RECAP: Gu Family Book ep 1

Gu Family Book is a 24 episode saguek staring Lee Seung Gi (whose past dramas include King2Hearts and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho) as Choi Kang Chi a young man who was found floating in a river as a baby due to the sad fate of his parents. Lee Yeon Hee and Choi Jin Hyuk play Yoon Seo Hwa and Gu Wol Ryung, the parents of Choi Kang Chi. Their ill-fated meeting begins the drama. Lee Seung Gi is also joined by Bae Suzy (her past dramas include Big and Dream High) who plays his leading lady Dam Yeo Ol. Discovering he is part gumiho, Choi Kang Chi is determined to become fully human. In order to do so he must find the Gu Family Book.

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The story begins as we follow So Jung deep into the mountains where no humans are said to go. He has traveled to the Moonlight Garden where Wol Ryung, a divine being has lived for 1000 years protecting Mt. Jiri. So Jung arrives only to find that Wol Ryung has run off. In the distance Wol Ryung is bounding through the forest when he is drawn to the echoing sound of drums. He walks closer and stops on a cliff where he can see a large and brightly lit dwelling below.

Inside the dwelling a woman is playing 5 drums for a crowd of men and gisaengs.

As Wol Ryung reaches a tree closer to the house an ox stops in front of it towing a cage that is surrounded by guards.  Within the cage are 3 people who are unaware of where they have been taken.  The new arrivals are the two noble children of a newly killed traitor and their servant woman named Dam. Yoon, the young noble son futilely tries to protect his weary sister Seo Hwa from being thrown around by their handler before they are told they are in front of the gisaeng house where Seo Hwa has been sold as a state gisaeng.

Seo Hwa refuses to enter, forcing the horse servants to call Chun Soo Ryun, the head gisaeng who has just finished her drum performance. At Seo Hwa’s continued refusal Head Chun orders her manservant to strip her down. From the trees Wol Ryung watches in horror along with Dam and Yoon. Seo Hwa is tied to a tree and told she will be left there with no food or water until Head Chun says otherwise while Yoon and Dam are to be locked in a storeroom.

The servants all return inside leaving one woman behind to carry away Seo Hwa’s clothing. Seo Hwa asks her what is going on and is told by the woman that Seo Hwa was tied to the shame tree. She is warned to let go of her pride and ask for forgiveness by morning so worse things don’t happen to her. Now alone, Seo Hwa cries out for help shouting this isn’t something that should be done to another human being. No one comes to help her.

Wol Ryung has been watching from the trees and is soon surrounded by glowing blue orbs. He argues with them that he promised So Jung he wouldn’t interfere with human affairs and is about to leave when he hears Seo Hwa hopelessly call out for help once more. Wol Ryung can do nothing but stay and watch as she cries alone, stripped, and in despair.

As Seo Hwa cries at her fate, she remembers how she returned home to find her father Yoon Gi Soo being sentenced by order of the kings to execution for being a traitor. The one who carried the sentence to her father was his friend Jo Gwang Woong. It is a false accusation created as Jo Gwang Woong’s revenge on Gi Soo who he felt always looked down on him. Gwang Woong notices Seo Hwa and assures Gi Soo that he will make her a state gisaeng and enjoy her well. Gi Soo cannot take the taunt and lunges at Chief Jo with a sword he grabs from a soldier. Seo Hwa races toward them only to get blood splattered across her face after Chief Jo cut her father down. Seo Hwa stands in shock while Gwang Wong turns to leer at her until she screams.

While Seo Hwa is outside the gisaeng house, Jo Gwang Woong is inside celebrating now being a Chief with several gisaeng’s. Head Chun comes to congratulate him and he explains it was awarded for capturing a traitor. That the traitor used to be his friend is no difference to him and he tells Head Chun that his last promise to that traitor was to be the first man to bed his daughter. Head Chun says nothing about this promise stating only that he will have to wait about 2 to 3 months if he wants to be first as Seo Hwa needs to be registered and prepared. Chief Jo doesn’t like this answer and tells her to make it happen in 5 days.

The next morning Seo Hwa awakens still tied to the shame tree as a crowd of villagers come to laugh at her. Despite getting rocks thrown at her by children and all the stares she is determined not to give in. Wol Ryung still watches her and continues to do so the next night. He struggles with himself over whether he should help her and even goes so far as to try to leave it up to chance by picking leaves off a twig while reciting “ I help her or I do not help her “.  The leaves still don’t give him the answer he wants. The two stay like that another day.

A servant reports to Head Chun that 3 days have passed and Seo Hwa still won’t give in. Outside Seo Hwa faints after chanting she won’t give in and at last Wol Ryung makes a move to help her. He is stopped by So Jung who has finally found him. Wol Ryung ignores So Jung’s warning not to meddle but is stopped from getting closer to her when So Jung throws a beaded bracelet on his wrist and then blocks him with his own body.

So Jung reminds him he promised never to meddle with humans and that one exception will create others. As he leaves Wol Ryung throws the walking stick he took from So Jung back at him in order to stop the large snake behind So Jung. Wol Ryung asks if doing that messed with So Jung’s fate then.

Wol Ryung turns back to help Seo Hwa but she is not longer tied to the tree.

