Faith: Episode 19
by javabeans
It’s no secret I pretty much hated last week’s episodes (so much the boring), but today’s episode really picked things up. There are a ton of development on all fronts, and the story finally picks up the plodding pace and makes it feel like stuff’s happening again. Hurrah for movement and speed that surpasses snails playing chess!
Who else would’ve loved to see Faith just put our two lovers on the run the whole way through? They could joke, bicker, tease, and flirt all the live long day, and let the king hold up the politics front back in the palace. Ah, but for the what-ifs…
SONG OF THE DAY
Lunafly – “니 이름이 뭐니” (What’s Your Name?) [ Download ]
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EPISODE 19 RECAP
After informing Eun-soo that the envoy wants to take her to Yuan, Young gets busy packing up her things and urging her to hurry before Gongmin issues a royal decree. At least if they escape before that, they’re not technically disobeying orders. It’s sweet, the familiar way he packs her belongings and ties her satchel for her, sort of like a wife fixing her husband’s necktie, like this intimacy is normal and comfortable for them.
Young ushers her out first, saying that he’ll speak to the king and then meet her. He won’t be asking permission, but rather informing him of his plans to leave. It’s a tricky situation because the envoy will be appealing to the king, and Young might find himself in the position of being ordered to grab Eun-soo on the envoy’s behalf. He hopes to avoid this.
She urges him to hurry back, and Young sends her off with Dae-man as guard.
Young encounters Noguk on his way to see the king, and she tells him that Gongmin has been wanting and waiting to see Young, worried that Young is avoiding him because he’s upset over losing his Woodalchi. He’d told her that Young was bound to be distraught over the men he valued so dear. Aw, that is just like the insecure king, to worry that Young hates him now and holds him responsible, and you can see that Young understands that as he assures Noguk that that’s not the case.
The Yuan envoy sends a letter to the king, and it basically summons Gongmin to a state assembly which the envoy has called together. Man, that’s brash of him, waltzing into another nation and ordering around its statesmen as though they’re his own. Granted we all know Yuan pulls the strings here, but it’s still pretty bold and Gongmin is outraged: “He orders me around?”
Gongmin joins the gathering and sits to hear Yuan’s message, delivered by envoy Sohn Yoo. It’s not a friendly one, and states that Yuan has observed a parade of incompetent Goryeo kings and no longer will trust any. Thus Yuan will dethrone him and basically take over Goryeo, whose sovereignty it will no longer recognize.
Gongmin, naturally, refuses to accept this. Sohn Yoo warns of war, asking whether he will be able to win, knowing clearly how unlikely that is. Gongmin answers, “There are things that must be fought for, even if the battle cannot be won.”
Sohn Yoo praises his silver tongue, but cautions him to think of his people before his impressive words. Gongmin retorts, “On the brink of losing their country, what citizens would fear a thing like war?”
Sohn Yoo makes one last appeal, this time revealing that despite his position with the Yuan court, he is a Goryeo man: “I came running here looking for one last way to keep Goryeo a sovereign nation.” Ooh. Interesting. Were you testing him? In any case, I’m suddenly very interested in Mr. Envoy.
He adds that they want to make Deok-heung king, with the condition: He’ll be the last Goryeo king, to abolish the nation himself. Gongmin supposes Deok-heung has consented to the plan.
Sohn Yoo says that there is one way around this, and outlines the steps. First, reinstate the Yuan seal. Second, capture the culprit who has clouded the king’s mind—the woman doctor who has bewitched the royals and his general—and punish her by Gongmin’s own hand. Ohhhh. So it’s a witch-hunt/scapegoat you want. If Gongmin complies, the envoy will report to Yuan that the evil has been dispensed with and order restored.
Well I admit I like this turn a lot better; after watching every Goryeo politico panting after Eun-soo as a trophy to collect, now she’s seeing the flipside of her appeal.
Gongmin argues that she’s blameless, but Sohn Yoo says that rumors have spread all the way to Yuan: This is the best way.
Young is not allowed entry until the meeting is over, and he is announced as everyone leaves. Sohn Yoo hears his name and turns back in interest. He watches as Young is told the king will not see him. Several Woodalchi who were present in the meeting look at him and shake their heads at him uneasily.
He’s packing his chest when Choong-seok reports to him in his room, and he puffs up in this adorable way when Young commends him for being the true leader of Woodalchi over the past seven years. (He doesn’t even try for modesty, saying, “Well, some might say that’s true.”) The conversation carries the unmistakable ring of a goodbye as Young gives him some last advice about preventing trouble instead of reacting to it, and to protect Noguk no matter what, and to take care.
It’s the last one that tips Choong-seok off that something’s up. Young closes the box of his personal possessions and tells him to dispose of it.
Dae-man tells Eun-soo his story of living on his own as a child in the mountains, and how he met Young at the tender age of thirteen. Eun-soo gasps and laughs in all the right places as he says he’d spent five days running away, then being caught, then biting Young and running away again until he finally fell asleep. When he awoke, Young was cooking up a fish for him and the rest was history. I guess literally.
They tense up at the approach of a bearded stranger in black, however, and thankfully he doesn’t engage them. Dae-man says he walks without sound, and he doesn’t want to fight someone like him.
Young waits by impatiently and asks his aunt why the king won’t see him. She delivers a twofold message: Officially the king has agreed to hand Eun-soo over to the Yuan envoy. Unofficially, Gongmin wants Young to run far away with Eun-soo. Thus he cannot see Young, to keep up the story that Young left before receiving the king’s order, keeping him free of treason accusations. I’m… pretty sure we’ve used this plot turn in early episodes, just sayin’.
He wonders why Yuan wants the doctor so badly—what do they suppose she can do? He’s still in the dark about their true intentions, and instead of telling him the truth Lady Choi just asks if he can’t entrust Eun-soo’s trip to the portal to his Suribang men, and remain at the palace. She cautions that the next twenty days (till heaven’s door opens) could undo everything he’s worked for, and be unable to ever return.
Young smiles in this bittersweet way, telling his aunt that he has spent the past seven years here and yet he can remember nothing very special about it.
As he turns to go, Lady Choi tells him to be careful, revealing the true reason for the envoy’s visit: the doctor’s public execution.
He asks what happens to the king if Eun-soo disappears, but then decides he doesn’t want to know: “I cannot remain here in any case. If I leave like this, I have no right to return. What good does it do someone like me to know of the king’s business?”
But for all the subterfuge in play, our Goryeo court isn’t fooling the Yuan envoy, who meets with Deok-heung. Young had guessed that these two men have been working together, and it looks like that’s not far from the mark. Sohn Yoo is aware that the king agreed to his terms knowing the doctor would be out of reach, and that she ran away with Choi Young as her escort.
Deok-heung calls Young a useless man. How could the king’s lead bodyguard leave so easily? Did the king put his trust in such an unworthy man? He wants to “end this” right away, without further delays. Sohn Yoo says that pushing the king too hard could lead to war, which Deok-heung dismisses as unlikely given his nephew’s temperament.
Sohn Yoo states that he is a bureaucrat, whose job is to find efficient solutions while paying the smallest price. To which, PFFFFFT. In punishing Eun-soo, the one small sacrifice is worth the bigger picture.
The runaways pause for a break, and Young looks at the welt on Eun-soo’s arm from the poison and asks if it’s easily curable in heaven. She assures him that one exam and shot is all it’ll take.
He sits next to her against a tree, and then says in this deadpan, “What are you doing?” *Pats shoulder.* Ha, you might as well just grunt, “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”
He comments that she’s not much of a walker, and she agrees since this place requires it a lot more than heaven does. He asks if there were things she liked in this world, and she thinks it over. “Is there nothing?” he prods. You just know there’s a five-year-old Choi Young somewhere inside, going, “Me, ooh! Pick me!”
Eun-soo thinks of something, and mimics his gruff speech pattern: “What? What’s this? What’re you doing?” Heh, well now at least we know she liked the Tarzan-Jane attitude.
