Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining this group watch! ❤️

As mentioned in the announcement post, these are my episode notes exactly as they originally appeared on Patreon.

ZERO SPOILER POLICY

Only events that occur in the episodes discussed here may be referenced.

No future developments, relationship outcomes, mythology reveals, major twists, or “just wait…” hints — even vague foreshadowing can affect first-time viewers.

If you’re ahead of the group watch, please keep that knowledge to yourself. Let’s protect the innocent! 😉

Since spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, we will not be using spoiler tags in this Open Thread.

Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes. Have fun in the comments! ❤️

My thoughts

Episode 5

E5. The thing that impresses me most with this show, is how unpredictable I find everything.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that someone else might have been able to foresee various plot developments, but I didn’t, so I’ve had the pleasure of feeling surprised, more often than not, each time Show takes another narrative turn.

For a start, we get some insight into Mu Deok’s childhood, and while I figured that was some kind of secret about her that we didn’t know, it was still interesting to watch that flashback unfold.

Like, why had her father, a constellation recorder mage at Cheonbugwan, appeared to have gone rogue? Had something happened to trigger his bloody rampage, or had he been overtaken by magic in some way?

I’m leaning towards the idea that Dad had been taken over by black magic, perhaps, since the maid who had hidden Mu Deok away, had warned her not to be caught by her father.

And, if it’s related to magic, then I’m leaning towards the idea that it had been Jin Mu behind the whole thing, since he’s our key evil guy at the moment, and he’d been the one to take Mu Deok away afterwards, and train her to become Naksu the assassin.

It’s a pretty interesting glimpse into Mu Deok’s backstory, and I’m curious to see how her birth connection to Cheonbugwan will affect our story later on.

This episode, Uk’s training adventure with Mu Deok is not at all what I’d expected.

Based on Mu Deok’s voiceover closing out the last episode, I’d expected Uk to actually be undergoing some actual tough training this episode, with Mu Deok overseeing the proceedings. I’d also expected there to be hijinks, and I’d expected the hijinks to arise from said proceedings.

But, while we do get hijinks, those hijinks do not arise from said proceedings, because Show doesn’t actually go the way I’d expected.

It’s a fun twist, that Uk and Mu Deok find that where Mu Deok’s old home had been, there’s now a whole hut, all nicely equipped and stocked with food, which Mystery Dude, now revealed to be Master Lee, had magicked into place.

On that note, I really am enjoying Master Lee and his magicky ways. For some reason, I find it very satisfying to watch him get everyday tasks done, by casually using his magic to his advantage.

No such thing as not misusing your magic, or not being responsible about your magic. He just uses it for every little thing that he might need, like chopping wood, or increasing the flame of his fire, or drying his clothes.

Makes my imagination go into overdrive, about how fun it would be, to be able to magic everything I need, into place. Like, blog posts, at the snap of my fingers, ha! Wouldn’t that be pretty amazing? 😁

It’s only this episode, when we see Sapsali the dog reaction to Mu Deok and Uk, that I realize this must be the same spirit who had used to inhabit the dog statue that Uk had broken before.

Lol. I am quite amused at the idea that Sapsali is therefore afraid of Uk, who’s otherwise pretty harmless, all because Uk had once destroyed his statue.

The whole thing about Uk feeling so flustered at having drunk the chaste tea, which lowers his libido, is also rather amusing.

And, I can’t help but notice that when Mu Deok remarks that there’s no harm in lowering it since he’s not going to need it, Uk asks Mu Deok if she’s sure that he won’t need it.

Ahemm.. Is that an indication that Uk had actually been hoping to use it – and with Mu Deok? It kind of sounds that way?

Coupled with the little touches of Uk caring for Mu Deok – like the way he puts her on the bed and himself sleeps on the floor – I can’t help but think that Uk has most likely started to like Mu Deok, whether he’s aware of it or not.

