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 15

E15. On the downside, it feels like this episode wasn’t terribly exciting to watch. But on the upside, it does feel like Show knows where it wants to go, and this episode was firmly a part of the journey.

Also, again, I’m happy with how things can take sudden turns in our narrative, without actually breaking any of this drama’s internal rules.

Like how Master Lee does turn out to be a soul-shifter, after all.

Originally, I’d imagined that Master Lee had a youthful appearance, simply because of his training and magical prowess, but as it turns out, it was an accidental soul-shifting sort of situation, because Master Yeom had thought him dead while his soul had been out of his body, and burned his body.

Gosh. Is that a big whoopsie or what?? I’m surprised that all Master Yeom got was a knock on the head with Master Lee’s cane. 😜

This episode, there are three intersecting main arcs, which I thought were nicely handled, even though I didn’t find the episode itself especially gripping.

We’ve got Master Lee going to the palace and testing the waters with Gwigu, and looking like he’s come to some innnteresting conclusions around the Queen, since she’s the one who gets the most riled up at the idea of Gwigu becoming a resident of the palace.

I must say, though, the magicky face-off between Master Lee and Jin Mu is pretty cool. I rather like it every time Master Lee lets his magic lose, because it always looks so effortless.

All he has to do is wave his hand, and Jin Mu’s got a bunch of sharp magic icicles at his throat. So badass. 🤩😁

I’m actually really curious to know what Master Lee’s plan is.

Now that he’s determined that the Queen is suspiciously afraid of Gwigu, he asks the Crown Prince for Naksu’s sword.

Is he.. perhaps planning to help Naksu regain her power..?

And then we’ve got Mu Deok doing her best to deal with the fact that she’s being accused of murder.

It’s smart of her to seek Maidservant Kim’s help to take her to Jinyowon to ask Cho Yeon to be her witness and alibi, but.. it makes no sense to me that Cho Yeon would hide Mu Deok in Bu Yeon’s room while she talked with Madam Jin and Maidservant Kim.

I mean, I get that the idea is to have Mu Deok interact with Bu Yeon’s surroundings, but that was one of Show’s less natural beats.

However, I am intrigued by the fact that Mu Deok feels something while in Bu Yeon’s room.

And, that also makes me think of the times when Mu Deok had been able to tap into her power, which had then left her temporarily blinded.

I wonder if that blindness has anything to do with Bu Yeon? Like, is the way it works, something to do with Mu Deok tapping into Bu Yeon’s power, rather than her own?

And if so, perhaps that’s why it tends to come with the side effect of temporary blindness, until Mu Deok comes more to herself? 🤔

Also, Madam Jin’s not very good with the magic or the discernment, is she? After all, Mu Deok IS Bu Yeon.

I was thinking that perhaps Madam Jin would pick up on some clues, with Mu Deok in Bu Yeon’s room, and wearing that blindfold, to boot. But nope, so far, it seems like Madam Jin doesn’t suspect a thing.

Third, we’ve got So-I going around with Jin Mu’s assassin henchman, taking out all the people who’ve ever seen her face while she hadn’t been acting like a blind person.

I’m SO RELIEVED that she has the decency to not sic the assassin on Mu Deok, when she realizes that Mu Deok doesn’t recognize her.

In fact, I do think that So-I is a decent person at heart, because she’d tried to save the broker dude from being killed, even though he knew her face, and that, because she’d reasoned that he would leave the capital soon, and therefore wouldn’t be a threat.

For that reason, I do feel somewhat sorry for So-I, because Jin Mu’s just enclosing her in his death web more and more, with each step forward that she takes with him.

It’s true that she’s gotten quite a few people killed just for knowing her face, but by the end, she’s got a magical blood worm in her body, which will eat her alive from the inside out, if Jin Mu doesn’t keep it alive using magic.

That effectively makes her Jin Mu’s puppet, doesn’t it? Because if she doesn’t cooperate with Jin Mu, he would just let her get eaten alive by that wriggly blood worm?

Last but not least, I was pretty pleased with how Show handles the arc where Park Jin corners both Uk and Mu Deok, and forces them to confess their secret to him, with Mu Deok’s life as ransom.

I love that even under such dire circumstances, their thoughts flow together so seamlessly, such that they arrive at the same conclusion, without needing to discuss anything.

And, it’s a really nice way to pull the focus back to the OTP relationship as well, with both Uk and Mu Deok telling Park Jin that they like each other very, very much.

That’s pretty heart-wobbly stuff. 🥰

However, I have to confess that I’m getting a creeping sense of foreboding, because Mu Deok instructs Uk not to love her to the death; that if it ever were to come down to it, to choose life over love.

Uk’s being rather romantic now, in how he states so emphatically that he’s in this with her, and that he’ll keep going, no matter what (which, melt, really), but I can’t shake the feeling that the time is going to come soon enough, when this love will be put to the life-or-death test. Eep. 🫣

Episode 16

E16. We begin this episode with the scene of Uk and Mu Deok on the bridge, and perhaps my reservations are unfounded(?), since Show treats the scene with more of a light, almost comedic sort of touch?

