The Tale of Lady Ok – K-drama Episode 10 Recap & Review

Episode 10

Episode 10 of The Tale of Lady Ok begins with Man-seok letting it slip that Do-gyeom and Dokki are in on it too. Mak-sim overhears as well and the cat is out of the bag. Everyone regroups inside and Tae-young demands the whole story which is told via flashback.

It is indeed the real Yun-gyeom at the construction site. He is shocked to hear about his father and wife but claims he has come too far to stop now. He gives his ID tag to Do-gyeom and claims he has died.

While heading back, a disappointed Do-gyeom runs into Seung-hwi again. Dokki suddenly realises Seung-hwi can pretend to be Yun-gyeom. Man-seok points out that he and Seung-hwi will be executed if they refuse the royal order of the Qing performance. But Seung-hwi decides to kill himself and reveals he is doing it out of love for Tae-young. Man-seok and Do-gyeom try to stop him but he gets Yun-gyeom’s tattoo, sealing his fate.

At present, Tae-young believes this lie will ruin the Seungs and decides to leave. Do-gyeom insists that Seung-hwi is his brother for being kind and selfless. He also apologises for tricking her and begs her not to leave.

Next, Seung-hwi tries to change her mind, reminding her that her life as Tae-young is her dream. However, she doesn’t want him to be trapped as Yun-gyeom and give up his dream of being an artist. She looks sad as she still believes being a lawyer was the real Tae-young’s dream and not hers. Outside, Man-seok and Mak-sim end up bonding as they decide to accompany Seung-hwi and Tae-young wherever they go, annoying Dokki.

Meanwhile, Mi-ryeong confronts her mother and breaks the poison jar. Kkeutdong rushes home and reveals that she has been arrested for killing Madam Song. Do-gyeom and Seung-hwi are told of Mi-ryeong’s initial duplicity which upsets the former. He believes that Mi-ryeong never loved him. 

Tae-young visits the Provincial Governor who shares that he got an anonymous tip – Madam Song killed Dol-seok and disguised him as Yun-gyeom to force Tae-young into widowhood. When the Inspector went to arrest her, he found her strangled to death and Mi-ryeong by her side.

Tae-young visits Mi-ryeong who reveals what happened. A flashback shows Madam Song confessing that she is jealous of Tae-young and Do-gyeom’s mother-son bond while her own son is dead because of Tae-young. She also reveals she had Magistrate Oh kill Dol-seok and his mountain community. Mi-ryeong begs her to atone and Madam Song gives in. She asks for water and by the time Mi-ryeong returns, Song is dead.

An upset Tae-young exposes Madam Song and Magistrate Oh publicly. His threats to Tae-young is enough to have him arrested. Next, she and Seung-hwi visit Song’s home and find footsteps at the backdoor and Madam Hong’s ring. She confronts Hong who promises to testify if she becomes the chief lady of Mother’s Sanctuary.

That night, Seung-hwi comforts Do-gyeom who blames himself for Madam Song’s schemes. Seung-hwi finds it absurd and points out that despite Mi-ryeong’s intentions, she loves Do-gyeom.

The Provincial Governor presides over Mi-ryeong’s trial with Tae-young defending her. It progresses in their favour as Hong testifies that she went to give Song the ring back and saw Slaver Ji. The footprints match his shoes and so do the scratches on his arms with the flesh under Song’s nails. He claims Magistrate Oh ordered him and both are arrested. Oh’s handwriting also matches with the anonymous tip he sent to have Song caught.

Mi-ryeong is set free and Do-gwang arrives to take her home, apologising for being late. The next plan of action is to break Magistrate Oh on who his benefactor is. Slaver Ji reminds him that his family will be killed if he betrays Minister Bak and Magistrate Oh kills himself. Bak pulls some strings and has Ji freed.

Ji runs to Minister Bak and we learn he is being backed by the Chief Minister. They are annoyed by Tae-young constantly messing up their schemes and Bak kills Ji for failing to get rid of her. He then meets his latest guests, Kim So-hye and her father.

Tae-young is rewarded for rooting out corruption and bringing justice. This makes her bittersweet as she realises being a lawyer has become her dream. Seung-hwi suddenly brings her to the law firm and she sees that all her past clients have helped fix it as gratitude. They profusely thank her and she is overwhelmed.

At the end of The Tale of Lady Ok Episode 10, Tae-young wonders if she can be selfish and Seung-hwi rebukes her for being harsh on herself. As for him, he is living his dream of playing a character who marries his love. They agree to live as Tae-young and Yun-gyeom and smile.

The Episode Review

Wait, are we finally going to get Tae-young and Seung-hwi’s dating era? After all that push and pull, living in fear and the strangest love triangle ever, Tae-young deserves all the happiness. And The Tale of Lady Ok Episode 10 comes right on time to give us some light-hearted comedy, the unravelling of a case and romance after the angst of the previous episodes. 

But we doubt this honeymoon phase will last for long. We do have 6 more episodes to go. Yun-gyeom’s mystery has still not been solved. He is very likely alive by the time Tae-young’s trial takes place so we need an explanation of his coldness, stat! 

Then there is Kim So-hye. We almost got annoyed with the writing there as who would be vindictive enough to look for one runaway slave for a decade? But then this is So-hye we are talking about, someone who is worse than Madam Song. And Gu-deok did pour shit over her, literally. So, yeah, we can see why a hot-headed, arrogant, classist brat would want vengeance even after 10 years. They do say revenge is a dish best served cold. But we do hope she does not succeed.