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Faith: Episode 13

I love this couple when they’re being cute. Moreover, I love that their rapport has been duly noticed by pretty much everyone in the palace, giving them the time and space in which to be cute. ‘Cause dramaland heroes and heroines, sometimes they need a big kick in the pants to step up to the plate.

Also? That goes double for the king and princess, who do some major stepping up as well. Finally!

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EPISODE 13 RECAP

Choi Young fights off the faster-than-the-speed-of-film mercenary soldiers, taking them down with seeming ease, although he’s also growing gradually weaker. I’m hoping this is merely the side effect of his swordfight with Ki Chul and not something more dire.

Eun-soo is approached by the Uncle of Dubious Allegiance, aka Deok-heung (or Deokheunggun; he was the son of a king and a concubine, sharing a father with Gongmin’s father). She’s suspicious at the sight of her diary, figuring this means he’s on Ki Chul’s side. Smiling uncle agrees readily. So not so dubious then.

Deok-heung clarifies that he’s not returning her diary to her; he’s merely doing as Ki Chul told him: Show her that he possesses it, and she’ll follow him back. Eun-soo’s not amused with this little power play and has a message for Ki Chul: Screw the diary, and if he wants to play, he can just play by himself.

He asks what the diary is, and whether it’s true she’s a heavenly doctor who can see the future. Eun-soo glares and leaves him hanging.

Young makes it back to the palace in one piece, and stops at the meeting spot Eun-soo had designated for their daily partner meetings. She’s not there, though, since she’s busy handing out homemade toothpaste to a group of Woodalchi men, saying that healthy teeth make for strong warriors.

Young interrupts all grumpy-like, barking at them and sending them scattering. Eun-soo heads to his quarters and orders him to sit so she can take a look at his injuries. He rattles off excuses like how he has to go see the king and change his clothes, and she cuts him off, “HERE!” I know it’s too much to hope she means change your clothes here, but you know, once it’s been thought, the image isn’t about to leave my brain.

Eun-soo adds that she could get the princess’s royal order: “So that as your personal physician, I can grab you at any time and look you over!” So there’s a job title for that? I’m halfway there already.

He tries to hold back his injured right hand, but she insists and sees that he’ll need stitches. She asks after the shoulder and thigh slices he incurred from Ki Chul, and Young replies with his characteristic understatement that he’s fine, and he was just grazed. He’s totally lying! Close personal inspection is needed. I volunteer myself.

She gets to work stitching, and sighs that all her supplies are dwindling as she uses up her last bandage on his arm. Young tells her that the mercenaries won’t be back, and that he’s stationed a lookout to report on strange occurrences. He also worries to see her limping, though that’s just because the knife he strapped there is awkward. Oh, you. Is the indifferent warrior turning into a hovering mother hen?

Eun-soo takes in the view of the palace garden, taking her time to see it fully for the first time. She tells her court lady that she figures it’ll take her a long while to return home, so she’ll have to get acquainted with this world. She adds, “If I see it properly and remember it, I feel like I won’t be able to leave this world.”

But she perks up right away, asking her two ladies in waiting what their names are and what makeup they use, since she’s just about gone through her makeup stash. Ha, I love that they toss in that detail, that Eun-soo’s been faithfully wearing her modern-day makeup all along. I mean, we could obviously see that, but most of the time we’re just left to assume it’s movie magic.

Young has his audience with the king, who has been worried sick in his absence and urges him up from his kneeling stance, telling him he doesn’t have to observe those formalities with him. Aw.

Young reports that the scholars will not be the target of more attacks. He was supposedly the only person who knew where the king’s supporters were being harbored and none of the mercenaries tried to get information out of him, they just tried to kill him. He will now escort the scholars to the palace safely, “But the one to keep them safe is you.”

Lady Choi has misgivings, though: if Ki Chul gave up on the scholars, he must have something else up his sleeve. Gongmin wonders what that could be, but Young excuses himself from the speculation, asking the king to handle the politics. Lady Choi mutters that his manners with the king are taking a downturn, which is just cute, and Young apologizes. Heh.

Deok-heung returns to Ki Chul and fills him in on his encounter with Eun-soo. He asks if Ki Chul called him out of hiding and all the way here just to see her, and Ki Chul adds, “Not just to see. I’d like you to help in bringing her to me.”

Ki Chul doesn’t seem too concerned about the king’s claim on her, because he figures that will be resolved when they get rid of the Woodalchi protecting her. If Deok-heung succeeds in bringing her—not just through force, but willingly—Ki Chul offers him whatever he wants. Ah, and if this is an out-of-power member of the royal family… methinks Ki Chul has just found his replacement king.

Deok-heung asks what he wants that requires the doctor. Ki Chul answers, “All I need is the doctor. That’s all I want.”

Young gathers his men to plan security for tomorrow’s lecture, with the arrival of all the scholars. They’ll need multiple lines of defense, both inside and outside the palace. There aren’t enough men to go around, so Young puts his men in charge of guarding the interior, while he’ll take care of the outside. All alone?

Young instructs Joo-seok to be so tight with security not even a mouse could get by, and Joo-seok overzealously promises not to let even an ant by. With this hilarious dryness, Choong-seok picks up something from the ground and flicks it at him: “An ant.”

On to Man-bo’s, where Young negotiates how much to pay ajusshi and ajumma for feeding and housing the scholars. Man-bo grumps that Young is a stingier businessman than they are. I love that ajumma acts like this is a negotiation (“You’ll give us five, right? Five.”) and Young doesn’t budge an inch (“Two”) even as she keeps going (“Three, then, okay?”).

Dae-man comes running up to tell him that the doctor is out shopping in the marketplace, to Young’s annoyance. She’s with her two ladies looking at cosmetic ingredients, when ajumma butts in and asks what she’s mumbling about. It’s her stall, and then Man-bo snatches the pouch out of Eun-soo’s hand to say he’ll just give it to her. The movement causes the ladies to draw their swords, though, and Man-bo’s wondering why the hostile response.

Young comes up behind them, and ajumma tells him, “She sure is a looker.” Man-bo adds that she must be from heaven, all right. This cracks me up. It’s like the parental third degree, but totally backward, and with swords.

They continue on, and Eun-soo tells Young of her plan to become a Goryeo businesswoman and hit it big. The plan: Make lots of soap and distribute it for free, and when the people find they can’t live without it, she’ll start charging. Plus, she’ll target all the noble ladies, and it’ll be a hit. Ah, the tried-and-true hook-’em-early tactic. Eun-soo even has a sales strategy, and chirps, “In my time, there’s this thing called a pyramid…”

As they walk, ajumma and ajusshi watch from a nearby rooftop and note how Young is smiling—and not like just some ghost, “but like a living person.”

Then Deok-heung steps into their path, greeting Eun-soo and guessing that her surly companion is the Woodalchi. Young eyes him suspiciously and doesn’t bow his head until he’s told he’s the king’s uncle, while Eun-soo declines his offer to join them. Young takes note of Eum-ja and Hwasuin hanging around in the distance, sizing up the situation.

He asks why Eun-soo didn’t tell him she’d met the man earlier, and orders Dae-man to Lady Choi immediately, to inform her that Deok-heung and Ki Chul are in cahoots. He also orders the two ladies in waiting to report the doctor’s every movement to himself and Lady Choi. He reminds Eun-soo, “You said we should tell each other everything.”

