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There are many enemies near and far from Lee Yool in a chase for his position as the Crown Prince. Lee Yool remains doubtful and cautious around everyone, but not even his instincts and power can protect him from danger. In the first of many attempts to fulfill his position as the Crown Prince, Lee Yool finally listens to his father’s words as the King. But as with all things, there are consequences to everything and Lee Yool himself learns of these consequences firsthand.

100 Days My Prince: Episode 2 Recap

After glancing at Hong-shim and being reminded of a young Yi-seo, Lee Yool runs after Hong-shim in hopes that she is the Yi-seo who he met when he was younger. Hong-shim runs away upon seeing Lee Yool and barely manages to escape from him. After losing sight of Hong-shim, Dong-joo reminds Lee Yool that the Yi-seo he met when he was younger is no longer alive. Nobody from that family survived after the surprise attack, but Lee Yool refuses to believe she’s dead. She still has to be alive.

Hong-shim’s captured by Officer Jung Je-yoon (Kim Sun-ho) from the Capital District Office who questions why she’s running away. He begins to ask her more questions to gather more details about her, but it becomes clear that he’s interested in her. She reveals that she’s in the village to meet with her older brother on the 15th of every month. As Hong-shim makes her way to the bridge where they are to meet, Officer Jung follows after her. Since Hong-shim’s brother seems to have forgotten about her, he’ll take the pleasure of meeting with her every month instead. OOOOOOH~

In their ongoing investigation to find who was behind the attempted assassination, Lee Yool hosts a feast for his birthday. His only request for birthday gifts are bows and arrows since he noticed that the bow used to kill the maid was specially made. A powerful and wealthy family must have hired an assassin to kill the maid using the special bow and arrow. As Lee Yool is presented with endless bows and arrows, he takes a good look at every single one of them but the same bow and arrow used to kill the maid is no where to be found. Even the Queen’s bow and arrow is different.

Lord Kim finally presents his bow and arrow to Lee Yool and contrary to what Lee Yool thought, the bow and arrow is the same exact one that was used to kill the maid. Lee Yool’s suspicions of Lord Kim heightens and he ponders whether Lord Kim was the person behind the assassin. He’s reminded of Lord Kim’s assassination of Yi-seo’s family when he was younger and questions whether Lord Kim will kill him like he killed Yi-seo and her family. Lee Yool ends the birthday party and heads back to his room.

That night, Lee Yool is visited by the Crown Princess who pleads to spend the night with him. She urges the need for an heir to his throne, but Lee Yool remains indifferent. He’s not concerned about having an heir unlike everyone else in the Royal Palace. The Crown Princess notifies her dad about her unsuccessful plan in persuading Lee Yool to sleep with her. His dad reassures her that they will find a way.

Hong-shim returns back home and is greeted nervously by her stepdad (I made the mistake of thinking he was just another villager in the first episode recap, but he’s actually her stepdad. Sorry about that!). He warns her that there’s been people stopping by their house to urge Hong-shim to get married. Hong-shim isn’t as worried as Dad though. She’s told them the story about the imaginary Won-deuk so there’s no need to be concerned.

Dong-joo heads to the Royal Infirmary to obtain medical journals and records, but the Royal Physician reveals that someone came by two days ago to take most of them away. Lee Yool and Dong-joo meet with Officer Jung who was the one behind the medical journals. He too is investigating the death of the former palace maid/physician and obtained the journals to determine what happened to her.

In a meeting with Lee Yool, Officer Jung shares that the maid was fairly new to the palace and was usually sent back home at night. However, one night she stayed behind to cover for another physician and then was suddenly promoted to a higher position a few days later which required her to stay at the Crown Princess’s chamber. Officer Jung is keen in telling Lee Yool more details about his findings, but Lee Yool stops him. He orders Officer Jung to stop investigating the case.

Lee Yool realizes that the maid must have worked with the Crown Princess in poisoning Lee Yool. He also finds records of the Crown Princess skipping her monthly examinations which causes him to become even more suspicious. Lee Yool stops by the Crown Princesses’s room to confront her about his findings. He brings in a physician to check up on the Crown Princess, but the Crown Princess grows nervous. She uses the excuse of indigestion to refuse the examination so the physician leaves. Lee Yool ends their conversation by warning the Crown Princess what he would do if she was to be pregnant with a child that isn’t his.

