As usual spoilers galore... read at your own risk.
It occurs to me with each new viewing of the show (whether in part or in
whole) that ambiguity plays a fascinating and deliberate role in our engagement
with the narrative. I suppose the show could spoon feed us and provide us with
explicit rationale for all kinds of attitudes and actions. It would be easier I
imagine but less stimulating.
In the hands of masterful and immersive actors like LJG and KHN,
ambiguity can lend itself to shifting motivations and demonstrate a whole gamut
of emotions in one given moment, especially considering the show’s time
constraints.
As I view the progression of the storyline a second time round, I am
toying more and more with the idea that the show isn’t about one specific love
story or even two over-lapping ones. I’m coming round to the idea especially
after re-watching this particular episode that it really is about one woman and
her different loves. It’s not that I think she loves all her men equally, with
the same intensity and for the same reasons but clearly she is greatly beloved
for her selfless, warmhearted inhibition and responds in kind. The role of the
younger princes is a lot clearer to me and I don’t actually find their presence
here quite as objectionable as I may have previously. I have never really
disliked Eun the way many have and begrudged the time spent on him here because
I always had an inkling that the puppet show he puts on here is both an
expression of how he deals with life and his ongoing perception of his
relationship with Su.
A lot has been said about Eun’s immaturity, which has the effect of
hitting you between the eyes with pressing immediacy. He is the butt of a lot
of the show’s humour and is easily manipulated. The 10th Prince is a
simple fellow, stuck perpetually in childhood so it follows that he would use
dolls to comfort her. His child-like disposition appeals to her maternal side.
A quality, of course that inoculates her from falling for him.
The most fascinating aspect to the abortive attempt to rescue Su from an
impending politically expedient marriage is how the princes position themselves
in relation to her. Certainly it’s the mechanism by which the storyline
attempts to draw Su into the palace web and hinders her growing attachment to
Uk but it demonstrates also within the show’s limits, how these men frame their
own narrative and how that impacts their problem-solving approach. Furthermore,
it is one of those rare demonstrations of unity amongst the princes.
Another thing it does is reiterate the importance of personal freedom
even if the demonstration of it smacks of tokenism, is life-endangering and
apparently futile. It’s the gesture of resistance that matters. Despite all the
goodwill and efforts of the princes, at the end of the day, Su is the one who
saves herself… at great personal cost and with long-term ramifications.
However, for her it is a price worth paying if it gives her the freedom to
choose not to marry someone she doesn’t love. The exercising of choice is what
matters.
Uk is the natural leader in this instance as his attachment to her runs
deepest at this point in time. In a rare departure from his usual modus
operandi, he acts on impulse to help Su escape the clutches of someone rumoured
to be a 60-something old fogey with grown up sons. The implication is that he
does it for the love of Hae Su. As something spontaneously conceived, it had
its appeal but as things turn out, it ends up being a foolhardy enterprise
because it goes to the very heart of the king’s rule, his default border
protection policy.
It is fair to say that this is the episode where Uk openly declares his
own powerlessness for the first time. I suspect that despite his posturing in
previous episodes, he has always known his own rather tenuous position in the
royal court. When his family was embroiled in an earlier scandal and fell from
favour, it took marriage to Lady Hae to recover from the ignominy and through
her influence he managed to make a comeback. The dilemma for him is that he has
no power of his own to protect Su, much less be with her. All the chatter about
her belonging to him, is just that… talk. In a sense he knows he has her heart
but to make that relationship a reality is a pipedream.
So although initially a reluctant collaborator is roused to action
for Su’s freedom. He is swayed to a large extent by Baek-A’s appeal to his
position as spurned underdog, a former hostage, someone whose life has been
directed by others in brutal fashion. Therefore, he understands better than
anyone else what it means to be without choice, to live at the whims of others.
Moreover he senses quite early that Su doesn’t belong in this world. He already
has an inkling that she doesn’t belong in the palace and the thought that
someone with energy and attitude being compelled to become the 10th
or something or other concubine of some rich elderly man repulses him. Once
he’s committed to the enterprise, he is willing to fight his way out of it.
What ultimately holds him back from drawing his sword and slashing the throat
of the nearest guard is respect for her choice. There’s a lovely shot of him at
Lady Hae’s funeral first looking distinctly cynical and out of place regarding
the entire proceeding but on seeing Su’s loud and genuinely heartfelt sobs, he
softens. It’s one of those little hints that show the subtle shifts in his
character as he responds to a Goryeo with GHJ in it.
As a musician, artist, and free spirit, Baek-A is a natural kindred
spirit around the issue of personal freedom. Su’s drunken tirades of equality and
individual liberty resonate with him deeply although he is well aware of the
political dynamite of espousing such thoughts. He knows his own powerlessness
to help Su out of her predicament but appeals to the only older brother that he
respects enough.
Jeong’s first port of call, of course, is Mummy Dearest. At this early
stage his identity is still very much tethered to his mother’s influence and
dotage of him. He goes to her for help while she’s sipping tea with Lady
Hwangbo but she’s not very interested in getting involved. What really
interests her is that Uk and Yeon Hwa are keen to be part of the fray. The
smirk suggests that they’ve aroused her curiosity and this could be a
potentially explosive situation if these kids don’t tread carefully. It’s almost
slapstick amusing as one at a time barge into the Queens’ parlour to enlist the
aid of either women although it’s not entirely clear to me what Yeon Hwa’s
interest in this might be.
