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Why are weird white people on my screen, and why won’t they stop hurting my eyes and ears with their “acting”?:
Tamra has about the silliest, most cringe-inducing drama opening sequence I have ever watched. It’s so god-awful I wouldn’t fault you if you turned off your TV after fifteen minutes, and chucked the rest of the DVDs into the incinerator. [In fact, as an avid Tamra-lover, I will only watch that segment purely to mock it]. What is so dreadful, you ask? Ask no more, I’m more than happy to tell you.
Tamra begins in Brighton, England, home of a dude named William Spencer. William is a curious happy little nugget, collecting treasures from the Orient and dreaming of exploring the lands from whence his treasures came. William also happens to be the owner of the worst hairstyle (mullet), dye-job (bleach blond) and accent (Frenglish?) in the universe of British guys (we’re supposed to buy a French dude playing a Brit, when it’s clear as day that this Frenchman doesn’t speak a lick of proper English).
Mommy dearest frowns upon her boy’s fanciful dreams. She warns him that he better stop with this nonsense and get himself married to an heiress, natch. In a brilliant stroke of genius (probably caused by the massive amount of blond hair dye), William decides to embark on his long-awaited adventure to explore the lands to the East, spurred on by a desire to avoid marrying the horse-faced footsie-playing rich girl his parent sold him to.
Accompanying Wlliam is Yan Kawamura, a mysterious Japanese sailor who has been the source of William’s treasures. Yan has also played both sides of the fence quite well. On one hand, he’s fulfilling William’s dream to travel to the East. On the otherhand, he’s also signed a contract with William’s mother to hand deliver her Precioussss back in time for his nuptials (the proverbial let the boy sow his wild oats, tour the Continent, etc., type of trip).
All this happens in what amounts to acting, directing, costuming and set-design done by my elementary school drama club. It is bad, folks. I can’t even sugar coat it. Except for Yan (played by perpetual third lead Lee Sun Ho) and William (played by Pierre Deporte/Hwang Chang Bin), the rest of the sad lot of caucasian actors look as comfortable reciting lines in front of the camera as I am performing an emergency appendectomy on a beach. I say this tongue-in-cheek, of course.
Once you acclimate yourself to the so-bad-its-cute scenes introducing one of our leading characters on his journey-of-a-lifetime, then the drama takes off at the same time the ship carrying William slices through the water headed for destinations yet unknown. [Well, William thinks the ship is bound for Nagasaki, Japan. But it's clearly not going to get there, or else we have no story to tell]. A frightful storm tosses intrepid William overboard, onto the shores of an unfamiliar land, and into the arms of a girl with dreams as unrealistic and fanciful as William.
Girlfriend, for someone who hates to dive, the stork sure dropped you in the wrong household:
Unbeknownst to Willy Boy, his destiny is on a collision course with this little wisp of a girl we are about to meet. Cut to Tamra, an island neglected and overlooked by the government in Hanyang, the capital of Joseon. It’s a place where the jagged peaks stretch into the sandy beaches, and to eke out a living requires backbreaking labor. This isle may be far from the prying eyes of the King, but his long fingers extend to request offerings like a greedy child. And Tamra is an island run by women. There you have it, this ain’t your great-great-great-grandfather’s Joseon society. It’s where the women bring home the bacon and the men run to greet them with the offer of a backrub.
Jang Beo Jin (played by Seo Woo) is the daughter of the Head Diver of Sanbang Valley on Tamra. We’re introduced to all the ladies smack dab in the middle of an abalone diving expedition. Clad in cute little jumpers, head wrapped in a make-shift cloth hoodie, these ladies surface and dive like mermaids sluicing through the azure sea, digging for juicy abalone as offerings to the King and feed their families. Each abalone plucked from the underwater rock surface is held high like a trophy. These ladies hoot and holler, cheering themselves on during this labor intensive work. Immediately, we can tell that (1) Beo Jin is not very good at her born-destiny as a lady diver of Tamra, and (2) everyone else knows it as well.
Momma Beo Jin is a firm taskmaster. Her gruff exterior and no-nonsense ways conceal the heart of a mother who wants to make sure her daughter can one day be self-sufficient. She pushes Beo Jin to keep diving, keep going at it, because to fail would be an unfathomable possibility. There is nothing else Beo Jin can do on Tamra. Being a diver is her lot in life. As much as it sucks for Beo Jin, she really has no choice.