She hesitates to explain, but he presses. She says that if she’d told him, Young would have felt burdened to go retrieve that diary from Deok-heung. He can’t deny that.

Then she spots Eum-ja and Hwasuin in the distance, which has her panicking and darting off in the opposite direction.

Dae-man delivers the news to Lady Choi, who immediately goes to inform the princess. But the tidbit she conveys—spoken extra-loud for the mole’s benefit—is merely, “The doctor is making something quite interesting.” She talks aloud about Eun-soo’s cosmetics enterprise, all while writing the true message on paper for Noguk to read.

Noguk doesn’t know who Deok-heung is, but upon hearing (er, reading) that he’s the king’s only remaining kinsman, her eyes widen in alarm. They come to the logical conclusion, that Ki Chul has decided to back a new king. Noguk asks how long they’ll be keeping the mole in place, and Lady Choi replies that she still has further use, so they’ll leave her for now.

Then, Noguk resumes speaking aloud and instructs Lady Choi to prepare a table for tonight—Noguk will present the king with liquor. Omo. Is the queen making the first move? Is somebody gonna get some?

Ajumma and ajusshi discuss Deok-heung, basically filling us in on some exposition about the man’s history: He was born to a court lady and the king, and evicted from the palace along with his mother as a young child. He spent his life in hiding, which is how he’s still alive as the sole remaining royal relative.

Meanwhile, Young browses a table full of daggers. Is he buying a smaller one for Eun-soo’s ankle strap? Aw, it shouldn’t be romantic for a man to buy a woman a dagger, but whaddaya know.

Gongmin tells his advisors that he intends to give his scholar-supporters official government offices. It’s for their protection; Ki Chul can’t kill them so easily then. Told that he has to get the approval from another body of officials, Gongmin declares that he’ll abolish that department, since they’re all under Ki Chul’s thumb.

Ki Chul still has the ability to create offices, it seems, and he makes one for Deuk-heung. It’s not a position under Gongmin’s authority, but the Yuan empress’s, who we know is Ki Chul’s sister.

Deuk-heung has no response, and Ki Chul asks what he thinks. The response: “Nothing. I think nothing. That is what’s kept me alive this long.” Hm. Interesting level of disinterest here. I wonder if Ki Chul’s disappointed in it; he doesn’t like strong kings who oppose him, but he does like strength in people.

Deuk-heung confirms that he was called because Ki Chul wants him to replace the current king. Ki Chul asks what kind of king he’d like to be, and he answers, “One who’s around a long time.”

Lady Choi drops in on the king, relaying Noguk’s request to have him over for drinks tonight. At that word, the eunuch drops his book and falls to his knees in alarm. Ha, I’m not so sure it’s something you should be sorry about. Lady Choi smiles to herself, and Gongmin looks at them all in confusion.

Gongmin arrives in the princess’s quarters that night, and Lady Choi orders all the ladies to “close your ears, and close your thoughts—just guard for those coming in.”

Noguk shares her concerns over Ki Chul’s activities, and suggests sending an envoy to her Yuan relatives. If Ki Chul is to overthrow the current king he’ll need some sort of justification, and if they can beat him to the punch in asking for the empire’s help, it could prevent a coup. She pleads, “Please, let me help.”

Gongmin doesn’t respond, and instead presents her with the gifts he has brought. There’s jewelry in one box, and the second box he prefaces by asking, “Do you remember?”

Inside she finds a scarf, which is the one she’d worn to veil her face the first time they met. He asks now what he’s guessed all this while—that she knew who he was, and didn’t say a word about her identity. He’d wondered why, thinking perhaps she was toying with him.

A flashback shows us how that encounter ended years ago: After he’d asked her to marry him (so he wouldn’t have to marry the Yuan princess), he’d gone to fetch someone. But when he return to get Noguk, she’d gone, leaving only that scarf behind.

He tells her that while he is king, he doesn’t have much—not power, not support. The only thing he has is his principles, and he will protect his own people. Noguk sees sadly that accepting Yuan’s help, and therefore hers, goes against his principles.

Gongmin replies, “I have already broken my principles once—I swore that I would never hold a Yuan woman dear in my heart. But I broke that.”

Finally! A straight, honest confession! He continues, “I tried to resist, but you’d already entered my heart. I couldn’t force you out, and that’s why I treated you so coldly. Will you help such a weak me to not break my principles again?”

He brushes a tear from her cheek, then takes her hand.

A weapons delivery arrives at Woodalchi headquarters, with a large chest holding swords and a small chest meant to be delivered to Young directly. The men aren’t aware of an order, which immediately makes me worry for that little box, which Deok-man takes to deliver to his boss. He leaves it in Young’s room.

The big day arrives at court. Gongmin and his advisors (along with the Ki faction) take their positions, and Young leads in the scholars. They present themselves to the king.

Eun-soo talks with Jang Bin, memorizing new medicinal terms and lamenting her aging memory. I hear ya, sister. They cross paths with Deok-heung and pass with brief nods, and Eun-soo wonders if it’s okay to dismiss him as unimportant—after all, he wasn’t significant enough to show up on her history tests.

Gongmin begins the proceedings, asking for his scholars to advise him along the way. He begins by dismissing Ki Won from his office (for neglecting his office, having shown up for work exactly two days since he’s been king), followed by one of his advisors (for doing nothing in the past year, according to court logs).

Ki Chul protests the king’s methods, but Gongmin cuts him short—the office governing senior statesmen (which is Ki Chul’s province) that he was supposed to consult for these matters was abolished this morning. Gongmin then confers a senior office upon Lee Je-hyun, his head scholar.

Then a newcomer joins the proceedings: Deok-heung, who greets his nephew for their first meeting ever, and offers his assistance to the king in his new position. Gongmin replies that if that’s true, he’s grateful for the help. There’s a brief standoff between them as Deok-heung says the office he just abolished was created by Deok-heung’s father. Gongmin replies that he knows this. Tension!

We cut to later that evening, when the proceedings are over and the king broods alone in his stateroom. He has ordered everyone to stay away, but Young joins him inside and finds him in a pensive mood.

Gongmin asks if the primary reason Young joined his side was to honor his promise to the doctor. To do so he needed to fight Ki Chul, and that required power. Hence the king.

Young asks, “Is the order of events important?” Gongmin tells him that he keeps having these doubts—that if he were to hand Eun-soo over to Ki Chul, perhaps that would solve things. But that means Young would leave him, finding it pointless to serve a king who doesn’t honor his word. Young doesn’t answer, though perhaps he doesn’t have to when the answer is obvious.

Eun-soo has nightmares, thinking of all the people she’s seen die. When her memory lands on her stabbing Young, and him running the sword in deeper, she wakes up with a cry.

Young hears it from outside, but Jang Bin prevents him from entering her room, telling him she has nightmares every night. Young had no idea, and Jang Bin says, “It’s because she fools you, with her smiling face.”

Eum-ja and Hwasuin are relegated to babysitting the king-to-be, who enjoys this idle lifestyle with gisaengs to feed him and drink with. Hwasuin’s bored out of her mind, and you know she’s dying to be out in the world where all the fun is, with men to play with or roast, or sometimes both.

