Horse Doctor Episode 26

The last part of this episode was fantastic. For pace it was the best so far. And the power struggle between GOOD and EVIL is shown so dramatically. For GOOD to win, Dr Ko must recover from his illness and resume his position as head of medicine. So all the ‘goodies’ are focused on the operation to save Dr Ko. Including the king. Because while Dr Ko is in charge of the hospital we can believe that everything will be all right. But on the EVIL side, we have Lord Jung who for his own selfish reasons wants to get rid of Dr Ko. And he encourages Myunghwan to carry out his evil plan. So it is Myunghwan who must decide what to do. Which side is he on? 

The whole future depends on Myunghwan’s decision. Will he back Lord Jung as he always does or can he soften and turn back and join Dr Ko again? Dr Ko’s operation is a success and when he recovers he tries to persuade Myunghwan  to change. Dr Ko represents hope and forgiveness and so encourages Myunghwan to turn away from his evil past.

But Myunghwan is growing increasingly desperate as he gradually realises that his evil deeds are no longer a secret. And then he gets the shocking news that Jinyung is NOT Dojun’s daughter. He must take drastic measures to deal with this situation. And he does. And his decision puts him right back on the side of EVIL! 

Kwanghyun is devastated that he can’t carry out the operation. Dr Ko’s condition is worse than they thought and now even an operation is impossible. And as Kwanghyun and the others rethink what to do, Jinyung is having her own trauma. She is in a daze after hearing  from Eunso the truth about her adoptive father Myunghwan. (He poisoned Dr Ko and tried to frame Kwanghyun hoping he’d get the death penalty for having a relationship with Eunso – a noble lady and widow) But Myunghwan has no idea that she knows anything and he is more concerned about why on earth Kwanghyun has his friend Dojun’s acupuncture box!

Jinyung arrives with an idea to help Dr Ko

In the operating room Inju is about to wake Dr Ko up with an acupuncture needle when Jinyung bursts into the room. She wants to know what is going on and they explain that they can’t operate because they might cut into the blood vessel. But after taking a look at Dr Ko, Jinyung has an idea. Kwanghyun rushes off to the stables to get hold of a drill! Myunghwan is about to go and tell the King that the operation could not be carried out when Inju turns up and tells him that they are going to try the operation again. And the king is informed that Kwanghyun is going to drill into Dr Ko’s head!

But this time Jinyung is going to help too. This puts Myunghwan in a fix. Of course he was hoping that the operation would not be successful – then he could get rid of Kwanghyun for good. But if the operation is not successful this time, Jinyung will be in danger too!

Jinyung, Kwanghyun, and Inju discuss what to do

Myunghwang tries to dissuade her from going through with the operation but she is behaving differently towards him now. As though she doesn’t respect him anymore. He looks dumbfounded at the change in her attitude. The ever noble Kwanghyun tries to dissuade her from helping him too as he knows the danger that she is putting herself in. But she refuses and says that if Dr Ko dies she won’t be able to forgive Myunghwan for what he has done. Kwanghyun is shocked – he now realises that SHE knows about Myunghwan too.

The operation begins. Kwanghyun drills into Dr Ko’s head (with some pretty grim sound effects) to avoid cutting into the blood vessel and lots of orange gunk comes out onto his drill. (dear oh dear). He’s only done this before on horses and it’s never been done on a human before. The operation continues into the night and Lord Jung and the others sit up waiting to hear how it goes. But Lord Jung looks content, even bored, confident that the operation will fail. Myunghwan of course has mixed feelings now that Jinyung is involved.

the operation continues

But Kwanghyun manages to suck the infected area out of Dr Ko’s head with a tool. (yuck) and eventually the king is told that the operation was successful. (Phew and Hurray.)  But this is not good news for everyone – Lord Jung looks miffed. (I love his face when he hears the ‘good’ news!) Myunghwan goes to congratulate Jinyung afterwards but she blurts out that she knows everything and demands to know how he could harm Dr Ko. (She’s angry with him but she doesn’t even know EVERYTHING yet! She’s cold towards him and I wonder what Myunghwan will do when he discovers that she is NOT Dojun’s child? Jinyung is very vulnerable now) Meanwhile Sungha (who we are not seeing much of these days) has Myunghwan’s guilty servant arrested.

Lord Jung has more evil plans

But there’s good news for Kwanghyun. Inju gives him a box that his father Dojun (before he was executed) asked Inju to keep safe for him. The box contains important documents and the family seal that will prove that Kwanghyun really is his son. Kwanghyun is moved but upset about what all this means for Jinyung. Inju is sympathetic but also firm and explains that she promised Dojun that she would restore Kwanghyun to his rightful place so if Kwanghyun doesn’t explain the situation to Jinyung, then Inju will ….

