I don’t care who does it, but someone better dethrone this king. No one makes our Hwan cry like that and gets away with it.

So much relationship development this week! We had Hwan being so uncomfortable with skinship that he literally ran away from shadow snuggles (I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything so adorable), we had Myung-jin grabbing Ga-ram’s arm protectively (he must know that she’s a woman, right?), we had Ga-ram thinking that her teacher isn’t so bad, and we had Jae-i and Hwan promising to protect each other and be careful lest the other one worry. I love it all so much.

Ok, is it weird that I’m still not really convinced that Tae-gang is a bad guy? I just feel like I need more information than this. I do think he’s really loyal to Hwan, and he hasn’t told anyone about Jae-i, even though he must know at the very least that she’s hiding loads of stuff. But I don’t have a good explanation for his presence at Jae-i’s house that day, especially given the fact that the other herald turned up dead. We’ll have to see.

I can’t believe the right state minister went that far 10 years ago. Massacring and scattering a whole town to cover up the incompetence and greed of a single family member? And a family member who has proven repeatedly that he learned nothing and is prone to making the exact same mistakes again. Great. It was so satisfying to see Hwan put him in his place. It makes for some really interesting ambiguity in lots of our characters too. One is the queen, who is definitely not on the same side with her uncle and is sympathetic to the Song family but who might want her son to take the throne, another is our tavern couple who are from Byeokcheon and just want to go back but who also participate in shady things, and maybe another is Tae-gang?

Quote of the week comes from Myung-jin: “It’s not that Sungkyunkwan kicked me out. I took Sungkyunkwan out of my life.” Hahahahaha, what a world-class reframing, sir!

Last week I was bemoaning the fact that there were some scenes in the previous episodes that I would have preferred to skip. I can't complain about that at all this week, I was captivated from beginning to end. I was especially blown away by the emotional conversation between the crown prince and the king.

By now it should be pretty clear that Hwan knows about his feelings for Jae-yi.
Jae-yi also seems to feel more than friendship for Hwan by now, even if she is not yet aware of it. Otherwise, she would certainly not have thought about whether the bracelet is for her or not. Also, she used to use the gatherings with Scholar Park to tease Hwan, now she is extremely proud when Ga-ram admiringly states that the crown prince is a genius.

Yesterday, I saw a video of an interview with the two main actors in which they are asked which lines of text they remember most. Park Hyung-sik quotes the sentence in which they both promise to protect each other and follows it up by saying that this sentence is the beginning of Hwan and Jae-yi. I am looking forward to it.

Some exciting developments this week! I loved the interactions between Hwan and his father - I also wondered if our hero was being tested, or whether it was the King's misguided attempt to protect him while teaching him a lesson. Maybe all three. I loved that line by the way, from Hwan - about how the King only sits on the throne to protect himself. As we've seen in this drama (and many others), the ruler of the country turns a blind eye to corruption, deceit, the wrongful killings of his own people (in this case perhaps even his own son) for the sake of his own position. It was satisfying to have Hwan call him out on it even as I was thinking, 'oof, you are so going to end up paying for that...' Worth it to see Team Hwan working together toward the same goal.

I liked the little developments with our mains. They're now firmly in the role of friends and partners, skirting the edge of something more. And Jae-Yi's too-exaggerated-to-be-totally-earnest subservience to Hwan and the way he can't help but feel flattered by it is always entertaining. And that scene with the bracelet hit me way harder than the trope-y forced 'cute' scenes the drama attempted earlier. It really makes me wish we'd skipped all that in favor of the more natural slow-burn we've gotten recently, which has been lovely to watch.

The whole Byeokcheon mystery is an interesting one. From what I've gathered, the 'rebels' were set up, and there's a group out for revenge against the royal family. So how does our perhaps not-so-dense bodyguard fit in? For the moment his goals (if he's a Byeokcheon survivor, as is my guess) and Hwan currently align, since Hwan is essentially sending him out on errands that could clear their name. So what happens when the one you're trying to get revenge on winds up incidentally taking your side? Plus I feel like his loyalty to Hwan is genuine, so... was he a plant who accidentally befriended his mark for real? Did he deliver the letter to Jae-Yi's family as a way to get him help? But then, what about the murder - was it really the Byeokchoeon group or are all the signs pointing there a red herring? I had assumed Minister Jo had a hand in it until the thing with the peonies, so I'm kind of leaning toward that again now.

Speaking of our minister, I always found a bit too cliché evil to take seriously, but him with the Queen - he was genuinely sinister there. Poor woman. She's still a bit of an enigma (that scene of her looking into the pond gave me pause), but it's clear she's a pawn in her crazy uncle's schemes, and not in any position to go against him.

