Mini-recap: The Great Seer Episode 5

A busy day for death reapers T.T

Episode 5

Dong-ryun shows up just as Sourface is about to shoot. Learning that Dong-ryun is Ji-sang's father seems to throw Sourface off course. He retreats for the moment. But trouble is not over yet. Seong-gye and his men are still adamant on dragging Ji-sang off. He's accused of treason. Dong-ryun tries to explain that a child this young could not possibly be linked to treason and it is then that Seong-gye recognizes him. He even affects a growl to jog Dong-ryun's memory. Hah. They have a moment of light-hearted mini-reunion until Dong-ryun asks about Ji-sang's case. Seong-gye explains that they need to find out how Ji-sang knew about the assassination and who is involved. Dong-ryun thinks it may be a misunderstanding and ask for some time to sort things out with his son. Seong-gye refuses at first due to the gravity of the matter. Dong-ryun wants to collect on his favor (he saved Seong-gye's life) and Seong-gye eventually agrees to give him an hour's time.

Ji-sang shows dad the sketch and explains how there were men after dad. He asks for the reasons but dad remains quiet and deep in thought. After a moment, dad declares that they need to escape and instructs Ji-sang to pack lightly. Then he checks on Seong-gye and his men who's standing guard outside. Oh dear, not sure that's such a bright idea...

Meanwhile, Yeong-ji commends the kids for returning safely and taking care of their sick friend. Seong-bok slyly implies that credit should go to Jung-geun who has a compass. Oh uh. Jung-geun surrenders the compass and apologizes, much to Yeong-ji's chagrin.

Yeong-ji gives Jung-geun a sound talking to for owning a compass - an object from China which is forbidden in Goryeo. Jung-geun explains quietly that he just wanted to be first in school, so that mum would be proud of him. Aww... Because of his young age, he won't be reported to the authorities but he will be banned from SeoWoonGuan classes until further notice. Jung-geun accepts his punishment quietly and turns to leave. Yeong-ji addresses him as his mother now and praises him for using the compass to save his friend even though he knew he would be punished. Jung-geun lightens up a little instantly. Aww...

As expected, Sourface reports back to Ryun-gae and In-nim. In-nim wants to go after Dong-ryun immediately but Ryun-gae stops him. She knows he hates Dong-ryun's guts but his anger would not be assuaged just by killing him now. Err. What's next, witch?

Meanwhile, the Gibang ahjumma cajoles the watching guard, Yoo No-suk with some fine alcohol and pretty ladies into letting her check on Ji-sang whom she regards like a son. Inside, Dong-ryun tries to hide the fact that he's planning to escape.

Ahjumma: "I've been in this business for 30 years. After meeting people from all walks of life, slowly I've become a good judge of people. Ever since you came here with a newly born Ji-sang, I knew you were not just any ordinary rebel. Due to some inexplicable circumstances, you were here because you needed a place to hide. And now it's time for you to leave..."

Ahjumma explains that the guard outside will be asleep soon because of the poisoned drinks, so they should make their escape then. Dong-ryun is wary of getting her involved but she insists that she's a willing party.

Ryun-gae thinks revenge is best served by stealing the things important to Dong-ryun - namely his son and the Purple Forbidden Enclosure - and then killing him while he's pleading desperately. In-nim seems to concur. And I'm not gonna tell you that's a bad idea because you're the baddies and I want my adult casts to appear.

At the Gibang, Dong-ryun and Ji-sang slips out when No-suk is drunk and out (he's gonna receive so much flak from Seong-gye later. Heh). Ahjumma has already prepared food for their journey. Ji-sang promises to keep in contact and dad assures her they'll be safe. Ban-ya runs to them as well and asks if Ji-sang is going to return. Ji-sang assures her he'll be back so she should wait for him there. She agrees and warns that she'll die if he doesn't return.

The boys reach some sort of tavern where dad tells Ji-sang to wait for him while he goes in search for a horse. No! Not a good idea!

No-suk wakes up from his drunken state and panics when he finds Ji-sang and Dong-ryun gone. The guards are immediately dispatch to hunt them down. Meanwhile, Sourface and his group of masked men sneaks into  the Gibang and begins slaying everyone in sight. *Gasp*. It's a massacre! Oh dear me. Ahjumma sees her gisaengs being killed and hides but Sourface has already noticed her. Worse, the Gibang is being torched.

