No amount of slo-mo staring and love ballads can make me ship this romance as long as Jae-yi is an engaged woman. Especially not when she and Sung-on were both so happy to marry each other. Jae-yi is living a self-fulfilling prophecy. She was framed for having another lover, and yet will be cheating with Hwan. Hwan would be stealing his best friend's fiancée, except as he coldly told Sung-on, he has no friends.

Of course to eliminate our romantic rival, Show will make Sung-on betray his friend just like the letter prophesied, which again is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hwan ostracizing Sung-on, not trusting him, accusing him of being disloyal is why Sung-on will turn against him. The only character I feel sorry for in this drama is Sung-on. Hwan's "I trust him (Soon-dol)" was a stab to the heart.

Hwan's blatant favoritism for eunuch Soon-dol is going to get Jae-yi killed. It's only a matter of time before the evil ministers find out that she lives in his secret room. Finally we meet Jae-yi's adoptive brother Young, whose story I was most curious about why he'd lied about Jae-yi killing their family and why his hair had turned white like the Head Shaman's.

Why aren't they investigating the Song family? If they find out what the Song family did, then they'd find out why the Head Shaman wanted to destroy them. If Prince Myungan was born two months early, then I suspect that he must not be the king's biological son, so wonder if Right State Councilor Jo knows. Thanks a bunch for the weecap, @alathe!

Thank you for the recap, @alathe! So lively as usual!

Loved the exhumation!! And the post-exhumation night out at the illicit restaurant! I love how out of the 4, Myung-jin would be perceived as the highest ranking, followed by Soon-dol (as the personal eunuch of the Crown Prince), and then Scholar Park. I loved how Sung-On and Jae-yi are sort of on the same page - despite how they felt they were looked down upon by the other, the most important thing is to save a life. Please let Sung-On join the Scooby Gang!

I love Jae-yi so much! And Garam! And Myung-jin! I'm still lukewarm with the prince. I think I just feel so protective of Jae-yi. When he's nice to her (especially the scene of him giving her the tangerine), I love him. When he disbelieves her, I want to slap him and stomp on him. I feel rage. I scoffed when he said he perhaps trusted her from the start. I get his paranoia is at work against his trust for Jae-yi, but I just wish he didn't tell her to her face that he trusted her. Being framed for her family's murder and having a conspiracy rip her reputation to shreds, she desperately needs someone to hear her and believe her. That trust means a lot more to her than it would mean to anyone else in the drama. Don't hurt my Jae-yi like that!!

Also speaking about trust and hurt. I wasn't that much of a Sung-on fan, but ugh, I really felt it hurt when Hwan was like "I decided that when I became CP, I won't have any friends" and then "Soon-dol's the person that I trust". Sung-On felt like the drama heroine who gets dumped in the first episode of a drama by a crappy boyfriend who decided he could do better. Sung-On, go be friends with our lovely Myung-jin!

I don't think the CP is fit to be king if he can't handle a threatening letter and if he can't take care not to put his treasured eunuch right in the bulls-eye of lurking enemies. Some of these ministers aren't hiding their disdain that much. Maybe he should keep a closer eye on them.

Also the problem with crown prince heroes is that I really don't want our free-spirited heroines to have to live in such dangerous and stifling environments, unless the drama takes place in a fake korean-esque country.

I loved our detective team! I knew as soon as Hwan started describing the person that it was him, but that did not detract from my enjoyment while watching his slow-motion hero walk as he joined the others!

Obviously I believe Jae-i, but eesh, the whole thing certainly looks suspicious. Is her adoptive brother’s last message admitting that he was in love with her? Even if it was a totally innocent relationship on her side, he might have felt differently, and that would look even worse for her. I hate that the little boy she saved grew up to have such a hand in her undoing. And if he was in love with her, or even thought of her as a sister, what could have convinced him to accuse her like that? A threat to her life? Or his? On the other hand, he could easily have been murdered and the whole accusation and last message faked. I wonder if Jae-i will have a chance to look at the handwriting. The gray hair is also suspicious. The shaman’s hair just started turning gray a month ago, and Shim Young’s hair looked pretty gray also. Were they exposed to the same thing? So many questions. I hope our investigators get to the bottom of at least some of them soon.

