Under the Queen’s Umbrella: Episodes 9-10

by alathe

The competition comes to a boil as the princes battle for ascendency. Our heroine is busy doing what she always does: working behind the scenes to keep her children alive. But, with the Dowager Queen preparing for her next ploy, it’s getting harder than ever to stay one step ahead.

EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP

Fresh from her fabulous mic-drop of gifting the Dowager Queen a poisonous plant, Hwa-ryeong realizes her mistake. Never make a dramatic gesture in a Joseon drama. Not when your opponent lives and breathes drama. With gleeful abandon, the Dowager Queen takes to her bed, frailly lamenting that Hwa-ryeong has poisoned her. The King knows it’s nonsense. Despite this, he can’t punish her for plotting to murder Seongnam — not now it’s her word against Hwa-ryeong’s.

Faced with this, our heroine decides to step up her plotting game! First, it’s teatime with the newly-emboldened Consort Tae, where it becomes clear that Bogum’s chances are bound up with their mutual mother-in-law. Hwa-ryeong innocently lets drop that the Dowager Queen is ill. Sure enough, Consort Tae whips up a plate of porridge and goes to curry favor with her ailing patron. It’s super effective! The Dowager Queen gives her a hefty ring and an even heftier rumor in return. (More on the latter, later.) Consort Hwang, who peers in just at the wrong moment, is appalled to see the ex-servant she always bullied all buddied up with her erstwhile ally.

Hwa-ryeong’s calendar is packed with all manner of intrigue. Next up, it’s the Chief State Councilor. Enemies they may be, but there’s one thing they have in common: the Dowager Queen tried to frame them both for murder. Hwa-ryeong remarks that he was meant to take the fall for Seongnam’s death. Soon, the day will come when they may need to work together. A tense meeting between the Dowager Queen, Consort Hwang, and the Chief Councilor puts the final nail in the coffin. The teacup metaphors have turned, and the Dowager Queen’s loyalties have seemingly shifted from Uiseong to Bogum. With Team Evil splitting at the seams, Hwa-ryeong takes the Minister for War to one side, encouraging him to remain neutral in the upcoming conflict.

Meanwhile, the taekhyeon proceeds apace. Back on Wanwol Island, Seongnam’s suspicions are growing about the King’s old friend, Gyeong-woo. He’s making a tidy profit selling clams on the village workers’ behalf — but where is all that money disappearing? Beside him, Cheong-ha frolics, delighted to be included. She’ll happily buy counting sticks for the adorable village children if it means Seongnam will wait for her at the ferry. (I didn’t wait for you! Seongnam insists.) (He totally waited for her.) Taking over the boys’ room, she merrily joins Gyeong-woo’s rapidly swelling household — whilst Seongnam and Bogum wordlessly set up camp on the poor guy’s floor.

Battered and starving after his run-in with bandits, Shimso drags himself back to the palace, ready to resign the competition. But Consort Ko has other ideas. Under the watchful eye of the palace guards, she loudly shuns her son, proclaiming him to be no more than a simple beggar. Thrusting a jeweled norigae into his hands, she demands he continue, even if he shatters every bone in his body. Haggard and distraught, Shimso manages several steps before collapsing.

Luckily, he’s rescued by Hwa-ryeong, who treats him to his first meal in days. It’s not long before Consort Ko comes crashing in, livid. How dare Hwa-ryeong interfere? As for Shimso — she regrets he was ever born. Thrown from the queen’s quarters, she sobs and rages, then vents her revenge by rooting through Gyeseong’s rooms. Here, she discovers the hidden portrait. Why not wreck the lives of two children while she’s at it? It’s not long before Gyeseong’s secret finds its way into the hands of Consort Hwang.

