Post by ajk on May 6, 2018 2:51:36 GMT -5
Off and running! And I have to say, except for about two minutes of early panic, I enjoyed this first episode very much. Can’t recall a first episode I liked more, in fact. A whole lot of material thrown at us, and all kinds of interesting stuff going on. Several things stood out:
--Visually it’s beautiful.
--A monster load of historical background, I sure enjoyed that. Already 28 named characters and a whole bunch of places and times and settings, with plenty of narration and even a few maps. It may have been more than some people wanted to absorb so quickly, but it should get more comfortable over the next episodes.
--Only a few familiar faces in the cast. This will be a nice change. It’s always fun to spot the familiar faces, but most of the main characters in this one haven’t been in a lot of other historicals. It should help sell the story, since we’re going so much further back in time than most series, it will feel more detached.
--I liked the main character. He’s confident and not afraid of his father but he’s also not so egotistical that you want to smack him.
--Choe Myeong-gil right off the bat, yay! Playing a similar queen as in GKS in the sense of being very involved in palace politics. Looks like a great choice to give her this part after her work in GKS. Can’t wait to see more of her.
--It’s too bad that they’re not using the original KBS subtitles, but what they're using (from the WITH S2 subbers) are certainly better quality than subs for other DF series we’ve watched. They’re not perfect--they use a weird or archaic word on a pretty regular basis—but they’re very thorough. Plus they sub the on-screen text of character names and other notes and identifications, which is immensely helpful.
One thing that was inconsistent was the soundtrack. Some of it was quite good; a couple of passages that used Korean-sounding instruments, which added a great authentic feel to the scenes. But after a while it felt sort of heavy-handed. Hopefully just a one-time thing.
Actually the only really bad thing in the episode was the first fight scene, right at the beginning of the Jumong flashback. Absurdly over-choreographed fight; old guys dueling; only one archer—who happens to be a consort?!?—firing away as casually as if she were on a practice range...it was the typical silliness that we’ve seen in not-so-good historicals. Fortunately it ended quickly enough, but yecch.
Here was one bit of narration:
Hey where did the Buyeos get that boat? Could use an explanation there.
Here was another narrated passage, this one very helpful:
I didn’t care for the second fight scene either, the one in the river. Once the Baekje troops saw the enemy horsemen coming, of course they’d have run back on land and taken cover. But no, they stood there like idiots and fought. At least the fighting wasn’t as phony-looking as in the first fight scene.
Hey nice spit take from Jin Jeong! That was great! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spit take in a historical drama, ever. And it was well done.
Trying to assassinate King Biryu? Sayu really thinks this will devastate Baekje and it won’t piss them off and make them a more determined enemy? Seriously? Okay dude, we’ll see....
So overall definitely a big thumbs-up for this first episode.
--Visually it’s beautiful.
--A monster load of historical background, I sure enjoyed that. Already 28 named characters and a whole bunch of places and times and settings, with plenty of narration and even a few maps. It may have been more than some people wanted to absorb so quickly, but it should get more comfortable over the next episodes.
--Only a few familiar faces in the cast. This will be a nice change. It’s always fun to spot the familiar faces, but most of the main characters in this one haven’t been in a lot of other historicals. It should help sell the story, since we’re going so much further back in time than most series, it will feel more detached.
--I liked the main character. He’s confident and not afraid of his father but he’s also not so egotistical that you want to smack him.
--Choe Myeong-gil right off the bat, yay! Playing a similar queen as in GKS in the sense of being very involved in palace politics. Looks like a great choice to give her this part after her work in GKS. Can’t wait to see more of her.
--It’s too bad that they’re not using the original KBS subtitles, but what they're using (from the WITH S2 subbers) are certainly better quality than subs for other DF series we’ve watched. They’re not perfect--they use a weird or archaic word on a pretty regular basis—but they’re very thorough. Plus they sub the on-screen text of character names and other notes and identifications, which is immensely helpful.
One thing that was inconsistent was the soundtrack. Some of it was quite good; a couple of passages that used Korean-sounding instruments, which added a great authentic feel to the scenes. But after a while it felt sort of heavy-handed. Hopefully just a one-time thing.
Actually the only really bad thing in the episode was the first fight scene, right at the beginning of the Jumong flashback. Absurdly over-choreographed fight; old guys dueling; only one archer—who happens to be a consort?!?—firing away as casually as if she were on a practice range...it was the typical silliness that we’ve seen in not-so-good historicals. Fortunately it ended quickly enough, but yecch.
Here was one bit of narration:
Baekje’s royal family was the Buyeo clan, a clear homage to their Buyeo roots. Historidal records often used Yeo (Yu in Chinese) alone to define them, and with the modern surname-name separation having little meaning in the era, characters in this show might often use “Yeogu” despte it being “Buyeo Gu,” and so on.Shows some of the awkwardness of the subtitling grammar but it gets the point across.
Hey where did the Buyeos get that boat? Could use an explanation there.
Here was another narrated passage, this one very helpful:
Twenty-six years earlier, the armies of King Biryu of Baekje and King Micheon of Goguryeo join forces, repelling the very last commandery of Han China, Daifang. Baekje and Goguryeo pledge to split the territory. But King Micheon ultimately breaks his promise. With the goal of reclaiming the old Daifang territory, King Biryu spent long years of preparation. And the crucial turning point which convinced him to undertake this was the conflict between Goguryeo and the Yan over control of Liaodong. His speculation being that Goguryeo wouldn’t be able to so quickly mobilize troops away from the northern front.The conception dream they referred to, presumably we’ll get some more details about that in the next episode. So far it’s like DJY, the divine sign and then the lowly main character with a rags-to-riches story coming.
I didn’t care for the second fight scene either, the one in the river. Once the Baekje troops saw the enemy horsemen coming, of course they’d have run back on land and taken cover. But no, they stood there like idiots and fought. At least the fighting wasn’t as phony-looking as in the first fight scene.
Hey nice spit take from Jin Jeong! That was great! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spit take in a historical drama, ever. And it was well done.
Trying to assassinate King Biryu? Sayu really thinks this will devastate Baekje and it won’t piss them off and make them a more determined enemy? Seriously? Okay dude, we’ll see....
So overall definitely a big thumbs-up for this first episode.