Tale of Nokdu: Ep 6 Madcap

Disclaimer: I don’t speak Korean but let me see if I can guess what’s happening in this episode based on my screenshots.

All the scenes are real but the dialogues are imaginary.

******************

Yulmo decides to overlook DongJoo’s and Nokdu’s bedroom romance.

He bribes Aengdu with food to get more information about Nokdu. Aengdu has a new crush. She falls in love with Yulmo because he feeds her meat.

Aengdu: Wow! You’re better than my orabeoni!
Yulmo: I can give you more if you tell me about your orabeoni.
Aengdu: Sure, what do you want to know?

Somewhere in the village, Nokdu is apologizing to DongJoo for compromising her. He carries her off to someplace but DongJoo punches him on the nose. He gets a bloody nose. He promises to leave her alone.

Nokdu: But but but I love you.
DongJoo: You love anybody in skirts. Get away from me.
Nokdu: Give me another chance…ouf! That hurts.

Next scene: Yulmo and DongJoo have a conversation while making those dumpling rice cakes. DongJoo assures him that she feels nothing for that scumbag Nokdu. But Nokdu spies on them and he’s heartbroken. Little Aengdu joins Nokdu by the wall and tells him that he has no chance against Yulmo. He snorts.

Aengdu: You’re going to lose that girl, Unni
Nokdu: Call me orabeoni!
Aengdu: I’ve a new orabeoni now.
Nokdu: You traitor.

Next scene: Nokdu’s dad is being bribed by his suitor, the Village Administrator.

Nokdu tries to gain some brownie point with DongJoo by washing dishes for her. He teases about moving to the US and having triplets or something just as outrageous because he’s whacked on the head with a gourd. But Nokdu insists that he’s the one she loves because she looks at him with love in her eyes. He lifts her chin up to make him look at her. DongJoo knows she can’t deny this so she leaves him.

Nokdu: See? You love me. You keep on saying no, but your eyes can’t lie.
DongJoo: Cut the crap.
Nokdu: Your angriest words are still honey to my ears.

Brief scene: The king is talking with that bad Minister who told about the dead pig. They’re plotting the next Macy’s Thanksgiving parade…or how to take down the coup-plotters.

Next scene: DongJoo is at her (wo)man-cave looking at her Pandora’s box of trinkets. She leaves the cave with it. She’s decided to sell them.

The three musketeers aka Mulwoodan assassins are given their next assignment. They leave their hut as Nokdu arrives. He wants to join them but they tell him that it’s too risky. The Older Assassin who swooned in his arms in another episode lets slip that they’re going to a party or something.

Meanwhile, the coup leader/Minister is visited by his good old friend, Nokdu’s surrogate dad. The Minister is greeted with a sword to his neck. The dad is asking why he and his sons are being hunted down.

YoonJoo: Why did you send the assassins to kill me?
Minister: I had no choice. I love you.
YoonJoo: You let us hide for 20 years so why now?
Minister: Because the King’s looking for you, and I love you.

The Minister is the most popular guy in town as another visitor comes knocking at his gate. It’s the King. Although he comes without an army but the Minister’s henchman has no choice but to let him in…because he is the king.

He marches through the Minister’s house but JungYoo evades him by going out the back door. The King knows that the Minister pulled a fast one on him but he has nothing to pin on him yet.

JungYoo can’t escape the Minister’s house because the King’s bodyguards are outside the gate. The Minister’s henchman saves him and gets him out the another way.

Weird scene: there’s a boy in white gown, crying in the hut. He’s the Royal Prince, the half-brother of the king. He’s being guarded, too.

Back in the village forest, DongJoo practices her archery at night. Cool. She can hit her target in the dark. Nokdu and little Aengdu are eating dinner. At least, Aengdu is eating. I think Nokdu is waiting for DongJoo to come home. He’s about to get her when DongJoo arrives.

Nokdu: Come and eat bulgogi.
DongJoo: I’m not hungry. I’m going to bed.
Nokdu: Fine! I’ll eat this all by myself. Nom nom nom.

The following day, Yulmo is eating with the King. Aha!!! He’s the precious relative of the King. He must be one of the princes.

But whooops! Now we know Nokdu’s real rival. Once Yulmo gets rid of the King’s half-brother, then he must be next in line in the succession. He obviously won’t want Nokdu to stand in his way either.

The Three Musketeers/Assassins are now preparing a meal for a party. This must be their mission: pretend to be the cooks then kill everybody at this banquet.