Hwa-ryeong returns to check on Shimso. He is hanging by the neck. She cuts him down just in time to save his life, but he remains unconscious. When a penitent Consort Ko returns to his bedside, Hwa-ryeong shows every grace and kindness imaginable. Till the last, she says, Shimso was clutching the norigae — the only gift his mother ever gave him. However, when Shimso wakes, it is under the far gentler gaze of Hwa-ryeong. She shows him a special drinking cup: a gyeyeongbae. When seven-tenths full, it holds liquid just fine. Add more, and it all drains away. A life needn’t be filled to the brim to be content. Shimso never wanted to be crown prince, and now he can admit it without guilt. As to whether or not he’ll be able to forgive his mother… that might take time.

Miles away, Gyeseong finally tracks down SEO HAM-SEOK (Tae Won-seok), the man they are meant to bring to the palace. He’s allegedly a monk now, though his religiosity is questionable: Gyeseong finds him mid-fistfight with a neighbor, having seduced his wife. It gets worse. Some well-targeted snooping reveals that Ham-seok has been busy in exile; his rooms are packed to bursting with military tomes, maps, and battle plans — all the raw ingredients for a coup.

Uiseong falls back on his mother’s favored diplomatic strategy: remorseless bloodlust. In zero seconds flat, he’s stabbed the man with whom Ham-seok was fighting. Ham-seok is promptly arrested for murder. After deftly revealing that he was the one who framed him, Uiseong offers him an out — as long as he returns with him to the palace. It’s all very expedient, provided you’re cool with a little homicide! However, it’s a mistake to think you’re the only one in Joseon capable of scheming big. Turns out, Ham-seok is in cahoots with some familiar faces… Master Toji and Physician Kwon.

Back at the palace, Hwa-ryeong continues to play whack-a-mole with her children’s indiscretions. This time, it’s Muan. He’s finally admitted his adorably flustered feelings for CHO-WOL (Jeon Hye-won), a young gisaeng in training. Muan moves fast; Hwa-ryeong finds the two in bed together, looking markedly less clothed than last time. Muan is given a stern motherly lecture. Cho-wol is given a warning. It’s clear, says Hwa-ryeong, that Muan only wants Cho-wol for his concubine, not his wife. Is that truly the life she covets? Serene and unruffled, Cho-wol repeats that she’s content with whatever form their relationship takes.

It seems, says Court Lady Shin, that the two women are fated to collide. Hwa-ryeong was once friends with Cho-wol’s mother. Moreover, Cho-wol is the reason for the existence of Hyewolgak — a sanctuary Hwa-ryeong founded for struggling women. This explains why Cho-wol called out Hwa-ryeong for her hypocrisy: didn’t she once say that regardless of gender or social status, people should be treated the same? But, there’s the rub — Hwa-ryeong is willing to be a hypocrite for her children.

Elsewhere, Bogum consults his conscience, and finds it fractionally louder than his ambition. If Seongnam thinks that Gyeong-woo is ripping off an entire village for personal gain — well, it might not be a great idea to put him in charge of national taxes. And so, in the name of truth, honor, and justice, the two princes… rifle through his belongings while Cheong-ha stands lookout. But, a master of subterfuge Seognam is not; he’s caught hanging halfway out of a window. Still, they got what they came for: Gyeong-woo’s ledgers.

It’s only by working together that they hit upon the truth. Gyeong-woo wasn’t exploiting the village. He was helping them pay off their creditors and establish financial independence. Why not come to the palace, offers Seongnam, and implement his theories on a grand scale? Gyeong-woo smiles. Turns out, he knew who the princes were to begin with… and he’s happy to say, they’ve got their father’s smarts. The four prepare to journey back — though, not before a tender moment between Cheong-ha and Seongnam. With her usual brand of brazen charm, Cheong-ha keeps it plain and shameless: she likes Seongnam. Normally, her heart thumps weakly. Around him? It beats in regular time.

Little does Seongnam know, an absolute smorgasbord of nasty rumors await him back home. Thanks to that whispered word from the Dowager Queen to Consort Tae, the palace is saturated with talk about Seongnam being Hwa-ryeong’s illegitimate child. This rings especially cruel when we learn who was to blame for Seongnam’s exile. You guessed it: the mother-in-law from hell. When the Dowager Queen deemed his birth unlucky, Hwa-ryeong’s infant was ripped from her arms.

