The thread is open.
Some gifs.
Is this their first kiss??? I must have missed the earlier one.
I’m sorry but this actress holds zero charm for me. I wish Kim SoHyun (“My Lovely Liar”) or Kim SeJeong (“A Business Proposal”) was playing opposite Rowoon.
What’s up with her biting her lower like this?
And I guess she was supposed to scamper up to him like an adorable puppy but she didn’t have the aegyo of a young girl, much less a puppy.
So she was thrown down the well in their previous life? Was it because she was accused of witchcraft?
Let’s enjoy the show!
Kalimera @Packmule3!
I do hope you are okay! Thank you for this thread!
Thanks, @Cleopatra.
I’m okay. I can watch this drama today. (Lol. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself by saying that.)
@Packmule3,
Good to know that! I am crossing my fingers that you will watch it tonight as planned!
It is the Police’s fault for what happened tonight….🤯Seriously, they simply let the murderer on loose?
W T H?
Just watched ep 13. Still like the rom/tragedy vibe between the leads. I think it comes across well, but R seemed less comfortable in this ep. And the height difference made everyone look awkward in scenes. I think FL is doing very well with her character. She portrayed the heartfelt sorrow at possible breakup really well. I really felt the heartbreak with her! 2nd ML seems to get more handsome each episode😀.
The writers still have FL acting with no common sense at times. It’s frustrating but her actions add to the tension, I suppose! We hjust have to ignore this obvious type of direction. It’s a drama after all, and to be fair it’s kept me entertained up to now.
@Cleopatra, if you mean the Garden Man’s wife, I can only guess that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him immediately and they could only hold him for so long. It seems wrong, doesn’t it?
I was wondering how he got the garden man’s new phone number if the old one was out of service. Or perhaps that was mistranslated.
I think the garden guy will break in to Hong Joo’s house and steal the spells. I think it was you who predicted that?
How interesting that Aengcho became a shaman under duress – because she was dying and could only live if she allowed the spirit to enter her. It wasn’t by choice.
The shaman Eun Wol said, “Before your life ends, nothing ends.” The thing is, how would one interpret that exactly? Is she speaking about the curse remaining or is she offering hope that there’s a solution as long as Hong Joo lives? I hope it’s the latter because Eun Wol said initially to Shin Yu that the curses and pain would be over because the owner of the box is here.
Is this the bracelet? It’s not my taste — looks a bit industrial, imo — but he’s not a miser.
https://www.tiffany.co.uk/jewelry/bracelets/tiffany-lock-bangle-GRP12069/
Do All comments get sent to administrator?
No, @redser. Comments don’t typically get sent to my inbox.
But occasionally, something (or someone) triggers my settings and consequently posts are forwarded to my inbox.
A couple of days ago, I was locked out of commenting on this blog. I couldn’t sign in and the @##&&# message said I should contact the administrator. Wellllll… I am the administrator! 🤦♀️ How could I contact myself when I couldn’t even log on??
It was so frustrating but I assumed that the system was down/offline/acting up again, and I just had to wait. Computers aren’t my forte.
The following day when I logged in, the glitch was fixed.
Haven’t watch the episode yet, but had to comment on this Tiffany lock bracelet, @Fern. 👎 I never liked it.
For one, it looks like a padlock, or even a carabiner.
For another, it seems like Tiffany is “copying” Cartier’s iconic “Love bracelet.” Cartier designed a special locking mechanism on a bracelet so the bracelet resembled a handcuff that could only be unclasped with a key. The lover gifts the beloved with the bracelet as a symbol of being committed for life.
The Cartier Love bracelet has been in fashion since — I don’t know — the 60s? 70s? And Tiffany’s created nothing to rival it until 2022 when it released the “Lock bracelet.” After 50/60 years, all their designers could come up with was a padlock? Tsk tsk tsk. 😂
If I were ShinYu and I had a choice between the Cartier or the Tiffany’s bracelet, I’d definitely go with Cartier. It’s a classic.
