100 Days My Prince (2018), Episode 16 Recap

100 Days My Prince Episode 16 Recap

It’s take two with the Vice Premier trying to rid Lee Yul. The Vice Premier has gotten the Ming Dynasty to start a war against the Jurchens with Joseon being blamed by the Jurchen for instigating the war. It’s what’s behind the killing of a Joseon hostage for every two hours that pass without the delivery of a ransom.

The King suggests the Vice Premier go down to the battlefield to meet with the Jurchen and explain what he calls a misunderstanding. The Vice Premier was, of course, not going to meet with the Jurchen. The whole point of starting this war was to get Lee Yul to go down there where he will come face to face with the Vice Premier and the Crown Prince’s death.

Despite the clear attempt to kill him, Lee Yul does end up doing what the Vice Premier suggests to the King and goes onto the battlefield. He’s backed up by Jung Jae Yoon, who goes against orders to wait for Lee Yul’s message, and helps Lee Yul take down a couple dozen attackers to meet with the officials at the decimated village.

Lee Yul receives a letter from the Jurchens (which looks like is actually the Vice Premier’s letter) that Lee Yul must meet alone at the fortress by noon for negotiations. It won’t be the Jurchens who will be meeting Lee Yul, but the Vice Premier. The Vice Premier has plans to end the relationship he started with Lee Yul once and for all—which it does. However, it’s not the death of Lee Yul as the Vice Premier had hoped, but the Vice Premier.

Lee Yul arrives at the fortress knowing exactly what he’s in for. Thanks to a tip-off from Hong Shim via one of Seok Ha’s men, Hyuk (Hong Yoon Jae), he learns of the Vice Premier’s plan to ambush and kill Lee Yul personally, and so, he shows up with his own men lining the rooftops of buildings surrounding them.

Arrows fly and hit the backs and shoulders of a few of the Vice Premier’s men as warnings to the remaining men to stand down else suffer an arrow to their neck.

(At this point, Jung Jae Yoon and Kwon Hyuk appear onto the battlefield behind Lee Yul, revealing their allegiance to the Crown Prince which was never really in much doubt.)

The Vice Premier’s men all drop their swords following the warning, leaving no one willing to put their lives on the line for the Vice Premier and only the Vice Premier himself up against Lee Yul’s sword. It’s a sword fight which has Lee Yul slash across the Vice Premier’s right arm, causing the Vice Premier to lose his ability to ever use his sword again.

With the Vice Premier’s men all backed off and the Vice Premier defeated, it’s game over. Lee Yul is finally able to bring the Vice Premier in to face his crimes like he wants to and have him live a life as a nobody. But, it’s not to be. Just as Lee Yul walks past the fallen Vice Premier, back turned, the Vice Premier reaches into his clothes, appearing as if he was reaching for a weapon.

Alarmed, Kwon Hyuk orders the archers to shoot. Four arrows are released with one hitting the Vice Premier right in the heart, two in the stomach and one in the back, killing him.

It turns out, what the Vice Premier was reaching for was not a weapon, but a piece of paper. This paper is later revealed to be the blank piece of paper the Vice Premier had asked the King stamp with his seal. On it, the Vice Premier writes that his children will not be punished for his sins. Only he will pay for his sins with his life. The throne wasn’t what he used the King’s seal for. He used it for his children.

The Crown Princess and the Vice Premier’s son, Kim Soo Ji, don’t go unpunished, but for the Crown Princess at least, it’s not a punishment she seems to hate. A year later, we see her living outside the palace in some village. She’s presumably lost her title, but she seems content living with her baby boy there. To make sure Seok Ha is not ever forgotten, she’s named her baby Seok Ha.

Kim Soo Ji, he’s less pleased. He is sent to live amongst Gu Dol (who is tasked to watch over Kim Soo Ji), Kkyeut Nyeo, and Park Bok Eun (who got promoted to the magistrate position) in Songjoo Village. Hearing Ma Chil talk about heading off to Ming (he’s now Head Merchant), has Kim Soo Ji tell Ma Chil to make sure he looks for Madam Noh and tell her to save him.

Park Sun Do’s loses his noble status, too, for his involvement with the Vice Premier. He now lives as a servant under Park Bok Eun, made to run errands for the magistrate.