Also, I liked scholar guy. Hope we see more of him.

Is it really believable that the girl would forget Tae-gang's face?

Nice developments this week. Overall, it was beautiful to see everyone around Hwan working hard to get him out of quarantine. Also, Sung-on is too precious. I volunteer to be Eunuch Go's "sister" if that means getting a ribbon from Sung-on.

As for Ga-ram, she's the real female lead in this show. She's on SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL cross-dressing status now, despite reading books upside down at meetings. She was also the first one to show compassion to the kid, protecting him and standing up to the evil minister while her noble friends looked on. (Not to mention it was risky to attract attention like that - someone could have recognised her from the Wanted Runaway Slave posters).

Finally, I'm glad we came back to the murder mystery and the ghost's letter. Why was Jae-yi's entire family killed? I think the key will be in Gaeseong - at the shrine where the shaman visited, where Fish Guy seems to hang out, and where Jae-yi's family visited after there was an avalanche on a rainy day. (It wasn't clear to me if that visit was on the same day they died). But what did Jae-yi's family witness (or eat) at that place? It's a shame they lost the peony + incense evidence.

Not surprised at all about Tae-gang. He was always sus. But I don't trust cliffhangers so I'll wait to see how the scene plays out next week.

Thanks for the recap @alathe!

I am ready for all the reveals! I liked how things moved this week and curious to know more.

The shadow play was fun! Jae Yi so forward and Hwan struggling to deal with all this! Hwan - Remember, she wants to date, kiss before marriage? lol.

I want to know how much Tae-gang knows. He clearly saw them in the library together a few episodes back, but we still don't know if he knows her identity or not. He hasn't done much. he still treats her like a Eunuch. I feel he is not the bad guy and he might also be from the border town and fighting for his people.

I really dont want to see the right minister anymore, but it was satisfying to see him pay respects to his younger grandfather cousin!

For the very first time since I began watching OBY, I liked the King. He's one character I didn't hate but didn't like either. And I loved the fact that he said he is not stupid to Minister Jo's antics.

And I like his Queen too - a Queen who is nowhere close to being like her family but chooses to stand on the side of what is right is a Queen I'll root for. I liked her resolve after Minister Jo's choke hold, how she used physical pain to wash down the Minister Jo's insult to her. I'm up for seeing how she'll return the favor to him. Jo doesn't see how that his action to tame his niece might have been the line he shouldn't have crossed since I'm assuming she's going to put family second, but first, they have a score to settle.

I noticed something though. I like the odd episodes than the even. This is the first time since 3 weeks the even episode kind of matched up the drama in the odd. I hope they get things right though.

I'm a sucker for family trees and ancestry and the drama that comes along with it. My grand father and great-grandfather's last children are of the same age, but one is an uncle to the other. My comedy of the week was be tracing the how high in the family chronology Scholar Cho was against Minister Cho's. Alas! He's two generations higher than they are. And he's so young🤭😅... I watched that scene will delicious glee 😋. It's not everytime you see him get humbled into silence.

Prince Hwan is good. And very smart as well. How he managed to break out of detention I do not know but I must praise his brains.

I've been suspecting Tae-gang to be behind the murder of Jae-yi's parents or know something important about it, but not for it to be linked to Byeong-cheon. One question hangs in the hair. A successful marital union between Teacher Min and Minister Han would have provided the power enough to counter Minister Cho's. And I'm sure everyone in this game knew that for sure, and Tae-gang himself would know. So why kill her father and further empower/embolden Cho Won-bo? If they wanted someone to hold Won-bo responsible for his actions 10 years ago, the marriage would have provided the necessary power to do so. So why kill the man off? Is it that they do not want the head of Won-bo but the head of the Lee family instead?
And where is the Song family that'll overthrow the Lee family. 12 episodes in and we've not seen anyone have a bearing to that name.

I'm just glad Kim Ki-doo's character wasn't the guy who committed the act. It was a sigh of relief.

Completely off topic, but can I just give you a slow clap @alathe for the brilliant way you snuck in an Ella Fitzgerald title. I did a double take not trusting my eyes.

Ga ram is my favorite character, hands down. That scene with the child is quite telling. The crown prince was angry because they were mistreating one of his subjects. But the interesting thing is both Myung jin and Jae Yi were not going to intervene until Ga ram got involved, though they were pained by it, it only became their problem when someone they care for was in danger. Ga ram was the only one who got involved without any fear.

