REVIEW: ‘The First Night With The Duke’ Episodes 5-6

The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6 maintains some of its momentum, but some jerky story jump cuts take the wind out of its sails. After the events of Episode 4, K as Cha Sun-chaek (Seohyun) is fully invested in reciprocating  Duke Yi Beun’s (Taecyeon) feelings. However, she hasn’t fully grasped the danger she’s put herself in or how the storyline will keep changing moving forward. As for Yi Beun, his love and devotion for Sun-chaek inspire him to hunt down the villains who tried to kill his one true love, and his search is surprisingly not dragged out.

For Sun-chaek, after receiving a god-sent notice of the marriage selection, she frantically rushes to the selection site. This experience brings out the best of Seohyun’s physical comedic abilities. From dramatic leaps to prolonged slides in the dirt to kicking her shoe so hard that it smacks someone in the face, Seohyun throws herself completely into Sun-chaek’s desperation. It punctuates the ridiculousness of the situation, but also how much Sun-chaek’s feelings for Yi Beun have changed. 

Once succeeding, she returns to Yi Beun, whom she left behind in the plague village where she was sequestered, and it is a rare moment of calm between the two. Without anyone to intrude on their privacy, they banter and bond. The chemistry between Seohyun and Taecyeon shines here, even when things devolve into slightly lewd humor. There’s an honesty between the two characters in their communication that’s refreshing. This ease between them allows Sun-chaek to feel comfortable enough to reveal the truth of what’s going on.

The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6 focuses on Do Hwa-seon, revealing she has little depth.

Sun-chaek tries to explain that he is predestined to like someone else. He’s the male lead character, a statement that Yi Beun accepts at face value. He’s affiliated with the royal family, so it makes sense that he would be so easy to accept this phrasing. However, Yi Beun makes it clear that he only has eyes for Sun-chaek, and whoever the male lead character chooses will become the main female character. Right now, that’s Sun-chaek. It’s a bit of a meta moment between the two that works to show Yi Beun’s acceptance of her, as well as how he grounds her.

It’s not long before they have to return to their normal lives, which are actually more chaotic than usual. Much of The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6 focuses on two major developments – the marriage selection for the Duke and unearthing Do Hwa-seon’s (Ji Hye-won) villainy. While it has been made clear that her role in this world is that of the villain, these episodes highlight how completely immature and shameless she is in her pursuit of becoming the Duke’s wife. The more the marriage selection process marches forward, the more evidence mounts against her proving that she is ill-equipped to be anyone’s paramour.

This is most apparent in the different phases of the marriage selection process, where she’s allowed to cheat by the Queen Mother (Nam Gi-ae), who, as it turns out, is her relative. If Hwa-seon weren’t allowed to cheat, she’d easily lose against the tasks the Queen Mother has set for all the candidates. But, while these trials highlight her deception and weakness, they also highlight Sun-chaek’s and Jo Eun-ae’s (Kwon Han-sol) natural abilities in The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6. 

Even as the secondary male love interest,  Jung Su-gyeom gets little to do.

Speaking of Eun-ae, she continues to both confuse and fascinate as a character. She’s incredibly demure, yet can stand her own when she needs to. Her abilities reflect her intelligence and tenacity, but she also leans into a sense of helplessness. In her interactions with Sun-chaek, they read as genuine. Yet, in small moments, we see hidden ambitions bubble to the surface. This character, who initially started as a rather one-note heroine, is turning out to be more than meets the eye, but it makes it tricky to peg her down. 

While the ladies battle it out for Yi Beun’s hand in marriage, he is busy trying to hunt down who hurt Sun-chaek. This mystery is quickly solved with the help of Yi Beun’s assistant. Yet, the Duke takes his time gathering as much evidence as possible, even if it means concocting a plan to briefly distance himself from his one love to seduce Hwa-seon in between challenges. And by seduce, the shirt is off, and Taecyeon’s body is fully weaponized. For all his talk of Sun-chaek taking his virtue, the man knows what to do to get his admirers flustered.

It’s these interactions between the Duke and Hwa-seon that reveal Hwa-seon is not as smart as she thinks she is. The Westerner departed from a Do family ship. He speaks Korean super well, meaning the Westerner could have communicated easily with Hwa-seon. The poison found in the Westerner’s room and the tattoo on the Westerner’s back connect to items found in Hwa-seon’s possession. Literally, in her attempts to be sneaky, she failed abysmally. The difference is that, after his detective work, Yi Beun now knows how awful a person she is. 

The growing bond between Sun-chaek and the Duke keeps them tethered.

The marriage selection trials and the Duke’s detective storyline come together in the final trial, where the Queen Mother targets Sun-chaek for elimination. However, the Duke isn’t having any of it, revealing everything he knows and forcing the Queen Mother to cancel the selection process to save face. It’s dramatic and convenient, but it works to buy more time between our two lovers. And that time is fleeting when, in Episode 6’s final moments, Sun-chaek is pushed into a comedically deep pond left to die. 

Across The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6, a lot is going on, but it’s not too overwhelming. The jump cuts between scenes do create a disordered feeling, disrupting the pacing and flow somewhat. Even still, the storytelling, particularly highlighting how little depth Hwa-seon has as a person, goes far here. However, while Eun-ae and Hwa-seon are given things to do, Jung Su-gyeom (Seo Bum-June) is the only secondary character who has yet to find their stride. Since this is meant to be a ‘trapped in webtoon’ scenario, it makes sense that he’s so underdeveloped, but how long can we wait to see some movement from him?

There’s also an intriguing moment shown toward the end, where Sun-chaek appears to be transitioning into K’s original world. A new update to the webtoon she’s in pops up, and a comment discusses how much the story has changed. But, as she’s drowning, a question is raised as to what happens if she dies in the world of the story. It sets a fun cliffhanger-like moment, but not an unusual one for the genre. Either way, now that we’re roughly halfway through, things continue to get interesting.

With the series about halfway through, The First Night With The Duke Episodes 5-6 continues to flesh out its romance, with Sun-chaek firmly giving in to her feelings for the Duke. While the pacing is slightly off, everyone continues to find ways to stand out. And, dare I say it, but Hwa-seon may be the most obnoxious female villain in a while.  

The First Night With The Duke Episodes 1-6 are streaming now exclusively on Viki, with new episodes dropping on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

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