Tamra the Island: Episode 7

by nattacatta

Man, I love Tamra the Island. The pacing continues to be tight, the acting continues to be strong, the characters continue to grow and the scenery continues to be beautiful. What more could one ask? Perhaps for some skinship? Well…

EPISODE 7 RECAP

Mum’s crazy smile makes Kyu and Beo Jin nervous, and Kyu asks her what she is thinking. But she just addresses Beo Jin, asking her what’s going on; she has never set the breakfast table before, or snuck out at night. What was she doing? Was she seducing the exile?

Beo Jin adamantly denies this and runs away, followed by Kyu, leaving Mum standing there alone; she’ll be keeping an eye on them.

Yi Bang, meanwhile, is reporting the capture of the tax goods thieves, although he also reports the odd nature of the capture. The booty on the ship was far smaller than the stolen goods, and there were no goods of real value.

But his superior just disregards this, saying that once the thieves are handed over they’ll be investigated more thoroughly. After all, the thieves were suspected by the Royal Inspector (the Man in Black), is he doubting him? Evidently, he does have his doubts; the whereabouts of this alleged Inspector have been rather questionable lately.

Beo Jin visits the Town Elder’s house, asking to visit William… um… the blue eyed foreigner. The Town Elder’s servant notices her cross necklace, finding this suspicious. He lets her in to see William.

She is happy to see him, as is he, although they have to act normal to avoid suspicion. He tells her that it was good she didn’t come to the boat; it would have been worse to be caught together. But she assures him that she did come, she was just late. He is pleased to hear this.

She tells him that the Elder’s house is the safest spot, so he shouldn’t try and leave, just stay here. He lets her know that he is grateful towards Kyu and asks her to thank him.

On her way out, she runs into the Elder, and thanks him for the medicine. She leaves, as the servant tells the Elder that he thinks Beo Jin knows the foreigner; she was wearing a Christian necklace. The Elder instructs him to keep an eye on her.

Bong Sam is filling Kyu in on the situation of the thieves. Kyu is suspicious about the fact that there were no valuable goods. He concludes that they mustn’t be the thieves; they would have had horses and other, more valuable, goods. But, wasn’t it the Royal Inspector who planned the raid?

The Elder asks William about his origins (as he struggles with his chopsticks, eventually just spearing the food). He tells him that he wasn’t the sailor; it was his friend.

And this friend is attempting to find William, climbing over the Elder’s fence, only to be caught by the servant. They fight, and eventually Yan’s knife goes flying, hitting a wall. This leaves him unarmed, and as the servant is about to lunge at him with his sword, the Elder tells them to stop. He takes the knife and notices the inscription: ‘VOC’- the Dutch East India Company.

The Elder tells Yan not to be alarmed; this is the safest place on Tamra. He asks Yan for a request, to which Yan responds that he is open to a trade. Uh oh. It seems trouble is a-brewing.

Back at Beo Jin’s, Kyu is sending off (a very sad) Bong Sam, with instructions to deliver a letter to the capital. As he is going inside, he runs into Beo Jin, who conveys William’s thanks.

Kyu is rather displeased to hear that she went to see him, but is pleasantly surprised to see the herbs she is mashing up for wounds; did she get these for him? She says that they were already here, and he doesn’t have to use them if he doesn’t want to. She goes to leave but he pulls her back.

He tells her never to make such a rash decision again. She didn’t even know where William was going on the boat, how could she think to go with him? She has no fear?

But to Beo Jin, it doesn’t matter where it is, as long as she is with William. She is useless on Tamra, and, up to meeting William, nothing happened in her life. But William made her happy; as long as they aren’t on Tamra, she’ll go anywhere with him.

Kyu attempts to convince her otherwise; her life is on Tamra. Even if it has been difficult, she can’t just up and leave her family. But Beo Jin (using every teenager’s favourite line) says that he just doesn’t understand how she feels.

Moving on slightly from the conversation, she decides to move to an even more awkward topic; their conversation prior to her departure. Why did he say he didn’t want her to go to William? He hesitates for a second, caught off guard that she picked up on his wording.

