I’ve to make good on my promises. If there’s a part 1, there should be, at least, a part 2.

Tale of Nokdu: Episode 5 Highlights, part 1

8. Nokdu’s origins

Grrr… Nokdu’s past is becoming clearer but I don’t like it. It’s too messy.

Twenty years ago, in a hut somewhere, the king sat with his newborn son. His trembling hand hovered around a baby’s head, and he whispered, “On the 19th day of the 11th month…how…how could it be today?” He looked like he was about to kill the baby when Jung YoonJoo walked in on him.

Cut to the queen wailing in her room. The king closed the door on her and walked to his aide, the future Minister. The Minister was on his knees crying, “Your Majesty, how could a tragedy like this…” The king answered, “Pretend today never happened. The baby that died, that Jung YoonJoo took. Pretend that the two of them never existed.”

Cut to Jung YoonJoo digging in the ground. It could be presumed that he was digging a shallow grave for the baby who was wrapped beside him. He seemed to be crying as the baby was crying, too, in the rain. Then that future Minister/coup-plotter showed himself and raised his sword to slash him. YoonJoo turned away to protect the baby. So the Minister said, “Go! I’ll tell the King that you buried the baby who died and that you fell into the water after I cut you with my sword. Live as if you’re dead. As if you’re dead.”

We already know that the assassins were called to raid Nokdu’s island because his surrogate father, Jung YoonJoo was spotted in Hanyang when he went to buy medicine for his ailing wife. Another Royal Court person spotted JYJ and he told the King and the Minister that the JYJ was alive. This Royal Court person was gleeful to share that the “The King seemed very glad to hear of it.”

The Minister worried that his lie had been discovered so he sent his secret army of female assassins to kill Nokdu and family. He told his henchman, “Go to Moowoldan. There’s someone we need to quickly find and kill. The King will make a move. So before that, we must find them first. Understand?” Nokdu’s existence had become an inconvenient truth because as the Minister reasoned, “If he finds him first, then it’s the end of our treason.”

Previously, I operated on the assumption that his father, the King, loved him, and that he was trying to protect his newborn from his enemies. But I assumed wrong and his father did want him dead.

To me now, the King appears to (secretly) believe in shamanism and superstitions and he has a member in the Royal Court who uses his belief in this kind of stupid mysticism to manipulate him.

That’s why he was tempted to kill his son because he was born on an inauspicious date, and,

he ordered the Dowager Queen and the Royal Prince imprisoned because a wild pig found in the palace.  He was told that the pig represented the year that the King was born.

Poor Nokdu. Everybody IS out to get him then.

If his own father wanted him dead, and the Minister and his Moowoldan want him dead, too, then who’s on his side? The widows and his child bride? Nokdu doesn’t have an ally.

And that’s why I find this whole backstory on Nokdu so messy. The King, Jung YoonJoo, and the Minister could have been allies because their real enemy is this guy.

If I were the writer, I’d untangle the mess by making a) the Minister and Moowoldan switch allegiance and support Nokdu, rather than the Royal Prince-in-the-waiting. Nokdu’s the legitimate heir after all, and b) the King welcome his son like a proverbial long-lost sheep. He can place the blame of his temporary insanity on whoever told him that a baby born on the 19th day of the 11th month must be killed.

There. Problem solved. We can all pretend that the Minister and the King had their wires crossed and were actually working toward the same goal: to find Nokdu and make him King.

9. Annoying mysteries

The Minister’s messenger found the dead body (shoeless, too) of the limping female assassin.

This one:

This is her dead body. Right?

But who killed her? I assumed it was Yoolmo and his bodyguard because of the shoes.

And who was this guy, saving Nokdu’s brother and father? Is it Yoolmo’s bodyguard?

I think this screenwriter’s strong suit is writing Nokdu’s comedy of errors as he evades discovery. But he/she writes a sloppy mystery plot around Yoolmo’s identity. Instead of a brainteaser, his side plot comes off as a distraction. Like, do I really care that he’s some sort of aristocratic do-gooder and crime fighter?