The King wishes to perform another ritual in hopes that the drought will end and that it will rain. Lord Kim suggests that the King not participate in this next ritual so Lee Yool is ordered to take part in it on his behalf. Lee Yool is hesitant in participating at first. He has his own struggles that he’s facing and wishes that his dad would worry about him. However, Dad is more concerned about the country than his own son. He wishes Lee Yool wouldn’t resent him; the only reason why they’re alive today is because he killed people who were coming after them. Lee Yool then changes his mind and denounces his role as his Dad’s son. From now on, he is the Crown Prince and anything he does will be for the country. Lee Yool will take part in the ritual.

That night, Lee Yool writes in his journal about his feelings of resentment and hate towards his father. He stares at the fabric that Yi-seo had used to treat his wound the night they were in the forest as younger kids and is reminded of why he’s doing all of this in the first place. He’s going to get revenge for Yi-seo and for himself.

The Crown Princess is indeed pregnant as Lee Yool had predicted and she notifies her dad, Lord Kim, about her pregnancy. Regardless of who the baby’s father is, she’ll make sure that the baby becomes the Crown Prince somehow. Meanwhile, Lord Kim has another mission for his assassin Moo-yeon. He wants him to go after Lee Yool again. This time, Moo-yeon has a request for Lord Kim in exchange for the assignment.

Hong-shim and Stepdad receives a visit from a Lord/Master named Lord Park. He brings them some snacks and awkwardly flirts with Hong-shim. She’s clearly uncomfortable with his advances and makes excuses to get him to leave. Lol.

Lee Yool makes his way to the ritual along with Dong-joo and some palace guards. However, along the way they are attacked and ambushed by Moo-yeon and his team. Many of the palace guards are killed and Lee Yool himself gets injured after falling from his horse. He and Dong-joo run away from the chaotic scene, but they’re followed by Moo-yeon and two other assassins. Lee Yool and Dong-joo try to devise plans to take down the assassins, but there’s way too many for the two to take on. In a last effort to escape, the two exchange outfits and run in separate directions. Lee Yool is shot in the back by an arrow and rolls down a hill. Meanwhile, Dong-joo is trapped at the edge of a cliff and falls down into the water upon getting hit by an arrow by Moo-yeon.

Stepdad heads into the mountains to relieve his stomach. While there, he discovers Lee Yool’s body laying not too far away from him. Meanwhile, one of the palace guards who was accompanying Lee Yool wakes up and informs the King about the attempted assassination. The King panics and orders for a search team to find Lee Yool. However, Lord Kim suggests that the search remains a secret instead. The country shouldn’t discover about the missing Crown Prince or else the nation will only get more mad. The King assigns Lord Kim as the lead in the private search for Lee Yool.

Hong-shim visits Lord Park and sells him the herbs that he was interested in the last time he stopped by her house. However, it’s not the herbs he’s interested in but Hong-shim and he offers her a position as his fifth concubine. She needs to get married anyways or else she’ll get in trouble. Hong-shim refuses the offer and stops by Lord Park’s storage house to place the herbs away. She then finds herself locked inside the storage shortly afterwards and is unable to escape.

The next morning, Lord Park visits her to see if she’s changed her mind. Hong-shim remains grounded in her decision to not get married to Lord Park so she is turned in to officials and punished. Meanwhile, Stepdad takes care of an injured and unconscious Lee Yool. Lee Yool fortunately wakes up, but he’s lost his memory. He doesn’t remember anything. At that moment, Stepdad is informed by villager Goo-dol (Kim Ki-doo) about Hong-shim’s punishment. He runs out to save his daughter, but he stops when he suddenly remembers about Lee Yool.

Hong-shim is determined to maintain her lies and excuses for not getting married. Even though she receives punishment, she doesn’t have any plans of getting married to Lord Park. Hong-shim reiterates that she’s still waiting for her lover Won-deuk who’s currently serving in the military. The government officials don’t buy into her lies, but Stepdad runs into the building to proclaim the return of Won-deuk.

