Creative in her methods, Queen Hwa-ryeong saves the Crown Princess and prevents other concubines from cheating in Under The Queen’s Umbrella.
As part of her bigger plan, the Queen shifts the blame to the Crown Princess during the interrogation. The King and Queen now agree to hold a crown prince selection. Taking the form of an unusual contest outside the palace, this baffles other concubines.
Marcie Line watched Under The Queen’s Umbrella on Netflix
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale + Review
“Under The Queen’s Umbrella” Is Shot At The Largest Historical Drama Set In Korea
Under The Queen’s Umbrella Episodes 7 and 8 Highlights
“Even a stray dog serves only one master whom it has given its heart to.”
Queen Hwa-ryeong threatens the nursemaid with a needle to speak up, but she remains tight-lipped and later throws up blood. Just a while after, a small fire gets extinguished from the Queen’s quarters.
With all the events, the Crown Princess threatens the Queen with taking her own life while feeling unsafe in the palace. However, the Queen persuades her to keep her composure as a mother.
Pressuring her son to approve the taekhyeon, the Queen Dowager reminds the King that he should hear her request since it was she who helped him achieve the throne which he now calls filthy.
As the Queen is distracted in figuring out who is behind all the threats and poisoning attempts that recently happened, the Chief State Councilor and Consort Hwang feel assured. Meanwhile, Court Lady Shin gets summoned to the Dowager’s quarters and slapped for keeping that the Queen met the deposed Queen Yoon.
Prince Seong-nam confesses to the King that he brought the unverified medicine. Claiming he is sure that he can prove his innocence, the King orders him to bring a witness in the interrogation but fails to do so.
The day comes, and Physician Kwon points to the Queen as the source of the medicine. Seemingly trapped, the Queen finds her way out by saying that the Crown Princess gave her the unverified medicine.
“If one cannot stop the waves, one must ride them.”
Walking out from the Court Officials, the King gets upset with the eager request for the deposition of the Queen and execution of the Grand Heir.
After being slapped for being disrespectful, the Queen proposes an agreement with the Dowager and the Chief State Councilor of proceeding with the taekhyeon after demoting the Crown Princess and her children as commoners.
Ready to be killed upon arriving at their new place, the Crown Princess and her children disappear from the carrier. Queen Hwa-ryeong welcomes them in a safe place she prepared when they planned on taking the fall for the unverified medicine.
Physician Kwon disappears, leaving a letter apologizing to the Queen. He then meets with Master Toji. Prince Seong-nam assures his mother of his determination to become the next crown prince. Prince Bo-geom returns the book to the Dowager, and earns her approval.
Sharing the same view of holding a taekhyeon, the King and Queen believe in choosing the worthiest candidate. Announcing the crown prince selection, the concubines become shocked that it is in the form of a contest, which has already begun.
“You do not fight against the wind. You make use of it.”
Working their way up in the contest, Prince Mu-an and Seong-nam succeed in the race and archery challenges. Together with other princes, they run to deliver the edict to either Seo Ham-deok or Park Gyeong-u.
Determined in the contest, Prince Seong-nam befriends an untamed horse as other horses are sick. Prince Mu-an becomes preoccupied with romance, and bumps into Cheong-ha who is looking for Prince Seong-nam, his brother.
Consort Tae fails to pass on the information that could help Prince Bo-geom in his quest as the concubines get barred from going out by the Queen who gathers them all to embroider.
Meanwhile, concubines who pledge their loyalty to Consort Hwang are asked to forfeit the participation of Prince Yeongmin and Hwapyeong. Consort Ko remains missing from the group after meeting Prince Sim-so to pass on helpful information.
“How can a father who cannot protect his own son protect the people of his kingdom?”
Prince Ui-seong receives a tube of information while riding a horse to help him in his quest. Also riding a horse, Prince Seong-nam gets attacked, and his perpetrators get killed. Prince Sim-so also meets bandits and gets robbed empty.
Prince Bo-geom locates Park Gyeong-u, but the man ignores the royal edict given. Although risky, Prince Seong-nam arrives also after riding his horse through the waves already meeting in the middle.
Court officials become alarmed hearing that the contest asks the princes to bring men they eliminated in the past back to the palace. News about the attempted murder of Prince Seong-nam reaches the palace, and the King calls for the Chief State Councilor.
Threatened to hear that the Chief State Councilor knows about him watching the death of Crown Prince Taein, the King postpones the investigation. Hearing all that, the Queen protests, and investigates on her own, taking the arrow from the incident.
“Did your eyes open after seeing a lunatic?”
Against the enthronement of the King, Park Gyeong-u refuses the royal order saying he is blind. Prince Seong-nam strikes a deal with him on leaving with Prince Bo-geom if he fails to prove that he is blind.
He waves a sword at Park Gyeong-u, but the man doesn’t flinch. Acting like he is ready to give up, Prince Seong-nam jumps off the cliff, evoking a worried reaction from Park Gyeong-u.
Proving the man is not blind, Prince Seong-nam and Bo-geom stay over at Park Gyeong-u’s place. Later in the morning, Cheong-ha rushes to embrace Prince Seong-nam whom she sees while collecting sea quahogs.
Seeing a sketch of her son from the mouth of the perpetrators, the Queen tracks down the subleader of the bandits. Capturing him, they torture him, and he describes the court lady of Queen Dowager.
Visiting the Dowager’s quarters, the Queen apologizes to her with a gift of a cuckoo pint, which is also poisonous. Confronting her about her scheme to kill Prince Seong-nam, Queen Hwa-ryeong threatens the Dowager of exposing all her immoralities.
Under The Queen’s Umbrella Episodes 7 and 8 Musings
Enemies of the Queen become bolder in recent episodes of Under The Queen’s Umbrella. They are unafraid to harm anyone connected to the Queen, and brazenly forward requests to the King.
Sparks of companionship are re-enkindled between the King and Queen who seem to share the same righteous view on the selection. However, the King appears to sway and become a coward remembering his guilt from the past.
Like a survival show that is entertaining to watch, the princes highlight their strengths and weaknesses in the contest. Princes who are not yet of age like Ho-dong and Il-yeong enjoy their time outside.
Parents like Consort Ko ruin their children from becoming independent by constantly meddling. On the other hand, Prince Bo-geom receives support from the Dowager, which taints his virtuous image.
Consort Hwang’s guilt becomes more obvious, but beyond her, the Queen secures evidence of Queen Dowager’s bigger plots. Playing by the books creatively, we shall see how the Queen handles her mother-in-law while potentially joining hands with the Chief State Councilor in the next episodes.
Watch new episodes of Under The Queen’s Umbrella every Saturday and Sunday on Netflix.
Photos: tvN Drama
[wpedon id=”2271″ align=”center”]
