Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 19-20

Spoilers and all the rest... as usual 

It has taken far longer to this point than what I had intended. With this, I feel that my journey with Moon Lovers has properly come to an end. This piece turned out to be a lot shorter than I had originally intended it to be but it's the downside of having left it to hibernate for too long.

No doubt this piece will end up sounding like an apologia for Hae Su and perhaps one is desperately needed, as she’s become the most derided character for her apparently inexplicable/inconsistent actions towards the end. For that I suppose the drama needs to take some responsibility but I think all the elements are there for us to piece everything together in some cogent fashion.

I found that taking sides in the matter of So and Su very unhelpful because it obfuscated the big picture. This tug-of-war wasn’t helped by the rapidity of Episode 19 and how rushed everything felt in the build up to Su’s exit from the palace.

When Su left the palace, all the scheming and plotting against So more or less came to an end. His adversaries had very little ammunition left and he was freer to act against them because he didn’t have “extraneous” baggage to hold him back. She was his weakness because he wanted to protect this beautiful thing in his life that gave him a reason to be something than what he had been labeled to be.

At the end of the day I am convinced that she’s much more courageous than she’s been acknowledged to be. Contrary to what popular opinion (and what I myself had initially thought), I don’t believe she left to save herself but to save the man she loved the most and their child. She understood that she had become a political liability, a pawn in the chess game for the throne. To his credit he had become too obstinate to let her go as once he promised he would never do.

I also tend to think (from what we saw in her final letter to him) that she was afraid that they would end up hating each other and leaving was her way to protect what vestige affection she thought he had left for her. Sadly she left thinking that he had grown to hate her.

It’s become clearer to me with each viewing that Su loved So as much as he loved her. While she may have physically left the palace via a fake marriage, giving the appearance of departure, in actual fact, her hallucinations reveal the true nature of her heart. In her mind she creates a kind of bubble or capsule in which time never passes for them. A place of respite from the hostile world that would never allow them to be happy together, as well as cocooning them from the political machinations that was threatening to tear them apart.

Su left the palace for three reasons: First and foremost, to protect their child. Secondly, to protect So’s kingship and thirdly, to protect their larger than life love.

It is easy to see how lonely So was at the end. After all, the last we see of him in standing in the courtyard of the palace starring alone into the distance. He stuck to his guns right to the end in the way he held on to his memories of Su and not trusting very many people, if any. Su was forever a fixed notion in his existence that drove every part of him including his political formulations.

It’s equally easy to forget that Su was rather incredibly lonely in the palace. She wasn’t allowed to continue at Damiwon and became the trophy mistress that she had been vehemently decrying about. She had been prevented by the political machinery from marrying the man she loved and become caught in a polygamous situation which she swore she’d never get into in order to help him strengthen his position in the court. What’s worse, to protect the man she loved and their child, she married someone else to get out of the palace something she also said she’d never do. She ended up sitting around all day waiting for him. She had no friends in the palace and things were fasting deteriorating between them. Bit by bit, everything that was GHJ disappeared.

This is why I have come to admire Su quite a bit after this retrospective. She demonstrated so much strength and practical sense in what she did. Like Lady O, she gave up what life she had so that the man she loved and their child could live on in relative safety. Remember what she said after she slashed her wrist? Remember what Lady O said in the cave? “I protected what I wanted to protect. It’s right that I should pay the price.” Whatever her flaws, she died as she had lived.

I think she understood all that better than he did and at the end of the day she understood his character much better than he understood hers. So’s loneliness is in part of his own making. If he hadn’t been so pigheaded and opened the first letter he had received, he would have been able to spend time with her in her final moments. But at the end of the day, he is his mother’s son… overwhelming in love and extreme in anger. He had to take some of the responsibility for how things deteriorated at the end. We can see that too with his own son with Yeon Hwa… the mistrust, the unwillingness to have a relationship with the boy, the lack of desire to even try.

