My Dearest (2023) Episode 2

Episode 2 of My Dearest starts as Jang-hyun and Goo-jam head towards the swing to see the 99-tailed vixen Goo-jam tells him about. On the swings, Gil-chae makes a plan with Jong-jong to make her fall off the swing, hopefully into the arms of Yeon-joon, but she ends up landing on Jang-hyun.

When she opens her eyes, she realizes her plan failed and hence she changes her tune. She tells Jang-hyun he is a lucky man to get a chance to talk to her for a long time on the first day they meet. She leaves after scolding the young masters for not fixing the swing properly. 

Gil-chae heads back to the flower festival and finds Yeon-joon and Eun-ae having a chat. He did not rush to her rescue as the other young masters did when she faked the fall but decided to stay behind with Eun-ae. She comforts herself, saying they must be talking about something boring and heads home with Jong-jong. Jang-hyun sees her walking at a distance and notices her gloomy face.

Jang-hyun is worked up due to Gil-chae’s response to his timely help. He heads back to Song-chu’s house, frustration written all over his face. Goo-jam tells Song-chu and his wife the reason for the agitation and they roar with laughter, saying he has fallen head over heels for Gil-chae, which further upsets Jang-hyun.

Jang-hyun is determined to settle down in Neunngun-ri village since Gil-chae tells him to hurry up and leave. He sends Goo-jam to bribe the officials with rice and they agree to let him attend the school. He is not interested in attending the school after all though, so he asks the officials to throw a 60th wedding anniversary for Song-chu and his wife in exchange for rice and him settling at the village. They agree to the deal.

Jang-hyun bumps into Gil-chae on his way from the meeting. She insists that he is following her, which further infuriates him. Gil-chae heads to the school to secretly talk to Yeon-joon. She tries to convince him not to hide his feelings for her. She is certain that Yeon-joon likes her. However, Yeon-joon tells Gil-chae that she can have any man she wants but he is the only man that Eun-ae has. 

Gil-chae takes the rejection as an opportunity to get to know Yeon-joon, who stayed in Hanyang for years. She intends to learn about the sophisticated lives of people living in Hanyangs and the only person who can help her out is Jang-hyun. Against her better judgment, she goes to Jang-hyun for help. She bargains with disclosing to him the topic of the upcoming exam to help him pass the school examination. Jang-hyun agrees to help her. 

Jang-hyun starts by taking her to a market to show Gil-chae the type of dressing and make-up preferred by the Hanyang people. He later takes her to a library to show her the books the Hanyang people prefer. He then makes her change and disguise herself as a man to take her to a place where women of high class are not allowed. Jang-hyun takes Gil-chae to listen to Ryang-eum sing. He introduces him as the best singer in Joseon. Gil-chae is mesmerized by Ryang-eum’s song and ends up crying. Later, it is revealed that Ryang-eum and Jang-hyun are acquaintances. At the end of the night, Jang-hyun asks Gil-chae to bring him his clothes the next morning as he will be leaving on a journey to trade persimmons for rice. 

The next morning, Yeon-joon and other scholars arrive at Gil-chae’s home to discuss the issue of the intruders. Hearing that Yeon-joon is around from Jong-jong, she decides not to go meet with Jang-hyun to return his clothes and sends Jong-jong instead. 

In the appeal to the majesty, the scholars from all provinces, including Neunggun-ri, implore the King to fight the foreign invaders. The officials debate about whether to send envoys to investigate the intentions of the foreign intruders or to send a letter reprimanding the intruders for failing to fulfil the promise made in the Year of Jeongmyo. The King thinks that a war with the intruders will be unavoidable, so he directs an official to send provisions to the soldiers in preparation for an attack. 

Elsewhere at Simyang palace in Qing, Kahn receives the news that the Joseon King is hiring military officials to prepare for war, heightened security around all the fortresses, and sent food and cannons to Ganghwa Island. 

Neunggun-ri village gets ready for Song-chu’s wedding anniversary, and Jang-hyun, Ryang-eum, and Goo-jam return to Neunggun-ri village with rice just in time for Song-chu’s 60th wedding anniversary. The villagers are happy about the rice provisions brought by Jang-hyun. The wedding celebrations begin. 

Gil-chae notices Eun-ae and Yeon-joon getting cosy during the wedding, and her mood changes. Jnag-hyun also notices that Gil-chae has a crush on Yeon-joon and goes to hide in the stores.

Coincidently, Gil-chae hatches an evil plan to get close to Yeon-joon by pretending that she has fainted. She hides in the same storage room Jang-hyun is in and tells Jong-jong to go and tell young Master Yeon-joon that she is not feeling okay.

Yeon-joon rushes into the room to check on Gil-chae. She sends Jong-jong out of the room and tries to kiss Yeon-joon after confessing that she likes him too. Yeon-joon pushes her away, informing her of his engagement promise to Eun-ae made when they were young. He does not intend to leave Eun-ae; the glances and the smiles he shows Gil-chae are only because he is being nice. She is Eun-ae’s friend and his teacher’s daughter. 

Soon after Yeon-joon leaves, Eun-ae comes looking for Gil-chae since she heard she is not feeling okay. Jang-hyun saves her from the embarrassment of Eun-ae hearing her confess her love to her friend’s fiancée.

Jang-hyun teases her about liking someone else’s man. He figures out how their story happened though. Gil-chae and Yeon-joon are childhood friends. When Eun-ae became her friend, she casually introduced Yeon-joon to Eun-ae, and the three of them became friends hanging out together.

Later, Yeon-joon became engaged to Eun-ae and not Gil-chae. Seeing it is the truth, Gil-chae storms out of the storage room frustrated. Jang-hyun tells Gil-chae that since she has no chance of winning over Yeon-joon, she should give up and become his. 

Gil-chae is speechless for a moment, then asks if he is proposing to her. He denies that though, since he has no intention of ever getting married. All he wants is to make love to Gil-chae passionately. His proposal infuriates Gil-chae and she lists out the reasons why she hates Jang-hyun.

Among those reasons sees him converse with foreign intruders, manipulate the elders with his sweet words, eavesdrop on her conversations and rudely bothering her. Most importantly, she does not like his face; it is ugly. 

After the confrontation, they arrive back at the party, where Gil-chae notices that people are speaking behind her back again. Jang-hyun tells her they are saying she will be hanged for adultery like Uhwudong. Gil-chae opens up to Jang-hyun. She hoped that she had room in her heart for more men. She only wants to give her unchanging love to a person who is unchanging, and in her eyes, Yeon-joon is unchangeable.

She only wants to spend her life with the person she loves and to grow old together. Jang-hyun is touched by her words. Suddenly, Soon-yak stops the party with bad news; the intruders have invaded and taken the King captive.

The Episode Review

The episode introduces a different side of both Gil-chae and Jang-hyun. Contrary to what people around them believe, they are caring and emotional. While everyone thinks that Gil-chae is out to seduce every man she comes across, she is a hopeless romantic who only wants to love the love of her life. She yearns for unchangeable love with a man who will only have eyes for her.

On the other hand, Jang-hyun is not as carefree a person as they think; he cares about Gil-chae and is deeply touched when she is troubled. He wants to spend time with her and take her to places she has never been. He secretly always has his eyes on her and observes even the slightest changes in her demeanour. Overall, he is still a mystery.