#I CANOT BELIEVE THIS EPISODE IS REAL

[rileyclaw]

“thanks for what you said back there. you mean a lot to me, too”

“cool. happy to help.”

[farmgirlusa]

So here we go.  This should be a wild ride for everyone who follows along with me.  I’ll be putting the bulk of the recap review under a read more so that I don’t needlessly clutter up peoples feeds.  So I’m starting with The Moon Embracing the Sun.  I decided to start out with this one not only because it was my introduction to Korean and then eventually the greater world of Asian Drama’s but because at 20 episodes it’s not as intense or politically wieldy as my other favorites The Story of Minglan or Dong Yi.  Not to say its not intense and trigger warning now there are scenes of intense violence in these shows and that violence is against both men and women. There is no graphic sexual content in any of these shows but they more than make up for it in violence.  In just the first episode of TMETS a man is assassinated and a woman is framed as being a traitor to the country, tortured and executed.  So these shows are not for those who cannot stand the sight of people being tortured or killed.  And Apparently I lied about the youtube link.  I’ve been looking but I cannot find the link for episode 1.  Episode 1 and 2 are the only episodes free on Viki without a paid subscription so I might have to switch up my shows but we’ll see.  I have a paid subscription and I love it.  It prices out to be about the same as a netflix subscription and I use it just as much.

So without further ado lets get into episode one of The Moon Embracing the Sun. Viki Link

The episode starts with a woman telling a legend about 2 suns in the sky and 2 moons and how that was so detrimental to Joseon (Ancient Korea).  The days were extremely hot and the nights extremely cold.  Everything was chaos and people were miserable until a Hero appeared and used arrows to shoot down one sun and one moon leaving only one sun and one moon in the sky righting the world again.

This story really sets the stage for this whole drama and the dangers of having 2 people with the potential to become king and as the series progresses 2 people with the potential to become queen can cause chaos in the country because the world cannot handle 2 suns and 2 moons.

The opening scene is the Dowager queen having tea with her nephew casually discussing murder.  Her son’s older half-brother is now someone she views as a threat and she wants her nephew to take care of that threat for her. As this series progresses you will learn that Dowager Queen Jung Hui eventually Grand Dowager Queen Jung Hui has a real knack for getting other people to do her dirty work for her.

We cut to a bunch of ninja’s running around a home putting up talismans and burying notebooks, leading the viewer to believe that if this is the home of the King’s half-brother then it’s very likely that he’s not interested in vying for the throne so evidence must be fabricated to make this murder justified.  The prince is a little bit wilier than the assassins’ thought as he’s not in bed asleep and takes them by surprise wanting to know who ordered them to attack him.

At the temple of the Shaman’s, an all female order of Taoist maybe Daoist I’m not precisely sure exactly what religion they practice two acolytes are resting when one wakes up with a deep sense of foreboding.  Her friend and roommate tries to convince her not to follow her intuition but the woman, Ari, won’t listen and rushes out.  Her friend Jang Nok-Young tries to stop her but is overwhelmed herself by her own feelings of foreboding that causes her to freeze and lose sight of her friend.

Back at the Prince’s manor he get’s bested by the assasins but before they can kill him they are stopped by the Queen’s nephew who seems to be there to brag and be sure the job is done properly maybe?  While he’s bragging the Prince tells him basically he won’t get away with this, with framing him as a traitor who is the King going to believe truly his brother or a power hungry cousin.  Yoon just laughs and says the prince will never get the chance to meet with the king and not to worry about anyone attempting to plead his cause as his best friend is being killed/set up to look like a suicide, and framed right along with him. Yoon kills the Prince and it is all witnessed by Ari.  However Yoon sees her in the reflection of his sword and sends his assassins after her. Ari is injured and falls over a cliff, she also loses her hair tie which gives Yoon a clue as to her identity as a royal shaman.