In that scene where Yeon Hwa says she knows why Su left So was undoubtedly her way of getting a rise out of So while showing deep resentment against her bitterest rival. In her eyes, Su was an upstart who broke all the rules while managing to capture the heart of a future King in such a way that he could never let her go, that he could never love anyone else even when she had long left. Her death did not diminish his love for her in the slightest.

This scene positions YH as the woman who may on the outside seem appeared to have everything she had craved, plotted and schemed for but even though everything was finally in her grasp, she still came up empty. Thinking that if she took possession of the queen’s seat and bore the King a son, she would finally have full control of his heart but no, So doubles down and keeps his distance.

In and amongst all that must be a tale about greed and possession. One may get everything they want but still feel empty at the end of the day because what we think we want isn’t necessarily what satisfies.

I get some satisfaction from knowing that YH couldn’t get everything she wanted either because the only man she genuinely cared about despises her and her son so it a nice bit of poetic justice there. It’s also true, however, that YH couldn’t possibly know why HS left because she didn’t know about the daughter.

However, I think there’ s kernel of truth to what she says. There’s a streak of pride and stubbornness about So that can be frustrating. He is immoveable. On the positive side, he is extremely loyal but on the downside, he can’t understand how anyone can express different types of love to a whole lot of men but still choose to love one more with greater passion. He just doesn’t have this ability to compartmentalize or compromise. In the end Su had to walk away so that he could consolidate his position among the clans. Even if he doesn’t care about YH, Yu is still his son.

This, I think is So’s fatal flaw. His rigidity, pride. If he had let Su go on his terms, he could have been there when she breathed her last.  On some level his behaviour was understandable especially knowing his journey and what he had to go through to get to where he finally was. But yes, his mother’s son.

YH whatever her many faults did understand this point. Even if she was not wrong about why Su left the palace, she wasn’t wrong about So’s inherent talent for not making friends.

The bittersweet ending exemplifies to me the greatness of ML. For a show to be so consistent in its characterization is so rare. People don’t change people.  People don’t change easily or at all. They may adapt to circumstances but the core of who they are never changes. Love doesn’t conquer all but love can bring hope and new life.

So thought that Su had betrayed him in defending Uk and ultimately for leaving him through marriage with Jeong. For him love meant that she would go along with whatever he did but for her love was about the truth about what was right even if that meant standing up to So in order to protect him from himself. She loved him too much to overlook his flaws for fear that they would eventually destroy him. 

What of Jeong? Did he get the girl? I suppose he got to have her as she lived out her remaining days and had the privilege of having her die in her arms. Even while he couldn’t keep the ashes, he got to keep the little girl and raise her. In that regard, his love and loyalty to Su was genuine even if she didn’t care for him in that way. Much as I disliked Jeong earlier on, it occurred to me that he was the right person to send her off. With no agenda and utterly loyal, he would do what she wanted unencumbered by any emotional baggage. The great irony of this situation is that son who was preferred and greatly by the mother "lost" in the love stakes to the brother who was hated and despised by said mother.

History is full of ironies as exemplified by Moon Lovers. The son which was least likely to be king became one of the longest serving kings in the Goryeo era. He struck his enemies ruthlessly, yet he emancipated slaves. The woman he loved left him because she loved him too much to see him destroy himself. Though he was brokenhearted when she left, he gained some measure of strength in holding on to her ideals.

The scene where So finally reads Su's letter is for me the single most powerful scene in the finale. Not far behind is the one where So finally meets his daughter who bears a strong resemblance to her mother. Those two scenes become as it were, post-mortem evidence of Su's love for So. To finally be certain that the woman you loved so desperately, never stopped thinking and wondering about you until the day she died, while preserving a means of protecting the fruit of that love. If only he knew that she was still dreaming of him even having returned to where she came from.

Whatever flaws it may have had, there was something inherently powerful at the core of Moon Lovers. An unfulfilled longing for a love that goes beyond the grave, traversing across time and space. A forbidden love perpetually looking to find a safe place. A home. This was truly a drama meant to grab you by the throat, stab you in the heart, twist the knife in and rip your guts out. On that front, I believe the show succeeded. 

