Janggeum’s Dream: Episode 46 Commentary

Forest of Death

It must be nearing the end of the series, as a lot of new faces are being shown. I’m not sure if that exactly makes sense, but that’s what’s happening. Sato and a lot of the others seen in the intro hardly had an appearance, and now there are new characters appearing for at least a couple of episodes.

There isn’t much to say about this episode. It’s good to see Jeong-ho with the group again. He must have known which Suro was the real one because the false one had to have asked for Jeong-ho to help him, a request Suro’s pride would not allow him to make. I didn’t quite catch why Suro was unaffected by the jingle of the bells. Tone deaf perhaps?

Lady Choe isn’t happy to hear about Lady Han. She almost seems to believe she can’t keep up whatever’s going on, whereas Pansul is ready to put out whatever effort it takes. It seems as if he’s behind what leads to the group in the burning house at the episode’s end, but it will probably turn out that the two are unrelated. Not that I’ll know due to my not knowing more than a few words of Korean, of course.

There’s no knowing if the dark figure in this episode is the one who tainted the young queen’s food, no knowing if he’s the one who locked the girls in the ice warehouse, or if he’s Hwan. Even his eyes, mouth, and hair are hidden. They’re going all out to make sure this guy’s identity is not yet revealed. The first series introduced the silhouetted person’s face early on, but did not reveal that this is who he was until the last moment. If that happens in series two, who fits the position other than Hwan? The guy’s voice, when he’s talking with the old woman, doesn’t sound one bit like Hwan.

Did the family in the home in the woods expect Lady Han and the others? They couldn’t have simply been waiting with a wooden house, stones holding the roof down, hay to surround it, and odorless flamable substance powdered onto the walls simply to get rid of any random visitors, could they? The only thing missing was drugging the riceballs so everyone would fall asleep after eating them.

The family leaving with the stereo audio of the girls crying made for a good ending, although the next episode preview showing their escape quickly ruined it.