Tale of Nokdu: Episodes 19-20 Recap
Change and Challenge. These two words not only belong in the same letter pool but can also be considered to be two sides of the same coin. Change brings with itself challenges, challenges that are hard to go through for anyone, regardless of whether they have waited for it their whole lives or not, whether it was through their decision or not. Our key characters experience this first hand in this episode, and only time will tell whether they come out the other side broken or whole. EPISODE 19
Dong-joo desperately stares after the entrance to the palace, but ultimately decides against going in, not wanting to use Nokdu to enter the palace and put him in danger. One of her court servant acquaintances catches her on her way back, suggesting to her that she try and become a court lady instead by seducing the King on one of his secret escapades. Dong-joo makes note of the fact.
Nokdu, in a brand new palace officer outfit now, comes across Yul-mu outside the King's throne room. Yul-mu is his usual despicable self as he lightly asks Nokdu if he isn't curious about what he said to the King. He makes guesses on who he's staying with in the city, all of it sounding like a threat. It agitates Nokdu but there's nothing he can do at the moment.
Inside, having noticed the way Nokdu has been silently looking at him, the King good-naturedly asks him if he was that surprised at finding out about him. Nokdu stutteringly makes an excuse about not having properly adjusted with the palace rules yet, making the King laugh. He comes down from his throne and crouches to match Nokdu's eye-level, telling him that there need not be any rules between them, on the condition that he keep his disguised activities a secret, even from Dong-joo.
Yul-mu is over at the Vice-Chancellor's house, cooking some meat and feeding Aeng-du. Except, the visit is not as innocent as that, what with his guards threateningly standing nearby. Jang-koon starts to argue with Yul-mu which leads to a face-off between him and Dan-ho, his wooden stick up against the latter's sword. This hilariously comes to an end when Aeng-du lightly grabs Dan-ho's clothes with her little fingers and Dan-ho is literally unable to move.
Yul-mu laughs and stops Dan-ho, telling Jang-koon that he doesn't intend to harm them....yet. Nokdu arrives then, gasping for breath from having run there. He tells Yul-mu to follow him and they relocate to a more isolated place.
Yul-mu asks Nokdu why he entered the palace and Nokdu easily replies that he needed a job. He tells him to keep their fight between them and not drag other people in, suggesting that he will report to the King about him planning treason. But Yul-mu reminds Nokdu that doing so will also harm his brother, him having joined Yul-mu of his own will. Furious, Nokdu grabs him by the collar and Dan-ho pulls his sword at his neck.
This is what Dong-joo sees when she runs to them. She breaks them up and automatically stands next to Nokdu, subconsciously holding his hand and worryingly asking him if he got hurt. It doesn't go unnoticed by Yul-mu of course and he snatches the sword from Dan-ho to make a half-hearted slash at Nokdu that he easily blocks with his wrist guards. We learn why when he then tells Dong-joo to leave with him if she doesn't want Nokdu to die, and she agrees, despite Nokdu telling her not to.
As they wait for her, Dan-ho probes Yul-mu about his feelings. Yul-mu tells him that he has given up on ever winning Dong-joo's heart, which is why he will be forcing her to be with him now. He may have given up on making her like him, but he will still make her stay by his side forever, even if it's against her will. Ugh. Disgusting. As for Nokdu, the reason why he hasn't killed him yet is because he is convinced that will be killed by his own father, the King, almost tickled at the fact. It will also help them with their revolt.
Dong-joo is packing her belongings when Nokdu comes into her room. Before he can say anything however, Dong-joo tells him that this is the best option for now, since doing otherwise would mean fighting a member of the royal family and would put everyone in danger. She tells him that she is just temporarily moving out so she doesn't want him to fight and get hurt. Nokdu silently listens to her and sighs once she leaves.
At his house, Lord Heo looks at the will left by the previous King, remembering Yun-jeo telling him that he has no right to dethrone a king at will, and his aghast words at using Nokdu to do so. Making a decision, he burns the will.
He is informed by his guard that all of his accomplices have joined hands with Yul-mu. It means that Yul-mu will make his move pretty soon and Heo declares that they can never let a cruel person like him take the throne. From his desk, he takes out what looks like one half of a broken pendant and holds it tightly, looking determined.
Lord Heo tells his guard to stay behind whilst he tries to leave the house and meet the King, telling him to fulfill his request if something were to happen to him. Outside, he is stopped by the head palace guard but Heo shouts that he has served the King for way longer than him and his actions are all to protect him. The guard backs down and he is escorted to the palace.