Gongmin convenes a meeting with his senior officials, beginning the preparations for war. He appoints one of his guards to head up the army, and the man balks, recommending Choi Young for the job instead—the men fought with him before and will follow him. Gongmin overrules him, and the man accepts the order with some trepidation.
Senior statesman Lee Je-hyun is wary of launching right into war, but Gongmin says what he really wants to do is show Yuan that if they want to claim Goryeo land, they will have to spill their blood for it. He asks, “What do you think, General?” and the question hangs in the air for this prolonged beat before he realizes that Young is not here. It’s a heavy moment for everybody in the room.
Deok-heung informs Ki Chul of the runaway situation, and as we might suspect, Ki Chul does not take this well. He advances with an ominous tread and a crazy(-er than usual) gleam in his eye, and Deok-heung backs away nervously saying that he just found out himself.
Ki Chul demands to know how HIS doctor ran away with Young if Deok-heung didn’t let her go, his hand swirling with icy mist. Deok-heung gulps and says he has a secret plan for recovering the doctor, and I’m not sure if that’s true or if he’s just pulling things out of his ass to save himself. In any case, Ki Chul isn’t having it and he growls, “I’m sick of you and your secret plans.” That makes two of us.
He raises his ki-charged hand to deliver his wrath… and then collapses, losing control of it. Eum-ja rushes to his side, but can’t lay a hand on him without freezing himself. Hwasuin delivers some emergency firehand to counter the effects, and Ki Chul is taken to his restorative bath. I’m thinking this was probably not the scene you wanted snakey snake to witness, but you know, imma let you lie in that bed you made.
Ki Chul is frustrated that he isn’t able to search for Eun-soo himself (given his house arrest, and probably also his health), and orders his minion to send out the search parties with an enormous reward for the man who brings him the doctor. Oh, and yeah, they’ll probably have to kill Choi Young in the process. You say that like it’s so easy—like it’s a thing that you haven’t failed to do a dozen times already.
Young ushers Eun-soo into an inn that evening, keeping a watchful eye on the other guests. Hm, there’s a bearded man in black wearing a hat who seems familiar. I love that he’s got his grim face on amid the room full of roughnecks, and she immediately proposes they have a drink, putting on her best aegyo-face to do it.
One of the roughnecks leaves his table to take a better look at the Wanted posters he’s carrying, confirming that they’re the ones. She chatters on about the drinks but he warns her to duck on his say-so. She immediately complies, in time for him to knock down the men attacking him.
Let’s pretend this was a cool fight scene, because it makes it funnier that Eun-soo’s first response post-melee is to raise her head, see the fallen bodies, and take another swig of makgulli. Gotta love a girl who knows how to appreciate her beverages.
Young takes a look at the Wanted drawings, and she complains, “This is what I look like? How awful!” She examines Young’s features against his drawing, while he takes note of two men at a nearby table: our be-hatted mystery warriors.
At the palace, Noguk finds Gongmin still at work at his desk. His first words are a sheepish, “I was just about to retire.” Noguk stomps up to his desk wearing a stern face and silently packs up his things, while he says meekly, “Honest. I really was just about to get up.” Haha. This is hilarious. And cute—they’re firmly in Old Married territory.
Noguk asks him directly, “What is today’s problem?” He has so many new ones arising every day, that she’ll just hear today’s: “I’ll hear it, we will think it over together, and we will stay up all night together.” Aw.
He tells her that he needs to find a way to keep Goryeo sovereign. Even with the current demands to give up the doc and use the Yuan seal, neither are in his possession so he must prepare to fight. But he doesn’t know if he can do that, and wonders how he would feel to be a citizen receiving the order to fight for his country. He asks Noguk what she would do if she were that commoner’s wife.
She thinks it over, then starts to answer… and gags. Omo. Pregnancy already?
He calls for help in a panic, and Lady Choi ushers her out. How cute, he’s all awash in fear and his people just give him a knowing look. Jang Bin checks Noguk over and confirms it, which elicits the cutest silent cheer from Lady Choi.
Gongmin is given the good news, and he goes to his wife on the brink of tears. He pulls her in for an embrace and thanks her.
In the middle of the night, Eun-soo wakes up in her empty room. She finds Young outside and joins him, noting that he keeps looking in the direction of the palace. She guesses he’s worrying about the king, and offers up a compromise: He can take her as far as the village near the portal, then return to the palace.
He answers that he can’t return: “When a warrior hesitates while wielding his sword, he dies. A warrior who hesitates cannot protect the king.”
She asks if he’s ever lived a day in his life doing things he wanted to do, and not merely acting on the orders or requests of others. He replies, “Yesterday. And today.”
Then cutting this moment short, Young bolts up in alarm and shoves Eun-soo back toward the inn. A dagger flies into the wall next to them. He follows her inside and instructs her to stay put—this fight will likely spill blood.
Outside are the two mystery travelers, and Young joins them in a sword fight while Eun-soo watches from the window. One falls, and she breathes a sigh of relief. What happened to the other one?
I’m guessing he escaped, because next thing we know it’s morning. At Suribang, the various members convene over breakfast to share their latest findings. Deok-heung is in cahoots with envoy Sohn Yoo, and Ki Chul’s minion was seen buying loads of medicine—again.
Their intel makes its way to Gongmin, who realizes that Sohn Yoo knew that the seal and the doctor were gone before even making his proposal. He’s also lent a room to Deok-heung, so his loyalties are clear. He makes the request for Suribang to find out where Deok-heung and Ki Chul stand, and whether they’ve had a rift.
Sohn Yoo returns under the guise of helping with the whole independence plot. Gongmin asks why he’s using such “dizzying tactics” when he was sent here to abolish the Goryeo nation. He tells him to stick to his orders, and not muddle things up with demands of seals and doctors.
Sohn Yoo says that he is here to make a choice between two candidates: one who prepares for war in the name of Goryeo, and one who prizes his own safety above all else. Gongmin sneers, “Then what shall I do? To win your favor, shall I dance for you?”
Sohn Yoo reiterates his demands: seal, doctor. He will return tomorrow, but cannot wait above three days.
The envoy leaves the meeting formulating his own strategy: Find the doctor and kill her bodyguard. Isn’t it amazing how everybody has the same plan all the time? Only think if they pooled their brain trust instead of playing a five-way game of chess all the time. With invisible pieces. And separate rules.
Sohn Yoo tells his warrior that Choi Young is renowned for his skills but will be hampered by his charge, and therefore should pose no problem to him. The warrior dons his hat—hm, the return of Mr. Mustache. Well he’s no Kinpei, but I suppose we are to fear him.
The envoy sends a letter to Noguk directly, and it seems the news is dire. She hides the note out of sight from Lady Choi.
Back on the road, Eun-soo flits around Young, pestering him to let her teach him something. She’s determined to repay him for all the practical skills he’d taught her, but he dodges her like she’s a pesky gnat and ignores her urging.
Finally she YANKS his cloak and insists he listen to her “magic words” from heaven, which he can use and teach his Woodalchi. She makes a fist and pumps it: “Aja!” Haha.
She describes it as a chant of encouragement and pesters him to give it a try. Young stares at her with a stone face, then turns away.
She chases him down and shows him her way of making a promise: the pinky-swear. “If you promise this way, you don’t have to risk your life.” That is a good point, given how their first promise played out.
Then the hi-five, which she instructs him to teach the king. Ha.
At the next village, there’s a heavy armed presence, but they don’t appear to be hunting for them. Young identifies them as newly drafted soldiers, and Eun-soo tells him to have a chat and find her at the apothecary shop.
She waits while the healer treats a child, and from a dark corner, Black Hat watches.
Young finds men lining up to enlist in the army; they’re excited to raise their lowly status in becoming soldiers, on top of being fed and clothed. Since he’s been out of the loop he doesn’t know of the impending war with Yuan, and asks an officer if trouble has arisen at the border. But the officer treats him like a lowly nobody, and tempers flare as other soldiers are called over.
