Ruler–Master of the Mask: Episodes 3-4

by hanshimi

I love it. With its quick pace, strong ideals, and delightful characters, I’m certain Ruler—Master of the Mask is going to be one heckuva fun ride, despite the occasional potholes of plotholes and dips of dubious acting in the road. Because when you’ve got Yoo Seung-ho guiding you, it feels like you can never get lost… except maybe in his eyes.

Humor aside, I did find these episodes to be much better than the first two, which were filled with more setup than plot movement. Despite my initial disappointments in the pilot episodes, I think this show has many more strengths than weaknesses. And anyway, two conflicted heroes fighting over a cool-headed heroine with genuine emotional weight to their actions? Be still, my heart.

 
EPISODE 3 RECAP

Prince Sun falls backward into Ga-eun’s arms before getting right back up and racing down the street with pursuers hot on his trail. Ga-eun watches in concern, and when he runs into a dead end, she grabs him and pulls him to safety just in time.

By the time the guards arrive, the prince is nowhere to be seen, but they notice Ga-eun talking to an unseen person inside a sedan chair. Acting as if the passenger is her sickly mother, Ga-eun says that she’s brought her medicine. The guards begin to draw their swords in suspicion, but when they see a delicate, feminine figure in a pink veil open the window, they sheath their weapons and continue their pursuit.

The “mother,” of course, is Prince Sun, who gazes at Ga-eun with lovestruck eyes. They have a sweet moment… until Prince Sun asks: “Am I… handsome?” LOL. Ga-eun scoffs, and he explains that he only asks because she’s the first person to look at his face for so long. He thanks her for saving him, and she smiles back.

Meanwhile, the king performs an ancestral rite at the palace. Commander Lee informs him that Pyunsoohwe has surrounded the palace, but they were unable to find Prince Sun. Despite his own frustration at the missing prince, the king rejects Commander Lee’s offer to search for him, knowing that Pyunsoohwe will be watching his movements closely. The king then tells him to call Lee Chung-woon, Commander Lee’s son and close friend to the prince, to the palace.

The king finishes his ancestral rite, praying to his ancestors to protect the Crown Prince: He is the nation’s only hope to bring the country back to righteousness.

Meanwhile, Prince Sun follows Ga-eun on her way to the village, swearing that he just happens to be going in the same direction. When she demands to know why he keeps speaking to her informally, Prince Sun says: “I’m someone who can do that.” Ha.

When she asks what exactly he does, however, he’s forced to lie that he’s a bookseller. She brightens at that, rattling off a list of geography books she wishes to read someday. He’s impressed by her curiosity, and when she asks about books on medicine or Western thought, he unwraps his bundle to show her one about world geography. She gasps, wondering how he got such a valuable book, and Sun says again: “I’m someone who can do that.” Hee.

However, when she laments the conspicuous hole in the book caused by the arrow that nearly hit him, he groans that he was supposed to give it to Woo Bo. Surprised, she tells him that Woo Bo is her teacher, and she’s on her way to see him now. Pleasantly surprised, he smiles brightly: a girl interested in geography, medicine, Western philosophy, and one who’s Woo Bo’s pupil at that? Score. He asks for her name before introducing himself as Chun-soo.

They head off to see Woo Bo together, but suddenly, she tells him to wait a moment while she makes a quick stop. The visit is to Peasant Lee Sun’s house, where Lee Sun’s pregnant mother is treating the wound he got from today’s scuffle. At Ga-eun’s concern, Lee Sun insists that he’s fine.

Lee Sun’s father arrives at that moment to scold him for losing his temper and causing trouble. Lee Sun starts to defend himself, but his father blames the fact that Lee Sun learned to read and write for putting silly ideals in his head. Ga-eun quickly defends him: his ideals aren’t silly, and their teacher calls him a genius because he can memorize anything. Lee Sun grins proudly.

Meanwhile, Prince Sun is still waiting for Ga-eun when a man bumps into him in a drunken stupor. They begin to argue, but the man is so drunk that any logic is lost on him. Before long, the man falls asleep standing up and stumbles away.

