The East Palace Episode 7 Recap: Is The King Dead?

The whole truth regarding the pond spirit is finally revealed in the penultimate episode of “The East Palace,” and with each episode, the revelations which continue to expose the true ugly face of the royal family get more grim and shocking. Previously, the crown prince’s spirit revealed to Saeng-gang that it was their father, the king, who poisoned him and was responsible for the deaths of all the crown princes. The newly chosen crown prince, Iksang’s son, Inaha, appears to have been poisoned by someone. Gu-cheon lost his spirit sight, and Iskang’s shaman took away his regular sight as well after burning his cursed effigy. The king ordered the spirit plague-afflicted villagers to be butchered to contain the spread of the infestation. Saeng-gang got the biggest shock of her life upon learning that her grandma, Sukbin, orchestrated the poisoning of all the crown princes in the past using the excuse of the pond spirit’s curse, and it was Saeng-gang’s parents, even her mother, who helped her in that regard. The crown prince’s spirit possessed Saeng-gang to use her to kill the king, which prompted Gu-cheon to regain his spirit sight by taking the eyes from a Gwi-mae in order to face him in a battle.

Spoilers Ahead

Gu-cheon’s Guilt

While fighting the crown prince’s spirit, Gu-cheon tries to free Saeng-gang from her hold by telling her she should not feel guilty for her mother’s actions; as a lowly court lady, she had no other option except to obey Sukbin’s command, and her father, the king, loved her enough to marry her in order to provide some protection. Gu-cheon’s assurance works as Saeng-gang returns to her regular self, and after the crown prince’s spirit flees once again, they return to the mortal realm. The king is spared, for now, and he asks Gu-cheon to obliterate the crown prince’s soul; no liberation is needed for him. Meeting with Gu-cheon, Saeng-gang reveals her wish to have the soul of her mother liberated from the Gwi-realm, and breaks down upon learning from him that her soul was devoured by a Gwi-mae, the same one whose eyes were taken by Gu-cheon. Gu-cheon is riddled with guilt, and he tries to distance himself from Saeng-gang. It is revealed that in the past, a young Gu-cheon had witnessed his mother’s soul getting devoured by a Gwi-mae as well, and the recent incident has triggered his PTSD. He doesn’t want anyone else to suffer for him, and is determined to resolve this infestation issue all by himself. Saeng-gang continues to assure him that he is not to be blamed for what happened to her mother’s soul, but to no avail. 

The King Curbs the Queen Dowager’s Control

Saeng-gang meets Sukbin, who has miraculously survived and recovered, to share her disdain for her, when she is summoned to Queen Dowager’s quarters, where she tries to expose the king for past crimes in front of the royal court. Dowager accuses the king of poisoning all the crown princes in the past and present, as she suspects Inaha has been poisoned by him as well, with the same confectionery which caused the death of Saeng-gang’s mother. The king, completely unfazed, reveals that spiritual infestation is to be blamed for Inaha’s condition, and shows the Queen Dowager’s claims are baseless by eating all the so-called poisoned confectionaries in front of the royal court. Inaha is taken out of the palace under the king’s command, and he miraculously recovers, revealing that it was indeed some spiritual presence which is to be blamed for his condition. For falsely accusing the king of filicide, the king asks his men to remove the Queen Dowager from the palace, and she continues to seethe in anger and pledges to haunt the palace as spirit after her death. Saeng-gang knows that her father willingly let Inaha arrive in the palace to have the crown prince attack him, in order to completely thwart Iksang’s chances of making his son the heir to the throne. However, as she confronts him about it, he remains unbothered as usual. 

The Truth of the Crown Prince Finally Revealed

The king starts vomiting blood once again, and asks Gu-cheon to be summoned, who reveals that the Won-gwis of all those spirit-sickness afflicted villagers, who were butchered on the command of the king, have gathered around him. Gu-cheon reveals this to be the handiwork of the crown prince’s spirit, as otherwise the Won-gwis would have targeted the soldiers who killed them instead of the king. Asking Gu-cheon to prioritize obliterating the prince’s spirit instead, the king plans to drive off the villagers’ Won-gwis using Yeoje rites. 

Gu-cheon and Saeng-gang eventually reconcile, and the princess gives her Yang energy to him by holding his hand as a gesture of trust. Saeng-gang prepares the king’s chambers for Yeoje rituals, when she hears the spirit of the boy who was killed on the king’s command for witnessing the shocking truth about the third crown prince. Saeng-gang wants to learn the truth the boy’s spirit is trying to mention, the one which the king has been trying to keep a secret for so long. After a heated argument with Saeng-gang, the king finally caves in and reveals that just like Saeng-gang, the third crown prince too was born with the ability to listen to spirits. He became aware of all the clandestine details of how his father ascended to the throne, by helping his mother, Sukbin, poison all the other crown princes. This gave the third crown prince the malicious idea of doing the same with his brothers, and he poisoned his elder brothers to death. After all, the example was set by his father of all people, what more did he need to justify his actions anyway? So as it turns out, the pond spirit of the most favored lady didn’t harm a single soul, and was used as a scapegoat by Sukbin, her son, and her grandson as well – what a twisted, sick family indeed. Upon learning everything, the king confronted the third prince, and poisoned him to stop the cycle of violence with him. The third crown prince, feeling betrayed by his father and seeing no error in his actions, pledged to return as a spirit and haunt the royals forever and sever the royal bloodline. Even before becoming a dreadful Won-gwi, the third crown prince was a psychotic murderer, which makes it all the more dangerous and powerful in the Gwi-realm. Following this confession, the king’s condition worsens, as the crown prince’s spirit proceeds to corner him in the Gwi-realm, where Gu-cheon is already present as of now.

Did the King Die?

With both their ambitions of usurping the king thwarted, Iksang and Queen Dowager now properly collaborate, as Iksang brings his shaman to perform a ritual inside the Queen Dowager’s quarters. The shaman feeds the bones of the villagers who were killed on the king’s command, making the already dangerous Won-gwi even stronger than ever. Standing on the piles of spirits, the crown prince’s spirit grows strong enough to nearly take the king’s life without even breaching the protective barrier of the Yeoje rites. Gu-cheon’s spirit, which has been captured by spirits of the villagers, appears to be in no shape to stop the malevolent Won-gwi, as the episode concludes. 

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