Recap: “Faith” Episode 3

Ooh, evil has laid down his cards. What will motivate the reluctant hero, Choi Young, to care, to fight for his country against this evil?

Episode 3:

Eun-soo is about to make her incision into Choi Young but Jang Bin stops her and asks what she is doing. The Wooldachi members are outside the room, waiting nervously. Choong-suk comes out of the room, shoulders heavy. Dol-bae and Deok-man want to know how everything is going. He tells them that Jang Bin and Eun-soo are fighting.

Jang Bin asks how he can trust someone who stabbed young so Eun-soo tells him to trust her- “You said I was the person from heaven.” Jang Bin relents and Eun-soo performs the surgery.

Back at the Goryeo capital city, a message reaches Ki Chul. Princess No-gook is still alive. Ki Chul is in the process of yelling at Goo Yang-gak (identified as one of Ki Chul’s men) when Cheon Eum-ja enters the room. Yang-guk promises to remedy the situation immediately. Ki Chul repeats, “Immediately?” He continues sarcastically, “And to think I’ve been planning this for years when it’s something that you can just take care of immediately.” Yang-gak begs for forgiveness.

Ki Chul slowly walks toward Yang-gak. “I’ve taken down a king, made another, and now that king is about to give me this country, wrapped in a blanket. For the sake of this country I haven’t slept comfortably even a night. But the princess is alive?”  Cheon Eum-ja tries to reassure Ki Chul. It will take three days to get there and this time there won’t be any mistakes. “Hwasooin will take care of it.” Ki Chul says the princess has to die. She can’t enter Goryeo alive. “It isn’t the picture I drew.”

Before Ki Chul leaves, he simply says to Eum-ja, “This person has heard to much.” Eum-ja replies, “Yes,” knowing what Ki Chul wants him to do. Eum-ja play the dae-geum (flute) and kills the messenger who brought the news that the No-gook is alive.

Back with Choi Young, Eun-soo tells Jang Bin that thankfully, nothing is wrong with Choi Young’s stomach. She now needs to stitch up his liver. Jang Bin carefully watches Eun-soo work and even wipes her forehead.

The next morning Choi Young wakes up, grimacing from pain. He sits up and looks over to see Eun-soo asleep in the corner. He slowly gets up and walks over to his sword. Hearing the noise, Eun-soo wakes and when she sees Choi Young holding a sword, she picks her own weapon- a small medical instrument- and demands that Choi Young put his sword down. Young asks, “What are you going to do? Stab me again and perform surgery all night? And then stab me again? And then treat me again?” Eun-soo has nothing to say to that.

Dae-man runs over to his master, happy to see him awake. Choi Young asks how long he’s been out. “Only one night.” Young asks, “What about the king? He must have left, right? Dae-man replies not yet; Gongmin wanted to move with Choi Young. Young asks for his armor and leaves the room with Dae-man. Eun-soo calls after them, “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Choi Young comes down the stairs of the inn and the other Woodalchi men run toward him, asking if he is okay; they thought he was going to die. Choi Young asks Choong-suk where the king is. He is upstairs. Other men ask if it’s ok for young to move around like this. Eun-soo runs down and demands to know, “Didn’t you hear what I said. You have to be rest. We didn’t just stitch up your skin. We stitched up your liver, blood vessel by blood vessel. Choi Young ignores her and tells the others to prepare to leave right away. But Eun-soo won’t be ignored.  “Go back to bed. We’ll watch over your condition and see if you can move tomorrow. Also gas -you know what gas is, right?  Until you pass gas you can’t eat anything. I will take out the stiches in a week. Until then you have to do as I tell you. The problem is…”

Eun-soo doesn’t get to finish her speech as Choi Young collapses into her arms. Choi Young continues for Eun-soo, in a weak voice, “The problem is if we don’t run away right now we will all die. In this condition I can’t fight. Eun-soo: “Why?” Choi Young: “You said I couldn’t eat until I pass gas so how can I fight? (Joonni: HA! Choi Young is so literal. And it’s so funny hearing a Goryeo warrior saying “fart.”) But that’s not what Eun-soo meant. She wants to now why they will die. He ignores her again so she pulls him but Choi Young is faster and he grabs her shoulders. “Those guys who took you away – they knew who you were – I don’t know how much they know but before they come again we have to run away. Eun-soo doesn’t understand- run away to where? Why does she need to run away? Choi Young, exasperated, says, “You just never say yes.”  He explains, “My promise to return you – to keep that you have to be alive. Until then I will protect you so stick close by my side.”

