Guysssss! The King isn't useless after all; I was getting worried. Phew!

I was glad that our suspicions about Tae's involvement with the monk proved to be true. It looks like he has been working on this plan for quite some time. Seeing how the Queen Dowager unraveled, I can't see how she will escape this (except through some master mind plot of PGW).

Must Park Gye-Won be this smart? 😂 I would have loved it if he had spent at least one episode figuring out the truth behind the monk.

I really love where the writers went with PGW. Seeing him protect the throne and go against the Queen Dowager was beautiful.

Ugh, I felt bad for Ttong-geum. I hope she survives

Yay for Tae! The show strikes a balance of smartness in all the characters. I feel this was a much needed move. Tae can't simply trust PGW because he now sides with Yoo Jung. PGW needs to prove he's on their side, though he isn't all that innocent either to be forgiven easily. He remians the person behind Tae's mother and Yoo jung's family's demise. Though he didn't do all that on his own.

Btw good point on the comparison between Queen Inyoung and Tae using the same method. Queen Inyoung played out a smart move but thanks to the king, it was wasted. Tae at least does not follow in his father's footsteps. That's good enough.

I'd been feeling half-hearted about this show and hadn't gotten around to it last week. So imagine my surprise when I finally watched everything together this week. What a relief to know the king isn't as incompetent as I thought and is also scheming.

I loved where they went with the dowager's character. She didn't end up as another queen dowager who only schemes against her daughter-in-law. Her decision to grab the very power which had isolated her and made her miserable 👏. Loved the confrontation with Gye-won too. I'm excited about this show again!

Longing for acknowledgement and love does not explain the queen dowager's cruelty and brutality. She sacrificed her life until now to be Gye-won's chess piece, but her current fury and determination to rule her world have made her cold, ruthless, and totally unsympathetic. I will be glad when she is deposed and sent away and no longer takes up major screen time.

I knew the King was working with the monk! Yay for him having a plan. What will PGW do next?

I find the Queen Dowager quite compelling. She's lived such a lonely life, with no chance of a family or life of her own. Good drama with her and PGW this week.

Honestly, I was like PLOT TWIST, lol. When I thought he would die, I said to myself, well damn, and then at the end when he got up, I said well damn. These were unexpected developments and I dug it. Yes King, prove me wrong.

The more I see PGW unfold, the more my respect for him grows. He is a very good example of a worthy antihero/foil. He wasn’t blind after all, he knows why he descended to this path and is ready to damn anything that injures his cause which by the way is one justification I haven’t seen in a saguek character well expressed since Queen Seondeok’s Mishil. Progressively, I am left in admiration.
The king was thinking big after all. I hope PGW will go unscathed from the Queen Dowager’s brilliant plot.

While I pity the Dowager, I can’t help but praise her brilliant move. So many tyrants in history wouldn’t have arose if the Internal Court rose to the occasion, except she is on the villainous side. I guess Bloody Heart is making a statement to the now passed members of the Internal Court.
Lady Cho will be the undoing of definitely herself and/and not that of her family. Girl, you do not learn at all, do you?
Ttonggeum really needs to work on speed, when it is needed. Who walks dreamily, gazing at every feature on the escape route when their life depends on it? I was even thinking she would be caught at the end of the tunnel, but no, she was caught in transit. Work on your speed, woman.

Even though it seems like the Queen Dowager is walking into the trap the King has set for her, I'm sure the King was not expecting her to descend to this level, so how he will have to deal with the aftermath of this unstable move of his. And for someone to pull such a move, she is ready to descend further to protect herself till she has inflicted the damage she intends to. How far will she go, though?

the plot twist was quite delicious i must say and was not expecting it AT ALL. It Just goes to show that the king is excellent at playing the long game. Lining all his players up so perfectly that everyone falls into his trap. cant wait for next week!

This show is so good.

I love how every character has moments of brilliance and others where they fall short or are ruled by their emotions. And of course, as I've mentioned before, I really enjoy the way the female characters are shown to be as complex, intelligent, and calculating as the men. How satisfying to hear the Queen Dowager, while standing next to the palanquin she defiantly set fire to, scoff at how men (like the Left Minister himself) always assumed "delicate flowers" couldn't possibly be crafty enough to be treasonous. I can't fully embrace her power hungry antics, but I do appreciate that I know exactly what brought her to this point and it's not simple greed or a desire for revenge. She's grasping at whatever agency can be afforded to her in a time when women by and large had no real control over their own lives.

I also have a tiny bit of empathy for Yeon-hee because the King did blatantly manipulate her for his own gain, but it was still satisfying to see him quietly and fiercely admonish her for attempting to murder Consort Park. (As an aside, I don't understand why the King refers to Jung as Consort Park in private, not only because it's not her real name, but also because it would just remind him time and again of the Left Minister's scheme.)

I did start to wonder at one point if the King could have been working with the monk, but was still impressed with the big reveal. I was also glad that Tae came up with his own plan when everyone around him--including his beloved Jung--controls what information reaches his ears. It was a risky plan, but a clever and necessary one.

Finally, I like the evolution of Gye Won's character. At first he seemed to be a generic minister always in search of an angle, but now it's easier to view him as a human being with many conflicting desires. I like the tentative partnership he and Jung share; even if they are allies by necessity rather than choice, he clearly respects her and I see her starting to slowly value his opinion without there being a sense that she has forgotten what he did to her family.

These episodes were intense and impressive. I was flabbergasted at the Queen Dowager's crazy thirst for power. On one hand, it wasn't that surprising to see her change when she knew she was no longer useful. Fight or die. It certainly made her character more interesting. It was just wild seeing how far she went. She was mesmerizing in that ultra fancy outfit.

Glad that Tae has his own plan! Wasn't expecting him to have a connection with the monk. I was a little suspicious of Eunuch Jung when he suggested the Jeolla location to Jung. It was mighty convenient that he happened to have the exact badge needed to go there that no one else would notice missing.

My perception of Gye Won has changed. His character is more complex than I thought. I thought he used the country as his excuse, but he seems to truly care for it instead of being a power-hungry elite.

Felt terrible for Ddong-geum, but I wish she had escaped to the bamboo village way earlier. She can't handle the palace politics and manipulative characters. She is Jung's weakness.

Good point about the parallel between Tae and his mother. So heartwrenching. I hope he and Jung survives all this.

So had LT been taking small doses of poison all along to build up his body's immunity? Perhaps he will die in the end, leaving PGW and YJ to take care of the young prince (her son with LT).