This retrospective is based on the SBS broadcast version. Subtitles for this episode can be found at Darksmurf Subs.

Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 17-18

As usual this post contains episode spoilers past, present and future.

For me Ep. 17 signals the beginning of the end for Hae Su’s stint in Goryeo. It struck me forcibly the first time and subsequently how the drama is quick to elucidate that Su’s purpose in Goryeo is limited to helping So ascend the throne in a bloodless coup. Despite all her experiences of the palace and misgivings regarding that “terrifying seat”, she helps expedite matters, in part to keep things civilized and in part to put a quick end to their separation. But expediting matters regarding his ascension doesn’t facilitate their romance and it’s clear that while getting throne would be easy, hanging on to it will be far more problematic.

Once So grabs the throne and becomes Gwangjong, every single thing that comes afterwards is designed to force his hand with regards to maintaining his rule. He is challenged at every point to give something up… to play the zero-sum game. It’s a game he adamantly refuses to play, obstinately holding on to everything he had previously gained. On a certain level, it’s an admirable position to take considering it’s an uphill wall with no end in sight. Again we see him as the quintessential existential hero.

At the end of 16, So declared that he wanted to have both the girl and the throne. This was contrary to his father’s lifelong mantra which mattered little when he did not have eyes for the throne. When the resolution to attain the throne emerged, he was quite prepared to move on and put his relationship with Su aside to protect her and to make his move under the cover of subterfuge. It was also clear that to gain the support of the Great General, he had to prove he was serious about overthrowing the incumbent ruler. Furthermore, So may have also believed that this was the end for the two of them knowing Su’s aversion to the throne and that he had to live by the mantra his father had built his kingdom on.

At the same time while maintaining his distance for as long as was possible, he was pining for Su. At the back of his mind it probably made no sense to him that someone who was so instrumental in instilling so much confidence in him was no longer a part of his life. Could he feasibly become King without her? After all, didn’t he tell others that she was someone he could never abandon and that “without her he was nothing.”

Even before consummating their relationship he realized he couldn’t do without her so he breaks and gives in to her pleas. In a way, he’s right… he could never be King without her but what he doesn’t understand is that all of that would come at a very high price. And… he would never be able to give her the kind of life she craves with him within the confines of the palace.

It was brazen of him to eschew long standing political orthodoxy. Raising his fist to the universe. Certainly I wondered if things would go his way. Now 2 episodes later, it appears that that declaration was pure defiance against the sovereignty of fate and it was always going to be a lost cause. Apparently Father's been right all along... no one can have both. Something's got to give.

One of the great myths of our time... perhaps the great lie... is that a person can have everything. I think it is the great lie often told to women... that they can have everything. A career, kids, marriage blah blah blah. In one sense it's true that women in modern contexts have more choices today than their grandmothers ever did but the reality is that no one can have everything. At least not all at the same time. Trying to have everything has brought about incredible stress to women in our day with the demands of child raising and keeping to a job pulling us in a hundred directions. And I say that from painful experience.

For Moon Lovers to espouse the zero sum game so vividly and so consistently to its bitter conclusion… is for me… dare I say it, rather courageous.

While the show was airing, many of us identified fate's hand in pushing Su and So together while pulling them apart. There is also a sense with this push and pull that inherent in love is a kind of greed. To love is to be greedy... in that it is all consuming in its focus on the object of one's affections. When So only cared about Su, he could be the devoted suitor with no thought for anything else. Which suited Su very well because that’s the kind of relationship she was looking for. But now that he is King as well as the ardent lover, he cannot be considerate of all her sensitivities lest he be thought weak. He has to make hard choices with larger considerations at play.

We saw that first with Uk. When he fell in love with Su, he was greedy enough to set aside his usual consideration for his wife and openly show his regard for Su (as open as a guy like Uk is capable of being). It should have been a hint to us and to him that the trajectory he was embarking on was potentially destructive but those were the early days. It's rather telling also that Uk has continued to be the primary instrument of disrupting So and Su’s relationship. 