Young spots a strange man walking off, though, and disengages from the scene. He sees three more strange lurkers, armed with bows, and takes off running.
Eun-soo consults with the healer, asking about her poison spot. He says there’s no cure, but acupuncture can alleviate the pain. She asks if she can learn from him, “because there’s somebody I don’t want to show that I’m in pain.”
Black Hat arrives outside the apothecary—taking down another ruffian who calls dibs on Eun-soo—just as Young comes running up to find her safe. He grabs her wrist and leads her away, smiling in relief.
Noguk helps Gongmin dress (cutely, he insists on doing it himself, not wanting to tax the pregnant wife) and tells him she’s off to pray for the king and baby’s well-being. He offers to go with her, even though she says she’s fine, adding that double the prayer is double the effectiveness. Noguk advises that he tend to his work first: “Others will laugh at you.” Cut to: Lady Choi, suppressing a laugh behind him. Ha, cute.
But then he leaves, and Noguk’s smile turns worried. Ack, you’re not going to pray, are you? That damn letter.
Gongmin visits Ki Chul at home, to the latter’s surprise, and says there is something for them to give and take from each other. He asks for the Yuan seal.
Deok-heung hears of the visit and immediately knows that the seal is the reason. He also figures that Ki Chul will hand it over, “because he is half-mad already. There’s only one thing he sees, and he won’t care about the seal.”
Ki Chul asks what he will get in return. Gongmin offers to lift his house arrest—wasn’t there a place Ki Chul wanted to go? Ah, carrot effectively dangled. Ki Chul practically twitches in eagerness and agrees right away. It’s so immediate that even Gongmin’s a bit incredulous, and not in a good way.
Ki Chul asks, “Your Majesty, please don’t mock me.” It’s actually quite affecting, his request, because Ki Chul in this state is really rather pathetic. Although my sympathy is quick to recede at his ensuing speech: “There is nothing I have not had. I have always gotten everything I have wanted. If I had wanted, I would have been king. A Ki Dynasty—what would have been difficult about that? However, I have always had a blackened hole in my heart.” One might argue that the blackened hole was his heart…
“It would not fill up,” he continues. “Then I met the woman from heaven. She said there is a world other than this one. Whether that is paradise or hell, I do not care. I must go there.”
Gongmin asks if going will fill that space in his heart. He replies, “Won’t it?” There’s that crazy gleam again, and Gongmin looks amazed at the extent of his… delusion? Fanaticism? Crazeballs?
Deok-heung declares that he really didn’t want to go this far, but people keep pushing him to do it, so proceed he must. Oh, please. That’s a lame attempt at justifying a round of Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? if ever there was one.
Noguk heads to the temple with a minimal entourage, saying she wants to go quietly. Lady Choi stations Noguk’s guards at the perimeter, while inside, Noguk slips away out of view. It’s enough time to allow her to slip into a small room for the rendezvous. She speaks to her hidden contact in her native tongue, and asks for the message from her mother.
Still nobody appears. Then the doors seal off, shutting her inside.
In the woods, Young and Eun-soo hurry onward, having picked up pursuers. They’re the archers from the town and Young leaves Eun-soo hidden among the rocks, then heads back to face them.
Eun-soo’s hair ornament comes loose, and the metal ball goes rolling into a crack. She feels around to retrieve it… and notices something else there in the hole.
She feels around and retrieves a small plastic container, one that resembles a film case. It’s obviously been there for a while, having picked up dirt and moss, and she opens it to find a note.
They’re pages from her diary. She reads, but what does it say? What does it say?
The archers keep Young in their sights, bows at the ready. But Young easily sneaks behind one and cuts him down, then takes down his two friends just as quickly.
He returns to find Eun-soo subdued and shaking. He asks what’s wrong, but she hides the note out of view. I’m not sure whether it’s all the letter’s doing or if her poison is kicking in, but she looks weak and pained, and asks him to hold her.
As he holds her close, a flashback (flash-forward?) shows Future Eun-soo (future in her lifespan, but from the past era) arriving at this spot to plant the note. Eun-soo looks over Young’s shoulder, almost as though she can see her other self there just several feet away.
The note reads:
“The one to read the letter I hide here should be you, Eun-soo, shouldn’t it? And if you’re reading this, it means that he’s with you. Remember every moment of that day. The honest eyes he looks at you with, his warm chest. Yes, Eun-soo, I am the future you.”
COMMENTS
This show sure loves to deliver thundering truths one step after we’ve already figured them out, doesn’t it? I don’t think this big revelation comes as much of a surprise to anybody, though I’m certainly happy to have it now rather than never. It’s just that WE’VE known for ages, so when the bomb drops in the laps of our main characters, it doesn’t hit us with the same impact. It would be nice if they were concurrent bombings, is all I’m saying.
So this Eun-soo (the one whose timeline we’re following) ends up going back in time and becoming Hwata, or perhaps just picking up that reputation. I can see the legend of Hwata existing pre-Eun-soo, and her arrival being conflated with the Hwata myth. Or, it’s also possible she originated that legend.
In any case, Eun-soo must go back to the future at some point (to pick up the diary and the medical implements), then jump back in time. Since her diary is believed to be at least a hundred years old, let’s go with that. The big question is: Why did she go back? Was she trying to return to Young’s side and got the wrong chimney? Or did she know it would shoot her back before his lifetime, but figured she had to pre-date her other self?
And now that she knows she’s shaped history, is she trapped in this loop? Because if she fails to repeat the cycle of her future self (um, I’m going to call her Older Eun-soo, since she isn’t always in the chronological future but will have aged more), she disrupts the pattern for her past self, doesn’t she? (Older Eun-soo has to leave the diary for Younger Eun-soo to read it and save Young’s life, for instance, thus shaping Goryeo history.)
She’s literally got her hands tied by history/the future/her time loop. Can she ever stop, call time out, or quit the game entirely? Will that, like, cause time to collapse? Or is everything going to happen regardless of her will, because she’ll be tugged along by either Fate, the universe, or the flow of time? I’m confused. Expecto patronum!
As for the other characters, it’s nice to get a different adversary in our Yuan envoy, given that our current villains are sort of losing their pizzazz. Ki Chul is actually getting more interesting (in my opinion) with his crumbling sanity and weakening physical condition, but as a foe he’s not putting up much of a fight. And Deok-heung is the very definition of a Magician Wielding His Bag of Trick. Rinse, repeat.
I was happy that Noguk and Gongmin got their moment of happiness, although it’s too bad we know it can’t last. I just want them to enjoy it while it’s there, despite knowing historically that the story is, to put it mildly, a bittersweet one. I wonder if that’s the same for our main couple as well, because as much as I’d like for them to have their happy ending, you can’t quite have a stable relationship while one’s off flitting through time, can you? And I thought long-distance was a bitch. Poor Young: We even have two Eun-soo’s floating around in this world, and he can’t hold onto either one.
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Tags: Faith, featured, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Min-ho
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1 Ace
October 15, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Yay! Thanks!
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2 Aquila
October 15, 2012 at 8:17 PM
Been refreshing like mad!! Thanks for the recaps~
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Aquila
October 15, 2012 at 8:44 PM
Just a vague hunch but considering the bits of clues from the diary - do you think the "future" Eunsoo initially arrived at the current Goryeo timeline, and lost Young.
She then made it back to the present future, collected her medical instruments/supplies and somehow headed back to an earlier time to save Young but ended up 1000 years earlier than the Goryeo time she was at previously and knowing she couldn't head back for the next 60 something years, she established herself and became hwata?!
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koreandramalover/kay
October 15, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Interesting theory! Hmm... ;)
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ranisa
October 16, 2012 at 7:36 AM
If she figures that out, that would make Eun Soo a really powerful person. That means, she can go back and forth without waiting for the next time jump. But that will be like another story..
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Darklady7
October 16, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Are you sure it is 1000 years earlier, not 100 years? Because paper would be very brittle and fragile if it was buried for 1000 years.
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3 Ivoire
October 15, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Thanks!
