K-DRAMA RECAP: “Moon River” Episodes 3 and 4

Bunny Sonaki

5 days ago

As our crown prince experiences a near-death experience, he grows closer to our heroine amidst their usual fights, culminating in a mysterious body swap.

Additionally, we learn more about the other couple’s history and how their goals might not coincide.

Bunny S. watches Moon River on Viki

Episode Recaps: 01 & 02| 03 & 04|

Moon River Episodes 3 and 4 Highlights

“This is my problem. I cannot get you involved, my lord.”

Luckily, Woon saves the day, having the widow’s mother-in-law testify that it was a misunderstanding, and Dal-yi isn’t a thief. So, Kang’s identity isn’t disclosed. But our leads aren’t aware of it yet, so they have a heated exchange when Dal-yi asserts she should go back and sort out her problems, and Kang orders her to leave Hanyang at once and stay out of his sight.

Offended by how she calls her lowly and makes her feel like dirt, Dal-yi snaps, arguing that Kang should wake up from his dreams. She isn’t his late wife and wants nothing to do with him. Actually, his late wife must feel disgusted at how her husband follows Dal-yi around because of some resemblance.

That was a tough argument on both sides. Dal-yi feels embarrassed as she got her hopes up, thinking Kang cared about her, only for him to hurt her with callous words. Kang doesn’t feel good about hurting Dal-yi, either. But his worry about her got the best of him.

“What a cruel twist of fate.”

Meanwhile, Woon heads to see Woo-hee during her temple stay. And it is here that he first learns she is Han-cheol’s daughter. The poor guy was unaware all along that his lover was his enemy’s daughter. He is rightfully shocked, but he also understands Woo-hee’s reason for hiding her identity from him.

When she reminds him of his promise never to let go of her hand, Woon suggests eloping together. But Woo-hee won’t let go of everything she has now and turn into ruins after Han-cheol hunts them down. Instead, she wants Woon to reclaim his rightful place. But he refuses, arguing he never had an interest in the throne. The only thing he wished for was to have her by his side. But now that she is about to become the crown princess, that dream seems impossible to achieve.

As he writes her a farewell letter amid tears, we see in flashbacks how Woon and Woo-hee met for the first time. Some scenes from last week were confusing, so we got the order wrong. Han-cheol indeed assassinated the former king and crown prince. But long before that, Woon was the crown prince but was deposed after his mother was framed for adultery and executed. Not the other way around.

In his exile, Woon was left to die. Only Woo-hee, who was there during her temple stay, reached out to him. Her hands were icy cold, but she comforted him and helped him endure the suffering all those years until the current king reinstated his prince’s title and ended his exile. Now, Woon has to let his lover go as he doesn’t have the power to stand up against Han-cheol.

Woo-hee, on the other hand, won’t accept the fate Han-cheol is trying to force upon her. Instead, she concocts a plan and demands that Kang escort her to Hanyang himself. And he only relents after Han-cheol threatens him with Dal-yi’s life, having learned that Kang helped her.

On the way, Kang crosses paths with Dal-yi, who is headed in the same direction to deliver Woon’s letter to Woo-hee. She feels jealous after learning Kang is on his way to bring his betrothed, has her heart flutter when he says that she is prettier than Woo-hee, and then gets taken aback to discover that Kang’s betrothed and Woon’s lover are the same woman.

“The man who just threatened to kill me is now trying to save my life.”

When they meet, Woo-hee makes it clear she has no intention of marrying Kang. Han-cheol is trying to use her to gain more power, and Kang wants to use her to get revenge on her father. And she is sick and tired of being used as a pawn. She even provokes Kang, not so subtly hinting that it was his father who got his late wife murdered.

Returning to the temple, Woo-hee finds Kang’s guards collapsed after getting poisoned. There are assassins everywhere, so she asks Kang for help. But we can tell this is part of Woo-hee’s plan to get rid of Kang. After bringing her to safety, Kang returns to fight off the assassins along with his personal bodyguard, Oh Shin-won (Kwon Ju-seok). They put up a strong fight, but Shin-won ends up taking a hit to save Kang.