No witness can be allowed so a quick meeting of the shaman’s is called to see who is missing.  Ari is quickly discovered to not be among the ranks. This is all reported to the Dowager Queen.  There is cause to worry as Ari is one of 2 candidates among the Shaman’s who is said to have exceptionally powerful divine gifts.  The other being her best friend Jang.  Should she make it to the King there’s a good chance she’ll be believed.  So the devious queen thinks quick Ari was formerly a servant in the prince’s a home, how scandalous a prince and a shaman in love and she cast a spell to help him become king.  Yoon goes they don’t have proof of that, the queen goes the Head Shaman does my bidding we’ll have all the proof we need.  Find the girl.

We cut to the royal police showing up at the Prince’s residence and the residence of his best friend only to find them both dead.  The king is given the suicide note, the head of the royal police seems to have taken this all as fact and believes that the Prince’s death is the result of dissent in the traitors forces and that the person who committed suicide repented and that was why he commited suicide.  Yoon puts on a big show claiming guilt for not being able to root out the traitors sooner claiming her wants to be punished when the Chief Shaman shows up.  They give her the talisman that had been put up at the Prince’s residence asking her what it is.  She claims it’s a talisman to enhance the sun’s power and that it was created by Ari.   The king gives the order for Ari to be arrested.

So far we haven’t met any of our main characters yet up next we kinda of meet one.  Ari who is wandering hurt through the woods collapses hurt in front of the palanquin of the wife of an official Chief Scholar Heo. The woman is heavily pregnant and pities the woman who is so injured she immediately demands her servants put the woman in her palanquin with her over her servants protests.  They are of course stopped at the gates by guards who are looking for Ari.  The servant recognizes the picture of Ari but states that the guard cannot search her lady’s palanquin due to the fact that she is heavily pregnant.  The guard questions Lady Heo who tells him she is heavily pregnant and canot get out easily so he has two choices he can just let her go through or he can let her go through and follow her to her home then search her palanquin.  The guard decides to let her go but as they are leaving he notices blood dripping from the palanquin.  He immediately stops them opens the window only to see Lady Heo bent over in pain in the palanquin with blood on her dress causing her servants to freak out that she’s in labor.  Upon being advised that this is Chief Scholar Heo’s wife and child the guard lets them through and tells them to hurry post haste.  Once clear of the guards they let Ari out of the carriage.  Ari tells Lady Heo that she doesn’t know how she can ever repay her for saving her life, after all she dirtied her dress and pretended to be in labor.  Lady Heo laughs and says she wasn’t pretending she truly felt like she was dying earlier so it wasn’t her but the child who saved her.  Ari looks at Lady Heo’s stomach and tells her that her daughter will be as radiant as the moon, that she will be born with an honorable fate. Then Ari has a sudden flash of images all of pretty girl smiling and laughing, then dressed up in the marriage dress of the crown princess, then an image of the same girl looking as if she is being choked, before the image of a grave.  She goes silent for so long that Lady Heo asks if she is ok Ari shakes it off and says that she’s just a little dizzy but she’ll be alright and brushes off Lady Heo’s concern.  The start to go their separate ways but even as Lady Heo’s servants have already picked up her palanquin and started carrying her away Ari chases after her and vows that she will protect Lady Heo’s daughter no matter what even if she dies.

Ari goes into the city and gets captured.  Once captured she is then tortured in an attempt to get her to admit to treason and slander the dead prince but she won’t do it and instead give’s Yoon a prophecy, that the moonlight was also the witness to his deeds not just her and that just wait someday the moonlight will reveal all his deeds, one day the moonlight will end his life.

Jang sneaks into the prison to see her best friend.  She scolds her and tells her that she should have known that there was no hope.  Ari of course says that it’s not that she wanted him, the prince to ascend the throne, she just wanted to protect him. Jang says she believes in Ari’s innocence, but she rages at the hopelessness of the situation and how she can’t do anything to help Ari.  Ari says this is all heaven’s will.  Jang basically says BS to that.  Jang says that I would be better for her to go to the King and tell him everything and hope he believes her.  Ari tells her she can’t because there is a child that Jang must protect now in Ari’s stead.  Then Ari gives another prophecy, about how if the child get’s closer to the sun it will cause devastation to her family, the child is one whose fate it is to protect the sun.  Jang must protect and keep that child safe.  Jang ants to know who this child is, but they are interrupted by the jail guard who says Jang needs to hurry up and leave before she gets discovered.  Ari doesn’t answer any more questions about the child just tells Jang she needs to survive and protect the Office of the Royal Shamans. Jang get’s dragged out before she can get any more information about who the child is.