I want more eye rolls for this episode please. 🙄
SY could have called the police as soon as he noticed the gardener’s car and not leave HJ. 🙄
You’ve been attacked at home, your boyfriend takes you to his house and tells you to stay put. He’ll be back but you still go out. ☹️
You don’t have to stay away from him, you can just do a full check up and see if the cure spell worked. If not, decide then. But going from what Eun Wol said before your life ends, nothing ends’ then you might as well be with SY. 😁
This episode is to bring the sad OSTs and oh my gosh! Those BIG grapes!!! I want some!!! 😋
I just lost my comment. 😂
Maybe it didn’t like what I said. 😂
I said I wanted more eye rolls for this episode. 🙄
HJ gets attacked at home so SY moves her to his home but she goes out anyway after checking the camera and not seeing anyone from the door peephole. 🙄
SY should have called the police as soon as he notices the gardener’s car and not leave HJ. 🙄
Ok it’s to get the story moving. The give me some time doesn’t work for me. HJ can just do a full check up of SY to find out if ‘cure a sickness spell’ works or not then decide.
If Eun Wol says ‘before your life ends, nothing ends’ then I’d just stay with SY. 😁
The episode is about the sad OSTs. It was all nice and oh those BIG grapes!!! 😍 Me want some!!! 😋
@Redser, your comments show in my emails but not here when I log directly into the blog. How strange!
@agdr03, I’ve had that happen.
@packmule3, Right now I can’t get BoD on my usual Windows browser but it’s fine if I switch to Google. It happens occasionally and then gets better after some time.
Kalimera @Fern,
I meant the gardener’s wife. If her hands are intact and I am using my knowledge from CSI and other dramas, there could be DNA material under her nails. The whole procedure doesn’t come out pretty soon, but at least they could have confined him until they got the results from the Forencic Lab.
At the same time, the remains of the gardener’s wife, were under a tree and who is still dealing with trees? The gardener.
They might not have evidence but the police SHOULD have him in surveillance.
So far in one night, he attached Hong Joo at her house and then stabbed Shin Yu in his apartment building, and he was not being followed by anyone!
I feel like this is lazy writing in my part and I wanted to answer to @Redser that the jakkanim has not done justice to Hong Joo’s character (and to some details like the ones I mentioned above). Something we have discussed in the first 6 episodes of the drama.
I still don’t like that part, mostly because most of the times, the female characters are lacking and it is a shame when female jakkanims are building them like this. I feel they don’t do them justice.
Regarding the spell books, I think I have mentioned it might be the case. Since the Gardener seems to have his own motives and he might remember his past life. He might actually want Aeng Cho’s spells.
And it actually makes sense, when we see the flashbacks from their previous reincarnation and the fact that Jang Mu Jin is fighting an army to get the spells book back.
My guess is that MuJin killed Aeng Cho because everyone was after her and her spells book. Most likely they have tried to kill her to take them away from her.
While in the meantime, he was fighting them off to retrieve it back.
Jang Mu Jin did love Aeng Cho. He actually saved her spells and buried the box in the Shrine after AC’s death. So, I agree with @Packmule3’s view about why JMJ did it.
I saw that Ha Joon posted a picture on his IG from his previous reincarnation too and he was a soldier as well. So, tonight, we might find out what happened in the past. F I N A L L Y!
Thanks, @Cleopatra. You have helped me understand the forensic pathology side of the identification. I was also wondering what Na did to keep the hands intact and why he did it. I guess we’ll find out. (maybe?) I agree with you about the lazy writing and research.
Why did SY go back downstairs alone to search for Na? Couldn’t he have called him from his flat? I’m done with the leads’ foolhardy behaviour.
Yesterday I wrote that Aengcho didn’t have a choice about being a shaman. It wasn’t quite true – she had the choice to sicken and die or live. I think that something like this will be presented more forcefully to Hong Joo in the present. –Perhaps not herself being ill but SY?
I wonder about the spells. There was a caveat in the fine print that “Only I and the person I choose can cast the spells.” I wonder how or if Na will get around that if he gets the book.
@Fern,
I am glad that I helped. If you want to watch a show about it check “The First Responders” it has many details on forensic pathology, but it is not rom com and I don’t know if you can handle it since it has a realistic setting.
Another show you can check is “Through the Darkness”. It has to do with the first Profiler in Korean Police. Kim Nam Gil is the ML. I love it but it is too dark for some. It has to do with serial killers and why they are killing.
Anyway, I don’t think that Na did something to the body to keep the hands intact. It is like Divine Providence.