So and Su have both been mugged by reality and have been confronted with the zero sum game. It was put to them that So had to choose… the throne or the woman, although for Su it was probably more the man she was supporting than the throne. I suppose she made his job a lot easier by pulling out first but she chose him over her own desire for personal happiness. There didn't seem to be any room for a middle ground. It was this or that, and it did make sense for the throne to come first because history must run its course. Sadly of course, Su has no real place in it except as a bystander not as a player.

 What struck me about Uk the second time I watched 17 was how he saw himself as some kind of arbiter of fairness. He just couldn’t accept what he thought was the injustice of one being able to have it all. As everyone knows I'm hardly a fan of Uk but he did have a point. If he had to give up the girl to pursue the throne, why shouldn't So have to as well. Therefore to make a statement about the injustice that he had to suffer, he forced So to make a zero sum choice. A choice that So was recalcitrant about making... one he fought kicking and screaming... one he didn't want Su to make so he refused to talk to her about it.

It may have been a false choice on some level but with the Chunju clan scratching at his doorstep, it was clear that trying to hang on to girl and throne was a much bigger challenge than he had been ready for. 

I wish Su had said why she chose So despite his suddenly becoming ambitious for the throne. I know she didn’t want Uk to think that he was the lesser man so she blathered on unconvincingly about him not having the king’s star. But… he was the lesser man! That was true. :D To be fair, he was a man much more tethered to convention. He saw the writing on the wall and he acted accordingly. Not necessarily a particularly wicked man… but his personality was ill-suited to being with Su. Maybe she just didn’t want to say that she loved So a lot more which may have been something of a slap in the face. Still, it would have been probably closer to the truth. ;)

Yeon Hwa put the same kind of zero sum option to Su. "We can co-exist", she said. Well, we know that she had no intention of co-existing but it was a negotiation tactic. Apparently she wants it all too... the throne, the man and his love but she plays her cards close to her chest. However, even if she has won the first round, winning the second and subsequent rounds is not going to be as easy. 

It's clear to me that the recent turn of events has awoken a sleeping dragon. Or to use the show's own metaphor, a napping wolf. Time and time again we see that people underestimate So, not only as a warrior but as a political opponent. Backing him into corners and tightening nooses round his neck aren't really that great in the long run. I think we're definitely witnessing his evolution as a politician in the way he triangulates with his adversaries. In a way I fear for them because they've unleashed a powerful weapon that they will have no control over. I imagine that once he starts, there's not stopping him. But frankly, I have a really tough time feeling sorry for any of them because they have brought this largely upon themselves.

I remember watching a well-made fan video where the editor claimed that Su changed So. I, however, tend to think that she tamed him rather than changed him. She certainly brought out his best qualities and put his “wilder” instincts in check. As I’ve said elsewhere, when he’s with Su, he’s an adorable little cub but provoke him long enough, the wolf returns.

We also see that while So did gain some albeit small measure of happiness with Su, his mummy issues would continue to dog him to the bitter end. Not all of it comes from his inability to move on from the past because Queen Yu with the aid of the Jeong does actively take steps to hamper his kingship right at the start. He desire for acceptance from her and his family does run deep but it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.

I will preface what I say next by insisting that I’m not friend of Queen Yu’s or even of Jeong but I support Su’s attempts to bring some measure of reconciliation even if the results do not end up recommending that particular course of action. Why? I am certain it wasn’t entirely for Jeong’s benefit. In fact, I’m sure it isn’t the primary reason for her defiance of the King’s orders.

It was definitely for So’s sake that she informed Jeong that his mother was dying so that So would have no regrets in future about how things transpired here. In part, Su cares deeply about the princes and wants the brothers to stay brothers but more than that, she knows how much more it will hurt So when the anger dissipates and realizes eventually how much he regrets his actions here.

So made Su his confidant once by telling her years earlier how jealous he was of Jeong growing up, enjoying the lavished affection of their mother. Their mother created divisions in that family by playing favourites and So lived with the stigma of being rejected. Even then he’s always wanted acceptance and love from his family. He may resent Jeong and his mother for plotting against him but in his heart of hearts, they are still family. For going against him, Jeong is banished not executed.