Stuff like birth and lot-in-life-fatalism don’t deter Beo Jin from dreaming of one day getting away from it all. Normally, the traditional sageuk path is invariably about someone fulfilling their destiny. (For example, Deokman discovering she is in fact a long-lost princess who must become a queen, Hong Gil Dong discovering he’s not a lazy useless fool but an folk hero who can represent change, or Iljimae (both of them) discovering his calling is to be a Joseon Robin Hood, aiding the poor and sticking it to the rich).
Tamra realistically presents the opposite consideration: what if someone’s destiny is so wholly unpalatable (not to mention just plain unsuitable in this case) that the self-preservation instinct is to run away from it. This is a very modern construct. When transplanted to a sageuk setting, it creates a different perspective on the purpose-in-life conundrum.
Beo Jin is destined to be her mother’s successor as the Head Diver. She neither wants that honor, nor has she done anything to merit it (as her other trainee divers rightfully grumble). She is also considered ugly (by Tamra standards, which clearly is NOT any standard that exists on Earth as I know it), unappealingly small (but amply endowed, I must say), and exceedingly ditzy (in a clumsy, scatterbrained sort of way, not the Cher in Clueless way). Ottoke? What is left to hope for, other than maybe the Heavens will descend and send her a savior.
The Heavens hear Beo Jin’s fervent prayers for an exit, any exit, from a lifetime of diving on Tamra. Not only do the Heavens smile fondly on this girl with a heart as wide as her smile, the Heavens decide to let her play eeny-meeny-miny-mo. William, who got tossed off his ship, washes ashore Tamra. Luckily for his neck, he gets discovered by Beo Jin.
In a hilarious and adorable sequence of events, where WIlliam thinks Beo Jin is going to scalp him but instead she brings him some fish, these two kids forge an immediate connection (the K-drama underwater-kiss-of-life scene doesn’t require any linguistic understanding, that’s for sure). Out of a combination of curiosity and kindness, Beo Jin decides to shelter this strange foreigner. She also connects-the-dots that he may just be Heaven’s answer to her cries for a one-way ticket to anywhere-but-here.
In addition to the shipwrecked adventuring William, to the shores of Tamra comes, the one, the only, Park Kyu (played by Im Joo Hwan). [And let me take a moment to announce that Park Kyu has his own fan club, Team Park Kyu! You can all sign up with me anytime. The only requirement is that every time you read an article about Im Joo Hwan, you must scream out Team Park Kyu!]. Which guy is Beo Jin’s savior? Or is it going to be neither guy, and our little Beo Jin is going to figure out her own solution to her problems? Let’s keep going and see.
Tall, arrogant, fish-out-of-water nobleman sent to the back country, hhhmmm, where have I seen this before? (*cough* Mr. Darcy *cough*):
Arriving on this remote island is a young nobleman from Hanyang. His name Park Kyu, but he’s henceforth known to everyone on Tamra as the Banished One (or Exiler). We know nothing about his back story, except we are made aware of two undeniable things: (i) Park Kyu is a giant prissy stick-in-the-mud, and (2) he has been banished to Tamra by the King (the island is where the King banishes his nobles for a myriad of offenses).
Any guesses at to what happens when a haughty, privileged nobleman down on his luck meets a bumbling, carefree peasant girl? Sparks fly, of course! And not sparks of luurve or even like. Nope, it’s the spark of instantaneous mutual derision. Park Kyu is disgusted with this slip of a girl with no manners or social graces. Beo Jin is turned-off by this snobby man with attitude aplenty and no common courtesy.
And it sure doesn’t dispel any initial misunderstandings when the first interaction between Park Kyu and Beo Jin results in a misplaced offering token. These two get off on the wrong foot, and we viewers get off knowing that the fun of a courtship is watching the inevitable opposites attract dance.
The local magistrate orders Park Kyu to go live with Beo Jin’s family, consisting of Head Diver mommy, kind and gentle daddy, and composed precocious little sister Beo Sul. Poor privileged Park Kyu is reduced to living in a converted storage room in the Jang abode, performing daily menial chores to earn his keep. Park Kyu strangely remains full of disdain for his fallen circumstances, especially for someone who was allegedly banished to Tamra for sexually harassing highborn ladies in Hanyang, and should be repenting his wanton ways. I wonder why?