Choi Young orders his men to tell the king and princess to get ready cuz we are going to escort them but Eun-soo yells at Choi Young, “Go where? That portal where I can go back is here. So where would I go and leave that behind. I can’t go. I won’t go!” Choi Young looks at Eun-soo with a mixture of pity and exasperation. Did she listen to nothing? He tells Dae-man tells to do something about her so Dae-man blocks her from going after Young. Dae-man and Eun-soo face off!

The royal caravan is on the road again. Young can barely sit upright on his horse because of the pain. Eun-soo is in the carriage with the princess. She checks on No-gook’s to see if she is okay. She is. Eun-soo mutters a string of curses and names for Choi Young, the psycho. He’s going to have nothing to say when he stitches out because he didn’t listen to her. “Try to sue me if you can.”

Hwasooin has arrived at the port. The spy guy, (Scar-face, I call him) reports to Hwasoonin that the royal caravan has already left on a boat. If only Hwasooin had arrived earlier, they could have stopped them. He waited all night and found out that Choi Young got hurt. Hwasooin glares at Scar-face before pushing out a chair for him to sit in. “It couldn’t be helped. I was busy last night. With what I can’t tell you because it’s embarrassing.”

Hwasooin takes off the glove on her right hand. “So we lost them because of me? That’s why you are going to tell sa-hyung (referring to Ki Chul), that it was because I overslept.” Scar-face, scared, stammers, “We can go after them now. I won’t say anything.” Hwasooin circles Scar-face. “Let’s do this. You betrayed us. Why did you betray us? Were you bribed?” She sits on his lap and continues. “So when I arrived, there was no one here. It was too late. You already told them that I was coming.” Hwasooin leans close, “You’re the one that’s bad, right?” Placing her right hand on Scar-face’s face, she burns him, leaving him for dead. “So I killed you. Sorry.”

Eun-soo tries to make conversation with No-gook.  She asks for her name, giving her own. No-gook says that she is the says the daughter of the Yuan king. Eun-soo, “So you’re a princess.” Eun-soo whines to herself, “What kind of dream is this?” Going along, she asks No-gook, “Then the person who is in the front carriage?” No-gook finishes for her, “The king.”

Eun-soo realizes something. “Did you just mention Yuan?”  She tries to figure it out. If there is Yuan, then what era was it for our country? Goryeo? Shilla? (Joonni: LOL. Eun-soo is a little weak in her history, isn’t she? This girl is not the walking encyclopedia that Dr. Jin was.) No-gook informs Eun-soo that they said they have just reached Goryeo. Eun-soo is in disbelief. “I got on a time machine and came to Goryeo? A few hundred years back? A thousand?”  No-gook continues, “The warriors all said that they saw you come through the heaven’s door. Choi Young brought you here by force. You are here because of me. I am really sorry.” Eun-sook laughs awkwardly and makes a face. She wonders once again, “What kind of dream is this long?!”

Back is Gae-gyung, Ki Chul gets the report that the king has crossed over into Goryeo. Ki Won (Ki Chul’s younger brother) informs Ki Chul that the statesmen are worrying about how they loyal they need to be to the new king. Ki Chul also wants to know. Those statesmen were born with their land and privilege. They have antennas that are always are on the look out for the best person to stuck up to maintain their privileged lives. Ki Chul wants to know whom their antennas point to.

Yang-gak, operating on the same wavelength as Ki Chul, asks him, “So you want to test them?” Ki Chul is pleased with Yang-gak’s ability to know what he is thinking. Yang-gak turns to Ki Won, “Is your son’s first birthday coming up?” This is news to Ki Won. Yang-gak continues, “We need to celebrate.” Ki Chul agrees. “We need to share the good news with others.” Ki Chul laughs evilly.

