This week's intoxicating brew of magic, romance and baby news helped Empress Ki rise even higher in the ratings and come closer to realizing the impressive goal of 30 percent.
With Seungnyang, played by Ha Ji Won, finally responding to the affections of Emperor Ta Hwan, played by Ji Chang Wook, the show delivers on its promise of a life-altering romance.
Although it seemed as if the true romance in this historical drama would take place between Joo Jin Mo and Ha Ji Won, it now becomes clear that it is a much more complicated love story. As her respect for the Emperor grows, Ha Ji Won has also come to love him, and it is her love that makes him strong enough to take on El Temur.
The announcement that they will have a child sends the jealous Empress Tanashiri to a shaman for a death spell. But the shaman does warn her. Should the object of the curse be strong it could turn on you. Seungnyang must be the strongest person in the palace so, as predicted she defeats the curse and bears the emperor's child.
The shaman predicts that Seungnyang's son will become Emperor, but which son will it be? Will it be her lost first son with Wang Yoo or her son with the Emperor? It also looks as if Seungnyang may discover that her lost first son is none other than Maha, the boy the Empress claims as her own.
Although the drama invents subplots that initially seem merely distracting, the subplots eventually tie together in unexpected ways. There are very few loose ends in this drama's plot. Many dramas can't even manage to tie things up this neatly in 16 episodes.
Will the drama reach 30 percent? It gets more likely with every episode. It went up 2.1 points in percentage between Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile the fast-paced time travel melodrama "God's Gift - 14 Days" had a jump in ratings after the first episode, reaching 7.7 percent on the second day. The first episode reached 6.9 percent.
Still in third place is the KBS drama "Full Sun," which actually had a slight jump in viewers going from 3.3 percent to 3.6 percent. It is in the unfortunate position of having to compete with the lavish mega-hit "Empress Ki" and last year's Daesang winner Lee Bo Young in "God's Gift - 14 Days."
