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Six Flying Dragons: Episode 19

When the grown-ups are away, the kids will play. Bang-won’s father ends up on an unwanted male bonding trip, which means it’s up to him, his loyal bodyguard, and the people’s general to solve a crime that manages to tie itself into the overarching plot line at hand—which can be boiled down to the simple fact that older men are never up to any good in Goryeo. Actually, no one ever seems up to any good in Goryeo, and that’s the kind of world our intrepid heroes hope to someday fix. And with any luck, maybe they will.

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Standing Egg – “Yell” [ Download ]

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EPISODE 19 RECAP

Jung Do-jeon’s attempt to talk to General Choi go unheeded by the cross elder, who only tells him to stop doing all his scheming in the shadows. Despite that, Jung plans to resolve any differences General Choi may have with Lee Seong-gye, since they can’t afford to be on his bad side.

He runs into Boon-yi outside while she gets information from her semi-reluctant brother, and ends up taking Bang-ji with him when Boon-yi tells them she saw General Choi headed for the gibang. While they’re not allowed inside to meet the general, a Yuan merchant and his highly skilled are. Curious.

Once Bang-won leaves after hearing Boon-yi’s report on the argument between his father and General Choi, Da-kyung approaches her to ask (but in a formal, intimidating manner) how it is that she’s coming in and out of Bang-won’s private quarters at will.

Without missing a beat, Boon-yi says she’s here on business, since her and Bang-won are working toward the same goal. She doesn’t mince words when she reminds Da-kyung that since she already knows what business that is, she shouldn’t have any misunderstandings about her and Bang-won.

An ordinary woman might’ve backed down after that, but not Da-kyung. She takes what Boon-yi says in stride and even apologizes—but if Boon-yi and Bang-won are just business, she ventures, why then does Boon-yi speak to him, a married nobleman, so informally? Boon-yi doesn’t have a packaged answer for that, so she can only promise to correct that aspect of her behavior. I’d say Da-kyung won this one.

True to his word, General Choi presents a royal command to the dodang regarding Lee In-gyeom’s punishment. Turns out it won’t be much of a punishment at all, since he’s going to be “exiled” to the faraway lands of his hometown. And, much to Jung Mong-joo’s dismay, none of his stolen lands will be returned to the people.

Lee Seong-gye attempts to make a stand against this, but since he and General Choi’s relationship is already under strain, Choi snaps the second he tries and bellows that there will be no more discussion of this in the dodang. The royal command has already come down, and they’d be slapping the king’s authority in the face if they tried to challenge it.

However, just because General Choi now supports Lee In-gyeom doesn’t mean he’s open to corruption. He rebuffs all of Minister Hong’s former lackeys when they try to slither over to his side and reminds them that the dodang’s only true master is the king. If they want to say differently, they can join their dead former master.

Though Lee In-gyeom gets to return to his hometown, he has to be transported in a prison cart, so that the people can jeer and throw vegetables at him. Before he gets in, he eyes Lee Seong-gye and wonders, “Are you disappointed that you couldn’t kill me?”

“I am,” Lee Seong-gye says without hesitation. Even when Lee In-gyeom tries to bait him by reminding him of how he betrayed Jo So-saeng, the great general only tells him to live a long life so that he’ll have another opportunity to punish him for his crimes.

As he’s carted off, Lee In-gyeom finds a letter at his feet bearing the same red seal Jukryong received, the same as the one he received so many years ago from a eunuch who was never even under the king’s employ. He spots the face of the man who pretended to be that eunuch among the crowd, smiling at him.

And for all General Choi’s talk about respecting the king’s orders, Jung Mong-joo muses to Lee Seong-gye and Lee Ji-ran that royal power amounts to beans without support from the people. And it’s not like they’ve got a king who’d even be worthy of the support if he had it, which Ji-ran manages to convey much more delicately.

And so we meet King Woo (also spelled King U), the 32nd king of Goryeo, as he reigns over a musical troupe with a bloody sword he uses to correct anyone who goes off-key. General Choi has to remind himself that King Woo is still the king when he approaches one of the players with sword in hand, though he steps in before she can be struck down.

Jung Do-jeon knows that General Choi will bear with the touched king’s antics because he can only strengthen his power by strengthening the king’s, even though said king has no interest in politics. But if he succeeds and gains more control, Jung worries about the kind of leader Choi would be—one who would sacrifice anyone and anything for Goryeo the nation (more like the idea of Goryeo), even the citizens who live in it.

General Choi bows before the king and pleads for him to restore the sovereignty of the crown so he can better deal with all the problems their country is facing. King Woo is all too willing to do a thing he hasn’t done at all since he became king, but only if General Choi is willing to allocate some of the assets confiscated from Minister Hong and Gil Tae-mi over to him.

His own insecurity manifests itself when he asks, “Do you think that someone of King Gongmin’s bloodline could not do something like this? That he must be a child of Shin Don?” (Shin Don was King Gongmin’s closest advisor, and Woo was born from one of Shin Don’s slaves. King Gongmin didn’t acknowledge Woo as his child until Shin Don died, leading to speculation that Woo may have been Shin Don’s son and not Gongmin’s. His true lineage remains a mystery to this day.)

To his credit, General Choi says that King Woo’s bloodline doesn’t matter to him. All that matters is that he’s the one and only king of Goryeo. Together, they’ll re-establish Goryeo as a worthy nation.

