I don’t do recaps as you know. But since we’re entering the final weekend of this kdrama, it’s about time to retrace our steps to see how we’ve arrived at this junction.

Episodes 5 & 6 gave us the first body swap. Unlike many viewers, my gut reaction to the body swap trope wasn’t disdain or contempt. Even back then, it worked for me because I expected two things.

First, I anticipated that the body swap would allow him to grasp EunJo’s pressing reason for thievery (or “meddling” as she called it) because he was forced to live as a low-born woman in a strict Confucian society ruled by a tyrant king.

And sure enough, in Episode 13, he said thus to EunJo:

YY: I don’t intend to run anymore. I’ve Joseon through the eyes of a woman, unintentionally. The tenants who were always exploited, the patients at Hyeminseo, the dying children on the streets, and the courtesans whose sufferings was even despised. They are all the people of Joseon, as seen through her eyes. Now I understand what must have been going through her mind when she stole.
EJ: So…
YY: I want to go with you. No matter where it leads.

And second, I believed that the body swap was the fulfilment of the Grand Dowager’s expressed wish for him.

QD: From now on, live for one woman. Not for me.

She wanted Yi Yeol to find a woman to whom he could devote his entire life. Fortunately, for him, fate didn’t pair him up a Megan Markle of the Joseon period. You know the type — phony, pretentious, and with delusions of self-importance. Rather, he was matched with someone who’s humble, selfless, and compassionate.

He could look up to EunJo, figuratively and literally speaking.

If you notice the camera shots when she was disguised as GilDong, she’s positioned on a higher plane than he is. Those locations were by design.

From Ep 2:

From Ep 3:

From Ep 12:

Next, Episodes 7 and 8 showed the couple forming relationships with unexpected people. EunJo bonded with Haerim. She hit a raw nerve with JaeYi with she showed concern for his injuries. And she encountered Consort Suk Ui who was disguised as a Buddhist nun in the monastery. Meanwhile, Yi Yeol befriended the folks of Gujilmak. These connections would later prove beneficial to them.

Episodes 9 and 10 were about self-discovery. I said the “Prop of the Year” award should be given to the arrow because of its ubiquitous presence. JaeYi shot an arrow at EunJo. The king shot an arrow at her father. She shot an arrow at the king. She accidentally shot an arrow at Yi Yeol.

Symbolically, the arrow was the tipping point.

After almost injuring EunJo, JaeYi acknowledged that he was one with the “beasts”. Then, after learning that she almost killed Yi Yeol, EunJo eschewed killing in vengeance as this would deem her no better than the king. This decision of hers came at the right time as she was thrown in the company of the king several times.

As for Yi Yeol, he realized that – aside from fulfilling EunJo’s wishes (including the lantern wish) – stopping her tears was also very important matter for him. He rushed to her side to reassure her that he wasn’t injured by the arrow.

Episodes 11 and 12 produced the second body swap and activated the couple’s warrior ethos.

Because this was the second body wrap, Yi Yeol and EunJo weren’t fazed by the body swa. But what surprised them both was the discovery that they were unwittingly dragged into a rebellion plot.

While residing in the Grand Prince, EunJo realized that Consort Suk Ui intended to replace the king with Yi Yeol. Meanwhile, as EunJo, Yi Yeol discovered that Consort Suk Ui intended to use Gildong – and sacrifice her, when necessary – to trigger the coup. Both of them feared for the other person’s life and vowed to protect him/her at all costs.

For me, the most ironic thing about Episode 12 is Yi Yeol becoming furious when EunJo casually mentioned her willingness to die for him, when all along, he himself had determined to gladly give up his life for her.

Episode 13, I said, was about confessions, and so is Episode 14. There were multiple confessions from various characters in Episode 13, but to me, the most interesting ones were those that were confessed in silence… or at least, without the intended person hearing.

EunJo confessed to the unconscious Yi Yeol that she had feelings for him that she only belatedly recognized. On his part, Yi Yeol couldn’t confess to EunJo that he remembered their childhood connection and knew why the fates had them body-swapping. He didn’t want to burden her with the truth, I guess.

EJ: Actually, I’m concerned about what might happen if our bodies switch again.
YY: (sighing)
EJ: Even when everything seems fine, that worry suddenly creeps in.
YY: Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.

YY: (vowing to himself) Because I won’t let you, me, and anyone else be driven to death again.

EJ: How could you be sure?
YY: (looking away) Just a feeling. This time, it feels like my soul properly settled in my body.
EJ: Jeez. I wondered what it was.
YY: If you’re that worried, I’ll stick by your side forever. We know from experience that being apart causes trouble for both of us. So what choice do I have? I’ll just have to stick right by your side. Accept it. Just consider it a harsh fate.

