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 17

E17. I realize that this is a show where my main hook is wanting to know what happens next.

With a lot of shows, my main hook tends to be affection for the characters, and wanting to root for them on their journey.

Not in this case. I find that my affection for the characters pales in comparison to my interest in knowing what happens next. I want to see how our writers keep taking the story forward, within the rules they’ve set for themselves within our story world.

And, I’m happy to say that, so far, I do feel like Show is delivering.

Of course, there’s still room for Show to crash and burn, but so far, anyway, I do feel like I’m in the camp of viewers who like this drama (versus the other camp which seems to think that this drama crashed and burned a long time ago).

Also, it helps that Show manages to keep surprising me, in ways that I don’t expect to be surprised.

For example, I’d expected Jang Gang’s reappearance to be quite splashy, this episode, but it’s actually the opposite.

Jang Gang’s meeting with Uk in Gaema Village leans on the pretty understated side of things, and Uk doesn’t even know that he’s met with his father, after the fact.

I hadn’t expected that, even though it still makes sense within our story world, because Jang Gang had left Daeho when Uk had been a baby.

I’m guessing that Jang Gang will continue to watch over things undercover, and make a splashier entrance sometime soon.

Meanwhile, I think I was right about Mu Deok being the one to trigger the doors of Jinyowon, rather than the blood worm in So-I.

Unfortunately, it seems like So-I’s clued in to this too, and is now set on getting rid of Mu Deok, for her own safety.

Hmm. I can understand that kind of thinking, but girl, you’re in greater danger than you think, and it has nothing to do with Mu Deok.

I guess I shouldn’t be at all surprised that Jin Mu and Shaman Choi never intended to keep So-I alive, even while they go through all that trouble to get her to pass for Bu Yeon.

From their point of view, it actually makes perfect sense, that Shaman Choi should move from the body of the Queen, to the body of the heir of Jinyowon. There’s a lot more room to wield magicky power from that seat, than the Queen’s throne, after all.

On the OTP side of things, we do get a little bit of teasing playfulness, when Uk comes upon Mu Deok looking into the mirror, after her visit to Jinyowon.

Uk’s such a cute deadpan dork. I kinda love the way he manages to make Mu Deok smile and laugh, even though she wasn’t in a smiling or laughing mood to begin with.

Also, I do love how affectionately matter-of-fact he is, when he remarks to Mu Deok that he’d used to think that only her eyes were pretty, but now he thinks that she’s just pretty no matter what. Aw. He is very sweet. 🥰

And even though Mu Deok doesn’t want to admit it, she’s definitely growing fonder of him by the day, judging from the way she flicks her gaze away from Uk, as if to catch herself.

I’m actually pretty surprised that Uk and Mu Deok share their conclusion – that the found Bu Yeon is really a fake, and is the swindler So-I – so readily with Yul and Dang Gu.

It makes me feel like things are going to move pretty fast on this front, if information is being passed along so readily.

But perhaps it’s not even that important that they share this information readily, since Madam Jin comes to her own conclusion soon enough, that the Bu Yeon who’s returned to her, isn’t quite the same as the Bu Yeon whom she’d lost.

I guess it’s true that a mother knows her child.

Which, of course, begs the question of why it hasn’t occurred to Madam Jin that Mu Deok might be her long-lost Bu Yeon, particularly since Madam Jin’s got a fair amount of magical power.

I rationalize that most likely it’s because the magic that’s enabling Naksu to take over Mu Deok’s body, is perhaps blocking Bu Yeon’s aura / energy from view?

And, just as Uk analyzes, Jin Mu’s got a bigger hostage in his hands – the ice stone – which is why it doesn’t even matter so much, that Madam Jin realizes that Bu Yeon really isn’t Bu Yeon.

I actually like that Uk’s able to figure out exactly what’s going on, with Madam Jin calling for the Unanimous Assembly; that the plan is for Shaman Choi to move from the Queen’s body to So-I’s body.

PLUS. Importantly, I like that he actually tells the Crown Prince what he knows, and gets Princey involved too.

Again, this makes it feel like Stuff is going to happen soon.

The big ol’ fight that happens at the Unanimous Assembly is kind of silly, but completely within the Hong sisters’ classic style, so I’m not too fussed, and even feel mildly amused by it.

What I wasn’t expecting, like, at all, was the King’s request, that they see the power of the ice stone to raise the dead – and his singling out of Mu Deok, to be the test subject.

Ack. This feels very dangerous, particularly since Madam Jin’s agreed to get rid of Mu Deok for Fake Bu Yeon.

Will she muck up the bringing back to life part, just to fulfill that promise, I wonder?

I am SO nervous, as Madam Jin proceeds to kill Mu Deok.

With all that magical killing going on, it seems that as Naksu passes out from being strangled, Bu Yeon comes to the fore.

That single utterance of the word, “Mother,” as tears roll down Mu Deok’s face, is so full of pathos.

Surely Madam Jin will clue in now, that this is her long-lost Bu Yeon??

Episode 18

E18. Well. This worked out to be another really interesting episode. I sure hope Show manages to keep up this surprising quality, all the way to the end!

