With the first half of our tale now over, the stakes are soaring high. Yet this is only the beginning. Enemies from the past turn up one by one, set on getting revenge.
But while our heroine isn’t one to be taken lightly, there is only so much she can do against a treacherous scheme to bring her down.
To balance things out, we follow our leading lady as she lightens up and spends some quality time with our storyteller before turning him down for the umpteenth time.
Bunny S. watches The Tale of Lady Ok on Netflix
The Tale Of Lady Ok Episodes 7 and 8 Highlights
“Are you doing well? Are you happy?”
Having calmed down a bit, Tae-young proceeds with her mission. Hearing Tae-young’s voice, Seung-hwi feels joyful, though he pretends to be unhappy about Tae-young’s visit. Long story short: Seung-hwi wrote a novel based on their story but never published it. It was his way of reminiscing over their memories so that Seung-hwi won’t forget about Tae-young after getting old. The catch: an apprentice stole and published the original copy in his name. Having found out about it, Seung-hwi beat the apprentice up to a pulp and got arrested for assault.
If they compare the original copy written by Seung-hwi to the one sold at the bookstores and prove the plagiarism, they can get Seung-hwi released, right? But as you guessed, the apprentice must have discarded the original copy already. No need to worry, though. Suggesting that both men rewrite the novel and then compare both copies to the original, Tae-young corners the apprentice into admitting to his crime. Also, Seung-hwi’s birth father plays a significant role, giving Seung-hwi’s words credibility after confirming Seung-hwi’s identity as his eldest son.
Having done her task, Tae-young attempts to go back home, but she gets roped into staying for a few days to watch Seung-hwi’s first performance in two years. Watching Seung-hwi train, Tae-young gets fascinated and I am glad they got to spend some quality time together this time.
With some nudge from Tae-young, Seung-hwi meets his father. And it seems there is room for them to share a healthy relationship in the future. Once again, prioritizing others over her feelings for Seung-hwi, Tae-young, yet again, turns down Seung-hwi’s request to stay by his side, choosing to go back to the village instead.
“Your wounds must heal so that we can have a wedding.”
Meanwhile, Mi-ryeong and Do-gyum got closer after working together on a “staged” case. The deal is pretty much sealed after Mi-ryeong saves Do-gyum from getting hit by a cart, taking the hit herself. Needless to say, it was all staged too. Still, the original plan was to make Do-gyum a cripple and reduce his chances of getting married to enhance Mi-ryeong’s chance of getting married to him. But Mi-ryeong wavered at the last moment and saved Do-gyum.
Luckily, the drama doesn’t leave us hanging for long and reveals Mi-ryeong’s secret. Remember the nasty parents who got Tae-young’s maidservant killed? Mi-ryeong is their daughter. To get revenge after her son and husband died, Mi-ryeong’s mother had Mi-ryeong get adopted into another family so that she could approach Tae-young and infiltrate her family, biding her time to take Tae-young down.
Hearing of what happened during her absence, Tae-young drops by to check on Mi-ryeong along with Do-gyum, declaring her intention to make Mi-ryeong Do-gyum’s wife. To congratulate Mi-ryeong on her marriage, Tae-young gifts, her dear sister-in-law matching bracelets she made herself to signify their bond. Poor Tae-young is letting her enemy into the family without having the slightest bit of idea.
“Can you turn his body and show me his shoulder?”
Eavesdropping is one thing but Mi-ryeong takes it a step too far, planting strange stuff in her room, apparently used to curse couples into being childless, and then spreading nasty rumors and painting Tae-young as a jealous woman trying to harm a newlywed couple.
Think that is all? A report comes in, claiming Yoon-gyum’s corpse was found. While it won’t shock me if the drama goes this way. I know better than to trust this scheme. It looks like the next item on the revenge agenda is to make Tae-young a widow and force her to commit suicide or, more precisely, kill Tae-young and stage it as suicide.
Scheme or not, Tae-young felt terrified over the thought of losing her husband. Luckily, it occurred to Tae-young to check for the tattoo on Yoon-gyum’s shoulder. Seeing it isn’t there, we can say for sure it isn’t Yoon-gyum. (Not that I needed confirmation.) Except, people don’t really care about the truth and just gossip about Tae-young.
