Dae Jang-Geum, Episode Two
I figured I had better get up to speed on the Jang-geum recaps before I left for vacation and forgot the bulk of what happened in the second episode (I’ve since watched Episode Three, also). I watched Episode Two with Sei and Christine while they were visiting Chicago, and I was distracted by Morgan’s low level growling throughout the program. Morgan made known that she didn’t like the presumption of anyone (but me) watching TV in her living room. Still, any misrepresentations or elisions that follow are the fault of my laziness entirely.
We left our saga with Jang-geum’s mother, Myeong-Hee, suffering from a poisoning administered by the scheming kitchen ladies and being nursed back to health by Jang-geum’s father, Cheon-Soo. After drinking much green bean soup, Myeong-Hee recovers and discovers a note in her pocket. It’s from Lady Han, who tells her friend that she did her best to dilute the poison—and that Myeong-Hee should run as far away from court as possible, because if the kitchen ladies discover that she is still alive, they will surely attempt to kill her again.
Myeong-Hee hops up from her bed and declares she must leave. Cheon-Soo, who’s taken a fancy to this refined court lady in spite of the sage’s prophecy, protests that she hasn’t fully recovered yet. This doesn’t deter Myeong-Hee, who sets off into the woods, without any money and not a lot of sense. But, luckily, Cheon-Soo decides to follow her, taking care, however, that she doesn’t see him. He’s thoughtful enough to run ahead before she comes to a stream, placing boulders in Myeong-Hee’s path so she can step over without wetting her garb. And he bangs together the heads of a couple brigands who were planning to jump Myeong-Hee just as she crossed the stream. He manages to do all this without disturbing in the slightest Myeong-Hee’s meditative wandering.
Eventually, Myeong-Hee arrives at a village and declares she’ll work for food. But, as a court lady, she’s unprepared for the rough and tumble work of a lowly waitress. It’s not too long before she’s being taunted by two drunken men. At this point, Cheon-Soo is forced to show his hand. He runs up to the table and tells the men to leave the lady alone. And he tells Myeong-Hee that she mustn’t do such work—that it’s beneath her.
Myeong-Hee’s eyes light up with gratitude, but just as soon as he helped her out, Cheon-Soo runs away. Now the tables are turned, and Myeong-Hee is following Cheon-Soo. He finally tells her that she cannot follow him, because it was prophesied that she would die to save his life. Myeong-Hee replies serenely, “I will follow you.” This same pattern goes on for several miles of beautiful countryside, and then four years have passed and Myeong-Hee and Cheon-Soo are living in peaceful exile in a far-away peasant village.
And, yes, they have a little daughter named Jang-geum.
Unfortunately, Jang-geum went hunting for rabbits after school on the mountainside, and she is being punished with a beating from her mother, not because of the rabbit hunting, but because she went to school and is learning how to read and write. (At this point in the story, Christine scoffed in disgust.) Jang-geum is a bright and vivacious girl, but because she is only a lowly peasant, it could be very dangerous for her to appear to be above her station. At least, that’s how her mother explains it to her. Upon hearing this, Jang-geum protests, “But we’re not lowly peasants. Father, he was a general in the king’s army.” This outburst causes her mother to beat Jang-geum even more severely, until her father breaks in and explains that he had to tell Jang-geum about their background after she noticed his old uniform. He then takes Jang-geum away from her mother, and off to a hillside, so he can explain to her why it’s so important to keep quiet about their past.
He says, “You see, if anyone finds out …”
At this point, Jang-geum interrupts and says with a bright smile on her face, “Yes, I know, if anybody finds out, Father dies and Mother dies and I die!”
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the current king is shocked to discover that his mother was poisoned by her own retinue many years ago. He sends out an edict that anyone who was involved should be captured and killed.
Unaware of this latest development, Jang-geum and her father head into their village for a festival. They chance upon a wrestling exhibition, and at his daughter’s wishes and against his own best judgment, Cheon-Soo is persuaded to take on the champion. He dispatches the fellow with ease, but the wrestler fakes a knife wound to make it look like Cheon-Soo cheated. Suddenly, the crowd is chanting for the lowly peasant to be arrested for knifing the wrestler. This riles up little Jang-geum, who yells out, “My father is not a peasant, he’s a general in the king’s army! He’s not a peasant.”
Jang-geum’s indiscretion makes the crowd realize that Cheon-Soo is the fugitive poisoner of the former queen. He’s quickly taken away, while yelling to Jang-geum to run home and warn her mother.
Myeong-Hee is devastated when she discovers what happened. She and Jang-geum leave the village on the advice of a neighbor, but are soon being chased by soldiers. I’m not 100% clear what happens next, but somehow they escape the soldiers and begin following them in an attempt to discover Cheon-Soo’s fate. They hide out in a cave and take a ferry across a river, and Myeong-Hee dresses up Jang-geum as a boy (as Sei pointed out, fulfilling the cross-dressing requirement of a saga like this). They finally end up in a town just outside the palace gates. Myeong-Hee asks a crotchety woman if any soldiers have passed this way (she happens to be a crotchety woman we’ll get to know much better in coming episodes). The woman forces Myeong-Hee to give her all the coins in her purse before she informs her that, yes, the soldiers had come this way, and that they might as well rest the night, because that’s what the soldiers were doing also.