Plus, there’s the way Uk looks at her, when he accidentally uses his energy and knocks that bowl right into Mu Deok’s forehead, causing her to bleed. Even though Mu Deok laughs it off quite gleefully, Uk’s look of concern is quite pronounced, and it feels distinctly personal, to my eyes.

I also find myself rather amused that Master Lee assumes that Uk and Mu Deok are a married couple, based on the way they talk to each other.

That’s true, that the comfort level that we see between them, in the way they bicker back and forth with each other, does vibe like that of a married couple. And now that Master Lee’s pointed it out, I can’t quite unsee it, heh.

Another thing that I found unexpected, is how Uk seems to take to the rural domestic lifestyle, so much so that he even considers living like this long-term.

The idea amuses me, but does not amuse Mu Deok, who’s livid that Uk doesn’t care about training, even though she reminds him about the duel with the Crown Prince.

..And so her solution is to go to Chwiseonru, and ask for help to spread rumors that Uk is suuuper ready to duel with the Crown Prince, ha. It’s just like Mu Deok to think of using other levers to get her pupil to work, when he won’t listen to her.

I’m rather pleasantly surprised that the Crown Prince actually allows Mu Deok to appeal to him to save her from the Cheonbugwan guys. I’d thought that he would’ve been too heartless to care.

Instead, he listens to Mu Deok, with all her buttered-up praises used to season her words, and then even offers her his personal sachet, so that she can use it as protection, if the Cheonbugwan guys hassle her again.

I know Mu Deok doesn’t take to the scent, but this is honestly more than I’d expected, from the Crown Prince.

And, sure, he’s a bit petty, and punishes Mu Deok by plying her with drinks that are strongly flavored with cinnamon, since she seems to hate the smell of cinnamon, but this feels quite harmless and petty, and therefore feels like it’s almost done in jest.

Maybe the Crown Prince isn’t as awful as person as I’d first thought?

I also like how Show is keeping a foot each, on the main threads of our story, without losing hold of either one.

We get regular updates on what Uk and Mu Deok are up to, but we also get just as regular glimpses into what’s going on in Daeho, with Songrim and Cheonbugwan and everyone else.

Importantly, Show takes care to make sure that the threads are as intertwined as possible, so that it doesn’t actually feel whiplashy when Show switches its focus from one location to another.

Nicely done, I feel.

For example, I like how Yul and Dang Gu searching for the petrified dead body that had been hidden in Cheonbugwan, eventually leads them to seek our Uk and Mu Deok, because they discover his Spirit Plaque during the investigation.

I’m very curious to know what exactly Jin Mu keeps sending to the Queen, via the soul shifter who’s taken on the body of the eunuch.

Could the Queen herself be a soul shifter too, I wonder..? 😝

As we get near to the end of the episode, Uk’s care for Mu Deok becomes clearer, I feel like.

For example, the way he goes out of his way to look for her, then takes her back to Danhyanggok, while muttering to himself, while looking in Mu Deok’s direction, that there’s just one thing that’s preventing him from giving up everything to live a quiet life.

It seems to me, like he genuinely cares about Mu Deok getting her energy back, and therefore he feels that he can’t break the pact that they’ve made.

Also, when Uk spies Mu Deok staring at Yul, when Yul talks about his experiences in Danhyanggok, and how he’d loved the birds so much, it definitely gives Uk pause, like it matters to him what Mu Deok thinks and feels about Yul. Ooh.

And thennn, there’s how he promises to take Mu Deok to the top of the tree, because she can no longer climb it herself. This, even though it means that he would have to master Chisu in order to fulfill that promise.

So far, nothing that Mu Deok has said about the duel with the Crown Prince, has motivated Uk to want to train, but this moment of Mu Deok’s almost throwaway remark, that she’d like to see the moon from the top of the tree, does exactly that.

Oohh. Doesn’t that feel quite significant? 😁

How troublesome, though, that while Uk’s feelings for Mu Deok appear to be growing, the elders in Songrim have been busy deciding that it would make sense for him to marry Cho Yeon.