As fire breaks out, the townfolks are alerted as well. Ji-sang learns of the fire and mutters, "No!"

In the Gibang, ahjumma is stabbed through the walls by Sourface who's found her out. Ji-sang makes it back to the Gibang and rushes into the fire in search of ahjumma and Ban-ya. Meanwhile, dad is back to find that Ji-sang has headed back to the Gibang. So he goes back to the gibang as well.

Ji-sang finds a dying ahjumma and tries to drag her to safety despite her telling him to run away by himself. They've covered some grounds before ahjumma sees a burning beam falling into their path. She pushes him to safety with the last of her strength but gets trapped beneath the beam. The heavy fire prevents Ji-sang from getting closer.

Ban-ya manages to escape the massacre by hiding under the building all these while. She tries to creep out but the fire keeps her back. She soon passes out due to the thick smoke. Ji-sang calls out to her but by doing so gives out his position. Sourface grabs hold of him. Meanwhile, dad rushes into the fire for Ji-sang just as Seong-gye reaches the scene.

Dad frantically looks for Ji-sang among the littered bodies while Seong-gye examines the scene as well, wondering who's behind this. In a darkened corner, Sourface holds Dong-ryun at knifepoint and hurriedly tells Dong-ryun to come for his son alone with the Purple Forbidden Enclosure if he wants his son alive. Seong-gye approaches them curiously and asks who that is. Sourface disappears and a shell-shocked Dong-ryun offers no reply and runs off.

Seong-gye leaves him be, realizing they can get nothing out of him in this state. Then he turns on No-suk for allowing this to happen because he got drunk. He tries to defend himself but Seong-gye orders him executed,  military style. No-suk pleads for a second chance for he rather dies in a battle. Seong-gye seems unmoved until his other underling swings the sword. He spares No-suk in the last minute and orders him to follow Dong-ryun. He's got a hunch that this is all related to the King's assassination attempt. No-suk promises to be on it and eagerly runs off to carry out his orders. Seong-gye warns him not to fail him again and he promises to quit drinking from now on. Hah.

Jong-dae slips into the gibang quietly after Seong-gye and his men leave. He goes through the scene, lamenting about everyone's fate but seems only vaguely concerned. He even scavenges a ring off the gisaeng he used to be close with. Aish, he's not quite the sympathetic soul is he. He sees Ban-ya's lifeless body and thinks she's dead as well after prodding her a couple of times. But Ban-ya weak cries for help stops him in his track.

Coldfeet turns to Ryun-gae for advice, fearful of being caught. Ryun-gae says that the caught warrior would not be able to withstand the interrogation for long so they must shut him up for good. But Coldfeet is incredulous. Kill him? How? The security is tight.

Cut to the prison where In-nim and Choi-young are interrogating the prisoner using torture. Seong-gye joins them but thinks that torture won't work for tough ones like him. Hes got a better idea.

Ryun-gae suggests that they kill the caught warrior through interrogation. It's perfectly reasonable that the prisoner might not survive the torture during interrogation. Furthermore, Coldfeet is known to be loyal to the King, no one would ever suspect him of treason. Coldfeet's face harden in resolve, his fear gone now.

Meanwhile, Seong-gye has returned to his maniacal self, threatening to pull out the guys teeth one after another. And after that...his eyeballs. Gawd, I get goosebumps just imagining that. But he's interrupted by Coldfeet who barges in, all righteous anger, demanding to know who's the culprit. He bludgeons the poor dude over the head and has too be restrained by Seong-gye. Too bad it's too late cuz the poor fella is dead. In-nim smirks knowingly while Seong-gye is frustrated that his efforts is all for naught.

Seong-gye is still sore about losing their only witness. Choi-young asks about the boy but Seong-gye says that the Gibang where he's met the boy has been burnt down and the boy's whereabouts is unknown. In-nim slyly implies that Coldfeet is the reason they're facing this dead end and true enough, it raises Seong-gye's suspicions over Coldfeet's actions. Choi-young orders Seong-gye to search Coldfeet's home.

Thus, Seong-gye arrives at Coldfeet's home to conduct a search.