I think that SY didn’t think that the Gardener would stab him in an apartment complex full of cameras. At the same time, I think that at this point the Gardener is paranoid. He has an obsession with Hong Joo and he didn’t stop from hurting her. That means his tendencies are out of hand and he would kill her if she doesn’t do what he says.
So, if we make his profile over here, he is a killer on the loose and he is a crazy one on the loose. He is smart and he can hide his tendencies, but after his attack on Hong Joo the Police should be alarmed. He was acquitted for his wife’s murder 5 years ago, but many things changed from that time.
Well, it is like having a calling and you refuse to answer to it. That’s the older Shaman told her. They let her in her place to become a Shaman or die. For them she was dead anyway.
Regarding of what you are saying, I think that Hong Joo is not living at the present time. I mean she was not enjoying her life. Especially after her father die, she was kinda dead.
Even now, that she has Shin Yu with her, she hasn’t decided what to do exactly with him. She feels that she is responsible for his health deterioration when that is not the case. He also was stabbed because of her.
So, she needs to decide to stay with SY and fight against the world for their LOVE.
I was thinking that even though the gardener could steal her spells book, he will not be able to perform any of them, because Aeng Cho had put a condition to her spells.
No, you didn’t lose your comments, @agdr03. They went to my spam box. Grrr…. I don’t know what’s up with this blog. I swear I didn’t touch the settings.
I’m retrieving both comments.
Oh don’t worry about the one in the spam box Queen Chingu ☺️ just delete it.
It’s ok. We can’t help about those errors in the blog sometimes. It can’t be perfect all the time. 😉
Thank you.
I’ll move this to the last HL post I did. Wait a second.
I agree with lots of comments re the holes in these plotlines and I know they’re building the tension.the actor playing the gardener is really 😨. I happened to watch a ‘Scream’ film with my daughter the other night, not my choice as I’d seen the original years ago. I asked why they can repeat the same film several times with very little changes,and her answer was ‘people still love it and still get scared silly’. My point in mentioning this is that I think the writers etc want to create this sort of ‘terror’ vibe in this drama. They are somewhat succeeding but it’s a fine line between terror and slapstick!
@Redser,
The Jakkanim is not building the tension organically and that is the problem.
Since, I am writing myself I find that these things are not set right from the very beginning and hence are taking away my pleasure.
In other words, Aristotle wouldn’t be happy.
We are watching some characters who are not not three dimensional.
Hong Joo is written like that. She has some elements that are contradictions in her personality making her a caricature at times.
Let’s say which characters are well written?
First of all, Shin Yu. When Jakkanim was writing Shin Yu, she may have had Rowoon in her mind, but RoWoon did more than justice to his character and took him a step forward.
The Second one is the Gardener’s. He is the only one who was set with specific tendencies from scratch.
From secondary characters:
The Halmeoni/ Shaman in the present.
I also find Shin Yu’s mom to be quirky and I like her for that.
Kim Wook is not only a good and loyal friend to Shin Yu, but he takes care of his friend’s mother as well.
Haum CEO is written as he truly is.
*Last minute addition, Mrs. Ma.
@Redser, my daughter likes the Scream films, too. The problem I’ve had with many conventional horror films is the curiosity or bravado that makes people go to isolated places alone. In short, stupidity. Even if they survive one time, you think they would learn the lesson. In this drama it’s repeated. Oh, well. Rant over.
I agree that the gardener is rather OTT. His jealous love declaration was not necessary — it was already obvious. I was surprised that he could enter a private parking area in a residential building.
Also, @Cleopatra, do you think Na could force Hong Joo to make him be “the person I choose” who can do the spells? Maybe he won’t notice the fine print…
@Fern,
I don’t think it will go that way. I think that Hong Joo will have an Epiphany and she will decide to stand her ground. If Shin Yu actually protected her in their previous life, she has to do the same in this one. It will be balanced that way, since the Halmeoni Shaman talked about Karma.
I think you are correct. She will of course try her best to protect Shin Yu, but Na might have some hold over her or Shin Yu. I hope not, tbh.
Episode 14
Finally we found out what actually happened.
And the bloody Gardener used to do black magic even then.
Aso for the SML, he was there too..
P.S. Those Jang Abeonims are awful just saying…
I’m waiting for the rugby to start, then I’ll quietly go somewhere else and watch ep. 14. Thank you for the warning, @Cleopatra.