Conspiracy on the island – someone is stealing the offerings intended for the King, time to activate super secret super spy (who could that be?):
Beo Jin’s rescue and protection of shipwrecked William, and her daily bickering interactions with Park Kyu, dovetails with the underlying island mystery of the stolen offerings. Someone has been making off with the offerings intended for the King. The poor Tamra Islanders are left suffering the consequences of these catastrophic thefts. Who is the mastermind, and why the offerings are being stolen, may tie into the scenes we are shown of an overarching conspiracy being masterminded by a shadowy lady figure in Hanyang.
It turns out that the resident High Priest has been secretly organizing a militia on Tamra, with hopes of fighting for independence from the greedy parasitic King (the High Priest’s words, not mine). The offerings are being stolen and sold to a merchant group in Hanyang in exchange for weaponry. The kindly and cunning High Priest is operating under the old adage: if a few must inevitably suffer in the interim (the villagers), it’s the price to pay for the greater good in the long run (gaining independence).
Caught up in this stolen offering investigation is the burgeoning love story developing between Beo Jin and William. Beo Jin has secreted William away into a cave, and the two kindred spirits have discovered a sense of wonder and enchantment with each other.
William appears to literally be the Heaven’s answer to Beo Jin, a man from another shore who can take her away from her ordained life as a Tamra diver. Beo Jin appears before William akin to a mystical mermaid that rescued him and takes care of him. Naturally, William reveres Beo Jin as a goddess, and Beo Jin sees William as her savior.
We also meet a vagrant-like old man on Tamra that pops up here and there, squatting where he feels like, stealing food when he’s hungry, and generally considered a nuisance by the islanders. He’s the first islander (other than Beojin) that William meets, and this old man displays not a whit of shock upon seeing the face of a foreign devil.
He helps William in Yoda-like ways, talking in riddles, acting half sage-like and half loony-tunes. We come to find out that he’s the deposed former King of Joseon (I’ll explain later how this came about), sent to exile on Jeju to live out the remainder of his days. Old King is a curious man, but he remains detached from involving himself with anything going on. He lives peacefully, cloaked in a mantle of resignation and contentment.
As the conspiracy is unearthed and unraveled by the Great Park Kyu (who is in fact not a sexual predator but the undercover royal investigator sent by the King – really, were you expecting anything else, plot twists are not a Tamra strength), an unexpected and tenous friendship sprouts between him and Beo Jin. One is a distinguished noble, not just of birth, but of learned intelligence and bearing. The other is an unrefined peasant girl, with nary a shred of artifice or genteel spirit. These two are opposites in every way but one: they both care about people, a lot.
Who cares about conspiracies when youthful love is in the salty sea air:
Beo Jin sneaks time for idyllic and chaste rendezvous with William, hither and thither around her little island. She brings him provisions. He takes her to look out at the night sea and sketches a story in the sand illustrating his travels and travails that landed him on Tamra. She grumbles about her general lack of competency and interest in diving. He reassuring listens to her woes and becomes her only confidante. In the meantime, Yan also gets washed ashore – he meets up with William and Beo Jin, and becomes the brains in “Operation Get The White Guy Off This Xenophobic Island Before He Loses His Head”.
Beo Jin is physically William’s only source of protection, and William is Beo Jin’s only emotional outlet. And both are as adorably dim as they come. How could they not fall in love, in the let’s-hold-hands-and-go-night-diving-for-abalone-and-fall-asleep-afterwards-without-any-worries-puppies-snuggling-under-the-stars sort of way. While you know that neither has put much thought into their future together beyond getting the heck off Tamra, their devotion to each other is genuinely sweet and charming.
On the flip side, a thoroughly uncharming (to Beo Jin) guy has been regularly interrupting her sojourns with William. Park Kyu discovered early on that Beo Jin is harboring a foreigner, which is taboo in a Joseon society which has shut itself off from any contact with the outside world. Our first glimpse that Park Kyu may have a beating heart underneath his stiff funereal exterior is when he reluctantly agrees not to hand William over to the authorities (which would have most assuredly signed his death warrant).
Instead, Park Kyu finds himself inexplicably drawn to Beo Jin, both by happenstance as well as curiosity. To maintain his sexual-predator-exiled-to-Tamra disguise, Park Kyu must swallow his pride and accept all the villagers’ clucks of disapproval and admonitions which come his way.