Ga-eun finally returns, now accompanied by Lee Sun, who recognizes Prince Sun as the guy who caused trouble at the market today. Though Lee Sun wonders if it’s really okay to bring him to Woo Bo, they take him to Woo Bo’s house in the woods.

Prince Sun is skeptical that the great scholar could live in such a rundown place — a skepticism that only worsens when he finds the drunken man from before sleeping on the couch — but Ga-eun shortly assures him that this is the Woo Bo who was once a former Sungkyunkwan scholar.

Waking him, Sun pulls out his book on world geography, saying loftily that it’s the only copy in the world. If Woo Bo can answer his question, it’s his. Appalled by Sun’s rudeness, Ga-eun stomps on his foot, but Woo Bo asks her and Lee Sun to leave them.

First confirming that Woo Bo doesn’t know his identity, Sun asks his question: Why does the crown prince have to wear a mask? In return, Woo Bo asks if Prince Sun knows what Pyunsoohwe is. He tells him to go find out the reason the wells are drying up despite the increased rain before he’ll bother to answer Sun’s question.

So Sun follows Ga-eun and Lee Sun home, determined to get an answer. When Ga-eun asks why he’s following her again, he informs Ga-eun that he’ll be staying with her for a while until his query is settled. Riled up at Prince Sun’s shamelessness, Lee Sun tells him to give it a rest, which only makes Prince Sun insult his ignorance and hot temper.

Before long, the boys launch into a fistfight that sends them tumbling into a ditch. Ga-eun hurries after them, shouting at “Lee Sun” to stop. Prince Sun pauses at the name before realizing that the peasant he’s fighting has the same name as him. Letting down his defenses, he begins to laugh at the absurdity. Ga-eun laughs along, though she doesn’t actually know his real name.

Suddenly, Prince Sun notices the fireflies glowing softly around them. The trio marvels at the sight before both boys become quietly enamored by Ga-eun’s loveliness instead. But while Lee Sun quickly turns away before she can catch him, Prince Sun steadily holds her gaze. As they look into each other’s eyes, Lee Sun notices the spark between them in dismay.

As they walk home, Sun laughs in amazement to learn that Lee Sun actually enjoys studying, even if he won’t be able to take the state exam due to his low birth. He notes to himself that he never knew getting to know people would be this exciting.

When they reach Lee Sun’s house, however, they panic to find Lee Sun’s mother in labor. Ga-eun realizes that her dehydration will put both her and the baby in danger, but the Water Bureau is already closed. Determined to get it at any price, they hurry out anyway. As he follows, Prince Sun is shocked to hear that water is only available at the Water Bureau.

Meanwhile, the king aggressively trains a young man to act as the crown prince, yelling at him not to show so much fear and cowardice. Gee, and I’m sure the shouting is really helping him relax.

A Pyunsoohwe spy listens in before reporting where the king is hiding this young man. Though he’s certain that the crown prince is still in his room, he notes that Commander Lee secretly took a eunuch away last night.

As expected, the Water Bureau rejects Ga-eun and the boys’ request for water, even when they insist that a pregnant woman’s life depends on it. Infuriated, Prince Sun attempts to storm past before attempting to use his status: “Do you know who I am?! I am the Crown Prince’s… friend!” Oh, honey.

The guards just laugh, but someone else takes his outburst more seriously: a nearby swordsman on horseback. Before he can investigate his suspicion, however, his companion tells him that they need to hurry to see the king.

Suddenly, Lee Sun’s father appears outside the Water Bureau. Slipping the guard a coin, he asks them to let him retrieve something he forgot earlier. The guards recognize him as a fellow employee and reluctantly let him in.

While inside, a group of Pyunsoohwe members (including Hwa-goon and an important-looking Water Bureau crony) pass by to see the commotion. Before anyone can respond, however, Lee Sun’s father scurries out with a bucket of water, promising to pay tomorrow. As Ga-eun and the boys hurry after him, Hwa-goon catches a glimpse of Prince Sun’s face and the telltale spot where she pricked him behind the ear.