@Fern,
Although, it is sad. You will enjoy it. I will write tomorrow more about it.
FYI, the jakkanim had as the primary idea their past lives’ story and then she built up the present Timeline. You will see how it is executed and you will realize that it is actually more solid.
I will be waiting for your thoughts!
I have seen it and really appreciate the details added. I’m surprised that Jang Mu Jin was allowed to live after killing or injuring so many of the King’s soldiers.
Now all I hope is that Jae Kyung stays honest in this life and that the baddies get their punishment. Especially Na the gardener. Is there a modern equivalent for being pulled apart by bulls?
But we had yet another instance of Hong Joo going off alone, and to meet Na at that. 🤷♀️ 🙄 Is there an emoji for shouting at the screen? I’m glad she got scolded.
Good episode!
I’m glad someone else was shouting at screen, I’m afraid I can’t say the expletives and curses (pun intended) I was using, but I guessed he was going to watch over her from scene with 2nd ML. Also the beginning when he’s bleeding out all over and shock or not, ypu dial emergency FIRST. 😳
Anyway, I think it’s been overall from the acting point of view a success and although some may have reservations about FL I think she is visually stunning on screen and the camera loves her. Her looks in the past history are beautiful and characterisation apart, she’s a good balance against those Rowoon looks😏
Yes, @Redser, I was mentally screaming ‘Dial 119, you pabo.’
The FL in the past seems a bit wiser than the one in the present. I keep waiting for Hong Joo to up her game to get more like Aengcho. Maybe we’re getting there now. Also, as you say, the FL looks beautiful in the historical costumes and in black hair, which I prefer for her.
Kalimera Ladies,
Ella did a FMV for Hong Joo and Shin Yu and here it is…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P6YcfdOoFA
Enjoy!
The scene in the snow was nearly but not quite on a par with the ‘goodbye’ scene from CLOY from an emotive view, but for me, nothing will ever compare to the emotions that surface everytime I see the clips from CLOY! It was a difficult period for me on a personal level, and I’m still working thru it, and believe it or not, the Kdramas I’ve watched then and now have helped me no end to stay steady and laugh or cry when I need to! Also at the time of CLOY,the only comparison I could come up with was Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. Immortal Cinema❤️🔥❤️🔥
I just lost everything and I need to write it all again… 🙄
Episode 14 has this hauntingly sad aura.
Everything came into a full circle. “Karma goes around and round like a wheel” said the Halmeoni Shaman to Hong Joo and I have to agree with her.
We saw everything and we felt everything. As I have written yesterday to @Fern, Jakkanim had as primary idea the past life love story where everything started.
Jang Mu Jin killed Aeng Cho himself because he didn’t want to watch her being dismembered. He loved her that much and he prefered to kill himself and suffer from the Curse, that see her perish like that.
The King was a coward. He accused an innocent person, because he didn’t want to annihilate Concubine Jung, their son and everyone from her Clan.
Concubine Jung along with her Servant / Gardener / Black Magician wanted her Book of Spells.
Kwon Jae-Gyeong in his previous life, chose money. He stabbed himself Jang Mu Jin and tried to take away the Book of Spells from him.
Jang Mu Jin’s Father was an awful man. Not only, he wanted his son to become the King’s Royal Guard, but he forced him to marry a woman he didn’t want to. Well, in Joseon everything happens like this.
His cruelty comes to the fact that he threatened MuJin that he will personally sell Aeng Cho to a troup and she will make her a sexual slave. He was also the one who tortured the Older Shaman and blinded her using his lackeys to do the job, in order to make Aeng Cho deny MuJin.
As it seems the Jang’s Abeonims / Fathers are awful people doing whatever is necessary to continue the line. Check Jang Shin Yu’s father how secretly he came into an aggreement with NaYeon to become Shin Yu’s wife, without asking him first.
Let’s see how he reacted after his son was stabbed. He didn’t even care to protect Hong Joo as his son’s girlfriend or choice. HJ is SY’s choice. He didn’t even go to find her and see if she is okay, since he found out about the stalker.
As for Kwon Jae-Gyeong. He is being tested even in this lifetime. Is he going to choose the money and stab in the back again Jang Shin Yu?
Actions speak volumes.
As for the Gardener, he didn’t learn his lesson and he won’t learn it in this lifetime as well.