Sitting in the second-floor window, Eum-ja notices Young strolling into the street below, bending to pick up a rock, and then hurling it straight at him. It’s easily blocked with Eum-ja’s flute, but Young hurls another rock. The baddies visibly perk up; finally a little excitement.

Below the window, Dae-man also hurls a rock upward, but he does that more stealthily, so while the baddies are distracted by Young, he knocks the flute away. Ah! Thank you for that! There are only so many bleeding ears you can watch before you’ve had enough.

Dae-man darts off with the flute, and Young smiles. Now it’s Eum-ja who’s frantic and he pursues.

Young looks up at Hwasuin and beckons her near with a wave. Aw, honey. She didn’t even need the invitation. She leaves Deok-heung to continue his exploits… and a shadow looms at the door. The gisaengs immediately rise and open to reveal the Suribang swordsman, the white-clad man with the crush on Young. Ah, so this was ALL planned?

Hwasuin skips down to meet Young, who’s here to deliver a warning: Don’t show herself in front of the doc anymore, since Eun-soo’s afraid of her. Hwasuin taunts, “And if I do anyway?” Young smirks that her right hand will no longer be attached to her body. Then he figures he’s stalled long enough and heads off, leaving Hwasuin puzzling over his meaning.

She runs back inside to find the room empty and signs of a struggle. Drat that pretty boy!

Deok-heung is blindfolded and kidnapped by Suribang men, who deliver him to Young. Deok-heung huffs that this is a violation of law, that Woodalchi must be acting on behalf of the king.

Young smiles that nope, he’s merely the guy who saved Deok-heung from being set upon by thieves. And while he’s rescuing him, might he also make a request? He has the doctor’s diary, doesn’t he?

Deok-heung scoffs that he wouldn’t keep something so important on his person. That’s already back in Ki Chul’s safeguarded drawer. Young tells him, “I’d like you to get it somehow and return it to the doctor.” He says that Eun-soo believes the diary to hold the answer for returning her to heaven, so perhaps Deok-heung could work with her in that goal. He reminds him that if Ki Chul were to figure out the diary’s secret himself, he would have no need of Deok-heung. And that would mean his death.

Deok-heung asks what would Young gain from this. He answers that his mind would rest at ease. Young leaves with a few warnings: These thieves might attack at any moment, and in the future Young may not rescue him, and the doctor is good with knives so he’d better not treat her badly.

Young returns to the palace, where he sees Eun-soo deep in round 1 of her get-rich-in-Goryeo scheme: She hands out soaps to the court ladies and Woodalchi men. “This time is free of charge!”

Then he meets her outside for a knife training session, replacing her heavy one with the pretty new one he bought. She takes a few practice swipes with the dagger, although it looks more like she’s trying to cast a spell with it.

He teaches her better ways to hold it and stab, which basically amounts to a lot of panting and close holds. Aw, the soldier’s flirting. She mocks his serious attitude and cracks up, even getting a smile out of him.

She smiles at the view and says it’s nice here, but he knows she’d still rather be back home, “And you’re holding that in, aren’t you?”

Woodalchi headquarters is stormed by officers, who don’t explain their purpose but are led by a familiar face—it’s the supposed deliveryman who brought the weapons delivery earlier. I knew he was shifty. He points out Deok-man as a guilty party, though we have no idea what the charge is, and the men ransack Young’s quarters. Oh no, was that box a plant for insidious evidence? The men find a letter in his chest.

Deok-heung has found Young’s words convincing after all, because he arrives at Eun-soo’s door and assures her that today he hasn’t been sent by Ki Chul. He’s here of his own accord, and he holds up the diary, which he managed to swipe. Thus he can’t let her keep it, but she can take a look. His condition is that he be with her as she reads.

Eun-soo peers at the diary, which she doesn’t seem to recognize at all, though she calls bullshit on the assertion that it’s from a thousand years ago. She points to the writing, saying that that paper hasn’t aged that much, and you can still see indentations from the highligheter pen. She doesn’t know what the writing means, with its combination of numbers and English letters.

Young catches a glimpse of them poring over the book, but as soon as he steps inside he’s apprehended. He’s taken to the stateroom, where Gongmin waits looking chagrined. Seated at the table are Lee Je-hyun, his student Lee Saek, and Ki Chul. They ask if he recognizes that red box, and he doesn’t.

Gongmin informs him that his new officials have taken on their very first assignment—rooting out Choi Young’s corruption. Whaa? Were they really not on the king’s side after all?

Lee Saek accuses him of taking a bribe for a measly sum, ordering inferior weapons with court money to profit from the savings. Wasn’t this a City Hunter episode? It’s so absurd that Young can only laugh, and Gongmin knows just as well that this is a mistake. If ever a facial expression said *headdesk* his would be it.

But the new officials are firm, reminding the king that he told them not to be swayed by power or other forces. Plus, the king had granted Woodalchi with extraordinary privileges, which in their principled minds, can only lead to corruption. Sigh. So they’re not against the king; they’re just taking this job way too seriously and leaving no room for other explanations.

Glowering, Young bends down to glare into Ki Chul’s eyes. He tells him, “If you were going to frame me for something, you should have chosen high treason.”

Lee Saek asks Young to confirm that he’s never seen the document recording the transaction—and that means that the crime lies with the men who accepted the package behind his back. Namely, Deok-man and Dolbae.

Young looks back at his men. Ki Chul sneers. Rock, meet hard place.

 
COMMENTS

We knew the happy streak couldn’t last, didn’t we? That’s the nature of a conflict like this, and really, also the fun of it. I’m not gonna pretend that the back-and-forth strategy and rivalry between Faith’s two camps is nearly as exhilarating as it was in writer Song’s previous Story of a Man, but the conflict bears some of the same hallmarks. Namely, two evenly matched foes who win some, then lose some, then win some again.

I don’t mind this kind of interplay, because that’s what gives us clever traps and plans like we’ve been seeing in the past few episodes. The strength of one forces the other to up his game, and that kind of rising to the occasion is what makes the showdown fun to watch. When Ki Chul seemed all-powerful and unbeatable—and imbued with extra supernatural powers, to boot—it felt like the story was static. When we got to see him being weakened by his ki expenditures and told that Young was so strong he couldn’t be beaten without resorting to using those skills, Ki Chul suddenly got a lot more interesting.

I’m not sure how I feel about this latest twist since the frame job is just so obvious, but I admit I got a big kick out of the very weary exasperation with which Gongmin faced his new recruits. It was partially genuine concern, and partially “What monster have I created?”

I like that we’re seeing Eun-soo display some signs of trauma, because it seems like these extreme fantasy plots like time travel often brush aside the effects of its premise. It’s as if we’re so used to these situations that the dramas shortcut past some of the basic plot elements that we’ve all seen before… but also shortcut past the emotional effects as well.

Granted, this drama isn’t exactly rocking it in the execution department, and there are edits and cuts where I just wish these emotions were dealt with more subtly, more interestingly. But I’m glad that they’re being addressed at all, and that Young recognizes it as well. At this point I’m not sure I can see a way for this couple to have their happy ever after… or even their happy for the foreseeable future. She clearly belongs elsewhere, and could you imagine Young in the modern day? We already got a glimpse of that, and I’m not sure Seoul needs a reckless Terminator bumbling around stabbing things. I do trust that the show will address the dilemma, because while the directing just seems to be getting clunkier, at least the story remains on solid ground.

