After 10 weeks, the longest sageuk that’s aired thus far this yr has come to a detailed. “Our Blooming Youth” leaves off with revolution, poison, remorse, and reconciliation as some bonds are completely damaged and others start to bud anew. So does everybody get closure? Is Lee Hwan (Park Hyung Sik) lastly freed from the curse that haunted him? Will Min Jae Yi (Jeon So Nee) be capable to clear her title? Learn on to seek out out!
Warning: spoilers for episodes 19-20 beneath.
1. The Queen
Final week, we left off with the homicide of the Crown Princess, with the Queen (Hong Soo Hyun) making certain that Jae Yi’s dagger was used for it. When Jae Yi comes on the scene, she is aware of that somebody’s framed her and planning on utilizing her to harm Hwan. So she does the one factor she will be able to consider to guard him: she admits guilt and divulges her id. Hwan arrives in time to see her being dragged off for execution in just a few days and might barely maintain himself collectively, realizing what she was doing.
Jo Gained Bo (Jung Woong In) sees a gap and takes it. He argues that Hwan letting a assassin keep by his facet signifies that his judgement is compromised and due to this fact makes him unsuitable to be Crown Prince. The students of the nation agree. Having foreseen this argument, Hwan plans forward and petitions the King (Lee Jong Hyuk) that he be deposed as Crown Prince. His purpose is to take all these he trusts: Ga Ram (Pyo Ye Jin), Han Sung On (Yoon Jong Seok), Kim Myung Jin (Lee Tae Solar), Tae Gang (Heo Gained Search engine marketing), and Jae Yi to the momentary village that the folks of Byeokcheon have arrange and earn their belief in order to mount a rise up of his personal in opposition to Jo Gained Bo.
The plan works, and, hilariously sufficient, it’s Tae Gang who frees Jae Yi. The 2 are again to bickering round and current a united entrance to the folks of Byeokcheon. The group is of course cautious, however conform to share what actually occurred on that day 10 years in the past once they have been framed as rebels by Jo Gained Bo and his clan. Earlier than the Queen rose to her place, she was a gisaeng, a courtesan bought into the place. She’d given up on life when she met Track Su Cheon (Yoon Seok Hyun), a blacksmith with an enormous coronary heart who bought his land to free her. The couple was effectively cherished within the small village, so when the townsfolk wrote a letter to the King detailing their troubles, Su Cheon and the Queen each signed it.
Nevertheless, Jo Gained Oh (Cho Jae Ryeong), a member of the Jo Clan and governor of Byeokcheon on the time, intercepted the letter and took it as a private affront, jailing everybody who signed their names there. When the folks of Byeokcheon tried to free their fellow townsfolk, Jo Gained Oh stabbed himself and pretended that he was a sufferer of a “coup.” The King fell for it and despatched Jo Gained Bo and troopers to quell the “rise up,” and a bloodbath occurred that day.
However that wasn’t all. The Queen by no means forgave and by no means forgot. Pressured to return to work as a courtesan to offer for her unborn son, she caught the attention of Jo Gained Bo, who instantly knew that she would additionally catch the King’s eye. In an nearly hilarious accident, he determined to faux that she was a part of his household tree in order that he might marry her off to the King and achieve energy. And the Queen’s been attempting to find vengeance ever since. Jae Yi’s father ended up stumbling upon her plot, and her household was killed because of this.
Upon realizing that Hwan has gone to listen to out the folks of Byeokcheon, she realizes that the sport is up. Concurrently, Jo Gained Bo additionally discovers that the Queen was by no means a mere gisaeng and vows to destroy her after the King has appointed Prince Myung Ahn (Im Han Bin) as his inheritor. On the finish of the day, Jo Gained Bo solely actually cares about solidifying his energy. He leaves to kill off the folks of Byeokcheon and Hwan for good this time, and the Queen realizes that there’s just one solution to save the folks she loves: to return clear. So she does, however not face-to-face. For all her brilliance, she will be able to’t carry herself to try this. She leaves Hwan’s sister, Princess Hayeon (Jung Da Eun), to try this, and poisons herself with the identical poison she almost used on Hwan: to drive herself insane. It isn’t a becoming finish for somebody whose each motion was solely motivated by vengeance and love for her folks, and the present sadly wastes a chance to make her a extra compelling, nuanced villain. However Hong Soo Hyun does an unbelievable job displaying the depths of the Queen’s despair and simply how mad she went after dropping every thing she cherished on a grasping man’s whim.
2. Jo Gained Bo
Fortunately, our major baddie will get a delightfully applicable ending. Initially, Jo Gained Bo tried to have Sung On kill Hwan whereas accompanying him to his place of banishment. However Sung On cleverly agrees, will get Jo Gained Bo to signal a contract outlining their deal, and instantly reneges!
Along with his tower of lies about to crumble and increasingly proof constructing in opposition to him, Jo Gained Bo storms the village the place the folks of Byeokcheon and Hwan’s crew are hiding. He proudly publicizes that he’s right here to butcher all of them, which is when Hwan’s forces, despatched by the King and Sung On’s father (simply appointed Minister of Conflict), present up and decimate all of them. Jo Gained Bo is dragged straight off to jail and at last will get a style of his personal drugs.
