Post by ajk on Apr 29, 2017 14:29:56 GMT -5
Uh-oh, this one had problems, didn't it. Things got way bogged down by Wola stuff...and saying "bogged down" gives me the creeps because it's the same phrase that fit episode after episode of EOTS, with that dud of a relationship between JB and Junghwa repeatedly suffocating the rest of the story. This had better go away real soon. The series has shown a whole lot of promise and it would be a shame if it didn't live up to that because of Wola stuff.
So Wola sees KJ as her family. Can I call you brother, she asks him. Great, that gives us some clarity. She sees him as family and is clinging to him purely as her only family member. Fine, that's understandable considering what her life has been like. The clinging does show us she's still young and immature, considering the temple is so close by (Please writers, stop ducking this! In this episode we saw An Soon and An Sing going to class at the temple, showing clearly that it's very close by). And it was good when the light bulb went on in KJ's head and he finally smiled at her and said "There's nothing I can do. You're so young." So now we could put the whole thing to rest...
...but noooo, now it's the talk of the entire Choe compound, everybody thinking they want to get married. Too much of it in the episode. And Songi: "If it's true, what do I care?" Yeah, exactly, why are you being so weird about it? Maybe she's got the hots for him but her sitting there trying to process whatever pre-lustful fascination she may have with her "property," maybe it was just me but it felt a little creepy. (No creepier than when powerful men do it with subservient women in these series; maybe just more annoying because it was yet another one of the too many Wola angles in this one.)
Hey KJ, if Wola doesn't go to the temple and you get another request, can you ask the producers to kill the pop ballads? Pleeeeeezzzz?
Choe U: "I'm just going for a drink. Don't get excited." Depends on what you're drinking!
"At the very least I need a reason, a justification." Well good for Choe Hyang, at least he's not a complete ultra-sleazeball and didn't flat-out murder his own brother.
But then Hyang specifically invites KJ along on Choe U's visit...and makes him kneel on the floor? Yeah he's a slave but at least let the poor guy stand up like Yangbaek is doing. KJ is a guard commander now; why did he have to kneel? And then Hyang pours him the drink, and overfills the cup. This very thing came up a couple of times in Shin Don; it's meant as a gesture of disrespect or condescension. Not sure why Hyang would feel the need to do it, except maybe he's sore that KJ beat his polo team. And then all of them laughing at it, including Choe U, I didn't like that at all. What was so funny about it? Nothing. It was totally demeaning.
Have to give KJ a lot of credit for coming up with a smart and diplomatic answer when Hyang made him the job offer. Impressive piece of thinking-on-his-feet. It may have seemed foolish for KJ to walk away from the offer, especially since Choe U didn't make a counter-offer...but you have to think that in the long run it was definitely the smart move. And the non-political move, which is consistent with his character. (And it wasn't at all certain that U would have let KJ go anyway.) Sure hope his answer gets back to Songi so she doesn't have another tantrum about KJ just using her for his own gain. He sure put that idea to rest, didn't he.
Choe C is the most powerful person in the country. So why can't he get himself a comfy chair?
"I know why you're here. Is it today? Or tomorrow? Or in a few days." Choe C seeing right through his son, loved that. And then Hyang afterwards: "When he banished Yi Kyubo I thought he was going senile. I was wrong." Exactly what we wondered about here when it happened. Choe C is clever to the end. (Although that stuff about him giving Choe Junmun a general's position in exchange for a concubine, and then criticizing Choe's performance...that made him look a little foolish, didn't it.)
What a crappy assignment for KJ, guarding those two goofballs. At least they were nice to him when they met him, that was a relief. But this is not a good development; it's just going to delay us getting into the real historical parts of KJ's life.
The text of this episode's narration:
We did get some accurate glimpses of the Mongol hairstyle and appearance during the battle and the evening meal scene.
Hopefully things are going to start moving along in the next episode. Choe C obviously is near death and whatever succession struggle is going to happen between the brothers is very near. And the Mongol envoy is headed south so presumably that will become front and center. So there's plenty of material to avoid what happened in this one, whatever you want to call it.
p.s. How about calling it Wolapalooza!
