My Royal Nemesis: Episodes 11-12
by Unit
Our penultimate week explores the fluidity of timelines and life and death, as our transmigrated heroine counts down to her return to Joseon. However, her royal loser has no plans of letting her go, and it’s up to fate — or Show, really — to decide if she gets to stay in the modern times or not.
EPISODES 11-12
The good news is, last week’s truck did not kill Dan-shim and Grandpa Cha. The not so good news is, Grandpa Cha enters a coma and Dan-shim returns to Joseon. Turns out she didn’t die from poisoning in Joseon because the shaman secretly saved her with an antidote. Dan-shim is currently trapped in her body and cannot move or speak, while Seo-ri’s body remains unconscious in the present. Se-gye becomes the definition of “going through a lot” during this period because not only is the love of his life unconscious, Biojei is also faced with prosecution raids, brand boycotts and crashing stocks after carcinogenic substances are found in Dynaestie products — all thanks to Mun-do’s machinations. Meanwhile, Mun-do has taken over the reins of both Chail Group and Biojei (since he’s Biojei’s not-so-secret investor and top shareholder).
Back in Joseon, the shaman notes that a comet lingered in the sky since Dan-shim left, but it started moving again after her return. The shaman ominously adds that when the comet finds its place, it will guide Dan-shim’s soul back to her body here. The “here” in question seems like Joseon. Oh no! But for now, Dan-shim is sent back to modern times. *partial sigh of relief* Se-gye runs out of police questioning and straight to the hospital on hearing Dan-shim is awake, and he scolds her for her week-long unconsciousness. “Were you trying to give me an aneurysm?” Pfft. Just hug her already! Se-gye fights back tears and Dan-shim holds out her arms for an embrace. She’s tearing up, I’m crying, and we are all a relieved mess.
Dan-shim is back! However, all astrological and fantastical signs point to the fact that her time in the 21st century is numbered. Se-gye doesn’t know this yet, but he’s not leaving her side regardless. And the news that someone has been smashing the lights in Dan-shim’s building gives him the perfect excuse to spend the night with her at home. It’s all PG since she’s still recovering, and it’s quite hilarious that he gets the bed while she’s on the floor. He is definitely the type of guest to take “feel at home” a little too seriously. Lol. But as expected, Se-gye worms his way to the floor beside Dan-shim, and they have a conversation affirming that they’re the most important person in each other’s lives. *wipes tears in Dan-shim’s bittersweet parting words* And no, the kiss doesn’t make this moment feel any better. Lies, kisses make everything better.
Moving on, Mun-do announces the resort project at Chail Group’s 50th anniversary celebration in order to cement his position as Chail’s leader. He introduces Tae-hee — who approached him earlier to buy his Biojei shares and partner with him on the resort — as a project partner, and she shocks him by introducing Se-gye as the head of the TF team overseeing the resort development. LMAO! “The prodigal son has returned,” Se-gye announces with a twirl, and I just love him so much. Lool. Blindsiding Mun-do is the best thing Tae-hee has done in this show, and she’d be better off as Se-gye’s business partner rather than the life partnership she’s seeking. Unsurprisingly, Mun-do’s misogynistic side jumps out in his disappointment with Tae-hee, and this is one of the reasons he doesn’t deserve anything good.
The bribed nurse turns up dead, and Se-gye is accosted by the police. But their questioning will have to wait — again! — because his “Dan-shim is in danger” alarm goes off. In a surprising twist, one of the friendly extras in Dan-shim’s drama actually hates her, and has been the one sabotaging her on set, and smashing the lights in her building. Unfriendly Extra lured Dan-shim into the costume closet, locked her inside and lied to everyone that she went home. As claustrophobic Dan-shim struggles in the closet, she has a memory flash which we come to learn is of Seo-ri’s childhood accident. Shocker: Seo-ri’s parents’ business went bankrupt and they drowned themselves and Seo-ri in the river. WHAT?! Seo-ri survived, but this is how her personality changed and she lost her acting skills. Yunno, before Dan-shim transmigrated into her body years later and the skills returned.
Se-gye arrives to rescue Dan-shim from the closest, and she bursts into tears which are less of relief, and more of “what am I supposed to do now?” because she planned to break up with him since she’s returning to Joseon. But now she can’t end the relationship because he keeps making her want to stay. *sniff* Se-gye takes Dan-shim to his house, and it’s all PG once again. But I don’t mind because Dan-shim is not in the headspace for spicy stuff. They’re in bed together and she’s looking at him with so much love and despair in her eyes, it kills me. Se-gye is a certified loser for Dan-shim, but she has come to love him just as much. They’re all cute and domestic in the morning, and Se-gye is eagerly anticipating their 100th day together celebration. But that darn comet will leave the earth’s orbit in 15 days, and it just might take Dan-shim with it.