As for Lee Yul and Hong Shim, the wrongs they each believe they indirectly committed towards each other separates the two for a year. After Lee Yul ends the relationship between him and the Vice Premier, he finds Hong Shim nearby and seeks to apologise for what happened to her brother. He tells her he wanted Seok Ha to live. Hong Shim doesn’t blame his death on Lee Yul, and in an objective manner, tells him he did nothing wrong.

Lee Yul then moves to tell her he will reinstate her to her noble status for the tip-off about this latest ambush which effectively played a huge part in saving his life. This has Hong Shim reminded of Seok Ha’s wrongdoing. The Vice Premier wouldn’t have been after Lee Yul’s life if it weren’t for the fact her brother fell for the Crown Princess and fathered a child with her. With this on her mind, Hong Shim tells Lee Yul she and her brother might have been the one to have caused him his misery; and so, she doesn’t want him to forgive or do anything for her.

In an attempt to relieve her from taking any blame for his misery, Lee Yul explains the misery and uneasiness to be caused way before what happened between Seok Ha and the Crown Princess. He explains that dethronement of the previous king as being behind it all. He had lost his mother and the girl he loved (aka Hong Shim/Yoon Yi Seo) back then. He also believes he’s to blame for the loss of Hong Shim’s/Yoon Yi Seo’s dad.

He says all of this in hopes that he might get her to be by his side and tell him she loves him, too, but it’s not something she can do or say.

Life goes back to almost how it was at the beginning for Lee Yul and Hong Shim. Lee Yul returns to the palace as the Crown Prince, but for the last six of the 12 months, he’s been ruling and running the government. The ministers are on him about being unmarried again and are suggesting his single status is the cause of the drought.

The King’s on Lee Yul’s case about not being married as well. The King’s been sending Lee Yul noble woman and even maids to try get Lee Yul married. The King’s gone as far as handing down an order exactly the same as the one Lee Yul handed down when the ministers were pointing the finger at Lee Yul for the first drought. That order being that every man and woman— noble or not, royal or not—they must be married else face a flogging.

The King also announces that intends to relinquish his throne and make Lee Yul his successor. He mentions ill-health being the reason for his decision. The king’s actually perfectly fine. He’s just tired of the burden of the throne. To Lee Yul’s displeasure, the King deadpans that his butt is blistering from sitting on the throne too long when Lee Yul asks his father what illness he’s suffering from that’s making his father step down and forcing him to get married.

To answer more seriously, the King expresses his lack of ability to stand firm and pretty much tells his son that he will make a better king. He felt he was always walking on egg shells with his ministers as king. Before that, he was the same around his brother, the previous king. Lee Yul, though, he’s the opposite: he sees his son as strong-willed and someone who has authority and dignity because he doesn’t worry about being in power.

These words are reflected on in Lee Yul’s own chambers before he’s interrupted with news that Jung Jae Yoon is taking a few days off being Lee Yul’s advisor to go to Songjoo Village to comply with the King’s order for everyone to be married. In other words, Jung Jae Yoon is off to see Hong Shim and marry her.

It looks like Jung Jae Yoon’s not seriously challenging Lee Yul for Hong Shim. It’s a plan to get Lee Yul to act and go to Hong Shim.

Act he does. Right after receiving this news, Lee Yul’s off on his horse towards Hong Shim. Her dress has changed to noble clothing as she’s been reinstated to her noble status, but she continues to live her life as before. She remains living with her adopted father in their old Songjoo Village home; and to make money, she continues to take on jobs through her Solution Agency.

Lee Yul arrives under the excuse of carrying out an inspection on the matchups at the magistrate’s office to make sure people aren’t forced to marry. It confuses Park Bok Eun as it sounded like Lee Yul was saying he shouldn’t make the six people (two of which are Hong Shim and Jung Jae Yoon) standing before him marry.

What Lee Yul actually means (we think) is Hong Shim mustn’t be forced to marry someone she doesn’t want to marry. The others, he doesn’t worry about. So, in order to ensure this, he tells Park Bok Eun he intends to participate as a candidate (to the amusement of Jung Jae Yoon: Lee Yul has done as Jung Jae Yoon had hoped).