But one thing blatantly missing in Episode 13 was JaeYi’s love confession to EunJo and we got two of them in Episode 14.

1. The first happened in the beginning of episode

Let me transcribe the dialogue.

EJ: (confessing to her crimes) The people who received the grain and medicine Gil Dong stole were patients of Hyeminseo.
JY: Stop joking around.
EJ: You’re the one joking, sir. You know the Grand Prince isn’t Gil Dong yet you’re still pushing him as a suspect.

Touche! She turned the tables on him. He accused her of saying nonsense and she pointed out that he was the one saying more absurd things. He had no answer to that.

EJ: Listen carefully. Handing over the secret document, threatening your brother, and shooting the arrow at the king the night the courtesans fled, that was all me.
JY: (seething)
EJ: And His Highness was by my side in every one of those moments.

Meaning, whatever she did, he was part of it, too. Where she was, he was there, too. They were one in spirit (thanks in large part to the body swap, of course).

Seriously, this kind of sentiment is often expressed in an elegy or an epitaph. Like, “Don’t cry for me, Argentina, because the truth is I never left you.”

She remembered Yi Yeol ordering her to stay within reach, only as far as he could “embrace.” In other words, he was giving her his tacit consent to resume her activities. His failure to object means he agrees or approves of her actions.

EJ: He harbored Gil Dong’s crimes, and with the secret document Gil Dong handed over, he punished the corrupt officials. And in place of Gil Dong, he provided relief to Gujilmak. That’s the kind of person he is. Someone who would leap into flames. Without hesitation just to protect. With just the heart to protect.

Then, outside the interrogation room, Yi Yeol moved away from the door. I think he had enough of EunJo singing praises about him. He mentioned this back in Episode 9. EunJo had a way of hyping him up, of looking up at him like “some hero from a legend” so he kept acting brave despite being scared so he could live up to her expectations.

I call this the “EunJo effect.” She sets high expectations for people and treats them as if they were valuable and treasured. As a result, they strive to live up to her expectations and choose to show their better nature in order not to disappoint her.

And now she was demonstrating this “EunJo effect” on JaeYi.

JY: I don’t care who the real Gil Dong is. Because the Gil Dong I’ll arrest is already decided.
EJ: So you believed me.
JY: (silent)

He remembered:

a) how guilty EunJo looked when he accused Yi Yeol of protecting someone “very dear” to him,

b) how enraged Yi Yeol was that he was hurting “somebody” whom Yi Yeol had been trying with all his might to protect. JaeYi  realized that Yi Yeol wouldn’t have been enraged if JaeYi had only been targeting HIM. After all, he and Yi Yeol had already come to a “gentlemen’s agreement” to fight without reservations.

It all made sense to EunJo JaeYi at last.

EJ: Tie me up. You can’t, can you? Because of what you hold in your heart.
JY: Yes. That has become my shackles. I…(stopping himself)
EJ: I’m not talking about your feelings for me. I’m talking about your true feelings.

And there it goes. She wasn’t appealing to his emotions for her, i.e., you’re going to do this for me because you love me. Rather, she was appealing to the “better angels of his nature,” i.e., you’re going to do this for yourself because you are a good person, and you know it’s the right thing to do.

JY: What?

I don’t think he understood what she was talking about. But she was coaching him and guiding him to choose compassion.

EJ: You don’t want to arrest Gil Dong, do you? Even if it weren’t me.
JY: (not answering)
EJ: The people who needed Gil Dong’s help. Because you also have compassion for them. Just like the Grand Prince.

JaeYi remembered how he apologized to the Gujilmak folks without EunJo prompting him and how he disobeyed Sec Im’s order to kill the concubine. He didn’t do these because of her; he did them because of his conscience.

Nevertheless, he suspected her of manipulating his feelings; I don’t blame him. She was planting this new seed, this new idea in his head that had never occurred to him before. He distrusted her.

JY: (sighing) You’re just using me. If you think you could do whatever you wanted to a man who holds you dear!

He stopped because he inadvertently blurted out that he loved her.

JY: You. I thought you came as the Grand Prince’s shield. But you were a sword. In the end, the blade fell on me.

2. The second confession was when he locked her up.

This is his version of “warrior ethos.” Remember what I said about it? It’s when the hero or heroine accepts death as the ultimate noble sacrifice for the mission.

EJ: What are you doing?
JY: An end worthy of a great man. I’m the one who brought that name to the surface. So, I’ll let that name consume me.

To me, he was being sarcastic when he said, “an end worthy of a great man.” I doubt he really considered himself equal to GilDong/EunJo.