10. I’m saving this for last: the bed scene

Just like what I said in the post about “Being a couple” link

the bed scenes in this romcom are going to show the evolution of Nokdu’s and DongJu’s relationship.

Here’s what happened in the previous episodes:

In Episode 1, they slept in the same prison cell. She was disguised as a man. He heard her moaning her mother’s name in her sleep and he patted her back to comfort her. He lent her his outerwear as a blanket and when they woke, they were shocked to see their faces so closed to each other, and their legs entangled.

In Episode 2, they shared a cramped room in the gisaeng’s house. Now, he was disguised as a woman and he was embarrassed at the logistics of undressing in the presence of each other at night.

Then, when she burned her hands, Nokdu had to scratch her back. Her verbal directions, “Harder. A little harder. Oh, that’s it. Right there. Ah! A little bit over. A little bit lower. Oh, that feels good. A little lower. It feels good! A little bit, a little bit lower.” so flustered him that he stopped and unfurled his bed to go to sleep without a word.

Later, he woke up to Dongju trying to lift his skirts up so she could rub ointment on his burn. He pushed her down and started screeching, “What are you doing? Sinning against God and man! Acting like a fool who’s no better than a beast! Aren’t you afraid of the heavens?”

I think it’s funny that he’s such a prude. It would be fun when they kiss because it’ll be his first time.

In Episode 3, she bound him to her with a rope. There was a divider between them. And they had that pillow talk about his lady love. As I said elsewhere, I love the optics of this whole scene.

But the added romance for me here is the note he left at her breakfast table while he went to work #marriagegoals I would like my daughters to have…if I had daughters. lol.

In Episode 4, they were having pillow talk. She thought nothing awkward about sharing a room with him. She settled herself in before he arrived. And they had a pillow fight before sleeping.

As I said before, their Tom and Jerry relationship might actually be the perfect one for them.

I look at these bed scenes, not as prelude to sex (ha!), but as a cozy moment for the two of them to become familiar with each other. I look forward to more bed scenes. 🙂

And here’s where we are right now in Episode 5:

On the first night after their close encounter with the real Lady Kim’s father-in-law, Nokdu and Dongju went to bed angry. They were angry because, for the first time, jealousy reared its ugly head.

Dongju didn’t think Nokdu had any right to be curious about her relationship with Yulmo, especially when he had a Madam with him.

On the second night, she slept drunk. A welcome banquet was held on the occasion of Nokdu’s return, and she got royally drunk and made a spectacle of herself. Her dream that night replayed the embarrassing moment when she shouted, “I like you! I like you!” She woke up happy for dreaming such a ridiculous scenario.

When she saw the sleeping child Aengdu between her and Nokdu, she realized, to her horror, that it wasn’t a dream after all.

Now I like this cozy image. If ever Nokdu becomes the King, they’ll miss their time of sleeping in a cramped room.

On the third night, she slept in her cave. After their conversation at the bridge where DongJu accused him of having too many women, she stayed away from their bedroom. Nokdu stayed up all night, brooding over her accusations, and didn’t realize that morning had come till Aengdu told him. He yelled in disbelief, “She stayed out all night? Stayed out all night?”

I like it because it was the first time they didn’t sleep together and he missed her already.

On the fourth night, he came home from his nighttime escapade with Moowoldan and saw her shoes outside their room. He was excited to see that she’d come home to sleep with them.

He noticed that she was shivering in the dark. No candles were lit because of the imposed lights-out in the Widow’s village.

He realized then that she’d always been afraid of the dark. When they were in jail together, she’d been sweating too and was calling out for her mother. He offered to light her a candle.

ND: I’ll light up. It should be fine.
DJ: You can’t. We have to keep the rules of this place.
ND: Why are you so scared of the dark?
DJ: (denying) Who said I was scared?

In a flashback, her fear was explained. She was thrown in a hole with dead bodies after the massacre.

Without asking her, Nokdu went ahead and lit a candle for her. Of course, he already anticipated her self-denial. I like that he just did what he had to do.