I loved the conversation between our two leads when they were remembering her father. Jae-i didn’t quite get to use Hwan’s broad shoulder to cry on, but he still gave her the space she needed to mourn, at least for a little while. I guess there was no way it was going to be smooth sailing the whole time when it comes to building trust between our leads, but we were making such good progress that I let myself hope a bit. But Hwan is so on guard all the time that if he thinks his trust has been broken it will take something definitive to earn it back.

I’m feeling bad for Seong-on in a way I wasn’t before these episodes. Obviously his life hasn’t been disrupted to nearly the same extent, but he has so much pressure on him from all sides. It’s easy to forget sometimes that an association with bad luck or with tragic situations can result in everyone thinking that everything you touch comes to ruin, even if none of it is your fault. That said, Hwan is such a beautiful, proud, haunted softie that there is no competition between them for me.

@alathe Love the witty recap. Fits the tone of the series quite well.
There's lot to discuss. But did anyone notice the FL's childhood friend/supposed lover is Kim Woo-suk, aka Shin-Won from The Forbidden Marriage? I'm trying to forget the parallels between the shows, but...

Most ludicrous moment when the assailant was unmasked:

"Aren't you the Shaman from the Office of Shamanism?"

I actually laughed out loud and replayed it an extra couple of times. It reminded me of the Monty Python sketch, "No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

I still want to like this but am pretty unforgiving about elements that make no sense. I don't understand how the deductions arrived at represent the 'four stages of life' (which stage of life involves being stabbed post-mortem?) and the nonsense uttered by the obsessed shaman at the altar made no sense whatsoever (how do k-dramas get away with these over-simplistic explanations of gods, spirits and the occult?). If we believe she is for real we might as well believe the evil ghost is real (which so far we have not). I was hoping the detecting and deduction process would be something we can follow and possibly even get ahead of but it's lost on me so far (possibly a translation thing).

What I am enjoying is the Hwan/Jae-yi relationship, and now as Eunuch Go she has a separate tentative relationship with Sung-on, who is revealed to be as equally lonely and sad as the Prince. I'm glad Sung-on has been shown to be more human this week, it was definitely needed. I agree with panshel - Jae-yi and Hwan are behaving despicably, allowing him to think she murdered her family, had a lover, is missing/dead, and confided in the CP rather than him ... she is HIS fiancee after all, and he is still carrying around his wedding documentation and pining for her while she gets up close and personal in narrow alleys with Hwan during curfew.

Has either one of them considered him at all? Well Jae-yi cannot ignore his dilemma any longer, and now they have successfully joined forces to solve a part of the mystery, she will find it harder to put the knowledge of his loyalty and devotion out of her mind. This is going to force her into looking at him again as a man and an ally, rather than someone to hide from or a competitor in crime theory. He may even become involved with Myung-jin and Ga-ram if Scholar Park pulls back from the detection gang out of jealousy and distrust of Jae-yi (and really, I know he's the CP but he's got a nerve). If that happens it will be an interesting dynamic, with Sung-on getting hands-on and Hwan fuming away on the fringes.

--These episodes were very engaging, and I liked the way we shifted from romance moments to mystery moments pretty smoothly, sometimes even in the same scene. I was frustrated with how quickly--and with so little evidence-- the CP went from mooning over Jae-yi to deciding she's a murderous psychopath after all, but I agree that it was completely in keeping with what we know of his character. Dude has major, and extremely understandable, trust issues. Nevertheless, I'm hoping he'll take just a moment to consider the fact that if Jae-yi truly killed her entire family so she could run off with her lover she wouldn't have risked her life to enter the prince's inner circle in order to beg for his help in solving said murder. One line in a suicide note--which only indicates that this man was smitten, not that Jae-yi returned his feelings--is a very weak rebuttal to the reality Hwan has witnessed for the past month.

--I really like Jae-yi. She's smart and impetuous when she believes she has a moral imperative to seek out the truth, but she's also a generally happy and loyal person who wants to live her life fully. There's no reason Hwan *wouldn't* fall for her. He's likeable, too, but obviously more guarded and reserved (for good reason), so I haven't fully warmed to him yet.

