. thank u o much 4 ur explanation.. now i knw whats d meanin of 'folded'.. i wonder what will be happen since there are 10 more ep.. i really appreciate it once again.. thank u =]

@31 Biscuit,

I would like to differ from your reasons about the prince and seolhwa.

As for the prince he is fully guarded (protected) by the court lady and the constable. The only time she left him was to fetch water at a short distance near the house and also the prince came out crying that's to introduce viewers (us) that is the prince, the prince was crying because he was left unattended by his nanny.The Crown prince and family had stayed at the island for quite sometime but CPdied of poisoning could be the wife had the same fate too and also there was a plague at jeju island, they got no medical help from Hanyang.

In epi. 5 Constable Hanseom left his post to make a pass at the court lady, so we can say that at the moment it was a safe place before the coming of an assasin.
You mentioned about 'they thought very little of the prince" and I would like to give an example about fatherhood during the Joseon era from this drama.
General STH didn't even embrace his son, he said- "if the child spend too long in his father's hands it will end up spoiling him". So the women are the one taking care of the family and doing all the household chores while the men is the breadwinner. Another good example, during the fire scene Lee Dae gil call for his mother first and I can also say that he respect women.

Seolhwa you wrote " She can’t even run away from a few drunk men, and what can she do being a woman with no money in Joseon era? Might as well stick with the guy…"

I do empathize with Seolhwa. I am sad that she is left unattended by her family. She ran away from the dance troupe that show she is streetwise and bold in character like some of the words she said - if you help me I'll strip later, how dare you try to get a peek for free?., come in and let all sleep.

I still think that she gave a half thruthful answer to the three men. like to find her mum, her identity is a big spot near her breast. Her mum was sold when she was little and her father died when she was six years old, Which is the truth? when they left her for consensus her facial expression, she was smiling and sticking out her tongue (unless that is her habit) .She is a growing up girl always asking for food and she drank alchohol too for her age (17). And she is not shy to collect money from the men's mouth. She very lucky to meet the three charitable men who still respect women except for Wangson.

Finally got a chance to catch up and read this recap, thanks samsooki! I too was wondering about the significance of how UN folded TH's garments. I always enjoy the historical facts you include with your recaps, they're fascinating.

Wow, we sure did get to the end of the road abruptly (and brutally) with Yoon-ji and Baek-ho, didn't we? I'm having trouble remembering who even hired Yoon-ji in the first place so no loss there, but I would have liked to see Baek-ho stick around a little longer (not because he's great-looking, which he is, but because it seemed like there was an interesting story there with regard to his history with UN). Oh well. Fat must be trimmed at some point and I guess it starts now...

I like Cho-bok too, and the only issue I have with her is the same problem that everyone had with UN, just in reverse. If UN is too pristine, then Cho-bok is too dirty. Her blindingly white teeth in contrast to her perma-smudge face just looks ridiculous. But that's nitpicky, and not enough to mar my enjoyment of Chuno in the slightest.

Of course I still love Seol-hwa to death!

Great job as always, thanks samsooki!

I am anticipating when Un Nyun and dae gil will have their first conversation.

I just started this drama (on epi 2) and I like the leading character/actress' acting a lot. The character shows got guts and courage to me so far...this is going to be good.

The leading man is conflicted for sure and I'm not sure why he wants her back as property or for love because of the 'natural order of things'....I get the feeling he dies in the end though.

I'm rooting for Tae-Ha (OJH is just so magnetic that one cannot take one's eyes off him) for the character could be potentially very interesting -if the writer did not stick with the rather hollow militaristic ideal of the 'loyal general'- and I must admit the other guy does not interest me, either as a character or as an actor, in the least. I wish the writer spend more time and thought on the female lead. Her character is so underdeveloped, unconvincing and irritating, to the point of being offensive to women. It would be more interesting to show her as a more determined person, somebody who wishes to escape first slavery and then the threat of slavery for good, cannot be conceived as a passive, completely non street-wise, demure violet. And she should help in the fights too with the means at her disposal and according to her abilities. The character should display some profundity and complexity of feeling as she moves to a new, more rounded, more difficult, and hence more exciting,love. Her love for Tae Ha should be emphasised and underlined rather than be serve as a form of gratitude (and while the other one is not on the scene), since it is the love of a free person, or the love she feels as a free person (they should contrast that with her first love, the love of a dependent slave for her young master). Through that love -and similarly I'd like to see how the man, Tae-Ha, is transformed through his love for her. Tae Ha's character too, the loyal general, should be given more to do than the display of military loyalty and chivalry- the writer has a unique chance to build up his main female character and give us an interesting character that shapes herself through her struggle with, and defence of, this new love, her coming to understand and wanting to experience this new love. However, I fear that the makers will simply fall back on the old, convenient and false saw, that we only love once, first love tramps all love blah, blah, blah, yawn, yawn, yawn (not to mention the fact that the form of love preferred would be that of a slave woman for her master. The writer is well advised to go and read Euripides' tragedy Andromache . He will see how a slave woman rages against those who enslaved her, speaks of her dehumanisation, of her reduction to a res, a mere thing, and of the ordeal of the master's bed, however young, charming, generous and loving the master).