After Boon-yi tells Bang-won that one of her villager spies went missing two days ago following a cart out of Minister Hong’s house, Da-kyung interrupts their little get-together to inform Bang-won that his father’s second wife has come for a visit.

He goes in to greet LADY KANG (Kim Hee-jung), later and eulogistically referred to as Queen Sindeok, who’s come with her two sons. She acts as a mother-in-law to Da-kyung and asks, quite firmly, that she join her and other noblewomen at the gibang next month. She’s the newest member of the Lee Family after all, and she needs to keep up social appearances.

Grandma and Young-kyu both make their predictions as to who will prove the strongest-willed out of Da-kyung and Lady Kang, but Master Hong just sighs that the entire household is strange because everyone is strong-willed. Well, he’s right about that one.

While Bang-won, Boon-yi, and Moo-hyul go searching for the missing villager/spy that night, the dodang meets the next morning to discuss an edict handed down by the Ming Emperor, calling for the annexation of the northeastern region previously granted to them by Yuan.

Lee Seong-gye considers it unthinkable to hand over all that land, but he’s prevented from interfering in the delegation to be sent to Ming by General Choi, who claims that they’re going hunting with the king instead. Lee Seong-gye knew of no such trip, so that tells us something.

Jung Do-jeon comes to the same conclusion, since General Choi should’ve been angry at the proposed annexation, but wasn’t. Remembering the Yuan merchant who visited General Choi when they couldn’t, Jung reasons that Choi must have a hidden agenda.

Boon-yi & Co. find the villager/spy dead, and now have to rely on the elder villager’s ability to recognize the man who took the cart—it’s the only lead they have. And Boon-yi, ever the general of her own people, tearfully rallies everyone she can to aid in the manhunt.

They inform Jung Do-jeon of the death, furthering the speculation that whoever he was following found out and killed him. They have to find whoever that was, even though there are discrepancies in General Choi’s involvement—he would’ve known about any cart going or coming out of Minister Hong’s home.

While Yeon-hee asks around Hwasadan to find out who General Choi met with that night, Boon-yi hands out likenesses of the man they believe to have killed one of theirs to all the separate Gaegyeong leaders who are part of their organization. They all promise to do their best to find him, leaving Moo-hyul grinning like a fool that Boon-yi really is like a general.

Bang-won asks her about the power she wields, noting that she just talked to the different sector leaders from Gaegyeong—and since those leaders control up to twenty people each, that means she has hundreds of people under her command. Boon-yi is humble about it and says she doesn’t consider it as leadership, when it’s more like a partnership.

It’s only after he admits how awesome she is that she brings up being caught by Da-kyung for speaking informally to him. She says it’s no skin off her nose to start referring to him as Young Master, but he doesn’t want her demeanor toward him to change.

She’s the only person he speaks as an equal back and forth with, and he doesn’t want to lose that. Boon-yi agrees to talk informally when they’re alone, but piggybacks off his “you’re the only ___” thought to say that she’s bitten her fair share of people, but he’s the only one who ever bit back.

Bang-won blusters that he doesn’t go around just biting any girl, which means she’s the only one he’s ever bitten back. Moo-hyul follows them and tsks to himself about their behavior, no doubt disliking their closeness.

Yeon-hee tells Jung Do-jeon that she wasn’t able to find out who General Choi hosted at Hwasadan that night because Cho-young took down the record and kept it for herself, so he sends her back with just enough information about Choi and Lee Seong-gye for Cho-young to think she’s been doing her job.

He times it so that he pays an unexpected visit to Hwasadan while Yeon-hee is in Cho-young’s room, forcing Cho-young to “hide” her in there while she goes to greet the visitor. They’ve coordinated it so Bang-ji can slip out of the meeting room to join Yeon-hee in Cho-young’s quarters, while Jung Do-jeon distracts the gisaeng madame by asking if she’d like to do business with him.

The plan was for him to distract her until Bang-ji returned, but Jung Do-jeon encounters a hiccup when another guest calls Cho-young’s attention away. Yeon-hee finds the record they’ve been looking for as Bang-ji warns her of approaching footsteps, though Cho-young didn’t write down any names.

Cho-young enters the room to find it empty, but isn’t content to leave it at that. She approaches the screen where Bang-ji and Yeon-hee are hiding, but the moment she throws it open, she finds Bang-ji with his sword to Yeon-hee’s neck. Ooo, quick thinking.

Bang-ji acts as though he’s just caught Yeon-hee spying for Hwasadan, aided by Jung Do-jeon coming in and acting as though he’s just discovered Yeon-hee’s treachery as well. (Wait, was this part all planned then?)

Once Boon-yi finds out who took the cart, Bang-won and Moo-hyul use that information to find the man and his band of miscreants in the nearby woods. Understandably, they don’t see Bang-won as a threat, and it’s pretty hilarious how he holds to his bluff until he has to manually signal for Moo-hyul to take over.

“Ah… right,” Moo-hyul says awkwardly once he understands. The gang thinks he’s joking by acting so nonchalant when he’s so outnumbered, but Moo-hyul doesn’t have to try very hard to get his point across.

Now that Cho-young’s been “caught” spying on him, Jung Do-jeon uses that to his advantage by offering to forget the whole thing in exchange for some information. Specifically, if she tells him who General Choi met with in secret.

Boon-yi addresses the gang of miscreants to ask about the boy who died, now that Moo-hyul’s brought them all to their knees. One of the frightened men admits to capturing the boy who followed them, but swears that his death was an accident.

