A Quick Update
Not much has been happening on Jang-geum, and I’ve missed a couple episodes, so this seems as a good opportunity as any to bring things up-to-date.
After Lady Han died and Jang-geum was exiled to Jeju Island, she became an apprentice to Jang-duk, a foul tempered Physician Lady. Meanwhile, Inspector Min also found a way to be transferred to Jeju Island, so as to keep close to the object of his affection.
Back at the palace, Lady Choi had become firmly ensconced as head lady of the royal kitchens. But Jang-geum still kept a few friends at the palace—her best friend was fortunate to catch the eye of the king, who made her his concubine. I assume this will be an important plot point later down the line, but nothing much has come of it yet. For what it’s worth, the Queen seemed non-fazed by this development, even offering to give the new concubine her own private house.
Meanwhile, back on Jeju Island, Jang-geum was surprised to learn that the best Physician Ladies are sometimes called to serve in the royal pharmacy. When she discovered this, Jang-geum’s eyes lit up—she decided right then and there that by becoming a Physician Lady she could get back to the palace and get her revenge on Lady Choi.
At first, Jang-duk was all for this idea. She had become a Physician Lady for revenge, also. Her father was killed and her mother was forced into prostitution by a corrupt scholar-official, so Jang-duk wanted to learn not only how to heal people, but how to poison them.
But when the very official who destroyed Jang-duk’s family showed up deathly ill on Jeju Island, Jang-duk was unable to let him die in misery. As she treated the man, she encouraged Jang-geum to become a physician for the love of medicine, not for revenge.
Still, Jang-duk remained a very exacting teacher. In order to learn more quickly, Jang-geum asked Inspector Min if she could use the faces of the soldiers under his command to study symptoms. The good Inspector Min encouraged Jang-geum to do so, but, afterward, while Jang-geum and he were walking alone by the seaside, he asked her, why, of all the soldiers’ faces she diagnosed, his was the only face she didn’t look into.
Inspector Min then asked Jang-geum to look into his face and tell him what she saw.
Jang-geum hesitated but complied, saying that his face was red, indicating fever.
Inspector Min looked intently at Jang-geum, saying, “Yes, I do have a fever.” He then grasped Jang-geum’s hand. But Jang-geum became confused and ran away.
Then the Japanese invaded Jeju Island while Inspector Min was away delivering some horses. Jang-geum was called on to acupuncture the ill Japanese commander (Jang-duk was also on a trip away from the island). She pleaded that the first time she had practiced acupuncture, she had almost killed Jang-duk; but the Japanese were desperate—even threatening to kill Jang-geum’s friend, Mr. Gaung (the show’s comic relief) if she didn’t comply.
Jang-geum conquered her fears and acupunctured the Japanese commander back to health. And just in time, Inspector Min returned and routed the Japanese from the island. Everybody was happy, until a directive was received from the palace:
The slave Jang-geum was being arrested for treason for healing the enemy commander!
I’m afraid I don’t know what happened next—I missed one of last week’s episodes. When I tuned in this week, Jang-geum was attending college to become a Physician Lady. For some reason, she had already ticked off Professor Shin, who had given her two failing marks, even though she was clearly the brightest student in the class. (The Physician Ladies are graded by slashes, five slashes meaning excellent, one slash meaning failure. Any Lady who receives three single slashes is kicked out of the school.) Jang-geum pleaded with Professor Shin not to fail her, even offering to do all the other students’ laundry and cooking. But Professor Shin told her that no matter what she did she was going to fail—she just didn’t have the right attitude
On the other hand, Jang-geum was easily able to impress corrupt Professor Lee. In fact, she knew her Chinese characters so well that he let her teach his Confucian studies class while he rested.
Professor Lee also invited all the girls to a kisaeng party. Perhaps someone who knows Korean can fill me in, but it doesn’t seem like the girls were going to this party to study Confucius. The virtuous Jang-geum, of course, didn’t go to the party. She and another student, Shin-bi, stayed behind and studied actual patients under Professor Shin’s direction.
There were three patients. Professor Shin asked Jang-geum and Shin-bi what was wrong with them. Jang-geum looked at their faces, took their pulse and confidently said, “It’s small pox.” Shin-bi wasn’t sure.
Professor Shin said that he was going to give Shin-bi ten days to make the diagnoses, while Jang-geum cooked and cleaned. Jang-geum thought that Shin-bi must be related to Professor Shin, because she couldn’t even read the patients’ faces.
But as Jang-geum did the laundry and watched Shin-bi question the patients, she figured out Professor Shin was right. Shin-bi didn’t know what to do, so she just kept on asking questions. When one of the patients said she was eating salt, Jang-geum ran up and asked if she was eating dirt. She was—and she asked Jang-geum how on earth she knew that, because she was even afraid to admit it to her husband.
It turns out that this lady had parasites in her stomach, and Jang-geum had been wrong in her quick diagnosis. Jang-geum said to Professor Shin, “I had only trusted by shallow knowledge and became impertinent, instead of seeking a complete healing with humble attitude.”
Professor Shin still wasn’t sure if Jang-geum had learned her lesson. He gave the class a pop quiz—of separating healing herbs from poisonous herbs—and told Jang-geum if she failed again, it was the last straw.