@41 wow!

From what I've seen so far, I did not get streetwise for the leading female character....she was a slave and protected/shielded by her bro so what could she learn on her own...now the young girl who was rescued without a father or brother should have some street smarts imo, but I have not run across her again just guessing though...now viewing epi 3.

I was wondering about the slavery aspect of this drama thanks so much for the history lesson.

Since the male leads are so attractive in the storyline, I guess writers cannot get away from romanticizing the characters a little. If they all survive in the end that would be interesting to see how the writers justify it because their line of work does not inspire love from those being chased and beaten, but a whole lot of hatred; and jealousy from their competitors.

I still like the female lead up to this point (epi 4). I felt so sorry for the two of them and he was a mouse, but now a tiger. Ten years later and both still longing for someone who no longer exists except in their memories....

At this juncture, I am for HW and TH being together and starting anew, but this is a K-drama so I won't hold my breathe....

i for one dont find seolhwa and chobok appealing at all
in fact i tend to tune out during their scenes
(especially chobok - her characteer is so typecast and unoriginal; im sure ive seen this kind of setup hundreds of times in other dramas, the unusually bright and capable girl surroundedby a bunch of moronic dundering men)
but thats probably because im a little emo and i love tragic characters
i love how tragic all three main characters are
although at the moment (especially in episodes 12, 13, 14) daegil is bordering more on pathetic than tragic
i love the tragic budding romance between taeha and hyewon
but im a litle alarmed that its developing so quickly, whereas the possible relationship of daegil and unnyun is becoming more and more remote a prospect
i mean, the guy has been looking for her for ten years, cut this guy some slack! it would be heartbreaking really if this OTP didnt get some closure
and while it would also be heartbreaking for taeha if it did, its fine, since taeha is already a pretty tragic character
i almost feel like hes destined to live a long, lonely life; since hes the only character who lives his ilfe solely for others
and he already lost his wife and kid, so it wouldnt be the first time
what im predicting is that in the end, daegil and unnyun will be reunited and in love; but obviously there is no way on earth their relationship wouldever have worked out, so theyll just both die together. and lonely taeha will go on to become some great general, etc

ps. im so sad they killed off yoonji. it was so interesting to watch her, even if it was just to wonder how awe-inspiringly out-of-place she looked in this sageuk

pps. can we just take a moment to spazz about the hotness that is lee jonghyuk
amen

@ 47 Interesting prediction.

I think TH/HW will end up together and DG will die a runaway slave because the noble will make him one and he will eventually be killed by a bullet.

HW will think she is still in love with him but realize (albeit too late perhaps) that her true live is TH....I'm not sure if the two end up physically together though as she may die in the process with DG. I see TH predicament far worse than DG and his quest is more noble to me at this point, but I just finished epi 4 so things could go down hill with all kinds of twists and turns....Either way, I do not see a happy ending, but I hope writers prove me wrong and let someone be happy in the end.

I feel a tiny bit sorry for the two jumos, the artist & horse vet guy - nobody gives a fig about their story line.

It's a pity we didn't get to see more of the mysterious Lady Assassin. I half hope she will miraculously reappear later, but a knife to the gut like that >.<

The noble who loves a slave girl become ruthless slave hunter. The slave girl becomes a noble. The general becomes a slave. Who is the slave?
I see some interesting clashes of character coming...

Ladies,

NEVER trade your true love for comfort, safety and do called respect, you will suffer forvever if you lose him.

See what happened Un-nyun ? Did you hear he cries of pain as Dae Gil died.

YES she loved him deeply ! end of.