[Spoiler alert: If you have not seen Mr. Sunshine, the article below contains spoilers. Please stop reading now if you do not want the details to the episodes.]
I’m going to take a departure from the previous two posts and take a look into our characters rather than looking at the historical events.
This episode’s theme is justification.
Let’s take a look at our characters as they use justification to make decisions that will have lasting consequences in the upcoming episodes.
Ae-shin:
Ae-shin wonders whether Eugene is a friend or foe. She meets Eugene again on her way to the potter’s workshop and she lets Eugene ferry the boat across the river. Here, she is still trying to figure out whether Eugene is someone she can or should trust.
On their way back from the potter’s workshop, they have a moment – a bit of water flirting. Eugene smartly figures out her purpose for her visit – to take the cracked pottery for her shooting practice. He also gives her some unsolicited advice about rifles. Ae-shin starts to ask Eugene questions, but he deflects by replying that she doesn’t answer his questions.
So, she decides to open up and trust this man she doesn’t know. She says that they are living in the Romance Era with coffee, western clothes, and imported good. For her, the romance is in the muzzle of a German rifle. Perhaps, being discovered by Eugene is also part of her Romance Era story. She smiles at him and he sits very uncomfortably.
Here is her justification. She needs to think that Eugene is her comrade – that they share the same goal. She is drawn to him and she needs to justify why she would reveal her true identity to a complete stranger. She has kept her extra circular activity a secret. People in Hanseong sees her as a helpless, unworldly noble lady.
We see her justification play out in the tailor’s shop. She asks him what love is? She heard that it was better than a title and she want to do it. When he says she can’t do it alone, she asks him to do it with her. He is taken aback. Anyone would.
He says that it is more difficult than shooting a rifle, more dangerous, and requires more passion. He asks her why she’s asking him. She says because he’s her comrade. She has assumed that he was her comrade because he did not arrest her knowing that she is one of the culprits.
Eugene answers that he (Logan Taylor) dishonored the U.S., and she says he dishonored Joseon. Eugene asks if Joseon actually had an honor to lose in the first place. She is clearly shocked at what he says because her justification for opening up to him seems to be in danger. She made an exception for this man and she may have revealed her identity to the wrong person.
“I never needed the real culprit. I only needed the circumstances. The assassination will be concluded as an act of the remnants of the Righteous Army.”
This is deeply upsetting to Ae-shin, but she doesn’t have the full picture.
Dong-mae:
Flashback to Dong-mae’s childhood shows that the stigma of being a butcher’s son brought on despair and heartbreak. His mother had to bow down to the commoner, beaten and abused. His mother was beaten and raped by another man while her husband worked outside, helpless to do anything. His mother ends up killing her assailant and forces Dong-mae to run away.
His mother was trying to save her son. And Dong-mae would use this as his justification for his allegiance to Japan and his terrible deeds.
While Dong-mae runs away, he is aided by the young and innocent Ae-shin, who hides Dong-mae in her palanquin. This is the start of his love and obsession. Since she saved his life, he also protects her from danger she doesn’t see. He feels justified in killing the two Japanese men who were talking about violating Ae-shin.
When Dong-mae returns from Japan looking very Japanese with his hair and kimono. His first act was to visit the women that mistreated his mother years prior.
His underlings kill the two women while the third – and the head bully – begs for her life. He grants her that…but, she would have preferred death over the life he had allowed her to live.
His justification for this gross violence is that he was the victim, but now he was in a position to pay back the wrong. He wants people to know that he was the butcher’s son, and he would use his new status as the Musin Society member to bring terror to anyone in his path.
But we also see that his loyalty is flexible. He said that yesterday he was an American because he received U.S. dollars for his work. Today, he is a Japanese because he is being paid in yen. His justification for his flexible allegiance is money.
Eugene:
Eugene is conflicted. He wonders whether to pay a visit to his enemy or his savior – perhaps, he should just go on a picnic. He also doesn’t know what to make of Ae-shin. He has an incredibly low opinion of Joseon and especially of the noble class after what had happened to him and his family. He meets this mysterious noblewoman, and he is clearly taken by her.
Eugene never had to justify his assassination because it was an order given to him by his superiors. He is a military man sent to Joseon for this very purpose. He doesn’t actually need to justify his actions towards Ae-shin because he never needed an actual culprit. His mission is complete, and we see the result when the King allows the American troops in Joseon and when the American soldiers board the train.
When Ae-shin is detained by the American soldiers at gun point, Eugene walks up to the situation while the soldiers salute to him. His true identity as an American soldier is revealed to Ae-shin. He is dressed in his Marine uniform and tells her to cooperate. She is enraged that a foreigner would tell a Joseon person what to do in Joseon. He says that American guns do not distinguish between nobles and slaves…it’s a democracy.
She is frozen while she stares at his name in English, something she can’t read. Even with the realization of who he is, her question still remains. Is he a friend or a foe?
This is the first hurdle for out two lovers and it’s only episode three. If you have seen Korean Dramas before you know that they will face many more.
Join me next time for Episode 4: Jealousy. Now that Ae-shin knows Eugene’s identiy, how will they move forward?