The Secret Is Out
In the 17th episode of The King’s Affection, Commander Yoon sacrifices himself to let Ga-On live. Pushing him back, he takes a volley of arrows to allow the bodyguard to survive. When Ga-On heads back to the palace, he hands over the ledger to Hwi and shakily tells her that the officer has fallen. ..
Seok-Jo soon shows up to reveal the news officially, telling her that she should go visit the fallen officer at his grave. Now, it seems there are others at the grave too. Numerous assassins wait in the tall grass, eventually ambushing Hwi and Ji-Un. The thing is, the assassins are being led by her uncle and as he looks set to hit the killing blow, Seok-Jo of all people jumps in to protect the pair. ..
After Hwi and Seok-Jo escape from the assassins, they head back to the palace. However, Hwi knows that Changun will be suspicious of him if he finds out he’s a woman, so he decides to keep this information to himself. Despite this, Changun is still unsure and reports back to Wonsan that Hwi may not be who he seems. ..
Hyun, Hwi, and Changun all learn about the attack. Hyun promises to stay by Hwi’s side. Ji-Un speaks to his father about his interjection. ..
Ga-On heads to the physician’s, where he runs into Yeong-Ji. She very clearly has affection for him and can’t stop smiling while handing over some medicine. This playful moment soon paves way for Ga-On stepping up his investigative efforts. The man responsible for murdering the chief eunuch shows up at the physician’s, typified by his scarred hand. Ga-On watches from the shadows as this man heads inside.
Prince Wonsan approaches the Queen Dowager and makes a pledge that the King must have been a twin since he found the umbilical cord. She brushes aside these concerns, convinced this is a mistake. There can’t be royal twins and warns him against this line of thinking. After all, he could well be seen to be undermining and trying to usurp the King. ..
The palace is inevitably quiet, and Wonsan walks away from it grinning. He believes this to be true, because he thinks that Hwi is a woman.
Rumours of Hwi’s closeness to Ji-Un start spreading to Ha-Kyung. She overhears the other maids talking and becomes suspicious. In fact, rumors are circulating that Hwi may actually prefer male company over female company. While Ha-Kyung brushes this off, she can’t shake the idea that it might be true, given she doesn’t want to sleep with her. ..
These rumours circulate around the court that Hwi, the new courtesan, is not up to par. Court Lady Kim suggests that Hwi not see Ji-Un for a while, at least until these murmurs die down.
The Queen Dowager eventually confronts Hwi about these rumours. As they head out for archery together, she warns that the more she stays childless, the more these rumours will grow. In fact, she forces Hwi to come up with an excuse to get rid of Ji-Un from the palace. Instead, she dances around this and claims she’ll look out for her own residence. In other words “no I won’t get rid of him.”
This causes quite the commotion though when Ha-Kyung shows up. She pleads with Hwi to allow her to bear the heir to the throne, promising to do what she can to provide a King for the throne. The thing is, this obviously isn’t going to work because… well you guys know why, I won’t spell it out!
Meanwhile, Changun frequents his local bar and begins spreading rumors (but they’re not really rumors) about Hwi being a transgender woman. It’s dangerous stuff, especially if this catches wind. ..
Seok-Jo is confronted by the Left State Minister who warns that these rumours are starting to grow too big – and Ji-Un hanging around Hwi isn’t helping. The Minister says, “Do not disappoint me.” He warns that Ji-Un’s position is resting precariously on Seok-Jo’s actions. ..
Eunuch Hong takes Ji-Un aside to talk about his upcoming marriage. He asks politely for Ji-Un to hold off seeing Hwi for the time being and not visiting her chambers. This is compounded further when Ji-Un finds out about a bridal letter. He’s going to be married off. His mother implores Ji-Un not to pursue Hwi and send a letter back to So-Eun. ..
Ji-Un refuses to leave town after the upcoming wedding. He knows that Hwi is a woman and threatens to kill her and commit treason in order to save Ji-Un. He tells Ji-Un to leave town after the upcoming wedding too. If he doesn’t, then he’ll kill Hwi.
Meanwhile, Changun is found out in the woods. A group of people hear him mention that Hwi is a woman and they give chase. Seok-Jo knows this will cause problems and he slashes his sword, killing Changun outright. The secret stays buried with him.
Ji-Un tells his friend Hwi that he is getting married. Hwi sees right through this lie and walks away. Despite Hwi ordering him to pause, Ji-Un continues to walk on, tears stinging his cheeks.
The Episode Review
Hwi and Ji-un were always going to end up in trouble. Seok-Jo is the wildcard in all of this, and given his ruthless streak, it was always going to end with him confronting his son and threatening to kill Hwi. In order to keep Ji-Un safe, Hwi takes the noble option of leaving and agreeing to marry Seok-Jo, even if that’s not what he wants. ..
The show has been praised for its strong writing and plotlines, with many viewers predicting that it will continue to be popular for years to come. The political issues have also been a major focus of the show, with some viewers accusing the creators of being too political.
The two leads have great chemistry too and while this episode mostly tackled the rumours spiraling out of control, there’s some good work done to forward both Ha-Kyung and Seok-Jo’s characters as well. Commander Yoon’s death is a tough blow to take, especially as it means Hwi doesn’t have that protective barrier around her, and that vulnerability is rife for exploitation.
This historical drama is getting ready to reach a dramatic finish.