Dan-shim realizes Se-gye will wait endlessly if she leaves without telling him (just like she waited in vain for the grand prince until he died in exile), so she asks him out on a date. Their first stop is his mom’s columbarium — aww — and the next stop is a park, which is the last place he came with his mom before she died. Apparently, Mom was already sick when she took him to Grandpa Cha’s house and she told him to wait for her. But she didn’t return. Se-gye says he waited in vain, and he wonders if it would have been better if he knew she wouldn’t return. Dan-shim agrees that knowing the truth is best, and she breaks the news of her imminent departure. Cue: Se-gye’s denial, anger, and refusal to let her go. But it’s not like she willingly wants to leave him, or the convenience of Wi-Fi and water closets in favor of carrier pigeons and chamber pots!
Speaking of leaving, it turns out Halmoni doesn’t have much time to live. Oh dear! And despite Se-gye’s best efforts, the sale of Halmoni’s land is very much valid. Mun-do gleefully informs Se-gye that he has sent a demolition team to level the place, and Se-gye tells him to do whatever he wants with Chail Group, but to just leave Halmoni’s place alone. “Is that an order? Or a favor?” Mun-do asks. Cocky bastard! “If you step on me, I’ll let you. If you tell me to bow, I will. So just let this one thing go,” Se-gye pleads, head bowed, eyes down and everything. His pride is nothing when it concerns Dan-shim. But Satan’s apprentice merely marinates in Se-gye’s groveling before reiterating that he is not rescinding the demolition order. Damn! I have never hated Mun-do more than I do in this moment.
Dan-shim stumbles on Halmoni’s diary while packing up things at her place, and she pictures Halmoni’s grandmother–granddaughter moments with Seo-ri as she reads through. But at some point, Dan-shim’s imagination shifts to actual memories. She’s initially confused because it’s not her body, so why is she recalling Seo-ri’s memories? But as more childhood memories unlock, Dan-shim is hit with the realization that the memories don’t belong to someone else. They are hers. “No, I am not a fake,” she whispers. “My name is…” “Shin Seo-ri,” Se-gye concludes, in a separate speech as he speeds down to Halmoni’s place, and the linking of the two scenes was absolute cinema! Our heroine was Shin Seo-ri all along! But I won’t bother with any reincarnation or transmigration theories because all our questions will be answered in next week’s finale. Regardless of whatever answers we get, the fact is, Shin Seo-ri belongs with us in the 21st century and she’s staying right here. Right, Show?
In other news, Grandpa Cha is out of his coma, but he is faking temporary amnesia. Pfft. This show really subverted the Truck of Doom trope in the most hilarious of ways. I bet Grandpa knows Mun-do is behind the truck incident, and the fake amnesia is just him bidding his time to completely screw over Satan’s apprentice. Mun-do is truly the worst of evil, but I am not letting Grandpa off the hook so easily either. He claims to have seen through Mun-do’s greed ever since his childhood days, but he always took Mun-do’s side over Se-gye’s. That’s nonsense if you ask me. Grandpa should have broken Mun-do’s entitled wings before he grew into his final dragon form.
Away from entitled dragons and enabling grandpas, the Ji-hyo and Gwang-nam saga continues. Ji-hyo is free of the misunderstanding that Gwang-nam is Seo-ri’s rich boyfriend, and that he is even rich at all. But she has now fallen into another hilarious misunderstanding that he is a department store heir who doesn’t want to take over the family business. Looool. But can you blame her? Gwang-nam’s parents run a countryside dollar store-ish supermarket named “Thousand Won Department Store.” Pfft. But it’s not like she treats him any differently in his poverty or in his assumed wealth.
Meanwhile, Gwang-nam has a newfound respect for Ji-hyo after she used her lead actress powers to stall filming until Seo-ri (I’m addressing our heroine by her real name henceforth) woke up. As it turns out, Seo-ri was Ji-hyo’s acting motivation in their child actress days. Ji-hyo really wanted to surpass Seo-ri up until the accident, and I suspect part of the reason she couldn’t stand Seo-ri afterwards was because Seo-ri lost the acting skills she craved so badly. The good news is, Seo-ri is back with her skills. So Ji-hyo and her one-sided rivalry will have to find a way to accept Seo-ri’s return to the spotlight.
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