This makes me think about the master-slave relationship between Jae Yi and Ga ram. Despite their closeness, you can still feel the huge class difference between them and how it affects the way they see the world. I noticed this also in the scene where Myung jin and Ga ram talk about how she might get branded if she gets caught. Myung jin was like " It's terrible but that's just how life is" ........... He would have felt different if he knew it was his student who might get branded. I have no idea if the writer is creating these scenes to make us think intentionally but these are just things I noticed while watching the show.

P.S.: If Ga ram is not freed from slavery by the end of the show, I will riot.

I felt like the show got back on-track this week, and I really enjoyed these two episodes. With the exception of the Right State Minister and his cackling, everything worked well from the mystery to the romance to the courtly intrigue.

Some Random Thoughts:

--Despite the dismissive things I said above about the Right State Minister above, I was genuinely afraid for Jae-yi when he grabbed and threatened her. In the past, I've seen him as a mustache twirling villain who likes to plot and scheme (and smirk), and thus he hasn't felt truly scary before. But with Jae-yi and the Queen this week, he was clearly showing that he is more than capable of terrible violence.

--Speaking of the Queen, I yelped in parasympathetic pain when she squeezed that piece of broken pottery. It was a visceral and effective display of her attempts to find agency in a situation and system designed to strip her of it at every turn. I found the scenes with her husband to be equally creepy. Royal Joseon marriages were so odd. Maybe there were exceptions, but spouses didn't live together and saw each other only occasionally to procreate or have a conversation and performative display of mutual admiration in front of their staff. So lonely and stifling. I guess that's why Kings got to have concubines. Too bad the Queens didn't get their own companions.

--Loved all the scenes related to that ribbon. First, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sargent has figured out Eunuch Go is a woman, but even if he hasn't, his observant, kind nature is very endearing. But Hwan having his jealous tantrum over it ("You didn't tell me you had a sister" LOL!) was the best. I live for these moments in this show. PHS does them very well and since the romance is still more of an undercurrent than a storyline, they provide a much-needed reminder that the CP's feelings are only growing stronger. But I have to say, for a smart woman, I can't believe Jae-yi was so puzzled over why Hwan acted the way he did. I realize she doesn't have that much experience with men, but surely she knows intense jealousy when she sees it. But apparently not.

--I love Garam and her Master together. He has really grown on me with his goofy non-conformity and earnest morality. I thought the scene with the child went on too long, and Hwan was ultimately the one who earned the applause, but Myung-jin wasted no time in protecting Garam and the boy. And of course his mentor would be Weird Fish Guy who makes me think we're getting a crossover moment with "Alchemy of Souls" every time he's on screen. He just seems like he must have come from Daeho.

--Tae-gang must have a twin brother, right? Unless the editing was intentionally misleading, there's no way he could have been in that alley with Jae-yi; he was at the palace at that time. Either way, I do wish the actor was a little less green.

It is always a pleasure reading your recap! Captures a lot while being quite zippy.

I had to FF Councilor Jo's scenes. The dude had like 3 assault scenes in 2 episodes. Almost a 4th if you count the scene when he walked menacingly towards Jae-yi when she alerted Hwan to his presence outside his meeting with his dad.

I think it's rare to show male leads admit to being insecure, especially in such a heartbreaking way Hwan has. I go back and forth on liking Hwan, but that part of him was depicted beautifully. I sort of wish he will hand the Crown Prince title over to his little bro and give his dad the finger. The Queen can be the regent. Then Hwan can join Jae-yi, Myung-jin, and Garam in the detective agency I'm imagining for them. I LOL that when they 4 meet at Myung-jin's place, Jae-yi and Hwan are always in the seats facing all of the Jae-yi posters.

Sung-On looks so much better in civilian garb. I almost thought he was another good-looking actor. And speaking of good-looking actors - Scholar Jo was a nice surprise. I replayed his moments many times. He's so handsome and cool.

Myung-in decrying the existence of the "mother's friend's son" who is always better at everything and also points how how ridiculous that Sung-On is a sergeant at his age! Indeed!

I'm glad we came back to the main mystery - what could her dad have seen at the landslide? I getting tired of the king and ministers.

I've wondered if the curse against the royal family is because the king gave minister Jo royal authority to do whatever he needed to do to squash a rebellion. So even though Jo and his minions did the deed, the king was the one who gave permission. So he does bear some responsibility, even though it's obvious now that he was deceived.

