The thread is open. .
@GB,
Go ahead and post your notes on this episode. I’m about halfway through the show. Will edit this thread, and upload my own musings later. Thanks.
pm3
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Without wasting time, here are my notes.
1. Re. who poisoned HuiJu?
In my previous write-up, I wrote this:
The possible weapons:
— The lipstick: it could have been tampered with and laced with poison or drug.
— The wine cup: this is interesting because when HJ stumbled, she crashed on the table and jarred the cups. Was the intended victim of the poison HJ or YA?
— The rice wine in the kettle: were HJ and YA served from separate kettles? She started choking after she sipped it.
— The long sleeves of her bridal robe: she could have been breathing in toxic powder sprinkled on the sleeves as she had the sleeves close to her face when she stumbled, drank the rice wine, and greeted PMM in the Great Hall.The usual suspects:
— The mole: she couldn’t eat during the staff dinner/impromptu bridal shower. And she looked in tears when Steward Kim bragged about using pink coral (instead of coral pink, hahaha) lipstick. Was the lipstick supposed to react with the wine? Poor girl. Will she be killed next like the mechanic who worked on HJ’s car?
— The Queen Mother’s assistant: she was the one who planted the mole in the Grand Prince’s residence
— The Queen Mother: the bossWhat about Lord InPyeong, the Queen Mother’s father? I don’t think so. The mole was placed in YA’s residence at the Queen Mother’s behest. Besides, I doubt he would interfere personally in YA’s household staff like her daughter would.
In this episode, it’s revealed that the poison was indeed in the wine cup, and the intended victim was Yi Ahn, not HuiJu. As I noted, she accidentally jarred the cups when she stumbled.
HJ: I made a mistake. The robe was so heavy that I tripped. I fell against the table. Ms. Do put the goblets back in place. That’s when they were switched. Our goblets!
YA realized, too, that he was the intended target.
YA: It is a medication I have taken on occasion…. I believe I was the target.
Investigator: May I ask why you think that?
YA: My wife, who doesn’t normally take that medication, survived. However, had I taken it, I would have died. It would have been a fatal dose.
HJ and YA could call it even then. He saved her from the car accident, and she saved him from the poisoned drink.
But I must alter my suspect list. I initially eliminated Lord InPyeong from consideration because I didn’t think he would interfere with YA’s household staff. But now I say it’s possible that he planned it. What made me change my mind?
Four things.
One, he has a motive.
His daughter told him the day after the Inner Court Banquet that the Grand Prince knew about the late King’s wish to abdicate and leave the throne to Yi Ahn. From Episode 4.
QM: Grand Prince Yi Ahn knows about the late King’s dying wish. It did not appear to be a remark made in passing.
LI: You were certain—
QM: I doubt he has any evidence the fire that day reduced everything to ashes. Thus, I shall accept that unsavory union. As long as he knows about that will we can never join forces with him.
LI: So?
QM: Seong Huiju. She will prove to be his weakness. It would be best to keep her within arm’s reach. Do you not agree?
My comment: Viola! That’s Lord InPyeong’s motive. Eliminating Yi Ahn would free his daughter from her worries and bury the secret of the late King’s planned abdication for good. Additionally, HuiJu would become irrelevant, a non-issues once YA was dead. He was killing two birds with one stone.
Two, his shocked reaction when he saw the news can be interpreted in another way.
When he saw HJ collapsed on TV, he stood up, saying, “Hold on.” Then, he furrowed his brow in disbelief.
IMO, he was shocked because the scene wasn’t what he expected. He was waiting for YA to collapse, not HJ. If he indeed plotted the poisoning of YA, then the goblet was intended for YA to drink.
Three, his conversation with his daughter afterward the incident was suspicious.
QM: You should refrain from visiting the palace for the time being. I fear it may give rise to unnecessary misunderstanding.
LI: Your Majesty would do well to exercise some caution.
QM: Do you care to elaborate?
LI: I mean nothing by it. I… only fear it may give rise to unnecessary misunderstandings.
I found it interesting how they were both warning the other person not to rock the boat. It seems to me that she suspected her father of being involved in the poison incident, so she was warning him to keep a low profile until the investigation was over.
He, on other hand, believed that she was about to act rashly again (and she did, didn’t she? She volunteered to take all of HJ’s public duties on her behalf). He was warning her to think before doing anything because Yi Ahn is on to her.
