Bon Appetit, Your Majesty is nearly over, and all the important stuff is finally being revealed. The 11th episode tries to answer all the questions we’ve had regarding the tyrant that is the king Yeonhigun and everything else that followed him learning about the details behind the death of his mother. In episode 11, it is time to celebrate the birthday of the king’s paternal grandmother, but this is the day that Prince Jesan decides to reveal the news about the deposed queen and how she died. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of food to look at, but I’m not sure what this episode means for the ending of the show. Did Ji-Young really change the course of history? Will the king become the tyrant that she learned about from the stories? Or will Ji-Young be able to save him from his madness? Let’s find out a little bit in episode 11.
Spoiler Alert
What Does Ji-Young Serve the Dowager Queen Mother?
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty episode 11 begins with the king telling Ji-Young to stay with him and be his partner, basically. She says she can’t because she has to return home. However, Yi Heon then tells her that, whenever she feels like it, he needs her to return to him; only then can he let her go. But at the same time, Ji-Young asks him to promise her that he will not become a tyrant, and that he’ll remain the good king that she’s met and fallen in love with. On the other hand, he can’t remember what the bibimbap dish she made for him is called, so he asks the chief eunuch to help him figure it out. He tells her that he should call it Hwanseban, a dish that reminds her of home. This makes the king upset for a second, and he asks the Chief Eunuch if that means that if she ate that meal, she’d go straight back.
On the other hand, it’s time for a banquet for the Dowager Queen Mother’s birthday, and Ji-Young plans a mighty feast for her. However, there’s one big problem: the dowager queen mother has stopped eating meat lately because it’s gotten to be uncomfortable. Ji-Young first suggests they go with a vegan platter, but that would be disrespectful, according to the other cooks. So, instead, she shows them how to make meat with soybeans. This is really shocking not only to the cooks but also to the dowager queen.
At the same time, when Consort Kang tries to wish the queen well, everyone is upset to see her, but then she claims that the court lady acted to poison the young prince completely without her knowledge. Soon after, Prince Jesan visits the queen too, and he presents her with an elaborate painting. Jesan then apologizes for the gochujang fiasco, but the queen suggests that if he’s truly sorry, he’ll go to the king and resign his post. Jesan looks shocked but accepts.
At the celebration, the queen is delighted to try the soybean “meat,” because it goes down easily and still tastes so much like she’s having the real thing. She also really appreciates the eggplant pie. The festivities continue when the queen is told that the king himself has prepared something special for her. It happens to be an elaborate dance that he performs with Gong-Gil, the jester. For this performance, he wears a wooden mask that doesn’t necessarily allow the people to recognize him as the king, until he pulls it off to reveal himself at the end.
Is Seong-Jae Dead?
The festivities are disrupted when the man who led the first literati purge on behalf of the king comes to reveal that the king’s maternal grandmother is alive and has something to show the king. This changes the mood entirely, and the king finally learns that his mother was deposed and poisoned, and it was because of his paternal grandmother. This is all mentioned in historical drafts, secretly prepared. The king immediately loses his mind and unsheathes his sword, threatening to kill all the conspirators. Ji-Young tries to stop him, but he ignores her and orders his soldiers to block all the exits. At the same time, his “crazy” maternal grandmother begs to be spared. She then reveals the bloody cloth that her daughter was wearing on the day of her poisoning. This makes matters much worse, and Yi Heon nearly kills the Dowager Queen Mother.
Ji-Young has to think on her feet and feeds Yi Heon’s maternal grandmother a piece of the chocolate she made for him. This “wakes” her up, and she starts describing how Yi Heon’s mother had hoped for him to become a “sage” king, who would redeem his mother’s dishonor. This finally sobers Yi Heon, and he drops his sword, brought back to his senses and mourning his loss all over again.
Later, when Ji-Young and Yi Heon are having a conversation in private, she mentions how unusual it was that the official turned up with the drafts in the middle of a banquet. This also reminds her of a similar thing happening before, with Prince Jinmyeong too. Ultimately, she recommends that he dine with the dowager queen, and she even says she’ll make reconciliation rice noodles for the occasion.
On the other hand, though, things are just getting started with Jesan and his men. They’re conspiring to get rid of the king when Seong-Jae’s dad overhears the conversation. He was meant to join them a bit later, but now that he knows what’s going on, he tries to run off to tell the king that he’s in trouble. He gets interrupted and slaughtered instead, by a random man and his minions. They also kidnap Ji-Young, leaving her cap behind like Cinderella’s shoe, and the king is notified immediately, but not before Seong-Jae is captured too. The king is drawn like a moth to the flame and rushes off to the forest to find Ji-Young. This is exactly what the conspirators wanted; the king is now out of the way, and the palace is their playground to do with as they please.
At the end of episode 11 of Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, Prince Jesan dons the king’s wooden mask, the same one he danced in, and goes to the Dowager Queen Mother’s residence to kill her. He blames her for putting a deposed queen’s son on the throne. He then kills the queen without hesitation, but everybody believes it’s Yi Heon’s doing, because they scream about how the king has gone mad. Jesan even kills the chief eunuch and his taster, all of whom might’ve taken the king’s side and tried to save him. The king ends up in the forest and finds Seong-Jae tied to a massive pyre, not yet lit. He rushes to untie him, but a band of rebel soldiers surrounds the king and his men and starts firing arrows at them. The king only survives because Seong-Jae shoves him out of the way and takes the arrows himself. On the other hand, back at the palace, Ji-Young wakes up to discover that Gong-Gil has rescued her. The jester deduces by the red headbands on the guards that the palace has fallen to the conspirators, and urges Ji-Young to get away from the palace, saying not all hope has been lost. As they start to flee, they’re spotted, and one of the guards throws a pair of bolas at Ji-Young’s feet, causing her to come crashing to the ground. It seems Gong-Gil will have to decide whether to escape alone or possibly sacrifice himself to save the royal cook. This makes it clear that the show wants to paint the king as not a true tyrant, saying it was people like Jesan who ruined his life. This way, it’s fair for Ji-Young to have fallen in love with him, while he continues to be misunderstood in the future. With only one episode left, I really hope Consort Kang gets caught and everything is resolved before Ji-Young returns to the future. Because ultimately, that will definitely happen.
