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

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

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

My thoughts

Episode 5

E5. One of the things that really lingers in my mind a lot, while watching this episode, is the idea of nature vs. nurture.

Specifically, I’m thinking about Bu Yeon, and how different she is, from the Naksu whom we met briefly, in Part 1 of our story.

I’ve seen folks facepalm at how “dumb” they feel she is now, compared to who she had been before, and I feel sorry for her, that that’s how some viewers are thinking about her.

So far, I don’t find Bu Yeon’s actions dumb – well, except for that one part in this episode, where she yelps at a non-existent bee, in order to leave Uk with Madam Jin, like he’d requested.

Aside from that, I’ve found Bu Yeon’s actions to be understandable, for a normal person.

Meaning, yes, sometimes she does come to the wrong conclusions, when thinking about things, and but I can see myself – or someone else – coming to similarly wrong conclusions, given the same information and constraints that Bu Yeon’s working with.

I prefer to think of this as a nature vs. nurture sort of thing.

When Bu Yeon had been Naksu, she’d been trained to within an inch of her life, to be sharp in her analysis and movements, and above all, to be ruthless and merciless.

I can totally buy that that kind of training, over someone’s formative years, would have a huge impact on one’s personality and sensibilities.

But now that Bu Yeon’s just Bu Yeon, with no Naksu training, and also, no memories of her formative years, she’s in her natural state, and with very little nurture in the equation to have shaped her personality, other than what she’s been told about herself, and how she’d been locked up in that room, for the period of time that she does remember.

In that sense, I can believe that Bu Yeon would be underdeveloped compared to someone else her age, who might have had a lot of training and instruction, and exposure to the ways of the world.

Because of this, I can buy the more childlike nuances of Bu Yeon’s personality, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Bu Yeon continues to change and evolve, as she gets familiar with and situated in the world outside of that room that had been her entire world for so long.

On that note, I have also seen people say that Bu Yeon’s conveniently in love with Uk, even though this is essentially a marriage of convenience, and she’s just met him.

I agree with that to some extent, in that I do think that the writers basically wanted her to be in love with Uk, for the purpose of our story.

However, if I’m thinking about Bu Yeon as a fairly childlike person at this point in her life, I can actually buy the idea that she would fall in love with Uk quite easily.

I mean, Uk’s an attractive person, being tall and handsome and all, plus, his badassery with the powers of the ice stone absolutely ups his allure to new heights.

I can buy the idea that a rather innocent and childlike Bu Yeon could fall in love with him, practically on first sight.

Add on the melty things that he ends up doing for her, like showing up when she least expects him to, and then convincingly acting the part of a sweet and loving husband, and I can believe that her initial attraction to him would deepen, and that she would end up quite smitten with him.

All that to say, yes, I can see where other viewers are coming from, but at the same time, I do find that with a little thought and lens adjustment, I’m perfectly fine with what Show is serving up, particularly around Bu Yeon as a character.

Backing up to the top of the episode, though, I hafta say, Waaaahhh, is Yul going to die?!?? 😫

What a horrible twist, to So-I’s attempt to save Yul, by transferring the blood parasite to him.

Like, what, now that blood parasite has settled into his core, and is eating away at his energy, and he will die when his energy is depleted?

And, Madam Jin later confirms, that there is no way to reverse this? NoooOOooo~ Say it ain’t so!!! 😫😫

My gut feel right now, is that Show won’t let Yul die. Or, if Show lets Yul die, it will revive him, much like how it revived Uk, after letting him die.

This just doesn’t strike me as the kind of show to allow a good main character to die.

And, I’m reaching for the possibility that it will again be the power of the ice stone, that will save him.. somehow. I have no idea how, right now, but that’s the general direction that my thoughts are going, at the moment.

Consoling myself that Yul will survive definitely helps, because even though he’s not my favorite character or anything, I’ve always seen him as a benevolent character; someone who is good to his core, and is righteous and kind and compassionate and helpful towards others.

Like now: when he realizes that the thing that’s inside him and is slowly killing him, is the blood parasite that So-I had transferred to him, in an attempt to save him, he doesn’t even get upset at her.

She’s the one who asks him why he isn’t taking revenge on her, and killing her, and he’s all, “You meant to help me,” simple and straightforward.

