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Poong the Joseon Psychiatrist 2: Episodes 5-6
by Unit
As we arrive at midpoint, the drama plays around with the usual tropes. We get a brief introduction to noble idiocy and some cheeky jealousy. But things soon take a dark turn and we are plunged into birth secrets, clownish villains, backstabbing, and of course, the dreaded palace politics. Sigh.
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP
Seo-yi’s request — or rather, demand — for Poong’s heart sends Eun-woo onboard the noble idiot bus, and Eun-woo denies having feelings for Poong in front of the princess (and an eavesdropping Poong). Seo-yi doesn’t buy it though, and she eventually gets injured after kicking down a door in her enraged state. She insists on marrying Poong while he attends to her injury, and he turns her down leading her to kick down his door again. Okay, more than her injury, the princess needs to be evaluated for anger issues and an unhealthy obsession with marrying Poong.
But as we come learn, Seo-yi’s anger issues stem from an issue she had with her ex-fiance YOON JI-HO, and it’s relieving to know that she’s not in love with Poong — she’s only using him to stoke the flames of jealousy in her ex. So, why did she ex him in the first place? It turns out that Ji-ho is very blunt, and in his bluntness, he touched on the subject of the princess being born to a lowborn dancer who couldn’t even be made a concubine — a complex Seo-yi has had to deal with all her life. (This is all the late king’s fault for not keeping it in his pants!) No wonder she’s lashing out at everyone and everything now.
To save their doors from further destruction, our clinic family hosts a seminar to teach a straitlaced Ji-ho how to properly express his feelings for Seo-yi. But it’s an almost impossible endeavor, because Ji-ho doesn’t have a single romantic bone in his body! He’s totally hopeless, and unfortunately, lacks the self-awareness to deal with the issue despite having genuine feelings for Seo-yi.
When everything else fails, the family makes Ji-ho memorize romantic quotes from novels — or rather, the Joseon versions of writer Kim Eun-sook’s dramas. And really, good for him, because we all know Kim Eun-sook writer-nim is the queen of cheesy dialogue. Heh. (By the way, Kim Min-jae doing an imitation of Gong Yoo’s famous “Every moment I spent with you shined…” quote from The Lonely Shining Goblin might just be my new favorite thing. Lol.)
The confession stage is set, but their hilariously elaborate plan results in a series of misquotes and gaffes. And to worsen matters, Seo-yi kicks her shoe straight towards a beehive, rendering its poor occupants homeless. But in what is probably the first romantic gesture of his life, Ji-ho braves the nasty stings in order to protect Seo-yi from the bees. His action pays off because after a little pouting here and there, and some encouragement from Poong, Seo-yi finally gets back together with him.
To her credit, Seo-yi apologizes to Poong for using him, and to Eun-woo for all her harsh words, leading Eun-woo to finally alight from the noble idiot bus. Phew! Also joining the make up session is Seo-yi’s court lady — who we learn is the reason Ji-han was made to leave the medical office back then. Apparently, he stopped to save her on his way to treat the queen, and the court lady has been riddled with guilt since his expulsion from the palace. Now, she can properly thank Ji-han for saving her life, and it’s all gratitude and blissful goodbyes between the clinic family and Seo-yi’s squad.
But just as the princess leaves the village, Kang-il makes an unwanted return and his gloomy presence serves to wipe away all the fun we’ve had so far. Doing a 180° from his usual self, he acts all humble and servile, and he’s even ready to work at the clinic because he has “botched his chances of returning to the medical office.” Yup, he’s totally not being suspicious in any way.
In the meantime, after a visit to the clinic, the district governor recognizes Ji-han from a past encounter. Apparently, after beating his younger brother to death for running off with a woman, the district governor went in search of the woman — who also happened to be Ji-han’s first love. Unfortunately, she died shortly after birthing Ib-bun, and rather than give her up to her evil uncle, Ji-han lied that the baby was a stillborn. But on sighting Ib-bun now, the governor does his calculations and concludes that Ib-bun is his niece.
Ib-bun and Ji-han get into an argument after the district governor lies to her that Ji-han killed her mother, and she ends up walking right into the trap that is the district governor’s house. To Ji-han, the district governor lies that Ib-bun has chosen to live as the daughter of a noble family rather than as a commoner. But on hearing that the district governor has sent Ib-bun off as concubine to an old fart in exchange for a higher position, the clinic family goes all up in arms to rescue her.
The signed contract between the district governor and the ministerial fart — which Kang-il helped to find — serves as proof of the governor’s attempt at bribery and human trafficking, and he’s warned to either stay away from Ib-bun or have the contract sent to the king because the king is now their buddy. Heh. Ib-bun reiterates that she chooses her life with Ji-han over being a noble lady, and father and daughter have an emotional reunion.
Eun-woo begins to see Kang-il in a new light after his help with finding the letter, but he goes behind her back and urges the scorned governor to send a petition to the king stating that Poong bragged about his ties with the royal family, and abducted a widow by offering to make her a physician. Really? Using Eun-woo to further his agenda? How low can Kang-il go? Unsurprisingly, the echo chamber of foolishness beseech the king to punish Poong, and despite his best efforts, the king cannot shield Poong since this is a scandal that touches on morals and law and order and blah blah blah. Sigh.
I sound like a broken record, but it’s disappointing that this drama still hasn’t learnt that the mischievous endeavors of the Gyesu clinic family are way more engaging than all the politicking. There was a world of difference between the enjoyability factor of the fifth and the sixth episode, and this is further proof that the drama shines best when it doesn’t take itself very seriously.
I’m happy with the resolution of Seo-yi’s arc, and really, I don’t mind seeing more of her. But as far as the new characters go, Kang-il remains his very maddening self! How can someone have no personality aside from being a sly villain who specializes in using other people to further his agenda? Ugh! Earlier on, it seemed like the drama was setting him up to be Poong’s rival in love, but like with Seo-yi’s case, I see no love rivalry in his future. Just plain hate for Poong for reasons best known to him.
Unfortunately, I don’t find Kang-il compelling enough to be curious about his villain origin story — even though he’s a much better villain than those clowns in the medical office — but he better have a reasonable excuse for hating Poong the way he does. Otherwise…
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