But since he started this whole mess because of his “GilDong = Grand Prince” Derangement Syndrome, he’d undo it all by putting on GilDong’s mask. Once he presented himself in public as GilDong, he’d be put to death, and then, EunJo and the rest of the imprisoned citizens would be freed from prosecution.

EJ: No. No, don’t do this. This is…This isn’t for me. There must be another way. Let’s find it together. Open the door quickly. I said open it!
JY: Do not forgive me — the day you came to this house, when I crushed the palanquin you rode in, when I wandered drunkenly near your chambers, and when I… all of it.
EJ: I won’t forgive you. If you go through with this, I’ll never forgive you, even in death.

He wanted her to feel anger instead of sadness at his death. He didn’t want her tears because he didn’t think he deserved them after all that he’d done to her. He wanted her to continue thinking of him as a harsh person, and to stop assuming that he did any of those things out of love and concern.

Sigh. I think he protests too much.

I like his letter to his father better. It was full of derision, hidden in civility. He wrote,

“Your Excellency. Dying in the name of Gil Dong is my family’s only pride, please say I did well. I cherished one person, and through those feelings, I learned the joy of existence. Do not consider my life wasted in sorrow. If it was unfilial of me to be ashamed of you, a treacherous minister, then blame me. I’ll go first and wait for you. Take care on your long journey.”

My comments:

1. According to JaeYi, Gil Dong was a thief, yet to die as Gil Dong was the best thing the Im family would be remembered for. Father-and-son brought to shame and dishonor to the family name.

Gil Dong >>> Im Sa Yeong and Im Seung Jae

2. I don’t think he experienced “the joy of existence” but he wanted to taunt his father that he was happily in love. Remember his father raised him to be a “beast” for breeding. To me, he wanted to rub it in that he escaped the arranged wedding, and what better way to do it than to gloat about loving someone?

3. “I’ll go first and wait for you.” Meaning, he was about to die, but Im Sa Yeong’s death would come shortly, too.

4. “Take care on your long journey.” Meaning, he was counting on Im Sa Yeong’s just punishment – whether on earth or in the afterlife – to be brutal.

5. I like that he called his own father a “treacherous minister” and yet, Im Sa Yeong ordered his bodyguard to grab Jaeyi and COVER HIS MOUTH when he saw him in the crowd at the execution of the ahjumma. He wanted to stop JaeYi from his suicide mission.

Now, I can’t end this post without drawing attention to Yi Yeol’s confession at the very end.

3. Yi Yeol’s confession

YY: I’ll go out.
EJ: If you go out, they’ll accuse you of protecting GilDong. An investigation will expose how you’ve covered for GilDong all along. Then, it will be treason. I won’t let you die because of me.
YY: I made that decision myself long ago. I would gladly do it. (moving to go)
EJ: (stopping him) Right now, everyone is gathering at the Gujilmak and the control post.
YY: Who?

Then the camera showed the ministers and scholars writing their names down on a paper. This act signified their commitment to their mission of dethroning the king. Collectively, they were demonstrating their willingness and readiness to lose their ranks, offices, properties, families, and lives to the cause. The camera also showed the regular folks gathered with torches.

EJ: Those trying to endure today. And those trying to protect tomorrow.

Frankly, Yi Yeol looked scared.

EJ: So you must not stop, Grand Prince. For their tomorrow, you absolutely must be there.
YY: (wresting his hand from hers) Then what about me? What should I do in a tomorrow without you?
EJ: (pausing) The dream. We came this far by sharing the same dream. I…I will be in that dream.

This whole dialogue sounds ominous. She wasn’t promising to be physically present to him; she was prevaricating when she said that she’d be present in his “dreams.”  We sensed that this was a euphemism for “I won’t be there with you, but I’ll be with you mentally, emotionally, spiritually forever.”

YY: Hong Eun Jo, I…
EJ: I know.
YY: I…
EJ: I know everything.
YY: (confessing silently) No, you don’t know. You know nothing. Hong Eun Jo. I hate dreaming the same dream as you. I despise today that must be endured, their tomorrow, and this very moment.
EJ: I’ll go. Again. We shall meet again.
YY: (confessing silently) A man with small ambitions. You may be disappointed, but it can’t be helped. Now, I confess.

She leaves him and he pulls her back for a kiss.

YY: My dream. It has always been you.

And she kisses him, too.

To me, the whole point of this dialogue is to show that Yi Yeol was a reluctant leader who was thrust into the position of king because a) he was needed by the yangbans and the common people to unite them, b) he displayed no murderous streak like his older half-brother, and c) he was exhorted by the woman he loved to take action. It’s the “EunJo Effect.”

This is all well and good on paper. But as it stands, I can already see a problem in the future. Without the continuous presence and support of EunJo by his side, he would have no interest in ruling the kingdom and serving its people.