--I do feel for Sung-on because it's so easy to see the alternate future where he and Jae-yi were happily married and the CP was just the monarch they respectfully honored and served. And it's tragic for both Hwan and Sung-on that in the end, princes and kings simply can't have real friendships. The power differential will always rear its head, and reciprocal loyalty will never be possible.

--I think Ga-ram and her master are cute together. In fact, when Myung-jin was laughing over how adorable she is, I thought maybe he had already figured out Ga-ram is a woman. But when he expressed anticipation for his future marriage, I abandoned that idea.

--I was a little concerned that the Shaman's flashback scene illustrated the entrance of a real supernatural element into the primary mystery. I would rather we stayed grounded in a world where anything can be pinned on a ghost or spirit.

--In his next role, I hope Kim Woo-suk is a) not a rapist and b) gets the girl.

I feel like they cracked the case but I don't understand why they need to decode the last letter when they already cracked it using the almanac. Or is it that the carved letters are slightly different from the almanac's?

Not Kim Ki-doo. Does he really have to be the head of the assassins? But, I'm glad he's one cool fighter. That last move he used on Sung-on was chef's kiss.

How I wish Cho Bae-ho was in-laws with Lee Bang-won. Let me see how the maternal relatives will have more movement than the royal relatives.

Observations about this show thus far:

1. One of the evildoers in this one appears to have gone to my alma mater, UC Berkeleysang or least been in the San Francisco Bayhae in the 1960s, because he/she has an extraordinary knowledge of hallucinogenics and psychedelics.

2. Speaking of villains, whenever the evil minister appears, I really start losing interest. Yet he’s probably going to be there throughout the series, isn’t he?

3. I might have felt the way they are setting up this love triangle was ridiculous—why would the female lead remain in love with her betrothed who she only has just met, when the much better looking crown prince is obviously enamored of her and has taken care of her for days? EXCEPT that in MY blooming youth, my parents arranged my marriage with my wife before I met her sending a crude etch-a-sketch drawing of my profile, and then I sent her some sneakers, and that was apparently enough to have her remain committed to me even when the soon-to-be movie star George Clooney developed a crush on her. Fortunately the drawing emphasized my high cheek bones and strong jaw line.

4. Instead of the Blooming Youth, I would have preferred the original title: Forbidden Marriage: The Prequel

Really enjoyed the scenes of Jae Yi and Hwan~~!! I like all the sleuthing parts. There were some good, poignant moments too.
Totally made me tear up when Jae Yi and Hwan talked about her father aka his master. Glad she had some time to grieve and think of her father fondly and hear how great he was from another person's perspective.

LOVED that she validated Hwan's feelings about the ghost letter and fiercely gave him her support!

Myung Jin's story endeared me. He wasn't bad before we got to know more about him. He's wacky and harmless. He's the odd one out in his family and he gets all the abuse. He's the happiest when he's investigating and solving mysteries. I'm glad he is doing something he likes so I don't mind his extra wide smile.

I've seen Kim Ki Doo in quirky roles often so it's nice to see him in a serious one. A character with action and secrets.

I am liking up the development in the story so far. The whole mystery with the ghost letter, and the killing of Jae Yi's family, the appearance of the Shaman , the prophecy all of it is intriguing. I wish the show doesnt make it look like a ghost or spirit's evil doing, because if that happens, that just takes away the whole story of this drama.

I liked all the scenes between Hwan and Jae Yi. They have such a good chemistry and the scenes are so warm to watch. I loved the way he threw the tangerine and he keeps on giving her fruits. Hehe. The token of love is in the FRUITS! Hwan is like "Eat healthy, Be healthy by my side" is his way of spending more time with Jae Yi. I am also so in awe that he took care of her the whole time.

I was a bit furious with Hwan's anger when reading the suicide note, because he again has lost the trust in her, despite her telling him of everything. However, I believe this shift in trust is needed for Hwan to fully believe Jae Yi and build up the rapport even further. Hwan is slowly falling for Jae Yi and he needs to address his trust issues first before his confession. But his confession will take even more time, as Sung On is still in the picture regardless.

