Episode 1
Episode 1 of Missing Crown Prince takes us back to the Joseon era, where a group of armed assassins infiltrate a castle. Meanwhile, Choi Sang Rok, the royal physician, checks on the health of the royal highness, noting her discomfort in the unseasonable weather. He advises her to rest and promises to return with a new tonic to ease her discomfort.
Trouble escalates as the assassins start attacking the castle guards one by one. The king is rushed inside, but the attackers make their way there too, led by a former royal guard seeking revenge for the deposed king. Fortunately, the attack is repelled, and the king is safe, but the royal physician is gravely injured. However, this respite is short-lived when the guards discover that the crown prince, Lee Gon, has once again slipped out of the castle.
In one of his outings, Lee Gon and Do Sung encounter a conman pretending to be an exiled prince, scamming people for money to fund a fake army against the current king. Lee Gon exposes the conman and reports him to the police. However, Lee Gon gets punched during the fight and has to wear makeup to hide it from his parents. When Lee Gon returns, his father scolds him for worrying the queen, and slipping outside the castle walls without telling anyone.
Rumors start swirling that the prince often sneaks out of the castle to be with a woman out of curiosity. Some ministers question his suitability as crown prince, wondering if Do Sung could take his place. Believing that Gon sneaks out to visit a courtesan house, the Queen Dowager suggests finding him a crown princess to keep him from going outside for a certain someone.
She proposes Choi Sang Rok’s daughter for the role, saying Sang Rok is the sort of man who neither wishes for power nor money. Lee Gon wants to share his opinion on the matter but is told to keep quiet. Choi Myung Yoon, Sang Rok’s daughter, is following in her father’s footsteps to become a great physician. She’s quirky, loud, and a bit of a lunatic, spending most of her time treating the poor.
Despite her petite frame, she’s skilled in combat and unafraid to take on rebels and goons twice her size. Like Gon, Myung Yoon believes she belongs with the common people and stays grounded despite living in the castle. Unfortunately, an old sage tells Sang Rok that his daughter Myung Yoon is destined to bring disaster and cause her husband’s death. If she were to marry the crown prince, he would die young, leaving Myung Yoon a young widow.
When Myung Yoon learns she’s selected as crown princess, she’s far from delighted. The role comes with tons of restrictions and rules that everyone must follow. Thus, Myung Yoon decides not to wed Gon, believing she’s fated to bring death to her husband. Sang Rok promises to make everything right, but Myung Yoon is sceptical. She suspects her father is planning something tragic that he’ll regret, so she decides to stop him.
Trouble stirs when Gon finds the body of a teenage girl in the royal pond while fishing. The autopsy declares it a suicide, but what’s odd is that another maid’s body was found last year, also ruled a suicide by physician Heo Jin Su. This reeks of foul play, and the crown prince decides to investigate.
As Gon digs deeper, he learns that Queen Dowager is having an affair with a palace physician, as hinted by a needle case left at the scene. Gon sneaks out of the castle to see the Royal Physician about the matter but is kidnapped by a group of men. These men were the same rebels we saw Sang Rok scheming with.
The Episode Review
The Korean drama kicks off with a bang! It’ll not be just about romance and lovers falling in love; there’s a mysterious twist, too. The queen is sneaking around, having a secret fling with someone in the palace who happens to be a physician.
The crown prince has also been kidnapped, and all signs point to the royal physician. This comes as quite a bit of shock, as the physician actually cares a lot for the prince. Could it be that he’s trying to live the curse of his daughter?
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