Choong-suk reports to the No-gook that they will enter the city soon. They have sent reports ahead to the city so she should expect all the statesmen to gather to greet her and the king. Choong-suk also needs to deliver the king’s message to her, word for word. He awkwardly clears his throat and slowly relays the message. Gongmin knows No-gook in still recuperating but he would like her to greet the statesmen with him. No-gook is angry. She wants to clean up and change before she meets the statesmen. Choong-suk goes off to deliver the message to the king.

No-gook checks herself in her mirror but the image is blurry since it is an old mirror. Eun-soo hands No-gook her another mirror from her bag. No-gook is surprised to see herself so clearly in the mirror. Eun-soo starts to put powder on the No-gook and compliments her on her skin. Eun-soo also puts lipstick on No-gook. No-gook smiles when she sees her image in the mirror. (Joonni: Will this a womance to rival the bromance between Choi Young and Gongmin?)

The king and his group enter the palace and it’s quiet and empty, except for a few guards. Everyone is surprised at the lack of a greeting party. Choi Young, suspicious, looks around to see if this could be a surprise attack. Thankfully, it is not. The group continues forward as Jo Il-shin yells with indignation. How dare they treat the King this way? He’s just returned to Goryeo after being in Yuan for over ten years! Where are all the statesmen?!

It seems that all the statesmen have their antenna’s pointing to Ki Chul as the person to be loyal to. They are all at Ki Chul’s nephew’s birthday party.

Gongmin and his men are walking into the royal court with Jo Il-shin still yelling into his ear.  The room is empty. Gongmin slowly walks over to his throne.  He looks back at the princess and others. Some of them lower their eyes, ashamed and feeling sorry for the king. Choi Young goes over to the guard and asks where everyone else is. “We sent two messages for everyone to greet the king.” The guard struggles to answer. (Joonni: Sad. What it is a king without people to follow him?)

A group of palace women (sang-goong) enter the court and bow before the king. The older woman asks if Gongmin remembers her. “When you were ten and was dragged away to Yuan, I was the last hand you held.” King remembers her. “Choi sang-goong? (or Lady Choi).” He is happy to see her; her personality is exactly as he remembers her. She tells King Gongmin to rest and his palace men escort him away. The other sang-goongs lead No-gook to her bedroom to rest.

Lady Choi walks over to Choi Young. In a familiar tone, like that of a mother-figure, she scolds him,  “Look at the face. You are someone who protects the king.” She tsks at him before she leaves. Choi Young smiles (Joonni: Gotta screencap that rare smile.) Eun-soo looks into Choi Young’s face at Lady Choi’s comment. She doesn’t like what she sees. She tries feel his forehead but Young won’t let her. Jang Bin tries as well but Choi Young also blocks him.

Once in the hallway, Choi Young struggles to stand, crippled by the pain.

Eun-soo explains to Jang Bin how someone can become septic. She asks Jang Bin if the place where they are currently are is Jang Bin’s hospital. He explains it is the royal clinic. Jang Bin wants to know if Choi Young is becoming septic, but Eun-soo doesn’t know. He won’t let her check him out.

Choi Young is alone, trying to heal himself with his nae-gong. Through a voice-over, we hear Eun-soo explain to Jang Bin the symptoms that indicate sepsis. The important thing is to catch it in the beginning. It can spread to the other organs and it will become hard to treat.

Eun-soo says she can save Choi young if he has sepsis with medicine. The problem is that there is no medicine right now.

The court ladies and Lady Choi follow No-gook, asking if she wants to take a bath first. Since No-gook doesn’t answer, Lady Choi assumes that No-gook doesn’t know the Goryeo language. She starts talking to herself about how there were rumors that No-gook was very ill. She looks at No-gook and comments that No-gook looks like she is pretty, although looks like she has a temper. No-gook replies, in Goryeo language, that she will bathe first before eating. Lady Choi is surprised.

No-gook remembers the last time she surprised someone with her ability to speak Goryeo. Flashback to a year ago in Yuan, when Gongming met No-gook for the first time. He was trying to hide from his manservant when he ran into No-gook. He thought she was a Yuan woman because of her outfit but when she spoke Goryeo, he assumed she was a Goryeo female sent as a tribute to Yuan. He apologizes to her for the powerlessness of Goryeo. He asks, “Do you want to go back to our land Goryeo? Let’s go. I can send you back with some of the Goryeo statesmen who are going back soon.” He grabs her hand and leads her out.