As for the Mayor and his girl Na Yeon, they are so alike, did you notice?
They lie behind their teeth with a straight face.
@Cleopatra, thank you for the clip with all of the parallel scenes.
It occurs to me that Mujin is not only saving Aengcho from a horrific death, but also saving her spells – her life’s work – from being able to be used by others for their own means. He is protecting not only her, but many other innocent people which is what she wanted when she cursed anyone who would try to use her book without permission.
Kalimera @Fern,
Yes, you are right. This is something I have written the first time around and then I lost everything and I forgot to mention it!
So many people were after that Book of Spells. For some would bring their Heart’s desire – so Lucifer – and for others money (Jae Gyeong). Jang Mu Jin tried to protect her and her work. I am also glad that Aeng Cho put protection to her Spells because that way innocent people wouldn’t die.
It’s so frustrating to lose a post, isn’t it? I find it easier to lose on my phone than on my laptop, but it still happens sometimes and I don’t know what key I hit by mistake, even if that was the problem.
@packmule3 suggested writing in a document then cut and paste into the blog, particularly if it’s a long post. It’s the best idea, but I’m too lazy most of the time.
I’m looking forward to the next week.
@Fern,
Yes, it is.
I have read what @Packmule3 have said, but today I didn’t do that. o.O
I am looking forward to the next week too. They need to wrap up the Gardener plot in Episode 15 and give us a HEA in Episode 16.
@Redser, yes, the scene in the snow as it was photographed from above was stunning. The dialogue was perfect, too. So yes, it was a killing, but they were the opposite of mortal enemies.
I would have expected Mujin to die soon from his many wounds. I would be interested to see what happens to Mujin afterwards; why he wasn’t killed for rebelling. Do you think the killing was a purposeful set-up by Jae-kyung’s past incarnation or did he simply allow it to happen?
There were two goodbyes in CLOY that impressed me – the goodbye in the holding room of the South Korean government operatives and the goodbye at the border.
@Cleopatra, I hope we get a HEA next week. Another round of reincarnation or a second season would be unwelcome for me.
@Fern,
This show doesn’t want a second season. With a HEA, the story is finished and the show has said everything it has to say. I would prefer a second season on “Tomorrow”.
@All
I enjoyed reading all the comments!
After ep.14, I was surprised to see the SML on the side of the baddies in the past life Joseon era. Is this a foreshadowing that he is not so good in this life too (he is still showing signs of choosing money over ethics)?
I’m thinking the seaman’s warning about everything being reset with death may relate to SY’s almost death, which caused the curse to break. He no longer feels the red hand, it seems.
Can’t believe we now have only one more week left of seeing Rowoon – Shin Yu gives me Shallow Island vibes😜
*shaman’s warning
@Phoenix!
It is Soo good to see you here…
Well, Shallow Island here we come! He grew on me too… 😁
@Cleo
Good to see you here too🤗🤗
Just hoping for a happy ending now🤞
@Phoenix,
Yes, we want one with @Fern too! ❤️ I think they will have their HEA…
@Phoenix – LOL I was like darn I missed the seaman’s warning. I have contemplated Rowoon’s looks more than I care to admit. He is freakishly handsome. I wonder if he ever feels burdened by it? I enjoyed this. I would have liked a couple of episodes fully devoted to the past to develop that story more. It felt a bit rushed. I also expected to see more of the modern counterparts in the past. I was particularly looking for NY and Haum. Maybe we will see more of them in the final episodes. They still need to get their just desserts. Also I am assuming Dad and Mom will reconcile in some way.
@Good Twin
Good to see you here too! 😊
Haha my mobile phone autocorrect does mot recognise Shaman as a word and thinks I meant seaman 🤣
I was so mesmerised by Rowoon’s eyes in the first half of this drama when he was trying to stop himself from falling for HJ, and I had butterflies in my stomach when he first confessed to HJ that night at his home when he was drunk😍😍 This was the first drama where I “discovered” Rowoon as Shallow Island worthy material😝, I have never paid much attention to him before – he seemed too young to me.
I too think that SY’s father is becoming a better person and maybe he and SY’s mother will reconcile.
I’m curious about the mysterious grandma Shaman in current lifetime – was she there in the past life too? How does she know all this? I don’t think she was the past life Shaman who brought up Aeng Cho but that lady looked different (the one who was blinded).