But this humbled nobleman mantle fits Park Kyu more naturally than he ever considered (a fact hammered home when his adoring manservant from Hanyang comes to Tamra, is horrified at the dire straits which his young rarified master has been forced to wallow in, when said master has become accustomed already to the Tamra ways).
With neither Park Kyu nor Beo Jin saving their best sides for the other, both nonetheless grow to trust and lean on each other. Park Kyu, being older, wiser, and really, having a fully functioning brain, realizes early on that his heart has slowly but surely opened up to this cheerful and straighforward girl.
He doesn’t disdain her poor upbringing or lack of proper etiquette. Rather, the issue at hand is that Beo Jin has already set her heart, mind, and every ounce of energy on leaving Tamra with William come hell or high water. Park Kyu, and her love for her family and homeland, are both in the way.
So we have our love triangle put into motion, blooming in the fields and swimming in the waters of Tamra. What Beo Jin doesn’t realize is that the Movement for Tamra Independence is really the biggest obstacle to her leaving with William. Her one attempt to board a ship with William is thwarted by the machinations of the conspirators to cover up the smuggling ring. Leading directly to William and Yan jumping off the ship, and getting discovered by the Tamra Islanders.
Danger? I laugh in the face of danger. Different? I scoff at being afraid of things that are different:
Poor (once again) shipwrecked William and Yan run smack dab into a diving expedition, and scare the living daylights out of the ladies. They are dragged back to the village and scrutinzed for the oddities they appear to be. Right as they are about to be turned over to the local magistrate, who else but Park Kyu arrives to save their hides (for the umpteenth, and certainly not last, time).
Park Kyu convinces the villagers that the High Priest should be summoned to determine the fate of William (while Yan has cleverly convinced the locals he’s just another Tamra islander from another village, with a really weird haircut). William is deemed to be not a threat, and the High Priest elects to keep him as a houseguest (*cough* hostage*cough*) for the time being.
His existence on Tamra now creates ample opportunity for more island antics to ensue, with cute interludes such as the villagers becoming at ease with his differentness, and William introducing everyone to the delights of a freshly brewed coffee. What Tamra does so well is blend equal parts story driven intrigue with the interludes of human interaction.
The William-related crisis averted for now, the investigation into the smuggling operation ratchets up full time. Park Kyu is forced to disclose his identity to the local Officer Kim, who has also been investigating the criminal enterprise.
Together, Park Kyu and his not so effective but well-meaning sidekick, KimRobin, combine their intelligence, uncovering evidence that the High Priest has in fact been the mastermind behind the smuggling operation. All in preparation for a homegrown Tamra fight for independence from Hanyang. The Old King is not involved with nor does he support this rebellion; you can see that he has grown to love people more than politics, and is content with his lot in life.
Park Kyu sets off to stop the impending insurgency. In his path of “how to stop a rebellion with least resistance” comes the inevitable other shoe: Beo Jin and William have been kidnapped by the evil-doers, after coming home from a night stroll and accidentally witnessing the smugglers attacking Officer Kim. As if we’re not already nine-tenths of the way madly in love with Park Kyu (we are, trust me, we are), BatKyu now has to rescue his fair maiden and her blondie boy toy in addition to quelling a ragtag bunch of righteous insurgents.
Nothing stands in the way of country and love (or love and country, whichever order Park Kyu has it arranged in the deepest recesses of his heart). Park Kyu goes undercover in the small band of rebels and rescues Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. This is also the first time we see Park Kyu shed his noble scholar attire and don warrior leader attire – and OMG, how Beo Jin doesn’t immediately switch to Team Park Kyu is beyond me, girl must be blind.
In no short order, Park Kyu subdues the High Priest and his freedom-fighters (thanks to the time arrival of backup, but no thanks to Beo Jin and William getting re-captured by the rebels and used as pawns to force the temporary surrender of Park Kyu and Yan). Before he can elicit from the High Priest the name of his accomplice, the High Priest is shot died. The conspiracy appears to be at an end. And we can take a short break from all this conspiring for some down time with my favorite Tamra folks.
Everyone on Tamra, I wish I could quit you:
With this piddling little rebellion squashed, everyone on Tamra is now aware that Park Kyu is in fact not a pervert sentenced to exile on Tamra, but instead the royal investigator sent by the King himself. Park Kyu prepares for his departure from Tamra, but with a reluctant heart and a fondness for the simplier times when he was just the Banished One who lived in the Jang’s storage room.