Su knows this only too well. She understands So better than he understands her. Whatever he does now in a fit of rage… righteous or unrighteous… he will regret it. Just as he was so broken up over having to fight and kill Yo even as his elder brother had committed treason. He reached out to her for comfort and sobbed bitterly believing that he had a killed a full brother. Not just any brother but one that mistreated him, despised him and was ready to kill him if needed. Whatever their relationship had been, So always craved that familial bond that eluded him his entire life.

I think Su knows that So’s heart is tender towards his family no matter what outside appearances may indicate and in this instance attempts to mitigate the consequences of actions meted in a fit of fury. I imagine when once So cools down and reflects on the situation, he will be weighed down by regret and guilt.

I imagine my view on this isn’t the popular one but it makes the most sense to me in light of everything that’s transpired. Su chose So despite everything she knows about the Gwangjong of history. She was willing to sacrifice her greatest desire for his sake. She doesn’t have much power in the palace and court affairs. She can’t even marry him and be his queen. But what she can do is try her utmost to protect his heart. Whatever king So becomes, she hopes that he will always have the heart that loves his family.


This retrospective is based on the SBS broadcast version. Subtitles for this episode can be found at Darksmurf Subs.

Moon Lovers Retrospective Episodes 15-16

This post contains vital information which may be considered spoilers. Be warned. 

These two episodes see the beginning and end of Jeongjong’s reign of terror aided and abetted by Wang Uk and Wang Won. The first thing that the newly declared King Jeongjong does is to hold his younger brother hostage and eliminate potential threats wholesale. The relative peace among the palace dwellers that was enjoyed has now come to an abrupt end.

It’s politics as usual that after the rebellion, those loyal to the previous King, are now labelled as “traitors”. Those who don’t kowtow to the new regime are now the enemies of the state purely for backing the “wrong” horse.

King Jeongjong is a ruler who enjoys manipulation in sportive fashion not just for political benefits. It isn’t just about maintaining power that he does it but he takes pleasure in watching others squirm. On a certain level it’s fun watching him push people’s buttons especially with full knowledge that they’re not loyal to him because they love him but because it’s expedient to do so. He’s certainly not deluded on that front. I thought it was fantastic watching Su take him on fearlessly and trying to manipulate him into telling her who was responsible for the mercury poisoning. It was a nice bit of verbal jousting and for him to acknowledge her sass for making indirect threats against him was quite an achievement.

At the end of the day, Yo knows what he is. He is very self-aware and he doesn’t feel the need to rationalize his bad deeds. He knows on some level he’s not likeable and is quite content being the manipulative scumbag that he is reputed to be. On top of that it’s his sense of humour that appeals to me most and a lot of it comes out most wickedly when he becomes King. Apart from toying with his siblings, his other favourite pastime must be needling his mother.

My feeling is that from the time of the rain ritual, Yo realized that he was as much a tool for his mother as anyone else. Except for Jeong perhaps. As he descends into paranoia, Yo realizes that Mummy Dearest is mainly about building her legacy. To coin a phrase: Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they’re not out to replace you. Mummy is obsessed with perfection and now he’s no longer the perfect Mummy’s boy but a breeding pig to keep the hot seat warm, she is quick to suggest a successor. With his well-placed sense of irony, he suggests So as a possible contender which he expects to be met with disfavor, of course and hopefully put an end to his mother’s meddling at that moment.

In contrast, Uk is a ridiculous excuse for a villain. He’s constantly trying to justify himself especially when he knows that others are on to him. He whines to his mother and sister that he did it all for Hae Su and because of her and yet he has no qualms using her as bait in machinations devised to save his own skin. It’s laughable that he tells himself and his sister that he is on this present trajectory because Su told him that So would be unstoppable in his bid for the throne. Was he trying to convince himself and others that he had good reason for turning into a monster… that he was just protecting everyone around him from So?

It’s a toss up choosing who’s more terrifying. A man who knows he’s the bad guy and knows he’s doing bad things. Or a man who thinks he’s a good man but does bad things because what he does is all for a greater good.

