Lovers Of The Red Sky – K-Drama Episode 13 Recap & Review

The Sealing Ceremony

Episode 13 of Lovers of the Red Sky begins with Prince Juhyang striking the king’s palanquin with his sword. It narrowly misses Ha Ram and Cheon-Ki who both stay quiet. Ha Ram grabs the blade, blood dripping to the floor, as Cheon-Ki watches in horror.

Ha-Ram comes stumbling out as it soon becomes apparent that all of this is a ploy to help Cheon-Ki slip away undetected. Of course, Ha-Ram has promised to bring the demon to Juhyang and he probes the Scholar again about his promise.

With the Sealing Ceremony coming up, Cheon-Ki is flustered and continues to express her concerns that Prince Yangmyung is not going to be the one supervising. Instead it’s Juhyang. Given Juhyang tried to kill her father beforehand, that’s not great news.

Juhyang tasks Ha-Ram with finding a ring that King Youngjong used to wear. Apparently it has divine power and if wielded correctly, would allow the wearer to control the Demon.

According to Juhyang, the last person to wear this was Sung-Jin, the head of Jokyeokjeon… and Ha-Ram’s father. If you’ll remember, this could well be the same ring that Cheon-Ki touched down in the dungeons which Ha-Ram was wearing.

With the King less than 100% following his collapse, Yangmyung finds himself lost and struggling with his purpose. Given Juhyang is intending to let the demon possess him, Yangmyung focuses on the divine portrait aspect, and specifically in helping Cheon-Ki remain focused on this. He also uses his own shaman, Wol Seon, to counteract Mi-Soo and Juhyang’s plan too, keeping the demon inside the divine portrait.

However, if things go awry and the demon does possess Juhyang then Yangmyung will be forced to kill him. And the shaman has a special sword for Yangmyung, one that will slice through ghosts and flesh alike.

So away we go; both Prince Juhyang and Cheon-Ki prepare for the upcoming Sealing ceremony. Juhyang is told not to eat anything for 3 days while Cheon-Ki works hard to paint the beautiful portrait of the king and finish it in time. It’s tiring work, her wrists ache but the end result is one of majestic beauty.

However, Prince Juhyang changes the date and time of the Royal Ceremony to the 12th period – far earlier than Ha-Ram would have liked. Sensing something amiss, he makes sure they’re prepared by placing guards around the perimeter. Now, it turns out the ceremony they’re conducting is just a decoy, with Ha-Ram breaking his promise to Juhyang and preventing the demon from possessing him.

After requesting Cheon-Ki hand over the divine ring that he gave her, Ha-Ram hands it over to Juhyang. When he does, Mi-Soo confirms that it definitely has divine power. Cheon-Ki though is not done and tells Ha-Ram that he should reconsider and work toward sealing the demon in the portrait – rather than his brother. Ha-Ram simply walks away, defeated, telling her not to turn up at the Sealing Ceremony.

As the first ceremony gets underway, Tiger Spirit and Samshin appear and bemoan that this is the not right day for this to go ahead. Samshin is adamant that her fellow spirit not get involved in what’s to come. She huffs but does agree. With Ha-Ram chained up, just like the King before him, Yangmyung approaches and apologizes for what’s happened to him, specifically how he turned blind as a result of this demon possession.

As day turns to night, Yangmyung approaches Juhyang and tells him to never forget their grandfather when he possesses the spirit of the demon. Juhyang soon waves him away, as Mi-Soo begins.

Sparks fly around Ha-Ram, who sees visions of the past and present collide, eventually paving way to the demon to manifest. Only, Juhyang realizes that the ring he’s wearing is actually a fake. It’s all a big set-up. And as Wol Seon steps up and uses this perfect opportunity to strike, she helps force the demon into the divine portrait. Or does she?

The painting rips, the paper is completely destroyed and the demon remains in Ha-Ram’s body. It’s a massive blow and with the divine painting tearing to shreds, it falls to Cheon-Ki to try and stop him.

She heads up to Ha-Ram and pleads with him to release the demon and stay in control. Her words are enough to see a light shining in his heart as it looks like he’s coming around. However, Ha-Ram notices Cheon-Ki’s eyes and steps toward her. Suddenly, Yangmyung reaches out and stabs Ha-Ram with the special sword, as the episode comes to an agonizing close.

The Episode Review

Lovers of the Red Sky sees the sealing ceremony begin and with all the drama and hijinks before that, the real plan comes into fruition and all looks to be going to plan until the royal painting tears to shreds. It’s pretty agonizing to watch, given how long Cheon-Ki actually worked on that portrait, but it seems like they’ve had to rely on something else instead to stop the demon.

The end shot of the trio together just reinforces this dysfunctional love triangle, and the show has done well to keep this a focal point while not leaning heavily into the romance side of things. The supernatural elements have remained a focal point, especially after a few episodes of deviation for the painter’s competition, and now it seems like things are really starting to heat up.

With only three episodes to go, it’s all to play for with Lovers of the Red Sky and that ending leaves things wide open for where this one may go next.