But, because there is absolutely no way he could tell her he likes her, he says that if she went, he would be forced to do all of her jobs. So, of course, he wouldn’t want her to go. Beo Jin seems a little put off by this, which is rather interesting. I don’t think she was expecting a love confession, but clearly, she expected him to have a more sincere reason. But she accepts it easily; of course, that is how he thinks.

Yan visits William, who is surprised to find him there. Yan tells him that he has to leave for a few days; in the meantime, he should just remain here quietly.

Yan’s knife has gotten the Elder thinking. If they collaborate with the East India Company, they’ll never have to work with the Lady in Red and her company again (who they still mistrust).

The Lady in Red is also thinking about the East India Company, giving her clients rather valuable goods and money from them as tokens of her respect. Hmmm, intrigue.

The Man in Black has returned to her, after a very successful trip to Tamra. He reveals that the Elder is getting impatient and unless he has certain goods delivered, he will stop co-operating. But she thinks that it is time his true self was revealed.

She tells him that she will be going to Nagasaki tomorrow, and asks if there is any other news from Tamra. He tells her of an exile, named Park Kyu (the name catches her attention), who has been investigating here and there. Something tells him that he is no ordinary exile…

Kyu, meanwhile, has more on his plate than his investigations: Ggeut Boon. He requests her to stop visiting him so frequently. But this girl just cannot take a hint and believes he is happy to see her on the inside.

She tries to feed him some food she brought for him, but one of the guards (jealous of the attention she is giving Kyu) comes up and takes the food. She is initially angry, but is eventually mollified by the guard’s flattery (the food is delicious because it is made by such beautiful hands etc etc vomit vomit).

While Kyu is stuck at home, Beo Jin is out working, picking oranges. She takes one for William, one for the exile… Wait, why should she take one for the exile? No, she’ll just eat it. Mum has the same thing on mind, however, telling her that she knows she is taking those oranges for the exile.

A townswoman overhears, and all the women make a fuss that Beo Jin and Park Kyu are REALLY together. Ggeut Boon denies this, as if the handsome exile would go for weak Beo Jin when she, the prettiest and strongest girl in all the land, is right here. I think that it is so interesting that in this time, someone’s attractiveness wasn’t purely prettiness; it was also to do with their strength.

Mum decides to take a juicy piece of fruit from the pile and give it to Beo Jin. She should give it to the exile; she needs to protect what is her’s.

Kyu is also foremost on Yi Bang’s mind, who is told that he is bored to death under house arrest. He asks if anyone strange visits him but it is only the girls of the village, who come around for some eye candy. Actually, come to think of it, his servant was visiting him, but he hasn’t been seen for a few days. He decides that he has got it all wrong; there is no point locking him up…

So he visits Kyu, asking about his servant’s location. Kyu says that he was sent back to the capital. After some discussion, Yi Bang releases him from house arrest; just telling him not to make the same mistake twice. Kyu is pleased to be released, although as soon as he leaves, the Elder tells a (confused) guard to continue monitoring him.

Beo Jin comes to visit William again, not even attempting to hide their acquaintance. He shows her the drawings he has received from the Elder, and notes that she looks very different from the women in them.

She is a bit upset at this; “I know; I’m ugly”. But William tells her that she is even prettier than the women in the drawings are. She is pleased with this, and feeds him the oranges she brought, witnessed by the Elder’s servant.

The Elder, meanwhile, is visiting with the ‘Lord’ (with the front of being a crazy old man). They talk about the Lady in Red, and the Elder tries to convince him that she is not to be trusted. The old man responds that if she is a threat, what about him? Touché.

But the Elder says that he just wants Tamra to become a respected region of Korea. This is a possible goal, if he can get the old man’s support.

In the capital, the Man in Black has researched Kyu, and he is not on the list of exiles sent to Tamra. He did, however, finish first on the government official’s exam. Not only that, Kyu is also the only son of Park Chul, a government official.

Now we get our first glimpse of Kyu’s home and family, as the Lady in Red visits his mother. She tells the mother that she came only to ask her to analyse the quality of their goods, as she is known as a good judge. The mother says that her goods already have a reputation of high quality; she doesn’t need her assessment.