Everyone and their blind grandmother can see Park Kyu’s tightly restrained emotions on leaving Tamra, everyone except Beo Jin. She is concerned solely for the safety of William, who is to be delivered to the King in Hanyang.
Park Kyu offers to turn a blind eye to allow William to sneak away, but the Lalala-lovebird will not leave Tamra without his Beo Jin. Well, boyo certainly has devotion in spades, probably to make up for lack in the smarts department. (William, hello?, just leave Tamra and come back in a few weeks to get your little mermaid, tu comprendes?)
In the midst of Beo Jin wailing for the fate of her William, her William stoically choosing between give-me-death or give-me-Beo Jin, and Park Kyu’s heart bitch-slapped by Beo Jin refusing to acknowledge his departure as meriting any bittersweet farewells, the islanders are organizing a goodbye party for this former uptight noble turned surprisingly down-to-earth guy. The scene where Park Kyu tells Beo Jin he’s leaving soon, she keeps asking him to make sure William will be fine, and he finally tells her, with his voice breaking, that she will also never see him again and doesn’t she care, just tore my heart apart.
As Park Kyu drinks and spends time with the villagers, everyone basks in knowing how far this nobleman has fallen from his perch, and conversely how high their esteem of him has climbed. Who knew underneath Park Kyu’s pristine starched white robes was a sense of humor and a generous helping of human kindness (and a whole lotta sexy, too, just sayin’).
The heir of one of the most distinguised political families in Hanyang, the owner of the highest test score in the civil service examination, the Crown Prince’s best friend, is now sharing wine bowls with commoners, comfortable pooping in the pig sty, and understands that the measure of a person is not where you come from, but how you live your life with dignity and decency.
No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you. [Quote from The Last of the Mohicans, in case this movie is that old the youngsters don't member sexy Daniel Day Lewis going after his Madeline Stowe]:
With a heavy heart and a heavier blond package, Park Kyu sets sail from Tamra. Leaving behind the place that has unwittingly changed him, headed for a home he no longer sees in the same light. Before the ship sails, Beo Jin rushes to the dock for a final teary parting from William, entreating him to stay alive no matter what, that she will come find him. As this is happening, curious bystanders who happen to glance at the really stiff tall dude standing off to the side remarked “that guy looks like he’s getting his intestines ripped out of him, braided into a bow, and reinserted into his gut”.
Political mandate states that lady divers are not allowed to leave Tamra. Beo Jin’s promise to William is therefore meaningful on multiple levels: she will brave uncertain roads, break the prohibition against her leaving the island, and pray that fate will direct her to find a blond needle in the Hanyang stack. No wonder poor Park Kyu, who’d give his left kidney for Beo Jin to just say she will miss him, looks like he’s about to upchuck his entire breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Beo Jin seeks out a trusting young male admirer to swipe his identity badge so that she can board a ship. With one obstacle down, she’s still clueless as to where to go and what to do. She proposes that Yan take her with him to find William (since he hasn’t given up trying to deliver lovelorn William back to his mum in exchange for the rest of his money).
Yan (wisely) declines dragging along a baggage named Beo Jin. However, he reluctantly intercedes to avoid her cover being blown on the ship when she’s recognized as a girl masquerading as a boy. Yan has a heart (I always knew it!) and allows Beojin to tag along.
The Unlikely Duo follow the trail left behind by Park Kyu and his traveling retinue, only to discover that “bandits” have attacked the convoy. Everyone has been slaughtered, except the royal investigator and the foreigner are missing.
Without thinking too hard about the hows and huhs, what happened is that Park Kyu gets injured during the attack while saving William. In turn, William saves Park Kyu by dragging his inert and noble butt to safety. He conveniently finds shelter with a kindly potter who agrees to render aid (like I said, stop over-thinking the likelihood of this happening, or the deus ex machina; you’ll give yourself a migraine and miss out on the pretty).
Beo Jin and Yan easily find the object of their desire, plus an injured Park Kyu. For all of Beo Jin’s devotion to William, Park Kyu’s injury distresses her as well. [Can't blame her, who wouldn't want to minster to Park Kyu's slashy shoulder injury]. Beo Jin tenderly nurses Park Kyu, and we can see her eyes has stopped crying just long enough for her to finally take a long hard look at this amazing man before her.