I'm happy about the forward momentum on the romance and mystery fronts (or mysteries until we figure out if/how the Byeokcheon massacre and the deaths of Jae-yi's family are related).
Would love to see a scene in which the right minister realizes how terribly he underestimated the queen. Every time he's chewing the scenery I think he and the evil minister from "The Forbidden Marriage" need to compete for best cackle and best smirk.
And I will be disappointed if we don't find out what's the deal with the strange fish before the show ends.

I don't believe Taegang is evil, there's must be some reason why he did that. He seems so loyal to Hwan.

The shadow scene is so adorable, how could a crown prince so 'affected' with just a shadow! XD

"If I get in trouble would it break your heart?" asks Hwan.

"I would die of heartbreak."

"As will I."

❤😲❤

Meanwhile, in other developments, is Tae-gang a better actor than we've given him credit for so far - or is he perhaps a twin?

Being a history buff, I love sageuks and “Our Blooming Youth” is so me!
Asking if it will be on Netflix, the answer was “ No, Our Blooming Youth will not be on Netflix. But the drama will be available on Amazon Prime and Rakuten Viki in selected regions.”
Lovely! That’s just lovely that is. Another Kdrama I won’t get to see.

But, I have remembered - I have Amazon Prime on Amazon Australia. I don’t know about this, having only used Amazon to purchase items. Rarely do I use the American Amazon because shipping is a killer!

Maybe I should ask about this on my wall page?

Ep 11 and 12 were quite good compared to last week episodes.

Hwan deserves to be a King, because he has a mindset of taking care of his subjects well. How he thought of the children of the rebel gang and how he convinced Jae Yi to look on the other side of the coin, shows he has a kind heart. I loved the way he acknowledged Scholar Cho and remembered his words which he wrote during the exam. Also, the quick thinking of him to use the word "Scholar" infront of that vile Minister. so that his identity will be kept hidden and he handled the situation well.

Garam deserves so much love and she didnt hesitate to come to the poor kids' aid. I am liking the scenes of Garam and Myeong Jin and I have a feeling Myeong Jin knows Garam is a woman now. He seems to put a stupid façade sometimes.

I LOVED the shadow canoodling scene show much. Hwan knows his position in her life and he isnt leading her on. What a shy prince he is. Haha, the way he said to not do it even if its through shadow. They look so good together in that scene.

Also, the ribbon scene brought the raging jealousy in Hwan's heart and he is aware he should not be feeling like this, but his heart has a voice of its own. I am excited when he would gift her the bracelet, because that will be the first initiative from his side. But for how long he is going to be hesitant?

I'm happy that Sung On had more screentime and has met Myung Jin and Ga Ram. His interaction with Myung Jin was so fun! "My mother's friend's son"!! That's such a Korean thing. Myung Jin said both the abbreviation and the full phrase in his monologue, hahaha. His expressions were so good! XD

엄친아 or Umchinah is an abbreviation for my “mother’s friend’s son” (엄마 친구 아들) who’s perfect in every way that your mom always compares you to.

Source

I want to see Sung On working together with them!! And a scene of Hwan (as Scholar Park) and his crew all eating at the tavern please!

Hwan mentioning Scholar Jo's essay answers and voicing his same stance was so touching. Sort of another show of his memory skills and just highlighting that he cares about the people.

Councilor Jo having to bow and show respect to Scholar Jo was a rare, pleasant surprise! The only scene I enjoyed seeing him in, hah!

I have issue with the rythm. Spending so much time on Hwan being stuck in his room was boring... I'm happy that he's still smart and could find allies outside to help him but the King's decision looked so irrational and stupid...

I like Garam, she has a big heart. But she should think before acting. Trying to protect the child was great but she wasn't in position to do it. She was very lucky that the Crown Prince was there, he was the only reason the Minister of Justice gave up.

Hwan gained a lot of fans between the auberge guy, the master of Myung-Jin, Sung-on's father, the Scholar, etc. They all see what kind of King he could be.

When we will know about the fish's purpose in the story? Garam said to everyone the weird guy had a fish in a bottle!

I don't really like the actor playing the royal guard, Tae-Gang. He looks way too young and not convincing at all.

Will I ever be able to NOT be late to the party and prepare what I have to say about this show in advance? Probably not))) You know, essay warning.

First, I'm officially royally FED UP with the king. Go away, dude, it's a real pity that snake couldn't finish the job and free us all, especially Hwan, from your poisonous presence. I get that you don't really want your son dead/dethroned, but would it kill you to just give the poor boy a hint that you actually care? How many more times do we have to watch him sobbing his precious heart out because of you? And you still have the gall to ask him in an angry voice if he finds you an incompetent loser... sorry, ruler? Well, I do, and so are everyone else capable of objective thinking. He just didn't say it to your face because he's a polite kid, but his silence was pretty telling too. And stop with those cruel “qualification tests” ffs, we all know that YOU got your ass on the throne simply due to lack of better candidates! You have no right to judge or criticize your son at all. Sadly, I've seen that highlight video so I know we aren't done with your sh** yet... How about NOPE?