With rumors about Tae-young spreading like wildfire, Do-gyum resolves to protect Tae-young just like she did to him, setting off to search for Yoon-gyum and bring him home even if he has to use force. Sharing the story of how Yoon-gyum ignored her at the port, Tae-young tries to dissuade Do-gyum. Yet nothing she does can stop him. Not when Mi-ryeong keeps urging Do-gyum to seek his brother out, claiming it is the only way to protect the family.
The plan is to spread rumors about Tae-young, make Do-gyum leave the house, and then have Tae-young killed to execute the revenge plot in full. No, actually, it is much more disgusting. Mi-ryeong’s mother hired men to abduct, and violate Tae-young and then leave her naked in the street so that Tae-young would get mocked by other people and take her life out of shame. That woman is insane!
One thing Mi-ryeong’s mother didn’t count for was Mi-ryeong learning the truth about what her parents did to the maidservant and how her brother took the fall for their parents though he was innocent. Which is the total opposite of the lies she grew up hearing from her so-called mother. So, Mi-ryeong only took part in this scheme because she was fooled by her mother into believing Tae-young ruined their family.
Confronting her mother, Mi-ryeong calls her out on lying to her all those years. But that nasty woman is completely unrepentant, continuing with her lies and spouting the same usual nonsense about how Tae-young ruined her family. When Mi-ryeong attempts to back out, that nasty woman mentions how Tae-young won’t forgive Mi-ryeong if she learns the truth, getting Mi-ryeong torn.
“I don’t deserve this bracelet.”
Though hesitant, Mi-ryeong comes clean to Tae-young about everything. As expected, Tae-young already knew it all, yet treated Mi-ryeong the same and gave her a chance to come clean, having sensed Mi-ryeong’s sincerity when she saved Do-gyum. Together Tae-young and Mi-ryeong join hands, getting the men Mi-ryeong’s mother hired to abduct Tae-young arrested. Thus, Mi-ryeong’s mother falls into her trap.
We get a fiery confrontation between Tae-young and Mi-ryeong’s mother, where the latter remains unapologetic, and the former makes it clear that is the last time she will tolerate those schemes. Actually, it isn’t just Mi-ryeong’s mother who is out to get Tae-young. An official who instigated the chief to dig up gold is also resentful of Tae-young since she caused him to lose his gold. Thus, pulling strings to get the corpse identified as Yoon-gyum and declare Tae-young a widow officially.
Now that Tae-young is supposed to remain at home and mourn for three years, officers barge in and get the legal office closed. We end this week with Tae-young wailing. But this time it is because she has to watch her hard work going in flame before her eyes while unable to do anything. Worse, she gets arrested and taken into custody for trying to stop the officers.
As for Do-gyum, his wild goose chase surprisingly yielded some results, and he got to meet Yoon-gyum. But we have to wait until next week to see if Yoon-gyum will return home with Do-gyum and save Tae-young or Do-gyum will return home alone.
The Tale Of Lady Ok Episodes 7 and 8 Musings
The drama took me by surprise with the revelation about Mi-ryeong. I knew she sought revenge, but I didn’t connect the dots to that case. The theme of having people from previous cases seek revenge is fine, but I hoped for something more convoluted. Having a face-off between our sisters-in-law pair who are as shrewd as each other sounds more enchanting. Not that I am disappointed that Mi-ryeong and Tae-young are getting along well, but I expected more of the drama.
The ball is now in Yoon-gyum’s court, choosing between saving Tae-young yet giving up on his cause or sticking to his guns and leaving Tae-young to her fate. Ironically, he is the complete opposite of Seung-hwi, who didn’t think twice and wanted to throw everything away and go to Tae-young after hearing of her predicament. Also, it was thanks to Seung-hwi that Do-gyum was able to meet his brother.
With Seung-hwi around, the drama feels much lighter, but then the reality sinks again, reminding us this isn’t a romcom but a dark tale. Here is hoping things get sorted out next week, though I guess it will only get darker from here.
Photos and Videos: JTBC Drama
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