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Thanks!

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I will go read the recap and comment later... Soooo much to talk about in this episode, I felt (same for episode 12, there was so much to talk about as well there).

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Something else that I love about Faith (a.k.a. Divine Doctor - stop calling it Great Doctor, which is an imprecise translation of the original title):

The drama is rich in conflicts, but it introduces each new conflict or crisis with little or no fanfare. And the drama stays away from the old (but popular) trick called foreboding.

To me, that is a refreshing sign of the writer's disdain for emotional manipulation. It is as if the writer wants us to react to the substance of the conflict, not how the drama gives it to us. I know this invites displeasure from some viewers, who are accustomed to the opium of emotional manipulation and actually demand it from every drama.

I am cool with it. I regard it as one more welcome departure from the same old, same old.

By the way, two songs from the OST - Carry On and Bad Person - are some of the best in my recent memory. Last year, Scent of Woman introduced one song after another that quickly became my all time favorites. I still listen to them whenever I am on a longhaul plane, which is all the time. And now, Carry On and Bad Person, as well.

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They changed the title before the show started airing. The original Chinese characters were translated as Divine Doctor, then Dr. Jin legal trouble happened and Writer Song came aboard, so she changed the Chinese characters from "Great Doctor" to "Faith/Loyalty." Almost the whole story changed from a medical/warrior epic story (what we saw from 2010 trailer) to psycho-political/love-faith story.

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The Kang Ji Hwan trailer for the original version is INCREDIBLE (the Choi Young there is closer to how history depicts it), but I also question whether they could have produced an entire show like that. As expensive shows like Legend and Iris were, that was a cut above them.

Then again, given the production level of the current show, I also wonder what the big budget went to. The cinematography, CGI work, and fight scenes aren't at the level of Arang.

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I cannot help it. The Oodalchis are just so adorable.

Sure, they are a little bit slow and dumb. And they get in trouble all the time. But you also know that they are dead serious about protecting the young King and they will throw themselves over an exploding bomb without a blink.

They are like boyfriends who can never do the right thing on a date. But a girl knows that he will love you to death and he will never let anyone harm you.

Do we need more?

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If you liked Episode 13, get ready for Episode 14. I won't give away anything in the story or plot.

With each new episode, this drama keeps on adding flesh, dimension and depth to each one of the characters so that even a minor supporting cast can stand on its own with a personality that you cannot help but love or admire. Yeah, even the ones who are supposed to be bad guys.

Well, Episode 14 does that and more.

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I just saw Ep. 14. It's fantastic! Ep. 13 is sort of like a supplement to Ep. 14.

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Yay... another episode... that I'll have to watch tomorrow... I have to study! Focus!

/thanks for the recap!

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Rock on! Thanks for the recap! :)

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I really love Eun-soo. I'm halfway through the episode and she's cracking me up so bad.

Thanks for the wonderful recaps.

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Yayers! Thks for the recap!

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great episode...!

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Great! Recap is up! Thanks. :)

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Thanks for recaps ^_^
Am I 1st 10 ppl to comment !!!! Heehehe

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Noguk and Gongmin, my loves!

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if choi young and eun soo don't get their happy ever after, then how/when/why/will it ever explain how choi young is eun soo's heavenly match?

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really good point , but your heaven match doesnt meen to be together forever or have a happy ending just mean their someone who your soul match that no one can be like him to your heart and not everyone lucky to meet it . doesn't you know the saying " that we can love a lot of people , love them and be happy with them but there just one person that we love the most ,that we will always love him the most no matter what happen " but again they have the reborn soul card ,that she can meet him on the future as another person with the same soul.

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That will be awesome, if she goes back to her world and find his reincarnation!!!
I know that it will be hard for either one of them to remain in a world that was not their original world.

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As CY will live till 72, got a feeling he was takiing good care of himself waiting for ES's return but in vain...hope i am wrong.

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The fortuneteller in the first episode said she would be away for a year. And he said she would meet her true love who was a man from the past. The way I see it, it could mean A) one's true love doesn't have to be all the days of one's life. They could part but remain in love B) one's true love could mean they will meet again in the afterlife so they could part but when she dies in her time she will at last meet him and he will have been waiting with her all those centuries --of course, his other love who killed herself would be there as well so that's problematical C) Eun-Soo returns to the future and meets Choi Young as a reincarnation --which isn't likely. They are fated to part after a year, apparently, so ..we shall just have to see.

By the way, the fact that the shaman said she would be away for a year seems a bit odd to me in that When Choi jumped through the portal he returned in what seemed like a minute after he had left...although in Eun-Soo time his visit to Heaven was way longer.

So it is possible that when Eun-Soo returns to her time, it will be as if she had never left...although she will remember the year. Or it will be that she will have actually been missing for a year. Not sure how the time compression thing works. Is it the visitor to the new time the one whose primary time place overrules the timing of the place visited? (Not sure I said that right.)

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....returned ...a minute after,
I think is like "back to future" 1,2 &3 , you wanted to go back to Goryeo time (This time) but could end up at different time, that's also explain why KiChui got her diary. May be after she returned to modern time and wanted to come back to Chaiyong time but end up 100 yrs earlier, wrong calculation lol...

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That actually makes a lot of sense. My feeling is that the only way we could possibly have a happy ending at all is for Eun Soo to stay in/magically return to Goryeo, because reincarnation, for instance, would still imply that poor Young would have to lead a very lonely life.

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I think CY will send her back but she will return. How else is the notebook going to get to Goryeo? She was really going nowhere in the present, just begging for money. In Goryeo she is well-respected and important (and loved!). I can see her making a stop to the present-day, getting supplies and valuables to take back to live comfortably.

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Would you believe I actually googled "General Choi Young wife" to see if he had a wife. Ah, me! I'm getting to know way too much about Korean history.

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So now I'm wondering... does she return to her time and find something wrong then go back to Goryeo time but finds she picked the wrong time so she had to return to another time to repair it. Maybe her trip to Choi Young's time is the first time she goes back in time. She leaves him then to return to her time and then when she goes back the second time ..she ends up shooting farther back than she intends? So, does that mean she will be by herself or with Choi at her side? Oh...but where did she get the second set of instruments? Yeah, maybe she wasn't Hwata. But if Hwata is a guy, then could Hwata be Jang Bin returning back in time to fix something?

Wow, talk about going in mental circles! My head is spinning.

And it's not as if they have a lotta episodes to go time-jumping.

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I like this idea, and it makes perfect sense. Now that she's seen her calculations ahead of time, she may be able to get it right this time around.

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My Dream Prediction (This totally isn't it, but hey, my mind was running rampant): In the end-ish, she will return to the future (our present). It will have been a year in her time. she so desperately wants to go back that she somehow makes it back through the portal, but its 1000 or 100 years ago. She keeps time-jumping every time the gateway opens up, until one jump she finally makes it back to Young. After all, at the beginning they had mentioned that Hwa-ta's disciples would randomly show up every hundred years or so. Maybe that was her every time, so she just got to visit a bunch of points in history. I feel like the very ending we will see her coming back to him through the portal, though maybe she will have aged a bit, and she will meet Young when he is a little farther along in life. And they will live happily ever after. Until of course, he's murdered by the future first king of the Joseon era... but wasn't that when he was old, like in his 80s?