No-gook continues to remember. She remembers asking Gongmin who he is avoiding. He says the princess. They brought him here to Yuan when he was twelve, forcing him to basically serve the Yuan king. Now they want him to become the king’s son-in-law. She asks if he does not want to.

Gongmin replies of course. Yuan is making him it’s son-in-law to control him. No-gook puts her hand on his arm to calm him. She suggests that maybe the princess could be of help. Marrying a Yuan princess will help him become a king of Goryeo. Still Gongmin does not want to marry someone he hasn’t even seen once. No-gook asks, “Are you sure?” Gongmin is and even if he had seen her, he doesn’t want to marry a Yuan woman.

Back in present time, No-gook and Gongmin pass each other in the hallway, barely acknowledging each other’s presence.  The flashback continues. In this one, Gongmin asks No-gook, “Please help me as a woman of Goryeo. Be my first wife so I don’t have to marry the Yuan princess. Just like this, listen to me when I complain in Goryeo language, and hold me when I shake in anger or fear. I won’t let a Yuan woman take your place.” Tears well in No-gook’s eyes.

The King is led to his own room and he looks pleased to be there.

Eun-soo follows Jang Bin to some medicinal herb nursery. He starts picking herbs and asks Eun-soo to wait while he gets the medicine ready. She says she is hungry – is there a cafeteria around this hospital? Jang Bin asks if all doctors from heaven are like her – just give up on treatment because there is no medicine. Earth doctors aren’t like that. They try this medicine or that medicine. Eun-soo looks ashamed as Jang Bin leaves, saying he will ask for lunch for her. Eun-soo hears someone outside so she picks up a spade to defend herself. Unfortunately, she bumps into a low stone wall and cuts her knee.

Choi Young goes over to check on Eun-soo and asks Deo-gi (a mute; she grows the medicinal herbs and plants) if Eun-soo is inside. He speaks in a friendly tone to Deo-gi. He can guess that Eun-soo is here because Deo-gi looks annoyed. (Joonni: HA! So Eun-soo has that effect on everyone!)

Choi Young sees Eun-soo inside the room through the window panes. Eun-soo is lifting up her pant leg to check her wound. Choi Young quickly averts his eyes.  (Joonni: Oh the taboo of seeing a lady’s bare leg! That’s modern woman for you, Choi Young, or in your case, a heavenly doctor.)

She calls out to see if anyone is there. Choi Young does not answer and as Eun-soo proceeds to complain about the lack of food, Choi Young continues to look curiously at her through the window. Deo-gi brings Eun-soo some rice cakes. Eun-soo asks for some water too because it’s easy to get indigestion if you eat rice cakes without water. The girl glares at her so Eun-soo retracts. “Never mind, I will find it on my own.”

Choi Young asks Deo-gi to take care of Eun-soo. Please, he promised to protect her. Choi Young hears Eun-soo choking on rice cakes and asking for water. He smiles to himself.

Choi Young is inspecting his wound when Dae-man calls for him. He quickly covers himself. Dae-man informs Young that the king is asking for him. Choi Young leaves and Dae-man notices the bloody bandages on the floor.

Gongmin hears that ministers who were faithful to him all died on the same day, same place, and in the same way. (It was those men that Ki Chul had ordered killed in episode 2.)  Jo Il-shin orders Young to storm Ki Chul’s home and kill everyone. Gongmin asks Young if it is possible for him to do so.

No it’s not.  Choi Young explains that warriors who command thousands of men are at Ki Chul’s party and everyone who is there is loyal to Ki Chul. Gongming: “They say that Ki Chul already killed everyone who would be loyal to me. Do you think that is it possible?” Choi Young answers: “He is capable of it but I don’t know if he actually did that.”

Jo Il-shin reminds Gongmin that he is a loyal servant to the king. Gongmin looks past him and says to Choi Young, “There is only person I can trust. It is you, dae-jang. You proved it with your life. You followed my command, putting your life on stake.” Choi Young lowers his gaze; he looks uncomfortable but Gongmin continues, “I will regard you as trusted friend from now on. Will you do the same for me?”

