Like, really awesome.
Like totally squeee! worthy.
So much yummy romantic tension going on between our leads and our royal couple, but mostly our two leads. Sure there is still all the pesky politics and that annoying Gi Cheol butting in every once in a while, but the romance factor was upped sufficiently to help ease the inconvenience of all that. Lee Min Ho sure can pull off the "desperate for you" face, can't he? Fangirls all over the world turn into puddles of goo when he pulls one of those faces out. At least this fangirl does, but I'm sure I'm not alone. Right?
Of course, most of the best stuff happens in episode 14 and we're not talking about 14...yet. So let's chat 13 so that we can move on to the even yummier 14, shall we?
Let's address the glaringly obvious thing first - I was wrong. Again. It's true. Can you believe it? At the end of 12, Choi Young has been fighting off assassins. We leave with the parting shot of him dropping his sword and sinking to the ground, exhausted and bleeding. I miscounted. I thought that he had only taken out 6 of the 7 assassins. Maybe they wanted me to think that. Hmmm... Maybe I only think that I miscounted. o.O Either way, we find out in the beginning of 13 that he actually had taken out all 7 and was not in danger of being attacked while sitting there nursing his wounds. Phew! I was worried there for a minute. Glad he's okay and the 7 are no longer a threat.
That prince guy shows up, mystery diary in hand, and approaches Eun Soo. But she doesn't want anything to do with him because she doesn't know who's side he is on. We don't really know who's side he's on, do we? We are led to believe that he's on Team Gi Cheol, but I'm not fully convinced. He's not giving off enough of an evil vibe yet. Of course I'm probably wrong again (I've been known to be that from time to time), but I haven't totally given up hope that he turns out okie dokie in the end. Mostly 'cause he's kinda cute. Everyone knows that the cute ones can only be good. Well, okay, maybe not always. I guess I can think of several bad guys that were easy on the eyes. Poop. There goes that theory. Either way, it's a little too early to talk too much about his big picture though since there's some stuff in 14 that I can't touch on yet. So we'll just see what comes of him as the show moves on.
Okay, so Choi Young returns from taking out the Scary 7 or whatever they're called all cut up. Eun Soo makes him sit down and she tends to his wounds, stitching him up. Meanwhile he's sitting there staring and falling even more head-over-heels in love with her. It's a nice moment between the two of them. We also learn something interesting here - Choi Young has posted guards at the heaven's door location to watch for any sign of it reopening. Good thinking Choi Young! We wouldn't want it to open and miss it, now would we? Good looks, mad skills, and a brain?! He really is the perfect package, isn't he? No wonder the boy is so swoon worthy.
Word has spread that this Prince Deok Heung is hanging out with Gi Cheol. Everybody is talking about it. Well, everybody but Lady Choi and the queen - they're writing notes back and forth about it thanks to the spy waiting right outside the door.
They kind of are all figuring at this point that Deok Heung is there to challenge the throne as he is the last remaining member of the royal family besides his nephew that currently sits on the throne. The queen then drops a bombshell on us and the poor eunuch from last time (is he really a eunuch though? He's married. And you know, "drinks" with his wife. I thought eunuchs were uhm, you know, uh...missing a certain part...??? Uhhmm...I must have misunderstood something somewhere) and asks for a table to be set so that she can serve the king some drinks. Ooh la la. We all know what that's code for, as does just about everyone else there, like the non-eunuchized eunuch who drops whatever he was holding at the time when he hears the queen's request. Ah, the levity. Gotta love those cute, funny, lighthearted moments.
And now, the part we've been waiting for. At least when it comes to our royal newlyweds. Oooh. We get a confession. Squeee and wheeee!
The queen starts out by begging the king, nicely this time, to please let her help by using her Yuan connections to save his throne. He then explains to her how he was kept in Yuan against his will for 10 years and wants to be independent of Yuan - to remain true to his Goryeo identity. (Psst, I'm probably not going to explain this very well just to warn you, but if you saw it, you probably got the gist just fine...I hope). Asking for assistance from Yuan would go against his principles, something he vowed not to do again. Again? Huh? Why yes, it appears that he has already once before gone against his principle in that he has let a Yuan woman into his heart.