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Ivoire
October 16, 2012 at 12:41 AM
Originally, when I watched epi. 19 of Faith, I was elated. I squeed at all the tender and skinship moments between G and N and between CY and ES. I listened to the Yuan envoy with curiosity and attention, trying to understand and figure out where the drama (and by that I mean the writer) was taking us. Having read the recap, I feel the way JB feels to an extent, I am confused. The time travel confuses me some in this drama, and I don’t fully understand future ES. Maybe that is the goal of the drama, to give us the information a little bit at a time, to keep us guessing. At this point in the game, I am just curious (like everyone else) to see how things will get resolved the most. That is one of the reasons that keeps me coming back, I just want to see this drama till the end to know what happened (I experienced the same with RTP, I stuck with it to the end to know how it ended).
That being said, I have a few questions: 1—This might not mean much but it has me curious, why do the ministers wear a different color robe? Some have a purple one and others a dark purple. Originally, I thought maybe the students had one color, and the senior ministers a different one, but then I noticed one of the students wearing the same color as the advisor who was killed, and the advisor was with the king for 15 years, so then I was confused. It is a little thing, but it got me thinking.
2—Also out of curiosity, do you guys know how KC’s sister became empress of Yuan? Was it through marriage? Because she is a Goryeo woman, right?
3—I was confused by DH’s (pretension) at being upset that ES fled. Wasn’t he the one who alerted her and sent her the letter, letting her know that the envoy was coming after her? Even the Yuan envoy deducted as much and his assumptions made sense. So, did DH just thought he could fool the envoy and KC by pretending to be upset about ES fleeing? What was the point of it if people figure him out easily? (I guess he can still try?) And if DH warned her (knowing she would flee), why did he do it (what was his angle)? Because I thought having her next to him was best for him, but then maybe he couldn’t b/c CY had kissed her, so she couldn’t stay in the palace anymore? Am I wrong in assuming DH was the one who warned her with that note she received? Because the person who sent the note knew that the Yuan envoy was coming, and also knew the Yuan envoy’s intentions, as the king later found out.
4—How did the royal seal ended in KC’s hands, instead of staying in DH’s possession? Since CY gave it to DH originally. 5—When JB wrote this: “Well he’s no Kinpei, but I suppose we are to fear him.” Who is the kinpei she is referring to? The one I came across when I googled it was a Japanese actor who apparently did voice over and then the other result was the fight scene between Gaksital and the (bold as in without hair) assassin in BM, after the money collected from the Koreans (I think) was stolen. I haven’t watched BM in its entirety, so I am not totally familiar with every character in BM. When JB said Kinpei here, was she referring to the character in BM?
It has been interesting to me to see the gradual transformation of CY, from someone who couldn’t be around ES (uncomfortable and he probably thought it was inappropriate, hello epi. 6) and was terribly shy around her, to someone who in this epi. Gets in her space and doesn’t think twice about it and/or initiates skinship when he wants it or when she requests it. CY is also domestic, packing ES belongings for her. As someone wrote on viki, “he behaves like a husband telling his wife to hurry in getting ready.” I appreciate how open they are with each other, whether it is about their feelings (or just hinting at them) or their fears, although ES still doesn’t tell CY all of her concerns (but he tells her his, and he wasn’t doing that before).
ES’ transformation and growth hasn’t been lost on me either. She has gone from a woman who couldn’t stand being close (physically) to him, what with the smell of blood and all (hello, he is a warrior? They do kill people) to a woman who now asks him to hold/hug her whenever she wants to be comforted by him.
I also love (of course) the developments between the king and the queen and how much the actor and actress portraying them are shining in their roles. I love reading their faces and body language. I love that the queen is now in charge(to an extent) and she makes sure that as busy as her husband is, they still have a marriage and he still comes back “home” to just be a husband and her friend. I love that the king doesn’t fight her on that, knowing how much she loves him and that whole interaction in his office was so endearing. The king and queen are equals in their relationship and he listens to her.
I find it funny that the eunuch knows before the king what is happening in his romantic life: he knew when the king would know his wife intimately, and he knew when the king would be a dad . When Lady C and the eunuch were congratulating him, I felt like saying (as they often say in Kdramas): “Congratulations your majesty, you have done well.” Some viewers on viki were really surprised that N was pregnant, and I felt like writing, “didn’t you get the memo about the alcohol drinking business and what goes down as a result of that?” . They obviously didn’t know how to read the signs in a sageuk and didn’t realize when the king would go to the queen chambers and that she was in pajamas, Goryeo style.
This is a small thing, but N hugged G back, yay!!! And Lady C should have left the room when she had the chance, G was itching to touch his wife before he left. I was hoping she would get the hint, she is usually intuitive and very good about those things. I loved her happy dance however.
The bromance continues to be a strong theme in this drama, with the king wanting to protect CY (by asking him to flee) and with CY wanting to protect his king by not serving him if he can’t be fully focused, which he can’t at the moment. He worries about his king, even though he wants to take ES to the portal. I literally gasped when the king (during the meeting) asked for CY’s opinion, only to realize that he wasn’t with him anymore. One could hear a pin drop in that scene and my heart broke for the king who missed his friend and hadn’t realized how heavily he relied on him.
I appreciate how G stood up to the envoy and did all he could to protect his nation, even though he didn’t feel very confident. And how interesting that the Suribangs’ work is being recognized and compensated for by the king now. The brother should be happy (always the business man).
The other bromance explored CY and DM’s back story of how CY and DM became so close. It endeared me more to DM (as if I didn’t like him enough already) to know he had gone from being an orphan to having a family through CY (papa bear who cooked fish for him) and later on the woodalchi. No wonder many of those men are loyal to CY.
I also thought it interesting that ES was now portrayed as a bad person (who corrupted the king and his general and the royals), when she was the reason why the queen was still alive. How quickly people forget… And funny ES was back in this episode, as well as some cuteness overload.
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Aden01
October 16, 2012 at 1:49 AM
The Yuan Royal seal is Given by DH to KC after CY stole that Seal in order to get ES antidote. When DH get the seal, he immediately given the seal to KC.
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Waca
October 16, 2012 at 4:30 AM
Wow, big comment Ivoire! it was very nice to read! Thank you for the comment! :)
I am surprised that people didn't understand that Noguk was pregnant, it seemed so obvious to me the moment she began to gag. But I have to say I was surprised it happened because I had read on wiki that Gongmin and Noguk had tried for many years to have a baby, and that Noguk died from it, so I wonder what's going to happen in the drama? Is she gonna die? Is the baby gonna die? :(
I have a question! Why does the eunuch have a beard??? Aren't eunuchs supposed to not have beards? How can he have a wife too, it seems bizarre to me... O_o
"I literally gasped when the king (during the meeting) asked for CY’s opinion, only to realize that he wasn’t with him anymore." Thx for explaining this; maybe I was a bit tired yesterday night when I watched the show, because I hadn't understood this scene: I thought the king was talking to Choong-seok, because it seemed to me logical that he would become general after CY's departure. But of course it wasn't the case, so it is CY that GM was asking his opinion for. Stupid me! ^^
"I also thought it interesting that ES was now portrayed as a bad person"
I also thought it interesting, however I am not surprised it would happen, because we already had that problem risen by KC in the first episodes. I knew that problem would come back sooner or later.
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CaroleMcDonnell
October 16, 2012 at 7:00 AM
Married eunuchs are pretty common throughout history. For whatever reason. In the Bible Potiphar -- whose wife attempted to seduce Joseph-- was a eunuch/chamberlain. I'm suspecting that eunuchs were allowed to be married in many Asian cultures as well. And I remember a documentary about a eunuch for the last Emperor of China who was the emperor's boy-toy. So, although the eunuch's pleasure is nipped in the bud, others can benefit from his particular loss. The eunuch won't be able to sleep with the king's concubines or wives but he can be used by a gay king. In addition a relation with a wife doesn't have to be sexual.
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Waca
October 16, 2012 at 8:20 AM
Thx for answering!