Seo Hwa wakes up inside the gisaeng house being tended to by Dam. Before she can leave, Head Chun enters her room and tells her to give in. Seo Hwa refuses again but Head Chun will not let her go so easily and opens a set of doors to show her brother tied up.

They beat him until Seo Hwa relents and agrees to be a gisaeng. Preparations are then begun to prepare and mark her as a gisaeng. Head Chun silently watches the progress with a somewhat jaded look.

The five days are up and Yoon is cleaning the yard with another servant who reveals to him that Seo Hwa will be given to Chief Jo that night. He is shocked. He goes to Dam and tells her what he found out. He begs her to help his sister as she is the only one that can. Dam agrees.

Seo Hwa who is being dressed by other gisaeng discovers through their gossip that she will be given to Chief Jo that night and when they all leave her along she heads straight for a knife. She has just unsheathed the dagger when Dam enters the room.

Dam tells her to strip and switch clothes with her. The plan is for Seo Hwa to run out the back with her brother while Dam takes her place as Dam is okay with being beaten if it means saving her. Seo Hwa agrees and in tears they hug after Dam says that she must live to take her back once more.

Dam is waiting in Seo Hwa’s room when Head Chun enters to tell her that her first guest will be there soon. Head Chun is about to leave but stops and turns back after sensing something is off. Dam is discovered but Seo Hwa and Yoon have already escaped into the forest. Head Chun tries to get answers out of Dam but she claims to know nothing just as Chief Jo is announced to have arrived.

 Head Chun sends out Jang Shoe to find Seo Hwa before she is discovered missing and tells Dam that she will have to serve Chief Jo that night. Head Chun says Dam will do it and not be discovered if she doesn’t want her head cut off by her.

Wol Ryung has returned to the Moonlight Garden with the rope that bound Seo Hwa. He is starting contemplating them when he hears a disturbance in the forest.

Back at the gisaeng house Head Chun convinces Chief Jo to blow out the candles so as not to cause Seo Hwa to try to kill herself when she sees who she will be serving. Head Chun and her maid can only stand outside and listen as Chief Jo forcefully takes Dam who Head Chun prays can endure it so they all can live.

At the same time Seo Hwa can barely keep up with Yoon as they try to outrun the men sent to catch her. At last she begs Yoon to run ahead while she hides herself. Yoon runs ahead after getting her promise to stay alive and Se Hwa forces herself back to her feet.

She pulls the dagger she had grabbed earlier at the gisaeng house and begs forgiveness from Dam for ending it like that and is about to stab herself when she is suddenly surrounded by glowing blue orbs. Seo Hwa drops the dagger and faints but before she can hit the ground is caught by Wol Ryung. She opens her eyes and asks for his help before fainting again.

The men after Seo Hwa draw closer and are soon surrounded by the orbs that they believe are will-o-the-wisps. When that does not quite chase them off Wol Ryung appears to tell them to leave. When they do not heed his warning he uses supernatural force to chase them off.

At the gisaeng house Chief Jo has discovered Head Chun’s deception and demands Seo Hwa be brought to him. He is blaming Head Chun for trying to get on his bad side when her maid reveals Seo Hwa ran off. Chief Jo has slave hunters called to find her and her brother. Dam watches this happen as tears fall down her face.

The next morning Yoon wakes up in the forest and is found by the slave hunters while drinking water from a stream. He is returned and hung by Chief Jo in the street after refusing to answer where Seo Hwa is while Dam watches helplessly and remembers when they were young and happy.

Dam returns to the gisaeng house and contemplates the ceiling beams while Head Chun is given a report of the sighing her men had of a gumiho while looking for Seo Hwa.

Chief Jo gets the same reported sighting. As Head Chun and her servant’s wonder what happened to Seo Hwa at the hands of the gumiho they are told that Dam hung herself.

Seo Hwa awakens in a cave and goes outside to discover she is in the Moonlight Garden. Wol Ryung appears and introduces himself as Gu Wol Ryung after Seo Ryung repeatedly asks who he is. He assures her she is safe and no one can ever harm her there.

Chief Jo calls Dam Pyung Joon to find the gumiho. So Jung watches from the trees as Dam Pyung Joon and his men follow one of the people that saw the gumiho.

So Jung goes to warn Wol Ryung but finds Seo hwa there with him. He demands he send Seo Hwa away but Wol Ryung refuses as he has given her his heart. Since that is the case he mentions he was thinking of how to get Gu Family book to So Jung.

While the men hunting for the gumiho find the place where he attacked Wol Ryung admits he wants to be human and smiles as he gazes at Seo Hwa.

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Laugarza:
The story of Yoo Seo Hwa and Gu Wol Ryung already has all the makings of a tragedy after episode 1. We don’t really get to see the growth of the relationship after Seo Hwa meets Wol Ryung in this episode and that is a little sad but it is just the prologue to Kang Chi’s story. What will happen that tears his parents apart? Can’t wait for episode 2 so we can  find out. We can already guess they will have a baby. As for Kang Chi it sounds like after he is born he will need to search for the book his father mentioned if he wants a happy ending. I hope his adventures will be epic, exciting and amusing.

Goliath1357:
I’m glad that there is an episode focused on the parents because their story has intrigued me since I saw some early photos.  I liked the episode but I don’t think it’s indicative of the whole series. I feel that the rest of the episodes are going to be a somewhat lighter tone and contain more action and comedy.

Episodes Recapped: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24