The Tale of Lady Ok: Episode 3

by Dramaddictally

After last week’s death, we have a murder trial on our hands and things get complicated now that our leading lady has decided to step into the light. As her backbone gets bigger, and she lays down her life to stand up for her values, she catches the attention of yet another suitor. And wouldn’t you know it — he happens to have the same face as our orphaned storyteller.

 
EPISODE 3

Well, I asked for butt-kicking and that’s what we got. Watching this woman stand up for her people is so satisfying, as terrible as things had to get in order for her to do it. We start this week with the trial over Baek-yi’s death and we also get to know the new MAGISTRATE SUNG (Sung Dong-il) in town. While corruption has run rampant for years, this guy is a rule-follower who also has a heart.

The background of the case is this: Baek-yi had a young nobleman, BAEK DO-GWANG (Kim Sun-bin), following her around and asking her to run away with him. Baek-yi was very aware of how wrong it would be for her to reciprocate, given their status differences, and so she never let on that she had any feelings for him.

But that didn’t stop Do-gwang’s mother, the cruel and awful LADY SONG (Jeon Ik-ryung), from plotting to destroy Baek-yi. As we come to learn later in the episode, Lady Song sent one of her servants to defile Baek-yi in front of Do-gwang, so that Do-gwang would stop having feelings for her. However, things go awry as Baek-yi fights back, and she’s accidentally killed.

While the details of the case are not known to our heroine in the beginning, she’s 100% sure that either Do-gwang or his mother are behind the murder. In the interim, Mak-shim is arrested on charges of falsely accusing nobility of a crime (since she ran up in their yard and screamed for Do-gwang to come out and confess at the end of the last episode). So now, if the charges against the Baek family are dropped, Mak-shim will be executed.

Goodeok needs to find a way to set Mak-shim free — and help with that task comes in the form of a handsome gentleman called SUNG YOON-GYUM (also, Choo Young-woo). Given that we’ve got a doppelgänger situation, it’s no surprise that the first time Goodeok sees Yoon-gyum she talks to him as if he’s Seung-hwi. (Like, as if it wasn’t confusing enough that our hero has two names, now the actor is playing two characters.)

But it becomes clear to her quickly that this is not the same man when she sees Yoon-gyum smoothly handle a sword. She seems a bit taken by him, but he’s extremely taken by her. First of all, he’s never seen a noblewoman scale a wall and then pull out a dagger to defend herself against street thugs. And while she’s handling herself pretty well, he does come to the rescue at the last minute, send the thugs packin’, and then hand her knife back to her. At that moment, the look on her face tells me she might be more impressed with martial arts than storytelling.

It turns out that Yoon-gyum is Magistrate Sung’s son (with all the same wholesome values) and he’s ready to give her the key to the office with the law books in it. If she wants to help Mak-shim, she can become a legal advocate (just like the real Tae-young planned to be). She takes him up on the offer and gets down to work, and now he’s even more smitten as he watches her study. He says that he decided to help her after he saw how she handles herself — he believes she’ll achieve what she wants. At that, she vows to save him someday after she succeeds — which sends a sweet smile creeping across his face.

Goodeok finds out the true story behind Baek-yi’s death when the servant who accidentally killed her escapes. He’s going to be put to death anyhow and he wants to come clean and ask forgiveness before that occurs. As he tells the story, Goodeok learns that while Baek-yi was dying, she admitted to the servant that she loved Do-gwang in return.

Goodeok takes that information and tries to appeal to Do-gwang’s emotions, telling him it wasn’t an unrequited love. He cries, and we learn that Do-gwang has been chasing Baek-yi around since they were kids. He loves her, and he knows that his parents are responsible for her murder, but he says he can’t testify against them.

The trial finally comes and Magistrate Sung confirms that the death was a murder, not a suicide. But, there’s no evidence to link the Baek family to the death, so they’re acquitted. This means Mak-shim will die. Before that can happen, though, Goodeok steps in and says she’s the one that made the accusation, not Mak-shim. Magistrate Sung agrees, so Mak-shim won’t be punished for false accusation, but she will be punished for insulting a nobleperson. (Oh, come on!)

At this point, Goodeok knows the law better than anybody because she’s had her nose in the books for days. She argues back: the law only allows private punishment if a servant insults their own master (which is not the case here). Still, Magistrate Sung sentences her to ten lashes — which is as good as a death sentence because she won’t survive it in her condition. Goodeok is unbreakable and demands that she be lashed instead. Murmurs goes through the crowd, letting us know this is totally unheard of.

