I’ve got to admit the sudden jump from subtle romance to full-on romance in episode 10 is quite shocking to me. Bon Appetit, Your Majesty has steadily been doing well ever since its debut, and as much as I’m loving that for it, I’m still pretty worried about the finale. It is typically shows such as this one that end up going downhill at the end, or at least have a not-so-positive ending, which ultimately leaves people sour. This is technically a fantasy show, so the ending should be a bit fantastical, too, no? Maybe Ji-Young can stay back in the palace and be the king’s companion, just as he’d like. However, based on how things have turned out, it looks like ultimately, we might get the literati purge, but this time, Ji-Young will be somewhat responsible. Not in that she will force the king to act cruelly, but in that, because of what happens to her, combined with the bloody cloth of his mother’s death, Yi Heon will ultimately lose it.
Spoiler Alert
How Does Ji-Young Find Out What Happened to Prince Jinmyeong?
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty episode 10 begins with Gil-Geum ready to give up her own life to save Ji-Young’s, but all the cooks are helpless, despite wanting to save the woman they’ve come to grow fond of. In the meantime, the king is waiting for Ji-Young to show up in the royal greenhouse because he’s ready to ask her something special; however, she doesn’t show. Instead, it’s the chief eunuch who shows up to tell him that Ji-Young’s been arrested. The king immediately rushes off to find out what’s happened, and doesn’t believe for a second that she would try to kill Jinmyeong. The king is even ready to kill his stepmother for speaking ill of Ji-Young, but she stops him from bringing the sword down. She’s like a calming balm to him.
It looks like even Yi Heon’s grandmother trusts Ji-Young and believes she couldn’t have done such a thing. Meanwhile, Jesan talks to his fellow advisors, and they discuss the fact that he’s allowed Jang-Gyun to live even now, despite him being the guy who killed their teacher and massacred their brothers. Jesan says he needs him alive because he’s got an important role to play still.
On the other hand, the king finds out that Jinmyeong was with his mother the whole time after they ate the meal Ji-Young whipped them up, which means he didn’t interact with anybody else before he got sick. Of course, this is like an insult to the Dowager Queen, but Yi Heon tells her that he’s going to investigate this situation himself to find out who is responsible for Jinmyeong’s condition. At the same time, his grandmother frees Ji-Young so she can prove her own innocence. Now, both Ji-Young and Yi Heon must find evidence. When Ji-Young returns to Yi Heon, he’s so excited to see her that he immediately pulls her into a tight hug. She tells him this will cause many misunderstandings, so he needs to stop, but he tells her that he genuinely likes her. She’s too stunned to speak. At the same time, Kang Mok-Ju is shocked to hear that Yi Heon’s grandmother freed Ji-Young, but what she doesn’t know is that his grandmother can see that he’s been a different person ever since Ji-Young came into his “world.”
Out of the blue, the king ends up unconscious as well, and this gives them an important clue about what might have happened to Jinmyeong. Gil-Geum finds rat-dropping-like things and tells Ji-Young about them. The royal doctor says that there’s a squirrel that has droppings that could be used as poison and wouldn’t reveal itself in the food. However, it’s mainly used for medicinal purposes. But when mixed with ginseng, it acts as a poison and could lead to death. Oh, also, the sick king takes this opportunity to grab Ji-Young and make her stay with him for a bit.
Is Jinmyeong Safe?
On the other hand, the jester finds out that it was Mok-Ju’s court lady who killed his sister. He targets her when she goes to find Eo Yeo-Bun, the female physician who poisoned Jinmyeong for Mok-Ju. Before she can kill Yeo-Bun, the jester shows up and starts to fight the woman, Chu-Wol. Chu-Wol is loyal to Mok-Ju and immediately pulls out her silver needle from her hair to kill the woman, but the jester stops her. She tells him that his sister was probably trying to get the attention of the king so that she could feed him, which is why Mok-Ju wanted her dead. Chu-Wol says that if he didn’t exist, his sister wouldn’t have to beg for the king’s attention (basically instigating him to distract him from finding out about Mok-Ju). He wants revenge, but he doesn’t kill her; instead, he sends her to be tortured by the king. Before he can do it, though, Mok-Ju kills her trusted old court lady, and possibly only friend, making it look like Chu-Wol killed herself.
On the other hand, the royal physician comes up with an antidote, but Jinmyeong immediately starts to have a seizure when he drinks it. This is when Ji-Young suggests that he needs food, which is why he’s throwing up the medicine. She comes up with a French dish, the “Joseon Restaurant,” using Sujebi in a thick broth that could help restore Jinmyeong’s energy. First, his mother is uninterested in giving it to her son; however, Yi Heon says he will taste the dish himself. Both he and Ji-Young taste it, and Yi Heon claims he feels energized with just a bite. Hesitantly, Jinmyeong’s mother feeds him the soup, and it actually works, making her realize she had doubted the wrong people.
At the end of episode 10 of Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, we get to know that Yi Heon’s maternal grandmother is still alive, and in her doll is a piece of blood-stained fabric from Yi Heon’s mother on the day she was poisoned to death after deposition. So Jesan’s plan is coming into play. On the other hand, the king tells Ji-Young that he hasn’t been able to find the Mangunrok, but he also doesn’t want to anymore because he wants her to stay back as his companion. He gives her a ring to prove this, and this is the first time Ji-Young considers the idea in a positive light. Only two episodes of the show remain, and I’m really hoping they don’t end up like Scarlet Heart. Maybe this time, Ji-Young will be able to time-travel for good. We’ll just have to wait and watch.