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Wow, that's a good possibility! But the sadness of it... can you imagine her repeatedly going back to the portals over and over and over again to find Choi and trusting Faith in friendship that she will find him one day.

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I kind of thought of the movie Somewhere in Time, which is different, but same idea... I just really hope that Young and Eun-Soo have their happy ending, but I just don't feel like the PDs are taking it there. Im trying to ready myself for something I don't want to happen to happen.

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At the middle of the series I started thinking over the ending for our OTP, and since there’s no way CY could leave his era, an idiotic thought popped in my head that ES would somehow manage to go back to the future only to meet there an incarnated soul of CY, i.e…Lee Min Ho, 21st century famous actor, which implied that LMH would play himself in finale. Still shake my head at the absurdity of the thought.

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It is possible that they would spin a fantasy tale of Choi Young reincarnated & somewhere in modern day Korea waiting to see Eun Soo again.

I read somewhere that CY's predicted that grass would not grow on his grave because of his unjust death but in 1979, sprouts of grass were seen growing. That could be a sign of something..

1979ers would be 33 y.o, maybe to meet ES who is also in her 30s? Wow, that's a long wait to reunite isn't it but I do hope they would be together somehow.

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oooh, i just got goosebumps. Wow, i wish they could spin that into the story. Wow, that possibility just has me smiling from ear to ear.

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I vote for this

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Thank you so much! Gah i need sleep, been waiting for this recap before i go to sleep.
Lol Eun-soo is just so hilarious :D
I'm still confuse with the King's Uncle, is he for the good or bad?

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King's Uncle has no other thoughts than to stay alive. When discussing if he was king, what kind would he be, his answer was to be one who lived a long time.

This is why he brought the notebook. CY's words hit home with the uncle. He believes that KC will dispose of him when his usefulness ends. I think that he really doesn't care if he is king. he has no use for it. He just wants to continue living. I believe that he will choose the side that can protect him the best. He may have come out of the mountain because he figured it was safer to come than to stay.

I think that uncle will become a love interest for the doctor and just get CY to make a move... or just a little jealous.

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Me think that uncle bringing the diary to ES is part of KC's scheme to tap the secret of the future from ES. I seriously doubt that uncle has the gut or the ambition or the brain (or the combination of them three) to stealthily get the diary from KC, swipe it with the fake one, and approach ES without KC finding out about it.

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I'm trying to figure out why the play by play isn't as exhilarating here as Story of the Man. Is it the genre-fusion, I wonder. I wouldn't say Ki Chul is a one-dimensional villian per say....but when you compare it to the nuanced, antisocial behavior of Kim Kang woo's character...it's lacking.

We're already at ep 13....and I'm trying to figure out when the story will end at the rate we're going (which point in history) . It's like little little baby steps and I'm just waiting for the drama to escalate.

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Yeah, I'm wondering how it will end too. I wouldn't say no to a time jump of a few months as things die down a bit. I mean, the fortune teller told Eun-soo she would spend a year in another place, or whatever. So she has to spend at least a year in Goryeo, right?

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To echo something I said earlier, the longer this show goes the more ok I become with the concept of Eunsoo and Choi Young having a happy ending together. I am much more invested in the journey they are taking together and the places it will lead them. (Although the die hard shipper in me is all NO THEY WILL BE TOGETHER 4EVER AND HAVE BADASS AND SASSY BABIES)

Nogook and Gongmin are giving me all the fluff I need. Their relationship is great. I love them. Just so much love.

Overall I love this drama and the fact it keeps its humor and that it doesn't shy away from it. This isn't the a perfect Drama but I'm enjoying the ride.

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thought King Gongnim and Princess Noguk has a close relationship or even love with each other in the real history, wiki says for 15 years they didnt have a child until Prince Noguk get preggy then die on while giving birth and presumably the child died too.

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and then he turned to boys...but not the Woodalchis right? Am I mixing something up? He's the Frozen Flower King, but I thought that he establishes a new guard - could just have been for movie purposes.

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Even though we can see some of the "clunks", I have to admit Faith gets better each week. At first when I didn't think I could make it through an entire ep, I was only watching for LMH, but in recent weeks the rest of the cast is picking up steam (and toning down the "crazy eyes") and finding a nice groove. And, not a moment too soon! My luv for LMH only goes so far. haha

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Finally here....been waiting for your recap all day. Thanks for your usual witty and funny synopsis:). Love it. You and GF are the best! Kamsamida!!!!

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"So there’s a job title for that? I’m halfway there already."

Can't stop laughing to read this part.
You really are awesome, JB.
Thanks for the fast recap.

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I love that Noguk and Gongmin took bigger steps forward. He confessed! Right? We can assume something happened, but we don't know for sure.

I am really loving Ki Chul. As bad as he is, he seems to me to be the most interesting character. I don't really know what is driving him. Why does he want Eun-soo so badly? Is it because she knows the future? Is it because he wants to posses her and stick to Gongmin and Young? Or does she, as "Heaven's Doctor", represent the possibility of the afterlife? Is he dying because of his ki powers and he's scared of death? He represents so many questions for me and, as much as I love the other characters, Ki Chul is the one I want to know more about. But, somehow, I don't think we'll get much more.

I don't like this cliffhanger ending, mainly because it just seems too obvious. Like there's something else going on. I wouldn't doubt it.

Thanks for the recap, Javabeans!

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@Abbie - re: "Or does she, as “Heaven’s Doctor”, represent the possibility of the afterlife? Is he dying because of his ki powers and he’s scared of death?"

This ^

I think you may have hit upon his obsession with the doctor. His ki powers are NOT unlimited and in fact may be killing him like a cancer (that would probably also apply to hottie-flute-ist and fire-maiden as well) ....I'd say it's entirely possible that he believes *heaven* holds the cure for him....and of course, MORE power.
cheers ~

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Then it should also be applying to Choi Young....at first I thought all his sleeping was a recharge, kind of the way Arang does when she does and comes back - but then it was explained as depression after the loss of his leader and his fiancee. But if the ki powers can drain the bad guys, they will have to drain the good guy, too.

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That's true, and worries me. Please don't hurt Young-ah!

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Thanks, and I totally agree with you. I'm guessing he probably wants to go to heaven OR have Eun-soo heal him OR both. I just wish the writers would spend a little more time on him to get to the meat of his obsession.

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-- Close personal inspection is needed. --

Volunteers:
1. JB [confirmed]
2. GF [to be confirmed]
3. Me [confirmed]
4. ....
5. ....
6. ....

Interested? Hurry, enlist yourself, only 6 volunteers needed!! ^^

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I'm all in [confirmed]

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please include me in the list =)

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LOL. I was thinking the same thing. Me wanna volunteer too.

As well as the undress HERE part. LOL. I totally thought she was ordering him to undress in front of her...

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I'm certain his abs...abdominal area has been hurt in some way. It requires immediate inspection, so I shall volunteer, too!