Elsewhere, Yul-mu and Dong-joo sit for lunch but Dong-joo refuses to have even a bite of the food. She confronts him about the attack on the women's village and asks him if he really is this kind of a person. Yul-mu asks her why she is curious about that when she has never once been interested in him before. Dong-joo cannot believe that that's what is more important to him. She tells him that she might have left the house, but that doesn't mean that she will be staying with Yul-mu. She tells him to kill her if he plans to keep her here and leaves. Dan-ho comes in and informs Yul-mu about something.
At the palace, Lord Heo goes to meet the Queen first, and we see that the broken pendant he had was one half of the pendant on the Queen's norigae. 20 years ago, she had broken off a piece of it and given it to Lord Heo, to bury with her baby. The Queen has worn the norigae as is ever since, taking comfort in the way it connects her to her child. Lord Heo starts to tell her about her child being alive, but is interrupted by the King.
Meanwhile, Dong-joo replays the court servant's words about the King walking around in disguise and says that she might be able to kill the King without having to get into the palace, or die trying. She later goes to Nokdu's workplace (not at all waiting for him, nope) and wishes him good luck. Nokdu notices the way she is looking at him and brags about his good looks, making Dong-joo scoff and bicker with him as usual.
In the King's throne room, Lord Heo warns him about Yul-mu, telling him that he intends to take the throne. He desperately requests the King to arrest Yul-mu immediately and punish him, further apologizing for his own actions by asking to be killed for his disloyalty.
The King seems to have been moved for moment, but alas, we see Yul-mu come out from behind. He had gotten to the King first, introducing Hwang-tae and spinning a tale about having met him coincidentally, finding out about his son being alive as a result. Trembling from head to toe in perceived fear, he had informed the King about Lord Heo having known about it, the latter threatening to frame him as a traitor if he ever told the King the truth.
The King comes down from his throne and cries as he grabs Lord Heo's collar, screaming about how he had trusted him and had wished over and over again for everything to be false. Bringing himself into control, the King orders for Heo to be taken to the dungeon. Even as he is dragged away, Heo keeps warning the King to not trust Yul-mu.
Nokdu accompanies the head palace guard on a mission to capture someone, and realizes that the target is Yun-jeo. Dan-ho tries to get Yun-jeo out the back door but they are blocked by the palace guards. He tells Yun-jeo to leave and stays behind, facing the crowd of soldiers all alone. Yun-jeo is almost out of the house but runs into the head palace guard.
Dan-ho manages to stand his ground until the end but gets disarmed by the last soldier. Nokdu comes to his rescue however and knocks the man out. Seeing more soldiers approaching them, Dan-ho hides something in Nokdu's coat, telling him that it was something Lord Heo told him to give to him as it will help Nokdu prove his identity. He punches him in the face and leaves.
Alone, Yun-jeo is cornered by the head palace guard who stabs him in the shoulder with his sword. Before things can get worse, we see an assassin come between them, allowing Yun-jeo to run. It is Ssook, having gone there to hear Lord Heo's side of the story. The two engage in a sword battle and just when it seems like the guard has her pinned, his hand lands on her chest, making him realize that she is a women. The shock distracts him enough for Ssook to knock him down with an expert kick to the face.
Yun-jeo, Dan-ho, and Ssook are running away when we see one soldier aiming an arrow at them. Nokdu knocks him unconscious and directs the other soldiers in the opposite direction, allowing the trio to escape.
At the palace, the head guard informs the King about losing Yun-jeo. Nokdu hides his headgear in a nearby bush so as to look less conspicuous and eavesdrops on them. The head guard barely survives the King's fury by producing the last burnt remnant of the previous King's will, having discovered it in Lord Heo's office. The King is shaken and tells the guard to hunt down Yun-jeo no matter what, even if he has to kill him.
EPISODE 20
The King pays a visit to Lord Heo in the dungeon, confronting him about the will. He asks him if he had been plotting treason for these 20 long years, if he, like everyone, thought he didn't deserve to be King. Interestingly, he asks Lord Heo if he wanted to dethrone him and give the throne to someone more "legitimate".
Both the men are crying at the way their relationship has turned. Lord Heo tries to warn the King about Yul-mu again but when the King finally decides to listen, Heo remembers Yul-mu's threat about having captured his family, able to kill to them at a moment's notice. He ends up keeping his mouth shut.
At a safe house, Yun-jeo is being treated and Dan-ho informs Ssook that the attack on the widow's village was orchestrated by Yul-mu. It just leaves Ssook more confused about who to trust however, since Yul-mu had said the same about Lord Heo.
Dong-joo comes to a gisaeng house, having followed the court servant's tip that it must be where the King always goes at nights. Inside, she hears a woman addressing someone as "Your Majesty" in one of the rooms, and stops. She takes out the arrow hidden under her skirt and holds her bow box, her breath quickening.