As usual, essay warning)))

There's a lot to unpack this week, namely the return of sudden tonal shifts – with vengeance! Personally I'm more into this show for mysteries solving and palace scheming than over-the-top saccharine romance that came too soon too fast (I'm now confident director simply lacks subtlety in such scenes, coupled with huge enthusiasm about the pairing that clouds his artistic vision), so I liked these 2 eps more. Ep5 was particularly good as we had 4 out of 5 leads together for a while and Garam-Myungjin didn't feel as comedy relief and out of place as usual... And then 6th kinda undone that. Argh! Also need to mention action part – now that's the thing PD clearly excels at. That fight with shaman in a tiny room was masterpiece – creative, badass, pragmatic – Sung On dragging the mother and baby out of harm's way by pulling blanket they were on! - and positively claustrophobic. Even realism wasn't forgotten this time – Jaeyi ONLY managed to somewhat fight her opponent off BAREHANDED because they were both women of petite stature. She still lost in the end which is great imo because I was legit worried of writer Mary Sue-ing her too much. Shamanism Bureau fight was cool too, tho less impressive. But the sequence of retelling shaman's crimes, wow! It was styled like some retro martial arts movie – with grainy colorless filter, giant flaming red characters for the emphasis and such. Didn't expect anything like that in youth sageuk at all *claps* Can we keep this up, please? Along with other cool stuff like Hwan's safe unlocking – that was more thrilling than some heist movies lol! - and that shot of him walking away with Jaeyi in his arms, beautiful and and somber sunrise (and very unhappy Sung On) behind them...

Also, I DON'T like drama's OSTs – not the instrumentals, they're fabulous, but the ones with singing. They just don't work no matter how good singers are and I sometimes literally feel frustrated because they ruin the scene immersion. Namely the wound treating scene and hide-and-seek moment – all was good and properly swoony with just subtle music, then vocals started – on top of leads talking wtf! - and it all became too much. Is is too late to call someone who can do a sageuk ballad and not just any ballad?

Relationships development also got a lot of attention here. Firstly let's talk about The Broken Ships – that are Sung On x Jaeyi and Sung On and Hwan. It's interesting how both leads actively encouraged each other to make up with their shared angsty dude – and both failed spectacularly at doing so. Jaeyi by hearing from Sung On himself that he's not waiting for her (even if it was a lie) and Hwan by finding out that his friend and subject lied to him about such a big matter – with an excuse (not even apology, surprisingly) of “we're friends, so I thought you'll let it slide” no less. None of the three handled the situation nicely, so they all suffer now. Pity, but makes sense.

This drama is weird. It's lacking some continuity in the genre : there are very dark scenes with a filter that made them very "cold", and the humor with the investigation team, in the characters's evolution : where the lover came from? Why suddenly Hwan is jealous when he told he trust her before and the lover was known from the beignning of the investigation? It's why sudden.

I really like the scene between Hwan and Jae-Yi. They have a lot in commun. Both of them were educated by the same man and share the same morals, they are accused to kill member of their family, they're very smart.

Sometimes, I really pity the actors. Sageuk's clothes are not the most practical, plus carrying a person even she's light is hard. So seeing Park Hyung-Shik on the buttocks the 2 feet in the air in the BTS was pretty funny 🤣

'and as anyone currently struggling to maintain their Duolingo streak can confirm'
My lol sentence this morning. Mainly through empathy 😆. Thanks @alathe!

I finally warmed up to Sung-on, with more scenes of him. He is as lonely as the CP. It feels like they all are struggling with trust. He wants to trust his ex-fiance, but he can't blindly do that.
I liked that moment between CP and Jae Yi talking about her dead father. That was a beautiful moment.
I don't feel the romance (music, eye stares, her saying she will stay by his side, the alley, princess carry) etc feels rushed. I would have liked to see more swoony moments that are organic. But right now they look a bit forced. Sure, they both look good. But it just feels a bit off. I would have liked it to be more playful, friendly banter, getting to know each other, building trust phase rather than romantic.

Wonder who the traitor is? The one sending messages to the palace ladies.