Madam Jin DOES manage to make the connection that Mu Deok is her long-lost Bu Yeon, but it seems like the way both fake and real Bu Yeons disappearing, along with the ice stone, is too much of a distraction, in that we don’t see her attempting to do anything about her realization, this episode.

I don’t know what So-I was trying to do, in batting the ice stone towards Mu Deok.. as in, she knows that the ice stone has the power to bring back Mu Deok from the dead, and she’s doing something to bring the ice stone closer to Mu Deok, instead of further away?

Or.. did she think, in a moment of foolishness, that she could destroy the ice stone, and prevent it from reviving Mu Deok – thus achieving Mu Deok’s death.

That makes more sense, and I could believe that in that moment of panic, she probably didn’t realize that she was batting the ice stone closer to Mu Deok, which would likely be counter-productive to her desire to kill Mu Deok.

I’m fascinated by the ensuing weather chaos, that then sucks So-I and Mu Deok into the midst of the ice stone, which then altogether surrounds Jeongjingak in a magical barrier of energy.

I definitely hadn’t seen THAT coming! 😅

And, what an interesting situation this creates, where all the typically powerful mages can’t use their spells or energy within the barrier, but soul-shifters like Mu Deok can.

I’m also intrigued by Bu Yeon’s words to Mu Deok, that the power will be more than she can handle, and she will have to bear the price of overflowing power, where earning one means losing another.

I hadn’t understood it when Bu Yeon had said it, but when Mu Deok analyzes the situation and concludes that her gaining that power, would mean sucking all the power out of the people within the barrier, thus killing them, it becomes clearer to understand.

And, given that the key people with whom Mu Deok’s built emotional bonds are within the barrier, it makes sense that this would cause her to hesitate the way she does.

I’m actually glad that she does hesitate, because that reinforces that the relationships she’s built with people like Yul and Uk are real, and not merely transactional, like she’s been telling herself.

She can’t actually bring herself to kill Yul or Uk, or allow them to die by any other means, in order to use the ice stone’s power to shift her soul into another body.

This is also why she keeps putting off taking any action about it, whether it’s telling Uk the truth about regaining her powers, or actually using that power to shift souls.

It becomes a bit of a running gag, how she keeps making excuses all episode long, to stay as Mu Deok juuust a little longer, because of this reason or that.

I find it rather endearing and poignant, actually, because her reasons for making those excuses have everything to do the people she cares about, and keeping them alive.

It is pretty trippy, though, to see Mu Deok use her powers to do things like make tea. That feels like a new chapter, in a way, since the Mu Deok that we’ve spent the most time with, hasn’t had access to her powers.

I’m actually rather surprised that Show manages to make me feel rather sympathetic towards So-I, even though she’s literally trying to get Mu Deok killed.

Perhaps it’s as Yul and Uk say, during their conversation; that it’s because she’s being used by Jin Mu.

I also think it has something to do with the way Seo Hye Won is playing So-I; there’s a fragility about her, even as she works to navigate her way through this terrible maze in which she’s found herself, at Jin Mu’s mercy.

She might have bad intentions on some level, but she’s also terrified through pretty much the entire process, and I think that’s why I have some sympathy for her, despite her murderous intent.

Plus, she does try to save Yul, even though it means blowing her cover, so she’s not all bad.

Jang Gang’s splashy entrance still hasn’t happened yet, but I did get a small thrill out of Jang Gang returning to Cheonbugwan, and being mistaken for a random hobo, before he gets recognized as the Gwanju.

Now that he’s full of regrets for not destroying Jin Mu’s energy back in the day, I wonder if he’ll make that his new goal in the present?

As we close out our episode, it feels like everything comes to a head for Mu Deok, when she hears that Uk’s life is in danger, because he’s decided to lure the soul-shifter to the secret room.

It feels so significant, that she would go there to confront the soul-shifter, even though everyone else is convinced that no matter what happens between Uk and the soul-shifter, Uk’s already a dead man.

Again, it’s really trippy to see Mu Deok wield her power and her sword like Naksu had, at the beginning of our story, and it’s definitely satisfying to see her take out the soul-shifter without too much difficulty.

I have no idea how Uk had managed to lure the soul-shifter into the secret room without getting killed, but I’m VERY GLAD that he’s ok.

And then we have the moment of reckoning, where Mu Deok must choose whether to point her sword at Uk and kill him, or withdraw her sword and her intent to use it again, and allow Uk to live – and make her a new promise.

I’m not surprised that Mu Deok chooses Uk, but I’m still pumped to see her withdraw her sword and invite Uk to make her that new promise he’d talked about.

It’s a culmination of all of her growing feelings for Uk, and now, when it’s time to make the choice, she chooses Uk, in spite of everything that she’s been telling herself thus far.

Ahhhh! I feel so gratified on Uk’s behalf!!

And then we have kisses!! Actual, rather electrifying kisses, where I can feel the sparks coming through my screen. 🔥

Spazz. This is verrry excellent, and I’d like more of this, please. 🤩

Next Open Thread will be up on: Sunday, 3 May 2026!