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hahahhahaha this made me LOL!!! there's 6 volunteer's already? im all in!!!

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i know he can easily get out of it, coz weapons are their life. If they buy inferior ones it will mean their death. Can't wait for the next episode.

Thanks for the recap JB =)

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I 'd started to get a little tired of the repetitive, quickly resolved power plays between Gongmin/Young and Ki Chul, so I'm excited to see where they go with Deok-heung. I like that he brings a different kind of conniving, smart, charismatic energy to the mix, and having a 3rd player in the game, whose allegiance can switch, could liven things up.

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javabeans, you are a riot! Your verbiage: "Uncle of dubious allegiance" had me keeling over with gusts of laughter...you are such a talent with words and wit!

I'm a big fan! :)

Hugs to you for making my evening one that's full of laughter and smiles,

Garrdan75

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acckk.. just when i think the goodies win, the baddies strike hard..
and i want more romance.. it's just sweet~

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Faith plays kinda like a mock-reality TV show, the sageuk version of Big Brother. It's hidden-camera court intrigue without the scene-chewing outrage of traditional sageuks. The relationship interludes and fantasy bits seem like asides rather than truly integrated into the main action. There's no real narrative momentum, it just leads to another committee meeting. The hero of this story Choi Young seems depressed, vaguely bored, by it all.

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First step of becoming rich in Georyo, hahah. I love her and you, thanks for recaping.

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I totally LOLed at the eunuch when Lady Choi conveyed the message to Gongmin to visit the Princess's chambers at night. The eunuch was like .... "y-y-YOUR MAJESTY!" *drops to his knees* HAHAHA.

I love cute little moments like that.

Hm, I also think that there's no way Choi Young and Eun Soo will end up together in the end. Choi Young is an important character in history so he can't just go to the future with her, and it just doesn't make sense for Eun Soo to stay in the past with him, since that will change the course of history too much. That's why the romance isn't such a big part of the story, imo. I'm just dreading the day where they have to eventually part ways... :(

Thanks JB for the recap! I always enjoy them.

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" the eunuch drops his book and falls to his knees in alarm."
omg, it's really the best part of the episode :D

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Gah, keep having problems with posting...
My brain tells me that Eun Soo will return to 2012 Seoul and go back to being a surgeon (BTW, I love how her situation is forcing her to rethink her mission in life). Choi Young will therefore lose another love and stay single and depressed forever. That would be a realistic ending - as far as the word 'realistic' can be applied to a fantasy sageuk. My sentimental heart, however, demands sexytimes with Eun Soo and Young. Maybe they could travel across time to see each other once in a while at least. In the best case scenario, though, she could stay with Young, who seems to actually *need* a personal doctor who could follow him around everywhere and stitch him up whenever needed.

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Your post just gave me a thought! Could it be that the notebook lists dates and locations that the time portal is open? Maybe they do just meet occasionally or go live part time in both places. I seriously want a happy ending but after reading Wikipedia, I don't think it will happen. Why did they have to use real historical figures for this drama??????

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I think that servant was not eunuch as he got a wife and mustache, may be during Gyreo time no eunuch in palace...

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Also, Eun Soo is burdened by the knowledge of how Choi Young will die. (And frankly, in history books, this current king ends up treating Choi Young pretty badly in the end. I think the show does a good job of providing that context, if the audience viewers already know much of the actual history.)

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I like the part when CY came back to their meeting place only to find that ES was not there. It's like a date! And CY was mad when he found her with his men. LOL. Thus, he wouldn't let her treat him afterwards. I bet he was too arrogant to confront her about not showing up. LOL.

I LOVE the part when CY was throwing rocks at the baddies. XD It's like a young boy getting back at the baddies for hurting his girl. It's so cute! I couldn't stop smiling :)

I don't want these scenes to stop :(

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I love the stone-throwing scenes, too! It reminded me of LMH in City Hunter when he hurled a fruit at a Thai thug.

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This is random but this idea just pooped in my head.....
I want Young to go to the future with Eun Soo once.......

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This might just be the funniest typo ever! This is why all blogs need an "edit" tool :)

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LOL!!

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Maybe the idea has the power to fertilize.

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Bwahahahaha!!
I seriously can't stop laughing from that typo. It was an unintentional bit of sunshine in my dreary day. Thanks! :)

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ooops i mean popped

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Oh Lord! I was half hoping they'd drag out the drinks invitation story a bit longer before it actually took place, if only to watch that Eunuch's reaction everytime he hears the word 'drinks table' ha ha!

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That would have been so awesome!

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I liked the episode but didn't really love it. There is something missing but I can't put my finger on it because honestly, I don't know where the story is going...so it's hard to go woulda-shoulda-coulda-ing when you don't know all the facts.

So I am glad they show Eun-Soo's traumatic nightmares...but I'm thinking --execution-wise-- they "should've" been sprinkling that throughout. I so hate being armchair director but yeah, if they had been showing the trauma all along that would have been a more powerful plot thread and it would have engaged us even more and given us something to look for. For trauma is often about powerlessness and we "could've" see how powerful Eun-Soo can now begin to feel because the knife/sheath on her feet is not only her defense but it is her chance to begin feeling empowered in a world she knows nothing about.

I understand the cosmetic business venture. It connects to the Eun-soo we met in the first episode who wants to be rich and who also wants to take care of herself. But a part of me thinks that again, the directing/scripting is messy. We know she's got gumption and can take care of herself but we should have seen more along the way about her feeling like someone dependent on other people for food etc.

I'm assuming the king and queen have NEVER EVER EVER EVER had sex. Am I right? And the king --after talking with the eunuch knows-- about the uses of drink. So he went into the room with the belief that sex might be a possibility. So he's in "i have to declare love and maybe we can consummate this izzy" mode and she's in "this is all a discreet ploy to talk to him about Yuan and to keep nosy spy mole 12 paces from the door. So I wanted to see a subtle surprise recognition on her face that acknowledged the disconnect. Am I being too picky there?

I like that it's a more leisurely scene but I felt something else should have been going on, or maybe we should have known something else was going on. Uncle Pretender is skeevy and "has a way with the ladies" but I don't see him as so threatening. Unless being a monk he knows something about spells or something. The set-up for the fraud charges also was kinda meh.

So yeah, for me it was a sweet episode with a lotta missed moments and a lotta what appears to be waiting around for the next plot point...when stuff should've gone more subtly intertwined. I hate it when something is discovered in a story at the wrong time and I hate when there's this feeling of something missing..or something not quite right.

But other than that, I liked it.

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Great recap, JB - as always!
I like this drama a lot, and it's probably due to the work of the writer and the actors, but I have to agree that directing is really the weakest link here (as well as some awkward editing). It really pains me to think how much more amazing this show would have been with better directing.
Speaking of writing, I looooove that they addressed two things that time travel shows/films/books seem to overlook - the psychological consequences for the traveler and the dwindling make up supplies. :) Eun Soo once again proves her awesomeness by thinking of a way to get rich in Goryeo. Eun Soo, I love you, can we be friends?
It's interesting that I started out being really invested in the main storyline and not caring much for the romance, but now I really care about the OTP, which makes me grin and giggle whenever it's on the screen again.