This Won-deuk that Hong-shim wants to get married to has returned from his military service. In walks a now recovered, haughty, and confident Lee Yool who first stares at the people around him and then at the government official punishing Hong-shim. Won-deuk has arrived.

My Thoughts:

Ahhh, this drama is so good! So so good! I’m loving how intense, beautiful, and bittersweet everything is and I’m especially happy that the drama isn’t too hard to follow. I honestly am not the best at keeping up with all the politics in sageuks as it can get sometimes boring and dry, but I can actually follow along with the politics in this drama so that’s always a good sign.

I think this is probably what I like the most about this drama so far. Everything is connected to Lee Yool in one way or another and you can understand the motives or reasons behind each of our characters. Lord Kim and his daughter the Crown Princess have plans to take down Lee Yool so that the Crown Princess’s baby can become the Crown Prince instead. The Queen also has her own plans to murder Lee Yool to also obtain the powerful position. How sad is it that Lee Yool doesn’t even want the position to begin with, but is threatened by those closest to him and his Dad anyways? He has enemies everywhere in the Palace and it’s always those in closest proximity who Dad trusts that are the masterminds behind the evil.

With the attempted assassination, we’ve finally reached the point in the premise where Lee Yool changes identities and transforms into Won-deuk. I knew that this was going to happen, but just wasn’t sure exactly when so it’s a bit bittersweet to see him leave his character as Lee Yool so soon. I actually wished to see more of Lee Yool because I found his hate as the Crown Prince so intriguing and interesting and I would have wanted to see more of that. However, I can also understand the decision to have him transform into Won-deuk by the end of this episode. There’s only so much you can show of Lee Yool arguing and fighting with his Dad and resenting his position as Crown Prince. Though a little too early, I also don’t mind the character change.

Now that Lee Yool has transformed into Won-deuk, I wonder how he will act and what his personality will be like. Will he still be Lee Yool but just with a new name or will he take on an entirely new personality with new traits and quirks? I’m excited to watch him act as Won-deuk and to see him interact with Hong-shim. I’m even more excited to see Hong-shim and Won-deuk engage in what will be sort of like a marriage contract/arranged marriage. How ironic and funny is it that Won-deuk himself is first hand suffering the effects of a decision that he made as the Crown Prince. Since he’s single, he will have to get married to Hong-shim to save himself from getting punished and possibly killed. Hong-shim and Won-deuk are going to be so funny and great together and I absolutely cannot wait for their humorous antics with each other.

I was not expecting the plot with the Crown Princess and was pleasantly surprised with the direction that the drama took with her character. I assumed the drama was just going to paint her as the typical second female lead who yearned for the Crown Prince’s love and affection. However, as we witnessed, there is so much more to her than we thought and I’m actually kind of enjoying her evil antics (in that I enjoy watching her be a multi-dimensional character, NOT her antics in trying to murder Lee Yool lol). She’s a complicated and complex character who has plans of her own to overthrow Lee Yool and how scary was it that she wished for his return as a dead body. She truly is something else and probably learned it all from her own father.

I assume future episodes will be more light, comedic, and quirky with Won-deuk’s appearance in the drama. The last two episodes was a little odd in the way that the story was dramatic, dark, and broody with all the politics in the palace and then comedic and silly with Hong-shim’s appearance. Granted, the drama will probably still continue with this odd balance, but it might be much better now that Won-deuk and Hong-shim will be interacting with each other. As enticing and engaging as the politics is in this drama, I prefer the light, witty, and humorous scenes we get with Hong-shim so hopefully the drama will continue to keep that up.

The drama has barely started, but there are so many things I’m anticipating and excited for. The first two episodes were nice and fairly well-executed so now that the drama has finished setting everything up, all that’s left is to watch everything unfold as a result. Hong-shim and Won-deuk are going to be so much fun to watch and with Officer Jung mixed in to form a love triangle, things are definitely going to get even better. I just hope I don’t get second male lead syndrome, but I can already feel creeping up on me based on this episode alone T___T