As our leads enjoy some sweet time together and figure out the mechanism behind the body swap, the evil minister pushes through with his wicked plans to tear them apart.
Just as it seems it is all over and they have caught him for good, he makes a comeback, unveiling a shocking revelation that has our characters reeling. For better or worse, our heroine gets her memories back at that exact time, and it is left to be seen how she will react to it.
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Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 |
Moon River Episodes 9 and 10 Highlights
“Our Crown Prince has matured a great deal in the meantime.”
With the bird now perished, and the cave ruined, leaving no trace, the only clues left are Bird Keeper and the chick. But the former is thought to have died while blowing up the cave, and the chick’s venom is too weak to prove anything. For now, Han-cheol believes he got away with his crimes and focuses on sorting out that matter. Dal-yi blames herself again for this turn of events, but what matters to Kang is that she is safe and sound.
Dal-yi continues dreaming about her time as Yeon-wol. This time, she dreams about Kang’s mother’s death. They were happily drinking tea. But then, Kang’s mother suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed. Later on, poison was found in Yeon-wol’s pillow, and the rest is history. Dal-yi is confused about why she still dreams about Yeon-woo, though she is back in her body. But she can’t find the answer to her question.
“Find proof that the left state councillor sold the brewery to that man.”
At court, Han-cheol dismisses the bird incident as an omen, and Kang goes along, using it as an excuse to postpone the wedding. It is a blow to Han-cheol, but his hands are tied. As a scapegoat, he pins it all on the former chief court lady, arguing she owns the brewery connected to the cave where the mother bird was kept. Kang plans to refute that claim, though, by proving that it was once Han-cheol’s. The catch: Han-cheol used a mediator to transfer the ownership of the brewery. So, Kang asks Woon to look into it.
Meeting Woo-hee, Woon brings up the brewery ownership issue. She seems aware of the mediator’s identity but plays ignorant. For someone who turned down the wedding gift Woon got made for her, and demanded that he take down her father instead, Woo-hee’s stance is odd. She stopped at nothing to get what she wanted, so why did she protect the mediator, though catching them would bring her father’s downfall and set her free?
“This will be my gift to my royal concubine, so tell the finest artisan to do their absolute best work.”
A conversation with Woon about wedding ceremonies inspires Kang to throw one for his marriage to Dal-yi. And simultaneously, she plans a surprise to thank him for always looking out for her. Dal-yi cooks Kang pumpkin porridge, but funnily enough, she injures five of her fingers. Kang is touched by the thought but not much by the taste. Still, he finishes his bowl down to the last spoonful, while praising the food all along. And he even eats Dal-yi’s portion.
Unsurprisingly, shoving two bowls of porridge down his throat gives Kang indigestion. So, Dal-yi, who now knows that the taste was horrible, pokes his finger. And while trying to clean the wound, our leads switch bodies again.
Racking her brain, Dal-yi figures that blood and water are involved with the switch mechanism. And after a few trials and errors, they manage to switch back to their original bodies. So, this is what happens: if both of our leads come into contact with water while dripping blood, the switch happens. But it won’t work if it is only one of them.
“Inside your dream, I have placed my own.”
During the brief moment our leads switched, Han-cheol dropped by to investigate “Dal-yi” for luring the bird mother with its chick. Since it is Kang in Dal-yi’s body, he goes willingly, confident he can handle it. And indeed, the situation diffuses quickly, though Han-cheol won’t stop at that.
First, he forces the niece of the former chief court lady (the court maid who spread rumors about Kang and Dal-yi’s relationship in week 3) to confess that she released the mother bird. And then he asks for more time to investigate that issue thoroughly and catch the mastermind. But what he really wants is to stall for time until he can frame Dal-yi for it all.
Taking a breather from palace politics, Kang throws a wedding ceremony for Dal-yi, preparing a flowery path lined with shoes on both sides, from the straw shoes to plain ones to the silk shoes, symbolizing her dream. At the end of the path, one pair stands alone. And inside it, Kang put the wedding gift, a double ring he specially made for Dal-yi. He proposes to her not as the crown prince and his concubine but as a man who wishes to marry the woman he loves.