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Love this episode! Faith sure is picking up on the romance department and yet it doesn't feel forced or fan-service-y. See? We are now bearing the fruits of our patience. And we are with the King and Queen/Young and Eun Soo in saying "FINALLY"!

I agree that the power of this drama is the wonderful mix of subtle moments and big moments.

Lastly, I have already accepted that the writing style of this drama is to create anticipation. What is he/she gonna do? What's that for? Etc. They're really not gonna give us a cup full of rice in each episode. Some may find it boring, but I'm totally digging it. Makes me really want more and attached to the story in a way that it sucks you in like you're IN Goryeo. Coz you know, it's not fighty-fight all day every day in real life. People talk, chit-chat. People buy things in the market. They don't just fall in love overnight. People sleep, pause, think, etc. Having said that, there is something so HUMAN about Faith. It's so realistic despite being a fantasy story to begin with.

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"Choi Young fights off the faster-than-the-speed-of-film mercenary soldiers, taking them down with seeming ease, although he’s also growing gradually weaker. I’m hoping this is merely the side effect of his swordfight with Ki Chul and not something more dire."

-It's because he used his "power" too much for the fight since the enemies were not ordinary

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I thought this was an okay episode with some very nice moments (I particularly liked the stone-throwing at Eum). However, I am not entirely sure I can agree with the "at least the story remains on solid ground". For me, there's too many 'wasted' moments or weird loose (or even dead) ends and they are accumulating.

For example, the Chilsa. So Ki Chul brings in the supposedly super-scary assassins to kill everybody who wants to snuggle up to the King. The good guys come up with a clever counter-strategy that turns Young into their main target (so far so good). But then ... he just kills them 'like that'. By sitting and standing around and listening to the sounds they make. As always, that was poorly executed directing-wise (a non-event, almost), but then it was also followed by very bad writing. WHY was there a lot of panting and looking exhausted and dropping of swords? Why? A moment later, he just walks into the palace as if he returned from a stroll in the park; and all that's wrong with him is this little slash on his hand. Also, he killed six of them, but there were seven. Nobody addresses that? It's just ... in the past? Chilsa out of the way, so onto the next attempt to discredit CY? Also, wouldn't Ki Chul know how strong CY is by now (since he went against him directly) and wouldn't he tell the Chilsa to band up and go against CY together? In a nutshell: the Chilsa were a wasted storyline (brought in, built up as 'super scary', and ... just killed/forgotten).

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Can't blame Hwasuin all excited & jumped like a little girl, who wouldn't at the sight of CY inviting :)

Another of those silly fixing game again (yawn), cant they come up with something more intelligent idea than fixing him with a nonsense cash note and by the new officers, whom I thought smarter than that.....

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Okay episode. Still loving it though, but I feel that it's dragging. Nothing climatic is happening...argh....and btw, is it just me or does Lee Minho somehow look bloated and waaaay too young in this episode? To the point that when you look at scenes with Young and Eunsoo together you could see the age difference, but before I didn't much see it.

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I have to say, part of the reason why I like Lee Min-ho is that you can see in his face what he'd look like chubby. I guess I'm saying his cheeks are cute, lol.

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I like that there weren't really fight scenes in this episode. I mean, I'm all for a good fight scene, but we don't really get those in this drama. :( Plus, the bad directing shows so much more in the fight scenes. It's easier to overlook in the other aspects if you don't have the glaringly odd scenes added in.

I loved the whole eunuch drinks table arc—I'd love to see more of that—mostly just the eunuch freaking out, since he's hilarious. And I like that they are developing this epic love story that could have just been already there at the beginning of the drama. I love getting to see Gongmin and Noguk coming to terms with their relationship and actually growing to rely on one another, and finally opening up to each other. Even if it would have fit better several episodes ago, IMO.

Also, yay for devilish Choi Young and his rock-throwing tricks! I love seeing that side of him once in a while.

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Totally agree, especially about the fight scenes. My daughter and I watched the Ki Chul/CY duel the other day and she couldn't stop laughing. We agreed it was so bad, especially the "moves" - that it sucked all of the gravitas out of the entire episode.

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The fight scenes in Arang are so much better!

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Yes they are. If the Faith director could take some lessons from the Arang director it'd be a much better show.

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Actually, for most Asia movies, human vs ghost fighting should be magical power, chanting etc not physcical fight so the first few eps when Arang on the way to meet JW with new clothes on, they wasted 10, 20 mins on the fight, i think it was a waste.
As for the fight in Faith, though not perfect, but i grew up with those hongkong period/kungfu drama, i can accept that, is about speed and qi not the moves....just a thought..

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Although I like this show enough to keep watching it. the discrepancies in the story line constantly bring the show into dumb entertainment status. The Wooldachi: making them comical takes so much away from the honed warrior persona - honed super warrior doesn't suffer from idiot/warrior schizophrenia. Just make them great super warriors with a sense of humor if you will, but PLEASE - NOT Idiots! You can't be an astute warrior and be so dumb. Also, regarding the Wooldachi - the King said they only answer to him and serve him - this trumped up charge should have no weight whatsoever - unless the King suffers from idiot/King Schizophrenia. Seriously, the writers are so sloppy in consistency in character development. Bad writing.

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thanks, my thoughts exactly. The Woodalchi may be 'cute' (and some of them have reaaaaaaly nice abs), but they are just too plain dumb for me to take them seriously at this point. Warrior elite ... but they don't get suspicious about the delivery at all? Hello? Bad writing indeed.

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Writing goes nowhere for me. I enjoy the pretty and that's it.

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yes, at least there's that!

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Hello to: "25.3"....another...."grace." :)
~~~~~~

javabeans: I think that this is your best
recap ever. Bad guy #2 from "City Hunter"
buying the defective weapons from that
sleazy "American" Mr. Hudson. Ha, ha.
You really have a brilliant way of accurately
describing an episode. Love it, and thanks!
~~~~~~

Some people have posted that this story
is dragging along too slowly. Not for me.
True, I wish that I could see all of the 24
episodes at one shot, instead of being able
to see only two a week. (Until forever, or
until November, is it???)

But personally, I love the slow pace, including
the storyline detours. I don't want everything
at warp speed. "Faith" reminds me of my all-
time favorite historical drama "Dae Jo Young."
134 episodes.......nothing was fast, except
some of the battle scenes. This must be why
I'm enjoying "Faith" so much.

And I can't wait until the SBS international
marketing department starts selling exclusive
"Goryeo soap" at a store near me......:)

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PS..............And once she figures out
the chemical recipe for red hair dye,
she'll own the country. Heh, heh, heh.

:) :) :)

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I'm so glad that Noguk and Gongmin are together and finally confessed. As they say, "Behind every great man, there's a woman". Loved the scene where Gongmin brushes the tear from Noguk's face and finally holds her hand tenderly. Is that her bridal night? So sexy.....

I agree that at times the directing is clunky, but I do like the story line although it is not as taut as Story of a Man. Does Choi Young have a love rival? I don't think it is creepy derp Ki Chul or Jang Bin. My question is why is Jang Bin hanging around outside Eun Soo's bedroom while she's sleeping at night? Stalker? Perve? Is questionable uncle her new love interest?

