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Post by ajk on Feb 3, 2016 14:44:29 GMT -5
So it starts with the old man coughing and near death. Just like Jingbirok. Been there, done that.
Have to say, I don't feel real good about the way this thing has started. Spoiled little rich brat bullying the poor-but-honest servant boy...geez I hate being manipulated like that. And the young JYS, is it just me or does he get way too excited? Nothing against the young actor, he's just doing as he's told, but the character is just too weirdly overenthusiastic and the attempt to make him likeable seems forced. “Am I a precious boy, sir?” Ugh. I thought the kid would pass out during the eclipse, he was practically hyperventilating.
The episode did look good, the visuals and the production were nice. So clearly they’re not going cheap on it. And they brought Kim Myung Soo in right away, good to see him and I think it’s a rule that he has to be in every one of these things!
Drawing lines in the sky? Well it could have been worse, I'll let that go...there was one episode of GKS where the stars lit up and spelled out messages, that was a rare low point in that series.
Taejong, I hate to say it but he's too old at this point to be playing the 1401 Taejong. It's fun to see him again but he’s supposed to be 34 years old. He still looks real good but he ain’t 34, sorry.
Where the heck did that pouring rain come from five minutes after a bright sky?
I will give them credit for getting a scientific thing correct on the eclipse. Jang’s little group saw the eclipse, but the writers sent them all the way to the south coast (Dongrae/Busan) to see it. That’s 235 miles away from Kaesong where the royals saw nothing. That’s a heck of a long journey—why wasn’t it mentioned?—but yes, that’s far enough away that there would be a big difference in what people saw. So good for them for getting it right.
Overall it’s too early to judge. Presumably the kids go away soon and we get into the main story. Hope so.
P.S. Jang’s father’s book, Ilwolrok, apologies but nothing came up on Google when I searched in English. So I can’t add any information about it here.
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episode 1
Feb 3, 2016 15:26:11 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by truth on Feb 3, 2016 15:26:11 GMT -5
Have to say, I don't feel real good about the way this thing has started. Spoiled little rich brat bullying the poor-but-honest servant boy... And they brought Kim Myung Soo in right away, good to see him and I think it’s a rule that he has to be in every one of these things! Taejong, I hate to say it but he's too old at this point to be playing the 1401 Taejong. It's fun to see him again but he’s supposed to be 34 years old. He still looks real good but he ain’t 34, sorry. Overall it’s too early to judge. Presumably the kids go away soon and we get into the main story. Hope so. P.S. Jang’s father’s book, Ilwolrok, apologies but nothing came up on Google when I searched in English. So I can’t add any information about it here. The way they depicted how slaves were treated was wrong. That would be a correct depiction in the latter part of Joseon Dynasty, not in the early years. Slaves were treated pretty fairly compared to the later parts of Joseon. Well, KMS wans't in Jingbirok. Interesting how he played Gongmin in Jeong Dojeon and the child JYS played child King U and they get to play father-son again. I think Ahn Jaemo(LBW in Jeong Dojeon) should've played Taejong just for the early part. I think the actor playing Hwang Hee is too old as well. He was also in his 30s in 1401. The kids go away after Episode 2. Ilwolrok is not a real book. In fact, JYS's father was not even an astronomer. He may have been one, but we don't know anything about him except for his name Songhwi. In fact, we are not even completely sure about his background. The Annals of Joseon Dynasty says he was a Chinese immigrant who moved to Joseon after the downfall of Yuan dynasty while the Jang family clan claim that he was from a Goryeo noble family. This drama decided to go with Jang clan's claim. As for the mother, Jang clan claims JYS's mother was from a noble family but became a slave along with JYS due to Jang Songhwi's loyalty to Goryeo dynasty. The Annals says JYS's mother was a gisaeng. This drama followed the description from the Annals.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 3, 2016 15:44:18 GMT -5
Slaves being treated well, huh. I've heard of some cases like this in real life. Most obviously they didn't go that route to hammer in the underdog theme which is incredibly overdone.
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Post by ajk on Feb 3, 2016 15:48:16 GMT -5
You're right, KMS wasn't in Jingbirok. Looks like he was doing a KBS2 contemporary drama at that time. I wonder if Jingbirok had to get a waiver to leave him out!
That would have been a great idea, to have the LBW actor play the young Taejong. Obviously they wanted continuity with GKS but he would have fit the part better, no question. But I don't suppose we'll be seeing too much more of Taejong anyway so it's not that big a problem. And yeah I wondered about showing Hwang Hee as such an older man. The actor who played him in GKS was much younger (and I thought played the part very well; too bad they didn't bring him back).
Thanks for the good historical information; always glad to have a record here of what these episodes are showing correctly and incorrectly, or where they're making choices between or among sources.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 3, 2016 16:02:39 GMT -5
I'm not sure if continuity is the right word to use, even if Taejong and Sejong have the same actors.
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episode 1
Feb 3, 2016 16:03:28 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by truth on Feb 3, 2016 16:03:28 GMT -5
And yeah I wondered about showing Hwang Hee as such an older man. The actor who played him in GKS was much younger (and I thought played the part very well; too bad they didn't bring him back). The actor who played Hwang Hee in GKS was not that young, either. He's only 3 years younger than the guy playing Hwang in this drama. They probably wanted continuity of the actor, but it would've been better if they got some younger actor to play him in 1401.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 6, 2016 18:48:08 GMT -5
I've been thinking about what truth stated about slaves actually being treated well during the early days of Joseon, as well as how you felt that Ahn Jaemo should have reprised his role temporarily. If this show had been in the same continuity as JDJ the same way the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are connected, and applied the "treat the slaves well" aspect, then in some way, despite Yi Bangwon killing Sambong and villifying him, Jeong Dojeon's vision of a better world for even the lower people did come true for a while.
It also got me thinking. The Jang family were still loyal to Goryeo. Maybe their prejudice towards slaves is a carry over from the old dynasty (or were slaves also better off then?).
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episode 1
Feb 6, 2016 20:51:53 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by truth on Feb 6, 2016 20:51:53 GMT -5
It also got me thinking. The Jang family were still loyal to Goryeo. Maybe their prejudice towards slaves is a carry over from the old dynasty (or were slaves also better off then?). Slaves were treated better in Goryeo, which carried over to early part of Joseon dynasty. There are numerous cases of slaves climbing their way to the top during Goryeo dynasty. Look at Kim Joon for example. Joseon became more conservative as time went on due to its strict form of neo-Confucianism. Goryeo's state religion was Buddhism even though government officials and scholars learned and valued Confucianism, but Joseon went to a whole other level with Confucianism. You could even say they were Confucian fundamentalists(at least in the later part of dynasty).
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Post by MTR on Feb 7, 2016 11:53:12 GMT -5
KBS World have uploaded the drama on you tube (they went beyond ep#1 ), anyway only watched the first one, it reminds me more of a LBH drama like Seo Don Folk Song than a companion to GKS . its only one episode so plenty of room to change .
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Post by mugwump on Mar 5, 2016 19:40:51 GMT -5
Spoiled little rich brat bullying the poor-but-honest servant boy...geez I hate being manipulated like that. Amen to that! So tired of seeing the hero /heroine in these dramas being constantly victimized. So tired of bad guy for the sake of bad guy.
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Post by ajk on Mar 6, 2016 21:31:25 GMT -5
Hi mugwump! Good to hear from you. Hopefully KBS will continue putting their historicals on YouTube; I know the pickins have been slim for you lately.
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