The Sealing Ceremony

Prince Juhyang, striking the king’s palanquin with his sword, narrowly misses Ha Ram and Cheon-Ki who both stay quiet. Ha Ram grabs the blade, blood dripping to the floor, as Cheon-Ki watches in horror. ..

Ha-Ram, the demon, and Cheon-Ki all come out of the shadows as it soon becomes apparent that this is all a ploy to help Cheon-Ki slip away undetected. Ha-Ram has promised to bring the demon to Juhyang and he probes the Scholar again about his promise. ..

With the Sealing Ceremony coming up, Cheon-Ki is flustered and continues to express her concerns that Prince Yangmyung is not going to be the one supervising. Instead it’s Juhyang. Given Juhyang tried to kill her father beforehand, that’s not great news.

Juhyang tasks Ha-Ram with finding a ring that King Youngjong used to wear. The ring is said to have divine power and if wielded correctly, would allow the wearer to control the Demon. ..

According to Juhyang, the last person to wear this was Sung-Jin, the head of Jokyeokjeon… and Ha-Ram’s father. If you’ll remember, this could well be the same ring that Cheon-Ki touched down in the dungeons which Ha-Ram was wearing.

Yangmyung is struggling with his purpose. He’s focused on the divine portrait aspect, and specifically on helping Cheon-Ki remain focused on this. He also uses his own shaman, Wol Seon, to counteract Mi-Soo and Juhyang’s plan too, keeping the demon inside the divine portrait.

Yangmyung and the shaman will have to use a special sword to kill the demon. The sword has a special ability that can slice through ghosts and flesh alike.

Both Juhyang and Cheon-Ki are preparing for the upcoming Sealing ceremony. Juhyang is told not to eat anything for 3 days while Cheon-Ki works hard to paint the beautiful portrait of the king and finish it in time. It’s tiring work, her wrists ache but the end result is one of majestic beauty.

Prince Juhyang changed the date and time of the Royal Ceremony to the 12th period, far earlier than Ha-Ram would have liked. Sensing something amiss, he made sure they were prepared by placing guards around the perimeter. Now it turns out that the ceremony they were conducting was just a decoy, with Ha-Ram breaking his promise to Juhyang and preventing the demon from possessing him. ..

After requesting Cheon-Ki hand over the divine ring that she gave him, Juhyang hands it over to Mi-Soo. Mi-Soo confirms that it definitely has divine power. Cheon-Ki though is not done and tells Ha-Ram that he should reconsider and work toward sealing the demon in the portrait – rather than his brother. Ha-Ram simply walks away, defeated, telling her not to turn up at the Sealing Ceremony.

Yangmyung offers his condolences to the King and Ha-Ram before turning his attention to Tiger Spirit and Samshin. Tiger Spirit and Samshin explain that this is not the right day for this to happen, as they are not meant to be involved in what’s about to take place. Tiger Spirit is adamant that her fellow spirit not get involved, while Samshin is more than willing to go along with Yangmyung’s plan. With Ha-Ram chained up, just like the King before him, Yangmyung approaches and apologizes for what’s happened to him, specifically how he turned blind as a result of this demon possession.

Yangmyung approaches Juhyang and tells him to never forget their grandfather when he possesses the spirit of the demon. Juhyang soon waves him away, as Mi-Soo begins. Yangmyung tells Juhyang that his grandfather was a great man who fought for Korea and that he will always be with him. Juhyang thanks Yangmyung before turning to leave.

Ha-Ram sees visions of the past and present collide, eventually paving way to the demon to manifest. Only, Juhyang realizes that the ring he’s wearing is actually a fake. It’s all a big set-up. And as Wol Seon steps up and uses this perfect opportunity to strike, she helps force the demon into the divine portrait. Or does she?

Ha-Ram’s body is possessed by a demon, and Cheon-Ki is the only one who can stop it. The painting that was supposed to protect him crumbles, and it falls to him to try and stop the demon. ..

Yangmyung reaches out and stabs Ha-Ram with the special sword, as the episode comes to an agonizing close.

The Episode Review

As the sealing ceremony begins, the real plan comes into fruition and all looks to be going to plan until the royal painting tears to shreds. However, something goes wrong and the painting is destroyed. It’s pretty agonizing to watch, given how long Cheon-Ki actually worked on that portrait, but it seems like they’ve had to rely on something else instead to stop the demon.

The shot of the trio together just reinforces the dysfunctional love triangle on “Supernatural,” and the show has done well to keep this a focal point while not leaning heavily into the romance side of things. The supernatural elements have remained a focal point, especially after a few episodes of deviation for the painter’s competition, and now it seems like things are really starting to heat up. ..

With only three episodes left in the Lovers of the Red Sky season, it’s all-but-certain that there will be a finale that leaves things wide open for where this one may go next.