Speaking of folks to be fed up with... Actually I don't mind Jo that much somehow? He's far from complex and interesting villain ofc, but he's effective thanks to king's total incompetence. You know that saying about how evil wins just by good people not doing anything to stop it? Well, that's what we have here – a small parasite that grew too big and dangerous because no one dealt with him in time. That's what will get him killed in the end, because he thinks too much of himself and ignores other small threats. Cue the Queen, whom I believe is gonna be the one to finish him before Hwan even gets the chance to try. That “family fight” scene deserves an award for how intense it was.
Other Jo – minister of justice, what a joke! - is no threat by himself at all, so I'm eagerly waiting for him to be squashed under someone's feet, maybe his own cousin's. Not sure what I liked more – him being told off by Hwan (don't you love how our boy casually threatens people with polite tone and beaming smile?) or Scholar Jo (what a curious family tree... are we sure they don't have vampire ancestry? the bloodsucking trait is prominent). Everyone else are even less of a presence... If only the rivaling faction wasn't as impotent as king they serve! Great for Councilor Han to poke Jo where it hurts about Hwan's growing support, but do something too finally! This drama should've been named “Adults are useless” instead...

Myungjin continues to be delight (how come he cooked up a better plan to help CP than dozens of trained palace schemers?) and it seems Garam is this close to bring him the bitchy fiancé's head in a sack as a confession present.

My guess is the Queen is/was the lover of the rebel head and her son is a descendant of him. Hence the curse. The whole thing started as a revenge plot but now she has second thoughts.
I do like the mystery elements of the show but the romance parties are a bit weird. Jae Yi is supposed to be a clever person then she goes completely out of character like hugging the big rock or throwing tantrums when carrying chairs. It felt like there were two different people. I guess they could have written these parts better.
It bothers me how Jae Yi is indifferent to her betrothed. It also feels off.

I swear this show can really get into your head as you try to unravel all the mysteries. I was thinking about the twin theory and the only weird part is that clearly if the guard's "evil" twin sometimes goes around dressed as him like when he delivered the note with the wedding gift then clearly the rebels are taking advantage of the twin thing. Does TG remember/know he has a twin? Are they working in cohoots so even though he genuinely cares for the CP he still does things for the rebels although he's a softie and genuinely seemed shocked at a lot of stuff that has been happening.

Looking back at older episodes it seems that with the messages left in the not so secretive hole under the rocks, it's the "soldier" leaving notes for the palace lady and not the CP's lady in waiting (who is clearly writing one of the notes about all the people from Byeokcheon being summoned). Therefore could the lady be sending TG to deliver the notes as he's just a mere foot soldier for the rebels but he doesn't really know what is going on? The 'soldier" left the note "move according to plan" before the shaman's dramatic death and the burning of the plum tree so it should be relate to the rebel's cause and they must have spies in the palace.

Back to the ghost letter and why bother sending the note to Jae-Yi's dad if you're just going to kill him anyway that day or the next... seems like a waste.

If we assume it's that weird temple where the fish man lives and presumably calls his rebels "back home" to get their next mission... maybe Jae-Yi's family stumbled upon Song not being dead (when they went to their ancestor burial after the flooding) just before the murder day. The rebel's original plan got a little derailed because now they have to get rid of that family before they get exposed before their entire plan goes into action. Afterall, we know that the Byeokcheon guy who caused the water to look like blood had sold his stuff 1 month ago so was planning some action in which he knew he would need to flee. Maybe that turtle compass he sold will later be revealed to be the right minister's missing compass which the rebels are using to frame the right minister (their original plan).

Now they have a family they need to remove so they take advantage of the adopted orphan (who also likely is from Byeokcheon and somehow became part of the rebel group when he kept going to that temple and smoking the peonies) to get rid of the family. They likely did not expect Jae-Yi to survive the poisoned breakfast so maybe the note was supposed to be left as evidence and expose that the CP is unfit to be the next king. The only reason Jae-Yi wasn't poisoned too was that she was too worried about the letter to eat breakfast and not because the lover spared her or anything. Now she is a wrinkle in their grand plan that they had concocted for probably 10 years.

Whoever is the head of this thing or multiple heads is pretty high...