Even though he’s literally almost guaranteed going to die because of the blood parasite, he doesn’t think to take vengeance against So-I for it.

Of course I don’t want such a good, righteous person to die, right?

On another note, I have to give props to Seo Hye Won, because her delivery of So-I’s very complicated feelings about this, is so nuanced and believable.

There’s shock, horror, concern, self-blame, and desperation all mixed up in her expression, and layered on top of that, is a sheen of surreality, like she can’t believe that this is happening for real. Really excellently done, I thought.

In happier news, I do like that Dang Gu and Cho Yeon clear the air and make up, because I do think that they genuinely like each other, and make a cute couple.

It’s just too bad that given the situation at the moment, they need to keep their relationship a secret.

But hey, this is better than seeing poor Dang Gu being a heartbroken puppy, so I’m all for it.

And then, we finally get to where we ended the previous episode, which is Uk waking up and kissing Bu Yeon.

This scene doesn’t go in the direction that I’d thought, in that, with Uk kissing Bu Yeon with such feeling, I’m surprised that Bu Yeon doesn’t just kiss him right back, especially when he admits that he is very much awake and therefore not dreaming.

Which means that Uk had meant to kiss Bu Yeon. Ahhhh!

What does this meannnn???

For now, I’m thinking that Uk’s been slowly softening towards Bu Yeon, and so, in his just-awake, sleepy, unguarded state, feeling all warm and cozy, particularly after finally having had a good sleep, he just flowed with his feelings in the moment and kissed her.

But then, as alertness sinks in, along with all the (mis)assumptions and awkwardness between them, Uk is fast to backpedal, just as Bu Yeon is fast to feel self-conscious and embarrassed, and also fast to backpedal.

I suppose, if you haven’t thought things through and aren’t exactly sure that you’re really ready to commit to having feelings for the other person, it would feel safer to retreat to familiar territory. 😅

At least, that’s how I’m rationalizing the flow of this scene. If you have a different interpretation of the scene, I’d be curious to hear it!

I do like the detail, that it’s because of Bu Yeon’s presence, that the wraiths and the coldness leave Uk, and that’s why he’s able to sleep well.

Heh. This definitely gives Uk a reason to want to share his bed with Bu Yeon, yes? 😁

I do like that Bu Yeon’s led by heart, more than Uk’s words, because even after Uk tells her to stick to her side of the bed and not to pat him to sleep, she reaches out and pats him anyway.

And, you can just see from Uk’s expression, that he’s surprised, but that he doesn’t hate it.

I like that, that Bu Yeon’s affecting Uk, in spite of himself.

Like, I do think that there are times that he’s charmed by her, in spite of himself.

Like when she goes missing, and he goes to the town square to look for her, and then watches her interact with shopkeepers and other townsfolk.

He doesn’t exactly let on that he’s charmed by her – and ok, maybe it’s just all in my head – but he does walk with her, and show concern that she’d been feeling sick.

Also, I’m charmed by her, so maybe that’s why I find it hard to think that someone might not be charmed by her. 😅

Plus, Uk does warm the turtle’s water, for Bu Yeon’s sake, and I feel like that says something?

On that note, I am ridiculously amused by how the Crown Prince ends up obsessing over why Uk would warm his turtle’s water, knowing full well that the turtle belongs to him.

The way the Crown Prince says that he doesn’t want to get his hopes up, is also cute. It’s almost like he’s been pining for Uk, and doesn’t dare to hope now, that Uk will forgive him and like him again. 😁

Back to our OTP, on second look, I’m getting the idea that Uk getting upset with Bu Yeon mimicking some of the memories that she’s getting, like threading her fingers through his, because in his eyes, it looks like Bu Yeon’s trying to be Naksu’s substitute.

Like, instead of making new memories with him (which he seems somewhat open to, if that kiss is anything to go by), she’s trying to insert herself into memories that he has of Naksu.

I would upset by that thought, too, honestly.

But of course, from Bu Yeon’s point of view, it’s all very confusing, because really, those memories ARE hers; she just doesn’t realize it yet.

And so, naturally, it must feel very disorientating and perplexing to her, because these memories, which she believes to be someone else’s, feel so real and personal to her.

I can see why she might want to try on the memories for size, and how that would result in her re-enacting bits of those memories, with Uk.