The role that Ji Mong plays in this is quite possibly the most intriguing
of all. It’s obvious he wants Su in the palace and it doesn’t matter one way or
another how it happens. His motives are seldom clear cut. Whether he is Fate’s
Hand by design or by choice, we are never told explicitly although the show
hints the former. Contrary to what he says about letting Heaven’s Will run its
course, it seems to me as if he’s all about making sure that Heaven’s Will does
come to pass. Or at the very least give a nudge in the right direction. In
addition, Ji Mong feels to me to be another in a long line of obstacles that
keep Su away from Uk. Note how he inconveniently and noisily shows up in the
daisy field as the two of them believe that the worse is behind them only to
burst that bubble. When Ji Mong is loud and yelping unnaturally, he’s always
highly suspicious. It’s usually a hint that he’s up to something.
One of the great metaphysical debates has always been the tension
between the sovereignty of the divine and the free will of man. I see some
of that played out here. I’m not saying it’s explored in any systematic way but
there are echoes of this tension throughout the drama. I now wonder if Uk would
not have been better off letting go of Su and moving on saving himself and a
lot of people a lot of heartache. But then there would be nothing to watch. For
a man who is circumspect to the extreme, he was quite determined to hold on to
Su even with the knowledge that she’s even more out of reach. Desire, greed
might be part of it… but is it just greed? I can’t help wondering if there’s a
greater force at work driving him to clutch on in order to bring a whole range
of events to pass?
This episode exemplifies to me that Uk’s motives regarding Su are much
more complex and murky. His brewing passion seems to be in earnest but he never
refers to her near-death experience overtly or what she does to get there. The
wrist slashing is an unpleasant activity that he’s much happier about making
vague reference to. Rather ambiguously he says that it’s over and it seems he’s
referring to the awful prospect of Su being wedded to the king and the context
seems to indicate that.
On the other hand, it sounds like he’s trying to convince himself of
something in his consolation speech because in reality it isn’t really over at
all. She may be out of the woods where being married to the king is concerned
but there’s still what needs to be done now that she’s defied a royal decree. There
are consequences for doing so and it is Court Lady O who refers explicitly to
it, not him. All he does is ramble on about how powerless he felt and prayed to
his late wife to send Su back to him. “If you had become His Majesty’s woman, I
would have never forgiven myself for the rest of my life.” Aside from being
somewhat ambiguous as to why he wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself, his
underlying sentiment is wrapped up with his ineffectiveness to change
circumstances.
To me it sounds like his pride has been wounded above all else. The pain
of recalling Su’s wrist slashing episode reminds him of his inability to
intervene successfully despite promising her that he would take care of her to
the end. Despite bragging to So earlier about the people who belonged to him, all
the status he enjoyed while his wife was alive was in effect transient and
illusory. Now he (Uk) had been made to feel his actual position which, in all
honesty, is not much better than So’s… a prince in name but with little power
to attain his heart’s desire especially when the king is a crucial part of the
equation. Whatever power he had came from his late wife hence the reference to
“begging his wife” to preserve Su for him.
Su weeps and says she was afraid that she’d never see him again or say
her goodbyes properly. Then he utters another one of his silly hyperboles
again, “In future, such a thing will never happen again.” This is worrying
especially coming from a man who just confessed to his own powerless state. “I
made a mistake once but there won’t ever be a next time.”
He frames the event completely from the point of view of his status.
While there’s no denying that the event was out of his control and proved that
he had no power to stop it, objectively it was first and foremost about another
life hanging in the balance. In his remarks, he positions himself as the focal
point of the event not her. It almost seemed like he was the one that almost
married the king and felt embarrassed that someone else had to save him from
utterly disgracing his manhood. In short, it’s his ego talking. It may be his
clumsy way of comforting Su but it’s more bravado than substance providing us a
glimpse into his inner life. In her presence, Uk dons his mask of cheerfulness in the pretence that he he sees her entry into the palace as the lesser of many evils but there’s no
doubt he knows what he has lost.
Dropping Su off at the palace Uk responds to her emoji from the previous episode with his own. Representing the eyes
in his drawing is the ren (人) character, which means person or people.
As there are two, I am supposing that he’s referring to the two of them being
together. Uk comically raises his hand showing he understands what she communicated
in her reply letter. Su appears deeply moved by the gesture and Uk promises to
visit everyday.
The emoji motif is something that
practically comes and goes but it’s importance for me lies less in how it
enhances the Uk-Su relationship. Like many I find it more compelling that it was
So that deciphered its meaning and intent. Some say that it is a reflection of
his innate shrewdness and others because of his more grounded outlook on life.
Undoubtedly there’s truth in both but I like to think that So understands Su a
lot more than anyone else in that space about what makes her tick.
Both men are
fully aware of what makes her attractive. She’s a breath of fresh air as far as
Goryeo is concerned so they’re both angry that she’s made her way to the palace
in the end. But while Uk sees her as something precious that’s gradually
slipping from his grasp, doing and saying anything he thinks will maintain his
hold on her in spite of his own powerlessness, So, on the other hand, sees that
the very thing that makes her unique is her unfettered self-expression… linked to the
unbridled freedom that she enjoys to be herself. The light burns brighter when
it is free to burn without the society harsh restraints. He realises that Su’s
attractiveness is tied to her need to be free.
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