Poor eunuchs, it's sad for them...happily this doesn't happen nowadays.
I still wonder how is it possible for eunuchs to have a beard? Do they not become eunuchs when they are children?
green panda
October 16, 2012 at 2:06 PM
remember back when ES first tried to runaway she gave the doctor prego meds for the Queen knowing her sad future..I think the meds helped.
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Rashell
October 16, 2012 at 9:58 AM
Ivoire, as always you notice so much that I miss. LOL! I'm too busy focusing on the pretty and not paying attention to the finer details. Thanks for bringing it all to my attention.
I loved all the CY/ES moments in this one. They really are so sweet and adorable together. Someone said in the OT on Friday that CY would be a cuddler, and I responded that it was strange to think of a warrior that way. But they were totally right. He holds her every chance he gets, and it's so dang cute. I want an HEA for them, but don't see how it could happen. So I'm just trying to enjoy these happy times before the pain and angst.
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Ivoire
October 16, 2012 at 1:01 AM
I also wish we could see more of Dr. Jang Bin in this show :-(...
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Jackie
October 17, 2012 at 3:08 PM
OH MY GOD I didn't even realize that he wasn't there all episode...I need me some Dr Jang
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4 leeena
October 15, 2012 at 8:31 PM
yayay!! THANKSSS!!!
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5 thaodoan97
October 15, 2012 at 8:33 PM
YAYY
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6 Deidre
October 15, 2012 at 8:34 PM
I'm thinking Choi Young will send Eun Soo back to her time to save her from execution. Eun Soo will try to come back and end up becoming Hwata because she couldn't get back to the right time. That is how she leaves all the notes for herself. She and Choi Young will never be reunited again. It's going to end sadly.
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Fabmari
October 15, 2012 at 8:51 PM
Can they reunite in the past?
Maybe current Eunsoo can tell Young when the portal will open to the past, and she will jump back from her time, Young from his time.
In the past Goryeo, Young is not a woldalchi and no one hunt Eunsoo. They live peacefully and have lots of kids.
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Abbie
October 15, 2012 at 9:16 PM
I doubt it. I think in 2012 time passes pretty slowly, compared to time in Goryeo. I wouldn't doubt that if Eun-soo goes back (to her time) only a few minutes to a few days will have passed, while she spent months in Goryeo. But when someone steps through the portal from 2012, time is fluid and it can take you anywhere, unless it's already opened from a certain time, like in the first episode. If you've ever seen the British show Primeval, where portals, called anomalies, open up one portal leads to a certain point of time, and another portal opens up to yet another period of time. It's a bit hard to explain. Just think of it as the past has already happened and can be entered at any time, to any point in time, while the present is still moving into the future and can only be entered from the past. Does that make sense? It is confusing, though.
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Lemon
October 15, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Actually, I think it's the opposite.
Time passes much "slower" in Goryeo. As seen in the beginning, when Young goes into the portal to the future to bring kidnap Eun Soo, they spend quite some time in 2012, but when they arrive in Goryeo, Gongmin and the Woodalchi were quite surprised that they came so fast.
So if she has spent months in Goryeo, shouldn't she be missing for almost a year in 2012?
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Jambo
October 16, 2012 at 6:30 AM
That's what the fortune teller told Eun Soo in the beginning, that she will be going away for a year. So, I'm guessing Lemon's theory is right.
Terrestrial
October 16, 2012 at 6:45 AM
Yeah that's probably the most plausible :) Just an after thought but really, it would be interesting if she just missed her entire lifetime in 2012 all at once hahaha and had no choice but to return to life with Choi Young.
CaroleMcDonnell
October 16, 2012 at 7:06 AM
If she's away for a year, i wonder if she will make it to the portal in time but Choi will stay behind for some reason and she will find herself somewhere else because her calculations are off -- cause she doesn't have the rest of the diary. So she will return to another time in Goryeo without going to 2012..for a whole year. Which only makes me wonder how she makes her living as a travelling woman for a year.
s.que
October 16, 2012 at 3:16 AM
Yours is the best explanation i think. But seriously for some of us here in Africa without the history of yuan/goryeo the story is just confusing. I watched Jewel in the Korean palace and im sorry but i actually thought thats what is happenning in current Korea! Can sm1 help distinguish btwn fact and fiction.
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cv
October 15, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Yea, I'm beginning to believe this drama will not have a happy ending. I mean, just listen to the OST: Carry on..... Says it all. (sigh) Sooo sad.
But hey, if it end with a happy ending, I'll be estatic! ^^
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jєѕѕα™ 주원사랑 (@jung_kYro)
October 16, 2012 at 3:52 AM
i also believe that this drama won't have a happy ending. Per history records, Queen Noguk died during child birth. So there's no happy ending for the King. Also, for CY, he won't go with ES in the future since it will mess up with the history. But then, i'm also thinking that MAYBE when ES goes back, he can find CY there. i mean, the future CY. That's the only solution if the writer wants to have a happy ending.
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Briggy(@subin70)
October 16, 2012 at 6:44 AM
Jessa,I remember though Eun Soo telling the Queen that history showed that she and the King would have lots of babies.I'm confused.I'll follow u on twitter.I'm @dining70.follow back please.hope I get your name right.
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Briggy(@subin70)
October 16, 2012 at 6:53 AM
I couldn't find u on Twitter.I'm @subin70.I had a typo error before
leesan
October 15, 2012 at 10:32 PM
I was thinking the same things too. Eun-soo becomes Hwata, and according to the legend (opening animation sequences) Hwata able to leap to another time, didn't she?
Hopefully She figured out all the dates the 'heaven gate' openings. Maybe one of those openings can lead to Choi-young again, in later time?
Ooii i have a headache now of all these time travel. This shows how desparate i need a happy ending.
P.S. Thank you Javabeans for lighting-speed recap.
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jєѕѕα™ 주원사랑 (@jung_kYro)
October 16, 2012 at 3:54 AM
i already quit analyzing how come ES is Hwata and she's in the future and has been in the Goryeo Dynasty. it gave a headache.
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7 Awe
October 15, 2012 at 8:40 PM
Thanks for the recap.
Anyone else crack up over the bar fight when the guy lands on table in front of Eun Soo? Instead of bashing assailant with jug of wine---she protects it and tips the table instead. So funny!
The whole time travel thing--boring. Villains--boring. Show without Woodalchi Fights--boring. Put the meat back on the menu, already.
I must admit, the tenderness between King/Queen and ChoiYoung/EunSoo was heartfelt acting. thumbs up. gj.
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koreandramalover/kay
October 15, 2012 at 8:56 PM
Awe, I agree with you on your words :
"The whole time travel thing–boring. Villains–boring. Show without Woodalchi Fights–boring. Put the meat back on the menu, already."
But then we also have so much of these :
"I must admit, the tenderness between King/Queen and ChoiYoung/EunSoo was heartfelt acting. thumbs up."
I looooove the tender, intimate, carefree moments so much but at the same time I am so dreading what comes next - the inevitable heartbreak....arrrrgggghhhhh!!!! ;(
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Qítko
October 17, 2012 at 12:33 PM
Oh, it is nice how different the tastes of different people are. For me, this time-travel thing is interesting and I am curious how everything will be solved. But I agree - Woodalchi Fights - I enjoy these as well. Yet, my heart is heavy for Choi Young - will he be happy in the end?
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8 Anne
October 15, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Idc about anything else but the fact that noguk and gongmin are in lalaland. They better not hurt the queen. And put an end to the wuv.
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9 ladeedah
October 15, 2012 at 8:42 PM
i'm utterly confused by the whole time warp thingy of her future self. ;______; so. freaking. confusing.
oh wait. maybe if i thought this through, it might help...
so... current Eun-Soo goes to the future, gets a diary and whatever else... goes through the portal AGAIN but she ends up 100 years BEFORE the last time she went through the portal? ohhhh i think that makes sense. LOL
so thats how the diary also ends up with current Eun-Soo... right? XD
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Lemon
October 15, 2012 at 10:16 PM
I think so!