Awwww!!!! That's like kind of the weirdest yet sweetest confession. Reminds me a little of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice when he announces to Elizabeth that he loves her against his will. Thankfully the end result is a little more positive for our adorable, loveable, squeezable king than it was for poor Darcy. Weirdish or not, it's still a confession. He loves her!!!! Yay!!!! And if her tears, and the past several episodes tell us anything, she feels the same about him. He presents her with the veil she had worn back when he proposed to her thinking that she was from Goryeo in order to avoid marrying the Yuan princess.
Amore! Since he's finally talking to her and being honest, she gets his whole reasoning for not getting Yuan involved. Communication -- it's a wonderful thing. Though if there was more communication in KDramas, they'd be a whole heck of a lot shorter, don't you think? How many hours do we sit through that could have been avoided with a little chit chat? Just sayin'....
There's a bit of a shake up at court. It's time for the king's big "sermon". Not sure if that's exactly what I would call the meeting, but you know, not speaking Goryeo-era Korean myself, who am I to say? The scholars all show up. And then the pink slips come out. The king starts going all Donald Trump on the bad guys, firing them and hiring new guys to replace them.
Gi Cheol freaks out telling the king that he can't do this, that ministerial positions are made by the Jeongbang - a separate governmental body of some sort that Gi Cheol kind of controls and is corrupt. "Oh, yeah, by the way...uhm, yeah...I abolished the Jeongbang this morning," is the king's response to that argument. Gi Cheol doesn't really take this turn of events very well. He's already a couple fries short of a happy meal if you catch my drift -- this doesn't help.
Okay, now for another Choi Young/Eun Soo moment. Eun Soo sees Fire Lady and Killer Flutist and is visibly scared by them, a fact that doesn't go unnoticed by Choi Young. That night she has a nightmare - dreaming of all the violent events she has witnessed in her short time there. Choi Young hears her screaming and runs to her, only to be stopped by Dr Jang who explains to him that she has nightmares every night and the reason behind. I think he feels bad and personally responsible. And I think it's one of the main reasons he does what he does next.
It's an awesome scene. He goes and finds Fire Lady and Killer Flutist. They're with Prince Deok Heung who has some lady "guests" over. Choi Young and Cutie Pie with the Hair very cleverly manage to get the flute from our flutist and, while distracting Fire Lady with a little Choi Young charm, kidnap Prince Deok Heung with help from the band of merry robbers.
Choi Young and Prince Deok Heung then have a little chat, mostly about Gi Cheol and how scary he is and how Prince Deok Heung shouldn't trust him because he'd just as soon bury him when his usefulness was used up. Choi Young asks the prince to steal the mystery diary and bring it to the High Doctor and help her solve the riddle of it. But he also warns him that he better not try any funny business with her (Prince Deok Heung has a certain, shall we say, "reputation"?).
We also have what I like to think of as an almost-kiss between our two leads. Choi Young is teaching Eun Soo how to use her dagger that he's given her. There's a lot of touching and closeness and ho wow. A "moment" where you can just tell that Choi Young probably isn't thinking of knife training anymore. Sadly, he doesn't go for it, but still...skinship is skinship...I'll take it.
We end with some more drama and turmoil (of course). Earlier, back in the Woodalchi barracks, a mysterious box of weapons supposedly ordered from the armory shows up. Along with it is a red box that is meant for Choi Young. Choi Young isn't there at the time, so one of the warriors takes the box to his room and leaves it. Without ever opening it. Now, I know this is pre-9/11 era and all - but the modern day me is yelling at the screen telling them that they're stupid for not checking the mysterious box. Sure, it's probably not a pipe bomb or anthrax or anything like that since this was like 700 years ago or whatever, but still. Look in the stinking box! Look in the stinking box though they do not do and it ends up landing them all, especially Choi Young, in hot water.
