The Tale of Lady Ok – K-drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

Episode 8

Episode 8 of The Tale of Lady Ok begins with Tae-young uncovering Yun-gyeom’s corpse. She and Do-gyeom instantly realise it is not him, however, Magistrate Oh refuses to investigate. At the same time, a rumour spreads that a jealous Tae-young planted a childless curse in Mi-ryeong’s bed. However, Mak-sim didn’t actually see the person eavesdropping on Tae-young and Do-gyeom which means Mi-ryeong’s cover is safe.

Desperate, Tae-young visits the Provincial Governor and Madam Kim for help. Kim ends up telling her about seeing Madam Song. At the same time, the noblemen tell Do-gyeom the rumours of Tae-young sleeping with him and her male clients.

Upset, he vows to restore her reputation by searching for Yun-gyeom. Tae-young tells him about Incheon but this just spurs him into action further.

Madams Song and Hong are glad that with Do-gyeom out of the way, their plan to destroy Tae-young will be easier. Song plans to kill her and frame it as suicide to win the Memorial Gate for Cheongsu County.

In Incheon, Do-gyeom and Dokki’s search is futile. Nearby, Seung-hwi is busy lamenting about Tae-young. Dokki spots him and mistakes him for Yun-gyeom. Of course, Seung-hwi and Do-gyeom recognise each other. Seung-hwi is upset as Man-seok reveals that he has identified the boat Yun-gyeom was on – a Qing boat. Do-gyeom and Dokki give their thanks and leave while Seung-hwi wishes to go to Tae-young. Man-seok stops him as there is nothing he can do.

Tae-young feels lonely and rooms with Mi-ryeong. Mi-ryeong is curious about Yun-gyeom and Tae-young reveals that despite the disappointment she will do her best to understand her husband who has a righteous goal.

Later, Mak-sim and Tae-young tell Mi-ryeong about Baek-yi when she shows curiosity about the origin of the law firm. She is shocked and confronts her mother. The extent of Madam Song’s scheme is even more villainous as she plans to have Tae-young violated and hung while she is alive. Mi-ryeong tries to back out but Song insists Tae-young will destroy her if she learns the truth. 

In Qing, Dokki falls sick and Do-gyeom continues to search alone. He is jumped by some Joseonjoks who tear Yun-gyeom’s sketch and steal his money. Fortunately, a kinder stranger recognises the sketch.

When everyone is away on a holiday, the Baeks enact their plan. However, Mi-ryeong betrays her mother by confessing to Tae-young who already knows everything. She put two and two together after her talk with Madam Kim. The Provincial Governor sends the Inspector General who arrives just in time to capture the Baeks’ abductors.

Tae-young then confronts Song who claims Baek-yi’s ghost forced her son, Do-gwang to kill himself. She will continue to vie for revenge and Tae-young gives her one last warning.

Tae-young returns home to find Mi-ryeong getting ready to leave. She gets Mi-ryeong to confess that no one has been kind and loving like the Seungs. Tae-young is sorry that she had to live a hard life and asks her to stay. 

Back in Qing, Do-gyeom heads to a construction site and finds Yun-gyeom who doesn’t recognise him. Do-gyeom tears up and asks him to return home.

After Song’s failed scheme, Madam Kim confronts Madam Hong who is shocked to learn that she never planned to kill Tae-young and get the Memorial Gate. As punishment, Madam Hong is banned from Mother’s Sanctuary. 

Elsewhere, Slaver Ji visits Minister Bak with news. Turns out Song convinced Magistrate Oh with the temptation of the Memorial Gate. In turn, he hired the abductors from Slaver Ji who have been arrested thanks to Tae-young. Bak and Ji are furious as she is also the reason why they lost the gold.

With Minister Bak’s backing, Magistrate Oh has his men destroy the law firm and burn the records. He insists that Tae-young is a widow and is to be isolated to mourn for 3 years. At the end of The Tale of Lady Ok Episode 8, Madam Song smiles at Tae-young.

The Episode Review

The Tale of Lady Ok Episode 8 sort of brings the show back on track by quickly resolving Mi-ryeong’s scheming and giving Seung-hwi more to do. We still don’t know why Yun-gyeom ignored Tae-young.

But with next week’s teaser of Yun-gyeom “retouching” his tattoo and Seung-hwi suddenly dying, who else wants to gamble a guess? That Do-gyeom actually found Seung-hwi who is pretending to be Yun-gyeom since he is nowhere to be found? It still doesn’t fix Seung-hwi’s independent storyline problem but at least it makes him interesting for once.

To be honest, Mi-ryeong isn’t as worthy an enemy as her mother and we are glad she has teamed up with Tae-young. This just makes it easier for the writers to cook up convoluted plans for the bad guys without risking an incomplete or illogical redemption arc for Mi-ryeong who is clearly the second female lead. But we do wonder what her role is going to be in the overarching plot since the K-drama hasn’t given us much to go on…