Suppressing her rage and sadness, Boon-yi tells him that though she ought to kill him right now, she’ll hand him over to the authorities if he answers Bang-won’s questions truthfully. He promises to do so, and proceeds to tell Bang-won that he took a cart filled with gold from Minister Hong’s house to someone else.

All he heard was that the gold was going to be used for some trade that evening, but when pressed for a description of the man who took it, he reveals that he wore a monk’s robe and head dressing. It must be Jukryong, though I’m not sure if our three young dragons have made the connection yet.

Meanwhile, Cho-young tells Jung Do-jeon that she doesn’t know who General Choi met with or what they talked about, since they communicated by writing. But when he threatens to kill Yeon-hee, she coughs up every little bit she does know—and aside from overhearing something about “the seventh day,” she also knows who acted as a liaison between Choi and the Yuan merchant.

Cut to the three dragons, who instantly realize it’s Jukryong when they’re told that he wears eyeshadow. Unsurprisingly, that’s the name Cho-young gives Jung Do-jeon. He leaves on that note, but only after instructing Cho-young to keep Yeon-hee as a go-between for the two of them.

Bang-won and Boon-yi won’t stop digging when it comes to the cart of gold, and figure that the cart itself must have been taken to the temple Jukryong calls home. Bang-won levels Moo-hyul with a look, prompting the warrior to first ask, “Why are you looking at me?” before he realizes why and protests, “We should report to the General first!”

But Lee Seong-gye is out hunting with the king, which leaves just the three of them to solve the mystery. Moo-hyul barely gets to mutter about how much of a bad idea this is before we find the three of them donning yellow monk’s robes as a disguise to enter the temple.

With any luck they’ll find what they’re looking for in the first room they search, which is when Boon-yi sighs that she’s never been lucky. “Don’t worry,” Moo-hyul reassures her. “I’ve always been lucky.” Unfortunately he doesn’t have time to gloat when the first room they break into happens to be the right one.

Inside the crates, they find loads of water buffalo horns, which are most commonly used for making bows. Though they don’t know why all that gold would’ve been traded for horns, their attempt to slip away undetected (because they’re so convincing as monks) is foiled when Jukryong’s men surround them.

Jukryong instantly recognizes Bang-won as Lee Seong-gye’s son, and Boon-yi from when he held her hostage that one time. But instead of treating them like captives, he welcomes them as guests and potential buyers. After all, he sells information, they came looking for information—win-win, right?

The fake monk acts like he has the upper hand, but quickly finds out that Bang-won isn’t to be taken lightly, especially when it comes to insulting Boon-yi. He demands that Jukryong apologize for what he did to her, or he swears on the twenty thousand soldiers in his father’s army, his family’s honor, and even on his late mother that he’ll kill him.

That’s all it takes to get Jukryong to snap to attention and offer Boon-yi a small bow and a pseudo-heartfelt apology. Bang-won knows that he had General Choi’s clearance to use gold that should’ve gone to the national treasury to buy water buffalo horns. And they found that out by searching the first room they came across.

Jukryong chuckles at Bang-won’s arrogance, informing him that he would’ve had the same luck had he looked in any of the other rooms, since all are filled with buffalo horns. But he has no loyalty to General Choi, whom he claims hasn’t paid them for their work—he’d rather do business with Lee Seong-gye.

And to prove his willingness, he’ll give them free information as a gift. Boon-yi scoffs from the corner that they found out about the buffalo horns without him, so Jukryong offers up something they don’t know: General Choi and the Yuan merchant held a secret meeting in this temple, and through the indentations their writing made (via brushstroke?), he made out the words “Amnok River.” Or Yalu River, as we know it.

But when they’ve gone, Jukryong goes to the next room where an old woman waits—the same old woman who handed him the Red Seal Letter in prison, operating on orders from a mysterious “him.” Similarly, Jukryong informs her that he acted according to “his” orders.

Team Joseon tries to put the bits of information they’ve found together, wondering if something is set to happen on the seventh day at Amnok River. All those water buffalo horns mean they’re preparing for some sort of attack… which is when Bang-won and Jung Do-jeon come to the same realization.

It’s about General Choi, who’s been acting suspicious ever since the Ming decree came down, which by all rights he should’ve been raging over. And he was even so relaxed that he went out hunting, causing them to look at their hunting grounds on a greater map of Goryeo.

Nearby they find the Amnok River, and nearer still, Liaodong. Which leads straight up into Ming territory. General Choi is preparing for an attack, but one neither Bang-won or Jung Do-jeon can fully comprehend. Or rather, one they almost don’t want to comprehend.

The true purpose of the hunting trip comes to light when General Choi and the king pull Lee Seong-gye in for a secret meeting. It’s there that Choi drops the bombshell that he’s already informed Yuan that they’ll be sending their army across the Amnok River… to conquer Liaodong.

Jung Do-jeon comes to the same conclusion in the New Joseon Cave, his eyes wide with shock. “Liadong! He plans to conquer Liaodong!”

 
COMMENTS

Even though history is its own spoiler and we know that General Choi would eventually take his forces across the Amnok River to take on the much more powerful Ming armies, this show really knows how to keep things interesting. The more astute historian might’ve picked up on where all this intrigue was leading earlier on, and while I was always faintly cognizant of what big events were to undoubtedly come, I ended up getting so focused on the little bits of mystery being solved in the episode that I didn’t stop to think of the big picture until the characters did.