At home, Lee Sun’s mother gives birth to a healthy baby girl, whom her father immediately christens “Kko-mool” at her little mouth and hands, ha. (“Kko-mool” is onomatopoeia for a wiggling motion, as in a tadpole.) Lee Sun complains at the unflattering name, but the name quickly takes root as everyone takes turns holding the baby.

Woo Bo, who has dropped by, wonders if Lee Sun’s father will be okay after stealing water from the Bureau. Lee Sun’s father insists that he can just clear up the misunderstanding tomorrow, but Woo Bo doesn’t look as sure.

At the palace, the king asks the swordsman from before — who we now know is Commander Lee’s son, Chung-woon — to find Prince Sun. Though Chung-woon doesn’t know the prince’s face either, he must use any knowledge he has, like the sound of his voice. Recalling his suspicion at the young man outside the Water Bureau, Chung-woon tells the king that he may have a lead.

Returning to the Water Bureau, Chung-woon grabs a guard and demands to know about the kids who dropped by before. The guard stammers that he doesn’t know them, but he does know the guard who stole the water.

Hwa-goon and the other Water Bureau official leave just in time to overhear their conversation. When Hwa-goon asks about Chung-woon, the minister explains that he is close friends with the prince, which confirms her suspicion that the man she glimpsed was indeed Prince Sun.

Storming into a Pyunsoohwe meeting, Hwa-goon asks Dae-mok to confirm whether the Prince Sun in his room is the real Prince Sun. When Dae-mok asks about her suspicion, she just gives him a sly smile. Trusting Hwa-goon, he orders his personal bodyguard Gon to go check in person.

Meanwhile, Prince Sun grabs Woo Bo in private to re-ask his question — this time without riddles. Woo Bo responds with a metaphor, comparing the crown prince to a dragon’s most vulnerable scale. Though someone may ride the dragon, the dragon will never let anyone touch the scale. He explains that the Crown Prince is the king’s scale — that’s why the king protects the prince with a mask. The scale — that is, the prince himself — doesn’t need to know why he’s being protected, since knowing would only make his life more difficult. “So why would the prince take it off?” Woo Bo asks.

Sun: “Because he is the crown prince!” He tells Woo Bo that the prince mustn’t be protected; he must protect his people. But Woo Bo just scoffs at the thought: “Justice and fairness are lost in politics. How could a sheltered and ignorant man possibly protect people?” Woo Bo turns away from a shocked Prince Sun before shocking him once more: “If you’ve had your moment of freedom without your mask, you should put it back on and return to your place.” Omg, he knew the whole time!

That night, Gon sneaks into the prince’s room to see the masked stand-in. Noting the pads on the man’s knees, he reports to Dae-mok and Pyunsoohwe that he must be a eunuch. Though the Pyunsoohwe members wonder if the king has already hidden the prince, Hwa-goon smugly suggests otherwise: The prince left of his own accord. Dae-mok laughs, noting the opportunity they’ve been given: They just have to find the prince before the king does.

Outside, Hwa-goon calls for Gon, who appears immediately at the sound of her voice. Knowing that Dae-mok ordered him to find Prince Sun, she asks him to fulfill her request, too.

Meanwhile, Chung-woon finds Lee Sun’s house and runs into his father outside. Telling him that he’s looking for his brother, he asks where Lee Sun’s companion is now. As Gon listens in the shadows, Lee Sun’s father tells him that he left with Ga-eun.

At Ga-eun’s house, Prince Sun complains that Ga-eun won’t spare a chicken for him to eat, calling her stingy. Lol. Before she can retort, Ga-eun’s father arrives, laughing heartily at Sun’s attitude. Introducing himself as a magistrate at the Central District Office, he insists that he doesn’t want rumors that he doesn’t treat his guests well, and invites Sun in for a meal. Hee.

Sun and Ga-eun sit around the fire as she cooks the chicken. Suddenly, he asks her whether she thinks it would be better to live in a mask her whole life. At her confusion, he alters the metaphor: If she were a chicken, would she want to live safely in her coop?

Ga-eun laughs: “Of course not!” Chickens aren’t stupid — why would they want to live in a coop, where they know they could be cooked and eaten by humans like this at any moment? She tells him one of her favorites of Woo Bo’s teachings: One can never achieve true freedom without putting in effort for it. If it were her, she would want to be a bird that soars into the sky.