@Phoenix, I don’t think the current time shaman Eun Wol was in the past with them – or she hasn’t been shown yet. I think she’s one in a long line of shamans who were protected and supported by the Jang family after Aengcho’s death. There were a couple of mentions of the shrine to be established and never removed.
Yes, I’m feeling a bit shallow, but I think I’d feel more so if I could see Rowoon a bit messy. He always seems pristine and statue-like, even when he’s supposed to be drunk, sleeping or comatose. He never even has dark circles, messy clothes or stubble.
@Fern
Aah I see. It seemed to me that Aeng Cho’s hut is the same one where Eun Wol lived before she went to the old age home, and where the book of spells box was buried (or maybe all Joseon Era huts look similar🤣). So I was trying to see if she is a descendant of the original shaman or in some way linked to Aeng Cho.
Also I’m still wondering how the Jang family father who was so mean and conniving and against shamans agreed to allow a shaman to live on his property not only once but made way for that hut to be inhabited by generations of shamans.
Maybe when Mu Jin revealed the nature of the curse that would be passed down the generations of the Jang family, the father agreed to allow a shaman to live on the family land. I don’t think Mu Jin died after killing Aeng Cho, because at the end he was roaming around in a different dress looking sad. If he had died issueless, wouldn’t the curse have ended with him?
Haha I like that Rowoon in this character is always immaculate, except those stray strands of hair artistically falling on his forehead 😝 But I get your point, he is too perfect to be true 🤣🤣 He reminds me strongly of Ahn Hyeo Seop in Business Proposal.
@Fern, the first time I saw the matching bangles, I thought they looked like handcuffs: rather blingy and expensive handcuffs, at that. So if Tiffany was trying to evoke the famous Cartier Love Bracelet, as @Packmule3 says, they’ve got the bondage spirit right.
I think you’re right, @Fern, about the Psycho Garden Man being released from detention because evidence was lacking. If all that was left was a skeleton (but with hands and fingerprints intact…ew!), it would be difficult to prove cause of death unless blunt force trauma left skeletal damage, or poisoning left traces in the victim’s bone marrow. At the worst, if it could be proven that he buried his wife when planting the tree as he worked on the park, perhaps he could be cited for illegal burial of human remains. He could claim his wife died of natural causes, but even if that were true he should get in trouble for not properly reporting her death. Still, if this show were a crime procedural, his wife’s suspicious death and burial would put him on the police radar, and their investigations would probably uncover, even without it being reported to them, that he was stalking Hong Jo. I’d think those two combined would lead to the conclusion that he’s a danger to society.
In an earlier episode we saw some lackeys delivering to the shaman’s place something heavy wrapped in a straw mat. That was the nameless child who becomes Aeng Cho. I wonder if Show will fill in some of her backstory. Why didn’t the old shaman give Aeng Cho a name? Why didn’t Aeng Cho remember her own name? She did say something cryptic to Mu Jin about the one who had a name now being dead. Was she rejected by her family because she showed signs of shamanistic abilities? Was she kidnapped? Was she secretly sent away by some kindhearted person who knew her life was in danger? If Show doesn’t address these mysteries about Aeng Cho, I’ll think it lazy screenwriting. My guess is that she was born into the noble class, perhaps at a higher rank than Jang Mu Jin.
For the present and past scenes on the bridge during the fireworks, I liked how they had identical blocking (camera positions and movement, actors’ positions and movement).
Several mentions are made about Hong Jo not being a good cook, even when she follows a recipe. Casting the spells is like following a cooking recipe. Except for the time she was distracted by a lost dog and wrote an incorrect hanja, she seems to be doing the spells successfully…or is she? Even now we don’t really know for sure.
Mu Jin, having killed Aeng Cho, was cursed to die miserably by the next crescent moon (as told to the King when he threatened to behead Aeng Cho). Show led us through the changing of the seasons as Mu Jin stood guard in the palace, so I assume by the time he stabbed Aeng Cho, he’s married (at his father’s insistence) and fathered a male member of the next generation. Jang Mu Jin also lived long enough after Aeng Cho’s death to write the note, passed down through the Jang family, instructing his descendants to care for the temple.