It’s not helpful to him, certainly, because that would totally feel like an invasion of privacy, even if he does find himself softening towards her for herself (since he doesn’t yet know she’s the same person), so I can see why Uk would get upset.

With that as context, it’s unfortunate but understandable, that the distance and awkwardness between them just continues to grow, as communication between them falls to new depths of misunderstanding.

Like when Bu Yeon attempts to ask Uk to go with her to Jinyowon, but doesn’t manage to make herself clear on why, and Uk, assuming that it has to do with Master Lee’s request, rejects it outright.

I have no idea what Madam Jin has in mind, asking Bu Yeon to bring Uk to Jinyowon, but it can’t be anything good, judging from Madam Jin’s track record.

And yet, I can’t help but feel a thrill, when Uk shows up behind Bu Yeon, after having managed to catch up with her, once he’d gotten a better understanding of the situation, from Maidservant Kim.

Of course, like I mentioned earlier, Uk does such a convincing job of acting like the sweet, perfect, newlywed husband, that I can’t blame Bu Yeon for basking in the feels. I mean, just watching him, I’m feeling the feels, y’know? 🥰😁

There’s a fair bit going on, as we head into the final minutes of the episode:

1. So-I’s life literally being in danger, from her effort to ask Madam Jin for a way to survive the blood parasite (eep);

2. The Crown Prince finally deciding that he’s had enough of Jin Mu’s nonsense and wanting to end the agreement between them, but being essentially blackmailed by Jin Mu with his involvement in Naksu’s death, such that the Crown Prince can’t easily end his agreement with Jin Mu (dang);

3. Park Jin and Maidservant Kim finally getting engaged – YESS. We finally have an overt commitment, huzzah!

It’s way past high time that these two actually decided to commit themselves to each other, so I welcome the engagement, despite the suspension of disbelief required, that Dang Gu and his entourage would even be able to hear them get engaged, through closed doors, while standing in the yard. Pfft.

4. Uk and Bu Yeon taking a walk, and Bu Yeon basically retelling Mu Deok’s story of being a lonely egg atop a tree, waiting for someone to save her – except this time, she doesn’t have the stone egg on her, and is dead sure that this is her own memory, from when she’d been imprisoned in her room at Jinyowon.

Oohh. How very significant, yes?

As Uk then threads his fingers through hers, and declares that he must be going crazy because of her, while he gazes at her searchingly, I can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of Uk realizing that Bu Yeon really is Naksu, after all..

I mean, this is a magicky world, and therefore Uk should have a magicky understanding of what’s possible? Plus, he himself had come back from the dead, so the possibility shouldn’t be too far from his mind..?

Episode 6

E6. Oy. On hindsight, this entire episode feels like the kind of things that dramas tend to do, when they’re about to rippp our hearts out with tragedy and sadness; they amp up the happy stuff and the promising stuff first, so that it hurts extra, when the tragedy comes.

I feel like Show roundly does that, with just about all our key characters, this episode, and I’m.. not super sure what to think anymore, about where Show is likely to end.

I mean, this is only a 10-episode season, and we have only 4 more episodes, to wrap this thing up and hopefully save all our favorite characters.

Can Show manage to do it? Or.. does Show not plan to do that, actually? 😬

This episode, one of things that immediately made me sit up with concern, is when Master Lee muses to himself, that when Bu Yeon regains her powers, she will regain her memories – and that is when the body that she is in, will expel her.

Say, whaaa?

If Bu Yeon gets expelled from her body, where would she go..? It’s not like she can go back to her old body?

Unless.. the power of the ice stone can regenerate her body or something like that?

That definitely lends a new layer of foreboding to Bu Yeon’s story, and here I was, quite content to watch her get those memory flashes, and rooting for her to remember her past, if only to not be so lost and clueless about her life, from before her supposed illness.

And of course, I’d wanted Uk to know too, that he doesn’t need to struggle with being drawn to Bu Yeon, because she is his Naksu, after all.

But now, if she does remember, she might become a disembodied spirit? That’s not great.

As if that doesn’t complicate matters enough, Yul feels that it’s his duty to kill Bu Yeon, because he’d failed to kill her before, when she’d been Mu Deok.