With Lee Yul in the matchups, it makes things uneven: three bachelorettes to four bachelors. To proceed with the matchups, Park Bok Eun has the men close their eyes and the women to move towards the men they like. Two women seem to both find a man on their left handsome as they wonder if they could really choose him (so, maybe Jung Jae Yoon or maybe Lee Yul). In the end, they walk straight across to the men in front of them. Hong Shim give a brief troubled gaze towards Lee Yul before she also walks straight across to the man in front of her, Jung Jae Yoon, leaving Lee Yul shocked to see Park Bok Eun when he opens his eyes. Park Bok Eun had stepped in next to Hong Shim after all the women chose their men.

Lee Yul reasons that it must be because no one dared to choose him and offers one more chance to choose again, eliciting chuckles from the others.

There’s no do-over, but not all is lost. Hong Shim might have chosen Jung Jae Yoon, but her heart is with Lee Yul. She just can’t see them together and call it true love when they can’t smile at each other.

Hong Shim believes she will make him unhappy. Her past and existence will cause problems for him forever. She worries that when someone finds out about her, about her brother and the whole incident with the Crown Princess having had a child with her brother, they will use it to attack him. Lee Yul tells her he would rather not have the position if he has to give up love.

Even though Lee Yul is okay with it, Hong Shim isn’t. She doesn’t want him to be a woman’s husband. Rather, he should become a wise king. Seeing as that is, Lee Yul tells her he will be heading back to the palace.

He appears to have given up trying to have her agree to be with him, but it’s far from that. He has a plan to propose to her—ultimately. It starts with hiring her Solutions Agency services to look for a stack of books (his journals) that he pretends to have lost. Through his journal entries, he wants her to know just how much he thought of her when he left Songjoo Village to return to the palace as the Crown Prince a year ago. He saw images of her. He talks about having a heavy heart and feeling regret over not holding her back (possibly, he’s referring to the time they met following the death of the Vice Premier on the battlefield where she walked away unable to tell him she loved him, too).

In another entry, seeing the snow fall one day, he writes that it had reminded him of her and her question about which he liked—the snow or the petals? He writes that the answer will always be her. It’s yet another declaration of his love for her. No matter what choice he’s given—whether it be snow, petals or the throne, he will always choose her.

Writing about their wedding anniversary on the date of their wedding and the 100 days he spent with her as her husband, he talks about how there are two paths in life: to believe that none of it was a miracle or to believe that all of it was a miracle. He regards it all as a miracle.

It looks like Hong Shim’s chosen to believe the same. After locating the journals and taking a read through a journal, she races around looking for Lee Yul. Running into Gu Dol and Kkyeut Nyeo, she learns he’s left for the palace already. Gu Dol and Kkyeut Nyeo are lying. They and her adopted dad and Park Bok Eun are in on this plan of Lee Yul’s. Their part in this plan, to scatter hand-cut cherry blossom petals from the rooftop of Hong Shim’s house when Lee Yul moves to make his marriage proposal to her.

Hong Shim (rather the writer does) gives him a pretty good lead-in to the marriage proposal. Right after surprising Hong Shim with his appearance at her home and the unseasonal cherry blossom rain, Lee Yul draws her attention to the journals he noticed she found and sitting on a bench. He asks whether she took a peek, because no one is allowed to read those.

Hong Shim tells him she did and wants him to stop writing such heartbreaking stories. This has him go into how she shouldn’t worry, as he expects (rather hopes) that she will have accepted his marriage proposal. He tells her that he believes his entry will go something along the lines of having proposed to the woman he yearned for all his life and her answer was a smile before she nodded. Come what may, he will spend his remaining days with her he tells her.

So, basically, if Hong Shim really wants him to stop writing such heartbreaking stories, she better make that story come true—which, if the kiss at the end is anything to go by, she does.

Episode 16 Screencaps

Lee Yul pretends to not know who this Yoon Yi Seo the Vice Premier talks about is which doesn’t do anything to help Lee Yul. If he wants to save Hong Shim, he has to admit the Vice Premier holding a person he remembers and cares about, which Lee Yul ends up giving in when he asks for proof he has her. The Vice Premier only tells him that if he wants to save her, he better keep what he knows to his grave else he will have her down a river and fed to the wild animals.