And that’s amazing, really. It’s not as though the show aimed to keep us in the dark in order to make the reveal bigger or more shocking, but that it knew exactly how to pace itself in order to divert our attention. Instead of letting its audience become bored while waiting for the other shoe to drop, Dragons did the old magician’s trick of focusing our attention elsewhere while it pulled a rabbit out of its hat—even if we knew that rabbit was coming. We’re not watching a fusion sageuk to learn history, we’re watching to see how it can present the history we know (and some we don’t) in new and interesting ways.

It was fun to see the dragons essentially split into two teams this episode, and in the usual fashion, it was fun watching what began as two disparate storylines coalesce by the end. An entire show could be made out of just Bang-won, Boon-yi, and Moo-hyul solving crimes together and the sometimes unfair use of Moo-hyul for his gallantry and strength, but it wasn’t like we had to wade through the bits with Jung Do-jeon, Yeon-hee, and Bang-ji. There was enough for everyone, and that’s the way to do it.

I do wonder whether the whole production Team Jung put on in front of Cho-young was planned or not, or whether the three of them maybe missed their calling to become members of an improv troupe. (Bang-ji’s an actor, after all.) But the scene also worked to drum up some feeling for Cho-young, since she’s usually just putting together things that happened in other scenes verbally and has so far been very easy to dismiss. She’s never an agent for action or change, and while that didn’t change this episode, her willingness to spit out everything she knew to keep Yeon-hee alive was touching. Whether that’s going to go somewhere or not is up for grabs, but I’d be interested to know what Yeon-hee’s done to drum up that kind of loyalty from a woman she’s always conning out of information.

But while Jung Do-jeon used to be the go-to as far as secret dealings were concerned, whoever’s behind the red seal seems to have him outdone. I’d hazard a guess that it’s actually Jung Do-jeon behind the seal, but something about it all seems so sinister, as though there’s some villain outfoxing our great Sambong by pulling strings he didn’t even know existed. Or it could just be Jung Do-jeon. Cut me some slack on the conspiracy theories for this one, I think my tinfoil hat is still in storage.

 
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Thank you for the recap heads,I still didn't watch the whole ep. Waiting for your recap and I like your comment!!

"Six Flying Dragon"never failed to amaze me:-:-) this episode give me a goosebomb,
!! I love MH so much honestly i call him "The Mood Changer" esp. When BW &BY is talking seriously,he's just standing there with a cute face,!!haha

e on the screen i can stop
laughing

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Is this Moo Hyul the same Moo Hyul in Deep Root Tree ? (Lee Bang Won'son - King Sejong's body guard)
I think it is anyway ! Daebak !!!

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It is the one and only Warrior Moo-hyul! He was both a body-guard to Bang-won (King Taejong) and his son King Sejong.
(Daebak was his last name, courtesy of his fangirls from TWDR haha).

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I mean,I cant stop laughing everytime i saw his face on my screen:-)

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I love both trios in this episode!

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i have nothing intelligent to say. SQUEEEEEEE!!! i'm just floored every episode. It's my first time watching a 50-ep series..i wonder how they are going to keep up the pace.. almost reaching the halfway point now! i love all the characters <3<3 SQUEEEE!

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Why would JDJ be the one behind the red seal? It doesn't make sense. Then he would be fooling everyone else including his own ppl right?

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I don't think it's Jung Do Jeon. It must have something to do with the older generation and it must involve Boon Yi and Bang Ji's mother.
Maybe the mother is actually the king's concubine... so Boon Yi and Bang Ji are actually royalty?

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I agree about their mother's involvement but not about their mother being a concubine.
Bang Ji and Bong Yi's age does not match if they are the king's children. Their mother disappeared (suppose to be dead) for 18yrs when they met Sambong.

King Gongmin was in love with his queen and he didn't want a concubine even when the queen suggested it.

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I dont think it's JDJ either. He would not have given the instruction to Jukryong to reveal to General Choi about his involvement knowing it would anger General Choi. Unless of course the writers have a twist planned.

I also think that whoever is behind the red seal letters is connected to Gil Sun Mi or this part of the storyline would involve Gil Sun Mi.

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I've always thought gil sun mi holds a bigger role than just being the twin to gil tae mi. And seeing how you put gil sun mi might have something going on with the red seal letter give me goosebump.

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it really doesnt - it would also be uncharacteristic since he is pretty strait forward in his vision of recreating the old Joseon
and in general

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@dkaoru and @nara

I agree with both of you...just surprised that Heads would think it was JDJ.

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If I remember correctly, Sambong and his people didn't receive any of those red symbol letters except for the opposite side. He is a cunning genius so there is a reason to "suspect" him.

This is part of the writer's creation so it must be connected to TWDR. Maybe this is how Milbon started or maybe it's an entirely different organization.

The eunuch (Kim Nae Pyung) and Jukryong's lady boss are definitely connected to it. So it points to the palace conspiracy involving Bang Ji and Bong Yi's mother.

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i also think its related to Milbon but i dont think its JDJ since he is even against classes (i forgot the name not Confucius)
so to meseem unlikely to be a part of a group that wants to keep difference in classes

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Yes that makes sense, Sambong's spy connection is pretty open as we see with Yeon Hee.