Lol. Wouldn’t it be funny though if neither of them was actually involved in the attempted poisoning?
Four, he has access to YA’s medical record and digoxin through his sons.
His two sons work at the Royal Seoul Hospital.
PMM’s assistant: These are the personnel files you asked for. They include the attendants’ family ties, changes in assets, and their whereabouts and call history over the past month.
PMM: And the Grand Prince’s medical records?
Asst: Everyone who accessed it recently is a physician at the Royal Seoul Hospital. Less than ten total.
PMM: Is Her Majesty’s brother one of the ten?
Asst: Yes, sir. Both of them.
PMM: When will the Royal Seoul Hospital, including them, be investigated?
Asst: (prevaricating because it is a delicate situation) Well…
PMM: Start now.
Asst: Yes, sir. Understood.
I like how Prime Minister Min (aka JeongWoo Oppa) is on top of the situation here.
2. Could PMM have poisoned the goblet?
The thought did cross my mind that JeongWoo Oppa had set up an elaborate scheme to kill Yi Ahn and make a widow of HuiJu right after the wedding ceremony.
But remember what I said about the chess game? I said JeongWoo Oppa strategized three moves ahead. It would have been out of character for him to poison YA’s goblet as it would also expose HuiJu to danger.
Also, let’s recall what he told YA after the car accident? He told YA that he would do everything in his power to protect the King and the Crown, but in return, he wanted YA to do the same and protect HJ. So, what good is it to him to see YA dead? He was relying on YA to keep her safe.
Moreover, he might be personally opposed to the marriage, but he wouldn’t recklessly destabilize the nation by killing a much-beloved Grand Prince.
3. Yi Ahn has a heart problem??
According to HJ’s doctor, digoxin was ingested by HJ.
Dr: She has digoxin toxicity.
YA: Toxicity?
Dr: It’s a medication used to treat arrhythmias. But an overdose can be fatal.
My comments:
a. I found it interesting that YA didn’t ask, “Digoxin? What’s that?” He acted as if he recognized the name. As it turns out, he was familiar with the medication because he took it “on occasion.”
b. According to google, digoxin is a “prescription-only medication used to treat chronic heart failure and arrhythmia by strengthening heart contractions and slowing heart rate.” Also, according to google, it’s used: a) to strengthen the heart muscle to improve blood circulation, b) to slow down an overactive heart rate and stabilize the rhythm, and c) to reduce symptoms like fatigue, swelling of hands and ankles and shortness of breath.
Does this mean that YA has/had a heart condition? Is he cured?
c. More importantly, does this heart problem run in the family?
Remember, back in Episode 4, when HJ researched the deaths of his family members, she read a news article, saying that the old “King Huijong died after a heart attack.” The article speculated, “Could it have been prevented?”
Then, in Episode 3, we were shown in a flashback of Yi Ahn confronting his brother, the Crown Prince.
YA: I clearly gave you a chance. Whatever happens from here on, you will have to deal with it yourself.
I pointed out in my review of Ep 3 how lethargic and low-energy the Crown Prince was, and I speculated that he was prescribed some sort of medication to reduce anxiety. Now I wonder if he had a heart condition instead, and he was given digoxin.
We were all under the impression that he was trying to stop the marriage because he didn’t like his future sister-in-law. But based on another flashback after his brother’s wedding, it seemed like he got along fine with his sister-in-law in the early days of her marriage to the Crown Prince.
YA even volunteered to step in when his brother played hooky. From Episode 7.
Queen Mother/Crown Princess: (talking on the phone to the Crown Prince) How can I go by myself? They are expecting both of us. What would you have me do?
YA: Your Majesty. Has my brother run off again?
QM/CP: (not replying)
YA: I shall accompany you. If we say that the Crown Prince is unwell, they would scarcely consider it improper that I, the Grand Prince, accompany you in his stead.
QM/CP: That would only prompt Father to reprimand you.
YA: (smiling) I’m reprimanded every day anyway.
I’m going to revise my initial impression. Perhaps YA wanted to stop the wedding NOT because he was opposed to his sister-in-law, but because he was worried about his brother’s health condition. YA could have wanted him to delay the wedding to attend to some medical concern.
d. If YA’s brother had a heart condition, this could explain how he died in the fire.