The Vice Premier’s plan to have the King send Lee Yul into the battlefield is working perfectly. The Jurchens is demanding a ransom from the palace despite the attacks coming from the Ming. The reason, the Jurchens believe the war was instigated by Joseon since the arrows which the Ming is using in the war are from Joseon.

In a swap of positions, the King doesn’t want Lee Yul to head onto the battlefield, but Lee Yul believes he needs to go despite knowing he’ll be ambushed and attacked like months ago when he headed to the rain ritual. It’s only then will all of this be resolved.

Jung Jae Yoon tries to stop Lee Yul, believing Lee Yul will die for sure. Lee Yul isn’t bringing soldiers, either. He didn’t want to make it look like he’s joining the war. With Lee Yul adamant on going despite Jung Jae Yoon strongly telling him he can’t go Jung Jae Yoon sees no option but follow Lee Yul onto the battlefield despite orders to wait for a message for him. Jung Jae Yoon really is the Crown Prince’s man and just the coolest!

Plans to have their men ambush Lee Yul when he shows up at the fortress the next day and frame the Jurchens for Lee Yul’s murder is all set. Unknown to the Vice Premier, he and Minister of War have a listener outside, Hyuk, who has been with Hong Shim since before Seok Ha died, is set to foil the plan.

Lee Yul and Jung Jae Yoon meet up with his men who are delivered letter said to be from the Jurchens. Lee Yul must meet at the Jurchens’ fortress by noon to negotiate alone. Both Lee Yul and Jung Jae Yoon know it will be a fake. As Jung Jae Yoon points out, there’s no proof people are held captive or that the Vice Premier has Hong Shim. Although Jung Jae Yoon does advise Lee Yul not go, there was little chance Lee Yul wasn’t going to go; but, an anonymous tip sent by Hong Shim (through Hyuk) made Lee Yul decide he must go.

The Vice Premier is finally brought down to his knees in a one-on-one duel between Lee Yul and the Vice Premier. With a slash across the sword-wielding arm, Lee Yul ensures Vice Premier won’t be able to use his arm to wield a sword again. Lee Yul orders his men to tie him up.

The Vice Premier suffers life-ending shots when Kwon Hyuk orders the men above to shoot, thinking the Vice Premier was reaching for a weapon inside his top. It’s not a weapon, but a piece of paper—the piece of paper which he had the King stamp his seal on so the Vice Premier could use it how he wanted in the form of a decree.

It looks like the Vice Premier had planned for the possibility he’d fail in his attack, and as later scenes reveal, his demands would be conveyed in the piece of paper.

It’s all over with Vice Premier dead, but it’s not a happy ending for Hong Shim and Lee Yul. They each have committed wrongs towards each other. Lee Yul’s father, the King, had her dad killed as part of a scheme to take the throne. Her brother, although it was under orders, tried to kill Lee Yul. Hong Shim’s brother also fathered a child with the Crown Princess, a fact which Hong Shim apparently learned when she ran into her brother in Episode 15, but not revealed until the final episode. Because of that, Hong Shim thinks that it could be that Lee Yul’s misery might have been caused by her and her brother.

Lee Yul doesn’t seem to care about the assassination attempt or the matter between the Crown Princess and Seok Ha, he seems to just want Hong Shim to be with him. For her tip, he wants to reinstate her to her noble status and for her to live as Yoon Yi Seo. He wants her to tell him she loves him and want them to be together.

Hong Shim can’t do it, leaving Lee Yul to watch her walking away from him.

News of Vice Premier’s death and the Crown Prince’s unharmed stated reaches the palace relieves the King. The King is also presented the piece of paper the Vice Premier had him stamp his seal. Inside it reveals the thing the Vice Premier wants most: a decree under the King which states the Vice Premier pay for his sins with his life only, while his children are free from punishment.

Through Prince Seo Won, the Crown Prince learns of her father’s death and his attempt to kill Lee Yul. Prince Seo Won, who might just like the Crown Princess, show up to take her out of the palace, knowing she will most likely face the same fate. She and Prince Seo Won run into the King on their way out.