Curious Nokdu investigate the horses at the village stable. He’s looking for the horse that the Minister rode on when he left the village temple. A visitor arrives at the gisaeng’s house. He overhears the newly-arrived client mention a party. He follows the client inside the gisaeng’s house and to eavesdrop some more. The client gets drunk and says that the King has laid a trap…that the party is a trap to get the widows together.

He follows the client when he takes a piss and threatens to slash his throat if he doesn’t reveal the location of the party or something. DongJoo interrupts them and Nokdu has to hide his blade. The client escapes.

Client: For crying out loud! Can’t a guy use the outhouse in peace?
Nokdu: Tell me what do you know about the party or I’ll kill you right now.
DongJoo: Oh, Mom!! There you are! Where have you been all day?
Nokdu: Get out of here, daughter. I’ve important business right now.

But the Head Gisaeng is in on this. She also follows the client and she’s the one who slashes his throat. She tells Nokdu to go inform the widows/assassins of the disaster. Nokdu leaves on a horse. Then….

Cue scary music: dun.dun.dun.dun.

Head Gisaeng is surprised by a visit from Yulmo. Eh???

I told you it was him. His shoes were the giveaway. I’m a shoe aficionado so I look at shoes all the time.

The female assassins’ gig is up. It’s men versus women in the courtyard when Nokdu arrives. It’s cool how he slides on his knees to enter the stage.

Image result for sliding on knees gif

Head Musketeer thinks he can’t fight so she defends him when actually Nokdu is also hitting back hard. They look like good dance partners. I can ship this couple, too. Head Musketeer tells him that there’s a bigger fish somewhere inside the compound, and Nokdu goes off to search for the bad guy. When the female assassins finish off their men, they follow Nokdu to help him.

But Nokdu has already trussed up the man like a Thanksgiving turkey. The assassins and Nokdu go home. The women are limping home, though. And the Head Assassin explains to Nokdu that it’s a hard knock life for them all.

Image result for seven dwarfs going home gif

Head assassin and Nokdu report to the Head Gisaeng. I think the Ministers are supposed to gather again for the temple the following night but the Head Gisaeng tells the musketeers that their services won’t be needed. Nokdu’s spider senses tell him that something’s wrong. The musketeers are given another task.

The following day, DongJoo sells her trinkets.

In the gisaeng’s pavilion, Yulmo bribes Aengdu again with more food. He spots DongJoo at the gate, waiting for somebody.

DongJoo: Oh Romeo, Oh Romeo! Where are thou, Romeo?
Yulmo: (gritting his teeth) So you lie. You do love that schmuck.

Nokdu is visiting the brewery with the Old Assassin whose heart fluttered when he grabbed her from falling. Nobody’s around the brewery so he knows something’s up.

The bell of the temple rings and the villagers turn off the lights. Something’s wrong because the assassins aren’t running off to escort the Ministers.

DongJoo’s inside their room. (Rats. No meaningful bed scenes in this episode!) Somebody enters his room and it isn’t Nokdu.

DongJoo: Who’s there?
Yulmo: It’s me. Who were you expecting?
DongJoo: Nobody.
Yulmo: Don’t go out tonight.

Nokdu runs back to their hut. He arrives just in time to see Yulmo leave their hut. He goes in and retrieves his belongings. He doesn’t talk to DongJoo. They walk over to the gate that separates the widows from the gisaengs and closes the door firmly between them.

Nokdu: And stay out!!

In a disjointed series of scenes, we’re shown what had happened after Yulmo surprised the Head Gisaeng after she murdered the client. Yulmo ordered her to a write a message to her female assassins to stand down when Yulmo’s henchman came for the child, the Royal Prince/half-brother, they were protecting in the hut. Once the child was killed, Yulmo moved to attack the coup-plotters.

So, after Yulmo visits DongJoo at her hut, he goes to the village temple and gate-crashes the Minister and the coup-plotters. He shows the child’s bloody white gown as proof of his death. He kills one of the plotters, and his soldiers barge in to take on the rest.

But the prime catch of course is the Minister.

Unknown to them, Nokdu is watching in the shadows. He hears somebody approaching and he goes back to the temple entrance to investigate.  It’s the King.

So father and son meet each other.

It’s funny that they’re meeting each other for the first time — in this fashion — when they don’t know how they’re related to each other.

And the very people who can reveal the truth to them, that is, the Minister and his JungYoo, are about to die.

