Fortune Favours The Brave
Returning for another episode, King Maker: The Change Of Destiny delivers another good slice of period history. With more emphasis on the palace issues and lots of drama occurring throughout involving Bong-Ryeong and Chun-Joong, the door is left wide open for the episodes ahead. Episode 5 of King Maker: The Change of Destiny begins with Chun-Joong breaking the good news to Bong-Ryeon that Song-Hwa and her son are safe after the commotion last episode. After falling on Bong-Ryeon, the maid arrives and immediately suspects something going on and quickly takes her leave. Bong-Ryeon does the same too, especially when she realizes soldiers are out looking for her. Bong-Ryeon sneaks back to palace but Byeong-Woon sits waiting for her, demanding to know who she was spending time with. Thankfully Nahab arrives and vouches for her, admitting that they were drinking together. Saving her life, Nahab tells her she’ll have to repay the debt later on down the line. Meanwhile In-Gyu decides to have his fortune told while at the same time, Chun-Joong learns that thugs have struck a nursery and are working on behalf of the Royals to turn it into heated housing. It’s a step too far for Chun-Joong who asks the authorities for help. Unfortunately the Royal family are above their jurisdiction and they refuse. Instead, he decides to write to all the King’s relatives and those closest to him to try and help. Eventually Chun-Joong decides to take matters into his own hands and heads to the nursery where he single-handedly takes out the gang. However Lord Heungseon-gun happens to be waiting for him after the skirmish. They walk together and talk about the letters he’s sent to the Royals and after some light banter, proposes Chun-Joong to pose as a nobleman’s clown in exchange for saving the nursery. That evening he heads to the gathering with Pal-Ryong and keeps his guard up. As fate would have it, the Red Monk happens to be there too and he warmly greets them as they watch from afar as the festivities begin. Those festivities come in the form of a lavish prize of gold for correctly guessing the King’s destiny from a string of text. After several vague prophecies, Professor Hyun simply tells them it’s for a powerful man but remains tight-lipped over how he believes it’s to do with the King. Chun-Joong however, speaks up and guesses the prophecy correctly, shocking everyone in attendance and leaving Pal-Ryong jubilant as he believes they’ve just won 100,000 pieces of gold as promised. While Pal-Ryong and the others leave the palace grounds, Professor Hyun and Chun-Joong are thrown into the viper’s pit and forced to read prophecies. Chun-Joong guesses them correctly again while Queen Jo offers the same for Bong-Ryeon, who holds various items and confirms the King will die within a year. Instead of accepting the money back at the palace, Chun-Joong turns it down and instead wishes for a promise on the King’s name. As he leaves the winner, Professor Hyun is unfortunately killed for his troubles. While Ha-Jeon promises to strike his enemies first once he ascends to the throne, Chun-Joong is given an inheritance letter left by by the Choi Family. Given they’re the richest and most prominent family, it’s certainly a big coo and something that will help him out greatly in the future. Before giving it to Chun-Joong however, the messenger seeks counsel from Bong-Ryeon. Only, In-Gyu arrives and bursts into the room prompting her to quickly hide the letter and the man until he leaves. She commands him to lay low for now given In-Gyu is having him followed and decides to try and bide her time. She immediately speaks to In-Gyu and admits she hates him and his bird cage. He bites back though, promising to kill Chun-Joong if she visits him again. Chun-Joong refuses an offer to join Heungseon-Gun in fortune telling for more nobles and instead receives an ominous warning. Despite the King commanding the thugs stop destroying the nursery, the gang refuses to listen and continues to ransack the area. Chun-Joong starts fighting them off and receives a knife to the back for his troubles. The princess hurries to help but the King’s guards outside stop her, just as the soldiers spill into the courtyard too. It’s no good, Chun-Joong is knocked unconscious by none other than In-Gyu., which is where the episode ends. With much more of a narrative-driven focus and lots of drama involving both Chun-Joong and Bong-Ryeon, the tension and drama is cranked up a notch as both of our lead protagonists face challenges this episode. In-Gyu knocking Chun-Joong down adds more fuel to the fire as their rivalry continues to bubble up over time. The more narrative-driven focus certainly helps too and with the King given less than a year to live, it certainly poses trouble ahead for our characters. For now though, King Maker bows out with another good episode that leaves the door wide open for next week’s set of episodes. Published: 01 June 2020 at 5:25 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