Gazing at her with earnest (read: lovestruck) eyes, he leans forward before asking… “Are you betrothed to anyone?” OMG. She looks away shyly, which he takes to mean that she doesn’t, and grins happily to himself. Okay, I replayed that scene several times.

Meanwhile, Hwa-goon barges into the Central District Bureau representative’s home. She orders him to track down the water thief from earlier, or she’ll tell her grandfather, Dae-mok, about the theft. He gathers his men immediately.

At home, Prince Sun has a private meeting with Deputy Magistrate Han to complain about the injustice of the privatized water supply. He tells the magistrate that he should fight for the people even if they are too weak and afraid, but Deputy Magistrate Han simply returns: “Do you really think the people do not fight because they are not as intelligent or brave as you?” Oof.

Ga-eun interrupts to deliver dinner, and it’s adorable how sweetly Sun looks at her the moment she walks in. Deputy Magistrate Han teases her for managing not to burn anything today before handing Prince Sun a chicken leg, telling him to visit often. Prince Sun grins and takes it happily, and they share their meal, all smiles. Argh, can this please last forever?

Clearly not. Lee Sun storms into Ga-eun’s home the next morning, begging for Deputy Magistrate Han to save his father. Shaking, he explains that his father has been arrested for theft, and the Water Bureau is about to cut off his wrist.

Though Deputy Magistrate Han starts to say that he is helpless against their jurisdiction, an indignant Sun steps forward, insisting that a government official has a duty to his people, not the law.

 
EPISODE 4 RECAP

Citing an incident a few days ago when the king released a thief out of mercy, Sun asks Deputy Magistrate Han to try using the legal precedent to argue his case. When both Ga-eun and Lee Sun beg him for help, he finally agrees to help: “Virtue must come before the law!”

In court, Hwa-goon watches as the Bureau prepares to judge Lee Sun’s father, presided by the Central District Bureau representative. Lee Sun’s father tries to explain that his pregnant wife and child were dying of thirst, but the representative simply meets his sobs with condescension, ordering the guards to cut off his wrist.

Thankfully, Deputy Magistrate Han strides in at the last moment, declaring that the Central District Office will be taking over this man’s case since the crime occurred in his jurisdiction area. The representative asks if he’s really going to oppose the Water Bureau like this, but Deputy Magistrate Han ignores him. The court packs up to move the trial to the magistrate’s court.

Spotting Prince Sun with Ga-eun in the crowd, Hwa-goon starts to catch up to him… when he suddenly disappears into thin air. Even Ga-eun, who was just beside him, looks around in confusion.

It turns out to be Chung-woon who pulled Prince Sun from the crowd to bring him into a storage room. Recognizing his friend, Prince Sun smiles brightly before wondering how Chung-woon knew his face. Chung-woon: “I simply chose the one that looked the most foolish and immature.” LOL, the sass.

When Chung-woon starts to bring him back to the palace, however, Prince Sun refuses. “Do you remember what you would say to me when I didn’t want to practice swordsmanship? You would ask me if I was giving up on protecting my people.” He explains that one of his subjects is in danger now.

At the Central District Office’s court, presided over by Deputy Magistrate Han, the Water Bureau representative notes that he has defied the king’s law. When the king created the Water Bureau, he says, he also provided the Bureau with the right to any trials related to the water. He tells him that Magistrate Han’s actions are most certainly breaking the king’s orders.

In the audience, the villagers begin to beg the court for mercy, when suddenly, the chief magistrate strolls in. Wordlessly taking Deputy Magistrate Han’s place, he orders the case be returned to the Water Bureau, as per the law. Deputy Magistrate Han starts to protest, but the Chief Magistrate simply cites the law. Boo.

All seems lost, when they’re interrupted once again — this time, by the masked crown prince himself. Chung-woon holds up the prince’s jade identification emblem as proof, and when the a guard checks to see that it’s real, the entire court bows down to the ground. As he passes, Hwa-goon notices the familiar pinprick behind his ear and smiles to herself.