Before she can do anything however, a memory of Nokdu's confession to her flashes before her eyes, making her drop the arrow. She sits to pick it up and now she remembers the night her entire household was slaughtered. Her breath becomes more and more ragged and tears come to her eyes as the brutal memory is followed by another memory with Nokdu, from when he was pushing her on the swing. Trembling and freely crying now, her grasp loosens on her arrow, but she tightens her hold on it again. Gritting her teeth against her conflicted emotions, she gets up.
This is when one of the men falls out of the room in a drunken haze and a gisaeng sits him up, telling him that if he doesn't listen to her, she will go "to the other king". It's clear that it's just a game and Dong-joo can only scoff, angry but also slightly relieved.
At the palace, Nokdu thinks about his two fathers, one who raised him, and the other one who is now trying to kill the one who raised him. He searches for his headgear in the bushes but it's nowhere to be found. It is with the Queen, who has come out for a walk, and she returns his headgear to him. Nokdu freezes when he sees her, staring in wonder. He hurriedly makes a bow upon being reprimanded by her attendant, and stutters as he introduces himself.
The Queen hands him one of her lamps when he tells her that he lost his way in the palace. While doing so, Nokdu eyes fixate on her norigae. She leaves after that and Nokdu takes out what Dan-ho had given him - the other half of the broken pendant. He takes a shaky breath, his eyes filling with tears, and takes a step towards the Queen's retreating figure, but stops himself and turns the other way. Leaving, he doesn't see the Queen turn around to look at him once more.
Nokdu sits on the swing, despondent and still holding the Queen's lamp on his lap. Dong-joo arrives and asks him what's wrong, if someone's bothering him at the palace, and he replies that it's him. He feels like he is tormenting everyone and should have just lived a quietly. That would have been the right thing to do. He regrets his decision and says that he is lost. He wants someone to explain everything to him but he doesn't know what to ask and to whom, so that no one would get hurt.
Dong-joo cannot find anything to say to him. Nokdu gets up with a sigh and tells her to forget everything he just said. She tells him that she didn't understand anything he said anyways, telling him to go home and rest. Nokdu refuses however. He wants to walk her home. Dong-joo tries to protest, saying that he is unwelcome in Yul-mu's household, but Nokdu just says that she does whatever she wants so he is going to do this one thing that he wants as well.
They make their way home amidst a field of blossoming flowers, their quiet path lit by the moon. Dong-joo asks Nokdu if he doesn't even hate her, what with how coldhearted she is towards him. He says that she only looks beautiful in his eyes. He asks her what she's so afraid of. In return, she asks him why he is so fearless when he doesn't even know what tomorrow will bring. He says that is exactly why he called her pretty, because he felt like it. It is why he is walking her home because he wants to. It serves as a segue for him to hold her hand then. Dong-joo says that it will only be until the end of the road, and Nokdu stops, saying that they will have to walk slowly. It just makes both of them smile.
Yul-mu tells Dan-ho that they need to capture Yun-jeo first and orders him to tail Nokdu who will try to find him as well. Nokdu catches on quickly however and loses him - by dressing up as a woman. Nokdu goes to the Aesowon and whisks Ssook away to a different area, since Yul-mu is also at the place. ROFL, the up and down weirded out look Ssook gives him when she sees him dressed as a woman again.
He asks after Yun-jeo but Ssook shakes her head. He left because he could not trust her so she doesn't know where he is now. She asks Nokdu who he is and, upon learning that he is his father, she reassures him that he was recovering and in good condition when he left. After a beat, Nokdu asks her what she is doing at the Aesowon, asking her if she is planning revenge against Yul-mu. "Revenge?", Ssook repeats in surprised confusion.
Dong-joo goes to the Vice-Chancellor's house to give Nokdu a gift but, finding him gone, tells Jang-koon to give it to him instead, telling him that she has to leave. He tries to make her stay by telling her to wait and give it to him personally, or come back from wherever she is going to give to him later, but Dong-joo cannot. She forces the gift into his hand and leaves.
She goes to the gisaeng house again and is about to enter, but is interrupted by the King. They relocate to another place for some food. He asks her what she was doing at the gisaeng house when she doesn't seem like the type to want to be one. Dong-joo says that she wants a job at the palace as a servant, since it pays a stable income.
Dong-joo notices how he looks like he is about to collapse and asks him if he still has trouble sleeping. He says that he couldn't follow her previous advice and inconvenience his wife by asking her to soothe him after having left her alone for such a long time. Dong-joo says she might just have been waiting for him all this time as well.