Why? What's in the box? A sales slip of sorts that basically says that Choi Young made a deal with arms dealers and accepted a 500 nyang bribe for faulty weapons. Or something like that.
The newly appointed ministers (that Choi Young risked his own life to bring to the palace mind you) sit there and accuse him and his subordinates of bribery. Sigh. Just when a good love story was developing, the political wheeling and dealing just had to come back and rear its ugly head again, doesn't it? I wish I could end this episode with a nice big smooch or something, but no, we have our hero facing a tribunal. Again. For just doing his job. Again. Aigo.
Never fear though, Faithfuls, for we know what episode 14 brings, don't we? Oooh! How's that for foreshadowing? Nice, yes? Ah yes. So how about we wrap this one up and tackle that one next?
Tomorrow. For tonight, I'm going to bed. I will see you all back here on Friday for the dramatic conclusion of this week's Faith.
Jalja Faithfuls!
(Jalja means sleep well. You know, if you're about to go to sleep like I am. If you're not, well, then I'll just say goodbye and see you soon!)
Word has spread that this Prince Deok Heung is hanging out with Gi Cheol. Everybody is talking about it. Well, everybody but Lady Choi and the queen - they're writing notes back and forth about it thanks to the spy waiting right outside the door.
They kind of are all figuring at this point that Deok Heung is there to challenge the throne as he is the last remaining member of the royal family besides his nephew that currently sits on the throne. The queen then drops a bombshell on us and the poor eunuch from last time (is he really a eunuch though? He's married. And you know, "drinks" with his wife. I thought eunuchs were uhm, you know, uh...missing a certain part...??? Uhhmm...I must have misunderstood something somewhere) and asks for a table to be set so that she can serve the king some drinks. Ooh la la. We all know what that's code for, as does just about everyone else there, like the non-eunuchized eunuch who drops whatever he was holding at the time when he hears the queen's request. Ah, the levity. Gotta love those cute, funny, lighthearted moments.
And now, the part we've been waiting for. At least when it comes to our royal newlyweds. Oooh. We get a confession. Squeee and wheeee!
The queen starts out by begging the king, nicely this time, to please let her help by using her Yuan connections to save his throne. He then explains to her how he was kept in Yuan against his will for 10 years and wants to be independent of Yuan - to remain true to his Goryeo identity. (Psst, I'm probably not going to explain this very well just to warn you, but if you saw it, you probably got the gist just fine...I hope). Asking for assistance from Yuan would go against his principles, something he vowed not to do again. Again? Huh? Why yes, it appears that he has already once before gone against his principle in that he has let a Yuan woman into his heart.
Awwww!!!! That's like kind of the weirdest yet sweetest confession. Reminds me a little of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice when he announces to Elizabeth that he loves her against his will. Thankfully the end result is a little more positive for our adorable, loveable, squeezable king than it was for poor Darcy. Weirdish or not, it's still a confession. He loves her!!!! Yay!!!! And if her tears, and the past several episodes tell us anything, she feels the same about him. He presents her with the veil she had worn back when he proposed to her thinking that she was from Goryeo in order to avoid marrying the Yuan princess.
Amore! Since he's finally talking to her and being honest, she gets his whole reasoning for not getting Yuan involved. Communication -- it's a wonderful thing. Though if there was more communication in KDramas, they'd be a whole heck of a lot shorter, don't you think? How many hours do we sit through that could have been avoided with a little chit chat? Just sayin'....