On the other hand, Milbon was made up of underground scholars so we can't be sure when it comes to Sambong. His own brother and nephew were the ring leaders of Milbon in Tree. They totally sounds like a terrorist group lol.

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Who or what is 'Milbon'?

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I think you'll understand it more if you watch TWDR. In short Milbon was a secret organization of Jeong Do Jeon supporters (if that gives you an idea of why we think they are connected here). JDJ died before TWDR so he is not personally involved with this group in Tree and we don't know for sure when it started.

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I'm pretty sure it's JDJ's people who sent the red seals. Remember on the first or second episode when General Choe Young got the red sealed letter from that fake eunuch about the king's murder attempt? He was the first person who took action to save the king thanks to that letter. The seal was from JDJ. I won't be surprised if he did it because he wants to break the relationship between Choi Young and Lee Seong Gye. As he said, Choi Young doesn't belong to the new country. He's gotta be get rid of in order to reform the dynasty.

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What about from the history books? Is there a clue in there about a third team operating secretly? Of course, the writers could have just invented the red seal team and weave it into the story without altering historical facts.

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This is the writer's invention and that's why we haven't figured it out yet :).

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Hah, so thats why its so mysterious. Thanks Kiara.

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I don't know get General Choi. When HIB's former minions tell him that the dodang now belongs to him, he chides them and tells them that it belongs to the king and that he will not take sides with them. Then he tells them that they will just have to do whatever he says!
He knows that the king is ineffective and not interested in politics, and that he has the king's favour, so isn't it true then that Dodang does belong to him?

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Maybe more along the lines of: their loyalty is to Goryeo, and to follow him for Goryeo and the King. Not to follow him to gain riches?

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General Choi Young and Jung Mong-ju are respected figures in the history. It is just that their idea is like "no matter how bad your father is, you can not abandon your father." with father being Goryeo.

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@ mary

Even though Choi Young's not out to personally gain riches, he is the one leading the dodang now - and it seems as if the rest has no say, especially since he controls the weak king. From this ep, it seems as if he has more power than the king. This is highly dangerous too, cos there's no one to check him.

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Choi Young is not your typical power hungry leader. He is all about Goryeo. He is the biggest patriot you could find in the history of Goryeo. He is in charge of Dodang but nothing belongs to him. He is all about serving his country and king.

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I can't help but notice the sexual tension between Bang-Ji and Yeon-Hee though.

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Byun Yo-han oozes sexual tension. Even with Jang Geu-rae.

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: D

but his hair is SO.MUCH.BETTER. in this drama, yes??

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YES YES YES... he should keep this kind of hair style.

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me too!! when they were hiding in Cho Young's room, it was suppose to be apprehensive-bomb-ticking-tension from being discovered, but all i could see was this extremely strained sexual tension bubbling beneath the surface sort. Oh my....i just love them together.

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The make up for this drama is rather impressive. I noticed that Lee In Geom has significantly more wrinkles around his eyes than in ep 1 when he was about 8 yrs younger.

And Cho Young seems to have been influenced by GTM. She uses more make up now than she did in the earlier eps too.

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yes kudos to the make up artists for this show. The show is beautiful to see.

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I wanted a showdown between In Gyeom and Sambong before he gets shipped off to exile. Oh well, at least he went out fighting by reminding Seong-Gye about being the dog that bit his master, foreshadowing another betrayal and this time will be Choi Young and eventually Goryeo.

The drama doesn't have enough time to show the earlier relationship between Choi Young and Lee Seong-Gye but they were close comrades. They fought many wars together and Choi Young even referred to him as his son.

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ithink there may will be a showdown between LIG and JDJ
i dont think he is one for good, so...hopefully...

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Historically this should the end of In Gyeom (Yi In-Im). Sadly I think they are done with him because there are still more characters to be introduced.

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but he was given a letter with the secret symbol?

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He died during his exile so maybe they'll reveal themselves to him then kill him?

His reign over Dadong is over and he's banned from the capital. The king that he put on the throne is a nut case right now and will be of no help to him. Everything that he own has been confiscated so he has nothing left and no one to run errand for him.

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It really is ironic. Creating a new, better nation but had to back stab your close friends and mentors.

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It's too bad that they can't ALL come to an agreement that Goryeo is done and over with. There are great heroes and leaders on both sides and they want to do the right thing but each have different ideas.

Goryeo will end with her heroes (a patriotic general and a revered scholar and diplomat). Joseon will begin with her heroes (the founding fathers).

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Boon Yi's awesome. In a parallel universe, I want her to be Bang Won's queen. Just think how effectively she can rally the people and get them to love the king. She's also one who can moderate BW's recklessness. They'll make an awesome duo.

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It would be great if the producers made her Ban Won's concubine and throw some palace ladies' politics into the mix.

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They will be mixing the ladies in the political war, its going to be lee seonggye's second wife vs. lady min(bangwon's wife).. i dont think boonyi will be a part of it though.. the political war would be for their son/husband being in the throne.. boonyi i think sill be more in the field/working with the people rather than in the politics just like how she's doing now. But the boonyi part is just my assumption, we dont know yet since shes just a fictional character, the other 2 ladies really did kinda war out politically

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But Boon Yi is written to be one of the 6 dragons, though...so she'll have more say in this drama (though non existent in real history)

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I want that! Why isn't this a totally fictional drama? T_T

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What Boon Yi is able to do with her "people" reminds me of the unnamed scary leader lady of Banchon in TWDR. The strong traits, the unflinching conviction in JDJ, the ability to rally the people under her. Will Boon Yi grow into that character?

