...A lot is going on in this show, as you can tell...I don't know if i can do this for every episode...
1. Bad news for the crown prince: 18th prince perished in the flaming inferno of the previous episode (poor kiddo)
2.4th prince stands up for the crown prince (I can already tell this man is ambitious and a skilled schemer-I like him already)
3.The
young woman responsible for the fire and 4th prince pay tribute to 18th
prince who is treated as an unfortunate casualty in the quest for the
throne in the next scene, by the lake
.
4.Our female lead makes it
back to the palace after 8th prince dropped her off in the middle of
nowhere (whom I find to be wicked attractive in spite of the
hairstyle...but props for maintaining historical accuracy)--starving,
she encounters an extremely nice man who sells clothing but
unfortunately lacks the skill to 'sell' a product-i dub him Mr. Merchant
because there are so many names in this show...
5.Our female lead
proves she is quite the show woman and introduces the modern concept of
models and putting clothes on display/sales--she tries to sell clothes
to a noblewoman and fails
6.The emperor learns that his servant
has been recording all of his activities//chief eunuch begs for the
servant's life who is his godson and frames it as follows:godson is an
idiot and needs to track everything to do his job well--the eunuch says
he will transfer if he isn't believed--the emperor chooses to believe
this bad lie but the acting was so good i can see why he believed it
(chief eunuch is a bit creepy, i think)
7.godson receives an awful
beating in order to ensure that he is not suspect but chief eunuch
reminds him this is a one time only get out of jail free card because
otherwise they will look suspicious; he also tries to teach him an
important lesson: the palace has many ears so tread carefully and be
smart (good advise)
8.4th prince tries to show he is filial by
bringing medicine to the emperor but chief eunuch explains the coughing
was because of his anger at his godson (also a eunuch) (these hats...are
hard to get used to...it took me a while to get used to them in kdramas
so i will just bear with it) --my understanding is that there is an
unspoken alliance with chief eunuch and 4th prince
9.4th prince
meets the girl who set the fire in the woods (very pretty, red lanterns
everywhere) and she is surprised/or more like grateful that he remembers
her birthday---it is revealed that they've known each other for three
years and he tells her she will be able to enter the palace as a maid (i
would imagine not an easy thing to do given the glass structure, so he
had to pull some strings i bet to get his spy in)
10.this girl is
clearly in love with 4th prince and happy to do whatever he wants so I
want to know how he managed to obtain such devotion
11.our leading
lady watches the palace maids going into the palace (apparently they
are all selected from servants within the palace so they are familiar
with the rules, etc)(makes sense)...they have some unique
hairstyles....anyways these girls have to show their skills ranging from
sewing, coking, etc to see where they will be placed
12.godson hands off a note to chief eunuch with the name 'suyan' on it who just happens to be 4th prince's spy girl
13.Suyan is assigned to the West Court--it seems her cooking was tampered with--by who or why, i don't know
14.Mr.
Merchant wants to spend his time making new styles of clothes//mom
disagrees--it seems he also has an eye for our leading lady but she does
not feel the same (poor guy)(he's good looking, not in the palace so
not involved schemes...but then we wouldn't have a long drama if she
wound up with him i bet)--she rejects this marriage proposal and runs
off to deal with her feelings
15.SOME NINJAS APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE
AND KIDNAP OUR LEAD LADY AFTER SHE REJECTS MR>MERCHANT. yup. and
she wakes up in the garb of a palace maid
16.it seems the
noblewoman she failed to sell clothes to is behind this kidnapping--she
is Concubine Xi to the emperor--our leading lady is scolded for not
showing her the proper regard...and she is told she was kidnapped
because she said she knew hot to keep a man's heart...and if she fails
to help her she will undoubtedly be killed...yup....that just
happened....
17.with little choice, she agrees to help
her--Qingchuan is really good at rolling with these punches given
everything that has happened--
I give this episode an 8.5
because it had me thoroughly engaged and I am curious to see what will
happen next. The acting was good. Music was good. Not sure how I feel
about the female lead just yet.
