[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Goddess of Fire Jeongi" Episode 5

The adult cast makes its appearance and it was worth the wait. While the child cast was good, it lacked nuance. They said and did all the right things, but the characters were not living, breathing people. They were young actors going through the motions. When the adults came on screen, it was a breath of fresh air. Jung, Tae-do, and Imhae became living, breathing people who were easy to watch. Only young No Young-hak really matched his adult counterpart, Lee Sang-yoon, in bringing Prince Gwanghae to life. The transition between them was the most fluid.

Lee Sang-yoon as Gwanghae in "Goddess Of Fire Jeongi" episode 5

However, it takes half of the episode for the adult cast to appear and during that time, some heavy backstory is laid down. Jung's father, Eul-dam, is assassinated by Kang-chun's man in front of young Jung. She holds her father as he dies and promises to become a ceramicist as her mother had dreamed. In order to keep her promise, she fakes her death with Tae-do's help, and turns to her father's master (Byun Hee-bong) for guidance. There are a lot of tears in this sequence of events and the actual assassination and subsequent fighting between Tae-do and the assassin are strangely choreographed and awkwardly filmed. The music, however, is lovely and a perfect fit for the somber mood.

The faking of Jung's death was one of the better sequences with the child cast. Tae-do keeps one of Jung's shoes and throws the other into the river in order to fake her death. When the guards find the shoe in the river, Prince Gwanghae keeps it. So each man in the love triangle has a shoe of hers as a token of remembrance. While Tae-do knows that Jung will return in five years, Gwanghae thinks she is dead. The juxtaposition allows for good character exploration as well as a fun set up for the characters' meeting as adults.

Kim Beom as Tae-do in "Goddess Of Fire Jeongi" Episode 5

The transformation from the child cast into the adult cast was one of the strongest parts of the episode. Rather than say, "Five years later", and jump to the future, we see each child change into their adult selves while engaged in an activity. It felt really organic. After the adults appear, it's time to bring everyone back together. The writer has created a rather contrived scenario to do so, but it works. We get to see the adult versions of Gwanghae (Lee Sang-yoon), Imhae (Lee Kwang-soo), Jung (Moon Geun-yeong) and Tae-do (Kim Beom) slowly come together over a few predictable, but fun antics.

It was beautiful watching the adult cast work with the predictable story line and bring it to life. They made the characters the focal points rather than the clunky writing. Despite the writing, this is the first episode ending that has left me hankering for the next episode. Our main characters did not recognize each other as adults, and yet the men still pine for the Jung in their memories. She has grown into the most adorable Moon Geun-yeong who hasn't forgotten her feelings for Gwanghae or her friendship with Tae-do.

When will our main characters will recognize each other?

Written by Raine from Raine's Dichotomy