Just then, Woo-hee shows up with a gun in hand and shoots Kang, sending him toppling over the cliff. Shin-won tries to save Kang with his last breath. But Woo-hee’s gun finds its mark. The next day, the court falls into uproar after hearing from Woo-hee that Kang fell off the cliff. And the king is devastated to learn about his son’s death.

“You ran to me. So, save me”

While wandering around, Dal-yi stumbles upon a dead body and gets terrified. Coming close, she recognizes Kang and finds him still breathing. Wrongly assuming that the police were searching for Kang because he had committed a crime, Dal-yi couldn’t take him to a clinic and resolved to treat him herself. It was tough, but luckily, she managed to stop the bleeding.

After nursing him for fifteen days, Kang opens his eyes, imprinting Yeon-wol’s face on Dal-yi’s. But he soon regains his composure. If it were up to us, we would have Kang and Dal-yi live happily outside the palace walls. But Kang insists on returning to Hanyang and asks Dal-yi for a horse. Worried, she tags along under the excuse of collecting her reward for saving his life.

Setting off, Kang rides for two days straight without stopping, getting himself drained. Dal-yi tries to stop him, arguing that he will die if this continues. But he leaves her behind and goes on his journey. However, he barely gets any farther before Dal-yi runs after him, and he turns around after spotting her fall. Kang is burning up with fever and passes out on Dal-yi’s shoulder, but not before telling her to protect him with all her might.

“I am not your tool. You are mine.”

With Kang supposedly dead, Han-cheol weighs his options. But none of them include appointing Woon as the new crown prince. If anything, Han-cheol wants him dead. But Woo-hee didn’t do all that to have Woon lose his life. So, she blackmails her father, revealing that she shot Kang. If he wants to become the king’s father-in-law, like he always hoped, then he had better put Woon on the throne.

That sounds like a win-win situation. But no matter what happens, Han-cheol won’t enthrone Woon, as there is no proof that he won’t seek revenge on Han-cheol because of what happened in the past. Also, seeing how much Woo-hee loves Woon to the point of assassinating Kang, Han-cheol is worried her affection will make her turn against him one day.

“I have incurred a huge debt to that girl, Dal-yi.”

A letter from Kang proving he is alive ruins her plans, so Woo-hee intercepts the letter before it reaches the king and has the roads leading to Hanyang ambushed by ruffians. But Han-cheol learns about the letter and plants it in Woon’s residence, accusing him of attempting to kill Kang. Hearing that, Woo-hee threatens to report Han-cheol if something happens to Woon. But he confines her to her room.

As per Woo-hee’s plan, Kang and Dal-yi are attacked. He tells her to run away, but she refuses to leave him alone. They fight off the ruffians, but Kang’s wound opens. And they are almost killed if not for Shin-won, who miraculously survives and heads to save Kang.

Learning about the situation with Woon, Kang resolves to return to Hanyang quickly. But the thing is, the other land routes are filled with ruffians as well. With some help from Dal-yi, Kang gets on a boat. However, by the time he arrives, Woon is already on his way to his exile place. And needless to say, Han-cheol plans to get Woon killed before he reaches there.

Simultaneously, the queen dowager (the late king’s mother and Woon’s grandmother) plots to poison the king so she can enthrone whoever she wants while Kang and Woon are away. She had a hand in framing Woon’s mother and deposing him, so she is worried Woon might seek revenge on her.

Luckily, Kang figures it all out and sends Shin-won to the palace with proof that he is still alive, while he goes to save Woon. The poisoning attempt is prevented, and Woon is acquitted. So, it ends well. Kang wanted to punish the dowager for her crime, but the king urged him to save his card for the future.

“What will happen to me now?”

Last week, we had some doubts about Woon. But it is all cleared this week. He doesn’t eye the throne and was genuinely worried about Kang. Also, after hearing it was Woo-hee who shot Kang, he gets mad at her and treats her coldly, going as far as to lie that he will marry Dal-yi and form a family with her and that he no longer loves Woo-hee.