 

11 Comments On “Tale of Nokdu: Ep 6 Madcap”

  1. Pingback: Tale of Nokdu: Eps 6 & 7 Post Spoilers Here; OSTs – Bitches Over Dramas

  2. YoonJoo: Why did you send the assassins to kill me?
    Minister: I had no choice. I love you.
    YoonJoo: You let us hide for 20 years so why now?
    Minister: Because the King’s looking for you, and I love you.

    DongJoo’s inside their room. (Rats. No meaningful bed scenes in this episode!)

    This is why I miss madcaps! 😂 Thanks! I’ll try to catch up later together with Flower Crew as well.

  3. So, our 2nd male lead is another prince mad with lust for the throne. One who is ruthless, well organized, and with his own power base. Oh, and PATIENT.

    So, why his interest in Dongju? A king newly crowned after a coup d’etat would be looking to marriage shore up his power base: Dongju’s family/clan are all dead, as far as we know. Hard to believe he is still following up on his arranged marriage?

    I thought the actor did a fine job playing the rich dilettante chef feeding Aengdu meat and then the ruthless prince going for the throne.

  4. Poor NokDu cried after DongJoo said to him that the kiss didn’t bother her. She didn’t feel anything from it.

    I liked how determined NokDu is to make DongJoo like him, like washing the dishes for her.

    Did Yulmo threatened DongJoo when he went to her room base on the preview? Also, did NokDu’s ‘brother’ pretended to be him? I’m not sure, maybe I’m half asleep? 😬

    Maybe the coup Minister will have a change of heart about killing NokDu and reveal him as the King’s child.

  5. Come to think of it, Nokdu’s brother had the easier life. Nokdu was the one who trained to be a fighter while the brother was the weakling.

    Yes, at her deathbed she was mixing up her two sons because she was delirious. 😂 I knew the writer was going to do this: make viewers doubt who’s who.

    But the mother blamed Nokdu for their miserable life in the run. She didn’t care for Nokdu as much she did the other one. Would it make sense that a mother would love the Prince who was the cause of all their woes more than her own birth son? Only in kdramaland… 😂

  6. I will be ticked off if this fusion sageuk turns out to be a historical sageuk. Ugh! I didn’t sign up for Yulmo becoming King Injo. I want a King Nokdu. But then with all this cross-dressing going on, why not kill this Prince Yulmo and take on his identity?

    Why can’t we have a fantasy romcom with a Joseon backdrop. Korean history is depressing.

  7. OMG, I want no King Nokdu, Yulmo can be king for all I care.
    If kdramas taught me anything is that kinds have horrible lives. Can’t Nokdu & DJ live in some hut on some island? I’m exasperated that the dude always turns out to be the king. Argh.. why?

  8. *kings not kinds
    Anyway, just finished watching the episode. Your madcap is as good as if you’d have watched it with subs if not better :))))

    “YoonJoo: Why did you send the assassins to kill me?
    Minister: I had no choice. I love you.
    YoonJoo: You let us hide for 20 years so why now?
    Minister: Because the King’s looking for you, and I love you.”
    PERFECT

  9. I don’t want a king nokdu, too. But if he’s going to be hunted for the rest of his life because of Yulmo, then I want Nokdu to become a king.

    I really really really don’t like these historical sageuks. It’s always about a power-grab or coup. What way to ruin a light-hearted romcom. 🙁

  10. Oh My! What an episode. Turns out Yool Mu is a cold blooded killer and royalty who wants to take the throne. Did not see that coming, so well done writers! So Yool Mu and Nokdu are actually cousins. Still confused about why Dong Ju’s family were killed if she was betrothed to royalty YM in the past? Wouldn’t that make the family loyal to the palace? I’m going to have to research the history here cause it definitely looks like the drama is moving more toward playing with the history since Yul Mu character is now revealed as future King Injo.

    Loved your Madcap! And actually not that far from how it actually played out.

  11. I haven’t watched episode 7. But it looks like our light hearted romcom was not present with all the killing except for the fishing scene.

    I agree, NokDu’s brother had it easy though not when he gets hurt. There was also that scene at the beach how their Mom was not worried about NokDu. It felt like he really didn’t feel loved at all. But I guess we have to give his brother credit for understanding NokDu’s situation, if he is aware of it.

    I want a King NokDu just because I don’t want a king that is power hungry and cold blooded.

    If you feel like giving up on the madcaps for this drama or dropping the drama, all good. 🙂

Comments are closed.