The East Palace Episode 4 Recap: Who Is The Real Killer?

Things take a dramatic turn in the latest episode “The East Palace” as viewers get a glimpse of the real killer Won-gwi which has set its target on the royal bloodline – and no, it’s not the pond spirit. Previously,  Gu-cheon gradually lost much of his Yang energy which gradually took him closer to becoming a wandering spirit aka Ak-wi. After learning about the tragic past of the pond spirit’s curse, and upon being cornered by the king’s relentless threatening, Gu-cheon fought with the restless spirit of the lover royal guard who was forced to frame the most favoured lady. Gu-cheon’s actions helped Saeng-gang to recover the last memorabilia of the favoured lady, which can be used to free her soul. However, repeated journeys to Gwi-realm takes its toll, and Saeng-gang is unable to save Gu-cheon’s soul, which turns into vengeful Ak-gwi and heads towards the palace to slay the king.

Spoilers Ahead

Saeng-gang Saves Gu-cheon, Again

On the grand 70th birthday celebration of Queen Dowager, she doesn’t even hide the fact that she is trying to hand over the throne to Prince Iksang’s lineage, and the absence of crown prince Yeongan, who still isn’t in an condition to move on his own, makes her position stronger. King has no other choice except to seethe in anger, when all of a sudden weather grows turbulent as Gu-cheon’s vengeful soul moves towards the courtyard to kill the king. It appears that the king knew Gu-cheon would retaliate after his constant pressure, and spoil the celebrations, but he didn’t expect him to go this far. 

Just as Gu-cheon’s spirit is about to strike the king, Saeng-gang’s soul stops him., She then tries to make him realize that his mother’s death wasn’t his fault. Even without being able to see the souls interact,  King realizes that his daughter just saved his life, as he sees a bell which belongs to Gu-cheon fall on the ground. This distraction works in favour of the king’s intention to maintain his son’s status as crown prince, as Iksang’s son has fainted amidst all these ruckus. Saeng-gang embraces Gu-cheon’s raging soul, which finally brings him back to his body, and this time, he drags the drowned body of Saeng-gang to bring her back. Despite being angry at her for risking her life for him like this, Gu-cheon tends to her for three days until Saeng-gang finally recuperates. Visiting Gwi-realm even for once has been quite a dreadful experience for Saeng-gang, and she can’t even imagine how much of a toll it took from Gu-cheon. It should be mentioned that while remaining unconscious, Gu-cheon had a dream-like vision where her mother told her that her father is the spirit infesting the royal palace. 

Gu-cheon Frees the Pond Spirit

Saeng-gang reveals that Ggeomeoksali tried saving Gu-cheon’s soul in the Gwi-realm by fighting with the Gwi-mae which was trying to lure him with hallucinations, and since then, it hasn’t returned. Gu-cheon pretends to not care about it, and Saeng-gang hands him the cloth of the favoured lady’s unborn child, which can be used as a tool to free her from decades worth resentment. Gu-cheon learns from Saeng-gang’s account that during her time in the Gwi-realm she was attacked by the pond spirit, which left a mark on her back. 

The duo band together once again and  come up with an ingenious plan to bait the pond spirit with her child’s cloth, while Saeng-gang shows off her archery skills to bind her using Gu-cheon’s blood laced arrows. Gu-cheon ambushes the spirit in Gwi-realm and manages to free her, letting the spirit of the most favoured lady to finally get liberated. As a result, Prince Yeongan recovers quickly, and Queen Dowager asks Jang to take measures to ensure Gu-cheon’s silence, now that he knows the truth about the scandal involving the most favoured lady of the court. Saeng-gang suspects the king is not going to spare Gu-cheon’s life despite the fact he saved his son, and she approaches her with the one single wish to let Gu-cheon leave the palace unharmed. Out of gratitude for saving his life during the ceremony, the king tries to reconcile with his daughter, but Saeng-gang consciously distances herself. Later, as she meets with Gu-cheon, he seems discontent over the whole affair, as he expected a spirit which has preyed on the royal family for three decades, to be much stronger than the pond spirit was. 

Saeng-gang Exposes Queen Dowager

Meanwhile, Saeng-gang visits Queen Dowager, and directly confronts her about her involvement in framing her mother, and gifts the exact same sweet treat which was used to poison her to death. She also calls her out for being responsible for the death of the most favoured lady and thirteen other court ladies three decades ago. Queen Dowager vehemently denies these accusations, while her men rattles up Gu-cheon and keeps him captive inside a coffin. However, the king’s men rescue Gu-cheon as he keeps his word given to Saeng-gang. Showcasing evidence of her crimes in the form of the  cloth of favoured lady’s child, who could have been the heir to the throne, Saeng-gang is able to trigger Queen Dowager, who goes on a spiteful rant about the departed ones. By losing her temper, Queen Dowager ends up drawing attention to the snake spirit – which makes her confess to her crimes. Her words are heard by all the court ladies led by Saeng’s grandma Lady Sukbin, who were already present outside Queen Dowager’s quarters following Saeng-gang’s command. By completely exposing Queen Dowager,  Saeng-gang gets at least some semblance of justice for her late mother. 

Its finally time for Gu-cheon to safely leave the palace premises, and he has Saeng-gang to thank for pulling off this impossible ordeal. While leaving, he sees that Ggeomeoksali is still alive, but extremely weakened due to its past conflict with another Gwi-mae while saving Gu-cheon’s life. Initially preparing to leave it to its fate, Gu-cheon decides to rescue it from a giant snake spirit, and lets it take some of his Yang energy to become stronger. 

Who is the Real Killer?

Saeng-gang the king, and shares her suspicion regarding deaths of all past crown princes who died during his ascendance to the throne. The king is visibly perplexed upon remembering the deaths of the crown princes which took place three decades ago, and tries to passive aggressively push Saeng-gang to drop the matter. The king sets off on his hunting trip, and Saeng-gang experiences a manic episode as she reminisces all the visions and strange messages she had heard.  She gets the feeling that Gu-cheon was right in his assumptions about there being something else aside from the pond spirit which is plaguing the royal bloodline, and she finds out Gu-cheon hasn’t left the palace. He is now sure that the favoured lady’s spirit isn’t the real killer, it is someone else. 

In a flashback, the king’s third son, who died in the beginning of the series, is shown to have cursed his family to take revenge against his father, and taken his own life by cutting his wrist. Saeng-gang tries to warn the king, but Gu-cheon mentions that it has been too late to do so, and during the hunting trip with his father, Prince Yeongan seemingly dies. Knowing that the king will come after both of them, Gu-cheon plans to take Saeng-gang to safety, and sees the mark made on her back by the killer spirit worsening. It’s her turn next, unless the feng-shui master can do something to save her life.

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