Ack. And here I’d thought, for a moment, that he would be glad to realize that Bu Yeon was Naksu, because Naksu had been the one he’d liked, from the beginning.

Instead, his realization that she’s Naksu, only affords him a short amount of time to soak in the wonder of it, and his memories of her, before he concludes that he needs to kill her – and himself – in order to set things right.

Oh mannnn.

And he even hugs her, too. How messed up is that, really? He’s hugging her and feeling glad to see her, one minute, and soon after, he’s plotting to kill her, and himself alongside, on their trip to Danhyanggok.

In theory, I understand Yul’s sense of obligation, particularly after living with a crushing sense of guilt for so long, such that he has nightmares of him and Naksu killing each other.

But.. this is still terrible. 😭

With Bu Yeon’s uncertain future (because, even if Yul doesn’t manage to kill her, there’s still that thing about her body expelling her, in the future), all the little glimmers of progress in her loveline with Uk take on this burgeoning poignant quality.

And yet, I can’t help but squee a little, at each moment, despite the doom that threatens to descend, at some point in the future.

I did love that scene where Bu Yeon tells Uk that she’s going to stay at Jeongjingak (thinking that he’s going to stay as well), and then he says he’s going home, and then, he takes her hand, and asks her to just go home with him.

All this, while Yun Ok is watching, too.

I’m sure part of this is for Yun Ok’s benefit, so that she’ll stop pining for him, but surely some of it is just Uk wanting Bu Yeon to go home with him?

I just think it’s so cute, that even when no one’s looking, they continue to hold hands, while they low-key bicker about random things, like whether Bu Yeon’s spent a lot of time with Yul, and whether it’s easy to summon fireflies, or fireworks. It’s cute. 😁

And then later in the episode, I love how, when Uk mentions that he’d thought of giving up everything, Bu Yeon expresses concern that things have been hard for him, then tells him that she will regain her power and take care of him.

And then she hugs him! And he hugs her back!

Ahhh. This is very nice indeed, I have to say.

Not only that, by the tail end of the episode, Uk even seems to start coming around to Bu Yeon owning her memories, since she shows him that the stone egg really is in her drawer, and not on her person.

He even seems ready to take her to Danhyanggok himself, and then gets all viscerally jealous, when Bu Yeon mentions that Yul has offered to take her.

And I just love how, when Bu Yeon protests when Uk says that he can’t be friends with her, he blurts out, “How can someone who hugs me and puts me to bed be just a friend?”

Aw, YESS. He doesn’t just see her as a friend, then. He’s just.. in denial, mostly. 😁

And then there’s the sweet, poignant moments between Uk and Maidservant Kim, when she tells him that she’s betrothed to Park Jin.

That hug is so heartfelt, and I can really feel Uk’s deep desire to honor Maidservant Kim and all that she means to him. 🥲

Of course, there’s also how well Maidservant Kim and Park Jin are getting along as well, even when he gets jealous of her thinking of Uk first all the time.

And, I also very much enjoyed the scene where Bu Yeon chats with the Crown Prince; these two really do seem to connect, even though they still don’t know each other’s real identities.

..And ALLLL of this, that Show’s been stacking up all episode, seems poised to fall apart, as we end the episode, with Yul collapsed and on the brink of death, and Uk ready to kill everyone who’d attacked him.

I mean, that line, where he says, “Not a single person will be able to walk out of here alive,” gives me a sense of foreboding, because I can’t help wondering if he’s also referring to himself..?

Either way, Uk is using the power of the ice stone for personal purposes, and that means that Park Jin, who’s put down his life as collateral, to guarantee that Uk would never do that, is now in danger of losing his life.

And Uk, while likely to survive the many-to-one fight to the death, will suffer the consequences for his decision.

Everything that he’s been slowly building with Bu Yeon would likely go to pot.

And, Maidservant Kim would be heartbroken for Park Jin AND Uk, if Park Jin dies and Uk gets exiled or punished or whatever.

And of course, Yul might die. So-I is likely already dead.

And not forgetting that Bu Yeon’s getting nearer to being expelled by her body, with every step forward she takes, in regaining her powers and her memories.

ACK. What are you doing to me, Show??? 😫 You’re gonna fix this, though, right?? RIGHT??? 🫣

Next Open Thread will be up on: Sunday, 31 May 2026!