Orange Marmalade Episode 5 - Hanbok and Vampires

Soooooooooooo.........  Who else was surprised when our story suddenly took a historical turn?  I guess the writers are getting all creative and telling 3 different stories, each 4 episodes apiece.  Not sure how I feel about that yet, but on an up note, they are keeping all the names the same, and best of all Shi Hoo is alive.  WOOT!



The first was the high school story of Ma Ri and Jae Min and now we jump back in where scholar Jae Min meets the daughter of a butcher/vampire Ma Ri.  Will this story end in tragedy as well? 

We start off at  Sungkyunkwan where scholar roommates Shi Hoo and Jae Rim are doing a mix of studying and rough housing.  OH MY GOSH THEY ARE BESTIES!  Let the bromance begin.  Jae Min tries to be good and study, but rebellious Shi Hoo demands that he play with him. 

Eventually Shi Hoo's nagging has an effect and the two promptly have a book duel.  So cute.  Jae Min eventually wins and Shi Hoo makes an offhand comment that it is too bad that Jae Min has his disease or else he would have been a great military commander.  This drops the smile from Jae Min's face.

Poor Jae Min is broken.  He does not have a real disease per se, but a condition where he faints anytime he sees blood.  Nothing could be more humiliating for a son of a military family and Jae Min is his father's biggest disappointment.

So  in this time there are power hungry vampires who want to take over and destroy the humans and there are those that want to live in peace and drink animal blood rather than humans.  The peaceful vampires sold out information on the plots of the scary vampires to the human government.  The peaceful vamps take a medicine that allows them to be out during the sunlight hours but limits their vampire powers.

Sadly, the first meeting of historical Ma Ri and Jae Min is not quite as good as the original.  Jae Min is walking through the woods searching for a missing Shi Hoo when he comes across a Ma Ri sitting on a rock next to the river.  Daytime lightning bugs circle around Ma Ri as she plays her flute and Jae Min is once again struck with cupids arrow.  When Ma Ri finally notices her audience he freezes and runs away.  We hear Jae Min's thoughts as he rushes off "What's her name?  What's her name? It's not too late to go back."  

But before he can turn around Jae Min is bit by a snake and must stab himself in the foot (without looking - remember the blood fainting problem?) to extract the poison.   He begins to pass out when Ma Ri comes along, sees the situation, and uses a reed to suck out the poisonous blood.  Jae Min is saved and Shi Hoon comes across him to get him to the doctor.  Poor Ma Ri runs off having tasted human blood for the first time.

While Jae Min is recovering from the snake wound, an unfortunate bout of diarrhea strikes all the scholars from Sungkyunkwan and it is assumed that it was from tainted meat.  Jae Min and some older scholars are sent out to find who is responsible and decide it is the local butcher.  The butcher who just so happens to be Ma Ri's father.  While Jae Min makes some small objections to just assuming someone is guilty, the leader of the scholars has made up his mind and sentencing the butcher to be punished.  He forgets about objecting when Ma Ri rushes to her fathers aid and he realizes that his forest girl is a mere peasant.

HUH.. Looks like this time it is not the whole vampire thing that is giving him pause, but the historical caste system which says it is a big no no for a noble and a poor peasant to hook up. What to do? What to do?

Ma Ri's father is being punished by hanging in the courtyard for 10 days without water.  Which is horrible for a normal person, but deadly for a vampire.  Especially since he has to take the sun medicine every 3 days or burn to death.

Turns out that it was really Shi Hoo had tainted the meat with laxatives as a joke.  Desperate to right his wrong (and probably save the girl he loves some heartache), Jae Min takes the blame for the prank and orders Ma Ri's father to be released. Shi Hoo also confesses and uses this incident to get himself kicked out of Sungkyunkwan for good.

Haha the boy has it bad.  Since Jae Min got sent home for 2 months from school (punishment for trying to claim the blame to protect a friend) he has decided to use that time wisely and stalk the butchers shop. Jae Min demands certain meat dishes that require a trip to Ma Ri's house so he can have an excuse to glimpse his love.  The only problem being that the poor boy can't even see meat without throwing up.  Love just does not go easy for this one.  He tries to get out of eating the meal by giving it to his dog, only to have to sit on his dinner when he is caught.

Jae Min refuses to give up and stomps through the woods to the stream where he had first glimpsed Ma Ri.  He marches up to her and demands she show him where to wash his soiled clothes since it is her fault.  Hehehe, he is so awkward.  I might be enjoying historical Jae Min even more than modern day Jae Min.  Of course that could be because the boy looks mighty fine in a hanbok.

While working side by side to clean his robes, Jae Min starts to fantasize about grabbing Ma Ri's hand which continues to brush right next to his (not neck nibbling, but still grade A skinship).  He is startled out of his sexy thoughts by Ma Ri who thanks him for releasing her father.  She had heard that it was not even Jae Min but another scholar who pulled the prank.  Flustered Jae Min simply says that it is OK, since this was payback for saving him from the snake bite.

Almost before it can get started, Jae Min's father's matchmaking antics threaten Jae Min's new found love.  Determined to continue his family's line and the tradition of great military leaders, Jae Min's father has found him a suitable bride (boring 2nd lead girl, this time with traditional dark hair.... how they made her even more forgettable, I will never know.).

 Shi Hoo is enjoying his freedom by fighting with the common man.  The ex-scholar has discovered that he is very successful at fighting in the ring at a local tavern.  Cracked me up that he was so happy he could easily win drinking money and I have to admit that he looks mighty fine in a mask.

Walking home after a match, he comes across Ma Ri who is fighting off some hooligans.  It is a case of instantly smitten and Shi Hoo goes straight to Jae Min to wax poetic about his new love.  Jae Min also shares his newly found love for his forest princess, neither realizing they are speaking of the same girl.

It looks like our boys might be fighting over Ma Ri yet again.  And this time I don't think that Shi Hoo will be holding his punches.  Will be interesting to see if history repeats itself.

My Thoughts:
This was actually better than I was expecting.  Originally I might have been a little resistant to the whole multiple mini-series within a drama concept.  I am still not completely happy since I think that the writers could have written a perfectly decent story from the webtoon material, but at least it has turned out better than I thought it would.  Now just waiting to see if I continue to enjoy the story.  Have to admit that I am still hesitant since I know we will be rushing through another short story to get back to modern times in episode 9 so only time will tell.

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