Will continue. Hope there is more investigation and fun outside palace.

I am a fight guy and that fight at the end of episode 5 was probably the stupidest one I have seen in a kdrama never mind a sageuk. Why that shaman person was still in the land of the living at the end of it is beyond me. Maybe it was magic.

Seeing How popular this drama here surprising :) I am planning to drop it or may be a give a chance one more week :) I liked the side characters much more. The romans between leads go so fast. I also think FL can not carry her character. She is a wrong casting for that role. She is supposed to be centre of the story but I dont see that . Same goes for ML. He is also wrong choice although I am big fun of him :) May be I am so done with repetitive kin of stories lately ! A man child as prince or king and a FL seeking for revenge and a minister villain in the palace ! Please bring something new drama land :)

LOL, of course we knew who Scholar Park would be. I'd like to see more of him.

Who is in charge of the Office of Shamanism by the way? And who prepared the rituals on that fateful hunting day? That minister should probably speak up and take responsibility Jeonhaaaaaaaaaa.

(Unless, of course, the shamans do not fall under the jurisdiction of any ministry. In that case, kudos to whoever plotted with them or used them).

Been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to comment on this drama. But loving this so far! I love every character! Hwan is a difficult dude; but he is Joseon royalty after all. It would be weird for him not to be messed up on some level. I adore Jae-yi and Go-ram. Very satisfying to see complex, vulnerable, strong, clever, funny, and hardworking female leads. We don’t see these a lot so it’s worth praising when we get what we asked for! Thank you drama

First off, I'm really loving this drama, despite some minor quibbles (more on that later). And a lot of it's for the characters - from our leads to our oddball detective duo to our young Sergeant (no SLS on my part, but he's an interesting guy I could see going a few different directions and honestly can't predict which), to the minor players in the royal family and our mysterious commoner couple. Even where I feel the drama jumps around a bit, I'm always enjoying it because I genuinely like everyone and want to know what they're up to.

The plot's engaging as well. Lots of moving parts. Are they really all connected or are there different forces at play? Plus it's hard to know who to trust. Obviously evil minister guy is evil, but the king is super sheisty, the queen seems like a victim but is she really? And I can't figure out if Sergeant's dad is one of the good guys but pragmatic, or secretly not but good at hiding it.

I'm with everyone in that white-haired shaman-lady and not-lover-guy were affected by whatever those dried flowers were. Lots of people are guessing poison or hallucinogen but I'm thinking hypnosis aid. Since they didn't just go mad, but acted in a way that aided our Big Bad - which makes me think they were under some power of suggestion. I wonder if our mysterious (and incidentally also white-haired) monk is related to this somehow. And obviously whatever it is is going to take some suspension of disbelief, but as a fan of Chinese Wuxia where poison is often akin to magic I'm willing to go with it.

My one critique is that the scene shifts sometimes feel awkward. And tonally it doesn't always work. While I do appreciate the comic bits, I wish they could've committed to the darker tone we got this week, which I personally preferred to last week. Which I enjoyed but it felt too fluffy. While I get where our lonely, over-reactive Crown Prince is coming from emotionally, his burgeoning crush felt too much too soon, and it seemed almost... fan-service-y? And then he goes from that to instant betrayal, and again, I get him having trust issues, but it's giving me whiplash. I would've worked if we had more time to process it all, but it's been like three episodes so it doesn't feel earned.

And I agree with others about the music. I honestly find it mediocre overall, with the pop tracks feeling especially out of place. Even if they wanted a more modern feel... I think Bossam: Steal the Fate did an awesome job using modern pieces with traditional 'flavor' and I wish more Sageuk would take inspiration from it.

On a more positive note. I'm loving the fight scenes! They feel realistically messy and I love how they're shot. That view-from-the-ceiling in that tiny room? SO COOL.

I loved the Red Sleeve, and I started watching this not too long afterward. Had to remind myself that Our Blooming Youth and the Red Sleeve are 2 very different dramas, and after that, I started to enjoy OBY more. Love the FL in this one, and I love that she has a good female friend in Ga-Ram. Those 2 are a delight to watch.