Yet Beo Jin’s resolve to leave wtih William remains unchanged. With nothing holding back the eloping lovers, together with their Yan-y escort, Beo Jin bids a tearful farewell to Park Kyu and heads off to board the next ship to Nagasaki. The scene where Beo Jin tells Park Kyu she is leaving (on a ship, far far away, never to return), and he refuses to come out to say goodbye, because he’s silently breaking down behind the door – this scene must be seen to be believed. Let me know if you aren’t a mess afterwards.
Like the good plot contrivance it is, on the way to the ship, Beo Jin discovers that the “bandits” who set upon the convoy are back to put snuff out Park Kyu for good. When faced between going back to warn Park Kyu, thereby missing the Nagasaki-bound ship and never seeing William again, Beo Jin makes the first rational decision her brain spews out (and the first emotional reaction her heart screams out).
She rushes back to warn Park Kyu. William also rushes back to find his beloved Beo Jin because he can’t believe she would choose Park Kyu over him (oh, believe it, buster!). Yan runs as fast as he can and swims to the nearest ship to get away from these mental headcases. Luckily, reinforcements come right in time to thwart the repeat assassination. In the end, Park Kyu finds himself back to square one, delivering William to Hanyang (this time with Beo Jin along for the ride).
Hanyang – where the people are snotty and the King is crazy:
The second half of the drama takes us back to Hanyang, and drops our local Tamra girl into her own fish-out-of-water story. Park Kyu, William, and Beo Jin, now accompanied by the newly arrived retainers, make their way to to the capital.
Once there, William is introduced to the King, and who sends him to live with the only other foreigner in Joseon (whose been there for so long he’s quite forgotten his native language). To earn the right to live in Joseon, William must please the King (who, from the looks of it, has turned into a paranoid and bi-polar ruler). With his limited talents (he can neither make weapons nor advise on political strategy), William decides to amuse the King by putting on a play (three guesses right now which play this clueless boy selects).
Park Kyu takes Beo Jin to his family compound for the time being, until he can find a way to resolve the impasse (everything hinges on Project Save William, then Mission Get Beo Jin Back to Tamra). At Casa de Park, we meet the formidable Momma Park Kyu, whose girth can sink a flotilla and whose snobbish ire can freeze an armada.
Momma Kyu ain’t too happy to see this shabby girl in her house, much less be told that her beloved Kyu has requested that she stay with them. Luckily for Beo Jin, the stupid do have their own luck. A perfectly timed bout of food-induced (not sperm-induced) nausea conveniently leads Momma Kyu to think her perfect gumdrop of a son has impregnated this hussy, and has taken her home spurred by a twisted sense of noblesse oblige.
Momma Kyu decrees that this girl can at most become her darling Kyu’s concubine, but first this diamond in the rough must be polished. What entails is the always fun makeover session (which is a treat to see happen in a sageuk), plus Beo Jin undertaking the hilarious to watch How to Become a Lady Workshop 101 (led by the one and only gay guy in Joseon).
Now this is what we’ve been waiting for! (alternatively known as: “Don’t Cry For Yourself, William”):
Unable to do anything, Beo Jin waits for word of William’s ultimate fate. Meanwhile, she’s cooped up in a stuffy room and forced to participate in etiquette lessons. For someone who has taken the sea for granted, always looking to run away from it, Beo Jin now finds herself longing for its reassuring expanse and embrace. Meanwhile, if Tamra was all about Beo Jin and William’s innocent and endearing courtship, Hanyang becomes Beo Jin and Park Kyu’s tentative and tender playground.
Park Kyu still maintains a respectful distance from Beo Jin, as he has always done. But he can see her distress, her loneliness, as she gradually loses all her spunk and spirit in this stiflingly uptight place. Like William cheering on Beo Jin on Tamra, Park Kyu quietly steps up his role as her source of comfort when she is so far from anything familiar.
From a nighttime trip to the local lake to gaze at a body of water (and some impromptu water-play), to a disguised outing to the marketplace to experience the hustle and bustle of the capital, Park Kyu provides what little pleasure he can to a girl who misses her family and her home. And each day he falls even deeper for Beo Jin. Every time he looks at her, it’s with a combination of I-want-to-kiss-you-right-now, exasperation with Beo Jin’s fixation on William, and a swath of tenderness that he cannot do more for her.