At SeoWoonGak, Jung-geun is assigned cleaning duties while the rest attends class. Hae-in finds him after class and shows him her palm which has fully healed. She thanks him for saving her and everyone else with the compass. The mention of the compass makes him all depressed again, seeing how he's had to miss class. He shoos her off but she grabs his hand, thanking him earnestly for saving her life. He's pretty affected by the skinship and asks to be repaid by her teaching him what he missed in class. She agrees readily. But since he's still banned from the classroom for another two days, she thinks it's better to teach him everything then. He suggests hesitantly they meet at WoonJungGak. Hae-in: "Just the two of us?" He quickly backtracks and says it's fine if she doesn't want to. Hee. She agrees with a smile and leaves him to his work. Jung-geun looks like he's gonna explode with happiness. So cute.

Coldfeet is brought before the King with damning evidence- the appointment letter given by the envoy. A disappointed King Gongmin immediately orders his execution. Coldfeet continues to plead for his innocence even as he's dragged away. In-nim smirks in satisfaction - one loose end tied.

Elsewhere, Dong-ryun seeks out Hyo-myung but barely gets the words out. Hyo-myung leads him inside. Unbeknownst to either, No-suk is on their tail.

King Gongmin takes a late night stroll, accompanied by Choi-young and Seong-gye. He asks them, "Who am I?" After a moment of incomprehension, Choi-young replies that he's the owner of this country and lord of the all the officials. "If I am owner of this country and lord of all the officials, how is it that Yuan issues Kim-young an appointment letter?" Oof. "The heavens refuse to bestow me a son to inherit my throne... and my official conspired with Yuan to assassinate me" Double oof. Seong-gye promptly swears his loyalty but his oath rings hollow to the King because Coldfeet has uttered the same oath.

Choi-young sighs heavily once the King is gone. Seong-gye wonders why - the king is safe, the rebel executed. What is there to sigh about?  Choi-young explains that the seed of doubt has been planted and before long it will take root and sprout. The straightforward Seong-gye doesn't see that as a problem. Just uproot the thing if he's so worried - destroy everyone they do not believe. Choi-young: "Weed will grow again even after you uproot them." Seong-gye continues to look blur and mutters to himself, "Just continue to uproot them then." Hee.

Dong-ryun tells Hyo-myung to kill him if he's ever caught by them. It's a scary request and Hyo-myung refuses to comply. But Dong-ryun explains that the Purple Forbidden Enclosure must not fall into their hands. Dong-ryun admits that he's very afraid. He recalls his ten years of captivity and how he prayed every night not to awaken. He's not confident if he could go through all that pain again. He's truly afraid. Dong-ryun hands over the map to the Purple Forbidden Enclosure. He wants to shed the burden and entrusts it to Hyo-myung. Hyo-myung receives it with trembling hands. Hyo-mung thinks he might not be able to find the Purple Forbidden Enclosure because he hasn't been blessed with the Heavenly Eye. Dong-ryun thinks it's only because the time is not right now. Hyo-myung beseeches him to reconsider - what of Ji-sang? Dong-ryun knows it's irresponsible for him to leave Ji-sang alone at his tender age, but it's the only way to protect the Purple Forbidden Enclosure. He reminds Hyo-myung again to kill him at Yangjuguk.

No-suk overhears the entire conversation and reports to Seong-gye that Dong-ryun's son has been captured at Yangjuguk. They head out but Seong-gye tells No-suk he's been demoted to the lowest ranked soldier - so no horses for him. Hah.

Cut to a tied-up Ji-sang. Ryun-gae-in-disguise caresses Ji-sang's hair lovingly and pulls him in an embrace, thinking about her own son. Creepy. The she declares he would be buried together with his dad. Okay, that's normal for her. She sees Yeong-ji's ring on his wrist and confiscates that. Just then, Sourface interrupts to report that Dong-ryun has arrived. Ji-sang is led out of the abandoned hut. Ji-sang warns dad that they are out to kill him. Dad assures him that everything will be fine - he will save him.

Sourface asks for the map but dad wants Ji-sang first. Dad threatens to kill himself with a dagger. If he dies, the Purple Forbidden Enclosure will be lost with him. Sourface hesitates and Ji-sang is alarmed. Ryun-gae is unaffected. She calls his bluff and raises a sword to Ji-sang. Dad panics now. She throws the sword at Dong-ryun and scoffs at his audacity to threaten her with his worthless life. She instructs her men to cut off Ji-sang's finger. Oh dear. Dad screams a  loud,"No!" Dad claims he has the map here, pointing to his chest.

