Early Access: Bossam E2

E2. This episode really solidified my enjoyment of this show, and that's pretty impressive, considering most dramas need about 4 episodes to get settled. To be fair, I do still feel like we're in set-up mode, but I already am full-on enjoying my watch, and that's definitely a solid achievement on Show's part.

I'd mentioned that I'm really enjoying Jung Il Woo in this show, and I feel like I like him this episode, even more than in our first episode. This episode, I feel so much depth in his expressions, particularly as he contemplates the terrible situation that the Princess is in. I could argue that he's also contemplating the terrible situation that he himself is in, now that he has a Princess in his care, who's supposed to be dead. But, the vibe that I get, is that he's more perturbed by her situation, and that amid the layers of emotion that he's experiencing, there is compassion.

I mean, he'd hesitated a long beat, to tell her what he'd seen when he'd tried to take her back to where he'd found her. It literally looked like he felt bad for her, and saddened for her, that she would be rejected thus, by her husband's family.

Certainly, it's not all peachy, since Ba Woo literally tries to kill the Princess, and then tries to sell her to a traveling dance troupe, where she would more than likely have been forced into prostitution. He deserved that slap that the Princess gave him. But, I get that it was a big decision to make, on Ba Woo's part, because he could put himself and his son in grave danger, by associating with the Princess. Sure, he could take her back to the palace, but then he would almost certainly be apprehended for having the Princess in his custody to begin with. And, he did steal her from her father-in-law's house.

In a manner of speaking, he had to choose between the Princess's life, and his and his son's safety. So I understand why it was a struggle for him. I think it does speak to his decent core nature, that he'd be unable to go through with the transaction in the end, knowing what would happen to the Princess. And it does say something about him, that he would ultimately make the choice to take the Princess back to the palace, even though that means a great risk to him and Cha Dol.

As for Left State Councilor Lee, he's definitely our villain, for the way he's so intent on killing the Princess. I can see how he'd arrived at this decision, though. He can't tell the King that he's lost the Princess, and since he can't find her, and there's an actual deadline, because of the King's request to see his daughter, the only solution he can see, is to declare her death. And once he's done that, he's bound to that decision. He has to make sure that the truth lines up with the lie that he'd created, and that's why he's now having men hunt down the Princess, on orders to kill her.

It's really so ballsy of the Left State Councilor, though, in that he has to contend with the Princess's mother insisting on seeing the body. If the King had backed up his Royal Consort and asked to see the body, Left State Councilor's very life would have been in danger. But I suppose he understands the King well enough, to guess that the King would go along with his insistence on keeping decorum with regards to the body.

I do wonder, though, how so many men can be out there, looking for her to kill her, when it's supposed to be such a huge secret, that she's alive? Are they sworn to secrecy? Or, do they have no clue who they're actually hunting down to kill?

I'm relieved that Left State Councilor doesn't have Court Lady Jo killed as well, because he could have totally made up some story around her death, I'm sure. However, it is definitely despicable that he forces her to guard the secret, on pain of the deaths of her mother and brother. Court Lady Jo looks so pained; I just want to reach into my screen to give her a hug. Poor Court Lady Jo; she definitely feels guilty that the Princess had disappeared under her watch.

I'm glad that Court Lady Jo is kept alive, though, because otherwise, Dae Yeob would've never been able to find out the truth.

That scene, where Dae Yeob races home on horseback, at the news that the Princess has died, is really quite poignant. How heartbreaking it must be, to be in his shoes, not being able to fully believe the news, and yet, not being able to verify it, until he's traveled many miles back home. The hours on horseback, as his heart and mind cried out to the Princess, must have been so agonizing, for him.

I must say that I am really enjoying the bond that's forming between the Princess and Cha Dol. He's really glomming onto her like a little duckling, and she has such grace and compassion towards him, especially when she realizes that he's lost his mother. The way she talks to him, and plays with him, is so instinctively motherly. I'm already rooting for Cha Dol to get his wish, that she'd be his mother, ha.

I got quite the thrill, when Dae Yeob shows up to save the Princess from that armed guard who was on the verge of discovering her. Ahhh! Yes, save her!! 🤩 But what a pickle, though, that now that he's saved the Princess, and seen for himself that she's alive, he seems ready to kill Ba Woo. I'm guessing that the Princess will step in to save Ba Woo - let's see if I'm right?