I think my five year old just solved the political conspiracy:
Taking a step back, it’s time to tie the conspiracy I keep mentioning all together. Interspersed through the drama so far have been a mysterious lady-in-red, who talks like she’s plotting murder and stares holes at everything like she wants to communicate to it “I am an evil mastermind, see my plotty gaze of evil.”
This lady is Seo Rin, the owner of the largest merchant group in Hanyang. She is also the lady with whom the High Priest of Tamra corroborated with to fund his independence movement. He would steal the offerings and transport them to her, she would give him munition. And in case it wasn’t clear from all the use of quotation marks, the “bandits” who set upon Park Kyu’s convoy was actually an assassin group sent by Seo Rin to wipe out a potential threat.
What has gotten Seo Rin’s knickers all in a bunch? Why is she masterminding? And what exactly is it that she is masterminding? It turns out Seo Rin has a rather unfortunate sob background story. He father was killed during the Coup of 1623 for aiding King Gwanghae. [Sidebar on Joseon history: In 1623, King Gwanghae was dethroned during a coup led by a faction of the politicians in court. King Gwanghae was sent to exile on Jeju (becoming the Old King we meet on Tamra), and the coup leaders installed King Injo on the throne. Our story begins in 1640, seventeen years after the Coup].
As a result, Seo Rin is out for a two-prong goal with her conspiracy. Revenge against the current regime for the crimes committed against her father and the deposed King, and to open Joseon’s ports to foreign trade. I can’t say I blame her. Both goals are understandable, and even commendable. Too bad she tried to murder my Park Kyu. For that, I spit on her conspiracy to strengthen Joseon, and I stomp on her revenge for her murdered righteous daddy.
Seo Rin’s master plan is to bribe and blackmail leading politicians in the King’s court to back her proposition to open Joseon up to foreign trade. She even assasinates the Prime Minister so one of the politicians in her pocket is appointed the new Prime Minister. Her involvement with the High Priest of Tamra was really about stealing the offerings meant for the King to fatten her coffers (a lady needs money money money money to accomplish her goals, right?). Like I said, not the most sophisticated or complicated of conspiracies.
If foreign trade is allowed, the merchants would slowly but surely rise to controlling power in Joseon. Where the purse strings are, the policies follow. It’s a brilliant idea for Seo Rin, who unfortunately never counted on running into opposition in the form of Smartypants Kyu (he’s really as tenacious as a beagle when it comes to investigating nefarious conspiracies).
As a reward for successfully handling the situation on Tamra, Park Kyu has gotten himself appointed to the Hanyang Police Department. It’s clear he intends to continue investigating his hunch that the rebellion on Tamra was just the appetizer course, and the meal is yet to come.
Gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme gimme more (now we’ve got a love triangle, that’s what imma talking about):
All roads in every Korean drama lead to a love triangle at some point. Usually it’s early on, so that we can spend more time with the OTP after they’ve kicked the annoying third party to the curb. Tamra instead builds the love triangle towards the end. Doing so with care and respect, taking time to allow the relationships to grow and nurture with time and distance.
Beo Jin falls for William immediately because he’s so incredibly loving to her. Some can argue that its akin to a summer storm, as sudden and potentially as fleeting, when the love comes before the understanding. In Hanyang, Beo Jin discovers that she cares more for Park Kyu than she realized, a feeling that has been building up since the early days of their time together on Tamra. (To be fair, I think Her Royal Dimness first acknowledged that possibility when she ditched William to save Park Kyu’s life by warning him of an impending attack).
As Park Kyu’s investigation leads him close and closer to Seo Rin and her mechant group, Seo Rin decides to up her ante by hiring Beo Jin has an employee (apparently Beo Jin has a skill, she’s a good salesperson, who woulda thunk it?).
William, in the interim, has put on the most inappropriate play in the history of inappropriate plays in front of a King who deposed his own uncle to take the throne. In an inspired choice of Hamlet and his “to be or not to be”, William is thrown in the dungeon for insulting the King. [Funniest line from one of the officials at that disasterous performance: "This is the worst play I've ever seen"].
This leaves Park Kyu in the unenviable position of begging to be allowed to interrogate William as a final salvo to save this blond nugget of haplessness. To no avail, William is beaten to within an inch of his life for his affront to the King. His near-lifeless body is secretly taken by Seo Rin through her political connections, and branded as his slave.