Ahhh! His answer to the Head Gisaeng became clearer now. When asked why he was spending that much money to buy DongJu from the gisaeng’s house, he replied, “Well…I guess I’ve become fond of her. I want to keep her from doing at least one thing that she would hate to do.” The Head Gisaeng smiled then because she realized that Nokdu understood DongJu’s character. She did and said things which are contrary and contradictory of what she actually wanted to do and say.

For instance, she said she didn’t like to go on the swing when she had fond memories of it. She liked the baby chicks but didn’t want to buy them because she’d grow attached to them. She didn’t like dancing, but she went along with it because she had to. She didn’t like to become a gisaeng, but she dressed up in full regalia of a gisaeng for her appointment with that detestable client.

And THIS: she must not have wanted to cut her hair, but she did it anyway to defy that detestable client and save a poor girl.

Nokdu understood that DongJu felt like she had no choice but to do what she hated to do. She said so herself at the waterfall.

Nokdu: No matter how I think about this, I don’t think you’re meant to be a courtesan. In life, just because you want to, it doesn’t mean you can.
DongJu: Who said I wanted to be one? I’m not doing it because I want to. I don’t want to become a courtesan ever!
Nokdu: I mean–
DongJu: You can’t do it just because you want to? No. Life is when you can’t refuse to do something just because you don’t want to.

He understood her.

And that’s why she ordered him not to light candles although she hated the dark.

His smile for her is cute.

DJ: I told you not to.
ND: It’s okay as long as they can’t see from the outside. (aww. He covered the windows with their skirts.) How is it? Even a ghost with penetrating eyes will just pass by, no? Stop groaning and sleep. It’s so noisy.

She just stared at him.

ND: What? Why? I told you to sleep.
DJ: Don’t do this kind of stuff for me.
ND: (facing her) Why not?
DJ: Things like this—
ND: —Are only for people who like each other? (she didn’t answer) A relationship where you’re worried and concerned?
DJ: (nodding slightly) That’s right. Like between you and Madam.

She looked at him sadly. He decided to own up to his lie about the Madam.

ND: I can’t hide it. You know, Madam is—
DJ: I’m going to sleep.

He watched her sleep and remembered what Yulmo said about love being like a cough that’s impossible to hide. He said, “I’m in trouble.”

I like that contrast between the imagery and his discovery here. In the safety of their small and cozy room, he realized that he was in big trouble. lol. The real challenge he faced wasn’t to be found outside; it was already inside…sleeping with him.

In the morning, it was Dongju’s turn to watch him sleep.

Of course, Dongju’s falling for him but remember her practice of self-denial? Just like with the baby chicks, she couldn’t harbor any feelings for Nokdu. Besides, she must focus on her mission to assassinate the King. Thus, she reminded herself, “I said I wouldn’t do useless things. No, I won’t but… I can’t do that.”

On the fifth night, they had the kiss scene. DongJu was already in bed, and he walked in, topless, after his bath. (See? I’m being good here. I’m not going to mention Jang DongYoon’s shiny abs —oops! I just did.)

Whoops again! I’m double posting this pic.

ND: I don’t have a madam I like.
DJ: (sitting up) What? Then who’s that madam from before? You lied to me?
ND: Yeah.
DJ: Then, why are you telling me the truth now?
ND: I like you. That’s why.
DJ: I told you before. I
ND: You don’t like that guy. You say you like him, and it makes sense to everybody who sees it. But I don’t think it’s true.

DJ: What?
ND: I heard you can’t hide it. True, I couldn’t hide it. But you…you have never coughed about that guy.

Dude! Drop the “cough” metaphor. It’s a mood-killer. It’s one of the most unromantic metaphors for love.

DJ: What are you talking about right now?
ND: He looks at you, but you don’t look at him. I’m the one you look at. Isn’t it true?
DJ: I don’t want to talk about it. Why do you keep asking me stuff like that? When you know nothing?
ND: It’s true. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. So…

Kisses her.

ND: So…you tell me.

And that’s all for the bed scenes.

See that? I told y’all to pay attention to the bed scenes in every episode. It’ll start off innocent but end up intimate — and I’m not referring to sex, okay? The bedtime moments are when the two of them will communicate and open up to each other. The progression of their relationship will be evident in the manner they interact inside the bedroom in every episode.