4 Times In Episodes 7-8 Of “Our Blooming Youth” Where Jeon So Nee Shines

After last week’s emotional cliffhanger, “Our Blooming Youth” returns with roiling emotions, the faintest hint of jealousy, and a supernatural reckoning. Crown Prince Lee Hwan (Park Hyung Sik) makes a dangerous decision that leaves him without a crucial ally in the palace, while Min Jae Yi (Jeon So Nee) struggles to find a place of her own in a world that seems determined to shut her out. Jae Yi was the heart and soul of this week’s episodes, and there are five times where she absolutely shone!

Warning: spoilers for episodes 7-8 below.

1. When Jae Yi understands Hwan despite him kicking her out of the East Palace

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As last week’s episodes hinted, Hwan lets his fear get the best of him and calls Jae Yi in to give her one of the most brutal moments of her life. This girl has been so strong for so long and just finally started being treated like a person. She was so happy to have Hwan’s trust, and he pulls that from her and kicks her out of the palace, knowing she has nowhere else to go. Granted, he regrets it every moment since, but it’s still an awful move.

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The worst part is that part of him knows that she’s not guilty. Yet, he’s shaken by Shim Yeong’s (Kim Woo Seok) supposed suicide note and grows afraid of how much he’s come to depend on Jae Yi when she’s of “questionable” character. As viewers, we know where Hwan is coming from, because we’re privy to the awful conversation between him and his father (Lee Jong Hyuk). After Hwan was shot with an arrow, the King essentially ordered him to be the perfect heir or else. He filled Hwan’s head with all sort of nonsense on how he should bury all emotion until he has everyone in the palm of his hand. Only then should he finally allow time for emotions and such. It’s worth noting that Hwan tears up at the lecture.

It’s no wonder he grew into such a cold person.

What’s so amazing about Jae Yi is that she has no knowledge of how Hwan has had to live, but she still sees past his outward anger to the fear inside him. She tells him that she understands where he’s coming from, but she also stands up for herself and says that he’s still in the wrong to have allowed his trust to fracture and doubt her so easily. Hwan is moved by her compassion and apologizes. And who wouldn’t when she’s this wise?

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I wish she would have made him suffer though. He better not pull this again. 

2. When she stands up for Myung Jin

There hasn’t been much to see with respect to Jae Yi’s former maid, Ga Ram’s (Pyo Ye Jin), antics with the oddball herbalist and coroner, Kim Myung Jin (Lee Tae Sun). Ga Ram seems to enjoy his company and learning from him, while he seems to have fun teaching her. Yet, there are moments where it almost seems as though there’s more to Myung Jin than meets the eye.

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There’s his fascination with Jae Yi for one. Then there’s the fact that he recognized Garam on the new wanted posters the soldiers put up. He recognized her on the posters when even Ga Ram didn’t realize it was her face drawn on there. He also muses to himself that he would take care of Ga Ram if she would come to him. Does he really not know the identity of his “apprentice” and “Soon Dol”?

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But Myung Jin is also betrothed to the daughter of a noble family, who wants nothing to do with him. Ga Ram and Jae Yi are around for the worst public dressing-down of Myung Jin’s family when the girl in question demands that he find a way to end the engagement and calls him the least eligible man in Joseon. Myung Jin looks forlorn, and Jae Yi nearly chases after the girl to slap her, haha. Jae Yi’s a loyal friend to have, as Ga Ram well knows.

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3. When Jae Yi puts aside her own troubles to focus on Ga Ram

These two women are so amazing! I wish we could see them in the same scene more often. After being kicked out of the palace, Jae Yi stays with Ga Ram and Myung Jin, where she learns that the soldiers are now after Ga Ram as a way of finding Jae Yi. If found, Ga Ram would become a slave of the state. The worst part is that she would be branded on her right cheek.

Jae Yi immediately puts her sorrows aside to focus on Ga Ram and make sure that she’s okay. Meanwhile, Ga Ram is equally focused on putting aside her fear to focus on Jae Yi. These two are just so lovely. Hopefully nothing comes in between their friendship! They’re the definition of goals!