What I'm confused about is how the future Eunsoo could remember the exact dates everything happened - like when Deoki broke the pot, and today's episode where she's together with Young.
Does she have an inner biological calendar or something? Lol.
She also has to remember the exact same spots too! Maybe it's just a drama thing, but I tend to become nitpicky on things like that. I can't help it, wish I could stop! :/
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redfox
October 15, 2012 at 11:24 PM
but she is going to WRITE the diary in the past. she is seen writing it. so how would she bring it from the future? I think the diary will stay in the future cause there has to be one or it would be an alternate future, and the writing INSIDE the diary just changes.
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kakashi
October 16, 2012 at 12:43 AM
seriously, this time-travel thing just doesn't make sense. It's a total mind-f*** and illogical. She has hidden more than one clue to prevent something bad from happening to Choi Young. She cannot possibly know in the future that she will be at this exact location with him, because being at that exact location with him (in epi 19) only happens because she already prevented him from being killed in epi 17 (through the same future action). Unless she travels back in time several times to hide each and every clue, after experiencing his death multiple times.
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Terrestrial
October 16, 2012 at 6:41 AM
Hahaha absolutely! That sounds really cruel btw HAHAHA seeing a loved one stabbed to death again and again. And again. Haha. Unless she did the exact same things that she did in her older-self's history to prevent his death which means that there has to be an upcoming finality in this matter where she really loses Choi Young and upon that point leaves no more clues for the present Eun soo. I'm looking forward for some really groundbreaking scene then, to gravitate upon the matter a lot more than those other previous near-death scenarios.
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CaroleMcDonnell
October 16, 2012 at 7:15 AM
All I want is for Eun Soo to listen to herself. She wants to get out of this loop. We are not told about her second journey through time, we are being given a glimpse of her first journey through time. So every part of me thinks... this "first journey" has been "corrected" and Eun Soo is being helped along by herself...so if this is a way of correcting history and ALSO repairing a love affair..Eun Soo must learn to learn -- she has to learn to listen to the advice her future self gave her. And so far, that's been a problem. If she can't learn from Choi Young (whom she sees before her) how to behave in this world, how will she learn from herself (whom she doesn't see.) I'm just afraid she's gonna do what she has always done.
IF she is only attempting to repair history, then her decision will help Korea's history -- which means giving up Choi Young. So, what is she there to do? Get Choi Young or restore history? Are we dealing with an English Patient scenario where it's "to hell with the world, as long as our love lasts!"
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liza
October 16, 2012 at 6:48 PM
@carole
remember when she was drunk and saying to the Dr. that she ruins her relationships. I think that during her first journey she grew to love Choi but only realized how much after she went back to the future. Apparently in that time line she could never get back to him. Knowing her tendency of pushing men away, she left messages to her self so that she could allow herself to get closer to Choi.
There is that entry in the diary,that drove her crazy because it said to say yes to that person when that person asks her ( or words to that effect). I want to believe that at some point Choi asks her to stay. There are more things to say, but I will do so after the review of episode 20 do not want to spoil the fun.
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10 Uneeta
October 15, 2012 at 8:42 PM
Superfast recap! Thanks for the recap..
Yayyyy... Can't wait to watch their romance side more and more..
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11 Fabmari
October 15, 2012 at 8:42 PM
This sweetness is too short.......we need another episode..hiks.
Can I hope that with Older Eunsoo intervention, there is still a chance of happy ending for four of them -- even if history has to change. Pleaseeeeee
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sparkles
October 15, 2012 at 9:11 PM
I hope so too. Maybe older Eun-Soo has to learn all of these tips (that she is giving younger Eun-Soo) just to keep Young alive and history on its' right course. So, maybe she can give younger Eun-Soo some tips on how to be with Young and have the happily ever after that they deserved.
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12 maslo
October 15, 2012 at 8:43 PM
"I’m confused. Expecto patronum! " LMAO. my sentiments exactly.
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missaisohee
October 15, 2012 at 9:25 PM
this part cracks me up the most
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Darklady7
October 16, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Ah I know what you mean. lol
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13 JIW_sobangnim
October 15, 2012 at 8:44 PM
Meh. Lee Min Ho doesnt seem to fit well with Sageuk.
Lets hope it picks up with I Miss You!
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Terrestrial
October 16, 2012 at 6:50 AM
HAHHAA somehow this character's somewhat a shadow of Lee Yun Sung to me. They're both such strong protective rebellious pivotal sensitive emotional roles characterized by such unfailing loyalty. I'll often fantasize about this being a prequel to City Hunter, like that's what happened in his after-life LOL I'm such an ass.
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divyrus
October 16, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Ha ha no you are not!!! I did that once!! :P all lee min Jo's charms!!!
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14 crazedlu
October 15, 2012 at 8:44 PM
Omgah. x_X;. Stupefy! Next, please.
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15 mima
October 15, 2012 at 8:46 PM
This episode pains me :( Uhm, I knew farewell adieu is bound to happen with these two, however fantasy wise-Please don't...
As for the recaps, millions thanks. Stay fabulous!
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16 koreandramalover/kay
October 15, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Thanks so much for the recap, JB! Helps a great deal in understanding what was said without subs.
And as you have mentioned, we, the viewers, have guessed WAY before now about the time-travelling thing and so the revelation in this ep was not so much a surprise as a CONFIRMATION of what we had guessed...siiiiiggghhhhh...
Thinking of the possibilities for greater things from Faith, but have yet to materialise, makes me grit my teeth and caused my hair to go through what GF labelled as 'hair-o-meter at deep thought' more times than I can count...hahaha...
But I LOOOOVE what you said about the intimacy between CY and ES when they were packing - sooooo cuuute!!!
And between Gongmin and Noguk - sooooo cuuute!!!! ;
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17 nabithoj
October 15, 2012 at 8:48 PM
I'm already feeling the heartache!!!
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sparkles
October 15, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Me too. I was watching this episode without subs on viki, not understanding what was in the note that Eun-Soo was reading, still I guessed that it has to do with Eun-Soo and Young's parting, thus I cried :(
If this can get me worked up, I don't know what the unhappily ever after ending seperation is going to do to me. It will probably kill me. Thus, the PD will be prosecuted for indirect homicide :'-D
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Terrestrial
October 16, 2012 at 6:59 AM
HAHA SAMEE!! I was crying WELLS AFTER WELLS during the initial flashback to the day where Choi Young was trapped and almost blasted to pieces. It's just so.. Heart-clenching, when the older Eun Soo uses that mild and matured tone, reminiscing those distant-memories like faded photographs, so unlike her present bubbly and vivacious self. Like she's all toughened up because of all the hurt she's now accustomed to. I'm just, really really really really hoping for a pleasant ending haha.
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18 gukjaladle
October 15, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Always on time...thanks a million for your witty and detailed recap, JB. Love your comment about 2 Imjas floating around yet our General can't even hold on to either one. Makes me want to cry my heart out...snif....snif.
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Toystar
October 16, 2012 at 7:54 AM
Me 2!
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19 red
October 15, 2012 at 8:50 PM
i cannot think of any way for this to end happily. unless they end it like queen in-hyun then choi young and eun soo will be able to live happily in the future (or shall i say present?). i sense a feeling of doom but i still can't stop following this show.
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20 Manic Moooma
October 15, 2012 at 8:53 PM
Am I the only one who wants more Eum-Ja/White haired Flute boy?
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Mystisith
October 15, 2012 at 9:41 PM
Poor guy! A flower (pot) boy. Why this character even exists?
