The Fate Of The Realm
Episode 5 of “Under The Queen’s Umbrella” begins with the news of the Crown Prince’s health spreading through the palace. The King is shocked when he finds out he’s suffering from Hyeolheogwol. He demands the Prince be examined again but the physicians point out that further examination could cause him more harm, given it’s in the advanced stages. With a history of hemophobia and the words of Master Toji still echoing in her mind, Hwa-Ryeong tells them not to do this. ..
The King abruptly orders palace guards to imprison Physician Kwon and escort Hwa-Ryeong back to her chambers. She has been suspended from all palace activities and is not allowed to see the Crown Prince either. And that includes her sons, who try in vain to get through. ..
The Queen Dowager arrives and tells them to leave, but Sangseon is defiant, refusing to turn a blind eye. This is a common occurrence between the two, as we see from a flashback from the Dowager telling him to do as much. In this flashback, we see that the Queen Dowager has been trying to get Sangseon to change his ways for years, but he has always refused. She finally resorts to force after seeing how much he has hurt others in the past.
Meanwhile, the Queen works tirelessly, as she’s tasked with transcribing Confucius texts and Dodeokgyeong as punishment for her actions. Court Lady Shin suggests she pace herself and slow down, given she’s been given 5 days. Of course, she doesn’t listen, and manages to transcribe the whole lot, immediately calling in the Royal Eunuch and demanding to know if the Crown Prince is still alive – he is.
The Crown Prince has not regained consciousness just yet though, but Hwa-Ryeong urges the Royal Eunuch not to leave the Crown Prince along with anyone, especially Physician Cho, as his life hangs in the balance.
The Chief State Councillor Hwang continues to scheme, deciding they should have the patriotic scholars submit petitions to the King. In doing so, it would make them stronger united together and with the Queen Dowager overseeing everything of course.
The Crown Prince is in exile, and all of these people are trying to get him out. The Chief State Councillor says they need to wait, but the King says no. There are different scholars who want to speak up, but the Chief State Councillor stops them. Then the King says he doesn’t want to do anything because he’s worried about what might happen if the Crown Prince comes back.
The Chief State Councillor smiles at Minister Yoon and tells him that he rejected the offer immediately to try and throw the King off the scent of who’s working against him. Furthermore, this may have seen him instate one of his other sons to take over, especially if he sensed the Crown Prince was in danger. For now, they’re going to bide their time and wait. ..
Prince Bogeom tells the King that he knows of the Scholars’ scheming and that he will not be fooled again. He warns the King to stay vigilant and not let the Scholars take advantage of him.
After learning that the alternate medicine may have actually been working, Seongnam decides to come back and investigate. However, when he arrives, he finds out that the Queen Dowager is also involved. She forces Kwon to reveal his true intentions, and he eventually reveals that he’s working for the Queen. The Queen Dowager then uses her men to blindfold and demand answers from Kwon, who goes on to reveal that he’s working for her.
Despite the fact that the Crown Prince is still unconscious, Hwa-yeong uses her contacts to bring in alternate medicine from various areas of the palace in order to help him. It seems that the bleeding has stopped, but he is still unconscious.
Hwa-Ryeong decides to leave her chambers and head to the court maids’ quarters in order to get some peace and quiet. She dresses up as a court maid and manages to sneak in and out of different areas without being noticed by the ministers outside of the King’s quarters. However, this peace is short-lived as they are chanting for the Crown Prince to be deposed. ..
Hwa-Ryeong sneaks away and sets up a meeting with the deposed Queen Yoon, asking for evidence to support her beliefs that Crown Prince Taein was murdered. Yoon is convinced this is the case and points out that the puppet master was none other than the Queen Dowager.
The Taekhyeon conducted during the previous reign was suggested by court officials, who cornered the King, but clearly done under the guise of Queen Dowager’s orders. And now, Queen Dowager shows up to see the King in the wake of the deposition and tells him to accept their request. “You will not be able to stop them,” The Dowager says, going on to question the King’s lineage. Without their support, he won’t have the throne and he could actually lose everything, given he’s a son of a concubine.
Hwa-Ryeong confronts the different ministers about their intentions and asks them what they’re really after. She points out the contradiction of wanting the best for the Kingdom but also undermining its lineage and throwing the realm into chaos. “What is it you are truly after?” she demands, as Chief State Councillor steps up and asks the same thing of her.
Things escalated and looked set to explode until the King told them all that any plans to kill the Crown Prince and overthrow him would be treason, especially with the Crown Prince struggling and still alive. This broke up the scholars’ coup, at least for now. ..
Just like that, Hwa-Ryeong learns that the Crown Prince has awoken, just for a moment. Hwa-Ryeong rushes to his chamber… but it’s too late. The Crown Prince has passed away. Hwa-Ryeong is shocked, and she remembers her son’s words, telling her to remains strong and look after her sons.
The Episode Review
With the Crown Prince having passed away, many questions are now hanging over the throne. The Queen Dowager is working to usurp the King’s power, but with the Crown Prince’s death it’ll likely be more difficult for her to do so. We know that Queen Dowager is working to take over the throne, but with the Crown Prince’s death she’ll likely have more difficulty doing so.
Seeing Hwa-Ryeong use her steely determination and power through this episode is great to see. She has always been a strong character, and this episode only reinforces that. However, we haven’t seen a lot of her other sons, which is a bit disappointing. There’s plenty more time for that to change though so we’ll have to wait and see. ..
Episode 6 of “The Crown” is sure to be a thriller. The plot thickens as the characters vie for power and control. ..