4. When she cheers for Sung Oh over Hwan at the polo match

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The rivalry between Han Sung Oh (Yoon Jong Seok) and Hwan is slowly but surely starting to heat up. Sung Oh notices that Hwan is digging into Jae Yi’s cases and heads over to ask him why. Hwan is curt and standoffish as always and says that he’s investigating the death of his master (Jae Yi’s father) and doesn’t care about Jae Yi. But Sung Oh does. In an utterly swoon-worthy moment, he tells Hwan that even if Jae Yi and Yeong were secretly lovers, she’s still his betrothed, and he will protect her.

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Wow. Sung Oh is seriously coming off as the better man here. 

Hwan looks conflicted upon hearing that. He doesn’t seem to know that he cares for Jae Yi more than just as a confidant. He even tries to tell Sung Oh that she will be put to death once found. Sung Oh won’t be dissuaded though, and Hwan agrees to release Jae Yi if she’s innocent. In a telling moment, he says that Jae Yi is strong, so he’s certain she will go to Sung Oh on her own.

It’s these words Hwan recalls when he doesn’t allow Jae Yi to return to the east palace even after they make up. Because she’s Sung Oh’s fiance. He can’t stop thinking about it as his soldiers and Sung Oh’s soldiers engage in a friendly polo match. Hwan normally doesn’t join in after the injury to his arm. Yet, all it takes is him seeing Jae Yi declare her support for Sung Oh for him to suit up and immediately enter the game. Naturally, he wins. And interestingly, Jae Yi can’t keep her eyes off him throughout the game despite cheering for Sung Oh’s side.

Sung Oh playfully calls her out on this afterwards, and Jae Yi’s surprised to realize that she wasn’t watching her own fiancé. The show is going quite slowly with the feelings here because neither party has realized that they’re feeling anything beyond friendship just yet. But it’s going to be fascinating to see them get there. The look on Hwan’s face as Jae Yi cheered for Sung Oh was priceless!

5. When Jae Yi continues her investigations without Hwan’s help

There’s plenty at play here as the episode comes to an end. The shaman whom Jae Yi and Sung Oh captured in episodes 3-4 is aided by a mysterious figure who is either part of Hwan’s entourage or one of Sung Oh’s guards. Thus, when she’s brought in for public interrogation by the King, she throws the assembly into chaos by somehow summoning lightning, quoting the first line of the cursed letter Hwan received, cursing the entire royal family, and calling forth a snake who kills her in a bite so no one can get any more information.

What a way to go out.

The entire palace erupts in chaos. Hwan’s younger half-siblings, who made the mistake of eavesdropping on the assembly, are terrified. But the King looks more frightening than anyone else. In that terrible lecture he gave Hwan, the king mentioned that his mother was a maid. He is a maid’s son, and Hwan is a maid’s grandson. The powerful ministers of the court who have extensive noble pedigrees haven’t forgotten it and are waiting for the King and Hwan to mess up so that they can dethrone them. And with the shaman’s curse, it seems that the worst has been realized.

Hwan’s resolve to keep a distance from Jae Yi, his reminds that she’s a taken woman, all of it vanishes, and he yells for his bodyguard to bring “Soon Dol” to him. But she’s already on the hunt. As mysterious leaflets scatter around the capital, cursing the royal family, Jae Yi has already begun chasing after the masked figures who threw them about. We leave her just as she corners one of them, and at the same time, they corner her.

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This week packed in a lot of character movement. Hwan and Jae Yi are on the cusp of realizing that they’re irritated at each other for more than just a break in their friendship. Hwan’s half-sister is making eyes at a very weary Sung Oh (poor guy). And there’s Sung Oh himself, who is seriously quite delicious and demonstrating that he is fully worthy of top billing in Jae Yi’s heart. Next week promises Jae Yi and Hwan reuniting as a mystery-solving duo while Sung Oh remains on the outskirts. How will their loyalties weave and warp with treason in the air? Monday will tell!

 

Source: Soompi