5 Heart-Wrenching Moments In Episodes 13-14 Of “My Dearest” That Had Us In Tears

“My Dearest” continues to pull hearts out of our chests this week as we lead up to the most painful reunion imaginable. Lee Jang Hyun (Namgoong Min) has yearned for Yoo Gil Chae (Ahn Eun Jin) despite knowing that she’s Goo Won Moo’s (Ji Seung Hyun’s) wife now. His only consolation is his hope that she’s happier this way without him. But little does he know that she’s been dragged into a hell she hoped never to witness, and only he has the power to get her out.

Here are five heart-wrenching moments from last week’s episodes:

Spoilers for episodes 3-4 below.
Warning: mentions of sexual assault and violence.

1. Goo Won Moo abandons Gil Chae

Goo Won Moo continues to be the worst and proves that he never deserved Gil Chae. She’s seconds from escape with her maid Jong Jong (Park Jong Yeon) when they and the other young women find themselves at the edge of a cliff. The slave hunters are coming to recapture them, and horrifically, many of the women throw themselves off the cliff rather than be captured by the Qing and raped. Jong Jong is about to do the same when Gil Chae begs her not to. She vows to take responsibility for Jong Jong, for all the women still with them. She begs them not to end their lives, and they listen. But they’re captured once more, and Gil Chae is unable to keep her promise as Jong Jong is dragged away and sold to a trader leaving Simyang.

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Gil Chae has lost everything. She’s literally hours from being sold to a Qing man and raped. And Goo Won Moo finally reaches the slave market in Simyang. But he’s troubled. He keeps hearing that women who are captured are repeatedly raped by the Qing, and of course, that to him means they’re worthless. So when the slave trader tells Won Moo that Gil Chae has just been sold to a man, Won Moo ditches her then and there. He doesn’t even bother to meet with her. If he had, he would have discovered that Gil Chae had bitten the man’s ear off and was forced to return to the slave market. But Won Moo only ever cared about having a pretty woman to parade around as his wife. And now that she’s been “defiled” in his eyes, he doesn’t care. What a disgusting man.

2. Jang Hyun and Gil Chae’s reunion

Jang Hyun’s run into a bit of trouble. The female slaver who has been rivaling him is actually a Qing princess, Gak Hwa (Lee Chung Ah). And she’s very into him. She uses her power to force Jang Hyun into accompanying her on walks and propositions him. At first, she reminds him of Gil Chae, and he laughs the way he hasn’t in a very long time. But the smile slides off his face when he hears the derogatory way she refers to Joseon’s people and its women. She’s never been denied anything her whole life, and it shows. And now that she wants Jang Hyun, he has to think fast to get rid of her.

Ryang Eum (Kim Yoon Woo) realizes what’s truly happened when Won Moo returns home and lies that he’ll send someone to collect Gil Chae later on. Eager to make up for his mistake, Ryang Eum goes to Simyang himself to tell Jang Hyun of what has happened. Jang Hyun is cool to him at first, but all hell breaks loose when he finds that Gil Chae has not only been captured but has been held for weeks, and he hasn’t known. As it is, Gil Chae has been running out of luck, and Jang Hyun arrives just in time to find her about to be sold. He fights every slaver in the crowd for her and kneels in front of her looking heartbroken. She’s ashamed, and he can only scream, “Why?” at how cruel fate has been to her. Namgoong Min continues to prove that MBC’s Daesang (Grand Prize) belongs to him this year because the palpable anguish in his eyes is just incredible. Please give this man all the roles.

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3. Jang Hyun’s drunken monologue

Gil Chae is distant and emotionless with him, telling him that she didn’t reach out to him because they’re nothing to each other. She doesn’t have any way of repaying him, so she asks him to do nothing at all for her. But Jang Hyun refuses. He’s done with doing what she wants. He’s doing this his way. And that means nearly killing all the slavers until they relinquish Gil Chae. He takes her to his lodgings and leaves her to recover there. But the moon is full, and that always makes him think of her. So he finds himself outside Gil Chae’s door, drunk as a skunk and pouring his heart out to her.

She’s not unaffected. She still loves him, but she’s stifled on all sides. She’s a married woman whose husband doesn’t care, a slave who still needs the Qing authority’s approval to be freed, and in love with a man who is dangerously high up in the Joseon hierarchy now. But she listens to him and wonders where it all went wrong, and they both cry. When he falls asleep, she comes to sit by him and also falls asleep until dawn.

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4. Gak Hwa ruining everything

The trouble with Jang Hyun putting his heart and soul on the line for Gil Chae is that people notice. And Gak Hwa (who’s basically stalking Jang Hyun at this point) has definitely noticed. While Jang Hyun happily finds Gil Chae some clean clothes to wear (courtesy of Ryang Eum, whom he’s patched things up with), Gak Hwa absconds with Gil Chae. Being a Qing princess, she can do what she likes, and that means she plans on making life miserable for Gil Chae until she gets Jang Hyun.