So Wola sees KJ as her family. Can I call you brother, she asks him. Great, that gives us some clarity. She sees him as family and is clinging to him purely as her only family member. Fine, that's understandable considering what her life has been like. The clinging does show us she's still young and immature, considering the temple is so close by (Please writers, stop ducking this! In this episode we saw An Soon and An Sing going to class at the temple, showing clearly that it's very close by). And it was good when the light bulb went on in KJ's head and he finally smiled at her and said "There's nothing I can do. You're so young." So now we could put the whole thing to rest...
...but noooo, now it's the talk of the entire Choe compound, everybody thinking they want to get married. Too much of it in the episode. And Songi: "If it's true, what do I care?" Yeah, exactly, why are you being so weird about it? Maybe she's got the hots for him but her sitting there trying to process whatever pre-lustful fascination she may have with her "property," maybe it was just me but it felt a little creepy. (No creepier than when powerful men do it with subservient women in these series; maybe just more annoying because it was yet another one of the too many Wola angles in this one.)
Hey KJ, if Wola doesn't go to the temple and you get another request, can you ask the producers to kill the pop ballads? Pleeeeeezzzz?
Choe U: "I'm just going for a drink. Don't get excited." Depends on what you're drinking!
"At the very least I need a reason, a justification." Well good for Choe Hyang, at least he's not a complete ultra-sleazeball and didn't flat-out murder his own brother.
But then Hyang specifically invites KJ along on Choe U's visit...and makes him kneel on the floor? Yeah he's a slave but at least let the poor guy stand up like Yangbaek is doing. KJ is a guard commander now; why did he have to kneel? And then Hyang pours him the drink, and overfills the cup. This very thing came up a couple of times in Shin Don; it's meant as a gesture of disrespect or condescension. Not sure why Hyang would feel the need to do it, except maybe he's sore that KJ beat his polo team. And then all of them laughing at it, including Choe U, I didn't like that at all. What was so funny about it? Nothing. It was totally demeaning.
Have to give KJ a lot of credit for coming up with a smart and diplomatic answer when Hyang made him the job offer. Impressive piece of thinking-on-his-feet. It may have seemed foolish for KJ to walk away from the offer, especially since Choe U didn't make a counter-offer...but you have to think that in the long run it was definitely the smart move. And the non-political move, which is consistent with his character. (And it wasn't at all certain that U would have let KJ go anyway.) Sure hope his answer gets back to Songi so she doesn't have another tantrum about KJ just using her for his own gain. He sure put that idea to rest, didn't he.
Choe C is the most powerful person in the country. So why can't he get himself a comfy chair?
"I know why you're here. Is it today? Or tomorrow? Or in a few days." Choe C seeing right through his son, loved that. And then Hyang afterwards: "When he banished Yi Kyubo I thought he was going senile. I was wrong." Exactly what we wondered about here when it happened. Choe C is clever to the end. (Although that stuff about him giving Choe Junmun a general's position in exchange for a concubine, and then criticizing Choe's performance...that made him look a little foolish, didn't it.)
What a crappy assignment for KJ, guarding those two goofballs. At least they were nice to him when they met him, that was a relief. But this is not a good development; it's just going to delay us getting into the real historical parts of KJ's life.
The text of this episode's narration:
The Mongols destroyed the Khitan. A feat they accomplished in less than a month. The Khitan marched from the Jin to escape Jin Dynasty rule. But they met the Mongol forces marching on the Jin and turned south. They invaded Koryo with their thousands. A brutal struggle that lasted three years. Koryo could not oust them. So the Mongols used it as an excuse to enter Koryo. The united Mongol-Koryo forces easily defeated the scattered Khitan. The Mongol move into Koryo was their first step in taking over the world.That final sentence, there must have been a mistranslation or some kind of distortion of meaning because it's not accurate. The Mongols had already been moving west and south for several years before they entered Koryo. And then the subsequent scene with the Mongol general telling the Koryo officers about Genghis Khan marching west and ravaging "Muscovites," that's wrong too because the Mongol/Koryo victory was in 1219 but the Mongols weren't in Russian territory until the early 1220s. Yikes, not a good sign to be getting Google-able basic historical facts wrong.
We did get some accurate glimpses of the Mongol hairstyle and appearance during the battle and the evening meal scene.
Hopefully things are going to start moving along in the next episode. Choe C obviously is near death and whatever succession struggle is going to happen between the brothers is very near. And the Mongol envoy is headed south so presumably that will become front and center. So there's plenty of material to avoid what happened in this one, whatever you want to call it.
p.s. How about calling it Wolapalooza!