That’s not going to go down well with Uk, I don’t think.

In the meantime, I’m really quite tickled at the way Master Lee magicks his way into Songrim, and then in no time, has Heo Yeom bowing before him and calling him “Master.”

Tee hee. The visual disconnect is pretty great. Master Lee looks wayyy younger than Heo Yeom, so everyone seems appropriately shocked.

Hmm. Perhaps one of the side effects of that chaste tea, is eternal youth..? 😁

Episode 6

E6. I honestly can’t tell if the reason I find this show unpredictable, is because I haven’t watched much xianxia (since the xianxia influence is strong here), or if Show really is that unpredictable; I find that I really just never can tell what’s going to happen next.

Show just keeps taking sharp left turns whenever it feels like it, and I find myself happily stunned, even as Show whips me around (by the wrist, since this is kdrama after all, ha).

Specifically, I’m thinking of where we end this episode – but I suppose I really should save that to talk about later.

For a good chunk of the episode, Show gives us lighter, funner stuff, with Yul spending time with Mu Deok, and Uk getting all jealous about it, which, ha, I’m not going to complain about.

First of all, it does appear that Yul’s becoming more aware of Mu Deok, and that her words, particularly when they echo Naksu’s, are giving him a bit of pause.

Beyond that, I find it amusing to see Uk feeling flustered and trying not to show it, when he sees Mu Deok getting comfortable with Yul. His feelings; they are showing, whether he’s cognizant of them or not. 😁

It’s cute how Uk’s quite instinctive about sensing a “cheating vibe” with Mu Deok’s interactions with Yul, and demands that she not cheat on him.

Mu Deok’s droll response, where she humors him to an extent, saying that he’s her ooonly pupil, and asking if it’s ok if she responds to Yul and Dang Gu when they call out to her – before she skips off to do the opposite of Uk’s request, that she be cold and indifferent when responding, is the kind of small-petty-funny things that I find amusing.

It does feel rather significant, though, when Yul offers to take Mu Deok up to the top of That Tree – which we know is her sincere wish – and she declines, saying that she doesn’t want to climb the tree with just anyone.

Ooh. So I guess Uk isn’t just anyone then? 😁

My fangirl heart is (perhaps prematurely) squeeing a little at the the idea that Mu Deok declines, because she’s already made that promise with Uk and doesn’t want to break that promise.

However, the more rational corner of my mind reasons that it’s more likely that Mu Deok refuses, because she recognizes that she needs to keep Uk motivated to train, and his  promise to take her to the top of the tree, forms a good chunk of that motivation.

Heh. This is where my Emotion cell comes right back with puppy eyes and says, “But maybe it’s a bit of both..?” 🥹 Ha. I crack me up. 😂

The truth is, though, I do think Mu Deok’s much more focused on Uk’s training and his training outcomes, than Uk himself.

Mu Deok’s decision to train Uk to master Tansu, regardless of the danger it poses to his life – which we only hear about later, from Master Lee – demonstrates that she is extremely focused on getting Uk into fighting shape; perhaps even dangerously so.

And I have to admit, seeing Uk’s hand all red like that, is rather painful. 🫣

In the meantime, over at Songrim, I am also suitably amused at the quizzical looks from the servants, when Heo Yeom and Park Jin treat Master Lee with so much respect, even though he looks so much younger than Heo Yeom.

Ha. As it turns out, Master Lee’s way over 100 years old. Wow. That chaste tea really does something, doesn’t it?

On that note, I get that it’s not the tea itself, but the energy force within him, that’s making him look so much younger than his years, and giving him such a long life. But that chaste tea does help him amp up his training, so it’s absolutely part of the equation. 😁

The important thing about Master Lee’s visit, besides inspecting the corpses and identifying that these weren’t mages, but ordinary commoners, is that he gets wind of Naksu, and puts two and two together, to conclude that Mu Deok is actually the Naksu of whom everyone speaks.