The Crown Princess doesn’t end up dying as she thought she might, just exiled (as a later scene shows). How she ends up escaping death for her father’s crimes isn’t shown, but maybe Lee Yul had helped convince the King to allow the Crown Princess to live. He had visited her after returning to the palace and appeared to want her to live because of the baby in her womb, the fact that the father is Seok Ha and that he is the brother of the woman he loves. Hong Shim appears to be the reason the Crown Princess didn’t face death.

The Crown Princess isn’t all that bad. She showed no desire to be queen. She’s actually a bit of a victim of her father’s hunger for power.

One Year later, Kim So Ji has been reduced to a commoner who has Gu Dol as his watchman. Kkyeut Nyeo is pregnant. Ma Chil is a merchant. Gu Dol is there telling exaggerated stories about the victories of the Crown Prince on the battlefield and the Crown Princess having committed suicide for cheating on the Crown Prince.

Hong Shim’s status has been reinstated as a noblewoman as Lee Yul had said he would do. Apart from her social status having changed, everything seems the same. She’s still running her Solutions Agency to make money, taking on dangerous jobs from Park Bok Eun, like luring a serial rapist. (Park Bok Eun’s moved up to the magistrate’s office, now.)

Hong Shim is still living at her old house with her adopted dad. Returning from her job, she sits and mentions how much she’d love a bowl of baesuk (just like Won Deuk did back in Episode 4). She still thinks about Lee Yul/Won Deuk and obviously misses him. She admits to staying at the house instead of living like a noblewoman because of Won Deuk. (Is she waiting for him to come to her?)

Park Sun Do is now Park Bok Eun’s lackey! He’s been demoted to a commoner for his involvement with the Vice Premier and his schemes. Park Sun Do’s being made into a pretty comedic character in the last episode.

The ministers are nagging Lee Yul about not being married again. There’s even a rumour going around he might like men. Jung Jae Yoon tries to have him think about marrying by mentioning about the long lonely nights. Lee Yul’s response to that is that it’s manageable because he has Jung Jae Yoon next to him. (The bromance. Love the bromance between the two in this drama.)

What was meant to be an attempt to get Lee Yul thinking of marriage becomes an almost scuffle (a friendly, not too serious one) between the two when Lee Yul calls Jung Jae Yoon a bee. “A bee busy with work has no time to be sad. I will give you more work to do,” Lee Yul says. Jung Jae Yoon wasn’t too happy about being called a bee and it has him reach out as if to get up and personal with Lee Yul. Jung Jae Yoon can be daring sometimes with the Crown Prince.

Eunuch Yang tries next to get the Crown Prince married by mentioning the need for a new robe, which apparently involves getting him measured by a maid the King looks to have brought in to seduce him!

Even a maid will be fine it seems. Lee Yul wasn’t impressed, but how refreshing to see that he can marry anyone as long as he married. Hong Shim should not have any trouble being accepted into the royal family then!

The King announces his intention to hand over the throne as a way to force Lee Yul to get married, but using ill-health as his reason for the decision. In a private chat with Lee Yul, the King talks about the illness he has is a blistering butt for sitting on the throne too long. Haha. Again, how refreshing to see a King in a drama where he’s not crazy, tyrannical or power hungry. He even mentions being envious of the Vice Premier for his firm mind which the King thinks he lacks, and reckons Lee Yul has the same firm will who also don’t care about being in power which will make Lee Yul a good King.

Before he abdicates, though, he commands that everyone must marry, no matter who they are, royal or noble. It’s hinted this is Jung Jae Yoon’s plan. He was given the task of looking after Lee Yul as his advisor, and the King sounded disappointed Jung Jae Yoon’s yet to fully look after Lee Yul with getting him married. By the sounds of things, the command to have everyone including royal and noble people must be married is meant to push Lee Yul when Jung Jae Yoon appears to go off to Songjoo Village to go after Hong Shim to make her Jung Jae Yoon’s wife.

Lee Yul gets a letter from Jung Jae Yoon he’s taking a few days off because he’s been working non-stop ever since Lee Yul temporarily took over for his father. During the few days off, Jung Jae Yoon tells Lee Yul he’s off to marry a woman in Songjoo Village. It doesn’t take long for Lee Yul to order Eunuch Yang to prepare his clothes. Lee Yul is off towards Songjoo Village. (Jung Jae Yoon’s plan is working!)