The next day Ari is being tied hands and feet to four different oxen.  While that is going on she watches the sky and sees two suns appear in the sky and gets images of two boys playing together and laughing together, then the image of the girl from her previous vision.  She has her final vision of two suns and one moon and that she hopes all three of them can survive what is to come.  Then the oxen are driven in 4 different directions and Ari has one last flash of insight of a baby crying before everything goes out for her.

We flash to Lady Heo and her newborn daughter Yeon Woo.  Lady Heo is admiring her daughter with her son Yeom.  They talk about how pretty she is and how her father named her Yeon Woo. A nice brief sweet moment to take tour mind off all the harsh stuff that just happened then we go back to Jang who is burying Ari and remembering her final conversation with her best friend and trying to figure out what child Ari wanted her to protect.

We flash forward 13 years where the palace is in the midst of decorating.  A series of mishaps occur, a red parasol goes missing, a plate of sweet treats, and a bundle of clothes.  This is very confusing for the palace servants.  Now we meet Hyung-Sun for the first time.  Hyung-Sun is one of my favorite characters in this drama just for his expresions alone.  He’s the crown prince’s chief eunuch and confidant.  He just showed up to tell the prince that it’s time but upon entering the prince’s room he discovered him to be missing.  In another room the crown prince is changing from his princely clothes into those of a servant, looks at a map points to a section and smiles.  I’m sensing some royal hijinks are about to occur.

Yeon Woo and her mother arrive at the palace.  Lady Heo exits her palanquin quickly but isn’t sure why Yeon Woo isn’t getting out so she opens her daughter’s window and sees her reading a book.  Ladies and gentlemen this is part of the reason I fell in love with Yeon Woo she’s just absorbed in her book, just like me.  Mom of course is not impressed, let’s go it’s your brother’s big day.  In the palace a big ole graduation ceremony is taking place and Yeon Woo’s brother has graduated top of his class for literature.  Mom gives expose that Yeom’s best friend Woon is also there and points him out to Yeon Woo advising her that he’s top student in military and that he and another boy Yang are her brother’s best friends who studied under her father and this is also a great honor for her father because the two top students studied under him.

On the other side of the palace Hyung-Sun is in a panic cause the crown prince was just here an hour ago and if he can’t find him not only is he dead but the crown prince’s guards are dead too.

The King arrives at the ceremony.  While everyone is bowing down a yellow butterfly shows up and distract Yeon Woo. In another place the crown prince exits where he’s hidden sneaks some looks around then deploys his stolen parasol to maintain his complexion.  The graduates are called forward to get some pretty complex graduation caps and drink some celebratory tea.  Mama Heo suddenly notices that Yeon Woo is missing.

Yeon Woo is following the yellow butterfly to the courtyard where the prince is trying to make his grand escape over the wall.  Just as the prince is going over the wall he gets distracted by Yeon Woo and is completely amazed by her.  She’s startled to see someone trying to climb over the wall then he falls right on to her. The cherry blossoms fall all around them and they quickly get up .  The prince tries to save face he wants to know what she’s doing there, she wants to know why he’s climbing the wall.  The Prince, Lee Hwon is all I’m asking questions not you so she tells them she’s there for her brother’s graduation ceremony, he’s all I don’t believe you. Yeon Woo not at all detracted by him says she doesn’t care if he believes her or not she can’t stand for someone to be stealing from the palace she should be calling the guards right now and turns away to do so.  Lee Hwon of course can’t have that he tries to bluster but she looks at the bag he dropped that is obviously stuffed full of things.  Lee Hwon tries to bluster some more claims he was also just here for his brother who won an award, top military honors.  Yeon Woo isn’t buying that, that scholar is her brother’s best friend and he has no siblings.  Of course the prince can’t allow her to call the guards then he gets caught so when she shouts for the guards he grabs her hand and they race through the palace court yards.

