In which we discover that the boys of Silla have a lot of daddy issues
Below you'll find a Speed Recap (i.e. the full episode in ten bulletpoints or less) and then some hot takes on the highlights. As always, spoilers ahead and if you're confused as to who's who, check out the...Who's Who post.
Speed recap: Hwarang, Episode 3
Finally, a swordfight. Having ended last episode pursuing each other The King and DogBird buckle and swash while Ah-ro attempts to avoid getting sliced up in a conflict of someone else's creation (amirite ladies). Of course, the King is practicing smart masking, and loses his bracelet on the way to the fight so DogBird will never be able to recognise his foe in the street. Convenient.
Master Ahnji and DogBird agree to pretend that DogBird is really Ahnji's long-lost son so he can stay in the city. Ah-ro is rightfully suspicious that DogBird is really her long-lost brother, particularly when she realises he's the guy she drunkenly fell over on in Episode 1.
Back in the village, some baddies wearing eyeliner are asking a lot of questions about DogBird at the behest of the Bad Ahjusshis (aka Ban-ryu's biological father and adoptive father).
Meanwhile, Wi-hwa needs a mechanism to get his idiots enlisted for Hwarang and therefore cooks up a plan. He knows that Soo-ho and Ban-ryu are two hotheaded idiots, so plays them off against each other to get them to show up for a fight (to be continued next episode).
The King finds his way to Wi-hwa and volunteers for Hwarang on the pretence of being a plucky lad trying to make his own way in the world - and also because he wants to really shit things up for the Queen.
Back at the palace, a condition of creating the Hwarang seems to be having a birthday parade for the (absent) King. What could go wrong? Turns out everything. DogBird clocks Executive Murder in the Queen's retinue and loses his tiny mind as he recognises him as Mak-Moon's killer.
DogBird is about to lose his head for raining on the birthday parade when Master Ahnji intercedes and begs the Queen's mercy. It turns out these two used to be a Thing back in the day, and she's not over it, so she flings DogBird in jail for a bit, saying she'll kill his father and sister. She lets him out. FIN.
What did we learn?
Welcome, queer icon Yeo-ul
This episode introduces Yeo-ul, the most iconic of all the Hwarangs. If anyone has any fanfiction about this grossly underserved character, please send it my way:
"May I call you daddy?"
Turns out every future Hwarang has daddy issues. And not just Ban-ryu, who has a father AND an adoptive father, or Han-sung, who's got a step-brother of lower rank than him. Yeo-ul doesn't even know whose his is, and this must get tricky on 6th-century Grindr:
Soo-ho caught feels for 'Queen-Noona'
No-one has ever looked at me like this, and no-one ever will.
Line of the episode