Choi Young doesn’t answer. He simply hands a letter to Gongmin explaining that he got this letter from the previous king. The previous king had given him permission to leave the palace and live a normal life after he completed the task of bringing Gongmin to the palace safely. Young says, “Since I brought you to the palace, my last job is done. Please give me permission to leave.” Gongmins looks hurt and asks, “In a place like this – at a time like this- you are going to abandon me? Choi Young asks for forgiveness.

The Woodalchi guys are looking over the crime scene where the ministers died. Choi Young is also there. He flashes back to the conversation between him and Gongmin. The king had said, “If you do one more thing, I will consider following this order for you to leave.” Choi Young protests but Gongmin reminds him that he is the current king. “Find out who poisoned all the ministers. Find evidence. Find out who and why I have to fight.”

Choong-suk asks Choi Young to go and rest. Young orders Choong-suk to not speak so loudly; his head is ringing. Dae-man calls out that he found it; he found the evidence! Choong-suk hands the bloody letter to Choi Young. “It is evidence.” Choi Young asks why it is evidence. Choong-suk replies, “See the blood. As they were dying, they spat out blood. It’s evidence…” Choi Young: “Evidence for what?” Choong-suk can’t answer. Choi Young announces that they will all get ready to go to the party. (Joonni: Hee, Does Choong-suk think that will really work as evidence against Ki Chul? Ki Chul is smarter and stronger than you think. Thank goodness that Choi Young seems to know this already.)

The Woodalchi enter the party room over at Ki Chul’s. Choong-suk declares a royal order but the men ignore him. Ki Chul watches with smile as Choong-suk announces himself again. Ki Chul thinks it’s a message from the king, congratulating the Ki household.

Choi Young walks up to Ki Chul, with a smile, repeating that this is a royal order. Choi Young’s face hardens and so does Ki Chul’s as Choi reminds him that this is the King’s first royal order and Ki Chul needs to bow down and show respect to the king. Ki Chul takes the royal scroll from Choong-suk. Young leans in and quietly whispers,  “Shouldn’t you hear the royal order in a quieter place?” Ki Chul laughs, thinking that Choi Young needs to deliver the order secretly because the king is ashamed of having to suck up to Ki Chul in the presence of the other statesmen.

Back in the Woodalchi lair, Choong-suk asks Choi Young where he got the scroll. They never received an order from the king. Choi Young throws over a scroll. Choong-suk opens it. It is a list of the ministers who were killed by Ki Chul. But this scroll is not the one that Choi Young showed him. What he showed Ki Chul was bait.

Flashback. When Young and Ki Chul met alone, Young showed the bloodied note to Ki Chul, telling him it was discovered at the site of the ministers’ death. Choi Young can’t understand the message so he came to Ki Chul for his knowledge. That was the royal command. The King wants Ki Chul is to help Choi Young find out all the culprits behind the incident.

Choong-suk looks pleased and keeps asking Choi Young what is the next step. Choi Young sleepily murmurs,  “I don’t know,” but when Choong-suk continues to pester, Choi Young throws some books at him. “Let me sleep! Get out!”

Outside the lair, Dae-man runs into Eun-soo looking for Choi Young. Dae-man’s eyes go to Eun-soo’s leg. She has cut off her pants, making them look like shorts. All the Woodalchi guys stare at her legs as she walks past them. (Joonni: Who knew that bare legs can be this funny? Hahahaha!)

Choi Young sits up as Eun-soo approaches him. She takes out some pills and bandages from her bag. She asks Young to come down and take off his shirt. When he doesn’t listen, Eun-soo walks up to him. She wants to clean and check his stitches and take his pulse. She reaches for his hand but he slaps her hand away. In exasperation, she says, “I don’t want to hold your hand. I just want to take your pulse. I won’t hold your hand so don’t worry. “

Choi Young yells at the guys. Who was out on guard today? Can anyone just come in and out of here? Eun-soo asks for his hand again but he ignores her and orders the his men – escort this person back to her room. Eun-soo throws the bandages in anger at Choi Young and he turns around to face her.