An interesting discussion occurs between them.  First Lee Hwon discloses a portion of the truth to Yeon Woo not that he’s the crown prince or anything just that he was sneaking out of the palace to see his older brother.  Because of him his brother had to leave the palace and can’t visit much so he wanted to go visit him, while Lee Hwon is talking about his brother we see flashbacks of Lee Hwon and his brother and these are the same two boys from Ari’s vision earlier in the episode.  Lee Hwon is obviously very admiring of his brother and sad that as his older brother birth status he cannot take part in certain things like civil service exams. Yeon Woo scolds the prince for taking the blame for something he has no control over and the discussion becomes about politics.  Lee Hwon is completely smitten but he sees that Yeon Woo is embarrassed about talking politics something unseemly for a girl and uses it to try to convince to take his word that he’s not a thief.  She wants to know where he got all the things from the bag earlier.  He tells her everything is his, and then he almost tells her that he’s the crown prince then decides against it and tells her he’s a eunuch instead.

Back at the main gates Lady Heo is talking to a palace guard about her daughter and how she’s still missing and has been for over an hour.  She didn’t go to the palanquin so she must still be in the palace somewhere. While they are talking Lady Heo sees Yeon Woo and Lee Hwon over the guard’s shoulder and rushes to her daughter. Lee Hwon of course has to do quick lip work if he wants to keep his secret about being the crown prince from Yeon Woo.  The pair separate with Lee Hwon pushing the guard with him hoping to keep his secret. As Yeon Woo and her mother are in their palanquin’s getting ready to leave a palace maiden comes out with a note for Yeon Woo from Lee Hwon, who also gave her the verbal message to be careful at night from now on.  Yeon Woo thinks this is just him being worried about her and thanks the palace maiden before taking the message.

Back at the palace, Lee Hwon is being yelled out by his dad the King who wants to know what it is the palace isn’t offering to him that he feels the need to sneak out.  The prince is like basically I want to go out and have scholarly discussions with my big brother because the teachers you’ve hired for me have been dull at best.  Dad wasn’t impressed with this answer.  He punishes his son by basically grounding him to the palace but he also transfers all the teachers he doesn’t like away and states he will appoint new ones.  He states it like a punishment but sounds to me like dad was listening.

The Dowager Queen is taking care of her bonsai plant when her nephew the evil Yoon shows up.  They discuss botany and bonsai trees and how raising a bonsai tree is fulfilling because it’s about raising something to your liking, which transitions into a talk about the crown prince and the over haul of his education department.  What happens if he meets a teacher who guides him along a path they don’t want him to go? Yoon is already on top of that he tells her, the dowager queen tells him that in guiding this future king every step they take is crucial in maintaining their family’s hold on power.

The Queen is trying to talk sense into her husband about letting her stepson Yang Myung enter the palace freely.  She says that the king sent Yang out of the palace so early before he even got married, for those new to Korean period dramas princes who aren’t heirs to the throne are generally sent out of the palace after they get married not before. The king isn’t hearing it though. He tells the Queen that he feels the crown prince needs to get a hold of his emotions and start thinking first every king before him has gone through similar trials he’ll be fine.  As the queen is leaving the palace she runs into the King’s concubine and the mother of Prince Yang Myung.  She tells her that the king has ordered no visitors.  Lady Park apologizes to the queen but the queen is very cordial to the woman and inquires about Yang Myung and if he has been calling on her.  Lady Park advises the queen that no her son hasn’t been to visit her she believes he has left the city for a trip.  The Queen tells Lady Park that when Yang returns to make sure he visits her to pay his respects but more importantly to make sure he goes to see the prince who misses him.

Another reason why a started with this series is because unlike my other two that I’ll be going over this is the only multiple relationship in the show.  Aside from Lady Park there are no other concubines shown or actually taken.  Monogamy isn’t really a thing in ancient Korea or China which is very evident in Dong Yi where the King has a queen and 2 concubines of which Dong Yi is one, and the Story of Minglan where Minglan is the daughter of a scholar’s unfavored concubine.  This show while there are mentions of taking concubine’s and being considered the king’s woman even if not married to the king, other than Lady Park every relationship is strictly monogamous aside from the variety of love triangles/squares that form up later on in the show.