Now Myunghwan has to make his important decision: Dr Ko recovers but Lord Jung is not happy about this and tells Myunghwan that they still have an opportunity here – something could still go wrong with Dr Ko, wink wink. He’s clearly telling him to KILL Dr Ko! Because since he was seriously ill, nobody would think it strange if he suddenly died.

Myunghwan then goes to see Dr Ko who is now awake. Dr Ko calls him affectionately ‘Myunghwan-na’ like he used to when he was young. Dr Ko seems to be wanting Myunghwan to remember the old days before he turned to the dark side. He wants to help Myunghwan be a good man again and reminds him about the time he was a young apprentice with Dojun. But Myunghwan looks disturbed that Dr Ko KNOWS what a bad man he has become. (and he thought it was a secret?) Dr Ko says there is still time to change. But will he listen?

Kwanghun is happy to see Dr Ko recover

Kwanghyun should tell Jinyung about their situation – that they were switched at birth – but instead he grabs her hand (surely this is inappropriate, as he is still supposed to be a peasant!) and he asks her to run away with him. (that’s cute) She is shocked but doesn’t pull her hand away. He knows they can’t really escape the situation, but he’s just worried about what’s going to happen to her.

The princess only has a tiny part in this episode. She stands alone outside in the snow and looks upset as she has finally realised that Jinyung must be the lady that Kwanghyun loves. oh. 🙁  (Does this mean we aren’t going to have any more ‘romantic’ scenes between the princess and Kwanghyun? That’s disappointing.)

Back to Myunghwan and his DECISION …

Myunghwan is thinking over what Lord Jung said to him – that he must get rid of Dr Ko. But he doesn’t seem completely decided yet. Perhaps Dr Ko really has persuaded him to turn away from the dark side? However, there is a shock in store for Myunghwan which will push him to make his decision. Guard Kang has tracked down the man who helped Inju. Myunghwan is taken to see the man who has been beaten and tied up. The man soon tells Myunghwan what he knows – Jinyung is not Dojun’s child, KWANGHYUN is. KWANGHYUN is DOJUN’s HEIR. Finally the truth is out. This is a shocker for Myunghwan. And it changes EVERYTHING.

Myunghwan has an important decision to make

Meanwhile the chef takes Kwanghyun to see the official who he bribed to let them see the record archives from when Kwanghyun’s father was killed. There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual in the records until Kwanghyun notices that the man in charge of the investigation was Lord JUNG! And Lord Jung and Myunghwan are always on the same side. So he wonders if this means Myunghwan had something to do with his father’s death too! (Bravo! Kwanghyun is gradually putting two and two together.)

And now for the best sequence of events in the drama so far –

1. As Kibae stands outside the house worrying about Kwanghyun as usual, a group of men attack him and demand to know where Kwanghyun is. When he refuses to tell them they stab him in the arm with a sword. Kwanghyun turns up and tries to fight them off but there are too many of them. (where did he learn those fighting skills?) He rushes over to Kibae who tells him to run. But Kwanghyun is more concerned about helping Kibae when he SHOULD be more concerned about the men with swords! Duh! And sure enough, suddenly he is hit on the head and knocked out.

2. Meanwhile Dr Ko takes his medicine but he begins to choke and has a fit. He must have been poisoned. (So we now know for sure what Myunghwan’s decision is!)

3. Jinyung returns the drill to the stables and is told that Kwanghun has a horse called Yongdal – the name Jinyung called herself when they were kids. She is shocked.

4. Kwanghyun is taken to a dark barn and Guard Kang draws a sword on him demanding to know if he really is Dojun’s son…

***

So the episode starts off well for Kwanghyun but ends again with him in serious danger! His operation is successful and he gets hold of important seals that prove who he is. But then things suddenly turn sour!

I found the short scene were Dr Ko is poisoned very shocking. And I seriously doubt that he will be able to survive this time, because surely Myunghwan REALLY means to kill him this time. I think this is the turning point for Myunghwan. Up till this point he could have tried to turn his life around, but by killing Dr Ko he symbolically turns his back on being a good person and joins the camp of evil forever. 

This was a long time coming, but FINALLY Jinyung must be entertaining the possibility that Kwanghyun is her childhood friend. Considering they talk to each other all the time, I thought they would realise this fact much sooner! 

Anyway, the fast pace towards the end of the episode when it becomes clear that Myunghwan has decided to remain EVIL was great. But I was irritated when Kwanghyun goes home and finds Kibae being attacked. Kwanghyun fights with the men and then simply rushes over to help Kibae. SURELY he needs to make sure that the men have gone first? Or have all been knocked out? It’s so OBVIOUS that he is going to be caught, and I think we should see him putting up more of a fight. But other than that, great episode.