On the other side of the taekhyeon, Gyeseong pleads with Uiseong: they cannot in good conscience bring a seditionist back to the palace. Uiseong is predictably chill about the whole prospect — his entire motto is “victory tastes sweeter paired with horrible collateral damage.” Gyeseong rides back at furious speed, determined to outpace him. However, alone and unarmed, they are ambushed by Consort Hwang’s men. Gyeseong is knocked unconscious and strung up by the neck, next to a forged suicide note.

Meanwhile, Consort Hwang tells the King that — shock, horror, and gender nonconformity! — Gyeseong has a shameful secret. Moreover, she has proof, in the form of a portrait. However, Consort Ko has leveled up in compassion since she last spoke to Consort Hwang. Forcible outing followed by murder isn’t really on the menu for her anymore. Turns out, she spoke to Hwa-ryeong. The painting has been swapped for an unremarkable picture of a tiger. Gyeseong wakes, injured but alive, next to their mother. Their first thought is of Ham-seok, but Hwa-ryeong says the King already knows. Right now, Gyeseong must withdraw from the competition — and stay closeted for as long as they live.

Uiseong refines his plan on the fly, denouncing Ham-seok as a rebel before the King. Whilst the King considers it in poor taste to bring a traitor to the heart of the palace, it’s enough to win him a spot in the final. A warmer reception is granted to Gyeong-woo, who is asked which prince he deems worth of kingship. In honor of their teamwork, he gives both Bogum and Seongnam his seal of approval. Three princes are left in the taekhyeon.

Afterwards, Hwa-ryeong tidies up a few loose ends. Consort Hwang, much to Consort Tae’s delight, is demoted to Fourth Junior Consort. A whispered word from Hwa-ryeong assures her that sparing her life was deliberate… and contingent on her keeping quiet about Gyeseong. And then, the masterstroke. She does a little forgery of her own. Making it look as though COURT LADY NAM (Lee Jung-eun) faked Gyeseong’s supposed suicide note, she draws in the Dowager Queen via her lackey. Caged in — by her own tactics, no less — all she can do is listen when Hwa-ryeong announces she has an offer to make.

The final stage of the taekhyeon commences. The King will not be judging it. Nor will his senior officials. Instead, the Confucian scholars of Sungkyunkwan are being gathered to come to a decision… and they won’t be allowed out until they’ve made up their minds.

There’s an irony at the heart of this series: in attacking Hwa-ryeong with every weapon in her political arsenal, the Dowager Queen has forged the perfect successor. I love it. All of Hwa-ryeong’s latest tactics come straight from her mother-in-law — from blackmail, to forgery, to sabotage. And naturally, it’s different: there’s a compassionate core to everything Hwa-ryeong does — for everyone, not just her children. Still, that’s what makes it all the more delightful that her methods are shaped more often than not by her enemies. There’s a great deal the Dowager Queen might admire about her, if only she could acknowledge it.

This has been a plotty, well-paced series of episodes. I adore everything about the island trio: watching Seongnam and Bogum’s teamwork evolve from grudging to heartfelt has been a delight — and Cheong-ha has owned my entire heart since her very first cheeky grin. (Plus, does anyone else have a soft spot for the wide-eyed antics of Consort Tae? Watching her is like a lucky dip of hilarious expressions.) It’s great to see Gyeseong getting more plot, though I have reservations about how little narrative agency they’re given in relation to their queerness. It’s all very well to depict historical discrimination, but what about Gyeseong’s own thoughts on their gender, or any complicated feelings they might have about Hwa-ryeong’s efforts to shield them from the world? Still, I have a feeling the show may be building up to something in that regard — I certainly hope so. Here’s to more scheming next week… may it be ever more outrageous!

 
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