Eun-soo cries. What did she do that was so wrong? “I was perfectly normal and living well when you came and took me away. Last year l bought an officetel -I still have a lot of payments left on it but it’s still my home. I want to go to my home now and shower in my bathroom, wear my pjs and sleep on my bed, but you dragged me away. They don’t even feed me properly here.  I thought this was a dream but no matter how much I try to wake up, I can’t. That means I really stabbed a person –  I said I would treat you but you wont let me touch you so what do you want me to do? Yes – I stabbed you – I am sorry. Since I am sorry – please get treated.”

Choi Young walks over and pushes her against the beam. He looks over at his men and they quietly leave. Young speaks in a low but tension-filled voice. “That’s why…what did I tell you before? At that place by the portal to the heaven where you stabbed me –  I told you to leave me there alone and go, didn’t I?”

Choi Young continues. “Why do you want to save me so much? Because of you, do you know what I…” Choi Young doesn’t finish. Eun-soo retorts. “So do you want to die? Looking at your condition right now, it is possible.” Choi Young warns her. “With that mouth – just go around one more time saying that I could die. I will shut that mouth properly.”

Choi Young walks off and tells her to not roam around the palace or go into rooms with only men inside like this. “And one more thing.  Cover up your lower half somehow. I don’t know what the clothes are like in heaven but on earth…”

Eun-soo grabs Choi Young’s arm that has been blocking her from leaving before he finished talking to her. He tries to pull his hand away but Eun-soo holds on tightly. She is trying to measure his body temperature. She feels her own forehead, figuring that Choi Young has a fever. She hands him a bottle of aspirin. She wants him to take two pills, three times a day. It won’t be of much help but still…

Eun-soo, unable to look at Choi Young, softly says, “Don’t die.” Choi Young: “What?” Eun-soo: “I said, don’t die. I know you are a crazy psycho but if you leave me alone and die – then what do I do?” She gently takes his hand and puts the bottle in it and leaves.

Choi Young falls to his knees in pain. Dae-man watches from above and Choi Young struggles to get hold of himself.

Preview for episode 4:

Ki Chul: Tell the other statesmen that I am going to go see the king. But before that…

Hwasooin to Young: I have something to tell you.

Young holds his sword to her neck and says: I have nothing I want to hear from you.

Hwasooin: You’re too much.

Choi Young: Then die.

Choi Young attacks Hwasoonin with his sword.

Ki Chul: I’ve only heard of that unit (referring to the guerilla night attack unit that Choi Young used to be part of before he joined the Woodalchi.) Why didn’t I think of making that warrior my own?

Eun-soo is telling Gongmin about the shrines to Gongmin and Choi Young in the future.

Eun-soo: Who did you say the psycho was?

No-gook feels Young’s forehead and says you are feverish and you won’t get treatments. “Don’t die. This is an order from your queen.”

Softy’s Comments:

I literally got chills from this episode. So many gripping scenes that draw you into the story like someone is grabbing your collar and saying – watch this and listen to every word so you don’t miss how great this is. The central plot doesn’t dwell on her situation hardly at all. What is happening around her takes precedence and it makes the story more exciting with each new episode.

Now I am wondering – is the princess going to fall in love with Young too? Not that I blame her or anything ….Whether it’s Goryeo or 2012 – Young still looks like that so who can resist?

I just realized what Young is really in for from here on by offering to protect ES until he can return her. All this time he was the general so he barked the orders, but suddenly he is being pushed around by a woman. So far no man could even get near him or disturb him as he slept, but she comes into a room and he sits up without a word of complaint. ES may be the one who is going to suffer trying to live in this new world, but he is going to as well just having to endure all her complaints. For a fleeting second there when he was listening to her cry as she wished she could be sleeping in her own bed at home, I thought I saw a glimmer of remorse or compassion cross his face.