Prince Sun tosses his emblem at the Water Bureau representative’s feet. Shaking, he picks it up and tries to return it with both hands. Instead of taking it, however, Prince Sun declares that just as he is the crown prince because the heavens bestowed that title unto him, the Water Bureau cannot own the water because the heavens gave water to all people.

He then turns to the chief magistrate, declaring that he should be trying use the law to protect the people, not to punish them with it. To that end, he orders the chief magistrate to release Lee Sun’s father immediately.

As the audience rises in praise of the prince, Prince Sun smiles proudly at them. Hwa-goon smiles up at him from the crowd, sighing happily to herself: “That’s my prince, all right.” Um, stop being weird.

After the trial, one of the guards at the Central District Office, particularly pleased by the prince’s judgment, nervously hurries to Prince Sun’s room.

Meanwhile, Chung-woon now refuses to let Prince Sun out of his room, even though he argues that there’s someone he needs to see. Since he’s practically just told the entire nation his location, says Chung-woon, they’ll just have to wait here until the royal guards can bring him to safety. When they hear a sound outside the room, Chung-woon throws open the door and draws his sword to meet the threat. Instead, he finds the nervous guard holding a book in his hands.

The guard’s book turns out to be a record of his personal, informal investigation into the water supply. He explains his theory that the Water Bureau is causing the country’s drought: The Bureau is deliberately building waterways to cause the public wells to dry up and is redirecting the flow to their private storage rooms instead.

Prince Sun demands to know why he didn’t report this to the government, and the poor guard sobs that honest people hold no chance of winning against the Water Bureau. But watching the crown prince defy the Bureau made him think he might have a chance. At that, Prince Sun swears to begin a proper investigation of the water supply, led by Deputy Magistrate Han. He orders Chung-woon to bring the magistrate to him.

When Chung-woon returns with Deputy Magistrate Han, however, Prince Sun has disappeared from his room. As Chung-woon hurries out to find him again, Deputy Magistrate Han finds the written decree that the prince left behind, declaring him the chief investigator of the water supply, along with the nervous guard. Chief Deputy Han holds it up and graciously accepts it.

Meanwhile, an unmasked Prince Sun runs through the streets, looking for Ga-eun. Watching him from afar, Hwa-goon points Gon to a random stranger to purposefully misdirect him before heading off to meet Prince Sun on her own. Gon and his men follow after the fake prince, but when he sees Chung-woon look straight at the man’s face without recognizing him, Gon realizes that Hwa-goon lied to him. Yay, our villains are smart, and no one had to die for it!

Hwa-goon waits for Prince Sun to approach her in the streets. It almost looks like he’s smiling right at her… before he runs past her to meet Ga-eun. Ouch. Ga-eun gushes to him that the crown prince saved Lee Sun’s father’s life, quoting his words and sighing that the prince was really cool. Sun perks up at that, asking if she means it. At their cute banter, Hwa-goon trembles in fury.

At Pyunsoohwe, Gon reports to Dae-mok that Hwa-goon deliberately led them to the wrong prince. Dae-mok just laughs in amusement: “I worry for the poor prince who has caught her attention.” Yikes. He orders Gon to bring Hwa-goon to him.

They’re interrupted by the Central District Bureau representative, who explains the events of the trial. Though he tries to say there was nothing he could do, Dae-mok tells him to settle it, or else.

Meanwhile, Lee Sun waits for his father outside the court, who grins triumphantly despite his injuries. When his father gets too tired to walk, Lee Sun carries him on his back. He tells Lee Sun that if he really wants to study, he should do it, especially if he’s so good at it — but just don’t get hit anymore. Lee Sun smiles at that, promising to work and study hard.

Suddenly, a group of armed men appear to interrupt their sweet moment, knocking them both unconscious. Lee Sun comes to just in time to see the men drag his father away.

When he wakes up again, he finds his father hanging from a nearby tree. Agh. Lee Sun stumbles forward, hugging his dead father’s legs.