As Goodeok stands tall and waits for them to let Mak-shim go, Do-gwang yells out that he killed Baek-yi. He admits that he asked her to run away and she refused, but then lies and says he murdered her out of anger and made it look like a suicide. They drag him away on charges and his mother starts screaming out that it was her servant that did it. However, Goodeok has helped the servant escape and nobody is listening to Lady Song anymore.

Mak-shim is freed without punishment, and Magistrate Sung declares it henceforth illegal to punish household servants based on household rules; they have to be punished according to the law. There’s some pushback, but it’s revealed that the real Tae-young was advocating for reform for three years and the documents were hidden in a government office. And so, our Lady Ok has set a precedent today and affected the law going forward.

Yoon-gyum is so impressed with her at this point, he needs more information. He starts asking her questions about this storyteller she confused him with. Does she love him? Goodeok realizes that what she felt for Seung-hwi was indeed love, but she never admitted it to herself because of her status when they met. The funny thing is that when she tells this to Yoon-gyum, and she mentions the difference in status, he assumes it’s because she’s a noblewoman and Seung-hwi is just a drifting storyteller. Their societal roles have completely reversed.

Anyway, Yoon-gyum asks if she regrets not leaving with Seung-hwi. And as Goodeok looks out at the servants who are now bowing to her everywhere she goes, she says no. The memories of him won’t disappear, but it’s clear the difference she’s made to these people and the work she still has to do. (And all this secret spilling about her past works wonders to make these two characters seem close very quickly.)

When Do-gwang is sent into exile, his position as special inspector opens up. The Baek family, along with the rest of the corrupt rich people, want to use this opportunity to infiltrate the magistrate’s office — and family. They want to form an alliance and nominate one of their own as inspector, but also, they want that nominee’s daughter to marry Yoon-gyum.

Magistrate Sung seems to be all for it and asks Yoon-gyum what he wants to do. Yoon-gyum isn’t happy, but he doesn’t admit his feelings for Goodeok to his father, which prompts the go-ahead with the alliances. Although, it’s pretty clear to everyone around what Yoon-gyum’s feelings are, especially when he calls Goodeok over to offer her a proper position as a legal advocate. She accepts the position, but since word around town is that he’s getting prepped to marry someone else — and the noblewomen are all trash-talking her — she tells him it’s better if they don’t talk anymore.

And you know what I love about Yoon-gyum? His response to that is to send her a formal marriage proposal. (Swoon!) His father is behind him, since he liked Goodeok from the get-go and was just waiting for Yoon-gyum to fess up. Yoon-gyum says he felt unworthy of Goodeok and was hesitating.

But now it’s Goodeok who has hesitation. Grandma and the rest of the household are for the marriage but Goodeok is afraid of being found out. Grandma tells her that if anything happens, she’ll take full responsibility. (Hmmm, we know that this story is headed towards a stoning, so I’m just shaking my head at Grandma.) But the other problem is that Goodeok also loves another man.

Goodeok discusses the proposal with Yoon-gyum, and she wants to know why he chose her. He says that of all his prospects, he likes her best. They have the same values and he finds himself wondering what she would think before he does things. (Oh, he’s got it bad.) If she marries someone else, he wouldn’t even be allowed to speak to her. He doesn’t want that.

She has a secret that needs to be kept, she tells him. And so, he says to tell him the secret and he’ll protect her. Just as she’s about to blurt it out, her former master, So-hye, appears in the market where they’re conversing and looks right at her. Unfortunately, with only one episode airing, we have to wait until next week to see if that’s a face of recognition or not.

This story still has me on the edge of my seat. I love how the heroine becomes a little more emboldened at each turn, but she’s also terrified underneath. Both aspects come through strong, making her relatable and easy to root for. It’s just like the stories Goodeok loved growing up — the ones she said could never happen in real life — where the underdogs rise up and win. And I sure hope “real life” keeps turning on its head so she can have her happy ending.

About our doppelgängers, it’s impressive that Choo Young-woo is playing both characters and I have such distinct feelings about them. Last week, Seung-hwi was take-it-or-leave-it for me and I wasn’t interested in seeing their romance trump Goodeok’s social causes. But now, with Yoon-gyum, I feel differently. Man is that guy likable. He’s sincere and thoughtful and he really seems to understand Goodeok. To me, it felt like Seung-hwi liked her for what she gave to him (or how she changed him), while Yoon-gyum likes her for who she is. How all this is going to unroll is a mystery to me. And that’s exactly what’s got me ready and waiting for next week.

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