I mean, it’s hard to think of death coming into their love promise, when Uk’s trying to coach Mu Deok on how to at look like she loves him to death. 😅

Also, I’m pleasantly surprised, actually, that Mu Deok’s asking Uk for some kind of promise to prove his love for her.

Sure, she does it with a rather squint-eyed, perplexed, suspicious expression on her face, which doesn’t exactly spell romance, but honestly, when I think about it, this is the first time that Mu Deok’s actually wanted a confirmation of Uk’s affection in any way, isn’t it?

That’s progress, on the OTP front?

On the other hand, the message that Master Lee leaves Uk, together with Naksu’s sword, does imply that death might come into the picture of this loveline, after all.

Because, Master Lee’s instruction to Uk, is to kill the person who tries to use the sword, or die.

Dang. That’s a tough one, isn’t it?

AND YET. It seems that Uk plans to stay true to his word, to love Mu Deok to the death, because the promise he asks her to make, is to first point the sword at him, if she were to ever unsheath it.

“When you regain your energy and if you must draw and point that sword at someone, point it at me before at anyone else.

If you stab me, then I will die as the one who released the assassin.

If you withdraw your sword, I will make you another promise. Something along the lines of the promise you wanted to hear from me about our future. I will look for the ice stone so you do not run wild because I promised to do so.”

Gosh, I do think that the swooniest thing about this OTP loveline, is how Uk loves Mu Deok.

Even though Master Lee’s made this dire pronouncement, Uk still gives Mu Deok a choice, instead of trying to control her actions.

He’s willing to die by her hand, if she wishes to draw the sword again. But, he also tells her the other options, which is to not draw her sword, and therefore not kill him – which is when he’ll be able to make her a love promise.

Aw. Uk. He really is all in, in his love for Mu Deok, isn’t he? 🥹

At the same time, this episode, we do get an indication of Mu Deok wavering, somewhat?

I mean, when she looks upon her sword, she does wonder to herself, if she’d still be able to slash people as relentlessly as she’d had before.

This is the first time we’ve seen Mu Deok waver like this, so perhaps there’s a chance that Mu Deok won’t want to go back to being Naksu, even when she regains her energy?

That would be excellent, because then Uk won’t be obliged to fight her and kill her. 😅

Elsewhere, the plot thickens.

First, Gwigu pinpoints Cho Yeon and attempts to pounce on her, most likely because Evil Dad had used the blood worm on her, and the traces of sorcery are still apparent on her.

Interesting how that works, though I’m not sure if it’s still going to be relevant, since Madam Jin basically kills Gwigu (poor doggo!) for trying to attack Cho Yeon.

At least Master Lee and Park Jin are now clear on the fact that the Queen’s working with Jin Mu, and can be vigilant accordingly.

This episode, I do feel rather bad for Yul, once we find out that he hasn’t been sleeping well, because it’s just that against his nature to not only keep Mu Deok’s secret, but work to help her as well.

I’m quite reasonably impressed with how Show is giving us a bit of side entertainment via the loveline between Dang Gu and Cho Yeon, while still using this loveline to further our story. That’s pretty great.

Of course, what I’m talking about is that beat where Cho Yeon asks Mu Deok to go back to Jinyowon with her, so that she can pick up her things.

Again, Mu Deok feels that weird feeling, when she comes into view of the entrance to Jinyowon.

I seriously wonder if it was Mu Deok who actually opened that door to Jinyowon, since there’s why more Jin blood running in her body than in So-I’s.

Also, now that So-I’s figured out that Mu Deok is the real Bu Yeon, I’m slightly nervous about what So-I’s going to do about it.

While she’s been reasonably compassionate to those who don’t pose a threat to her, now Mu Deok does pose a threat to her, and that changes everything, doesn’t it? 😬

I do love the thing where Uk and the Crown Prince end up working together, in their investigation around the soul shifting in the palace.

Their reluctant partnership might just never grow old, for me. They both look like they wish they could be working with anyone else in the entire world, and yet, there is no other choice, so they work together anyway, while looking kinda grumpy about it. It’s great. 😁

How interesting, that they find out that Shaman Choi’s brother had married a lady from a powerful family. Aha! That’s got to be Evil Dad, right?

No wonder he’s cooperating with Jin Mu; he’s working alongside his sister, who’s residing in the Queen’s body.

Also, that’s an interesting tidbit that we get from Evil Dad, this episode; that Bu Yeon’s not his biological daughter.

This begs the question of who Bu Yeon’s bio dad might be, then? I’m curious to know!

Finally, we have Jang Gang, back on the scene. Oooh.

I wonder how this is going to tilt out story world, because it has to, right?

Everything is different from how Jang Gang had left things, when he’d left. Now, not only has Uk’s energy gates been opened, he’s gained a lot more skill and power too. I wonder what Jang Gang would have to say about that?

Next Open Thread will be up on: Sunday, 26 April 2026!