To be continued …
After Lady Han died and Jang-geum was exiled to Jeju Island, she became an apprentice to Jang-duk, a foul tempered Physician Lady. Meanwhile, Inspector Min also found a way to be transferred to Jeju Island, so as to keep close to the object of his affection.
Back at the palace, Lady Choi had become firmly ensconced as head lady of the royal kitchens. But Jang-geum still kept a few friends at the palace—her best friend was fortunate to catch the eye of the king, who made her his concubine. I assume this will be an important plot point later down the line, but nothing much has come of it yet. For what it’s worth, the Queen seemed non-fazed by this development, even offering to give the new concubine her own private house.
Meanwhile, back on Jeju Island, Jang-geum was surprised to learn that the best Physician Ladies are sometimes called to serve in the royal pharmacy. When she discovered this, Jang-geum’s eyes lit up—she decided right then and there that by becoming a Physician Lady she could get back to the palace and get her revenge on Lady Choi.
At first, Jang-duk was all for this idea. She had become a Physician Lady for revenge, also. Her father was killed and her mother was forced into prostitution by a corrupt scholar-official, so Jang-duk wanted to learn not only how to heal people, but how to poison them.
But when the very official who destroyed Jang-duk’s family showed up deathly ill on Jeju Island, Jang-duk was unable to let him die in misery. As she treated the man, she encouraged Jang-geum to become a physician for the love of medicine, not for revenge.
Still, Jang-duk remained a very exacting teacher. In order to learn more quickly, Jang-geum asked Inspector Min if she could use the faces of the soldiers under his command to study symptoms. The good Inspector Min encouraged Jang-geum to do so, but, afterward, while Jang-geum and he were walking alone by the seaside, he asked her, why, of all the soldiers’ faces she diagnosed, his was the only face she didn’t look into.
Inspector Min then asked Jang-geum to look into his face and tell him what she saw.
Jang-geum hesitated but complied, saying that his face was red, indicating fever.
Inspector Min looked intently at Jang-geum, saying, “Yes, I do have a fever.” He then grasped Jang-geum’s hand. But Jang-geum became confused and ran away.
Then the Japanese invaded Jeju Island while Inspector Min was away delivering some horses. Jang-geum was called on to acupuncture the ill Japanese commander (Jang-duk was also on a trip away from the island). She pleaded that the first time she had practiced acupuncture, she had almost killed Jang-duk; but the Japanese were desperate—even threatening to kill Jang-geum’s friend, Mr. Gaung (the show’s comic relief) if she didn’t comply.
Jang-geum conquered her fears and acupunctured the Japanese commander back to health. And just in time, Inspector Min returned and routed the Japanese from the island. Everybody was happy, until a directive was received from the palace:
The slave Jang-geum was being arrested for treason for healing the enemy commander!
I’m afraid I don’t know what happened next—I missed one of last week’s episodes. When I tuned in this week, Jang-geum was attending college to become a Physician Lady. For some reason, she had already ticked off Professor Shin, who had given her two failing marks, even though she was clearly the brightest student in the class. (The Physician Ladies are graded by slashes, five slashes meaning excellent, one slash meaning failure. Any Lady who receives three single slashes is kicked out of the school.) Jang-geum pleaded with Professor Shin not to fail her, even offering to do all the other students’ laundry and cooking. But Professor Shin told her that no matter what she did she was going to fail—she just didn’t have the right attitude
On the other hand, Jang-geum was easily able to impress corrupt Professor Lee. In fact, she knew her Chinese characters so well that he let her teach his Confucian studies class while he rested.
Professor Lee also invited all the girls to a kisaeng party. Perhaps someone who knows Korean can fill me in, but it doesn’t seem like the girls were going to this party to study Confucius. The virtuous Jang-geum, of course, didn’t go to the party. She and another student, Shin-bi, stayed behind and studied actual patients under Professor Shin’s direction.
There were three patients. Professor Shin asked Jang-geum and Shin-bi what was wrong with them. Jang-geum looked at their faces, took their pulse and confidently said, “It’s small pox.” Shin-bi wasn’t sure.
Professor Shin said that he was going to give Shin-bi ten days to make the diagnoses, while Jang-geum cooked and cleaned. Jang-geum thought that Shin-bi must be related to Professor Shin, because she couldn’t even read the patients’ faces.
But as Jang-geum did the laundry and watched Shin-bi question the patients, she figured out Professor Shin was right. Shin-bi didn’t know what to do, so she just kept on asking questions. When one of the patients said she was eating salt, Jang-geum ran up and asked if she was eating dirt. She was—and she asked Jang-geum how on earth she knew that, because she was even afraid to admit it to her husband.
It turns out that this lady had parasites in her stomach, and Jang-geum had been wrong in her quick diagnosis. Jang-geum said to Professor Shin, “I had only trusted by shallow knowledge and became impertinent, instead of seeking a complete healing with humble attitude.”
Professor Shin still wasn’t sure if Jang-geum had learned her lesson. He gave the class a pop quiz—of separating healing herbs from poisonous herbs—and told Jang-geum if she failed again, it was the last straw.
To be continued …
Comments
Post a Comment