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She might really be that person.. even though shes a fictional character, the makers 8f twdr are the same people who is making this and sfd is loosely twdr's prequel

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I'm too much of history fan to wish Bong Yi was queen. Lady Min will always be Bang-won's only queen to me no matter how great Bong Yi is.
She is usually one my favorite character in sageuks of this era. Even Queen Sindeok was no match for Lady Min. She sacrificed a lot to put Bang-won on the throne. She was the mother of Joseon's greatest king. No one will ever take her place in a drama or history and no writer will dare to change that either.

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i can only imagine the backlash if lady min doesn't end up on the throne or if somehow her son, king sejong is only her son through family register (hypothetical fictional situations) - she's one of the more known joseon queen, considered one of the best and mother to the most celebrated joseon king; there's only so much fictional alteration can be done to history before negative consequences come crashing.
i read on a forum that this particular episode has some backlash too - on fictional characters and how the writers have taken creative licensing too far with bangwon (but is also said to have settle down by episode 20)

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This drama will receive so much hate if they do that and I don't see the writers going that far.

No one wants to mess with King Sejong's mother with good reasons. She made a name for herself in history. They are very careful when it comes to Lady Min's character and nothing has been negative about her so far.

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You are not alone! However, as much as I want that to happen, I know it is Lady Min's destiny to become Bangwon's queen, and my shipping heart of Bongyi and Bangwon know that they probably wont end up together.

However, Boonyi and Bangwon reminds me so much of Dongyi, one of my favourite saguek. Dongyi also came from slave class, but ended up ranked at the highest level of concubine of King Sukjong, where she is his beloved *although I felt sorry for Queen Inhyun*. So, I kinda have a little wish that Boonyi and Bangwon could at least turns that way.

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I loved Dong Yi, but I am still sore about the fact that ultimately Dong Yi couldn't stay in the palace as her own son's mother because of her class issue. It was to protect his status as prince and the new queen was good to him, but I hate it that mother and son were separated. ):

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Jung Do Jeon: Hmm, I wonder how we can establish our info-trading relationship? I usually go by people's beard; a beard signifies a man's honor. Behold my glorious beard, dear lady! I'm not sure how to proceed here since you have none..
Cho-Young: My good sir, you talk about beard. While I have no glorious beard such as yours or Lee Seong Gye's, or even Gil Tae Mi's Magnificent Eyeshadow, check out my hair piece. Look at how elegant it always look while I go about spying (er I mean gathering information to sell). Do you know how heavy this thing is? You talk about beard, my hair piece speaks for itself, good sir!

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LOL!

I wonder what happens when officials face balding. What holds their top-knot? I mean, modern people can go bald so I'm assuming ancient people can face the same thing too, right?

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That would make a good comedy sageuk on how a balding official try to hide his baldness... like he would pay women for their hair and try to make a wig initially until he realized he must face his baldness head on wakaka.. someone should write this

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@Peeps
That's why they wear a head-band. It hides a receding hairline!

As for the lack of hair in general, there is always 'fake' hair. My late grandmother, who was a Bibik - a female Peranakan, used to wear her hair in a top-knot. But she didn't have much hair in her later years, and had to resort to fake 'pony tails' - fake hair tied together, like a pony tail, which she somehow deftly added in to her original hair, in order to tie a top-knot. I suppose they had something similar then?

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*fakegasps*

You mean those headbands weren't to keep the forehead-perspiration out of their eyes?! *you learn something new everyday*

Haha. I wonder what the black market was like for hair back in those days. I mean, no self-honouring upperclassman would be seen/ would let his servant be seen obviously searching and buying hair, right?

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This show never stops to amaze me. I was worried things might slow down with the death of Gil Tae Mi and Hong In Bang. Boy was I wrong.
The writing for this show is damn good. The acting is good. The production (settings, costumes) is beautiful- the colors of the scenery are breathtaking, the costume colors blends so well with the characters, i can go on and on about the colors in the show. And on top of this, the fight scenes were coordinated so well. I mean how can a show be this perfect?!!

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They need to improve on the jails, though. The 'bars' are so wide apart, the prisoners could squeeze through. It is time Korean producers correct this oversight. This is the 21st century, dude.

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Hahaha. Did anyone notice that the wooden yoke they placed around JDJ's neck when he was in prison, was so big that I wondered why he didn't just rty to squeeze through it!

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u know.. i totally missed that hahahaha

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i thought they made it wide so ppl can throw things at him and it will reach him while inside
i was really sure the citizens would throw rock at him and hurt him - i was concerned but it ddint happen

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**crazyahjummafan**

I agree with you,,she has a very great perspective!! She is realy a general!! The conversation between her and LM,I admire her,,she is fearless!!

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Moo-Hyul: so what are we doing?
Boon Yi: The bearded ones are busy with important political stuff. We are role-playing the three investigators, so let's go find the missing villager.
Bang Won: I'm just following her around because I'm a lovesick puppy. You're my bodyguard, so you just tag along.
Moo Hyuk: okie dokie, off we go!

*Can we please have an alternate universe world where these three just solve crimes together?*

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Yeh, I second that. They are so cute together.
I can see how BW will be the risk taker, MH will fight off the baddies and BY will be the one to rally the people to help them.

