Summary
The King is forced to put his duty over his love life as a threat of war emerges, and Hee-soo gets herself in hot water by trying to take matters into her own hands.
After Episode 8 finally made Mong-woo’s real identity known to Lee In, Episodes 9 & 10 take Season 1 to a slightly new place. Having realized he isn’t in love with a man after all, the floodgates of the King’s emotions open up, but at the same time, the responsibilities of his position haven’t waned. As with everything else, love is not a simple thing for a monarch, and with all the competing forces in Captivating the King, Lee In’s affection for Hee-soo endangers the pair of them.
Will love overpower all? Will it save the King from Hee-soo’s burning need for vengeance? Conversely, will Lee In be forced to make even more brutal decisions to maintain the power that, in many ways, he never wanted in the first place? There’s everything still to play for, that’s for sure.
After spending the night with Hee-soo, the King finds himself reminiscing about his fondness for Mong-woo. And yes, I know they’re the same person, and now so does Lee In, and yet his love has kind of blurred the two together, even now. As the flashback clarifies, the King always loved Mong-woo, even when he had no reason to suspect he was anything other than a man. After he went missing three years ago and was declared dead by Sang-hwa, the King mourned, drank, and isolated himself.
To keep up appearances in the present day, the King orders that Mong-woo – whose real identity still remains a secret to everyone but him – be confined as punishment, obviously to keep her safe from the principal director and Hyun-bo.
The Qing Envoy
This punishment doesn’t satisfy the director, who wants Mong-woo banished completely and strikes a deal with the King to achieve this if Hyun-bo can retrieve information on a Qing envoy within three days. The King makes a counter-move though – must be all that Baduk – and beats Hyun-bo to the punch. Mong-woo is to play Baduk with the Qing representative.
The game ends up being something of a metaphor for a potential war – it ends in a tie, but no stalemate lasts forever, and the threat of outright conflict is raised shortly after when the Qing envoy states that their prince, Rui, wants to marry Joseon’s princess (the daughter of Lee In’s brother.) If the request is refused, there will be violent disagreements.
Does the King agree to marry off the princess?
This obviously and immediately ups the stakes for the King, who can scarcely worry about his own burgeoning relationship when the lives of all his subjects are at stake. With the threat of conflict looming, the King is forced to make the hard decision of agreeing to the marry the princess off, even while she begs him to stay in Joseon. It’s another brutal moment of dynastic decision-making, reminiscent of how Episode 4 turned the whole plot topsy-turvy.
Mong-woo/Hee-soo has other ideas, though. She plans to substitute the real princess with one of the maids, and use the maid as a spy within the Qing dynasty. Of course, the principal director has already anticipated something like this and wants to allow the envoy to see the princess’s face beforehand, but the maid is in position in time and the envoy likes what he sees.
Just when it seems like everything’s going off without a hitch, though, well – it all rapidly starts to go wrong.
How does Captivating the King Season 1, Episode 10 end?
When a senior maid notices the real princess running off, she reports the incident to the principal director, who immediately knows something is amiss. Before the disguised maid can depart for the Qing dynasty, he stops the palanquin and demands to see the face of the “princess”. Immediately, he recognises the imposter.
The episode ends with the director summoning the King to an urgent and immediate meeting – and, what’s more, the King had no idea about the scheme. Uh-oh.
Reaction from fans
Episode 10 brought a lot of key moments, and fans of the show had a lot to say about it!
do you hear me crying??? #CaptivatingTheKingEp10 pic.twitter.com/ME4PdhJTDK
— marigold (@uzerctrI) February 11, 2024
I get why he’s upset in the preview, cause how in the world is he gonna get her and everyone else out of this situation alive. It’s one thing to deny the Qing of their request, it’s another to blatantly deceive them. She’s playing with several lives here. #captivatingthekingep10 pic.twitter.com/ZFa4iL3yEU
— s u n n y (@starshowers89) February 11, 2024
Court Lady Dong giving herself a lot of importance and Heesoo ended her by just saying “I do not understand the reason why you are explaining His Majesty’s heart to me when you are so sure of his affection” ??#CaptivatingTheKing #CaptivatingTheKingEp10 pic.twitter.com/DwYzvx6IZi
— r o s e? (@kdramasrose) February 11, 2024
LEE IN GRABBING HEESOOS HAND AS SHE PLACES A BADUK STONE AND SMOOTHLY BRINGS IT TO HIS MOUTH TO KISS IT HE IS CRAZY#CaptivatingTheKing #CaptivatingtheKingEp10 pic.twitter.com/jQ2fWbQRlE
— ? (@soowolz) February 11, 2024
What did you think of Captivating the King Season 1 Episodes 9 & 10? Let us know in the comments.
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