Under the Queen’s Umbrella season 1 episode 9 recap & review

In episode 9 of Under the Queen’s Umbrella, the number of contestants dwindles as the consorts continue to help their children at any cost. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

The queen tells the king that it was the state councillor and the queen dowager who conspired to hurt Seongnam during the contest. She urges the king not to act just yet and insists that if it happens again, she won’t be as forgiving.

The king goes to confront his mother who claims to be unwell because of the plant that the queen gave her. In truth, she’s just putting on an act to deceive the king and gain sympathy.

The queen clashes with the queen dowager once again, and the queen dowager says that she will make sure that none of the grand princes is selected as the heir. The queen and court lady Shin aim to figure out what the queen dowager’s true motives are.

They invite consort Tae for some tea because the queen dowager has been favouring prince Bogeom of late. The queen tells consort Tae that the queen dowager is ill and she should be paid a visit.

Seongnam and Bogeom accompany Gyeong-u to the trading port along with Cheong-ha to sell ocean quahogs but Gyeong-u has a strange method of selling them which confuses the princes.

The Queen visits councillor Hwang and reveals that she knows about the plot to derail Seongnam. She also talks about the queen dowager altering the order and trying to frame Hwang while lately favouring Prince Bogeom. She manages to unsettle him considerably.

Uiseong and Gyeseong have managed to locate Ham-deok, who is pretending to be a monk named Haeham. Uiseong watches the monk from a distance while Gyeseong goes to the temple where he stays.

Gyeseong sees other monks training with swords and gets suspicious, so he goes into Ham-deok’s chamber and ruffles through his books. He finds military strategies within religious Buddhist texts and also finds a map of the eastern palaces hidden on the wall.

Uiseong knows that Hame-deok has become a corrupt man and thinks of a way to use it to his advantage. He observes Ham-deok argue with another man and threaten him in front of everyone.

Consort Tae checks up on the queen dowager and soon after, the state councillor and consort Hwang show up as well. They decide to wait rather than come back another time. The queen dowager tells consort Tae a secret about Seongnam.

The queen dowager says that consort Hwang is the ideal choice for the next queen but doesn’t promise any allegiances to Uiseong. Councillor Hwang tells the queen dowager that it’s unsavoury to be greedy in old age and she should be careful.

The Queen tells councillor Yoon to remain neutral for the rest of the contest to ensure his survival after one of the grand princes becomes the next heir.

The quahogs sold out at a high price and Gyeong-u asks the princes if they can guess how it happened. Bogeom says that it was through luck but Seongnam points out that it was a calculated prediction and Gyeong-u confirms his theory.

Seongnam also doubts whether Gyeong-u shares his profits with the people of the island or just pockets them himself. They’re about to leave on the boat back to the island when Seongnam notices that Cheong-ha isn’t there so he insists that they wait for her.

She gives him a box of counting sticks that she bought because he was looking for them. Seongnam gives the box to a young girl on the island and Gyeong-u witnesses this wonderful moment.

Back outside the palace, Consort Tae’s court lady puts up a notice claiming that Seongnam is not of royal blood. Prince Simso arrives at the palace in a beat-up state but the guards don’t recognise him and refuse to let him in.

He describes certain aspects within the palace so they fetch his mother to confirm. She shows up and tells Simso that he shouldn’t have come back even if he was out of breath or dead. She calls him a disgrace and tells the guards not to let him back in.

Some men are being rude to a few courtesans and Muan shows up because the woman he likes, Cho-wol, wants to become a courtesan. He warns the other men not to be rude and then tells Cho-wol that he deeply cares for her.

Cheong-ha asks Gyeong if she can stay at his place and he tells Seongnam to take care of it because she is his guest. The princes let her stay in their room while they sleep in Gyeong-u’s room.

Court Lady Shin finds Simso unconscious outside and brings him in. The Queen offers him food which he gobbles up. Simso’s mother turns up and scolds her son while also telling the queen that she shouldn’t have helped him.

She’s so enraged that she goes into Gyeseong’s room and finds the portrait he had made of him dressed as a woman. She takes the portrait to consort Hwang and says that she’ll give it to her and in exchange, she wants the queen to suffer.

The next morning, the queen checks up on Simso and finds that he tried to hang himself. They rush him to the physician immediately. Simso’s mother shows up and is deeply worried. She doesn’t accept that the Queen is being genuine in her concern.

When Simso wakes up, the Queen offers to teach him how to have a drink and tells him that he shouldn’t be so hard on himself all the time. He drops out of the competition and his mother also has a change of heart and wants to fix things between them.

Gyeseong meets Ham-deok the next morning and says the knows about his plan to commit treason. Right then, some guards show up and arrest Ham-deok for murder.

He is judged in front of the public by the magistrate who says they found his knife at the murder site of the man he argued with the previous day. Uiseong shows up and insists that there’s been a mistake and Ham-deok might be framed.

Uiseong visits Ham-deok’s holding cell and says that he orchestrated the murder to get Ham-deok to follow his orders. Gyeseong goes to a spot marked on Ham-deok’s map and finds their armoury.

Physician Kwon sends a letter to consort Hwang stating he will be returning soon as he is seen visiting Ham-deok along with Master Toji.

Review

  • The Queen fights back by sowing discord amongst her enemies in this episode while also exhibiting her softer side when she cares for Prince Simso. Her character has to go through so much and always be on her feet when it comes to dealing with problems.
  • Seongnam continues to show his noble nature and his intelligence. He appears to be the frontrunner but the ness about him not being of royal blood is yet another wrinkle in his story.
  • Moon Seong-hyun is exceptional as Prince Simso in this episode as he has to deal with his mother’s lofty expectations and how he buckles under the pressure until eh Queen gives him a better perspective of life.
Under the Queen's Umbrella season 1 episode 8
Under the Queen's Umbrella season 1 episode 9 recap & review 1

Director: Kim Hyung-sik

Date Created: 2022-11-12 19:30

Editor's Rating:
3.5

Also Read: Under the Queen’s Umbrella season 1 episode 8 recap & review

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