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Actually there is a drama/movie on the making where the king/prince going around 'playing detective' with his loyal bodyguard.. but its not bangwon

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Another great episode. I love Moo Hyul he is so awesome as a loyal body guard. I also hope Banji and Yeon Hee will be able to let go of their painful past and get back together.

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thanx heads - children should be allowed to play more often

loved General BY even bf the subs were out i had a Jeanne d'Ark vibe from her after watching with subs the story also seem to put her in a General position im wondering if she will partake in battle later on

LM acknowledge of BY as part of her husband life mean tome that she will have her fight against LSG second wife more than with BY and probably will have her hands full with that
that way BW has his back covered

and last but not least YH & BJ WOW what a sensual scene
even in the face of danger they were so aware of one another LOVED that scene

kudos for the new arc and hopefully MH will get his wings soon

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I'm hoping for a Lady Min and Queen Sindeok battle instead of a nonsensical love triangle with Bong Yi.

I find it interesting that Bang-won's real mother (future queen Shinui) is said to have passed away. She should still be alive but I guess they didn't want to hire another actress and go through the trouble of creating a storyline for her.

Queen Sindeok was Seong-Gye's 2nd wife so technically she should have been a concubine and her children should not have been legal heirs to the throne. It's too bad the rules were not set in stone back then.

My warrior Moo-hyul! It better be a glorious transformation for making us wait this long.

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yup if her children have not been legal heirs , may be the first and second strife of prince could not have happen either.

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If sons of concubines cant be heirs to the throne, there would be alot of korean kings who wouldnt be kings.. and wasnt the purpose of concubines is to produce heirs if the main wife cant, to continue to bloodline?? But then,Lee seonggye has enough sons from his first wife for that anyway..

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That's the point. The children of concubines are just back-up for the Queen in case she can't produce any kids. And in the event that one of them is to be made Crown Prince, that particular person would be adopted by her. The sons of the Queen always come first.

I think this rule was only introduced by King SeJong... ...

And was probably (absolutely, for me) the bane of Gwanghae's political (and actual. In those times, was there a difference?) life.

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"Legal heirs" as in the order of ascension to the throne. The first wife's children first then the concubine's children after that.

Bang-won tried to avoid future feuding over the throne between his sons by going in order of their age. Fortunately his two older sons recognized their younger brother's talents and gave up the throne so Sejong can rule.

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thanx kiara i didnt know BW mother was still alive i thought Madam Kang was the queen
if the first queen die the second wife becomes the queen or there is no official queen?

i also wouldnt mind giving up the romantic relationship
as comrades BW & BY are well matched and it can stay that way for me

BW being not a good husband can be bad for BY on all fronts
as she herself said LM knows they are only working together towards the same purpose and to not misunderstand

even BW request that BY will use informal can be taken as a friendship request since she is the only one that does

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Bang-won's mother Lady Han (Queen Shinui) died in 1391. Lee Seong-Gye (King Taejo) became the first king of Joseon in 1392.

The Liaodong Expedition happened in 1388, the current time line of the drama so Lady Han was still alive (just not in this drama).

Even though she died a year before Seong-Gye took the throne she was still honored with the queen title.
Lady Kang (Queen Shindeok) became the official queen because she was alive when Seong-Gye took the throne.

Complicated ha?

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but greatly understood after your explanation

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Sorry but have you been watching past episodes? Bang Won and Boon Yi are IN love with eachoher. why would you want to change that? makes no sense.

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Awww Moohyul baby! Love to eatch him slowly but surely transform to a great dragon !

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... ...and through the indentations their writing made (via brushstroke?), he made out the words “Amnok River.”

No, not via brush but actual sticks of burnt wood, AKA charcoal sticks. Sort of like harder, black chalks - so the 'indentations' claim isn't all that ridiculous.

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I was about to point that out as well. Before that Jukyrong mentioned that there was charcoal and paper so they used that to write.

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But didn't they write with a brush? or simply 'paint' the paper with ink? technically there should not be any thing shown on the other paper.. no? I'm confused.

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They usually use a brush and ink. But if you watch the ep, Jukryong said that they used charcoal to write messages to communicate to each other. Hence, he could trace out what they wrote...so convenient.

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Maybe you're confused because you're thinking that charcoal becomes ink and they'd have brought their own brush? (And probably because you didn't watch the episode. If you did, you'd have realised that those words JukRyong traced look nothing like brush written words.)

But no. Even though charcoal IS /may be a component used in ink blocks (which they have to grind on an ink stone to get ink), charcoal =/= ink and vice versa. When JukRyong said charcoal, he meant actual burnt wooden sticks. And those things leave imprints (so conveniently as crazyahjummafan points out).

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Thanks for the explanation. I watched the drama first before reading the recap, and I missed that one. Now it makes so much sense.

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actually quite liked lady min and would prefer if she has more scenes - also preferably outside of her interactions with bangwon. not too vested in the love triangle they seem to be somewhat cooking up, but i'm interested in her as a woman and character and her involvement in the future nation.
they made her smart but we never really see the show utilising her intelligence. she mentioned general choi young would never agree to cooperate with jung do jeon in passing - and the drama showed later that this is true but nobody really acknowledges what she has said and suspected. i think it's impressive because when it comes down to it, she isn't part of the actual plan for the new joseon and essentially she doesn't know anything because bangwon tells her nothing but still made the correct deduction.
she's potentially useful but nobody is using her probably because she'd only work to help bangwon because it benefits herself (but hey, in the grand scheme of things why would it matter when things get done?)

also, i like cho young and her army of female spies - found it interesting. both stealthy and using their feminine wiles to obtain information people wouldn't have known otherwise and with knowledge comes power xD

/rant

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No weak women in this drama.