We now meet Prince Yang Myung who is selling geese at a market to get money to buy presents for his friends.  Who are his friends well if you were paying attention Mama Heo earlier talked about Yeom’s other friend Yang Myung who took lessons with Scholar Heo so it’s save to assume that his friends are Yeom and Woon.  While in town he notices a line of people.  Yang inquires about the people and what they are there for.  The helpful man he’s selling the geese to tells him that there’s a blind shaman child who can diagnose all illnesses and healing rocks that can heal all illnesses.  Yang decides that these healing rocks seem like good gifts for his friends and gets in line.  Shaman Jang who is now the Chief Shaman also approaches, one of her acolytes tells her that this is a scam where they starve an abuse the child until it dies then pick up a new child and move to a new town to set up the scam all over again. Jang says she needs to go in and see for herself.  She’s stopped from just entering by Yang who tells her that she needs to have a number before she can enter and that he’s ahead of her.  

The sight of him stops Jang as she recognizes him as a sun.  It distracts her from what she’s there for as her sight keeps her focused on Yang instead of the child she was there to observe.  She keeps thinking two suns in Joseon’s sky, a rather ominious statement if you think about the beginning of this episode.

Yang gets himself into trouble by pretending to have a leg injury to trick the scammers.  The kid however proves to have some actual gift when she tells Yang that he has a light in him which catches Jang’s attention. She can’t really describe the light as being anything other than yellow or red before saying she’s hungry.  Yang exposes the con artists and takes the kid and runs.  However in true slapstick comedy style he soon is caught by the con artists.  Who take the kid and surround him.  Yang gets beat up initially.  Then stands up and beats the cons in a really nice display of martial arts.  Another thing I love about these shows is how well choreographed the fight scenes are.

The con who takes the kid soon runs into Jang who tells him to let the kid go.  The con is like I’m not gonna do that but then sees the guard coming through the crowd and decides to cut his losses and leaves the kid with Jang.

Yang returns to the capital and stands on a hill overlooking the palace to make his greetings, internally asking their forgiveness for not entering the palace to make the greetings personally.

Lee Hwon is brooding in his courtyard about Yeon Woo.  He regrets not telling her he was the crown prince but at the same time thinks that had he told her then her nagging would have increased.  He’s sad because he thinks they won’t be able to meet again. He looks up and see the red parasol he used earlier floating above the trees.  Lee Hwon takes it as a hopeful sign that perhaps they might meet again.

Yeon Woo is reading the note the prince gave her which turns out to be a riddle.  If you draw it, it will be round.  If you write it, it will be straight.  The rabbit lives and the rooster dies.  This stumps her she even asks her maid Seol what she thinks it means. Seol tells her if the rooster dies then who will wake them up in the morning then Seol tells her to stop thinking about it and go to bed before she gets scolded by her father.  Of course Yeon Woo doesn’t go to bed instead she goes outside to look at her note in the moonlight to see if possibly more writing will appear in the moonlight.  Unbeknownst to her she is being watched by Yang.  Suddenly something Seol told her clicks and Yeon Woo realizes it’s about time what rises at a certain time and dies at a certain time which is the sun. She’s excited to have figured out the riddle then everything else clicks as she remembers the boy in the palace and what this riddle means.  Yeon Woo is horrified that the boy from the palace might possibly be the crown prince and is grateful that she won’t see him again.

 Review:  Episode 1 is really about setting up the story, really the first 5 or six episodes are about setting up the story and the main love triangle which is between Lee Hwon, Yeon Woo and Yang Myong.  This episode is also a real nice intro into Korean period drama.  Korean Torture was sure different from Western Medieval torture, no racks but using two poles between the legs to split them, ouch.  Episode 1 down 19 to go.  I had a migraine most of today which is why I didn’t get through this as fast as I’d hoped to, hopefully I can get through more than one episode tomorrow.