So Myeong-Hee and Jang-geum resign themselves to wait for the coming day, uncertain what fate lies ahead.
Coming in Episode Three—the fulfillment of the second part of the prophecy!
We left our saga with Jang-geum’s mother, Myeong-Hee, suffering from a poisoning administered by the scheming kitchen ladies and being nursed back to health by Jang-geum’s father, Cheon-Soo. After drinking much green bean soup, Myeong-Hee recovers and discovers a note in her pocket. It’s from Lady Han, who tells her friend that she did her best to dilute the poison—and that Myeong-Hee should run as far away from court as possible, because if the kitchen ladies discover that she is still alive, they will surely attempt to kill her again.
Myeong-Hee hops up from her bed and declares she must leave. Cheon-Soo, who’s taken a fancy to this refined court lady in spite of the sage’s prophecy, protests that she hasn’t fully recovered yet. This doesn’t deter Myeong-Hee, who sets off into the woods, without any money and not a lot of sense. But, luckily, Cheon-Soo decides to follow her, taking care, however, that she doesn’t see him. He’s thoughtful enough to run ahead before she comes to a stream, placing boulders in Myeong-Hee’s path so she can step over without wetting her garb. And he bangs together the heads of a couple brigands who were planning to jump Myeong-Hee just as she crossed the stream. He manages to do all this without disturbing in the slightest Myeong-Hee’s meditative wandering.
Eventually, Myeong-Hee arrives at a village and declares she’ll work for food. But, as a court lady, she’s unprepared for the rough and tumble work of a lowly waitress. It’s not too long before she’s being taunted by two drunken men. At this point, Cheon-Soo is forced to show his hand. He runs up to the table and tells the men to leave the lady alone. And he tells Myeong-Hee that she mustn’t do such work—that it’s beneath her.
Myeong-Hee’s eyes light up with gratitude, but just as soon as he helped her out, Cheon-Soo runs away. Now the tables are turned, and Myeong-Hee is following Cheon-Soo. He finally tells her that she cannot follow him, because it was prophesied that she would die to save his life. Myeong-Hee replies serenely, “I will follow you.” This same pattern goes on for several miles of beautiful countryside, and then four years have passed and Myeong-Hee and Cheon-Soo are living in peaceful exile in a far-away peasant village.
And, yes, they have a little daughter named Jang-geum.
Unfortunately, Jang-geum went hunting for rabbits after school on the mountainside, and she is being punished with a beating from her mother, not because of the rabbit hunting, but because she went to school and is learning how to read and write. (At this point in the story, Christine scoffed in disgust.) Jang-geum is a bright and vivacious girl, but because she is only a lowly peasant, it could be very dangerous for her to appear to be above her station. At least, that’s how her mother explains it to her. Upon hearing this, Jang-geum protests, “But we’re not lowly peasants. Father, he was a general in the king’s army.” This outburst causes her mother to beat Jang-geum even more severely, until her father breaks in and explains that he had to tell Jang-geum about their background after she noticed his old uniform. He then takes Jang-geum away from her mother, and off to a hillside, so he can explain to her why it’s so important to keep quiet about their past.
He says, “You see, if anyone finds out …”
At this point, Jang-geum interrupts and says with a bright smile on her face, “Yes, I know, if anybody finds out, Father dies and Mother dies and I die!”
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the current king is shocked to discover that his mother was poisoned by her own retinue many years ago. He sends out an edict that anyone who was involved should be captured and killed.
Unaware of this latest development, Jang-geum and her father head into their village for a festival. They chance upon a wrestling exhibition, and at his daughter’s wishes and against his own best judgment, Cheon-Soo is persuaded to take on the champion. He dispatches the fellow with ease, but the wrestler fakes a knife wound to make it look like Cheon-Soo cheated. Suddenly, the crowd is chanting for the lowly peasant to be arrested for knifing the wrestler. This riles up little Jang-geum, who yells out, “My father is not a peasant, he’s a general in the king’s army! He’s not a peasant.”
Jang-geum’s indiscretion makes the crowd realize that Cheon-Soo is the fugitive poisoner of the former queen. He’s quickly taken away, while yelling to Jang-geum to run home and warn her mother.
Myeong-Hee is devastated when she discovers what happened. She and Jang-geum leave the village on the advice of a neighbor, but are soon being chased by soldiers. I’m not 100% clear what happens next, but somehow they escape the soldiers and begin following them in an attempt to discover Cheon-Soo’s fate. They hide out in a cave and take a ferry across a river, and Myeong-Hee dresses up Jang-geum as a boy (as Sei pointed out, fulfilling the cross-dressing requirement of a saga like this). They finally end up in a town just outside the palace gates. Myeong-Hee asks a crotchety woman if any soldiers have passed this way (she happens to be a crotchety woman we’ll get to know much better in coming episodes). The woman forces Myeong-Hee to give her all the coins in her purse before she informs her that, yes, the soldiers had come this way, and that they might as well rest the night, because that’s what the soldiers were doing also.
So Myeong-Hee and Jang-geum resign themselves to wait for the coming day, uncertain what fate lies ahead.
Coming in Episode Three—the fulfillment of the second part of the prophecy!
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