Seo Rin now has Beo Jin in her front pocket and William in her back pocket as both a lure and a potential trump card against Park Kyu. Poor Park Kyu is told that William is dead, and he is overcome with despair that he could not save his life.
But political evil-doers have no time for a crying nobleman and his love woes. After an initial misunderstanding that Park Kyu wished for his death by requesting to interrogate him personally, William nonetheless is coerced into testifying against Park Kyu before the King. William implicates Park Kyu as the mastermind behind a non-existent conspiracy to dethrone the King and install the Crown Prince as the new ruler.
Seo Rin holds Beo Jin hostage to elicit William cooperation. Park Kyu realizes that William could only be providing false testimony and signing both their death warrants because Beo Jin’s life is in danger. Luckily for the good guys, Yan is back (since he works for the Dutch East India Company, he’s in Hanyang as the representative to negotiate with Seo Rin). Yan, the man who conveniently shows up whenever the show needs a solution, rescues Boejin, who then sneaks into the palace.
With the aid of the world’s cutest puppy, an extra dose of courage, and some good luck (in the form of a letter written to the King from his deposed Uncle on Tamra warning that the rebellion is being led by Seo Rin with the involvement of high level politicians), Beo Jin convinces the King that it was all a set-up to frame Park Kyu. Hurrah, the execution is halted and our boys live to see another day.
There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? You just follow your heart, and everything will work itself out:
Park Kyu and William remain in one piece (for now), but the mastermind has not yet been apprehended. Our three favorite Super Friends make their way back to Tamra, following the trail left by Seo Rin, who has one final ace in the hole.
She had the Tamra Chief Magistrate in her pocket this entire time. While the kids have been gallivanting around Hanyang, she has him build a new port on Tamra. Now that the port is built, Seo Rin will open up trade not through the mainland, but via Tamra. The first order of business, convincing the Dutch East India Company to land and trade with her (munitions in exchange for the silver Seo Rin has found a way to extract from ore).
In a sequence more meaningful than realistic, the Tamra islanders (from the villagers to the local officer corps) all band together to stop Seo Rin from making contact with the Dutch ship. Led by WarriorKyu, the determined islanders, armed with whatever heavy objects are within reach, storm the Chief Magistrate’s gathering of crooked officials.
During the final battle, Seo Rin and her lead henchman board their ship to get away. In the ensuing fight, Park Kyu gets slashed across the chest (again?) by lead henchman and tumbles into the darkened sea. Staring in horror at this scene is Beo Jin. She hears William calling for her to stay put, but she can only see Park Kyu’s lifeless body falling into the ocean she loves (and once hated).
For the second (and last) time, Beo Jin chooses to save Park Kyu’s life over staying beside William. It’s a choice that is crystal clear in its implication to both Beo Jin and William. As much as she loved William (and she still does), Park Kyu has become the man she loves more. Beo Jin dives back into the ocean, and in a moment straight out of The Little Mermaid, she hauls Park Kyu onshore. In a lovely, understated face-to-face confession that we have been waiting the entire drama for, Beo Jin beats the man she loves back to life, telling him that he can’t die.
Grabbing Park Kyu in hug worth a thousand French kisses, she tells him that she cannot live without him, for him to never leave her side again. As William watches, hidden behind the water reeds, it’s the final confirmation of what he has known for many episodes now. Beo Jin’s future is on Tamra, her heart is with Park Kyu, and she will not be leaving with him after all.
On this beach, Beo Jin has chosen Park Kyu. It’s the choice of a lifetime that she is finally ready to make. As the story winds to a close, our three leads have traveled far and wide, and each have found their purpose in life.
William leaves Tamra with a full heart and a lifetime of memories of this magical place filled with loving people. Park Kyu becomes the new Chief Magistrate of Tamra, the only noble who would treat the island and its people with respect and care. And Beo Jin finds her true talent as a merchant put to good use as the bookkeeper of the Tamra offerings, shedding the shackles of an ordained life as a lady diver.
Everyone gets their happy ending. Even Seo Rin, whose ship was sunk by the lady divers, doesn’t die. Instead, she leaves on the Dutch ship with Yan and William, to be dropped off in China (and maybe back for another go-around in the future, who knows?). In a perfectly fitting manhwa montage to end this tale, we find that life goes on for everyone, in happiness and tears, in triumphs and failures, in marriage and thereafter.
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