As Prince Sun and Ga-eun head back to Woo Bo’s house, Ga-eun wonders jokingly how long she’ll have to be his personal guide. Sun: “Forever?” (OMG.) When she stops, he tells her that he has something to tell her: “The truth is… I am this nation’s…”

But he’s cut off when they see the entire village running toward the woods in a panic. They follow into the woods to find the villagers gathered around Lee Sun’s father’s corpse. Through their sorrow, the horrified villagers know this is a warning as to what happens when they rebel against the Water Bureau. Worse still, Lee Sun took off moments ago, determined to seek revenge for his father. A horrified Prince Sun demands to know where he went.

Lee Sun hides outside the Bureau with a sickle in his hands, but Prince Sun grabs him right before he can charge forward in rage. Insisting that he won’t let his friend become a murderer, Sun tells him that the law protects against murder because it’s unjust, but Lee Sun just scoffs: “The law doesn’t protect lowly people like us!”

Wrestling him to the ground, Lee Sun lifts his sickle to attack Sun… when Chung-woon arrives, stopping him easily. Prince Sun orders him to let him go before tearing up in sorrow: “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have interfered with the trial.” Sun asks him to wait for him to avenge his father’s death.

Lee Sun scoffs, wondering who he is to say such a lofty thing. Before Chung-woon can stop him, Prince Sun reaches into his pocket to reveal his jade emblem. Lee Sun falls to his knees.

His initial shock dissipates into rage again, however, as he realizes that it really was Prince Sun’s fault. As he weeps, screaming for his father, Prince Sun can only apologize.

At Pyunsoohwe, Dae-mok asks Hwa-goon if she really knows the prince’s face. Though she doesn’t respond, Dae-mok can tell from her expression. When Gon reports that they’ve located Chung-woon with two companions, Dae-mok realizes that one of the men must be the prince, and he orders Gon to fetch him.

After Lee Sun’s deserved breakdown, Prince Sun changes back into his royal robes in a nearby barn and explains his plans to investigate the water supply and avenge Lee Sun’s father’s death. Lee Sun tries to return his jade emblem, but instead, Prince Sun tells him to hold onto it as collateral for his promise. I don’t see that promise ending well.

When the trio starts to leave the storage room, however, they set off a system of nets that traps them in place. Quickly surrounded by dozens of armed men, they look up to see Gon standing on the roof. Chung-woon grimly draws his sword as Prince Sun protects his friend.

 
COMMENTS

This show is a blast. Though I thought the first two episodes were bogged down by angst and uninteresting political machinations, I’m glad the show decided to get through the necessary setup in its first hours and launch into its strengths: character moments and swift plot movement. Even if the show doesn’t necessarily carry this fast pace for the rest of its twenty-episode (well, technically, forty-episode) run, as long as we have Prince Sun to ground the show, I think we’re in terrific shape for a really strong, memorable story about a prince growing into a king.

I’m especially assured by how the show seems to realize the strengths of its hero, Prince Sun. Even apart from Yoo Seung-ho’s stunningly convincing performance, I find Prince Sun himself to be a wonderful character, full of just the right amount of royal pride and virtuous humility, naive idealism and realistic determination. I love that despite his high birth, our hero is still a smart cookie who uses his wits, not just his position.

When Lee Sun’s father was arrested, for example, Prince Sun didn’t ask him simply to protest blindly about their circumstance, but suggested using a specific legal precedent to reason with the government. It’s only when cool-headed reason failed that he chose to turn to his royal position — and even then, he used the divine nature of his title to make an argument based on the one thing they’ll definitely respond to: status and power. It’s these small details that really let an audience trust a character with the fate of the show.

Admittedly, his decisions can turn out to be epically wrong a lot of the time (e.g., giving a random commoner your own royal identification emblem? Just ask yourself a simple question: What could go wrong? If the answer is “a lot,” then maybe don’t do it). But Prince Sun constantly recognizes his own ignorance and tries to rectify it, not succumb to some misguided assurance in himself. In fact, his ignorance is one of they key aspects of his character, and I like that it isn’t used for fish-out-of-water comic moments or woe-is-the-fate-of-the-world tragedy, but is instead used to fuel his character development and understanding of the nation. Everything he learns guides him toward doing something, whether it turns out to be right or wrong. Now that I’m certain that mistakes will only make our hero smarter, I actually find myself looking forward to the aftermath of tragedies instead of dreading them. As Ga-eun said, only through getting past the rough patches can Prince Sun achieve true freedom from the chicken coop, both for himself and for his fellow subjects.