Dong-joo goes back to the gisaeng house but comes across the scammer and his gang from the gambling den. They run after her to exact revenge for that day. Trying to escape them, Dong-joo runs into a part of the city that has been cordoned off due to an outbreak of plague. The scammer follows her in and manages to corner her. Trying to back away from him however, Dong-joo falls into a nearby well. She is limp as she lies there, having lost consciousness. The scammer's lackey runs in to tell him there was a plague at this place and they run away after making sure that she is dead.
Jang-koon hands Nokdu Dong-joo's gift upon his return. It is candy, the only thing that she knew he liked. Dong-joo comes back to consciousness and tries to call for help, but it is no use since it is an abandoned area.
Morning comes and it is raining now, but nobody knows where she is still. Jang-koon wonders if she left, like last time, but Nokdu is sure she didn't. He sets out to search for her again. He goes to the gambling den this time and comes across the scammer, who brags about having killed her.
At the well, Dong-joo is trembling and pale as rainwater fills up the well, slowly bringing her closer to drowning. Her face barely over water now, memories of her late night walk with Nokdu flash through her eyes as she loses consciousness. Just as her head goes under, we see someone jump in and bring her up. It is Nokdu. He hugs her as he desperately tells her to wake up.
At the palace, unable to sleep, the King finally makes his way to the Queen's chamber. She is taken aback at his sudden appearance. He tells her that she isn't at fault for anything, that it is actually him who is at fault. He then asks her if they can spend the night together, just like old times.
Nokdu is tending to a pale Dong-joo who still hasn't opened her eyes. When she does however, she immediately gets up and tries to leave, telling Nokdu to go away. He asks her how she could say that to him after how worried he had been for her. Dong-joo tells him that she never asked him to be. Why did he look for her? Why did he jump in the well? She storms out.
Outside, Nokdu stops her and notices the tears in her eyes. She tells him that she had a task to fulfill, a task that she lived her entire life for. A task that, once over, would enable her to reunite with her mother and finally be happy. But now, even though she came close to dying before completing her task, all she could think about was him. He keeps making her want to keep living.
He tells her that he doesn't know what task she has to fulfill at the expense of keeping him at such a distance, or what she is so afraid of. But whatever it is, and whatever may be their future, they are alive and together right now. So can she not just follow her heart and like him? Because he really likes her.
Dong-joo finally bursts out that she likes him. She likes him to death. Omg please don't kiss please don't kiss please don't- Nokdu kisses her. They break apart for a moment and Nokdu looks at her, unsure and hesitant. This time Dong-joo wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him in for a proper kiss.
COMMENTS
Dong-joo's life being in danger didn't really affect me this time around because it felt repetitive. In fact, that whole village sequence felt very random. If there was going to be such an important scene in this space, the show should have made an effort to establish it beforehand, even by just alluding to it in a few dialogues, so as to make it exist in the imaginary world of this drama. Not doing so made it feel like the village materialized out of thin air, just snapped into existence by a fairy wand maybe. Also, it didn't look like Dong-joo had to run far to reach that village, so it seems unbelievable that a place like that existed so close and it's not a big to anybody. Plagues and people don't work like that.
An issue I have with the show is the way it treats its villains. I know that they are trying to give the King and Yul-mu more depth by showing them in a sympathetic light at times, but the way they are going about it is not working. It is more confusing than anything. I was disgusted by the scene where Yul-mu openly says that he is going to force Dong-joo to be with him, because the show seemed to portray it in a soft light. Showing him more as a boo-hoo hopeless hurt romantic than the psychopath that he is.
Similarly, the King. When he is not trying to kill his own son and guilting the Queen about his "death" so as to throw suspicion away from him, he is shown as a much too kind and caring person, so much so that it makes one forget that he killed his own baby and is still trying to do the same. It is not a mark of expertise on the show's part but just improper execution, because it is more that the show itself seems to forget that he is a villain.
The King's use of the word "legitimate" in his conversation with Lord Heo, makes me wonder if he was an illegitimate child himself, which is why the previous King wanted Nokdu to ascend to the throne instead of his son. While still not an excuse for his actions, it does give some background on the motivations for his actions. Though this theory would mean that Nokdu is also an illegitimate heir to the throne, so I don't know why the previous King would write such a will if he had been that staunch on the bloodline being pure.
Finally, I must say, Lady Kim > Officer Nokdu.
Glossary:
Norigae = It is an ornament that women used to wear around their waist. It is both, a fashion accessory and a good-luck charm. These norigaes held significance in the noble families because they were something that was passed down from generation to generation, ultimately serving as an unofficial symbol of one's ancestry.
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