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didn't say there is any ;) even the smallest of the female roles have some strength in them, moohyul's grandmother included xD lady kang also came in with a force~!

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also Gab-Boon hope to see more of her

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yes! i want more Gab Boon!

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+1

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+1

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Lady Min was a force to be reckon with. She should have been one of the dragons but I guess they needed to balance out the historical figures and the fictional characters.

This should be Bong Yi's time to shine since she is one of the dragons. Lady Min has limited screen time but she makes good use of it. She is straightforward and frank. If she is jealous, she knows how to hide it well like a true political savvy wife. Bong Yi doesn't back down either and I like that a lot about her.

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yeb! i agree with you....even tho BoonYi speaks politely with Lady Min but in her eyes like.....( I fancy your husband and i want him,so what? hahaha)

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I interpreted Boon yi to be more like "I understand my place in this society which is why I told your husband "no" and why he settled for your political marriage. I also know my place in his heart. "

And I love that her knowing where she stands in Bong Won's heart is why she could so confidently and haughtily tell Jongryul he "better watch that *ish in the future". lol

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Love this show!

The first thing I did after wachting this Episode was opening Wikipedia and learn a little about the history of Korea :D

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I'm so in love with Boonyi, it's ridiculous.

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When BW straightforwardly 'spoiled' Jukryeong to make him apologize to BY, I'm afraid that in the future, Jukryeong will use BW-BY relationship to take down BW.

Or probably that wont happen, since the writer tends to suprise us.

I guess I watched too many makjang drama lol.

(but, tbvh, it concerns me now)

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i also think that it is a possibility - why bring her to the confrontation
it seems to me that if needed Jukryeong will use BY to try and manipulate BW

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BY general BY will you fight side to side with general LSG with your small army? will we see that?

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*by

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I have a question:
Why did the old lady, who is from the red seal organisation, tell Jukryong to give BW the info about the Amnok River? I thought that they are on the side of the bad guys.

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Either to confuse them or to relay the information.. we dont know what their motives are or whose side she is in, aside from the fact that she is part of those spies sith the red symbol

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I like it that they are not revealing much about this secret organization. It keeps us guessing. We'd eat this up and spit it out if it has anything to do with history.

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I seriously didn't expect to see King U but I thought he should make an appearance.
I think it's a good thing that no one knows who his real father is. He doesn't take after Shin Don or King Gongmin as far as ruling and contributing to his country.

I just realized that the current emperor of Ming used to be a member of the Red Turban that attacked Goryeo and was rebelled by Choi Young and Lee Seong-Gye. His demands sounds more like revenge.

One of the biggest problem with this Liaodong Expedition is that it happened during the monsoon season but its always shot during winter even in other sageuks. Maybe they should have shot it first back in August. Not only for the benefit of the story but for the actors also. I felt bad for the actors getting all trenched in the freezing cold.

Thank you Heads for the recaps! You are definitely on Santa's good list.

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About darn time!

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I am not really invested in Bang Won's and Bong Yi's romance. I am curious though to see how Da Kyung and Bong Yi will continue to interact with each other. Am also more curious about Yeon Hee and Bang Ji's romance or lack of it.

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Then there is Sambong who is going to need a wife when he ascend to his prime minister throne lol.

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Dont know if i am looking forward to Sambong's romance hahahaha.

Is he really going to get married? What happened to his real family after he was killed?

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I don't think his real wife Lady Choi is going to be a part of this show.

Yeon Hee was Sambong's woman/wife according to TWDR.

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I remembered reading about this in one of the comments. I momentarily forgot about it because i was so into watching Yeon Hee and Bang Ji's scenes together. Poor Bang Ji though.

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When it comes to marriage we (21st century people) always think of romance first but it was a rare case when it comes to marriage in this era. Arrange marriage for political reasons, stability and power etc were the norms.

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That song "What's love got to do with it" came to mind lol.

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actually i dont want them to interact that much

BY is a leader one of the dragons that created Joseon
she is needed at the front togetehr with the other dragons leading the commoners

LM is very important later on in the court and palace life in securing the decent of Sejong the great

they have very different jobs

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That King U is such a wrecked man! Thanks for the recap, Heads ^^

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Biguok temple works better than Hwasadan when it comes to spying.

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The taking of Yeon Hee as a "hostage" seemed improvised on the spot to me because if it had been planned, they wouldn't have hid in the closet in the first place.

The writing on the next piece of paper could have been ink bleed through (but oh no, I'm wrong because they showed EyeShadow No. 2 shading over the paper to get the residual image. I'm too lazy to Google what they were writing with during the time period.

Cho-young's loyalty to Yeon Hee is a bit surprising since every Saegeuk I've ever watched had everyone betraying everyone else. But even ifvthere's no personal attachment, Cho-youn's loyalty may be considered being a good leader and knowing she needs to give loyalty/trust to get it in return from her agents.

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Can anyone recall who else actually received the letter with the symbol other than Jukryong and Lee in Gyeom?

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I recall little Ddang Sae found that letter on the dead body. But he didn't reveal it to anyone yet.

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HeadsNo2: "In Brushstrokes?" hahaha!! True that! So funny...

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