“If she didn’t fly up to the sky or disappear into the ground, she must have escaped.”
Looking into Bird Keeper, Kang deduces she was a female royal physician. Simultaneously, Wook finds out the mediator was an out-resident slave at Han-cheol’s house. So, here is the connection. They are mother and daughter. And Han-cheol had the daughter do his bidding and raise the bird, while holding her mother’s freedom over her head. It isn’t clear where the mother currently is. Some people say she ran away. But there is no way Han-cheol would let her go, so he must be keeping her somewhere.
Heading to the cave, Kang and Woon search for Bird Keeper’s body, but they find nothing. Kang suspects she might have escaped through a secret passage and is still alive. And rightly so, he discovers a passage leading to Han-cheol’s house, which serves as proof that he is involved in the bird issue. Woo-hee gives Bird Keeper money to elope, promising to look after her mother. But she refuses to leave her mother behind.
“If you are here for the royal concubine, you have come in vain.”
Meanwhile, Han-cheol has Dal-yi arrested for being the mastermind behind the bird incident, claiming she is the late crown princess who survived somehow and returned for revenge. (He still doesn’t know that they are the same person, but made up that allegation.) Han-cheol has the court maid from earlier, and Dal-yi’s neighbours from the village testify to it. And with Kang being busy searching the cave and the king too weak to do anything, it appears he will have his way.
Quick on her feet, Dal-yi gets the court maid caught in her lie. But the most the king can do is put off the investigation until the morning. Just then, Kang shows up. He isn’t there for Dal-yi but to arrest Han-cheol as the mastermind behind the bird incident, using the secret passage as evidence. But even as he is taken away and jailed, Han-cheol remains unfazed, as if he has another card up his sleeve to turn the tables.
“The day your father is arrested, pack light and meet me at the greenhouse.”
With Han-cheol supposedly out of the picture, Dal-yi congratulates Kang on pulling off his revenge. Woon elopes with Woo-hee right away, and he doesn’t even have time to say goodbye to our leads. Dal-yi is upset that Woon left without a word after everything they went through. And Kang feels a little jealous about it.
Woon plans to go to Qing with Woo-hee. They shall stay the night at an inn and head to the port in the morning. However, not even a few hours pass before the king releases Han-cheol himself. (What is at stake here?) And learning that Woo-hee has disappeared, Han-cheol has his men look for her.
“After a misunderstanding was cleared, His Majesty the King personally granted my release.”
Bumping into Han-cheol, Kang is rightfully shocked and confronts the king about setting him free. But what he learns is shocking. Back at the time the late king and crown prince died, Han-cheol visited the current king (back then a prince), confessing to using undetectable poison extracted from a venomous bird to assassinate them. He then offers an ultimatum. Either the current king will take the throne and become his puppet, or Han-cheol will frame him for the assassination.
Fearing for Kang’s life (or so he claims), the king accepted Han-cheol’s offer, crafting a secret pact in which he acknowledged the deaths of the late king and crown prince as a legitimate coup rather than treason and declared himself the coup leader. Han-cheol was appointed as the left state councillor and recognized as a meritorious subject. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy his greed. He wanted to become Kang’s in-law.
Since Kang was already married to Yeon-wol at the time, Han-cheol plotted to depose her. And the king agreed to it. Except, Han-cheol killed the queen as well, so he could control both the king and Kang more freely after taking out anyone who could help them. And, as usual, the king couldn’t do anything to him because of the pact hanging over his head.
In the present, the king tells Kang he must survive even if it means being a coward. But Kang is dumbfounded and can barely comprehend anything. Not only were his mother and Yeon-wol driven to their deaths, but their names would never be cleared. How can Kang live with that burden? He wanted to eliminate Han-cheol and go back to how things were with his father, but now this is not possible.
“If that secret pact is revealed, His Majesty will be killed.”
Walking out, Kang is dazed. He hugs Dal-yi tightly and sobs. Then, he tells her everything. But the worst part is Kang blaming himself since the king claims he signed that pact to protect him. While the latter part might be true, it is in no way Kang’s fault. He had no idea about it all along and lost both his wife and mother.