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kakashi
October 16, 2012 at 7:30 AM
so true. he and his 'sister' are completely superfluous at this stage. It's a shame, they had potential
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boingboingracquet
October 16, 2012 at 1:54 AM
I kinda prefer the other flower boy dressed in white, the androgynous Suribang guy...especially that episode where he first appeared and turned CY off by constantly putting food into his spoon, lol
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CaroleMcDonnell
October 16, 2012 at 7:17 AM
I want him toooooooooooo
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21 Moonblossom
October 15, 2012 at 8:54 PM
I lost interest in the political plot a while back an just lived for Young n Eun Soo moments. Hurray for all the lovey dovey this episode
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boingboingracquet
October 16, 2012 at 1:46 AM
Me too... where the show misses its mark in the plot and logical time-travel, the leads make up for in their incredibly sizzling chemistry. I'm basically fast forwarding those parts that involve Deok Heung - he's boring..
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pillowhead
October 19, 2012 at 3:54 PM
yeah, me too. I mainly just watch this to look at Minho's face.
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22 Francian
October 15, 2012 at 8:55 PM
Thanks. "Aja" for the Woodalchi, "pinky-swear" for Young and " High Five" for the King. :)
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RockPaperScissors
October 15, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Am I the only one who wants to actually see Young teach the King how to High Five?
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Abbie
October 15, 2012 at 9:08 PM
No, you're not. I really want to see that!
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sparkles
October 15, 2012 at 10:06 PM
Me three!! :)
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23 sudi
October 15, 2012 at 9:00 PM
I just dont know anymore what drama is suppose to portray..Just going in circle and back at same point.Displacement=0;Workdone=0..Yet the solution is wrong..*hitting my head*
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24 Roggy
October 15, 2012 at 9:02 PM
I’m confused. Expecto patronum! - HAHAHA LOL'D soo much to that
Thank You!
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25 kelinci biru
October 15, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Yesssssh! Going Patronus while confuse. I think the writer her self is confuse.
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Ivoire
October 16, 2012 at 12:53 AM
I love your comment :-)
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26 sally_b
October 15, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Best moment of the show:
When Dr. Jang looks up at Lady Choi to confirm the pregnancy and she does a little hop and hand-clap of JOY.
Lady Choi reminds me of the kind of (modern) woman who has been the executive secretary of a Major CEO for a couple of decades.
She not only knows how things run, but is in fact the person most trusted to Run them. Knows where all the secrets are held and usually has the keys to it. HA!
Basically the Mama of the company, but in this case, it's the Palace. She's awesome...I ❤ her.
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Abbie
October 15, 2012 at 9:07 PM
Yeah, Lady Choi's pretty badass! She's awesome!
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Waca
October 16, 2012 at 4:36 AM
I loved that too! Lady Choi rocks!!
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27 slfowie
October 15, 2012 at 9:04 PM
You knw like with Young went to 2012 and when he came back to his present not much time was spent. So is it a possibility that she could go to the past and when she comes back then not that much time would have passed..
But that's only a theory, what do you guys think?
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28 Abbie
October 15, 2012 at 9:04 PM
This was a good episode. The Yuan guy is interesting, but I don't really care for him.
I'm mostly worried about Noguk in that temple room. What's gonna happen? What's gonna happen?! I'm glad she and Gongmin got a happy moment today, too. Just this morning I Googled Gongmin and Noguk, and was not at all happy with what I found out. Why can't history have happy endings?
I like that Young and Eun-soo had some more time alone. I just wish there was some way for them to be happy? Is Eun-soo doomed to spend the rest of her life hopping through time looking for Young? That's so sad.
I like the direction Ki Chul is going, although I do worry for him. He is still my favorite character. Every time he's on screen I start to laugh. I just can't really take him seriously anymore, not since Deok-heung got there. I hope Ki Chul does make it to his "heaven" just because I feel sorry for the guy. He's scared of dying and he just seems like a sad guy.
Thanks for the recap, Javabeans!
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cv
October 15, 2012 at 9:15 PM
I'm guessing that after ES read the diary pages, she's going to part with CY and have him go back to save the King and Queen.
She does leave by herself because that's the only way for her to go back in time and leave the note for herself.
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Abbie
October 15, 2012 at 9:25 PM
That makes sense. But still, it's sad.
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29 edge
October 15, 2012 at 9:05 PM
thank you :)
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30 Emily
October 15, 2012 at 9:10 PM
Let me guess: Gongmin is gonna have to choose between Noguk + baby and Young + Eun Soo.
One side's gonna be pissed.
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sparkles
October 15, 2012 at 10:11 PM
I feel bad for Young and Gogmin. They have to make hard decisions all of the time, which can hurt the people that they care about. Poor dudes. What did they do in their past life time to deserve this? Where are the old Fogeys from A&M? Please help them out, will ya?
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31 one
October 15, 2012 at 9:12 PM
Thank you for the recap.
Two notes: first, Young killed both guys with hats at night fight (black hat dropped first); second, the letter Noguk received about meeting at the temple has been sent by Deok Heung (we get to see a letter being stamped with envoy's seal, but clothing is the same that Deok Heung wears later for the "tea meeting" with some official.
I hope, the envoy guy is not really a "baddy".
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32 niKai
October 15, 2012 at 9:21 PM
I actually wanna cry thinking of noguk n gongmin. *sniff*
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33 CinDee
October 15, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Hey guys, since I don't know the history side of Gongmin and princess Noguk and this drama just really intensifies my interests, can someone please elaborate for me their history? hehe
Ps. Dramabean writers, you guys are my idol. I can't decide if I prefer watching the dramas more or reading your recaps more. Either way, I jump on this website like a gazillion times a day to check for updates of new recaps and your good humor, awesome writing style!
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Aden01
October 16, 2012 at 1:52 AM
Googling about "King Gongmin of goeryo" might help you more than waiting someone to tell a story about their history.
But prepared yourself, the ending of King Gngmin might not pleased you :)
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34 chii
October 15, 2012 at 10:11 PM
huuhuhu.....i can't watch faith this week. Too much, school task and exam.
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35 sparkles
October 15, 2012 at 10:16 PM
Thanks Java Beans for all of your wonderful recaps. If it wasn't for your fun and witty recaps, I would not have been watching this show. I LOVE your comments and the screencaps that you put on these pages. Your recaps are the reason why I find this drama interesting enough to follow. Otherwise, I would have stopped at episode 1 or 2. LOL. Thanks a lot :D
I can't wait to see the end of this drama. I hope that it will end beautifully to make up for all of the lack of directings, etc.
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36 dustdevil
October 15, 2012 at 10:19 PM
I'm still feeling frustrated with the plotting and the bad action scenes, BUT, I am extremely happy with Choi Young's latest hairstyle.
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37 melonhead
October 15, 2012 at 10:32 PM
Somewhat unrelated but the featured song reminds me of boy groups like One Direction....Is that a bad thing?
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38 saltandpepper
October 15, 2012 at 10:40 PM
I don't know why...but historical genre in K dramas doen't interests me....except Sungkyunkwan scandal..
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saltandpepper
October 15, 2012 at 10:40 PM
*doesn't
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39 owl
October 15, 2012 at 10:41 PM
My aching sides, the ice power counter current, bwaaahaaaa!! and then, and then he has to go soak in the ice bucket- I’m rollin’ on the floor.! And then the wanted posters, “Is this like a want ad?” asks Eui Soo. Then Lady Choi, the woman who’s poker face has guided the behind–the–scenes palace these many years, has a thigh–slapping head–thrown back reaction to the news that It's A Royal Baby! Do Chi is pleased with his good work and gives a knowing little smile. So funny!
From hilarity to adorable ~ everything between CY and ES is endearing – escaping, pinkie promise, copy, high five, awww. She kinda fixed her hair a little and he’s doing what he wants, yesterday and today, being with her – just so awww. Not feeling good about the poison though with no antidote after all. Deok heung, you rrrat!
I think Gi Chul is seeking immortality through heaven’s door. He needs ES bad, so I don't feel good about that either.
The Queen tricked? Major deja vu for ES? Wow. cool stuff for tomorrow!
I’d rather have a happy ending that doesn’t make sense than a sad one that does.
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Ladytron33
October 16, 2012 at 7:25 AM
"I’d rather have a happy ending that doesn’t make sense than a sad one that does."