The Crown Princess is alive and living in a village somewhere, and her and Seok Ha’s baby, a boy, has been born. She names him after Seok Ha so the name isn’t forgotten and she will always remember it.

Jung Jae Yoon tells Hong Shim to “stop being single and let’s get married” just before they’re ushered to the magistrate’s office by Park Bok Eun to participate in the matchups. Lee Yul shows up just as Park Bok Eun has the bachelors and bachelorettes pair up claiming he’s come to inspect the matchups as he was worried people (by people, he really means Hong Shim) were being forced to get married. Lee Yul isn’t saying they disobey the King’s command, just that he will participate in the matchups, and give Hong Shim the choice of choosing to marry him.

Hong Shim doesn’t choose him. She chooses Jung Jae Yoon. The men having been asked to close their eyes whilst the women walked towards the man they want to marry, Lee Yul opens his eyes to see Park Bok Eun in front of him!

Jung Jae Yoon confesses his feelings to Hong Shim after the matchups. He knows Hong Shim’s heart isn’t with him, but still, he takes the chance to express how he fell for her at first sight after she chose him in the matchups. Knowing Lee Yul is in the distance, Jung Jae Yoon also tries to provoke Lee Yul to make his move by having Hong Shim touch his neck for fever, which it does.

Jung Jae Yoon is pulled aside and his loyalty is questioned by Lee Yul, not knowing that the reason Jung Jae Yoon is being like this is because he knows Lee Yul loves Hong Shim and wants him to win her heart.

Hong Shim’s still worried about Lee Yul being unhappy if she did go to his side because of what her brother did. It could be used to attack him. What her brother did he does care about, and he would rather not have his position if he has to sacrifice love for it. Still, it doesn’t change Hong Shim’s mind about going to him: he wants him to be a wise king rather than be a husband to one woman.

Seeming as Hong Shim is still not willing to be with him, Lee Yul hires her Solutions Agency to find his journals he claimed to have lost; count on her to read his thoughts, his regrets and his choice being always her; and finally have her go to him.

To create a nice spring day where cherry blossoms fall at Hong Shim’s home, Park Bok Eun has Park Sun Do cut out what was meant to be cherry blossoms from paper. Park Sun Do misses the grooves on them, making them little oval petals only. It’s all to create a similar setting to when a young Lee Yul first told a young Yoon Yi Seo he chooses her no matter what the question and that he’s going to marry her.

Hong Shim finds the journals and sure enough she reads them. It finally moves her enough to run all over the Village looking for him. She’s told Lee Yul’s return to the palace to tend to urgent business by Gu Dol, only he hasn’t. When Hong Shim returns home, Lee Yul surprises her by showing up before her. The Crown Prince has left, but not Won Deuk, Lee Yul tells her, and he asks her to look hard and she will see he is Won Deuk. It takes her a few moments of gazing into his eyes for her to finally see that, and it brings a smile onto both their faces.

Paper petals fall from above (thanks to the assistance of Hong Shim’s dad, Gu Dol, Kkyeut Nyeo and Park Bok Eun) recreating a moment so many years ago where he said he would marry her. He draws her attention to the journals he had her find. “Did you take a peek?” he asks. She answers yes and tells him she wants him to stop writing such heartbreaking stories.

It’s pretty easy to stop such entries. All it takes is for Hong Shim to say she’ll marry him in a few moments’ time! Lee Yul is hopeful, telling her not to worry as he’s already thought of what to write that evening. “I think it will go like this,” he begins. “‘I proposed to the woman I yearned for all my life. The woman smiled and nodded. Come what may, I will spend my remaining days with her.’ Let us go to the palace,” he asks Hong Shim. Hong Shim doesn’t give her answer yet, only asking if this was his marriage proposal. “No,” he responds. “I will do it properly right this moment,” and he moves in to kiss her. Seeing as Hong Shim kissed Lee Yul back, we will take it as a “yes” to Lee Yul’s marriage proposal!

Final Comments

Second time round watching this drama and still every episode had us excited to watch the next. We knew what was coming and still we couldn’t wait to see it play out again. Now, that’s a really good, re-watchable drama! We indulged in the fact that Lee Yul was saying he would never propose to someone like Hong Shim, but only he would, and we couldn’t wait for him to find out she’s the childhood love he’s been searching for every day since they were forced apart during the dethronement.