Remember in Episode 4, HJ and the staff were watching news when a certain Hwang Wookyeong was interviewed. The staff knew him as former palace spokesman who was blacklisted after he claimed that the late king’s death was due to murder, not accident.
In Episode 7, the Queen claimed she burned the whole palace down. While it’s true that she started the conflagration by setting the document on fire, the question remains: why didn’t the King save himself and escape from the burning palace? Previously, I could only think of two answers. First, he wanted to kill himself by smoke inhalation because he wanted to spite the Queen or to leave her guilt-ridden. Second, the king was murdered, as the ex-palace spokesman claimed.
Now, I could think of a third reasons: he had a medical emergency.
Here’s their altercation from Episode 2.
Queen: Have you truly gone mad?
King: It will be better than dying. (stamping the edict)
Queen: It would be better to die.
King: (looking at her)
Queen: I’d rather see you dead. (grabbing the edict) For the sake of the Crown Prince. (setting the paper on fire)
King: (calmly) My Queen.
Queen: (throwing away the burning paper and storming out of the room)
King: (yelling after her) My Queen!
If King Seonjong had a heart condition like his father King Huijong or if he had a pre-existing arrhythmia, then it’s possible that he suffered heart failure after that heated argument with the Queen.
4. The slap
Hahaha. At least it wasn’t a kimchi slap.
I think it showed once and for all that HuiJu’s father genuinely cared for her. Sure, he didn’t shower her with affection. But to me, his behavior wasn’t at all surprising because he blamed HuiJu for causing his wife’s death and his family’s disintegration. Naturally, it was easier to blame the child HuiJu than to take the blame himself because of his infidelity.
But here’s what I think: if he didn’t care for HuiJu, then he wouldn’t have let her stay in the family, go to the Royal academy, or give her a business to run.
He opposed the royal marriage because he knew there was some shady business in the palace and wanted HuiJu protected. Hence, he asked his daughter-in-law to secretly install someone in the palace to assist HuiJu in time of her need.
As for advice to HuiJu on her wedding to bow to no one, to me, that’s a good indication that he knows his daughter’s personality well and takes pride (privately, of course) in her audacity and belligerence.
5. The look YA gave his nephew/the King
Did you notice that? The King ran up to him to welcome him home, but he didn’t return the warm greeting. He didn’t smile at the nephew, and the young child sensed his aloofness.
Was he angry with the kid because he was associating him with his mother and grandfather who nearly succeeded in killing HuiJu? Or was he angry with the kid for being the source of all the trials and tribulations he was currently in?
6. Lee Areum’s visit to the Prime Minister Min’s office
I don’t think Areum’s a double spy, that is, spying for the Queen and PMM/Yeongwoo Oppa at the same time.
I think PMM summoned her to his office because they already knew that she was the Queen’s mole. And he wanted to learn from her – without raising the Queen’s suspicion – exactly what happened behind the scenes.
To be continued.
Thanks @pkml3! I decided that I’d at least look for some free to use online apps that could turn speech to text, and I did try a few and found one simple one that works. I actually spoke of what happened and who said what in this episode and the notes did get output as a huge chunk of words.
But irony! Although it is the episode of the attempted murder during the royal wedding, it felt like nothing much happened! However I did take note of the reactions when HJ collapsed and more reactions to the investigation. I’ll just list them in the order as they came up.
= = =
The QM was on her feet. She ordered that the King be taken away and called for the royal physician.
YA was beside himself but alert enough to stop this at once. He did not trust the palace and said: “We shall leave the palace. From this moment forth, anyone who dares to lay a hand upon my wife shall face my wrath.”
PM Min was shocked into doing nothing except call out HJ’s name, however he gathered himself after a while and gave orders for the traffic to be cleared so that the escort vehicles of the Princess could reach the hospital asap.
At the hospital, digoxin toxicity is found in HJ’s blood, in a dose that could have killed her if she had been a frequent consumer of the drug. HJ’s father slaps YA’s face and insists: “Surely you will not let this slide.” YA won’t.
Seong Tae Ju and Dae Young are shocked at Dad’s outburst and relieved that HJ is alright.
At the palace, Court Lady Im tells the Queen Mother that HJ collapsed due to toxicity.
QM: “Are you saying someone tried to poison her?” She looks shocked. (Is this shock because she did not initiate the poisoning or is it because the wrong person got poisoned?)