What also becomes more evident to me this time round is that Jeongjong is not his own man. While he might gain some sadistic pleasure playing his younger siblings like chess pieces with Su as leverage, he is still beholden to his uncle, Wang Ryeom Sik. Jeongjong might be the King but WRS is the king-maker putting his weight behind his nephew and calling all the shots especially the proposal to move the capital to present day Pyongyang, a project that So gets roped into overseeing as his “reward” for “dealing with traitors”. These two years, however, give So a cloak for his covert activities and sets the stage for his ascension to the throne.

Apparently it all boils down to trust. There is a school of thought that the core of So and Su’s woes as a couple especially in these episodes is about trust. There is an underlying assumption in Moon Lovers fandom that if only Su had told So about Eun and Seon Deok taking refuge in Damiwon, a tragedy would have been averted. 

Well, maybe. Maybe not. It's a certainty I don't share.

Perhaps I’m overly sympathetic with Su’s plight of being perennially trapped between the princes. Sure it’s flattering to be trusted to that degree but it is also a responsibility to bear. A responsibility that easily becomes a burden. At the back of her mind is the vision of So slashing through Eun and obviously that isn’t something she should take lightly.

I contend that the fundamental issue that creates tension between So and Su is how they try desperately to protect each other from knowing things even with the best intentions. It isn’t just Su that keeps information from So, he does it too. Some may call it lying by omission thereby showing a lack of trust. But looking at it from the characters point of view holding back on information is a default for protecting the other from the burden of knowing. Especially taking on the burden of knowing things about the future. Just like Eun coming to Su for help is a huge responsibility with life and death consequences.

I don’t think we understand Su’s position as well as we should even when the writing spells it out. Audiences sometimes think it is simply a matter of A+B=C. However, people aren’t always logical and emotions like guilt and fear often get in the way. What may seem straightforward to some might not be the case for the person on whom everything hinges.

Su is wracked with guilt at the death of Hyejong (formerly Prince Mu). She thinks it’s entirely her fault that the rebels have won because So was emotionally blackmailed into submission. She feels worse that So has become the King’s chief lapdog with the threat of her life hanging over his head.

It is often said that Su’s apparent lack of trust comes from a lack of love for So. The argument goes that if she had loved him enough, she would have gone to him immediately with the fact that Eun and Seon Deok had come to her for help.  I disagree entirely and would insist that it’s an entirely wrong way of looking at the situation.

I would say it’s the other way around. I would say that it’s because she loves him and fears what he would be forced to do that she hesitates. She is well aware… too aware in fact… that he would do anything for her. Even if it means having to kill a brother in order to protect her. Of course she wants to live and survive like everyone else but not at someone else’s expense. Never at someone else’s expense. Furthermore, she would hate for their love for one another to be used to hurt not only others but each other.

That is the cunning of Jeongjong and Uk’s scheme. It’s so twisted and so corrupting. That’s why Su says it’s so hard to love So freely without politics entering the picture and ruining everything. By now, it’s wickedly clear that love is not immune from evil as long as there are those who see it as a “weakness” and have no compunction to exploit it for their ends.

So knows also that she’s wracked with guilt about putting him in the position that he’s in so he does his best to keep her ignorant as long as he can. But he also realizes it’s not a tenable solution if trust between them must be maintained. I also believe she would have told him too then but at that moment, she sees her vision of So cutting down Eun which sends her into a minor panic attack yet again. The seeming capricious hand of Fate strikes once again to prevent her from acting as her heart would direct her.

One of the lessons from the story of Eun and Seon Deok is seizing the day because one never knows when the end is nigh. Although they were innocent casualties in the game of thrones, the saddest part of that relationship, in my opinion was the wasted time of push and pull between them. Eun took a long time to warm up to his bride and even after over 2 years of marriage, there had been no intimacy between them. Their childlike disposition made their deaths so much more devastating. The talk of future plans… the setting up of a toy shop and teaching martial arts… would ensure that the outpouring of grief over them would go deep. They were in the periphery in the throne fight and yet somehow, inevitably they were drawn into the centre of it against their will.