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For the first time, we see Jang Hyun terrified. He knows what Qing women like to do with their maids, especially one as cruel as Gak Hwa. He even agrees to be Gak Hwa’s servant and agrees to be with her if she lets Gil Chae go. Naturally, that makes Gak Hwa tighten her hold. And Jang Hyun goes straight-up nuts. He uses everything at his advantage: deals and favors that could have gotten him far with the Qing emperor Hong Taiji (Kim Joon Won). All of it, just so he can free Gil Chae. For her part, Gil Chae realizes that Gak Hwa wants Jang Hyun and puts up with whipping and abuse, even lying to Jang Hyun that she’s fine, just so he won’t hurt himself trying to rescue her. He sees the whip marks and knows she’s lying and why she’s doing it.

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They keep trying to protect each other!

Gak Hwa tries to sell her to the emperor, but she even learns Mongolian and petitions the emperor regarding the abuse of maids. Hong Taiji is taken with Gil Chae’s strength and passes on an edict requiring Qing women to provide humane treatment of Joseon women (only so the men can rape them afterwards of course). But Gil Chae isn’t free. Jang Hyun even begs Gak Hwa on his knees for Gil Chae’s life, and she proposes a final game—one that will save Gil Chae’s life if he wins. Jang Hyun agrees, but Ryang Eum has a terrible feeling. And he’s right.

5. Jang Hyun’s final choice

Ryang Eum has been terrified for Jang Hyun this whole time, and returning to his side only worsens it. He knows better than anyone that Jang Hyun will do anything for Gil Chae. He has and will continue to risk death time and time again for her. And seeing as Ryang Eum loves Jang Hyun with the same level of devotion, it’s breaking his heart to see Jang Hyun do this to himself, especially because Ryang Eum has never seen Gil Chae return Jang Hyun’s feelings. But all he can do is watch. He tried meddling once, and it ruined everything. There’s nothing he can do, and it breaks his heart. Poor guy! But what a beautifully-written character.

Gak Hwa proves the depths of her malice the next day. She has Gil Chae freed, formally and fully, knowing that there’s only one path Gil Chae can take to go home. It’s the same path that slavers take to hunt down Joseon escapees. She ensures that Gil Chae is provided with stolen supplies so that she can call Gil Chae a thief. She meets Jang Hyun on the road and points out Gil Chae in the distance, saying that the authorities have ordered the capture of that slave. It takes Jang Hyun only a second to realize that it’s Gil Chae. Gak Hwa says that the rules are simple. If she wins, Gil Chae will never be free. If Jang Hyun wins, Gil Chae will be freed, but Jang Hyun will die. She stabs Jang Hyun’s horse and rides off toward Gil Chae to kill her. And Jang Hyun gloriously, completely loses it. He runs like his life depends on it toward Gil Chae, and even Gak Hwa is taken aback by his devotion. But that’s all the more reason why she raises her bow and shoots Gil Chae. But Jang Hyun takes the arrow instead.

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It’s Gil Chae’s turn to lose it. For a moment, it seems like he’s dead, but Gak Hwa carts him and Gil Chae back to Simyang and tosses him in his quarters. Looks like she didn’t want him to die after all. Gil Chae unleashes every bit of rage at Gak Hwa, not even caring when she’s slapped. She vows to curse her until death and haunt her in death if Jang Hyun dies. Gak Hwa doesn’t care. She’s certain that Jang Hyun will come to her at some point (please let her be wrong!). Gil Chae’s free now, so she storms off to take care of Jang Hyun. He’s badly injured but opens his eyes at some point in the morning and sees her. She tearfully says that she’s free, and he caresses her face.

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These two are going to be the death of me. They deserve so much, but life always has other plans! It’s almost starting to feel contrived because whenever anything good happens between these two, at least 80 obstacles will surface. Won Moo will probably be one of them. But the synopsis keeps mentioning Gil Chae as married twice, so it’s pretty terrifying.

Kyung Eun Ae (Lee Da In) continues to be the sweetest friend a girl could have. Upon realizing that Gil Chae has been abandoned, she tries to go all the way to Simyang herself to rescue her, despite being very weak. She cries with her husband Nam Yeon Joon (Lee Hak Joo), saying that Gil Chae would have done the same for her and would already be at that market for her. And it’s true. Yeon Joon can’t help either because only relations can free slaves. But next week shows Gil Chae deciding to stay in Simyang now that she’s freed, and she helps Jang Hyun recover. He looks ridiculously happy with her decision, but what obstacles does the show have in place? We have six episodes left and quite a few years to cover before the present-day sequence. I love them, but I’m scared!

 

 

cr: Soompi