Framed
Yeom visits his master, Lee Cheol, who has been meditating for 100 days. Only it appears in that time that he’s passed away. Yeom agrees to give him a quiet farewell, burning him outside.
As he takes the man’s stick and prepares to stoke the flames, a homeless boy suddenly shows up and calls him foolish for burning his body. His body? Of course! He’s a soul shifter! It’s Lee Cheom!
Master Lee tells everyone that he is a Soul Shifter, which allows him to see others who have shifted. As a result, the queen is seething with anger.
The King is impressed with his eternal youth and asks outright who the Soul Shifter may be. He can bring that out through instilling fear… but not alone. Remember his dog from earlier in the season, Gwigu? Well, he decides to bring the hound into the palace as a gift for the King to find the Soul Shifter.
Uk is the one who has to bring in the mutt and if he can do that, Master Lee promises to get him a gift.
The Queen urgently sends a message to bring Cheonbugwan to the throne room, fearing that the dog could cause chaos in the palace. She tries to dissuade the king from taking in Cheonbugwan, claiming it’s too unwieldy and could cause problems across the kingdom. She sees this as an attempt by Songrim to humiliate them and pleads with the King to listen to reason. ..
The King is hesitant, but Jin Mu keeps insisting. Finally, after a long and heated argument, the King orders his guards to take Uk and his mages into custody.
Master Lee speaks up and mentions how there has been someone else born under the King’s Star after Master Seo, which of course we all know is Jang-Uk.
When the Songrim mages do leave, Lee tends to his dog while Yul remains concerned over exactly how much he knows about Mu-Deok and her soul. Lee is also pretty confident that he knows who the soul shifter is though, reflecting on the queen’s actions and how she essentially outed herself through her irate attitude.
So-i managed to slip away from the scene of three murders without arousing suspicions (minus one person downstairs). Now, So-i actually had no intention of murdering these people herself, it was the Cheonbugwan assassin that committed the act.
As Mu-Deok appears in the room just after, she’s framed for the murders. Given the acts were conducted by a skilled assassin, Park-Jin surveys the area and tries to work out if she’s really responsible or not. Rumours are abound in the bar that thugs were looking for a female swindler but instead of So-I, Park-Jin immediately believes it’s Mu-Deok. Or at least Mu-Deok hiring an assassin at least.
When Park-Jin relays this to Maidservant Kim, she’s convinced it’s not her. Only, the man killed was actually the guy Park-Jin asked about Mu-Deok’s past, and given she has a dark secret (she is Naksu, as we already know), this gives her a motive to have the guy killed.
That night, So-I learns that Mu-Deok is in town and actually serving as a maid for the Jang family. After finding out this information, she decides to go and visit her old friend.
Rumours abound about Naksu, the assassin who has terrorized the kingdom for years. Crown Prince Mu-Deok sits down with Lee to discuss the matter, and wonders if there might be any truth to them. Specifically, is it possible that Naksu still lives and has shifted her soul? ..
The Songrim group discuss who Naksu could be, but things turn frosty when Jang-Uk questions the notion of calling those responsible for burning Naksu’s body fools when they were just scared.
Maidservant Kim brings Mu-Deok to see Cho-Yeon, given she ran into her earlier at the bar. She was buying tickets to a magic show and became flustered when the pair spoke.
As Mu-Deok leaves, So-I runs into her friend, Mu-Deok. Mu-Deok obviously doesn’t recognize So-I as a friend, but So-I is conflicted about whether it’s a good or bad thing. Speaking of conflicted feelings, Yul is also feeling that way too, desperate to bring Mu-Deok to the fortress before it’s too late.
Cho-Yeon appears before Mu-Deok and asks her for help, given she’s being framed for murder. She asks him to testify for her, but Cho-Yeon refuses to do so, given her embarrassment over being seen there buying tickets.
Mu-Deok suggests to Cho-Yeon that she go and ask her mother for help. This works, and Cho-Yeon agrees to help. ..
Jinyowon, Jin Mu prepares his next stage of deception with So-I. Remember that needle prick and strange worm-like creature that came out? Well, Jin mu uses this on So-I so she has the Jin family blood flowing through her. Oh, and the worm will eat her from the inside out if she tries to run away. ..
Jang-Uk is brought to the secret room while Yul examines the dead bodies. Noting the tattoos on their necks, he realizes they match the description of the thugs he fought with earlier in the season.
Mu-Deok is innocent, as Cho-Yeon’s eyewitness account confirms. ..
Park Jin uses this to his advantage and puts Uk in a difficult position. He uses Uk and Mu-Deok against each other to find out exactly what they’re hiding from one another. He wants them to answer the same question… and they do. Park Jin is able to get Uk to confess that he was the one who killed Mu-Deok’s father. ..
The pair are set free and reconvene in the courtyard. They show off their jade stones and claim they’re both in love with each other. Jang-Uk decides they should stick by their confessions to one another, and as they look in one another’s eyes, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
The second half of the episode is focused on the battle between the royal army and the rebel forces. It’s a really exciting episode with a lot of action and suspense. ..
Master Lee’s plan to find the soul shifter works perfectly as he figure out who it is. The Queen doesn’t exactly keep her displeasure a secret either, and her crazed attitude only strengthens Lee’s suspicions.
Jang-Uk and Mu-Deok are also feeling their emotions, managing to get out a tricky situation the only way they know how. It’s a nice way of tying everything we’ve learned thus far together, and it works well to bring the pair closer too.
The magic is still a big part of this story, and mixed in with the politics there’s actually a really solid undercurrent of tension here, as Jin Mu makes use of his powers and prepares for the final conflict to come.
However, given that this show has already been renewed for a second season, it’s possible that we’ll end on a big cliffhanger here - we’ll see! ..
