Janggeum’s Dream: Episode 39 Commentary

Tiger Village

A dialogue-heavy episode is unfortunately one with little to say about; here’s hoping for a DVD release with English subtitles. I have only a few random observations.

The story Lady Han told in the prior episode is retold by the elder lady, although slightly different. When the lady in the story is in bed, it looks as if she’s expecting, and then later the boy on the tiger is shown to have the same markings on his shoulder as the man from his story. Presumably, the two from the story are the boy’s parents. The fate of the boy’s mother is known, but what became of his father?

The sword lady—I’ll simply call her Lady Archer for not knowing her name—and Suro are off to a rocky start, but perhaps they will understand one another a little better after the fire incident.

Also during the fire incident, it sounds as if Yeong-ro is the one who calls out “douri!” when it looks like Suro might be in danger. Between that and the scene with her and Suro in the next episode preview, I’m left wondering where Hwan is. Is he shadowing the group? Suro was able to pick out the guy in the bushes in the prior episode, so Hwan would have to be exceptionally good at hiding to not be noticed. Or perhaps Suro got lucky in seeing the guy in the bushes. The royal palace’s soldiers, even Jeong-ho, are known to not notice someone in the shadows close by.

Lady Han must have known about the village, whether it was their destination or not. She did know its story. The reason Suro and Janggeum were taken prisoner were because Suro attacked the man in the bush, and because he had a sword, something he and Lady Archer were both eager to go into combat with.

One again, Suro goes for the finger in the ear, showing an attitude of “yeah, I really don’t care one bit”.

Something which did stand out is the outfits worn by the villagers. Not the animal fur ones, but the other outfits, such as the elder lady wears. Nearly everyone back in Janggeum’s hometown wears a hanbok. Perhaps other outfits were seen worn by other villagers, but after seeing a good number of episodes within the royal palace, the non-hanbok outfits stand out.

It’s only seen for a brief moment, but there does appear to be a smile from Geum-yeong while she’s helping Lady Choe cook.

If I could learn what’s going on with only one scene from this episode, I’d like to know what’s with the little girl Lady Archer saves, as she hops following explaining something to her father after the tiger roared. Without English subtitles, I have to assume she couldn’t walk, leading her to being trapped in the burning house, and the tiger’s roar lead to a miraculous recovery, allowing the girl to hop (yet strangely still not walk). It could have happened that way, right?