PM Min blames YA for not being able to keep HJ safe for even 1 day. YA demands that Min start an investigation of the palace and all persons associated with it much to the QM’s horror.
(The thought occurs to me that if she had been the one to initiate the poisoning, she might in advertently started a great deal of digging into the past deaths in the palace as well, that could uncover the truth behind Yi Hwan’s death.)
Continued…
Continued…
The staff of YA are interrogated and we find that HJ had eaten nothing except half an apple. Areum continues to look terrified and nervous.
HJ’s reaction when she found out about the toxicity from Min was that the poison had been in the wedding goblets that were accidentally switched, and that the poison had been meant for YA. She’s desperate to have him protected.
YA is questioned by the police as well, and he is fully aware that he should have been the victim because he took digoxin. He tells the investigators, “I believe I was the target. My wife doesn’t normally take that medication. She survived. However, had I taken it, I would have died. It would have been a fatal dose.”
Very suspiciously, after QM hears that YA was being questioned and that the search is on at his private residence, says to Court Lady Im: “Take care of any potential issues. Make it clean and no loose ends.”
Im: “Do not worry Your majesty.”
Continued…
Continued…
Min has the personnel files of of the attendants, and their families, their connections, changes in their assets, call history for the past month, and even the Grand Prince’s medical records. He finds out that less than 10 people accessed it recently, and among them were both her Majesty’s (meaning the QM’s??) 2 brothers.
HJ wants to look more sick than she really is, and Dae Young agrees that playing the sympathy card was a good idea. HJ leaves hospital making a show of being weak while the PR machine makes her seem like a victim to gain sympathy from the public. The QM sneers at this and launches her own attempt at PR.
QM tells her her aide that she’d take over all of HJ’s official schedule for the month: “We must present ourselves as sisters-in-law in perfect accord.” She even makes a show of coming all the way out to greet HJ when she arrives at the palace, but DY is onto it and quickly gets HJ out of the QM’s orbit.
QM’s plan to take over HJ’s public duties is confounded by YA who rejects her request to help.
Lord In Pyeong comes to visit QM. She tells him to refrain from visiting the palace for the time being: “I feel it may give rise to unnecessary misunderstanding.” He looks surprised.
IP: “Your Majesty, will do well to exercise some caution.”
QM: “Do you care to elaborate?”
IP: “I meant nothing by it. It may give rise to unnecessary misunderstanding.” (He could be warning her to restrain her actions because her past deeds could be dug up.)
PM Min receives the report that traces of digoxin had been found in the wedding goblet. He recalls that HJ had said the goblets had been switched, and interestingly Lee Areum comes into his office (likely called in by him) like she’s been expected. He stares at her and she still looks afraid and unhappy. Perhaps the villain will soon be exposed?
My conclusion for now, since it’s best to keep things simple, is that the QM is still the most suspicious and likely of the villains.
@pkml3 I’ll add on more later… it’s too late now!!! I look forward to reading you.
Updated. Off to bed now.
Thanks for doing this, @GB, because it reminded me of things I wanted to comment on.
I remember the look of dismay on the QM after he declared this. Remember? She thought that HJ was YA’s Achilles’ heel, weakness, soft spot. But judging by YA’s fierce pronouncement, this is the strongest he’s ever been in asserting his authority over the palace. He’s far from being weak, soft, and yielding. I guess, after HJ’s bow-and-arrow lesson on how to protect his loved ones, he’s grown a spine.
It’s also quite telling that he knows who to trust and run to in times of trouble. He called his aide, Choi Hyeon, to his side, and ordered him to immediately contact his father-in-law.
Lol. I should have known that her family would have its own hospital. No wonder she was able to get that doctor to secretly pay a house visit (or hotel visit) when YA was sick.
Yes, on moments like these, it’s great to have PMM on HJ’s side. He has the backing of the government; he can mobilize police force; he knows best how to handle emergency situations.
I’m liking this couple. He isn’t so bad as a big brother. By HJ’s standards, he lacks business acumen, but he doesn’t mistreat HJ as a sibling, and he adores his wife. As for DaeYoung, HJ could have had a worse sister-in-law.
Sorry, I’m not buying her reaction. After her outburst on the night of second fire in the palace (i.e., the fire on the King’s birthday bash), I distrust all of her public display of shock and indignation.
