Dae Jang-Geum Update
I am so far behind on the Jang-geum recaps, and so much (of great importance) has happened, I think I need to do a quick overview to get everybody back up to speed.
When we left Jang-geum, she was presenting dishes to the King in the place of the missing Lady Han, who had been kidnapped on the orders of Lady Choi. Lady Choi and Lady Han were competing to replace Lady Jung as head lady of the royal kitchens. When the Queen Mother noticed that Jang-geum was serving the dishes in place of Lady Han, she wanted to end the competition and proclaim Lady Choi the winner, but the King and the Queen insisted that the competition continue, mainly because they had been won over by Jang-geum’s humility and can-do spirit.
But things still didn’t look to good for Jang-geum, because the next dish, the meat course, was Lady Choi’s specialty. Lady Choi served wild boar, which was deemed a great success by all three tasters. Jang-geum’s dish, boiled chicken, didn’t seem to have a chance. But Jang-geum had scraped some of the dirt that collected underneath the stove and used it to flavor the chicken. Surprisingly, this did the trick, and now Lady Choi and Jang-geum were tied going into the desert round (I may not be remembering all the details perfectly here).
The Queen Mother tasted Lady Choi’s desert first, and then asked Lady Choi which dish she felt had best fulfilled the task of the competition (which was to serve the food that is best for the king). Lady Choi in an uncharacteristically stupid moment replied, “The wild boar, Mama.” This makes absolutely no sense on Lady Choi’s part, because the wild boar had already lost to Jang-geum’s dirty chicken. But let’s not quibble, and, instead, move on to Jang-geum’s answer to the same question.
Jang-geum hesitatingly looked into the King’s eyes and said, “This dish, Mama.” The Queen Mother lifted the lid to see a couple berries on a plate. Jang-geum went on to explain that these were the same berries that she had fed her dying mother (or something like that), and then gave some touching reason why this could be a good lesson for the King (again, I’m forgetting the details).
I thought it was sappy and manipulative to use her mother’s tragic death like that, but the King loved it, and he yelled out without thinking, “Jang-geum is the new head lady of the royal kitchen!” The Queen Mother didn’t like that at all, but by now, Lady Han had escaped her kidnappers (with the help of Inspector Min, of whom we’ll see much later) and after much controversy, Lady Han was declared to have won the competition.
Now that the competition was over, Lady Jung decided to retire in three days. Before her retirement dinner, she pleaded with Lady Choi to make things easy on Lady Han. And she told Lady Han that she had come to regret ever coming to the palace. As a girl, she thought living in the palace would be like living in a wonderland. But, as she grew older, she discovered that it was filled with a bunch of bitter, backstabbing harpies, which she attributed to their loneliness (apparently, palace ladies were not allowed to marry).
Lady Jung’s disillusionment was made complete when Lady Choi organized a rebellion among all the head ladies not to honor Lady Han as the new head lady of the kitchen. Lady Jung stormed into their meeting, looking Lady Choi in the eye, and said, “How could you? After I pleaded with you, as my last wish.” And with that, Lady Jung died.
This was regarded as a rather positive development by Lady Choi, who continued her open rebellion against Lady Han. The Queen Mother heard about the state of affairs and negotiated a new competition between Lady Choi and Lady Han, due to the strange nature of the previous competition. Lady Han only agreed this final test if it meant that, should she win, she would gain complete and final control over the kitchen and all the ladies in it.
And the final test: steamed rice, to be fed to all the rebellious head ladies, who would then vote on the best. Knowing that the majority of the ladies preferred their rice extra sticky, Lady Choi made hers this way, and it looked like she had the competition wrapped up. But when the votes were cast, somehow Lady Han had won. The Queen Mother asked how this could be, when a majority of the ladies preferred Lady Choi’s style of rice. Lady Han answered that she had observed how each lady liked her rice and tailored the individual servings to their taste. The very clever Lady Han was proclaimed the indisputable head lady, and Lady Choi was quickly demoted to the ingredients kitchen.
I’m getting into too much detail her—I’m never going to catch up. So a quick summary of the next couple of episodes:
§ Lady Han appointed Jang-geum to investigate corruption in the kitchens.
§ In attempting to foil Jang-geum’s efforts, Lady Choi discovered that Jang-geum was Myoung’s daughter, Myoung being somebody she had attempted to murder many years ago.
§ Lady Choi grew very nervous that Lady Han would discover that Jang-geum was Myoung’s daughter and decided that she needed to kill both Lady Han and Jang-geum (there’s some back-story regarding Myoung that I don’t fully understand, but the upshot is that the truth regarding what happened to Myoung could bring down Lady Choi and her whole family, who are all tied up in some mobster-like activities being investigated by Inspector Min).
§ Lady Han discovers the truth about Jang-geum’s parentage—and realizes that if Lady Choi knows this also, both she and Jang-geum are in mortal danger. And indeed, at this point, Keum-young, Lady Choi’s apprentice is about to poison their tea. But just before she can, Lady Han exiles both Keum-young and Lady Choi to the visitor’s house.
I think I’ll have to end for the evening (daylight savings time, etc.) Still much to recap before I'm caught up. But to tide you over, here's an interesting link about Jang-geum's popularity.