I hate to agree with you on that. The purist in me wants narrative coherence, while the romantic in me wants an ending with a wedding and lots of babies and happiness for all our main players.
Why am I afraid they're going to start trying for logic and realism?
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Toystar
October 16, 2012 at 8:06 AM
Yeah Lady Choi 's like the proud mama bear.
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40 Birdie
October 15, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Thanks for the recap. CY even has time to go to the Goryeo hair salon to get a new hairstyle before running away. LOL They sure stoodout in their getup and demeanor. One would expect these 2 smart people to dress like normal folks and disguise themselves if they were wanted nationwide and were on the run. I am a little disappointed that the writer did not make use of ES 21st century smartness and make her character more useful and smart. It started off promising but now she is just a woman who sacrifices for love.
The Queen who was supposedly smart , would meet someone alone to get her mom's letter? Does that make sense? That was just too easy.
There were some cute moments, but at this point, we really need some depths in their relationship before the separation. Come on drama, it is supposed to be an epic love story.
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JJ
October 16, 2012 at 5:49 AM
Totally agree with you beside the romance scene in this episode I felt like a bit odd and annoyed to me a bit. Lot of them doesn't make senses to me. But I just watch it and think ..Drama ....Drama...
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41 Dara
October 15, 2012 at 10:53 PM
Ooy, the time-travelled loop turned me off cuz brain cells needed.
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owl
October 16, 2012 at 8:47 AM
Yeah, me too. The only ?sense? I can make out of this time travel story is that is that it shows history from the perspective of Eui Soo going back to when she lived in the 14C. Then she time traveled (scifi, whatever) to the 21c and now she goes back oh, nevermind.
Ouch, brain ache.
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42 Krish
October 15, 2012 at 11:55 PM
I'm a bit confused about having 2 ES's. Why would there be a past and future ES both existing on the same plane (or maybe not because the past ES appears ghost-like). So If the original ES is really from the past who went to the future and becomes the ES that we all know, and then went back again to the past, how can she give leave clues to (future) self? Sorry I'm going round and round.
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Krish
October 16, 2012 at 12:04 AM
I mean, why is there a cloned ES/ES doppelganger? And why does she (the ghostly ES) know that her Eunsoo-future-self will travel back in time that's why she left clues for her? Looks like the ghostly future prepared for Eunsoo-future-self's coming.
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Aden01
October 16, 2012 at 2:15 AM
The past ES is The ES who already did whats the "Current" ES did/do in Goeryoe. So, The Past ES Is The "future" ES. who might have done something regretful so she needs to goback and time traveled once again. and left all the important clue for the current ES.
This time traveled things might cousing some "paralel" world. and im confused about that. Which one goes first? Hwata existent Or ES Landed In goryeo ? coz Hwata couldnd be exist if The Kidnapped ES didnt Living her life first in Goryeo.
damn it. let's Yell "AVADA KEDAVRA"
im confused.
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43 Village Mrembo
October 16, 2012 at 12:12 AM
Ha ha! Gongmin and CY are soo whipped!
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44 saminakristen
October 16, 2012 at 1:14 AM
i'll just enjoy the story and the lead stars and not overly think on the whole time travel stuff just like i did with the back to the future movies. time travel isn't about being in a closed loop, i like to think it's somewhat a spiral..you go in a spiral circle (not a closed 0), once u changed something in the past, you don't go back (forward?) in the same present/future that u once started with. if u did what was the purpose of changing it in the first place?
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sally_b
October 16, 2012 at 1:50 AM
@saminakristen - re: "time travel isn’t about being in a closed loop, i like to think it’s somewhat a spiral..."
time travel. so mysterious.... and elusive.
Both used and mis-used in literature/film, but (for me) endlessly amusing...because fiction can design time travel ANY Darn way it wants to. (which is okay by me)
However, the reality--- as currently understood (theoretically, that is) ...is that our human bodies cannot endure the expansion...er....stretching, that would occur.
Stretching through an artifically expanded wormhole (time machine) that ---from my reading, the most learned minds in the field say mathematically CANNOT go backwards....it would cause
Paradoxes. which would collapse ...um...time, with feedback. (yeah...blows my mind too)
No doubt there are plenty of people with more knowledge on this subject than me...the END POINT IS: I really like that people/writers/scientists are constantly speculating as to WHAT is possible....because Science is all about exploring ang re-visiting and re-critiquing until a theory becomes an indisputable reality.
You & I may not time travel within our lifetimes but there's no reason (YET) to believe it's NOT possible....pretty cool.
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CaroleMcDonnell
October 16, 2012 at 7:30 AM
From what I've read of time travel in scientific journals, there are three absolutes:
1) According to the theory of relativity, time should also flow backward. Yet, on Earth, time only flows toward the future. No one knows why.
2) If time travel exists, the only time that can be travelled in is the time existing in the transport vehicle the time traveller is using. Nowhere outside of that machine can be traveled to.
3) Time and string theory have set up a kind of marker of non-change which means that no time traveller can change any event in time, no matter how many times they go back or attempt to change it. Time has established some rule that once an incident occurs -- such as one's birth, one's death, etc-- that event can never be changed..not by the person involved or those outside of the incident.
That's what physicists, etc, have come up with so far. They may yet learn something new but so far, these are the three established scientific truths.
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Waca
October 16, 2012 at 4:48 AM
"time travel isn’t about being in a closed loop, i like to think it’s somewhat a spiral"
I like your interpretation of Time. ^^
The problem with Time is that we can interpret it in a lot of ways possible, so imo we should just wait until the show explains its own logic: I agree with you, I prefer enjoying the story and for the moment, not think about the time travel.
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45 Emi
October 16, 2012 at 1:46 AM
I think it would be randomly fun if the queen was pregnant with Eun-soo, and as a baby/young child, she's secretly sent to through the portal, where she's adopted in the future and raised there, so it looks like the queen had no children ^^
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46 Caltan
October 16, 2012 at 1:53 AM
This show is too confusing. Much as I love LMH but this is slow and painful to watch.
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47 kakashi
October 16, 2012 at 3:06 AM
I am just glad the "funny" is back (Eun-Soo). Her character works best when her ways of talking and her actions clash with the Goryeo ways of doing things ... like when she orders alcohol by herself (and the waitress looks at CY to get the confirmation). The serious, threatened Eun-Soo of the last few episodes didn't excite me much.
And by the way where is the handbag?
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dustdevil
October 16, 2012 at 8:34 AM
The handbag! Where is it? I hope that it will randomly re-appear in the last episode.
(Or maybe we'll get a shot of the Jade Emperor's goat chewing on it in the finale of Arang.)
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48 kopytko
October 16, 2012 at 4:33 AM
I wish there was a drama about Lady Choi. Ok, ok, she might bicker with her nepher from time to time ;)
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kopytko
October 16, 2012 at 4:33 AM
*nephew
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49 Misty
October 16, 2012 at 4:48 AM
I'm really hoping Eun Soo won't be trapped in the time loop.
I mean she has to cross the Heaven's Gate and go back to the future, so she can be treated and she can grab new tools and her diary.
Then she'll go through the Portal again, ending up:
1) being Hwata. In the 1st episode it's said that Hwata crossed a Heaven's Portal, laughing in the face of the men chasing him. I strongly believe that was Eun Soo, who perfectly knew when the Gate would open this time.
2) back in the past again, so she can leave her tools and diary to KC Master (as said in ep. 6). Let's not forget the mysterios 3rd item as well!
3) back in Choi Young time, just after "our" Eun Soo left to be treated for her poisoning.
This way, if she comes back after "our" Eun Soo left, there won't be any paradox.
In the first episode the divination mentioned Eun Soo would travel for one year. So I believe she's meant to travel back and forth through time for that year and after the year is over, she'll be back to Choi Young time, and she'll stay with him.
Hopefully -.-
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50 Phin
October 16, 2012 at 5:14 AM
Thank you for the recap. I really love + enjoy this drama. I've never been a fan of LMH but I became one after I watched Faith.
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