The Sins Of A Father
King Maker: The Change Of Destiny returns this week and after a solid opening episode, settles into its new Saturday/Sunday slot with a look at the political power struggle to come. With both Bong-Ryeol and Chun-Joong caught in the middle of this minefield, King Maker continues to deliver a strong period drama set-up and it’ll be interesting to see if this one can reach the heights of the popular Crowned Clown in the coming weeks. Episode 2 of King Maker: The Change Of Destiny begins on the ship, with Chun-Joong greeting Bong-Ryeon and asking if she’s glad to see him. As she hurries away, Chun-Joong follows but given she’s now a princess, he’s held up at knife-point by Dan-Ah, the princess’ guard. She promises to tell him everything but for now, takes her leave. Meanwhile, Kyung-Choi, the Ganghwa Governor, talks to Byeong-Woon and they discuss the possible delay of the cargo vessel. At the same time, Prime Minister Jwa-Geun Kim realizes his family’s fate rests on that very same vessel and making sure it’s delayed. He decides the princess should go and propose a Royal Wedding in order to coerce Kyung-Choi’s son to their way of thinking. Kyung-Choi’s son of course, being Chun-Joong. After a prophetic fortune telling, Kyung-Choi’s oldest friend known as the “Monk of nature” arrives and requests a seat at his table. He takes one look at the writing and rips it up, telling Chun-Joong to listen as he goes on to admit he’ll taste great loss and defeat, as well as losing his soul mate. That road leads him to two paths which he’ll have to choose. Chun-Joong snubs his fortune and decides to take his own path. In the market, Bong-Ryeon greets Chun-Joong in secret and they head off together to the docks where they discuss the past. She asks for help and prophesies that somehting bad is going to happen. As things look to turn romantic, he holds her hand momentarily before she slips away. A wry smile crosses his lips as the prospect of romance starts to blossom between them. Meanwhile In-Kyu demands his fortune be re-read again and this time his blood-soaked future is there to see, including him being fine with murder. After revealing he’s left a note for the fortune teller giving him an alibi, In-Kyu murders the man. Kyung-Choi tells Chun-Joong to train with the monk but he refuses to leave with him, admitting that he’s met the princess and is calling her the love of his life. The Monk however tells him his soul mate will betray him and he’ll die young. The Royal Family sign off the agreed marriage and this small act essentially makes him the King’s son-in-law. Without much of a choice, Kyung-Choi delays the ship’s departure. Down by the docks, Byeong-Woon infiltrates the heavily guarded ship thanks to one of his men stashing gunpowder kegs inside. When Chun-Joong heads down and investigates, the culprit stands from afar with a flaming arrow, ready to ignite the gunpowder. Only, Chun-Joong spots it and manages to destroy the arrow mid-air. Surrounding the man with a group of guards, he asks who sent him but instead the man slits his own throat. Following the marriage, Kyung-Choi is congratulated for the marriage and goes on to check the ship is in order. Watching from a distance, he sees his son sharing a drink with his future wife but from afar, an explosion on the water rocks the group. The cargo vessel explodes and it leads all the guards currently at the wedding to head down to the docks to investigate. In the wake of the plunder, the Prime Minister arrests Kyung-Choi for planting explosives on the ship. It’s a conspiracy of course but one that sees Chun-Joong forced to watch this play out in stunned silence. After his earlier encounter though, he found a scrap of paper with the sigil and immediately speaks to Myung-Hak, who tells him he suspects he’s the one responsible. This unfortunately sees Chun-Joong arrested. In-Kyu continues to scheme, telling Byeong-Woon he should kill Kyung-Choi while vowing his own allegiance after putting a sword up to his own neck. Outside, Kyung-Choi is tortured mercilessly while Chun-Joong is forced to listen from his cage. That evening, Chun-Joong breaks free and meets Bong-Ryon in private. She volunteers to be his witness to what happened. Lord Heungsun arrives at the palace as the appointed Judge for the upcoming trial. This is opportune timing for Chun-Joong who arrives to give the Judge his truth on what happened. The Judge asks him what happened and it’s here he admits that Byeong-Woong originally had gunpowder stashed on the cargo ship but he thwarted that attempt. He didn’t realize Lord Kim had hidden gunpowder on the ship but he has a witness that’ll back him up – the Princess. Unfortunately when it comes down to it, Bong-Ryeong can’t go through with the betrayal and admits she saw Kyung-Choi on the ship. Shocked, Chun-Joong is taken away and thrown out the building. This causes civil unrest among the people as Kyung-Choi is paraded through town after being forced to endure this terrible fate. The commotion is enough for him to be freed thanks to the people protesting and Chun-Joong tries to take him to safety. Only, In-Gyu appears and stabs Kyung-Choi and leaves him for dead. Chun-Joong holds his Father and weeps as the authorities see this take place and walk away. Bong-Ryeol begs Byeong-Woon not to kill Chun-Jung and implores him to spare the man’s life. Begrudgingly he agrees but in return degrades the poor girl further by branding Bong-Ryeol and forcing her to become part of their property. We then cut forward to Hanyang where Chun-Joong embraces the festivities before dispatching a group of thugs in one fell swoop. At the same time, the Princess also happens at a Royal dinner and as she looks out at the courtyard, she sees fireflies which is where the episode ends. With some prophetic messages coming true this episode, the change in destiny portion of the title is clearly referring to Chun-Joong trying to evade his early death and living out his life while attempting to win over the princess. In-Gyu’s betrayal against Kyung-Choi is pretty shocking though and the various political powers working here gives the show a lot of depth to work with. Poor Chun-Joong has had to endure hell this episode and after listening to his Father being tortured, had to hold him in his arms while he died. In-Gyu will almost certainly get his comeuppance though and the ending leaves things wide open for where this one may go next. Published: 25 May 2020 at 9:25 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