Now the only way to take Han-cheol down is for the king to abdicate the throne to Woon and reveal the pact himself. But of course, he won’t agree to it that easily. Also, Woon is supposedly on his way to Qing. We already know that Han-cheol is after him and Woo-hee, but our leads just realize that Woon might be in danger since Han-cheol must have heard about Woo-hee’s disappearance.
Reaching the port, Woon and Woo-hee get ambushed by Han-cheol’s men. He tries to put up a fight, but he is outnumbered, and Woo-hee gets held at swordpoint. Han-cheol taunts Woon by mentioning how his late father threw his mother under the bus for the throne. And just then, Kang arrives. Since people at the palace would have already realized that Woo-hee is gone, Kang suggests that Han-cheol let them run away. But Han-cheol would rather kill Woo-hee and frame Woon for kidnapping her.
To save Woo-hee, Woon steps up to take the blame, but she surrenders and suggests a truce. She will return to the palace, and they will forget this ever happened. As Woo-hee is dragged away, Woon is devastated, questioning why Han-cheol was set free. And Kang explains everything to him. Woon doesn’t blame Kang, but he can’t bring himself to say it is okay either, especially after what happened that day.
“Open your eyes and see who the real enemy is.”
Returning to the palace, Kang is downhearted by this turn of events. He is the one who approached Woon first and suggested they join hands to take revenge. But now they are rendered helpless because of the secret pact. Dal-yi urges Kang not to get bogged down by useless guilt and assures him there is always another way to reach his goal. Also, she will always be on his side, no matter what happens.
The bird incident gets closed, and the court maid is exiled and made a slave for framing Dal-yi. Also, the preparations for the wedding will proceed without delay. And Han-cheol comes triumphant once again. The dowager is livid about it since the wedding should be canceled, and Woo-hee and Han-cheol should be arrested after she ran away like that, wondering what kind of leverage Han-cheol has against Kang and the king for them to tolerate him like that.
“The moment I woke up after losing my memory was five winters ago.”
Thinking back on what happened, Kang urges the king to give up the throne and come clean about the secret pact. They should return what they took unjustly and take back what was stolen from them. But the king attributes Kang’s recklessness to his love for Dal-yi and plots to get her out of the picture, especially after confirming she is indeed Yeon-wol.
Five years ago, the king sent Yeon-wol a letter the day before she was supposed to get poisoned. He told her to fake her death and flee, but he clearly knew Yeon-wol wouldn’t do it and would rather sacrifice herself than put Kang in danger.
Summoning Dal-yi, the king tells her to visit her parents and discuss moving to another place. They are residing in the house where Kang and Yeon-wol used to live before entering the palace, which is against protocol. So, the king will arrange another residence for them. During the time Dal-yi is away from the palace, the king plans to set her quarters on fire and plant a body with the same build. Thus, faking her death so Han-cheol wouldn’t use her against Kang. (The king will never learn his lesson, hurting Kang again.)
However, there is a twist to this plan. Dal-yi has been having more dreams about Yeon-wol. And this time, her memory comes back flooding to her as she visits the house. As we end this week, Dal-yi is having trouble breathing as she realizes her aunt has been lying to her all along.
Moon River Episodes 9 and 10 Musings
That is complicated on all sides. Kang is guilt-ridden, Dal-yi is facing the shock of her life, Woon feels devastated, and Woo-hee is locked up and powerless, all while Han-cheol is unscathed. We already expected him to get released soon, but the secret pact took us by surprise.
Revealing it means dethroning the king and Kang, and they might even lose their lives. But as Kang says, anything will be better than living in that nightmare under Han-cheol’s thumb. Also, we trust Woon to spare the king and Kang’s lives. So, perhaps there is a way for everyone to have a happy ending or at least a decent one.
The drama keeps teasing us about Han-cheol’s backstory and what made him turn so ruthless, but at this point, even the most painful story won’t redeem his actions. Still, we are curious about his story and why he keeps craving power.
Photos and videos: MBC Drama
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