Of course, surprising no one, most of Prince Sun’s magnetism really comes from Yoo Seung-ho and his miraculously emotive eyes. Every scene is full of the assurance of a seasoned veteran and naturally gifted actor. Though I don’t want to sound overdramatic, I was legitimately stunned several times at how Yoo Seung-ho makes the most of even routine moments — walking down a street, reading a letter, talking to his guard with a mask over his entire face — into studies of depth and believability.

I don’t even think the contrast between his performance and his fellow cast members are the problem, either — at this point, the difference in skill is so great that they’re practically playing a different sport. At the risk of sounding too mean, I actually was expecting L to bring down the show based on his previous dramas. He’s certainly gotten better since the last show I saw him in, which was Shut Up Flower Boy Band back in 2012, and I actually feel a little bad for him that he has to go up against Yoo Seung-ho.

In that last scene between them, for example, when Prince Sun reveals his identity to Lee Sun, I could tell that L was doing his best to show his grief, but Yoo Seung-ho’s performance as a failed, helpless protector was simply more powerful. In a sense, however, L’s inexperience almost seems to add to Lee Sun’s character as an earnest peasant boy trying to find his place in a society that won’t give him a chance. Despite L’s personal immaturity in skill, I think it matches up with Lee Sun’s youth and frustration with society in a pleasantly surprising way, at least for now.

On the other end of the spectrum, while Yoon So-hee’s performance as Hwa-goon is technically better than L’s, I find her to be way more unbearable, since to me, she displays a kind of refusal to “live” in her character. Where L’s acting complements his character, Yoon So-hee’s performance seems to clash with hers, leaving us with a jarringly uncomfortable, fragmented caricature of several different stereotypes at once without investigating any of them. Worse still, I feel like her actions don’t follow normal logic or even in-character logic, which leaves the audience feeling insecure toward the plot.

Is she supposed to be cute but endearingly weird (as her acting implies)? Or is she supposed to be cool, assured, and sexy (as her personality and character design imply)? Is she entitled because she was she overly sheltered by her powerful grandfather, or is she just a brat? How long will her character development take, and how long will I have to stand her on screen if she’s not going to develop? I really can’t tell if her character is poorly written/performed, or she’s just supposed to come off as crazy. After all, Prince Sun can be a brat and a half sometimes, too, like when he complained after Ga-eun refused him a whole chicken to eat, but there are ways to make brattiness understandable and interesting. Even the Water Bureau representative made his nasty character interesting by turning his condescension into sass, moving toward comic limits. I find what Yoon So-hee is doing with Hwa-goon is uninteresting, and frankly hard to watch.

Thankfully, though, Hwa-goon is hardly the emotional center of the show, which is already formulating a strong conceptual core around the characters that do matter, and the ones who are all trying to figure themselves out in a horrible, complicated world. I already love how the show’s major theme of “identity” is reflected directly in these characters as they try to figure out who they “really” are — behind both the mask that they are forced to wear (literally, for our hero) and the one society places on them. Even in casual character interactions, the idea of knowing your “place” kept recurring throughout the episode. The fireflies scene comes to mind in particular, when Lee Sun quickly looks away from his crush, knowing that he had no chance with a noble lady… while Prince Sun looked on confidently, perhaps more assured (or entitled) in his qualifications.

While the mask itself — both intricately beautiful and inhumanly difficult to wear — holds beautiful implications of the prince’s struggle for his identity, I loved the recurring idea of the missing prince who had to return to his rightful “place” on the throne, despite the fact that it isn’t really Prince Sun who needs to return to the palace… but his masked figure. In fact, throughout this episode, we see that superficial tools of identity — the jade emblem, the metal mask — are what really hold royal power, not necessarily the prince himself. While the current throne may be the rightful place of the mask, perhaps it’s not the right place for Prince Sun. In order to belong on his true throne, Sun will have to transform Joseon into a righteous nation — but that’s only if he figures out who he is without the mask first.

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