Which brings me to my theory about the spell books. I believe Jang Mu Jin took the locked wooden box containing the two spell books and buried it under, or by, the temple while Aeng Cho was asleep. He then took a decoy wooden box and was willing to die protecting it in order to give Aeng Cho a chance to escape. The whole time Mu Jin was fighting the other palace guards, nobody tried opening the box. I suspect the box would only be opened by the king’s concubine, who ordered that Aeng Cho’s spells books be brought to her.
Which brings up another point. Perhaps Jang Mu Jin, having survived the wounds inflicted on him, would not be punished for killing other palace guards during the conflict over the spell books because that mission was secret. It was not ordered by the king: his order was that all Aeng Cho’s spell books be destroyed. The plotting, traitorous concubine would be punished if it became known she wanted the spell books for herself, so she would have to cover up the reason all those guards died.
However, unless Show offers a plausible explanation why Jang Mu Jin isn’t blamed and punished for Aeng Cho’s escape from the well in which she was imprisoned, I’ll consider it another big plot hole. The concubine, and probably others at the palace, knew that Aeng Cho and Jang Mu Jin had a special relationship. I’d think he’d be the first suspect in helping her escape, especially since it took someone with excellent fighting skills to kill all the men guarding the well.
@Phoenix, I’m not only going to miss seeing Rowoon, but hearing his voice. His voiceovers sometimes give me goosebumps, they’re so good at conveying emotion.
@welmaris
Thank you for explaining what might have happened after Mu Jin killed Aeng Cho. That sequence of events makes sense.
I agree about Rowoon’s voice, he has got such a deep voice, and it’s deadly when he makes declarations of love in that voice **swoon**😍 I think I’ll go back and rewatch earlier parts of the drama when I get time, just to see Rowoon’s expressions again ❤️
I didn’t like HJ’s aegyo behaviour in the last few episodes before the past life revelations started, she reminded me strongly of the extreme aegyos of the FL from Home Town Cha Cha Cha which I was forced to skip. I don’t understand what is it about some kdrama FLs falling in love that makes them lose their normal sane behaviour and resorts to talking like babies and acting like brainless idiots – it’s not cute, just irritating😬 I saw similar comments on this blog on HJ’s stupidity at chasing after a suspected murderer herself, going into empty areas when she knows she is being stalked, opening doors when she shouldn’t – I do not like how she always needs SY to come and save her. This is my one sore point in this drama. When I compare this to ‘See You in My 19th Life’ with a similar reincarnation and fated love theme, the FL there was much stronger and prudent. The writer of this drama of course is to blame for the characterisation. I wish the FL had been shown as someone more capable of dealing with things herself, with the ability to think things through.
The fireworks on the bridge scene has become a staple of reincarnation dramas now, hasn’t it? I don’t know if that has been discussed on this blog before because I didn’t have time to go through the earlier posts – the “falling flames” fireworks, as they are called, are part of the Haman Nakhwa Nori festival dating back from the Joseon Dynasty. Those falling fireworks on the bridge are visally stunning🤩
@Welmaris, I think you are right about the nameless child. She may have been high born. Was her birth family was cursed somehow, or perhaps they thought she was cursed because of her illness and ability to see the future? She arrived at the shaman’s with a deadly illness which the shaman cured somewhat, provided that the child accept the spirit and become a shaman herself. I think the person with her name was herself; she was told that she mustn’t ever reveal her name and that her life was over. But that’s just guessing on my part.
Thanks for mentioning the passage of time. I only noticed it a bit and Mu Jin may well have been married by the time Aeng Cho got into trouble with the concubine.
Good theory about the box being a decoy! I wonder if it will pan out like that?
@Phoenix, the aeygo and bad decisions are really too much. I feel that Aeng Cho was more dignified, courageous and wise than Hong Joo and I hope that the writer will have Hong Joo come up to her level by the end.
Thank you for the information about the bridge fireworks. They are beautiful. Ha, I was thinking of wooden bridges and fireworks don’t go together but they have survived for hundreds of years, so it must be okay.
@phoenix agreed Rawoon here reminded me of AHS in Business Proposal! He should visit Shallow Island for sure!
I just finished this drama and caught up on your comments. I like the past life episode. It was like the short version of c-drama One and Only. They had a tragic past lives and reunited happy in the second life.
Thanks @welmaris for the theory of the box. That helps me understand the last scene.
Hope you are all well here! 😊