When we left Jang-geum, she was presenting dishes to the King in the place of the missing Lady Han, who had been kidnapped on the orders of Lady Choi. Lady Choi and Lady Han were competing to replace Lady Jung as head lady of the royal kitchens. When the Queen Mother noticed that Jang-geum was serving the dishes in place of Lady Han, she wanted to end the competition and proclaim Lady Choi the winner, but the King and the Queen insisted that the competition continue, mainly because they had been won over by Jang-geum’s humility and can-do spirit.
But things still didn’t look to good for Jang-geum, because the next dish, the meat course, was Lady Choi’s specialty. Lady Choi served wild boar, which was deemed a great success by all three tasters. Jang-geum’s dish, boiled chicken, didn’t seem to have a chance. But Jang-geum had scraped some of the dirt that collected underneath the stove and used it to flavor the chicken. Surprisingly, this did the trick, and now Lady Choi and Jang-geum were tied going into the desert round (I may not be remembering all the details perfectly here).
The Queen Mother tasted Lady Choi’s desert first, and then asked Lady Choi which dish she felt had best fulfilled the task of the competition (which was to serve the food that is best for the king). Lady Choi in an uncharacteristically stupid moment replied, “The wild boar, Mama.” This makes absolutely no sense on Lady Choi’s part, because the wild boar had already lost to Jang-geum’s dirty chicken. But let’s not quibble, and, instead, move on to Jang-geum’s answer to the same question.
Jang-geum hesitatingly looked into the King’s eyes and said, “This dish, Mama.” The Queen Mother lifted the lid to see a couple berries on a plate. Jang-geum went on to explain that these were the same berries that she had fed her dying mother (or something like that), and then gave some touching reason why this could be a good lesson for the King (again, I’m forgetting the details).
I thought it was sappy and manipulative to use her mother’s tragic death like that, but the King loved it, and he yelled out without thinking, “Jang-geum is the new head lady of the royal kitchen!” The Queen Mother didn’t like that at all, but by now, Lady Han had escaped her kidnappers (with the help of Inspector Min, of whom we’ll see much later) and after much controversy, Lady Han was declared to have won the competition.
Now that the competition was over, Lady Jung decided to retire in three days. Before her retirement dinner, she pleaded with Lady Choi to make things easy on Lady Han. And she told Lady Han that she had come to regret ever coming to the palace. As a girl, she thought living in the palace would be like living in a wonderland. But, as she grew older, she discovered that it was filled with a bunch of bitter, backstabbing harpies, which she attributed to their loneliness (apparently, palace ladies were not allowed to marry).
Lady Jung’s disillusionment was made complete when Lady Choi organized a rebellion among all the head ladies not to honor Lady Han as the new head lady of the kitchen. Lady Jung stormed into their meeting, looking Lady Choi in the eye, and said, “How could you? After I pleaded with you, as my last wish.” And with that, Lady Jung died.
This was regarded as a rather positive development by Lady Choi, who continued her open rebellion against Lady Han. The Queen Mother heard about the state of affairs and negotiated a new competition between Lady Choi and Lady Han, due to the strange nature of the previous competition. Lady Han only agreed this final test if it meant that, should she win, she would gain complete and final control over the kitchen and all the ladies in it.
And the final test: steamed rice, to be fed to all the rebellious head ladies, who would then vote on the best. Knowing that the majority of the ladies preferred their rice extra sticky, Lady Choi made hers this way, and it looked like she had the competition wrapped up. But when the votes were cast, somehow Lady Han had won. The Queen Mother asked how this could be, when a majority of the ladies preferred Lady Choi’s style of rice. Lady Han answered that she had observed how each lady liked her rice and tailored the individual servings to their taste. The very clever Lady Han was proclaimed the indisputable head lady, and Lady Choi was quickly demoted to the ingredients kitchen.
I’m getting into too much detail her—I’m never going to catch up. So a quick summary of the next couple of episodes:
§ Lady Han appointed Jang-geum to investigate corruption in the kitchens.
§ In attempting to foil Jang-geum’s efforts, Lady Choi discovered that Jang-geum was Myoung’s daughter, Myoung being somebody she had attempted to murder many years ago.
§ Lady Choi grew very nervous that Lady Han would discover that Jang-geum was Myoung’s daughter and decided that she needed to kill both Lady Han and Jang-geum (there’s some back-story regarding Myoung that I don’t fully understand, but the upshot is that the truth regarding what happened to Myoung could bring down Lady Choi and her whole family, who are all tied up in some mobster-like activities being investigated by Inspector Min).
§ Lady Han discovers the truth about Jang-geum’s parentage—and realizes that if Lady Choi knows this also, both she and Jang-geum are in mortal danger. And indeed, at this point, Keum-young, Lady Choi’s apprentice is about to poison their tea. But just before she can, Lady Han exiles both Keum-young and Lady Choi to the visitor’s house.
I think I’ll have to end for the evening (daylight savings time, etc.) Still much to recap before I'm caught up. But to tide you over, here's an interesting link about Jang-geum's popularity.
Comments
Post a Comment