The lead characters, Lee Geum, Moonsoo, YeoJi and DalMoon, remind me of Dorothy and her three companions in the Wizard of Oz. They’re imperfect. They start off the adventure searching for a missing piece of themselves: brains for the Scarecrow, heart for the Tinman, courage for the Cowardly Lion and home for the homesick Dorothy. In the end, they find that they were carrying the missing piece in them all along. They’re perfectly imperfect.

Take for instance, Lee Geum. He’s born a prince but he’s considered an outsider since his mother was a low-class servant. He’s neither fish nor fowl. But rather than live respectably and nobly, according to the royal status in which he was born, he chooses to become a good-for-nothing. It’s almost a wish fulfillment on his part to ruin himself. His own father the King pointed that out. Instead of proving his father wrong, he’s happy to ruin himself just as the father predicted.

I like this father-and-son conversation of the King and Lee Geum:

K: You didn’t cry. On the day you were born here in Bogyeondang you didn’t cry. Because of that your mother’s and the court physician’s faces went white with fear. But I thought to myself that it would be best if you just died like that. It would have been had you been born a girl. I wondered if a prince born from a low-class mother could ever live up to his name. Who in this world would willingly call you a prince?
LG: What is it that you want me to say? “I’m sorry for not dying” or —

He’s being defensive. He thinks his father called him out there to protest his reappearance in Hanyang and to wish him dead.

K: So are you happy? I’m asking whether you’re happy to have ruined yourself just as this father of yours had sneered. You could have proven me wrong by living differently. No matter how much lowly blood flows through half of you, you could have lived a decent life had you wanted to. So then why are you living like this? Why is this all that you’ve let yourself amount to?

But his father only expresses reproof for his squandered opportunities.

LG: I guess it was because I was born too great. You want to know why I live like this? Fine! I was born so high and mighty that this is the only way I can live, Your Majesty. Even if I wanted to try to do something, there’s nothing I could ever do, so I figured I might as well try to become a good-for-nothing.
K: Indeed. That’s who you were, Prince Yeoning. Extremely quick-witted and exceptionally gifted. That’s what made my heart hurt even more every time I saw the makings of a king in you.

His father had high hopes for him, and he still does. He wants his son to show his truth worth.

LG: Why are you being like this? If it’s because of my insolent jest…
K: I’m dying soon, Prince Yeoning. Before that happens, isn’t possible for you to show the world the you that I know? I’m asking whether you can’t restrain yourself just a little more and show the rest of the world that worthy and respectable side of you.
LG: Your Majesty.

The sad part here is that when he leaves the King behind, he calls him “Father.”

It doesn’t help Lee Geum that he refuses to correct and defend himself against the false impression which his father, and even younger brother, Prince Yeonryeong, have of him as a troublemaker.

The town crier said that, “If you’re born a male and you can’t let your name be known to the world, it’s better to go and live in the mountains.” For Lee Geum, his name “Prince Yeoning” is not something he can be proud of.

However, because Lee Geum moves in both circles in society, the elite ruling class and the commoners, he has the advantage of being an “untouchable.” He’s untouchable because none of the political factions consider him an asset to have in their partisan fighting. He’s shunned because of his low-class mother.

But he’s untouchable, too, in the sense that he can rise above the fray. The concerns of both the ruling class and the commoners don’t concern him so he can make a judgment between right and wrong without favoritism. In an odd way, that’s his added value to the Haechi: his cynicism.

To balance him, there’s the idealistic Moonsoo.

Moonsoo’s known to be the fool because he’s failed state civil exams eleven times. In the same way that Lee Geum accepts that he’s a scoundrel, Moonsoo is resigned to being a fool.

But he’s smart. He’s ingenious. When Prince Milpoong’s men came dangerously close to discovering Lee Geum’s hiding place, Moonsoo rescues him by imitating an animal noise. He’s observant. On test day, he struck a friendship with Lee Geum because he noticed his regal horse outside. Not only that, he could smell the alcohol on Lee Geum. He’s adaptive. Lee Geum can fool him once, but he can’t fool him twice. He’s also witty. When Lee Geum told him that he didn’t need to apologize for creating a ruckus about his test-cheating, he retorted, “What are you saying? Why should I apologize when someone else committed the crime?” But above all, he’s smart because he knows right from wrong.

I think his failure says a lot about his character. Anybody who fails the test ten times, and still goes back to try it again, with the same eagerness and optimism, isn’t a fool. Rather, he’s a believer. He believes in the inherent fairness of the test. He thinks he’s the one at fault for failing, not the test.

And this mindset is helpful in re-creating the Haechi. He believes the justice system is fair and the ones at fault are the people who fail to uphold the standards of fairness. Unlike Lee Geum who believes that the world is unfair,

he believes that justice will prevail. He tells the prince that ideally, or in the world he imagines in his head, a just world is where people who commit crimes get punished accordingly, regardless of who they are.

Hence, he follows the test-cheater Lee Geum “until the truth is revealed and justice flows like a river.”

As for YeoJi, it’s too soon to tell what she’s missing. She’s a woman in a male-dominated profession. I suspect that, although she likes her job as a detective, she likes to show her feminine side, too. It’s telling that she didn’t remove the geisha hairpiece outfit right away. She was dressed in her damo clothes but her hair was still up. When asked about it, she explained, “I just tried wearing it up. Women wearing their hair up looked so pretty.”

Then later she expertly tied her hair up in a topknot to the envy of her colleagues.

And Lee Geum does notice that she’s pretty, too.

But she’s valuable to the team not only because she brings in calm logic and reasoning, but also bravery and boldness.

Lastly, there’s the inscrutable DalMoon.

He looks familiar. I wonder why…. (Edited to add this. He’s that zombie-NPC HyunSuk from Memories of the Alhambra. Duh, packmule3!) 

He looks rough as a ruffian should be and he seems to have a finger in every pie. He’s literate; the town crier looks up to him as boss. The peddler also calls “Hyungnim.” If he’s in charge of the peddlers, he can move and hide people and goods around easily and under the radar. Then, instead of paying the noodle store owner for his food, the owner hands him money. He recommends another merchant to supply the owner with better anchovies.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in charge of a network in the marketplace and protecting the tradesfolk from corruption. I think he’ll be extremely valuable to the team.

That’s why I said that this team made up of Lee Geum, Moonsoo, YeoJi and DalMoon reminds me of the Scarecrow, Tinman, Cowardly Lion and Dorothy of Wizard of Oz. Lee Geum provides the brains, Moonsoo the heart, YeonJi the bravery, and Dalmoon the protection and safety from those who seek to harm them.

Looking forward to the next episodes.