The Lady in Red presents her with a package nevertheless, saying that it is to give her comfort in the hard times her son is away. Mum is clearly missing Kyu, and says that even if it was the King’s orders, she feels sad that her son is suffering alone so far away, in Tamra. Bingo! The Lady in Red opens the package to reveal a treasure that Mum is clearly enamoured with.

Back on Tamra, Kyu learns about the mysterious powder; it is used as an anaesthetic and is impossible to locate in Tamra, as it is from China.

While Kyu is wandering around (spied on by the guard), he comes across the Elder, and then asks all of the shopkeepers if they have ever seen the mysterious token before. He comes across one man who knows who owns it. Kyu questions him to find he is a businessman by trade, but one who has been gambling lately, and that he has gone to the Elder’s home.

Yi Bang learns of something the servant of the Elder ordered, and a revelation seems to come to him…

Meanwhile, Ggeut Boon has fished up a large treasure chest, to the pride of her mother (and herself). The divers open the bags inside (which have the East India Company symbol on them) and find coffee beans. Of course, they have no idea what they are and spit them out, saying that they must be spoiled beans.
Beo Jin walks up to see the ruckus, notices the “curly” writing on the bags, and decides to take them to William.

He identifies them as coffee beans straight away and tells her that they are a tea Europeans drink that take away tiredness and taste great.

She is worried about him, but he assures her that she is okay. She awkwardly takes a coffee bean to eat, but he takes it out of her lips; that’s not how you eat them. The mood becomes more serious and William leans in to kiss her… but she bangs her head on a pole.

She awkwardly changes the subject, saying that she has to leave now, leaving William thinking about how lovely she is. Cute.

Apparently, it’s party night at the Elder’s as both Kyu and Yi Bang arrive to investigate their own suspicions. Yi Bang sees Kyu entering.

As Beo Jin is on her way out, heart beating, she too sees Kyu, who doesn’t notice her. She is unsure of his purpose here so she decides to follow him.

He sneaks into the Elder’s room, searching for something that could help him uncover the mystery. He notices on top of one of the surfaces a powder that feels suspiciously like the one that was in the water jug. He opens a container on that bench, filled with this powder. Taking a sample to test, he hears a noise from outside. He hides behind the door to apprehend the intruder…

…but finds Beo Jin. He asks what she is doing here, and she throws the same question back at him. He infers that she is here to see the foreigner, which he told her not to do, because it will cause a big problem. Again, she throws it back at him; he was the one who caused a big problem with his gambling and womanising.

He has had enough so he tells her to leave, but hears a squeak and picks her up, taking her into the adjoining storage room. She yells at him and tries to leave, so, as someone enters the room, he is out of options and kisses her (!) to keep her quiet.

Not the most orthodox silencing device nor the most romantic first kiss (although it does say something about his feelings for her; if he was repulsed by her he wouldn’t have even thought to kiss her). Beo Jin tries to push him off, eventually making a noise as she gets free. They freeze and Kyu draws his knife. The Elder hears the noise and goes to open the door to their hiding place… when his servant tells him that Yi Bang has arrived. He leaves, Kyu lowering his knife and Beo Jin wiping her mouth with her hand, startled by the kiss.

Yi Bang tells the Elder that he saw an intruder earlier and asks (more so demands) to search his house. But the Elder counters that if it is in his house, he should be the first one to know. Yi Bang goes to search regardless, but finds the previous hiding place empty. Meanwhile, the Elder instructs his servant to hide the foreigner, and not let Yi Bang see him.

But at that moment, Yi Bang demands for the servant to show him the grounds. He notices the light left on in William’s room, but luckily, Kyu and Beo Jin have already taken him with them.

As Yi Bang keeps coming up short, the Elder all but kicks him out, saying he will make an official complaint about his disrespectful attitude.

Kyu, Beo Jin and William try to escape by climbing over the wall. Kyu easily makes it over but Beo Jin has difficulty, so Kyu has to carry her over. As she is still in his arms, Yi Bang sees them, thinking they are having some kind of romantic moment. He assumes they have just come from the Elder’s, looking for somewhere to be together.

But, at that moment, William, jumps over the fence…

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