Nice writeup, and yes, lots and lots of questions to be answered!

So far the show is doing a great job on keeping the tension going, unravelling the plot while constantly teasing us about who is who (loving the changes in order of the male leads in the intro, though was expecting to stay with Jung Gunjoo for a few more eps before rotating to Ryeoun...and then back to Kang Hoon!

So personally I'm still in the Shi Yeol for King fanclub, but certainly looking much less likely at this stage (although..).

So apart from the real identities of the key players (I'll write on that in a separate post lest I get cut off for length!), I think there are a lot of questions about the presumed plan(s) to depose the current king and replace him with someone else.

(1) Is it all one integrated plot (with queen dowager perhaps pulling the strings?), or several competing plans (Left State Minister, Kang San, Shi Yeol).

Seems like gambling at the gibaeng house is a money and info laundering op by Kang San and Shi Yeol, but not Left State minister?

(2) What game is left state minister playing - is he really a good guy, or just pretending?

3) And possibly related, why did he offer the crown to Jeong Yu ha. Seemed to know about Kang San and made effort to attend round 1 of military exam but then wrote him off? Or is this (like the scholars subversive material) a diversionary tactic to fool king?

(4) Does his plan really just involve spreading lots of subversive material or is that just one strand of the plot (where are the hidden troops!)?

(5) Both Kang Sang and Shi Yeol seem to be committed to a non-violent coup. Kang Sang presumably hopes to be in a position to assassinate king himself now? Will Shi Yeol also end up topping the civil exam and request a place close to king??

(6) But what does the ship purchase (ep 5) have to do with the plan(s)? Joked that he would run away to Qing if necessary back in ep 5 but didn't seem to be a serious proposition. Or is this about bringing troops in rather than escape??

And now for some who is who speculation!

1. How many princes are there lying around really - could we have three?

In an earlier episode, was mentioned that deposed CP had several sons who kept dying, so this might be wishful thinking as I'm in the Shi Yeol for King club, but I'm wondering if perhaps Yi Seol was not actually the oldest surviving prince, but older son was hidden...

And does seem to have a bit of a brother vibe with San, though San seems a bit resistant to this!

Also CPs brother the grand prince seems to have had at least one, who is presumably Yu ha, despite hints to the contrary (red herrings???). And if Yu ha is son of GP, is he legitimate, or son of the gisaeng? Much stronger claim to throne if the former!

2. Who is the watchman? Yu ha surely can't be since clearly doesn't know who the other two are, even if he was nominally available at the requisite time for the swordfight (assuming he has a superman like ability to do a quick change and find a sword!).

Options seem to be:

(1) none of the three, the guy San met at the other Inn, who he asked to investigate things for him

(2) bamboo hat guy who meets with Shi Yeol (maybe he's coordinator of a small group)?

(3) Shi Yeol - managed to get himself into Imwahon just after San arrived there, resourceful, seems a lot to him going on under the surface, suspicious medical knowledge. Could be doing a lot to throw everyone off the scent...

Does seem like Shi Yeol knew oldest girl's fiancee, who was apparently a member of 'six swords' group - was the administrators son really a watchman who ended up sacrificing himself???

I'm still not convinced San is Yi Seol. Is it wishful thinking just because I want Shi Yeol to be the King? Maybe 😬. But right now I'll take a leap and guess that -
1. Shi Yeol is Yi Seol - that name cannot be a coincidence! Maybe he heard the song from the mouth of Hong-joo's fiancé the night he died.
2. Yoo-ha is an illegitimate son of the deposed Crown Prince - possibly the CP and Hwa-ryeong's child?
3. San is the son of a Watchman/Royal Guard who was dressed up as Yi Seol to distract pursuers (this is where the 'leap' in my guess comes in 😅).

@enriquequierecagar: Tabong and I were chatting about the many misdirects and one of my theories about Danoh which I mentioned is this:

“ I know I am probably barking up the wrong tree but I am thinking maybe she doesn’t know she is a/the watcher because there are others too. What if it was a responsibility which had been entrusted to her family as her dad may have died protecting the jade dust. Of course the little Danoh wouldn’t have known this but it might be symbolically be important”.

Little Danoh protected that frightened, traumatised and bloodied little boy and watched over him for that short period of time. This is the symbolism I was referring to.

I also think there is a reason Yook Ho is there otherwise he is just a rando. It might make a lot of sense to adopt a hapless persona if you are watcher. Hiding in plain sight!

When the compass + dragon came back in the story, I knew San will be Lee Seol, Kdramas love too much their childhood connection.

But it was kinda disapointing. San is the one I can't imagine to be King. He doesn't seem to think in advance, he just acts and thinks after. So the watchman came to save him and not Dan-Oh at the temple. I like his fights, I wonder who he's and if we already met him.

So why Shi-Yeol wanted to run away on a boat...

Thanks for the recaps!!

About the drawings that San painted in his book (the 3 Joseon propheties) I think it would have been a major surprise if he hadn't listened all the story from Dan Oh's mouth before. She told him what happened that night and then he drew it. Why is she so surprised?