It’s popular to blame Su for not telling So but no one blames Uk or Yo for putting them all in this horrible position of having to make these untenable choices or Yeon Hwa for betraying her younger brother so that she can avoid being sent to the Khitans. The game of thrones is a zero sum game…  it is the motif that keeps emerging... to gain the throne one must be prepared the throw something away.

One of my most compelling reasons for loving Episode 16 is watching Su throwing caution to the wind and desperately seeking So. It used to be because So did all the chasing and she kept up the pretence of being indifferent for what seemed to be the longest time. It was satisfying indeed to see the roles reversed. But now, when I look at her scenes here, she seems so wretched, vulnerable and broken under the respectable cloak of being the elegant court lady of Damiwon. She’d been so careful, so watchful… each and every step… as if treading on thin ice and yet here, she’s stopped being cautious, so openly yearning for the man she had decidedly given her heart to. In her leisure hours when she’s not attending to her duties, she’s in her study tracing his handwritten poem over and over again fully absorbed in its sentiments.

Standing by the lake she confronts him for leaving her for two years with nary a word. Her petulance as she remarks that he has truly forgotten her echoes the scene where So confesses his love for her and she responds by pecking his lips and telling him to “never forget it”.

2 years later, the angst is glorious as she leaps from behind and wraps her slender arms around his waist refusing to let go. He may have forgotten. He may say he has forgotten but she won’t let him forget. With tears flowing down her cheeks she demands to know if he’s been sleeping well and eating properly like a wife who’s been separated from her husband who’s been to the battlefield for too long. This harkens back to a very early episode when a younger So and Su are watching the stars and the snowfall.  At that time he tells her he’s leaving Uk’s residence for the palace. There she tells him among other things to sleep well and to eat well.

The first time Su left the palace under the cover of night, was when So dragged her away after a major panic episode and plonks her onto his horse. They make their way to the sea where he tells her that he doesn’t believe her when she says she’s afraid of him. This time round, she sneaks out of the palace to visit a delirious So who’s injury from Yo’s arrow has been infected.

When she tends his wound, she tenderly traces the scars on his back in the same way she traced that scar on his face on that fateful of the second rain ritual. They are precious to her because they are part of the man who has suffered much and suffered for her sake. Rather than blemishes, the scars remind her of how much he loved her and she knew that despite all the pretence to the contrary, he still loves her. Theirs is a case of a forbidden, dangerous love. Everything had been thrown at them to keep them apart and yet the yearning did not cease. If anything, it intensified during the 2-year absence. Although it would be pragmatic and expedient for them to forget each other and move on, they can’t. It is telling that the consummation of their love has to take place outside the palace because what they have cannot exist in the palace or thrive under those conditions. But for two desperate outsiders who care profoundly about love, who can’t conform to Goryeo rules about love, it is a refuge of sorts.

When she asks So if he still loves her in that pleading tone, I am reminded of the occasion when Uk visits her as laundry maid and she asks him, “Do you miss me?” The contrast is as night from day. She is careful and cautious and Uk’s a picture of restraint. Here, as the precursor to consummation, she gets her answer definitively leaving her with little doubt as to what So’s answer is. This man has missed her terribly and cannot let go of her so easily. He as it turns out hasn’t changed his mind about her at all. All of this has the effect of convincing him that he cannot rule without Su.

Obviously she’s never really convinced that he’s fallen out of love with her but she believes that on a certain level that he is angry with her.The man who was willing to stand by her side in the rain cannot so easily abandon her. We know it’s not the full picture because So is leaving to bolster his political aspirations and protect the woman that he loves. He has finally come to the place where he cannot allow himself to be pushed around indefinitely and be used as somebody else’s hunting dog. He is resolved to be King because at the back of his mind, he is powerless to do whatever he really wants and if he has to be a dog, then he’s better off being the top dog calling the shots.

The theme of Wang So being a wolf-dog was one that interested me greatly. I wrote an entire post of it once and I will repost it here.