When Sourface approaches him, he shakes him off, grabs the sword and runs to Ji-sang. He fends off the men and tells Ji-sang to run. Dong-ryun is quickly overpowered. Meanwhile, Hyo-myung is here with his bow and arrows. Ji-sang turns back worriedly but dad screams for him to run. He hides behind a tree and watches.

Hyo-myung aims for Dong-ryun, but couldn't bring himself to release the arrow. He recalls his conversation with Dong-ryun and aims again, with much difficulty. Ironically, he is aiming for Sourface but ends up hitting Dong-ryun anyway. Sourface is immediately on alert. Ji-sang glances at Hyo-myung's direction (who has collapsed to the ground in shock) but the darkness and shrubs obscure his view so I don't think he knows who did it...yet.

Dong-ryun collapses as well, muttering "thank you" and "Ji-sang". The men are soon upon the grieving Hyo-myung who cries over the fact he's got to live with this guilt. Thankfully Seong-gye and his men arrives in time and takes on the masked men. Ryun-gae instructs Sourface to search Dong-ryun but finds nothing. She grabs the dying Dong-ryun, demanding for the map. He's still tight-lipped which frustrates her no end and she jerks him about, losing her cool.

 As men from both sides clash, two of the masked men discovers Ji-sang in his hiding spot. Thankfully, No-suk intervenes and Ji-sang escapes when he's busy engaging the two. The soldiers are closing in and Sourface tells Ryun-gae that they have to retreat for now. Ryun-gae threatens Dong-ryun with a sword but he won't reveal anything. She wants to bring him along but Dong-ryun stabs himself with her sword. Ryun-gae is pissed but refuses to give up on him.

Seong-gye's sombre-faced lieutenant faces off with Sourface. She stands aside in wait but Seong-gye has already sneaked up behind her. She turns around and he cuts her hat and sees that she's a woman. Sourface notices she's in a pinch and rushes to her aid just as Seong-gye is about to unveil her disguise. As other men engages Seong-gye, Sourface and Ryun-gae escape on horseback. Instead of panicking, he smiles sardonically. He's not going to let her off easy just because she's a woman. He goes after them on horseback too.

In the heated battle, Ji-sang slips unnoticed to his father's side. Dad tells him to run and apologizes to him. He tells Ji-sang to look for his mother and protect her. But before he finds her, Ji-sang must never tell anyone Dong-ryun is his father. This is news to the already distraught Ji-sang who had thought mum is dead. With his dying breath, Dong-ryun only manages to eke out that the ring belongs to his mother...Ji-sang cries heartbrokenly. Elsewhere, Yeong-ji also senses the loss.

Seong-gye loses sight of Ryun-gae when she throws a smoke bomb at him. He rides back to the hut. Hyo-myung is crying over Dong-ryun's body but Ji-sang is nowhere in sight. No-suk immediately goes in search for him. Then, Seong-gye collapses on the horse - the smoke....it's poisoned?

Ji-sang runs and loses his footing in the woods. He falls down a hill and stays there, hidden from view. Allowing himself to grieve for dad...

Thoughts:

Another hour full of developments, some expected some not. For instance, the Gibang lady's death took me by surprise. I hadn't expect to see her character off so early because I thought Ban-ya would grow up there. I suppose I should have suspected that because of her heartfelt scenes with Dong-ryun and Ji-sang. KDramas always does that and this drama particularly so. Even the eunuchs who sacrificed themselves for the King in the previous episode had some nice, moving speech. Nevertheless, the pseudo mother-son relationship was pretty moving by itself...

On a separate note, I'm curious that Jung-geun finds it necessary to seek mum's approval. We don't see much of Yeong-ji and Jung-geun's interaction outside of anything academic-related. Is she withholding her affection for him? It's understandable given her circumstances but as usual it's the next generation that suffers. On the surface, Jung-geun fares better with a high-ranking dad and a smart mother but gawd knows how his world could crumble when he learns that his parents are such loathsome people. As for Ji-sang, I'm already tired for him and wish for a resolution for him some way or other. Let the boy catch his breath I say.

Lee Seong-gye is a curious sort. He's not evil or anything but he's not exactly kind either. He's got the brains, the skills and the leadership qualities but his straightforward nature and lack of subtlety places him in a disadvantage when maneuvering political intricacies. I can see why he needs an advisor but I'm still curious how that person turns out to be Ji-sang. And I'm plenty disappointed he didn't manage to kill Ryun-gae. Bah.