It may very well turn out that she’s innocent of everything in the end, but her crying wolf so many times is tiresome. Even the actress’ performance is tiresomely one-note: she’s perpetually glaring.
You’re welcome @pkml3!
I like the idea of Lord In Pyeong now being the culprit. Previously, he had no motive, but not anymore. We were given a scene in a previous episode of how the fire that killed King Yi Hwan was weighing heavily on his mind. He must have been living on tenterhooks since he heard that YA knew the true desires of his late brother. At any time, YA might have revealed enough info to bring the QM down.
I did the same check as you, using AI to find out what digoxin was for. Since it’s for someone with heart trouble, it starts to make sense why YA told HJ that he was not allowed to run or ride a bicycle. He did not really look it, but he might have been of delicate health.
As for his brother, the Crown Prince, he might have been even more sickly and heavily drugged, as you suggest.
Yes their father had died of a heart attack, and the question was whether it could have been prevented.
= = =
I did notice that when the young king ran towards his uncle, YA stared at him without responding for a long moment. The boy felt it. There’s obviously something going on in YA’s mind that he’s not saying, and the sight of the boy king brought it to the surface.
I’d guess that one of the thoughts could be that if not for the existence of that boy, his brother might have been alive, and the present situation of threat towards himself and HJ might not have existed. In other words, your second suggestion.
The Exchange of Secretaries
I found this sudden exchange of secretaries surprising.
When Secretary Do entered the palace, she became the staff of the Grand Prince. I assumed that she’d still serve HJ but even HJ had not been apprised beforehand that there would be an exchange of aides between YA and herself. Instead of Do, HJ gets Aide Choi skipping to her side.
I wondered if it really was only because HJ needed an experienced insider of the palace to support her, or whether when YA had said that he was going to change all the attendants around HJ, he was also suspecting Sec Do and wanted to keep her by his side rather than leave her with HJ. He might also have guessed that Sec Do was a mole planted by HJ’s father, (that’s my guess) and wanted to observe her closely.
Nevertheless, he placed his most trusted man beside HJ to protect her.
HJ’s Concern
True to form, once HJ feels vulnerable, she goes on the attack.
When they have a moment together, s tells him that she thinks that he’s the one who needs protection, not her.
He smiles: “I know.”
HJ: “What? How are you so calm?”
YA: “Because I’m relieved.”
H: “About what?”
YA: “I would be terrified right now if you were the target. But if I’m the target, I thank the heavens.”
(He has known it all along. It’s nothing new to him.)
She stares at him, looking into his eyes and suddenly starts hitting him with a pillow.
YA: “Have you lost your mind?”
HJ continues to bash him with a pillow: “And If you make me a widow? What then? Why are you thanking the heavens? You expect me to live in the palace alone? Without you?”
YA: “Stop it already!”.
HJ starts to tear up: “If something terrible happens to you, … I can’t even get divorced.”
YA sighs and laughs.
HJ: “You think this is funny?”
YA: You have a dramatic way of expressing concern.”
It is a little reminiscent of how HJ’s father showed concern. Like father, like daughter. Poor YA was the unfortunate recipient of their concern!
I was saying that this writer likes to mirror scenes and dialogue. We get that again between the YA and HJ.
Once again lying side by side, this time in their black matching pyjamas in YA’s bed. They reprise the conversation that they had when they first ‘slept’ together, but this time it was HJ who started with the same words.
HJ: “Will you not even consider the sofa?”
YA: “No. This is perfectly fine.”
HJ: “The sofa would be perfectly fine too.”
YA: “Then you should go. That’d be perfect.”
She tries to put the pillow between them. He tosses it aside. “Seriously,” she says. He pulls her into his arms: “Just sleep already. Want everyone to think I was cast aside on our first night?”
They end up sleeping with the BP machine beeping the whole night because YA liked the sound of it that proved HJ was alive. Poor YA had experienced too many deaths of loved ones in his life.
And what was the point of this conversation? It suggests that YA and HJ had not done the conjugal deed before. It showed that there was reciprocity between them and that they would equally share whatever would come, since either of them could have slept on the sofa, and neither one was forced to do so.
The next morning they had both slept soundly without anyone’s heart rate racing. This was like the first time as well. It showed significant trust that these 2 owls who had difficulty sleeping or who worked rather than slept at night, could sleep well in each other’s company.