The East Palace Episode 5 Recap: Was Gu-cheon Able To Free The Crown Prince's Spirit?

The infighting for power struggle amidst the royal family grows intense in the latest episode of  “The East Palace”. The supernatural entities and spirits act as chess pieces for the involved parties in the ongoing struggle. Previously, Saeng-gang saved Gu-cheon’s soul and stopped him from killing the king, and the duo were able to free the pond spirit from mortal burdens. Saeng-gang exposed Queen Dowager’s vile machinations to Sukbin and the rest of the court ladies. While things appear to have been resolved, Saeng-gang and Gu-cheon find out that the pond spirit wasn’t even the real killer. Won-gwi, the late crown prince who indeed took his own life during the beginning, swore revenge against his own family and has grown strong while infesting the royal palace. The spirit finally kills Prince Yeongan, and to save their lives, Gu-cheon and Saeng-gang went into hiding.

Spoilers Ahead

The episode begins with Prince Yeongan’s funeral procession, the king tried to do whatever was needed to save his son’s life, but his adherence to hold on to the dastardly secrets ended up backfiring at him, big time. Saeng-gang has kept Gu-cheon’s presence in the royal palace a secret from everyone except her grandma Sukbin. Hehas found a hiding spot for Gu-cheon inside the pedestal of the altar of the Buddhist statue. Saeng-gang is angry with him for not leaving the palace to save his life while he still had the chance, but Gu-cheon justifies his actions by mentioning he wanted to save her life, given how many times she has saved him already. He is attempting to perform a ritual named Yeom-mae,  by keeping himself concealed until he starves to death, and become a Won-gwi in hopes of lessening the crown prince’s spirit’s growing influence around the palace. Given drowning himself to water is not an option without risking exposure, Gu-cheon has no other choice but to opt for this brutal method. Saeng-gang decides to approach the king and request him to spare Gu-cheon’s life, so that he can venture to Gwi-realm without risking his life like this. However, the king is unwilling to do so and instead wants to make Gu-cheon pay for his failure with his life. Saeng-gang calls him out for keeping the entire ordeal regarding spirits a secret from everyone, which is the reason behind the botched spiritual investigation. The king threatens to have her removed from the palace, and in retaliation, Saeng-gang threatens to have his secrets exposed, especially the suspicion that the king killed all the crown princes three decades ago to posit himself on the throne. Furious, the king gets all aggressive and his statement hints he might have had a role to play in the poisoning of Saeng-gang’s mother. The king orders his men to hold Saeng-gang captive. 

Several days later, Sukbin attends to an emaciated Gu-cheon, who asks her whether she knows anything about the late crown prince’s grudge against his father. A naïve Sukbin is terrified of such speculations, and almost decides to leave when Gu-cheon convinces her to himself by warning her the lives of her son (king) and granddaughter (Gu-cheon) are in danger. Meanwhile, the influence of the crown prince’s spirit has caused nearby villagers to suffer from strange sickness, and the ministers in the royal court are suggesting the king to select someone as the new crown prince. Still willing to cling on to his power and legacy, the king gets furious at this suggestion, and corruption of the late crown prince’s spirits almost gets to him. Later, he pledges to make Gu-cheon pay by hunting him down. 

Meanwhile, the shaman who was appointed by Prince Iksang to smoothen his way of usurping the throne, shares the situation regarding Gu-cheon with him. The shaman reveals that Gu-cheon is the reason that king might still survive the malicious influence of the palace spirit, and Iksang, eager to eliminate any hindrance to his ascension, asks the shaman to take down Gu-cheon. In the meantime, the king brings Saeng-gang with himself as he goes to visit the nearby village where spirit borne sickness has been plaguing the villagers. It is revealed that he wants to organize a memorial rite for the late crown prince at this place in hopes of settling things. However, seeing the plight of a kid afflicted by the sickness, the king is reminded of his late youngest son, Yeongan, and decides to return to the palace to find a remedy for the sickness instead. 

During the king’s absence, Gu-cheon formulated a plan to contain the spirit’s influence, as Sukbin followed his command to perform the rituals needed to restrict the spirit inside the late crown prince’s quarters. However, Iksang’s shaman manages to locate where Gu-cheon has been hiding, and reveals the intel to the king after he returns. Not paying heed to Saeng-gang’s pleas, the king orders his men to  kill Gu-cheon. Beaten up and stabbed, Gu-cheon reveals the king is going to die, and just as predicted, the king starts vomiting blood soon enough. Gu-cheon is spared, and while tending to him, Saeng-gang pleads with him to find a way to save the king. Gu-cheon asks her to bring the late crown prince’s body as he intends to release his spirit, and following her command, the king’s orderlies exhume the corpse ignoring their initial reservations. 

 Saeng-gang takes the responsibility of binding the corpse inside the Buddhist shrine, which helps Gu-cheon fight the crown prince’s spirit in the Gwi-realm.  Just when it seems he is able to release the spirit, Iksang’s shaman performs an elaborate ritual to send his own guardian spirit to fend off Gu-cheon and this gives enough chance to the crown prince’s spirit to escape. Gu-cheon’s soul is brutally beaten up by the guardian spirit which nearly manages to kill him, and in the mortal realm. Saeng-gang makes the mistake of opening the doors of the shrine after being tricked by the voice of a spirit which possessed Ji-yul. 

Just as it seems the guardian spirit is going to kill Gu-cheon, Ggeomeoksali appears out of nowhere and saves his soul by killing the guardian spirit. As a result, the shaman dies right in front of Prince Iksang’s eyes, and the episode comes to an abrupt end.