Then came the parts where Won Deuk is made into a fool who couldn’t do any task a normal villager can only to have him show everyone he can read, write, fight and protect Hong Shim. These parts of the drama were our most favourite of all parts.

We love how this drama resolved the past and present wrongs with no one hating or blaming anyone. Hong Shim didn’t change her feelings for Won Deuk after finding out he’s the son of the King who was behind her real dad’s death. Same with Lee Yul. He didn’t change his feelings for Hong Shim after learning her brother was the one who tried to kill him. They did separate for a time, but it’s because Hong Shim was worried how being with him could cause others to use what her brother did to bring Lee Yul down. The issues between them were resolved all neatly, rationally and happily—at least for the main couple. We were pretty sad when Hong Shim’s brother was not let off and he was killed. We had hoped he was going to be spared, but we suppose things can’t all end so happily. It’d be too perfect of an ending. Maybe?

The Vice Premier, as much as he looked like he was just the usual ‘hungry-for-power’ Minister who wanted to dethrone the King, 100 Days My Prince sort of made him not so typical by suggesting that maybe he was the result of the previous King’s rule. The previous King was mentioned as having a violent personality hinting to his possibly tyrannical rule. It was the reason the current King had agreed to go along with the Vice Premier’s scheme to overthrow the previous King. When the current King was installed, the Vice Premier was promoted and got to where is now.

The Crown Princess had once asked why his being the Vice Premier wasn’t enough (Episode 14). The Vice Premier answered with having suffered starvation and eating a mouse which almost caused him to be on the brink of death. He mentioned having to bury his parents under rough and dry land after his parents were beaten to death like he held a grudge against way things were in the past, like he held a grudge against the throne which caused him to live in such a desperate situation. The fact that he ended up using that blank paper with the King’s seal on it to force the King to hand down the decree to lay all blame and responsibility and punishment on him and not his children suggest that the throne wasn’t what he cared most about.

Having said that, it was sort of strange how the Vice Premier didn’t try to attack when Lee Yul’s back was turned, because he really could have. Instead, he chose to reach into his pocket so that he could give that piece of paper to Lee Yul. Maybe, the Vice Premier had planned to die in this final battle between him and Lee Yul, which makes him not so hell-bent on getting the throne.

No one was really hell-bent on getting the throne actually. The Queen wanted her son to be next in line for the throne, but her attempts were weak and half-hearted. She even came up with the idea of getting Jung Jae Yoon to seduce Lee Yul, because she truly thought Lee Yul liked men with how he wasn’t one bit interested in the women he was set up with by the King. When the King asked her to let go, stop plotting against Lee Yul, and focus more on him (since he’ll be stepping down as King), she hugged him, seemingly content to do that.

Seo Won was also not interested in becoming Crown Prince. When the King announced his intentions to install him as the new Crown Prince after Lee Yul’s supposed death, he was against it. Seo Won reminded the King that he had promised not to install a Crown Prince until the Crown Princess’ baby was born. (It seems Seo Won is quite virtuous.) He only agreed to take the position when the King explained he didn’t want to be remembered as a King who was controlled by his Vice Premier.

The Crown Princess, we mentioned before, had no desire to be Queen. She’d happily live with Seok Ha if only he wasn’t killed. The palace is like a prison to her.

Lee Yul didn’t care for the throne.

And the King himself wasn’t too interested in taking the throne before he was made King. As we already mentioned in our very first post on 100 Days My Prince, the King only took the throne because of the previous King’s violent personality. He had mentioned that he had to overthrow the previous King because his life and Lee Yul’s would be in danger otherwise.

This, we think, is why this drama turned out to be so light. There are no truly evil characters. The power struggles are not as intense as some of the historical dramas we’ve seen. But like we said in our first post, it doesn’t lack enjoyment, excitement or anticipation. We could happily re-watch 100 Days My Prince for a third, fourth, fifth time just for the things Won Deuk say and do. He’s just so cute and funny! We could watching Won Deuk turn from a Good for Nothing into a totally useful, totally cool, totally handsome man over and over again. Hong Shim falling for Won Deuk, we could watch this over and over again, too.

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