The Red Thread of Fate
Episode 4 of Lovers of the Red Sky begins with Ha Ram standing before Cheon-Ki. Now that he knows her name, Ha Ram reminisces on moments from his childhood before being helped back inside to wait for the physician to show. Grand Prince Yangmyung arrives, determined to find out where Ha Ram is. For now, Cheon-Ki decides to play dumb. In fact, Cheon-Ki doesn’t believe that he’s a prince and asks the man to leave… until Ha Ram steps out the house. Now realizing that he’s actually a prince – and horrified that she mocked and laughed at him – she ducks for cover. That’s probably just as well given Man-Soo and the search party arrive and find Ha-Ram. With Cheon-Ki hiding, the group decide to leave, giving up the search and leaving a note for her. Unbeknownst to them, shaman Mi-Soo and Prince Juhyang happen to waiting in the bushes, watching all of this unfold. When everyone leaves, Cheon-Ki reads the note and sits thoughtfully. At the same time, King Seongjo is also thoughtful, thinking back to the owls while talkin to Lee Yul. With his illness growing worse, Soengjo decides to abdicate the throne and give it up to one of the princes. But who will take the throne? When Cheon-Ki returns home, the painter’s club is abuzz with news. The Maejukheon painting contest is coming up and with Prince Yangmyung as the organizer, Cheon-Ki immediately perks up. Despite Master Choi trying to sabotage her, Cheon-Ki works hard to make a compelling painting and enter the contest. She drops it off up at the palace, but ends up running into Ha Ram. He promises to hand on the list of prospective painters. Just then, Prince Yangmyung shows. As we saw previously, he definitely has the hots for her even if their encounter was pretty prickly at the Dye House. Well, he chases the girl across the palace. The two wrestle over the list of painters, eventually culminating in the paper splitting in half. Although Cheon-Ki despairs, Ha Ram happens to be overseeing all of this. Yangmyung asks her to apologize and even suggests she marry him. Ha Ram is clearly jealous over this proposal and ends up getting jealous, dismissing Cheon-Ki from the scene. With the painting contest about to go ahead, Cheon Ki’s father tries to paint but thanks to the curse of the demon, is unable to do so. Cheon-Ki despairs, needing some medicine for her father. Only, she realizes that if she finishes in first place then she may well be able to afford that for him. At Simcheonggak, news of the king’s abdication spreads like wildfire. The ministers obviously all scheme, with Prince Juhyang wanting the throne for himself. In order to do that, his advisors suggest he bring Lee Yul onboard and gain his blessing. Unfortunately Master Choi finds out Cheon-Ki added her name to the list. He’s not happy and throws Cheon-Ki into a place called the Room of Truth. With Cheon-Ki in isolation, she ends up panting all night. However, just like that a man shows up wanting his painting, Munbae and Saewa. Handing it over, the man seems to absorb it into his body, although this is still a mysterious element of the show for now. When Cheon-Ki shows up at the Painting contest, it all seems to go wrong as no one lets her in. Thankfully Ha Ram is there to save the day, whisking her up in his arms and taking her through.
The Episode Review
Lovers of the Red Sky returns with another good episode, this time channeling some comedy into the fantasy-infused storyline. So far this historical drama has managed to blend different genres together effortlessly and the main cast are intriguing and well written. Cheon-Ki and Ha Ram have good chemistry together too, although Grand Prince Yangmyung is certainly a compelling character to add to the mix. The strange customer is certainly reason to be concerned going forward, while the looming presence of the demon continues to be a big hurdle for our characters to try and overcome going forward. Either way, Red Sky has been a really enthralling historical drama and the ending leaves things wide open for where it may go next.