At this point I think San really is the Prince. That's what I thought since the beginning because the young Prince we saw in Episode 2 (when the Watchman saved him and killed the other poor boy) looked alike San.
But then the show made us think that the Prince was Shi Yeol: the old man called him Your Majesty if I remember well and the name was similar to Lee Seol, and he wanted to leave the country on boat so... it made sense!

I also think Yoo Ha is from the Royal family, and he has just known it.

So many misteries yet. This drama is like a game and I'm enjoying it a lot.

If your boyfriend, the one that the king wants to see disappear, gives you as a gift a limited edition compass that literally has the name of your aboji in law in it, when that stuff can get you killed... Maybe you should break up with him. 😂

I'm a hardcore Dan-San shipper but wth was that man. "Yes, let's give her the dragon everyone knows belongs to my dad, let's make her a traitor too, that's romantic". C'mon man.

Now being serious, I liked the obvious-but-not-so-obvious reveal.
Just by watching the news, posters or EP1 you know who's the main character of a show. Since day 1 we knew San was the ML but somehow we fell for all the mixed signals the writer gave us. It was so much fun! I remember that last week I was pretty sure San was the watchman, so I was shocked a sageuk was focused on a simple watchman and not the crown prince. LOL

EP8 was pretty obvious tho. San, The Jealous, did nothing after Dan Oh explicitly said another boy was cute? That's impossible. We all knew San was Yi Seol after that scene LOL.

However, the real mystery here is regarding the watchman. Si Yeol is the watchman, right? But why? how? And why is he flirting with the Dan Oh's sister after killing her fiance. How does he think this is going to end for both of them? For real.

Yoo Ha... This poor guy doesn't have idea wth is going on, does he? I feel bad for the Mokin members that died, and I'm scared because YH is getting involved in something he shouldn't.

Mistyisles, thanks for the recap.

The story keeps you guessing .
Dan-o’s family has some sort of noble lineage , enough to marry a prince ? Would she become a princess or a queen ? Don’t think she’d want to be a concubine.
I think she’d be happier running a boarding house.
Looking forward to next episode.

I continue to enjoy this show.

Once again, I'm not sure how seriously I should take the newest revelation (and the order of the actors in the opening sequence), but I love that the show keeps me guessing. I absolutely believe that San believes he's telling Dan-oh the truth, so the other possibility here is that he's not aware of some key piece of info that would throw everything on its head. But if San truly is Lee Seol, then who is the Watchman--one of the other two Flower Scholars or someone else?

I did really enjoy the way Dan-oh figured out that San might be Lee Seol. We had seen San watching and drawing the little figure of Dan-oh on the book, but although I thought it was a cute way for him to show the audience his growing feelings for her--and I liked that it initially served that purpose for her as well--I appreciated the way the audience and Dan-oh discovered the deeper meaning together when she flipped to the page showing the two of them with the dog house.

I was puzzled why he left the other half of the compass for her, though, unless he wanted her to guess before he could tell her.

I also like the friendship developing between Hong-joo and Shi-yeol, although it did seem a little questionable when he started singing that song (maybe it's a coincidence that it was a song her former fiancee also sang, and maybe not). The flowers were a generic enough gesture that I could accept that was a coincidence, but Shi-yeol, for all his seeming simplicity and open nature, is the hardest for me to read. I do think his feelings for her are genuine, though.

It's fun reading everyone's theories and what ifs here! I am quite enjoying this drama and like the mysteries of who is really who. If I could, I would totally buy a hanbok of Dan ohs. I love the colors! The 3 scholars are totally rocking their roles. And, this is totally bizarre, but when I first saw Royeoun, he reminded me of Michael Jackson with his round eyes and nose shape but in a good way. Bizarre is my brain sometimes!

I have made up my mind. I won't trust anything until the final episode no the final minute. That is the safe way ahead. I head the three boys belong to the royal family. One is Seol and the others are distant relatives.

Also, can't we remove the bloodthirsty king and his evil consort away? But I have to say they are a match made in heaven, both sly and conniving and I hope their greed brings their downfall and it for sure will.

I'm loving the fact that none of this is straightforward, and I'm constantly guessing at outcomes. My favourite is that all three are prince's, and related, and that they will need to reveal themselves to each other in order to band together and defeat the evil king. Not sure who will end up on the throne though.

I am arriving to this series in July 2024 as a relative newbie in Kdramaland. Woweee! What a wonderful rollercoaster this has been so far! I've enjoyed reading all the weecaps and the comments thus far and could not help but come on at the end of Ep 8 to say Oh Emm Gee!! He is Lee Seol!!?? OhEmGee!! After all my speculations going back and forth just like many of you here.

And now that I know a Watchman is always only a minute away from the person they are protecting, day or night, it makes sense one of his scholar bros IS a Watchman. I've loved the FL's different interactions with all 3 male leads, especially the bickering with San in the first few episodes.

BTW, I'm watching Cdrama A Journey to Love at the same time and the incorrigible comedic Kim Shi Yeol here reminds me of the comic genius Yu Shi San there. Are there any other fun and funny characters like Kim Shi Yeol in Kdramaland?

I hope the rest of this series is just as intriguing. Fingers crossed for a decent ending for all the good people in this story.