There's a bit of a shake up at court. It's time for the king's big "sermon". Not sure if that's exactly what I would call the meeting, but you know, not speaking Goryeo-era Korean myself, who am I to say? The scholars all show up. And then the pink slips come out. The king starts going all Donald Trump on the bad guys, firing them and hiring new guys to replace them.
 |
| "You're fired!" |
Gi Cheol freaks out telling the king that he can't do this, that ministerial positions are made by the Jeongbang - a separate governmental body of some sort that Gi Cheol kind of controls and is corrupt. "Oh, yeah, by the way...uhm, yeah...I abolished the Jeongbang this morning," is the king's response to that argument. Gi Cheol doesn't really take this turn of events very well. He's already a couple fries short of a happy meal if you catch my drift -- this doesn't help.
Okay, now for another Choi Young/Eun Soo moment. Eun Soo sees Fire Lady and Killer Flutist and is visibly scared by them, a fact that doesn't go unnoticed by Choi Young. That night she has a nightmare - dreaming of all the violent events she has witnessed in her short time there. Choi Young hears her screaming and runs to her, only to be stopped by Dr Jang who explains to him that she has nightmares every night and the reason behind. I think he feels bad and personally responsible. And I think it's one of the main reasons he does what he does next.
It's an awesome scene. He goes and finds Fire Lady and Killer Flutist. They're with Prince Deok Heung who has some lady "guests" over. Choi Young and Cutie Pie with the Hair very cleverly manage to get the flute from our flutist and, while distracting Fire Lady with a little Choi Young charm, kidnap Prince Deok Heung with help from the band of merry robbers.
Choi Young and Prince Deok Heung then have a little chat, mostly about Gi Cheol and how scary he is and how Prince Deok Heung shouldn't trust him because he'd just as soon bury him when his usefulness was used up. Choi Young asks the prince to steal the mystery diary and bring it to the High Doctor and help her solve the riddle of it. But he also warns him that he better not try any funny business with her (Prince Deok Heung has a certain, shall we say, "reputation"?).
 |
| "It would be wise not commit any discourtesy" Translation: Don't even think of touching my woman! ;) |
We also have what I like to think of as an almost-kiss between our two leads. Choi Young is teaching Eun Soo how to use her dagger that he's given her. There's a lot of touching and closeness and ho wow. A "moment" where you can just tell that Choi Young probably isn't thinking of knife training anymore. Sadly, he doesn't go for it, but still...skinship is skinship...I'll take it.
 |
| Sure, he looks like he is about to slit her throat here, but what he really wants to do is kiss her. You know it's true. Oh yeah. |
We end with some more drama and turmoil (of course). Earlier, back in the Woodalchi barracks, a mysterious box of weapons supposedly ordered from the armory shows up. Along with it is a red box that is meant for Choi Young. Choi Young isn't there at the time, so one of the warriors takes the box to his room and leaves it. Without ever opening it. Now, I know this is pre-9/11 era and all - but the modern day me is yelling at the screen telling them that they're stupid for not checking the mysterious box. Sure, it's probably not a pipe bomb or anthrax or anything like that since this was like 700 years ago or whatever, but still. Look in the stinking box! Look in the stinking box though they do not do and it ends up landing them all, especially Choi Young, in hot water.
Why? What's in the box? A sales slip of sorts that basically says that Choi Young made a deal with arms dealers and accepted a 500 nyang bribe for faulty weapons. Or something like that.
The newly appointed ministers (that Choi Young risked his own life to bring to the palace mind you) sit there and accuse him and his subordinates of bribery. Sigh. Just when a good love story was developing, the political wheeling and dealing just had to come back and rear its ugly head again, doesn't it? I wish I could end this episode with a nice big smooch or something, but no, we have our hero facing a tribunal. Again. For just doing his job. Again. Aigo.
Never fear though, Faithfuls, for we know what episode 14 brings, don't we? Oooh! How's that for foreshadowing? Nice, yes? Ah yes. So how about we wrap this one up and tackle that one next?
Tomorrow. For tonight, I'm going to bed. I will see you all back here on Friday for the dramatic conclusion of this week's Faith.
Jalja Faithfuls!
(Jalja means sleep well. You know, if you're about to go to sleep like I am. If you're not, well, then I'll just say goodbye and see you soon!)
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