3. The folks of Byeokcheon
With Jo Gained Bo imprisoned, the folks of Byeokcheon are lastly capable of clear their title as rebels and rebuild their city with help from the King. Hwan vows to make sure that they face no discrimination going ahead and to repair what his King unwittingly allowed Jo Gained Bo to interrupt. The King was so weak and so afraid of dropping his energy that he agreed to every thing Jo Gained Bo wished, and by the point he realized that this additionally made him complicit in Jo Gained Bo’s crimes, it was too late.
The persons are overjoyed to lastly return dwelling, and a ten yr grudge is on the highway to therapeutic.
4. Sung On
Ah, Sung On. What wasted potential in a personality. Sung On might have been a lot greater than what the present allowed him to be. We noticed glimpses of that greatness within the earlier episodes the place he had a rivalry of kinds with Jae Yi for Hwan’s belief. There was an enchanting dynamic and rigidity there that simply failed to hold by way of because the present constantly centered extra on Myung Jin and Ga Ram’s comedic moments as an alternative of giving Sung On a correct character arc. Given the size of this drama, it isn’t like they didn’t have the area, so it’s a bit disappointing that the viewers, like Sung On, have been left with little.
Sung On dangers every thing for Hwan and Jae Yi within the ultimate episodes, however his preliminary feelings appear to have simply vanished. He out of the blue acknowledges Hwan and Jae Yi’s emotions for one another and prepares to only step away and allow them to be. Exhibits like “The Forbidden Marriage” have explored the lovelorn second male result in glorious impact. The position is often anchored by a powerful efficiency, and Yoon Jong Seok gave it his all right here. However the materials merely didn’t enable for him to indicate extra. And so we shut off on Sung On dwelling because the governor of Byeokcheon, caring for a bunch of people that’ll hopefully recognize how superior he’s.
5. Jae Yi
For the central character of this present, Jae Yi actually didn’t get an excessive amount of to do after the primary eight episodes. She barely even had a personality arc past studying to forgive the Queen for murdering her household, as a result of holding onto resentment was what caused this whole plot to start with.
It’s an actual disgrace as a result of Jae Yi was on hearth at first, fixing crimes and seeing by way of folks with the blink of an eye fixed. Nevertheless, through the latter half of the present, it was nearly as if her powers of deduction had been curiously muted. The Jae Yi didn’t discover when the monk was mendacity in regards to the peony petals or of how suspiciously the Queen was behaving? Or that there have been two Tae Gangs? However she instantly discovered what was the reason for the faux blood on the searching ceremony and solved the shaman’s murders within the preliminary episodes. (The present additionally by no means defined why the Queen ordered 4 harmless folks to be murdered so she might distribute leaflets all through the capital warning of a revolution.) It felt as if her brilliance was being dumbed down, which is gloomy for a personality that shone so brightly firstly. And that’s to say nothing of the romance.
6. Hwan
This has for sure been a fairly underwhelming romance. The chemistry is there and the actors are gifted, however the script merely refuses to allow them to shine. This present had a wealth of predecessors from which to mine materials, seeing as Jae Yi was a eunuch hiding her id as a lady. “Sungkyunkwan Scandal,” “Love within the Moonlight,” and even “The Scholar Who Walks the Night time” make nice use of getting solely the male lead know the feminine lead’s gender. So it’s an actual missed alternative that the romance remained lukewarm to the tip. Even Jae Yi’s confession to Hwan whereas she was in jail had Hwan not responding till a yr later.
And as for why, effectively, it’s as a result of Hwan’s been busy placing issues to rights throughout the dominion and cleansing up after his father’s messes. He’s lastly king now, whereas Jae Yi runs her college, empowering impoverished kids by giving them a free schooling. However he hasn’t been consuming or sleeping effectively for the entire yr, and when the royal doctor lastly stumbles upon a solution, your complete court docket almost dies of laughter.
(It’s lovesickness, Your Highness)
Even Sung On tells him to rush up and get with Jae Yi (after sadly burning his marriage consent letter on his personal). And so Hwan lastly will get to it. He’s gone from prickly prince to clever king by Jae Yi’s facet (and appears to be the one one who received an actual character arc!). He goes to see Jae Yi, bringing a palaquin meant for a bride. And she or he’s been ready. So we lastly see his response to her confession.
They usually lived fortunately ever after (with Myung Jin and Ga Ram, who’ve additionally gotten collectively).
“Our Blooming Youth” was an attention-grabbing present within the sense that it promised every thing: homicide, thriller, woman energy, and quite a lot of blooming youth. It was the latter two that actually suffered with little or no of the colourful enjoyable that youth sageuks are recognized for. It additionally felt like Jae Yi and Hwan have been all the time a number of steps behind. However there’s no denying that the actors gave it their all, and there was a number of stand-out moments within the present like the general public debate between Jae Yi and Sung On. And maybe that’s what youth is all about: having fun with what it’s important to the hilt with out wanting too carefully for imperfection.
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Shalini_A is a very long time Asian-drama addict. When not watching dramas, she works as a lawyer, fangirls over Ji Sung, and makes an attempt to write the best fantasy romance of all time. Comply with her on Twitter and Instagram, and be happy to ask her something!
At present Watching: “Our Blooming Youth,” “Name It Love, “Taxi Driver 2.”
Trying Ahead to: “Story of the 9 Tailed 1938,” “Gyeonseong Creature,” “Ask The Stars,” “The Lady Downstairs,” The Worst Evil,” “Black Knight,” “Queen of Tears,” “Vigilante,” “Demon,” “Dr. Romantic 3,” “Every day Dose of Sunshine,” and Ji Sung’s subsequent drama.