While we don’t necessarily agree with Woo-hee’s actions, we have to say her situation sucks. Still, her insistence that Woon take the throne feels stifling. If she loves him that much, then she can devise another plan to be together that doesn’t involve killing Kang. Woon’s stance isn’t right either, choosing to sacrifice his love. But we can’t blame him much. He had to watch his mother die and suffered too much while exiled. So, it is only natural to fear for his and Woo-hee’s lives.

“Today is the very last.”

To reward her for saving his life, Kang sends Dal-yi bundles of fancy gifts. But she returns them all and takes only her travel expenses. Still, she accepts the dress Kang gifted her and looks dazzling in it, getting him smitten. Just moments ago, he claimed he was seeing her for the last time, but now Kang can’t take his eyes off of her.

Things happen, and Kang has to disclose his identity to save Dal-yi from a sleazy minister who tries to molest her. Once again, he lashes out at her for stepping in and not staying put or waiting for him to save her. But she is rightfully confused. Why should he solve her problems? Then, she gets reminded of his words from earlier — that she resembles his late wife and shouldn’t get humiliated with that face.

Dal-yi snaps at Kang for toying with her while thinking about his wife. And he shoves a jewellery box at her, ordering her to leave Hanyang at once. Offended, Dal-yi tosses away the box. So, Woo-hee, who witnessed the entire exchange, points a sword at her for throwing away Kang’s gifts. Woon tries to stop Woo-hee, but she hurts Dal-yi’s neck, so Kang steps up and grabs the sword from her. And it is here that he realizes Woon and Woo-hee are in love, which is why she tried to kill him.

In normal circumstances, Kang would search for evidence that Woo-hee shot him and use that to take Han-cheol down. But he covers this incident up since harming Woo-hee would break Woon’s heart. However, Han-cheol has no intention of stopping and submits Woo-hee’s marriage application, aiming to make her the new crown princess within 3 months.

“I never used you as a puppet replacing the crown princess.”

Spotting Woon and Dal-yi together, Kang burns up with jealousy and interrupts them. When he is alone with Dal-yi, Kang argues he is angry because she misunderstood him, though he never used her to replace his late wife. And Dal-yi retorts that Kang should apologize rather than make absurd claims to save face. Her words match those Yeon-wol told Kang, further bemusing him. He came to see her one last time, but she is rooting herself in his heart.

The drama chooses that moment to start the soul swap. In a beautifully crafted and breathtaking sequence, Dal-yi and Kang experience a strange burning sensation and trip off the bridge into the water. And next thing we know, they open their eyes in each other’s bodies.

Moon River Episodes 3 and 4 Musings

Two weeks in, and the drama remains strong and even gets better. The writing is tight, and the characters feel layered, and none of them are stereotypical. Nothing is predictable here, and it is hard to foresee the next move. One area the drama excels at is the cinematography. It isn’t just about exquisite aesthetics but also about capturing the depth of the scenes and enhancing them.

Now that the setup is behind us, we are curious about how our leads will handle this predicament. It is tough enough having Han-cheol breathing down their necks with the threat to kill any woman close to Kang other than Woo-hee. And now we have a clueless Dal-yi in Kang’s body while Kang is outside the palace. Will they confide in anyone and ask for help? Or will they take on this matter by themselves?

It is probably the former, though it might not be too bad to seek Woon’s help, as he proved to be a loyal ally to Kang and a good friend to Dal-yi. Still, it isn’t easy to convince someone that they swapped bodies.

Lastly, we got intrigued this week by Woo-hee’s character. She is willing to do anything to reach her goal, but she isn’t unfeeling. Her tantrum stemmed from being hurt and jealous that Woon was showing interest in Dal-yi and ignoring her, unaware that he was only acting that way to keep her from getting in danger. If only she would accept Woon’s decision to give up on the throne, and he would muster up the courage to fight for his love. Then again, neither couple has it easy in the drama.

Photos and Videos: MBC Drama