Just love your witty recaps. They are so much fun to read after seeing an episode. Enjoyed your " Rock, meet hard place" comment. My sentiment actually. Can't wait for next episode on how Choi Young gets out of this pickle.

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Thanks JB for the recap. From your writing, I'm thinking you're not really into this story, eh? Just wondering, that's all :)

For some reasons, watching Ep. 13 was really exhausting for me. I think the show is now delving deeper into the politics side of the story. Since politics is not really fun, watching those conversations were kind of draining. Then I got too sad watching CY and ES scenes. Gahhhh, she stitched him up (sad). He discovered her nightmares (sad). That conversation about her wanting to leave (sad). He went to see the King's uncle about the diary (sad). Seriously show, can these two just have happy moments without angst and impending doom?

...then I watched Ep. 14, and I'm now revising my opinion of Ep. 13 because there are a bit of connecting plots and character revelation/transformation from 13 to 14. I have more to say later, still trying to process what's happening. So emotionally draining.

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i don't know why, but im getting bored with each episode, i keep skipping parts, this political things keep being repetitive, and i dont know where king's uncle will fit in. if he's there to make CY healous, im all in :D

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What bugs me is the untapped potential of this story, being held back by bad directing.

One clear and obvious example of this are the "romantic" scenes btwn Eun-Soo and young: why the heck start booming loud, 'this is a ROMANTIC moment, unless you would've missed to regocnize it otherwise'-music every time something nice is going on btwn them too? It totally KILLS the mood in the scenes.

The other thing that bugs me is Lee Min-Ho's hands: please, director, do not let them be filmed so much - they are not a warrior's hands. And his posture is not a warrior's posture, and neither is his gait. I would havve preferred someone more rugged as Young - or a better director to draw a more rugged Young out of LMH.

Ah, now I've had my rant and feel better. Just wishing the director would do his job better :P

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Yes, and his teeth are too white. Anybody's teeth, actually! lol. But I totally agree with you.

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I love that the recaps have so much hitting on Lee Min-ho. It's just better that way.

If Eun Soo and Choi Young did wind up together, I feel like b/c of the history recorded in heaven, Eun Soo would wind up staying in the past. That's not to say that she wouldn't have travel back and forth. The dates in the book could be the result of time travelling she did after the period she's in now. But I think she has to get back to the future to buy the diary in the first place.

I liked this episode!

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Tis ep had me grinning from start to end for our beloved OTP. Super love their chemistry. Wish he's secretly crushing her in real life as much as on reel.

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Loved the cheeky comments in the recap! I'm right there with you on the job, heck, we can intern right?

This was another nice episode in moving along character development if not plot so much.

And no stupid bad wtf fight scenes. Bonus. I really like that instead of a frantic fight scene with the bad ass assassins, they throw them away. Keep Calm and Carry On Choi just dispatches them post with, during moments of reflection hahaha. "Yawn, bored now, hurry up and try to kill me so I can get rid of you because you are annoying and threatening my woman. I'll just think about life while I wait." Awesome.

I liked that Choi ended up at the meeting place, but that she was not there. A subtle little starcrossed lovers out of sync moment. I also love his continued half ass try to clean up the blood efforts. It's like he wants to, but he knows it's part of who he is. I really like that little bit of conflict and vulnerability in Choi's character. One of the things I hate about the "bad boy" trope which sort of applies to this character, I dislike that part of what attracts the heroine is what she tries to change in the hero. Evidently the writers see that conflict too, maybe? A frigging soldier is going to have blood on his hands. Deal with it Eun-soo, I mean embrace the hotness of the warrior, duh. Gives a whole new meaning to battle lust.

Okay so we pretty much think Choi can heal his wounds, right? We see him indulging Eun-soo, and suffering the pain of the stitching, just to spend a few moments with her and/or to just let her be the boss of him lol. Very nice moment for the character.

I will call bullshit at this point on not explaining some of the supernatural elements such as the superpower and weakness stuff. We are all smart enough to figure out that using the super powers can cause energy drains or something, but hey at episode 13, we should have had some exposition on this.

Loved Eun-soo's 21rst century material girl enterprising spirit. Stuck back in the day with dwindling hygiene and beauty product supplies? No problem, I'll make some, give out sample and sell it to the marks, er, I mean, uh, people. I also noticed that Explodo Lady has red hair too. I wonder if Eun-soo will be all "hey you a scary crazy biotch, but who does your hair?" Because we all know fashion needs can knock down all boundaries. I love the Eun-soo as the con woman/snake oil salesman portrayal and the pyramid schemes reference, hahaha. Is this almost a Wizard of Oz reference or a foreshadowing of some type?

Definitely worried about the Uncle as Eun-soo has blown him off as unimportant to history.

As much as I hate political machinations that drive stories, we all know that drama needs, well, drama. And to be true to the royal court setting, the baddies pulling this kind of stunt to set up Choi and the boys rings true. The fact that the elite supposed badassery Woodalchi are utter dolts does not ring true however. Hey we can all accept that soldiers do stupid things because they are supposed to take orders no matter what, but come on, these guys have been living with political turmoil for years, so hey, I call bullshit on the the naivete like accepting sketchy deliveries.

However, is the King going to man up and say this is bullshit or is he going play politics and sacrifice Choi's boys? Is Choi willing to sacrifice his boys?

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Random stuff found on the Internet that made me think about kdrama period drama (and the last episode of Faith that I haven't watched yet): (http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2812%2900712-9)

"Les eunuques de la cour impériale coréenne vivaient en moyenne 70 ans, soit entre 14 et 19 ans de plus que les autres hommes, rapportent des chercheurs des universités de Séoul et de Incheon en Corée-du-Sud." (I found more explanation on a French website). Like some people in Korea are actually interested in imperial euneuchs and their being long-lived?! I'm impressed. And possibly freaked out.

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I must say; Chae Rim's little brother who's currently playing Deokheunggun is kinda impressing me thus far, not quite blowing me away, but quite nice and interesting... considering he was so flat in New Tales of Gisaeng.

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Thanks, javabenans for the recap. I agree with the all-too-obvious plant job for treason. Wudlachi, wudalchi, wudalchi my boys, what exactly do you do all day that makes you warriors, anyhoot? A box of contraband swords shows up, and really? not even a sneaking suspicious, when y'all didn't know a whit about the delivery guys? Kinda frustrated with that turn of events. Lady Choi, you sharp old bird, keeping eveyone on their toes, because they need you to do that! Of all the kdrama heroines, I want to be you!

Is the uncle a skunkle? Not sure - although he can afford to play the field 'cause I don't think he necessarily likes Gi Cheol and he hasn't even met his nephew, the King. No thoughts, no sides. Playing mercinary is a cool position for him, until we discover his own reasons for coming down from the mountains.

Not much else excited me in this episode. A small plus for s-l-o-w-l-y moving forward relationships. BUT it's painful to keep holding out for more than a side glance at the woman/man you are developing feelings for or a knife practice lesson you'd-be-caught-by-your-foe-if-you-do-it-that-way embrace.

Still, with 24 episodes total, there is room for a lot to happen and I'm keeping my 2 nights a week open, hopin'!

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Why are Woodalchi so stupid. This is starting to annoy me.

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