Another big arc this episode, is Uk’s planned marriage to Cho Yeon.

While Cho Yeon does appear to be rather sweet, I am finding her increasingly underwhelming (I’m trying to avoid using the word pathetic, which is in the region of what I want to say, but feels rather too strong).

I get that Cho Yeon likes Uk a lot, but girl, if he’s called off the wedding once, it really doesn’t look like he wants to be married to you.

So the fact that she’s so eager to marry him, even though he currently doesn’t even know about the wedding, lands in the region of pathetic (there, I said it).

If that’s not enough, I’m also very underwhelmed by Cho Yeon’s actions, when she decides to frame Mu Deok for breaking the yin-and-yang jade from Jinyowon.

She probably thinks it’s win-win, since this will help her stay out of trouble for breaking the jade, and also, get rid of Mu Deok, of whom she’s suddenly very jealous, after hearing about how precious Mu Deok is, to Uk.

It all looks like loser-loser (snerk) to me, though, since she’s too cowardly to own up to breaking the jade, and is taking rather extreme actions to get rid of Mu Deok, based on hearsay alone.

Let’s just say I’m not impressed.

Mu Deok getting taken to the Crown Prince’s chambers all dressed as a gisaeng, after the Cheonbugwan dudes forcibly take her from Chwiseonru, is low-key amusing.

It’s a rather tongue-in-cheek twist on the makeover trope, where an ugly duckling female character gets glammed up, and bowls over an unsuspecting male character.

The Crown Prince says that this look doesn’t suit Mu Deok at all, but I do think that he might be looking at her a little differently now than before?

At any rate, I’m pleased that Mu Deok talks to him the same way as before, and that he gets all perplexed and dumbfounded when he offers Mu Deok a job, and she declines outright, saying that she doesn’t serve just anyone.

Pfft. Way to slide in an insult there, Mu Deok. 😏 Well done. 😁

On a tangent, I realize that I don’t dislike the Crown Prince so much now. I mean, even though Jin Mu advises him to kill Uk, he tells Mu Deok to do whatever it takes, to convince Uk to avoid the duel.

I do wonder if this stems from mistrust of Jin Mu, or a general lack of desire to kill Uk? I’m curious about what’s really driving the Crown Prince’s actions.

What’s even more interesting to me, though, is how Mu Deok’s getting magic flashes, around that jade piece, and also, at Jinyowon.

I’m guessing that the jade’s magic, as well as Jinyowon’s magical aura in general, is triggering her hidden energy?

Also, Mu Deok’s entrance into the Jin manor seems to trigger a reaction as well. Not only do the birds get all restless, Madam Jin seems to sense something as well, the moment Mu Deok steps over the threshold.

Most importantly, what is up with that magic mirror?!?? Ok, we don’t know if it’s really a mirror at all, but I’m gonna just call it that for now.

Earlier in the episode, we see what appears to be Cho Yeon’s alter ego appear in it, when she enters Jinyowon. And, that alter ego smirks at her knowingly too.

And now, at the end of the episode, we see Mu Deok glimpse her own alter ego in that mirror, also smirking at her – before she touches the mirror and gets sucked into it!

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I honestly didn’t see THAT coming. 😱

What the heck is that about, I wonder??

I’m guessing that that mirror must be inhabited by some kind of spirit who takes the form of whoever’s looking in the mirror, or near the mirror. Because that makes more sense than the mirror containing everyone’s alter egos, yes?

How is Mu Deok going to get out – or will she get out at all, I wonder? Like, what if the spirit keeps Mu Deok in there, and then comes out pretending to be Mu Deok..? That would be chaos, I’m sure.

I have no idea where Show’s going next, but I’m hanging on to the edge of my seat, and looking forward to Show’s next twist. 😁

Next Open Thread will be up on: Sunday, 22 March 2026!