It’s like it just dawned on him that what he did by kidnapping her was sort of cruel and unfair. At the time he was just following an order, but now he sees a person who had her own life back there so I bet part of him thinks he deserves to put up with her rants. Something tells me he doesn’t know women very well so I bet he has no idea how much more venting and complaining she is capable of in the near future. Pretty soon he won’t be thanking his lucky stars and wish that sword she drove in him hit something more vital. I wonder if this is going to be a running joke between them like on K2H when JH shot the girl. She never did let him live that down. Something tells me Young won’t hold such a grudge though as he starts to fall for her. At first I had my reservations about ever rooting for this couple, but LMH is doing such a convincing job that I am beginning to think his charm doesn’t have any limits and can affect anyone within close proximity. 

Written before it aired: After last week’s wave of new dramas, once the dust settled, there was surprisingly only one I didn’t care to pursue and it was the weekend drama “May Queen.” Just those constant shots of the ships and harbor kept reminding me what I was in for and even all those great child actors couldn’t keep that plot going for me. Every time a baby gets taken away or switched on the first episode, that’s my cue to bail. It never quite bodes well for the rest of the drama when that happens. So it’s a small miracle and I made it past the first two episodes – I give full credit to those child actors. The dramas that really knocked it out of the park for me were these three – Faith, Arang, and To The Beautiful You. I have been looking forward to Faith for quite some time and even having an older lead didn’t dissuade me from tuning in the first night. I loved how quick paced the plot was and that’s always more fun to recap. Watching a character being yanked from her comfort zone to a totally unfamiliar territory is going to be interesting-especially given the fact that after Rooftop, QIHM, and Dr. Jin, EunSoo will be the first female character that has to acclimate to a whole new environment. We all saw how the men fared so let’s see how everything unfolds from a whole new perspective.

It’s been a while since I co-blogged with someone so I feel like I should be on my extra good behavior. Those who know my recap style are used to the quick recap during the time it airs and then how the rest get filled in after it ends. I will try my best to quickly fill most of the lines in after torrents come out so there is less work for Joonni. If there is an action scene long enough, I will update faster.

Joonni’s comments:

This episode was focused on establishing the dynamic between Ki Chul and Choi Young + Gongmin, leaving the relationship between Eun-soo and Choi Young rather underdeveloped. There’s a lot of stories and relationships this drama wants to explore. How does one become a good leader? How does one become a good healer? The drama is trying to explore  personal stories, politics, and medicine. There’s a dense fantasy world, historical figures, comedy, and romance. There are a lot of characters, each with a different relationship to each other, each with their own story. At this point, I think the drama is still struggling to find the balance between the stories; thus, in my eyes at least, the awkward editing and shifting between scenes. The drama is kind of sprawling right now and I think it can up the tension with tighter editing.

You know what? As I am writing this comment, I stumbled upon a hypothesis. Am I finding this drama slow because of the character who are not all “geniuses”? I guess I have gotten used to all the “genius” characters in dramaland, where everyone is the best in their field. In this drama, we have everyone struggling with what they are doing. Gongmin is a weak king. Jang Bin, although he is described as the number one doctor in Goryeo, has only been able to stand by as Eun-soo does her stuff. Eun-soo is also just a regular doctor, not a lead figure in her field. Choi Young is supposed to be a great warrior, but I haven’t really seen anything that amazes me, since he is so reluctant to be one. I hope we get a back story soon for Choi Young. It would help to know why Choi Young wants to leave the palace so desperately; to have no desire to live. He’s so angry with Eun-soo for keeping him alive. What made Choi Young like this?

To tell you the truth, I expected epic with this drama. Damn you trailers! But what we are getting first and foremost is a character drama, a story told through the relationships between individuals. Right now, our “good people” are all struggling with their individual problems. They are at odds with each other, not united yet in a battle against the enemy. They are all a bit lost, unsure of their motivation and situation. I look forward to see them come together and finally unite to fight off the bad guys. And I demand some epic fight scenes when that happens, in reward for my patience! I want to see bloody, sweaty men fighting other bloody, sweaty men! 😀 Hey, with fantasy, wuxia elements, what do you expect me to expect? Maybe the drama should have left out the fantasty…
***For some clarity, so readers don’t have to continually check, you will be able to tell when I, Joonni, have finished editing and filling in the recap when you see the post renamed. I will rename it in the this format: Recap: “Faith” Episode (?). Softy will name hers as: Faith E(?) Live Recap. Hope this helps.***