Canis lupus is the Latin name designated to the subspecies the wild gray wolf and the domestic dog. The wolf has a long history with humans as a predatory figure, which sees it as a figure of fear and derision, danger and destruction. A hunter. The domestic dog, on the other hand, has become to represent loyalty, devotion and unconditional friendship.

These two apparently contradictory strains are brought together to in development of Wang So.

He begins his journey as a hostage in a foreign land tangling with wolves and develops a reputation as being a wolf-killing psychopath. He lives up to the reputation by massacring a temple full of non-speaking monks and sets the place alight. In that instance all his skills as hunter and ruthless predator come to the fore.

Soon the wolf gradually becomes domesticated when he returns home and chooses to stay. He sets aside his bestial instincts, puts away his sword momentarily and takes to book learning.

Despite his willingness to be domesticated, he is never allowed to forget this bestial nature. The scars on his face, insults from his dysfunctional family are constant reminders that he will never truly be one of them. At best he will be a mere dog… a tamed pet or a tool that one uses to undertake thankless tasks… or in the vernacular, do the dirty work.

That’s why he says to Yeon Hwa:
“Rather than a woman of high value, I want one who will treasure me. Someone who would not be concerned about this ugly face of mine.”
On that occasion Yo calls him a “struggling animal”. Then Yeon Hwa says, “How much fun would it be to turn an animal into a human.”

Yo thinks that So has pretensions of being civilized but in reality he’s no better than an animal who is wrestling with his bestial nature at best. This appeals to Yeon Hwa’s need to control and show her dominance in a world where men dominate. Since she cannot gain dominance over men, maybe she can fashion an animal and make him into her image.
When So calls Su out for a night of star-gazing, he uses the call of a wolf/dog… a howl. Wolves howl to locate each other during a storm or unfamiliar territory and to communicate over long distances. Despite herself, Su’s faintly amused, acknowledges that she’s being summoned and soon makes her way to her “mate”. On this occasion we see too that there’s a sense of self-awareness with So as he constantly negotiates with his darker inclinations. 

While star gazing, the story he tells Su about jealousy over Jeong as a child shows a clear self-awareness and even fear of his potential dangerous impulses… his hunting tendencies. What moves him is that Su seems to not fear but even understand where these impulses come from. He is convinced that this is truly his “mate for life” and he is ready to confess.
However in that same episode (and episodes subsequent to that) the dog-wolf metaphor has re-emerges as a burden and an impediment to freedom.

"With a leash on my neck like this, am I again becoming a dog to protect my brother? Is this my fate? Turning my back on what I like is making me sick and tired right now... Tell me, how exactly should I break this leash and escape?"

So is a man in love but is not free to love and to act on it. He feels the constant tug and pull to be at the beck and call of the throne. For Mu, he does it willingly as a loyal, devoted dog.
Ji Mong takes the metaphor further…

"Most men in such situations will want to be a dog that bites the owner and takes over the house."

This is a scenario that So doesn’t seriously entertain until he is completely backed into a corner by Yo who uses the “thing he likes” as leverage ie. to tighten the leash.

Yo forgets that though So maybe be his running dog under duress, a wolf still lurks beneath. A wolf that may be defanged momentarily but given time and enough space, the impulses will return.

After being pressed on every side and bullied to be the animal that he wanted to jettison, So once again dons his wolf persona. He becomes the wolf in dog skin for the sake of his own freedom and the freedom of the woman he loves. He assumes a cloak of subservience in order to make his own plans.

It is no coincidence then that Yo calls himself a pig with a lovely sense of irony. Not just any kind of pig but a breeding-pig whose sole purpose is to warm the seat and pass it on to the next suitable contender. This pig, usurper to the throne is nearing the end of his use-by-date… he is slowly losing his grip on reality and even his mother knows that her blemish-free son has serious mental health issues.

This pig maybe building his house of stones but unbeknownst to him, the dog he sends to build that house will turn on him and become his wolf.



This retrospective is based on the SBS broadcast version. Subtitles for this episode can be found at Darksmurf Subs.